Not only was it useless, but it actively sucked up any lightning mana I produced. I had to keep it far away from me whenever I was making a new crystal. Why? Because adding more mana to the original crystal would cause it to explode. Creating new crystals was safer because it allowed the mana of the two crystals to slowly stabilize, and fuse naturally.
It was time to return to earth. I focused my mana into one place, and opened the portal. The others were a little surprised by the sudden appearance of a portal. The dark cavern on the other side made Bryce nervous. The portal was big enough to suck all my mana up.
I had to draw on the cores I had stored within. I stepped through the portal first. Showing them it was safe. Ethan crossed through right behind me without hesitation. Then Savannah.
Jax was a bit slower to cross through, but he brought Bryce through with him. I lit up the cavern with a bunch of little balls of fire as the portal closed. Jax was the one who was the least sure with how much he could trust me. He tried keeping the bond closed off more often then the other two. He didn't have a real reason to trust me.
I was sure he regretted accidentally bonding to me in the first place. I looked around the cavern, and found that it had changed. All the stone eggs were placed on soft furs now instead of on the ground. The cavern had been cleaned, and dusted. Etchings on the wall stood out better now.
Someone had started trying to repaint them. It was slow going since the etchings had worn away a good amount, but it was starting to look like a nursery of sorts. I had grown a great deal in the time that I'd been gone. The space wasn't cramped yet, but I wouldn't be sleeping in here anymore. I shook off the sad residual memories of very young very sick dying drakelings.
Growing on a world that constantly poisoned you was a painful, and short life. My tail flicked.
"Why don't you choose one?" I nosed one of the eggs gently.
"Now?!?" Bryce sounded, and looked shocked.
"Now as good a time as any," I sank to the floor with a sigh.
That much mana draw combined with the memory feedback had worn me out. I hadn't been awake long, but I already felt tired mentally, and that burn in my muscles had come back. I needed to ask Regala about that. It didn't feel like my muscles themselves were burning. I sat completely still.
Waiting for him to make a choice.
"Take it slow," I let my eyes fall closed, "Some of them are truthfully dead so you might need to choose more then once."
I stayed completely still with my eyes closed, and waited for him to make a choice.
"How about this one?" Bryce tried to pick up one of the eggs only to find it was too heavy.
He'd picked out one of the larger ones. I reached out, and grasped it securely. I allowed my mana to change to light. Drawing more mana in from the air around me as I poured light into the egg. The light mana flowed through the egg slowly.
It was different then when I did it to Aurora's egg. This one fought the mana I was pushing into it. The egg cracked, and crumbled to dust in my hand. I let the dust fall through my fingers. This one was truthfully dead.
"Choose another," I ground my gums together in agitation.
Glad that I could retract my teeth, and that gums didn't make noise when ground together. I didn't want Bryce to know how agitated that dead egg made me. Ethan patted my shoulder. Reassuring me with his normal clingy attitude helped to hide my agitation from Bryce. I stayed still.
Bryce picked another big one a few minutes later. Trying to pick it up again. This one was just as heavy as the first. He wouldn't be able to pick it up. I picked it up, and repeated the process I'd done with the first one.
This one fought the mana as well, and wasn't looking good. Less then a minute later this one was turning to dust. I had to stop myself from growling. I'd only be able to do this one more time. I was getting too worked up.
If the next one didn't work then I would have to stop for a little while. A week should be enough for me to settle. Bryce considered the eggs longer this time. Looking at every single one for about ten seconds each before moving on to the next. He stopped at one of the largest eggs.
Moving on to look at the others before coming back to the largest. He rested his hand on the egg gently instead of trying to pick it up like the other two.
"Is there something different about this one?" I asked him.
I was curious if a human's senses could tell a difference between the eggs since mine could not.
"I don't know," Bryce answered nervously.
I touched the egg slowly. Pushing my mana into it like the others. This one didn't fight the mana like the first two. This one accepted it willingly. Drinking the light mana in greedily.
The outer shell cracked, and beneath that outer shell of rock was solid multicolored eggshell. Constantly changing color as it absorbed the mana around it.
"Wow," Bryce whispered, "What happens now?"
I picked up, and swallowed the egg down to the egg pouch. The bigger egg didn't hurt my throat like Aurora's egg had. I'd gotten quite a bit larger since the last time I'd done this.
"What the fuck?" Bryce's voice went up an octave.
I'd never heard him speak like that. I burst into laughter.
"You just ate it," Bryce sound hysterical.
I let all the flames go out. The glow of the living egg showed through the scales on my chest. A slightly changing rainbow.
"I'm just incubating it," I stood slowly.