Rose had no idea what was going on. As she turned on her heel and quickly jumped to the left. Just moments before a lightning bolt slammed into the earth where she had been just a moment before. She heard a crackle and rolled to avoid a second. Then she scrambled to her feet. Taking a quick moment to survey what was going on.

Their cart and horse were stopped but thankfully no bolts were raining down on it. Most of them were in fact harassing the boys, who were making a rather awkward dance to avoid being struck. The Princess was still nude, but now she was using the cart for cover. The naked dragon seemed oblivious, even as a lightning bolt struck her. Only to be absorbed by some kind of glowing barrier that faded after the strike. Then a second hit her with the same result. Rose had never seen the effect before, but she had heard about it. Mainly in stories about heroes and great mages. That barrier was a magical shield, and as powerful as these lightning bolts raining from the sky were they were not strong enough to have any effect on the shield. At least no visible effect. As for her sister, Lily seemed to be by the cart helping the princess avoid the bolts.

Suddenly the dragoness seemed to notice what was happening and looked around. Her eyes briefly locked onto the collapsed and screaming figure of Arlie. Who also happened to be the source of the lightning falling on their group. At the same moment, she heard an animalistic scream and turned to see the smoking corpse of a Vorlak. Sprawled out on the ground between a gap in the trees. The branches above it were quite charred, and clear evidence of the power behind the magical lightning. Then she looked back towards Aurora and found that she had already started to do something about the magical lightning.

Aurora noticed the problem Arlie was having almost immediately after returning her attention to her charges. The magical lightning storm raining down on them was quite beautiful and showed her that the young pup she was responsible for had grown stronger. One such bolt struck her, but her shields easily absorbed the bolt. The part of her mind responsible for maintaining it informed her that the bolt was quite powerful. Enough to drain her shield by nearly five percent. That was a sizeable chunk of mana shielding to be shaved off. One she had not seen in a long time. Not that she was concerned. As by the time the second one hit her, she had already regenerated the lost shielding.

Seeing the boys dancing to avoid being hit was quite amusing, and she noted that bolts were raining down just about everywhere. Except in close proximity to Arlie, which is where the cart and horse happened to be. Something that the Emila and the one twin, Lily were using for cover. The other twin was dodging the occasional strike with a fair amount of grace while moving towards that safe area.

Clearly the first thing she would have to do would be to stop the lightning from raining down on the group. A shield came to mind as something she could do quickly, but she knew the drain would be much higher than what her shields were dealing with now. With a sigh, she began to weave together her spell forms. The shield needed would have to be fairly powerful, especially given that Arlie was actually rather powerful as pups went. She could even hold her own against most younger dragons assuming she had the needed training. Something that she actually lacked.

A vibrant purple barrier materialized to form a dome over the group, shielding them all from harm. Almost immediately the raging lightning storm began to bombard the shield. Not a single strike actually penetrated her shields, but she was already feeling the strain. There was no way she could maintain this indefinitely, and she was already competing with Arlie for the ambient mana. This was going to be a matter of mana reserves, but in Arlie’s current state she could easily drive herself into a bad state of Magical Exhaustion. An unpleasant condition that mages were known to suffer from.

She noticed the others staring at her shield in awe, but she wasted no time. As quick as her legs could carry her she approached Arlie. She already knew what was wrong, and knew she would have to fix it. Arlie stressed herself out causing a headache, and then inadvertently accessed a power that was innate to her blood. One that made the headache worse, and now she was in such pain that she was lashing out at anything in her vicinity. The only reason their cart was not being targeted was its position inside the minimum range for her spell. As for the boys, well her subconscious was causing her to focus her fire on them.

She reached Arlie and pulled her close. She began to comfort her with touch, and at the same time, she extended her own mind to both shield and calm Arlie. The calming aura she exuded was intended to make the girl relax, while the shield was to protect her mind. After a while, she felt the girl begin to calm down a bit, and the out of control spell began to break down. At that moment Rose spoke to her, “Um, what is wrong with Arlie?”

“Nothing you need to worry about too much. I know exactly what is wrong with her, and thanks to Skylord Jontharr, I know how to fix this. If you really want to know, I could tell you, but then I would have to cast another curse on you.”

Rose’s face twisted, and she responded, “A second curse!? I understand the first was to protect Arlie, but why would her condition require a curse?”

Aurora sighed, and gave her the bare-bones answer, “That would be because it is related to a secret so old that her clan has forgotten it.”

Her eyes widened, and she stepped back. Silent for a few moments, Aurora had been about to shift her attention to the young pup in her arms when Rose spoke. Slowly, but clearly, “Um, is there anything you can tell me without revealing that?”

Aurora nodded, and said, “Yes. I won’t really give you the full answer though, and some things won’t make sense. Not without knowing that secret. Anyway, Arlie has inadvertently awoken an innate ability of hers called Telepathy. It is a power that allows one to read thoughts and speak without words. It is not all that rare among mage clans, but few mages awaken it so young. In fact, I was not expecting her to awaken it so soon. I knew the trials would accelerate her awakening, but I expected this to happen after the third. Now anyway, Arlie is unusually powerful for a freshly awakened telepath. Far more powerful in fact than most pups, and mages when they first awaken. As such the number of people she is hearing is far greater, and this is causing her pain. Thankfully, I noticed before she started experiencing physical harm, and part of her mind has already shut down to protect itself. Now as for what I can do to help her. Well, I can teach her to shield her mind, but there is something else I will also be doing. Arlie has some special things inside her, that I am going to activate. They will help her with her power.”

Rose frowned, and replied, ‘Things? What kind of things, and how did they get inside her?”

Aurora replied, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you without going into those ancient secrets I mentioned. I have already told you everything I can.”

Then Aurora turned her attention back to Arlie and lifted the girl’s face so she could look into Arlie’s eyes. Her eyes were not the beacons of intelligence and wisdom she normally saw. Instead, she saw pain and discomfort reflected back in them. She stroked Arlie’s hair, and then she reached into the young girl’s mind. Arlie needed instruction quickly, but thankfully it was nothing she did not already know. The problem was helping her to remember, and then activating the ancient biotech floating throughout her body. Tech she had been born with. Tech that was her heritage and her mark as the Bykuru Kinsara. The mortal vessel of a Skylord or a High Goddess as others might say. As for the soul, well that still slept, but Aurora could sense that it was stirring. That it was far more awake in fact then it had been in a long time. Awake enough to interact with the world on a basic level. Each passed trial would awaken that further, and then it would join with the fragment that was Arlie. At that point, she would still be Arlie, but she would also be more. Not to mention she would cease to be the young pup before her. That awakening would bring her the knowledge and wisdom that only great age could offer. Along with the power that was her birthright, and the Trials would have given her the training to use it. As such she would finally be an adult in Aurora’s eyes when that happened.

Aurora reached into Arlie's mind and found she was rather defenseless. Something that did not surprise her. It took her only a couple moments to access her current mental state. Just like she had told Rose, part of her mind had shut down. Her core, what made her who she was, had retreated into a shell and what was left was acting on instinct. A fact that explained her physical behavior and how she was responding to the dragoness. She took only a moment to check Arlie’s mind and went to work fixing the problem. The first thing she did was access the girl's implants. It only took a moment to find the ones she needed and the dragon sent the activation codes. Codes that had been given to her by Jontharr. A very significant sign of his trust. The implants responded and sent back a response requesting a confirmation code. Aurora gave it and immediately the Skylord devices responded and activated.

She waited a few moments and watched as the implants helped process the overwhelming input Arlie was being assaulted with thanks to her awakened ability. Even with Aurora shielding her, the young girl was still being bombarded with the thoughts of people all over the planet. Once she was sure the girl’s implants were working correctly, and that they had not been grown with a flaw or defect, she moved on to the next step.

Reaching deep into Arlie’s mind she began to pull information buried deep within to the forefront. Almost immediately Arlie started to process the information Aurora was digging up. It caused her some pain and Aurora comforted her to keep her from lashing out. Arlie lashing out was a big danger. More so for her charges than her, but in Arlie’s current state she was quite dangerous.

Young Arlie already knew everything she would need to know about telepathy. It was just that the knowledge was buried deep in her mind underneath a few layers of magic. It was knowledge that she had been born with, but it had been sealed long before that. Every Bykuri Kinsara had carried the knowledge, the knowledge of their past lives. Not just their ancestors as they believed.

Regardless of that, the knowledge would do her little good without practice and training. It would also speed her growth considerably. Aurora watched with her mind’s eye as Arlie processed the information and slowly began to put it to use. It would take time for her to really use it, but on instinct alone she was already closing her mind. Filtering the thoughts that were overwhelming the young mage’s mind. Seeing her do that was a very good sign and she felt relief to see her doing that.

Aurora took a few more moments to guide her and then pulled out of her mind. After pulling out, she found the twins close by and clearly concerned. The boys were not far away fighting a vorlak and the princess was with the horse. The vorlak was rather young and was not doing well. She felt the boys would have no problem taking care of it.

"Alright your bond mate will be fine. Just give her some time to come out of her shell."

 They frowned and Lily asked, "Shell?"

Aurora gave a smile meant to reassure and replied, " I told your sister that part of her mind shut down. She did that to protect herself. I fixed the problem, but it may be awhile before she comes out of the shell she erected to protect herself. Until then we will have to care for her. And don't worry, I'll help if anything too dangerous shows up."

 They shuffled awkwardly on their feet and Rose asked, "um how long will she stay in her shell?"

Aurora mimicked a human gesture and replied "With things like this you can never be certain. A couple days, maybe more. Really depends on her."

They seemed rather worried and then glanced at Arlie who had snuggled against Aurora like a child seeking comfort from her mother. After a long silence one of them finally asked, "Can you pull her out? I don't think we can afford to be babysitting our sister on a road this dangerous."

Aurora sighed and said, "I could but to do so might hurt her. It's best if she comes out on her own."

Aurora then pulled Arlie to her feet and before they could say another word was urging them on their way. The boys had already killed the vorlak. With only a few minor cuts and scrapes from the fight. The dragon knew it was best not to linger and she had already told them all they needed to know. She knew they would pester her further when they set camp. For now it could wait.

 The others got the message and before long they were on their way. Thankfully they would make the rest of the trip without incident. Well aside from the occasional monster attack.