Even though he had spent time like this with the dragon, Jason still couldn’t use his energy. That was the next step, a part of his desire to bond with him, to gain an understanding of the power within the night dragon. He hadn’t succeeded, not yet, but he was optimistic he would do so.
“What’s wrong?”
The night dragon turned away, slipping between the trees.
Now that Jason held onto the power of the iron dragon, illuminating all of the forest, he no longer struggled to see the dragon disappearing. It wasn’t as if the dragon were doing anything to try to mask his disappearance, either. Though he slipped off, he didn’t disappear in a way that made it difficult for Jason to see him.
Jason followed.
The dragon headed deeper into the forest, and as they went, Jason knew exactly where the dragon intended to go. He’d been here before, and knew it well.
He shifted the illusion all around him, creating another layer, making it so that there wasn’t anything to be concerned about. He didn’t want anyone else, even from Dragon Haven, to interfere.
Not that he thought that anybody from Dragon Haven would cause any problems for this dragon, but Jason didn’t want to startle the dragon, and he wanted to have an unencumbered opportunity to continue to work with the dragon.
The night dragon glanced back at him, turning in his direction.
A burst of power came from him and struck Jason.
He squeezed a barrier around himself and waited.
The night dragon turned toward him, radiating energy again. “I would like to leave these trees,” the dragon said.
He stopped in a small clearing. This was where the egg had hatched, and there were still fragments of the shell remaining. Jason had one in his pocket, his way of trying to see if he might be able to connect to the dragon in a different way, but so far that shell hadn’t done anything to help Jason establish that connection. He didn’t know if it would or not, but he also worried that if the shell were to be found by someone else, there was a danger to the night dragon. The other pieces of shell were within Dragon Haven, secluded in a room that Jason had sealed off with a powerful illusion.
“What do you hope to find outside of the forest?”
“Something else,” the night dragon said.
Jason leaned against one of the trees, watching the night dragon. He was so different than the other dragons.
Of course, when it came to these dragons—the misfits—all of them were different from each other. While the night dragon might be small, there was no doubt in Jason’s mind that he was powerful. As far as Jason could tell, the dragon had considerable energy trapped within him, and he could use his power and energy in order to reach for the kind of magic that the other dragons could not.
“The others aren’t sure it’s safe for you to leave yet.”
“The others are afraid,” the night dragon said.
“Yes,” Jason said. He stepped forward and crouched down next the night dragon.
He swished his tail, the only part of him that was enormous. It was incredibly long, snaking out from him, long enough that he could wrap it all the way around the entirety of his body.
“There is someone out there who would try to control the dragons, and she has already attempted to do so with the others.”
“But she has failed,” the night dragon said.
“So far, she has failed,” Jason agreed.
“Then she would fail with me,” the night dragon said. He looked over, and those dark eyes held Jason. Power seemed to swirl into him, trapping him. “You haven’t been able to hold me with only the energy of one dragon.”
“I haven’t,” Jason agreed.
That was part of the game, their way of trying to work together to see if there was anything that Jason might be able to do to hold the dragon, and in all the times he had attempted to trap the dragon, a single connection wasn’t enough. The night dragon could break free when Jason held him with the energy of the ice dragon or the iron dragon or even the forest dragon. Jason hadn’t attempted to do so with the storm dragon, though his connection to that dragon was different, not nearly as potent as it was with the others. Regardless, only in mixing had he been successful in holding the night dragon.
Part of that might just be a failing of Jason’s, not necessarily a sign of how powerful the night dragon could be, though he couldn’t help but wonder if it truly did demonstrate the true strength of the night dragon, of the power that existed within him.
“You’re right, but the person we worry about can command hundreds of dragons,” he said.
“You have freed most of those dragons,” the dragon said.
“I’ve freed as many as I can, but there remain hundreds still trapped.”
“There are others that need freed.”
“From her?”
Jason created an illusion, holding an image of Jessica. She stood on the far side of the clearing, her arms crossed, a dark tilt to her jaw. She had dark black hair, deep brown eyes, almost black, and pale skin. She was dressed in a dragonskin jacket and pants, much like she had the very first time he’d met her.
Despite the illusion, there was an anger and energy that filled her, and Jason couldn’t help but feel as if there was something within the illusion that he needed to be careful creating. Every so often, he wondered if the illusion had more power than he suspected.
He knew illusions, especially those illusions that shifted reality the way that he had the ability to do, could call upon power that brought more energy into existence. When it came to Jessica, he worried about giving it too much power. So far, they had defeated her, pushing her back and preventing her from probing toward Dragon Haven. For now. Eventually, he worried that would change, and when it did, he wanted to be ready to protect Dragon Haven.
“She doesn’t look too powerful,” the night dragon said, swishing his long tail toward her. Shadows streamed off the tail. They swirled around the illusion, shattering it.
It was a physical sensation when the illusion shattered. More than that, there came a surge of power that exploded, and it sent a shiver radiating up through him.
He tried to ignore it, trying to focus only on holding onto the illusion rather than trying to use it as an opportunity to combat the night dragon, but he couldn’t help feeling as if there was something that made it difficult. He struggled with it.
The more power that streamed off the dragon, the more he could feel the change, the way that energy shattered.
“Not only from her, though,” the night dragon said. It seemed to Jason that he became more confident each time they spoke.
He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He noticed the energy the night dragon held onto, and as he did, he tried to hold onto something different, attempting a different approach. Rather than fighting through the burst of energy the night dragon used, Jason tried to solidify the illusion in a different way, shifting it.
He allowed the shadows to slide through the illusion, but once they were through, he added a hint more of power, connecting to the illusion again. Doing so, he felt the power that he’d been holding onto shatter, but then it reformed in a way that allowed Jason to maintain it again.
The night dragon looked over at him. “Why do you hold this image?”
“Practice,” Jason said.
“Why must you practice?”