A couple of months later, Ithil’s mother Tihkar still hadn’t come to visit. According to his father, Rothek, she was out meeting other dragons. Though Ithil didn’t get to find out why. During that month, Ithil grew up a lot mentally. He also found out some interesting things regarding dragons. For some reason the knowledge he had received didn’t include much about dragons, so it was very helpful.
He learned more about the different species of dragon. Apparently he was a copper dragon, a common species known for growing very big. Some other common types of dragons were the very magically talented ebony dragons with their black scales and the agile mountain dragons with their light green scales.
He also learned about the growth stages of dragons. Dragons would go from hatchling, to juvenile, to adult, to elder and then finally to ancient. Dragons could live forever once they reached the ancient stage. However, as a dragon grew from one stage to the next, it became increasingly hard to survive the transformation the larger one was. Because of that, copper dragon ancients never occurred because of their huge size.
When growing to the next stage, a dragon would enter a sleep lasting up to several years. The time of the sleep varied from dragon to dragon, but most hatchlings entered the sleep at the age of ten and juveniles at the age of fifty. Adults would normally enter at the age of 200 and elders at the age of 1000.
Ithil also learned that although most dragons lived in solitude, there were some dragon cities with inhabitants in the thousands. The largest of them was called Cliffside, and was located on a large cliff side.
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“Now then, magic is the art of bending reality to do what you want. Most intelligent species are capable of this, however to a limited degree. Dragons have a very high affinity with magic, and uses it as a main form of combat. There are some individuals of weaker species that have studied magic to the point of competing with dragons, but those are extremely rare cases and I’ve personally only met one.”
Ithil was on his and his siblings first magic lesson. He knew some of it from the given knowledge, but not enough. Therefore his father was teaching him.
“The stronger ones mind is, the more complicated forms of magic one can use. In order to strengthen ones mind, most do it by years of practice. We dragons also strengthen our minds naturally as we grow older, however at a slower pace. One is also born with an affinity for magic. The higher affinity, the better. What were going to do the coming weeks is test your affinities.”
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Ithil was surprised to hear this.
‘I get to start practicing magic when I’m this young?’
Excitingly bouncing up and down together with his siblings, he asked.
“When do we start?!”
Ithil’s father looked at them, seemingly amused.
“We can start now, but you first have to let me tell you how.”
Ithil realized he had been to eager, and shrunk back a bit in shame. However that didn’t last long, as his father started explaining.
“The first step is to sense the magic around you. Its hard to affect it if you can’t see it. This is easier to do when you have you eyes closed. You will be able to do it with open eyes as you grow older.”
Ithil closed his eyes. He tried to see something through the void before him, but to no success.
“How do I sense it?”
His father put on a thoughtful expression.
“Try touching everything around you, but not with your body, with your mind.”
Ithil tried to touch everything instead of looking. He felt something faint. The more he tried, the less faint it grew. After a while, he could see a net resting over everything. It was swaying and constantly changing. Sometimes, faint waves would ripple through it as if something had used magic nearby.
“I can see something,” Ithil’s sister Nadra spoke excitedly.
“Me too,” Ithil said.
Their father nodded proudly. A little while later, Ithil’s brother Visil had seen it as well.
“Now then, move then net with your mind. It only has to move a little bit. I will watch to see how much you can affect it.”
When Ithil tried this, however, nothing happened. His siblings managed to do it, with his sister being the most proficient. But no matter how hard Ithil tried, it didn’t work.
A month later his siblings were able to cast their first spell, one that created a faint glow in their palms. But Ithil still couldn’t do anything.
“This is quite concerning, I’ve never heard of anything like this. All dragons have some sort of affinity with magic, but you appear have none.”
His father was speaking with Ithil when the others were asleep. Ithil sat with his head drooping, not wanting to look his father in the eyes. He felt so disappointed in himself.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
“No, no. You just have to find your own way. The problem is I can’t guide you since I only know magic.”
Ithil felt a little better hearing that, but still far from good. He went to sleep shortly after, feeling anxious about his future.
During his sleep, he had a strange dream. He was strong, very strong. He could swipe down mountains, he could blow away forests. But the strange thing was that he didn’t use magic. When he woke up together with his sibling, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Then, he came up with an idea.
‘If I can’t make my magic stronger, I just have to make everything else stronger!’
Seeing his excited face, his father walked up to him.
“Did you figure something out?”