I stood not in the ruins in which I was, but on a large lake which the top of which had frozen, with thunder crackling in the sky, with wind benign restless. In front of me stood the sources of all of this. A fairly smaller dragon, which had deep ocean blue scales, with the tips of their feet, tail and wings were frosted like they were frozen. I did notice a fair bit of green streaking across his back, and a bit of yellow, almost golden light ones near his eyes. He has quite the formidable and demanding presence which demands respect.
“If I may ask, where are we? Mr Cataegis.” I asked.
“You must be really young to ask such a thing. You are within my remaining soul space.” he clarified.
Soul space, if I recalled correctly the soul space, is what's within a dragon to hold and manifest one’s powers. If this is his soul space, then the powers he holds is much greater than mine. Not to also notice that this dragon yields not just water mana, but two others. One being rumored as the most unstable. All of this was impressive, with a little silly title as “The Great Storm” he is very much a mighty dragon.
“Forgive me, I am sorry. It has been some time since I have seen or talked to another dragon. I was surprised that any remnants of a dragon is so close to the void.” I commented.
“Yes, even I got stuck here. I thought I was the strongest there was. I thought the void was beatable. What a fool I was then. Though I see I am not alone in my mistake.” He grumbled at the end.
I lowered my eyes, knowing he was right. I was blinded by my curiosity and pride. I thought even if I accidently ventured too close I would have been able to escape, but doing so was far beyond my capability.
“I was drawn by curiosity, Mr Cataegis. I have been very lonely, I am glad I have found another dragon to converse with after all of this time.” I said, unable to help myself from smiling.
Even in his demanding presence, I couldn't help but feel relieved at having a conversation with a dragon. Hickory is nice company, and I really do enjoy spending time with him, but having a conversation with another dragon. It's completely different. I whipped the tear that had formed.
“You must be one lonely dragoness. There have been no dragons or gods on this planet for a very long time.” He commented.
“You are right. I have found some company in a mortal, but I have very much missed having company with another dragon.” I replied, with a grateful bow.
“Lost. You can drop the formalities. Just call me Cataegis. No need for bowing either. I am actually glad you're here, but you are weak and unknowledged for your age.” He told me.
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I nodded, he was right. I remembered dragons back home being much stronger than I am now. I would not be living up to mom’s expectations being so weak. I need to be stronger.
“Cataegis, if it is not too much for me to ask such a great dragon as you. May you teach me to be stronger?” I asked him.
I looked him in the eyes, I was serious. This is the only other dragon I can talk to. He may be dead, but he still has knowledge and strength for now. I really want to get stronger. If I run into any more shades, or monsters. I want to be useful.
“Yes, but you must be serious about getting stronger. I will not accept any complacency. You also can't stay in my soul space forever. You will come here, I will show you what to train in, then I will let you go, only when I think you are ready, I will bestow a gift onto you.” He told me.
“A gift?” I asked, confused.
“You will find out if you get strong enough. Today, you will show me what you already know and are capable of. I will surrender control of mana to you so you can come at me with all you have.” He told me, and as he finished I felt mana released from his control for me to use.
Taking control and gathering the mana to me, I try to think about what I should use. I am not sure what he might respond with, so my best attempts at starting a fight might be trying to eliminate mobility, or visibility I think. We both control water, with specialties in ice, so anything I might do he might already have responses for, but this is not what I need to think about. He wants me to go all out against him.
I call forth several spheres of water, and hurl them at him as I charge him, hoping that I might put pressure on the smaller with being much bigger than him. I stopped the water on the other side of him and splashed him from behind and froze his feet to the ground. I turned and flicked my tail at him trying to slam my tail into him.
Suddenly my tail slams into ice. As Cataegis made a wall of ice to protect himself, and stop my tail. I yelp at the pain from how hard the ice was. I recoiled and retreated. I expected he was going to defend himself, but this seemed too easy. Afterwards I retreated and looked the situation over. He didn't do anything more.
“Well, if you're hunting an animal, that might have worked. You do not have much experience with fighting something which can fight back do you?” He asked me.
“No, I don't really have too much. The only fights I had been in were one shade, I think it was weaker than me, but it had more experience. I only barely won the first. I have learned a few tactics, but I learned that freezing feet in place can distract people for a bit.” I admitted.
“I see, well we have a lot of work to do.” Cataegis said.