Emilia jolted up, her head turned towards the being that interupted her sleep, her gaze wandered at the nearby trees.
Her eyes were as good in the night as they were in the day, so she had no problem finding the source of the noise.
"Behind that tree!" Emilia patterns across her small dragon body were still shining brightly, but she didnt notice that for now.
She instantly launched herself at great speed, even she did not realize that she could go so fast! Her body broke through the tree and hit the being that was behind it.
*Boom*
Both Emilia and the intruder rolled on the ground for a few seconds before stopping.
*Gasp*
"Zaksa!" The being spoken in a unforeign lenguage after gasping.
But Emilia could understand it, 'A Dragon!' was what it said, Emilia could understand what the being was saying naturally, as if it was her first lenguage.
Upon further inspection, the being was a kobold! Emilia could instantly tell that the kobold was female.
The kobold was pinned down on the ground by Emilia while the kobold eyes were shining as if they were looking at a precious gem.
Emilia felt slightly discomfortable with this and asked, "How can you talk the same lenguage as me?"
The kobold answeared with a joyfull and friendly voice, "Because it is draconic lenguage! Any dragon would be able to understand it!"
Emilia tilted her head, 'Something all dragons understand.. Wait didnt i just attack you a moment ago? How can you be so friendly?' Emilia was confused at how joyful and friendly the kobold was, usually if someone did that to another person they would surely be angry.
"Wait how can you speak a lenguage meant for dragons?" Emilia quickly questioned with a suspicious gaze.
"Kobolds have faint dragon blood!" She spoke with a proud face while looking at Emilia ontop of her.
The eyes of the kobold were looking at her with a gaze full of admiration. There was an awkward silence between the two, Emilia didnt know if she should let the kobold go or get information from her, afterall, she was a native of this world.
The kobold decided to break the silence and asked, "Can i touch you?" Emilia felt irritated, her dragon side was saying to destroy this lower life form that dared to ask such a question, but Emilia past human side was questioning herself why the kobold looked like her like some rare gem wich also made her more angry.
Emilia took a deep breath to calm herself, 'Dragons have quite the destructive impulses..' She slowly calmed herself down and looked back at the kobold looking at her with eyes full of anticipation, 'Perhaps i can build some trust and get some information after this..'
".. Fine." Fighting against her dragon pride, she let the kobold touch her horns, since that was what it seemed to be looking at.
*Gasp*
The kobold gasped once more before slowly touching Emilia's horns, it felt quite nice. Though common knowledge would be that those horns were used to pierce enemy's and thus a dragon would feel little to nothing if something touched the horns, they actually had the function of mana receptors, making a dragon more sensible to mana, though they were also sensible to aura and elemental affinity's, the main use was to feel mana better.
"How old are you?" The kobold asked with a friendly voice while rubbing Emilia's horns.
"..23?" Emilia tilted her head and the kobold seemed a little surprised.
"Ah, you hatched 23 years ago, so powerful at such young age.." The kobold moved gently Emilia off her to get up.
The kobold looked rather small, 89 centimeters.. But that actually was quite big for their race.
She had weird markings all over her face belly arms and entirely body, she also had short sword and a small bag in her hilt, the short sword had cuts like it had been through multipe battles, the metal had a faint green tone to it but it was too degraded to be noticed normally, this sword had been in many battles. The kobold had omnious purple eyes that shined in the darkness and gave off a weird aura of a warrior that has slaughtered thousands, an extremely domineering feeling, she also had a small green ring in one of her horns.
"What is the dragons name?" The kobold asked gently while patting Emilia head, she finally understood how dogs felt when humans petted their heads, it was quite nice.
"Chronos." Emilia flinched at the words that had come out of her mouth, she wondered why she couldnt say her name.
"What a nice name! Mine is Dawn!" Dawn said with a voice filled with excitment, the kobold tail wagged around a little.
"..Why did you come here?" Emilia asked and Dawn eyes shined even more.
"I was searching for a Light Lilly to help me reach the next stage!" Dawn said with a bright expression, recalling of her journey over the past years.
"Next stage?" Emilia finally felt she was getting somewhere and could get some information of this world by asking a native!
"Yes! I am at Full Aura stage and apparently i need to find a Light Lilly to get into the next stage." Dawn said while recalling something that an elder told her.
"Since i reached Full Aura stage before my 15 years, i was said to be a one in one million prodigy, but ends up that i need outside help to get into the next stage.." Dawn sighed and had a thinking expression.
"Cant you achieve it by training?" Emilia asked.
Dawn expression becomed complicated, "It should be possible, but nobody has ever done it, they all either had to use outside help or.. They went on a killing spree and absorbed purged the life essence of others to progress."
"Well, i have already been searching for about 200 years, eventually i will find one!" Dawn said with a hopefull look, "Also you do glow alot in the dark."
"Huh?" Emilia looked at her paws and her birth markings that ran all across her body were shining yellow in the night.
"Oh.." Emilia had an awkward expression.
"Dragons dont usually shine in the dark, it should be a characteristic of your species." Dawn sat down on the ground and looked at the stars
".. Sorry for asking, but can you tell me how long is the life span of an average kobold." Emilia asked, 200 years seemed a little too much.
"A normal kobold should be 120 years." Dawn said with while counting on her claws.
"But arent you 200?" Emilia questioned.
"At Full Aura stage, the lifespan is increased. Though nobody in Full Aura ever died of old age, we still age relatively slow... Hmm, if i were to guess my lifespan it would be of 4 thousand?"
"4 Thousand?!" Emilia gasped.
"Yes, even though that im about 237 years my looks are like kobolds of 16 years old." Dawn slowly got up and stretched her limbs.
"But isnt 4 thousand like alot?" Emilia couldnt see herself living for 4000 years, it was a lot!
"Well, you dragons cant die by aging at all." Dawn said with an indiferent expression. Emilia immediately gasped, she thought that dragons lived for a thousand years but she was incredibly wrong.
Emilia stayed a moment quiet and then decided to ask Dawn about the Full Aura stage she mentioned, "So what are those stages?"
"Stages are things that all living beings go through, and mortals like me and all life forms on this planet have been gifted with Aura, one of the heavenly gifts. Though some cannot progress much due to lack of potential, some can become incredibly powerfull beings!" Dawn answered with a bright smile showing her sharp teeth.
Then Emilia immediately asked "Can i use aura?"
"No, dragons are not mortals so they cannot use aura. Dragons use mana. I dont know much of Mana related stages. I only know that all dragons start at the Elemental Gift stage." Dawn finally finished stretching her limbs, it looked like she was ready to leave.
"Anyway, i am leaving now. I am deeply greatfull for having a conversation with a dragon!" Dawn looked at Emilia before starting to walk.
"Wait!"
"Huh?" Dawn quickly turned around.
"Can i.. Come with you?" Emilia asked in a low voice, she could learn more of this world if she followed Dawn around, 'I could also make a friend..' She had nowhere to go, having someone to travel together wouldnt be so bad.
Dawn blankly stared at her, a sudden happy aura filled the surrounding, "Of course you can!" Dawn tail wagged around once more, she was incredibly happy to have a dragon accompany her
"But dont you have things to do? Dragons rarely descend on the mortal plane." Dawn asked with curiosity, she never saw a dragon this young wandering the mortal planes afterall.
"..." Emilia didnt answear because she didnt know how to answear, 'I am actually a human that turned into a dragon.' How stupid would that sound?
Dawn noticed that Emilia didnt answear and thought that it was a rather fragile subject. "Oh, it's fine if you dont want to answear!"
'Perhaps this dragon ran away?' Dawn thought as she looked at Emilia that was glowing in the darkness.
"Alright! Then lets go meet the Dragonfolks, they are the ones that can probably teach you more about mana since they have more knowledge about dragons." Dawn said with a joyfull voice once again, 'How can a dragon not know their own stages anyway? This seems too fishy, perhaps it lost their memories?'
"Wait, what about your search for the Light Lilly?" Emilia thought that that lilly was very important for Dawn, she wouldnt give up about that just because she wants to accompany me.
"What stops me from finding a Light Lilly as we walk our way to the Dragonfolk clan? I have been wandering around aimlessly in search for it in the past 200 years, so what is the diffrence?" Dawn said as she started to walk forward with a small little dragon behind her.