Gerald turned as the branch broke. A creature that resembled a giant beetle charged him. It was half his size with a bright yellow carapace speckled with sporadic red dots. Such a creature would normally be visible a mile away but in the strange foliage of the mana forest it blended perfectly. He raised his spear and with a quick jab sunk it deep into the creatures open mandibles. It screeched in pain rearing back dislodging the spear. Gerald jabbed again and was joined by two other kin their own spears jabbing forward. The spears tips scrapped along the creature’s carapace doing no damage. Fatania dashed to its side, instead of attacking, she flipped the creature over. Again the spears descended. This time easily the tips easily punctured the soft underside. The beetle gave a death shudder before going still.
“That was fun,” Fatania said slapping Gerald on the back.
“You okay back there?” Azura called.
“Fine, just a bug,” Gerald replied.
“Got it. Everyone get a little closer we are spreading out too much,” Azura called loudly from the front. As Azura gathered up the group Gerald grabbed the beetle and dragged it behind him. Its carapace could be useful. Indeed others were carrying various kills of their own.
Gerald shook his head in wonder. Here he was walking in a mana forest killing mana beast like he did it every day. So much had changed it was unbelievable. If only they could have done this sooner, perhaps his pa would still be alive. Sighing he continued to guard the rear of the group when more snapping of branches came from his left.
“We got another,” Gerald called unconcerned.
“I thinks it is Tabatha’s turn,” Azura said as the group came to a stop yet again.
“I’ll do you proud master!” Tabatha called fetching a spear from a kin as she headed toward the back.
Tabatha readied herself next to Gerald. When the creature emerged she dropped her spear running back toward Azura.
“Spider!” Tabatha shrieked hiding behind Azura.
“Err, Gerald I’ll let you handle that one,” Azura said as she and Tabatha took several steps back.
Gerald sighed. Girls…
This is going smoothly. Besides that spider, Azura thought with a shuddered. Gross. They were circling the center looking for a likely place to establish their new home. Each spot they found had issues either due to the wildlife or the terrain. Despite this, Azura was sure they would find something soon. Periodically she would have the group stop and take up arms as she did a quick race around looking for potential spots. It wasn’t until she found the river that she knew they were close.
“This way!” She called out when she returned. Five minutes later and they were next to a wide river.
“This must be the Mirrored River,” Fatania said. "I didn’t realize it went this deep into the mana forest."
“This could make an easy way to get supplies,” Coralline added.
“Sold!” Azura exclaimed. “Now we just got find a good area nearby.”
They search for ten minutes when they found the perfect spot. It was an area dominated by a single massive tree that towered high above them. At ground level the area was clear of most vegetation the reason for which was obvious. A pack of mana boars lazed underneath it. Most of them were the size of cows with a dozen tusks jutting from their heads. Their hides were scaled and they had long serpent tails. That was true for all but one. The biggest towered over the rest and was the size of catapult. Time for training, then lunch.
“Alright. Time for practice,” Azura said as the mana beast began to stir. “There are about a dozen smaller ones so I want three of you on each. I got the big one.”
The king of the pigs roared shaking the ground. The kin all flinched except Azura who rolled her eyes.
“Let’s do it!” Azura cheered.
Hamal dodged the boar’s first attack its tusks gouging the earth where he had stood. He turned ready to slash at its next charge when he noticed it had stopped. Or rather Gerald held the boar immobile by two of its long tusks. Before Hamal could attack Tabatha came out of nowhere kicking the creature in the side. She was less than a quarter of the size of the creature. Hamal expected her to bounce off. That wasn’t what happened. The boar squealed as its body was turned sideways but its head was still immobilized in Gerald’s iron grip. There was a loud crack that could be heard even over the frantic screams of the mana beast before it went limp.
Okay then… Perhaps this wouldn’t be as challenging as he feared.
Coralline swallowed the lump of fear in her throat as the boar tried and failed yet again to gore her. With squeal of frustration the boar circle around picking up momentum as it aimed at her again. Coralline waited till the last moment to leap to the side. Instinctively she kicked out with her claws extended raking the creatures flank. She expected the beast to ignore her and whatever tiny scratches she gave it. Instead she tore deep into the beast's flank. The boar squealed in pain as fresh blood dotted the ground. Before it could turn to try to gore her again Fatania was there slamming a dagger into its back. The mana beast tried to turn toward this new threat but Alenina grabbed its head before it could turn completely around. Coralline rushed to help but paused. Alenina didn’t need any help. It was hard to say which one of them was more surprised. Embolden Coralline extended her hand claws and jammed her bare hand into the beasts neck. Her fingers plunged in followed by her palm. Wrist deep in the beast she could feel its heart beat which slowed and then stopped. The creature collapsed.
Alenina looked down at the dead beast whose head she still held before dropping it.
“Did… did we just do that?” Alenina asked.
“I, I think so,” Coralline said.
“What a rush!” Fatania said grinning.
They were mothers. But now they were no longer defined by that role alone. Now, they had power. The grin on all three faces expressed pure wonder. Not at the children who might outshine them, but at themselves. In unison they turned to see what else they could fight.
“That went better than I thought,” Azura said to herself as she watched her mother finish off the last mana beast. She had been worried about the kin but they did fine. Only one kin got hit with a tusk but thanks to the mana reinforcing his body it was a mere scratch. Azura yawned and patted the corpse before her. She had killed it with a ki blade to the head. It was already dead before the others had engaged their adversaries allowing her to watch each fight. She had been ready to intervene, but that was hardly necessary.
“Everyone okay?” Azura called out and stood up on the corpse her hands on her hips. She was sure her triumph pose would inspire them. That was when the beast she was standing on released its bowels. It must have been backed up, for the flood that came out was both loud and noxious. Everyone took several steps back. Nearly gagging she leapt off the body and made her way back to the others. Gerald and Hamal had mocking grins on their faces.
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“Not a single word,” Azura snapped at the pair then walked past. Once her back was too them a loud farting sound came from just behind her. She turned to see the two twiddling their fingers looking far too innocent. She squinted at them for a long moment before she joined the rest of the kin.
“This place should work great,” Fatania said. “It even has extra fertilizer.”
Azura sighed in defeat. “Now what? I don’t how to establish a community. I also want to check out the center. I think I should do that alone. It could be dangerous.”
“Not for you?” Her mother asked.
“I’ll be fine,” Azura said giving her mother a hug.
“I think we should discuss where we’re going to live. It will be rough as we don’t have supplies to build houses,” Alenina said.
“Excuse us,” said a squirrel-kin. The squirrel-kin was a male with chocolate fur and appeared to be in his early 30s. Next to him was a wrinkly gray mole-kin. Azura couldn’t even guess at his age. All mole-kin were wrinkly.
“We’ve been discussing that very question since we entered the forest. We believe the best course would be to dig a den. It would be crude but that would limit us to one entrance we would have to protect. Eventually we could expand to the trees. They’re big enough to build on. We will need to consider future expansion as more kin join us,” the squirrel-kin said his voice fast and excited.
“I would presume that you will bring the liberated kin here,” the mole-kin said voice the polar opposite of his companion’s.
“Yeah,” Azura said looking uncertainly at Fatania. She was trying to recall their names.
“Well then its best to plan for expansion now. We will need to secure supplies and other necessities as well,” the mole-kin went on.
“I will leave that to you. I’m sorry I forgot your names,” Azura admitted.
The mole-kin waved her off. “Not to worry. I am Erwin. The nutty fellow over there is Fredrick.”
“Thanks I won’t forget again. Fatania can I leave the organization of this place to you and whomever you see fit? I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
“I’ll be happy to assist Magebane,” Fatania said smirking. Coralline came up as Fatania began organizing everything.
“Not to worry dear, you aren’t alone,” Coralline said patting her head. “Leave it to us.”
“Thanks mom,” Azura said then raised her voice. “Attention everyone! I’m going to investigate the center. I won’t be long. After that I think everyone who hasn’t had a duty assign to them should eat and rest. Tonight more cultivation. Until then be as productive as you can.” Azura received a small cheer before she took off for the center.
The mana density grew ever stronger as Azura neared the center. She could feel her ki sucking it in greedily. She would have to bring a group here later to cultivate. As the mana density increased so did the foliage but the ambient sounds grew dimmer. Surprisingly she didn’t see any beasts. None at all. Whatever was at the center must be keeping everything else away. That conclusion became apparent when she entered the clearing.
The entire area was barren, but not naturally so. Rocks had been clearly dragged here and all plant life appeared to be routinely burned away. All competition had been removed. By whom was obvious. At the center of the clearing sat a dragon. Well a small one. Small being a relative term. It was still bigger than a house but far from its full size. Still it was a fucking dragon! Azura hesitated. Could she beat a small dragon? Maybe…
The dragon had metallic green scales that looked harder than emeralds. Crystalline spikes traveled down its spine all the way down to its tail which had a cluster of them. The dragon’s head was bigger than Azura which was attached to a long supple neck. Vivid green eyes not unlike Azura’s regard her lazily.
“I usually must hunt for my supper and yet here it comes to me. How novel.” The dragon said steam billowing from its nostrils as it stretched.
“I’m no one’s supper,” Azura said cautiously. How should she act? Would a dragon respect a position of dominance? Perhaps respectful and polite. She could do that…
The dragon laughed. “Your kind is nothing but food for me. Such pitiful existences deserve no less.”
Well, that answered that question. Azura cautiously approached. She flooded extra ki to her muscles ready to act in a moment’s notice.
As she neared she saw, at the dragon’s feet, what appeared to be a crack in the earth. She could feel the mana pouring out from it. The leyline vent.
“Soo, Mr. Dragon whatcha doing?” Azura said using the most annoying sing song voice she could manage. If the dragon wanted to be rude then she could do the same. The dragon looked at her like she was crazy as she rocked back and forth on her paws. Azura had no doubt that the dragon had never been spoken to in such a manner. Despite her playful voice she was tense, her ki ready.
“Insolent child!” The dragon roared shaking the clearing. “I have devoured hundreds of your kind. The animals that walk and talk! Not even mages are not match for my might. You are merely a fleshy morsel to me!”
“We’re called kin Mr. Dragon. What do you want the mana for anyways? Is this one of those greed things?” Azure asked keeping the same tone as she tracked the dragon’s every movement. Hopefully the dragon would underestimate her.
“I tire of you snack,” the dragon lunged forward teeth snapping… on empty air. Azura was already behind the dragon poking at the leyline vent.
The dragon turned and glared at her. The dragon appeared to be momentarily frozen from shear rage. Then it unleashed a torrent of fire at her.
The dragon had no name. He was too young to have earned one. Despite that he knew that it was his destiny to become the mightiest creature to ever live. There was no other conceivable option. He had kill the previous being that held this place. Now the mana was his, speeding his growth. Any creatures, be it plant or animal, have been removed from this place. It was all his!
“You’re grumpy. Perhaps we can share the mana?” The blueish hair speck asked. Was this pest not taking him seriously?! Nonsense!
“Share?!” The dragon roared. “I do not share my den with fleas. Nor with pathetic mages. I eat them!” Frustratingly that was much harder to do than it should be. He snapped his jaws at her. Swung his tail and breathed his hottest flames. Nothing touched the damn mage. Perhaps some type of short range teleportation? It had to be.
“You are fast for a bug. But you can’t hurt me. My scales are stronger than your magic. My victory is inevitable.” The dragon boasted.
Pain. Actual pain lanced across his front leg as he toppled forward. What? The dragon looked down. His leg was gone. The cleanly cleaved limb lay next to him.
How!? He roared blasting fire in all directions. Pain. Overwhelming, mind numbing pain. He shouldn’t feel pain. Other less beings should feel pain. Not him. Not a dragon. Not from some pathetic mage.
“Hmm your mana levels aren’t more concentrated. You just have more because of your size. Are all dragons like that? They just get bigger to hold more mana? How… inefficient. I was worried at first but you’re just a mage with a gigantic mana pool aren’t you?”
The dragon ignored her and focused on his magical sense. When she teleports there would be some type of magical residue or indication to the next location. The shock of what he saw distracted him from his agony. He was looking right at the animal that walks and talks but she couldn’t have been there. There was no mana signature at all. That was impossible. Even plants had trivial amounts of mana. Yet, there was none. If fact, all his precious mana was being drawn into this thing where it vanished.
“GRAND METEOR!” The dragon called. Dragons prided themselves on only using their inherent magic for flames. To push a dragon to use actual spells was a rare occurrence. The dragon laughed as a flaming boulder nearly as big as he was landed atop the pest.
“REGENERATE,” the dragon said looking down as his missing leg. The high tier spell would take some time and far too much mana but it would eventually regrow the limb.
The dragon turned wondering if it was worthwhile to dig up the corpse so he could shit on it when he paled. That was an interesting trick for an emerald dragon. The meteor moved. A small figure held it up with one hand as she stood in a new depression. She tossed the smoldering projectile aside.
“Wow that was a new one,” the demon in kin form said. “That was pretty impressive. It actually hurt a little.”
The dragon quickly tried to draw on the leyline vent for another spell. But he couldn’t. All of it was being drawn toward the kin. Worse, his own reserves were nearing empty. If he had been fully grown he could have launch a dozen more meteors at the pest or unleashed something truly powerful. Desperate he channeled the remainder of his mana into his breath. A fiery wave that could melt stone over took the kin. He didn’t relent, keeping up a constant stream scorching the very air. That was until his world turned upside down.
His breath cut off. So did his airways. His body felt distance as the world spun over and over. What happened? Did he get tossed somehow? It wasn’t until the world stopped moving that he saw the body. It was an emerald dragon body like his without the head. Blood was pooling around the severed neck. Had another dragon joined the fight only to be killed? It wasn’t until the kin squatted in front of him the terrible, unbelievable, truth became clear.
“You know I was willing to share. Ah well. I guess I get to try dragon tonight. Seems only fair as you’ve eaten kin before.”
The dragon blinked unable to respond as his world went dark. The last thing he heard was.
“I should try to cultivate here. The mana really is impressive…” those words got farther and farther way. Then mighty dragon knew no more.