-Sundown. Forest - Nefiru's POV-

After running towards the forest for some time with the mana crystals under my tongue, I reached the tree line and slowed down my pace before finding the road that leads towards our camp made with tree logs. Because the forest lack caves big enough to accommodate our size, we are building a U-shaped fortress by stacking 10 meter long trees horizontally between others not harmed to provide support as columns. The thin rain continues to fall as I arrive at the two mountains of dark gray scales slightly moving with their slow breathing which denotes their inactivity. I stealthy approached Raiga in the right corner while being careful not to interrupt their light nap, and bit down her tail acting as a dam accumulating water.

"GHUAA!!?" Sister woke up alarmed and stood up as tall as three meters to her back while pulling her tail.

"I'm hungry," I stated over the collar causing the dragoness to roll her eyes imitating my previous expressions. "Hey, don't you roll your eyes at me!" I retorted at her behavior.

...I haven't learned much about what they think because of the communication barrier since Raiga has yet to initiate the collar scan on her own. However, unlike me who was alone back in the pen, she's blessed to qualify as a Magician, and have me as an instructor that even guide her with my magic, but there is still Spirit clash between us... I affirmed how lucky my sister is wondering when we'll be able to trust each other completely.

Still, she's going through the same pains I experienced when learning magic manipulation, and consciously move Spirit about to collect mana, then use the core on her chest while brother, on the other hand, is still trying from the vague things she tells him. I review my siblings progress while recalling those times of frustration.

Ahh... Those incredibly frustrating moments when losing the hard-to-find feeling then start searching all over again for the sensation while others times it suddenly stopped without realizing that Magic was lost after becoming unstable forcing it through the body. I called to mind the nostalgic moments.

"GRUWRL...brother." She grumbled recognizing me before yanking the tail out of my mouth and slapped me with it.

Ow... this ungrateful lizard acting submissive when it's convenient. I glare at the dragoness lying back down with a sloshing sound.

It took effort learning the basic dragon tongue from the growls my siblings, mainly because as a former person with the brain wired to understand all human language, one would expect familiar vocals in a particular frequency range.

Ugh, I think dragon language would be a lot easier without memories of human language since it feels like the equivalent of Chinese writing but in sounds. The frequencies are greater with growls and grunts that can mean more than one thing, depending what goes before or follows, but the basics are pretty straight forward. I analyze the language that will take great understanding or practice when combining pronunciation to mean something complicated.

"GHUO?" Brother Reylus waked up as well and lifted his head from the mud blinking his eyes still sleepy.

After managing to communicate with Sister with the collar, I found out they did not recognize me which was to be expected considering the change in size, color, and the inability to remember my scent from the time at the toxic volcano crater. However, our relationship has improved since they became aware I was their little brother, but their reactions were dull as if justified to be a normal behavior which earned them electrocutions until the two lizards somewhat compromised in feeling a little sorry.

"Brother... " Reylus greeted before getting up, causing the water to rush towards the hole created by him. "Fight?" He requested a mock battle with his imposing height reaching a foot past three meters.

These two siblings of mine are simple creatures... He just woke up and wants to challenge me for dominance while sister shows no interest and lays low eating or practicing magic. I appraise my siblings behavior.

Well, it's a good thing Raiga showed interest in magic and finds it frustrating not being able to send her thoughts back to me or it would be a pain making her use that collar without the brainwash function. I affirmed sister's curiosity of magic.

They didn't spend enough time with our parents to learn more than the basics considering only our mother ever did anything, but she wasn't much in the crater either... I realize the importance to find a mature dragon to teach us the rest of the language.

I turn to look at the lizard expecting a fight after waking up and wondering when we will trust each other completely gave my reply.

"Hungry," I amswered shaking my head at the taller lizard.

Nevertheless, I'm still learning things observing my siblings since such opportunity has not come before, considering I have yet to visit the town or know any other low-rank individual. I recall the probes on the siblings.

The Spirit tends to stay inside the body by itself, but the magic can wander outside if the soul is strong enough and brother's magic which is barely higher than ambient, barely shows outside his body as a thin film. Well, I guess anyone capable of manipulating magic can become a magician, but it would be difficult to do any harm or collect ambient mana if Spirit can only extend to an inch of the body. I conclude the difference between the siblings raising my head to the dark gray sky assuming the rain will stop around nightfall.

"Hunt?" He suggested after stretching his body like some old dog who slept too long.

"Snake," I inform our prey of choice for the humid evening.

I imagine from the point of view of flying dragons, hunting wolves is easier than snakes, but for us... this is the perfect day to hunt snakes because they become sluggish in the cold and after finding them up in the wet trees, I just need to electrocute it while brother chases. I recall our hunt method as the two us start to walk out the exit facing west before my body was jerked to a stop while a sharp pain was felt at the end of my tail.

Noticing my sudden stop Reylus turned out as well, and we found our sister biting my tail to keep me from leaving.

"GRR!" I growled enduring the pain until she let go of my tail throbbing with pain.

I waited for the dragoness to explain why she mistreated my tail in such a way while inspecting the damage.

"Stay. I talk." Raiga requested with resolve in her eyes to make the collar work.

"Okay." I conceded lying down on the dirt before brother followed imitating my actions. "Geez, why can't you be gentler and give me a hug or something... we'll leave without you if you take too long this time." I rebuked watching the damaged scales.

Sister got up and approached me until she was on top of my body.

What are you-- oh crap. I watch Raiga's underside approach my head as she slumped down over me. 

"Ooof!" I grunted as my body is pressed with her weight making me sink into the ground. "This... is not what I meant by a hug.... Okay, we'll wait, so get your ass out of my face." I yield to her tantrum considering the effort she's making with magic manipulation.

Raiga got off after punishing me for making light of her efforts, and walked backward, then slumped down facing me before closing her black eyes.

Oh yeah! I forgot the mana crystal bottle in my mouth. I spew out the container to the mud in front of the dragon, catching her attention.

"Place your head on top of that shiny thing with care not to break it, and practice magic to your heart's content," I instruct the dragoness who looked at the object dubious. "It's mana crystals I got from the humans and it's very precious that not even starving for days compare, or all the snakes we hunted together." I compare the value with food examples.

After a moment processing the meaning, she opened her eyes wide and did as instructed

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Brother, fight," I informed Reylus who perked up his ears lifting his neck off the ground.

...It's a struggle to say names with growls, so we just call sibling definitions. I affirmed walking out of our dwelling until we reach a round clearance of trees we toppled.

We circle each other counter clockwise while thin rainfall accompanies the sound of footsteps, and howls in the distance, then stop...

""GHRUOAAAH!"" We roared in battle stance before rushing to intercept the middle.

I'm actually stronger than him because of magic, but he is bigger, heavier, with more prominent teeth and claws... I determined approaching the other lizard.

Right before crashing our bodies, I took a turn to the right then lowered my front while aiming a bite at his incoming neck from below, but his left paw intercepted my open jaws before it connected.

"GHA!" I uttered from being slapped away with enough force to make the vision of trees spin briefly.

Having lost the first hit, and knowing his jaw would come next, I twisted my body to go on the defensive while whipping my tail clockwise calculating where his head would be.

"GRR..." He growled after the blue tail smacked him into missing his bite.

Without stopping to recover, I aim for his left side, but he tilts his body dodging to his right before trying to bite my left hind leg and step over my tail with his right front paw. Seeing the open maw approaching my rear, I crouched my body in a hurry making him snap and graze my scales, then I shoot up my lower body with enough force to smack his head upwards. Not done with the gray lizard, and landing my body, I whipped my tail once more to make his head lose sight of me while sneaking behind him, then lifted my front while preparing my right claws to rip his upper thighs.

"GHU?" He panicked watching my body lowering with enough force to cause severe injuries.

He quickly moved in the nick of time before... "THOOM!... splash..." My right paw sank a foot into the ground splashing muddy water in every direction and creating a crater with a paw-print below.

Reylus positioned himself to face me before jumping my direction using his large frame to overwhelm me, but instead of dodging this time, I ducked, and pushed his rear up using his momentum. The lizard flipped in the air and the forelegs couldn't provide stable foothold causing him to land in the front of his body while the rear was high up in the sky.

"THUMP...Fwoooh." His body landed neck-first before sliding on the mud for over a meter before the hind legs touched ground.

"WRHUUu..." He complained while getting up with his chest painted black with mud.

The tip of his tail is not a sharp arrow tip like mine or thin aerodynamic blades like sister's, and it is thicker than ours with spikes in the upper side decreasing in size towards the end like a typical dragon, I suppose, but it's not a good idea to bite it since those thorns are hard. I stare at his unmoving tail on the ground thinking.

Not letting him recover, I merciless rush to the tip of his tail and grab it before pulling counter-clock wise around Reylus's body making him turn on the mud until his claws sank stopping me. The muddy dragon lashed towards my direction on his right side after acquiring a foothold while yanking the tail and exposing my curved neck to a free bite, but I let go then met his incoming jaws with mines.

""GRRR..." The two of us growl like mad dogs trying to bite each other without getting bitten in turn.

The stalemate continued while moving our bodies to get an advantage, but after some time snapping our jaws without result, Sister's voice sounded in my head.

"Brother Nefiru..." Raiga transmits making me distracted which caused Reylus to latch on my neck from the left.

"GHRAA!" I cried out in pain hearing my scales crack as more pressure is applied on the bite with each passing moment and the fangs began to penetrate the flesh below.

I twisted my body and whipped my tail repeatedly at his head where the brain is closer until he let go.

"GRUHUO..." Reylus groaned shaking his head and blinking the eyes while staggering.

"Done." I declared the end of our fight while cleaning the puncture holes on my neck before cauterizing them with lightning. "Sister talk," I informed, and he nodded understanding before laying down.

"Congratulations. It looks like my explanations didn't go to waste." I praise her efforts walking closer to the border of the clearance where she dropped the bottle. "Though, it took you this long because you are dumb." I teased cleaning the jar in the grass before picking it up with my mouth.

"Don't call me dumb!" She complained latching onto my snout preventing me from opening my mouth.

"Yes, you pretend to be dumb. Your scent lingers there which means you interrupted our fight on purpose." I revealed her little scheme to let brother gain the upper hand.

"Uh... You are always causing us pain..." Raiga justified her actions letting go of me.

"Hmph! What about when we were little? I suffered a lot because of you two, and I wanted to eat you alive while hearing your screams, or I could have let the wolves eat you alive, then eat the wolves and your carcasses after." I declared with hatred in my eyes.

"But that..." She cringed under my glare. "You didn't let us identify you when you came out of your shell, and we thought you didn't want us or that you had some defect after taking so long to hatch. Then distanced yourself from us and even attacked me at night! I could have killed you in retaliation since that was my right as the strongest, but instead taught you a lesson, and if you wanted food, you should have just submitted to us instead of stealing." She explained her point of view lowering the head.

Sighs... I can't do anything right as a dragon. I didn't know such behavior, and my instincts were probably being suppressed. Well, it seems my intelligence and ego backfired on me again. I recall the ordeal following my birth before realizing how tye tables turned.

"The strong can rule the weak, but it's always wrong when it's the opposite, right?" I lift her head while scratching under with my claws which Raiga likes as she closes her eyes in pleasure.

"We tolerated you!" She suddenly opened her eyes protesting then turned away upset.

"Yes, yes, sorry I'm the evil brother," I remarked turning around. "Well, you guys were not the family I wanted either, but I probably didn't have a choice but to be born there, and everything turned out alright, so I will forgive you two in time," I announced walking over to Reylus. "Are you coming or going to stay and sulk?" I turn my head behind questioning the pondering dragon.

"Go?" Brother asks getting up.

I nodded, then we headed west.

"Coming!" Raiga said before catching up to me. "Brother... we didn't have an easy time after you left the nest either..." Raiga started a casual conversation next to me. "Father started taking our food and didn't bring water for us anymore, but Mother couldn't do anything, so eventually she got mad and left saying she did her part." She revealed the situation at the crater.

"I never agreed with the way our parents raised us. She should have brought us down here and teach us to hunt for ourselves instead of telling me to fight you two for food. Perhaps that's the safest method she knew, considering we were born in a dangerous place with strong predators all around us, and it would have worked if both parents cooperated, but she didn't improvise when it didn't." I condemn the bad parenting.

"But isn't that the way it is? The strong survive, and the weak obey or perish." Raiga declared the fact.

"Being strong is a momentary advantage since I was no match for either of you before, and now you are like newborns in my eyes..." I state their pathetically weak constitution without magic.

"GRHU..." She groaned. "How did you survive going down being younger than us when it was dangerous with our immature wings...? " She announced going silent when the talk about wings was brought up.

"I fell down, and my body was broken everywhere, then I ate every creature that tried to take a bite out of me to recover. After that, I ventured out to eat everything and grow, but was captured by humans when searching for an easier hunting ground, then learned Magic from the people I like." I recount the events after running from Home.

"Magic hard..." She grimaced. "I remember after you left, Mother was angry looking everywhere for you, but we didn't eat you or father, so she thought you left, and that turned out to be true..." The dragoness recalls those times.

"I see... I guess, she tried her best as a mother." We both agreed in being thankful to our green dragon parent. "Anyway magic is hard at first because you have to understand how it works, but it gets easier once you reach Rank 1, then you'll change the color of your scales, and become an adult dragon. Though I don't recommend staying around Father's territory by then, go south beyond human towns." I explain the progress of magic once more.

"What about brother... Reylus?" Sister inquired about our big brother who walks next to us oblivious of our mental conversation.

"He doesn't qualify to become a magician yet, and he needs to grow more before he can manipulate Magic to become an Auramancer first, but he'll need a human teacher for that." I explain the situation about our brother.

"The human who put this collar on me? What about the other scents on your body?" Raiga asks about the people she knows.

"Ah... That's my companion... She's a small white human. And her relative can heal your wing, but we are still looking for that person." I announced looking at her tied up wing.

"You said that before..." Sister shook her head disapproving.

"It can't be helped. When it comes to humans, the ones with bad intentions always appear first while the people who help will do so later, but the black being from before is a trustworthy person that will aid you in times of need. I said before that you are something humans want and eventually they will find you, but you will regret it if you start flying about without the strength to defend from them." I define the types of humans she'll encounter.

"Hmph! They look weak and tiny." She uttered in contempt with the misconception of the darkness user who never fights back.

"The wolves are weak too, and yet you two almost died to weak little wolves who were toying with you!" I retorted hitting where it hurts.

"WRUGH." She groaned recalling their first adventure out of the volcano making Reylus look at her strangely.

"I won't always be here to help, so you need to learn Magic as soon as possible. You seem a lot like Mother, so you might get the same Wind affinity as her, and that will help you survive. Also, if a magic beast probe your body with their Magic, then run with all you have since apparently high ranking magic beasts don't fear spirit clash, and one of those can kill you on the spot." I emphasized once more the importance of magic.

"Oh... So, the same magic as the snakes... Yes, I would like to run fast too." She nodded recalling how slippery wind snakes are to catch.

We ventured into snake grounds and split up at a visual distance from each other sniffing for prey until Reylus stood still looking up. Having teaching them to mask our scent and identify the rank of the enemy by the intensity of their smell, I noticed he found a dangerous one; then I signaled Sister on my left and we stealthy headed towards brother on the north without making too much noise.