Draimon: Fracture: Erasend- Book 1: Deascension

Chapter 2: Sides

We followed our mother and Baragon.

"Where are we going?" I asked my mother.

"The next battle against the Elemontols shall soon begin, and we need all the Dragons we can get. They are relentless in battle." As she said that, I saw her body shake just a little. "So for the next while, you, along with your brothers and sisters, will all be training." I looked around, and I could see many other species all around us. There were those with two legs, four, more than four, or none at all, some had wings, and some had none; others had fur. There were so many different types that I had never seen before, or rather, it was my first time seeing them.

"Now," Baragon said, "unlocking your magic should not be too hard; let your elemental energy flow into the ground." I placed my claws firmly on the ground beneath me and concentrated hard thinking about all the trees and plants around me. I felt my elemental energy flow into the land, and a thin vine sprouted from the earth.

"Very good," my mother told me, "most need a few tries before they get it."

"I believe that you are ready," Baragon said to me. "Now, once a young one unlocks their magic, we feel that a good way for them to improve is by fighting others with similar or stronger power levels." I looked to my left and saw that two were duelling. There was one who stood on two legs with two arms ending in short-clawed hands with four fingers like all of us. A short neck, long tail, and sharp yellow thorns covered its body and head. Their opponent also stood on two legs, but instead of fingers, there were two long scythes, one at each arm's end. The first had green skin, whereas the other had light brown skin and branch horns. I could tell that the one with sythes was bark Scyclaw; the other was a vine and thorn Mancer.

The Scyclaw raised its arms, and thin trees sprouted around the arena; thorned vines rose near its feet and readied to wrap around him, with himself countering by cutting them down with his blades. The Scylaw around the Mancer as more vines advanced, his blades lighting up with brown energy.

The Scyclaw spun, sending spinning crescents of brown energy towards the Mancer, her rising a wall of vines to attempt to stop the attack. The wall was cut in two, and so was she, now crawling backwards on the ground.

"Stop," I cried out, "they are killing each other," I leaned forward to save the Mancer, but in a flash, my mother's wing blocked me.

"Let me tell you one of our rules," she stared at me, "never interrupt a Dragon's fight; they will never forgive you; she is at little risk of dying. Look." I looked at the Mancer and saw that vines from the ground had wrapped around her torso and had formed new legs. "There are many factors that keep them safe. I already mentioned our passive regeneration, but our cores also grow with our power, so young cores are tiny.

Furthermore, we instinctually relocate within our bodies in response to attacks; we use elemental energy for all of our actions, and even healing ourselves costs some. So the duel is over when one can no longer fight." I nodded in agreement. "Now pay attention to that vine and thorn Mancer, watch her movements and learn her spells." I kept watching as she talked, now able to watch sure there was little risk either would die.

With the Scyclaw forcing the Mancer to prioritise healing, he could finish growing his trees around the arena. The Scyclaw leapt towards them and used its blades to spin round each branch and flew from tree to tree going higher and higher. The Mancer, now healed, focused her attention on her opponent, cutting down each and every tree with thorned vines. The trees fell into each other, knocking each other down.

The Scyclaw knew his window of opportunity was closing with the falling trees catching up. He stopped, then climbed, growing the tree as he went; as this one was knocked into, he braced his legs against the tree and sprung off; the force knocking the tree back. The Scyclaw roared as he flew, blades outstretched, long thorns grew from the Mancer's arms and shot towards him.