Chapter 2: Wings of fate

Eighteen long years. That's how long it has been since the defeat of the Elderians on their separate planet. The King and the people of Esmus had been celebrating for as long as they could stand after the fight that had determined the fate of mankind had gone down so many years ago.

On that same day, Magnus adopted a son and raised him as his own. That name was Nyxon. Of course, Magnus had never thought to tell Nyxon his origin of birth. He thought it was a waste of time and that he had a new life here on Esmus that he should be thankful for. And, of course, Nyxon was always happy to be here with his father.

Growing up in Esmus was confusing, especially regarding Nyxon and his life in the castle. Of course, he had everything, food, love, and a nice family. But the one thing Nyxon always wanted was a friend. Nyxon wasn't ever allowed out of the castle unless he was supervised by another peer. They always assigned his older brother, Brinks. Brinks often bullied and relentlessly made fun of Nyxon for looking like a girl. Nyxon sometimes was too afraid to leave his castle to have fun if it meant he had to be with Brinks.

There was always someone Nyxon adored being with, and that was none other than his caretaker and sister, Manda. Manda loved being with Nyxon every chance she got. She always wanted a little brother; that's what she always told him. Nyxon could remember every instance Manda would go through to spend time with him in the kingdom. She loved his long wavy hair that would reach his shoulders and his smooth dark skin. But the thing that separated Nyxon from other kids was his lightning-shaped scar along his right eye. It often irritated him and made him scratch himself a lot.

Nyxon being in the castle for a long time always made him wonder what he wanted to do when he was older, be a knight? He already was that. Be an adventurer? Unlikely. One thing Nyxon always wanted to do– was make as many friends as he could. This was Nyxons dream, and this was the fate he dawned on himself.

But today wasn't just any day now. It was a very important day for Nyxon and his father, King Magnus. Tomorrow would mark the eighteenth birthday of Nyxon. King Magnus had been excited about this for as long as he could walk. Of course, his walking had been stopped as he was asleep– very fast asleep. His sleep was soon interrupted by the sun– his worst enemy. He tried removing the distraction as he sprouted his wings to cover the window so he could sleep longer. But that was also ruined quickly.

"Up! Up! Get up, Magnus!" a voice shouted at him from behind his wings that were used over his eyes.

King Magnus was soon shaken by fear as he looked to see a man. "Donnel? Wait, how were you?"

"I slept underneath your bed." King Magnus rolled his eyes as Donnel continued. " I knew you were going to try and skip this day for tomorrow,"

Magnus tucked away his wings along his back. He used the force to push himself up from the strong gust of wind behind him. He had begun to stretch in multiple directions to prepare himself for the important day he had planned for this one moment years in advance. His body dreaded being woken up this early.

"Can you believe it! Just one more day before the eighteen-year celebration!" Magnus had said as he held his arm over his brother's shoulder. His brother had to get down on his knee for him to feel this way, but it wasn't an issue.

"Well–yes, I do, actually. You often talk about it during your sleep." Said Donnel in a sarcastic tone of voice toward his brother.

King Magnus shook his head in confusion. Just the idea of his own brother spying on him during his sleep. It made King Magnus shudder with fear. King Magnus went to his closet to put on his gear. He looked at it sourly– knowing he needed a new set.

Magnus looked at Donnel with glee, "Yes, yes, of course! But you also know what else it is today, Donnel?"

"It's something to do with your–" Donnel sighed. "Son" right?"

"Of course it does! Nyxon turns eighteen tomorrow!" said Magnus. The thought of celebrating Nyxon's birthday almost made him cry."So, where is that boy anyways?" said Magnus,

"I believe he's with Princess Luna again. You know how close those two are," Donnel said, crossing his arms against his chest. "I believe he's spending time with her again, so maybe it's best to leave those two alone," Donnel said while opening one eye slowly.

Magnus raised his eyebrow, "What are you– his dad? Come on, let's go find him."

He stepped in front of the window and pushed it open to reveal the wonderful Kingdom he ruled over. The clear blue skies, the fantastic music, and the beautiful props hanging above every corner to remind people of tomorrow's anniversary. It was all Magnus's, and he was proud of it. He couldn't stop laughing at the sight of everyone as he stroked his beard with glee. He pushed open the window and took a huge deep breath of the Kingdom again before making his next move.

He lifted himself with one leg and stepped out of the window. He roared Nyxons name while falling out of the window as he took flight. His body had flown over the city, and people had started to turn their heads, looking at their king in the air. Then just one head in the crowd had turned in the opposite direction, a young man flowing with curiosity in his veins. That man's name was-

"Nyxon! Nyxon!" A youthful voice shouted at him from behind.

It was Luna, the daughter and upcoming heir to the throne of the Queen of Prophets. She was an elf just like her mother and father and even took many resemblances to both of them. Nyxon always could admire her long golden hair and her deep blue eyes.

"Sorry, sorry– they were selling some food up here-" Nyxon said before grabbing even more food. He took a bite of the chocolate toads in his hand. He could barely contain how amazing it tasted." See? Oh, right– do you want one?" Nyxon asked.

Luna gave off an annoyed expression. Nyxon tended to mess around and walk aimlessly around the Kingdom. He and Luna had just finished walking around the town square before Nyxon smelt food in the distance.

"Nyxon," Luna said exhaustedly. "Sometimes I find it impossible how you manage to stay alive without me," she said as she fixed her long blond hair.

She had been running for who knows how long. Nyxon often snuck out of the kingdom just to have fun occasionally with Luna. He had known her since he was a young boy, and they were inseparable ever since that fateful meeting.

"You know you're supposed to be at the castle training, right? Your dad wouldn't like it if he caught you slacking off again." snapped Luna.

"He knows I don't like fighting for stuff like that. I'm sure he'll brush it off soon," Nyxon had said while reaching over for a kiss Luna on her forehead. He also managed to feed her a chocolate toad before she spoke again.

"Well," said Luna with her eyes closed. "As much as I want to run around the kingdom with you, you know we can't. You have responsibilities as a prince here. The least you can do is practice with your Aura.

Luna looks over to Nyxons hip. It's where he kept his sword for when things got rough. Although he would rather fight with his hands, it was required to always have a sword on you at all times.

"Also, did you tell your father you broke your sword again?" asked Luna.

"Shh! Don't say it too loud," Nyxon replied as quickly as he could before laughing. "Um, maybe later," Nyxon had said as he started to hold both of Luna's hands together with his own. "I wanna have fun! Just the two of us, really!"

Luna blushed, "But Nyxon, you know what tomorrow is, don't you? It's important you practice so that we can. Well– you know."

Her meaningful response led to no lies Nyxon could sense from her. Tomorrow was the most important day of his life, after all. Between his birthday and the celebration of the win against the war of Elderians, there was just so much to do that he didn't naturally have time to himself to do.

Nyxon and Luna wandered through the Kingdom of Esmus, looking at all the wonders and random assortments of races that flooded the Kingdom. Nyxon loved interacting with everyone. It made him a lot of friends. Luna and Nyxon saw street dancing happening in front of them. Nyxon could barely contain his excitement, "L-L-Luna! Look! People are dancing over there!" shouted Nyxon. Luna was having a hard time believing that he was really seventeen.

Luna laughed before being pulled by Nyxon, surprisingly. They danced as crowds of people started shouting cheers of joy at seeing Nyxon again. Luna and Nyxon danced for what felt like hours. Luna told Nyxon she would take a break but needed to check the time.

She glanced at the clock in front of her, "Two hours Nyxon, that's all the time we have left before you start to get tracked down again by your Father," She said in a loving and serious tone. She loved Nyxon dearly, but sometimes he just acted too stupid. But she loved him. Anything she would do for Nyxon, just as Nyxon would do for her.

"Aw, man! But there's gotta be something to do here, right?" Nyxon said in a disappointed tone of voice. "Look over there! That lady has her cat stuck in the tree!" Nyxon said before sprinting off in the cat's direction.

Nyxon leaped from branch to branch, pulling himself higher and jumping to new lengths throughout each branch he got even an inch towards the feline.

"Hey buddy, what are you doing over here?"

"Meow," The cat replied back.

"Do you wanna get down?" Nyxon asked as if the cat understood him.

The cat must have felt threatened, its tail had perked up, and it started to hiss at Nyxon in a way that it would soon attack.

"H-Hey hey, I'm only here to help!" Nyxon had shouted before having his face jumped on by the cat.

Nyxon remained that way on the tree branch that was nearly as tall as the buildings behind him. Nyxon had shouted for the cat to get off of him, but there seemed to be no response from the cat present as it had kept clawing away at the young boy's face as he had begun to fall from the tree and towards the ground.

"The Prince! The Prince is falling!"

"Can't he fly?"

The crowds turned to each other, "I thought he could?"

"Maybe he has a new trick up his sleeve?"

The people in the crowds started to question the young prince's abilities. It was no secret, Nyxon was born half-human and half-dragon, although he never liked his dragon side growing up, so instead, he usually kept his human self in check for his appearance. Turning into a dragon was also painful. The long fangs for teeth and the scales across his back and neck were also unappealing to him. Getting new clothes when he brought out his wings was also an ongoing issue for when Nyxon ever did even transform, so it was always just a final trump card for him. That was until his father had a unique accommodation just for him, so transforming was much easier for his clothing.

Nyxon continued to fall with the cat on his chest, twisting and turning, trying to sprout his wings, knowing he had no choice but to save himself quickly. But something was wrong.

"Come on, come on! W-Why can't I do it!" He thought, shouldn't something like this be second nature for Nyxson? Finally, coming to a close as Nyxon's face had almost met the ground, a shield had appeared over the ground briefly for a short period. The shield was very elastic, allowing Nyxon and the animal to fall safely to the ground.

"He's been saved!" The people shouted behind Luna, who had cast the shield.

"I don't know how he manages to do all of these things." Luna had thought to herself as Nyxon ran up to her as the cat leaped off of Nyxon's shoulder.

They made up for the lost time with a hug Luna's ears jumped from excitement as she chased after Nyxon, who had begun running again. Nyxon had reached a stopping point behind a tall building with no way out as he looked around aimlessly, trying to figure out a route to sprint toward the blacksmiths of his town.

"Well, I guess that means there's no way up," Said Luna sarcastically as she turned around to leave.

"Oh no, you're not! Come back!" Nyxon said as he picked up Luna over his shoulders.

Nyxons feet started to shake and swell with his Aura from the inside. He bents his knees and looked up as he crouched down one more time before jumping above the building. Luna had started laughing as she had shot up in the air with Nyxon by her side. Nyxon felt himself changing. He sprouted wings from his back to sustain himself in the air.

Luna raised an eyebrow, "So you have been training?"

"Kind of?" replied Nyxon.

"This sounds like the time for a quiz, Nyxon!" Luna shouted. Nyxon groaned, but Luna kept laughing at him. "So, what is an Aura? Or– just what does it do?"

Nyxon groaned obnoxiously. Luna pulled on his ears hard enough to make him reconsider his dialogue choice. "Aura is the... life energy of all living things. Aura exists around us everywhere we go?"

"That's right! Everything has an Aura. The water, you, the air around us." Luna said. "And if you master it enough, you can use it to manifest into other forms of energy." Luna started to press her hands together. A golden energy began to form around her hand, manifesting itself in the palm of her hand. "You can use it to enhance yourself or other weapons– and if you're good enough-"

"You can use it to make weapons and other creations," replied Nyxon.

Luna smiled. She was happy Nyxon remembered how his powers worked. She formed a golden lasso. It was pretty. "And do you know why my Aura has sparkles?" asked Luna. Nyxon shook his head. He didn't remember. Luna sighed, "Because we're born with noble blood, that's why."

"I definitely knew that," replied Nyxon. Luna smacked him playfully as Nyxon continued to laugh.

They laughed together again as they looked at each other in the air above everyone else. They were taking in the view of the kingdom as a whole as a refresher. It was nice to be up where they were. Nyxon could feel the air brushing against his hair. He couldn't get enough of the feeling– he felt free.

"I like being up here. We should do this more often!" Luna had said while clutching Nyxon.

"Well, maybe next time, the blacksmith is just a couple miles from here."

Nyxon had been talking and looking around for a few seconds now, trying to find the best possible way to get to the shop from where he was in the sky. Finally, deciding he could get there faster if he flew instead as a full dragon instead. He gathered as much courage as possible before throwing Luna in the air. Nyxon gathered as much as much hope as he could to transform. Luna laughed in the air as she saw a bright light from Nyxon's body. He had changed now.

Luna laughed and started to scream sounds of joy when on top of Nyxon. It was her favorite thing to do since she couldn't fly naturally. Nyxon didn't mind her on top of him as long as she didn't try to steer him like last time with his horns like when they were younger.

Minutes passed as Nyxon continued to fly through Esmus. He had gotten distracted as he passed by multiple attractions in The Kingdom. He finally managed to hover over where the blacksmith shop was. It had been easily identifiable by its pungent smell and black smoke exiting the chimney above. Nyxon being Half-Dragon was a handy thing to have. The sense of smell meant that finding things were very easy for him.

"Now Nyxon, just drop me carefully," said Luna as she held on to Nyxons horns again.

"Like this, right?" Nyxon said as he went back into his human form.

Luna had fallen headfirst with her arms crossed. Nyxon laughed at how angry she looked. Nyxon had a very contagious laugh, so it was only a matter of time before Luna joined in on the fun before Nyxon landed and saved them both. They both started laughing again before Nyxon stopped moving. He scratched at the scar over his eye again, "D-Damn-" complained Nyxon. Luna came over to inspect him, "Is it happening again?" She asked worryingly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," complained Nyxon.

Nyxon tried making Luna not worry, but she was persistent. Luna knew that these issues occurred for Nyxon. Nyxon's lightning bolt always bothered him, but that never stopped him.