Spoiler :
I know I have probably lost most of my credibility by this point but, believe it or not this is the very last chapter of brother in an egg. I am not sure yet if he will narrate again but there will be a few "side stories" and then we will get back to the sister and hopefully finally some real action :D
I will now mention something, just in case of the unlikely event you did not notice, this fic is a work in progress a slightly polished rough draft, I consider it very far from being actually readable so congrats to those who actually read it ;), I admire you really...now to get to the point, I have been planning to start editing of this fic from the very beginning and attempt to make it at least "readable".
In addition I actually have someone who volunteered to help me with the edits. Though I don't know how or if this is going to work out, but since I will enter winter break soon, there is at least a chance, because I will at least some real free time available to get some work done.
Anyway, here is some nice artwork done by that 'prospective' editor I mentioned Fireraven
http%3a%2f%2fi238.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fff171...g.png.jpeg [http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff171/frostypinekng/egg.png.jpeg]
Rising Rush and Descending Doldrums
(Brother)
After I had finished explaining to sister all that I had experienced, she was silent for a moment then said.
“…eh it actually affected you that much? That is kind of surprising I didn’t even notice…”
I was a bit happy that my actions hadn’t affected her anywhere near as much as I fear but I still wanted answers so I remained silent and waited, and as expected she soon answered me.
“Well…the best way to describe it would be to call it growing pains I guess?”
“Growing pains?” I asked intrigued.
“Yes, according to my research it is a burden for the majority of our race, and a great number of our species. I suspect that most dragons go through it at least one time in their lives.”
She paused for a moment before asking.
“The ‘problems’ started when you ranked up right?”
“Now that I think about it, yes that was indeed the beginning of it all…”
“Well it is much more likely to happen when one ranks up, especially if you are also young. Another probability increasing factor is if the rank up happens during a level up to a number that is considered a milestone. If you don’t rank up during when you meet the milestone it can still happen. Also being afflicted during a mere level up can also happen but it is less likely”
I didn’t like the thought, I mean it is easy for me to level up in fact it happens all the time, if the affliction only happened during the much more rare rank up, it would be bearable, but if I started to return to that strange behavior any time I level up, that would be bad to say the least.
“Don’t worry about it, the effect happening during leveling is said to be rare and when it does happen the side effects are usually only to a much lesser degree.”
She hurried to reassure me.
She went on to say that, side effects like increased self-assurance or arrogance were common as well as feeling indestructible and reckless. Some of the more major rarer but more severe symptoms included delusions of grandeur, egomania and feelings of apathy towards all others but oneself.
Hearing that list I felt quite a bit better because the others including Sister didn’t even really seem to notice any my changes so they must have been much more minor then I had made them out to be.
As Sister had mentioned to me before that she had ranked up multiple times in the past, I asked out of curiosity.
“Did this er ever effect you?”
“Well ‘it’ is usually referred to ‘Rising Rush’…and as far as I know I have never really been effected much by it…”
Some of my happiness deflated at those words but I continued on regardless.
“Not even once?” I asked.
“Well I am not really sure why, but it seems probably not. Occasionally I would feel a brief hint of the feeling of indestructibility but it would quickly pass, and I don’t think I have ever felt any form of recklessness or even a hint of unintended arrogance at least, at least definitely not anywhere near the extreme side like I heard others getting…”
She seemed to be lost in her memories.
“…anyway I was wondering are you sure that you got the ‘Rising Rush’? I mean I didn’t really notice that you had it…
“I am sure.” I uncomfortably admitted
Hearing my reply she immediately came up with a theory.
“Maybe if I am immune, perhaps you are resistant? It would make sense we are siblings after all…”
This made me happy until she went on to say.
“While never really got the Rising Rush I did always at least somewhat get the second part of the illness…the ‘Descending Doldrums’.”
Hearing this I realized that I had also experienced the ‘Descending Doldrums’ for myself, it was when the shock happened and I started to sober out of the giddy feelings that had produced by the Rising Rush.
Hearing her admit some of her failings got me to thinking about her a little more deeply then I usually did.
If she was really as all-knowing as I had misled myself into thinking she was, she would have known about my ‘Rising Rush’ situation and knowing her she probably would have immediately taken preventive measures to negate or at least lessen the effects of what would happen to me.
And during the time she was lost to us she told me it was because some wyvern like human creatures that she had been fond of died. She had also recently ranked up so there was also the possibility that the downers had something to do with what happened to her but still.
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Even though undeniably she had all that ‘power’ she still couldn’t manage to save herself, so in reality she wasn’t all knowing and she wasn’t all powerful either.
Though she did have awe inducing strength that was to be admired, and had a maturity beyond all of our years that we respected as seniority despite our ages. She was absolute far from perfection, and was just as fallible as the rest of us.
Then I had another realization. If she fell so far down from the deaths of a few wyvern that she liked what would happen if lost one of us?
I had always thought her desire to shield us from everything was overprotective and excessive but now I am having second thoughts on that premise I may even have to reverse my stance.
Wanting to understand better her feelings I got her to speak of her reasons of delaying hatching as well as the preparation I had once found so pointless.
And I learned of the wisdom of weakness, and how one must prepare the way for those greater then oneself. Sister didn’t say it explicitly but despite my prompts she did not deny it either. I now believed that she had been planning her own mission all along and it was the real reason she had been putting off hatching and insisting that we ‘prepare’.
I then got all of my main group together and shared with them some of my experiences with ‘Rising Rush’ as well as about my thoughts on Sisters fallibility and my suspicions of her vulnerability which was losing one of us.
I also discussed with them just how we would prepare in the future. Exactly how we would prepare the way. First of all was the concern of equality. While not all of us were of the same level and I don’t mean just in the literal sense but also in what few skills we could have as well is in their learning speed.
As things have been going so far, it looked like we were to have two sections one with speed and strength in most stats, which was basically my group and those close to our level. And the other group which would contain almost everybody else with the exceptions of a promising few who seemed like it was only a matter of time.
We were thinking about adding the promising ones to our group, and giving them additional attention to make up for whatever lack was keeping them from quickly belonging to the first group.
Then while we were discussing this. The idea of additional attention giving results was then talked about in more detail and we wonder if it would work with others besides the promising candidates.
We also thought about things the situation further and wondered whether continuing in this way would be the best choice.
As I have seen with those that continue to play games or dance, or get lessons on the sly, they all showed more results, even if they were of the slow growth type.
What if we then showed everyone this additional attention and encouraged them to get lessons. Rather than continuing to expect the slow ones to be able to keep up with the fast ones, wouldn’t it be better if we instead let them go at their own speed?
Thinking that we might have good idea here I asked Sister who had been unusually available since her return.
She agreed with me and also gave a nice proverb in advice.
“We are only as strong as our weakest link”
Before participating in the dance of minds I proudly wouldn’t have understood this anywhere near as well as I do after that beautiful experience, and I could somewhat understand.
When one is part of group if someone makes a mistake or is exploited then we all are mistaken or exploited. So in conclusion, we would continue the preparations even though some of us felt quite ready, and we would wait.
We would wait until all of us, instead of just some of us, knew at least the bare minimum of information and skills Sister felt was required and also had at least the first rank up in power. Of course though it wasn’t required having higher rank and more power would be better.
Even though we knew that having and meeting such requirements would take much longer then if we had just gone without any preparation all of us if not in total agreement with the plan at least accepted it, and although we lacked in speed, the fact that our overall quality greatly improved made up for it.
We stuck to the plan even after a certain time period more unhatched were suddenly added to our number and our speed decreased even more, as we had to wait for the new ones consciousness’s to awaken and then for them to mature enough that we could teach them.
There were not more siblings this time but there were a few comparable to those in my group and they quickly ranked up when they gained reason and learned from us. However it didn’t even take long for even the ‘average’ and ‘untalented’ to rank up as well. For with us experienced ones and their talented peers to help them it was almost as good, then if they were talented to begin with
During this slow period, my group made another decision. Instead of our old plan of just picking out from the others ones we felt were ‘better’ to choose who would be part of our group. Instead other than a few exceptions we would just see who would be brave and desiring enough to be a part of our group to ask.
so first some, then a large amount then most of the majority and finally all of us had ranked up at least once, and met at least most of the other requirements.
I myself had managed to rank up an additional time and Peeper the rest of my siblings and a few of the others in my group also managed to do the same.
After we met our goal we still didn’t rush to leave immediately but took some time to insure that we had all acclimatized to our new strengths and those of us that suffered ‘Rising Rush’ or ‘Descending Doldrums’ had completely gotten over our illnesses.
Then finally we were really ready. Finally we would hatch.
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P.S. My apologies for my indicates hopefully I will be able to do better in the future. I tell myself just so long as I don't give up then anything is acceptable even though they reveal just how weak my meager writing skills are...