Gravity Rain

II. The Dragon Of Time

"Aizu! I thought I taught you better!" The boy glared at the princess with powerful magic emitting throughout his whole body.

Masumi Shimizu was his name, and everyone in the village knew him as the legendary nine tailed fox. Usually, nine-tails are supposed to be women but that's not the case for Shimizu. It was quite rare to see a male nine-tailed fox. His pupils slowly turned into an orange-ish color which means he's getting quite angry.

"What is this summoning a monster I'm hearing about?!" He yelled, luckily the librarian was his father and he went out to give time to the three friends to talk. "No one is summoning under my watch, like Azusa said, you must lead this kingdom away from poverty"

Aizu chewed at the end of her thumb while making a distressed sound. "Do you think it's easy to run a kingdom all by yourself? I..I don't even know what's happening in the village anymore! I'm too young to run a kingdom"

"And quite naive at times.." Azusa placed his book down on the table and heaved out a small sigh. He shook his head and stood up, placing a hand on top of the fox's shoulder in effort to calm him down. But even so, if Shimizu is angry, he is very angry. No one can easily calm him down without a fight.

"This is what I kept talking about.." Shimizu mumbled to himself as he slumped down on one of the library's chairs. "I told you to get one of those royal lessons that princesses and princes take. It teaches you how to run a kingdom properly"

"Shimizu, you took one of those lessons right? Maybe you could teach Aizu over here the basics" Azusa suggested since the atmosphere is getting thick and tense, they're also probably making a huge ruckus that the villagers outside all heard them.

"Oh yeah, Shimizu is a prince back in his kingdom huh.." the princess crossed her hands and muttered in a low voice.

Shimizu came from a kingdom where all magical and mythical creatures lived. It was a wonderful place until an evil entity decided to pay the world a visit making all the creatures turn into a stone. Shimizu was just a little prince when these all happened, he was rescued along with his little brother by a wizard. Some of the rescued mythical beings had sought for refuge in different kingdoms, scattering so that the entity won't find them.

Weirdly enough, his little brother isn't a nine tailed fox like Shimizu. He's pure human but possesses powerful magic though, he doesn't know how to control it yet.

"You know what's an easier plan?" Aizu smiled and abruptly stood up, "Why don't we search for my brother? In that way, he could run the kingdom!"

Shimizu and Azusa lightly grimaced, they both looked at each other and sighed deeply.

"Look Aizu," Shimizu placed both his hands her shoulders and looked at the princess straight in the eyes. "Naoki.. Your brother, he's not coming back anytime soon. He.. well, he doesn't want to be bounded in this kingdom and rule it. He wanted to be free.."

Azusa nodded silently, "But.. unfortunately getting your freedom comes with an expensive price. He had this prophecy that even he didn't know about. One day, we just saw him turn into a dragon and that dragon eventually became stone"

Aizu looked at Azusa weirdly, "A dragon that turned into stone? You're kidding right? Please tell me my brother didn't turned into stone and he's alive, just living in a distant village"

Shimizu's ears slightly turned down and shook his head, "No. But, I think Daniel knows how to un-petrify a creature. Maybe, you should go an visit him?"

"Do you have any idea where my brother is at least?"

Azusa pursed his lips and nodded. He led Aizu towards a window in the library which pointed at an old tower where a powerful dragon used to live.

"See that?" He whispered, "That's where the Time Dragon used to live right?"

She gave him a small nod.

"You see.. your brother, IS the dragon"

Aizu went silent until a sigh escaped her lips as she grab her cloak and put it back on. She turned to look at both Shimizu and Azusa and nodded, "Let's go to Daniel. I want to cure my brother as soon as possible"

Aizu, Shimizu and Azusa made their way towards a small cottage near the library. Good thing it's in the alleyways as well, they do not dare to come across the raging villagers just yet. A sign was hanging on the side of the wall with the words ' マジックショップ  ' written on a wooden board. It directly translates to the word magic shop.

Even so, the whole cottage itself radiated some sort of energy. A positive energy that would make others feel at ease and comfortable within the range of the magic.

The princess, wizard and the nine tailed fox all went inside the magic shop. It was such a cozy atmosphere once you step in, the scent of flowers and somewhat pastries all mixed together and it smells like a small café.

"Daniel!" Shimizu yelled for his brother to come out.

While Azusa and Aizu all looked towards a shelf with colorful flasks, each holding different liquids. The nine tailed fox looked at the two humans with a fond look before transforming into his original fox state and sitting on a small, cyan colored bean bag. He stretched his arms out, "Aah.. it's a great feeling to transform back to your original form"

A sound of glass breaking and someone crying out a small "ouch!" was heard from the end of a small door behind the glass counter.

The three newcomer looked at each other as the door slowly opened, revealing the wizard that owns the shop. He has vials of colorful liquids in his hands and some even splashed on his cheek. Daniel struggled to carry all the vials together but he managed to place them on a small wooden rack on the counter.

"Daniel, are you okay?"

The wizard looked up and gave his all a smile before dusting himself up.

"Shimizu, Azu and Aichan!" He cheerfully grinned. "What brings you here to my shop? Do you want some magical spells? Potions maybe? ..oh! oh! Fortune telling..?"

Shimizu smiled as he shake his head towards his frantic brother. His expression changed and became grim before telling him the reason why they came in his shop. For a second, Daniel's expression wavered and turned dark but it all was replaced by a small sigh. He looked at Aizu  and gave her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry for you loss.." he deeply bowed down towards the princess in which she returned with a curt nod. "And.. the un-petrifying spell? Um, I can't really say that I know of it but.. I'm working on a potion since those types of spells are quite ancient. When I asked my professors about a same spell that you're asking for, they just told me to stay away from spells like that"

"So.. you're saying that I can't bring my brother back to life anymore?" Aizu ask, her lips lightly quivered while Azusa gave her a rest assuring pat on a back.

"Technically, Naoki is still alive. He's basically the reason why time is still moving forward!" Daniel smiled to enlighten up the mood. "Do you.. want to see him..?"

Aizu nodded.

Without any family near to be with in her darkest days. There's no other choice but to come to her petrified brother who's locked up inside an abandoned stone tower.

Shimizu transformed once again into a human while Daniel grabbed his cloak and a key with a blue tinted jewel on it's handle. Azusa looked at the princess with a look of empathy but Aizu doesn't really want anyone to pity her since she thinks it makes her look weak.

"With this key," Daniel mumbled as he positioned the jeweled key in position as if there's an invisible keyhole in the air. "It will create a path towards the highest point of the tower where the petrified dragon lies asleep"

When he turned the key, a purple-ish blue colored portal appeared through thin air. Aizu hesitated at first to walk through, but she didn't really have much of a choice. So she hesitantly followed Daniel inside the portal with Shimizu and Azusa trailing behind them.

The tower was built by powerful sorcerers a long time ago. To keep a dragon that once caused havoc in a kingdom in which it turned everyone into dust and ashes. The sorcerers all worked together to stop the dragon from causing any more damage but before they did, the dragon conjured up a curse to the rulers of the kingdom.

"Nao! We're back!" Daniel cheerfully called out as he stepped inside a huge room in the tower. "We brought someone too, maybe you two need to have a heart to heart talk?"

Shimizu placed both his hands on Aizu's shoulder as he carefully ushered her towards the stoned dragon at the center. A purple gold colored gem was on the dragon's forehead in which it glistens as the sun's rays touch it. The three boys went at the end of the portal, back to Daniel's magic shop to give the royals some time to talk to each other.

Aizu  placed her hands on the dragon's cheeks, she could felt tears forming into the side of her eyes. Her lips quivered just by looking at her petrified brother, she couldn't say anything else. All she could say is a little "W..Why..?"

She didn't expect that the dragon could talk nor move. But something  was engraved magically on the dragon's body, when Aizu noticed it, the message only said..

I'm sorry .