Master of the Mind

Chapter 24: Sampling Omnipotence

Eldawin huffed and panted, flapping his wings tiredly as he made his way back to the mountain still some way in the distance. Below him, gripped with all four of his legs, was the carcass of the biggest seal he had ever seen. The creature was over half the dragon's size, and he felt the same weight, making staying in the air incredibly difficult. But he flew on determined, quite proud of his catch.

"You sure you don't need help?" came the voice to his side, sounding slightly amused.

"I am fine," Eldawin growled back at the earth drake flying next to him, also carrying the hefty hall of one of the massive seals.

They had come across a colony of them along the coast, several kilometres away from the wreckage where Eldawin had washed ashore. Their long noses resembled short stumpy versions of the trunk of an elephant, an animal the mind dragon had only eaten once before. Sediment had told him that while he had seen them before, he had never been bothered to hunt them. Their fat blubbery bodies looked tasty, but he doubted he would ever be able to finish one.

Times had changed, however, now that they had a hungry, moody, gravid dragoness to look after. It had been nearly four months since Eldawin and Diara had become mates, four months of some of the happiest moments of the mind dragon's life. Sediment hadn't been surprised in the slightest when they had made the announcement, though he had been rather serious in making sure Eldawin took care of his sister. Then, one day nearly two weeks prior, Diara suddenly had an increase in appetite, eating nearly three times the amount she normally did before she was satisfied, surprising all three of them. After several days of this... they concluded that the metal dragoness was gravid, a revelation that made Eldawin ecstatic. He was going to be a father... again!

'Eldawin? Eldawin are you listening? Where are you two?' Diara's mental voice echoed through the drake's head as he continued to exhaustedly beat his wings.

'We're getting there,' he responded, 'Maybe about half-an-hour away.'

'Aargh! What's taking you so long? This surprise better be worth it.'

Eldawin chuckled, shaking his head, gliding into an updraft so he could rest his constantly moving wings for a couple of moments while he was lifted higher into the sky. Over the last months, he had also become very proficient in using the element stones, upping his limit of how many he could control nearly every day. It wasn't much different than stretching out his mind to affect multiple different things, a feat he could already do to the hundreds. The difficulty was the more element stones he connected to, the more his conscious seemed to stretch, making it difficult to keep track of his actual body for extended periods of time. The feeling reminded him of being in equilibrium and he was constantly worried about what would happen if he stretched himself too far.

Currently, he was only connected to one element stone, one he had placed in the oasis so that Diara and he could communicate no matter how far away from the other they were. It worked incredibly well, especially during such a stressful time, allowing the mind drake to keep a constant watch over her. Diara was still three or four weeks away from actually laying her eggs, and after that, it would be another three to four more months before they hatched. But it was a day Eldawin eagerly awaited for.

'It will be, love,' responded Eldawin calmly, being able to feel the hunger gnawing away at her, 'If this doesn't fill you up, I don't know what will.'

'What? Don't tell me you two somehow snagged a whale?'

'No, not a whale,' Eldawin laughed, 'How would we even be able to get that back there?'

"How is Diara doing?" asked Sediment.

"Well, despite being hungry, she is fine," Eldawin responded.