It has started to snow once again and it shouldn’t be for winter is still a few months ahead. Yifan has been running for minutes now as he try to find his companions who have been separated from him when an Ice Golem had made a surprise attack on them. The burning on his legs are not helping the gnawing desperation inside of him because there is no time left and yet, he is nowhere near what he was looking for.

But what is he looking for, exactly?

The crunch of dried leaves and snapping of twigs under his boots resounded throughout the canopy of trees that serve as his temporary shelter from more of the Ice Golems that has started to roam the Eastern forest. He and his party has arrived a little too late because the Frost mage has already made his way across the five towns out of nine that is in the Eastern territory. What he had arrived to is a vast snow field without any trace of the towns that are supposed to be erected at the very lands.

Something pricked inside his heart as the failure has hit him again. Who knows how many of his people were left buried under that thick layer of ice that showed no mercy? There have been too many lives that have suffered because of the nonsensical conquering of the Frost mage. He has already acquired vast territory from the different kingdoms that he has passed through but it has been told that Dragonia is his ultimate destination for he is in search of the Dragon Fire, an immeasurable power that could obliterate the immense power that the mage holds. The Frost mage wants it destroyed at all costs.

Naturally, the Dragon Fire is kept by the Dragons, the ancestral roots of all Dragonia and those who have been in the direct line of the first Dragons have the seat as the rulers of all five territories of Dragonia. But years before Yifan was born, the Dragon Fire was said to be lost, extinguished from existence when the people have started practicing anything outside Dragon magic. The Dragon Fire was the essence of their existence and then the Dragons have lost their true selves, the Fire went with the last bits of Dragon that was gone.

People have learned from their mistakes and until now that Dragonia is under Emperor Chanming, Yifan’s father, the Dragons and all of Dragonia have stayed loyal to the Dragon practices and magic. But the Fire didn’t burn again.

Everything would’ve been given up if not for their Shaman’s words that the Fire is still alive. The whole Dragon race are still prospering, no? So year after year, a quest is set out in search for the Fire. The search is done blindly for nobody has a clue as to where to find it. The quests has already combed the whole Dragonia but it was fruitless. The search has been extended to the neighboring kingdoms and year after year, the same news of failure repeats.

The recent quest is the most ambitious out of all because the quest party is consisted of the most prized warriors of the army, Dragonia’s wisest adviser and best healer. It would’ve left Dragonia at a disadvantage from the Frost mage and his minions but there is now way for them to win over the mage if the Dragon Fire is not with them. It is their only hope and Yifan needs to move fast before the Frost mage marches past Northern Territory and enter the Heart of Dragonia, the capital of the country.

Yifan and the rest have barely gotten out of the boundaries of Dragonia when they were chased back into their lands, the Frost mage might’ve heard of their little quest.

“Yifan!” a distraught call caught the Prince’s attention and he swiftly served to his left to the source of the voice just then. He was pretty sure that it is Yixing. He internally prayed that their healer hasn’t gotten damage or else, they will have zero chance of surviving their barely starting quest. His sword kept on swinging by his side so he pulled it out by the hilt and prepared himself for anything that may attack him as he searched the woods for his companion. A faint rustling was what led him to where Yixing is and he breathed a little relief as he saw that the healer is unharmed.

He can’t say the same thing for Jongin though.

Yifan kneeled down beside the youngest among the rank of the Generals, his lips looking pale and his frame looking frail; a complete opposite of the confident and skilled young lad who had just been training for half the years his fellow Generals did (except for Zitao) but managed to rise through the ranks with ease. Chest heaving from the labor of breathing, Jongin looked like the nineteen year old that he is and Yifan felt panic. Jongin is a Conjurer and their only means to safety.

But the state that he is in, the Prince is sure that the General won’t be able to conjure any portal at the moment.

“Yixing,” Yifan prompted.

“I was not here when it happened, your highness,” the healer bowed his head in shame. “I happened to hear his cries when I was running from an Icycloid. And then I saw the glint off of your armor and called for you,” Yixing has his hands on the injured General’s forehead, his fingertips glowing lowly as he started to heal Jongin who was letting out whimpers and grunts as he clutched the left side of his chest and his left leg seemed to have twisted in a wrong way.

“The others?” Yifan asked and Yixing could only shake his head. The Prince had to trust his other General, Zitao, to have gotten hold of his adviser, Junmyeon. He can’t afford the burden in his conscience if something happens to any of them. They are his responsibility after all. If he is unable to bring this quest into success, how will he be able to run a whole country? A whole kingdom?

Yifan is about to set out to look for Zitao and Junmyeon when Yixing held him back. The look on the healer’s eyes were full of trust and hope that it was disarming enough for the Prince to stagger on his resolve. In the end, Yifan was settled under a tree with a trunk thick enough to conceal his folded form by its roots. He’s got a clear view of where Yixing and Jongin is. His General was still weak but he will be fully recovered after a full night’s sleep. As well as Yixing, who has expended a great amount of energy by healing Jongin’s broken bones.

The healer is humming lowly to himself and its effect on his patient was instantaneous because Jongin’s forehead smoothed out and his eyes weren’t pinched close. Yifan would’ve wanted to be in slumber too after the exhausting chase with the Ice Golem and the emotional and mental strain that the quest has put on him but he can’t. Yifan can’t afford to keep his guard down so he stood from his tree and approached the healer and his General.

“I’m going to Change,” he informed them. Jongin has already been asleep but Yixing’s eyes widened at this.

“Your highness, the minions of the mage will surely notice you! We cannot risk that!”

“But Zitao and Junmyeon…”

“Please, your highness,” Yixing pleaded as he put Jongin’s head down on the ground gently. “You have a purpose to fill and Dragonia would want you to be back with the Dragon Fire.”

“I can’t just abandon Zitao and Junmyeon out there. I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to them,” the Prince’s face fell and Yixing stood on his feet and grasped Yifan’s arms and looked into his eyes. He can’t have the Prince to be losing hope. There is so much at stake for this quest.

“We’re going to wait out until dawn, your highness. By then, Jongin will be back to normal and we can set out together.”

It turns out that they doesn’t have to wait until dawn because Zitao and Junmyeon stumbled upon the three of them for some Icycloids are on their tails. Yifan took it upon himself to carry their barely awake Conjurer and they zipped past the trees. The temperature around them are starting to drop, signaling that their nemesis are closing in on them. Disregarding Yixing’s warning and putting his companion’s safety first, the Prince halted on his tracks and passed Jongin who is finally awake, but still disoriented, to Zitao and he left a wide gap between himself and them.

Yifan’s shoulders hunched as he willed his wings to sprout from his back to start his Change. It is not without pain but after many times of doing it in practice, Yifan has already controlled his Change to be as quick and as manageable as possible. From his back, his silver-scaled wings with a span almost towering two horses unfolded. His body became taut and stretched as his skin turned a hue of grey. Before his companions’ eyes emerged Yifan’s Dragon form, in all its silvery glory.

They have wasted to time and climbed up Yifan’s broad back that easily fit the two Generals, the healer and the adviser. With a single pat from Yixing, the Prince took that as a signal as he lifted off the ground with no particular destination in mind. Up in the air, they could easily see half a dozen Ice Golems that were heading to the direction they were previously at. If they hadn’t flew up, there was no way for them to stop all of those golems at the same time.

Sure enough, Yifan’s enormity wasn’t missed by the Icycloids, creatures with human-like form but made of freezing ice, and they aimed ice daggers on the fleeing Dragon. Jongin took it upon himself to draw his sword as Zitao whipped out his stick and together they have deflected the daggers that might hurt Yifan. Zitao and his ability to slow time at certain spaces were holding the daggers away  and Jongin and his battle reflexes took care of those daggers that is outside if Zitao’s time bubble.

Yifan, instead of flying back home, headed to the boundary of Dragonia past the East territories to lure their attackers away from the capital. But after that, where exactly would he want to start the quest? Their initial plan has dematerialized already and they didn’t have time to make an alternate since they have been under attack. Junmyeon sensed his Prince’s distress.

“Your highness,” he spoke and a low grumble resonated along the Dragon’s body in acknow