“Dragons, especially as young as you, are very delicate.”
Azmakul explained, the mana in the surroundings followed his intent and moved, the snowflakes, each a complex mixture of condensed frost mana exploded forth, turning into streams.
They followed the will of the ancient dragon in front of him, whatever he thought, they became. The streams of pure mana condensed once more, but this time into a delicate flower.
“Young ones, as much as they are adorable, are very, very delicate.”
The flower rotted away, and turned into the figure of a young dragon, with little limbs, and comically large wings and a head that it’s body struggled to support.
“They are also, very confused, from the beginning. Our very nature demands that we are a supreme race, our race is the most powerful, thus, it bears the most weight.”
The head of the dragon fell to the ground, as its body could no longer support it. It flapped it’s little wings, but to no avail. The wings were too small to lift its body.
“From the moment we are born, we know. We know what we are, yet we don’t at the same time. We know that we are a powerful race, but we don’t know what to do with that power. Our eyes, our scales, our tongue. Each a power unique to us and filled with so much potential. Yet, our power can be poison to us, too.”
The dragon…exploded. It was quite a brutal and gory display of blue light. From afar, it may be beautiful, but from close, it was hideous.
“Some dragon’s eyes are too weak at birth, so they are lost. The eyes of some are too
powerful, and thus overuse causes them to lose them, that explosion was one such incident that happened once.”
‘…’
Alan made a mental note to not use his own eyes very often… He was thankful the most damage he had received was being blinded for a while, with a lot of pain… but he would take that over his head exploding. He didn’t know if his regeneration could even save him from that…
“We know of our tongue, but not know the power the words wield. Young dragons use their words carelessly, and thus cause irreparable damage to their conscious, to their mentality. Our scales, our only form of defense at such a young age, sometimes cannot bear with our powers and fail. They are the one most dependent on our age, after all.”
Alan listened carefully, making many mental notes to himself. The image of the young dragon exploding was still vivid in his mind.
“But… in your era, those are only minor problems. In this precious time of peace, young dragons are born with us as their protectors, their teachers. We teach them about their powers, and nurse them until they are deemed worthy enough to venture into the world. They need to make their ‘connection’ and pass a series of test.”
He turned around to look at Alan, the streams of mana formed large monstrous eyes behind him, many times the size of his figure.
Azmakul had quite the unique way of explaining things.
“We had it much rougher in our time, but let’s just keep to the topic. Though you may be an exception, you still have some glaring issues.”
“Which are?”
“First and foremost, is the issue with your forms, young prince. Though I haven’t seen it in person, I have heard from the queen about your peculiar case. You have the ability to transform in many forms, a unique transformation for every element you have affinity towards.”
“But, isn’t that good? The more forms I have, the more versatile I can be.”
“No, it’s an issue we need to solve.”
Azmakul shook his head, and the streams of mana behind him separated from each other and began to form… symbols.
There were some he recognized, and some he had no idea of. They hovered around the two. “The true form of every dragon, since birth, is a mixture of all the affinities they possess, bringing out the natural strengths of every element. But, yours consists of only one, the forms which you can transform into, have only one element.”
Alan waited for him to continue, still curious as to why that would be a bad thing. He was having a hard time comprehending why this would still be a problem.
“Each element has a relationship with every other element. Some are weak to others, some are strong towards others, these relationships can change as well.”
The symbols of fire and water shrunk down and floated between Alan and Azmakul, multiple streams emerged from the symbols, and fought against the others.
Fire fought water, quite viciously at that. Even though Alan knew it was all frost mana, it was still a great presentation.
“But, they can also join together. Fire and water can make steam, and when metal is brought into the question…”
The streams stopped fighting, and merged together, harmonizing with one another. Another symbol from the numerous above shrunk down and came close, one in the shape of an ingot.
The symbols suddenly turned brighter, and [Water] and [Fire] joined with [Metal], strengthening it many, many times. The ingot became larger, more defined, and fire and water followed.
“Fire and Air can both support one another, or be the end of it. Water can enrich the Earth, but it can also ruin it. Each element is closely tied to another, and these relations can turn sour or sweet as the user demands…but you are different.”
“The forms of the dragons, are a mixture of the elements they are born with, or have gained an affinity too. Each element strengthens one another, and when this happens… The weaknesses each element possesses also disappear. The hostile relations cannot pierce through the unity, when the other elements are involved. You, my prince…”
His voice turned grim, the elements floated to the side, and another one appeared, one of a snowflake. Delicate, but powerful.
“Consider this, how will face against a dragon or any other creature that can use the elements of fire, water, and metal? You only have ice.”
Streams appeared from the symbol of frost, and one singular one emerged from the unity of Fire, Water, and Metal. And that one brutally broke the symbol of frost.
Despite how much it tried to put up a fight, it crumpled.
“Your scales possess only frost, your defense is pathetic against these elements. Had fire been alone, you may have stood a chance… But once you get to higher levels, no being will only use fire. You will die a pathetic death, before any of us can come to assist you.”
But, despite the ill intent, his words contained… The mad dragon actually smiled.
“But what if, you are not alone?”
The symbol of frost repaired itself, and now two more appeared. Shadow, and darkness.
Which supported Frost.
They formed a unity of their own, and then crushed the unity of the other elements, emerging
victorious.
“They are like allies, together they are strong, but alone they are weak. Tackle everything by yourself, and you shall only face ruin. But together, you can take on anything.”
Alan nodded, finally understanding what problem existed with his forms. It made sense to him now, as well. Though there was still something he was curious about.
“So…”
“You wonder why only you have it?”
Azmakul took the words out of his mouth, though there was a slight difference. Alan was, indeed, going to ask why he had this issue, but he knew he wasn’t the only one with it. Elijah also had this issue, he could only transform into a fire dragon too… Alan wasn’t going to believe he only had fire, he had that weird sand like mana he used during the duel in the tower
of trials, too.
He did have an idea though, Elijah and Alan both weren’t dragons by birth, but had the ability to turn into one when they received the blessings of their guardian dragons.
Perhaps that was what caused this major flaw in his forms.
“It’s because of two reasons, one is the system, and the other that you weren’t born a
dragon.”
‘So I was half-right? What does the system have to with this, though?’ “Though it didn’t exist in my time, it appeared suddenly, and new species began to use it as it
was a very convenient way of getting stronger. But it comes with its drawbacks as well. It’s
very stubborn, too, believing that it knows everything.”
‘… What?’
“The system has as many flaws as it has strengths, it probably tried to interfere in your
process of evolution, and because it thinks it knows better, created this issue in your forms.
That is precisely why her highness destroyed the darn thing within you, and is doing the same to the other dragons in Shivalkulan. Since you weren’t born a dragon, you used it to your
convenience and strengthened its interference.”
“Wait, wait, wait.”
Alan put a stop to the conversation, there was too much in his head. He wanted Azmakul to
explain some other things too.
“What do you mean the system wasn’t there during your time? And what the hell could you possibly mean by it being ‘stubborn’?”
