Dazed, Alexander stared at the Turtle Saint’s retreating figure. Her pink hair gently flowed in the wind as she floated leisurely up the waterfall. Pengu was at ease within her grasp, no doubt under some measure of her calming magic.
Sometimes all you need is a magical encounter with a spiritual turtle, I guess. I didn’t even know I was still holding on to all those memories. It’s a completely different viewpoint when your whole life is played before your eyes like a movie. Laying in the grass, Alexander spent a few minutes thinking about his parents and his early life. He felt anger, betrayal and, lastly, disappointment. Would my parents even be proud of me if they saw what I’ve become. I’m an Elementalist who can’t even use normal fire… But I do have someone proud of me. Someone more important to me than anyone else. It was nice seeing the old man again, even if it was in a memory of the past. Allowing himself to relish in the memory of the doctor, sadness from missing him slowly encroached upon Alexander.
Not willing to dwell on the memories he was forced to relive any longer, Alexander poured his attention into analyzing his supposed training grounds. Water poured down the cliff into a deep pond. The borders of the pond were created by an artificial outcropping of stones. Did the turtles move those into some kind of formation? The rocks are uneven, but there’s no way they just happened to be placed that way naturally.
Beyond the edges of the pond, a field of blue false indigo flowers gave the area some color. Around the tall flowers, pastures filled with grazing farm animals extended for miles with the occasional turtle playing with them. Is that turtle riding a horse? I wonder if the clan has a cavalry…
Turning his attention back to the pond, Alexander peered in. The water was translucent, and similar to Nidra’s lake, there was not a single fish within its depths. Something did catch Alexander’s attention, though. A glint of color emerged beneath the foam where the waterfall struck the pond. It looked like a stone tablet was submerged in the water.
Alexander took off his black training shirt and dove into the pond. Swimming under the drumming water, he hesitated but decided to open his eyes to further inspect the tablet. Surprisingly, his eyes felt totally normal, as if he wasn’t even underwater. Amazed by the pond’s magic, he eagerly used his newfound sight to look at the tablet.
It was formed from a sedimentary rock with foreign markings sprawled all over it. The symbols glowed brightly with an indigo hue, the culprit of the earlier glint Alexander had spotted. Raptured by the mysterious markings, Alexander pressed his hand against the stone and was hit by a harmless blast of mana.
Pushed several feet back, he drew a breath in the surface before returning to investigate the rock. The tablet seemed to open up like double doors, sucking him into a different world. Alexander felt like he was falling down a never ending hole. It didn’t look like he was moving. He was trapped within a dark room so his surroundings always looked the same, but his brain let him know he was indubitably falling down. Suddenly, the darkness ended, and he came to a halt in the skies over a river. He saw Pengu standing on a rock in the raging river, but the small chick had grown. Shedding the brown down feathers, she now had a white and black plumage with small hints of orange around her head. She was much taller, reaching Pola’s height.
The most shocking change, though, was a wheel of flame revolving around the penguin. Waving her flippers, flaming blades burst out into the river. The searing temperature of her strikes evaporated the water, raising a cloud of mist around her. Pengu roared in excitement which released a blast of fire out of her mouth. She tilted her beak back and forth as she reveled in the power of the flames, but the flames slowly turned into wisps before ending entirely.
It was when she started moving that Alexander noticed there was someone beside the glorious penguin. He saw himself meditating behind the penguin. When Alexander laid eyes on the copy of himself from the vision, the copy opened his eyes. Within them, Alexander saw an indigo flame burning brightly. The copy’s lips moved but no sound left them. Instead, a voice entered Alexander’s mind. The white flame is the ending of the journey of fire. You have reached the peak of the mountain without even knowing you were climbing, but that brings with it a certain advantage when learning the rest of the colors. All you need to do is work backwards from the white flame. The 9-colored flame has already configured your body to be able to understand every color, and in Pengu, you have a reliable partner who you know and trust highly. These are the only two prerequisites for learning the meaning of indigo.
The Alexander within the vision stood up and approached Pengu with his hands enveloped in a blaze of white flame. Focus your intent on empowering your partner rather than healing them, similar to how you changed the properties of the spell to give Thomas mana. The white flames slowly morphed to an indigo flame as he placed his hands over Pengu’s back. The penguin erupted with a powerful fire once more. Come here next to me. I’ll teach you.
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Laying directly beneath a green waterfall, Thomas recalled his days in Kedra. He pondered over his actions and decisions, wondering what had led him to make the mistakes he had committed. The Turtle Saint had offered him much insight, but the one thing she pressed the most was the weakness of his mind.
The powerful water slamming against his back allowed him to clear his mind. Taking a deep breath, Thomas shouted at the top of his lungs. The sudden roar allowed him to release his pent up frustrations, but it also inadvertently scared several turtles who were meditating in the waters of the mind waterfall. “I’m so sorry! I just had a breakthrough and was celebrating.”
“Bugger off, you chump!”
“This is the mind waterfall, obviously it’s a quiet one. If you want to be barbaric and scream, why don’t you go visit the body waterfall or the destruction one.”
“You’re totally right. I was way out of line.”
“Hmph, at least the young have manners these days.”
Making his way out of the pond, Thomas wore a smile on his face. He had spent two days straight in meditation, but the results were evident. Reliving his life had allowed him to see how rash he had been as of late. At some point, his desire for strength had overpowered his logical mind. He was rash, reckless, and frankly, stupid. In a way, he had been like Kai back when he battled the pirates in the forest, but at least Kai had a decade’s worth of grudges. Thomas had endangered the group in situations that could have been dealt with peacefully all because of his haste to reach the dragon's ruins. Funnily enough, actually entering Mirage island hadn't made him any more patient.
Spending time in the mind waterfall had allowed him to recollect himself. There was no progress in the green color’s cultivation, but that wasn’t the Turtle Saint’s goal in sending him here. Facing his mistakes head on over and over again throughout the past two days had allowed him to grow as a person. I’m sorry, Alexander, Pengu, Kai, and Pola, but I promise I will be better now. I’ll be a reliable person you can depend on.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Thomas proceeded to walk along the perimeter of the hill until he reached the 8th waterfall, the king’s waterfall. Waiting beside the black watered pond was a familiar turtle.
Lorenzo, the 5-foot-tall turtle who had taken them to meet the Turtle Saint, floated slightly above the pond. From afar, it appeared as if he was standing on water. “Hoho, the Turtle Saint sent me a message that there was someone in need of my services. I didn’t expect the weak human I met earlier to be a walker of the King’s path. Not many succeed in taming the black color, kid. You sure you want to accept this challenge? I’m sure the Turtle Saint would offer you an alternative option if you were to decline this one. It is the hardest possible path in the first trial, after all.”
An aura of conviction emanated from Thomas. “No, sir. If this is the path that can provide me the strength to help my people, it is my duty to endure, no matter how difficult.”
“Very well. I like your attitude, kid. I hope you don’t crumble under the pressure.”
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Back under the oak tree atop the hill at the turtle’s land, the Turtle Saint planted Pengu above one of the roots. Closing her eyes, a powerful and regal aura spouted from her body. Psychic mana in the form of a pink gas continuously gushed out of her hands as it submerged the entire area beneath the tree in a fog. The Turtle Saint pressed her forehead against Pengu’s causing the fog to quickly compress into both of their bodies.
“Hello, little chick. My name is Dartuga, although most simply refer to me as the Turtle Saint. I am using a special application of mana to communicate with you in a way you can understand. It is my pleasure to welcome you into Nidra’s territory. To many this is a harrowing land of death. To others, it is a treasure trove of opportunity, but to you, well, you can think of this as a second home. As Nidra’s first commander, the duty to explain our history to those of our lineage falls on me, so allow me to recount the tale of our founding.
Centuries ago, special beasts like us were hunted to near extinction. The Aboriginal tribes captured our people and used them as fuel for their bloodlines since time immemorial, but the rise of the Sabians brought the apocalypse for our race. They banded with the ancient Aboriginal tribes as they realized they could use our body parts for materials in what those monsters called “science.”
Nidra was one of the first beasts to create a faction to protect the weak and lead the strong to fight back. It was a bloody feud, and to this day, a victor has never been settled. Winning or losing was never the outcome we sought, though. Driven by the sacrifices many of our comrades made, we were able to establish a peace of sorts. The island of Kedra, where your race resides, and Mirage Island, our little wonderland here, became havens for beasts. The occasional poaching happens sometimes, but overall, beasts of all kinds are able live and die as they please.
Many beasts worship Nidra and his late life partner for leading the beasts to one of their greatest accomplishments in Derapen, but that old buffoon has never accepted any of the praise. Instead, he spread the word of the true savior of the beasts of Kedra.
In the stories Nidra tells, it was a young King Penguin who first set him on the path to fight back against the tribes. This special penguin had forced himself to break away from the traditional growth of his race and dedicated his life to developing a way in which penguins like him could gain the firepower needed to defend themselves.
While Nidra traveled through the Dante Archipelago, he found the penguin engaging in guerrilla warfare against the tribes. Focusing wind and water mana into its flippers, the penguin became a feared swordsman. Our dragon king was quick to laugh at the penguin’s antics. He thought it ridiculous for one from a race widely known for their weakness in battle like the penguins to have become a fighter, but when one of the tribes captured Lord Nidra, it was this very penguin who saved him. From then on, Nidra partnered with the penguin and dedicated his life to freeing the beasts of the land from the tyranny of the Aboriginal tribes. Fighting hand in hand with the only beast he ever named his brother, Lord Nidra eventually reached the impasse we are at today. The legendary penguin, however, did not survive the final venture into mainland Derapen. In the same battle that took the life of Nidra’s partner, the King Penguin breathed his last.
Since then, Nidra has gone out of his way to offer power and protection to your kind. Most penguins are happy leading simple lives in the beaches and glaciers of the archipelago. Any who grow strong enough to learn to communicate deny Nidra’s offer to move here. In an effort to still keep the penguins safe, he named all King Penguins dragons, saying they were a special sibling of his kind.
I tell you this because I have already scanned through your mind and see what your choice will be. Come with me, little chick. I will make you so strong you will be able to protect Alexander and Thomas. Nidra has left me a special stash of treasures dedicated to any penguin who wants to follow in the footsteps of his old partner. Alexander is currently undergoing his own training. Why don’t we surprise him with your own growth?”
Pengu slowly opened her eyes. She looked a little confused, but she had understood the gist of what the Turtle Saint had said. Flapping her wings eagerly, she waddled off the root squawking.
“Wow, no way!”
“We get to train the baby dragon?”
“Dearest Goddess, Turtle Saint, it is an honor for the Turtbros to have been called to lead a dragon in training.”
Benson, Clyde, and Evan floated towards the Oak tree. Each now sported a black eye, evidencing the punishment Lorenzo had subjected them to.
Clacking his claws together, Clyde spoke. “However, I can’t help but wonder something.”
“What would that be, Clyde?”
“Thank you for asking, Evan. I just can’t imagine how much a dragon’s instructors would be paid.”
Benson jumped in. “Clyde, obviously we are doing this out of the grace of our hearts. Although I do seem to recall, the Turtle Saint has rejected our birthday list for the past 4 years.”
The trio shot a toothy grin at the Turtle Saint.
Turning back into her giant turtle form, she released her full aura as she bore down on the little turtles. “You dare haggle against your leader? Even when I put up with all your stupid antics? Need I remind you it was me who saved you three from being eaten by the polar bears when you set fire to their library?”
Bearing the full brunt of her aura, Benson answered slowly. “That… was… hardly… our… fault.”
Evan kindly added. “Accidents… happen… Chief.”
“WE LIVE IN A SWAMP, AND THEY LIVE IN IGLOOS! HOW WOULD YOU ACCIDENTALLY START A FIRE.” The entire hill shook under the anger of the Turtle Saint.
Stepping in as the mediator, Clyde attempted to salvage the situation. Holding up his claw he stated. “Worry… not, Saintess. We… do… not… ask… for… the… entirety… of… our… birthday… list.”
The Turtle Saint removed her aura as she prepared to listen to the Turtbro’s offer.
“Yeah, we don’t want a branch of the Pacifico’s life tree anymore.”
“That’s toooootally so 3 years ago.”
“All we want… is one of those stereo speakers the humans own.”
Exhaling in defeat, the Turtle Saint answered. “Fine, the reindeer tribe just came back with a shipment of Sabian goods after they annihilated some pirates attempting to traffic dolphins. I’ll gift you one from there.”
The trio laughed ecstatically.
“HAHAHAHA, we are gonna become stars, brothers!”
“You will never regret this decision, madam!”
“I promise to dedicate our very first song to you. We will let the world know it was you who jumpstarted our career!”
The Turtle Saint smacked her forehead. “Just… just train the little penguin well.”