CHAPTER 1 - IS IT A BIRTHRIGHT IF YOU ARE HATCHED?

The kaleidoscope of lights swirled around him. He was only vaguely aware that he must have passed on and that this was the beginning of his new life. Time passed, along with the colourful lights came understanding. The complete knowledge of mana filled his mind.

Suddenly there was intense Darkness. He felt as though he had just had the best sleep of his life. As he stretched his body he heard cracking before he tumbled across the floor.

"Did I just come out of a shell?"

Hearing his own voice made him pause.

"Babies can't talk, I'm not speaking English."

Quickly realising that he was no longer human he cast his first spell.

Light!

A bright light flooded up above his clawed hand.

"Claws?"

Now, more than a little surprised, he cast his second spell.

Refraction!

The air quickly cooled, thickened and coalesced into a perfect mirror floating above the ground.

The wide-eyed reflection looking back at himself was a baby black Dragon.

"Should I have specified being reincarnated as a human?" An answer to his own question quickly came into his mind.

'As a Dragon Lord I can change into anything this is a much better choice.' He paused again. How did he know that about Dragons? How did he know this new language he was speaking was Draconian.

‘DRAGON LORE.’

Once again information flooded his mind, the information was genetic. The birthright of every Dragon… 'Is it a birthright if you are hatched? Hatchright?'

“That doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

Browsing through this new knowledge some information he gained amazed him.

‘Dragon’s are horrible parents.’ he thought. The reason such a thought crossed his mind was the certainty that every few centuries all Dragon Lords would go into heat and breed some female creature. The result would always be a Dragon egg. The bad parenting came in with how that egg was treated. Since all Dragons are male the Dragon father would put the egg in a cave on a mountain with small mound of gold coins to hatch and fend for itself. Their parenting duties fulfilled. They didn't even bother to give their offspring a name.

"Shee-it, I'm going to have to name myself."

After deliberating for a few hours, he was seriously tempted to go with 'Vermithrax Pejorative' the coolest name he had ever heard for a Dragon but decided to be original instead, his conclusion was 'Roeg-Hiam’. The old language for a ‘moonless night’. His scales were an endless black with flecks of light like a starry sky so it was a suitable name. It was now his name.

Reog-Hiam spent some time getting used to his new body, wings, tail and a pair of stylish horns Roeg-Hiam decided he was rather handsome.

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Once he was done with that, Roe started looking around the cave. A pile of gold coins was in the centre along with the black shards of his broken shell. Sadly he didn’t know how much any of it was worth, The Dragon Lore in his mind gave him the history of Dragonkind but not much else. Political climates, economical infrastructures, even geographic details were missing but when your Lore includes how to survive in space and travel at faster than light speeds maybe everything else becomes trivial.

“I guess I just better go exploring.” Roe looked at the pile of valuables, all he owned in the world and dropped them into a ‘Spatial Pocket’. That way he could bring everything with him in a secure manner. Scanning the cave once more to ensure there was nothing he missed he headed out of the cave and into the light.

As he stepped out of the cave Roe immediately stopped. He was being watched. Stepping back into the cave and those eyes couldn't see him anymore but exiting brought them back.

Dragon Lore:

The Gods see all and disseminate that information to their followers as they see fit. Fortunately Dragon Lords have a way to deal with this.

An instinctual pulse of energy spread out from his body.

'Unhindered!'

Although it was Invisible, Roe felt the eyes go away.

Dragon Lore:

'Dragon Rule 4- Unhindered' nothing may scry within a kilometer diameter of a Dragon Lord.

'Good, now unless a God was willing to physically materialise there was no way to find out what I am up to.’

Dragon Lore:

Any God materializing in front of a Dragon Lord unannounced is most likely an adversary.

Roe sat down.

‘Did my Dragon Lore imply I could fight a God?

…

No not me, a Dragon Lord.

…

What in tarnation is a Dragon Lord?'

Dragon Lore:

Dragons are born feral and slowly accumulate Mana during their first millennium. Only after holding enough mana does a Dragon gain sentience, with sentience comes access to their Dragon Lore, within Dragon Lore is the magic system known as DRAGON RULE. Only those who have survived this trial are Dragon Lords.

'I'm totally scamming the system.' Roe thought. His memories from his last life allowed him to be self aware and though he had very little Mana his absolute knowledge allowed him to use his little and control the plenty in the atmosphere as if it were his own.

'This won't fool another dragon or a God who gets a really good look at me, therefore I need to build my Mana reserve now.’

Roe took in his environment, the cave he was in was cut into a sheer cliff face. Miles below him the frozen mountains gave way to a forest. To his right a vast landscape, from his vantage Point he could see Rivers, lakes, other mountains and even settlements. To his left he could see the shoreline a few miles away as well as a few sailing vessels dotting the ocean.

Roe quickly made up his mind and took flight toward the sea.

Flying came so naturally to him that it only crossed his mind what he was doing after he had already started it. He decided not to think too much about it since his Instincts were serving him well.

'Dragon rule 3: Unseen.'

The rule of true invisibility. Now no one would see his passing.

What Roe needed to focus on was building his Mana supply. Pulling in energy and making it his own was easy for Roe but he needed to find a way to do it that was not eye-catching. If he pulled it in from the sun he would create a beam of light that could be seen from miles. If he pulled the energy from the earth, the mountain he was on would crumble to dust and the forest below him would wither and die. Finding an active volcano would take too much time. No, the ocean was his best choice.