Unfurled Wings And Revealed Powers [Akeya's Secondary Training]

Akeya silently sneaked around in her room, gathering all of the stuff she expected to need while on her trip. It was in the middle of the night, and in combination with the fact that some of the people in Blue Pegasus had quite the impressive hearing she did her best to avoid waking anybody up. It hadn’t been very long since she had returned from Whedalsin, who -after teaching her all the basics quite quickly- had told her it would be best if she continued training on her own. Even if she was slowly turning into a dragon she was still her own person, and just like each person is different they all have different ways to utilize their magic abilities. If he tried to teach her everything he knew it most likely wouldn’t be as efficient as when she developed her own magic.

Since then Akeya had tried her best to avoid letting anybody notice her new limbs, feeling that she’d be better off hiding those until a better time. The tail hadn’t been difficult, since she could just hide it underneath her cloak (she was really grateful that she had removed her clothing before trying to accept Whedalsin’s magic, even if she hadn’t known the possible side effects of doing so) but the wings took a bit more effort. Finally she had managed to fold them up in such a way that unless she was careless it would just look like she was slightly hunched over. Luckily most people either didn’t pay a lot of attention to her, or would be scared away by her now even more focused glare if they become too curious. The few that didn’t fall under either category she had done her best to avoid, although she wasn’t sure whether it had worked. The more observant people would likely have picked up on something regardless of what she tried, but she would deal with that after returning.

Finishing her packing (mostly food, she really didn’t see the need to bring anything else and she wasn’t sure whether there would be enough at her destination) Akeya grabbed the last item necessary for this training trip: a special map only Blue Pegasus members were allowed to use. It would apparently show her to make her way to the floating island Mount Helicon, the secret training and testing grounds for the Guild. Akeya hadn’t been sure where she would be able to train without being disturbed, so she had done some asking around before being told about the secret grounds. Seeing how it was a lot better than any idea she herself had been able to come up with she quickly got to work learning how to get there, getting permission to use the Sky Chart (tricky business in combination with her trying to avoid drawing attention to herself) and then making sure nobody would go chasing after her once she had left (a lot easier, since nobody really had reason to).

Putting everything in a satchel and slinging that satchel over one shoulder so it would rest on her hip on the other side Akeya looked a last time around her room to made sure she hadn’t forgotten anything before climbing out of the window in her room, from there on climbing upwards and onwards until she was standing on top of the Guild Hall, surveying the town perched upon the island around the humongous building. It really was a rather grand view, especially with the way the bright moon bathed the isle and the surrounding lake in silver light. The ninja doubted many others got the opportunity to look at Clover Town like this, and even fewer also had the advantage of her darkvision, allowing her to view the dark landscape with clarity and sharpness comparable to what most people would have during broad daylight. While she wasn’t one to be swept away by her own emotions Akeya had to admit that this place was in some ways a lot more beautiful than the village she was born in. Not all of them, but some.

She stood there, staring for a while, before shaking her head and going into a crouched position, taking off her cloak and also putting it inside her satchel. As beautiful as this place is it isn’t quite beautiful enough to make her stand there for the whole night admiring the view. Now that her cloak was no longer restricting them her wings unfurled, the dark blue scales nearly invisible against the night sky. Her tail had the same effect, curling around her legs before stretching out behind her, brushing against the roof of the Guild Hall while at the same time seeming to merge with the surrounding darkness. Akeya took the Sky Chart out of the satchel, holding onto it tightly before concentrating on her wings. Said wings stretched themselves as far as they were able, the ninja crouching even lower as she prepared for the take-off. After a couple of seconds her wings beat downward in a single mighty sweep, together with Akeya’s own jump launching her into the night.

After taking some time to stabilize herself Akeya began climbing higher, her tail stretched out behind her and acting as a rudder as her wings started flapping faster and faster, the wind whistling around the ninja and playing with her hair as she ascended, for now moving in a straight line upwards. Mount Helicon was supposed to be high up in the sky, so it would be a good idea to get some altitude before consulting the Sky Chart. Also, she had to admit that she really liked the feeling of flying at such speeds,  with no restraint to how far or high she flew. The wings she was able to create before using her magic had been a lot weaker: she could use them to fly any faster than she could run, and they couldn’t carry her very far. They were only useful for getting across small pieces of difficult terrain, to evade attacks aimed at people on the ground, or to attack from an unexpected angle herself.

However these wings were a lot less restricted. Because they were real wings, not something temporarily created through magic, they wouldn’t disappear if she overused them, and they could carry her faster and farther. Of course they could get tired, but now at least Akeya felt like she could use them properly as wings, rather than another tactical advantage. She had read a lot, both at home and in the Guild, and often whenever flight was mentioned it would be accompanied by a statement how once you managed to fly things started to look a lot different than they did when you were stuck on the ground. Akeya herself had never felt such a thing with her own wings, and as such had thought it to be another example of emotional people trying to dispense their own feelings as wisdom. Now she realized that the reason why she hadn’t felt that was because her wings, no matter how useful they were, had never truly freed her from the ground, only allowed her to escape for short amounts of time. With these wings she could understand what the scrolls talked about. For somebody like the ninja, who is usually so logical and focused, it was a rather curious and confusing experience.

Either way, she would make sure to take full advantage of her newfound gift. When faced with the option to stay human or turn dragon Akeya had declined the option to stay human, partly because she felt that turning into a dragon would have several quite useful bonuses besides the few she had already received. These wings where one of those bonuses, and she would treat them as such. Of course that meant she would have to practice a lot of them: to be able to stay airborne for extended periods of time, to be able to fly faster, to lose the amateurish appearance she gave according to Whedalsin. These wings were something she could, and would, train to become stronger and better. Of course that also included her tail. Honestly the difference between the magical tail and the permanent one she had now felt less impressive to Akeya than the difference between her previous wings and the current ones, but she’d still make sure to use this new tail. She already knew that the tail was actually quite fundamental for proper flight, helping you keep your balance even when in awkward positions. Besides of that it should also work for combat and utility purposes. Once again, lots of training would be required, but for Akeya that was just something to add to her list of tasks.

After finally being high enough to her liking (which partly was influenced by how long she just wanted to feel the wind flow around her as she flew higher) Akeya slowed down until she flew in place, looking down and correcting her position slightly to remain straight above the Guild Hall. While unrolling the Sky Chart the back of her mind was focused on the stray thought that it was a good thing that she didn’t suffer from fear of heights. She was already a lot higher than any building or landmark in the vicinity, and she could imagine that somebody more easily affected by heights might just lose control and plummet to their death. She’d probably have to make sure that if she ever carried somebody while flying they would have to deal with staring at such views from far above.

Looking at the Sky Chart Akeya tried to figure out where she was supposed to go next, not being used to navigating in the sky. On the ground there were normally plenty of landmarks to use, but up here most of those landmarks were too small to accurately use, besides the fact that if you’re high enough judging distance (and thus navigation) towards the ground becomes difficult. Instead she had to rely on the stars dotting the dark heavens, about the only things up here permanent enough to be used on a map. At least up here they were clearly visible, the lights that normally are present in human settlements not present to hinder the ninja in her attempts at finding her way to the floating island. After getting a bit of a grip on things the winged girl started moving, this time horizontally in search for her destination.

After some more flying (Akeya noted that her wings were becoming harder to move. If it took much longer she’d be forced to return to the ground and rest before she fell from the sky out of exhaustion) Mount Helicon finally came into sight. Gratefully the ninja made haste to reach some solid surface before she really became too tired to fly any further, not even pausing to take in the sight of the training grounds before landing and folding up her wings, panting as she fell to her knees and supported herself with her hands. As expected she would have to train a lot to be able to use these wings for long distance travelling.

After resting for a bit Akeya looked around, getting a grip on her surroundings. In the middle of the island, rising above the rest of the floating phenomenon, was the mountain giving the rest of the place its name. It looked quite imposing, with a series of waterfalls covering one side that most likely turned into the river that fed the rest of the isle. That would explain the abundance of greenery and signs of animals, although Akeya wondered where the water come from on the mountain and where it went after reaching the end of the island. On the mountain there should be some kind of sacred fountain, no doubt the source of the water, and the river might just end up falling down the side of the floating island, turning into rain before reaching the earth below. From a practical point of view, however, this meant that there should be enough food and water around here to survive for quite long, provided she didn’t get killed by some kind of monster that might make its home here away from meddling humans.

Still feeling exhausted Akeya decided that for now she would call it a day (night), searching the immediate surroundings until she found a set of trees which with some extra branches and leafs could act as a makeshift shelter. It would only last one day, but that was enough for now. Curling up inside the shelter Akeya unfurled one wing, covering the rest of herself as a blanket while she fell asleep.

Random dream sequences are...good...

Akeya blinked as she rubbed her eyes. For a moment she felt like she wasn’t where she was supposed to be, then -as tends to happen in dreams- her memories reshaped themselves. She was about ten years old, and was trying her best to avoid being sent to bed by escaping to outside and climbing onto the roof of the house she was born in. Her parents were quite lenient, but they didn’t like their child staying outside so late when each day was colder than the last. The girl herself never really could understand what they complained about: it wasn’t like she could ever remember getting sick, and living in the mountains makes you good at resisting the cold anyway. Besides, if she felt ill she could notice it herself and go inside out of her own volition. The fact that all children thought this with little success didn’t occur to Akeya. Even if it had she would have countered that she wasn’t exactly like other children. Not that she thought less of them, but they did tend to be a lot less thoughtful than she herself.

And so Akeya ended up watching the blue sky becoming darker, the sun hiding behind the mountains and spreading shadows as freely as a friendly uncle might hand out candy to the swarm of passer-by children. It was quite the astonishing sight, and it managed to keep Akeya’s attention for quite some time. It was only until the sky had become so dark as to be black (or as near as to make no difference) that the girl shook her head and started climbing down. If she stayed up there for much longer her parents would shift gears and become seriously agitated. They were already used to Akeya being rather stubborn in what she would do and when, and as long as it didn’t cause any problems or she didn’t go too far out of bounds they’d just scold her a little before leaving her be. However when she went too far out of bounds they made sure to make her understand why she shouldn’t do that, along with a strong desire not to. Lenient, but only up to a certain point.

Stealthily entering the house Akeya headed for her bed, hoping to reach it and climb inside before her parents would catch her. She didn’t expect them to be truly angry, but no scolding was still better than a small scolding. Besides, while she might try not to show it she did feel rather tired, so bed was an attractive notion for more than one reason.

Passing by the living room Akeya noticed that the lights were still on, and her parents were sitting on either side of the low table, the light casting their shadows on the rice-paper door. For now her thoughts about sleep were forgotten as a new goal embedded itself in her young and curious mind: listening to what her parents were talking about. Not exactly the most decent or sensible thing to do, but it isn’t like she would be listening to any kind of secret she wasn’t supposed to hear. If they started talking about something she wasn’t supposed to hear Akeya would immediately stop listening. Honest. Almost certainly. No doubt about it. If she could make herself go to bed before her parents became truly worried, keeping away from things she wasn’t supposed to know should be easy. Right?

Crouching near the door Akeya tried to get as close without getting in danger of doing something embarrassing that would reveal her position, which required some work, seeing how rice paper isn’t exactly the material you want to use when hiding. It has this annoying tendency to be a) fragile, b) semitransparent and c) noisy. Luckily it seemed her parents were too absorbed in their conversation to take notice, so after some more repositioning Akeya relaxed and tried to listen in.

“-and Hiun is fairly sure that it shouldn’t be a problem. It isn’t the first time that the merchants have arrived a little later than normal. Probably waiting for the recent snow to melt. Nobody likes trying to lead a caravan through a foot of snow. If they haven’t arrived or send a message at the end of this week we’ll go and see what’s keeping them. Not like we’re in dire need of new supplies either.” Kumoi Kuusai, Akeya’s father and brother of Hiun Kuusai, head of the family, sounded reassuring. He also sounded like they had already gone over this several times.

“I still am worried. The last time it took them so long was when we later learned that part of the caravan had been buried in snow. We do have more food stored now than we did back then, but every time that something happens they might reconsider going through all the trouble of getting up here. Not like we have anything to offer that they couldn’t get from a village located in a less dangerous place.” Meimei Shinkai, Akeya’s mother and originally an outsider, sounded like she was in one of those moods were she was considering the negative side more to make sure every angle was covered than because she was actually covered.

“The merchants know just as well as we do that those few times that the snow gets in a way are just bad luck. Normally it’d still be weeks before it starts snowing. Besides, we’ve had a stable partnership for years now. They wouldn’t abandon us unless something forced them to. Something harsher than the snow coming a bit earlier than expected.” Kumoi snorted. “As for last time, even without our help none of them would have died. They only said they were buried because that sounds more impressive than ‘one of our youngsters scared the pack animals with his yelling when he fell into a pile of snow and we had trouble catching them all’. If something like that was enough to make them reconsider their trade routes they never would’ve established this one to begin with.”

“You make it sound funny, but you were just as worried back then. And when you went out to see what happened to the merchants Akeya and I were also worried. I doubt she could remember you ever before having to leave the village to search for the merchants.”

“What, Akeya was worried? Besides of the fact that she seems to rarely worry, how could you tell? She trained harder than before?” Kumoi chuckled, apparently amused at the thought. Behind the door Akeya frowned: she had been worried back then, although she had hoped her mother hadn’t noticed.

“Just because others can’t tell doesn’t mean I can’t tell what my own daughter is thinking. I would be too ashamed to show my face if I couldn’t even recognize the emotions of Akeya purely because she doesn’t show them as strongly as most children her age do.” Meimei fell silent after saying that, her voice becoming a bit less heated and slower when she continued speaking. “Although it still does worry me. She doesn’t look unhappy or all that, but I don’t get why she’s so withdrawn. She gets along with the other children, none of the other adults seem to have any complaints, but she still acts as if every action requires deep forethought. Like she’s careful not to make a mistake, but to such an extend that it’s like she has made that mistake before and doesn’t want to repeat it.” Once again it didn’t sound like anything new being discussed, and honestly this wasn’t the first time Akeya heard something like this while eavesdropping. The fact that it worried her parents is something that in return puzzled the girl. It’s true that she’s not as social as most of her nephews and nieces, and that she considers the best possible course of action a lot. She just doesn’t get why it’s something that worries her parents. They made it sound as if the only way a child could be like that is if that child had experienced something bad in the past that made them afraid of encountering it again. Are children supposed to be careless and needlessly cheerful?

“We’ve talked about this before Mei. I’m just as puzzled about her...cautious behaviour. However to believe that it’s related to some accident that we don’t know about, or for it to be a reaction to outside influences, does not change the fact that Akeya has never been outside this village, and inside the village nobody has ever harmed her or even shown the slightest indication of harming her. She was already silent from the moment that she could talk, and it’s not like it became significantly worse after she started to interact more with the other adults and the children. Just because it’s abnormal doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Aside from her showing a maturity you don’t often see in children she’s as nice a kid as any parent could ask for. She’s kind, she works hard out of her own volition, she’s thoughtful, and like you said it isn’t like she looks like she isn’t enjoying herself. She just shows it less energetically. Honestly one of the few real flaws I find in her is the tendency to eavesdrop. More specifically, eavesdropping and then believing her dear old father wouldn’t realize it.”

Akeya almost jumped back as she heard the last couple of sentences, her eyes widening as she looked around. The hallway was entirely the same as before: it didn’t look like her father used any tricks. He must have noticed her when she was still trying to find a comfortable position and only now bothered to call her out on it. Annoyed and embarrassed at being caught Akeya stood up, slowly opening the door and walking into the living room. Her parents wouldn’t appreciate it if she ran away now and tried to pretend she hadn’t been eavesdropping. She was caught, so now she would just have to pay the price for it.

Both of her parents were looking at her, her father raising one eyebrow as if asking her why she even bothered trying. Her mother just looked calm, smiling in a way that Akeya was often told was a perfect mirror of her own, even if Meimei was a lot more inclined towards smiling than her little girl. According to the other adults of the village Akeya was actually a rather fine mix between her mother and father in appearance, inheriting her father’s healthy build and her mother’s more delicate curves. She was still growing, but it already was clear that Akeya wasn’t going to be one of those thin and frail ladies. Most of her face, however, came from her mother, the most notable exception being her thin but strong eyebrows. Her hair was also obviously Meimei’s: from birth both Kumoi and his brother Hiun had hair as white as snow.

“Good evening Akeya. Care to join us?” As usual her father was taking the opportunity to make a quip and at the same time point out that Akeya is doing something she shouldn’t be doing. The only response Akeya gave him, however, was a slight nod and a burning of the cheeks, something which she couldn’t hide besides being even more obvious about it. After staring at each other for a couple more seconds Kumoi shrugged, patting the ground next to him. “Well, you might as well sit down, since you aren’t going to leave for a couple more minutes anyway. Not unless I was willing to bring one of the donkeys inside the house to drag you to bed.” At that Meimei shoots her husband a look, at which he only shrugs. Akeya on the other hand took the invitation to heart, sitting down next to her father so that she would be facing her mother. After sighing Meimei turned to her daughter, once again smiling.

“You don’t have to worry about me trying to find something in your past that doesn’t exist, Akeya. I know I sound exasperated, but every parent worries about their child. Some are just a bit more upfront about it than others.” Akeya silently nodded while once again her father raised an eyebrow. “I sense subtle criticism.” Meimei shrugged, her smile now becoming a bit like a smirk. “My, wherever could you have gotten that idea from? I was just remarking how not everybody is the same.” Kumoi rolled his eyes before dropping the subject, causing his wife to chuckle modestly. “Anyway, I’m not actually worried that you might be hiding something or that something is wrong with you dear. I’m just used to children being very playful and cheerful, so when you act so much more mature than your playmates I worry whether you’re not taking full advantage of your childhood. When you’re young you should do everything you really want to do, so that later on you don’t regret anything when you’re doing what you have to do.”

At this Akeya raised one eyebrow, mimicking her father rather uncannily. After a couple of seconds she spoke. “But what if I just don’t want the same thing as most children? I’m happy with how things are right now. I don’t see the need to do stuff without thinking ahead, and everybody who I care about knows me well enough that I don’t need to express myself any more than I already do.” Kumoi coughed at that, patting Akeya on the head. “Well, as we’ve both said it’s not like what you do is wrong or anything like that. You’re growing up to be considerate and composed, and I don’t think anybody minds that. As parents we just want to make sure that you’re as happy as you can be. The fact that you’re maturing a bit faster than most people expect from children just means that you’re maturing a bit faster. Nothing more, nothing less. Although if you want a reason to show more emotion, while we might know what you’re feeling humans are social creatures. If one of us is happy the rest also becomes happier, and the more happiness you show the stronger that effect is.”

Akeya gave this theory some thought, admitting that it does make some kind of sense. Her family was basically one big group, and most of them did seem to really like being in groups rather than being alone: Akeya was actually the most solitary out of all of them. Even their leader, Hiun, was always busy together with other people, either just socializing or together with them working on some problem. From the scrolls Akeya had read most of the time the clan leader was some old guy who acted as a stern authority, always trying to do what is best for his family regardless of how painful it might be. Hiun didn’t fit that category in two ways: for one thing, he was still rather young, his father having passed on the role of leader when he became old enough that he felt that from that point on age would only weaken him further, and probably because of that Hiun wasn’t some kind of ruler sitting atop a throne, and he did seem to be happier than the clan heads in those scrolls tended to be. Akeya slowly nodded, the girl conceding that point to her father.

“So if I showed more emotion I would make others happier. If you think that is best I will try, father. Although I still think that you two can read me well enough.” Meimei shook her head, leaning forward slightly as she looked at her daughter. “We’re not telling you to do anything dear. Showing more emotion does make it easier for others to become connected to you, but if you feel comfortable as you are now neither of us would tell you to force yourself to reveal more than you would do willingly. I hope that you manage to open up a bit more in the future, because I would love to see my little girl smile a bit more. But you really are fine as you are now. You don’t have to worry about trying to please us. Besides possibly getting rid off the habit to eavesdrop.” Both parents chuckled at that as Akeya blushed again, knowing that would be part of the repertoire for the foreseeable future. Eventually Meimei continued, still smiling. “We’d prefer it if you didn’t eavesdrop, but that’s just one habit children tend to have. As long as you are happy we’ll be happy for you and with you. And whatever happens you’ll always be our daughter.”

Kumoi nodded, ruffling Akeya’s hair. “Exactly. We’ll always be your parents, and we’ll always love you. Nothing that might happen in the future will change that.”

Endings of dream sequences are...good...

Akeya slowly opened her eyes and looked around, temporarily confused before remembering where she was, after which she relaxed and changed into an upright sitting position. It was already evening, Akeya’s favourite point of the day where light and darkness were together creating a small moment ruled by shadows. Her dream was still clear to her, as if preserved in the form of a crystal and then put inside her mind. “You’ll always be our daughter. Nothing that might happen in the future will change that.” Akeya looked at herself as those words resounded in her mind, noticing all the little differences. Ever since leaving her home she had become a bit leaner, probably from training. Her nails were now a lot sharper than those of most humans. She couldn’t get a look at her face, but Akeya knew that beneath her mask and behind her lips the canines had turned into fangs, and the other teeth had also become a bit sharper. Last time that she checked, which was right after leaving Whedalsin’s cave when she encountered a small stream, her pupils had turned from ovals into reptilian slits. On her cheeks and on her forehead prolonged triangles of scales had grown, all three pointing towards the middle of her face. Her ears were pointier than before, and she was pretty sure that her toes had lengthened a bit.

And those were only the minor changes. Along her entire spine a thick row of dark blue scales ran down her back, at the bottom smoothly and seamlessly connecting with the scaled reptilian tail that had appeared there with no intention of ever leaving. Her shoulder blades were even worse in that aspect: Akeya was pretty sure that the entire bone structure around her shoulders had changed to accommodate for the second pair of limbs growing out of her shoulder blades, forming large wings tipped with claws. Most people likely would only feel the difference in her skeleton if specifically told to look for it, but the ninja herself felt it clearly when those wings appeared. Honestly the wings had been a lot worse to grow than the tail. At least the tail was something humans possessed in the past, so the basic structure was still there and only had to be used. On the other hand Akeya was pretty sure there weren’t many creatures who would grow two pairs of front limbs, let along a set of arms and a set of wings.

It wasn’t even that long since Akeya left the valley where she was born in, but already she had changed so much. Leaving everything else aside, she wasn’t even fully human any longer. She didn’t regret the choices she made, as she was told to not regret, but she did wonder how her parents would react if they saw her like this. She didn’t doubt that they would still love her, because they were too smart to be frightened away by her appearance. But would they really treat her exactly the same as before? Would the fact that their daughter had chosen to no longer be human make them see her just a little less as their little girl? And even if they did, that was only now, when Akeya’s basic structure was still human. Her transition to a dragon wasn’t just going to stop here. It would most likely continue until it was complete. How would the people from the village of the Soul Dancers react to a dragon?

Shaking her head Akeya stood up, forcing herself to abandon those thoughts. Hopefully she would be able to deal with that when the time came, and explain to them that even if she had changed she was still the daughter of Kumoi Kuusai and Meimei Shinkai. And if they didn’t...Akeya grunted as she made sure she still had her satchel (and all its contents) before walking further into the forested floated island. Not the time for that particular problem. For now she would find the stream flowing down the mountain. It would be a good idea to set up a more permanent camp up there.

The water wasn’t that difficult to find, seeing how she just had to head for the mountain and approach it from the side where water fell down the side. Once there the ninja went about to make a shelter which would last for the rest of her stay on the sacred training grounds, although she had no idea how long that might last. As long as it would take her to get a good grip on her abilities, to make it clear that it was her magic, and not just the basics that Whedalsin had taught her. The shelter wasn’t difficult to make: a couple of stones already lay close to each other but with enough space in between them, and from that point Akeya only had to make a roof using branches and leafs and create a clear spot for a campfire. Once that was done (and there were enough branches piled up to keep a fire going for quite a while) Akeya stepped further towards the mountain, idly wondering if maybe those stones were from a previous guild member coming here to train. It was so awfully convenient a spot to stay that it could very well have been created or used beforehand.

Standing at the base of the rock formation that was the foundation of the mountain towering above the rest of the floating island Akeya closed her eyes and concentrated, her tail swaying behind her while her wings stayed folded up on her back. The evening was already turning into night, but so far as Akeya understood how this worked a shadow dragon was as much a dragon of darkness as it was a dragon of shadows, most likely for the same reason that most people thought Akeya to be a darkness user rather than a shadow user: for most people the world consists of only light and darkness, with shadow just being ‘light’ darkness. Normally Akeya felt a bit irked by this, but at least in this case it meant that she wouldn’t have to worry about the darkness overtaking the shadow.

The first step of Akeya’s training would be to ‘eat’ the shadows (and darkness) surrounding her. Doing this would give her more energy for the rest of the training, and since she planned to train a lot she would need all the energy she could get. Opening her mouth Akeya exhaled slowly, as usual when concentrating starting to attune herself with the flow of magic surrounding her. It was comforting, familiar, although ever since her transformation there was also a new aspect: the flow of magic now also contained new parts, or rather parts that felt different from before. These parts were the ones contained inside the shadows and the darkness, the parts which felt like extensions of Akeya herself. Connected to her, similar to her, but not quite a part of her. Yet. When Akeya inhaled she willingly tried to draw in those shadows, and they obeyed, flowing into her mouth as if part of the air she was breathing. With the shadows came the energy they contained, together with the shadows absorbed and becoming part of Akeya’s own body and energy. She continued this for a while, taking in more shadows and more energy without ever actually feeling full. People said that Dragon Slayers could eat their own element, but Akeya didn’t really see this as eating. Breathing was more like it. She breathed in the shadows and the darkness, taking energy from it as all humans breathe in air and draw energy from it. Maybe the reason it didn’t feel like eating was because shadows aren’t really substantial. They aren’t even a gas like air, so it wouldn’t be surprising if shadows were just a bit different to eat than most other elements a Dragon Slayer could learn to use.

After having eaten quite a bit of shadows -and as a result gathered quite some energy- Akeya began the next stage of her training. This part actually was still something she got from the Soul Dance rather than what Whedalsin taught her, even though Akeya suspected that soon she would have trouble knowing the difference. Even if there were some differences the core was the same, and now that the magic she gained from Whedalsin was combining with the rest of her it would probably all feel the same in the end.

Shoving those thoughts aside Akeya looked at her tail, which now circled around her legs before once again retreating to swaying behind her. Remembering the scales and the form Akeya concentrated once again, this time controlling her magic rather than just sensing the flow of magic surrounding her. The scales covering her spine started to spread out over her body, where they reached her body also subtly altering, becoming slightly more reptilian. Her hands and feet turned into claws, sharp talons jutting out from her toes and fingers, a new toe even appearing on the heels of her feet. Her head lengthened as the bone structure changed, becoming that of a dragon (although a rather simple and elegant one). Normally this transformation would also have included the growth of a tail and wings, but now those were already there. Eventually the transformation passed, leaving Akeya looking exactly like an anthropomorphic dark blue dragon, the only signs of her not being one the dark green eyes -not exactly a colour often found in dragon eyes-, and the raven hair that still flowed down from her head. Well, at least Akeya was pretty sure most anthro dragons wouldn’t bother with hair. Like with her eye colour she didn’t really have any proof though.

Even this felt different from before, however. Before the transformation had just be about gaining claws, wings and tail, a layer of scales, and her head becoming that of a dragon. Now she felt that her entire body became slightly more draconic, the transformations that already occurred being stronger. Before she didn’t get the hind claws on her feet, and the transformation on her hands and feet now also extended up the limbs to the knees and elbows, causing thicker scales to form on her forearms and lower legs. The horns on her head were more pronounced, her fangs bigger, a row of spikes now ran down her spine to the tip of her tail. Her wings and tail became slightly bigger, and her scales were now all a bit darker, merging in even more smoothly with the shadows than before. All in all, even her dragon form was affected by her human form becoming less human and more dragon.

After ensuring that the transformation was fully complete Akeya started testing it out, doing various exercises ranging from racing through the vicinity to using her claws to make carvings in stone, not requiring too many tests to confirm that her dragon form was indeed more powerful than before. Or maybe she had just become more powerful overall, and the dragon form just expressed that the most. Taking another mouthful of shadows for more energy Akeya jumped upwards, in mid-air spreading her wings and taking another shot at flight. Flying also felt a bit easier, now that the rest of her body was also altered to fit her new wings and tail. This time Akeya managed to stay airborne for quite a while by eating more shadows whenever she felt her energy running out, during which she practised more on control and agility.

After the physical checks finished came the part of the training that was really new, the part which was taught to her by Whedalsin. Even if what Akeya had learned from herself was similar to that of a Shadow Dragon Slayer there would still be some differences in how it expressed itself. Akeya’s Soul Dance had focused on actually turning into a dragon, with a couple of abilities which mostly enhanced melee combat and stealth. Dragon Slayers didn’t have transformation as part of their magic repertoire. Normally. Now that Akeya was one she would probably be counted as an exception. Instead of transforming into dragon Dragon Slayers tended to not act that much different from other mages using the same element, except that like dragons they focused a bit more on abilities that would be useful for close quarters.

Finding a nice big rock to target Akeya breathed in deeply before stepping forward and lashing out with her right hand, the clawed appendage carving into the surface and leaving a clear marking. After stepping backwards and breathing out Akeya inspected the damage. It looked like her claws had become just a bit stronger than they used to be, the carvings deeper than she could remember them being. Still, it wasn’t that big a difference, and in the end it couldn’t be called an effective way to destroy stone. Not that it was supposed to be used for that purpose: it would do just fine if she needed to inflict a good amount of damage to a flesh and blood creature from close up. Now to see how the ability Whedalsin thought her would hold up in comparison. Readying herself Akeya’s mind went back to when she first learned this ability. It was only a couple of days ago, so it was still fresh in her mind.

“You know, most humans that learn how to use the same type of magic as us dragons don’t use it to change their own shape. Neither do we dragons, at least rarely: we already have the shape we want.” Whedalsin stared down at his pupil, who like usual was silently waiting for him to explain what he was trying to say. After a small staring contest (no victor declared) the dark dragon continued, holding up one claw. “Our magic has as main effect to combine and enhance our physical abilities. Since we already have claws we don’t form claws. Instead we coat those claws with our magic to increase power behind our attacks.” As he explained so darkness gathered around his claw, never truly solidifying, instead acting similar to flames while also taking on the shape of a bigger claw. “It shouldn’t be too hard for you to learn how to do the same. Gather energy around your hand, but instead of using it for transforming it into a claw you wrap it around your own hand and then strike at your target. Your transformation might give you more attacks and last longer, but that one attack would certainly make an impression. Plus, it does combine well with having claws.”

Akeya did as she remembered being told to do, shadows gathering around her clawed hand. Since her hand was already that of a dragon there would be no use in putting more energy into transforming it. Instead her claw was engulfed in shadow, forming a deadly looking claw out of the shifting and constantly changing moving darkness. After staring at the effect for a moment Akeya took a step forward and once again slashed at the rock, this time aiming a bit higher so her previous marks wouldn’t be destroyed by the new strike. This time her claw bit into the rock more deeply, ripping through the brown boulder as if it was flesh. After the attack the shadow claw dissipated, leaving Akeya’s own clawed hand behind. With some curiosity Akeya inspected the rock, noticing how big the difference was. Her previous attack had just left a claw mark in the rock. The shadow claw on the other hand had left deep grooves, that probably would stay visible for quite some time. It also looked like small shadows were gathering around the second set of scars, which probably would cause quite some pain for whomever Akeya would use this attack on in the future.

After deciding she was satisfied with the result Akeya continued practising the Shadow Dragon’s Claw, trying to use it as many times as possible before running out of energy, after which she would take a small rest to recover. She had already eaten quite a lot of shadows, so she tried to avoid doing so again so she would have some left for when she started on the bigger abilities. It didn’t take long before this routine of enhanced claw strikes and small rest periods turning the rock into a pile of rubble, the physical evidence for Whedalsin’s claim of how it could be more useful than actually turning her hand into a claw. Of course right now she was combining the two, so the effect was even greater, but even without her hand transformed the Shadow Dragon’s Claw should inflict quite some damage when used properly.

After several hours had passed Akeya decided to switch to another part of the training Whedalsin had given her, this time using a group of trees as targets. This attack wouldn’t have the same raw power behind it, so trying to aim it at rocks would likely have little effect. Actually this ability was similar to one Akeya already possessed, which meant that it was rather easy for her to get an understanding of how to use it.

“Looks like you’ve already got a pretty decent grip on how to control the shadows, in which case I can go ahead and teach you about how to use the shadows to strike multiple targets from a distance.” Whedalsin nodded at a formation of stalagmites nearby. Around him the darkness rose up, gathering and condensing until the dragon was surrounded by countless black bullets, which then flashed forward and hit the target in a barrage. Afterwards some of the smaller stone spikes turned out to have been destroyed, but most of the bigger ones only had small -but precise- holes in them. Akeya looked at the holes for a while, then held up one arm and concentrated. It didn’t take long before shadows gathered around the arm, forming spikes that looked like they grew straight out of the flesh on her forearm. The ninja then aimed at another set of stalagmites before firing the shadow spikes, although her attack looked a bit weak when compared to the earlier onslaught of bullets. The effect it had on the stone was also a lot less impressive: a couple of the stalagmites had been crushed, but overall the difference was still significant, especially since the shadow spikes had been a lot less precise than the bullets.

Whedalsin raised one eyebrow as he saw his student use an ability which looked a lot like a makeshift weaker version of what he himself had used. After a couple of seconds he shrugged, apparently not very impressed. “Hmph. Looks like you already knew how to do something like that. However I still suggest you try out what I showed you. As you saw, it’s easier to control, more precise, and it isn’t like having spikes on your arms is that useful. Your claws are good enough for fighting up close, and if they’re close enough that you can’t even use your claws it just means you made a mistake somewhere.”

Akeya started to raise her arms before catching herself and stopping the movement, instead trying to avoid moving any part of her while trying to use the technique. If she could manage to use this without giving the enemy a warning by moving it would become a great deal more useful than if she needed to use some kind of flashy movement to activate the ability. Around Akeya shadows started to form and then condense, slowly taking on the shape of small black orbs. She’d have to train a lot on increasing the speed at which her Shadow Dragon’s Scales would form: right now it was still too slow for it to be useful outside of surprise attacks. After the spheres finished forming Akeya looked at the trees, deciding on how she would control the scales. Once again trying not to move her body she launched her assault, the two dozen or so floating small shapes shooting forward and crashing into a single tree, accompanied by a loud groaning and splinters. The dragon girl had decided to first try a focused attack, making all the scales hit exactly the same spot. So far as the damage went she couldn’t really complain: a hole had been drilled clear through the entire trunk. However around the hole there was also damage, which meant she’d also have to put some effort into improving her precision.

Not as happy with the results as she had hoped to be Akeya spent more time on the Shadow Dragon’s Scales, sending the black spheres in a wide variety of attacks: focused on a single point, random spread cone, all around burst, several specific points, rows...It was already several hours further into the night before she felt satisfied, at least for now. She still had several nights here before she felt like she had to return back to the Guild, and she intended to make every hour of those nights matter. At least now she had good enough control that all the scales would go where she wanted them to go. The only thing left to improve was increasing the speed of the projectiles, concentrating the damage each projectile dealt, and increase overall firepower. Of course she’d have to make sure that none of these things would come at the cost of the other or the level of control.

Next up on her list of abilities Whedalsin had thought her was something Akeya felt somewhat awkward with. At the same time she felt like it was easy, yet it also felt off. It was a type of transformation, but not one that would turn her into a dragon. Akeya’s Soul Dance had already allowed her to change her form, and she could merge with the shadows to stay hidden. Now she was supposed to combine those two things, changing herself into a shadow.

“As much as I would suggest that you eat a bit more, your thinness does have the advantage that you shouldn’t have much trouble learning what is the core of being a shadow dragon.” Akeya’s expression became even blanker than before at that, but instead of commenting she just stared at her mentor until he gave up. “Right. Anyway, as a shadow dragon one of our most basic abilities, but at the same time one of the strongest, is the one that allows us to become one with the shadows. This is also an ability which sets us apart from other dragon types. While it isn’t impossible for them to learn how to turn into their chosen element none have it as easy as us shadow dragons.” Akeya blinked, actually somewhat surprised at that. She knew how to change her form (to a limited extend) and she knew how to merge with the shadows. But become a shadow herself? That sounded extremely tricky.

Honestly it still sounded tricky. It was the ability Akeya had most trouble with, which did earn her several remarks from the dragon who had been willing to teach her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, but she wasn’t nearly as much in control as she was supposed to be, constantly switching in and out of shadow form and moving clumsily when in her shadow form. When she left Whedalsin had told her that she would have to make sure to get the hang of it, otherwise she would be better off not bothering with being a Shadow Dragon Slayer at all. That had earned him another glare, although Akeya couldn’t find herself to disagree. It did sound like it would be too useful for her to abandon it just because she had some difficulty perfecting it.

This time rather than standing still Akeya started running, her clawed feet digging into the ground as she headed straight for one of the trees she had been shooting at before. She was hoping that some actual pressure would make it easier for her to do it seriously. The possibility that it would just cause her to run into a tree was one she didn’t bother entertaining. If she did collide it would just mean that she had to train more, and her scales should prevent her from being seriously harmed. And so the ninja dashed towards the tree, once right in front of it willing her body to lose its cohesiveness, her form turning into shadows as she split and flowed around the tree, right behind it recombining and moving a bit further before materializing. So far, so good. Next step would be to stay in shadow form for prolonged amounts of time.

This was a bit more difficult, as Akeya would find her body slowly materializing after a short while, frustrating her to no end even if she didn’t show it. In response to this failure she stayed the rest of the night like that, constantly turning into a shadow and staying like that for as long as possible before once again solidifying. She did feel some advancement, but this would clearly be one of the biggest problems with learning how to control her powers.

After dawn started arriving Akeya suddenly was remembered of the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything recently by her stomach, who started growling loudly enough that if other people had been around they probably would have panicked and looked for whatever wild creature was on the loose. Sighing at the fact that she would have to call it a day and her stomach being so noisy Akeya returned to her camp, quickly munching down some of the food she brought with her before curling up inside her shelter and falling asleep, once again using her own wings as a blanket.

No random dream sequence for you.

The next evening Akeya woke up still feeling hungry, in fact feeling so hungry that she accidentally ended up depleting all her supplies and still wanting more. Apparently eating shadows had made her feel like she didn’t need to eat, even though her stomach had been neglected. Well, it was as good a time as any to see if there were any wild creatures on the floating island to eat. Not wanting to waste any time Akeya set out to hunt, using her wings to quickly cover distance.

It didn’t take too long for her to find something, although the ninja wasn’t too sure if hunting it would be a good idea. A giant boar was walking through the thickly forested area, snorting and looking around for its own meal. Its tusks didn’t look like they’d tickle you if they hit you, and it would probably take a lot of punishment before going down. After some hesitation Akeya decided that if she couldn’t beat this beast using her new abilities she probably deserved getting killed, although that didn’t mean she’d just charge it from the front. Landing in one of the trees she stealthily followed her prey, trying to find a good moment to attack.

That moment came when the boar reached one of the smaller streams flowing down the mountain and started drinking from it, giving Akeya the opportunity to attack without it constantly moving about and potentially messing up her shot. Still hiding in the trees the dragon girl made small black projectiles appear around her, the strange spheres hovering eerily and silently as they condensed and waited for the attack. After a couple of seconds Akeya unleashed her assault, all the projectiles blurring forward and slamming into the exact same spot, right between the enormous beast’s shoulder blades.

The boar squealed loudly when it was hit, immediately turning around and thrashing as it tried to figure out what was going on. Akeya felt a pang of annoyance as she noticed that it wasn’t yet dying. Looks like its unnatural size had resulted in her missing its heart. That or being in a strange place such as Mount Helicon had altered it enough for it to have endurance far above that of a normal boar. Either way she’d have to find a new opportunity to-

With a loud squeal the boar rammed the tree Akeya was hiding in, causing it to shake to such an extend that the ninja felt forced to jump to the ground. She would have flown to another tree instead, but the suddenness and severity of the charge the boar used to ram her tree made her act like she would have done if she didn’t have wings. This proved to not be the best of decisions as now the boar could charge her directly, which it promptly did after stepping back from the now ruined tree trunk.

Akeya’s mind started racing the moment she saw that the boar was going to trample or impale her if she didn’t act quickly. The Shadow Dragon’s Scales would take too long, and the chances of getting in a good hit were too low. Shadow Dragon’s Claw wouldn’t work either: if she tried to attack that thing while it was charging it would probably just go straight through her. Jumping to its side before attacking was also too risky. Turning into a shadow would allow her to dodge, but it wouldn’t allow her to defeat the beast. She could try to fly away, but honestly she didn’t feel like running. She came here to kill and eat the boar, and as she said before she might just as well die if she couldn’t even achieve something like that (Akeya always objected against being called unreasonably stubborn. She had to object quite often). None of her other abilities would do either: it was the first time Akeya had to deal with an opponent which really was just a boulder which would do nothing but charge her at high speed. Even the dragons she had to deal with when Clover Town was attacked by a swarm of them were less of a raw unstoppable force.

Still trying to think of what she could do Akeya turned into a shadow and sidestepped the rampaging boar, hearing another tree get the mad beast treatment as she moved further away. Now that she thought about it a bit more, this could be an opportunity to test out an ability Whedalsin hadn’t taught her, but which she felt should be possible. Shadows have no weight, so what’s to hold them back when they try to move fast?

The next time that the boar charged at her Akeya put a bit more focus into becoming a shadow, this time not trying to move as if she still had a solid body. This time she willed herself to move as fast as she could, past the boar and to the stream it had been drinking at before. As a result the dragon girl shot forward like an arrow from a bow, actually having trouble slowing down and materializing without crashing into anything. She didn’t believe hitting anything while doing that would be fun, even if she was technically a shadow. Being intangible doesn’t make you immune to hitting something big and solid if you move fast enough that doing so would normally already turn you into a pancake. Well, at least it was an effective way to dodge the boar, who once again crashed into the surroundings rather than its intended target.

After the original Shadow Step Akeya used it to avoid the boar another couple of times, although after the first attempt she was a lot more careful with it, keeping a tighter hold on how fast she would move and how far. That would be a tricky ability to use properly, at least in places with lots of obstacles she could potentially crash into. Another problem was that the boar didn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Its rage appeared great enough to allow it to ignore both exhaustion and pain, both of which should already have it wobbling. Akeya frowned as she once again avoided the deadly tusks, feeling as if she was doing the exact same thing again and again. This wasn’t getting her anywhere, and she was still hungry. She’d have to find a way to deal with this boar, and honestly she could only think of one thing. The last thing Whedalsin taught her, and if it worked it should be enough to even finish off this stubborn boar.

Unfortunately, it would probably also require her to stay close to the boar, something which the ninja didn’t really feel like doing unless she absolutely had to. The boar had already shown itself to be a lot more capable than she had originally suspected it to be when she chose it as her meal. The only thing keeping her from bailing out was stubbornness and the fact that she had no idea whether there would be anything on the island easier to catch and eat. It would be just the kind of joke the Guild might pull, picking their sacred testing grounds as a place where the easiest prey is a large boar with a bad temper.

Once again facing the boar as it charged at her Akeya thought back towards the dream she had on her first night on this island. For some reason the thought of being different than before was bothering her. No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t bothered by being different. She was bothered by the possible results of being different. While she held no special love for humans they were necessary for her to deal with. If they decided that her turning into a dragon was reason to treat her as a monster it would be difficult to deal with. But even that wasn’t the real problem. As calm and collected as Akeya was she was still a living being, with warm blood flowing through her veins. Her family, and most important of all her parents, mattered a great deal to her, a lot more than she would ever let anybody know besides they themselves. If they also saw her as a monster, if they no longer accepted her...

Akeya felt herself getting seriously angry at the thought. That kind of thought was foolish and ridiculous. All Soul Dancers knew what might happen if they followed the teachings of their forebears. To become one with magic one could never be certain of retaining their humanity. Almost everybody agreed unanimously to never go that far, but never had it been forbidden or actively discouraged. The first Soul Dancer had gone down that path, and none would dare suggest that doing so might have been a mistake. Even if Akeya would be the first Soul Dancer in living memory to turn her back to her humanity it wouldn’t mean she would be disconnected from her family. It might not be the same as before, but to wish for everything to stay the same was also foolish.

All living things grow and develop, and even after they’re done growing they still change. Even the land itself changes over time, even if it takes so long that nobody notices until they compare the present to what was hundreds of years ago. Everything changes eventually, ironically the only unchangeable thing being the presence of change itself. Akeya wouldn’t allow herself to be dragged down by wishes to return to the past. Even if she had chosen to remain human things wouldn’t have stayed the same, and she would be damned if she would make a fuss about the path she had chosen.

The boar was now almost right in front of her, and behind her was a tree. Gritting her teeth in anger and determination Akeya dashed right towards the boar, feeling something stay behind as she turned into a shadow and flowed around the beast, which once again ran full speed into the tree. This tree had already been hit several times, and now finally gave up, groaning loudly as it fell over. The boar meanwhile was apparently surprised at this sudden lack of resistance, stumbling further forward before catching itself.

While the tree was felled Akeya looked around, still in her shadowy form. What she had left behind turned out to be her own shadow, still in the exact same spot as it had been when she had been standing there and facing the boar’s charge. Somehow realizing that this was the perfect chance Akeya...shifted...feeling the world around herself change. Now she was standing back where she begun, right behind the still recovering boar, the spot where her shadow had been waiting for her. Not even pausing to figure out what she just did Akeya inhaled deeply, feeling all the shadows and darkness in the vicinity move towards her and feed her more energy.

“Not all of a dragon’s abilities are that refined. I have to admit that sometimes we’re just angry bastards who want nothing more than to lay waste to our surroundings. It’s pretty much a personality flaw the entire species shares. Although of course for us it’s not so much of a flaw, since if we want to lay waste we are powerful enough to actually do it. Anyway, you have probably heard about it, but every dragon is capable of unleashing a devastating attack when roaring. It actually isn’t that difficult to learn, although at first you might feel like you’re barfing when you use it. Mostly it just requires a lot of raw power, but you should be able to do it, at least if you make sure to eat some shadows beforehand.”

Pulling down her mask Akeya breathed in even further, feeling a massive amount of energy course through her veins. Even more shadows flowed inside her, adding more and more energy until she felt ready to burst. The boar was still turning around, its mad little eyes focusing on the figure before it, a figure that was suddenly looking a lot more threatening, its form rapidly shifting as dark blue scales covered its skin, its hands and feet turned into claws, its entire form turned reptilian, its wings widely spread and appearing to cast a shadow upon the entire clearing. For a moment the boar shifted before mad rage made it surge forward, but even if it hadn’t hesitated it wouldn’t have survived. Even running away wouldn’t have saved it.

Akeya didn’t even realize that she was turning into her dragon form until it had already happened, and wasn’t even very surprised. It felt appropriate. It felt good. No longer being able to contain the power inside her she planted one of her clawed feet firmly on the ground in front of herself, taking a sturdy stance as she moved her draconic head forward and opened her maw, releasing a massive roar that made the ground shake and the surrounding trees tremble. It didn’t sound like the kind of roar one would expect of a creature her size. It was the sound of a full grown dragon unleashing its fury, a roar filled with raw power and might.

Together with the roar came a wave of black flames, unrolling out of Akeya’s mouth and enveloping the surprised boar, pushing it backwards and flowing past it into the trees beyond. The dark blue anthropomorphic dragon unleashed a massive cone of black flames from her maw, the darkness hiding everything in front of her from sight. The sheer force behind the assault threatened to blow the dragon girl backwards, her clawed feet digging further into the ground for more purchase as her wings and tail helped her stay balanced. The black flames and the accompanying roar continued on and on, drowning out the panicked squeals from the boar trying to escape this sudden torrent of darkness. Squeals that slowly weakened and died off.

When Akeya finally ran out of fuel she at first just stood there, panting heavily, feeling even more exhausted than when she flew to Mount Helicon from the Guild Hall. That had taken a lot more out of her than she should have allowed. If she actually were to use that ability in combat she’d have to make sure to restrain it and keep it at a manageable level. Although for once she wasn’t in the mood to think about how she could have done that better. She only felt satisfaction, exhaustion, and something which would be best described as exhilaration.

In front of her the black flames also dissipated, giving her a good view of what she had managed to accomplish with that last attack. The boar had turned completely black, stone dead and completely charred. Behind the boar the scenery hadn’t been spared either, a large conical black scar extending from the boar over the ground into the distance. Everything in that cone of black flames had been obliterated, ripped apart and incinerated. There were even signs of there having been several stones in the way, all blasted to pieces and blown away. Any tree which had managed to not meet the same fate even though it was struck had large sickly looking black streaks extending from the damage area, slowly covering more and more of the plants. Akeya watched silently as she saw a smaller plant, which was already completely covered in darkness, crumble and fall apart. It didn’t look like whatever was affecting the trees (and anything else that was only partially hit) would spread to new victims, but the dragon girl was pretty sure that nothing that was hit would survive.

After staring for a couple more seconds, actually speechless when faced with the destruction she had wrought during the one moment where she lost her cool, Akeya sat down next to the charred boar, starting to eat it as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks. She didn’t feel like following any kind of etiquette, nor would she have had the patience if she did. Like a dragon she just ripped off pieces of the boar’s meat and ripped it apart with her fangs, continuing to eat until she finally felt satisfied, after which she curled up next to the carcass and fell asleep, still in her dragon form. She highly doubted anything would try and get close, as she could see some of the trees still fighting against being devoured by the darkness.

Let sleeping dragons lie.

The couple of days following Akeya fighting the boar were in some ways a lot less interesting. The boar provided enough food to last the rest of the trip, and nothing else wanted to come near to the swath of black destruction that had scarred the place where it fell, not even to try and steal some of the meat. This was partly because Akeya stayed in that area, and made sure that anything that tried to get close would regret it. She felt an uncharacteristic feeling of greed, that this was her food, her victory, and that she wouldn’t allow anybody else to have it. Maybe that was just another way how she was becoming more of a dragon. She should probably keep an eye on that.

One thing that did really annoy her was that most of her clothing had been destroyed when she took down the boar. Before that point she had made sure to remove her clothing before each transformation, but since she hadn’t even consciously decided upon turning into a dragon that one time her shirt was torn to pieces, the brown cloth she usually wrapped around her forearms and lower legs also ripped off, not even mentioning the result her snout had on her mask. She supposed she was lucky that at least her pants were still in good enough a shape, only the part normally covering her lower legs having been damaged. And the cloak was still good, if a little roughened at the edges.

Although she doubted many people would be staring at her for her lack of clothing. The fact that she could no longer hope to hide her tail and wings would attract enough attention. Well, it had been her plan to reveal those after returning anyway, but she had hoped to not reveal them by returning looking like she had been savaged by some wild beast. She’d just have to try and make the best of the situation, which would probably mostly mean quickly getting new clothing and focusing on her training. Hopefully people wouldn’t overreact. That would make things more annoying.

In those last days Akeya also managed to get a lot of training done, quickly having established that she felt most comfortable using her new abilities to further enhance her mobility and agility, her overall fighting style still focused on assassination and fast close quarters combat.

At the end of the last night Akeya stood on the edge of the floating island, the only thing still left for her to take with her back to the Guild the Sky Chart that she used to get here in the first place. Luckily her satchel hadn’t been affected by her transformation, probably because of it not actually covering her body and instead just hanging from her shoulder. A good thing, because she didn’t feel like getting chewed out for destroying Guild property. Looking back at the location where the traces of her Shadow Dragon’s Roar should still be scarring the forest Akeya frowned, hoping that would heal up before somebody else found it. Explaining that might be a bit awkward. Sighing the dragon girl looked back towards the open space in front of her, then stepped off of the floating island and into the skies, after falling for quite a while spreading her wings and using the acceleration and the wings to head back to the Guild Hall, this time not feeling nearly as tired upon reaching her destination, both because of her training and because of going downwards being a lot easier than going upwards. She was curious to see how things would develop from now on.