《Dragon Guardian》


 Ch. 1

    The dragon pierced the thick barrier of his egg to take his first breath of air. Dry and cool, yet filled with strange new sensations, discovering it sent shivers down his spine.


    All his memories consisted of the large egg he was now hatching from. They were cloudy and seemed almost distant to him as his mind began to awaken by taking in the crisp air, yet he could still vaguely recollect the most vivid of the lot. At times his egg had been warm, so warm he felt he would almost boil alive inside of it. Yet at other times, far more common recently than the previous, he had felt cold: a freezing, almost biting cold like that of the air he now breathed in. Swimming laxly in the often cool, damp fluid that was inside his egg with him, he began to slowly feel more and more constricted. Pushing outward with his 4 mighty limbs, massive appendages that filled the entirety of the world, he tested the vast walls that contained him. However, at the time the walls were far too strong for him to break. Even as he strained with all of his bulk, they remained unmoving. Fortunately, he felt himself constantly growing, and, trying once more, could steadily feel the walls begin to give way more and more to his might. Settling down, he tried to return to a deep state of dreaming. However, this time it was not to be. Before he touched the walls, his sleep was wild and filled with dreams of a world beyond comprehension. Now however, he could not fall properly asleep as the walls closed in on him further and further. Impatiently waiting, he tried to break free almost constantly.


    After a seemingly infinite period of time, he finally lost his patience completely. Slamming upward with his neck, he felt the small horn on the very tip of his snout pierce into the shell itself. Not passing completely through it, the horn nonetheless weakened the prison that held him. Spurred on by his newfound success and the strange cracking he could hear from outside the egg, he brought his front legs to bear. Tearing into the egg further with his claws, he opened a crack in the wall. With emotions raging, he once again slammed his head into the wall, this time into the crack he had formed, and finally broke free.


    Released from his confinement, he acted on his instinct and took in a vast breath. The air rushed down his throat, cooling yet electrifying him at the same time. He felt almost like he was waking from one of the deep dreams he had had in the egg, but now his mind was working even faster than it ever had before. Tastes exploded in his mouth as he could feel the air move down his tongue. Hundreds of new scents filled his nose, some damp some dry, some cold some warm, but over all of the others: a strange sharp scent that excited and somehow terrified him at the same time.


    Pushed to full alertness by the strange scent, he opened his eyes to view his new world for the first time, only to be stunned back into closing them once more. The new walls were massive! Tens, even perhaps hundreds of times vaster than those he had just passed through! Carefully opening his eyes again, this time one at a time to avoid being blinded, he looked out upon his new world once more. The walls rose on all four sides of him, yet were flat on the ground and roughly the same up above him. Unlike the inside of his egg, which had been perfectly smooth before he cracked it, horns grew from the top and the bottom of the cave. Large sheathes of green scales that were strangely... fluffy, would blanket parts of these pillars as damp water flowed down from above.


    Looking around him, he saw strange round horns interspersed throughout the cavern. There were 8 of these perfectly oval horns, that looked strangely familiar to him. Looking down, he suddenly realized what they were: more eggs! Surprised by the revelation, but neither excited nor unhappy at the prospect of gaining more beings like himself, he remembered what he had begun doing before he was shocked by the vast new world around him. Pushing outward with his front legs, he used his upper shoulders and back as leverage and cracked the egg open completely, shattering it into dozens of pieces.


    Pulling himself out of the wreckage of his egg, he stands up on shaky, untested legs. Moving forward to take his first step and explore his new world, he tumbles forward as his legs buckle causing him to faceplant into a nearby horn -from-the-ground. Fortunately, although embarrassing, through this accident, he discovers an interesting property of the green, fuzzy scales: they are actually quite soft!


    Leaving his head there for a few moments to assure himself that the motion had been entirely intentional, he eventually pulls himself up again and tries to take his first step again. With a successful first step, he slowly makes a second, followed by a third, and finally, with his fourth step, he let his legs fall into a natural pattern as he slowly walked over to the nearest egg. Observing it, he noticed that, unlike his own, this one has very thin veins of blue spread throughout its surface. Looking over to the other unopened eggs, he noticed that colors also spread through them. The most common color is blue with three of the eggs being that color, with red coming second with two eggs, the green, black, and gold with one egg each. Looking down at the remnants of his egg, he could see that surely enough, it too had a color: a sharp white like that of his scales.


    Momentarily entertaining thoughts of helping his siblings out of their eggs, the hatchling is interrupted by the strange scent that awoke him wafting by his nose once more. He turned his head and pinpointed the direction it originated from. Slowly, and cautiously, he threaded his way through the pointy horns, until he finally reached the source of the odor. Lying there, frozen in place, he saw a sight that horrified him.


    Hidden from his previous scans of the cave by the pointy horns and a small groove in the ground, there lay a ninth egg. Unlike the eight other pristine eggs, this one was shattered open, not from within, but rather pushed down upon from the outside. Through this hole the not-him within the egg had been pulled out and was currently being feasted upon by six small creatures. Unlike him and the not him, these creatures had no wings on their back. Instead, they had six legs and were covered in what almost looked like a brown version of the green fuzzy scales. Pulling off the not-him¡¯s green scales to reach the meat below, they slowly tore it apart, rendering it a mockery of what it had once been.


    Meanwhile, a far bigger brown-fuzzscale was slowly making its way over to the nearest egg, that of the remaining green. Somehow, it had not noticed his hatching or his stealthy approach and was unhurriedly continuing on its journey. Unlike the small brown-fuzzscales, it only walked on its four back legs. The two front legs arched up and ended in thick, blunt claws. He concluded that this was how it shattered the egg¡¯s walls and pulled out the not-him within.


    Rage began to overtake him. HOW COULD IT EAT THE NOT-MES! HOW DARE IT? This ends NOW! He roared out a challenge and dashed forward, towards the small brown-fuzzscales first. Being the size of his front foot, they were easy prey. Arriving, in one dash behind them, he grabbed the closest one in his jaws and swung it from side to side, shredding it to pieces. As it ripped apart, a red spray flooded the air and fell upon his tongue. As he tasted it for the first time, he remembered that it was the same as the strange scent. Now however, with the taste, he remembered its name from one of his dreams: blood.


    Going into a frenzy as he recollects this, he swallows the piece of the cave lurker, the brown-fuzzscale¡¯s name that floated up from the depths of his memory. A red veil descends across his vision and, turning to the remaining five cave lurkers, he quickly bit down upon the next and tore the rest apart with his claws. They had been completely helpless as they were brutally killed in under twenty heartbeats.


    He left the corpses of the four uneaten cave lurkers alone, and turned his attention back to the large adult lurker. He was shocked to see that it had already reached the green¡¯s egg! It had completely ignored the plight of its young, or perhaps was too dumb to have even noticed, and continued onward. Now, it was slowly raising its front legs above its head, readying itself to make the fatal blow that would shatter the not-him¡¯s egg. Desperate to stop it, he launched himself forward and slammed into its side. Causing it to jolt to the side, he turned a shell-shattering blow into a glancing one that merely left a few cracks.


    The adult cave lurker screeched with rage. Slowly turning to the side, it bashed its lumbering body into the hatchling sending him spiraling away. As it turned to face him, the hatchling finally saw the lurker¡¯s jaw. It was a grotesque affair, with multiple rows of sharp teeth and hanging pieces of dragon meat. Unfortunately for the cave lurker, instead of the fear its jaw provoked in lesser creatures, the hatchling¡¯s draconic instincts flared up at the sight. His anger for the monster that would dare to eat the flesh of dragons only grew, but not to frenzying levels as before. This opponent was nearly twice as large as he was and far more dangerous than the infants he had faced before. The two upraised legs could shatter his skull just as easily as an eggshell, and for all the contempt he held for those gnashing jaws, they were still a formidable weapon.


    Strafing to the right, he pulled the lurker away from his sibling¡¯s egg and into more open territory where he could circle around it. His mind worked in overtime as he tried his hardest to remember the dreams he had on hunting. According to what he did remember, when fighting something bigger than himself, he should never take attacks head on, thus moving to open space so he could dodge with ease. Other than that, he was left to his own devices as the memories receded. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Snarling, he feinted forward. The cave spider did not fall for it and instead began to slowly push ahead, into the open space. The hatchling allowed it to do so and smiled in satisfaction as his first trap was sprung. Slowly at first, but speeding up quickly, he moved around the lurker in increasingly smaller circles. As he got closer and closer, the lumbering beast could no longer keep up with him. Growling with glee, he jumped onto its side and latched on to the back of its throat. Using his back claws as leverage, he also tore away at the lurker¡¯s front leg joints with his front legs and slowly worked on snapping the creature''s¡¯ neck.


    Unfortunately, the lurker was too large to die immediately. Showing surprising agility for a member of its species, it turned and slammed itself into a nearby horn. Pinned between the lurker¡¯s bulk and the horn, the hatchling felt his ribs crack, but not break, and he squealed in pain. Two answering roars sounded furiously from the far distance. Although they seemed familiar, he feared that he could have mistaken them for allies. Terrified of any foe massive enough to produce such a sound, he decided: This battle must end quickly.


    Still pinned into the wall and being slowly crushed, he reached forward with his free front claws and tore at the lurker¡¯s eyes. Screeching in agony, it let up the pressure on him for a second. That second was all he needed. Scrambling back up to his position, he once again bit down on its throat, but this time, instead of tearing at it crushing legs, he reached forward and clawed its remaining eyes.


    At first, the lurker struggled mightily, bucking and almost tossing the hatchling off, but soon enough, it slowly but surely devolved into its death throes until finally falling onto the ground, unmoving. After continuing to clamp down on the beast''s neck for a few moments to assure himself it was dead, the hatchling released his death hold and trumpeted his triumph into the air.


    With a satisfied air about him, he began to bite into the fur, that was the word he was missing, that covered the beast to get at its meat, only to remember the two grand roars. Turning his head slightly, he looked up rather sheepishly at the two imposing figures standing over him.


    To his left stood a huge Silver Not-him. She, for he instinctively knew she was not male, Was elegant and beautiful. Her spade-shaped head was quirked to the side as soft welcoming eyes looked down on him in what seemed to be relief and joy.


    To his right, stood a far more imposing figure. Taller than the female Not-him by a fair margin, the male had to stoop his neck down to his shoulders in order to enter the cave at all. His scales were a rich Bronze and his head was far more rectangular. Two sets of massive horns grew from his head, and his huge bulk took up a massive space in the small cave. His expression held only joy and pride.


    ¡°Can you hear me my son?¡± A gentle voice whispered in his mind. The hatchling looked around in confusion. The voice had whispered into his thoughts but neither of the Not-hims had moved their jaw.


    A gentle chuckle resounds and the voice continues,¡± Thank goodness you can hear me! I was worried the lurker had hurt you!¡± Relief was evident in her thoughts, and the young hatchling found himself comforted by it. With the fight over, the adrenaline and emotion that had kept him going from the moment he hatched finally faded away. Realizing that no other cave lurkers could get to him with these giants around, he carefully positions himself on the adult¡¯s corpse, yawns mightily, and falls fast asleep, completely ignoring his parents.


    - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Watching the hatchling fall asleep, the two new parents slump against one another in relief. Another couple of dragons had wanted to raise a brood nearby forcing the two of the to fly out and face them. Luckily, it had not turned violent and invading couple had been evicted without a fight after seeing two greater dragons set down on their doorstep. After assuring themselves that the couple had left their territory for good, they rushed back home to check on their eggs. Unfortunately for their smallest unhatched child, they had not been quick enough.


    Keening softly at the sight of the shattered egg, the female dragon rushes over to check on it, only to fall, sobbing, to her knees when she realized there is no hope for the hatchling inside. Walking over somberly, the male attempted to soothe her.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay Arina¡­ It wasn¡¯t your fault. Even the oldest of dams lose eggs to cave lurkers.¡± Bumping her softly in the side, he nuzzled her gently.


    ¡°But, Arthran, maybe if I was more thorough, maybe if I¡¯d come¡­¡± she replied tearfully, drawing away from him.


    ¡°No!,¡± Arthran replied forcefully. Wrapping a massive wing around her, he drew her close. ¡°Ari, that¡¯s the past. You know very well that not even a dragon can turn back time. Look, here and now! We have a strong, brave son! We can rightfully sing that from the moment he was hatched he has defended his family and hunted his foes! He¡¯s a white dragon too, just like your grandfather!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± she replied, smiling with just a tinge of sadness remaining as she cuddles into her mate¡¯s side looking down proudly on her son¡¯s sleeping form. Quickly replacing those emotions however is complete panic.


    Arthran felt her tense close to him. He looked back over at her and worriedly asked,¡± What? What''s wrong Ari?¡±


    ¡°OUR SON JUST HAD HIS FIRST KILL!¡± Arina answered in a panic, pulling away and pacing back and forth.


    Still uncomprehending, Arthran tilted his head to the side and gave her a questioning look.


    Arina sighed in exasperation.¡±Our. Son. Just. Had. His. First. Kill. Our firstborn, just finished his first hunt.¡±


    Eyes bulging Arthran joined quickly her in her panic. Among dragons, it was customary to give hatchlings their name only after they completed their first hunt. Of course, according to the same tradition, the name had to be given immediately after the parents had assured themselves it was the hatchling itself that had made the kill, not simply stumbled across the corpse. Normally, this was not an issue: Hatchlings stayed with their parents inside their birth cave for a few months before daring to step foot out into the world above, let alone hunt. This gave the parents plenty of time to find a name befitting of the young dragon¡¯s character; Time which of course Arthran and Arina did not have.


    ¡°Morranern?¡± Arthran tentatively suggested.


    Arina scoffed,¡± Morranern? You want our son to be known as the killer of cave lurkers for his entire life? What kind of mate would he win with that Name?¡±


    ¡°Forslan?¡± He offered.


    ¡°Brave hunter? We can¡¯t just name him that! Every pair of Lesser dragons in our hold has a son with that name!¡±


    Slightly frustrated by her obstinance, he replies,¡± Well If my ideas aren¡¯t acceptable, why don¡¯t you come up with a name?¡±


    Still pacing, Arina looked around the cave for inspiration. A name was one of the most important aspects of a dragon¡¯s life. Imbued with the power of the language of magic, it would shape their growth, personality, and even their choices of evolution. As such, Arina knew that it was her greatest duty as a parent to find a proper one for her son. Her gaze settled upon the nearest egg.


    Walking over to it, she saw that it had been cracked: most likely by the cave lurker. But how is it not shattered? A cave lurker of that size should have broken through with ease. Unless¡­ She followed the path the fight took in her mind. The lurker shattered the first egg and let its children to feed on it. Then, it walked over to the second egg and had to have been interrupted by her son! Inspiration struck her, and she excitedly turned to Arthran.


    ¡°Israkur! That will be his name!¡±


    ¡°Are you certain? That is a huge name to grow into.¡± Arthran replied with a slight hint of doubt.


    ¡°I am,¡± Arina answered, nodding. ¡°See here? He did not kill the lurker for food. He killed it to defend the egg! He deserves the name ¡®Protector of Family¡¯,¡± She continued, turning to show Arthran the crack on the second green egg.


    Nodding in acceptance, Arthran joined her by the sleeping form of their son. Joining their mana together, the two of them declared in the Language of Magic,¡± As the ones who brought you into this world, we claim the right to define you. Through our power, from this day forth, you Shall be known as Israkur!¡±


    The weight of their magic settled down upon the young hatchling. Burrowing within him, the magic joined force with his hearts and bound them together, shaping the identity of his soul. Unconsciously letting loose a small roar in his sleep, Israkur accepted the name given to him by his parents.

 Chapter 2

    The hunter calmly stalked his prey. Sidling through the forest of rocky spires, he ducked from groove to groove to keep his target unaware of his approach. When he reached his final piece of cover, he dashed forward, pumping furiously with his legs and small wings, and locked his jaw around his mother¡¯s tail. He gnawed on it for a moment or two to show it just who was boss and then released it.


    Standing triumphantly on his unmoving foe he yelled out,¡±Got ya momma!¡±


    Arina turned her head back to view him. She chuckled and with a small mischievous grin replied,¡±Oh? Are you sure that I haven¡¯t actually gotten you?¡±


    Her tail, formerly docile and unmoving, quickly rose into the air lifting Israkur along with it as she growled playfully and gently swung him from side-to-side. Israkur gripped on tightly and shrieked his delight. He loved playing with Mother. Father was away hunting most of the time and the only other pastime he found worthy of his time was to hunt down the small rodents that scurried around the cave.


    Other than that, over the past two weeks since his hatching, he had gone to check in on his siblings. It frustrated him greatly that the other eight eggs hadn¡¯t hatched yet. When he asked his mother, she¡¯d simply smiled and told him to be patient. ¡°After all,¡± she continued,¡± You¡¯re pretty early yourself.¡±


    ¡°But momma! Why can¡¯t they be early too?¡± Israkur asked, uncomprehending.


    ¡°Because, my little champion, everything has its time and place in the world. You came early so that you could protect your siblings. They¡¯ll come a little later than you, and I know it feels like an eternity waiting for them, but what are the three greatest virtues of a dragon?¡±


    ¡°Patience, wisdom, and strength.¡± replied an exasperated Israkur, rolling his eyes. His mother always lectured him with these words, so he had practically memorized what comes next.


    ¡°Exactly! Now, Wisdom and strength will come in time, but patience, patience¡± continued his mother ignoring the exasperation in his voice.


    ¡°Yeah, Yeah I know momma: ¡®Patience has to be cultivated¡¯. Bye! I gotta go hunt some rats now!¡± interrupted Israkur. Wriggling out of his mother¡¯s grasp he dashed away to find more interesting events than his mother¡¯s teachings.


    Sighing softly, Arina shook her head and smiled good-humoredly. Dragons had a perfect memory and she too remembered fleeing her own mother¡¯s teachings. She knew, however, that eventually either boredom or sleepiness would drive him back eventually and settled down to work on a spell that had been eluding her for the past few years.


    For his part, Israkur went to his favorite place in the cave: a small ledge that formed an air vent, overlooking the mountainside below. He¡¯d discovered the place on his second trip away from the hatching chamber. Stumbling on it entirely by accident when chasing a wayward rodent, he had be frozen in place by the size and beauty of the upper world. In his egg, he had been everything. His tail, his legs, his wings, his head: those had been the entirety of his world. When he hatched, he had suddenly gone into a world far larger. Moss, rodents, eggs, parents: all of those crowded for his attention. Yet, the world had kept the same order. Walls surrounded him on all sides and he was its uncontested master, except for his parents, but of course in his mind they didn¡¯t really count.


    Gazing out upon the open world, all his preconceptions had been shattered. He had known there was something beyond the cave, both his parents and his racial memories told him that. Nevertheless, he had not expect ¡®something¡¯ to be so large, so strange. Above him, an open black sky stretched out endlessly in all directions, filled with sparkling points of light. The only limits there were strange fluffy mosses, that he later learned were called clouds, floating past serenely. Below him, an endless sea of moss stretched outward from his vantage point on an immense horn of Earth, rising so high that the very of lowest clouds would scrape against its peak leaving behind some of their white moss. He could see that he was about halfway up this massive horn of rock. Two his left and right, many other horns stretched out to the horizon, like the row of spikes rising from his back. And then, dead ahead of him, he saw a truly magnificent sight.


    The sky before him began to change color. Shifting slowly from a pitch black to red, it awed him as it passed through more colors than he had seen in his entire life. Little did he know, It could not compare to what was to come. Slowly but surely, a massive ball of fire rose from the ground. Blinding in brightness and glory, it froze him in place as its warmth touched his scales. He watched, hypnotized as it climbed higher and higher into the sky, brightening the black to a vibrant blue and hiding the stars away. Every day since then he had come up to this place to watch the glorious sun rise.


    Today was no exception to that rule, but as he settled down, he noticed a difference in the landscape. Where once an untainted carpet of grass covered the land, a strange group of structures had popped up. Hominids Israkur recognized as humans idled around tending fires and brandishing strange spikes of shiny metal. They seemed to be preparing for something important, as the amount of activity in the camp gradually grew. Excited by his find, he dashed back down the maze of tunnels leading to the main cave.


    Arriving in a huff, he saw that Father had returned bearing two deer. Softly nuzzling each other, his parents were having a tender moment after a near day of separation. Israkur, being a child of course, didn¡¯t care.


    ¡°Momma! Poppa! I saw Humans outside! They had fires, and metal spikes, and weird nests that rose from the ground too!¡± Saying everything in one breath, he let out his excitement at making a new discovery.


    ¡°What? I told you not to go outside without us! Are you okay? Did they see you?¡± Arina broke her embrace with Arthran and rushed over to check him, frantically interrogating him to reassure herself the he was alright.


    ¡°Yes momma, I¡¯m fine. I didn¡¯t go outside though. I promised you and Dad that I wouldn¡¯t!¡± replied the indignant Israkur as his mother looked him over nonetheless.


    ¡°Then how did you see the humans outside?¡± His father asked, walking over to also check on him.


    Israkur, slightly abashed mumbled out,¡± I found a place¡­.¡±


    ¡°A place where¡­?¡± his father prodded him.


    ¡°A place... where the cave opens up into a small opening. But I didn¡¯t go outside! I promise I really didn¡¯t!¡± Israkur pleaded with his parents to believe him.


    ¡°Ahh, that old air vent above the back entrance?¡± his father remembered. Looking down at Israkur sternly, he continued,¡± Israkur, it¡¯s okay for you to stay there, but you should have told us when you found it, alright?¡±


    Finding little sympathy in either of his parents¡¯ worried gazes, Israkur mumbled out an apology, and then once more bursting with energy blurted out,¡± Can I go with you to talk with them? I¡¯ve never met a real human before! Are they tasty? Do they smell funny? Pleeaassee can I go!¡±


    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± his parents responded in unison.


    ¡°B- but why not?¡± The saddened Israkur asked. In his young mind his parents were being terrible and restricting.


    Reality however, was far different. Adult Dragons were massive engines of magic and destruction. Capable of flying over battlefields and letting loose massive swathes of energy and physical might, they could level armies of lesser beings. Of course, all this power came with drawbacks. Dragons rarely bred, having a clutch of only around four eggs once every twenty years or so, making his parents clutch of 10 a rarity indeed. As such, hatchlings were prized: and of course targeted. A hatchling¡¯s scales were not fully hardened causing many threats an adult would simply ignore to suddenly become fatal. This targeting by other races was so extreme that, even with the obsessive protection adult dragons bestowed upon their young, about 1 in three would die before reaching maturity.


    Considering all this in their minds, his mother replied,¡± Because it¡¯s not safe! We don¡¯t know what the humans want and if it comes to a fight, you might get hurt! How about this: if you stay here, nice and well-behaved, I¡¯ll tell you a story about the first dragons. Hmm. What do you think? Sound like a fair deal?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Israkur reluctantly accepted. Perching himself on his favorite stalagmite in the main cave, he pretended to settle down to wait for his parents¡¯ return.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Arina and Arthran checked on their wards one final time before exiting their cave. Unlike most dragons who relied on instinct to perform magic, the two of them were one of the few who had actually learned the runic system of magic.Their spells, while much slower than their brethren¡¯s, were far more precise and powerful. Using their ability, they had lain down wards that prevented any non-draconic intelligent being from crossing, while also alerting them of the attempt. Unfortunately for them, this had not applied to the completely bestial family of cave lurkers that had invaded their egg room.


    Having strengthened the already obsessive defence of runes after the hatching of Israkur, they felt fairly secure in leaving their eggs and son behind. They calmly walked out of the cave side by side. In addition to simply checking the area around them for traps visually, they also extended their awareness outward using their mana to check for any magical or hidden enemies. Finding none, They continued onward, stopping when they reached two lines of assembled humans.


    The humans stood silently, unperturbed by the two dragons they assumed to be lesser drakes. They held long metal pikes in the air and bored shields of inscribed with the standard of a phoenix. A short whiskered human stepped forward from behind their lines. Chanting weakly, he raised himself up on a stone pillar equal in height to Arthran. Now looking down upon the two of them, he declared in a shrill, nasal voice, ¡°Lesser Dragons! By the treaty between your Roccean hold and the Empire of the Phoenix, you are not allowed to enter this far into our lands! Flee now, or be slain by the might of the dragonslayers!¡± Raising their spears in time, the humans slammed them down as he concluded his speech. The human looked smugly and expectantly at the two.


    Dragons individually were one of the mightiest beings in existence, not that they admit to being anything but the very strongest, but there were empires of other beings that put together, could rival the power of the mighty dragon holds. The Roccean hold was one of the smallest holds in the known world. It consisted of mainly lesser dragons: dragons who had not undergone their first evolution, and was frankly seen as a laughingstock by most populations of dragons. To call a dragon a member of such a hold, was one of the most insulting claims a being could make: not that the humans would care to learn that of course.


    The two dragons snarled slightly at the insult. Angrily bringing down the mage''s stone tower with his own magic, Arthran looked down upon the now cowering human mage. ¡° Your first mistake,¡± he began¡± was to bring so few men with you. Your second mistake was to assume we were from the Roccean hold. Your third, and final mistake according to the ancient treaty between your empire and the Saralion hold, was to insult us by calling us lesser dragons. Now, let us show your ¡°Might of the Phoenix Empire¡± just how strong a dragon is¡­¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    As greater dragons, Arthran and Arina had evolved once, aligning themselves with an element. In their new form, they were avatars of that element taking draconic shape. However, when they wished to, they could easily return to their old form to mate, communicate to lesser beings, and raise hatchlings. This old form is what led to humans to conclude the pair were lesser dragons, and also what was now disappearing as they prepared themselves for battle.


    Arthran grew slightly shorter and far stouter. His scales steadily grew into larger and thicker plates as his claws slumped inward to become blunt bashing tools. His tail spikes extended outward, creating a massive spiked maul, and his body turned into bronze-colored metallic stone. As a bronze dragon, he had followed his affinity and chosen to become a stone dragon, the stoutest and physically strongest of all the normal elements.


    Arina shift went in a drastically different direction from his. Moving back behind him, she lost her front legs as her wings shifted forward and grew far more massive. Her body elongated, becoming almost serpent-like, and her scales actually shrank, forming a small but still complete shimmering plate of thinner armor. Unlike her mate, Arina was a silver dragon, and had thus chosen to attune herself to the element of wind, the fastest and most versatile of the elements.


    To their credit, even though they knew they had no chance against a pair of greater dragons, the humans knelt down and prepared to face them. The two dragons however, made no concession to this bravery. Communicating their intentions at the speed of thought, The pair planned out their battle for every eventuality. Arthran stepped forward and stamped a foot. Spreading outward from this impact, a massive carpet of runes shattered the ground, turning the battlefield into an cracked, quaking mess. The humans were thrown down, and a few of them were even swallowed by the gaping canyons that opened up beneath them. Arina, having already taken off to avoid her mate¡¯s attack, drew in a deep breath of air. Infusing it with her power, she grew a massive ball of silver energy between her jaws. Enclosing it in runes, she releases her favorite combat spell: wind shredder. The ball of power flashes downward, and upon making contact with the ground, blasts outward releasing mana, and rune infused gale-force winds. The runes and mana moved slightly faster than the winds themselves, washing over the humans and negating the effects of shields and artifacts. Then came the winds. Ripping into armor, the winds shredded the humans as thoroughly as if they had passed through a grinder, leaving not even bite-sized chunks behind.


    After they assured themselves that the humans were defeated, Arina and Arthran turned to reenter the cave, only to be interrupted by a sudden mental warning. ¡°MOMMA! WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!¡± Trusting her son implicitly, Arina pumped her wings to the side, dashing a full dragon-length in one beat. Her move was not a moment too soon as a serrated spear of blue fire impaled itself in the ground where her head would have been if she had not dodged. The two dragons roared in indignant fury, and turned to view one of the few existences that rival their own: a phoenix.


    Dragons and phoenixes had a long history of conflict. Reaching back all the way to their primordial ancestors, the two species had fought over who would control the skies, and the fire of the world. Phoenixes, as beings of pure energy given shape, could not rival a dragon of equal age in physical strength. In terms of magic however, Phoenixes were naturals, actually creating the portion of the runic language that addressed fire. Normally, a battle between a phoenix and a dragon would be a long drawn out affair as the phoenix can not penetrate the dragon¡¯s resistance to all elements and the dragon can not physically strike down the phoenix. A battle between a greater dragon and a greater phoenix on the other hand, was always decided by the first blow.


    Unlike their lesser kin greater phoenixes burned hot enough to harm the dragons themselves. However, to achieve this power, they had to sacrifice a large part of their intangibility and become far more vulnerable to a dragon¡¯s strikes. In this case, the phoenix before them blanched, knowing that it had just lost its life. Flapping its wings frantically to flee, it found no purchase in the air as a vacuum surrounded it. With the phoenix trapped in a void of air formed by Arina, Arthran roared furiously, abandoning his runic magic in his anger, and used his instinctual magic. Fueled by his anger, the Earth exploded launching dragon-sized chunks of rock in all directions. The phoenix, unable to move, was helpless as it was obliterated completely by the shards crashing into it.


    Arthran panted in exhaustion from using so much mana. He had never come so close to losing his mate before and, in his fury, he had ripped a crater into the mountain and consumed the vast majority of his power. Arina descended back into her lesser form. Rushing over to him, the two of them embraced, almost weeping with joy. Their thoughts to each other held only love and relief as they recovered from their battle. Their tender moment, like those of all parents, was interrupted by their son dashing out to them.


    ¡°Momma! Poppa! Are you okay!?¡± bawled Israkur as he reached them. In his mind, his parents were invincible: titans of power and love. Nearly losing one of them had terrified him utterly.


    Smiling softly, Arina wrapped him up in her wing. She looked down at him and reassured him,¡± Don¡¯t worry my little Dragon Lord, we¡¯re both just fine. Now, what are you doing outside? Dragons have to keep their promises you know.¡± she continued, trying to shift the conversation.


    ¡°I just¡­. I¡¯m sorry momma, I had to be sure you and dad were okay..¡± Israkur sniffled.


    Arthran leaned and lifted Israkur¡¯s chin up with his snout. Smiling gently, he spoke,¡± Israkur. Don¡¯t worry about your mom and I. We¡¯re both dragons you know! The biggest of the big, the strongest of the strong, and the bravest of the brave!¡± Striking a ridiculous pose, he brought a smile and giggling laughter to Israkur¡¯s face.


    ¡°Now,¡± he continued once he saw that his son¡¯s spirits had lifted,¡± I think your mother promised you a story, didn¡¯t she?¡±


    Israkur jumped away from his mother, childish excitement fully replacing the anxiety he had still felt from just a few moments ago.


    ¡°I seem to remember that the story was supposed to be a reward for staying inside and being a good boy while the two of us were out¡­¡± Arina replied musingly as she scratched her chin with a claw.


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember that!¡± both Israkur and Arthran replied in unison, grinning conspiratorially at one another.


    Arina sighed dramatically and replied,¡± Oh well! My memory must be growing bad if the two of you say so¡­ I guess I do owe you a Story then!¡± She smiled as her son cheered and dashed back inside to the story spot. Both of his parents gladly followed him in.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    If the ledge by the air vent was Israkur¡¯s favorite place in the cave, the storytelling spot was his second favorite. He had christened it thus in his first week when he found it strange that so many objects had names yet this very important place didn¡¯t. Here his mother told him the stories of dragonkind¡¯s past and helped him grow in touch with his own inner memories.


    The place itself was relatively elegant. A large alcove of the side of the main cave, it was more than enough to fit in 5 adult dragons. There were 10 ledges, 1 large ledge in the very deepest point of the alcove for Arina and nine smaller ones for Israkur and his siblings, whenever they decided to actually show up.


    Israkur excitedly took his seat, in the very center of the semicircle formed by the hatchling ledges and looked expectantly at his mother.


    Seeing his expectant look, Arina jumped straight into the story¡­


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Once upon a time, for if it had not happened , we would not tell of it, there was only one dragon: the great god king Terramond. Blessed by all of the elements, he ruled over the other Gods through his might and justice. All was peaceful in the world as the Gods worked together to keep it safe from Ruin, the great evil that wishes to return all to dust. One day however, Chaos, the mischievous trickster, showed the human god how to make creations in his image. The human god, and a few others with him, trusting chaos, immediately created their peoples. However, chaos while true to his word, had also made it so his spell would make the new beings chaotic and entertaining for his pleasure: so were the humans, halflings, and beasts created. With their tinge of chaos, they are very short-lived and irrational, yet very powerful if they work together. A dragon facing one hundred thousand humans one at a time will surely be the victor, but when facing those humans together? Even dragons shall fall.


    The other gods, except for the King himself, saw chaos¡¯s deception and went to Order to beg for her version of the same spell. Gladly complying to bring about balance, she helped them create their races: The elves, dwarves, and the various elementals of the world. These beings valued structure, and spent long if not eternal lifetimes working to enhance their people. Gradually, the world dissolved into a battlefield as Ruin, intrigued by the destruction the mortals were bringing about without his intervention, brought the new force of death into the world to balance Life.


    As the Mortals and Gods fought in the world below, Terramond the godking labored to bring about his own creation. Giving it form from the Earth, Life from the water, Breath from the air, and magic from fire, he created it in his image out of all of the elements. His power given flesh, he went to secure blessings from Chaos, Order, Creation, and finally even Ruin. Chaos gave it the gift of ingenuity: dragons would forever be quick thinkers, and even quicker acters. Order gave the dragons Patience, giving them the ability to work thoroughly and keep the balance in the world. Ruin, interested in the dragon, strengthened its body: Sharpening the dragon¡¯s claws, hardening their scales, and giving them their ability to breathe out power, he gave dragons their heart of the present, a massive beating jem in the center of their chest that pumped blood and mana throughout their body. Creation on the other hand, blessed dragons with their heart of the future: a second gem, to the right of the first, that stored mana within them, much like dungeon cores and elementals. With this, as the dragons grew, so would their capacity and might in wielding mana: truly a gift fit for an immortal.


    Finally seeing his creation standing before him, Terramond bestowed his final gift upon it: the heart of the past. A third gem in their chest, this time to the left of the present, it held the memories of all the dragons before them, all the way back to the very first. As a dragon grew older, it gained access to more and more of its heart, becoming wiser and wiser with the wisdom of its ancestors. And with that final gift, he allowed Life to breathe upon it, and sent his first creations out into the world. And that young dragon, is how the first dragons came into the world.


    -  - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Questions buzzing furiously in his mind, Arthran thought to his mother, only to be interrupted by sharp cracking sounds. Looking confusedly at his mother, he asked,¡± Momma? What¡¯s that noise?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, that?¡± Arina replied mysteriously as she stood and began to walk out of the storytelling spot. Looking back at Israkur over her shoulder, she smiled gleefully and continued,¡± Why I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s your siblings arriving!¡±


    Israkur gasped and, nearly tripping over himself dashed over to the egg room to meet his new family members.

 Chapter 3

    Israkur darted into the room. He quickly arrived in the center and saw, arrayed around him, what he had hardly waited to have: siblings! There were only six of them: one green, two blues, one red, the gold and the black. Each of them looked different, with horns, scales, and even differently shaped wings. Currently the black and the gold seemed to be facing off: snarling at one another angrily and raising wings in threatening positions.


    The gold made the first move. Dashing forward, he bashed his smaller sister¡¯s head up and closed his teeth around her throat in one fluid move. Biting down, he ignored her cries of pain and suffocation. Israkur was shocked at his brother¡¯s brutality. Enraged by the bullying and injustice, he charged forward and bashed him into a nearby stalagmite.


    Looking down upon the now trembling black, he thought to her: ¡±Don¡¯t worry little sister: It¡¯s me, your older brother! I¡¯ll protect you!¡± The black trembled even more, curling up into a tighter ball.


    ¡°Oh, Right!¡± Israkur remembered,¡± You can¡¯t talk yet! Don¡¯t worry, it took me a week to learn that too. It¡¯s easy once you start using your memories. Now come on! Let¡¯s go! We have¡­¡± Israkur¡¯s excited statements were interrupted by the gold slamming into him. Clawing and biting at his throat, it tried desperately to gain a death grip like it had on the black. Israkur: however, was not his younger sister. Having spent two weeks eating meat and exercising outside of the egg, he had grown nearly double in size. His scales had hardened, and small taut muscles ran underneath the entirety of his hide.


    Looking down on the ineffective attempts of the gold, he snorted,¡± Not so easy when you¡¯re up against someone your own size is it?¡± In addition to the strength he had gained in his two weeks of outside life, he had also accessed more and more of his memories: giving him more than a lifetime''s supply of witty one-liners. The one he used wasn¡¯t quite appropriate considering that Israkur, who had been a large hatchling, was nearly three times the gold¡¯s size and well on his way to drakehood, but Israkur felt it was good practice: the hero¡¯s in his memories and his mother¡¯s stories always managed to say them.


    Growing tired of the hatchling¡¯s scratching, he reached down and grabbed the base of it¡¯s neck. Shaking it once, he threw it away from him and back into the pillar. Stepping forward, he roared furiously, a slight sound compared to his parents but impressive to hatchlings nonetheless, and left the gold trembling on the ground.


    Israkur turned around to face his sister, only to find himself surrounded by his remaining siblings. Slightly on guard, he relaxed when he saw that, instead of attacking him, they bowed their heads: The ancient way for a clutch to accept a champion. Israkur however, did not know this, and merely looked confusedly at the lot of them. His mother¡¯s voice quickly cleared away any misconceptions,¡± Don¡¯t worry Israkur. They¡¯re just saying that you are the very strongest of them all.¡±


    Immensely satisfied by this, Israkur nodded his head in approval, and then suddenly burst out in excitement,¡± Woohoo! You¡¯re all finally here! Come on, Come on! I have so much you all have to see! I have to show you mom, and dad too, and the storytelling place and the¡­¡± Israkur¡¯s voice trailed off as he led his gaggle of siblings out of the cave, leaving the black, gold, and two unhatched eggs behind.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    The black sighed quietly. Her color always got their memories faster than the other dragons, and thus, she had known she would be at best ostracized and forgotten. Even the white who, although their colors were usually bitter enemies, had given her a glimmer of hope left her here. Sniffling softly, she turned toward the shadowy back of the cave, only to be interrupted by a cheerful voice.


    ¡°Well come on little sister! What are you waiting for?¡± The White had come back! Looking up hopefully at his cheerful visage, she hesitantly took a step towards him. Then, with no betrayal forthcoming, she took another, and another, until, soon enough, she was walking right beside him to her other siblings. The blues, seeing her with their champion quickly bounded over and happily began to introduce themselves, sniffling and cuddling, serving as their words. Blues were the most social of dragons, and this pair of females was no exception to that rule.


    She quickly clumsily reciprocated their gestures, excited and hopeful. Her memories all held only long lives of solitude, and she had no background to draw upon for this inclusion she felt now. As the green and red slowly came around to her presence here and joined in the greeting, she looked gratefully at the grinning white, her older brother. In that moment, she decided: she would be his guardian just as he was hers.


    Black and white dragons were, along with metallic dragons, the rarest of colors, but holding memories of the encounters between her colors and his, she knew his weakness: gullibility. It¡¯s not to say that he was stupid, far from it. She knew that whites were the second most intelligent color, after her own of course, yet they followed a code of morals based around truth and justice. Very powerful and very noble, with their morals they could attract many dragons as followers and usually became dragon lords, but they were completely unsuited to the deception and spy mongering that occurred in the larger holds. With her help however, his weaknesses would be negated, and she knew that he could become the greatest dragon lord the world has ever seen.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Israkur, for his part, knew nothing of the thoughts running through his sister¡¯s mind. He had helped her, regardless of the many memories that told him not to, because she was his family and one memory in particular: that of a black sacrificing itself to save his mate. He had hoped that she could find honor as well, and so far, he had not been disappointed by his youngest sibling. She was befriending all of the others and did not display any of the viciousness usually associated with blacks.


    Glad that everything had worked out well, he looked up to see the gold walking towards the group. Haughtily ignoring them, it walked on with its head held high and away from the other hatchlings. Israkur snorted in disdain and noted, with no small satisfaction, that it¡¯s arrogant walk was broken by a slight limp. Choosing to also ignore the gold, he led his other siblings into the main cave, where his parents were waiting.


    Arina thrilled in excitement when she saw them. Broadcasting her thoughts openly, she spoke¡± Can you all hear me?¡± as all the hatchlings, even the gold, turned to her she thought joyfully,¡± Good good! I¡¯m your mother, Arina! Now come on, you all must be hungry!¡± Moving aside, she cleared the way to a fresh carcass. The gold dashed forward and moved to feast upon the carcass, but Israkur blocked him. Letting all his siblings eat their fill first, he finally let the gold have the scraps. He was by no means doing this out of vengefulness, any punishment the gold deserved had been meted out in the hatching room. Instead he was asserting his dominance. Israkur knew the gold would be a problem to the rest of the clutch, bullying and forcing them under his influence, and was already taking measures to protect them.


    His sleepy siblings looked thankfully at him, as they curled up by their father¡¯s warm bulk and, with their hunger sated, quickly fell asleep. The gold, on the other hand, glared at him belligerently. It¡¯s memories held only dominance and rule through tyranny. Unlike the other colors of leadership -- valiant white and wise silver-- gold dragons ruled through strength and arrogance. While not stupid, as many hominid tales portray them to be, they also placed intelligence and the lives of others at a distant second below their own strength.


    Israkur had seen just how far the gold¡¯s bullying would go firsthand in the hatching room and had decided himself to discipline it for it¡¯s own good. After the gold learned its lesson, it would be welcome to join in with no ill will from Israkur. The gold of course responded with bluster and arrogance. Over the next weeks, the two clashed on a regular basis. Israkur always managed to stave him off, sending him scurrying off to the opposite corner of the main cave, but all too soon, after just a month and a half: the situation changed.


    ¡°Iskur, we ¡­ we just can¡¯t stay near that black anymore.¡± The green and red explained after declaring that they would join the gold. The two had always been the most hesitant to accept her presence in the cave with them and it seemed that the gold had persuaded them to his side.


    ¡°Aurusal said that¡­¡± they began.


    ¡°Aurusal?¡± Israkur interrupted curtly. He had never been betrayed before this, and was shocked by the sudden nature of their departure. Burying his emotions however, he projected a tense, unfeeling aura around him.


    The two shuffled their feet. Mumbling out slowly, the green explained,¡± That¡¯s what our brother told us to call him. He hasn¡¯t killed a beast yet, but he said he was good for that name.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Israkur snorted,¡± Champion of light? He fits that name about as well as my tailvent does!¡±


    ¡°Well at least he doesn¡¯t hang around a stinking black!¡± the red retorted. Turning, he ignored Israkur and stalked angrily towards where the gold was waiting. Halfway there, seeing that the green was hesitant to actually act upon their decision,¡± he called back over his shoulder,¡± Come on! Remember what Aurus promised¡­¡±


    The green seemed to make a decision. He slowly walked away from Israkur and his sisters going to stand shamefully by the gold. For their part, the blues were torn: Israkur had protected them and shown them only kindness, yet three of their brothers stood completely against him. Choosing to take the middle ground, they curled up beside Arina and formed their own group of two.


    And so the cave was tensely divided. The gloating gold triumphantly held his half while Israkur stayed with the black, his only sibling that had not abandoned him. After the others left, the balck tearfully apologized to him.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Iskur¡­.¡± she sniffled,¡± this is all my fault¡­ If I just hadn¡¯t been a black¡­¡±


    He quickly turned to her and lifted her head up with his tail. ¡° Never blame your scales sis: blame them,¡± he replied, gesturing to their three brothers.¡± It¡¯s not your fault that they¡¯re so ignorant and angry.¡±


    ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s okay: They¡¯re our family, they¡¯ll come around eventually. Now come on! I know just the spot to cheer you up!¡±


    Leading her into the maze of tunnels that forked off from the main cave, he smiled in recollection of his favorite spot in the cave. Over the past month since his siblings hatched, he had been far too busy keeping the gold at bay. Now however, he needed a place to think, and his sister needed cheering up.


    Rounding the final corner, he led her to his ledge. She gasped in amazement as she looked out upon the unblemished world lying below a black night sky.


    ¡°You see sis?¡± Israkur prodded. ¡° Black is a color, just like all of the others, and frankly, it¡¯s rather beautiful isn¡¯t it?¡±


    The black looked up happily at Israkur¡¯s smiling face. Nuzzling up to him, she mumbles out shyly ,¡± Thanks Iskur¡­. I know you¡¯ll always be there for me...


    ¡°Of course,¡± he replies confidently,¡± After all isn¡¯t that what big brothers are for? Now, Look! I always love this part...¡± The two slowly drift to silence as the sun rises over the horizon, their troubles momentarily forgotten.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    ¡°Oh Arthran! It kills me that they just can¡¯t get along¡­¡± Arina confides in her husband. It broke her heart to see her children split into factions, and every day she tried to keep the peace.


    ¡°I know Arina ... They¡¯re both so headstrong, but you know the rules. Aurusal made his wish and we can¡¯t show favoritism.¡± he replies, comforting her.


    ¡°Yes, I know those rules,¡± she exclaimed, venom and disdain lining her voice. Her voice softening to sadness once more she continued, ¡± but you know he¡¯ll force Israkur out¡­¡±


    Looking out over his children, Arthran sighed gloomily. Spreading his wings, and making his way towards the cave entrance, he set off to search for the day¡¯s meal.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Not observing their parents¡¯ distress, the hatchlings continued their cold war. For the next week tensions continued to rise, although without any fights, until finally the tension exploded. Arthran had just brought in the day¡¯s meal, a bull Forest Elk. Israkur moved with his sister to take his first choice in meat as he always had. This time however, Aurus moved to do the same.


    Noticing Aurusal¡¯s approach, Israkur commanded his sister,¡± Quick, go eat. I¡¯ll stop him.¡±


    Turning back, he called out to the gold,¡± Are you sure you want to try yourself again gold? You remember how all your previous attempts went¡­¡± Spreading his wings out slightly and lifting his neck, he made the threat clear.


    For his part the gold made no aggressive motions, instead choosing to sit back and reply confidently,¡± It¡¯s Aurus now, and trust me, if we do this again, it will go far differently for you¡­¡±


    Israkur ignored the arrogant threat implicit in the gold¡¯s statement and questioned,¡±Aurusal? Did mother and father name you that?¡± Still facing the gold, he hears his sister dig into the Elk. At this point he is just buying time for her to get fed as he himself wasn¡¯t sure he could defeat the gold.


    Seemingly unaware of Israkur¡¯s intentions, the gold lazily picked at his scales and replied,¡± No, I named myself . We golds can do that¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmph, still arrogant are you? I had wondered where hominids got that idea about us, but it seems I¡¯ve learned now.¡±


    ¡°Ha, you were always better with words weren¡¯t you? Well now that we¡¯re the same size I have a funny little thing to tell you.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Israkur asked skeptically.


    The golds features constricted into a gleeful smirk. ¡°Yes actually, when a gold like me names himself, he is allowed one wish that his parents must fulfill¡­¡±


    Israkur felt a sudden sinking feeling. As he looked around, he noticed for the first time that neither his parents nor his blue siblings were in the chamber with them.


    ¡°My wish,¡± the gold continued,¡± was for them to not intervene as I finally kicked the two of you out of the cave¡­¡±


    As the gold said those words, a red blur suddenly blindsided Israkur, crashing into him and mercilessly tearing at his side. Israkur tensed in surprise as his red brother attacked him, but steeling himself and roaring with rage swiped back, turning to face him. Suddenly, the green slammed into him from the other side. Attacking him with some hesitation, the green nevertheless forced Isrkaur to divide his attention, deflecting blows from both sides with the harder scales on his limbs and back.


    Aurasal meanwhile bellowed with laughter. With a cruel glint in his eyes, he mocked Israkur,¡± Not so mighty now are you? Haha, submit to me you weak fool.¡±


    Israkur burned with rage at his family¡¯s betrayal. His instincts were screaming at him to defeat them, to crush them beneath his claws and sow the ground with their blood, yet his hearts told him to forgive. He remembered the peaceful green sleeping by him and the angry red throwing adorable tantrums. They were his family! He had to protect them yet¡­


    Then, while puzzling over his moral dilemma and still fighting defensively, he heard his sister yelp. The black, although not even half the size of the male drakes, could not leave her brother to his fate, had snuck around the battle and charged the gold, planning to lock her jaws around his throat and end this once and for all. Of course, it had not worked like that. THe gold snorted disdainfully and clawed a line down her side and closed his jaws around her neck, aiming to suffocate her as he had in the hatching room.


    Seeing his sister struggle in agony, his conflicting emotions coincided: these brutes were not his family. The only one who had stayed by him was his sister, and she was in pain.


    Roaring with fury and perhaps a tinge of hatred, he bashed the green¡¯s head with a massive blow. The green reeled back in response and Israkur turned to his most treacherous brother: the red. Dashing forward, he bit deep into the red¡¯s shoulder, piercing through its far weaker scales down to the bone. Ripping the mouthful of muscle out, he clawed deeply down the red¡¯s vulnerable belly as it reared up in pain to avoid him.


    Turning back to the gold, he acted upon a sudden instinct. Taking a deep breath in, he felt himself infuse it with mana. When he felt that he could not hold it in any longer, he blew the air out in a cloud of pure energy.


    Dragons first use their breath weapons in situations of extreme emotion or distress. Each scale color caused it to manifest differently, with variations even within the colors based upon personality. Whites usually were most attuned to ice or a healing breath yet Israkur¡¯s rage caused his breath to instead take a far more aggressive form: a blast of pure mana.


    The primal energy leaped out in a pulse of power. Aurusal seemed to sense the impending blow, leaning out of the way, he instinctively let go of the blacks neck and tried to dodge out of its way. Unfortunately for him, he was not fast enough. The ball of crackling mana slammed into his side full on blasting him off of the black and into a cave wall. The mana burned through through his scales scorching his muscles and leaving widespread wounds. While not by any means fatal or even life-threatening, they left him wide open and defenseless to any further blows from Israkur. Moving back fearfully, he kept his uninjured side facing his elder brother.


    Israkur however was completely uninterested in pursuing his advantage. Dashing over to his sister, he checked her wounds over. Much to his relief, they were relatively minor, and she recovered rather easily once she caught her breath.


    Shamefully looking up at him she spoke sorrowfully,¡± I¡¯m sorry Iskur¡­ I¡¯m just too weak¡­¡±


    ¡°Come on sis,¡± Israkur replied, ignoring the other drakes in the cave,¡± you know that¡¯s not true. He¡¯s a gold! Their the biggest bullies of dragonkind. Of course you couldn¡¯t beat him yet! Just wait until you get your magic though. No gold will stand a chance against you!¡±


    ¡°Now,¡± he continued,¡± I think it¡¯s time for us to go. It¡¯s clear that we¡¯re not welcome here.¡±


    ¡°Iskur you know that¡¯s not true!¡± His mother exclaimed dashing into the main cave. She had been worried sick about her children, yet her promise bound her to stay out of the way.


    ¡°Oh really? Then where were you when sister got hurt? When Aurusal over there attacked her for the first time? When those two brutes attacked her?¡± he replied angrily, all his anger and rage childishly focusing on his mother, who he logically knew was not to blame.


    ¡°Iskur¡­ they are your brothers, and my sons you know that I¡­¡± Arina sorrowfully began.


    ¡°No!¡± Israkur interrupted.¡± Don¡¯t call me Iskur! And those brutes,¡± he continued placing special emphasis on the word,¡± aren¡¯t my family! Now come on sister. Let¡¯s get going!¡±


    With those parting words, Israkur, covered in wounds, left the cave with his sister, leaving his heartbroken motherbehind. He never looked back, and would never return....

 Chapter 4

    The biting wind dug into the drakes¡¯ scales. From the shelter of the cave, the outer world had seemed a perfect place, with warmth and light in abundance. Reality however, struck like a harsh blow through the chill mountain wind. Shivering, Israkur and his sister took a moment to plan out their next move.


    ¡°I say we go down the mountains into those forests. There must be food there and the trees will protect us from this wind.¡± the black suggested.


    Seeing no fault in getting out of the wind, and also feeling hungry, Israkur readily agreed, taking the lead on the way down. Slowly but surely they made their way out into the open air. Their family¡¯s cave had been in a valley¡¯s end. Massive mountains stretched out in all directions, sloping down to form a forested trough.


    The mountain slope was carpeted with gently swaying grasses and small flowers. Insects buzzed around them and soon, the two were frolicking among the knee-high plants. They would each take turns lowering themselves as much as possible and stalking the other. Then they would leap forth and triumphantly pin the other to the ground. Israkur let his sister win occasionally, of course, but he felt justified by the glee on her face. Living in the cave with the others, she had closed herself off. Only now that she was free did she regain the joyful confidence all beings held in their youth.


    After playing a few more rounds of hunter, Israkur felt his stomach rumbling. Looking back to his sister he said,¡± Come on! Let¡¯s get down to the forest! I¡¯m hungry and we can¡¯t just call you black for the rest of your life now can we?¡±


    Excited at the prospect of getting her own name, his sister nodded and joined him, moving steadily forward. Unfortunately, living in a cave had given the two drakes a flawed sense of time and an underdeveloped depth perception. When they looked forward, the forest seemed to loom ahead, trees rising just about twice their height. Of course, the trees were much, much larger and consequently, much, much farther away than they expected. One hour turned into two, two hours turned into four, and four finally turned into six as they finally arrived at the edge of the evergreens.


    The trees loomed up above them, ominous and imposing. Nearly ten times as tall as the young drakes, they would have towered above even Arina and Arthran themselves. The two stand in awe, craning their necks upward to look for the canopy.


    ¡°Are all trees this big¡­?¡± Israkur mumbled in a shocked voice.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± his sister replied. ¡°From what I remember,¡± she continued,¡± I think these are mana woods. All the plants and animals here are actually Beasts.¡± she concluded with awe and a hint of worry.


    Magical beasts were not a specific race like humans or dragons. Instead, they were naturally occurring plants and animals that took in the mana of the world around them and as a result grew into far stronger forms. As such, they were vastly diverse and had no minimum or maximum level of power. Their strength could ;however, be measured by the size of their core, a gem of crystallized mana, but that was rather dangerous to do as beasts looked upon measuring cores akin to a physical attack. This was because, in their forests, they constantly fought one another. Devouring the defeated beast¡¯s core, they could greatly strengthen their own and evolve.


    Dragons also had a form of core as their heart of the future. A dragon¡¯s core however, could not either absorb a beast¡¯s or be absorbed. Instead, it siphoned mana out of the dragon¡¯s meals: as a consequence, dragons quite literally became what they eat. A dragon that consumed massive amounts of life mana, would also produce far more life mana and evolve into a forest dragon for example. Taking this in account, dragons had to be careful when eating beasts: if they accidently ate the core of any beast, they could potentially scar their heart, preventing them from evolving. Yet by the same toke, a beast that ate a dragon would be purified by the dragon¡¯s heart into a different type of mana: a process that was not only extremely painful as they were turned into energy one atom at a time, but also guaranteed to be lethal.


    Walking into the forest, Israkur was stunned by the change in the air. The wind, which had previously bit into their scales, chilling them to the bone, seemingly disappeared, leaving behind only a soft rustling as the pine needles gently danced above. The firm, grassy, ground was covered by a thick carpet of needles and underbrush, leaving open air and thick tree trunks all the way up to the misty canopy above. The air surrounding them grew musty with hundreds, if not thousands, of new smells vying for their attention. Overwhelmed by the strangeness, the two drakes crept onward, taking care not to draw attention to themselves.


    Stopping for a moment, Israkur whispers,¡± I think we should we scout a little deeper into this forest first. Then we can start hunting for food ¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± his sister readily agreed.


    The two of them crept onward, slowly growing accustomed to the forest. Walking in a zigzag along the edge of the forest, they periodically dove in deeper, exploring their surrounding while leaving themselves room to bolt if they strayed too close to a large beast. Fortunately, no such encounter happened. Instead, they stumbled upon a large clearing where a herd of deer was peacefully grazing.


    Glad at his good fortune, Israkur dashed forward, not hearing his sister¡¯s plea to stay back.


    Turning their heads towards him in unison, the deer immediately bolted, dashing through the trees nearly twice as fast as he could move. Dismayed, he quickly stopped only able to watch as they fled out of sight.


    ¡°What was that?¡± his sister called out to him from behind.


    ¡°Well I thought that¡­¡± Israkur began.


    ¡°You thought they¡¯d just lie down or throw themselves into your jaws? Of course the prey runs from us: that¡¯s why we need a plan and teamwork!¡± she chided him.


    ¡°But Father hunted alone¡­¡± Israkur replied defensively.


    ¡°Yes but he can fly remember? We¡¯re still about a year away from being big enough for that¡­¡±


    Sighing as his stomach grumbles again, Israkur asked,¡± Alright then what¡¯s the plan when we find something we can eat again?¡±


    His sister¡¯s eyes sparkled slightly and she quickly laid out her plan.


    ¡°Alright, first step is we sneak up to around 10 dragonlengths away from them. Then I go around them to the other side. When I¡¯m ready, I¡¯ll send a thought to you and you run at them. When they see you, they¡¯ll run, but this time I¡¯ll be there! I¡¯ll grapple with one until you arrive and finish it off!¡± as she spoke she sent metal pictures of the plan to him, showing him exactly what he had to do.


    Israkur quickly agreed to the plan and the two of them set off again. They moved slowly through the forest, still unaccustomed to the sounds and scents. Israkur noticed, rather depressingly, that the sun was quickly falling below the horizon. With it¡¯s loss, he could feel the air begin to grow colder. While his sister was on the lookout for food, he searched for a good place to shelter through the night.


    Fortunately, as the cold was becoming almost unbearable, he stumbled upon a large opening in the mountainside: a cave! The opening was rough and jagged, not at all like that of his parents¡¯ cave, but he could even smell what seemed to be food inside of it. Turning back for a moment, he spoke to his sister.


    ¡°I found a cave! We can take shelter inside for tonight, it smells like there might be some food inside too.¡±


    ¡°O-okay¡± his sister replied, shivering. Israkur sighed gloomily. He wasn¡¯t in much better condition himself.


    Israkur quickly stepped into the cave, sniffing the air thoroughly only to realize that something was terribly wrong: he was not smelling only dead meat, but also a very live predator.


    A low rumbling growl sounded out from the beast that had already made this cave it¡¯s dwelling place. Looking up at it, Israkur could tell that it was a variant of a fairly common species of magic beast, the armored cave bear.Unfortunately, it¡¯s variant status gave it greater attunement with a certain element, lowering the chance that it would be edible and, more importantly, nearly doubling its natural strength.


    Leaping backwards, he neatly dodged the furious bear¡¯s first swipe. Breathing in, he infused the air with mana and prepared to release it, but was interrupted by the massive bulk of the bear smashing into him, sending him flying away. Luckily the pine needles coating the forest floor absorbed most of the impact from landing, allowing him to quickly turn back and face his foe.


    The bear was nearly ten feet tall at the shoulder, twice as large as Israkur himself. In the moonlight, he could see thick plates of rock covering it. The armor clearly indicated its attunement to the earth, causing Israkur quite a few problems.


    First, he knew the bear would be hardy. With its plates and sheer size, his claws and fangs would not be able to make a fatal blow or even cripple it enough for them to escape. His scales on the other hand, would not be of much use as the bear¡¯s might would crush bones and batter him about without having to pierce them.


    Second the bear would have a massive advantage on the ground. The extent of this advantage depended on the bear¡¯s strength: from at the minimum granting it the ability to know his, and more importantly his sister¡¯s position, at any time to being able to raise spike to impale them or trap them to kill at its leisure.


    He also knew he couldn¡¯t escape. The cold had slowed him down and his sister was probably in even worse shape than he was.


    Taking all this into account, Israkur made the first move. Sending a rushed mental picture to his sister of her dashing up a tree, he roared at the bear and spread his wings to make himself appear larger.


    Snorting at his display, the bear roared its own response and charged at him. Eating up the distance between them at a breathtaking pace, it lept to crash down upon him and batter him to death. Israkur however, was no longer there. Strafing quickly to the side, he let the bear land upon nothing but air and began to charge his breath with mana again.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The bear, unbalanced from the lack of resistance, careened onward and smashed into the side of the tree Israkur had positioned himself in front of. Dazed for a moment, it failed to capitalize on Israkur¡¯s vulnerability.


    Having been given enough time to ready himself, Israkur unleashed his breath. Once more taking the form of a single, condensed missile of mana, it lanced out to slam into the bear¡¯s side. Crashing into the armor, it exploded, unleashing the torrent of mana contained within. Once the mana and dust had dissipated, Israkur, who had naturally moved away to a safer distance looked to see the results of his attack. Unfortunately, they were disappointing.


    The bear had barely taken any damage. A few plates had been pulverized, leaving its right side exposed, but they were quickly reforming right under Israkur¡¯s eyes. Snorting with laughter, the bear picked itself up and steadily closed in on him.


    Israkur, his will to win unabated, backed away even further as he struggled to make another plan. He only had enough energy for two more blasts, perhaps if he timed them right he could¡­


    Suddenly his plan was interrupted by a thought from his sister.


    ¡°Iskur, get ready! I¡¯m gonna jump on it¡¯s back to distract it and you get close and kill it with your breath!¡±


    ¡°What? No! Stay up there I got this!¡± he frantically thought back.


    His sister ignored him, and leaping out off a branch, her small form landed square in between the bear¡¯s shoulders. Surprised, by the sudden impact, the bear growled and reached up to rip her off. Nimbly moving out of it¡¯s reach and digging into its plates to hold on, the black fully captured its attention.


    Israkur knew this was his only chance. He quickly ran forward while charging his breath. Arriving at the bear¡¯s side, he reared back to release but was immediately interrupted. The seemingly distracted bear had actually been paying very close attention to the only major threat it was facing: Israkur. Feigning to ignore his approach, it had struck a crushing blow with one of its massive paws.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    ¡°Iskur! No!¡± the black shouted, utterly terrified.


    Her brother, her only protector, her only friend had just been tossed like a ragdoll. Crashing into a tree, his ribs cracked making a noise loud enough for her to hear even over the rumbling monster beneath her.


    His limp body sunk to the ground like a puppet that lost its strings. She clawed and bit furiously at the bear, venting her anger and trying to distract it from the vulnerable Israkur. The bear however was not to be deterred. Swinging her off its back with a single shake, it casually made its way over to her fallen brother.


    Moving almost torturously slowly, it taunted the two of them with its overwhelming power. Finally, it reached Israkur. Keeping eye contact with the black, it opened its jaws and slowly moved to crush his head.


    Time seemed to freeze for her as its maw neared him. Closer and closer it moved as she heard only one sound, her terrified, horrified heartbeat. She knew she was about to see her brother die. Then she heard one sound, a final word from her brother: wholly unexpected but absolutely reassuring.


    ¡°Gotcha!¡± he smugly sounded as he raised his jaw and released his final blast of mana straight into the bear¡¯s open jaws.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Israkur watched in satisfaction as his blast blew into the back of the bear¡¯s throat. By some instinct, the surprised beast closed its jaws around the mana.


    For a second, nothing happened and Israkur stared rather expectantly into the bear¡¯s shocked eyes. Then, the missile exploded. The mana poured out once again, but this time, it was not blocked blocked by the plates and bones of the bear. Instead, these served to contain it, massively increasing the pressure and power acting upon the beast.


    Not even a second passed after Israkur felt his mana detonate until the bear¡¯s head exploded launching rocky plates and gore into the air.


    The body sunk to its knees and fell over, the heart forcing blood out of the now severed arteries. A few moments of silence passed until eventually even this fell still.


    Israkur let out a relieved sigh and winced with pain as his broken ribs shifted with the motion. When the bear had swatted him, he knew for certain that his foe had some intelligence. Hoping that with this virtue also came vices, he had faked the extent of his injuries.


    Fortunately enough, the bear had given him just enough time to prepare his final blast and even gone as far as expose its greatest vulnerability. Chuckling slightly at the situation that led to its downfall, he was awoken from his reverie by his sister crashing into him.


    ¡°Iskur! Are you okay?¡± she panicked as she barged into him.


    ¡°Oww, my ribs!¡± Israkur complained as she jolted him.


    Eyes opening wide, she quickly backpedalled, putting a distance between the two of them and apologized tearfully.


    ¡°I¡¯m so s-sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have¡­¡±


    Cutting her off, he interrupted,¡± No, no no. This isn¡¯t your fault sis. It¡¯s that bear¡¯s fault and my own for being careless. Relax, I¡¯m fine.¡±


    Smiling reassuringly, he continued,¡± Now come on. Let¡¯s both get a bite of this bear and go sleep in the cave. I bet it¡¯s nice and warm in there.¡±


    Unconvinced, the black nonetheless moved to take a bit out of the bear. For his part, Israkur carefully lifted himself up. Wincing inwardly and limping with every step, he joined her eating only small bites of the bear to prevent pain from his bruised bones.


    Their hunger sated, the two drakes entered the cave. It was surprisingly shallow, and had probably been only a temporary refuge for the bear as well. Fortunately, a naturally occurring tunnel snaked out from the side and doubled back to form a dead end. Big enough for the two drakes to sleep in and the most sheltered part of the cave, the two quickly chose it as their camp.


    The black dragged in some of the pine needles that littered the forest floor, and soon, the two had made themselves comfortable. The black was the first to fall asleep, breathing quietly and regularly beside Israkur.


    He however, was too deep in thought to sleep. From his memories and a very primitive mana scan of himself, he could tell that his ribs were, fortunately, only bruised. For a dragon, it would take him about a week to heal completely. In that week however, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hunt and would barely be able to defend the two of them. If any beast came after the bear¡¯s carcass, their only source of food, the two of them would go hungry.


    Also worrying was the fact that he had seen no water source. Upon finding the cave, he had hoped it would be deep enough to hold a stream or just condensed water on the walls. Unfortunately, it¡¯s shallowness meant that the two of them would have to go out in search of a creek or stream, exposing them to another danger.


    Sighing slightly, and ignoring the resulting pain, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it had been a good idea to leave his parents¡¯ cave. The three brutes lived there but the blue sisters were nice and mother and father had been amazing to have around. Maybe we should¡­


    No , he thought to himself. Second guessing himself now would only lead to regret. He knew that there was only one path open to him: forward. He would grow, he would become strong, and he would find a mate and start his own family. He would keep them all safe, especially his little sister.


    With his mind more at ease, Israkur let himself slip away into a restful sleep.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    The black crow winged it¡¯s way silently over the forest. Blending in perfectly with the night sky, it traveled, unseen, over the verdant forest. Finally, after hours of flight, it arrived at its destination.


    A spot of decay, a mole on the fresh face of the forest, stood triumphant below it. Dead trees bare of leaves, bore testament to the horrors that lay below. Circling lower and lower, the raven made it¡¯s way through fetid clouds of noxious gasses and flew into the only structure in the area: a small hut.


    Macabre trophies adorned the walls with skulls and vials of dark bubbling fluids being most prevalent. Working at a large table covered in bones, a hunched man was the only resident.


    ¡°Master, I have news¡­¡± the raven rasped. Strangely enough, it¡¯s beak did not move as it made the sounds yet they were produced nonetheless.


    ¡°You¡¯re the imp I sent to watch over the Western King of the forest aren¡¯t you? Well, spit it out. What happened?¡± the man replied without turning.


    ¡°The king is dead master!¡±


    ¡°And? What is it to me if the bear was slain by some beast?¡± the man let a hint of irritation slip into his voice. The room darkened slightly as shadows seemed to crawl up the raven¡¯s legs.


    A hint of panic entered the raven¡¯s voice as it began to explain itself,¡± Wait, master the bear was n¡­¡±


    ¡°You dare command me!¡± The man turned revealing his face. Covered in pitch black runes, it radiated with malignant power. Reacting to his anger, the shadows rose quickly, binding the bird and squeezing the life from it.


    ¡°The bear was killed by a black drake!¡± The raven squacked out in terror.


    The man¡¯s anger dissipated in an instant. Turning away from the raven, he let his shadows release their grasp upon it. The fearful raven dashed out the window, desperately seeking to escape its summoner. The warlock however paid it no heed.


    Picking up his staff, he stared at the object that adorned it, and whispered malevolently,¡± looks like I¡¯ll get myself a new pet to match you Ernebar¡­¡±


    The drake skull did not respond.

 Chapter 5

    Israkur woke up the next morning, feeling surprisingly refreshed after his first night away from his birth cave. Uncurling himself from his sister, he slowly limped his way out of the cave. He arrived at the edge of the cave and was saddened to see that the sunrise was blocked out by the thick foliage of the forest. This was the final straw the last vestige of home that Israkur had hoped to hold onto. Losing it made him finally realize that he was on his own. An acute sense of loss overtook him, as he looked longingly towards the few beams of light that shone through the forest¡¯s canopy.


    He quickly shook it off. He knew he had made his decision, besides, having unleashed his breath power, he would be expected to leave within the year anyways. This way at least, he could protect his sister as well and hopefully, together, the two of them would survive.


    He quickly regained the sense of acceptance he had reached the night before. Now calm and far more relaxed, he could feel a far baser need: hunger. Tearing at the bear¡¯s corpse, he also noticed that, much to his satisfaction, his ribs were beginning to heal. Eating no longer shot streaks of pain into him and while breathing was still a constant struggle, it was slightly more bearable than the night before.


    He quickly finished eating his fill of the bear meat and limped back inside the cave just in time to meet his sister at the tunnel entrance. She was panicked, breathing heavily and eyes wild with fear. Upon seeing Israkur, she quickly calmed down and gave him a relieved greeting.


    ¡°Morning sis! Did you sleep well?¡± Israkur greeted her cheerfully, purposefully ignoring the terror-filled state she had been in. He knew she was young, even younger than he was, and gave her far more slack than he gave to himself.


    ¡°Yeah, I did,¡± she replied unconvincingly. Walking over to the bear, she tore away her own breakfast and settled down to eat as well.


    For his part, Israkur settled down inside the main chamber of the cave and took a look around. The cave was, rather disappointing frankly. Barely shallow enough to shelter them from a passing breeze, it could hardly be called a home. The cave lip curled downward slightly, forming a durable, rough arch that held up the hill the cave had grown in. The floor inside was mainly made of dirt over a thick rock base. Frankly filthy, it held refuse from the bear along with a few skeletons of past prey. It was not a place dragons would normally deign to stay in. Israkur, however, knew they would have to make do until he could travel again.


    He called his sister over, and suggested a plan for the day.


    ¡°Alright sis, that bear hurt my ribs a little so we¡¯re going to have to stay here for a while at least. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not bad: just a week or two until I fully recover.¡± He explained, attempting to assuage her fears.


    ¡°Now, ¡°he continued¡± since I have to stay here, I¡¯ll work on my breath power and turn this cave into a real camp for us, but if we¡¯re gonna stay here for a couple of days, I need you to go look for water. Could you do that for me?¡±


    A hint of fear darted across her face, but was soon replaced by determination. Lifting herself up, she nodded confidently and darted away.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to mark your way back on the trees!¡± Israkur called out to her swiftly disappearing form.


    Hoping that she had heard him, he turned back to his tasks for the day. First he tried to move the bear¡¯s corpse into the cave with them. However, after no amount of pushing or pulling would budge it, he swiftly abandoned that approach and turned to a task he had been waiting for: experimentation.


    Having searched his memories thoroughly, he found that, much to his surprise, no white dragon in his memories had used his breath power. Intrigued and puzzled by its uniqueness he had been waiting to try it out the entirety of the previous day, but had never had the free time or a safe, well relatively safe, place. He sat down outside the cave and excitedly began.


    Feeling his mana reserves, he saw that, after fully resting through the night, he could use about four of his mana blasts. He quickly realized he could kill over two humans with one swipe: If he directed his blasts of energy into the cave, it would quite nicely clean it out of any filth and perhaps even deepen it. He took in a deep breath, steadied himself against the sharp pain it brought, and launched a magic blast at the back wall of the cave. This time however, he looked at it carefully, searching for an affinity.


    Dragons like most greater magical races could ¡°see¡± mana much like snakes and lizards see infra-red waves. With a little bit of willpower and mana of their own, they could even distinguish among the different types of mana, a very useful tool when trying to learn complex spells or hunting specific foods.


    Much to his surprise, instead of finding the expected one, or perhaps even two, he found all of the affinities. His magic blast, as he had named it, was actually made of pure mana! He sat on his haunches, stunned by the revelation.


    No dragon had ever been able to use all affinities, yet many in his memories had been able to use multiple. To them it was both a blessing, and a curse. The advantages were many: they could eat beasts and absorb mana that was attuned to any of their affinities, doubling their speed of growth for each affinity they had. However, the major downside was they had to be careful to balance their intake perfectly, otherwise they would risk overwhelming their heart, causing it to scar or worse: shatter.


    Frantically looking at his own heart, he found two things. First, and much to his relief, it was completely undamaged. And Second it was combining all of the earth mana he had absorbed from the bear with the mana in the elements around him to form pure mana. After watching patiently for a few minutes, he realized it seemed to be limited in its production only by the rate of absorption of the elements. The stockpile of Earth mana he had gained from the bear was actually overflowing from his body and being slowly released around him. He immediately thought of a potential way to improve his growth. Perhaps if he had stockpiles of more types of mana, his heart could absorb the missing ones faster from the environment.


    Israkur quickly limped over to a nearby tree, the most abundant source of Life mana in his range. He bit down on the bark, and almost spit it out again in disgust. It was powdery and tasteless, absolutely nothing when compared to the juicy meat he had grown up on. Even worse, tree sap stuck to his teeth, making it difficult to chew and forming a thick viscous paste in his mouth. Steeling himself, he finished chewing and swallowed the wooden mess. After he allowed a few moments to pass in order for his core to extract the tree¡¯s mana, he once again felt his mana.


    Much to his joy, eating the wood had been worth it. He now had a small supply of Life mana nestled inside of him. No longer needing to pull Life mana, his core increased the speed at which it pulled in the other six major elements: Water, Air, Fire, Death, Light, and Darkness.


    Slowly but surely, his mana reserves were beginning to recover ashis core transformed the mana it absorbed from the environment and his energy stockpiles into pure mana of his own. Visualizing his pool in total, he was pleasantly surprised by its sheer size. In his mind¡¯s eye, he could see it as a small pond, impressive considering that most drakes his age only have a puddle¡¯s worth of mana.


    Returning to the Lip of the cave, he sat on the border between the light coming in from the sun and the shadows cast by the cave to maximize his intake of Light and Darkness. Slowly he began to piece through his own strengths and weaknesses.


    I have a huge mana pool for my age, but considering my size, I¡¯m actually a bit smaller than what my memories say I should be. My Breath power is very powerful, but crude. I can only shoot out blasts of pure mana at my foes. If I¡¯m fighting anything fast or not as big as a mountain, it could probably easily dodge and reach me before I can ready a second blast. While my scales can protect me from many things, even they have their limits. I either need an attack that can keep a foe at a safe distance, or a defense.


    After he carefully considered the two options, he realized that he could only really improve his attacks. This was because he could only cast spells or control mana with the finesse needed to create a defense after he evolved for the first time. Until then, he would be limited to whatever tools he could develop using his breath power.


    His first thought was to improve the accuracy of his mana blast. If he could change it¡¯s direction while it was in the air, it would become much harder to avoid.


    Preparing a second mana blast, he launched it slowly towards the back of the cave. Once it was flying, he reached out to it with his mind and tried to change its path. Unfortunately, Instead of moving it, his action destabilized the blast causing it to explode outwards and blow him back.


    Israkur tumbled away, barely managing to avoid the bear¡¯s rocky hide. Sitting on the ground, dazed for a few moments, he quickly decided against that method of attack until he grew a lot bigger or a lot more skilled at mana control.


    He scoured his mind for another way to use his breath. After suggesting and discarding a few ideas, he finally stumbled across the simplest of them all: fire. The mana blast involved taking in air and compressing it. Then it would be flooded with mana and launched out as a compressed sphere of power.


    What if Instead, I blast out a stream of mana like fire dragons breathe out fire? It should work on approximately the same principles right? After all, they are both forms of energy.


    Deciding to try it out, he very carefully aimed his head at the cave, the only spot nearby without flammable materials. Breathing in air, he chose not to compress it. Instead he simply infused it with mana and unleashed it.


    The mana shot out in a cone in front of him. Crackling with power, it lit the very air on fire. Sparks and small bolts of energy shot out from the main body of pure white energy. Near instantly crossing the distance to the cave wall, the pure mana reacted violently with the stone, causing a chain of small explosion that dug half a dragonlength further into the cave.


    Exhausted, and completely devoid of mana, Israkur sat down to gaze at his handiwork. The cave had nearly doubled in depth, and the bones and refuse that had dotted the cave floor had burned away to ash. The dirt floor had also dried out instantly, leaving a fine silty sand behind. On the far wall of the cave, small brown crystals had formed in the rock. Observing these crystals, Israkur was surprised to see that they actually contained small amounts of crystallized Earth mana.


    It seemed like his mana breath was actually powerful enough to vaporize the rock, releasing its own innate mana. The Earth mana released would then combine with the vast amounts of pure mana in the air and crystallize, forming the brown gems.


    Of course this is just a theory. It¡¯s just as likely that tiny invisible fairies are be waving their magic wands and causing all of this. Ugh, I¡¯ll need to find a way actually visualize it. Of course, I¡¯ll have to be able to keep it going for longer than two seconds first.


    That, he realized, was his major problem. While his attacks were overbearing in their strength, he could only fight for a short time. After four mana blasts or four seconds of mana breath, he would be left to his own devices.


    He quickly felt for his mana pool once again to see how much of a disadvantage it really was, only to be disappointed severely. It was very slowly regenerating, so slowly that it looked like it would take nearly five hours to reach it¡¯s full capacity. However, he immediately noticed that Something seemed off about his mana pool. Looking at it more attentively, he realized that it had actually visibly grown.


    Israkur puzzled over this observation. Eventually, he came to two possible conclusions. Either his mana acted like a muscle, and grew stronger and larger as he trained it up, or it naturally grew slowly stronger. Either conclusion seemed plausible and frustratingly, his mana pool was too small to make a difference between the two.


    With his mana pool slowly regenerating and no other Ideas to test coming to his mind, Israkur looked around for something else to do. Much to his consternation, with his injured ribs and lack of power, there wasn¡¯t really anything else he could do.


    With only about an hour or so having passed since his sister left to find water. He settled down in their makeshift nest at the end of the side tunnel, and looked back over his memories for any way to further improve their situation. When another hour of fruitless searching passed, he resigned himself to facing the greatest challenge that every immortal being slowly learns to hate: boredom.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Meanwhile, the black was making her own new experiences.


    When she woke up that morning, she panicked. Every night since her hatching, she had slept near another being to reassure herself that she had family there for her. Her brother was the most comforting of all, making her feel safe and protected for the first time in her memories.


    Waking up to an empty nest terrified her. Many blacks had been abandoned by beings who said they cared, swore it even, only to flee at their earliest convenience. Panicking and filled with dread, she had darted outside only to relax immediately upon seeing that her brother: the insensitive lout, was merely being gluttonous and taking an early breakfast.


    ¡°Morning sis! Did you sleep well?¡± Israkur greeted her cheerfully.


    The black sighed inwardly. It seemed he had not noticed, or perhaps had the good sense to not ask.


    ¡°Yeah, I did,¡± She evaded, not leaving room for further conversation on the topic.


    She felt rather hungry herself, and despite the early hour, went and got herself a hunk of bear meat. She sat down to lazily eat it, and watched her brother as he seemed to ponder on their cave.


    He was a strange dragon, being a gentle and kind-hearted as a blue one moment and as cold and calculating as one of her own color in battle, but she loved him dearly. Out of her entire family, he was the only one who had cared enough to look at her as a person and his sister rather than ¡°just another black¡±. He had even been willing to give up his own time in the cave with their parents to help her live. For that, she could never repay him.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Seeming to come to a conclusion in his thoughts, Israkur looked over and cheerfully explained his plans for the day.


    ¡°Alright sis, that bear hurt my ribs a little so we¡¯re going to have to stay here for a while at least. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not bad: just a week or two until I fully recover.¡± He explained, attempting to assuage any misconceptions she could possibly create. Of course, she had already realized this, but playing along, she nodded as if it was new information.


    ¡°Now, ¡°he continued¡± since I have to stay here, I¡¯ll work on my breath power and turn this cave into a real camp for us, but if we¡¯re gonna stay here for a couple of days, I need you to go look for water. Could you do that for me?¡±


    He¡¯s gonna abandon me. He¡¯s trying to get rid of me! If I go he¡¯ll¡­ he¡¯lll


    No! She shouted to herself.


    He¡¯s Israkur! He won¡¯t leave me. He¡¯s not like all the others in my memories¡­ I¡­ I have to trust him.


    Foolish girl¡­ her thoughts tauntingly whispered back.


    Renewed in her determination and hoping furiously that she wasn¡¯t making a terrible mistake, she nodded slightly and dashed away before she could give in to her fears and stay glued to his side.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to mark your way back on the trees!¡± Israkur called out to her from far behind.


    With a slightly relieved chuckle she rolled her eyes.


    Males always assumed female dragons constantly got lost and had no sense of direction whatsoever. Where they got this idea from, she had no clue as in all her memories she had constantly been exactly where she wanted to be.


    Now, If I were a body of water, where exactly would I be?


    Looking around her for a few moments, she quickly realized her foolishness and looked for water mana instead. She turned her sight in all directions and found that there was actually a water source fairly nearby, although it would probably still be a bit of a hike.


    Slowly, she began walking downhill towards it. The gently sloping mountainside the forest was situated on combined with the loose unstable ground cover made her lose her footing repeatedly, but she still managed to make it with her scales and dignity intact.


    A sound started of in the distance. At first, it was a mere slight trickle, but soon, as she walked closer and closer, it crescendoed growing to form a dull roar. Finally, she turned around a final thick copse of trees, and saw her first waterfall.


    It was, in all honesty, rather small and lacked either the height or the volume of the ones she had seen in her memories. This one, however, was real. She could feel the spray is it gently misted onto her scales. She could see the small, twinkling water droplets refract the beams of light that burst through the green canopy far above and form rainbows that danced across the small pool at the bottom of the waterfall.


    Drawn to the beauty before her, she distractedly walked forward. Clumsily tripping over a root, she fell snout first into the ground.


    Suddenly, the leaves that covered the forest floor fell away, revealing a gaping hope only ten feet away from the waterfall pool. A gaping hole she now freefell into. Scrabbling desperately in the air, she quickly realized that she couldn¡¯t stop herself.


    Once she resigned herself to falling, she immediately began to think about how to face the beast that was undoubtedly waiting below. Pushing her wings out, she righted herself in the air and bought herself more time to think.


    After she fell for four more seconds, she slammed into the muddy bottom of the pit. Fortunately, a mixture of the viscous muck and her quick reactions had spared her from the worst of the fall. Now, her mind which was already racing, went into high gear as she finally saw her opponent.


    An almost insect-like serpent, it stood nearly twice her height. Massive external mandibles gnashed in excitement as it observed its next meal and thick scales rustled against each other as it slithered forward.


    It was a fairly common beast, an Abysmal Ambusher. She remembered that it thrived of of darkness and used its three affinities of earth, water, and darkness to ensnare and devour its dazed prey. As she tried to dart away, she inwardly cursed herself. This was a terrible match up for her.


    Her only advantages: her small size and litheness were virtually eliminated by the thick mud, and the ambusher held a massive advantage in every other aspect. Even worse , however was that ambusher traps were easy to see. They were always perfectly circular and coated with mud. If only she hadn¡¯t been so distracted by the waterfall, she probably would have been absolutely fine.


    With terror rising in her mind, she was helpless and only able to watch as the ambusher coiled itself around her. Seemingly mocking her, it didn¡¯t even bother to finish her off with its serrated jaws. Instead, it lazily laid its head down and oh so slowly started to increase the pressure on her sides.


    Unable to stop it, she slowly felt it grow tighter and tighter. With every breath she exhaled, the coils grew closer and closer. Over the course of a few hours, her breathing muscles began to grow tired.


    Soon, even her full breaths grew smaller, as she could no longer resist the deadly beast.


    Her thoughts started flashing to her short life.


    Her parents: distant figures that she never really connected with. To be fair to them, she mused, they were far better than the parents many blacks had. But still, she blamed them, at least in part, for the isolation and hatred she had received from her siblings.


    Her siblings. Misguided brutes who she had left hardly a day before. Even now as she felt the coils draw tighter yet around her, she could not bring herself to make peace with them. Unlike this beast, who killed for hunger, they hunted her for sport, and that she would never understand.


    Finally, as she took in one last deep breath, she came to Israkur. Her stubborn dwarf of a brother. Larger than life and the only being in her memories that had not judged her by her scale, he was her only regret.


    He would never find out what happened to her and he would mourn. He would know the sorrow of loss and abandonment that not many white dragons ever experience.


    He would be the only one to remember her¡­


    And then, with that thought, a cold anger built up in her. Rushing through her, it felt like a rush of ice-cold water in her veins as it changed her. New thoughts came to mind as her soft, peaceful acceptance faded away. The world had always slapped her down, it had always hurt her, it had always challenged her. Would she really go out like this? Food for the worms?


    No! I will prove to them, I will show them all that black dragons are not a scourge on this land! I WILL LIVE!


    And with that, she released her breath power for the first time.


    Hissing out from between her clenched teeth, a black mist blasted out into the air. Diffusing quickly, it filled up the shadowy pit casting everything into even darker black. The serpent lifted it¡¯s head in curiosity, intrigued by the strange mana now floating around it¡¯s pit. Slowly but surely, it moved towards it, temporarily releasing a slight portion of the pressure it had been placing upon the black.


    It was enough for one breath, but one breath was all she needed to watch, satisfied, what happened next.


    Suddenly, as the mist mist touched the ambusher, it began to screech in agony. The mist dissolved it, turning the beast into pure mana and voraciously absorbing it. The monster writhed, releasing the black fully but only serving to cover itself in new mist as it rolled across the pit.


    As the creature dissipated, the black¡¯s now unrestricted lungs began to work in overtime, hyperventilating to catch enough air to sustain her tired body.


    Their efforts were: however, in vain. Slowly she felt herself slip towards unconsciousness. One last unbridled thought rose in her mind. Both a cry of triumph and a keening call of terror it embodied the new discovery she had made about herself: she was a void.


    Void dragons were at the same time both nightmares that mother dragons used to put their hatchlings to sleep at night and guardians of holds praised to the heavens by the members of holds. Universally, there was one feeling that all beings held in their mind when thinking of them: fear. They, unlike all other known dragon variants, used void mana. A complete mystery, it was a complete opposite to pure mana. Instead of adding energy or working to change an object, it devoured energy, feasting upon the power that lay within every object.


    As such, Void dragons made astonishing guardians. Their mana instinctively sought out other forms of mana and they could not be stopped by the vast majority of normal means. It was these qualities that also made corrupted void dragons some of the greatest horrors the world had ever faced. As they devoured more and more of the world¡¯s natural mana, they gained more of their empty power, eventually growing strong enough to cover the entire world in their black mist. Nearly wiping out life in the world three times, they had only been stopped by direct divine intervention. After the last corrupted void, all voids had agreed to release the mana they absorbed back into the world, stopping their evolution, yet preventing further cataclysms.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    It was far too late.


    Israkur looked up worriedly at the sun. Managing to catch a glimpse of it now fully overhead, he looked out into the forest once more. Surely she couldn¡¯t have gotten lost?


    ¡°No, the bear¡¯s mana shines like a beacon. If she was lost she¡¯d just follow it back here.¡± he reasoned, talking aloud to himself.


    When his mana pool had half-recovered, he had started to worry about his sister slightly. After all, nearly three hours had passed. Surely water couldn¡¯t be that far away. However, at that time, he had convinced himself that she was alright, most likely cleaning herself in the water or perhaps even making her way back at that very moment.


    Now, he couldn¡¯t deny it any longer: she was in trouble and she needed him! Rising from his thoughtful stupor, he stood up to set off only to see his sister finally making her way through the trees that lined the clearing in front of their cave.


    ¡°Sis! Are you okay?¡± He called out, concerned, as he moved towards her and noticed her matching limp.


    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m fine!¡± she replied, with a hint of teasing excitement in her voice.


    Knowing that she was waiting for him to ask, Israkur questioned,¡± What happened? How did you get hurt?¡±


    ¡°I got my first kill!¡± she answered, eyes sparkling, as her tail whipped back and forth.


    Immediately, she launched into her account of the day. As she continued telling the story, sometimes even launching into a dramatic reenactment of the scene, Israkur couldn¡¯t help but glow a little with pride. His sister was certainly growing up before his eyes. No longer the shy and terrified drake she had been for the past two months since her hatching, leaving home had made her grow into the confident young drakess he saw before him now.


    Almost half an hour late as she finally concluded her tale, reenactments and explanation included, she took a deep breath and looked expectantly at him.


    Not quite sure what she wanted, he began to congratulate her,¡± Good job sis, that must have been terrifying!¡±


    In response, she sighed in frustration and rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Are all males so clueless¡± she mumbled to herself almost inaudibly. Then more loudly she explained.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just you know, there¡¯s kinda something important that needs to happen after a dragoness gets her first kill. You know, parents usually do it, but any dragon can serve in a pinch¡­.¡± she trailed off, giving him a look that hinted just how clueless he¡¯d be if he didn¡¯t manage to figure it out.


    Immediately realization dawned on Israkur and he burst out in surprise,¡± Wait! You want me to name you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s no other dragon who¡¯ll do it for me. Please Iskur?¡±She pleaded gently.


    ¡°But, but what will I call you? How can I pick a name for you?¡± he replied uncomprehendingly.


    ¡°Just name me whatever you think would fit me. I trust you brother,¡± she answered and looked at him with trusting eyes.


    Deciding to trust his instincts, Israkur nodded his assent and began. Unbidden, the right words in the magic language began to appear in his mind.


    ¡± As the one who has shielded you and cared for you as my sister, I beg the right to define you. From now on, if you so will it, you shall be known as Estellum!¡±


    ¡°Starry Eyes in the Shadow?¡± she breathed aloud.


    ¡°Yes. Yes!¡± she nodded gladly in acceptance.


    So was she named, the second face of Israkur¡¯s coin.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    While the two drakes were celebrating, in the shadows, the warlock also began to make his move.


    Slowly chanting, he placed six skulls on the ground before him.


    Reaching out, he commanded,¡± Imp, give me the void¡¯s blood¡±


    The imp, this time under the guise of an owl quickly dashed into the warlock¡¯s hut and retrieved a vial of blackened blood.


    Carefully taking it from the imp¡¯s trembling talons, the warlock dabbed a single finger inside. He carefully wetted it in the blood and then proceeded to draw out runes on the skulls.


    Unlike the runes drawn by Israkur¡¯s parents, these runes were twisted and malevolent. Upon completion they glowed with a sickly, faint green light. Like all objects have an opposite, so too does the language of magic. Known as the language of the Damned, It was used in only the foulest and most amoral of practices. Practices such as raising the dead using the souls of demons from beyond.


    Completing his work as the sun finally set, the warlock forced power into the bindings he had sketched. As his power entered the skulls, sickly green demonic mana poured out along with black mana of the void.


    Commanding the spirit like hounds that now stood before him, he bellowed,¡± Go! Go foul hounds of the underworld! Bring me that void drake!¡±


    The hounds yipped and darted away, leaving scorched footprints on the ground behind them. The warlock watched them run for a few moments before turning away to make his final preparations for his new visitor.


    He knew very well that his hounds would succeed. Blacks could only be attuned to dark, chaos, and the void. His hounds were a spell created specifically to combat those elements whenever he needed to subdue an unruly demon, but they would work just fine for these purposes as well.


    Slowly his face screwed itself into a strange expression, that could only be called a smile if seen from a great, great distance, in anticipation of his future.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    A rumble is felt throughout the forest. Demonic footsteps walked upon it, and it truly began to fear. Sensing the emotion of the forest, a single human stood and quickly made his way toward the source of the corruption.


    It would take him days to cross the forest yet he did not care. The corruption would not grow much in that time and if there was anything he truly had as Keeper of the Forest, it was indeed time.

 Quick Notice/ Q+A

    Hello To all my readers!


    I apologize to all my readers for the lack of a chapter. When I started writing this fiction, I only planned out the first five chapters as I wasn''t sure how well it would be recieved. Having reached the end of that, I''m currently taking the time to outline the remainder of the first arc/book now so that I will not have to stop again later on. As such, I plan to release the next full length 5000 word chapter sometime Wednesday or Thursday. Thank you for your patience.


    I will also use this post as a Q+A. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about the story thus far, mechanics, and specifications of the current characters'' powers. I will edit this post to respond to your questions once a day for a week''s time. I''ll try to do one of these quick notes/Q+A''s every 5-10 chapters.


    Thank You For All Your Support,


    AYoungDragon


    Edit #1 What do you all think of the cover?


    Edit#2 The cover is actually professionally drawn, but not by me.It is a work by a wonderful artist on deviant art named dashase. She has graciously and formallygiven me permission to use this as my book''s cover as long as the book is non-profit. Here is her page( http://dashase.deviantart.com/</a>) if any of you are interested in seeing more of her works.


    Answer #1If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    by Blazingfrost</a> <time datetime="2016-12-05T06:45:25.0000000Z">?12?/?5?/?2016? ?1?:?45?:?25? ?AM</time>


    Last chapter sister said void dragons promised to release the energy they take in and halted their evolution does this mean she will not be evolving or is she going to disregard the memory


    As any answer I give to this plotwise will be a spoiler, I''ll instead give a little more information about evolution and affinities.


    When a dragon or beast is born, they have natural affinities they gravitate to but are not bound to. For example, Israkur''s brother Aurusal is attuned to light affinity meaning that he is strongest with it, hence his name champion of light. This does not mean that he may only use light. It just mean that he is stronger at using light.


    When a dragon or beast evolves; however, they bind themself to the element, or elements, they have an affinity to. For example Arina evolved into a greater dragon which is a second level evolution. She is bound to the air, meaning that she can only use air mana and spells. Of course, there are ways to get around this like using runes powered by air mana to fuel say a fire spell, but that is the general rule of evolution.


    Voids by nature are attuned to no element. Therefore, when they evolve they remain unbound. This leads to them being able to devour even faster as they now can force the mana around them to enter them by itselfand become void mana instead of merely drinking it. As such, while evolution allows them to become far more powerful, it is not ultimately necessary. Void dragons are naturally very strong and their capacity to hold void mana grows larger as they age causing them to constantly grow as strong as other dragons.


    I''m sorry for dodging your question, but spoilers really are no fun. I hope that this helped answer a little bit, but I did only plan on resolving any questions thus far not in the future. You''ll have to wait for that... :D


    Second Question: The crow left to return and spy on them further. I didn''t make that particularly clear and I''ll go back to edit it in to the chapters, subtly of course. ;D

 Chapter 6

    Israkur awoke with a jolt. He shook his head slightly as his bleary mind sought to find out what had awoken him. An itching sense of¡­ wrongness pervaded the air. It was almost like the mana of reality itself was silently screeching in agony. Stretching silently, he quickly examined the area. However, even when he looked into the magic spectrum, he found that nothing seemed to be out of place.


    His sister Stel, as he had immediately taken to shortening her name, was breathing softly and steadily, still deep in sleep¡¯s hold. There were no sharp noises and he did not remember having any nightmares. The cave was still pitch black and yet, even with all that seemed to be normal, he couldn¡¯t help but have a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that warned him of danger.


    He rose slowly to his feet and crept along the narrow tunnel leading to the main cave. On his way there, He walked very carefully, taking great care to not let his scales or claws scrape against the cave floor. As he grew closer and closer to the entryway, the perturbing feeling continued to strengthen until he could no longer deny its existence as a simple trick of his mind. Pausing just before the entrance to the main cave, he noted that the pale flickering moonlight that painted the cave floor had a strange green tint. With dread slowly rising, but nevertheless being stifled by pride and curiosity, he walked out of the tunnel.


    A creature stood alone, just outside of the cave¡¯s entrance, sniffing the ground as if seeking a scent that it had just lost. It was a hound, or more accurately said, had once been a hound. Only its empty, bleached white skull remained of its physical body. The creature''s limbs and torso were all made from a sickly green energy mixed in with streaks of black fire. Its body pulsed constantly as the two mixing energies fought like two chaotic wildfires meeting.


    The creature sent out an aura of fear and horror, slowly corrupting the world around it and creating a dark spot in the magical spectrum. Many would flee in fear from the nature-defying beast. Israkur; however, stood his ground as he could barely suppress his disgust. He had seen those effects a few times in his memories and knew all too well what they meant: demons. And where there were demons, there had to be a warlock to summon them.


    Suddenly, the creature turned, spotting him instantly and interrupting his thoughts. Israkur cursed inwardly as it leapt through the air to tackle him. Quickly he slid back into the tight tunnel and took in a deep breath. In one leap, the demon covered the entire distance of the cave and landed landed where Israkur had been standing bare moments before. Upon landing, it immediately turned and leaped forward once again, jaws open wide as it aimed to tear into his throat. Unfortunately for the demon, it had given Israkur enough time to prepare himself.


    Finishing compressing the air just as the creature¡¯s fetid breath reached him, Israkur released a mana blast into its widespread spectral jaws. He didn¡¯t expect much to happen. From experience, he had learned that the summoned demons created from void energy and bound through necromancy were nigh impossible to defeat without divine blessings or a massive, coordinated group of evolved beings. Even with this, he had to try. Perhaps his strange mana would buy him enough time to think up a new plan.


    Much to his surprise, and relief, his power performed beyond his expectations. Majorly so. When demon and mana blast met, the blast exploded violently as usual. This time however, all of its energy was absorbed by the demon¡¯s cloak of void energy as it sought to defend itself from the attack. The blast immediately began to implode, being drawn into and neutralized by the void mana. Massive amounts of pure energy had poured out of the mana blast; however, and the demon quickly reached its maximum capacity.


    The blast wasn¡¯t even halfway consumed.


    With its power no longer absorbed by the void energy, the blast exploded once more, shredding through the demonic mana and burning away the skull served as its focusing point in the physical world. With its anchor gone, the entity screeched in agony as the natural mana of the world ripped it to shreds, returning it in tatters to its natural home in the Realm of Ruin.


    Unfortunately, the confined space that enhanced the blast¡¯s power also caused it to form a wave of pressure. Israkur¡¯s ears popped and he was blown back a few steps by the sheer force of the compressed air. His pure mana also scorched across his scales, leaving his face tender and blackened. Nonetheless, he was alive.


    As he recovered from the aftermath of his blast, he heard a sound that would chill him to the bone: five unearthly howls rending through the air.


    Quickly realizing just how close the hounds were, Israkur nearly panicked. One hound had nearly been enough to kill him and he only had enough mana for three more blasts. Beyond that, the two remaining demons would rip him apart and slowly drain him to death. He released a sudden breath and quickly thought of his sleeping sister. As a void dragon, she would hardly be able to fight creatures that also fought by devouring mana. Resolving himself, he dashed back to her now waking form.


    ¡°Stel, whatever happens, don¡¯t move from this spot. You hear me?¡± He practically shouted as he barged in on her.


    ¡°Iskur, what''s wrong? What happened?¡± She questioned, panic evident in her voice as she immediately roused herself.


    ¡°Void demons, too many of them. I killed one and I¡¯ll lead the rest away to Mother and Father¡¯s cave. They¡¯ll deal with them. Now stay here!¡±he commanded and turned around. Pausing in the tunnel, he continued with hesitation evident in his voice,¡±If I¡¯m not back in a few hours, Run to their cave and don¡¯t stop for anything, you hear me?¡±


    ¡°Iskur! Don¡¯t!¡± Stel tearfully replied as she rose to join him.


    ¡°Promise me Stel. Promise that you¡¯ll live.¡± He answered, ignoring her pleas.


    ¡°... I Promise.¡± she eventually replied, halting in her tracks.


    ¡° Goodbye ... Sister¡±


    And he was gone, never once stopping to hear her racking sobs.


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Israkur halted at the mouth of the cave for a moment. Roaring a challenge out into the forest, he darted downhill away from both his parents¡¯ cave and Stel. His plan to lead them there had been complete and utter bullshit.


    His parents were both evolved dragons, however, at this time they were most likely away or asleep, either way completely unprepared to face demons. Furthermore, his pride played a certain part in his decisionmaking. He had left their cave voluntarily and refused to return with his tail between his legs like a naughty hatchling that snuck out in the night. As he made his way down deeper into the forest, he zigzagged around trees and jumped over roots as he navigated the precarious landscape. Much to his relief, the howls continued to get closer, a clear indication that the hounds were following him and not his helpless sister.


    With the first part of his plan a success, he immediately set to planning out step two: surviving the hunt. If the hounds caught up to him, he was dead. If he stumbled into a beast¡¯s path, the hounds would either catch up or the beast would simply swat him, both outcomes leading to death.


    Unfortunately, there didn¡¯t seem to be many ways to survive. If he managed to outpace them, a very unlucky outcome considering their undead bodies would never tire, they could simply retrace their steps and find his sister. Furthermore, Under exercise this vigorous, he would hardly be able to regain the mana needed to defeat them all. Ultimately, his only option would be to surprise them with his mana breath and kill them all in one strike. Unfortunately, demons, although chaotic and destructive in nature, were not stupid. They would hardly be likely to cluster up close enough for that to work.


    Arriving at a fairly flat area, he took a brief moment to look over his shoulder without stopping. Far in the distance, nearly 200 hundred meters back, he saw the first of the demons. Traveling the ground in long leaping strides not at all similar to the manner in which hounds normally move, it seemed to be slowly gaining on him.


    It was chilling, but nonetheless wholly expected. They were undead beings of energy and malice designed to hunt, while he was merely a young dragon. If he could fly the situation would of course be completely opposite. In the air, while not as fast as rocs or other beings specifically born to only fly, dragons could move rapidly, crossing unimaginable distances for humans, in but a breath of time.


    On the ground; however, it was a different story. Dragons there had two speeds. First was a lumbering walk, and second was the dragon dash. A rather impressive movement, the dash was a four step pace used to surprise opponents, or prey with a sudden burst of speed. Its only problem was that a dragon would overheat and die if he kept at it for too long. A dragon israkur¡¯s size would be lucky to get about thirty minutes before collapsing, unconscious and helpless.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Fortunately, moving downhill let him build up momentum and preserve the greater part of his strength. He knew, however, that it would still not be anywhere near enough.


    Even so, he kept running. As he moved deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees grew taller and taller, with greater space in between them. The changing landscape allowed Israkur, no longer forced to dodge obstacles and dangers, to dash forward even faster, slowly pulling ahead of the demons.


    Slowly, yet surely, his pace began to falter. His muscles screeched in agony with every step and his ragged lungs took in deeper and deeper breaths, desperately trying to fulfil his body¡¯s agonizing need for air. With his heart pounding and vision narrowing, he began to despair and search for a place to make his last stand.


    There was no such place in the flat plateau, but much to his joy, there was something better: a massive gorge.


    Fully fifty feet across, it would be impassable for most of the magic beasts in the forest. Israkur was not most beings.


    Reaching the very edge of the cliff, he took a massive leap. Pouring all of his remaining strength into his screaming muscles, he launched himself away from the safety of the ground and into the merciless, empty sky.


    Rising into the air, he knew very clearly that his leap was not long enough, but still he smirked. Upon reaching the apex of his jump, instead of falling far, far down into the ground below, his wings, which had been tightly furled to keep from tangling or slowing him, opened. While nowhere near large enough to power him into the sky under their own power, they still served well enough to glide.


    Gently floating across the canyon, he realized to his sudden panic, that even with his wings, he would not make it far enough. Desperately running through ideas in his mind, he eventually settled on one.


    As he fell below the lip of the cliff while still five feet away from it, he pumped his wings forward, making a final lunge to cover the remaining distance. Slamming into the unforgiving stone, he felt his ribs, which had caused him agonizing pain throughout the run even in their nearly healed state, break fully with a torturous crack.


    Hissing at the pain, Israkur struggled desperately to catch a grip. Barely managing to dig his claws into the soil at the edge of the cliff, he let himself hang there for a moment, suspended above certain death. He struggled to catch his breath as his shattered ribs throbbed, robing him of rational thought.


    Eventually, as he felt his grip begin to give way, he regained his thoughts and quickly scrambled up using his back legs to roll him onto the cliff. Safe at last, He let himself pant and slowly turned his head to look back across the chasm.


    There stood his pursuers, 5 hounds in all their spectral glory. Identical in all aspects to the one he had slain at his cave, they exuded a combined aura of terror that reached him all the way across the canyon. He knew that mere geography would not stop them: their master had marked him and they would follow that across the world if they must. Fortunately, the canyon would give him enough time to regain mana and put up a fight more worthy of his status as a dragon.


    Comforted by that fact, he was surprised to see a lone raven alight upon the shoulder of the leading demon. Leaning in, It seemed to almost whisper in the hound¡¯s ear causing the hound to stiffen unnaturally. Turning around, it quickly bounded back the way it had come, moving towards Israkur¡¯s sister.


    A sinking despair struck him as one by one, the hounds turned to follow their leader into the woods. Struggling to get to his feet, he tried to let out a roar and redirect their focus onto him once more. That effort, coupled with his broken bones, was however too much and all that came out was a bloody strangled gasp.


    Collapsing onto the ground, he fell into a fit of agonizing coughing as his lung, pierced by a rib, filled with bloody fluid. As the fit continued, he curled up in a ball and watched as more and more of his sight was covered in red. Slowly, his field of vision began to shrink from the sides as less and less air reached his brain. Finally, he faded away into unconsciousness to the sound of a few light footsteps and mumbled voices¡­


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    The human traversing the forest paused, reaching out with his mind to sense the corruption. Last night, when he had finally discovered it, the dark power had split into two sources: a stationary cesspool of ruinous power and 6 slight candle flames. Such a separation ment that a corrupted warlock or necromancer had taken up permanent residency in his forest without him even noticing.


    Cursing himself again for his lack of vigilance, he redoubled his pace towards the, now 5 wisps. They were darting across the forest landscape hunting after a strange source of mana. Even with hundreds of years of experience wandering the world and guarding forests at his behest, the druid had never seen it''s like.


    It actually emitted pure mana, like a mana crystal. Nonetheless, it was clearly moving across the landscape at a good pace, and upon meeting the demons in the early morning, had quickly defeated one.


    ¡°What do ya think it¡¯s gonna be sis? Maybe it¡¯s a charming prince blessed by the Gods! Or, or, maybe a special beast that will cultivate and rule the world some day! Oh, what if it¡¯s a reincarnation of a strange being here to duke it out with a demon king like in those stories mom told us!¡± A tiny voice chirps out from above the druid¡¯s shoulder.


    Floating there was a fairy. Almost Doll-like in appearance, she had six paper thin wings on her back beating in tandem almost bluringly fast to keep her aloft. Her hair was a vibrant fiery red streaked with oranges and yellow as it cascaded down to her shoulders. Although miniature, her form was shapely and covered by a thin orange dress woven impossibly finely. Pantomiming a fight with a demon king she was embroiled in flailing around to slay her mighty invisible foe.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a golem or some aberration. You know as well as I that those stories aren''t real.¡± A cooler voice chided from the druids other shoulder. Seated perfectly on his cloak was a second fairy, far removed from the first. Her six wings were folded away, running down her back like a cloak and her black hair was cut short falling only to her jaw. She wore a long, sleeveless dress of a cerulean light blue that hugged her body closely.


    The orange fae stopped her acting and placed her hands on her hips.


    ¡°Aww, You¡¯re no fun!¡± She replied in a pouty tone of voice. Turning to the druid she continued,¡± Guardian can you make her stop spoiling everything?¡±


    ¡°I never ¡®spoiled¡¯ anything. I¡¯m just being realistic. Of course you had to bother the Revered Guardian with it¡­¡± The blue fae replied, turning her head away.


    ¡°Oh I¡¯ll show you¡­¡± The orange fae angrily made to fly over.


    ¡°Girls. There is a time and a place for everything, but the time for your arguments is not now. Besides, we have almost arrived.¡± The druid interrupted, making sure to tinge his voice with a note of finality.


    Both fae fell silent. Even as near children, they could feel the energies of the world around them and were now beginning to sense the strange presence the druid had discovered.


    Moving with purpose, the group covered the remaining distance to the figure quickly. Clearing the final vestiges of the forest, they finally discovered its identity.


    ¡°A drake?¡± the orange fairy gasped in awe.


    ¡°A terribly injured drake.¡± the blue corrected.


    The drake¡¯s scales were white as fresh winter¡¯s snow, clearly differentiating it from the dusty dirt at the cliff¡¯s edge. It only had one pair of small horns and was smaller than the human guardian, both factors indicating it¡¯s almost newborn age. It was breathing slowly and erratically and the three of them could all feel its life steadily dwindling away.


    The two fae turned to the druid. Although they were powerful themselves, he was the Guardian of the forest and would ultimately make the decision on the drake¡¯s survival.


    Puzzled the druid stroked his beard as he thought. Prompted by the drake¡¯s diminishing health, He quickly came to a decision. Walking over to the drake, the druid stretched out a hand and gently placed it on the beast¡¯s chest. He quietly whispered an arcane word and let a stream of dark green energy flow into it.


    The dragon¡¯s flesh writhed as the bones and organs below slid themselves back into position. Tendons attached themselves to the reformed skeleton and blood flowed back into its veins.


    A few minutes passed, but before the healing was complete, the druid was forced to pull himself back. Falling exhausted into the dirt himself he began to pant slightly from running out of mana.


    ¡°What happened revered one?¡± The Blue fae asked worriedly.


    ¡°Nothing Eliza, it¡¯s just that this dragon seems to simply shrug off my mana. It took nearly ten times as much mana as it should have to heal him.¡±


    ¡°Truly? Even for one of your skill?¡± Eliza replied, eyes widening as she looked at the preposterous dragon before her.


    ¡°Aye.¡± the druid answered grimly. ¡°Actually,¡± he continued,¡± I didn¡¯t even manage to finish healing him.¡±


    ¡°Astonishing!¡±


    ¡°We should probably kill it now.¡± The orange fairy chimed in cheerfully.


    ¡°What? Why, Ashe?¡± Eliza asked, shocked.


    ¡°He¡¯s a dragon that¡¯s near immune to magic! When he grows up, nothing will be able to stop him. Imagine what would happen if he got mad at us? Poof! No more fae. Worst of all, dragons don¡¯t die of old age! He¡¯ll be around for millennia.¡± Ashe answered in a voice that still maintained a cheerful tone.


    ¡°That¡¯s a stupid argument Ashe and you know it. He¡¯s a white! They are legendary for their honor and patience! No we have to study him, understand what his aberration is¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re both wrong.¡± The druid interrupted.¡±I¡¯d save his life even if he were the most temperamental of reds. It is never right to kill a being for what it might someday become, evevn if the future does justify you a thousand times over.¡±


    Straining slightly, he slung the young dragon over his shoulder, A feat he knew he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to accomplish for much longer, and set off for his camp.


    Shrugging slightly at the dismissal, the two sisters followed.