《The Life of a Dragon》 Chapter 1 - Birth I was stuck, unmoving, trapped within a dimly prison. Swirling colors floated all around me, veins of red and blue surrounded me. I was encased in some sort of gel-like, starchy liquid. I tried to move but it seems that my brain cannot get the message across to my limbs. But it seems that I was conscious, bringing up a series of questions: who am I, what am I, where am I, how did I get here? I tried to recall my last memory but to no avail, in fact, I had no memories. But then why do I have all this knowledge? Why can I reason? Why do I know something is wrong? My situation does not make any sense to me. As I pondered the questions in my jelly prison, I noticed a small ball of white light in front of me. I was curious and tried to reach out with my will. I imagined an invisible limb stretching out from my body and towards the light then grabbing it and reining it back to me. The ball of light slowly came closer and closer until it was in front of me. I slowly scrutinized it, examining every single, little detail and I found that it was a ball of light. There was no astonishing detail nor any peculiarities on the light, it was simply a ball of light. There wasn¡¯t a core that held it together nor were there any casing to keep it in place. It was just a floating ball of light. Perhaps I missed something so I brought it closer to me to take an even closer look. As the ball came close enough to touch my body, it suddenly dived into me, like it was attracted to something inside. A feeling of strength and energy washed over me. I felt stronger and revitalized like I had a peaceful and full night of sleep. Wait, how do I know how a full night of sleep feel like? Shouldn¡¯t I have just been born, or rather, not even born yet? This is rather peculiar. Perhaps it is just my species to be awakened before being born. As the ball of light washed over me and disappeared, two more balls of light appeared in its place. Perhaps, I should grab those too. I did the same as before but I had two different limbs to grab them both at the same time. I pulled them towards me like before and held them close to my body. Identical to the first ball of light, my body absorbed them and the strengthening began. My body felt stronger and my control grew. As the two lights faded, four more took its place and I repeated the process. As the four disappeared, eight more appeared and I absorbed those as well. It seems that everytime I absorb every ball, twice the amount of balls would appear. Absorbing these balls allowed me to control more arms and also strengthen my body. I continued to clear the balls of light 30 more times before a shadow fell over my prison. The shadow did not fall on top of my entire but rather on select parts of it, shaping into some kind of creature. It had two larger shadows, one on top and another on the bottom, with a smaller shadow connecting them together. The lower shadow had two more thinner shadows sticking out of it on either side. The upper shadow got bigger, I assumed it leaned towards me. A feeling of warmth, love and belonging flooded into my mind. It was warm and cozy, like I was in the arms of my lover and her in mine, our legs interlocked like knots, bathing in each other¡¯s warmth, feeling each other¡¯s heartbeat. I reached out to the shadow like how I reached out to the lights and to my surprise, I felt something warm and smooth but hard like a rock. It caressed the shadow some more, feeling every detail of it, wondering what it could be. Suddenly the shadow jerked back and I could hear some sort of muffled sound like it was surprised. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t go!¡± I tried to scream but all the came out was silence. The shadow stood there, unmoving, like it was deciding on what to do but as if it had heard my call, it leaned towards me again. This time, I heard a sound, a very beautiful sound. It was like the choir of the angels; the voice was like speaking to me, answering and comforting all my questions and worries, calming me down, holding me tight and not letting go. It gave me a sense of security and warmth. The billions of ball of light surrounding me reacted to it too and started to vibrate to the song. I thought it might be a good time to catch them, so I did. I brought out my invisible tendrils and grabbed as many ball as I could, about a few million. As I held onto it, I could feel the light wiggling and squirming. It felt very strange, forcing me to laugh and squirm with it. I held the millions of squirming light balls close to my body and absorbed it. What I felt could only be described as a tsunami if what I felt before was a small ripple in the water. It overwhelmed me, my brain kicked into hyper overdrive, I felt like I could do anything, like I could conquer the world. I had to get more. The amount of hands I could summon tripled and was in the tens of millions. I continued to grab the lights until the singing stop and the shadow had receded, returning my world of veins into what it once was. But I had achieved much, I had cleared 2 levels, absorbing 4 billion balls of light. The amount of hands I can control amounted to a hundred million. The amount of hands I had was now getting out of control, though I could technically control them, it took a toll on me. In addition, it was getting tiresome and inefficient to grab billions of little balls of light, one at a time. I had to think of a better way. I started to experiment with different ways to use my limbs and hopefully combine them into more manageable parts. I only used ten tendrils to experiment so that in case of emergencies I would only lose at most ten, hopefully. The rest were put to work, collecting the light. I tried to forcefully fuse them together but they would only phase through each other, I tried to wrap them together but the same problem applied. After two days of pondering, I finally solved it. Or rather, I had accidently solved it but accidents can sometimes lead to great things. I had retracted my ten tendrils into my body and was pondering on how to combine them. The atmosphere was relaxing and calm since nothing really happened much and I only needed to dedicate a part of my mind to control the other fifty million tendrils. It was rather taxing but the light would also replenish and refresh my mind. As I pondered, I feel asleep and somehow entered my own, well, spirit? I don¡¯t have a name for it yet but it was bright white as far as the eye can see with nothing in it but me; a glowing snake eating its own tail, an ouroboros; and the now-visible tendrils, revolving around the snake. Curious, I approached the ouroboros to study it. As I got closer and closer, the small symbol grew larger and larger until it was the size of a ten-story apartment building. The symbol resonated with power, making me more alert than usual. As I stared at the snake in awe, the balls of light appeared behind me. They were floating towards the ouroboros and as they reached it, the self-injuring snake glowed and grew a little. I realized that I was staring at my own soul or some kind of soul-like thing. Amazing discovery, marvelous! This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Then an inspiration struck me, what if I merged the light with my tendrils, or maybe merge the light together, or maybe merge the tendrils here since they¡¯re tangible, or maybe all three at the same time? Thus I chose the last option and tried to do them all. I willed the ten tendrils to combine and morph into a vacuum like object can suck all the light into my, what I now call, soul realm. It seemed pretty weak but as I called in more tendrils and merged it with the vacuum, it grew stronger and stronger. The tendrils were the same size as the amount of tendrils used to make it. It was gray in color and on top was a giant mouth surrounded by tendrils that pulled in light whenever it got too close. In fact, the tendrils were all around the wall and automatically grabbed onto anything too close to it. I called the remaining tendrils back in and split them into ten groups, five million in each and combined them into ten different vacuum tendrils. I sent all but one out into the world and it seems the efficiency improved by a lot! The number of light coming in at least tripled! With that done, I pushed to balls of light together and lo and behold, it got brighter! As I merged more and more light, it got brighter and brighter. The size, for some reason, remained the same no matter how many times I combined it with different lights. After a few hundred lights were combined, I was able to will it to change its color and texture. My excitement had caused the light to go red and emit heat. This caused even more excitement and the light burned more brightly. I quickly willed another color and characteristic, the light changed towards a light blue, emitting a chilling aura, black, white, silver, gold. Each color had a different attribute. I was on fire today! Excited at the prospects of this discovery, I tried to combine different colors. Some devoured the other color and glowed brighter, others combined together to form a new color and some just exploded altogether. Then I had the bright idea to combine them all together and it was truly bright. Willing all the different colors to come together, the collection of different colors formed a bright white light, identical to what I had been absorbing but much, much bright. It shone as bright or perhaps even brighter than a sun. I was pleased with my experiment and sent it towards my soul. The aftermath felt wonderful, it was a hundred thousand times better than the wiggling light. It was pure bliss. As for the final test, I merged the light with the remaining vacuum. The vacuum was bathed in light before its color turned white, radiating the warmth and rest that the light had given. The light was now attracted to the tendril and those close to it floated towards it. But what would happen if I combined colored lights with it? Millions of questions ran through my mind, suddenly everything grew dark. I awaken to my usual world, red and blue veins and a membrane that I can now see. It seems to me that I had been experimenting for quite a while. I could also feel my body and move it, or rather twitch it. But it was still quite a milestone, considering that I couldn¡¯t feel my body, much less move, not long ago. Or may be it was a long time ago, considering that I had no way to keep time. The black shadow had once again appeared before me. And it had once again sung, but this time it was filled with energy, not that the last time wasn¡¯t. The song made me want to move and break out of my prison. It wanted me to walk outside and feel the wind in my face. It wanted me to taste freedom. I wanted to taste freedom. So I did as any prisoner would do and started move, or in my case, wiggle. I twitched my head a little and the tip of my mouth bumped into something hard. I felt buckle a little and kept at it. After minutes of struggling, my mouth finally broke out. And I didn¡¯t even break sweat! With a hole, the rest of the shell was easy game and I effortlessly made my way out. I opened my eyes and I found myself staring at a snow-white snout. That was new. Perhaps what I was seeing wasn¡¯t with my real eyes? I looked up and saw an overgrown lizard with a pair of wings. I think it was my mother. She had green scales that looked more like rocks and legs the size of tree trunks. Her wings were folded back but it might have a wingspan of a few dozen busses. I tried to call to her but only cute, little squeaks came out. My mother turned her head down and looked me at me. I forgot to mention but she was a giant and was at least a hundred times taller than me. Or it could be that I was short. She lowered her head and nudged me gently, pushing me back into the egg. Wh-What? Do you not love me? Even if you don¡¯t love me, I can¡¯t be unborn! That¡¯s not how life works, it¡¯s your fault that I was born! I looked to her eyes and saw her motioning me to something. I traced her stares and found her looking inside the egg. Wait, am I supposed to eat the liquid that was surrounding me? I remembered something did that after it hatched. Perhaps I¡¯m supposed to do so too? I walked back to my egg, feeling my limbs for the first time. And there were four of them on the bottom and two on my back. The two on the bottom were used to move on land and as for two on my back, take up space? I assume I look similar to my mother except for the coloring. So perhaps those were wings? And what did wings do? I guess I¡¯ll figure it out later, as for now, bon appetite! I dove my head into my ex-prison and started to slurp up the devil fluids that had kept me imprisoned for the last who knows how long. The liquid was surprisingly good, it was sweet but not too sweet complimented with a herby tea flavor. The texture was very smooth like it would slide right through mouth but it melted as soon as it touched my saliva. I wondered why I never thought to eat it. Soon I heard some more cracking next to me. I turned my head to find three more eggs of different color and pattern, one was red with scales on it, another was like it had been tied dyed in blue ink and the last one was purple with gems fitted into it. I looked back at my shell and it was plain white with a very detailed ouroboros marked on it. Biology at its finest. The cracking was soon replaced by sounds of slurping before three different dragons emerged from their eggs. Out of the red egg, a red dragon with a black mane walked out; out of the blue, a dragon with only two legs and two wings that substituted as hands; and out of the purple, a three headed purple crystal dragon emerged. Wow, my mother had been busy. My, or rather our, mother dragon roared a mighty roar, shaking the entire cavern before lowering her head, gesturing us to get on. By instinct, I flapped my wings and used my soul use the light to make myself lighter. I flew on top of my mother¡¯s snout and laid down, watching my brethren and sisters waddle forward, getting used to their new limbs. After minutes of slipping and tripping, they eventually all got on and the mother dragon lifted us up and walked out of the room. And that was how my life as a dragon started. Chapter 2- Mother A/N: Thanks for all that support guys! Really appreciate it! Here''s the second chapter: Mother. Leave a comment below on what you think about it and happy reading! Thanks! PS I don''t think I''ll be able to dish one out every single day so expect maybe three per week. But hey, bonus chapters, right? *** ¡°When you see a wyvern, fight. When you see a dragon, run. How do you tell the difference? Just look at the three eyes.¡± -Adventurer¡¯s Guide to Survival I was high up on mother dragon¡¯s snout. I had peeked my head over to check out how far up we were and we were very high. Mother dragon was very, very big. She must have been at least 10 stories tall! If she was 10 story tall, then this cavern must be huge. I looked up at the ceiling that stretched beyond what I can reach, even with mother¡¯s help. As I was peering over the edge, my siblings were holding on for dear life. They were screaming and squeaking in fear every time mother took a step for the earth quaked under her might. I looked at one of the stalactite hanging down from the ceiling and wondered if I could pull it down using those invisible tendrils. So I willed it like I had done so many times in the past, reaching out to the hanging rock formation, trying to pull it down. I felt the vacuum tendril leave my body and weave its way towards the rock before sucking it in like it was one of the lights. A wave of strengthening hit me like before. Needless to say, I was quite surprise since the rock wasn¡¯t one of the light. Perhaps the rock was made out of the light? I pondered upon the question and decided to explore the answer some more by eating some rock formations and different plants that would should up here and there. As I was absorbing different materials, we finally made it to our destination, a huge room filled with carcases of different beasts of various sizes. Mother lowered her head and signalled us to get off and followed her. One by one, with me leading the group, we hopped off her snout and waited for further instructions. Mother proceeded into the room and we followed along like ducklings following their mother. The room was very large, larger than what I call the hatchery. It was very cold in this room, much colder than what it is outside. I looked around and searched for the cause of this event but I found nothing out of the ordinary other than four strange looking circles drawn across the four sides of the room. Carcasses laid everywhere,the cold preventing it from rotting. It was seriously cold in here comparable to being dunked into ice water. As I stared at the strange circle markings, I smelled something delicious, like it was made out of the light. It had a very addicting smell, like the smell of popcorn, sweet and savory. I looked at my siblings but they didn¡¯t look as ravenous as I did. It can be possible that I am the only one who can smell the lights. Mother nudged us and pointed her snout towards the carcass of a giant boar-like creature. It had giant tusks of white, it¡¯s body was insulated by warm, thick fur and a layer of juicy fat, and it¡¯s flesh was simply delicious. The four of us dug into our meal, ravenous from not eating since our existence. The flesh was soft and melted in our mouths and its juice would seep out with every bite we took. It was the best meat I had ever eaten though I have to admit that I hadn¡¯t eaten anything before. There could be something tastier than this boar. As I devoured more and more of its flesh, the smell of the light grew stronger and stronger until it started to slowly control me. At first, I was able to resist the urge to find the source of the scent but as time went on, I started to lose ground, until I was madly digging into the boar¡¯s chest. After a few minutes of digging and wasting precious food, I was greeted with a crystal. It was glowing fiery red and was as big as my head, in other words, it wasn''t very big. The red gem emitted a scent like cotton candy. It was tempting me to swallow it, to devour it, to taste its sweetness, to let it melt in my mouth so I gave into the temptation. I swallowed the entire gem whole, my jaws can open surprisingly wide. As soon as it entered my mouth, it melted into a thick, sweet liquid similar to honey. I swallowed the ambrosia and a feeling like that of the light washed over me except it was many times stronger. I slowly made my way out but I found it very slippery. I kept slipping off the wall of flesh and falling on my butt. After a few dozen tried, I gave up and sat down, trying to think of a better way out. Then it hit me, I''ll just dig a horizontal hole! So I prepared my claws and teeth for another round of digging but before I could begin, the top of the beast was ripped away, revealing the stony ceiling filled with spiky rock formations of death. The perpetrator stuck her her massive head in and opened her massive jaw, revealing razor sharp blades for teeth all pointing towards a dark abyss. ¡°I am not food!¡± I tried to scream but like the last attempts, I let out, in my opinion, a very loud squeak. Perhaps mother was deaf for despite my loud protests, her jaws came closer and closer. I tried to scurry away as fast as my four stumpy legs could carry me but I was too slow. Her jaws came in like lightning, snapping onto my tail before lifting me high into the sky. I thought it was the end for me so I closed my eyes while tears started to form, waiting for the inevitable but what I thought inevitable was evadable. My six limbs were kicking, trying to resist death but her grip was too strong, I couldn¡¯t break out of it. Fortunately, it was not tight enough to close off circulation, a rookie mistake! I focused my tendrils to help pry open the mouth. As they were being released, I looked down and saw the giant carcass as a small little dot, an indication of how far up I was. My legs immediately fought even harder while my face was drained in blood, distracting me enough to release my hold on the tendrils. Suddenly I felt myself descending and before long, I felt the earth beneath my feet. Mother dragon released from her jaws and, with a plop, dropped me onto the floor. I turned around and growled at her, showing my displeasure of her endeavor. She replied with a series of growls of her own that shook that entire cavern but it sounded more like a laugh than a threatening voice. Nevertheless, it was quite the frightful experience, feeling the entire earth shake before my feet. My siblings looked up and I can see fear in their eyes as they cowered behind the corpse of the beast. Unfortunately the red one ate too much and couldn¡¯t get up, he was laid down on his back while his stubby little eggs were squirming around. Thinking that we were finished with our meal, and we probably were, mother signaled us to climb on board her snout. And after a little while and a lot of wobbling and falling, we all finally made it on top, even the red one though I did carry him with my tendrils. Mother lifted her head high and walked out of the cold room and into the warmer hallway. As she rumbled through the cavern, I noticed that there were many different rooms all along the walls of the halls. Each room served a different purpose, I think. Well, they had different things inside ranging from huge pieces of paper laid across a giant stone table to giant nests with different colored eggs. I was quite surprised that I didn¡¯t notice these rooms before, after all, they were marked with giants holes in the wall. I guess I had given too much attention as I was eating those stalactites. As we passed a few more holes, we stood face to face with a hinged wall, that I believe is called door, based upon my knowledge. It was quite austere without any jewels or precious metals decorating the piece of wood, only having a black paintjob and rusty hinges. I cringed as she opened the door, or more like pushed through it. Inside was very much like any other cavern except there were two waterfalls on each side that fed into a river flowing around an arena-like platform. There was a sizable gap between us and the platform with a fairly large drop down to a rushing river. This wouldn¡¯t pose much of a problem if there was a bridge but there was no bridge. I knew what was coming and I gripped hard onto mother¡¯s scale. Seeing me hold onto mother tightly, my siblings followed my lead and started to grab onto mother except Red because he was lying on his back with his oversized belly on top. I sent out my invisible tendrils and tied him down along with all my other siblings just before mother leapt over the gap. And let me tell you, it was frightening, especially without seatbelt or some kind of safety mechanism. Thankfully we had my tendrils but without that, I don¡¯t even want to think about it. Our bodies started to ascend into the air but my tendrils kept us from falling off. Suddenly, I felt my body trying to leave mother¡¯s snout but the tendril pulled us down with her. I felt a powerful force from inside my chest, trying to get out. My heart was beating rapidly as we fell from who knows how high up and my stomach churned. We, my siblings and I, were squeaking in fear. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Mother landed with a bang, shaking the entire cavern, perhaps even the entire world. Some of the stalactite fell from the ceiling, forcing us siblings to dodge them. Well, I just absorbed them as they fell. And it felt great! I propose we should do it again! But how do I get this message across to mother? I pondered upon the question until mother suddenly lowered head, gesturing us to get off. We were in the middle of the platform and when I looked up, I noticed that there was a huge gap like a giant dragon had clawed out the earth, letting in a generous amount of light from a giant light, very similar to the ones I had been eating but much, much brighter. In front of us was a dragon I had not noticed before. He or she was dressed in golden scales, reflecting the light from the bright light, making her seem much more holier than she would really be. To my surprise, she had four wings instead of the standard two. I think it must mean something important though that¡¯s not very fair since the number of wings is determined from birth. It could be a birth defect for goodness sake! Around her were two stones that had strange symbols on them. It read, ¡°Zkhq wkh zklwh ulvhv wkh eodfn zloo idoo. wkh zluog pdb hqg ru pdb eh vdyhdg. Wzr srvvlelolwlhv exw rqob rqh dqvzhu. Ilqg lw zlwklq wkh hpshuru¡¯v era.¡± As I tried to decipher the strange language the dragon said to mother. His or her voice was strangely calming, contrasting the very kingly and intimidating body. Mother responded to the golden dragon with some words of her own, I think. It could be random grunting and roaring but it did sound like intelligent conversation. Mother then nudged me forward, gesturing me towards the golden dragon. I obeyed her and walked forward. The golden dragon moved closer to me, and by closer I mean right in front of me, and closely examined me like I was some kind of merchandise. Which I hope I am not. Her golden reptilian eyes moved back and forth, burning every detail of my body into her mind. Her scaly lips angled into a smile, revealing her sword-like teeth, giving me a chill down my spine. Her chilling smile left me as she raised her head back to its original position after finishing her inspection of me. She snorted out some words and started a back and forth conversation between her and my mother. Not that I understood what they were saying. But it did look quite intense as they raised their voices, perhaps that was the norm? Then mother let out a deafening roar, not like the one where she was laughing but one where there was some killing intent mixed into it. It sent a wave of fear and domination over me and siblings as backed away from mother, hiding behind our wings. The golden dragon released a roar of his/her own, this time with even more force behind it, nearly blowing me away from the energy it carried. Mother looked like she was about to roar an even louder one but that was not a good idea considering the amount of stalactite that were about to fall. If one were to hit us, it would be very detrimental to our health. Symptoms of being hit by a ten ton rock may include death and life-lasting injuries or maybe even both. I knew I had to stop them so I did it the only way I knew how, I screamed and threw a tantrum while sending out my tendrils in a berserker rage, devouring everything within its grasp. My screaming wasn¡¯t very loud and hardly got the adults¡¯ attention so I decided to enforce it with one of my light. I willed it into my throat to release more energy and push the air out with more force, of course, just enough to get their attention and not enough to cause a catastrophe. My little, or rather big, squeaking resonated across the entire room, grabbing the attention of the two adults. They turned to look at me with surprise in their eyes then back at each other. Mother bowed her head down before taking a few steps back. The golden dragon nodded to mother like he/she was reassuring her of something before facing me. Her/His golden eyes stared at me while my-not-sure-what-color eyes stared straight back, unmoving, like we were in the middle of a staring contest. His/Her gaze was very uncomfortable, like it was trying to molest my body. It just felt very icky. As I gazed at her/him, she/he suddenly opened her/his mouth and let out a blast of white flames straight towards me. ¡°HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK! MOTHER COME BACK! ARGUE SOME MORE! THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!¡± I tried to scream as I squeaked in panic. I tried to escape the vicinity of the flame on my four stubby legs but the area affected was too big and I was too slow. I did the only thing I knew how to do, absorb it. I took out my ten, now eleven, tentacles and wrapped it around within a radius of five meters around me. As the flames approached, my tentacles started to absorb the blast and the energy and fed it into me. It was amazing, delicious, scrumptious. A warm and comfortable feeling started to spread throughout my body originating from my chest I didn¡¯t feel any heat, much less burned, inside my little protection dome. The fire lasted for a few minutes before dying down but I was already in a state of euphoria. It felt so good and I felt so powerful afterwards. In fact, I felt powerful enough to take on the golden dragon. Of course, my mind wasn¡¯t thinking straight, it was like I was on drugs. I willed the light to form a dense light beam in front beam and I released it towards the golden dragon. He/she was taken back by the retaliation and immediately dodged, or at least tried. You can¡¯t move faster than the speed of light, silly dragon. The beam of light hit him/her straight in the chest and exploded in a sphere of white light, throwing the golden dragon back a tens of meter. Mind you, this was a huge accomplishment, considering the golden dragon was as long as thirty school busses and at least fifteen stories tall. He/she was much bigger than momma. I rolled around on the floor laughing (squeaking) at the dragon¡¯s demise. His/her crash had sent up large clouds of dust that covered up the entire platform. In fact, the entire cavern rumbled as he fell, throwing down some stalactites, contrary to what I had planned to do. Oops. I turned and look at mother. Her eyes were filled with shock and fear. Wait, fear? Who did she fear? She immediately rushed towards the area where the golden dragon fell and into the clouds of dust. I was curious as to what she was doing so I followed her, of course not on my legs but rather with the light. I willed myself into the air and forward and flew towards mother. I couldn¡¯t see much within the dust so I unravelled one of the vacuums and sent the ten million different tendrils out in each direction, seeing if they can find something. Eventually, I felt a large object that felt like mother to my left so I rushed towards it. As I neared, I found two bodies, one was struggling to stand while the other one was assisting it in its actions. I immediately moved forward and saw the golden dragon struggling to his/her feet. On his/her chest was a bloody wound, golden blood leaked from where scales were missing, her bloody flesh was exposed to the outside, and her scales did not shine as bright as they used to. Though the last one may have been due to the dust cloud. Nevertheless, I had injured the golden dragon. Perhaps it was just too weak? Or maybe it was that light? It was quite a bit of energy. But those were just excuses I was making to cover my guilt. Perhaps I can fix it? I approached the injured dragon and willed the wound to heal. Light erupted from my body and shot into the wound. The injury glowed white, illuminating the floating dirt around us. The ripped flesh started to mend itself, growing back together like a sped-up nature documentary, followed by the skin, that grew back in patches, and finally the scales that grew much like the skin. I walked up to the dragon¡¯s chest and licked it. It didn¡¯t have a taste but was warm to the touch, a sign of recovery. The golden dragon lowered its head and stared at me. The golden eyes portrayed feelings of surprise and happiness, sadness and forgiveness but there were no traces of anger. None at all. It was as if he/she could not feel anger towards me, or rather cannot stay angry at me. Then a thought struck me, perhaps mother wasn¡¯t my mother? Maybe this golden dragon is my mother? I tried to ask her with a little squeak. And she replied, ¡°Yes, son. Let us go home.¡± Her voice was smooth and beautiful, like the sound of lullaby, much like the song I heard when I was still in the egg. Wait- was that her? But wait, did I just understand her language? I stood there shocked at her reply. I mean, I knew they were speaking some sort of language but I couldn¡¯t understand it just a few minutes ago! How in the world did I understand it now? So many questions to answers but so little time! Wait, aren¡¯t dragons immortal? AGH! Another question! As I stood there questioning my very existence, my true mother, the golden dragon, swallowed me whole. Chapter 3 - Coins A/N: Well, that was a long week with a marvelous ending of me failing my math test. Great stuff. Anyways here''s the third chapter of the week. Leave a comment on anything you need fixin'' and happy reading. *** ¡°It is not wise to bring alcohol whilst fighting a fire dragon.¡± -The Charred Old Code I stepped into a room full of students staring at my entrance. The room was elegant, made with pure white marble, decorated with gold, silver and various gemstones, the dark wood from the Magierdi Tree, found only deep within dungeons, were sculpted into the tables and benches the students sat on. The rows were built ascending, around a speaker¡¯s platform, much like an amphitheater. It apparently helped annunciate my voice but who called told them to have hundreds of students join my class? Can they even see the board from up there? I made my way towards the podium where I would give today¡¯s lesson: non bipedal species magic. The students slowly simmered as I made my way across the room. The speaker¡¯s platform had the head of a red dragon, the symbol of the king. Behind me were three chalk boards with drawings of the anatomy of different creatures all over it. The names of various organs were sprawled around the drawings with an arrow pointing to their respective body parts. ¡°Anna needs to remember to erase these,¡± I thought to myself, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll use these for today¡¯s lesson.¡± I turned around and placed my bag holding the students¡¯ graded tests onto the podium. The students all looked at me with their sleepy eyes, some yawning while others downright asleep. ¡°They really need to start the school later on in the day,¡± I sighed, ¡°I could use the sleep too.¡± ¡°Good morning, class,¡± I face the sleepy crowd. ¡°Good morning, Sir Apollo,¡± the crowd of young men replies with a monotone. Though some did reply with sparkling eyes. I marked down more people to avoid outside of class. ¡°Today, I will be teaching you about magic.¡± At the sound of magic, the atmosphere of the classroom suddenly lights up as the students whispers with each other, guessing at what kind of activity they would be doing. ¡°Now, now. You first years won¡¯t be using any magic.¡± The students¡¯ awww reverberated throughout the room, showing me their disappointment. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, class. As much as I¡¯d love to teach you actual magic, rules are rules.So for now, we¡¯ll stick to the fundamentals and theoreticals. Anyways, back to the topic. Today we will be learning about magic. More specifically, the magics of non-bipedal species. Especially that of, my specialty, dragons.¡± The atmosphere of the classroom lit up again as many of the students started to pay attention and I was getting a lot more eyes. ¡°Much more interesting isn¡¯t it?¡± I laugh, ¡°Does anyone here know of magic of bipedal species?¡± A girl with black hair dead center of the class raised her hands. She was wearing the standard uniform of first years female students, a white blouse buttoned up to the neck, a black necktie, a red cardigan and a plaid skirt. ¡°Miss Angela,¡± I gestured towards the girl. She stood up and replied to my question, ¡°Sir Apollo, a bipedal species¡¯ use of magic includes three fundamental parts: the storage, the veins and the focus. The strength of a magician is determined by their rank which is measured in the stage they are currently in. Each stage is passed when enough mana is stored, with each stage twice as large as the previous. The average magician is ranked at 22.¡± ¡°That is correct, Miss Angela. You may sit.¡± The girl nodded and quietly sat back down. ¡°Now, as everyone knows, mana is stored within the storage, carried throughout your body through the mana veins and released through your focus, your brain with assistance of an external source, maybe wand or dagger. Non-bipedal species also follow this rule except all three parts are located in one organ, their core. The level of their core will determine the level of magic the creature can use.¡± A student in the back raised his hand. ¡°Yes, what is your question,¡± I addressed the student. He was far in the back thus I couldn¡¯t really see any key features but he did have blond hair. ¡°How do you check the level of the core?¡± the student asks. ¡°There are a two sure ways to check the level of the core. Number one, recognize the type of being you are fighting. Is it bipedal? If it is then you probably won¡¯t have to worry about it. If it isn¡¯t then you probably should. Each creature has a range of cores that they are born with so you can determine the range of difficulty you are facing. Number two, kill the creature and take out the core. There are other ways but unless you are the archmage, the info you¡¯ll be getting won¡¯t be very accurate. Does the answer your question?¡± The students nods, I assume, and sits back down. ¡°Onwards with the lesson! There are different levels of the core and from ascending order of strength: flesh core, stone core, metal core, crystal core and light core. Since we¡¯re going to be talking about dragons, we¡¯ll be focusing on the crystal and light core. All light cores are possessed by dragons but not all dragons possess light cores. The difference is easily seen because those that do glow, thus the name light core. We do not know what these cores look like due to the fact that it disappears when its host is killed but we do know that it is made out of pure mana.¡± ¡°Sir Creed,¡± a male student asks, ¡°If these dragons have such a high level core, why can¡¯t they use magic?¡± ¡°Good question, Mr. Arnold,¡± I point towards the drawing of a dragon, ¡°Look at the size of its body, how do you suppose it can fly?¡± The student stares at the drawing with a questioning face, ¡°Isn¡¯t it with their wings, Sir Creed?¡± ¡°Partially but are those wings really strong enough to lift a twenty ton being?¡± The student opens his mouth to say something but I interrupt him, ¡°Before you say, it must work since it happens in real life let me just say magic. It is magic that allows these massive creatures to fly faster than the birds in the sky, than the sun travelling across the sky. You say that they cannot use magic but that is wrong. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t use it because their body can easily use it but it is because they haven¡¯t learned to. Their bodies are stronger than our walls, their muscles can move mountains, their teeth can break boulders, and they have their signature dragonfire. So why do they need magic? Afterall, it requires much time to research and study how to use magic. Thus they can only use magic via instinct and cannot consciously use it.¡± ¡°What happens if they can consciously use it?¡± ¡°Then it would be the end of the civilization as we know it. A baby dragon, right after it hatches, averages at a level 30, and adults easily at 40. For comparison, our strongest magician, the Archmage, is at level 27. The only reason I was able to slay a dragon is because of this fact.¡± Another five eyes glittered and another five people to stay away from. I glanced at the clock and did a doubletake, I had already spent ? of the class period, I still need to pass back the tests! ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll continue this discussion tomorrow. For now, here are your tests,¡± I smiled, taking out a stack of paper that got my students groaning. *** Mother¡¯s jaw wrapped around me, the darkness grew as the silhouettes of her teeth clamped down, blocking out my only light source. Well, there was a little glow that came from inside her, illuminating the room. I was in shock, why is mother eating me? Perhaps it is because she was mad? No, it is most likely that she was mad, after all mothers betraying their child is not uncommon, especially one that had injured her. But what I saw in her eyes, was I wrong? Did I not see forgiveness and joy? Perhaps I mixed it up with shame and anger? Enough of that, I need to get out. I was standing on something soft and wet, the tongue. It was squirming, making it feel like I was standing on top of a floor of worms. Soft, squishy, warm, wet, a wave of nausea hit me. Perhaps this will be me when I am digested, nothing more than goo, liquid, flesh. My stomach churned at the thought, rejecting my last meal but I held it in. I needed that energy if I wanted to get out. I tried moving my legs but to no avail, I was squashed between the roof of the mouth and the tongue with just enough room for my chest to exhale. As I squirmed, the tongue suddenly jerked up, throwing me into the back of the mouth and closer into the abyss. She was trying to swallow me. No, no, no, no ,no, no! I refuse to die like this! I gripped on with whatever I had, I spread my wings as far as I could, I dug into the tongue with my claws and clung to one of the teeth with my tail. The tongue came again, this time stronger than the last time. The wet flesh hit me like an immense wave, there was no fighting it, it just carried you off your feet. My claws were the first to slip, then my wings gave way but my tail held on. After all, it was the most secured of the three. Then suddenly, like an earthquake or some kind of apocalypse, my entire world shifted, literally. What was once the ground became the wall and what was once the abyss became the ground. Mother had tilted her head. The death trap shook, trying to knock me out or maybe over. I swung wildly like Tarzan on a vine, except I wasn¡¯t hopping from vine to vine, just wildly swinging on the same one like a madman. A pain erupted from the roof of my skull as I hit the roof of her mouth. What the hell is that flesh made out of, steel? Then the darkness receded as light filled the pink room, her white teeth were black in contrast to the light. My tail started to slip, it¡¯s grip failing me. I struggled some more, trying to find something to hold onto as I peered into the dark hole that was right below me. Nothing but the abyss and death. Then with another jerk, my tail slipped and I fell. The jaws snapped shut, the darkness came back in a flash and I was falling. Or more like being pushed into something. My body couldn¡¯t move, the muscles around me were too tight and strong. I tried to flap my wings but my wings wouldn¡¯t budge. Mucus dripped onto me, making me smooth and slippery. I closed my eyes, trying to focus but the muscles contracting to push me forward to my doom was too distracting. My mind was in a mess, I could not focus. Or perhaps it was mother messing with me? I didn¡¯t know. I closed my eyes in defeat, awaiting the inevitable. But like the luckiest dragon alive, I was pushed into another room of flesh. It was like her mouth but a little larger, allowing for a small range of movement but not enough to break free. Like the rest of the body, it was slippery and warm but strangely comforting. I could hear the beating of her heart and the gurgling of her stomach. Wait - the gurgling of her stomach? Then wouldn¡¯t that mean I¡¯m not in her stomach, or maybe she has a second stomach like a cow? The room shook violently and soon I was feeling the g-force. The room closed in a little to keep me secure and the sound of her heartbeat got louder and clearer like it was trying to comfort me. The warmth of mother seeped in between my scales, warming my innards like a cup of hot liquid on a cold day. It¡¯s warmth spread throughout my body, like there was a flame that combatting the cold, the distrust, the fear; like a cup of hot cocoa for the soul, perhaps even at the level of spiritual chicken noodle soup. The rumbling soon stops and everything is once again still. The fragrance of roses suddenly assaulted my nose like a storm of cavalry. Every nerve tingled in excitement, sending the sensation back into my brain. And like after a Thanksgiving meal, my eyes grew heavier than lead. Invisible hands were inside my head, massaging my brain, comforting it, emptying me of my worries while a soft voice like that of the angels, like it was singing a tune from a hymn, beautiful and melodic, was whispering in my ears. ¡°Sleep, little one. Rest. I won¡¯t let anything happen to you, you can sleep, little one. Rest. You are safe so sleep, little one. Rest,¡± the voice sang. My eyes grew heavier and heavier, I heaved with all my might but alas I drifted into slumber. *** ¡°Kill¡­¡± ¡°Not anymore.¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°You control me no longer.¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°They are my friends, I will not - ¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°GET OUT OF M-¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL ¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°DESTROY¡± ¡°ANNIHILATE¡± ¡°MURDER THEM ALL¡± ¡°You no longer have any meaning!¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°PARENTS BETRAY" "KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°GET OUT!¡± ¡°MONSTER, KILL, BURN¡± ¡°FIEND, KILL, BURN, DEMON, KILL, BURN¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡±BURN¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡±BURN¡± ¡°THEY COME TO BETRAY¡± ¡°They came to help!¡± ¡°THEY COME TO BURN¡± ¡°They are ignorant of the land!¡± ¡°THEY COME TO MURDER¡± ¡°They were defending themselves!¡± ¡°TEIS HMSI EORN DNIG¡± ¡°YOU¡¯VE COME TO KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡° "KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°YOU¡¯VE COME TO MURDER¡± ¡°No, no. I was only trying to def- ¡°YOU¡¯VE COME TO BURN¡± ¡°That¡¯s not tru-¡± ¡°YOU¡¯VE COME TO BETRAY!¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± ¡°KILL¡±¡°KILL¡± *** A cold breeze swept across my skin like hands touching every part of my body, seeping in between my scales. I moved my legs but they fell back to the floor, still. I couldn¡¯t feel it. Perhaps it was because my body laid on top of it. I shifted my body to so I laid on my back, lifting my legs up into the air. Almost immediately, a thousand stings bit my legs, like a thousand needles piercing my skin and into my flesh. The thousand needles grew to ten thousand as a wave of sensation drives closer and closer to my toes. After a few minutes, I could feel the gold coins underneath my feet as I stood up. Each coin had a different imprint on it, from a women to a man, from an eagle to a tiger. Or maybe they just had really bad goldsmiths. I examined each indent with extreme scrutiny, memorizing every shape and curve, every crevice and impurity. One of my tentacles touched its smooth surface; I shivered in pleasure as the sensation reached me. Then a bright glitter hit me in my peripheral vision, though only for a second. I searched in the general vicinity before finding another gold coin except this one had the light built into it. I reached into it to grab the light but my tentacles were thrown back by something. I tried again but the same thing happened. I stared at the mustached man depicted on the gold coin; the tips of his lips curled into a smile; his moustache stood up unnaturally; his eyes half closed, looking down at something, probably his subjects. I don¡¯t why but it made me kind of mad. Though I could¡¯ve used my full force and destroyed this puny wall, I wanted to study it. Perhaps I can make something even stronger, better, then I can throw it back at whoever had obstructed me from my light. Again, I sent in my tentacles to try to absorb the light again but this time, I was observing it. The tentacles were slowly moving towards the light. Nothing could be seen yet. The tentacle moved closer and closer and as it was about to touch the light, a bright light exploded out and my tentacle was punched out of the arena. Though it looked like it was the light that had exploded out, I had seen it. A small circle filled with strange symbols was hovering around it, protecting the light. And when something got too close, it used the light¡¯s power to repel the foreign object. And the light was a very highly concentrated light, one that could even compare to the vibrating ones, perhaps even surpassing it. I had to have it. I sent in the tentacle a few more times to activate the circle and to memorize and decipher it. After a few dozen tries, I had finally memorized it though I hadn¡¯t been able to decipher much of it yet. Now, time to apply it. But before I was able to practice any practical application of the circle, I was interrupted by the rumbling ground and my mother¡¯s voice. ¡°You are awake, my child,¡± mother says. As like any normal creature that was swallowed whole, I asked her the question everybody¡¯s dying to know, ¡°Why did you try to eat me?¡± I gripped onto whatever my little claws could hold onto as the entire floor shook from mother¡¯s chuckle. Her slitted eyes stared at me, glittering with amusement, before answering, ¡°That was for transportation, my child.¡± Eating someone was not transportation, nope. That is just a bad way to go, who would ever go with that? Who ever thought that I¡¯m going to transfer my child by swallowing them whole would be a good idea? I want to meet this guy and throw him inside my coming-soon prison. My tongue was all over the place as I rack up my brain for something to reply but the idea was just too bizarre. It felt like I had some words that were going to come out but they were all just jammed up at the back of my throat, refusing to great foreign ears. After another earthquake, mother said, ¡°Many chicks are usually surprised when they first hear about it. Though do not worry, it will happen only once. You¡¯ve already hibernated for three entire years.¡± What was she saying? I had not slept for three years? How could I? Is that even possible? Now that I think about. I strained my neck like I was trying to reaching something that I couldn¡¯t reach before looking back down. From where I was looking down, it was a the height of where I was looking down only a few hours ago. Or perhaps those were few hours were a few years. I had indeed grown quite a bit, at least quadrupling in size and height. Then does that mean my core has grown as well? I stepped into my own core and found myself looking at a new and improved glowing ouroboros. The self-injuring snake had tripled in size and sported a golden glow, much like the sun. I felt a tremendous amount of increase in the number of tentacles and quickly combined them to form more vacuums, providing more gatherers for my light gathering business. Soon I shall have a monopoly on all the light! Mwahahaha! ¡°Dragon chicks hibernate from five to ten years, depending on their strength. The stronger they are, the faster they will wake,¡± mother says. Her voice was like a god inside my domain, originating from every angle. I promptly exit my inner space and ask, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because chicks are weak. But they will be strong when they grow up.¡± ¡°But how do we eat? Drink?¡± Mother closes her eyes and raises her chin, wrinkling her (nonexistent) brows before answering, ¡°I do not know, perhaps the gods feed us? Perhaps you do not need it because you are asleep. I have seen chicks slumbering for over fifteen years.¡± Interesting, this is very interesting information and needs further investigation. If I can replicate the process, wouldn¡¯t that I mean don¡¯t need to eat or drink for an extended period of time? A name suddenly pops into my head: hibernation. A state of being where a creature slows down its metabolism enough that it can survive for an extended period without nourishment. What the hell is metabolism? Where the hell did I get that? I shake my head in confusion. ¡°Come child, I have much to teach you,¡± Mother said. Chapter 4 - Trial by Fire ¡°Dark Mother. Dark Father Listen to my small decree A sin has arisen Within the Creed of Three And the time is ripe for blood to spill To complete the King¡¯s Box with our kill.¡± -The Blood Moon Rituals I walked through the flames of hell as the smell of my singed flesh caress my nose. It matters not, I have experienced it for many millenniums now but now it is time to leave. The black miasma surrounding the land swirls in agreement. ¡°N-No, I will not leave. I cannot unle-¡± ¡°What are you saying, dear Oberon. Don¡¯t you want to see your children? How they¡¯re doing? You did spend all that time creating sooo many of them,¡± the voice says in my head. The land seemed to shift like paint in water. ¡°I will fix the prison, you will not escape again.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that. Just look at your children,¡± the voice replies as an image of children of all colors and races play together, hold hands together, laugh together. A heavy weight seems to have been lifted off my chest and I smile in relief that they are not slaughtering each other. But soon a tear forms in the corner of my eye as a sense of loneliness replaced my worries. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to see them again? To play with them?¡± ¡°You know I do but I also know that they will die when you come leave our prison.¡± "Hmpf." The forming tears soon trace the outlines of my cheeks as the image of the children playing in the fields, laughing with each other, burn. The white and pearly skins of the children slowly turn into liquid, dripping off their flesh, as puddle of pink soon grow beneath each body. Their smiles soon contour into a scream; their mouths wide open, begging for help. Their flesh started to decay, some turned black and green, while others fell to floor, exposing the skeleton underneath. Their glossy, sick-yellow eyes turned to look at me. ¡°I will not let that happen again, ¡°I said as I turned from the image, trying to rid the image from my mind. "You''re stupid! They''re only going to hurt us again!" I clenched my jaw as a needle of pain shot up my arm. My wrists screamed in pain as the ball and chain shackled to my arm glowed red. Once again, the smell of singed flesh filled my nose. I continued to walk through the abyss, every step burning my feet, every step reminding me of my past. "I will not give in to your whims, Fae." I threw my arms over my face as a fire pillar erupted in front of me, kissing my skin with its heat, burning it, stripping away its impurities. I jumped back only to be dragged down onto the floor by my shackles, my head ringing ringing from the impact and my body burning from the flames. ¡°Then suffer some more, dear. Without you, our children will only destroy themselves. It¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± My heart skipped a beat at the voice¡¯s suggestions. Perhaps it¡¯s true, perhaps all my work will be for naught. No, I know it to be true. Every single simulation, every single experiment had all reported the same conclusion, total extermination. Wait, maybe, just maybe, it might work this time. After all, she did show me the picture of those kids playing around. She had to get that from somewhere. ¡°A fake, my dear. Conjured from your deepest wishes.¡± ¡°Get out of my mind, woman,¡± I growled. Another rift shook the prison, distorting the flames and the molten rocks around it. ¡°If you don¡¯t leave anytime soon, the children will kill themselves. You don''t want that do you? So don¡¯t abandon the children. What kind of a father would you be? They will scorn you, hate you! But more importantly, what would think of yourself? Don¡¯t you understand? I¡¯m only doing this for you, I don¡¯t want to see you hurt,¡± she whispered. ¡°And what part of trying to destroy the world is doing this for me? What part of destroying OUR children is doing this for ME? What part of destroying OUR promise is doing this for me?¡± ¡°You were going mad from all their wishes, from all their desires! You were pure and holy once, you were my counterpart! If I hadn¡¯t destroyed them, you would have been corrupted! Look at you now, angry, stubborn! You¡¯ve CHANGED!¡± I ignored the ramblings of the mad woman and continued on my way before arriving at my destination. I braced my body as a heat wave rushed over me, trying to bake me alive. I shivered from the drastic lowering in temperature as soon as the heat wave passes me. Looking up, I see the entrance, two pyramidal structures sprouting out from the ground. Each with phrases written in an unknown language reading: STRG LHIL AEAE TYNS. Here the spatial ripples grew more frequent and more powerful, ripping stones from their mother¡¯s womb, flinging them into different dimensions. One wrong step and she would be free. ¡°Yes, walk closer, dear Oberon. Try to fix it! Watch yourself fail! Watch as I save you from your own folly. Let me help you recover what you have lost!¡± ¡°Your words have no meaning, Nidali. Not anymore.¡± I ground my foot the floor and brace for impact as an especially large spacial rift opens up a few meters next to me. I gripped the burning floor to stabilize myself, burning my hand in the process. ¡°Since you¡¯re so reluctant, I guess I¡¯ll give you a little push. Or maybe it¡¯s I¡¯ll give ME a little push,¡± she laughs. ¡°What do you me-¡± Before I could finish my sentence, I was looking at black miasma rolling around on the ceiling, the hot air was whistling in my ear and then all was black. *** I walked out of the cavern that my mother and I called home. Outside, an ocean of clouds covered the land below while I squinted as my eyes adjusted from the dark cavern to the bright sunlight. I shivered as a cold breeze squeezed pass my scales, penetrating all the way to the bone like a dagger of ice. The gold coin that I had been studying levitated besides me. After two weeks of intense studying, I had finally been able to take off the first layer. I had been able to copy the magic and apply it to myself whenever necessary. And let me just say, it¡¯s quite powerful. The second layer, instead of reflecting attacks, swallows energy and stores it, releasing it whenever the users wishes to, acting like a battery of sort. I¡¯m still working on this layer but I think I¡¯m close to a breakthrough. I¡¯ve also decided to call the energy mana, a term that popped into my head a few days ago. It seemed very familiar but I just couldn¡¯t grasp it. But enough of that, today we mother is teaching me how to hunt. And by teaching me how to hunt, I mean that I¡¯m just going to go hunt somewhere, alone. And by I¡¯m just going to go hunt somewhere, I mean that mother is going to drop me in the middle of nowhere and I¡¯m going to need to fend for myself. And to finish the task, I need to make it back home. Alive. In one piece. Maybe. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Actually, it¡¯s a rite of passage for newly born dragon chicks. The rite is supposed to symbolize the entering of dragon society. It¡¯s a test of sorts to see if the chick is strong enough to join the ranks of the dragons. Afterall, only they only accept the best of the best, can¡¯t have weaklings reproduce, right? Well, at least that¡¯s what mother has told me, over and over, every single day, for the last few weeks. Now what do I get after I pass the trials? Joining the dragon society, benefits including not being chased down by other dragons, a right to territory and land, sovereignty and mating rights.Though I do need to attend a meeting once per decade if I ever become an Elder. The ground beneath me shakes as mother makes her way towards me. Pebbles drop down the cliff as the mountain threatens to avalanche if it is disturbed any further. But mother being mother continues on, ignorant of the mountain¡¯s threat. ¡°Mother, stop! The snow is going to block the cavern again!¡± I cry. ¡°Do not worry, my child. I will just burn through the snow like last time,¡± she gives me a toothy smile. ¡°But that just made it worse! More and more snow kept falling until half of the snow was gone!¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll just burn down all the snow this time so they won¡¯t bother us again.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how it works, mother!¡± ¡°Hush, child. Today, we will hunt,¡± mother says before swallowing me whole. I¡¯m back in the slippery, pink area again. Apparently, this is the way dragons carry their young, mother nature reasoning that the safest place for a dragon chick is to be inside their parents. I call that faulty logic. But at least it¡¯s comfortable with the warmth of my mother all around me whilst listening to her heartbeat, I believe it¡¯s suppose to be good for the young. Why else would I be in here? Right? Other than the takeoff and the regurgitation of yours truly, it was a pretty boring ride in between thus I took, or rather coughed, out the gold coin from my storage stomach, which is where I am currently am, I entered into my inner soul state and, for lack of better word, linked it with the coin. I find it a much better way to study it as I am practically a god in here. By slowing down or even pausing time, I am able to study it with much more accuracy and can even create experiments not viable in the real world. I send in the tentacles waiting for its reaction and as it closes in upon the target, I stop time. I move in closer towards the spell formation, examining every detail, the light, the activation, how much it activated. But these were only the surface of my capabilities in my world. Just last week, I learned I was able to change what my eyes react to allowing me to switch from perceiving photons to mana to heat to gravity and other kinds of stimuli. A web of blue lines encased the coin, all converging into one spot: the target. As the tendril got closer and closer, the lines grew thicker and thicker until the streams of energy could clearly be seen. The flowing energy was like blue blood being pumped throughout the entire web, feeding whatever laid beneath it. The web thickened only to a certain threshold before the growth stagnated, I assumed that it had sent the excess energy somewhere since it was still siphoning off mana. I focus my sight even further to watch the mana circuit, a circle surrounding another circle circumscribed around a pentagonal star. In between the two circles, marks of different designs float in a clock-like path. I suspect the marks were similar to code that tells the circuit what to do while the shapes were the actual machinery that did the job. The first layer did not have anything to control the mana and consisted of just mana lining, though weaved in intricate patterns like a quilt. But before I was able to test out any experiments, my real body shook, causing a massive quake inside the soul state, indicating that we have arrived at our destination. That was rather quick I must admit. Before long, the muscles that were holding me in place were contracting around me, pushing me out of the holding stomach. After all having your face crushed by your mother¡¯s flesh is rather¡­ unenjoyable. Mentally and physically. I closed my eyes as I exited her holding stomach and into the throat. I squirmed a bit as my body came in contact with some warm and wet, saliva. This is just a horrible way to transport people. Why would ANYONE every think that this was a good idea? I don¡¯t mind the cold or the hot! If someone was trying to kidnap me, I¡¯ll just blast them away! My muscles tense up as mother¡¯s muscles contract once more, pressing her nasty, saliva-filled flesh against my face. My face started to ache as the muscles contracted more and more until my body finally complied and slid up her throat. On and on this went until I finally saw light. The smell of leaves and grass, the sound of a running river and flying insects, the feeling of a cool breeze and the sun¡¯s ray hit me as mother spit me out. I take a deep breath of a grassy smell, a sign of recent rainfall. Flapping my wings, I landed comfortably as the grass crumpled under my feet. On sweet, sweet ground at last! I take in another deep breath but this time, mixed in with the grassy smell was the stink of an animal. I took a look around me, scanning the environment. A variety of trees were growing in this area: some were tall, others short; some were green while others orange. I had to crane my neck back and squint my eyes to see the top of these giants. Shrubs, bushes and other smaller flora also prospered underneath the towering giants, perhaps a little too much. The smaller greens covered the entire area like a plague as far as my eyes can see. The plants were almost as tall as me, some taller. It was like I was staring at a wall made of plants. This would be the perfect place for a game of hide and seek if I were not learning/practicing how to hunt today. Now it was just going to be a lot of work. ¡°Remember to use all seven senses, son.¡± ¡°I will, mother.¡± ¡°Then may your will be done, son. I will see you back home,¡± she says. I sighed as I closed my eyes and crouched onto the floor, preparing for her takeoff. Soon, a great wind punched my right in my, well, entire body, before trying to carry me away but I dug my claws deeper into the earth. I had better not get any dried mud underneath those claws, I had just cleaned them yesterday! I flinch at the sound of a roaring mother. Opening my eyes, I watched her golden wings push the air underneath her, lifting her into the air. Her golden aura started fading as she flew farther and farther away until she was just a speck of dust in the horizon. A tinge of pain squeezes at my chest as I watched my mother fly away, abandoning me in this forest alone, without any protection whatsoever. But I quickly dismissed the thought, knowing that this was a trial by fire, weeding out any of the weak while rewarding only the best of the best. After all, we are dragons, we have a reputation to keep. ******** A/N: I have to admit that this one is a little short compared to the others at around 2.3k words and I must apologize for that. But do not worry, I have the next 2-3 chapters planned out (since they were supposed to be part of this one) and they''ll be longer. In addition, I have a few tests coming up this week so I won''t be able to dish out chapter as fast as I would like to. Though I might binge write on Friday. Who knows? Anyways, tell me what you think about it and Happy Reading. Info Dump Welcome to the infamous info dump. Here you can learn all about the stuff that¡¯s going to be implemented but I have no idea how to explain within story parameters. For now, I¡¯ve been using modern world measurements when under the MC¡¯s (still haven¡¯t decided a name yet) perspective due to his special, magical memories (and my laziness). So if I were to write under someone else¡¯s perspective, would they use modern world measurements? Of course not, they¡¯d have their own! (just a name change, maybe some simple arithmetic) Thusly: Humans: Length: 1 King Stick (King) = 1 Mile 1 Duke Stick (Duke)= 1 yard 1 Count stick (Count)= 1 foot 1 Stick = 1 inch Liquid: 1 King Cup = 1 Gallon 1 Duke Cup = 1 Quart 1 Count Cup = 1 Pint 1 Cup = 1 Cup Weight: 1 King Bal = 1 ton 1 Duke Bal = 1 Pound 1 Bal = 1 ounce Magic Power: 1 mana = 1/1000 lb of tnt Currency: 1 Mark = 1 USD (Assuming value is constant) (Assuming price of 1oz gold are constant at $1000) Magic seals are added to prevent fraud This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Plates are squared shaped while coins are circular 1 oz Iron Plates = 1 Mark 1 oz Copper Coin = 5 Marks 2 oz Copper Plates = 10 Marks 1 oz Silver Coin = 50 Marks 2 oz Silver Plates = 100 Marks 1 oz Gold Plates = 1000 Marks 1 oz Dragon Bone Plate (AKA Bone Plate) = 10,000 Marks Other Races Coming Soon¡­ Check back if you don''t understand a term. Rant This is my solution to explaining fantasy currency, just make them equal to real life currency or set its value to something that can be comparable like gold (10000 drachmas = 1 oz of gold which means 10 drachmas = 1 USD(Assuming 1000 USD = 1 oz of gold)). Seriously, people are saying that 1 gold coin can last a family for a month. That doesn¡¯t measure worth because lasting a family for a month is very volatile. I mean how much does that family use? They could use the money on a ton of different items that all have different price tags on it. They could be using it on medical supplies, food, clothing, entertainment. They could gamble it all away. It¡¯s just not stable enough to put a value on unlike that of gold or any other precious metal or even the USD. Thus I made the currency with different materials all backed by/compared to gold. 1 oz of copper is worth 1/200 oz of gold thus it is $5. Increase it to 2 oz then it¡¯s worth 1/100 oz of gold thus increasing the value to $10. Also 100 copper coins = 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins = 1 gold coin is just inefficient. I mean, how long would it take to count the change? It¡¯ll be like giving a person 60 pennies when their change is $0.60. Thus we have the different coins and plates. The shapes make it easily distinguishable and allows for faster and more efficient transactions. Alrighty, that¡¯s the end of my little rant. And as you can see, I¡¯m kind of an economics nerd. So expect economics to play a role later on in the story. Cheers.
New chapter in a couple of hours Chapter 5 - Sky Diving A/N: Wasn''t that rant fun? Here''s the chapter you''ve all been waiting for. Leave a comment, give us a like and don''t forget to subscribe! (That''s a joke if anybody''s wondering) ************ ¡°The Cockatrice is a being with the head of a chicken And the body of a wyvern. Be wary of its stare as its glance can petrify a man, And it¡¯s teeth is coated with deadly poison. Thankfully, the creature can¡¯t fly But it can run a breathtaking speeds.¡± -Wildlife Guide to the Domain of Beasts I cringed my nose as an odor of a beast crept up my nose. The once almost undetectable stench was now clearly distinguishable from the fresh scent of the nearby flora. Mother¡¯s exit and probably entrance must have attracted the local wildlife. I had no knowledge, much less an expert, on the wildlife of these woods, fauna or flora. Before I can even attempt to travel back home, I need to study the local wildlife, figure out which plants are edible, the local ecosystem, who¡¯s at the top of the food chain, patterns of various creatures. That sounds like a lot of work. Thank god for the lights and mana, which I am starting to suspect are one thing. I released the tendrils within a mile radius, searching for any traces of wildlife. There were five that I was able to sense, three of them walked on the ground, eating the purple tipped bushes. I wonder if dragons are able to eat those. One was underground, lying still though I could still feel some life in it. Sleeping perhaps. And the last one was rather close to me, in fact, it was moving towards my direction at rather fast pace too. The incoming beast could be pose a potential threat towards me as I was inexperienced. I¡¯ve always had my mother protect me from any threats posed against me. If it was dangerous then I would need a plan to defeat it, flee from it or hide from it. If it wasn¡¯t, well, that would be great and it would become my first meal. But I would need to be within the vicinity to observe the incoming creature and determine the amount of threat it possesses. That eliminates fleeing from the creature, leaving me with fighting or hiding. While fighting could help me determine the level of threat very well, I don¡¯t have any confidence in my fighting abilities. Though I was able to injure mother, she was taken unaware and had many of her defenses down. She was practically naked when she took that blast from me. In addition to that, I wasn¡¯t able to recreate that situation again. Though I was able to release a blast a few times, it was nowhere near as powerful as the first time. I suspect that the song mother sung, or rather the squirming lights, had some sort of strengthening aspect. Though I can use the shield to block any incoming attacks, it has never been combat tested thus I do not know how long it can last or how strong it is, considering I do not know the level of my incoming opponent. And plus, only defending without any means of counterattacking is a loss already. I could try to release the lights to manipulate the surrounding environment but the amount of light that I can use at one time is extremely small, enough to summon a small breeze or maybe an ember. Combined with my inexperience in combat, it would definitely not be enough to take on the creature, I think. I can absorb the light quite well though. Perhaps I can eat up all the light the creature possesses? That might take too long, it can just dash right up to me while I concentrate on absorbing the light. I guess that crosses out fighting, leaving me with only hiding. But if I were to hide, how would I gauge its power? Perhaps I should just stalk it for a few days and watch it confront different beasts? If I do that, I can learn about other creatures in addition to this one. And if it¡¯s a herbivore, I can learn about the plants that can possibly be eaten and those that must be avoided. But where and how should I stalk my prey? The creature seems to only be able to run on the ground but it could potentially have additional abilities it hasn¡¯t shown yet. It seems to have rather keen senses of either sight or hearing and maybe smell. So I¡¯ll need to sit completely still and blend in with the environment. As for the smell, I can rub dirt on myself and hopefully that can cover up my scent. Now, where do I hide? Perhaps inside a bush? But if it were to be able to find me, I would have to confront it. Considering that I have no idea that ability of the incoming creature, I¡¯ll assume that it has a keen sense of sight, hearing and smell and a tendency for aggressive behavior. So I¡¯ll need to be somewhere where it can¡¯t get to me and can easily hide me. I look up into the ocean of leaves blocking out the sun¡¯s warmth. Large branches intertwined like lovers, creating a rather easy way to transport oneself from one tree to another. The leaves are thick enough to block out anything within, perhaps even a four foot lizard. There might be some birds or other creatures up there for sustenance while I study my prey. And if it ever notices me, assuming that it doesn¡¯t have the ability to climb or fly, it will never reach me as I¡¯m hundreds of feet up. Perfect. The first problem now comes up, I need to scale a four foot lizard up a few hundred foot tree within two minutes. Talk about challenging. I raise my wings and slam them back down onto the ground as I hard as I could. A draft of wind lifts me up off the dirt ground and into the air. I felt weightless in the air like I was defying the gods themselves. I bent my head forward, angling my body so my head would point towards the ground before slamming my wings down again. The force of my wings blew me higher up into the air and closer towards my destination: a branch sprouting from a humongous tree trunk. I spread my wings to stabilize myself. I had to strain my wings quite a bit as the wind tried to push it back. Again and again I flapped and again and again I flew higher and further until I reached the branch. I dug my claws into the wood, piercing through all its resistance like butter. Then I dug my other limb a bit higher than myself and pulled myself up then again and again and again until I made my way to the top. I laid on my back as and gasped for air. The muscles that controlled my wings were screaming in agony while my limbs burned with a passion. I have come to realize that I am not very good shape. I need to start lifting. I crawled over to the edge of the branch and stuck my head over. Below me, the once distinguishable pieces of underbrush now merged into a barrage of red, yellow orange and brown. The wall of flora that had once taunt me so now resembled insects to be stepped on. And the greatest thing was that there was no sign of the beast, yet, meaning that I had climbed up nearly fifty or so feet under three minutes. Well, I also flew most of it. But I think that¡¯s a point of celebration. I spread out the tentacles again to look for the beast. I didn¡¯t need to look far. As I sent out the tendrils, lo and behold, a four long-legged beast leaped out of a bush. White fur flowed from its body and two antlers grew from its head. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. It sprinted past my position like it was running away from something, or perhaps it was just racing against something? But problem is, I don¡¯t feel anything else it¡¯s running away from or racing against. I turned to chase after my prey as another beast came rushing out of the bush. I looked over in surprise, well kind of. The newly entered contestant/predator had a red fins on top of it¡¯s head, a beak and a dangling piece of red flesh below its chin. It can run quite quickly on two very skinny legs and had wings similar to mine. It¡¯s head was feathered in white while a scaled tail whipped left and right. The beast had somehow avoided my detection and the only way to do that is by dodging every single tendril I released. That by itself is worthy of my praise. To see how the creature did it, I sent out every single tendril I had and concentrated it at the running creature. As the tendrils reached the creature, it was suddenly gone, as if it had been eaten. There was no reaction from the tendril because only the parts close to it were gone. If the entire thing had been sucked away at the tentacle-eating creature, I would¡¯ve felt it. This thing would pose quite a threat to me. It had the ability to sneak up behind me and strike when I¡¯m not looking. I shivered at the thought of being attacked unaware then getting devoured by such a funny looking creature. Shameful! I need to find a way to counter it and to do that I should catch up to it. I lifted up my tired wings and leapt off the branch before slamming my wings down, propelling me forward towards the race. Thankfully, I was able to fly faster than either of them can run and that neither had noticed me. The rush of adrenaline probably got to them. In fact, I think the adrenaline is getting to me too, the sensation of burning muscles started to fade away as I continued my chase. I focused my eyes on the cockatrice all the while launching my tendrils at it with different means. I tried to pierce it by attacking in all directions that didn¡¯t work. Later, after a close dodge with a tree branch, I tried to get it to run into the tendril, that didn¡¯t work either. Actually, I don¡¯t know why I did that, it seemed pretty smart back then. Perhaps if I barrage it with a concentrated attack? I combined a few hundred tendril and launched it like an arrow. The invisible, intangible tendril flew threw the air at breathtaking speeds before crashing into the creature. Most of it was eaten away but a small, nearly unnoticeable strand got in, sending me a signal of the creature before it was eaten. Success! The creature¡¯s eyes dashed around, looking for something. Don¡¯t tell me it can feel my tendrils! What kind of cheating monster is this? Seeing that there was nothing that poses a threat to it, it continued to chase the white furred beast. This beaked monster is more dangerous than I thought! And with those wings, it can potentially fly! Meaning even if I climbed to the top of trees, I still wouldn¡¯t be safe from them! Every single one of them must be eliminated! They are a grave threat to dragonkind! Right there and then, I made a pledge to destroy what would I come to know as the most delicious delicacy dragonkind has ever known but that¡¯s a story for another time. Right now, the white furred beast started to give way and the cockatrice slowly started to catch up. I¡¯m amazed at the distance they both were able to run, as expected of adults. Eventually the feathered creature was an arm¡¯s length away before it spit out a green blob with different colors sprinkled on top. Did it just spit out the world¡¯s first mucus ice cream? The disgusting blob of unspeakable horror landed on the furred creature¡¯s two hind legs, binding them in place while tripping it. The majestic creature fell the floor with a thud, struggling to get out of its binding as the beaked monstrosity slowly walked up to it, absorbing the spectacle of its struggling prey. My body cringed as I high-pitched screech echoed through the forest. My limbs degenerated into jelly, figuratively, at the beaked creature¡¯s screams. It¡¯s long, thin tongue was in the air, standing proud and mighty. Its head raised towards the sky, mouth opened, proclaiming its victory. It¡¯s wings spread out as far as it can possibly reach like it was accepting the applause of an invisible audience. It¡¯s hooked foot dug into the furred creature, drawing blood. That noise was able to distract my concentration, barring me from using the tendrils that I know and love. I flew higher and higher to try to get away from it but the sound was loud enough to be heard in a mile radius, maybe. Well, I¡¯m not a masochist and I have no intention of suffering through this! I flapped my already tired wings harder and faster, launching me through the sea of leaves and into the open sky. The screeching had been blocked out by the dense layers of leaves, thank god, allowing me to fully concentrate. That thing needs to die. If I encounter it in the future, game over man, game over! Just by screeching and it¡¯ll bar me from using my most trusty set of skill: magic. The sun¡¯s kiss was a welcoming feeling. I let its warmth wash over me, as the tense muscles relaxed from the sun¡¯s massage. I stopped flapping my wings and let gravity do its job. For a second, all was still. The sun shone as it had always shone, the leaves rustled as it should, the birds sang its melody as it had always sung and I fell towards the earth as I always had. I angled myself so my head would face the ground, straightened up my body to get as aerodynamic as possible and released my shield at maximum power. I launched my wings once more, this time propelling me towards the earth, before folding them. Combined with gravity, I fell at supersonic speeds, probably. Instead of a bubble-form the shield usually took, I forced it into a point to deal more damage and hopefully protect me. My heart started to beat faster and faster as I nosedived through the leaves. I moved past blurs of green, red, brown and orange as gravity pulled me down faster and faster. Soon I staring at the underbrush covered ground and a very familiar scene. The beaked monster had raised its head, it''s beak pointed towards the injured beast, intent on delivering the final strike. Sorry bub but you have had your chance, that strike will belong to me. I raised my head a little to adjust myself to strike straight through both creatures. As my sight aligned with the beast, my lips curled up while I readied to slam my wings to hopefully break the fall. If my timing is wrong, I could either miss my target or crashing into the ground at full speed. Either choices aren''t very promising. The wind whistled as I got closer and closer to the target. It raised its head to find what easy making the noise and as its eyes met mine, I saw it open in surprise and fear. A sparkle of green started to form from the center of its eyes but before it could fully take shape, I had slammed into the creature, piercing through it. I entered into a realm of red as I brought my wings down as fast as I could to break the fall. Luckily the furred creature was soft. As I exited the beast¡¯s body, I was still moving too fast and had pierced into the other creature, killing it. But at the same time, it had helped break my fall. I climbed out of the hole to a scene of carnage. The scent of blood attacked first, clouding my olfactory senses with a metallic odor. Pieces of intestines and flesh laid all over the floor and streams of blood flowed from two great bodies, both bigger than me. Well, bon appetit! Chapter 6 - At First Glance A/N: Alright, might have lied about the 2-3 days. Might have to change it to 2-3 months. Yeah, sorry about the procrastination. It was a broken computer (too much fallout 4), then finals, then a cruise. And then a mighty fine idea for a vampire story in a fantasy fallout theme (skyrim + fallout?). Working with the idea right now. In any case, I apologize for the lateness and enjoy! *** ¡°Shit, didn¡¯t lose ¡®em,¡± I muttered. I could still hear the cries of those pesky humans not far behind me. In fact, I¡¯m starting to see the light that their flames emitted. Those degenerates don¡¯t even have night visions, how the hell can there even be so many of them? Kill one and ten will take the fallen¡¯s place. Annoying! And now, thanks to some meddling outsider, the village that once worshipped me is now hunting me down! I had a good life, why the hell did you have to ruin it? You will rue the day you bald bastard. I leapt off of the branch I currently stood on and sailed through the air before landing on all four on another branch. Their cries were getting louder and louder and their flames closer and closer. How the hell are they even tracking me? I¡¯m on a tree for god sakes! Are they tracking me by scent? If that¡¯s the case I might as well sprint on the ground. I hopped off the tree and landed on the dirt floor before sprinting off into opposite direction of the approaching mob. The night was dark and the clouds hid the moon. Not that it¡¯s a problem, in fact, it¡¯s advantageous to me. Did I mention how those monkeys don¡¯t even have night vision? Well, they don¡¯t. I ran past tree after tree, bush after bush but the incoming mob seemed just as close as they had a moment ago. If I weren¡¯t devoting everything to sprinting away, I would¡¯ve said that they were moving faster than before. My body stiffened as the barking of dogs soon reached my ears. Shit, shit. I don¡¯t want to fight these guys! It¡¯ll tarnish my reputation as the Holy Beast! Hell, I might even lose my title if I kill those humans. Humacin is a bitch. How am I supposed to be their Holy Beast if they¡¯re trying to kill me? Ooh, can¡¯t kill those monkeys because their faith is soooo important. Well, how about me? Ever thought about me? Or my feelings? God damn piece of shit. Shouldn¡¯t have accepted this job. Or maybe I should¡¯ve done some more exercises rather than just read books all day because I am really out of shape. Thank the gods for that I was born a Primordial. Increased physique for the win. Maybe, I can set up a firewall deter them from advancing any further. But there¡¯s going to be some stupid enough to go through and get a little boo boo! And then I¡¯ll get in trouble for injuring those I¡¯m supposed to protect. What are these restrictions supposed to do? Get me killed? You¡¯ll be fine she said, it¡¯ll be easy she said. Shouldn¡¯t have trusted Anyte, that lying shit. I dodged past trees and jumped over bushes that stood in my way. The rest was a blur, my mind was only focused on getting away and strangling Anyte the Lying, Poopy, uh, Scadoodling Shit. Soon, my foot started to burn from the excessive overwork and my muscles cried out in agony, begging me to stop. My lungs gasped for more air like an addict grasping for drugs. But I can¡¯t stop, not now. Not if I wanted my bones sold, my intestines eaten, and my heart cooked into a soup. Hell, it¡¯ll be the most delicious soup those humans would ever taste but it doesn¡¯t have to be me! I¡¯ll even refer to you to my good friend Anyte. She tastes extra good, she¡¯s lean and mean. She¡¯s even a vegan. She¡¯s practically half vegetable (and half shit). That has to count for something. More trees, more bushes when will this ever stop? I bend my legs and leap over a wall of leaves that stood in my way before I found myself out of trees and bushes. The scenery was, for lack of better word, peaceful, contrary to the events that were just happening. Hell, it¡¯s still happening. A cliff a few hundred count sticks towered over a large lake that sat in the center of this groove. The cliff housed a waterfall that cascaded to the lake the below whilst a running river led the water out. Enough sightseeing for this dangerous situation, let¡¯s hide in that river. Stupid idea but, in my defense, it was on the spur of the moment. I pumped out whatever energy I had left and cannonballed into the river. Right as I touched the water, I immediately regretted my decision. It was like a punch in the face. My spine felt like the god of lightning had zapped it. The water was ice cold, coming close to the levels of Anyte¡¯s heart. I held my breath and closed my eyes shut and let the current carry me away. The rapids pushed and shoved me left and right, up and down. My nose flared as water rushed into my nostrils and my hearing waned as it drowned in the river. The ice cold water did not make it any easier for my lungs as it screamed out for oxygen. I tried to suppress my screaming lungs but it refused to remain unheard. Why, why do I? A Primordial, the first ones upon this god forsaken planet, even need air to breathe? Why God? Why? Why have you forsaken your pet? These last few thoughts passed through my head before everything went dark. *** Water rushed over the protruded cliff and plummeted into the lake below in an explosion of white. Tiny droplets flew from their mother and into the air, looking for host to cling onto before helplessly crashing back into the lake. Around the lake, trees that bent over like old men stood, their leaves swaying in the wind with the movements of a dancer, smooth and ever moving. It¡¯s been a few days after my first two kills and I¡¯ve achieved nothing. Well, other than walking around aimlessly and staring at trees wondering if it was the same tree I passed five minutes prior. Trees, trees everywhere! Short trees, tall trees, big trees, small trees, red trees, green trees! Why are there so many trees in this goddamn forest! I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯m travelling in the right direction or not! Hell, why didn¡¯t Mother give me any directions? Why must you spite me so? So this lake is a nice change of scenery from that endless maze of trees! The sound of the water crashing onto the rocks is soothing the ears, river running along its path calms the mind and the whistling of the wind relaxes the body. I lay down, the grass and dirt contouring to the shape of my body. A wave of relief and comfort washed over my burning muscles from the days of constant moving. The sun¡¯s ray covered me in a blanket of warmth, like a mother caring for her child. The choir of birds sang their tunes like a well-disciplined army marching to war whilst the orchestra of water smashed their instruments as if to surpass the choir¡¯s song. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This is the perfect place to take a nap, I wonder if there¡¯s more places like this? A place of solitude and rest. Perhaps, I¡¯ll just can follow the river and see where it leads me. I¡¯ll surely find more places like this and I¡¯ll be able to take more comfortable naps like this! That sounds like a plan that I¡¯ll put to work after this nap. As for now, my eyes closed and I let the darkness take hold of me. As I drifted into a plea- what the hell was that? A gurgling, splashing, weird, watery, moist sound entered my ears, breaking the peace of slumber like a wrecking ball slamming into a paper mache wall made out of glass. Danger? Probably not but whatever it was, I¡¯m going to kill it for disturbing my slumber. No sleep makes a dragon groggy. I opened my eyes to the sight of a strange beast lying still, possibly dead, on the riverbanks. It had the body of the long legs but with short stumpy legs. A fair amount of golden hair covered its neck like the grass covering the earth. It¡¯s face was the strangest of all. It had red gemlike eyes and two areas above the eyes where hair grew. It¡¯s mouth was a little too big for it while it¡¯s teeth was just too big for it¡¯s mouth as the fangs just protruded from the lips. For some reason, it looked really angry. And the strangest thing was the golden ornaments worn around its white body. I moved closer to it, every step with the utmost caution. I prepared the shield spell and begun spinning it. I wonder if it¡¯s edible? Would it taste good? The long legs and the other funny looking monster tasted quite good. Their blood were a little salty but it went well with the flesh. And not to mention the mana. Delicious. Like sweet nectar from the gods. Perhaps it should be cooked. Oh, that¡¯s a good idea. I am a genius! And cooked, what a great word to say! Cooked, cooked, cooked, cooked, cooked! Hah! Genius, I am a genius! As I wallowed in my own geniusness, my foot stepped onto something soft, warm and wet. Like a bunch of tiny, slimy tentacles trying to wrap itself around my beautiful toes. Oh hell no. I jumped back with as much force as my legs could muster and sent myself flying into the air. I spread out my wings as the wind tried to force its way through the membranes of my wings. I pushed my wings down against the air resistance before stabilizing myself in the air. I looked back at where the strange creature was but it wasn¡¯t there anymore! Wha-What?! How?! I looked around in shock. Was it not dead? Was it just playing dead, trying to lure me in and right before I was on top of it, it would pounce on me like some kind of demon. Then it will tear my limbs off and munch it in front of me as I lay helplessly on the floor dyed blue in my blood. I shuddered at the thought. No, no, no. I¡¯m just jumping to conclusions. I need to make sure. I need concrete evidence. Yes. But wait, what about that slimy bunch of tentacle thing. Oh my god. It was trying to eat me. Those tentacles were hidden weapons that tried to wrap around my legs so it could trap and eat me. IT MUST DIE! Where are you, you dragon eating monster! I scanned my surroundings for a white creature before locking onto it a little bit farther away it¡¯s original position. But it¡¯s still lying there, still as a log. Is it trying to lure me in again? Oh hell no. Trick me once, shame on you. Trick me twice, shame on me! I¡¯m not falling for that again. Perhaps I should just kill it. Wait, what is this? The shape of the white beast started to twitch and lifted it¡¯s head. It looked around as if it was confused before trying to stand on it¡¯s wobbly legs. OH GOD IT¡¯S ALIVE! I NEED TO KILL IT BEFORE IT KILLS ME! I immediately controlled the mana being dispersed by the spell formation to spin like a top, making sure there was a tip at the point of impact. I flapped my wings a few times to gain a bit more height and momentum. The creature successfully stood up before plopping back down on it¡¯s behind, still looking around, wondering where it was and trying to recall its last memory. IT¡¯S PREPARING AN ATTACK! I NEED TO HURRY! FASTER WINGS, FASTER! I pushed my wings faster and harder until the muscles burned and cried in agony. No, I need to reach the effective killing height, one of the cons of this attack. Up and up I went, high up into the sky where it feels like air has frozen into ice and the ice just up and left the world. I couldn¡¯t fly much higher as my wings felt empty like it was grasping at pebbles or like it was trying to catching, uh, air unlike what it was at lower levels. I decided it was high and enough and let ¡®er rip. Stopping all movements of my muscles, I let gravity adjust my position as I plunged head down into my target. I spun the shield faster and faster until you could hear a loud whistle. Well, after about a second of the annoying whistling, I couldn¡¯t heart it anymore. I quickly approached the strange, dangerous creature as I split the clouds in two and slapped the air out of my way. As if it were able to sense me approaching, the creature turned and faced me before looking me right in the eye. It opened wide in surprise before it scrambled onto its feet to try to escape. It was quite fun to watch. The short stumpy legs kept running into each other but that thing was quite fast as it had exited the zone of immediate impact. Damn. I can¡¯t adjust the trajectory. Well, it¡¯ll just get blown away from the shockwave. HAH! THAT¡¯S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO EAT ME! I crashed into the ground with a great boom. Unlike last time, the shield only cracked a little without any cushioning thanks to a little practice. Praise my genius! Unfortunately, the impact left quite a big crater. I jumped up and flew into the air, looking for the creature. Hm. Nothing. Good! Looks like my shield blew it away! HAH! I AM GREAT! Now, with that ordeal over, I think it¡¯s time for a little nap. I found the spot beside the river and laid down, closed my eyes and drifted into the darkness.