My body felt like it was broken all over as pain racked every part of it. It was a bit hard to keep my concentration as I breathed in the water mana, and slowly breathed out letting it complete a cycle inside my body. Slowly but surely, the discomfort became more tolerable as I opened my eyes.
Once I did, I took a glance at the four tall pillars surrounding the arenas, the adults all had their attention on the second area where Allat the blue dragonness, and Linyss the pink one were probably fighting at, due to the peculiar bowl shape arenas I was unable to make out what was happening in the other side.
Curious, I carefully moved my limbs to make sure that there was no hidden injury left nor any discomfort, with that taken care of, I hastily jumped to the air and made my way unto the pillar where my grandfather was situated.
To my dismay, the pillar was not particularly large. My grandfather's impressive figure was already taking all the place available. As if sensing my hesitation while I hovered in the air above him, grandfather used his mana to gently guide me down to the top of his head.
"The little ones' fight is almost over," He said as soon as I landed. I threw the second arena a casual glance, from my current point of view it was easy to see the entire thing. 'No wonder they are sitting in this place,' I inwardly mumbled in understanding.
Allat and Linyss's fight was reaching its climax. To my ultimate surprise, Linyss the pink dragonness was on the defensive with bloodied scales, while Allat seemed relatively unharmed. Various small puddles of water were left across the stage.
'That's unexpected,' I thought, Linyss was strong I knew that for a fact because I saw how she easily tamed Ember. Her sneak attack was very dangerous as well, had it not been after my naming ceremony then I had no doubt I would have completely missed it.
'Then again why is she losing to Allat?' I wondered. Allat was strong, I could see that as she launched an onslaught of attacks on Linyss. She casually wielded water mana as if it was a hammer, and continuously hammered at the pink dragonness, sending her flying across the stage.
'Her control over the water mana is not very impressive though,' I mumbled, Allat was forcing the water to obey her which prevented the mana from showcasing its full potential as water was never meant to obey.
'But was Linyss always this weak?' I frowned, I watched carefully as she summoned a pink shield to stop Allat's attack only for it to collapse after one blow, sending her flying through the air and into the other side of the stage.
'She's toying with her,' I mumbled with a groan, still confused at the whole fight. My grandfather must have noticed since he spoke. "You seem puzzled Aether?" He asked, his voice carrying a hint of a smile.
'Yes grandfather, I don't understand how Linyss is so weak now, is she acting that way to lower Allat's guard? Even so, it doesn't make any sense to sustain so many injuries...' I admitted that I had no clue about what was happening.
Grandfather simply listened to me talk before he nodded, after which he began to explain. "You are only seeing with your mortal eye Aether, observe the flow of the mana, I'm sure you can see it as well if you try," He said.
With a frown, I slowly willed my heart energy into my eyes. The world blinked as multiple colors assaulted my vision, suddenly everything seemed so bright and colorful as countless colors danced around me. I moved my gaze to the fight below only for my eyes to widen in surprise.
"Do you see it?" Asked my grandfather. I simply nodded in reply. 'I do,' Below, Allat's mana was like a river pounding at Linyss, raw and strong. It seemed unstoppable as it hammered on her feeble mana.
While Allat's mana appeared like a raging river, Linyss's one seemed more like a gentle flower. There was just no comparing the two since both were completely different. It was not like Linyss was not trying to retaliate, quite the opposite! I was shocked to see countless almost invisible strands of pink mana, similar to the ones she sent against me shooting towards Allat.
The weirdest part about the whole matter was Allat's reaction to it, she looked completely unaffected by it, almost as if she was immune. All of Linyss's mana landed true on their target, but none had the desirable effect of stopping the rampaging water dragonness.
'Why is it not working? It's not like Linyss's attacks are weak, quite the opposite!' I turned to my grandfather who had an all-knowing smile on his face, without moving his gaze from the battle, he explained.
"Little pink's power is a very rare one, any sort of magic that allows you to tamper with your opponent's emotions is extremely dangerous and you should always be wary of those types the most," He first said with a serious tone before continuing.
"Then again, it's not like they are invincible. They like all the others have a weakness, especially when they are young. Their magic is very weak against members of the same sex, especially during their childhood periods, that's why little blue over there is having the time of her life," He added with a chuckle.
'But isn't that kind of unfair?' I unconsciously asked, not expecting much of an answer. Yet at that, grandfather suddenly turned serious as he replied.
"Nothing is fair Aether, be sure to remember that. The sooner you realize it, the better. Life does not have any obligations to be fair to you, it does not revolve around you, do you think your matchup with little Ember was fair to him? No, but that's just the way things are. If you don't like it, then the only thing you can do is get stronger, strong enough that you no longer need to bother about bad matchups and whatnot, remember well Aether, the only thing that you can truly rely on is yourself, never forget that!' Said, my grandfather.
I was momentarily surprised as I was not expecting him to say so much. Yet for some reason, his words kept repeating in my mind. To get stronger...He had a point, In my previous fight against Ember, I was the one holding the advantage due to our elements, it was a bad matchup for him.
'But then against grandfather, none of that truly matters,' I mumbled as I recalled his flames evaporating my water magic without giving me any chance to retaliate. I had a lot to think about as I kept repeating his words.
'Why do I want to get stronger?' I wondered, I did not have an exact goal in mind. If it was before, I would have been content with simply being reincarnated as a dragon, yet the more time I spend in this place, the more my perspective on certain things changes.
'I still want to see a lot of things, I want to visit new places, meet new dragons, and different races, and for that to happen, I guess my only option is to get stronger,' I mumbled with my resolution rekindled.
I guess my only option is to get stronger,'
This is not a strong conviction to have, im sure aether will have other motivation along the way..
True but let fate decided in the long run.
I feel like peoples vision of water is limited and they don't put much thought into the element. Why does everyone think water is 'gentle' and it 'goes with the flow'?
Water is anything but gentle, it is abrasive and destructive. Water doesn't always go with the flow, most often it is raging and battling against itself as it cuts out its own path.
So the way he keeps saying that she's doing it wrong when he himself has only been doing it for two keeps just feels stupid. Who is he to comment on something he himself knows nothing about?
Well, guess it depends on perspective, I think he meant more ‘free’ not gentle. And it’s not like his oppose to ordering the water around, similar to what he did when his mother challenged him. I think it also depends on the dragon welding it, MC mentioned how dragons have different personalities and like humans can use their powers in different ways. He thinks of the water element as a friend that helps and mentions how sentient it feels, he perceives it as something alive that shouldn't be trapped in chains. When his father ordered him for the first time he felt deep anger. His clearly someone who is a free spirit with curiosity for the outside world. I don’t know what you expected of him.
I do agree with you that’s it’s wrong to judge others on how they use their powers but that only leaves room for improvement for our MC, I don’t expect all main characters to be always correct. and everyone has their own opinion on stuff like magic and how it should be used correctly. I don’t think the way you think of the water element is wrong and don’t think the MCs though on it is wrong either. It’s just depends on perspective of the person and that’s my opinion on the matter.
E o que te faz achar que é melhor que ele?isso é algo relativo então não fale como o que você acha fosse a "verdade absoluta"
I hope Allat is able to learn something from mc.
Power for the sake of power. Great... And what for is it needed then? Why should we care about this training? Who is the enemy and why should the MC want to get stronger? Without answering these questions to the reader you're making all this action pointless and the character's motivation/goals forced and unrelatable.
I think a better goal would be getting strong enough to eradicate the Shades.
For me "just traveling around" is the most relatable goal any character could have
I hope that pink dragon loses, it looks like a natural manipulator. There is no need to mention his first "impression" that he tried to control / cajole Aether at the slightest opportunity.
Pink just knows the lesson Grandpa is explaining: the world is unfair. aether was clearly the most powerful of the young since he was the first to reach the altar. So whatever happened next, having him under his control was an advantage. Her fight shows well the weaknesses of her power, so she takes advantage of when she is in a position of strength. She's following Sun Tzu's rules in a way.
@Alcyon The pink dragon, not only had he tried the moment Aether got his name, he had also done it the moment he entered the room / hall where the altar was. He missed the first try in the first match, and tried again when he got the name.
That is, she already had "ember" hooked but that was not "enough", in my opinion, she wanted to have everyone in her "control", leaving the second girl in the group "excluded" having the 3 dragons Jobenes under its influence (well, I save that Brown ended up failing the test and dying).
So I reiterate, she seems the manipulative type, no idea how she would be among her "brothers", but she would say that she is used to being the "center" and, she wanted to be again among the group of joben that they went to the ceremony.
@hanck95 It doesn't have to be egocentricity. Dragons seem to have a strong competitive spirit. She does exactly the same as Gold and Blacky, she attacks potential rivals on sight, except she attacks in a more subtle way than by leaping at the dragon's throat in the face.
@Alcyon when she first used her powers on the mc and ember they were not competing yet and were not informed that they would be competing so no they were not rivals at this point in time. yes they became rivals later but that was well after her first attempts to mind control them so at the point she used it she was being manipulative. at this point she only knew they were getting named(this is assuming all the adults dont tell the young ones whats going to happen till its time like what happened with aether and his grandfather)
@drake2378 Gold and Blacky attacked the MC as soon as they came out of the egg. No one asked them to do it. And the parents did nothing to stop them from fighting. Competition is the normal state of mind of dragons.
Pinky doesn't care whether or not there is organized fights. There are other dragons her age, so she tries to dominate them with her magic. She doesn't need a mobile, that's just how dragons interact. Like wolves or newcomers to a pack begins by fighting and threatening others to determine their place in the hierarchy. Besides, the adults could only spot Pinky's attempts to bewitch others, and did nothing to stop it.