Their journey through Will's state had lengthened, but they didn't get bored, spending the extra time telling stories and jokes. Will was amazed at how many details Julie knew about him and his family, but it didn't bother him too much due to memory loss, he couldn't remember anything before the accident, so they were probably friends before his memory loss. He was surprised why every night, Julie insisted on guarding their camp, he even tried to switch places with her several times, but she was adamant, and she always said that she should be the one to guard the camp, Will didn't want to be rude, so he just sat with her for a while each night and then went to sleep.

After a few days, they finally reached the Mages Guild.

Will knocked a few times at the gate, and they stood in front of it, waiting to be let in.

"Who's going?" asked the guard.

"It's me Will, I completed my mission, I returned, I am coming with a guest"

"Only mages can enter the Guild!"

"Either we go in together or not at all," Will said stubbornly and hit the wooden gate with his fist.

After a few seconds of pounding on the gate with his fist, the guard finally got annoyed and said: 

"… ALL RIGHT! But you take all the blame, I didn't know anything about the guest" and he opened the gate slightly to let them in.

"Thanks a lot!" Will said, and they both passed through the gate, entering the Mages Guild.

Will went first and Julie followed. The guild was very large, had many paths, all the buildings were made of stone, no building they saw had windows, because mages can easily create light with their magic. They both went through the courtyard, where the students practiced air element from elemental magic. Their exercise was that they had to blow out the flame of a candle that stood on a very thin stick that they could not knock over.

"Wow, there's a lot of people here" Julie said, slightly overwhelmed.

"It's a guild, after all, there's always a lot of people here," Will said as they walked straight to the largest windowless building in the guild.

Will opened the door to the main building. They both entered the building and walked down the corridor, torches and old paintings hung on the walls. Julie stopped and looked at one of the paintings, the painting depicted a battlefield, in the foreground she could see many bodies of people and dragons, and a man holding a severed dragon's head, and in the background she could see a burning forest and a destroyed castle, probably the destruction after the war. Julie shuddered slightly, staring at the painting, seeing, though painted, but still dead bodies of dragons. 

"Are you curious about this picture?" 

"Not too much" 

"This painting is important to us, it represents the founder of our guild, it is thanks to him that we have what we have, legends say that he built this guild himself, stone by stone" 

Julie just stood there for a moment and wondered if coming here wasn't a mistake, finally she said: 

"Let's move on"

They walk a while and finally reached a wooden door decorated with gold accents, they stopped in front of it. 

Will waited a couple of seconds and said:

"I don't know if it's a good idea for you to go in there with me, the council doesn't like strangers, but you will be with me, so everything should go smoothly" Will said, rubbing his shoulder with his eyes locked on the door.

"Well, come on then" said the Woman, and they opened the door.

The Councilors Hall was large and of course had no windows, the only light came from a large ball of light that was on the ceiling, which was obviously created by magic, the whole room was made of stone bricks, some bricks had moss on them, but the mages didn't seem to mind, there were no pictures on the walls, but there were a lot of full bookshelves behind the walls, and a lot of books were stacked on the floor, In the middle of the room there was a huge wooden rectangular table with king-sized 6 chairs, 5 chairs were already occupied, but the chair farthest from the door, was empty. There were mages sitting on 5 chairs, Julie couldn't see their faces because they were covering her with masks, The men wore red, white and black masks and women wearing gold and blue masks.

"Hello boy, was your mission successful?" the mage wearing a red mask and cape asked.

"Greetings Master Dante, Yes, I have the artifact" Will said as he approached the table.

Will put the artifact on the table, all 5 mages looked at the artifact and nodded happily.

"If you do one more mission like this, you'll join us" Said the woman wearing blue mask and gestures at the empty wooden chair.

"Thank you for your appreciation, masters" Will said with a bow.

"You really want to join these sad people?" Said Julie and started laughing.

Will gave her a pissed look, she looked at him and stopped laughing.

"Who is your companion?" The mage wearing a black mask asked, looking over at Julie.

"This is my old friend, master Dean, she found me after a wolf's pack attack and restored me back to full health"

"After the attack of the wolves?, so your mission did not go smoothly after all?" Said the Master wearing white mask.

"There were slight obstacles, but I have the artifact" Said Will and pointed at the artifact.

"The most important thing is that you are healthy, and have the artifact" the woman in blue mask said.

“Can your friend come closer?" Master Dante asked.

"Julie, can you come closer?" Will asked her. 

Julie hesitated, nodded, and slowly walked over to the table and stopped next to Will.

"Can she talk?" Master Dante asked.

"Yes, we've talked a lot" said Will and looked over to Julie.

“Oh I almost forgot, I need to cast the spell that will reverse all transformations"

Master Dante said, then he stood up and started whispering, after a while they both glowed white, a shiver ran through their bodies. And after a while they returned to normal. Will was fine, but Julie began to feel pain and began to worry. She looked down at her hand and saw that bits of skin were now scales. 

She quickly hid her hands behind her and said:

"Will, I'm not feeling well, can we leave?" She placed her hand on Will's shoulder.

"What? Why? No one will hurt you" Said Will looking directly at her now worried face, face with little scales.

She nervously looked at the mages and said with fear in her eyes:

"Will, you don't understand, we have to go!" 

The 5 wizards slowly got up from their chairs, the closest mage, Master Dante, said:

"Boy, move away from her"

"What? Why? Why does she have little scales? What is happening?" Said shocked Will, looking over at master Dante and at Julie.

"Move away from her, that's an order!" Shouted master Dante.

"Why?!" Said Will, and shielded her with his own body.

"Don't you hear that? She is mumbling, like a dragon! Look at her, she is transforming back! She is a dragon! Stay away from her!" The master wearing a white mask shouted to Will.

Will froze, he didn't know what to do, Julie told him a lot of facts about him, and she was his childhood friend, but he didn't remember her at all, wait, what if the person was not exactly this person, maybe the dragon replaced her.

Julie started slowly backing towards the door, the mages were watching her, all 5 of them had their hands ready to cast a spell, Master Dante was about to throw a fireball at her, but suddenly Will threw a powerful gust of air at all of them, which threw them against the wall.

"Run, I'll slow them down!" Will yelled to the girl, Will for the first time saw fear in her eyes, Julie nodded and ran out of the room, running towards the exit of the building.

Will, created a thick wall of ice, temporarily imprisoning the mages.

“Will, you're making a huge mistake!" Master Dante shouted to him and began melting the ice wall.

But Will didn't listen him, he ran straight out of the room and out of the building, rushed to the courtyard, Julie was waiting for him there, she was terrified.

Will caught up to her in the courtyard and said:

 "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes" said Julie, still shaking. 

They rushed toward the gate.

"Open the gate!" Will shouted as they stop near the gate.

"How about a little nicer?" Said the indignant guard.

"PLEASE OPEN THE GATE!" Will shouted louder.

The gate opened slightly and they both ran out of the guild grounds. They stopped a few meters from the gate. Suddenly, wings appeared on Julie's back, her body began to elongate and deform, and in a few moments she turned into a sapphire dragon.

"WHAT?! YOU'RE A DRAGON! I'M SO STUPID!" Said Will, pounding his fist on his knee.

Will felt betrayed. He was furious at himself. He had spent the last few days with a dragon disguised as a human and pretending to be human, and that's probably why the dragon knew so much about him, by having looked through his memories...

But why the dragon didn't kill him, he fell asleep first every night, he was so defenseless, and the beast didn't do anything to him. Why? After all, she could have taken him out with one well-aimed hit, Maybe she wants something from him...

"You'll yell at me later, we've got company" said the sapphire dragon grabbing Will in her paws, Will tried to free himself, but the dragon was stronger, the mage tried to free himself with his magic by creating some ice or fire, but the beast was smart and locked his hands in such a way that if he used magic he would hurt not only the dragon but also himself. His life was now at the mercy of the dragon...

Will looked towards the guild and saw the shocked councilors standing at the gate, dripping with water.

"HELP! HELP!" shouted Will, flying away with the dragon. They flew higher and higher, the guild and the trees and everything else getting smaller and smaller.

After a few minutes of flight, they finally landed far from the guild, deep in the forest, after landing the dragon immediately let go of Will.

"WE NEED TO COME BACK!" Will shouted at the dragon.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't taken me to those mages, they recognized that I am a dragon!"

"SO THIS IS MY FAULT?! AND THAT YOU LIED TO ME THE WHOLE TIME AND PRETENDED TO BE HUMAN, THAT'S MY FAULT ALSO?!!"

“You really want to come back?" Said the surprised dragoness.

"Yes, of course I-I ... I can't go back, I invited the dragon to the guild, I was seen with the dragon"

 "And what about this?" 

"AND WHAT ABOUT THIS?! Dragons and mages have fought for centuries, our species have been killing each other, and now because of you, my guild considers me a traitor."

"Well at first, I wasn't sure if I could trust you either" said the dragon, coming closer to Will.

She is still trusting me? But why, I am human, and she is a dragon NO! This must be a trap, I have to stay alerted. He thought

“Get back, dragon!" Shouted Will creating sparkles with his hands.

“Are you going to harm me?" Said the dragon and stopped. 

“If I must!" Said Will raising his hands higher.

“I thought you were different!" 

“I thought you were a human!"

“What's the difference?!"

“What's the difference?! I thought you were a human, not a dragon. That's the difference! Dragons can't be trusted! They turn their back on you if you're down of your guard, all humans know that"

“That nonsense! You know why I thought you were different? Because you were the only human that could talk to me in my native language, in the dragon language, before you, no one of could understand us, but you can, even your people from the foolish clan can't"

“I don't care! You choose wrong, go choose another human, I want nothing to do with you! 

Go away you beast!" Said Will and shoot two small fireballs at the dragon.  

The dragon only felt a little pinch from the fireballs because of its hard scales.

“Fine, I am going to find my family on my own, I don't want some stupid human to help me!" Said the dragon, spreading its wings. 

Will's mood calmed down a bit when he heard that the dragon was also looking for his family.

Family, did she want to find her family too? He thought.

“Why did I think you would help me? I am so stupid, I hope we never meet again!" Said the dragon and takes off to the sky.

Will observed the dragon as she was flying high in the sky, getting smaller and smaller. 

Suddenly two nets were launched towards the dragon, the dragon dodges the first but didn't see the other one and got shot, and started falling rapidly to the ground.

"I shouldn't have done this, But... ught! Curse me!" Will said, rushing towards where the dragon had fallen.

Will arrived, and saw the dragon thrashing around in the net and 5 hunters trying to immobilize him.

“Hello" Said Will, looking around for more people around but didn't find any. 

All five hunters looked directly at him, the hunter in a fur cloak, probably the leader, said to him: 

“What do you want, boy? Don't you see that we are a little busy here"    

“Yes, I see that, but you have something that is mine"

All the hunters burst into laughter. 

“Y-Yours? You mean the dragon? Don't be silly boy, you can't own the dragon, dragons are feral beasts, not some kind of pets"

“Give it back, this dragon is mine" Said Will with confidence

“Listen boy, I last saw a dragon when I was young, since then I didn't saw any, this going to make us very rich if we sell it, so could you leave us and forget about all of this"

“Give her back or face consequences!" Shouted Will at him, ready for attack.

“Face … consequences? Don't be silly, boy, you are alone, what are you going to do?" All the hunters started laughing again.

"I'll do this!" Will screamed and fired several shards of ice at the nearest hunter with his hand, the bullets pierced his skin in his left arm, after a few seconds blood began to drip from his arm straight to the ground.

“Ow, that hurts, you're going to pay for this!" Said the wounded hunter, drawing his weapon.

“He is a mage, he is going to steal the dragon, kill him!" Said the chief.

All 5 of them drew their weapons and began to charge at Will.

Will wasn't afraid of them, mage know he can defeat them all, he freezes the hands of first hunter, shoot a bunch of fireballs at nearest three, he left the leader for the end, created a very strong gust of air from his hands, which blew the leader to the nearest tree, the man fell limply to the ground. Will looked around and saw the dragon still in the iron net.

I forgot, the dragon! He thought and ran to the thrashing dragon, still trapped in the iron grid.

"Don't move, I'll set you free," Will said, and began warming the iron mesh with his hands.

"Why?" Said the dragon lying motionless

"Why what?" Will said as he took the hot net off the dragon.

"Why are you saving me? I'm the reason you lost your guild"

"Because it's the right thing to do" said Will, taking the net completely off.

"... Thanks human" She said with tears in her eyes.

"You're free, get out of here, I don't want anything in return," said Will, looking straight into the eyes of the dragon 

“Actually, I want one thing from you"

Great I lost everything, my reputation, my clan, roof under my head, and now the dragon wants my help but on the other side, I have nothing left to lose…

“Could you help me find my family, please?" Said the dragon, and moved his neck so that her head was almost touching the ground.

“You lost your family too?" Will asked the dragon.

She looked up and said:

“Yes, I lost two of my children 168 full moon cycles ago and after that I lost my mate too, I'm still looking for them but haven't been able to find them yet" 

“168 full moon cycles?"

“14 years ago … I lost them 14 years ago"

“And you hope I will help?

“Yes, I don't know why, but you are different, and I know that the humans captured them, with your help maybe we will be able to find them"

That idea is crazy, but I lost my family too, maybe we can help each other… He thought.

“Maybe we can help each other, you will help me find my family, I will help you find yours, deal?" Said Will with a slight smile.

“Deal" Said The dragoness and also smiles.

"Wow! I didn't know dragons could smile"

“You don't know a lot of things about me, human"

“Right, I am Will, not “human"  If you may, And I assume that your real name is not Julie?"

“Oh sorry, and Yes … My real name is Jade"

“Jade, nice name, then come one Jade, Oh, I only have one request"

“What do you want me to do?" Asked the dragon, curious.

“Can you turn back into a human?" Asked Will.

“Why? Don't you like my true form?" Said the dragoness offended.

“Well, if other people saw you like this they would run from you or try to kill you, and we don't need that much attention, we are two normal humans, do you understand?"

"Oh yes, I get it, if you say it's better that way" Jade changes into her human form.

“We need to go to the town near the sea, far in the south, the town's name is seaheaven"

She tilted her head and asked:

“Why are we going to this city?"

Will rubbed his temples and said:

“Because we need to swim across the sea to get the other island, to find my family first, precisely my brother then he will help us find my father, who is a powerful mage and thanks to his help we will find your missing kids"  

She thinks for a while and said:

“Okay, that's your plan … but I can fly, couldn't I just fly over the ocean?"

He looked at her, shook his head and said:

“The sea is very large, you will get tired, and there are no places to rest between the islands, and on the other island, most of the kingdom is located near the water, and its borders are guarded all the time, someone will notice us, and then we will have the whole kingdom against us"

“If you say that is better, then let's not waste time, let's go"

She said and started walking, he joined her and they both walked towards the city...

END OF CHAPTER 2