Father was indeed happy that I returned sooner than he had anticipated. “It’s always a delight to see you, daughter. I do hope returning here doesn’t feel like a burden to you... I just want to make sure my little girl is safe.”

I gave my dad a hug. He had morphed into his humanoid form, and I was able to finally give him a proper embrace. “I know, dad. It’s not a burden to me, I just have a lot on my mind. Too many secrets that I feel like I need to figure out...”

Father hugged me for a few seconds more, before letting me go. “Your siblings will be most delighted to see you again, I'm sure.” Dad chuckled slightly, transforming back into his dragon form. “Ember has been particularly destructive, actually. His wind-fire attribute has really proven to be a potent mix...”

I transformed into my dragon form alongside father, looking to the cave. If my vision didn’t betray me, I'd say the entrance looked... charred. Like a large fire had burnt inside, shooting out in a violent burst.

“Yeah, Ember sneezed and then this happened. He apologized profusely, but Phyrra and I were completely unharmed even though we stood right in front of him, so we only laughed and told him it was good he was able to use his powers.” Dad snickered slightly, shaking his head in thought.

I let out a little laugh. “I suppose fire and wind make quite the powerful combination…”

Inside the cave I immediately spotted Celestia. She appeared to be practicing some light magic, illuminating some of the deeper parts of our cave with a floating orb of light.

“Hey sis, what’s up?”

Celestia appeared to be shocked, recoiling slightly at my words. “Apocalypso! You scared me… I was so deep in thought about trying to focus on my light I completely forgot there were other people here.”

Celestia’s orb of light then dissipated in a quick flash, and she gasped in shock. “Eek!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry sis, I didn’t mean to interrupt your training.”

Celestia’s face wasn’t visible in the darkness, but I could hear a faint laughter. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Just give me a moment, I’ll turn on the lights again.”

I quelled my laughter and waited in patience as I heard a faint flowing sound. There was magic in the air, and I assumed it to be Celestia’s orb forming from her light magic.

After some time, a tiny ball formed in the air. It was much smaller than the orb she had previously made, so I assume she wasn’t done forming it yet. Celestia exhaled deeply, and I could feel the magic in her breath. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was breathing mana directly into the orb of light.

“I almost got it.”

Celestia let out one last sigh, and in the dim light I could see her hand clench shut and as she did, the orb of light expanded a good 2 cm in diameter.

“I did it!” Celestia’s face was now clearly visible in the bright illumination of the orb, and her face was formed into a firm smile as she looked proud of her achievement.

I smiled back at my sister in return, letting out a small cheer. “Well done!”

Celestia suddenly turned her attention to something deeper in the cave, and I couldn’t help but follow her gaze. She appeared to be looking at a glowing indentation in the rock, and I curiously tilted my head. “What’s that?”

Celestia turned her head toward mine, shrugging slightly. “I saw the faint glow when I used my light magic for the first time, and I’ve been trying to figure out what it is since. It looks like a dragon, don’t you think?”

I examined the purple marking more closely. It was in the shape of a dragon, a rough outline perhaps of our form, but the glow was strange. It was as if the light bouncing off the indentation was pulling my gaze. I had a hard time looking away from the purple. “It feels like it wants me to touch it...”

Celestia’s voice sounded a little worried. “Are you sure? I know your scales are purple, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea. It might be a trap.”

I didn’t have the strength to look away from the light, but even if I had I didn’t want to. I slowly moved my hand toward the indentation, suddenly hitting the cold, hard rock with my hand.

I felt a strange sensation linger on my palm. It felt almost like the rock was taking something from me... a small amount of void mana. I quickly withdrew my hand in concern, but it appeared I was too slow. The rock suddenly let out a soft ding, glowing with a flash of purple light.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I looked to Celestia, my vision now being easier to control. She looked concerned, and I faced the rock again.

It was... not there. Where the wall of rock once had been, there was now an opening filled with void. I recognized the look from when I had used my breath attack with dad on the mountaintop and shivered slightly in concern.

“C-Celestia? Did you see what happened?”

My sister looked in awe at the void-portal, looking almost in a sort of trance. “So, this is your power... where do you think it leads?”

She was progressively moving closer to the void-filled hole. “S-Sis?”

She didn’t answer.

I put out a hand, stopping my sister from advancing further. “Celestia. We don’t know what it does, we shouldn’t do anything rash.”

My sister’s eyes snapped to mine, as if my words had pierced through her trance and reached her. “Woah. I was completely gone in the blackness, thank you for snapping me out of it...”

I nodded, looking back to the twirling black, feeling a soft pull from it, but it was not nearly as strong as what I had felt from the purple indentation earlier. “Since this is void and void is the opposite of light, how about you try to send your light orb into the blackness? If it survives, we might be able to follow behind it without being destroyed.”

Celestia looked in intrigue at my words, then closed her eyes. “Okay, I'll move it in there...”

The orb over her hand softly stirred before it started floating toward the black, swirling mass. I noted that the light emanating from the orb was not reflecting off the void. Either the color itself was so black it entirely absorbed the light, or the Lightrays were going somewhere, through the void.

The orb made contact with the void shortly after, and Celestia’s eye slightly cringed. “It feels like my mana is being absorbed by the blackness. I don’t think light can penetrate whatever that is.” I watched as Celestia’s orb started passing into the void, eventually reaching halfway into the blackness before the entire orb was absorbed into the black.

Celestia’s eyes opened, and she let out a sigh. “If it went anywhere its somewhere outside my range of vision. I didn’t see anything through the black, it was all just... nothing.”

I hesitated once more. “Maybe I should try just... poking my head through?”

Celestia looked at me with some concern. “I-I don’t know, maybe?”

I took a deep breath. “If I'm going to meet my end, it’ll be in the pursuit of understanding. Pretending that my powers don’t exist won’t get me anywhere. I need to do something. I need to get control of it. For all I know, the answers I seek are hiding right on the other side of whatever this is, I can’t just keep ignoring my destiny. I’m going to do it.”

Celestia nodded carefully. “I believe in you. Good luck, sis.”

I nodded again, looking back into the swirling void. I started feeling drawn toward the blackness again, and instead of fighting my instincts, I let them control me.

I took one step. The black was now right in front of my face, and it was almost as if there was a voice in there, talking me into stepping through.

I took one last look at Celestia behind me before I plunged my head into the black.

“Good. You're finally here.”

I opened my eyes in shock and awed at what I saw. It was a room, almost looking like a mirror image of our dragon cave where I had been mere moments before.

“I've been waiting for you for quite a while, master. There is much for you to learn.”

I looked around the cave environment, trying to locate the source of the voice. It didn’t appear to be coming from one specific location, much to my surprise.

“Who are you?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are.”

I stepped further into the portal, now with only my tail remaining on the other side. “Okay... then who am I?”

The voice didn’t answer my question. “I guess that’s what I need to find out then.”

I was about to step fully through the portal when I remembered Celestia on the other side. Maybe she can join me here?

I backed back out of the portal, eventually emerging on the real side once more. Celestia was still standing there, looking shocked.

“You- you just went right through! Did you see my light orb in there?”

I shook my head. “No... maybe the portal absorbs light mana? It's just a theory but look at the facts, it did sink into it and dissipate.” I put a hand on my chin, thinking. If light isn’t able to pass through, maybe the same goes for creatures using light mana?

“Celestia, I don’t know if it's such a good idea for you to try and enter the portal. If the portal destroys light, it might destroy you too. You’re a light dragon after all.”

A small metaphorical lightbulb lit up in my mind. “Unless you could hide your mana or go in without it...”

I thought back to when I was in my human form. I do remember feeling a lack of void energy while in that form, maybe the same is true for other dragons too?

“Sis, do you know how to transform into a human?”

My sister nodded quickly. “Yes, dad thought me how. Why?”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, looking at my sister. “I think we might be able to enter if you’re in your human form. Our humanoid forms seem to hide or otherwise quell our mana, so we might be able to trick the portal.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in intrigue, and she nodded quickly. “Good idea. I’ll transform right now.”

I did the same thing as she did, shrinking down to a more human-like size. “Okay. Try poking the end of your tail through first, if it ends up being destroyed, well, at least it’s not vital.”

Celestia nodded. “I trust you.” Her tail brushed across the black surface of the portal, before she plunged it into the swirling darkness.

She raised an eyebrow and then a small smile formed on her face. “It works! I can still feel my tail!”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Phew, that’s good. Okay, well, shall we go?”

My sister looked into my eyes with intrigue. “Yes, after you Apo.”