An Angel's Thesis Original

SS) A Dragon Visits

“You’ve kept the dragon waiting!”

Aiden freezes midway through the door of his dorm room. His younger sister Kairi points at him from the middle of the room while her other arm angles off her hip. From her tone and posture, he pictures something like a cape or cloak flowing behind her.

Kairi continues, “The dragon came all this way just for you! How dare you not be here to greet her magnificent arrival!”

Aiden recalls his mother mentioning in various emails that Kairi had been breaking free of her timid shell over past two years, but at the same time worried she was developing strange tendencies. In the end, she would always reassure herself by claiming it was just a phase and that he’d need to look after he once she enrolled at Pounamu the following year. He didn’t think much of it from the emails, but now that he’s seeing Kairi, he’s starting to have second doubts.

“The dragon should smite you into quarks and leptons, but rejoice for she is both merciful and magnanimous! Your transgression on the dragon will be overlooked on the account of you being her venerable bro-”

Aiden flicks her forehead.

“Hey! What are you doing to-”

Aiden flicks her forehead again.

“Quit bullying the dragon!”

“Kairi, what are you doing here?”

Kairi’s eyes pop open in shock. She takes an over dramatic step back and feigns hurt. “You forgot? This is an outrage! You made a request of the dragon and then carelessly for-”

Aiden flicks her forehead again. “Quit shouting!”

Kairi pouts and grumbles the word, “Meany,” under her breathe as she rubs her forehead. She then picks up a stack of four silver sheets up from Aiden’s bed. “The dragon came to deliver the anti-magic metal you requested.”

“You came in person?”

Kairi crosses her arms and nods as she says, “Oh course!” The assurance lacing her voice suggests that doing so is only natural. “Far too much has happened since our last encounter. Yes, I started harboring doubts during my shower when a hand absconded with my shampoo. Then, your zweihander vanished from your room and appeared during your battle against that hedgehog. Finally, after witnessing your battle with Eric, the dragon knew she had to meet you with her own eyes for a much long overdue conversation.”

“And our parents just let you come?” Kairi’s flinch prompts Aiden to sharpen his tone. “Kairi, do they know you’re here?”

She avoids eye contact.

Aiden groans. To reach Pounamu, Hawaiian island jumping is required. Travelers must first land on one of Hawaii’s main islands. From there, they need to go to a specific minor island that will then ferry them to Pounamu. Direct travel is practically impossible.

Kairi would have at best needed at least a day to reach him. Furthermore, that day would have required a lot of preparation in terms of logistics. Just acquiring the needed tickets for the plane and ferries should have been outside her budget. Yet, not only has he not heard from his parents that she’s gone missing, from her attitude, she just arbitrarily decided to visit him. He’s reminded of someone taking a walk down the street, not traveling halfway across the world. “How did you even get here?”

Kairi grins, “My foolish brother! Did you for-”

Aiden flicks her forehead. Then, as she yelps and rubs it, he flicks it again.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She then clears her throat and once more adopts her high and mighty tone. “The dragon used the teleportation array down in the basement.”

Her proclamation catches Aiden’s interest. Whatever annoyances he had fades as curiosity laces his tone. “By yourself?”

“With my mastery of magic, a simple spell like that-”

“Requires way more mana than a single person can put out at a time.”

“The dragon is no fool. Your experimental lessons in mana containing and mana molding were most beneficial to this cause.”

“Even then, a normal person would have run out of mana just trying to set up the mana containers needed for teleportation spell. More than that, mana containers don’t have long shelf lives. They aren’t batteries you can store overnight.”

“As you say, which is why the dragon did everything then and there!” Kairi’s dark, almond shaped, eyes turn yellow and her pupils change into slits. Emerald highlights appear in her black hair as she growls and flicks down her green lined sunglass over her face. “Because I am the dragon! Hear my roar and tremble!”

Aiden is grateful for her sunglasses. The wide lenses cover her eyebrows and reach down to her cheeks, creating a mask of sorts. As long as she wears them, it will be much harder for people to recognize her as his sister. Still, with her enrollment assured next year, he’d like to make it even harder. “Do you want some help with that illusion spell of yours? How about something that stretches beyond just your eyes and hair?”

Kairi holds her head up high as she says, “The dragon shall tell you the same as she told our honorable mother and father. These colors are natural.”

Aiden lunges forward, lifts Kairi’s glasses from her face, and stares into her reptilian like eyes. “Wait, what? What do you mean, natural? Since when?”

Kairi’s overly proud attitude melts into joy. Mirth laces her tone as she says, “As expected from the dragon’s brother. While everyone else laughed at her claims, you believed without a moment’s doubt. Truly, only you are worthy of being fam-”

Aiden flicks her forehead. “Kairi, when did this start?”

“Cut that out!” Kairi tackles Aiden.

Aiden steps back, twists, and sweeps her feet from under her. He then forces her to land on top of his bed where, just like when they were in elementary school, he pins her arms behind her back and tickles her. “So, you feel like talking yet?”

Kairi squirms and clenches her teeth, but is soon wreathing with laughter. “Not fair, not fair! You always do this to me!” Aiden continues tickling until she’s gasping for air due to laughter. “Okay, okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

Aiden gets off of Kairi and sits beside her. “So, since when?”

A few chuckles escape Kairi as she adjusts herself on the bed and rolls over. She glares at him, but her fury comes off more cute than angry. “About two years ago. Maybe a month before you left for Pounamu.”

That was around the time Aiden underwent his ascension ritual. “Anything else?”

Kairi hesitates, but then says, “I’ve got more mana now too.”

Aiden tenses for a moment, but manages to calm down enough to say, “How much more?”

“Dragons don’t have limits. This one once cast spells for three hours straight, only to stop because she got bored.” Her tone weakens and she averts her gaze, “You don’t hate me for this, do you?”

The frustration that was welling up within Aiden fades at his sister’s fear. Everyone knows he risked his life undergoing an ascension ritual for the sake of acquiring mana. Instead, it gave him a body well beyond human limits. Ironically, those changes also included a ridiculously large mana storage capacity.

Kairi was nowhere close to the ritual site. The only other person there was Camillia who activated the ritual for him. Regardless, Kairi’s mana underwent a clear metamorphosis. Considering the timing, concluding she somehow usurped his ritual is only natural. She must have been terrified about how I’d react once I found out.

Aiden exhales and places a hand on her head. “Relax, it’s not like you went and sabotaged my ritual.” He then hoists her up and hugs her. “In the end, this outcome worked out pretty well for me, so don’t be so glum about it.”