"Aren't the hot springs in the tribe enough to temper us?" Drache asked.
Armagan shook his head and sighed as soon as he reached the top of the hill, he turned and grabbed Drache by the hand before pulling him up.
"When will you learn to aim and run for power and strength?" He asked when Drache was now on even toes with him.
"There is no need to be, the mounts our clan lives in are enough for us" Drache responded.
"Sigh, such a contented draconian you are. But remember that if war comes, you'll be the first one the clan will send in as cannon fodder," Armagan shook his head as the duo continued traversing the hill top.
"Our level up increases our strong bodies but overall, we have to train our minds to adjust to our fire abilities that's what the clan desires in us" Armagan then walked to the center of blackened conical top.
His hand touched the rock and his dark red eyes shone as a red heat appeared and sizzled beneath his palm.
It wasn't long before his face twisted into one of pleasure as his pair of white horse brightened.
"The power of the heat increases his abilities but also the power of his scales" Drache commented as his hand slapped against the blackened land and the same thing occured to him.
A while later, the faces of their scales seemed to shine and extend.
"All of a sudden,
"Roar!" They began to release growls and roared at the top of their voices before they removed their hands.
"What was that?" Drache said.
"It felt like some sort of energy entered our mind" Armagan replied.
"As if we had become beasts" Drache said while staring at his hand to ascertain if he was alright.
"Regardless, we can investigate later. For now, we came to empower ourselves" Armagan replied as he implanted his hand into the hill and more of it sizzled beneath his palm.
All of a sudden, his dark red eyes changed to make his scelera become fully red as he turned to face Drache.
"Armagan hope all is well?" Drache questioned the draconian who pounced at him.
"A stop to this" Drache said as he jumped out of the way of the draconian who was now on all fours.
Armagan released a roar when he evaded.
"Armagan, snap out of it" Drache yelled but his words were paid no heed to as Armagan pounced on him again.
"I might as well out an end to this" Drache said before he cracked his nails the size of claws.
He thrust his hand forward as the top of his black nails released a red radiance and five red rays shot at Armagan hitting his dark scales.
The attack did nothing on Armagan who bellowed an even louder roar and charged at Drache.
"We are immune to fire attacks" Drache nearly face palmed himself as he took up effort and ran before following with a quick swipe and his feet smacked Armagan's face.
As if, he had been smacked to his senses the full red eyes reverted to their original dark red irises and Armagan returned to his body with a loud cry of pain. "Oww!"
"What am I doing on all fours?" he said as he rose up.
"You were gone and you attacked me" Drache said to him.
"We must return to the clan to report the incident" he added.
Armagan nodded, agreeing with his friend as the two began to slowly climb the steep slope of the volcanic hill back to the even ground that had grasses.
They walked on and on till they reached a sloping land where one could see stone houses resembling conical mounds laying with the grasses.
A few miles away from these houses was a large hill that had a pointed top.
The duo made their way towards the houses where many draconians littered the land breaking rocks and bumping each other with their scales.
If one looked even further, they could see an open entrance into the insides of the hill.
"It is said that the elder draconians had the strength to tear through rocks," Drache said.
"Those are people that you should admire and try to surpass" Armagan responded.
"Well, after seeing what you've done today, I think I'll pass" Drache responded.
"I lost control due to that strange energy, there is no need for you to lazily remain idle" Armagan harrumphed as the duo walked past the conical stone houses and headed straight into the open entrance of the hill.
A large number of draconians remained inside and laid beside a glowing reddish orange lake as their arms remained crossed and their bodies were still.
Armagan and Drache soon dropped to their knees and addressed the ones who were opposite in direction to them.
Five draconians with tall horns and bright red eyes stared back at them as they lowered their head and kneeled as a sign of paying their respects.
The middle draconian was the first to speak.
"You two were given the chance to venture out of the clan to empower yourselves. Now that you are back. I trust that you should be exceptionally strong warriors"
"Well elder, yes and no" Drache answered.
"Why?"
"We've come to report that we noticed something strange happen to us while we were trying to absorb energy from an ash hill"
"And what could be this strange thing?" The Elder Draconian asked while tilting his horns.
Drache stared at Armagan for a while before facing the elders again "Armagan's entire eye became the color of his iris and he stood on his fours before attacking me."
"He also changed his countenance, bellowing roars and growls at me" he added.
"Interesting, no such coincidence occurred in the tribe" The Elder Draconian replied before asking "How did you manage to restore him to a sane state?"
"I simply kicked him with my leg" Drache replied.
At that moment, three more draconians rushed into the inner portion of the hill and lowered their heads before kneeling.
"Elders, we have news to report"They chorused.
"Let one of you speak" The elder in the middle replied.
"Today, we ventured out to look for mount lands to absorb energy from to strengthen our scales and our abilities. Unfortunately while absorbing two of us stood on fours, bellowed loud roars and attacked those around us"
"Interesting," The Elder Draconian replied.
"We were just receiving reports from these two and now you bring yours?"
"So where are these two?" He queried.
"Being held off by others who helped us escape their madness" The Draconian who was reporting answered.
The Elder Draconian touched his chin before saying "Bharash. You, your group and these two will find a way in which the tribe can harness this new energy that seems to turn you into beasts"
"But elder, it seems that those who do so lose their entire sanity" The Draconian tried to refute.
"Well Armagan and Drache had your encounter except that they Drache snapped him out of it by kicking him in the face"
"Now off you go"
The new group comprising of seven Draconians left the hill.
"How are we supposed to harness a power that we know nothing about?"
"The elder knows what he is requesting for. He thinks that since we were already in touch with the strange power then only us should experiment to know how to utilize it" Armagan explained.
"But that makes no sense, what about the two brothers of ours that risked their lives to hold back the beastly ones?"
"They will be fine. If they discovered the kick in the face secret" Drache replied.
"Haha, very funny" Armagan squinted his eyes.
The group soon reached a flat hill that held nothing but blackened rock.
"As long as the liquid mounts continue to spill these lands and rocks for us. Our strength will grow exponentially" Armagan said.
When they reached the top of the flat hill, they were welcomed with the sight of two draconians in a deadlock against two other draconians that stood on fours.
From the way it looked, the ones who were standing had claw marks on their faces and we're panting heavily.
"Kick them in the face!" Drache yelled.
One of them decided to listen to his words and took a big leap at one of the four legged opponent with a kick in the face.
The other one however was tumbled upon by his opponent.
Armagan immediately rushed to the draconian and out paced the others before kicking the beast draconian that was about to slash its claws on his clansmen.
The eyes of the beast draconian became normal dark red reverted to the iris alone as he surveyed the land around him.
"Your clansmen is not an opponent that deserves to be sent on a slashing board" He corrected the draconian who was now holding his head.
"Now, we have a task to do"