The Celestial Land

Chapter 5: The Man and the Dragon

Elleste was greatly frightened as she stared at the huge figure glaring at her right now. Its eyes seemed to contain fire that could even burn the sky, yet the tail was almost entirely covered in ice.

It was the figure of a huge coiling golden dragon. Although, it didn't even lift its body, the height was already 200 feet tall, giving off the sense of majesty.

She quickly backed away from it, terrified. Under the cold gaze of the golden dragon, Elleste nearly stumbled. She regretted that she didn't watch where she was going before, now she was probably going to be caught in dire situation again.

The dragon kept on looking at her with its terrifying cold gaze, it seemed to be annoyed that its sleep was distrupted by a mere human.

The sound of it even moving its head slightly sounded like the clanking metal. The noise greatly startled Elleste, her head was buzzing, yet she didn't stop at all. Her feet continued moving backwards.

As the dragon raised its head intending to smack the puny human into meat paste, a figure suddenly appeared right under it. He was wrapped in dark cloak, with his dark long hair flowing down to his chest.

The figure patted the dragon slightly, making it let out some noise that could be described as complaints, yet after meeting the gaze of the figure under him, he didn't dare to let out any noise again.

The dragon finally gave up. It looked at Elleste coldly one last time before resuming its sleep. There was a promise on that one last look, that the dragon would surely flatten her if she ever distrupt it again.

Elleste was stunned into silence at the sight before her. She would never have guessed that there would be such figure that could tame the ferocious looking dragon. As if sensing her gaze, the man suddenly shifted his gaze to her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, frowning deeply.

Elleste didn't know what to say, but she forced herself to finally answer, almost stuttering in process. "I-I am sorry. I didn't watch where I was going and got lost in process."

The man didn't give any response, but there was still a frown on his forehead. Unexpectedly, he walked to approach Elleste, making her to suddenly turn nervous.

Yet, at that moment, she finally could more clearly judge his towering figure. His face didn't look as pretty as those mage she had encountered before. There was some roughness on it, but at the same time the sense of otherworldliness.

It was as if he had gone through a lot of battles in his entire life. The pressure that he had unintentionally gave off was even stronger from Mage Lukas. Elleste could felt that her body suddenly felt more pressure as he arrived before her, the sense of intimidating force was even stronger than those she had met before.

"You are a human newcomer?" He asked again, the frown on his foreahed had already disappeared, making his looks became softer and more beautiful.

Elleste was caught in surprise before she finally recovered. She answered truthfully. "Yes."

"What profession are you?" His scrutinizing eyes suddenly landed on her.

"A beginner mage."

The man nodded, however, it was hard to perceive what he was thinking from his expression. It was unreadable. As the man continued on being silent, Elleste also didn't speak. She really wanted to excuse herself from the presence of this man so badly.

"What's your name?" Elleste was surprised that he even asked about her name. She hesitated for a moment before sighing inwardly. Some people had already knew her name after all, it was also impossible if she could make a lot of friends while remain hidden.

"Elleste Lunaria."

The man raised his eyebrow at her name, but he didn't say anything. He just turned around and walked away without saying anything, making Elleste felt even more speechless. What should she do now? This person was sure hard to read.

"If there is nothing else, then this humble one will leave. I once again apologize for the intrusion." Elleste excused herself as she glanced at his retreating back one last time before walking away.

"Elsaid Alskar." The voice was neither loud nor soft. But, when it came to Elleste's ears, she suddenly felt a slight jolt, making her momentarily stunned that she stopped her step.

It was as if there were a foregin feeling invading her body, though she wasn't sure what it was. The feeling didn't feel familiar, but it was also not unfaimiliar either, making her felt slightly confused. Thankfully, the feeling was gone as soon as it came.

She looked back, but the figure was already nowhere to be found. Only the dragon remained. It didn't move, but one of its eyes was opened.

This time, the dragon didn't seem as agressive as before. The way it was gazing at her filled with a sense of bewilderment and slight curiosity. It continued to look at her and scrutinized from head to toe before eventually just let out a snort and went back to closing its eye.

Elleste was still in daze from the earlier feeling. The foreign sensation greatly filled her with curiosity as well as making her felt horrified.

A sudden call suddenly pulled her out of her reverie. As she regained back her senses, she realized that someone was calling at her. She turned to find that the swordman who had brought her to be tested was catching up.

"Your name Elleste right?" The swordman looked around cautiously, even more when his gaze landed at the golden dragon, he seemed to be backing away slightly. "Don't go around by yourself like that again when you don't know the way."

Elleste was feeling slightly guitly now. "I am sorry."

The swordman just sighed and then he lead her away. "Let's go, don't disturb the Lord that is living here.".

Elleste slowly followed the man, but she heard about the last sentence, he was interested. "Who is the Lord that live here?"

The swordman didn't answer until they were already quite far from the dragon's location. The man gave Elleste a grave look.

"You are lucky that you didn't meet him. The Lord really has a bad temper and do not like to be disturbed." The swordman explained patiently. Elleste had a strange expression as she heard his words.

"Is he a mage?" Elleste asked curiosly. The man who tamed the dragon wasn't bringing any staff or sword before. He also didn't wear any armor like those warriors.

The swordman nodded before finally shaking his head. "That Lord is a special case. He is not very powerful as a mage, but he has another reason why people dreaded him. Even the mages or other professions of higher stages would usually steer clear of offending him."

Elleste continued to listen more attentively. She found that the man with the dragon was quite mysterious. "What is the reason?"

"He can summon some powerful beasts with his magic. Some people often called him Lord Summoner Elsaid. That dragon is his mount." As the swordman spoke, his eyes were filled with admiration.

"Lord Summoner Elsaid..." Elleste muttered quietly under her breath. So, it was his name. Elleste didn't know that he was telling his name at that time. She thought that he was using some ancient spells that could make her felt those foreign sensations. This made the man even more mysterious in Elleste's eyes.

"Only him can summon those beast?" Elleste asked again.

The swordman nodded. "The other mages had tried to use those summoning spells. Some of them worked while some didn't. While the spells worked, those usually only able to summon low level beast, while some of higher level beasts went beserk and couldn't be controlled. Only Lord Elsaid was successful."

Elleste nodded. Now, the profession of mage was even more interesting in her eyes. Those mages can even summon ferocious beasts to protect themselves.

After walking for a while, they finally arrived at Elleste's dwelling cabin. It was already noon and the man quickly went back to training. Elleste didn't know what stage the swordman had reached, but he seemed quite capable.

"What's your name?" Elleste asked, surprising the swordman.

The swordman suddenly let out a chuckle. "Eh, I haven't told you my name yet?"

Elleste only shook her head. She found that this man was rather honest and simple minded. She didn't mind making him one of her friends, as it would make her stay here also easier.

"My name is Markus Ivankov. Since you are new, if you have trouble with some areas here. Come and find me. I will help you." The man said.

Elleste smiled at the man's word and nodded. "I will, thank you."

The man nodded and then walked away. After he was completely gone, Elleste entered the cabin and just sighed. This day was surely full of new experience.

After a while, Elleste chose to completely focus herself towards thse things inside the magical ring. The ring was so amazing that it could store things inside.