The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

5.2 || A Tale of Sacrifice

Cale didn't speak for a moment, but he finally leaned back against the wall with a sigh somewhere between frustrated and exasperated. "I'll answer all of your questions. It's just odd because usually at your stage, you'd know the answers to them. This is an... unorthodox version of the bonding process," he said. "Bonds can start and then stop without completely forming, so Paladins watch those who are bonding with a dragon for a couple of weeks. If the bond continues to form, we approach the person and explain the basics. Then they choose if they want to bond with a dragon or not."

"Do they ever say no?" Josh asked.

Cale's jaw twitched, and his brows pulled down. "Not usually, no. Either way, that didn't happen with you. Things went wrong, so your choices from here are a little different."

Josh opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but a quick glare from Cale shut him up. Well, this question-and-answer session was loads of fun.

"Your mother wasn't wrong. We do have a way to sever the bond between you and Boomer if you wish." Cale spoke slowly, as if he didn't want to say the words. "It is an extreme measure, but we never want people to be unwilling Paladins."

Cale's response to his mom's words replayed in Josh's mind. Something about having his soul messed with. He shuddered.

"Your other choice is to proceed soul-bound with Boomer and join us," Cale said. His voice grew steadier and more confident as he spoke on this option. "You, and your family if they wish, will come with us to our base, where you will learn how to be a Paladin."

"And what exactly do you guys do?" Josh asked despite the scowl it earned him. He fought back a glare of his own. Cale and everyone else had made it clear that choosing to be a Paladin would uproot his life. It was his right to know what he was getting into.

"I was getting there, if you would just be patient. There's a lot to explain to someone completely ignorant of us, and the more you interrupt, the slower I get to explain."

"Then it's a good thing we have time," Mara cut in when Josh opened his mouth. She shot Cale a glare. "Please forgive him. This is our first time sent to guard a newly soul-bound. And when things go so far from right..." She shrugged and offered an apologetic smile. "It makes things a bit tense."

Cale looked like he wanted to add to that, but he kept his mouth shut. A smirk pulled at Josh's lips. Served him right.

Do you not like Cale? Boomer asked.

He just seems like he has something stuck up his butt.

"I believe it will best help you understand what we do if you know where the Paladins started. And that even requires us to go back. Far back, all the way to when humans first began to exist, because it is from that moment that they began to release energy."

Cale paused, and it was then he noticed Josh's quizzical stare. Cale took a moment to rub his temple before saying, "That is a term that will be further explained later, but for right now, just think of it as life force, and when there is an excess amount, it collects in the air around us."

A retort raised on Josh's lips, but he bit it back. He'd heard multiple definitions of energy. It wasn't his fault that the word left so much room for interpretation. Cale didn't need to explain it in a way that insinuated Josh was an idiot.

"Over time," Cale went on, "that pure life force energy coalesced into a being that developed sentience, emotion, and a will of its own. This creature became known as an Elemental because it existed by combining its own soul and the neutral energy given off by life force. These Elementals are known as spirits. Over time, some spirits took in life force from different forces of nature, and four other Elementals arose: the fire ifrits, the water merfolk, the air sylph, and the earth dwarves.