N/A (sorry for the late chapter dear readers, I wanted to make sure that I gave you all the best possible version of this chapter, but I think you will enjoy what I came up with.)
"Follow me, we need to speak to your grandfather." Grandmother said to me.
I quickly followed her as she began to walk back towards Grandfathers chamber, as I walked behind her I looked back at my sisters who had just woken from their slumber. They gave me worried glances as if they knew what I had in store for me.
I turned my head back to the path that lay ahead of me, and could only think about what possibly lay before me. My fate it seemed was still unknown, but one thing I knew for certain was that what ever this trial was it would be a challenge the likes of which I had never experienced before.
As we made our way through the cavern I resolved myself to be prepared for whatever would come next. After all I still had much to do, so many debts yet unpaid, to my sisters I had promised to be their guardian, for Mother, Grandfather, and Grandfather I needed to return the kindness and knowledge that they had given me, and to the mortal races that had forsaken my kind. Death is what I would give them.
With this on my mind we came into view of grandfathers chamber and made our way inside. As we entered I caught sight of mothers noble figure standing at the end of the bridge conversing with grandfather through what seemed to be mana waves.
I momentarily stood still in the entrance to the caldera, Grandmother continued her way forward. Once she realized that I had stopped she looked back at me and ushered me forward.
I quickly continued walking forward to towards my family. As grandmother reached the other two she turned to face me, I continued forward until I stood in front of them. Mother looked down at me with a complicated expression, one of concern and happiness.
"My child I am so happy that you have returned to me, I understand your pain for I too have seen your fathers last moments." Mother said to me.
"Then why did you never tell me of his fate? How could you have the knowledge of this and still let them live?! They killed father! slaughtered him like an animal and yet they still live!" I roared.
"Hold your tongue boy! You are to show your mother the respect that she is due!" Grandfather commanded.
I quickly lowered my head
"My child you are right in your anger but there are still many things that your do not know. Do you really think that unless I was bid otherwise those that have done us wrong would still draw breath? The day that I lost your father I lost a piece of myself, both literally and figuratively. When two dragons mate they are bond together, their very souls create a bond which cannot be broken until one departs this world. When he fell a part of my own soul was ripped from me, a part that I would give the world to have returned." Mother said, I could hear the sorrow in her words obviously the pain which I felt over the loss of my father was only a drop in an ocean in comparison to her.
"I apologize mother, I was rash in both my actions and words. I am here to listen and learn not to destroy our bond, I only wished to express my own rage but it was misplaced. Would you forgive my words?" I responded to her.
She lowered her head, bringing it close to mine and placed her forehead against my own "You are still young, but you must learn to control your emotions lest they lead you astray." Mother said.
For a moment we stood there expressing our shared grief before she pulled away and looked at my grandfather. "It is time. Please give him as much as you can to prepare him for what is to come." Mother said to him before walking past me towards the exit of the caldera.
As she walked past I turned my head to face her for a moment, her regal figure growing smaller before she too looked back before nodding and continuing on her way.
I then looked back towards the massive forms of Grandfather and Grandmother.
"Now then let us begin." Grandfather said to me before a massive spell circuit formed above me. As it slowly activated I could feel the immense power wafting off of it.
As I gazed up studying each rune, they where not the same kind that I had seen so far in my heritage. They where much more ancient that any others I had seen, each carrying immense knowledge and power.
'So this is the power of an elder dragon.'
As I thought this to myself the final rune ignited and all that made up my being seemed to be torn apart.
It felt as if my very body was being remade, along with it came a new understanding of the world around me.
What was most likely only a moment stretched into what felt like many lifetimes, during this I gained a new understanding of my own body. It seemed that the spell that grandfather cast was meant to impart everything that I was meant to learn and gain through the last few months.
This must have been why he was teaching my sisters and I, to prepare us for the first trial.
As I regained conciseness I could see light shining through my scales. I fell to the ground my entire body racked with excruciating pain.
"Well it looks like he survived." Grandmother said.
"Indeed."
I felt like my own mana was trying to tear its way out of my body, before it was like a river now it felt like a tsunami. I would need time to precisely control this new power.
I quickly began to try and tame the raging mana within myself, I knew that if I couldn't reign back in my destruction mana it would eat its way through my being. Focusing I imagined the state I summoned the rune I had made before from my domination mana to control it.
For a moment it seemed to resist but then it relented, and the light shining through my scales dimmed down.
"Do you now understand why we where instructing you on how to properly control your mana?" Grandmother asked me
"I assume it was to safely achieve what just occurred without your interference?" I responded.
"Yes the spell that I just cast imbues the target with a certain amount of mana capacity and restructures your body accordingly. The reason that I did not do this to begin with is that very few survive the spell. Normally we would have been able to achieve this without my interference but as you ran off for a few months I had no other choice." Grandfather said.
"What could possibly warrant such extreme measures Grandfather?" I asked.
"The first trial of course, without this necessary danger you would not have been able to even begin the first trial at the correct time and you would have been killed. Such weakness is not acceptable for one of the draconian lineage." Grandfather replied.
Still not knowing what this trial entailed I wondered why I needed to possess such power to even begin this trial.