《Talons Uprising》 Talons Uprising chapter 1: Harassment of siblings I''m tired. I mean, I''m awake, and I have been for an hour and a bit now, but I''m tired. I don''t even know why I''m tired. I have kind of just been just lying in my bed for 20 minutes now. Maybe I ate too much. Being bloated makes you tired, right? That sounds like something Snowstorm would say, at least. Neither darkness nor Smokewind have come to bother us, so I''m not exactly sure what I should be doing right now. Maybe harassing Snowstorm. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I toss my book to the side (which I have still not read despide owning it for 2 years) and haul myself off my bed. I put my legs under me and stretch, my wings encompassing around a quarter of the cavern we call our bedroom. My front talons press down against the carpet on the floor, and I slip forward, thumping on the ground with a yelp. So graceful, you know? Apparently, Snowstorm doesn''t think so, because I hear a small snort of laughter from the white bundle of white scales in the corner of the room. ¡°Hey, you wanna say that to my face, ya jerk?¡± I snort. ¡°No, I do not.¡± comes the reply from the wyvern, one wing lifting to reveal his face as he stares at me with slight amusement. A scroll on some complex shenanigans sits on his pillow. I would guess he was reading it. I mean, why else would it be there, right? I couldn''t imagine it would make the pillow more comfortable, but what do I know? ¡°I''m boooooored.¡± I whine. Snowstorm snorts. ¡°Go do something then. I''m studying the effect that the draconic system has on human physiology and psychology.¡± ¡°Nope. You''re coming with me!¡± I chirp and bound over to my icy companion. ¡°That scroll sounds complicated, so let''s go play!¡± ¡°Abhor, we are both 16. I do not play.¡± ¡°We played tag yesterday.¡± I point out. ¡°Only because you took my scroll on Iceling thermodynamics from me!¡± He retorts and bats his tail at me to shoo me off. I catch his tail with one talon and smirk. ¡°Well, too bad for you, smarty pants.¡± I say. With no other warning I yank his tail as hard as I possibly can out of bed. He yelps and flies out of bed and lands on the carpeted section of the floor with a resounding ¡°oomph!¡± before rolling onto his back and scowling at me. Yeah, thats right, I know you hate being forced to get your nose out of a scroll. ¡°Lets go!¡± I cheer and bound over to the hole in the cavern overlooking both the ocean and the forest. ¡°I hate you.¡± Snowstorm says dryly. ¡°Love ya too, buddy.¡± I say cheekily before leaping out of the exit, knowing full well that he is coming with me. I stare out at the ocean. The ocean is, like, really freaky. Who the hell would swim in waters that are kilometers deep without knowing what the heck is below your talons?! Not me, thats who. Im 100% sure Snowstorm would be with me for that one. The only difference is he actually reads the scrolls about under the waves, so he actually has the info to back up his discomfort. Just knowing the guy that knows the stuff is afraid of something will make me afraid of that thing too. I mean, i''m not afraid of practically anything, but the ocean just makes me feel¡­ uncomfortable, you get it? The ocean is beautiful, but I''m not flying out there. Not after last time. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I quickly stop by the cavern we use as the kitchen and grab a bucket of water, since I''m feeling thirsty. Inside, I see Smokewind. The jittery LavaFlow dragon seems to be cooking a largw goat over a stove. What, did you think dragons were super primitive with technology or something? Heck no! Getting electricity to a cave is hard, but not impossible thanks to human tech. Smokewind notices me enter. ¡°I assume you are bothering Snowstorm to play with you?¡± Smokewind observes, turning to face me. ¡°He¡¯s totally willing!¡± I say, filling the bucket up in the sink. ¡°The most willing! Absolutely overjoyed!¡± Smokewind snorts, but doesn¡¯t add. Instead she smiles kindly. ¡°Darkness is out hunting. He will be back with a second goat or something soon. Be back for dinner at 5:45, ok?¡± She says. ¡°And don¡¯t tussle with anything like a bear. If I see a single scratch on you, you''re grounded.¡± I sigh. ¡°Yes, smokewind.¡± I turn and leave the cave, sure not to spill any of the bucket''s contents. Snowstorm is sitting on a log in the clearing nearest to our cave. I look up at the sky. I can instinctively tell that it is 1:13 Pm. Cool, right? I''m like a living watch. Also kind of a time machine, in a way, since I can quite literally sneeze myself to yesterday. I actually did that once. Actually twice. Alright, it was 6 times. Happy? ¡°Took you long enough!¡± Snowstorm shouts up at me as I make lazy circles around him. I debate dumping the bucket over his head, but discard the thought. I''m not into wasting water. Just because we are by the ocean and have an infinite supply doesn''t mean that we can infinitely distill and boil water into being drinkable. Ill just dunk him later. ¡°Shove a sock in it.¡± I say as I land beside him. Snowstorm just rolls his eyes and pokes me expectantly with one wing. ¡°So? What will we be doing now?¡± I stop in my tracks and make a face, which gives snowstorm a good idea as to the answer. ¡°You have no idea.¡± ¡°I do too!¡± I retaliate. ¡°We are going into the forest today!¡± Snowstorm just sighs. ¡°Im flying over the trees. It is way too difficult for me to walk around through the landscape without front legs.¡± ¡°Maybe we could practice our skills?¡± I suggest. Snowstorm just sighs and agrees, and off we fly. While flying, I noticed something. It''s a glint in the trees. A glint like glass or metal. Something is down there. Something reflective. I just ignore it and turn away. It''s not my problem. After 3 minutes and 48 seconds of flying (I''m a living clock) we reach a larger clearing than the last one, containing lots of rocks and trees to use our skills on. ¡°Ill start practicing.¡± Snowstorm says and moves to a farther clearing to practice blasting ice out of his jaws. It looks more like he is trying to vomit out a cat or something, since he still cant make ice come out on command. Once he does make it happen, I¡¯d bet he will be mighty powerful. His ice breath is insanely impressive. I saw him freeze an entire tree with a sneeze once. Another time I saw him freeze fire. FIRE! How does that work? Well, i might as well pull up my own stats and see what I''m working with; Name:Abhor [Locked] Titles:Timebreaker Strength:20 Durability:20 Speed:20 Stamina:22 Intelligence:18 [locked]:0 Species:[Locked] Skills: Night vision(low), enhanced stamina(medium), [Locked] Alright, what can I practice right now? I guess I can practice my breath attack. I wonder why it doesn''t show up as a skill. Maybe since I cant use it on command? I mean, I guess that makes sense. Snowstorm said that you get a skill for something only after reaching a certain proficiency in that thing. I''m pretty sure Darkness has a skill for field dressing. The better you are with a skill the higher its proficiency is. Apparently my night vision skill was unlocked for earning the ¡°timebreaker¡± title, and the Enhanced stamina was a species/racial skill. I rarely ever get tired, since not only is stamina my best stat, but my enhanced stamina has the effect of +50% stamina and -25% fatigue. Just a bunch of numbers nonsense I don''t understand well. ¡°Are you going to use your skills, or are you just going to stare at your stat board all day?¡± Snowstorm shouts from the distance. He moves over to me and I subconsciously hand him the bucket. He takes a sip, and then¡­ it''s frozen. ¡°Oops.¡± Chapter 2: The spire and the ship When Abhor was younger, he would stare out at sea. The ocean was so vast, so large and so beautiful, but he never flew above it. Not once. Abhor thought about it. Flying over the vast waters, launching himself from island to island liike the graceful, magnificent creature he was. Islands dot the view of the ocean far away, like ink splotches on an empty canvas. One day, when abhor was 10, he had gotten upset. Darkness had scolded him for sneezing the dining room table into next week. It wasn¡¯t HIS fault though. His powers were like a raging storm. Who knows what it will do next? Was that a good analogy? Abhor wasn''t a poet, nor a writer. It was too much sitting still for him. Anyway, if anyone knew, it sure as the moon wasn''t him. That was for sure. He was so upset about the whole predicament that he decided to do it. He lifted his wings, then slammed them back down, causing him to lift off the ground. He then went over the sea, searching for something that wasn¡¯t Darkness. What he saw, around an hour later, with the sky starting to turn as dark as his black scales, was not Darkness. Well, it was dark, yes, but not the dragon himself. He saw an island, which wasnt out of the ordinary, but this was an island with a massive pillar, spiraling up and up forever. It wasnt exacly black, but more it rejected light, not allowing the slightest illumination to give it color. Amazed, he landed, his talons sinking softly into the sand below. The spiraling building was made of solid obsidian, with five stones, each differently coloured and shaped, around it. He maneuvered around the spiral, touching the obsidian, but not daring to touch the stones. He passed a green stone, a blue stone, a yellow stone, a red stone, and a purple stone. The purple one was where he stopped. He stared at the markings on it. Three circles almost touching on one end. As he got closer, his scales began to pulse, as if drawn to the circular object. Abhor didn¡¯t touch it, no matter how much he wanted to. It was dangeroud, powerful. He didnt want to lose a talon because he touched somethin and it blew him up. He may be dumb, but hes not THAT dumb. But he did do one thing. He promised himself something. One day, he would come back, touch the stone and reveal its secrets. Then his mind was completely thrown off track. There was a loud boom from behind him like a thousand lightning bolts striking at once inside his skull. He swivelled his head around to see the most enormous human creation to ever touch the ground. Except it wasn¡¯t touching the ground. It was hundreds of feet in the air, and firing at something. A massive watship. He had read about those(, or Snowstorm had read about them and told Abhor). Large Platforms built to fly, as large as a small city, covered in all sorts of sci-fi stuff like energy cannons and missile launchers. The warship shot cannons, missiles, railguns, everything. But at what, Abhor couldn¡¯t tell. He leaped into the air, flying to the top of the tower for a better look. The tower was smooth , and damp from the rain, and Abhor nearly slipped when he landed. He got a good grip on the top of the spire at its spiked edge. Then he saw something. He saw what they were firing at. They were firing at a dragon. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Abhor couldn''t get a good look from such a distance, but he saw red and black scales. The dragon kept dodging everything that was thrown at them. Once the warship stopped firing, probably reloading or something. the dragon turned and fled. What they didn¡¯t see was a yellow burst of light from seemingly nowhere coming out of the sky and soaring straight toward it, like divine retribution from above. Abhor shot forward. He couldn¡¯t just watch that dragon die. It was wrong, and he wouldn¡¯t stand for it. He wouldn''t watch this dragon get killed like the so many of Darkness''s clan. That was when it happened. He felt it deep within his chest. A swirling, violent enery begging to be grabbed and used. Mana. He concentrated it into his breath, took a deep breath, and, his scales glowing like stars going supernova, shot a concentrated purple beam, straight at the opposing golden one. Purple came in contact with gold and the reaction was... nothing. The light disappeared as soon as it came, along with his own breath. For a moment, all was silent. All Abhor could hear was the sound of the warships techy pieces and machinations whirring. Then, the warship moved forward to chase the black and red dragon. The sragon turned and fled. Then, when the warship was right in the same place as where the dragon was, the beam reappeared in the sky, slamming into the warship, making it vanish into the night sky. Then all was silent. Fear battled with excitement in his mind. Where did it go? One side of Abhors brain said. Is that thing really gone? Where did that beam of light come from? Who is that dragon? AM I GOING TO DIE!? While the other side said OH HEAVEN ABOVE THAT WAS AMAZING!!! I used my POWERS on COMMAND! This was sort of a victory moment for him that he never felt before. But then he looked up, noticed the color of the sky and realized that he needed to get home, and fast. He looked at the red dragon. He exchanged glances. Neither could see each other very well. Then abhor turned and fled back home. He knew he would see both the dragon and the stone again. He didn¡¯t know how he knew, but he was sure he just got himself tangled up in something bigger than he had ever intended. chapter 3: Dammit Snowstorm! tap. tap tap. tap tap tap tap. Tippity tappity tap. WHAM! I slam the bucket against a rock. Me teeth and claws are nowhere near enough to break through the ice. If hell freezes over, I swear this will be the culprit. And Snowstorm is sitting in the corner sniffling to himself. Serves him right. This was me favorite cup, damnit! ¡°Ey, freeze face, stop moping and help me already!¡± I shout over to him. Snowstorm sighs and walks over. ¡°I dont know how to break the ice any better then you do.¡± he says, looking over the bucket. He sits down on his back legs (aka his only legs) so he can pick the thing up with his pointy grabber bits at the ends of his wings. He looks it over. ¡°It would be nice to have fire for once.¡± I mutter. ¡°Fire doesn''t work on my ice. Darkness tried breathing fire on it last time and it didn''t work.¡± Snowstorm responds. I groan. He never freezes his own damn buckets. Why only freeze mine? Are his powers biased? that sounds¡­ actually, they are his powers so they''re probably somewhat biased- anyway! Thats not the point. ¡°This is the third bucket you ruined this month.¡± I jab a claw at his chest with a frown and he takes a step back, looking now very nervous. ¡°What do you think Darkness and smokewind will do if they find out?¡± I smirk and Snowstorm glares at me.¡°You wouldnt dare-¡± ¡°Oh, i so would.¡± I interrupt. I may not be the smartest but I certainly know how to abuse a situation. Snowstorm looks like he wants to turn me into a popsicle though. Oh well. ¡°Fine. 1 week.¡± ¡°2 weeks, and i want a new bucket.¡± I counter. He slumps in defeat and nods. ¡°Fine. Ill make your bed for 10 days and give you a new bucket.¡± He says. ¡°Is that good enough?¡± ¡°12.¡± ¡°11.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± I smile, knowing I now have 11 days of relaxation ahead. I feel like im strangely good at bartering. Suddenly i feel something strange. I open my stats, and sure enough: Title:Bartering. Grants skill:bartering(low). ¡°Oh, sweet!¡± I say. This is freaking awesome! Its so hard to get titles, and I''ve managed to scam Snowstorm so much I even got a title and skill for it! ¡°What? Did something happen?¡± Snowstorm asks apprehensively. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°I got a bartering skill!¡± ¡°Oh gods no.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°I said good job!¡± Snowstorm gives me a so obviously fake smile that makes him look constipated. Heh, this is going to be perfect in my oh so worthy hands. I plop down into the grass and yawn. ¡°Hey, how long have we been out here?¡± Snowstorm asks. ¡°3 hours, 24 minutes, 31 seconds.¡± I respond immediately.Snowstorm just blinks at me for a minute. ¡°H-huh?¡± he says. ¡°Is that an estimate or something?¡± ¡°Im a living clock.¡± I say with a straight, serious face as if i were telling someone their family is all dead. snowstorm just stares at me for a moment. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What is that supposed to mean?!¡± ¡°It means yes.¡± I can¡¯t help but laugh at the way snowstorm stares at me. If you want to win an argument with a genius, bring them down to your level. then when its an argument between 2 idiots, the one whos been an idiot longer will win. <{(0)}> Me, Snowstorm, Darkness, and Smokewind all sit huddled around the fire in a large cavern. Its around 20 meters tall, which is good since we are dragons (meaning we are big). I just so happen to notice that we have accidentally arranged ourself from smallest to biggest. Snowstorm is the smallest, though i''m only a snout taller then him. Darkness sits beside me, turning the fish he caught over the fire. He is a shockingly good cook. The biggest is Smokewind, which I find hilarious, because she¡¯s also the most easily scare¨Cable. Like, he is the kind of gal where you could whisper ¡°Boo¡± in her ear and shes run off screaming her head off. She also is the size of a small elephant. to compare the rest of us, Me and Snowstorm are around the sizes of large ponies, while Darkness is the size of a big-ass horse on steroids. And They''re both only barely adults. We are 16 while Darkness and Smokewind are 19. The fire highlights the granite foor and walls, as well as the various cooking utensils scattered around the table in the corner. We dont really use the table since its kind of awkward to sit around. Various shelves and nooks to store things into are carved into the wall, some with cabinet doors and some without. A large opening in the wall reveals the vast expanse of the ocean far away. Its pouring rain, and the occasional streak of thunder illuminates the sky. We are lucky to have come in when we did. Unlike most caverns and caves, this room isnt carpeted, becuase duh. What insane person puts carpet in the kitchen? Monsters, I tell you. Monsters! I sometimes feel bad for the guardians. Having to raise 2 little hatchlings while being only 3 years old is insane. Gods bless the weird way dragons grow. Dragons, both physically and mentally, grow extremely quick in the first¡­ I think 5 years? I''m not Snowstorm, I can only give the basics. After that they grow, like, super slowly for the next 10 years. They usually have a big growth spurt around age 15. Me and Snowstorm have only barely started ours, and it SUCKS. We get growing pains everywhere all the time. Speaking of which¡­ ¡°Growing pains?¡± Darkness asks, noticing the way im hugging my tail like it might fall off. ¡°Yes, and i want to die.¡± I say, groaning. ¡°Oof, growing pains were the worst!¡± Smokewind says. ¡°You two¡¯re in for a real treat!¡± Snowstorm has an expression that suggests that if rolling on the floor while hugging your tail is a treat, he wants to take a break from sweets. Not that I blame him. My snout feels wet. Why is my snout wet? Oh, I''m crying. Splash! Oh, and darkness just dumped a green liquid on my tail. ¡°Oh, that feels nice.¡± I mutter, wiping my snout with one arm. ¡°Its a salve I made for growing pains back when I had them.¡± Darkness tells me, patting me on the back reassuringly. ¡°It helped a lot. Rub it in, then come eat dinner.¡± Smokewind looks at Darkness as if he just ate her Puppy. ¡°You didn''t tell me about this!¡± She says. Darkness grins. "well, you aren''t a child." "i technically was then!" "Can we not do this?"I ask flatly. I snatch a fish on a stick up and chomp into it. Darkness nods. "Yes please, I don''t want to do this right now, or ever. Ever is better." Snowstorm just sighs. "I am surrounded by idiots." Chapter 4: How does this work? After we''re finished eating dinner we have some homework before bed. I don''t get why its even called homework though, since all our work is done at home. Snowstorm (literally) drags me through the tunnels that connect each cavern over to the library and dumps me in a big bean bag chair, then drops a book on my face. ¡°Hey, ow!¡± I say indignantly. The library is a large cavern, I think its the second largest besides the living room, which is ungodly large. The floor is the same stone as the walls, which is the same as the roof. This room has no stalactites. Every wall is carved in with spots to store books. There are lots here. Maybe 800? Is that a lot? I think so, but I haven''t been in a real library. The room is 100 meters in diameter. The floor is covered in carpets, rugs, a few dragon-made chairs and a beanbag chair. The same big green beanbag chair im sitting on. There is a whiteboard in the corner. I hope he doesnt bring the whiteboard out. ¡°We''re getting a test tomorrow on the difference between the way the system interacts with humans compared to dragons, so I am going to make sure you don''t fail.¡± Snowstorm says, dragging the whiteboard out from the corner. I groan, flopping over on the beanbag chair, watching the book fall to the ground. Dammit, not the whiteboard! ¡°But i don''t wanna-¡± ¡°No complaints.¡± He snaps, cutting me off. He rests on his back legs, using his wings to write on the chalkboard. He starts by drawing a line through the middle, then writes ¡°Human¡± and ¡°Dragon¡± on opposing sides. ¡°Lets start with a simple question,¡± he says, taking on the lecturing tone he seems to love soooo much. ¡°What is the biggest difference between humans and dragons in relation to the system?¡± ¡°Stats?¡± I try. ¡°Dragons have much higher stats then humans. My stats are around 10 times the average human adult, right?¡± Snowstorm nods, then shakes his head. ¡°Its true that Dragons have much higher stats then humans, but thats not what I¡¯m talking about. Dragons are born with the system, while humans aren''t. There are a variety of ways a human can unlock the system, like divine intervention, a powerful dragon imbuing mana into a human, or reaching the mana threshold naturally. Some humans who are born in high density mana areas can unlock it at birth. But dragons get it no matter what. Why?¡± ¡°The mana.¡± I say. ¡°You keep talking about humans getting mana and getting the system from it. That must mean that to get the system means you gotta get lots of the stuff, right? But why are dragons born with it then?¡± Snowstorm looks happy that im figuring it out for once and am asking questions. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Dragons are born from mana. Draconic reproduction is acheived through intertwining mana signatures. Dragons are born with at least the minimum requirement for the system, sometimes more.¡± I nod, thinking. ¡°What else? What are other differences and similarities?¡± I ask. ¡°skills?¡± Snowstorm nods. ¡°Yes. Humans cant learn skills only a dragon can. Humans have no claws so why would they be able to get the ¡®claw combat¡¯ skill? Same with ¡®empowered bite¡¯ or ¡®chomp¡¯. The same goes the other way. I''ve yet to hear of a dragon with a ¡®boxer¡¯ title, or a ¡®archer¡¯ title.¡± ¡°What about skills like ¡®transformation¡¯ and ¡®transfiguration¡¯? Dragons and humans can change forms with that stuff, right?¡± Snowstorm thinks that over for a minute, tapping a wing-claw to his chin. ¡°Sort of. Form changing also changes a person''s stats. But it can only change it so much. And when you''re in a different form, any changes remain linked to that form. The only exceptions are injuries and status ailments. Lose an arm as a human and you lose the corresponding leg as a dragon, and vise versa.¡± I think that over for a second. It makes some sense, though most of the intricacies go waaay over my head. Snowstorm''s got pretty good at making things understandable for me. Its no secret that I drew the short stick on intelligence, but I''m more adaptable then Snowstorm is in dire situations. Like when we were 5 and got attacked by a grizzly, I ripped the thing apart. I knocked a tree on it and crushed its skull open. Snowstorm¡­ needed therapy. Smokewind turned out to be an expert in dragon psychology. He never told anyone why. What was I thinking about? Something about mana? No, something else¡­ Oh, yeah. ¡°How do you get form shifting skills like that?¡± ¡°The system awards skills from achievements. You can also get skills from skill stones, but they¡¯re prohibitively expensive, since they are formed through sacrificing a skill and forcing it into a compatible mana infuzed rock, crystal or gem.¡± Snowstorms lecturing voice is starting to grate on me. Even so this makes some sense to me. Ill probably forget it soon, but at least its interesting stuff. ¡°What do you mean about the stat changes? How much can it change?¡± I ask, looking over the board which already is covered in far too many words for me. ¡°More than you''d hope, but less than you''d expect.¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°If the creature you are turning into is weaker then you, your stats will be reduced, though only physically, and not all the way to the poing of the creature you''re turning into. For example, if you were to become human, you would have around half stats. Less than you''d hope, but more than you''d expect.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ you just said it the other way around- nevermind. what about turning into stronger creatures? Like, what if I became a big elemental?¡± ¡°You lose energy fast.¡± Snowstorm explains, waving a wing around in circles. ¡°You get a stat increase, but only if you''re weaker than the elemental you want to turn into.¡± ¡°Do you lose energy from turning into weaker things?¡± I ask, curious. This is a lot more interesting then I thought. ¡°Barely.¡± He says with a shrug of his wings. ¡°The drain is mostly balanced by the stat loss. Changing your physical form takes a lot of energy, so lowering your power to more closely suit your form is the best way to retain energy. The system is incredibly efficient.¡± I was about to ask another question when I was stopped by a voice from the door. ¡°You two seem to have gotten a bit off track¡± Darkness says, slithering through the entrance. He sits down on a rug between 2 bookshelves, resting on his hind legs. ¡°This is on the difference between humans and dragons in relation to the system, not on transformation between species. Though I¡¯m glad you¡¯re asking questions, Abhor.¡± I snort at that and stick my tongue out at him. ¡°I ask questions all the time!¡± I retort. ¡°Yeah. Questions like ¡®how long until this is over?¡¯ or ¡®is it lunch yet?¡¯¡± Snowstorm retorts, snickering. I want to argue back but I really can''t. ¡°Dammit¡± I mutter, defeated. Chapter 5: I burnt my head off ¡°So this is where you went.¡± I look up and see a dragon flying up to me. A dragon of magma. Smokewind lands beside me. I am currently sitting at the top of the mountain we live on. All around us is the vast sky and the oceans of water and leaves below. To the north is the Verdant forest. Its a large forest. A VERY large forest. It covers something like 30 percent of the world. It even goes under the OCEAN! In its center is the Great tree. A big ¡®ol tree where most of the Forestry dragons live. Lots of woody, grassy tree huggers. Stabby tree huggers with green scales and root-like spikes along their backs and at the tips of their tails that make them very¡­ well, stabby. To the east is the Obsidian Mountains. Lots of inactive and active volcanoes, a few supervolcanoes, and one massive supersupervolcano that all the Lavaflows live in. Smokewind, though a lava flow, has never seen that place. I doubt she''s ever wanted to either. She seems too timid to want to live in a volcano to me. Meanwhile my brain is melting out of my ears. ¡°I want to die.¡± I growl. My wings are splayed out at my sides and my talons rest on my snout. My head hurts so DAMN MUCH! Why?! Whoever invented tests deserve a special place in hell. ¡°I hate tests. Tests are a test to my ability not to claw someones eyes out, and I''m failing.¡± ¡°I made that test. I¡¯m quite proud of it.¡± Smokewind says, then smirks as I look at her as if she were satan. ¡°What is wrong with you?!¡± I snap, batting at her with wings. My wing brushes against her burning hot cracked scales over and over, just trying to be annoying. Every time I usually get a nice new burn to adorn myself. She is unaffected. And now shes laughing at me. ¡°I think¡­you need¡­ some burn ointment¡­¡± She manages between wheezes. I just keep whacking her snout with my wings. I''ve done this a lot over my life. The first ten times she scrambled to get me the burn ointment she keeps by her bed. After that she just found it amusing. But¡­ my scales aren''t getting burned. Slowly I stop. I look at my wings. Smokewind gets control of her vocal cords long enough to realize that i''m not hurt at all. For a moment she scrunches her nose in worry, then understanding. ¡°Look at your stats!¡± She urges me. I nod and look. Name:Abhor [Locked] Titles:Timebreaker, Barterer The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Strength:20 Durability:21 Speed:20 Stamina:22 Intelligence:18 [locked]:0 Species:[Locked] Skills: Night vision(low), enhanced stamina(medium), bartering(low), Heat resistance(low), [Locked] Oh! ¡°Oh!¡± I say out loud. ¡°Heat resistance, and my durability went up!¡± ¡°I thought you would get that after how much you get burned.¡± Smokewind says and nods. ¡°Snowstorm has a cold resistance skill by default, like your night vision. If you get a cold resistance skill and level it to high, you could fuze the two.¡± ¡°Stooooop¡­¡± I grumble. ¡°My brain is goop. please no more knowledge¡± I roll over onto my back and hiss half-heartedly as her, swiping a claw at her. She jumps back with a yelp. ¡°Scaredy-gecko.¡± I say cheekily, my mood slightly improved. ¡°Shove a camel in it.¡± She snaps back, then reaches over and grabs my tail with her right talon. I''m distracted by the fact that it doesnt burn practically at all. Then I realize what she is doing. Uh oh. ¡°Wait, what are you- EEEEPPP!¡± I let out a shout as with a grunt, she throws me off the peak of the mountain. Such a sore loser, her. <{(0)}> I sit in our room by the fire, looking into the flames as if they were alive. They move like they are dancing. It makes me wish I could breathe fire. I sit far closer then I normally would. The fire and heat doesn''t warm me as easily, but my body maintains its heat better. I cool slower, but warm slower too. Im only a foot away from the flames. The fireplace is in the corner of the cave. There is a tube above letting the smoke escape. ¡°This is nice¡­¡± I mutter to myself. After a moment of thinking I stick my head into the fire entirely. HOT!!! I yank my head out of the flames. Yeeeeouch! that freaking hurt! My scales aren''t burned much, but it still hurt badly. Nowhere near as badly as I badly as I''d expect, but still pretty badly. I hear a snort and turn my head to see Snowstorm, his head buried in his wings as his shoulders shake with laughter. Seriously, why is everybody laughing at me today?! I give him a minute to settle down. When he does he comes over to me. ¡°What did you think was going to happen?¡± He says, amused as he sits down near me, though further from the flames.¡°Im fire resistant now. I wanted to see how much.¡± I say defensively. Its not his business why I''m shoving my head into fire. Snowstorm is looking kind of constipated though. ¡°Is the world punishing me?¡± He mutters to himself. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± He says, sighing. ¡°Congrats. Its rare to get 2 new skills within a day of each other. Especially considering how far behind me you are in skills. This makes 4?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I confirm. ¡°All low except for enhanced stamina. It used to increase my stamina 5% but when it reached medium it increased to 10%.¡± Snowstorm nods. ¡°Yeah, I have 8 skills. Where you have enhanced stamina, mine is Inelligence. It doesnt make me smarter, but it increases my intelligence stat by 10% ad medium, like yours.¡±I nod. I turn and look out of our cavern/cave/room/whater''s window/door/entrance/I-really-should-know-what-these-are-called to the forest out below. The forest out there is just the tip, the southernmost point of the Verdant forest. I look out into the bushes. Then I notice something. that reflective thing in the bushes. Its still there. But¡­ wait. ¡°What is it?¡± Snowstorm asks, coming over to me where I stare out at the forest. ¡°It¡¯s moved.¡± Chapter 6: Mysterious metals and the watchers What¡¯s moved?¡± Snowstorm says, looking to me with confusion and almost as much worry as Smokewind does as a baseline. Despite being a chunky mass of magma, Smokewind has the bravery of a gecko. ¡°Yesterday, I saw something down there.¡± I explain to snowstorm, who now sits beside me, looking out to the wilderness. Its a fairly cloudless day, and the sun shines down like an angry god. It makes EVERYTHING reflective. The ocean is all too shiny right now. ¡°It was a reflective thing. Maybe glass or metal. But I don''t know. I didn''t check it out.¡± Snowstorm looks like hes thinking. And he doesn''t seem to like the ideas he''s coming up with. ¡°Lets go check it out.¡± He finally says, looking not too excited about the idea. ¡°But we should tell Darkness or Smokewind fir- hey! Get back here!¡± Im already flying down there. Snowstorm catches up quickly and settles into a glide beside me as we hover over the reflective thing. Then¡­ its gone! ¡°The shiny thing is gone!¡± I say, surprised. ¡°¡±I can see that, soot nose.¡± He snaps back. ¡°Gone, or just covered up.¡± I dive down to get a closer look. I slam down into the foliage with an ¡°Oof¡± and hear a sound I didn''t expect. A shout of surprise. Though a more squeaky one, like its from a smaller pair of lungs. I turn to where the sound came from but¡­ there¡¯s nobody there. Though¡­ there is SOMETHING there. ¡°Abhor, you idiot!¡± Snowstorm shouts down at me. He grips onto the trunk of a tree when he lands, his wing-grippers sink in deep to hold him up. Those things are made to grip into chunks of dense ice. No wonder the tree doesn''t stand a chance. ¡°There''s nothing here. Where did the thing go?¡± Snowstorm muses, sniffing around. ¡°Come look at this.¡± I say, looking down at the something I found. Its a weird little metal thing. It looks like a flat cube, but with a tube on the front. There are lots of crystals on it. It looks like something you are meant to look through. And it reflects the light. Was this the thing that was dropped? ¡°Its a scrying camera!¡± Snowstorm tells me, shocked. ¡°These things are stupid expensive and require mana to use.¡± I pick it up in one hand and look through the lens. Its hard to look through considering it seems to be made for much smaller eyes.¡°What''s it do?¡± I ask, pointing it at a tree. Nothing happens. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Point it at me.¡± Snowstorm says to me and I do. Immediately a system screen pops up. Name:Snowstorm [Locked] Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master Strength:18 Durability:18 Speed:19 Stamina:19 Intelligence:25 [locked]:0 Species:[Locked] Skills: Heat vision(low), enhanced intelligence(medium), knowledge intake(low), cold resistance(high[Max]), photographic memory(Medium), swimming skills(low), split thought(Low), body temperature reduction(Medium), [Locked] ¡°Woah, I can see your stats.¡± I tell Snowstorm, who nods. ¡°You have a lot more skills then me, and an extra title.¡± Snowstorm nods. ¡°You get titles by the system recognizing your acheivements and granting them to you. My best skill is definitely split thought. It lets me think about 2 things at once, but right now its not strong enough for combat. Anyway, we are getting off track.¡± Snowstorm peers down at the little contraption in my claws. ¡°This is definitely a human contraption.¡± He says finally. ¡°Really?¡± I ask, my eyes widening. The closest human settlement is supposed to be miles away. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Because not only is it too small for dragons, but it also has a logo on the edge. Dragons don''t bother branding their stuff. Nor do Elementals or Dragonborns.¡± I nod at that. It makes sense. ¡°Is there anything you saw that could help us?¡± Snowstorm asked, gesturing around. I think for a moment. I didn''t see anything, but¡­ "I did hear something.¡± I say eventually. Snowstorm perks up at that. ¡°Really? You did something useful for once?¡± ¡°Shut up if you want me to tell you.¡±¡°Fine.¡± I take a moment to recall what it sounded like.¡°It was kind of a dragons shout of surprise, you know? Like a yelp, but it sounded like it came from something small. When I looked, there was nothing. I did hear the thump of this thing dropping though.¡± I personally don''t think it''s that useful of information, but Snowstorm definitely does, judging form his expression. An expression that is slowly getting more and more worried. ¡°Definitely a human. But¡­ why send a human so far to scry us? Why scry us at all? It¡¯s not like we are hoarding some sort of ancient treasure or something¡­ But still, a human this far away? Why send a person instead of a scouting drone?¡± ¡°What if¡­¡± I hesitate, but barrel on anyway. ¡°What if its because they didn''t have to go far?¡± It sounds stupid coming out of my mouth, but Snowstorm freezes up. ¡°You said you saw them here before this, right?¡± I nod.¡°Once. I saw the glimmer of the scry-thing.¡±¡°Scrying camera.¡± He corrects me, practically on instinct. ¡°But¡­ if you say them before¡­ that was yesterday, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, it was.¡± I look through the foliage. This area has no twigs, no fallen branches, nothing. And its like that for a wings-distance around here. Like someone cleaned it up and moved it for easier movement. Snowstorm noticed too. ¡°They have been here a while, likely longer then when you last saw them.¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°That means they must have had to sleep here. And if they had to sleep here, that means they had a home base. Those scrying crystals are expensive, and since their technologies aren''t recognized by the system, scrying tools don''t work through them. They needed someone to do this themselves and report back to¡­ someone.¡± ¡°Do you think there are more of them?¡± I ask, worried now. ¡°Think? No, I''m certain.¡± Snowstorm says grimly. ¡°Humans dont waste money. They are worse then dragons in that regard. Giving a human valuable resources like this, they had to be sure they were protected. The best way to do that? More humans.¡± Snowstorm immediately turns back to the mountain. ¡°We need to tell the guardi-¡± He stops mid-sentence. His eyes are wide with a lot of worry. I stop too. I Slowly turn. That is when I pick up on the scent¡­ of smoke. Chapter 7:The beginning of beginnings, part 1(Darkness) He had to move. But moving hurt. Blood is everywhere. His scales are more red than black. His straight horns, normally gray, are bloody and cracked. This is bad. This is so very very bad. The little dragon, he''s only 3 years old, yet the humans somehow know the importance of the round object clutched in his talons. They don''t care if he''s a child. They want him dead. Then they can take it and study it. Darkness wouldn''t allow it. He couldn''t allow it. If he died today, not only would the egg be lost forever, but Smokewind would have to raise the other one all on her own. She couldn''t manage that on her own. She could barely feed herself on her own! Through the forest he ran. He couldn''t fly. Even considering that his left wing is 9 places and dripping blood everywhere, he is too young to fly. Dragons can''t usually fly until they are 5 or 6. Then he hears a crack. He whips his head around just in time to see a mecha. A huge metallic human-shaped thing over 10 meters tall. It just threw something at him. Is that¡­ oh no! Jump! oof! Crack! He can''t move. He can¡¯t feel his hind left leg. He looks back. Where his leg one was is a bloody crushed stump. He tries to scream. He coughs blood. He has to keep going. He needs to keep going. He manages to stand up, putting minimal weight on his leg. He looks forward. Oh, thank the imperium, the cave! A massive hole in the earth going straight down into the ground far below. But wait¡­ even if he can''t fly, usually he can glide. But with his wing like this? In this dreary state of mind? He''s lost so much blood. He turns back and sees that there isn''t one mecha. There''s 3. And there is 2 rider drones. Large, flat surfaces mounted by humans armed with a mounted railgun that floats in the air. He starts to run. He stumbles through the grass. He can barely move at all. But he keeps on moving. Then he hears the blast. But he was ready. Mana shield! He whips one talon in the direction of the blast of plasma, and an ethereal black shield or dark mana forms to intercept the blast. The blast shatters right through it. But he knew that would happen. He had already leaned out of the way, letting it fly past and slam into a tree. A tree that cracked and fell over directly into the chasm. He couldn''t miss this chance. He jumped and gripped onto the tree. His talons digged in as hard as they could and he began to plummet. He had only been down here one time before, when the worshipers had brought him down here to assign him his mission. At the bottom of the chasm was a huge pool of water. But even if there was water, it was so far down that if darkness just jumped down he would likely die on impact. He needed something to slow him. And now, with the tree, he had it. He began to charge the technique into his legs. Black mana veins ran through his 3 undamaged legs. He had never done this technique with a broken leg before. Gods, why did he not learn to use the wind mana transformation construct? He would have never needed to worry about falling like this after that! But noooo, of course he is a pure dark magic mage. His name is literally darkness, for the moon''s sake! Now he''s just rambling to himself. He needs to stay focused on his imminent death. A death he can now see below him, as the wind whipped into his face. He''s been falling for over a minute now. This was very deep. He can see the water. Only one chance. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. If he failed this, he would die. Ready¡­. NOW! Mana push! He launched straight upwards as the tree continues to go down, the blast increasing its acceleration as it slammed into the water with a loud smash. Well, he didn''t exactly go upwards. His push managed to equalize the upwards and downwards speeds, so now hes just sitting midair for a moment. Now the moment is over, and her falls, spinning, into the water. The egg is still clutched in his jaw. He cant let it go. He cant¡­ let it¡­ blackness. ¡°Darkness! DARKNESS!¡± Darkness woke up to the feeling of being shook. He opened his eyes and coughed out water. The water came out of him with more blood then he would have liked, but that was life, he supposed. He''s in so much pain. ¡°Darkness, get up!¡± Something is burning his scales. He turns his head. Smokewind is there, shaking his shoulders, and leaving little burn-marks where she touched him. Then her claw brushed against his bloody stump of a leg and he lets out a shriek of pain. Smokewind jumps back with a shriek of her own. After a moment to calm down, he turns to smokewind. ¡°You dragged me out of the water?¡± Smokewind nods. ¡°Oh, good. I thought I was in hell.¡± Darkness picks up the black egg beside himself. It''s a darker black than even his own scales, and pulses with a powerful purple essence. Time mana. Darkness took this moment to look around. They are inside a massive, deep cavern beside a large body of water. All the light seemed to be coming from the water. A soft glow of a color his mind couldn tseem to comprehend. He forced himself to look away.¡°Where is your egg?¡± ¡°Its in the spire.¡± She says, flinching from his glare. ¡°Lets go. We have no time to waste. This egg NEEDS to be at the spire.¡± He begins to walk away form the water. He shakes himself off and both water and tiny blood droplets fly everywhere. He hears the sizzling noise of water contacting Smokewinds magmatic scales as she follows and gets hit by a few stray droplets. ¡°But¡­ why?¡± Smokewind asks eventually. ¡°Darkness, why couldn¡¯t one of the adults do this? We are kids! I barely know a spell!¡± Darkness sighs. ¡°Itd because we were told to. We do what we are told, smokewind. The temple of the imperium received a divine message from the god of time and darkness himself, with orders. The god knew our names, our age, everything.¡± Darkness shivers at the thought. ¡°The third most powerful god in the world ordered us to raise these eggs.¡± Smokewind nods. ¡°I know¡­ but I¡­ I''m scared.¡± They reach the end of the cavern, which leads to a cave angling upwards. this would go under the ocean for hours before surfacing at their destination. ¡°Im scared that we aren''t good enough. That we will fail the god. That¡­ that we will die. Darkness, the conquerers know these eggs are special. They will KILL us for them. I don''t want to die¡­¡± Darkness abruptly stopped, turned, and pulled her into a hug. He didn''t care how much it hurt. She needed this. ¡°I will protect you. Forever.¡± Darkness vowed. Smokewing looked up at him. Glowing tears fell from her eyes, but she rubbed them away. They turned together to the entrance. ¡°Time to be brave.¡± They said as one. Chapter 8: Beginning of beginnings part 2(Smokewind) Smokewind trailed along beside Darkness as they went up, up, up the winding cave tunnels toward their destination. Darkness is hurt, badly, she knows. She has eyes, so of course she does. There is a bloody trail behind him. His leg looks crippled. It''ll likely need to be cut off to let a new one grow back. His wing is torn bloody with bullet holes. She notices scraped, cuts, and burns all across his scales. He looks almost more red then black. Be brave. She needs to be brave. She promised him she would. She cares about her companion so much. She should have been there. But she had needed to go get the white egg. Her journey was largely uneventful, just being handed the egg by the temple up north and sent down south to place it in the spire. But darkness was hunted. Darkness was hurt. And she wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Smokewind, come on.¡± Darkness called to her and she realized she had stopped. ¡°Sorry!¡± She called up and hurried back up to him. She was so useless, wasn''t she? She couldn''t help him when it mattered. She was just too scared all the time. She was never there when she was needed. The tunnel began to curve upwards. The wall began to be covered in crystalline shapes. Some red, some blue, some purple. ¡°Smokewind, have you seen Aquis?¡± Darkness asked. ¡°She should be here with the third egg.¡± Smokewind responded. ¡°He said he was going to the Lavaflow territory to get it. I was originally supposed to be the one to go since it would be difficult for her with all the heat, but¡­¡± ¡°You didn''t want to see your parents?¡± Darkness finished. ¡°Yes. They work at the temple. They would have been the one to get the egg. I would have had to see them¡­¡± ¡°Its fine, Smokewind. She volunteered to do it. And she is strong. No matter what gets in her way, she can face it.¡± Darkness assures her. It didn''t help her worry. ¡°Darkness, you almost died, and you are a magic genius compared to me and her!¡± That gave him pause. He stumbled on his injured leg, blood dripping onto the rough stone. Blood isnt flowing to his cripples leg anymore, but the leftover stuff is creating a small trail along their path. ¡°Just¡­ dont worry. I''m resilient. I can do this. SHE can do this.¡± Just then the cave went straight up. Smokewind gripped on the stones and began to climb. Mana push Darkness launched up onto the platform above. Good thing, too, since his leg is crippled. It''ll be a month to heal unless life magic is applied. Smokewind has a minor affinity for life, and a major affinity for fire and earth, so hopefully she can learn a healing spell or two to help him along. She managed to get to the platform and flop down onto it. Climbing is a skill all hatchlings learn and rely on for the first 5 years of their lives, and she has gotten pretty good, if she does say so herself. Now on the platform they continue up the winding set of obsidian stairs. Above is a large spire shooting straight up into the sky. When the time comes, the spire will open, and the eggs will hatch. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Now, they stand in a huge room. there are 5 sections here. One is glowing green with vines, moss, and rocks. There is no pedestal for an egg here. The second is covered with gold, diamonds, mirrors, and lights. There is a pedestal here, but it''s not the one they plan to use. The pedestal is empty. The third is covered in ice. Spikes of ice and snow cover this section, and in the center is a white pedestal. Around the pedestal is blue fire. On the pedestal is a shimmering white-blue egg. Its the one she had gotten. She watched as Darkness walks towards the section of darkness. Spheres of darkness float around, consuming all light but never touching anything. The ground and walls are completely black, covered in purple stones like splatters of paint on a black canvas. In the center is a pedestal. Darkness reaches down into his bag and pulls out his egg. He sets it down in the pedestal. There is a soft purple glow, before calming. ¡°There, its done.¡± Darkness said, moving to walk over to Smokewind. Then he stops. He is staring at something. ¡°What?¡± Smokewing asks, turning to see what hers looking at. He is looking at the fifth section. This section is red, red, and more red, yet somehow consumed by blackness. not darkness, blackness. The pedestal is made of a black metal with a red almost outline to it. The ground is made of charred bone and ash. Blood drips on the floor and vanishes without wetting anything. The pedestal is empty. ¡°The egg that Aquis was supposed to grab¡­ it was supposed to go there¡­¡± Smokewind says. Now shes panicking. It''s about to start! Where is she?! ¡°She could just be¡­ running late or something¡­ maybe.¡± Darkness says, his voice getting quieter and more nervous the more he speaks. ¡°Shes fine. She has to be!¡± Smokewind is hyperventilating. No. No, no, no, no, no, NO! Then, an earthquake. The ground began to shake. All of Smokewind¡¯s fears and worries were washed away in an instant, replaced by awe at light began to fill the room. The roof of the spire began to open, revealing the full moon. The eggs began to glow. Then¡­ CRACK! They began to crack open as the little creatures inside began to push their way out. The first to get out was the white egg. The first thing she saw was a white snout. Then blue eyes. Then 2 long, thin blue horns, like icicles. Then the dragon broke free. 2 back legs, 2 large wings with 3 large claws on each wing, holding him up, a back of tiny stubs soon to be spikes. ¡°A wyvern.¡± Darkness comments, sounding like he''s desperately forcing a calm tone despite his excitement. ¡°Rare. A nearly unfindable variant of dragons. Anyone of any dragon type can be a wyvern, its just a genetic mutation that happens under unknown circumstances.¡± Then the next one started to get out. This hatching was all at once. In an explosion of egg shell in all directions, revealing the hatchling with its fully formed wings spread wide with a manically gleeful expression on its face. No, his face. This little dragon, like the wyvern, has fully formed wings. Darkness looks as baffled about it as her.¡°Wyverns have fully formed wings from birth since that''s how they move. They need the full wings just to walk. this¡­ this shouldn''t be possible. Only ancient dragons are known to hatch with full wings.¡± It wasn''t the only thing strange about this one. Deep black scales as if made from shadows cling to a strong, yet not bulky, frame. 2 round, curious eyes of piercing purple eyes with flecks of pink in their depths. Purple membranes along scales spikes jud up along the top of his head, splitting and connecting to the horns and going down his jaw and stopping just short of his chin. A series of bumps along his back show where more of these strange membranes are likely to grow. His claws are stubby and teeth barely even there, like a regular baby, but those dazzling purple wings make her think twice. Her own wings haven''t even fully grown in yet. This baby could probably fly if he wanted to.¡°Abhor.¡± Smokewind blurts out. She doesn''t even know why.¡°What?¡± Darkness turns to her, looking at her with confusion. ¡°His name.¡± She says. ¡°Is going to be Abhor.¡± She turns her head to the little baby wyvern, sho seemed to be trying to chew on an egg shell but froze it somehow. ¡°And that one will be Snowstorm.¡± She turns to Darkness. She''s forgotten about the missing third egg. Shes forgotten about everything that''s happened. She''s forgotten even her own name. She knows only one thing. ¡°Darkness¡­ These dragons are going to change the world forever.¡± Chapter 9: A broken promise part 1(Aquis) Aquis¡¯ scales are burning. She feels so dry. The volcanic lands of lava and heat flow like ancient, slow rivers along the vast landscape of smoke and ash. Volcanoes of obsidian and stone jut up like mountains across the land like looming gods, constantly spewing heat and ash, along with occasional globs of liquid rock. Aquis wasn''t built for this. But she offered to go anyway. She knew that her heat-headed sister had a complicated relationship with her parents. The moment she hatched, she had been sent off to the temple in the Forestry territories, as a representative of her peoples. Once every hundred years, a dragon of each species was sent to the temple of life below the vast branches of the fabled Tree of Eternity to grow alongside the various other species of dragons, to grow with them and form bonds transcending clan and scales. She herself never met her parents, but according to Smokewind, she was lucky not to. A parent willing to give up their own child and never see them again was not a parent that she would want. Aquis sighed. She was getting distracted. She needed to get the egg from these lands, from the temple of death. She knew little about the 10 temples, each run by a single clan. The temple of life, the temple of death, the temple of space, the temple of time, the temple of knowledge, the temple of the ocean, the temple of order, the temple of emotion, the temple of storms, and the the temple of dreams. She had only been to the temple of life, where she had spent the past 3 years of her life worshiping the mighty god of life, and the temple of oceans, though she was apparently only a hatchling and was shipped to the temple of life the moment she got there. In some temples, the gods themselves could be found speaking to the mortals there. Sometimes they appear to be human, while other times a dragon. Humans and dragons alike worshipped at the temples, serving the gods and the peoples together. This temple, though, has few humans inside. After all, it''s hard to get humans into a supervolcano. Below her, the supervolcano referred to as the Everblaze Peak, was seemingly empty from the outside.But that was only until you looked closer. Dragons sleep along the sides of the volcano. Dragons that look as if they were part of the volcano itself. Most of them are staring at her. Golds and yellows and reds and oranges gaze up at her with interest. Then she notices a particularly large group of dragons flying up to meet her. And this isn''t the kind of large meaning there is a lot of them. No, there are only two dragons. But these are big dragons. At least fifty times her size. She''s the size of a large dog, which is actually quite big for her age, but these dragons are the size of buildings. Something about them, though, reminds her of Smokewind. The two massive magmatic dragons stop in front of her and she gets a chance to take them in. The male is a strong, thickly built dragon with scales like obsidian and a yellow glow like liquid clow between scales like cracked stone. He has a large, strong jaw, but gentle eyes, like Smokewind''s eyes. The woman is more elegant, with sleek, snakelike features. Her glow is a soft red, and her eyes are piercing. She has the same build as Smokewind. She can definitely see the resemblance. These must be her parents. ¡°Are you the one who has come for the egg?¡± The woman asks, looking down at her with an almost disappointed expression. She probably wanted to see her daughter, she guessed. ¡°Yes.¡± Aquis replies, trying to sound brave and confident, and not doing a great job at it. ¡°Smokewind¡­¡± ¡°Didn''t want to see us.¡± The male responds. He has a low, gentle voice she only half expected from one of his frame. He sighs. ¡°I told you it would be that way, Ashpur.¡± The woman, Ashpur, sighs. ¡°Yes, I just assumed they would have sent her anyway. It would have been the logical choice to sent her.¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°She was supposed to.¡± Aquis said, feeling rather uncomfortable before these behemoth''s gazes, but continues none the less. ¡°But she didnt want to. She was afraid. So we swapped places instead. She got the egg from the Temple of Knowedge.¡± She fidgeted with her claws a little. She didn''t want to offend these powerhouses, but she felt she needed to ask. ¡°May I¡­ may I know why she might not want to see you?¡± Ashpur nods, then turns to the male. ¡°Before that, I am ashpur, and this is my husband, Saizmen. As you might have guessed, we are Smokewinds parents. And as you also might have guessed, she doesn''t like us too much¡­¡± Ashpur explained. ¡°Shes still mad at us for giving her to the Temple instead of raising her ourselves.¡± Saizmen continues solemnly. ¡°We couldn''t have given her the life she wanted. Ashpur is the high priestess of the temple, and I am the Lavaflow Elder. We are simply far too busy to be able to care for her and give her the affection she deserves. We tried to tell her that, but last time we got to speak to her, she stormed out of the room before letting us explain ourselves.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Aquis says. ¡°My name is Aquis. Smokewind is practically my sister. I''d do anything for her. And I see you care deeply for her. She deserves to know you care about her. Is there¡­ anything you want me to pass on?¡± Aquis felt rather bad for these two dragons. At first they seemed like huge, intimidating creatures that could crush her like a gnat. No doubt they are very proficient in various spells and techniques. But now she saw through that facade. They were just two desperate parents, hoping to bond to a child that would never hear them out. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Ashpur said, then hesitated. She turns to Saizmen with a pensive expression. ¡°What¡­ should we say?¡± She asks him, and he thinks for a moment. He then turns to Aquis. ¡°Young Miss Aquis, would you give us a moment? We will retrieve the egg for you and think on what to say while we get it.¡± Aquis nodded. ¡°Ill wait up here. please be quick though, my scales are drying up and cracking, and its starting to hurt.¡± Ashpur nodded at that, her expression turning to that of a doting mother. ¡°Oh, you poor thing. How about this, you go fly to the edge of lavaflow territory over to the lands of Forestry territory, and wait for us there. Then you can land to rest your wings. We will come meet you there with the egg, alright?¡± Aquis nodded. ¡°Thank you, priestess Ashpur. I will wait for you there.¡± Without another word, Aquis turned and flew away. It was 2 hours later that the dragons came to her. Aquis was resting on a large cool rock, looking out to the land of smoke and ash that heavily contrasts with the verdant forest behind her, like night and day. The two dragons land on either side of her on large boulders that looked small underneath them, trying not to set the grass ablaze with a tail flick. ¡°We have the egg, young WakeWing.¡± Ashpur says softly, taking a black egg out of a pouch on her chest. She holds it out to Aquis, who takes it delicately in her much smaller talons. The egg is as big as her head, but she holds it with care. ¡°Thank you, priestess.¡± Aquis says with a small bow, which Ashpur waves off. ¡°Nonsense. Just call me Ash.¡± She says warmly, and Aquis can''t help but smile. ¡°Here, take this.¡± Saizmen says, holding out a letter. It can''t be made of normal paper, since it''s not burning in his grasp. ¡°It''s a runic letter. I doubt she can read so young, so it''ll speak the message to her through magic. This is our message to her. Please, aquis, get it to her.¡± Aquis nods, tucking it into the pouch she has tucked under her wing. ¡°I will.¡± She says. She flaps her green wings. WaveWing''s aren''t excellent fliers, since their wings are built for swimming, but they have the advantage of being born with fully formed wings. Saizmen lowers his colossal head down to look into Aquis'' eyes and smile sadly. ¡°Aquis, if you ever need help, know that the Lavaflow''s will always be at your side. You are forever welcome here.¡± He says softly, warmly. She nods. ¡°I''ll get this egg and this message back to this spire, Elder, if it''s the last thing I''ll do.¡± She says confidently. She turns, flaps her wings, then soars off into the sky. She had just made the biggest promise of her entire life. Little did she know it would be the last promise she ever broke. Chapter 10: Rage We don¡¯t even need to say anything to each other. We just turn, spread our wings, and shoot off at top speed to the source. The whole time I''m thinking. Considering what we have found, I wouldn''t be surprised if it were humans. No, i''m betting on it. That sound I heard was definitely a human, if Snowstorm is a valid source, and considering i''ve lived with him my whole life, I can say that I believe him. But that''s not important. What''s important is figuring out what''s happening right now. Darkness is a magic powerhouse, and despite Smokewind being pathetically timid, she is great at healing magic and can just hug you to death with her hot scales, which get hotter when infused with fire or earth mana. But I feel strange. I feel mad. I''m furious right now. I haven''t felt this way in¡­ ever. We land in the entrance to our own bedroom, planning to sneak around the back way to surprise whoever is here and find¡­ a really big metal thing. It looks like some weird hatchlings drawing of what a human may look like. 2 large, bulky armored metal legs with 3 flat toe-like things that grip the floor. The base is large like some big cube with a glass front that I cant see through. its arms are loaded with all sorts of strange pipes that look like they can shoot things out of them. Its hands are like its feet, 3 large curling flaps that look good at gripping things. And judging by that bulky wing-like thing on its back, that thing can fly. It turns when it sees us and Snowstorm''s eyes widen in horror. ¡°Thats a Mecha!¡± Snowstorm shouts in horror. ¡°We need to-" ¡°Halt lizards.¡± Comes a distorted, almost mechanical voice from the massive hunk of metal. It raises one arm to point at him, and the other to point at me. ¡°Resistance is futile-¡± I don''t care to listen anymore. I full body tackle the thing with all the force I can. I hear crunches and cracks as it is knocked over. Yeeeeouch! That hurt my scales way too much! My wing looks a little bent, and it''s hard to use. But by the looks of it I crushed one of that things arms and smashed the glass, revealing the human inside. It looks like a short female. She wears what looks to be a camo pattern of jumpsuit and a visor covers her face. Metal plating covers parts of her body, attached to the metal of the Mecha. She looks slightly bloodied and hurt from the tackle. I don''t give her time to raise her weapons. I just pounce on the suit and pin it down. I open my jaws. Crunch! I bite the other arm of the armor off. The human lets out a shriek of fear. I reach in with one talon and pull her out of the armor. ¡°What. Have. You. Done. With. My. Parents.¡± I say with barely restrained fury. ¡°I-I¡­ I¡­¡± The human stammers. She looks terrified. I don''t care. I''m seeing red, all I want is to destroy anyone in my path and save the guardians. My family. ¡°T-they are down below!¡± She manages to stammer out. ¡°There''s 10 mechas there to capture them or k-k-¡± ¡°I don''t want to hear it.¡± I say coldly. Snowstorm is staring at me like I''m someone else entirely. ¡°Take the human.¡± I say, dropping her infront of Snowstorm. ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Snowstorm asks uncertainty. He wraps his tail around the human to pick her up without using his jaw. The spikes on his tail retract so he doesn''t just impale her. ¡°Take a fucking guess.¡± I say coldly. ¡°Im going to rip some throats out if Smokewind or Darkness are hurt.¡± I start to move towards the exit of the tunnel, but I feel something grip my tail. ¡°Snowstorm. Let go of my tail.¡± I say. I am so mad. I am so furious at these humans for what they are doing. What did we do to deserve this?! NOTHING! They''ve brought this upon themselves. then Slap! I am shocked out of my thoughts by a wing slamming into my face. ¡°Abhor, get a hold of yourself!¡± Snowstorm growls at me. ¡°You''re mad, I get it. So am I! But running in there in a blind rage just to get a thousand holes shot into us won''t solve anything. We need to think this through.¡± I want to argue so badly. I want to rip apart those people that are doing this and- and- ¡­ that isn''t me. I don''t want to kill people. Why¡­ whats come over me? I slump down to the floor, all the adrenaline leaving me and the overwhelming pain in my very damaged wing coming back to me in a rush. I look up at Snowstorm. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What do we do?¡± I ask desperately. My claws dig into the rug on the floor. ¡°Snowstorm, what do we do?¡± ¡°We are going to sneak in.¡± Snowstorm says. His voice is calm, reassuring as he looks down at me. ¡°We take in the situation. If they need help we will help. But if they seem to be able to handle themselves, we let them do their thing. Both of them are strong. If Darkness does the fighting and Smokewind does the healing and support, they can win.¡± He explains. The human in his tail''s grasp has stopped struggling. She looks resigned to her fate. I look to her. ¡°Hey, human.¡± I say, and her head jerks up. ¡°Y-yes?¡± She stammers a response. ¡°What''s your name?¡± I ask her. She seems surprised I asked. She takes a moment to respond. ¡°Evelyn.¡± She eventually responded. The human girl, Evelyn, has long straight brown hair and green tear-filled eyes. She looks short, but that may just be because I''m the size of a large horse. ¡°Keep your voice down and you''ll be fine, got it?¡± I say to her and she nods vigorously. I take that as enough and gesture for Snowstorm to follow me. We take our time creeping down the cave. The lights are all off, and its making it hard for Snowstorm, but I have no problem. I can see in the dark, after all, so I''m fine. I assume the little human Evelyn is having the same problem too, but I don''t care much. She was trying to kill me a few minutes ago, so I don''t feel really any desire for mercy. Keeping her alive at all is a mercy of its own, and that''s just because I don''t really know how to feel about the idea of commiting murder against a sapient creature like her. Eventually we get to the place we were looking for. The kitchen. This was where the smoke was seen. And sure enough, the place is absolutely destroyed. The walls and floors are smashed bits of rubble to the point I''m shocked there hasn¡¯t been a cave-in. 3 Mechas are shattered on the ground, blood leaking out of them. Evelyn makes a choked noise when she sees them, but she quickly muffles her mouth with her hands at my glance to her. She knows what will happen to her if she gives away our position. Me and snowstorm crouch down at the entrance to the kitchen. The entrance is slanted up and to the left, which provides good cover. ¡°What do we do?¡± I whisper to Snowstorm. We haven''t seen any Mechas nor have we seen Darkness or Smokewind. There is blood everywhere, but without getting close to smell it I can''t tell if it belongs to a human or a dragon. I cant hear anything out there. ¡°Do you hear anything?¡± I ask Snowstorm, and to my suprise, he nods. ¡°Down the hallway to their rooms. I can hear something there.¡± ¡°Do you know what it is?¡± ¡°No.¡± Great, so we are going in blind. Maybe it would be safer to just turn around and flee. Leave them behind and hope we survive. But thats not an option for us. It would never be an option for us. ¡°Lets go.¡± I say, creeping into the kitchen. Once I confirm that nobody is there, we continue on. ¡°Evelyn.¡± I say and Evelyn stiffens again, turning to me. ¡°Y-yes?¡± ¡°What else did you bring with you when you came here?¡± I ask, though it''s not really a question. More like a demand. ¡°W-we brought 2 large cages and 50 armed soldiers.¡± She responds nervously. ¡°I was left alone in what I assume was your sleeping quarters to watch for you and alert the others if you came in. But you¡­ took me by surprise. I never had the chance.¡± She droops considerably, though I ignore it. Even as I feel a little bad for this poor sad human, it''s not my problem. I won¡¯t let it be. ¡°Thats what you brought to take down 4 dragons?¡± Snowstorm says skeptically, lifting her up to eye level with him. ¡°W-we have only seen y-you two training from our scryers. We assumed all four of you were equally¡­ inequipt with magic¡± She stumbles over her words, not meeting his gaze. ¡°We were ordered by the Grand General to eliminate or capture the two of you, and get rid of the others¡­¡± I let out a snort. ¡°Darkness is a magical prodigy and Smokewind has spent her whole life practicing healing magic.¡± I mutter. I don¡¯t care about telling her our secrets since we don''t plan to let her escape. Evelyn goes very pale at that. ¡°We assumed that¡­ level 2, not 5¡­ they''re all dead¡­ but if he¡­ maybe¡­¡± She mutters to herself, rambling on to herself. ¡°The hell are you talking about?¡± I say and she lets out a noise of embarrassment and something else when she realizes she was rambling aloud. ¡°N-nothing!¡± She stammers out, looking down. ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about!¡± I eye her skepticality, but sigh. I turn to the entrance to Darkness and smokewind''s room and we walk in. Then, while we are walking down the twisting halls deeper down into the cave I realized something. How did they not know about darkness and Smokewinds abilities if they had scryers? I turn to Snowstorm. They must have known, so why didn''t Evelyn? Snowstorm knows what I am thinking and mouths the words ¡®cannon fodder¡¯ to me, gesturing to Evelyn. That makes a gruesome sort of sense. The important people must not have told the less valuable members the danger they were actually getting into. My pity for her has just gone a lot higher. Pity that I immediately stamp down. Shut up, sympathetic brain, she tried to murder or capture us. Who cares if she was uninformed about the fire she was being thrown into? fire¡­ wait, why id there so much smoke everywhere, but no fire? I whip my head around to search for the heated plasma of fire. The destroyed mechas aren''t on fire, and they aren''t smoking either. Smokewind, despite her name, does not give off smoke or anything. So why was there so much smoke? We continue walking up the caves until I start to hear what Smokewind was. Movement of many feet and orders being given. ¡°Lift that up! Open the cage! We are on a schedule people, get moving!¡± A voice shouts. I assume its human, but it''s far deeper than most human voices. I stop just before the entrance and peek inside. And then my blood runs cold. Blood is every where. Blood and magma and fire. Humans wearing suits that let them walk through the flames are dragging anything they can find into a large Mecha with what looks like a metal backpack attached to the end. Darkness is lying unconscious, bleeding and hurt, inside a large glowing glass cage that hovers a few inches off of the ground. In the center of the rubble is a man. He looks large for a human. Very large. Besides being large and a man I can''t tell any of his other featured due to the suit he wears. It looks as if he had mecha parts strapped onto him and welded to him. The suit is made of durable blue armor that shimmers in the soft light of the large lights set down in the corners of the room by the soldiers. And he is¡­ standing on something. Its a corpse. The corpse of a dragon. Smokewind. Shes dead. Chapter 11: Brawl I can''t move. I can''t breathe. I can''t even think. Even so, I know how I feel. That man is dead. I have never felt such anger in my entire life! I was enraged by the IDEA of them being hurt. but seeing them like this¡­ it''s ignited a fire with me. No¡­ its not just a fire¡­ something else has resonated in me. I''ve never been good with mana. I''m not some prodigy like Darkness. Snowstorm knows more magic than me by a lot. Eben so, I''ve always been able to feel it subtly inside my body. IT used to flow through me while dormant, like a second set of veins pumping energy into me at all times and expelling into the air and being drawn in to fill the gaps. Its always felt like a subtle stream throughout my body. But now its starting to increase in speed, pooling through me. It feels wrong, but so right. I¡¯''m barely even registering it at this point. I star to move forward, but Snowstorm grips my shoulder and stops me. I turn to see him. Thats when I see his face. He''s crying. I reach up to my own face. My snout is drenched in a warm liquid. I pause, then slump against the wall. ¡°Smokewind¡­¡± Is all I can say. I catch sight of that human, Evelyn. She stands beside Snowstorm, looking up at us. I can''t read human expressions too easily, but it''s easy to tell she''s distraught right now. I realize that she could have given away our position at any time. So why hasn''t she. ¡°I didn''t know¡­¡± She whispers to herself. She looks up to me. I look down at her. The mana has increased its pace. I turn to Snowstorm. He''s feeling it too. We don''t know what it is. But what does it matter? ¡°Evelyn.¡± I say and she locks up, turning back to me. ¡°Y-yes?¡± She responds hesitantly. ¡°What did you mean by ¡°you didn''t know¡±?¡± I ask her. I assume she meant that she didn''t know that they were going to kill Smokewind. But that can''t be right. ¡°I-I Didn''t know dragons were sapient.¡± She responds hesitantly. We are all speaking quietly to avoid attention. We all freeze up when a MECHA looks our way. We don¡¯t resume talking until it turns back. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I ask, confused. ¡°Of course dragons are sapient!¡± I point an accusatory finger to Smokewind''s corpse. Her scales are flaking and drying up, all the liquid magma having dried up and her body turned a lifeless gray color. I''ve never seen her so¡­ still. ¡°SHE was sapient!¡± I hiss to evelyn, who stumbles back. ¡°And your people KILLED her!¡± ¡°I-I was taught in s-school that d-dragons are¡­ you know, m-monsters that eat people¡­¡± She says hesitantly. I look down at her. It''s so difficult to hate a pitiful little mammal like her. I open my mouth to say something. Or at least, I think I was going to say something. But we are interrupted by a large beeping noise. I whip my head around to see whats happening, and when I do, my blood runs cold. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Fu-" Wham! A MECHA, which I had sworn was over 20 meters away from me, slams into me with all the force of a tunnel collapse. I hear a cracking noise. {Initializing upgrade.} I leap back with a howl. I take a step back, and this MECHA monopolizes it. Its legs are more springy then the other ones, and covered in jets or something, from what I can see. It shoots forward to slam into me again, which this thing is definitely built for, unlike Evelyn''s flimsy bot. Ice spear However, it only makes it 10 feet when a spear of ice slams into it. ¡°Nice shot.¡± I groan. My jaw is probably broken bigen the pain in it, and my left wing is no better off then before. {System upgrade first stage. Establishing voice.} That voice again. I thought it was just my imagination, but apparently not. Actually, nows not the time for this. My body is feeling weaker and weaker as mana is syphoned away in a raging river. Its now that I realize its all going to the top of my left hand. uh oh. Dodge! I duck below the MECHA as it flies over me, an ice spear lodged into the glass. Then something else slams into me. Another one?! Why?! Leave us alone! Mana chomp! Clang! OW! My jaw! The mana in my teeth sputters out, and I cough out blood and a few teeth. Snowstorm is now fighting the springy one. Ill call that one hops, and this one brute. Because this thing is absolutely a brute! The armor is thick, and the hands are replaced by massive steel squares that knock the wind out of me, and likely would have ended my life if I weren''t as durable as I am. {System voice established. Commencing species unlock. Commencing status unlock. Skill unsealed:Breath of time.} That sounds useful. Or, it would be if I weren''t getting beat up by hulkbuster over here! I take a blow to the chest and hear the cracking of ribs as I''m thrown back. I land on my side and scramble up. I open my mouth. Better now then never! Breath of ti- {Skills utilizing mana can not be activated until core formation is complete.} Uh oh. I leap back as the brute lands and smashes its hammer-fist thing into the place my head was a moment earlier, causing stone to go flying. IItake this moment before the dust has settled to check on Snowstorm. He''s covered in blood and wounds, and hir ring is definitely bent the wrong way, but the springy one is much worse for wear. It can''t jump anymore since its missing a leg and the blasters on it are all bent in weird angles. These things haven''t spoken once to us. Are they shy or something? Who cares! I leap through the dust and find the brute exactly where it was before. Idiot! You should have moved! I slam full force into it. it hurts a lot and makes my broken wing scream in pain, but I dont care. I''m going to kill this person, if its the last thing I do. ¡°You monsters!¡± I roar as loud as I can. {Title gained:Rager. Skill gained: [locked]} I ignore it. The brute falls backwards and I take that chance. I think it was more surprised that I talked then anything, given how Evelyn was surprised we were sapient. I land on top of it and immediately start shredding into it with my claws. The glass breaks, the metal bends, the fists come up and slam into my side. But I keep going. {Warning:Health under 50%} {System upgrade finalizing.} Im beginning to feel like I might win this thing. It cant move. Its being ripped to pieces by me but I''m taking hits too. But I dont stop. I can do this. I will win! I can see the victory! I don''t see the third MECHA that slams a fist down on my head. Chapter 12: Smoke and levels I wake up to a throbbing headache and a lot of fuzziness in my eyes. Ugh, everything hurts. I can tell that my left wing is broken. Why did they keep going for the same wing?! I manage to sit up and rub my eyes to see¡­ nothing. The room is too full of smoke and dust to make anything out. {System update has been complete. View status?} Oh, right. The system thing. It was acting all wacky and strange the whole time. So¡­ yes? Name:Abhor Level 1/50 Age:16 Titles:Timebreaker, Barterer, TIME Strength:20 Durability:21 Speed:20 Stamina:22 Intelligence:18 Essence:20 Juvenile time dragon[1/5] Skills: Night vision(low), enhanced stamina(medium), bartering(low), Heat resistance(low), Breath of time(low), Voice of the world[Species max], [LOCKED], Techniques:Mana manipulation(E), Time manipulation(F), Mana defence(E), Potential(???) Now that is new. Level? Techniques? And what''s with that title? It hurts my head to read¡­ What am I even thinking? Snowstorm! ¡°Snowstorm! Can you hear me?¡± I shout into the smoke. I get no reply. Alright, what do I do? Figure out where I am. Lets feel around a bit¡­ Oh, here is a wall. That''s a good starting point¡­ if the wall is here¡­ Where was Snowstorm fighting compared to me? Kind of to my left a bit¡­ so If i woke up a few steps to my left, then he should be directly forward from where I am. Alright, I can do this. I push off the wall and begin moving forward, all the while shouting for snowstorm. Im only 10 steps forward when I feel something under my talon and hear a yelp of pain. I look down and¡­ ¡°Snowstorm! You''re alive!¡± ¡°Barely¡­¡± He groans, sitting up and yanking what seems to be his wing out from under my talon. Then he freezes. ¡°Uh¡­ I''m hearing that weird voice in my head.¡± ¡°The one from before the fight and during the fight? Yeah, I heard it too. Now I can see my techniques and have new skills. And a weird title.¡± Snowstorm pauses, his eyes going a little unfocused as he looks at the system window. He slowly gets back up. ¡°I see it. But thats not important. Why are we alive?¡± ¡°I have no idea.¡± I respond honestly. ¡°I don''t know why they came here, but they seemed to not care much about Darkness and¡­ oh no.¡± I whip my head around. ¡°Can you clear the smoke?¡± I ask Snowstorm urgently, and after a moment he nods. ¡°Yes.¡± He opens his mouth. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Mana force A blast of pure kinetic energy blasts out from his mouth and clears all the smoke in one direction. As more smoke and dust try to cover the cleared area, he turns his head, wiping out more of the stuff and pushing away what isnt obliterated. Eventually the room is clear. What we see I didn''t expect. The entire place is empty. Empty except for a large corpse, and a small corpse. The corpse of Smokewind next to the corpse of Evelyn. Slowly, me and Snowstorm move forward. ¡°The human isn''t dead.¡± Snowstorm says, and I turn to him with a confused expression. ¡°How do you-¡± ¡°Her body still gives off heat. that means she is alive.¡± I nod. But that brings us to the next question. ¡°Why is she hurt at all? Wasn''t she on the human''s side?¡± I stop in front of the unconscious woman and look over her form. Her face is covered in bruises and her nose is broken, suggesting she got punched there very hard and knocked out. Her uniform is in tatters and her face is covered in dried blood from her nose. I reach down and pick her up. ¡°Maybe they thought she turned traitor when they saw her with us?¡± Snowstorm offers. He stands over Smokewind''s corpse, his snout nudging her side gently. If she were alive, her body heat would have burned him, but it didn''t. ¡°Probably.¡± I say absently. I pull a pebble out of Evelyn¡¯s dirty hair. She twitches, and her body begins to move as she wakes up. ¡°Snowstorm, get over here.¡± I say, setting Evelyn down on the only intact chair in the room. Her eyes open and she sees two dragons looming over her. She screams in terror, and passes out. <{(0)}> ¡°Sorry for screaming¡­¡± Evelyn says, her hands on her lap as she looks up at us. She seems a lot less afraid of her, probably since we promised not to eat her. Well, because I promised not to eat her. She seemed a lot more scared of me than of her. Can''t say I blame her. I was mad. ¡°So¡­ what are you going to do with me?¡± She asks nervously, and I take a second to think about that. Snowstorm, though, has an answer. Because of course he does. ¡°Would you be willing to explain a few things?¡± Snowstorm asks. ¡°I know you aren''t the most informed out there, but anything is fine. Perhaps start with what happened after we were knocked unconscious?¡± Evelyn nods immediately. I¡¯m surprised how willing the is to betray these people. ¡°After you¡­ Abhor, right? Alright, Abhor. After abhor was knocked out, and you, Snowstorm, were knocked out too, The MECHA''s saw me behind them. They thought I had betrayed them and was on your side. They didn''t listen to me. Commander Jensen had my neck in a vise grip in a moments notice. He said that I could¡­ die a slow death by the lizards. Then they blasted a hole in the roof and left with the black dragon sedated in a cage. As I was sitting there just watching them leave me behind, the commander dropped me, then hr cocked his fist back and¡­¡± ¡°Ouch. Talk about cruel.¡± I mutter. Evelyn nods. ¡°Even my friends in the group didn''t stand up for me.¡± She lets out a self-depreciating chuckle. ¡°Not that I blame them. The commander is not to be argued with.¡± ¡°Jensen was the man standing on Smokewinds¡­ you know, right?¡± Snowstorm asks, not wanting to call Smokewind a corpse. ¡°Yes. He''s the strongest of all of us. He''s level 95.¡± ¡°Level?¡± I ask. Then I remember, I''m level 1 now. ¡°Yes, level.¡± Snowstorm says, looking at me flatly. ¡°When you turn 18, you unlock your level. Have you been paying attention in class at all?¡± ¡°Class? You have school?¡± Evelyn asks, baffled. ¡°Of course we have school. We need to learn somehow.¡± Snowstorm responds flatly. He turns to Evelyn. ¡°What level are you?¡± ¡°9¡± She responds. ¡°I''m only 19, so that''s a decent level for my age. I''ve put all my stats in durability, since I didn''t need strength to use my MECHA, and I wanted to be able to survive a heavy hit.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I say, intrigued. ¡°What is your defence stat then?¡± ¡°30.¡± She responds. ¡°Damn. Thats a lot!¡± I say. ¡°I recommend putting some in stamina too.¡± Snowstorm tells her. ¡°I was told that, yes. But I haven''t gotten any levels in a while. Leveling without monsters to kill is difficult.¡± She scratches the back of her head. Im kind of just sitting there listening. ¡°So, why do we have levels? We are 16.¡± I ask, confused. ¡°No idea.¡± Snowstorm responds. Then I notice something on his shoulder. ¡°Snowstorm, whats that thing on your shoulder?¡± I point, and he notices what i''m looking at. ¡°Uh¡­¡± His brain pretty much flatlines in confusion. There is a square shaped blue gem embedded in his shoulder, the size of my eye. ¡°That''s a soul core!¡± Evelyn gasps. ¡°Those things are super valuable, and only form in only incredibly powerful creatures who worship a god. But usually they form inside their bodies¡­ So why did it form on the outside?¡± I raise my left talon up to touch it¡­ and notice a purple 8-sided purple gem on the back of my talon. I recognize this shape. ¡°The spire¡­¡± Chapter 13: I didnt know this was a mall The waves crash violently against the rocks below, stirring crabs from their hiding places and running to consume the seagulls resting against the ledges. The swishing and slamming of the waves, it''s a sound I''ve gotten used to over the years. This time, however, it fills me with a sense of worry. I''m pretty worried about all the things that could go wrong. I''m worried about what will go wrong. Actually, what can''t go wrong? The sun won''t smite us. maybe¡­ Wait, didn''t the sun smite me last time I went there? Was that the sun? It was pretty bright¡­ Snowstorm sits beside me on a rock, while I sit on the only patch of grass this close to the ledge. The drop down is lined with jagged spikes and is probably a few hundred feet down. How exciting. That human looks nervous though. Well, that depends. She is gripping my tail more tightly then I thought she could. It hurts, but its the kind of pain that feels strangely like a hug gone wrong. ¡°Why are you hugging my tail?¡± I ask her, looking down at her. She squeaks and lets go. I think her skin on her cheeks is a bit redder. Is that what humans do when they''re embarrassed? I think I learned this at some point¡­ meh. Whatever. ¡°Sorry.¡± She says sheepishly. ¡°Im not good with heights¡­¡± ¡°Then gonna hate riding on my back.¡± I reply, half amused and half concerned. I didn''t know being afraid of being up high was a real thing. I wonder if any dragons have that. Maybe wingless ones, but I doubt any winged creatures fear the open air. I look down below to the waves crashing against the spikes of stone and think for a second. Even with wings, anyone would die if they fall enough. Is that why? Shes not afraid of being up high, shes afraid of falling. That makes sense. Heh, look at me being all smart. ¡°You have a dumb expression on your face.¡± Snowstorm comments and I smack him in the side with my tail. He ignores it and wordlessly leaps off the edge, disappearing down out of view. Evelyn stares in horror for a moment before Snowstorm pops back up into view in the sky. ¡°Hurry up slow-pokes.¡± He calls down and I roll my eyes. ¡°Climb on.¡± I lower myself down onto the ground and angle my wing to make a ramp for her. Along my back is a series of soft membranes that I don''t want her sitting on, so I retract them into my body. I learned I could do this when I was a few years old when a coconut fell on my back. Evelyn is just standing there though, nervous. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± I ask. Am I being too insensitive? Maybe some words of encouragement. ¡°I wont drop you. And if I do you¡¯ll fall into the ocean which you should survive from.¡± ¡°Actually, falling from cloud level into the ocean would splatter her like fine paste.¡± Snowstorm comments, flying just a few meters away. I frown at him as Evelyn pales. ¡°Not helping, frost face.¡± I say flatly. I pick up Evelyn with one talon and deposit her on my back. ¡°Wha- EEP!¡± She squeals as I leap off the cliff and spread my wings. ¡°You took to long.¡± I say, turning to fly away from the mainland. Snowstorm follows behind me. Evelyn grabs onto my neck and holds on for dear life. My scales are as tough as¡­ I have no idea. ¡°Snowstorm, how tough am I?¡± I ask. ¡°What''s your toughness?¡± ¡°21.¡± I responded. Evelyn isn''t screaming anymore which is nice, but she''s a nervous wreck. ¡°Well, your durability stat is judged by the amount of force you can take. It has a substat of ¡°toughness¡± that marky how strong your body is, which increases with your durability, but at a slower rate. You also can''t put stat points from leveling into substats.¡± ¡°that doesn''t answer my question.¡± ¡°Since every stat point has 10% more affect then the last point when put on the same stat, and a human with a durability of 3 can take 4Gs of force, you would be able to take¡­ approximately 22.24Gs of force.¡± I nod wisely. ¡°That''s a lot right?¡± ¡°Not, like, a huge amount, but a decent amount. That''s over 20 times the earth''s gravity.¡± I nod again. I look down at the water. We are still close enough to see land a distance away, and the spire hasn''t come into view yet. Its a fairly cloudless day save for a few stragglers up there. Evelyn is talking to herself. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°It''ll be ok, Im fine, Im fine, I wont fall, I''m fine.¡± She mutters to herself. Maybe we shouldn''t have brought her along. Makes me wish I could help distract her or something¡­ {Would you like to purchase skill:¡°Illusion mana manipulation¡± for 30 essence? You currently have: 42 essence.} Oh, thats new too. I have a lot of stuff I didn''t know I did before. ¡°Snowstorm, the system is offering for me to spend essence to buy a skill. And I have more essence then before.¡± I tell him. He looks down at me like I''m speaking a foreign language. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I said what I said.¡± ¡°Well, yeah, but I''ve never heard of getting skills in any other way that earning them from skills or situations.¡± ¡°Should I buy it?¡± ¡°Whats the skill, and whats it asking for?¡± I look back to the notification. ¡°Illusion mana manipulation. It wants 30 essence and I have 42.¡± Snowstorm immediately perks up. ¡°Buy that, definitely. Mana manipulation skills are rare, and hard to unlock. And illusion is a rare affinity.¡± I nod and accept without a second thought. Snowstorm is the thinker here, not me. {Skill gained: ¡°Illusion mana manipulation.¡± Imbuing techniques.} Information flooded my mind at an insane pace. I nearly fell out of the sky and Evelyn shrieked from on my back. I managed to stabalize though and shake my head. ¡°Uh, my head hurts¡­¡± I mutter. ¡°What techniques did you get?¡± Snowstorm asks curiously. ¡°Whats happening?¡± Evelyn asks shakily. ¡°I, uh¡­ haven¡¯t been paying attention.¡± ¡°Abhor got an illusion manipulation skill.¡± Snowstorm comments and Evelyn blinks. ¡°What title did he get?¡± ¡°None.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I said what I said.¡± I chuckle as Snowstorm talks to Evelyn. ¡°Thats not how it works.¡± Evelyn says and Snowstorm chuckles. ¡°Welcome to the club, girl.¡± Snowstorm flaps over to me, his expression getting curious. I have a feeling I¡¯m gonna be interrogated the rest of the way there¡­ <{(0)}> Its getting dark, and the land behind us is long gone. Far ahead of us is what I assume is the spire, but its too far away to make it out. It''ll likely be another hour of flying to get there. ¡°So it seems that when you thought that you wanted to help Evelyn calm down, you got offered a skill to help you do it.¡± Snowstorm says eventually. Evelyn, having been shocked out of her fear of heights by her confusion, is shivering on my back again. ¡°What were the techniques again?¡± Snowstorm asks. ¡°Let my check.¡± I open up my stat sheet and click on my new skill. Another addition I found is that the system has descriptions of all my skills now, as well as a greyed out ¡°Techniques¡± area below. Probably because most of my skills don''t have techniques. But this one seems to have 4. I read the description first. {Illusion mana manipulation[low]. Allows the user to draw in ambient mana and convert it into the illusion variety. Increases control over illusion mana, allowing it to be formed into various techniques. Mastery increases the amount of techniques.} {Techniques: Suggestion, Confusion, Calm, and Overload.} ¡°I''ve got Suggestion, Confusion, Calm, and Overload.¡± I tell Snowstorm. ¡°I''ve heard of Confusion and suggestion, but not the other two.¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°Read them to us.¡± {Suggestion: Allows the user to implant a suggestion into their target''s mind via physical contact. suggestions can be things like ¡°You are being attacked¡± or ¡°The air makes your lungs itchy¡±. Creativity is key.} {Confusion: Allows the user to disorient the target via physical contact. Includes affects like seeing colors wrong, thinking things are moving that aren''t, seeing fake images and hearing false noises, and others. What the user sees can be affected by the Suggestion technique.} {Calm: Puts the user or the target into a state of calm by flooding their mind with reassuring thoughts and emotions not their own. If maxed, it may be able to seperate ones mind from their emotions in order to allow a state unaffected by fear or anger.} {Overload: The highest mana costing technique by far. The user floods Illusion mana into the target to overload their mind with useless information, rendering them immobile.} {Notice: All techniques strength are dependant on the amount of strength the user has as opposed to the amount of mental strength of the target.} Snowstorm whistles. I didn''t even know he could do that. ¡°Those are some freakishly strong skills. The overload one sounds absolutely horrifying. The only scarier Illusion spell I''ve heard of is Mind shatter. It does, well, you can guess what.¡± I turn to Evelyn with an idea. I follow the instructions in my head. It turns out that all the mana in my body is stored in the gem on my talon. I pull the mana through my roots into my mind, an intricate pattern forming. Holding this pattern together is mind-bogglingly difficult. But I manage. I feed the mana through, and out comes illusion mana. The illusion mana moves through my mana veins to the tip of my claw. In the open a small spell forms. It looks like a child scribbled on a piece of paper, but that child was picasso or something. Picasso was the painter, right? I wasn''t good with history. Meh, whatever. I feed a small bead of mana into Evelyns mind. Calm Evelyn''s body relaxes immediately and she slumps into my back, making a noise I assume is a sigh. ¡°Thank you.¡± She says, looking back up at me. I smile sheepishly. ¡°All in a days work¡­¡± ¡°Stop distracting yourselves.¡± Snowstorm calls to me, gesturing in front of us. ¡°Either there is more than one giant building made of black metal, or we are here.¡± Chapter 14: The spire The metal feels cold yet warm, rough yet smooth. It defies logic in a way. It makes me confused as to what it is. {Would you like to purchase mutation: ¡°Void seer eyes¡± for 150 essence? You have 21 essence.} ¡°Snowstorm, get over here.¡± I say. ¡°Have you heard of mutations?¡± ¡°What?¡± He replies, landing beside me. Evelyn has long gotten off my back and is hugging one of the spikes of the spire like a lifeline. Speaking of spikes, the spire looks like a really pointy black twizzler. Yes, twizzlers have been around for over 1000 years. The spire looks like 3 long tubes weaved together, each tube topped with a curling spike at the top. there doesn''t seem to be any entrance. When I last got here I landed at the bottom, but this time I landed on the top. ¡°So you don''t know?¡± I ask, and he reluctantly nods. ¡°It irks me not to know something¡­¡± He mutters, then freezes. ¡°I now see what you mean.¡± He says, staring as something I can¡¯t see. ¡°Did you get offered a skill?¡± I ask. ¡°Pages of the past. It costs 30 essence, and I have 32.¡± He responds. ¡°It lets me see anything significant that''s happened around me within 24 hours. It also grants me a photographic memory.¡± ¡°Didn''t you already have a photogrampic memory?¡± I ask, confused. ¡°Photographic, and no, I just had a good memory. This''d be a step up. I think i''ll get it, but thats less important. Tell me about that eye of yours.¡± I nod, pulling up the screen asking me to replace my eyes. ¡°It''s annoying that theres nobody to ask about these skills first.¡± I mutter. {There is.} I freeze. ¡°What?¡± I sat, staring at the screen that popped up in front of me. Snowstorm didn¡¯t see it, judging by the fact that he hasn''t jumped out of his scales yet. {I said there is. Just ask me.} ¡°It¡­ works like that?¡± {Yes.} ¡°Works like what?¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°The screens are talking to me.¡± I tell him. ¡°What do you mea-EEP!¡± He leaps out of his scales as he sees something. {Your companion in lacking in bravery.} ¡°You can say that again.¡± I mutter. {Your companion in lacking in bravery.} ¡°I didn''t actually- you know what? Never mind.¡± I roll my eyes. Evelyn has stopped hugging the spike and has walked over to me. ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± She asks, confused. ¡°A screen in my head.¡± I say, completely aware of how insane I sound. {Do you want me to show myself to her as well?} Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Can you?¡± {Not yet, but when you reach tier 3, yes.} Thats interesting. ¡°What are the tiers?¡± Snowstorm asks, coming over and sitting beside me. Sure, we came here to figure out these shiny rocks on our hands (and shoulder in Snowstorms case), and if we can just ask this¡­ whatever its name is, then thats all the better. Does it even have a name? {There are 5 tiers. Reaching a level threshold for your species will grant a species evolution, which will increase the threshold and bring you to the next species.} ¡°I knew that already.¡± Snowstorm said. ¡°I wanted to know what the evolutions are.¡± {I can not access that information at the moment.} ¡°Bummer. Can you tell me about the eye?¡± {Yes. Would you like the description?} ¡°I want to know what I''d be buying, yes.¡± {You don''t have the required essence yet, so you aren¡¯t buying anything, but I understand your intent. Mutation: Void seer eyes. The void seer eyes allow the user to see beyond what is false into the truth of what is around them. Illusions become knull to the user and you can see the flow and types of mana around you. Eves can be charged with different types of mana for varying effects. } ¡°That sounds awesome!¡± I say. Now THIS is the good stuff! This sounds so badass! Beware my all seeing eyes of infinite darkness!!!!!!!! ¡°Abhor, stop looking retarted.¡± Snowstorm says flatly. I glare at him. ¡°Go shove a goat up your a-¡± {I recommend sitting somewhere dark to accumulate essence} ¡°Why somewhere dark?¡± Snowstorm asks, confused. {Different individuals can accumulate essence through different conditions. One obtains essence by merely existing, however sitting in the correct place will let you accumulate essence faster.} ¡°What is essence?¡± Snowstorm asks. ¡°Does it matter? Its giving us superpowers.¡± I counter. ¡°Well, if it''s corrupting my soul or turning me into an abomination, I''d like to know.¡± Snowstorm says flatly. That''s¡­ a really good point. There¡¯s no winning in an argument against Snowstorm. So annoying¡­ {Essence is will given ethereal form. It is the basest form of existence of which all matter is formed from. It is also a secondary fuel of godhood and life.} ¡°So if we gain enough essence we can become gods?¡± I ask curiously. Being a god sounds cool, though not like a big priority. Being immortal sound boring as hell. ¡°Did you not read the ¡°Secondary¡± Part?¡± Snowstorm says flatly. ¡°It sounds more like the bricks of a wall, while whatever the primary thing is would be the mortar.¡± ¡°Whats mortar?¡± {¡°The stuff holding bricks together¡±} Comes the response from both Snowstorm and the screen. ¡°Oh.¡± Is all I can say. I look around us a bit, feeling out the spike walls. ¡°I feel like we have gotten really sidetracked. Though the essence thing sounds important.¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°How do I get essence?¡± {Through either reading or being in cold places.} ¡°Are their books nearby?¡± {I doubt it.} ¡°Is there a cold place nearby?¡± {In the hatching spire below, yes.} ¡°I thought s- wait really?¡± {Yes. There are good places to cultivate essence below.} ¡°How do we get inside?¡± I ask. ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be a door anywhere.¡± {The hatching spire was created by the system, so it''s one of the few things I can disclose to you. There are 3 ways to enter. 1:Wait for a full moon. The moon will open up the roof for exactly 2 minutes. 2: Go underground from the entrance 50 miles north. 3: Use the key.} ¡°There''s a key?¡± I ask, thinking. I look down on the stone on my hand. What if it isn''t an octagon or something like I thought? Could it be some weird circle? ¡°Snowstorm, come on.¡± I hop off the edge. Snowstorm takes a minute to follow, and I realize I forgot evelyn was there. I feel like shes been difficult to manage. Have we been treating her like a pet? Is keeping a human as a pet a bad thing? Probably no and yes? I hope. Maybe I should say sorry to her sometime, but she still tried to kill me. But she didn''t know I was sapient. So why did she speak when she attacked us? Does she just like the sound of her own voice? That''d be funny if it were the reason. Anyway, below the spire itself is an area of sand. Enough to stand on, though not enough to want to make a hut or something. Below I find what I remember. 5 stones. The blue square and purple circle are acting up though. While the triangle, diamond, and claw thingy are all a dull color, like an LED light turned off, these 2 are glowing like the same LED lights turned on to full power. When I raise my arm closer to it, the light only grows brighter. ¡°What in the world is this?¡± Snowstorm mutters, landing beside me. Evelen falls off his back onto the ground, then barfs on the sand. She really isn''t good in the air, huh? Maybe its a lack of stats. ¡°No idea. But its got something to do with us.¡± I say. after thinking for a moment, I press the stone against the bigger wall stone, and the glow gets brighter. {Key detected. Opening roof for 5 minutes.} The roof of the spire began to open. The spire peeled apart like a lily blooming. {Welcome home, Abhor of time.} Chapter 15: Path to power It turns out that this place is a lot bigger on the inside than it looked to be on the outside. It''s interesting in a way, though I don''t think I can comprehend how this place actually works. The system welcomed me as ¡°Abhor of time¡±. First of all, I''ve never been called that before, yet I felt both right and wrong being called that. It felt like it was my name, but something in it felt incomplete, like just calling Iron man Iron. It makes no sense without the Man beside it. Marvel lives on even after bankrupting 200 years ago. But it also implies that something about this place recognizes me. It felt like a butler welcoming me home. And what a home it is. The top floor has 5 large sections. Snowstorm immediately latches his eyes on a very cold looking section of which he bounds over to and flops down. There are 5 squares on the ground, like they could raise up in each section to become a pedestal for¡­ something. The section that draws me most is the section 2 over to the right of Snowstorms. The darkness is physical here, flowing like water. Yet I can see clearly. ¡°Evelyn.¡± I turn to the little human who stands in the green, vibrant section that also seems full of white rock. ¡°Have you ever heard of this place?¡± I ask. Snowstorm seems out of commision for the time being as he basks in the cold, so she is my only source of info. ¡°I haven''t.¡± She tells me, running her hand along the large spike that look eerily like a rib. ¡°It feels fake, you know? Like its too perfect to exist. The air feels cleaner then anything I''ve ever breathed, and everything is so sharply colored.¡± ¡°Im going into that dark area. I doubt I''ll pass out from pure bliss like Snowstorm did but I might as well see what it''ll do.¡± ¡°You guys were talking about essence earlier. Is it something to do with that?¡± She asks and I nod. ¡°Do you not have essence?¡± ¡°I don''t. Essence is a statistic only paladins and priests of the ten gods get.¡± Thats interesting. Im not a worshiper of anyone, so where is this essence coming from. ¡°System, why do I get essence?¡± {I don¡¯t know everything, you know.} ¡°Figures.¡± With no other ideas, I just wade into the darkness. It feels so cool and right, like a sauna for the soul. I sit down in the center of the room and curl into a ball. {Massive influx of essence detected. Would you like me to notify you on essence rates?} ¡°That sounds complicated, but sure.¡± {You are gaining approximately 1 essence per minute while waking and 0.5 essence per minute while sleeping. Would you like me to automatically purchase the mutation offered when you reach the cost threshold, or would you like to utilize the essence in other ways?} ¡°I can use essence in other ways?¡± I ask. That sounds interresting. {While in tier 1 of 5, you can spend 2 essence to increase a single statistic by 1. The cost increases with each subsiquent evolution.} ¡°Holy mother of overppowered stats.¡± {Each stat has a maximum amount your body can take without breaking, so its not infinite power.} ¡°How much essence do I have right now?¡± {36.} ¡°So¡­ 19 stat points?¡± {18.} ¡°Whatever. put 6 into durability, 6 into strength, and 6 into speed.¡± {Are you sure you want to apply the essence this way?} ¡°Uh¡­ yes?¡± Everything goes black {Name:Abhor Level:1/50 This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Age:16 Titles:Timebreaker, Barterer, TIME Strength:26 Durability:27 Speed:26 Stamina:22 Intelligence:18 Essence:0 Juvenile time dragon[1/5] Skills: Night vision(Low), Enhanced Skills:stamina(medium), Bartering(low), Heat resistance(Low), Breath of time(Low), Voice of the word[Species Max], [LOCKED], Illusion mana manipulation(Low) Techniques:Mana manipulation(E), Time manipulation(F), Mana defence(E), Potential(???), Calm(D), Overload(C), Confusion(D), Illusion mana manipulation(C) Mutations: Void seer eyes(B)} Wow, it worked. I''m a hell of a lot stronger than before now. This essense stuff is way too powerful. But at tier 1 I bet I''m still at the bottom of the food chain. {You have slept for 2 hours. You have 125 essence. Warning: The more essence you have past the 500 essence point, the more it will cost to get. Mutation:Void-seer eyes have been automatically purchased.} The entire spire is full of interwoven wires of essence of every type I¡¯ve ever heard of. This was made by some master artificer for sure. ¡°Snowstorm?¡± I call out, sitting up to find Snowstorm and Evelyn talking. Evelyn is sitting in the central typeless area close to the icy area, where Snowstorm lounges. They both turn at my voice. ¡°Oh, so the sleeping beauty has awoken from her slumber.¡± ¡°Stop quoting ancient movies.¡± Evelyn giggles, and I find myself amused by that. ¡°You two are getting along better than I expected.¡± I say, coming out of the darkness. Evelyn jumps and Snowstorm flinches. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You practically materialized out of the dark.¡± He says. Looking with my void seer eyes I notice how instead of his mana flowing through his heart like it should, it flows through the soul gem. That''s interesting. Looking at Evelyn, her mana flows through her heart like normal. But it''s also far less thick than ours. Is that a soul core thing or a humans and dragons thing? ¡°Also your eyes are different.¡± Evelyn says. ¡°Oh?¡± I got an idea. I use some illusion mana to form a mirror. It''s surprisingly easy and I''m shocked that it works on the first try. The large rectangular mirror in front of me shows me myself. My scales look saturated in darkness, though it''s slowly pooling off back into the dark zone. My eyes are a deeper purple than before. My pupils have layers upon layers of slits overlapping black. It looks¡­ awesome. ¡°I look so cool!¡± ¡°You look like a shadow monster.¡± Snowstorm counters. I dispel the mirror to frown at him. ¡°Well, you have a horrible taste in what''s cool, snowball.¡± ¡°Call me Snowball one more time and I''ll-" ¡°C-can you guys not?¡± Evelyn says, then flinches when we both turn to her. ¡°O-or do, it''s not up to me¡­¡± I sigh. We¡¯re freaking out the poor mammal, and thats unfair to her. This is really just brotherly banter, but I can see how she might get scared from it. ¡°Evelyn, it''s fine.¡± I say, and Snowstorm nods. ¡°We''re brothers. We say this sort of stuff to each other all the time.¡± ¡°That''s what makes a bond what it is.¡± I told her. ¡°We say this sort of stuff because we know that no matter what we say we don¡¯t mean it. A true friendship comes from being able to speak and act freely around someone without fearing judgement.¡± Snowstorm and Evelyn start at me for a moment, then to each other. ¡°Isn''t he supposed to be the dumb one?¡± Evelyn whispers to Snowstorm and he nods. ¡°I can hear you.¡± I say flatly. ¡°Thats why its great. Because we dont fear your judgement.¡± Snowstorm says in a mocking tone. Evelyn starts laughing. For once I donr respond, just looking down at the human. I¡¯m glad she''s happy considering we kinda kidnapped her. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go fish.¡± Snowstorm says, sitting up. I nod, grateful. My stomach growls and Evelyn''s eyes widen. ¡°Did that come from your stomach?¡± ¡°I have a big stomach.¡± ¡°It sounded like the dying wails of a tiger.¡± ¡°How do you know what that sounds like?¡± ¡°I heard the dying wails of a tiger.¡± ¡°Creepy.¡± I mutter, plopping down onto the ground beside her. I tuck my wings to my sides. ¡°Hey Evelyn?¡± I ask, turning my head to look at her. She sits down on one of the stairs. The center of the room has a spiral staircase where each stair is as big as she is which makes things harder. ¡°Yeah?¡± She says, turning to look up at me. ¡°Do you hate us?¡± I ask after a moment¡¯s hesitation. She pauses, surprised, then looks away. ¡°A little¡­¡± She eventually says. I''m glad I put my wings down, because they would be drooping a lot if they weren''t. ¡°But¡­¡± She continues before I can say anything. ¡°I like you both more than I hate you. So its worth it.¡± I can''t help but smile at that. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°The fact that you even bothered asking shows your character.¡± She points out. ¡°I mean, I also kidnapped you while in a fit of rage.¡± I point out. ¡°So? I stood up for you and got clocked in the face by my own commander as a result. Maybe I''m just an idiot, but I think I can trust you guys.¡± ¡°You say ¡°You guys¡± a lot.¡± ¡°Huh. I never noticed.¡± Chapter 16: You guys Throughout her entire life, Evelyn felt her life was set in stone. The path of her life was already made for her, and she was practically given everything she needed to walk on it. Her parents had conceived her in a mana dense area to ensure she had the system from the moment she was born. She had private teachers and instructors help her grow strong in both mind and body. Every day her limits were pushed. Her parents would watch from the side as she pumped herself up to the peak of humanity, acing all her classes and drowning in their approval. When she turned 18, her father had taken her out to the wilderness to hunt monsters. She put every point she got indo durability until the point it supposedly rivaled a young dragons. Though, a dragon couldn¡¯t confirm that of course. Dragons were barely as intelligent as birds, smart enough to use simple things they stole from humanity. And that was her purpose. To kill them. Her father was an important official in the MECHA force. She was given her first MECHA by her mother in order to join. It was the last present she was given before the sickness took her. She was put into a force with all the other upstart rich kids under Commander Jensen. Jensen was not a kind man. He worked his soldiers to deaths door for the sake of ¡°Improvement¡±. At first she had thought it was just how commanders were. However, she found out eventually that none of the other soldiers were treated this way. Just her. She wanted to say something, but she wasn''t dumb enough to argue with the level 97 high human. What could a simple level 9 human say? So she dealt with it. She fought and won and lost under the man''s eyes. Then the day came. They were going to raid a supposed nest of dragons. They were instructed to take at least one alive. The ones up top didn''t care about any others. They wanted to capture rare dragons, that was it. There was a rumor that they were searching for a particular type, but she doubted it. The commander had a MECHA, but preferred to use his power suit. It was apparently less restrictive to his high human strength. She was assigned to the smaller room they suspected was a bedchamber. She was told that she was to watch for any dragons returning, and that her position was important, but she knew better. The commander didn''t want her annoying him during his mission. It came as a surprise when the dragons DID show up. At first, she was delighted. She could finally prove herself to the commander. If she caught these two lizards, she could turn them in, then the commander would have to respect her. She raised her weapons. ¡°Halt lizards¡± She said to the dragons. She didn¡¯t know why she was even talking to them. They couldn¡¯t understand her. Whatever. ¡°Resistance is futile-¡± Then she got tackled by the black dragon and smashed to the ground. She screamed in pain as her MECHA collapsed in on itself. She couldn¡¯t do anything. Anything. She was defeated. She just laid there inside the smashed hunk of steel, waiting for her death as she was ripped out by the black dragon. But it didn¡¯t come. Instead, he spoke. Spoke! She told him her name, and was passed on to the white dragon. She was told their names by the white dragon, that seemed far more forgiving to her then the black one. Snowstorm even told her their names. He was nervous too. Apparently, abhor didn''t usually act like this. What, is a dragon named Abhor supposed to be all bubbly or something? Doubt it. She shouldn''t have doubted it. <{(0)}> Thinking back on that felt like a thousand years ago, but it was just 2 days ago. Now she lays against Abhor''s side while chewing on some cod. Apparently, neither of them could cook well, so she has to help. It was their second day here, and they have yet to decide what to do next Abhor was banned from the fire, so he usually just slept in the darkness zone while Evelyn and Snowstorm cooked. Snowstorm was a shockingly good learner, more intelligent than any human she''s ever met. Funny. I thought they were dumber then any human I ever met. And Abhor was the most bubbly creature she ever met. He was so mad then she met him. If he wasn¡¯t so mad didn''t tackle her like a high school football player, she probably could have done some good damage to him. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°This is surprisingly good fish, considering the lack of seasonings.¡± Abhor says, turning his head to look down at her. He made an expression that she has come to learn was a smile. ¡°Thanks Evelyn.¡± ¡°I helped too!¡± Snowstorm called while putting out the fire. His breath would have worked, but he didn''t want to make a glacier of this room. Instead he used ice magic. ¡°I''ve given you more thanks through out my life then I have to her, so I''m thanking her.¡± Abhor says simply. ¡°No, no, no, that''s not how it works.¡± Snowstorm says, wagging a fish around in his wing-claws. ¡°The more things to thank a person does, the more thanking they get!¡± ¡°I always thought it as a finite thing. You only get so many thanks before running out.¡± Abhor tells him. Evelyn starts laughing. These guys¡­ they''re hilarious. It makes her wish she had a brother or sister to bicker with. That''s what makes a bond what it is, he had said. A true friendship comes from being able to speak and act freely around someone without fearing judgement. She didn¡¯t realize it until now¡­ but did she ever have something like that? Did she have anyone who she could just unload her problems on without fearing judgement? She loved her parents with all her heart, but to just talk? To not fear how they would react to her opinions? Her mother was always strict, ensuring she knew her path with the MECHA''s. Her father even more so. But to not fear judgement¡­ No, She suddenly realized. I don¡¯t have anyone like that, do I? Nobody to smile with and laugh at. To have kind and cruel things said with an equally open heart. I don''t have that. But I want it. She looks up at Abhor and can''t help but smile. ¡°We''re friends, right?¡± She asks. He blinks for a moment, surprised, then grins wide. ¡°Of course we are!¡± He tells her, then ruffles her hair with a claw. ¡°Please never do that again.¡± She tells him flatly, but on the inside she''s smiling. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m a friend too, right? Right?¡± Snowstorm bounds over to them and sits down beside her. ¡°Oh, but of course you are, scoundrel.¡± Abhor says mockingly, making a face. Snowstorm frowns, then looks back down to Evelyn. ¡°Really? HE is your favorite?¡± Snowstorm says flatly. ¡°Your stales are too cold to sleep on.¡± Evelyn counters, snuggling into Abhor''s side. Maybe if Abhor were human it would be seen as romantic or something, but he''s a big-ass lizard that could LITERALLY eat a horse. She was interested in a partner with the same species as her at least. Why am I even thinking about this? She shoves her thoughts to the side and takes another bite of her cod. He was right. This is good fish. She chuckles. ¡°So what''s next?¡± She asks. Snowstorm thinks for a second while Abhor finishes his 14th fish and reaches for another. ¡°We have a few options.¡± Snowstorm says, conjuring 3 blocks of ice, 2 big and 1 small. ¡°First though, Evelyn, do you think Darkness is¡­ alive?¡± ¡°We-... They usually keep dragons alive for a month before¡­ looting.¡± She says. ¡°Killing dragons gives loot by the system, just like any other kill, but only if you are a lower level then it.¡± ¡°What level is He?¡± Abhor asks, turning to Snowstorm. ¡°43.¡± Snowstorm says immediately. ¡°Smokewind was level 38.¡± ¡°Am I the only one who didn''t know about levels until recently?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°Yes.¡± Evelyn also says. They exchange glances then chuckle before focusing on the matter at hand again. ¡°So saving Darkness.¡± Abhor says, thinking. ¡°How¡¯re we gonna do that?¡± He asks, thinking. ¡°Simple. Level up and get stronger¡± Snowstorm says. ¡°How much essence do you have?¡± ¡°over 800.¡± He responded, looking at a screen only he can see. ¡°Alright, here is the plan.¡± Snowstorm says¡­ <{(0)}> ¡°This is a surprisingly good plan.¡± Evelyn comments. ¡°Of course it is. Snowstorm made it.¡± Abhor said absently. His scales feel a lot more solid then they did 5 seconds ago. ¡°The system offered me the perfect skill too. Shadow warp. Lets me enter one shadow and pop out the next. Though its 850 essence. Im missing some.¡± ¡°We have the time.¡± Snowstorm comments. ¡°Buffing up all your stats to the species max was a good idea.¡± It turns out that the species maximum was 50. ¡°The Commander would still win if you fought.¡± Evelyn says certainly. ¡°I''m not confident you could get in and out without alerting him, but if you do¡­¡± ¡°I''m dead. Yeah, I know.¡± Abhor says. ¡°This essence stuff is powerful. Do you know what his stats are?¡± ¡°No. But from word of mouth, his strength stat is apparently over 150.¡± ¡°Holy mother of ice.¡± Snowstorm mutters. ¡°That''s¡­ so much¡­¡± He takes a second then ¡°164,081,073 pounds.¡± He says. ¡°One hit from him, even with a durability of 50, you''d be splattered like a bug. That''s 16.5 million Gs of force.¡± Evelyn nodded gravely. ¡°Abhor, don¡¯t go. We can figure something out.¡± he rested one hand on his neck, looking up at him. She just made a friend in him. She didn¡¯t want him to die. ¡°Evelyn, Snowstorm, I need this. I won''t let Darkness die. Even if I have to fight Infinity himself.¡± He looked up to the roof of the spire, which had closed after they entered originally. ¡°Commander Jensen¡­ just you wait. I''m coming for you.¡±