"You, who will free the dragons."
Icarus took a step back. "What?"
Abe shook his head, "I couldn't believe it at first either, but there are too many things pointing to it."
He continued after pointing to Icarus, "You have an enormous amount of mana, I have the gift of mana sensing, the amount of mana you have is equal to or greater than any dragon in this town."
Icarus was shocked, "What? How is that possible?"
Abe shook his head. "I have no idea. Dragons are born with dozens to even hundreds of times the amount of mana as humans on average. Not even that, the quality of your mana is dark blue, the initial stage for humans is light blue, you were born with not an ounce of this light blue mana, which is an anomaly in and of itself!"
Icarus was shocked; he had assumed his mana was no different from others' all his life, and he wondered if humans even knew about the different colors of mana.
Abe crossed his arms. "I am not a superstitious person; however, there was a prophecy that perfectly details all of this and more. 'a human will appear one day on the Dragon continent, to free the dragons from their prison.' Do you know how this continues?"
Icarus shook his head, and Abe slightly chuckled.
"The Human will be as gifted as any Dragon, his magic will be as strong, his mind will resist the curse, and his weapon will be made from the god trees' wood, the pearl of the abyss, and the heart of the fire god."
Icarus was overcome with information, "Haven't there been other humans here? And what's this about a Curse? Or some God tree?
Abe sighed, "I'm sorry, I seem to have overwhelmed you. The truth is, this is because I have lied to you."
He took a breath. "There has never been another human on the dragon continent, the reason the other dragons looked at you strangely, the reason for that is that dragons above green stage have a curse on them, this curse makes other races fear them, especially humans, as for the materials, the sapphire is also known as the pearl of the abyss, fire elementals are sometimes known as flame gods, and the wood you picked out, was from a great tree known as the god tree."
Icarus was too stunned to speak.
Abe closed his eyes in great shame, "and this last thing... Makes me the most ashamed to say to you, but please. Know that I did this because I was not a believer in the legends."
Icarus stared intently, waiting for his next words.
"No dragon, other than myself, has left this continent and returned, other than myself, and for the last 200 years, I and everyone else have been completely unable to leave."
Icarus shook his head in disbelief and thought to himself 'you lied because you didn't believe? You risked this outcome, and it ended up coming true. I have to believe him because this is the worst possible scenario for him as well.'
He looked up at Abe, "So, does that mean I will also be unable to leave? I assume so since dragons are, and they are far superior to me in strength."
Abe shook his head, "No, Wyverns and lesser flying creatures have come and gone from here over the years, assuming this is also the case with humans, you will be able to leave as soon as you can fly."
Icarus frowned, "Fly? Levitation magic? I've tried, but the level of Mastery required is seemingly impossible to self-teach."
Abe nodded, "We have mastered it, of course, we can teach it; however, as mentioned, it may be hard to translate Draconic spells to Human spells as the configuration sometimes differs."
Icarus' head span "so, how do I 'free' the dragons if it will take me a couple of years just to free myself? And what will I free you from?"
Abe chuckled "I don't exactly know, we have had an ancient dragon who has foresaw this for the last 200 years, however he refuses to speak other then the words I've already told you, it's safe to assume you will have to leave first however, with your current strength you cannot even perceive the barrier that blocks us dragons from leaving."
Icarus was baffled by this: "So you don't know what created the barrier?"
Abe's expression turned grim. "Yes and no, we do not know what being did so, we expect the being's existence to be a self keeping secret, the limit of this secret being its name and appearance, we do know that this is not a naturally created barrier."
Icarus shook his head in confusion, "This is all just too much. I'm sorry, but I really need to leave."
Abe frowned, "That will be hard. But very well, we can begin the necessary procedure for you to be able to leave now."
Abe quickly grabbed Icarus and pulled him out of the building, deaf to his protests.
The crowd outside had grown slightly, and they all murmured in hushed voices as Icarus was pulled past.
'am I really some kind of chosen? This all seems unreal. What do they even want me to do?'
He was dragged around, the group followed behind slowly, and they arrived at a training yard. Icarus' eyes widened as he saw what awaited him.
Abe let go and pointed, "You have to beat him. That is the only way you will know that you are strong enough to leave; otherwise, you will simply fall to your death."
Icarus protested, "What?! Don't I just have to learn levitation magic? How does beating him in a fight help?"
Abe shook his head, "You will learn that and more to beat him. Of course, we also need you to get strong, so once you land, the eastern beasts and nations won't just kill you in the first moment, and there is another task you must undergo if you wish to leave here that will require this strength."
Icarus turned away. "Damn it!" Looking down at the staff, he thought of the countless spell variations he had realized when he received it. Perhaps if it were the green dragon, he might be able to beat him with this new power, however...
He looked up. The man who awaited him was not the green dragon; it was the red dragon that had been about to cut him down when he first got here. The strength of a red dragon was rumored to be an order of magnitude higher than that of a green.
Nevertheless, Icarus had no choice; he stepped into the field of battle, and Abe walked into the middle and began to speak.
"This contest will begin when I give the signal. I will step in if you are going to cause lethal harm to one another. I request that you do not do so." He said this last part while looking strongly at the red dragon.
The red dragon laughed and looked at Icarus. "Hey, it's customary for us dragons to give our names before a duel like this. I am Ingel, pleased to make your acquaintance, chosen one."
A bead of sweat ran down Icarus' forehead as Ingel pointed at him, "Also, to give you a handicap, I'll allow you as much time as you need to prepare your first attack, I won't even move until you unleash it."
Icarus couldn't believe what he was hearing. A small glimmer of hope appeared inside him, giving a mage time to prepare was almost like giving an assassin a gun that never missed. Icarus paused, as he knew this meant the dragon was exceptionally confident that nothing he could do could harm it.
Nevertheless, Icarus nervously replied, "I am Icarus, I accept your handicap, Ingel, thank you for this match."
Ingel's eyes narrowed, and he did not respond. Abe stepped back and raised his hand to the sky.
Chop!
He lowered his hand swiftly and disappeared. Icarus quickly cast an earth dome around himself. A moment passed, and nothing happened. This was just a precautionary measure to see if Ingel would go back on his word.
Icarus sighed in relief and began casting inside the dome.
He was keenly aware of his immense mana and had a clear visualization of how it looked within him. He also now has a gate which he could visualize in the form of his staff, not only this, but the staff had a three-dimensional spell formation embedded inside of it, allowing him to further fine-tune certain spells.
Icarus began thinking, the earth grew up, and around him, they formed humanoid bodies, not all of them perfect, but with his massive mana, he could easily make an enormous quantity.
They rose, and he began the second stage. He emitted mana and imbued it in each of the soldiers; it functioned like bones and muscles, allowing the earth's soldiers to move.
Icarus only did this as he knew he stood no chance in this fight; even with these soldiers, he would likely fail to even damage his opponent, so he was just using this as a testing ground for his unleashed abilities.
Indeed, the soldiers began to stir on their own; he didn't even have to manage them.
The support part was done, now it was on to the next spell. He held his staff forward and closed his eyes.
Fire formed in the center of the three-dimensional formation that was produced by the tip of the staff. Icarus focused intently. It was common knowledge that Dragons were resistant to fire, but it would be foolish if he were to deviate from his strongest element. This was because the dragon was so strong that other elements would be practically useless, as the spells would be too weak.
However, Icarus had wondered about magic for a long time. Fire could be heated through brute force, but it was extremely taxing on one's mana.
He had never tried combining multiple types of magic before, mostly due to his lack of a gate, which he could visualize. However he knew from his time on earth that strong winds could fuel flames.
Maybe if he combined wind with fire, he could bolster the flames even further...
There was no better time to test it.
The fire glowed white-hot, and if he tried to pour more mana into it, it would simply be a waste.
He imagined a ball of air forming within the fire, small at first, but slowly growing bigger.
The fireball erupted with enormous recoil. He nearly lost control of the staff but held on. He could not fire yet; if he did, it might not be strong enough to harm the dragon!
'It's time for the second last act!'
Icarus imagined his mana flowing around the dragon; he would have to time this perfectly.
He managed to cast two spells at the same time; the mana formed invisible chains that bound the dragon in place. He did not notice as he had not even attempted to move this whole time.
The massive white fireball, easily ten times stronger than the one he had previously used, began bubbling and stretching. Icarus had begun condensing it into more of a ball of pure heat.
The heat radiating off of it was almost enough to burn the air itself, since it was made of Icarus' own mana, but he was unharmed.
The ball formed into a small, undulating sphere. Icarus could no longer control the recoil.
It fired, losing its spherical form and turning into a massive beam of pure heat.
Ingel tried to brace.
His eyes widened as he realized he couldn't move.
The stream of fire made contact.
It did not explode or stop; it travelled through, melting all in its way.
The stream passed through the surrounding mountain wall and out of sight in mere moments.
The crowd stood around them, hushed.
Icarus stared; he had expected something slightly stronger than his previous spells.
This was beyond his wildest dreams.
'theres no way... Did I really... Kill him?'
There was dust and smoke in the air, clouding their view; only a path of destruction lay in the wake of the beam.
And suddenly, a gasp from the center, and the smoke was blown apart.
"Shit! I thought I was gonna die!"
Ingel stood where he had been, seemingly completely unharmed.
The magical chains that had bound him were destroyed and had evaporated.
Ingel smiled, "I guess that means go!"
He blitzed forward and instantly disappeared from view. Icarus's stone soldiers ran and met him, but were blown away one by one, only saving Icarus a few seconds.
He cast an earthen dome and rose high into the sky on a pillar of earth.
The pillar changed into the shape of a massive worm and flew towards Ingel.
Ingel tore apart several stone soldiers and blitzed straight through the creature's entire body in an instant.
Icarus gasped as he was knocked from the stone worm's body and sent high into the air.
Ingel flew after him, but Icarus quickly cast a wind spell, repelling him back to earth, followed by another wind spell fired at the ground beneath him to cushion his landing.
He still tumbled and rolled to his feet, gathered his remaining soldiers, and they formed a shield in front of him.
They disappeared in a flash.
Ingel stood before him, his fist cocked back.
"There are still worlds between you and me."
Ingel sent him flying from the arena with a blow. Icarus fainted from his injuries.
Ingel stood tall and laughed. He had truly thought that attack was something special; he had seen a well-respected mage perform a similar attack five hundred years ago, but he supposed he had grown much since then.
"The stone soldiers were also weak, barely even a distraction."
As he said this, he heard another earthen soldier's footsteps come up behind him.
"Hey, your master is already done, don't you get the memo?"
As he turned, he saw the rock soldier standing behind him, his arm raised as if to throw a blow.
Ingel laughed and lazily swung his sword at the rock creature.
By this point, the crowd had already dispersed, somewhat dissatisfied with the level of their to-be savior.
The rock soldier connected first.
His blow sent Ingel flying and dazed him.
"What the hell was that?! There is no way that rock hits that hard! Even the boys attack didn-"
The rock appeared in front of him again, it slammed a fist into his torso and winded him.
It threw another punch, an uppercut aimed at his head.
Ingel shouted angrily, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"
He entered his partial transformation, his horns grew, and his scales covered most of his face, arms, and torso.
He grabbed the rock and hurled it; it flew and landed a few hundred feet away.
He roared, and a jet of fire blasted from his mouth toward the soldier.
A dome of earth rose to meet the gout of flame, and they clashed almost instantly after, the rock man appeared beside the dragon again.
Ingel roared and swiped.
The rock man dodged and kicked the hand, breaking the bones.
It then swung another punch and sent the dragon flying back to the training yard.
Ingel landed in a heap of scales, and he rose, staggering to his feet.
"I'll end this!" He roared, and fire blasted outward from his body as it grew in size and shape.
His wings bloomed from his back, his horns grew massive, and his face fully shifted into that of a dragon.
He let out a blood-chilling roar, and by now the entire crowd had come back.
"He's really serious!"
"Should someone stop it?"
"oh it's just getting fun!"
The rock man braced to jump into another blow, and Ingel charged up a massive blast of fire. It was clear this was the final exchange.
Abe shot out from the crowd, his black scales shining, his appearance changing slightly as he looked worried.
The rock man jumped, and the red dragon let out its fire.
A flash of light ten times brighter than the earlier attack Icarus had used.
The light faded, and in the center of the attack stood Abe. He gasped and held up his arms, signifying the end of the battle.
Ingel protested angrily
"It's just a rock! Why stop me from destroying it?"
Abe gritted his teeth; no damage showed on his back where the fire had hit.
"You fool... I stopped it for your sake.."
Hidden from view was the side where he had been hit by the stone man.
His black scales were crushed in the shape of a stone fist.
The Stone Man had crumbled away, the last of its power gone.
But the one who had created it was still alive.
The crowd, Abe, and Ingel all stared at him.
The chosen Liberator of the dragon race.
Icarus.