The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

Nianshi's plan was now in motion. His movements were like a floating leaf flown by the wind as he dodged. "How can I understand a dragonen1 when I'm a dragoon2?" 

Meirga was amazed watching him. She forgot her anger momentarily. Instead, she recalled the first time she laid eyes on him and fell in love. 

It was a calm and splendid night. She left the dragon mountain in the north to find her dinner in the forest when a flying shadow passed over her. Meirga looked up and saw Nianshi flying above her. 

He soared in the sky without flapping his wings. His calm and blissful flight did not stir the trees' leaves nor disturb the peacefulness of the night. If not of his shadow, she would not have known he passed by.

She was in awe. For a dragon, it took years to master such a lovely and sneaky flight. Only a few of the dragons had reached that level. If one could accomplish such a feat, her father would award him the title Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Dragon Knights in her dragon kingdom and had a grand chance to have her hand in marriage, the princess. 

With such skill, a dragon could fly at lightning speed and could ambush his enemies with his fierce flames without being noticed. So far, only a handful had reached this level written in the dragon archives. In fact, only one had such wonderful and deadly skill in the North Dragon Kingdom, the king himself, her own father. 

Nianshi was not even among her kingdom's knights, but just a passerby. And she fell in love with him.

She shook her head. This was not the time for amazement and snuck out from her reverie. She had her pride too as a spirit-guardian and a princess, nothing less. 

"Why are you like this? You know an oath of our dragon blood. Do you want to die?" She kept on attacking him with her daggers and flew as fast as her wings could to gain a vast distance from him. Yet, the gap had not changed even an inch. This infuriated her, but admitted the fact that this was the Great Nianshi she was facing.

"Who said I'll die?" He continued to laugh and flew around her while avoiding her daggers. 

This annoyed her more. How could he be so skillful and strong? "I hate you." And blasted a prolonged flame from her mouth. 

"Oh, oh." Nianshi looked at the incoming flame." This is not good. She might burn down the entire mountain" 

He squinted his eyes and swirled his body around the flame at a speed of light. And in a breath's time, he arrived directly in front of her. Before she knew it, his claw struck her chest, and she transformed into her human form.

"What… Noooo." She saw herself falling down. Meirga lifted her hand to shield herself from him and from hitting the ground hard, but he caught her up with his claw before she could put on the magical shield and flew down. Before his feet could touch the ground, his body changed into human form with her sitting on his muscular arms. 

"Let me go," she yelled, punching his opened chest. She wished to unleash her powers, but it was locked with that one hit on her chest. This was her hidden weakness where only her parents and Nianshi knew. She regretted trusting and telling him when he did not even reveal that weak part of him to her. 

"I hate you. How could you use this against me? Let me go." Her punches drummed on his broad chest, but he did not let go of her.

"Let me go," she shouted in his face. 

He frowned and let her fall down on the grassy ground.

"Ouch," she cried, massaging her painful butt. "Can you not be gentle with a lady?"

"I will if you want to be treated like one," Nianshi said with a serious face.

"Humph." She turned her back on him, hugging her knees.

Nianshi shut his eyes. They met on that unanticipated night while he was busy chasing a python with two heads, one on each two ends, who rampantly killed almost an entire village where he and the late Sorceress stayed for the night. 

A young dragonen suddenly joined him in his chase. He almost lost his target because of her unending questions. After a long chase, they killed the two-headed python, but she got wounded. He was about to leave, but she cried, insisting for him to treat her wound and nurse her to health. As a gentleman, Nianshi obliged. 

Being together for days and nights, her jolliness and sweetness made him fall in love with her, not knowing she was a princess. They vowed to marry, but fate separated them. This chance meeting was an unhoped for. Nianshi heaved a deep breath. How could fate play with them?

He took a good look at her back. Her pony-tailed hair was jet black and shining as the sunlight touched it. The white scales on her neck got his attention, as if she was wearing a thick white scale-necklace. He looked at her lovely pinkish feet with white scales around her ankles, fidgeting on the grass. Her black dress complemented with the smooth skin on her arms. 

He could not believe she became this beautiful since the last they met. A smile broke on his lips watching her fox-ears drooping. This told him she was anxious. Her ears were well hidden if she desired, no one could see it and up when alert.

A thought came to him. Her mistress might have planned this for him. This might be the reason the late Sorceress trapped Meirga. He knew his late mistress. This was all part of her plan when she sent him to hibernate. She would never lay a trap without a rational plan. Mostly, she would never act carelessly unless it involved the innocent and the animals. 

He looked heavenward. "Thank you, my lady."

His eyes softened, watching her pouting. "Meirmi," he gently said.

"What did you call me?" She jerked her head at him.

"Meirmi." He said again, but tenderly.

"You? Don't call me that again. I'm no longer a child." She got up and faced him, fists clenched.

"But for me, you're still my Meirmi," he said as soft as the wind. She was about to burst out in anger but was cut off when he added, "My precious. More beautiful than the Lavanna flower crystals in the sea of lava."

Her cheeks turned crimson and turned her back on him again. She touched her face, which heated with his words of endearment. "Really? Am I really more precious than those flower crystals?"

"Yes."

Her face turned crimson. Comparing her to those precious crystals meant that she was an irreplaceable person to him.

Those crystals gave life to an egg so it would break open. Without it, the dragon inside would die if the egg shells would not break at the right age. For a wounded dragon, those crystals heal and invigorate them. In fact, most dragons depended on it to build their magical abilities. 

"That means you'll marry me this time? And face King father?" Her voice was so sweet and endearing.

"Yes, the draconian blood is running in my veins. Our oath is worth our lives or will die if we won't keep it."

"Just because of that you'll marry me?" she said sheepishly.

"No, not just because of that, but because I love you and the only dragonen in my eyes."

She couldn't take it anymore and ran to him in that instant, hugging him tight. "You promise you'll marry me, but you vanish. Everyone said you and your mistress died. But I didn't believe what they said. I've been searching for you until I stumbled in that trap," she said while her head lay on his hairy chest.

"Sorry for making you wait. I was also in a trap. Sort of. My late mistress sent me into hibernation. I recently woke to assist my present mistress."

She moved back and looked at his face."Can we marry now?" Her eyes told him she yearned for it.

"Yes, but release my lady first. We need her blessings as my new master," he said gently, caressing her soft hair.

She uneasily looked down. "Ah… ah."

"What ah ah? Release her now and we'll get married. I know you've been waiting for it to happen."

She looked up to him again. "Ah, actually. I can't do that. In fact, the present Sorceress is now inside the domain of her predecessor. It was not mine. I can only send her there but can't take her out." female dragonmale dragon