Draylen stood paralysed by the massive entity that sat in front of him, sweat dripping off of his forehead. Charcoal, who was immune to the pressure of higher draconic bloodlines shook in fear on Draylen's head, claws digging into his scalp. The lion cubs had fallen silent and were cuddling with one another, whilst the lioness and the black cub were hiding at the deepest part of the cave.

'What is a dragon doing here?!'

The green dragon seemed to be focusing it's luminous eyes on mostly Draylen, whilst also observing Charcoal. A blast of hot steam which escaped it's nostrils caused everyone, who seemed to be frozen with fear to jump in terror. Draylen managed to regain control of his body and attempted to retreat into the cave but discovered that his legs had turned to jelly and directly fell over.

Seeing this, the large passenger plane sized monster (those don't exist, just for reference) actually began to snort in laughter, letting out a breath which smelt like fresh earth to blow Draylen and Charcoal back into the cave and hit the wall with some force.

"Apologies, little ones. I did not mean to scare you." A strangely gentle feminine voice echoed out, although gentle a hint of pride and strength could be heard.

"Yeah right, you definitely planned that!" Draylen blurted out, quickly covering his mouth in panic upon hearing himself think aloud.

The dragon chortled once more, albeit with less dramatic side effects. It then lowered it's head to get a better look at the young boy which had peaked it's interest.

"Hmmnn, I have not seen one like you in a long time." It mused, a thoughtful expression on it's scaly face.

The expression was returned with a puzzled look.

"What?" Draylen asked sceptically, wondering why a proud, mighty figure like a dragon would play tricks on him.

"Oh, you probably don't know, I've been watching you for about a week now." The dragon said casually.

"Did you use magic?" Draylen asked curiously, no longer afraid upon seeing that the dragon did not harbour any intentions to harm him.

'If it wanted to kill me, I'd already be dead.'

"Hmm? No. My daughter was watching you personally, but enough of that. My name is Arboria and I am the earth avatar that guards this valley. Any strange occurrences going on here cannot escape my attention." Arboria boasted, raising her head high and sitting in a lofty position.

"And a human coming here is strange?"

"Of course. Usually, I'd be visited by a Draconic Elder (Elder Dragon Summoner) who would want to use dragon blood for their alchemic experiments, but instead I found a scrawny kid who could barely defeat a tier 1 beast."

'Gee, thanks.'

"But it turns out, that this scrawny kid who could barely defeat a tier 1 beast managed to hunt a Giant Forest Boar, which was 2 tiers above his and then teach himself magic, along with becoming friendly with a family of tier 5 beasts. You think that this is not strange?" Arboria looked at him with an intrigued expression.

"Er, well, if you put it that way it does seem odd." He said.

'Isn't that normal?' Draylen yelled internally.

"Exactly. Now, then he managed to discover something which I could not, a strange disease in one of the beasts which I guard as well as instantly leap 4 tiers and become a Neophyte."

"Well, I'm not really sure how any of that happened either, but why did you come to see me personally?" He asked, slightly impatiently.

'She's telling me all this, but why?'

"I was just getting on to that. I said earlier that nothing in the valley can escape my attention, yet something did. The Lioberus cub in that cave was afflicted with a disease which blocked the flow of mana from it's heart to it's body. I originally thought that it was due to the cub's weak strength, however, after scrutinising it more clearly, I realised that it was an artificial affliction, not something natural." Arboria said, her tone getting harder as she explained that the affliction was manmade.

Draylen frowned.

'That means that someone is able to enter this valley without drawing the attention of this giant green dragon and poison a tier 5 cub, either this person is extremely strong, or is especially skilled in disguise.' He thought in a concerned manner.

'This means that the perpetrator might even be stronger than Arboria.'

"I also know who did this. Tell me, little boy, have you ever heard of the Fallen?"

Draylen's eyes widened.

'Aren't these the guys that the old man told me about? Why are they here?'

"I thought that the Fallen were eradicated ages ago!" He exclaimed.

"They are like a virus, even if it is cured once, it'll just come back stronger after biding it's time. This is why they are such a big problem. Right, we'll need to catch this infiltrator before he reports back to his leaders and wring their base's location from his brain." Arboria explained, slightly hurried.

"Yes- wait what do you mean us? I'm young and weak, I can't help! I actually know someone who might be able to help though." Draylen responded urgently.

"Yes I said 'we'. And I know that this person you speak of isn't here presently and that you'd have to leave the valley in order to contact him yes?"

"Well obviously-"

"As soon as you leave, the infiltrator will kill you. You managed to cure his poison and naturally have entered his sights. He won't let someone who has witnessed signs of the Fallen live." Arboria cut in.

"Why don't you protect me on my way there then? I'm certain the journey would only be a few hours at most if I ride you." He countered, set on not participating.

'I'm only a tier 4 Neophyte, on top of that I've only just broken through, even I don't know what I'm capable of!'

"I'm warning you now little boy, don't ask to ride a dragon, ever in your life, unless you have come to terms with them." Arboria said, in a stern voice, as if telling off a naughty child.

"Anyway, I can't leave this valley, who knows what the infiltrator will do once I leave. Thus, you must stay and help."

"Fine, whatever, I'm not even sure what I can do though." Draylen said, exasperated.

Arboria thought for a moment before responding.

"You have just broken through tier 4 and gained elemental mana, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"The only case of one person attaining perfect elemental balance in their body before was none other than the Auria empire's legendary Dragon Knight."

Draylen stared at her with his jaw almost hitting the floor.

'I thought that it was only a rare occurrence, doesn't that mean that I'm the second in recorded history to have every element in my body?'

"Fate is a wondrous thing, little one. Everything happens for a reason and I'm certain that you must play a part here. For now, since your combat power is worse than my 5 year old daughter, you can play a supporting role."

'Why is she subtly comparing me to her daughter?' (Asian parents anyone?)

"Fine, what should I do?"

"I need you to practice and get used to your new power. Try and master manipulating your mana, but when training do not leave the valley or go away from this area. The closer you are to the mana vein, the quicker I can assist you in case of trouble." Arboria commanded in a domineering manner.

Draylen nodded slowly, before walking back toward the cave.

"If you do meet our foe, stall for time, don't take any risks." She warned once more.

"Got it."

Soon, the young boy vanished into the darkness of the cave. Seeing the boy leave, the large dragon heaved an exhausted sigh. A comparatively smaller little green dragon emerged from a nearby tree and playfully bit down on Arboria's ear.

"Stop it, Aria, mother is feeling tired."

"Sorry mom." The green dragon apologised in an unapologetic manner.

Arboria just sighed once more, before slowly taking flight. Aria, the small green dragon and her daughter sat behind the large dragon's ear.

"Who was that kid, mom?"

"The direct descendant of a person who was very important to me, silly girl." She answered with a slightly distant look.

Aria just nodded, knowing that this certain topic was very sensitive for her mother.

'I must get stronger soon so that I can help my mom.' She thought resolutely.

Normally, for humans, they didn't start to cultivate or breakthrough tiers until they hit the age of 18 and in some cases 16. Naturally, Draylen was an exception. For long lived monsters, like dragons, they started cultivating since birth, one could say that they began cultivating before learning how to breathe, however they gained power much slower than humans.

This was like nature's way of balancing power, humans had a short life span and thus must gain power quickly in order for them not to be crushed underfoot by opposing races, whilst dragons, who were naturally very powerful must have a limiting factor on their growth, in this case being their slow cultivation speed.

Meanwhile, in a certain cave... (Yeah, I'll be changing locations real soon.)

Draylen entered the cave, met with the yowling lion- no, Lioberus cubs. After the past week, the young boy felt somewhat close to the goofy little monsters and treated them as he would his own familiars. After messing around with them, he walked at a leisurely pace to the deepest part of the cave, where the lioness and her black cub were.

The black cub, which was originally sleeping, awakened and jumped up upon seeing a stranger which it couldn't recognise but somehow felt very familiar with. It gave Draylen a confused look, before curiously trotted over upon seeing it's mother acting friendly to him.

"Hello there black cub, how are you today?" Draylen cooed in a kind manner.

Upon hearing the strange unfamiliar, familiar person greeting it kindly, the black cub stuck it's tongue out with a grin and licked his hand. The slightly warm and sticky sensation caused Draylen to smile fondly and begin to pet the tiny cub.

-Grrrrr

The moment of happiness was ruined by the sound of the lioness growling in animosity. Startled, Draylen quickly retreated, thinking that he had angered the mother by being too touchy with her cub but this doubt was quickly cleared away upon smelling a metallic scent which he had been very familiar with over the past week during hunting.

'Blood...'

Draylen quickly dashed forward, through the large tunnels of the cave. His mind whirred as he began to think up different scenarios of what happened, but the only thing he could think of were extremely bad.

Suddenly, his footsteps stopped.

His eyes were wide with horror.

He saw the cubs

lying in a pool of red.

"What."

A punch that came from nowhere punctured straight through his stomach, blood flew everywhere and Draylen smashed into the cave's hard rocky wall. A grotesque crunching sound echoed out as he sank back, blood flowing from his waist and mouth.

The lioness, which had followed him, roared in agony upon seeing her cubs lying in their own blood. Her eyes turned red and her body size doubled. Colossal claws sprouted from her paws and spikes emerged from her tails.

She turned to face the strange distorted figure responsible for the slaughter. Draylen, who was on the verge of passing out saw the expression of rage and anguish.

'Kill him!'