Was it really that strange that I was able to completely disintegrate the target in such a short amount of time, such a task seemed trivial after grandfathers ritual.
With this on my mind as I returned to my sisters side, the elder dragon still standing behind me was focused intently on the nape of my neck.
"Child it seems that you possess two marks that have integrated with each other, I know that one is of destruction, what does the other represent? I cannot quite place the combination." The elder said to me while my back was still turned.
Turning my head to reply I answered with just one word.
"Domination."
A expression of shock briefly consumed his face before he said "That is impossible only the progenitor bears that mark."
Still meeting his gaze I said "It seems the creator is not to happy with his rule then."
I then turned back and continued to my sisters, the rest of the children parting like the red sea for Moses.
As I positioned myself at my sisters side the elder called the next child.
"Targot you're up."
Just then a green dragon walked forward from our group seeming nervous, but who could blame him after being the dragon directly after my surprising display. When he reached the elder several floating targets formed in mid air then the elder motioned him to begin.
It seemed the test was variable based on the proctors discretion which could be called unfair, or maybe he was taking into account what marks each child bore and gave them the necessary challenge.
After a few minutes all the targets had been destroyed, the elder eyed Targot with a discerning gaze as if he was probing him. After just a moment the elder spoke, "You fail."
As soon as the words left his mouth the elders tail moved so fast that it almost seemed to teleport before smashing into Targots side and his whole body turning into a fine red mist with chunks of him flying across the arena.
The whole arena was so quite for a moment that you would be able to hear a pin drop, then as if nothing had happened the elder spoke up "Yulia step forward.", a few moments after the elder uttered the command the one purple dragon youngling stepped forward.
I had never seen a purple dragon before much less heard of one, but from the mark she possessed it seemed that she held the quagmire mark for water and earth.
This time a wall of magma formed twenty or so feet in front of her and the elder motioned for her to begin. As I watched the trail take place I noticed that the elders gaze never left the young dragon, almost as if he was searching for something.
Once the target was no more the elder took one final look at her before saying "You pass."
I saw the young dragoness let out a deep sigh of relief, before quickly returning to the group.
The trial continued with three more failing the test, until the last name was called, "Janara, step forward." The last one to take the trial was the only white dragon present apart from my albino sister. As she walked away I saw that she held the mark of water but it seemed different somehow, just off of her scale color I guessed that it was not actually water but something like frost.
Standing at the same height as Apollonia we didn't waver in front of the elder even though four of the others had already been killed. A wall of sand that moved like it was alive sprung up before her, then the elder motioned to begin. Immediately the air temp dropped a few degrees as she prepared her dragon breath, when she was ready a jet of water shot forth soaking the sand and punching a hole through it.
Once the wall was water logged she stomped her right forelimb and the ground beneath her froze instantly then began spreading towards the wall. As soon as it came in contact the wall froze, then with another dragons breath it shattered into a countless number of pieces.
Then elder didn't even wait for her to look up at him before giving his verdict, "You pass."
She quickly turned back to the group and walked towards us, as she strolled over our eyes suddenly met and for some reason her icy stare seemed to stir something within me. After only a moment I redirected my gaze to the elder who seemed to be waited for Janara to rejoin the group.
When she finally made it back I felt her eyes wander across my scales briefly before looking at the elder.
"Congratulations on passing the this first test, in this trial you have one more before you are no longer considered younglings but adolescent dragons. The next test will be a tournament, do not worry, just because you lose your battle does not mean that you failed the test. I will be judging you performance from the viewing platform above, although I cannot tell you exactly what it is I am looking for just know that all you need to do is fight like your life depends on it."
N.A: Sorry for the short chapter I want to do the whole tournament in one chapter so you have that to look forward to, it will be one of my longest chapters yet so stay tuned for that later this week.