Opening the door, Sergei entered the room. Passing over the threshold was like trying to walk through waist-deep snow, when he realized that a protective barrier had been placed around the room. Once through the barrier, he realized that sound from within the room would not escape into the main portions of the house. In essence, anything happening in this room would not leave it.
"Eldrick is more powerful than you expected. I can tell from the consternated look. Did you teach him the learning trance?" Sebastian cocking his head to one side reminded Sergei of a chicken looking at a grub.
“I never got the opportunity to divulge that information to him. He slipped into it on his own and devoured more information in four hours than I could in four months," he mopped his brow with his handkerchief. "I fear he may not be human at all but a changeling. If that is so, I may have made a big mistake. The truth will be in how he reacts to the next texts I have chosen for him.”
"I do not think you have to worry about him being a changeling. He may be touched by fae magic which could be just as bad." Sebastian slid a book over to Sergei. "Not for us, but for him. I also think there may be more to his story than you know. Let us continue with the belief that he is human, or we risk destroying his mind." Sebastian opened another book and passed it over. "I have been reading the tomes you leant me. It seems that the dragon whom your grandfather befriended is my elder. He talked about visiting a family up in the mountains over the years, but the way he put it, it was more like visiting family."
“Really that seems odd, but then I do not understand much about draconic relationships. I have been told that there are rare relationships in draconic society. The rarest being those that actually mate for life. Dragon-Dragon mated pairings are the most rare and then there are those that choose to life bond with another race usually human.”
"That is quite true. My great uncle was one such. Though it isn't really a choice," Sebastian's brow wrinkled. "He fell in love with a human girl named Annabelle. He never really came back to visit the rest of the family until she passed away. They had one child whom they named Sigmund. He lived in a small village south of here and moved when he was about 30 and built a farmstead out in the wilderness."
“Wait what are you saying,” asked Sergei incredulously. “My grandfather’s name was Sigmund. He and my great grandfather carved this farmstead out of the wilderness before he married and had a family. Being a druid is a family tradition started by my great grandfather who died of a heart attack at the age of seventy-five while returning from a mission. There is no way he was a dragon. There cannot be. Is there any proof to this?”
"There is if you actually read the side notes in the dragon tomes," Sebastian pointed with a claw. "I paid special attention to them as they could sometimes give vital information regarding the actual information in the tomes. I know this seems rather odd but it is true."
They discussed the information for several hours. They learned that through the notes in the tomes they were related. This is where the connection came from they had tried to figure out earlier. The relationship was intriguing. Some of the family's history was discovered. It was discovered that their distant relatives were one of the first soulbound mated pair of dragons. About three hundred twenty years ago they were killed by a human named Veldar. the current high druid who has been in that position for over three hundred fifty years. The dragons have long memories and even longer lives. The high druid has made a habit of using a special life-extending spell.
After many hours, Sebastian understood Sergei better, which included his choice about the transformation of Eldrick. That didn’t mean that he agreed with the decision. They also discussed the extreme release of energy which apparently originated from Eldrick just before he entered the learning trance on his own. Sebastian was intrigued by this since it was not unknown in the dragon community but a very rare ability, though completely unheard of in human society until now. Sebastian also admitted to feelings of attraction to Eldrick, an oddity but not unheard of, especially since he knew that Eldrick is not naturally male but a transformed female.
"I have a question for you. What happens if someone other than yourself or Eldrick breaks the spell? What type of magical feedback is there? What would happen to you?"
“That is not something I wish to consider. There are a few different possible outcomes. One is that the spell backlashes, I become like Eldritch is now." His face fell, "Another is that the backlash of magical energy could kill me. Either of these outcomes would destroy who I am. Either is very likely especially with how many times I have cast the spell on Eldrick so that it wouldn’t deteriorate. I started a few days before you left to go hunting. Have you discovered anything about your problem in the tomes I gave you to read?”
"I have, it seems I am destined to become one of the few who succumb to being soulbound with another. Since I now understand the process and have identified the cause, I can now balance my energies and capabilities." Sebastian gave a broad toothy grin. "I will definitely be travelling with Eldrick during his journeyman trials. The question I have is, will he be allowed a horse for his travels? If so, I will undertake that position since I have learned how to shape change effectively," his grin fading away. "I won’t let anything happen to him; you can stake my life on that. I cannot lose him even if he remains a he and doesn’t return to a female form. You do not need to worry about anything leaving this room, it has been layered in protective shields and barriers. Also, I can spell cast in any form I take which makes it much harder for Veldar to track it back to me."
“That will be a good thing. I hope it does not have to come to that. Eldrick should be able to take care of himself. I truly hope that the high druid respects the trials and doesn’t try anything against my apprentice." His face took on a dark visage. " My last three apprentices did not complete the journeyman trials. I would suggest you take special care not to be discovered by the high druid. From what I know he is currently searching for another dragon to sacrifice. If he doesn’t renew the spell soon it will decay and he will age rapidly to his true age. But then I do not fully understand the spell.”
Eldrick waking several times throughout the night was thankful for the tea which was on his bedside table. His head ached with such pressure that it felt like it was about to explode. After a few sips, he was ready to sleep again. Before returning to his slumber, he cast a spell on the tea, it would be warm when he next awoke. Cold restorative tea was bitter and hardly efficacious.
Awakening for the day, he felt refreshed and eager to continue his studies. He had more knowledge filling his mind than when he went to sleep. He wasn’t even sure when he fell asleep. Jumping out of bed, he dressed quickly and left his room to complete his chores before settling down to study.
Worried that he had failed somehow yesterday by collapsing before being given leave to cease his lessons, he approached Sergei with some trepidation.
“I am sorry sir; I should have waited to be dismissed but my body overrode my common sense. I hope I have not disappointed you,” Eldrick said timidly. “I didn't even learn the trance you wished you teach me yesterday. I was contemplating how to use noncombative spells combatively and how to use combative spells defensively when I seem to have blacked out.”
“No worries there Eldrick. You seemed to have a moment of insight during that contemplation because you instinctively entered the very trance, I was going to instruct you in. You devoured the tomes which I had produced for your study. Surprisingly you flew through all the volumes I had originally thought would take you a week. I hope you are not feeling too badly after the information overload. I do have a few more tomes for you to go through," he gestured to the pile beside his chair. "I do believe these should take you longer to absorb as they are more advanced and it took me several read-throughs to completely understand them myself, and I was much older than you when I did so.”
“Are you certain I am ready for such advanced knowledge sir? I mean if you weren’t ready when you first read them to understand how can I be?” inquired Eldrick tenuously.
“My dear boy, I do not think you are ready to completely understand what is in them however, reading them now will allow you to consider what is written in them. Over time you may garner lessons from them, which I did not. As I said they are more advanced in knowledge, you have all the basics to use them, not necessarily the experience but that shall come with time. Now, do you remember how you entered the trance or was it just a spontaneous accident?”
“I am not sure how I entered the trance, but I will try to enter it on my own," he bit his bottom lip in thought. "If I should fail, I would gladly accept instruction on how to do so.”
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Eldrick sat in the center of the circle as he had the day before. Beginning the relaxation techniques, he had been taught for meditative trance work. Unsure if it was the correct method. Sergei entering a meditative trance when there was a sudden blast of golden energy exactly like the day before. Watching the energies when this happened, he noticed that Eldrick had tapped into the draconic power which was an integral part of his energy structure though somehow separated from the human energies by the other types of magic. This was going to be a severe problem if Veldar ever noticed. He was going to have to discuss with Eldrick about disguising his power levels, or he would never pass the journeyman trials. If Veldar ever came to learn that Eldrick could harness dragon magic his life would be forfeit in an instant. That was an outcome Sergei could not bear to consider and yet wouldn’t be on hand to bear witness to that act.
'My dear boy, I am sending you into more danger than you should be forced to endure and for that I am sorry. I am very happy that Sebastian has chosen to accept the burden of accompanying you on your quest, though that endangers him as well.' These thoughts ran through Sergei’s mind forcing him out of his trance as his concentration was no longer focused on the task at hand.
Being forced out of a trance was like someone striking the back of his head with a shovel. The accompanying headache blasted his senses in an instant. Knowing that he should not have let his focus waver and let in stray thoughts Sergei rose to his feet and carefully left the room to go prepare the restorative tea. This time he decided to prepare a very large pot. Eldrick was going to need it as well once he came out of the trance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the light flash faded from the room, Sebastian glanced at an exquisitely ravishing young female dragon sitting in the same place which Eldrick had sat moments before. As he watched the form shifted back to that of Eldrick, almost as if forced and yet accepted. Withdrawing from the room back into his sanctuary, Sebastian knew without a doubt that this was indeed the cause of his imbalance. The thought of Eldrick brought up unfamiliar feelings of longing, desire and protectiveness. He resolved right then that nothing would ever happen to Eldrick. Meaning if he had to stand aside and allow Eldrick to choose another that would be the price. Understanding Eldrick may never choose to break the spells which he laboured under was heart-rending, but that would be Eldrick’s choice not his own. He would not even bring up the knowledge for fear of destroying the very one he was falling for.
Damn you, Sergei! Sebastian thought viciously. Why would you do this to me? How can you ask me to watch after the only one I will ever desire and yet deny me my heart's desire? It may be that Eldrick was not interested in females and may choose to partner with a male even while stuck in a male form. I can deal with that if it happens. I only hope he chooses me over some other person.
Racked by anguish, Sebastian calmed his mind and entered the learning trance gently. Reaching for the more advanced tomes of draconic magic which were his right by heritage, he dove into learning everything he could. By the end of the day, he would have finished all these tomes and would require more. He also wished to examine the human magics and learn those arcane secrets. If these tomes had been collected by his uncle according to draconic heritage rights, he had the inalienable right to wade through all the accumulated tomes regardless of magical philosophy, or origin. Considering this information, he was going to need to approach Sergei with sensitivity since they are heirlooms of his own family.
