The first thing I learned about magic? Mana depletion is tragic!
Okay, it wasn't the first thing I learned, but it was my biggest take away from my days endeavors into magical 'training'.
At first it was a hell of a lot of fun, and pretty interesting to play around with. I started with using my <Stone Bullet> spell, and was surprised at just how simple it was. I tried doing by just saying the name of the spell in my head at first, because Momma bird already witnessed my horrid flight maneuvers... I really did not want to embarrass myself further by shouting out random spells to the universe.
And I was able to pull it off too! With nothing more than some visualization and thinking the words, I was able to lift several rocks out of the soil and send them hurtling through the air where three bored sizable holes into some trees and several others disappeared out into the depths of the forest.
So, lesson one was that magic was pretty easy! At least, that is what I had thought at first. But that opinion changed after about an hour of firing off stone bullets and realizing, just because I could do the spell did not mean that I could aim it very well. Just like a novice archer might be able to draw a bow, it did not mean that they could easily hit a target.
Much like my flying skills, my magic would need practice to get it right.
The next thing I learned was that <Stone Bullet> was actually pretty versatile, even if I didn't think it would be too effective on anything with a thick hide. for one, I could create stones, as well as summon them up from the earth. But I found out pretty quick that 'creating' the stones from nothing was really hard, and required a great deal more concentration. It also tired me out quite a bit faster than just using stones from nature.
It was <Sand Wall> that taught me that I did, indeed, have a mana pool, and it was not limitless.
My first try of the spell was down by the river. I had to move when I realized that my wayward bullets might accidentally hit Momma Brid or one of the chicks. So my usual haunt at the river was where I decided to continue my experimentations.
I assumed that <Sand Wall> would be like <Stone Bullet> in that it would take a lot more out of me to create the spell out of nothing, rather than using the sand from around me. And it was good that I did try to do it the less costly way first, because I went and stupidly tried to summon a massive wall.
Not sure why I couldn't have aimed for something knee height for my first attempt. Maybe my success at the <Sone Bullet> spell had me over confident? Either way, it was as the mana rushed from my body while sand rushed up from the river bead, that I learned that I was not without limits.
And pushing those limits sucked! Like, big time.
I watched, pretty full of myself, as the greyish sand wall sprung up out of the river, reach up past my pink snout, and stay there. But it was about then that I started to feel dizzy, and my video game trained brain reminded me that mana bars were a thing, and that the power for my several hours of constant spell casting had to of come from somewhere.
The accumulated sand fell back into the river and I stumbled out of the shallow water. Feeling a little drunk, I wobbled to the bank and lay down, heart fluttering. It was about then that I found out that it was not a good idea to deplete your mana. Not a good idea at all.
It actually scared me. I felt both ill and drunk at the same time, and was afraid that I was just going to pass out right there along the river. Most of the big baddies may have made themselves scarce in recent days, but that didn't mean that there was nothing around that wouldn't take advantage of a great lizard laying flat out on its belly, defenseless.
I managed to collect myself enough to drag my sorry pink hide back to my tree. At least there is was a little better defended.
Sure enough, the second I crawled my way beneath Momma Bird's now empty nest, I passed right out.
When next I awoke it was dark out and I felt like complete trash.
I was, essentially, a shut in in my last life, and so I did not go out drinking all the time. but that didn't mean that I had zero experience with hangovers. And this one really beat out over the one I got that night Anna managed to convince me to go out drinking with her when she came of age. We both were in pretty harsh shape the next morning.
But this was way worse than that. I felt pins and needles all over, my mouth was dry, my joints hurt, my head felt like two squirls were wrestling a racoon inside... ugh. Lets not forget the disgusting runny nose and the fact that I was seeing double for at least another hour.
So, yes... Biggest take away about using magic? Do not over do it!
So much for setting off on my quest for vengeance. There was no way I was doing a damn thing till I felt better. Besides, it was night time now, and I did not have amazing night vision. I think it was a little better compared to how I saw at night as a human, but still not adequate enough that I would be confident that I wouldn't end up flying head first into a tree.
Feeling a little relived that I could sleep more, and taking to heart just how awful a feeling all this was, I settled back in for a nap.
I felt a hell of a lot better the next morning, and was pleased to see that it was also looking like a beautiful day. Not that I had seen too many miserable days since being born in this forest. I had no clue if this was just a temperate part of the world, if it was summer time, or if garbage weather just did no exist in this world. I rather doubted that it was the last option.
Either way, it was a good day to start an adventure.
Feeling a little nostalgic and sad, i looked up at Momma Bird's nest. She was up there, but wide awake. Not that I was surprised. I wasn't a late sleeper by any means, but I wasn't usually up before the birds. What I was surprised by, however, was by just how quiet it was up there. Normally the hatchlings would be making a ton a noise by now, but it was dead silent.
Straining my neck and lifting my forepaws off the ground for a little extra height, I managed to get my eyes up to branch level. Dang, I really was growing fast.
I watched as Momma Bird puffed out her feathers and made a aggravated noise, glaring at me.
"Where are the chicks?" I asked, noting the empty nest. They had been out flying and the like lately, but Momma usually went with them. Momma didn't answer me, nor did I expect her to. "Don't tell me that you finally kicked them out? About time."
Maybe it was a sign that I was right, and it was also time for me to leave the nest as well. I smiled at the irritated white bird and lowered myself back to the loamy earth. Signs of my existence was everywhere here: Cleared brush, torn up earth, bark missing from trees where my scales tore it off in passing.
this had been a good home, if a somewhat sad and lonely one. I would miss it. Bit, mostly, I was just eager to be off.
"Have a good life Momma." I whispered up to the birds, before letting my green eyes wander over the area one last time.
I didn't head straight west, however. I had already decided that I would visit Verona's body first. Not because I was feeling sentimental, but because I was loathed to just leave her remains here, in this damn forest, where her murderers had left her and may very well come back for what was left.
I had just spent a massive fifty points on maxing out my <Item Box>, and I full planed on putting it to good use, right away. I was taking Mother with me. If anyone had a right to Mother's remains it was myself, and the two eggs I needed to rescue. I had no clue if regular wild dragons had any use for dragon bones, but I was taking them all the same.
Maybe my dragon hoarding instincts were just riding me hard. Either way, I wanted them and so I was taking them.
Seeing Mother's bones again, i was humbled by here sheer size. I guessed that I was roughly the size of an average saddle horse, and just Verona's skull was twice my size. I would be a bite sized snack to to her.
It seemed ridiculous to think that these massive bones could fix, even in my maxed out item box. And, at first, I wasn't even sure how to go about putting them in it. As it turns out, just like with the earth magic, I simply had to visualize the items- in this case, bones- entering the box, and they just did.
One second the bones were on the ground, nestled between the walls of the dried up river bed, and the next they had simply vanished. that was stupid simple. As an added plus, it didn't seem to consume my mana to accomplish either.
[<Verona's Remains> added to the Item Box. Current available capacity: 74%] Stated the voice in my head.
Dang... I still had 74% of my item box's space left. Wow. I guess I didn't spend fifty points for nothing. Those bones must have weighed several tons! And if the box was valued in space rather than weight, they still must have been enough to fill a house if all the bones were stacked together!
Well, mother was safe and sound now, and that was what mattered. The river bed looked mighty empty now...
A shine caught my eye and I shuffled over to where myself and the other eggs had once rested on a bed of hot coals. All that was left of the 'nest' was a dark smudge and some heat cracked rocks.
What had caught my eye had been a scrap of metal. I realized that it was what was left of one of the dead bandits. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, glaring down at what was left. Unlike Verona, the human bones were small enough to be dragged away. There wasn't much other than a few scraps of leather, metal buckles, and a broken sword left to remember the bastard by. Hardly worth my time.
What was, however, were the thin fragments of shell located near the remains. It was my egg. Well, my egg as well as what was left of my deceased brother's eggs. At these I frowned, heartbroken and angry.
It was awful to know that mother died, but at least she had a full life. From her size alone, I could only assume she had lived longer than the average human. Probably longer. But, my brothers had never even taken their first breaths! It was unforgivable.
I nudged a deep purple shell fragment with my nose, imagining that my brother would have had scales to match. I could see that my own shell was as rosy pink as my own scales, after all. The other shattered shell was a brownish/red color, almost maroon.
I decided to take the shells with me too. Maybe, one day, i would learn how dragons dealt with their dead, and my two siblings and I could put our family to rest together.
Alright! Enough of this melancholy behavior!
I clambered out of the river bed, making my way on foot till the trees opened up enough for me to take off. I still needed a running start to get up off the ground, after all. Maybe, with practice, i could just lift myself up off the ground, but for now it was a no go.
My claws dug into the soil as I pounded the earth with my paws, drawing deep breaths into my lungs. As I built up speed, I carefully extended my wings. I did my best not to angel them in a way that would catch the air and slow me down, and, eventually, started to flap.
With some effort, I slowly took to the sky. It was some effort to get up off the ground, but once in the air, instinct took over and I was riding high. The forest spread out far and wide around me, broken only by the scattered hill or mountain, and the river.
I angled myself so that I was aimed directly at the clear horizon of the west. it was the only direction that I could see a flat horizon, the land in the distance smooth and making me think it was an open plain of sorts.
If I were the bandits, it was that way I would head. The forest was filled with dangerous monsters, and I assumed that once I left the forest, i would start to find human settlements. The bandits must have gone that way.
I still was not completely sure what it was I was going to do once I got out of the forest, but I was just going with a 'I'll figure it out when the time comes' mind set. Perhaps not the most productive way to look at things, but I just wanted to be doing, right now. thinking things through would just have to wait.