“Dark Mother. Dark Father
Listen to my small decree
A sin has arisen
Within the Creed of Three
And the time is ripe for blood to spill
To complete the King’s Box with our kill.”
-The Blood Moon Rituals
I walked through the flames of hell as the smell of my singed flesh caress my nose. It matters not, I have experienced it for many millenniums now but now it is time to leave. The black miasma surrounding the land swirls in agreement.
“N-No, I will not leave. I cannot unle-”
“What are you saying, dear Oberon. Don’t you want to see your children? How they’re doing? You did spend all that time creating sooo many of them,” the voice says in my head. The land seemed to shift like paint in water.
“I will fix the prison, you will not escape again.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. Just look at your children,” the voice replies as an image of children of all colors and races play together, hold hands together, laugh together. A heavy weight seems to have been lifted off my chest and I smile in relief that they are not slaughtering each other. But soon a tear forms in the corner of my eye as a sense of loneliness replaced my worries.
“Don’t you want to see them again? To play with them?”
“You know I do but I also know that they will die when you come leave our prison.”
"Hmpf."
The forming tears soon trace the outlines of my cheeks as the image of the children playing in the fields, laughing with each other, burn. The white and pearly skins of the children slowly turn into liquid, dripping off their flesh, as puddle of pink soon grow beneath each body. Their smiles soon contour into a scream; their mouths wide open, begging for help. Their flesh started to decay, some turned black and green, while others fell to floor, exposing the skeleton underneath. Their glossy, sick-yellow eyes turned to look at me.
“I will not let that happen again, “I said as I turned from the image, trying to rid the image from my mind.
"You're stupid! They're only going to hurt us again!"
I clenched my jaw as a needle of pain shot up my arm. My wrists screamed in pain as the ball and chain shackled to my arm glowed red. Once again, the smell of singed flesh filled my nose. I continued to walk through the abyss, every step burning my feet, every step reminding me of my past.
"I will not give in to your whims, Fae."
I threw my arms over my face as a fire pillar erupted in front of me, kissing my skin with its heat, burning it, stripping away its impurities. I jumped back only to be dragged down onto the floor by my shackles, my head ringing ringing from the impact and my body burning from the flames.
“Then suffer some more, dear. Without you, our children will only destroy themselves. It’s only a matter of time.”
My heart skipped a beat at the voice’s suggestions. Perhaps it’s true, perhaps all my work will be for naught. No, I know it to be true. Every single simulation, every single experiment had all reported the same conclusion, total extermination. Wait, maybe, just maybe, it might work this time. After all, she did show me the picture of those kids playing around. She had to get that from somewhere.
“A fake, my dear. Conjured from your deepest wishes.”
“Get out of my mind, woman,” I growled. Another rift shook the prison, distorting the flames and the molten rocks around it.
“If you don’t leave anytime soon, the children will kill themselves. You don't want that do you? So don’t abandon the children. What kind of a father would you be? They will scorn you, hate you! But more importantly, what would think of yourself? Don’t you understand? I’m only doing this for you, I don’t want to see you hurt,” she whispered.
“And what part of trying to destroy the world is doing this for me? What part of destroying OUR children is doing this for ME? What part of destroying OUR promise is doing this for me?”
“You were going mad from all their wishes, from all their desires! You were pure and holy once, you were my counterpart! If I hadn’t destroyed them, you would have been corrupted! Look at you now, angry, stubborn! You’ve CHANGED!”
I ignored the ramblings of the mad woman and continued on my way before arriving at my destination. I braced my body as a heat wave rushed over me, trying to bake me alive. I shivered from the drastic lowering in temperature as soon as the heat wave passes me.
Looking up, I see the entrance, two pyramidal structures sprouting out from the ground. Each with phrases written in an unknown language reading: STRG LHIL AEAE TYNS. Here the spatial ripples grew more frequent and more powerful, ripping stones from their mother’s womb, flinging them into different dimensions. One wrong step and she would be free.
“Yes, walk closer, dear Oberon. Try to fix it! Watch yourself fail! Watch as I save you from your own folly. Let me help you recover what you have lost!”
“Your words have no meaning, Nidali. Not anymore.”
I ground my foot the floor and brace for impact as an especially large spacial rift opens up a few meters next to me. I gripped the burning floor to stabilize myself, burning my hand in the process.
“Since you’re so reluctant, I guess I’ll give you a little push. Or maybe it’s I’ll give ME a little push,” she laughs.
“What do you me-”
Before I could finish my sentence, I was looking at black miasma rolling around on the ceiling, the hot air was whistling in my ear and then all was black.
***
I walked out of the cavern that my mother and I called home. Outside, an ocean of clouds covered the land below while I squinted as my eyes adjusted from the dark cavern to the bright sunlight. I shivered as a cold breeze squeezed pass my scales, penetrating all the way to the bone like a dagger of ice.
The gold coin that I had been studying levitated besides me. After two weeks of intense studying, I had finally been able to take off the first layer. I had been able to copy the magic and apply it to myself whenever necessary. And let me just say, it’s quite powerful. The second layer, instead of reflecting attacks, swallows energy and stores it, releasing it whenever the users wishes to, acting like a battery of sort. I’m still working on this layer but I think I’m close to a breakthrough. I’ve also decided to call the energy mana, a term that popped into my head a few days ago. It seemed very familiar but I just couldn’t grasp it. But enough of that, today we mother is teaching me how to hunt.
And by teaching me how to hunt, I mean that I’m just going to go hunt somewhere, alone. And by I’m just going to go hunt somewhere, I mean that mother is going to drop me in the middle of nowhere and I’m going to need to fend for myself. And to finish the task, I need to make it back home. Alive. In one piece. Maybe.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Actually, it’s a rite of passage for newly born dragon chicks. The rite is supposed to symbolize the entering of dragon society. It’s a test of sorts to see if the chick is strong enough to join the ranks of the dragons. Afterall, only they only accept the best of the best, can’t have weaklings reproduce, right? Well, at least that’s what mother has told me, over and over, every single day, for the last few weeks.
Now what do I get after I pass the trials? Joining the dragon society, benefits including not being chased down by other dragons, a right to territory and land, sovereignty and mating rights.Though I do need to attend a meeting once per decade if I ever become an Elder.
The ground beneath me shakes as mother makes her way towards me. Pebbles drop down the cliff as the mountain threatens to avalanche if it is disturbed any further. But mother being mother continues on, ignorant of the mountain’s threat.
“Mother, stop! The snow is going to block the cavern again!” I cry.
“Do not worry, my child. I will just burn through the snow like last time,” she gives me a toothy smile.
“But that just made it worse! More and more snow kept falling until half of the snow was gone!”
“Then I’ll just burn down all the snow this time so they won’t bother us again.”
“That’s not how it works, mother!”
“Hush, child. Today, we will hunt,” mother says before swallowing me whole.
I’m back in the slippery, pink area again. Apparently, this is the way dragons carry their young, mother nature reasoning that the safest place for a dragon chick is to be inside their parents. I call that faulty logic. But at least it’s comfortable with the warmth of my mother all around me whilst listening to her heartbeat, I believe it’s suppose to be good for the young. Why else would I be in here? Right?
Other than the takeoff and the regurgitation of yours truly, it was a pretty boring ride in between thus I took, or rather coughed, out the gold coin from my storage stomach, which is where I am currently am, I entered into my inner soul state and, for lack of better word, linked it with the coin. I find it a much better way to study it as I am practically a god in here. By slowing down or even pausing time, I am able to study it with much more accuracy and can even create experiments not viable in the real world.
I send in the tentacles waiting for its reaction and as it closes in upon the target, I stop time. I move in closer towards the spell formation, examining every detail, the light, the activation, how much it activated. But these were only the surface of my capabilities in my world. Just last week, I learned I was able to change what my eyes react to allowing me to switch from perceiving photons to mana to heat to gravity and other kinds of stimuli.
A web of blue lines encased the coin, all converging into one spot: the target. As the tendril got closer and closer, the lines grew thicker and thicker until the streams of energy could clearly be seen. The flowing energy was like blue blood being pumped throughout the entire web, feeding whatever laid beneath it. The web thickened only to a certain threshold before the growth stagnated, I assumed that it had sent the excess energy somewhere since it was still siphoning off mana.
I focus my sight even further to watch the mana circuit, a circle surrounding another circle circumscribed around a pentagonal star. In between the two circles, marks of different designs float in a clock-like path. I suspect the marks were similar to code that tells the circuit what to do while the shapes were the actual machinery that did the job. The first layer did not have anything to control the mana and consisted of just mana lining, though weaved in intricate patterns like a quilt.
But before I was able to test out any experiments, my real body shook, causing a massive quake inside the soul state, indicating that we have arrived at our destination. That was rather quick I must admit. Before long, the muscles that were holding me in place were contracting around me, pushing me out of the holding stomach. After all having your face crushed by your mother’s flesh is rather… unenjoyable. Mentally and physically.
I closed my eyes as I exited her holding stomach and into the throat. I squirmed a bit as my body came in contact with some warm and wet, saliva. This is just a horrible way to transport people. Why would ANYONE every think that this was a good idea? I don’t mind the cold or the hot! If someone was trying to kidnap me, I’ll just blast them away!
My muscles tense up as mother’s muscles contract once more, pressing her nasty, saliva-filled flesh against my face. My face started to ache as the muscles contracted more and more until my body finally complied and slid up her throat. On and on this went until I finally saw light.
The smell of leaves and grass, the sound of a running river and flying insects, the feeling of a cool breeze and the sun’s ray hit me as mother spit me out. I take a deep breath of a grassy smell, a sign of recent rainfall. Flapping my wings, I landed comfortably as the grass crumpled under my feet. On sweet, sweet ground at last!
I take in another deep breath but this time, mixed in with the grassy smell was the stink of an animal. I took a look around me, scanning the environment. A variety of trees were growing in this area: some were tall, others short; some were green while others orange. I had to crane my neck back and squint my eyes to see the top of these giants.
Shrubs, bushes and other smaller flora also prospered underneath the towering giants, perhaps a little too much. The smaller greens covered the entire area like a plague as far as my eyes can see. The plants were almost as tall as me, some taller. It was like I was staring at a wall made of plants.
This would be the perfect place for a game of hide and seek if I were not learning/practicing how to hunt today. Now it was just going to be a lot of work.
“Remember to use all seven senses, son.”
“I will, mother.”
“Then may your will be done, son. I will see you back home,” she says.
I sighed as I closed my eyes and crouched onto the floor, preparing for her takeoff. Soon, a great wind punched my right in my, well, entire body, before trying to carry me away but I dug my claws deeper into the earth. I had better not get any dried mud underneath those claws, I had just cleaned them yesterday! I flinch at the sound of a roaring mother. Opening my eyes, I watched her golden wings push the air underneath her, lifting her into the air. Her golden aura started fading as she flew farther and farther away until she was just a speck of dust in the horizon.
A tinge of pain squeezes at my chest as I watched my mother fly away, abandoning me in this forest alone, without any protection whatsoever. But I quickly dismissed the thought, knowing that this was a trial by fire, weeding out any of the weak while rewarding only the best of the best. After all, we are dragons, we have a reputation to keep.
********
A/N: I have to admit that this one is a little short compared to the others at around 2.3k words and I must apologize for that. But do not worry, I have the next 2-3 chapters planned out (since they were supposed to be part of this one) and they'll be longer. In addition, I have a few tests coming up this week so I won't be able to dish out chapter as fast as I would like to. Though I might binge write on Friday. Who knows? Anyways, tell me what you think about it and Happy Reading.