The woman standing in front of me with a hand on her hips was none other than the strongest female dragon tamer in the whole continent of Elthrion: Valeria Voltaries, Viktor's older half-sister.
I have always had high admiration for her. She was an inspirational figure throughout the continent. It is shocking how Viktor was made the head of the family when Valeria was the obvious choice!
I kept staring at the woman in awe as she grew impatient. The fascination was real though!. To tame a mythical beast and make a contract with it is not an easy task at all.
"That's it! Let's get moving, kid. I've got a lotta stuff to do." She grabbed me and pulled me with her.
I instinctively pulled Mirna along with me, as I didn't want to leave her there alone. She might be the key to finding out my identity and getting my new life together.
"Who is that kid?" Valeria asked, giving me a questioning look.
"My friend," I replied. Keeping it short.
"Fine. Whatever, let's get moving," she said, navigating through the dingy hallways, which, for some reason, were vacant.
"Who are you? Where are you taking us?" I asked, just to get a picture of what was about to happen.
"Just keep quiet and follow me if you don't want to be left here," she said, completely ignoring my question.
"Will we be fine? I want to save my mother as well. I can't leave without her!" Mirna leaned closer and whispered to me.
"All the inmates will be moved to a safehouse soon. You can meet her then. I have other stuff to attend to now; you can either stay here or come with us," Valeria replied in a bored tone after hearing the little girl.
"Anywhere will be better than here. I don't think it's safe for you to look for your mother alone," I said, and Mirna finally relented.
As we moved, I started seeing a lot of people knocked out and injured, which cleared the path to the cell. It made my assumptions correct: she came here for ME!.
I tried to make it make some sense to me, but it didn't. We finally reached the hole that led to the outside world.
I got a breeze of fresh air! I FELT alive for the first time!
This is the first time I have seen the sun shine in a LONG time.
I could feel tears streaming down my face involuntarily. I just ran out of that place, laughing and crying at the same time.
Nothing mattered at this point. I didn't care about who I was or where I was going after this. All I felt at the moment was indescribable happiness. Mirna was shedding tears of happiness as well.
As I wiped my tears, the scenery I saw was full of tall green trees. The whole area was dark because of the leaf cover. It was early in the morning, but the trees hid the sun well.
I took a look at the damaged prison. It was like a fortress made of grey stones, which camouflaged well amidst the mountains and trees.
We followed the older girl and walked around the building to see a cliff and a bright clearance. The sky was blue and clear of any clouds. I could spot an eagle or two in the sky.
"I see the kid. Who is the little girl, though?" I heard a voice. I turned to see a tall man with thick black hair and bright orange eyes. He had some smoke coming out of his mouth. That's when I knew that he was a DRAGON!
Arxia, the Flame Dragon of the South, was the mythical creature who reigned over the southern archipelago for a few hundred years. After remaining untamed for over five hundred years, he accepted Valeria as his contractor. That alone is an impressive feat for Valeria.
"His friend, it seems," she replied, shrugging.
"He looks weak. Do we really need to take him?" the dragon asked, casting a suspicious look towards me.
"It's not our decision to make, Arxia. Let's get this over with," Valeria replied monotonously.
In the snap of a moment, Arxia transformed into a black dragon with bright red scales and orange eyes.
At times like this, I regret going to the scholar's academy in my past life instead of a combat academy. In my past life, I wanted to appeal differently to my father than my siblings, so I took the intellectual route and went to the Scholars Academy of Elthrion to do magic research and never set foot into the combat magic sphere.
We got on the back of the dragon. Valeria held both of us close to her as the dragon took off.
We crossed valleys and rivers, passed through a cave, and exited via a waterfall. We flew higher, and the island became smaller and smaller. We flew among the clouds for a while, and another island came into view.
We flew close to the island, and I knew it was the capital city of the southern country, Anton. There were tall skyscrapers and towers all over the place.
The express travel paths were present, like tubes around the skyscrapers, and people were driving through the travel paths with their aura-enhanced cars. There were normal roads for slower cars that operate with a cheaper and weaker aura core.
It was a MAGNIFICENT sight!. Tall towers and roads looping around in the sky and on the ground. I'm pretty sure they had both travel paths for underground travel as well.
The dragon flew through the gaps between the skyscrapers as one of the aura-powered drones came near to identify the intruder. The drone ran a quick scan and left as soon as it saw Valeria.
The Voltaries family is not an Ultra-Elite family, but they had a huge influence in the South. The dragon traversed through the tall buildings to finally reach a clearance.
I saw a huge mansion nearby as the dragon landed in the green field.
Valeria jumped down, carrying both of us in her arms.
Arxia transformed back into a human.
It feels like the beginning of something!