"You, who will Free the dragons."
Icarus took a step back "what?"
Abe shook his head "I couldn't believe it at first either, however 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 or greater to 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 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 in an anomaly in and of itself!"
Icarus was shocked, he had assumed his mana was no different to others all his life, 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 then 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 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 beings existence to be a self keeping secret, the limit of this secret being it's name and appearance, however 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 murmered 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 be 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 spells variations he had realized when he received it, perhaps if it was the green dragon, he might be able to beat him with this new power, however...
He looked up, The man that 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 then a green.
Nevertheless Icarus had no choice, he stepped into the field of battle, 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, however I request that you do not do so." He said this last part while looking at strongly at the red dragon.
The red dragon laughed and looked at Icarus "Hey, it's customary for us dragons to give our name 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 gun that never missed, however 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."
Ingels 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 formation imbedded 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 up 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 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, dragons were resistant to fire, however he could not deviate from his strongest element, this was because the dragon was so strong 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 the mana, but 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 just 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 then 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, however since it was made of Icarus' own mana he was unharmed.
The ball formed into a small, undulating sphere, Icarus could not 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 has expected something slightly stronger then 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' 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 creatures entire body in an instant.
Icarus gasped as he was knocked from the stone worms body and sent high into the air.
Ingel flew after him but Icarus quickly cast a wind spell, repelling him back to earth and another wind spell to cushion his landing.
He still tumbled and rolled to his feet, he gather his remaining soldiers and they formes 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 Warthen 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 stood 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 "THATS ENOUGH!"
He entered his partial transformation, his horns grew and he became more draconoid then humanoid.
He grabbed the rock and hurled it, it flew and landed a few hundred feet away.
He roared and a jet of fire blasted forward the soldier.
A dome of earth rose up to meet the gout of flame, the clashed and 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 swing another punch and sent the dragon flying back to the training yard.
Ingel landed in a heap of scales, he rose staggered 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, the red dragon let out its fire.
A flash of light ten times brighter then the earlier attack Icarus had used.
The light faded, 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 kn his back where the fire had hit.
"you fool... I stopped it for you sake.."
Hidden from view, 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.