The garden seemed as if it had come from a different world. Everywhere I could see, there were flowers and trees I had never even heard of before. They looked so beautiful that without even realizing it, my hand reached out to a tree with a trunk resembling marble, white as snow, and leaves and flowers as black as places where light couldn't reach in the universe. Though I didn't know why, I found this tree very beautiful. It felt as though if I slept in its shade, I would have the best sleep, and if I ate its fruits, I would taste the most delicious flavor.
My mother, seeing the direction my small hands pointed at, murmured something in a voice so quiet that even I couldn't hear it.
"Without light, there is no darkness, and without darkness, light has no meaning. If there were no light, darkness wouldn't be able to hold onto anything and wouldn't open up, and if there were no darkness, light would be a dry, meaningless void. But together, they will branch out and make everyone admire them." My mother turned her head toward me and, this time, spoke in a voice I could hear.
"I hope you find your own darkness, my little light." she said, with a smiling face. Honestly, I didn't hear what she said earlier, so her sudden statement confused me, but I didn't think much about it.
After my mother and I took a closer look at the tree, we went for a little tour in the garden, and this became part of our daily routine...
**1 Month Later**
INNAĞ
Lately, the only thing I've been doing is following my usual daily routine. I wake up in the morning, feed myself, practice my technique to grow stronger, and then go on a garden tour with my mother.
During this process, I also gathered some information. It seems that 20 years have passed since my death, and the destruction of my army had caused a great uproar. Although I wasn't among the strongest, I had the title of Marquis and the fame I gained by defeating those stronger than me. The strange part was that the attackers were unknown; all that remained on the battlefield were the traces and corpses of the Ahfar army. This was a big problem because, despite how much the demons had infiltrated us, we couldn't find any traces. Or rather, someone among us was hiding them.
Although most people weren't aware, some high-ranking officials could sense that something was wrong. It even seemed that my father was aware that demons were behind this, but there was nothing he could do about it.
At first, I couldn't understand why he didn't attack and destroy the First Kingdom, but slowly, I started to realize. There were actually many reasons. The first was the refugee issue in the country. In recent years, the Empire had invaded so many countries that most of the Empire's population was made up of refugees. Thanks to the successful policies they followed, there had been no uprisings, and the assimilation process was going well. However, if they entered into a war with the demons, it would lead to a great consequence.
Demons are like the natural enemies of humans. They can corrupt their minds and manipulate their thoughts. In other words, these refugees who had lost their homelands because of the Empire were like ticking time bombs! Although Arthur was strong, fighting demons alone was difficult, and with such an obstacle, the war would end before it even began.
This situation saddened me a little, but I gathered more motivation. Now, I had more reasons to grow stronger. That's why, in recent days, I had been practicing my technique almost all the time. Slowly, little by little, I would grow stronger and reach the point I desired. Well, I leave that for tomorrow's version of myself; right now, I have bigger problems. Very big ones...
During our garden tours, we would encounter the daughters of the 1st and 2nd Empresses. It seemed that I now had a large family. The first Empress had three children—two princes and one princess. The second Empress had two—one prince and one princess. With my older brother, we made a total of 7 siblings. Actually, the one who surprised me the most was my older brother. Normally, it was very difficult for dragons to have children, but even though my brother was only 12 years old, I had already been born. This was actually celebrated with great joy in the Empire, and my family was stamped as blessed. Speaking of blessings, it seemed that my blessing ceremony was going to happen in just 5 months, or half a year, when I was born.
The Empire worships the Goddess of Light and receives blessings. It seemed that the Imperial family held blessing ceremonies to gain strength and be officially recognized as heirs, and this ceremony took place in a large cathedral, which could be viewed by the entire population. Actually, I was eagerly waiting for this day because, according to what I had heard, this blessing was anything but ordinary.
Back to the present moment:
"Aww, you're so cute as always! Can I bite you? Hafm."
"Sis, if you're going to bite her, why ask for permission? Leave her alone! Let me bite her a little— I mean, love her."
While I was being used like a toy, my mother giggled and took me back into her arms while I was still alive! Please, don't ever let me go again!
"Come on, kids, you're choking her. How about loving her while she's in my arms?"
Seeing my older sisters, one 19 and the other 15, frown, they shook their heads. Both had the same skin tone, eye color, and almost the same facial features. They almost looked like twins and seemed to be copies of my father. The only difference was their hair and eyebrow colors, which they had inherited from their mother. My older sister Aleyza had curly, fire-like hair, while my younger sister Flora had straight, nature-inspired, green hair.
Seeing their frowning expressions, my mother thought for a moment and then spoke.
"Come on, let's go for a walk in the garden. While we do that, tell me what you did today."
"Okay, Mom." "Sure, Mom."
They all got up and began walking while telling me what they had done that day.
"I tried a new weapon today. I think its name was a mace. It makes a really fun sound when it hits someone, and it's so heavy that swinging it is really fun!" My sister Aleyza was a real battle maniac. Sometimes, we could see the people she trained running away from her down the hall. Because she never knew when to stop.
"I visited the library and found a spell that could be useful to me in the future. I'm trying to learn it right now. Look, the basic idea is like this..." she said, moving her mana and creating symbols in the air. Thanks to my dragon intuition, I could feel the mana moving through her body. As my sisters excitedly continued talking, I started to feel a little strange. Listening to them, you couldn't tell who was older or younger. While Flora, my younger sister, was calmer and more careful, Aleyza was more excited and reckless. I hadn't had the chance to meet my other siblings much, but from what I heard, they were all calm. Only my real brother, Dorame, was very mischievous. I often heard the servants talking about his pranks.
The garden tour, which continued with pleasant conversation, ended when my stomach started growling, and everyone went off to do their tasks. To be honest, even though the garden tours were fun, I got really tired when I was with those two.
Once we arrived in our room, my mother began feeding me, and I slowly circulated my mana through my mana channels. But this almost cost me dearly.
"Oh, darling, are you imitating your sister Flora? What a clever little baby you are. But since she's a human, you'll need to make a few adjustments," my mother spoke. I almost lost my breath! I was doing it slowly to make sure she didn't notice, but apparently, a dragon's mana perception shouldn't be underestimated.
My mother placed her hand on my chest, and I felt her mana flow into my body. The mana flowing into me traveled through my channels and began to replicate what I had done, but with small differences. For example, while I was slowly directing the mana, compressing it, my mother's mana surged like flames erupting from a volcano, rapidly forming its own path with small bursts.
"It's amazing that you can imitate little Flora, but we're not humans, we're dragons. Even if you were half-human, this still applies to you. We're like uncontrollable natural events, and our power comes from that. Other races, especially humans, need to use their mana in an organized way, but we don't have such restrictions. Let your mana flow freely, let your veins stretch to their limits with your power, don't restrain yourself, and do whatever you want freely. Ask for power for freedom and destroy anyone who takes your freedom away, anyone who doesn't let you do what you want," she said, pulling her hands away from my chest.
I released my mana as my mother had shown me, and it began to move as though it had just woken from a long sleep. It was even faster than what my mother had shown me because, while she was being careful not to harm me, I pushed myself to my limits. For a moment, I felt like my veins might burst, but thanks to my dragon durability, I held on, and my human adaptability allowed my veins to evolve in response to the new mana flow. Though it was slow for now, it would help me become much stronger in the future.
"Hahaha! I didn't think you'd really understand me. You're such a smart girl, little Angelicam. But you can't keep this up for long. Look, your eyes are already starting to close," she said with a smiling face. She was actually right. While I had been able to train for long periods of time before, it seemed I wouldn't be able to do so for much longer with this method. Because it was so exhausting! I already felt like I hadn't slept for a few days! The only good thing was that my magical power and mana capacity were growing faster than ever before. As my eyes slowly closed, my mana returned to normal, and I could see the difference. Honestly, it wasn't a groundbreaking change, but I thought that this much rapid growth in such a short time wasn't normal.
'This is probably not a normal path. Or it might be a more advanced version of the normal path. If all dragons could grow this quickly, the world wouldn't last long.' Very few people knew how right I was. The method my mother had taught me was the main reason she was so powerful— a very strong training method born from her ideas. Probably, very few could do this, because if my mother hadn't shown me, I wouldn't have even guessed that mana could move this way!
As I thanked my mother silently, I fell asleep. But with a voice echoing in my head, I nearly passed out.
'Oh my, what a sweet little dragon cub. Or should I say, a former human dragon cub. Come here, let your grandmother take a closer look at you.'
'W-Who are you? I used to be human, you know!'
'You're so excited, little cub. Come, let's talk face to face.'
After hearing what she said, I felt my soul being pulled away, and when I opened my eyes again, I saw a dragon more beautiful, larger, more powerful, more noble, and more intelligent than anyone I had seen so far, a list stretching endlessly.
"Welcome, little cub. Would you like something to eat?"