Entry 4 - Selection

Dragons. They are not much like what literature will have you believe.

The biggest difference between them and what is usually written in literature would probably be that they are entirely genderless. Rather, they are parasitic, though it could also be symbiotic, depending on the dragon's choice.

Their method of reproduction is to implant an egg into a suitable host. The egg gets nourished but never grows, all the energy is stored for rapid growth later.

The egg then melds with the host's nervous system, and this is how, depending on the dragon's choice, they could be either parasitic or symbiotic. Regardless, the egg will pick up traits from the host, such as personality, or even physical traits. Rarely, though possible, they pick up memories.

If the host has feelings of guilt or hatred towards its self, the egg will pick up on these. The egg will take all energy and resources in the host for its self, killing the host, and therefore it's self too.

during the time the egg is maturing, a very strong bond will form between the host and egg. This bond, if trained, can become telepathic, but is always empathic. Another effect of this bond is that their souls meld a small amount. When one dies, the other does as well. This bond will also allow the share of mana from one to another. Although, a bond will not form at all if the dragon chooses to be parasitic.

When the egg reaches maturity, it lays dormant for a few years, although if the host is about to die it will finish maturing immediately. When the egg is ready, it exits the host. This does not cause any problems because the egg is made entirely out of mana, and is therefore ethereal. The egg then uses the mana it gathered from the host to form a body and a dragon can't choose the shape their body becomes. 

All this information might seem pointlessly detailed, but you wouldn't understand the significance of this find unless I told you. This newborn dragon didn't form its shape into that of a dragon, but that of a human girl.

This dragon was born with an ability that I've never heard of before, that somehow influenced how the dragon was born, allowing it to choose its shape. It likely wanted to make the host like it more by choosing a form it would find attractive. This backfired on it spectacularly.

Both the host and the dragon that implanted the egg were watching, and they expected a baby dragon to emerge. So when a human girl appeared, they first fell into confusion, then rage. Neither had ever heard or even considered that a dragon could form into something other than a dragon, so they concluded that this wasn't their child, that something had taken over their child and replaced it. They captured the child and threw her into a nearby dungeon.

After that, they buried the dungeon entrance and had the bond between the host and the child torn apart. Tearing the bond was safer than killing either side of it, as it separated them a lot gentler than death would.

This dragon caught my eye, so I made sure to pay closer attention to the stuff that happens on this floating island. Though that's way too much information to write in this journal.

I focus on it, normally I only look at peoples surface thoughts, but this time I'm looking deeper. I look at its personality, abilities, traits, and memories. Then I wait and see how they change, as young children can change their personality very quickly.

This child has a very strong ability, a form of immortality. It isn't almighty though. It lets the user survive outside a body, allows the user to interact with the world even as a spirit, and lets the user construct a new body out of collected materials.

The child uses this to her full advantage almost immediately, by being brutally mauled to death by a massive insect. She wanders the dungeon for a while, trying to find out what to do next. Her ability drives her to collect whatever random junk she finds, even if she has no idea why she does this.

When she first rebuilds her body, she rebuilds it as a dragon, mostly because of what happened last time she made a body that looked like something else.

This time she survives for about a month, before dying of starvation. When she remakes her body this time, well, she didn't learn much from the first time it seems, as she just made it bigger and with sharper claws.

This time she made it 2 months by climbing on the ceiling and ambushing her prey. Then she died attacking a lizard with eyes on the top of its head. She made her scales the same color as the dirt after that.

This cycle continued for a while. Die, Create a new body, learn, Die again. Repeat.

Even though she failed often, she never stopped trying. I think I've made up my mind. Mabey I made up my mind a long time ago though.

I selected her as my successor.