I'm tired. I mean, I'm awake, and I have been for an hour and a bit now, but I'm tired. I don't even know why I'm tired. I have kind of just been just lying in my bed for 20 minutes now. Maybe I ate too much. Being bloated makes you tired, right? That sounds like something Snowstorm would say, at least. Neither darkness nor Smokewind have come to bother us, so I'm not exactly sure what I should be doing right now. Maybe annoying Snowstorm. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
The room is a small cavern, around 20 meters in height with the occasional stalactite dotting the roof, wrapped in various lights, like Christmas lights, LED lights or something, all attached to a single outlet on the wall spatially connected to the rest of the building's power. The walls are hard stone, with the occasional slab cut into the wall for shelves we can use, and various drawings or posters taped to the walls.
I toss my book to the side (which I have still not read despite owning it for 2 years) and haul myself off my bed. I manage to put my legs under me and stretch myself out like a rag, my wings encompassing around a quarter of the cavern we call our bedroom before I reign them in to my sides, pressing against my body like thin blankets. My front talons press down against the carpet on the floor, and I slip forward, thumping on the ground with a yelp. So graceful, you know? Apparently, Snowstorm doesn't think so, because I hear a small snort of laughter from the white bundle of white scales in the corner of the room.
“Hey, you wanna say that to my face, ya jerk?” I snort.
“No, I do not.” comes the reply from the wyvern, one wing lifting to reveal his face as he stares at me with slight amusement. A scroll on some complex shenanigans sits on his pillow. I would guess he was reading it. I mean, why else would it be there, right? I couldn't imagine it would make the pillow more comfortable, but what do I know?
“I'm boooooored.” I whine. Snowstorm snorts.
“Go do something then. I'm studying the effect that different blessings from different gods of different species and different affinities have on human physiology, their psychology, and their karmic paths.”
“Nope. You're coming with me!” I chirp and bound over to my icy companion. “That scroll sounds complicated, so let's go play!”
“Abhor, we are both 16. I do not play.”
“We played tag yesterday.” I point out.
“Only because you took my scroll on frost breath thermodynamics from me!” He retorts and bats his tail at me to shoo me off. I catch his tail with one talon and smirk.
“Well, too bad for you, smarty pants.” I say. With no other warning I yank his tail as hard as I possibly can out of bed. He yelps and flies out of bed, landing about as gracefully as I had on the carpeted section of the floor with a resounding “oomph!” before rolling onto his back and scowling at me. Yeah, that's right, I know you hate being forced to get your nose out of a scroll.
“Lets go!” I cheer and bound over to the hole in the cavern overlooking both the ocean and the forest.
“I hate you.” Snowstorm says dryly.
“Love ya too, buddy.” I say cheekily before leaping out of the exit, knowing full well that he is coming with me. I stare out at the ocean, beams of light striking the vast waters like glistening stars fallen to the ground, creating a shimmering field of vast blue and white. The ocean is really freaky. Who the hell would swim in waters that are kilometers deep without knowing what the heck is below your talons?! Not me, that's who. I'm 100% sure Snowstorm would be with me for that one. The only difference is he actually reads the scrolls about under the waves, so he actually has the info to back up his discomfort. Just knowing the guy that knows the stuff is afraid of something will make me afraid of that thing too. I mean, I'm not afraid of practically anything, but the ocean just makes me feel… uncomfortable, you get it? The ocean is beautiful, but I'm not flying out there. Not after last time.
I quickly stop by the cavern we use as the kitchen and grab a container of water, since I'm feeling thirsty. Inside, I see Smokewind. The jittery LavaFlow dragon seems to be cooking a large goat over a stove. What, did you think dragons were super primitive with technology or something? Heck no! Getting electricity to a cave is hard, but not impossible thanks to human tech. Smokewind notices me enter.
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“I assume you’re bothering Snowstorm to play with you?” Smokewind observes, turning to face me.
“He’s totally willing!” I say, filling the bucket up in the sink. “The most willing! Absolutely overjoyed!”
Smokewind snorts, but doesn’t add. Instead she smiles kindly.
“Darkness is out hunting. He will be back with a second goat or something soon. Be back for dinner at 5:45, ok?” She says. “And don’t tussle with anything like a bear. If I see a single scratch on you, you're grounded.” I sigh.
“Yes, smokewind.” I turn and leave the cave, sure not to spill any of the bucket's contents. Snowstorm is sitting on a log in the clearing nearest to our cave. I look up at the sky. I can instinctively tell that it is 1:13 Pm. Cool, right? I'm like a living watch. Also kind of a time machine, in a way, since I can quite literally sneeze myself to yesterday. I actually did that once. Actually twice. Alright, it was 6 times. Happy? Snowstorm flipped out about it since its not supposed to work like that. You need, like, divine level bullshittery to work that out, and only if you worship the god of time.
“Took you long enough!” Snowstorm shouts up at me as I make lazy circles around him. “You were even the one to make me come out here.” I debate dumping the bucket over his head, but discard the thought. I'm not into wasting water. Just because we are by the ocean and have an infinite supply doesn't mean that we can infinitely distill and boil water into being drinkable. I'll just dunk him later.
“Shove a sock in it.” I say as I land beside him. Snowstorm just rolls his eyes and pokes me expectantly with one wing.
“So? What will we be doing now?” I stop in my tracks and make a face, which gives Snowstorm a good idea as to the answer. “You have no idea.”
“I do too!” I retaliate. “We are going into the forest today!” Snowstorm just sighs.
“Im flying over the trees. It is way too difficult for me to walk around through the landscape without front legs.”
“Maybe we could practice our skills?” I suggest. Snowstorm just sighs and agrees, and off we fly.
While flying, I noticed something. It's a little reflection in the canopy of one of the largest trees in the distance. A glint like glass or metal. Something is down there I think. Something reflective. I just ignore it and turn away, because of course I would. I don't run at unknowns for no good reason. It's not my problem.
The forest itself is vast and far in all directions. To the left, we see the ocean. Straight forward, we see an endless expanse of rolling green, extending in all directions for thousands of miles. The forest itself is said to extend to cover a large percentage of the planet's land mass. The verdant forest, it's called. We live at its very edge, brushing against the diamond waters of the ocean. To the north, the center of the verdant forest and the Great tree lays. To the east, the volcanic regions or which I forgot their names (Don't judge me). To the south, the steel badlands. Badlands… with steel. Shocking.
Well, to be more descriptive, there's just a lot of mineral mines there. It's not actually made of steel. It’ts just a human-covered place with lots of earthen materials.
After 3 minutes and 48 seconds of flying (I'm a living clock) we reach a larger clearing than the last one, containing lots of rocks and trees to use our skills on. It smells of wood, sap and pollen, and the grass waves to us in the wind.
“Ill start practicing.” Snowstorm says and moves to a farther clearing to practice blasting ice out of his jaws. It looks more like he is trying to vomit out a cat or something, since he still can't make ice come out on command. Once he does make it happen, I’d bet he will be mighty powerful. His ice breath is insanely impressive. I saw him freeze an entire tree with a sneeze once. Another time I saw him freeze fire. FIRE! How does that work? Well, I might as well pull up my own stats and see what I'm working with;
Name:Abhor
[Locked]
Titles:Timebreaker
Strength:20
Durability:20
Speed:20
Stamina:22
Intelligence:18
[locked]:0
Species:[Locked]
Skills: Night vision(low), enhanced stamina(medium), [Locked]
For those who don't understand, everyone in this world is a part of the system. It allows infinite growth, and evolutions into higher tiers of species. it also lets me see my status page, like anyone else can.
Alright, what can I practice right now? I guess I can practice my breath attack. I wonder why it doesn't show up as a skill. Maybe since I can't use it on command? I mean, I guess that makes sense. Snowstorm said that you get a skill for something only after reaching a certain proficiency in that thing. You can also forcibly keep a skill from forming as you practice it more to let it form at a higher rank. That's apparently the way to go as progressing a skill you have is harder than one you don't. I'm pretty sure Darkness has a skill for field dressing. The better you are with a skill the higher its proficiency is. Apparently my night vision skill was unlocked for earning the “timebreaker” title, and the Enhanced stamina was a species/racial skill. Or was that the other way around? I think it was the other way around, yeah. I rarely ever get tired, since not only is stamina my best stat, but my enhanced stamina has the effect of +10% stamina and -25% fatigue. Just a bunch of numbers nonsense I don't understand well.
“Are you going to use your skills, or are you just going to stare at your stat board all day?” Snowstorm shouts from the distance. He moves over to me and I subconsciously hand him the bucket.
“Ill practice, don't worry.” I swat at him with my tail and he dodges. He takes a sip from the bucket, and then… It's frozen.
“Oops.”
