Rise of the Darkness

Window to a Past Era

Oculeera

I place my book on the small table next to my bed, sighing. The grass that stuffs the mattress crackles as I move. A faint residue of magic permeates this bed, likely a measure against flames. I could check, but I do not care enough, and do not want to waste my magic.

This book mainly talks about how the Taming would have been done had dragons then had the structure of tamed magic. Obviously, they had to use different methods, which this book scarcely covers. And this is fine, as I have no plans to use raw magic ever in my life, but the language of this book is meant for dragons with decades of study in magic theory, not for a youngling like me. And so, I have lost interest, despite the topic.

That other book still clings to the back of my mind. "Ramblings of Anyle's Cave." I cannot just sneak into Xanmet-kal's office and take the book; I would be banished from the clan. But there is the library.

I transform to my dragon form, groaning as I move my muscles. Not since I was much younger and playing games with my nest mates have I flown so hard. At least I can keep up with orders, though for how long I have no clue.

Just as I left my bedroom Novayar came walking into the living room, hair wet and a look of horror painted on his face.

"Did you do it?" I ask.

He nodded and headed straight towards his bedroom. I nod my head once, even though I am alone. In the prey pens around the clan, various animals kept for dragon food live and grow. Any food there is to be eaten in human form but must be killed by the one who wants to eat so that it can be prepared by the eatery nearby. A dragon can prepare their meat themselves if they want. Fredalu went into detail about food here, since it is essential for us to live and for us two to finish growing.

I was given the honor of killing yesterday, but today it was Novayar's turn. Never has he ever killed anything larger than a bug, so I ended up catching a small rabbit for myself and leaving him there. He needs to learn how to hunt anyway, and I did not want to wait around.

"I'm flying over to the library," I called out.

"Aren't you tired?" He asked, peeking around the wall at me. A stray droplet of water fell from his hair.

"Yes, but I want to look for something. What happened to you?"

"I had to wash the blood from my snout, and the water remained on my head."

"Blood tastes good to a dragon tongue. We normally just lick it off, like any other animal. You should try that soon."

He disappeared from my view. I smile a bit before walking away. Master Wukro once said how human raised dragons from families that do not hunt have to learn to deal with killing and preparing meat, and it challenges them greatly, but they always get used to it.

Down the cloudy corridor I go, leaping once the walls disappear around me. My wings stretch out, too tired for any vigorous flying but rested enough for a short glide. Since the only open entrance to the library sits on the ground floor of the Tower of Knowledge, a downward trajectory through gliding will take me to my destination, so long as the buildings do not produce any of the turbulence my physical training Master warned of.

With the sun so close to touching the horizon, a chill begins to descend. The buildings here do well to keep some of the chill out despite having such large openings, but outside a dragon has no such protection. A magic spell is all I have, but after being tested earlier today, and with much more testing tomorrow, I want to conserve every drop. It is only a short distance anyway.