A Mother's Legacy
I dragged my long body out of the lake for about the sixth time in the last two hours. Clearly, aerial acrobatics were just not in my near future.
It had to of been months now, since the death of Mother and the promise I made to avenger her and save the other eggs, and I was getting ever more impatient to be off. It had to be time!
I had more than doubled in size again, now too large to fit in my tree at all, leaving it to Momma Bird and her noisy chicks. I slept below it now, Verona's Heart Stone hidden in the earth beneath the tree's roots.
At the size of a very long necked horse, there was little in the way of monsters or animals that proved too much of a threat any longer.
Not that the larger monsters couldn't kill me, as I was sure many of them could, especially in groups, but I was big enough that they thought twice about it.
After all, even monsters didn't want to risk unnecessary injury. It could mean death later on.
Even flight was no longer a problem. It took me several weeks to get the hang of it enough to brave high flying. I was afraid I would fall out of the sky and plummet to my death for the longest time.
That first flight, high above the trees... Wow. A sea of green blow, spanning out far to the east, north, and south, broken only by scattered lakes and hillocks. The sky was a vibrant blue, the clouds appearing closer than ever. It was a sense of freedom I never expected to feel...
But, I eventually had to land. The truth was that my stamina was pretty abysmal.
And even now, it was still rather miserable.
I couldn't fly more than a couple hours at a time, and then I had to eat and sleep.
These last weeks I had dedicated myself to building up that stamina, but it seemed to be slow going.
Flight was absolutely needed for my path ahead.
No way I could walk all the way to wherever the bandits had scurried off too.
And being able to fly was a great advantage when it came to speed, versatility, and escape power too.
Being able to just take to the sky when the going got rough was a huge advantage.
It wasn't perfect, but I could fly. Even if it was only a couple hours, it was still better than walking.
A girl could cover a lot of ground in two hours when she could fly.
And, the longer I waited, the greater the chance that my siblings would be long out of my reach.
I already worried that they had gotten too far, and too lost. But I wasn't about to abandon them either.
I dragged myself out of the lake. The last couple days I had been trying to pull off some pretty outrageous flight maneuvers.
I figured that if I came across another flying monster- other than the large bird I had seen in the distance that one time, I had yet to see any- I would need to be nimble.
That was, clearly, not going to be happening any time soon.
Every attempt had ended with me either nearly crashing into trees or straight into the lake as I had just done.
I shook water droplets of my scales and wing membranes, admiring the sun playing on them for a moment before heading back into the forest. It was getting tight between the trees in places, and there were clear trails where I walked often. If anyone came looking for me, I would not be hard to find.
Mother must have done some real damage to those thieves for them not to have come back.
I had expected them to do so. Not just for Mother's Heart Stone, but for her various body parts too.
I could be wrong, but I was pretty sure that it was a big trope that dragon parts were a hot commodity, right?
Bones, teeth, and scales used in making weapons and armor, and their blood and the like in medicine?
No one had come. I did go and visit Verona a time or two... It was hard and sad, but I wanted to make sure no humans had come to try and cart her off.
There hadn't been any humans, but clearly animals and monsters had made quick work of her flesh and organs.
When I had went to check on her the day before yesterday, she had fully been picked clean.
All that remained of my mother were her massive bones, still towering above me.
And, nothing but egg fragments remained of my dead brothers.
It had saddened me to see they were gone completely.
It felt as if I should have berried them or something.
Though, I was pretty sure that dragons did not burry their dead.
Reaching my tree, I looked up and saw that Momma Bird and her brood were out. Much like myself, the fledglings were learning to fly. No doubt they were already better at it than I was.
Feeling frustrated, but determined, I settled on a bare patch of dirt, the grass warn away from my frequent naps there.
It was the only part of my little slice of forest that had sun light in it most of the day.
I lay their, wings stretched out on the ground, and sunned myself, thinking about the future.
One thing was for certain: It was time to go.
Not just because I was anxious to go after the eggs, though that was the main reason.
No, it was just a simple fact that this woods could not really support me any longer.
Any creature with half a brain had cleared out of the area, instinct having them take off from the big bad predator that was me.
Even the larger monsters had mostly moved on.
Not so much that they feared me, but, rather that they were following the prey.
Soon I would be back to trying to live off fish again, and there was no way I could do that.
I could move to a part of this massive forest that I had never been... But I may as well just leave all together at that point. There was no need to delay my departure anymore.
I was bigger now. Stronger and more experienced.
Even my humanoid form had grown along with my dragon one; now looking more like it was in it's late teens.
Had my human shape stayed small, it may have been an issue.
I would imagine that other humans would question a little girl traveling all on her own.
But at its current age, I could go unsuspected.
I would need cloths, but that was an issue for another day.
No, tomorrow or the next day, I would leave this place. It was time.
I lifted my head and looked at the base of my tree. It was time to consume Mother's stone as well. I had swallowed fish whole that were bigger than the stone now, and so should have little to no issue with it.
Really, I still had little idea as to what the stone was supposed to do once I swallowed it.
Though, Mother said it contained power..
. or was that her memories? Either way, I assumed it meant that it would boost my stats.
No doubt the humans who were looking to take it were wanting to use it to adorn a magic staff, or maybe turn it to powder for potions.
Settling my head back down on the dusty dirt, I closed my eyes and sighed.
Unmotivated, shut-in, Maxine was feeling anxious for the unknown path that lay before me.
.. But wild dragon Allura was beginning to feel the thrill of the hunt, and a driving need to leave the nest. Both were me, and the contradiction was a little unnerving.
I stayed that way for a time, sunning myself and resting my aching muscles.
I was becoming accustom to the pain in my wing joints, across my back, and- though I had been surprised by it at first- in my chest. It never occurred to me that chest muscles were so vital to flight.
I mean, I knew that was true for birds, but their wings grew where humans had arms..
. mine were in my back! Still, it was what it was.
Twittering and squawking from above finally pulled me out of my half sleep. It appeared that Momma Bird and her far-to-large-for-the-nest-now brood were back. Getting up, I stretched like a cat, wings flaring and wide, toothy mouth opening wide in a yawn that sound rather close to a lions.
"I think it is about time they left the nest too, Momma." I stated to the family as I walked under their branch. Momma chirped down at me, her chest feathers fluffed as her three 'chicks' tried to settle under her, but they really were rather large now.
I just shook my head and began pawing at the patted down dirt of my own makeshift nest of dried evergreen branches. I had thought to use the pelts of my kills, but I knew nothing about how to treat them, and knew that they would smell something horrid if not done correctly.
It only took a moment to uncover my prize: A diamond like stone, quite a bit smaller than my current fist. I had no idea if all dragon heart stones were the same color or not, but Mother's was beautiful.
As I rolled it out of the hole I had made for it, I noticed that, despite being buried in loamy soil, none clung to the stone at all.
Not that I minded. The last thing I wanted was to eat dirt, so it was good news to me.
Deciding to just do it and get it over with, I snaked my long pink neck down and gripped the stone in my teeth.
It really brought to light just how much I had grown in the last weeks.
The last time I carried this I nearly got lock jaw and my neck hurt something awful from the weight.
Now it felt like I was lifting a slightly heavy orange.
Mind you, when I had been human, I never would have considered swallowing an orange whole either...
Oh well! Down the gullet it goes!
I jerked my head back and let the hard object slip down my throat, just as if I were eating a large hunk of meat.
It didn't feal like monster flesh, more like the stone it really was.
But it was surprisingly easy to eat all the same, even if it did feel strange going down.
I almost felt when it fell into my stomach.
[Dragon Heart Stone consumed.] Lottie's voice sounded in my head as the words appeared, written, before my closed eyes. [9326 Skill Points have been added to your total. You now have 9332 Skill Points. Would you like to use your Skill Points?]
Hu?
Wait, did the disembodied voice of an old lady just tell me that I had 9332 Skill Points?
I blinked stupidly out into the forest, mind a blank for a second. It was awfully peaceful when my mind was being blown!
So the stone didn't raise my stats after all.
Where these the Skill points Mother had before she was killed?
Holy smokes my mother was a beast! Go Mom.
.. No wonder she didn't want this in the hands of others.
I could only imagine the damage that could be done if anyone nefarious got their hands on it.
But, what was my mother even doing with that many skill points? Even assuming that there were other ways of gaining them other than leveling, I was sure that still meant that Verona had to of been a very high level. Was my momma a big shot after all? Go Mom...
Wait, maybe she also took in dragon hearts to get those points. Was that a thing dragons did? Maybe fought one another to the death, the looser giving up their life and their stone? Harsh. But I really had no way of knowing.
I was sure that had I of received Verona's memories as I should have, all the answers would have been there.
As it was, I was sorely lacking in knowledge of my own race.
I needed to learn this stuff the good, old fashion, way.
But I doubted I could find a dragon to teach me.
.. Dragons were solitary and proud creatures who rarely got together for anything other than mating.
What Mother had been able to show me told me that much at least.
Still.... 9332 Skill Points, huh? Was it even possible to spend that outrageous amount?
I shook my head to clear it, the 'Not Lottie's' message still blazing before my closed eyes.
No, don't get ahead of your self Allura!
I had never been very good with money, and I was sure Skill Points were going to be the same.
I had to stop myself from spending them on something outrageous and unneeded.
That number may look inexhaustible now, but a few senseless purchases later it may very well be cut in half.
It wasn't like the points would be going anywhere. I would get what I had been planning on getting before this influx, and then, when I knew more about the different skills, or when a need arises, I would look at getting more skills.
Good Idea Allura.
These new points would, actually, be a great help right now. There were a few skills I had my eye on, hoping to get them before my departure. But I had not accumulated enough points in the last weeks to get them all, not after spending twenty to gain my human like shape at least.
I gazed at the message and thought: Yes.
The question vanished, only to be replaced with the list of skills. I thought about the skill I wanted, rather than scrolling through the entire list of them again.
The first thing I wanted was the skill: Navigation.
I assumed by the name that it had to do with, well.
.. navigation. I was in a world I knew nothing about and going on a long journey where I had not clue where it would lead me.
This skill would cost me 5 Skill Points, but it seemed necessary all the same.
Selecting it, and then approving the purchase, I saw that it opened up a skill line of sorts. My Humanoid Shape hadn't done that, but I wasn't surprised. I saw a long list of potentially useful skills here too, most of them falling into the 5 point or more range.
How in the world did normal people even afford all these skills? I couldn't imagine a baker racking up enough levels to get skills like this... maybe skills were a lot rarer in this world than I had originally thought.
I spent another five points on 'Mapping', and again on 'Detection'.
My video game experience had me thinking that this would probably act as a mini map or some such.
I put another point into 'Compass' and 'Location'.
Though, I saw that 'Location' seemed to have a ranking system of some kind.
.. I think it was locked behind and experience wall of sorts.
Either way, it was stuck at 'Rank 1' for now.
One skill line and I had already spent 17 points.
.. dang. This stuff really was expensive.
And, it was just so I could use a map! I had no doubt that most people in this world simply relied on regular maps.
It seem frivolous to spend valuable points on such a skill, as useful and convenient as it may be.
But, unlike most people, I had thousands of points now.
Next were some more basic options. I got 'Body Strengthening' just for good measure.
In my dragon shape I was pretty hardy, but I wanted to be safe in my humanoid shape too, and this should help.
This, too, seemed to have a ranking system that I would have to look back at once I gained more experience with it.
I then summoned up the 'Healer' skill. I had no clue if regular human medicines- or potions I supposed- would work on a dragon, and I didn't want to rely on that either.
Best to be self-sufficient. That was 2 points to get the healing skill.
But once I unlocked the skill I stared, stunned, at what I saw. ..
Why were healing skills so expensive?! Each spell listed in this tree was wild. Even the first one, simply called 'Heal' was ten points!
I sighed. Well, I already spent the points to unlock it. And I wasn't hurting for points either... I selected the first spell and learned it. I'd have to evaluate if I wanted to sink any further points into this skill at a later date.
Feeling oddly stressed out, as if I was spending hundreds of dollars without much thought, I decided to move on.
Much like I wanted Body Strengthening for my humanoid self, I also wanted a way to attack in that shape.
Magic seemed to be a pretty cool way to do that, and so that was what I was going to look into.
though, given how insane the healing magic tree had been, I could only imagine how the others would look.
It was pretty deceptive to make these spell casting trees only 2 points to unlock when the spells themselves were so expensive.
I had been think about what element to go with for a while.
Both fire and air sounded really cool, but I felt that, if a dragon did learn magic naturally without the aid of points, then it would be in those two lines.
So I wanted to go with an element that I might not get for free. The one I settled on was 'Earth Magic'.
Like the healing magic, this skill set was unlocked with 2 points.
Having spent them, I gazed at the list of available spells and sighed.
They were a little more reasonable. Well, some of them were wild.
.. I had no clue what 'Earth Serpent' was, but it cost a whopping 15 points, and also seemed to be locked beyond an experience wall as well.
But many of the spells, like 'Stone Bullet' cost less than five points and I could learn them right away.
I spent a single point on that, as well as two more on 'Sand Wall'.
They seemed fine for now. I wanted to practice before I sunk too many points into it.
What if Earth Magic just wasn't my thing?
In a matter of fifteen minutes I had spent an insane 32 points... I was willing to bet that there were people in this world who would be lucky to even get that many in their lives.
But I wasn't done yet. Before eating Mother's stone, I had decided to not bother with this one at all. It was crazy expensive just to unlock it, after all... But I did have quite a lot to spend...
My eyes lingered on the words 'Dimension Magic', my brain filled with indecision. My imagination told me that this could unlock a world of possibilities, but just to unlock the dang this was 10 points! Ten!
I went to bite my lip like I used to when i was human, but I no longer had lips, really, so I am sure the birds got a good look at me pulling a weird face. I stayed that way for a good while before taking a big breath and accepting the skill. Ten points gone, just like that.
Unlike the other magic learning trees, like earth or fire, this one was like healing.
It was a special skill. And like healing, its spells were pricy too.
The absolute cheapest I saw was 'Item Box', and that was five points.
All of the others were at an unholy cost!
Did that 'Teleportation' spell really say 100 points! ? Was that even humanly possible?
Never mind. I had had hopes of cool dimensional magic, but Item Box was the thing I had been hoping for the most anyways.
It was the be-all-end-all of video games, after all.
How annoying was it to have a small, limited, inventory?
And, as a dragon, I didn't even have pockets.
Heck, I didn't even have hands useful for carrying things.
My current inventory space was 'one', my mouth.
No, this was going to be much, much better.
I saw that Item box had the ability to gain size. Well, why not max it out then? Every dragon needed a treasure hoard, why not have a portable place to keep mine!? Sounded like a solid plan to me.
Five points per upgrade?!
I tapped a claw on the ground in irritation. But at this point my poor decision making skills had activated, and with a nonchalant shrug, I thought why not, and spammed the accept prompt.
I felt instant regret and shame when my mother's hard earned points dropped by a further 50 points... Ouch. Not cool Allura.
I stood up and banished the skill window from my sight. Enough of that! If I kept going I would try and get everything. Mother must have worked really hard to accumulate all those points, and here I was wasting them like a bad daughter.
Feeling a little ashamed, but also better prepared for my journey, I dragged my aching hide out of my sun spot and, instead, curled up under the tree where I had dug up the stone. Time to get some sleep.
I would spend tomorrow familiarizing myself with my new skills while allowing my aching body the chance to rest. The next day I would say 'goodbye' to this forest and start my search in earnest.
Wait for me, brothers or sisters, I will find you soon...