“It’s morning?” murmured William tiredly as he woke up.
It took a while, but then the memories of yesterday returned to him, making his eyes go wide from shock.
Me? The Frost Dragon’s Disciple? He almost couldn’t believe it, maybe it was all a dream? Where am I? And where’s the Frost Dragon?
William got out of the bed and made his way to the door, pushing down the handle to unlatch it. The corridor was unlike any other. Black stones lined both the floor and walls. Warmly glowing torches were placed alongside the walls. There was only one direction out of the room. To the left was a dead-end, so William went through the passage on the right. Eventually, the corridor came to an end.
William stopped walking and inspected the wooden door at the ned of the passage. He felt the handle, it wasn’t locked. He opened it and stepped through, closing the door behind him. What greeted him was a homely feeling room. There was a fireplace illuminating the room in the corner, stitched carpets scattered on the floor, and a wooden table with chairs in the center.
But what astonished him when he strode into the room was not what he just recounted, but the woman seated near the heart of the fireplace.
She had white as snow, hair that was enjoyable to gaze at, and enticing, constellation-blue eyes over puffy lips. Everything created an image of astounding beauty not belonging to this world. William glanced at her, mouth agape.
“Oh, you woke up?” asked she while turning to look at him.
“Y-yes.” answered William unsteadily.
Her body was like a gift from heaven with perky mountain peaks having the perfect size for one’s hand; altogether, shocking him greatly. He couldn’t help but fantasize.
“Good.” replied the woman, letting out a sweet smile with her heart shaped lips.
William had never seen such an attractive and prepossessing woman before. Her beauty did not belong to this world. The young man looked at her, a bit hesitant, then cautiously asked, “But who are you?”
“Little boy,” The woman, giggled softly. “You don’t remember me? I feel wronged, you know.”
“Sorry, I’ve never seen you before…” William hurriedly said. “But, hehe, I’m sure I would remember if I did.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a compliment."
“I am the frost dragon, Saphira.”
“You’re what?” questioned William with a wry smile upon his lips. How could this beautiful young woman be that massive dragon? William shook his head. “No, sorry, I can’t believe that.
The woman laughed as she walked out the other door of the room; not the one which William entered through. “Come and judge for yourself,” She opened it and turned her gaze to him. Seeing him stand there, dumbfounded, she rolled eyes again. “Are you coming?”
“Uh, yes.” William hurried over, following the woman. There was no harm in seeing what she wanted to show him.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
He wore an entirely dazed expression, walking behind the women claiming to be the frost dragon he met yesterday. The woman’s bottom was fantastic, moving back and forth with every step she took. It was round, yet firm, proportional to her upper body, and perfectly tied together with her slender waist.
The corridor was similar to the one William walked through previously. After a while, they neared the end of it and came to another door. After going through, they emerged in an incredibly huge chamber.
The woman turned around to William, smiling and saying. “Watch.”
She took a few steps back, and a large blue shimmer was exuded from her body. She then started to rapidly change. Light-blue scales emerged on her body, and sharp claws began to protrude from her fingers and toes. Her white, thin dress was quickly torn apart as her figure enlarged and wings shot out from her back.
“Y-you!” William stuttered, taking a few steps back.“Indeed,”
The woman had transformed into the Frost Dragon. Her size was almost too massive to fit in the hall, only having a few meters to spare.
“Do you believe me now?”
William nodded.
“Good.” Her size started to diminish, and the wings and claws retracted. Scales were replaced with a light-toned glossy skin. After a short while, the beautiful woman appeared once again.
William’s face immediately reddened as he peered at the woman. The clothes that enveloped her body before were gone, and she was stark naked.
“I forgot,” said the woman as she looked down at her body.
Shades of pink appeared on her cheeks as she realized what happened. She wasn’t used to being in the human form and had forgotten that her clothes would be in tatters after a transformation. She quickly flashed her arm, and an identical white dress materialized on her body. “There we go.”
William pinched his nose while staring at the woman with an embarrassed expression. He then looked down at the ground, not willing to look her again.
Due to his inability to control his breath, girls never wanted to be with him even though he was quite good-looking; Long jet black hair spiraled down above almond shaped eyes and well-defined cheekbones.
“Anyway,” The Frost Dragon cleared her throat.
“As I said earlier, I gave you a choice to become my disciple, and you took it. Do you still want to follow through with your decision?”
“Yes.” said William firmly.
The Frost Dragon smiled. “You’re quite like him, aren’t you?”
“Who?” Asked William as he furrowed his brows.
The Frost Dragon chuckled and let out a helpless smile.
“Just someone I used to know.”
She coughed wryly. “My name is Saphira.” The frost dragon looked him into the eyes. “The first thing I’ll teach you is how to control your breath. Under my tutelage, you must call me master and nothing else. Is that clear?”
“Yes master,” William responded with a nod. “Your disciple understands.”
“Excellent! We’ll begin by showing you the basics of controlling your breath, but to do that, we must go outside first.”
She strode down a passageway. William quickly followed her.
Minutes later, they emerged at the mountain peak where they first met. They both sat on the ground in a meditative pose with Saphira seated opposite to William.
Her voice flowed like the morning dew.
“The gods gave you humans scrolls to learn how to control your breath," she explained slowly. These scrolls were a set pattern and worked wonders. They made you stronger, faster and allowed you to enjoy life more.”
“But,” Saphira added. “They also limited your potential. You see, to control your life, one has to control his or her breath. That’s the rule passed down from the gods. However, if one controls one’s breath in a set pattern, one’s life will also happen in a set pattern. To truly own your own life, you must create your own way to breath."
"Do you understand?”
William nodded slowly saying, “A bit.”
“Look,” Saphira explained. “If you control your breath the way the gods want you to, then you’ll control your life essence the same way. And since your life essence is essentially your life, your life will forever be in the palms of their hands. The only way to break this vicious cycle is by controlling your breath without the use of those scrolls. Only then can one forge their own destiny.”
“So to control my own life,” William replied slowly. “I’ll have to find a way to manipulate my life essence without those scrolls?”
“How can I achieve this?”
Saphira smiled. “That’s exactly what I’m going to teach you.”
She rose up from the ground, stretching her hand forward.
“You see, this world is permeated by life energy,”
A swirling orb of blue light converged on top of her palm. “To control it, you have to resonate it with your life essence. The stronger life essence we have, the more life energy you can make use of.” She abruptly shot the orb of light towards a nearby mountain peak. A loud rumble shook the ground as the mountain peak was decimated. “And if you can control enough of it, you can do things like this.”
“But what’s the difference between following the scrolls and not following them? Can I control more life energy if I don’t follow the scriptures?”
Saphira chuckled.“You catch on quickly. However, it’s not that simple. While it’s true that those who don’t follow the scrolls can utilize more, the real reason behind why it’s so much better is that it’s more suitable to the individual.”
“Eh?” William frowned. “What do you mean?”
“These scrolls given to you by the gods are very inefficient. Not only do they limit the amount of life energy you can access, but they aren’t suitable for everyone. It’s just like how people are suited for certain fighting styles or weapons. Some people are more suited for swords while some are unable to use them and instead settle on the spear. These scrolls aren’t suitable for everyone and limit most people from unleashing their full potential.”
William took a deep breath and tried to understand everything Saphira had just told him. The reason why it’s better to not use the scrolls to find one’s life energy is that not only does it limit one’s potential, but also makes one able to use less life essence to move life energy in the world?
When he thought about the scrolls, something he had wondered about while speaking with Saphira came back to him.
Why didn’t the scrolls work for him?
“Master, why doesn’t the scrolls work for me?”
“Because you aren’t someone the gods can control,” She answered. “You’re someone destined to rise and stand above all others. You’re a true king, a supreme entity unable to be shackled by the rules that define this world. People like you are called anomalies.”
“Woah…” William gasped. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Of course not,” She giggled. “Anyway, let’s continue to the next stage.”
“What do you mean?” He wondered.
“It’s time for you to discover your very own breathing pattern.” She said while smiling.
–Hours later–
In the frozen tundra, where snow and ice reigned supreme, one could see a young man sitting on a tall mountain’s peak. His hair was freckled with white snow specks, almost creating a wig. If one looked closely enough, one should see small dots protruding up his skin because of the coldness. “It’s freezing out here!” yelled the young man while shuddering.
He tried to warm up by curling into a ball to make himself smaller. It didn’t work, though.
“I’ll die before I can figure out my own breathing pattern! I don’t even know where to start! Master, please!”
Above the young man, a giant blue creature circled through the air. Its majestic wings flapped and caused a gale to spread. Yet, none of the hurricanes landed on the young man. It was as if the wind knew that it shouldn’t hurt the young man.
“Stop complaining." snorted the blue creature.
Disciple, if you can’t find your breathing pattern while in a life or death situation, you won’t ever be able to find it. Endure the cold, and search deep within yourself."
“Fine.” replied the young man.
In through his nose and out through his mouth. Eyes closed, he stopped shuddering, and instead tried to relax his body. This better work. The young man cut himself out from the real world and plunged deep within his consciousness.
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