Learning About Dragons

I put my hairpin back in along with my contacts. I tuck my boots, claws, wings, and horns away. I feel my Draconic Rage start to wear off and sigh. I fall against the wall and feel my head get lightheaded. Someone grabs my shoulder and pulls it. I see Liz glaring at me angrily and saying something. She sighs when she realizes I can't hear her and helps me walk back to the Dimension Door. I see Kagiyama has already typed in the code and we walk through. The next thing I know, I'm waking up on a bed. I look around for someone and get up. I realize I must've passed out in the Dimension Door. I walk out and see Strom walking down the hall.

"Eric, you're awake!" He says while running over to me.

"Hey Strom, how long was I out?" I ask.

"Not long, I think it's only been about half an hour since you returned. So do you have time now?" He asks and I think back to our last encounter.

"Sure, so what did you find out?" I ask and he hands me a piece of paper.

"So, first I compared your Mark to others we had on record. None of them were of Dragons but I figured it was a good place to start. After comparing it to hundreds of other Marks I think I might know what some of its circles do."

"What do you mean by some?" I ask him.

"Your mark has five magic circles in total. The big one that contains the other four is called the Base Circle. This circle is what binds you and your Familiar together. The rest are called Altered Circles. As the name implies, these are the ones that will alter your Familiar. Normally people only have one or two. On rare occasions, they'll have three but I've never heard of one with four."

"So what kind of effects could the Altered Circles have?"

"Practically anything. There are some that increase or decrease the Familiar's speed, attack power, magic power, and mana capacity. But I think I've found two of your four. One is accelerated growth. That'll make your Baby Dragon grow faster, as well as increase the speed of their mana and power growth." He says and I nod before thinking to myself. So he's going to grow and level up faster? If so that's going to be amazing.

"What's the other?" I ask excitedly.

"It's what we call Summon Familiar. It's a skill, rather than something altered. It allows you to summon your Familiar to your mark once a day. You can then bring them out. Most use this to bring their Familiars into battles." He says and I nod, thinking of how useful that'll be.

"Thank you, do you know where Kagiyama or Liz are?" I ask and he suddenly claps his hands.

"Right, Liz asked for you when you woke up. I got too excited to talk about the results. Here, I'll lead you to where she is." He says and I follow him. He leads me to another room I've never been in. Inside is a small couch and some chairs. It looks like a break room and even has a fridge and microwave. Liz is sitting on the sofa looking through her phone with earbuds on. Strom tells me he's going back to his research and I thank him before closing the door. She seems to hear this and turns to look. She takes her earbuds out and puts her phone away.

"Come sit." She says while patting the seat next to her. She says this as a demand, not a request. I do so and she looks at me. "Are you an idiot?" She asks, a little mad and worried at the same time.

"Sometimes, but why are you mad? He couldn't use his magic." I ask and she glares at me.

"It doesn't matter if he couldn't use his magic. He still had his eyes."

"What's so important about his eyes?" I ask her and she looks at me confused. She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder.

"I was about to tear you a new one y'know. I can't believe you don't know."

"Yeah, yeah. Stop lording your knowledge above me and grace me with it." I say and she starts laughing.

"Very well, the Demon Gods' eyes have the ability to drain your soul. This is why you passed out. This is an ability a few of the Gods have. It only works on those that are weaker than them and the weaker they are the faster they get drained. But, just like your horns, it's an ability that is physical, not magical. So it didn't matter if his magic was free or not. That's why we tried to stop you. We know you're strong but we don't know how strong the Demon God is." She says and I nod.

"Well, sorry to worry you." I say sincerely.

"You should be." She says all high and mighty causing me to laugh. She takes her head off my shoulder and straddles me. Before I can say anything she presses her lips against mine. When she pulls away I see a faint shade of red on her cheeks. I smile seeing this and she looks at me expectantly.

"You do know the other girls will barrage you with questions when they hear about this, right?" I say and she smiles.

"They already have. Especially Luna, they've asked me pretty much everything they could." She says with a laugh.

"So you've already talked to them about it?" I ask a little surprised.

"Yep, I'm no homewrecker. I made sure everyone was okay with it before doing this." I suddenly remember something that makes me laugh. "What is it?" Liz asks a little worried.

"I just remembered when Asami helped Luna do this, then when Myla helped Hino. I swear women are the most cunning creatures on earth." I say and she starts laughing.