Roar of Dragons

[Xander – 13 years]

"Hi, Sig," I greet him when he opens the door, then hug him after I enter.

He's wearing shorts and a t-shirt right now, and his hair has silver glittery hair paint sprayed onto it. Either that's leftover from when he and the others used it before the start of bowling that one time early in summer, or he bought a new thing of it while they were out earlier.

"Hey, Xander!" He returns the hug. "Glad you made it!"

"Nothing came up which prevented us from coming," I say. "Do you know what Isaac seemed excited about?"

Isaac got super excited about something in the group chat a little bit ago, then went quiet and hasn't spoken since.

"No," he answers as Dad closes the door now that he and Mom are inside. "But I think Aunt Rachel does. His dad called her and she shooed me away."

"Okay," I look over. "Hi, Turtle, hi, Hunter, hi Mr. Fuller. Y'all're here?"

"Hey, Xander!" Hunter greets me. "And yup! They needed help with transporting the trees, since Aunt Rachel's car can't hold two and Sig wanted one for the basement, too."

"He sent pictures in the group chat," I say. "It looks nice. And the one in his room has a snow leopard topper."

"Yeah!" Sig says. "What about you guys? Did you get your tree set up?"

"Yeah," I answer. "We got all of them set up."

"Did you put one in your room, too?" Sig asks.

"And my office," I tell him.

"And the rec room's main area," Dad adds. "Three of them. One in the lounge section, one in the food area, and one in the crafting zone. And another in the theater, plus another in the rec center's theater. There's also a small one in each bedroom in the dorms, and an even smaller one each nightstand."

The ones on the nightstands are only eight inches tall and not very wide, so they don't take up a whole lot of space. With the magic lamps on each nightstand not doing so either, nor the tissue boxes, that means they aren't cluttered and there's plenty of room.

"We ordered those ahead of time," I add. "So that we could be sure to get them instead of relying on a store's stock or making them run out for others."

When wanting a large amount of something, it's important to either place an order or call ahead, depending on what it is one wants. For the trees, placing an order was best, and they all came in last week.

"Did you do that for all three dorm wings?" Sig asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "Oh. Isaac and Mr. Michaels are here, but so is someone else? I don't know who that is, though. I don't recognize the feel of her mind. Does Mr. Michaels have a girlfriend?"

"No?" Sig feels just as confused as I do. "At least, not that I know of. And I doubt he'd bring a girlfriend to this just to introduce her to us. That'd be really rude."

Once Isaac, his dad, and the woman with them reach the door, Isaac knocks on the door and Sig answers it.

"Hi, Isaac!" Sig looks at the woman with them. "Who's this?"

"My mom!" Isaac answers.

No wonder he feels so excited, his mom came in from out of town.

"Oh!" Sig says. "Uh… so you'd be Ms…"

"You can call me Mrs. Michaels," Isaac's mom answers as Sig lets them in. "I didn't change my name back after we divorced. It was amicable and just due to a difference in geographic location."

"Oh," Sig says. "Okay. How long're you gonna be here for?"

"Sig!" Ms. Rachel chides.

"What?" Sig asks. "It's just the weekend, right? Since she'll have to be back at work on Monday? Or are you taking a vacation?"

"Neither!" Isaac bounces a little. "She's moved up here! Tried to make it this week, but wasn't able to until today! They didn't tell me until she arrived! Xander? You okay?"

"I think so," I answer. "Why?"

"Because you just pulled Trenton out of your backpack."

"Yeah," I nod. "Is it okay if I go downstairs and look at the tree?"

"Sure!" Sig answers. "Come on! I wanna show you something! Isaac, you coming?"

"Yeah!" Isaac answers. "Let me get my shoes off!"

Isaac pulls off his shoes and tosses them onto the shoe rack by the door, and I remove my sneakers and set mine on there. The three of us head downstairs, where it's a lot less crowded.

"What'd you want to show me?" I ask as I pull off my backpack and hoodie.

"I made Puffy!" Sig jumps to the coffee table, landing in a sort of slide on his legs/knees. "Look!"

He picks up a craft creation mostly made out of cotton balls, pipe cleaners, and hot glue. The cotton balls were slightly pulled apart to help shape the craft a little better. Some sequins act as the eyes and nose, and it does have the rough shape of Puffy, but it's not quite right. It's still a great attempt at it, and I'm sure it'd take me a long time to make that. He's made a bunch of them, and they all have a pipe cleaner loop poking up out of their backs.

"They're ornaments!" Sig tells us. "Made one for each of us!"

"They're awesome!" Isaac tells him.

"You can take one home with you," Sig tells him. "Hey, Xander?"

"Yes, Sig?"

"You look sleepy."

"I didn't take a nap," I tell him. "Setting up all of the trees took a lot of time even with a little bit of temporal acceleration, and I didn't realize how long it would take if I didn't speed up even more, but I was trying to be careful not to break things. And then it was nearly time to get ready to come over."

"Do you wanna take a short nap?" Sig suggests. "We can wake you in about half an hour or so if you want. Dinner won't be for almost an hour."

"Um… okay," I tell him. "I'll try to make it half an hour. But can you wake me if I'm needed or we start something?"

I don't know what all goes into a party to celebrate getting the trees set up, but I don't want to miss anything important.

"Sure!" He answers. "See you when you wake!"

[Sig – 13 years]

"Nice tree," Jake says as Connor snickers when the join the rest of us in the basement. "Did it come with the Xander?"

When Xander admitted he needed a nap, I figured he'd find a new spot to take a nap. What I didn't expect was for him to take it right beside the tree. Then for him to end up under the tree while sleeping. The space under its branches is apparently big enough to barely fit in Xander sleeping on his side and he actually moved in his sleep, which rarely happens as far as I'm aware.

The portion of the pole underneath the branches is apparently adjustable, and I must've accidentally made it taller while setting things up. Xander doesn't even touch the ornaments from the lower branches (mostly).

"Nope!" I answer. "Xander was extra! Look! I made ornaments! They're supposed to be Puffy! I already put one on my tree, it's right there! You guys can take one when you leave!"

"Nice!" Connor says. "Hey! Do you have more hair paint?"

"Yup!" I answer. "Have it in silver, green, and red!"

Five minutes later (we had to retrieve our shoes), the five of us minus Xander are in the back yard, spraying each other's hair. Mine already has some silver in it, but I let Connor add some green and red to it. Jake sprays his with just the red and green glittery hair paint, but gets his done with silver and red from Sam. Sam gets red and green from Isaac, who gets all three from me.

Once we finish, we head back inside and kick off our shoes, then I tackle Connor and start wrestling him. That lasts a few minutes, up until Jake decides to "defend" Connor and joins in. Then it's the two of them against me and they easily get me pinned down, and Sam holds down my legs.

"Isaac!" Sam grins at him.

"No!" I exclaim right before Isaac starts tickling my sides. "No! NO! GUYS! Isaac! You're next!"

"You'll have to break free, first!" He jabs at my side again, causing me to squeal a little. "Hahahaha! You're ours, now!"

I squirm a little and manage to get my left hand free from Connor, and use it to jab Isaac in the side before he can react.

"Ha!" I laugh as he jerks away. "You forget that you're even more ticklish than me!"

"Give that back!" Connor reaches for my hand.

With one hand free, I'm able to free myself the rest of the way, and I pin Isaac in a lock, using my legs to keep his down while my arms are around his torso in a way which is forcing his arms up and to the sides.

"Who wants a go?" I ask.

Once the five of us calm down from the horsing around, we head upstairs to see if we can get snacks.

"Table's there," Aunt Rachel indicates the snacks table. "Just remember that the pizza should be here at about five."

"Awesome!" I say.

"Where's Xander?" Mr. Caldwell asks.

"Under the Christmas tree," I answer. "He needed a nap and we told him it was fine to take one."

"He went under the tree?"

"He didn't start there," I snicker. "He scooted under it while asleep. Ooh! Aunt Rachel! Do we have bows?"

"I wouldn't recommend putting one on him," Mr. Caldwell says. "It might freak him out."

"Oh, right," I say. "Okay and… wait. Who're you?"

There's a woman here I don't recognize. After I ask that, it clicks in my head that she's sitting beside Jake's dad, and has the same hair and eye colors as them.

"Wait," I say. "Are you Jake's mom?"

"I am," she chuckles. "Nice to meet you, S.G. Jake's spoken a lot about all of you."

"Cool!" I say. "Come on gu-wait!" I look back at Mrs. Riverfall. "Uh… did Jake and Mr. Riverfall warn you-"

"About Xander's real nature?" She asks. "Yes. I can kind of feel it from up here. It's… certainly interesting."

Considering the slight waver in her voice, it's definitely unsettling her. I really wish I could know just what it is and why it seems so terrifying to dragons. Even Axel and Niko are unable to give me definite answers on it.

"Alright!" I say. "Just know that he's a really cool dude and regardless of how terrifying he is, you don't have anything to worry about! Anyway! Come on, guys! Snacks!"

We fill plates and cups, and I make sure to get some stuff for Xander for when he wakes. A little bit of everything except the broccoli and cherry tomatoes! Or at least, I almost grab a little of everything.

"Xander won't eat those," Mr. Caldwell says as I go for the wienies.

"He won't?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "He doesn't like them."

That's odd. He seems to like most meats other than non-sausage pig and any fish. Barbecue especially seems to be something he loves.

"Oh," I say. "Alright!"

I add extra meatballs to make up for the lack of wienies.

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With our snacks acquired, we return downstairs and eat as we play a game. Not the usual zombie shooter. It's still a shooter, but we have to fight against evil snowmen rather than zombies. The company just released it this morning and it's another thing I added to my cart while we were at the store.

The game starts off with a sword and regular bullets in a handgun, but we'll be able to upgrade to fire-attuned ones and learn fire magics as the game progresses. Also more powerful guns and other weapons.

Before we start, I make sure to put a note on the plate I grabbed for Xander so that he knows it's for him. That way, he knows he's got something to eat when he wakes, if we lose track of time because of the game.

And it's a good thing I do that, because as Connor passes the controller to Sam when it's time for another player change, I notice the plate on Xander's lap, most of the food on it already gone.

"How was your nap?" I ask.

"Alright," Xander answers after he finishes his current bite.

"Dream anything interesting?"

"Hm…" Xander thinks about it for a few moments.

I guess that means nothing interesting. At least, nothing interesting to him. What he dreams would definitely be counted as interesting by most.

"Anything calming?"

"One of the dreams was in a forest."

"Doing anything in it?" I ask.

"Yeah," he nods.

Right. Xander usually needs more specific questions to get answers most people would get from regular ones.

"What were you doing in it?" I ask.

"I was napping by a pond in it," he answers.

There aren't many people who quite literally dream about sleeping, but for Xander, it makes perfect sense. The plane of dreams is his domain, apparently, and sleeping is how people get there.

"Was it a nice dream nap?"

"Yeah," he answers.

"Did you have a dream of food, too?" I ask. "The food lined up to get eaten?"

"Yeah," he answers. "They were delicious."

We talk a little more as Sam continues fighting against the evil snowmen. Since it's a fresh save with no previous-play perks, we're starting from complete scratch. That means it's a little bit difficult, so we have to take things more slowly. Sam nearly dies twice before his turn is up, but it's not like Connor, Jake, and I did too much better. Well, I didn't nearly die at all, and Connor did die once.

"Want a turn?" Isaac offers Xander the controller once his turn is up.

"No," Xander answers. "And those snowmen aren't very realistic."

"Snowmen normally can't move around, yeah," I say. "It's just a video game, and the devs thought it'd be a fun game to put out for winter."

"No," Jake snickers. "There are actually sapient snowmen. You won't normally see them outside of winter because they're not actually snowmen, they just take that form when it's cold. They basically hibernate the rest of the year, and they're pretty chill."

"Not just chilled," Xander says, causing most of us to snicker a little. "They're frozen. And their snowman forms are the bodies they make themselves in winter, after they wake up from hibernation. They're very nice, too. Last winter, one gave me hot mulled apple cider when I was feeling down while on one of my walks. I don't think any of them are evil. But maybe I can ask them if any are?"

Snow creatures giving out hot drinks to depressed kids? The more I get to know Xander, the more odd the world seems to be.

"Just how many magical beings do you know?" I ask before I can catch myself.

"Um…" Xander's face screws up in thought for a few moments, then he shrugs. "I dunno."

"Oh!" I remember something. "Speaking of magical beings, you really don't know who that phoenix was?"

"I do," he tells me. "I asked Grandpa Blaze about her after your call earlier. She lives in the area and usually goes shopping in human form, but he said he guesses that since it's now public that phoenixes are real, she's comfortable going shopping in her real form. That it probably makes it easier for her to buy a lot of gummy and sour worms without getting weird questions about why she's buying so many."

People probably are more inclined to just let the phoenix buy up all of the candy than they would a normal person. Formerly-mythological creatures definitely get some perks in a store.

"How was the cheesecake?" Xander asks.

"I've had two slices!" I tell him. "It's pretty good! And the smiley faces are awesome, too!"

"Were they okay to eat?" He asks. "I struggled when trying."

"You struggled?" I ask. "Why? Did they taste bad?"

"Because if I only ate part of them at a time," he explains. "Then they'd be ruined and not so happy. So then I'd need to eat a huge piece so I could eat them all at once. And that just made it difficult. But it's good it made you feel better. That old man won't bother you again, I promise."

"Didn't your dad tell you not to do anything about it?" I ask.

"Yeah," Xander sighs. "So I asked Grandpa Adrian to instead. You don't attack a kid for no reason, especially not with lethal force. He assured me that that old man wouldn't bother you or any other kids again."

That's kind of scary, but I don't have time to ask about it before he looks upwards.

"They've finished putting the pizza out and Ms. Rachel just said she's gonna let us know we can get some."

After we all grab some stuff for dinner, we return to the basement to eat. As we do, I think about something and decide to ask Xander once we're done.

"Hey, Xander?" I ask.

"Yes, Sig?" He looks at me. "You've got sauce on your mouth."

I grab my napkin and wipe it off.

"Got it?"

"A little bit more here," he points to his cheek, and I wipe. "I'm pointing at my left cheek, Sig."

So he's not acting a mirror. I quickly wipe my left cheek and once that's done, I lean back a little.

"So you know a spell which lets you temporarily let others have the same sort of senses as you, right?" I ask. "And you've let Carter do it a few times. But you've never done it with me. And I was wondering if you could?"

"Um…"

Xander fidgets with Trenton a little. The bear sat on his lap during dinner, and it was there before then as well. The additional guests without advance notice must be making him anxious. That's something I realized as we ate.

When he looked up suddenly and let us know what was said before, it reminded me that he and Jake have really good senses. Xander's probably getting overstimulated from us goofing around and talking down here and the adults upstairs talking as well.

I've wanted to ask about this a few times, but it's never been super important. But right now, I'm really curious about it. There's no harm in asking, right?

"Okay," Xander says. "Um… but I'll do it slowly. When I did it all at once with Carter, he passed out for a little bit. And I dun wanna make you pass out. I didn't want to make him pass out, either."

"Even a dragon's senses alone can do that to a normal person," Jake tells me. "And Xander has a wider range of senses than us."

"Wait," Connor looks at him. "Do you know the spell, too?"

"No," Jake shakes his head. "My parents and sister do, though."

"You have a sister?" All of us except Xander ask at the same time.

Did Xander already know he had a sister?

"Yeah," Jake answers. "She came home for the holiday, but she's been hanging out with her friends from before she left. She's heading back to the university tomorrow."

"Oh," Connor says.

"Are you ready?" Xander asks.

"Sure!"

"Then I'm beginning."

At first, nothing feels different. Then I start becoming very aware of the feeling of my clothes against my skin. It's not just that my feeling of touch is stronger now, it honestly feels like there's something else involved. Something I can't describe.

As that continues to increase, my hearing slowly becomes better. I can hear the adults upstairs, even the sounds of game pieces being moved around. A hum from the heater. The sound of Turtle's tail swishing through the air as he walks around upstairs. Someone's fingers tapping against something Hunter texting someone, maybe?

There are other sounds, though. Sounds which can't be from normal hearing. They're difficult to describe.

Then I begin to smell and taste more. Xander's vanilla-scented shampoo. Aunt Rachel's coconut and shea butter shampoo. The meatballs and wienies from upstairs. It's overpowering. And what are these other smells?

Heat enters into my vision, but it's not overlapping it, nor is it overriding it, yet nor is it separate. I'm barely able to comprehend that as my visual range expands on both ends. But other things enter into it as well. Light. Maybe energy? Something…

Magic. The "other stuff" from my senses. It's magic. This is what magic feels like? What it sounds like? Tastes like? Smells like? Looks like…

My gaze fixes on Trenton. On the innocent-looking one-eyed teddy bear sitting on Xander's lap. Xander's holding his bear by the paws and is fidgeting with them a little while his gaze is focused on me.

"Hi, Trenton!" Carter greets the bear whenever he sees him whenever he meets up with Xander.

"Bye, Trenton!" Carter bids the bear farewell whenever he leaves after a hangout.

That started after the hunting trip where Xander let Carter's senses match his own. I thought it was just Carter being weird with his friendship. That he felt like he needed to.

But there's… something in Trenton. A sort of energy different and distinct from all the others. Alive yet not. Something which can think. Despite having zero idea how to interpret the flows of magic and mana I can sense right now, I can tell that much.

Whatever is in Trenton isn't inanimate. It's an actual being of some sort and is simply inhabiting the teddy bear.

Xander isn't playing pretend with his bear when he interacts with it. The bear actually talks to him. And likes watching a variety of shows and movies.

Whatever is in Trenton isn't hostile, I'm sure, or Adrian King would have done something to ensure Xander's safe. But what could-everything goes black.

Then I wake to someone gently poking me in the sides, and my senses are back to normal.

"Oh, thank goodness," Xander breathes out a sigh of relief when I open my eyes. "You got overwhelmed by all of the senses and fainted. I didn't even give you half of them and you passed out. No wonder Carter passed out immediately when I did all of them… sorry, Sig."

"It's fine," I sit up. "How long was I out for?"

"Just a few seconds," Jake answers. "Xander canceled the spell the moment he realized you were going to pass out, but that didn't stop the effects. Seems you didn't need long to recover."

"Not a few seconds," Xander says. "It was about a minute. How do you feel?"

"Fine," I answer.

What was I thinking before I passed out? I feel like it was something important. Everything from the last few moments are jumbled up, so I can't remember at all. It had to do with Trenton, I think. Or Adrian King?

Ugh. I can't remember. Though if it was about Trenton, maybe he's been enchanted really heavily to protect him? That would make sense, and if Xander were doing it subconsciously, then they would probably be really strong and essentially saturate his bear with magic.

That must've been it. I know I looked at the bear and saw magics, then passed out. But the passing out was just from being overwhelmed.

"Are you sure?" Xander asks.

"Yeah," I smile at him. "Don't worry about me! That was definitely an interesting experience. I remember feeling as things came in and it was a lot. Then things got a bit scrambled, I guess. I don't remember what I was thinking about before I passed out. Other than that, though, I really am fine. It'll be awhile before I want to do that again… but maybe next time, we only do one sense or something like that."

"Okay," Xander says. "Um… what next? They're playing a game upstairs, so are we gonna play a game? Or back to the evil snowmen game?"

"What do you want to do?" I ask.

"I don't mind sitting and watching as y'all play the evil snowmen game," Xander says. "But I might have to go upstairs at some point once it's time to put out dessert."

"Then back to the game!" I decide. "Where's the controller? It's my turn!"

[Greyson – 11 years] → begins during Sig's PoV.

Why is there a Christmas tree in the workshop? I spent most of today avoiding the house while they put up the Christmas decorations. Visiting the workshop to do a little bit of work came after checking out several restaurants, scrap yards, and shops.

There has never been a Christmas tree in the workshop before. I want to blow it up. But it being here means either Xander put it up or Grandfather Adrian did. Destroying something either of them put up is a bad idea, though for different reasons.

Especially since Xander would probably have a meltdown if his hard work got destroyed just because I didn't want a tree in here.

At least the tree was put up in a corner which doesn't see much use. And the lights are blue and green rather than a mass of different colors. So is the garland. The ornaments are all spheres in blue and green, with silver-colored hooks. Keeping it to a simpler color scheme is better, especially for when the lights are on.

Thank goodness whoever put it up didn't set it to have flashing lights. They're just static in glow. They're also magitech holiday lights rather than scientech. They won't produce heat, and it looks like the cord was modified so that it doesn't need to be plugged in to an outlet. Whoever set this up hooked it up to a mana battery with enough mana in it that it'll no doubt last past the Festival of Frost.

It looks like the controller was changed out. There was definitely a different one here before, and it probably had settings for patterns for the lights. This one only has "ON" and "OFF", as a switch. The lights themselves also aren't too bright.

Whoever picked out the skirting did a good job, too. It's a deep blue, with silver snowflakes decorating it. Not too many to be busy, but not too few to have massive empty spaces. It also hides the stand for the tree very well. And thankfully, it's an artificial tree rather than a living one.

Dad and Papa had us all pick out a living tree, and they'll be using preservative powder in the water for it. They usually pick them out the Saturday after the Autumn Festival ends, but don't actually get it until closer to the Festival of Frost. The powder is a low-cost magic treatment which helps keep it healthy until winter.

Using a live tree is stupid. Yes, I understand they can be used for firewood or something after, and some people even get one with the root ball so they can replant them each year. Then, they bring them back inside the next year, over and over until it's too big.

But that's stupid. Why bother with that every year and then have to deal with needles and sap and stuff instead of just an artificial tree which easily gets put into storage, then brought back out? In addition, properly-made artificial trees have the perfect amount of branches with the right amount of fullness, while you have to actually get picky with live trees on that.

Artificial trees are much better. And this one is very nice. The branches are properly full instead of being sparse or thin. And whoever decorated it didn't overload it with ornaments, either. Really full trees are too busy.

The star topper is properly three-dimensional, too. So many star toppers are basically just flat stars inflated a little or with two star faces attached with little rectangle bits. This one actually has legs pointing out in all directions, so there's no actual "front" to it. The star itself is blue, with a glow coming from within its center.

Wait. It's not even attached to the tree. It's just floating above the tree. That means the light within must be powered by a mana crystal inside. A regular one, or a mana battery? I want to pull it apart to see how it works, but that wouldn't be a good idea if Xander made this.

How's it floating like that? It must be from the same tech as Xander's hoverboard. No, not necessarily. This wouldn't need to move around like his hoverboard does. I can simulate the same effect the star has with gravity, force, or air magic so actual "hover" magic isn't required, either.

[Xander – 13 years]

"Xander?" Dad asks.

We're in the SUV on the way home now, and I'm a little sleepy. But there were gift bags for each household and each kid, and they included ornaments to put on our trees at home. I don't want to sleep until we get home so I can put it on there before I go to bed. The ornament from Sig should go up before I go to bed, too.

"Yes, Dad?"

"You look a little amused," he says. "Noticed it when checking my blind spot a minute ago. One of your friends being goofy?"

"Oh," I say. "No, it's Greyson. I was looking at the security feed for the workshop and he's floating upside-down while staring intently at the star on the tree I setup in there. He's apparently spent the past few hours analyzing the tree and the lights and stuff. He's crawled under it a few times, too."

Though I didn't know any of that until after I got a text from Cal asking me if Greyson was with me. He's apparently been trying to contact Greyson for the past half-hour and isn't getting a response. I checked the security feed upon learning that and saw what Greyson's been up to.

He has eaten while analyzing the tree, but he's just been analyzing the tree the whole time instead of doing whatever it was he went to the workshop to do.

"Did you make modifications to it?" Dad asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "Like I did for the ones in the rec center and my room and my office. They're all hooked up to a mana battery directly, and so are the lights for that one. But I also made its star, and it floats above the tree. It's just simple gravity magic, but Greyson seems to be really fascinated by it."

"I see," Dad says.

"If he'd stopped by his work station," I add. "He'd have noticed that I have directions on how to make the modification for the lights there. And how to make the enchantment so that the star manipulates gravity to float like that. But I guess he got really fascinated. Lemme send him a message. I can push them through so that he gets a ping even when he has his phone on mute."

I quickly text Greyson so that he knows Cal wants to know what he's doing and where he's at, then I let Cal know I let Greyson know, then I put my phone away.

Greyson really is a dork.

Once we get home, Dad lets me put the new ornaments on the tree in the living room, then I get ready for bed and crawl under my covers. Today was exhausting, and I'm looking forward to a quiet rest of the weekend and a return to routine when Monday comes.

But today was also really fun, so I'm glad I participated. I hope this is how things will be every year from now on.