Early Morning - Mid Winter : Year 3 : Home | The Nest
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-Time really flies, doesn't it..?- With the hallway bathed in soft dawnlight, I followed Mother, trying to copy her elegant gait as Krystallo waddled excitedly beside me. -Three years already…-
Having spent the majority of our time eating, sleeping, and relaxing beneath the sun and stars, two years slipped by in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, Krystallo and I were turning three.
As it turned out, dragons didn't celebrate birthdays the same way humans did. Aging was certainly something to be proud of, but celebrations for it were reserved for after Dragon Sleeps, or other major milestones I couldn't yet wrap my head around.
However, while Mother wasn't keen on yearly celebrations, there was one tradition we managed to create.
A snow day.
And today, the snow was perfect.
Eagerly watching as Mother opened the nest's gate with some otherworldly elegance, looking as if she didn't even touch it, a brilliant, glistening white light poured in, and a thick, cool fog rolled over our feet. -Hehe… Looks like there is finally enough!-
*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch* Quickly stepping out into the snow that stood up to Krystallo's belly, I flicked her a taunting look. "Weren't you arguing with Mom about how snowball fights are 'actually really hard' the other day?"
Her eyes instantly shot open as she froze.
Mother, who had never once joined in on one of our epic skirmishes, immediately let out a light chuckle, already sensing the coming mischief. "Hoho~, don't tell me you're going to back out now?"
"NEVER!" Flaring out her wings, Krystallo immediately hopped out farther into the field.
But while it was truly adorable, at that moment, Mother's smile looked akin to that of a confident hunter. "So, what are the rules?"
"All is fair!"
Hearing her proud exclamation of confidence, I nearly burst out laughing, questioning whether to correct her or not.
But after seeing Mothing smugly smiling at me, I chose the latter. -Well, she'll need to learn eventually.- Following them out to the middle of the field, I quickly found a comfortable spot outside of the strike zone and sat down. "I will be the judge, so no complaining or rule breaking, okay?"
Krystallo immediately turned and nodded at me as Mother hid her smile with her wing.
Sitting there, I honestly felt like I was watching my sister walk into the den of a wolf, but I never said a word. -This'll be fun…- "Alright, you may begin!"
*P-P-P-Patter* Before my words could even finish, Krystallo started carving a trench like her life depended on it, somewhat slopily compacting snow with her wings before carving out snowballs with her claws and tail.
With every moment, her confidence was growing.
But.. that was when she looked over her shoulder.
"HUUUUH?!"
Behind her stood Mother's fortress. It wasn't just snow, but rather a sculpture—a palace of carved crystal, with countless calculated openings and over-the-top parapets shaped effortlessly into the air as if an artisan had carved it from a single piece of ice.
Even I, who watched her build the entire thing seemingly from thin air in hardly a minute, was at a loss for words.
"THAT'S CHEATING!" Krystallo, of course, was justifiably upset.
But, I couldn't defend her either.
"Huhu~," Mother purred, no longer hiding her smugness. "You never said I couldn't use magic, isn't that right, Mister Judge?"
Snapping out of the trance I had fallen into watching her work, I nodded a bit solemnly. "You did say 'all is fair', Krystallo."
Krystallo's tail instantly stiffened. "Th-That's not what I meant, and you know it! I have no chance if she uses magic!"
"Should've clarified," I shrugged, my wings twitching with amusement. -Not that it would've helped…- Looking over at Mother's tail, weaving through the air like a perfectly calculated tendril, I could only feel pity for my sister's impending destruction.
But despite her protests, she got back to work, angrily grumbling, albeit still determined.
Now standing at about four and a half meters tall, Krystallo had grown a ton over the last couple years, as had I, now standing at about nine meters.
However, we were both still incredibly tiny compared to Mother, and while I believed our smaller stature to younger bodies would mean we were more nimble or flexible, that couldn't have been further from the truth.
Unable to keep myself from gawking at her movements and spellwork as she created snowballs just soft enough to break on Krystallo's face without hurting, I found myself silently cheering for her to cast more, hoping to catch a glimpse of something that could explain the physics-bending scene in front of me.
"Hmhm~..." Catching my stare, Mother let out a warm chuckle. Despite her refusing to teach me anything about magic, she seemed just as fascinated by my intrigue as I was by her magic.
And so, after keeping me entertained while Krystallo worked tirelessly, time passed in a blink.
By midday, Krystallo had completed her snowy masterpiece—a magnificent wall of snow that covered her just enough to hide behind. Solid work, really.
…If she wasn't up against a magical monolith resembling the side of a warship, that is.
Staring upon the wall of ice compacted like bedrock, I could only feel pity for my sister. -Mom is going to annihilate her…-
Looking over at Mother, eventually catching her glance, I put up my wing to cover my mouth from Krystallo before whispering. "Isn't this a bit much..?"
"She needs to learn." Somehow speaking without opening her mouth, it sounded like she whispered right into my ear. "Better she learns now than when it really matters…"
Falling quiet, I quickly pulled my gaze back to, once again, look over the lopsided battlefield with a subtle grimace…
It was so obvious even Krystallo picked up on it. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?!"
"Hah," Smirking with a light chuckle, I gave her a smug glance. "You think I can save you..? Anyway, 5 seconds to begin!"
Watching me raise my wing like a flag, Krystallo tensed and turned to face Mother.
But she remained eerily still, like a goddess looking down from her throne.
"Haah…" -Poor Krystallo…- Letting out a foggy sigh, hoping she knew I really tried, I continued. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… FIGHT!" *Fwip!*
*FWOWOWOWOWOOOSH* A wall of snowballs instantly erupted from Mother's fort, zipping across the field with a terrifying accuracy.
And Krystallo, too prideful and stubborn to shy away, raised her wings in protest before her and her fort were swallowed by the relentless barrage. "Mmmmmmgh!"
Hearing her muffled groan as she was buried under the patter of snowballs, I nearly couldn't hold back my laugh. "Pft-!"
*PUFF* Bursting out of the snow pile, Krystallo shot me a furious glare. "MAGIC IS CHEATING!!" Turning to Mother, the fire in her eyes only barely quelled. "If you didn't use magic, I'd win!"
Mother, calmly lowering her snout and using magic to make her fort crumble like sand, didn't bother hiding her satisfied smile.
"Nnnngh!" Unable to contain her anger, Krystallo instantly jumped out of the snow burying her before whipping a snowball at Mother's face with her tail. *WOOSH*
But it never reached her. *Vwoom* Hearing an odd sound, the snowball froze in midair before snow from the ground lifted up around it like a giant magnet, and formed a massive, nearly six-meter-wide snowball.
Staring up into it as its shadow loomed over her, Krystallo's tail curled up under her. "...OH COME O-!" *PUFF*
The snowball landed squarely on her face.
And that's when I finally broke. "PFT-HAHAHA!" Slamming my tail into the ground, I struggled to steady myself from falling over with laughter.
*PUFF* Popping her snout out of the snow again, she shot me another glare. "And you think that's funny?!"
"Hahaha, look at you!" Pointing with my wing, I couldn't contain my wheezing. "You look like you lost a fight with powdered sugar!"
"Hmph…" Unable to refute, she simply pouted. "It's not like you're any better!"
"Hoh?" My laughter finally died down as I noticed she was serious. "Is that a challenge?"
"YES!" Annoyed, she leapt out of the mound before shaking off the powdery snow caught between her scales. "I'll kick your butt, but you can't use a fort!"
"So you want me to handicap myself so you can win?" I spoke rather tauntingly as I swapped places with Mother.
"No! Neither of us can! No forts and no prep! The first person to get hit three times loses!"
I immediately perked up before a wide, predatory grin spread across my face. "Are you serious?"
"Of course!" Her tail flicked with confidence as she raised her wings with pride.
"Hoh~?" Finally making it up to the towering pile of powder left from Mother's fort, my smile widened. "Alright then, when do you want to start?"
Momentarily puffing her chest, she lowered herself to the ground and readied herself while sneakily grabbing a snowball with her tail.
But she wasn't as sneaky as she thought. "NOW-!"
*WOOSH* Kicking up a thick cloud of snow with my wings before she could think of firing her cheap shot, I vanished into the haze and scooped up one of Mother's remaining snowballs with my tail before diving to the ground.
*Fwip* Barely managing to get under her throw in time, I jumped up to my feet before whipping my snowball nearly as hard as I could. "Fair is fair!"
*FWOOM* The snowball instantly ripped through the snowy veil like a bullet passing through smoke before smacking into her wing. *POMF*
I was aiming for her face, but… "That's one!"
"Mmmhh-!" Letting out an angry growl, she quickly rushed into the fog, biting clumps of snow to compact it before tossing it out, catching it with her tail, and whipping it in my direction.
Without knowing what she was doing or where exactly she went, I scanned the thinner parts of the fog in hopes of finding her paws or tail before a snowball, compacted into ice, wizzed past my face. *WOOSH* -WHAT THE?!-
And before I could even think of whipping a snowball back, three more quickly followed. *Fwip-Fwoosh-Fwip* She was fast.
But she also didn't know where I was.
Watching the icy snowballs wizzed by behind me, I swiftly lifted my tail to catch one before returning it from whence it came. *Fwip*
*CRACKLE* The icy snowball exploded on impact, greeting the base of her tail with a brutal blow before the patter of icy shrapnel filled the air.
"That must be two!"
"Oh, you have to be kidding!" Quickly jumping out of the fog, she shot me a glare cracked with a smile.
Even though she was fuming, she was still having fun.
Especially after she noticed that I didn't have my tail curled around a snowball.
"HAHA! My turn!" *FWIP* Hurling a snowball at my side, knowing I wouldn't be able to move fast enough to dodge, her eyes gleamed.
But that was when I flapped my wing down and ducked with it, sending the snowball up over my back before nicking me and reducing itself to powder. *Puff* "Oh, come on!"
"Hehehe~! That's one!" She laughed like an evil little gremlin for a moment before darting back into the fog to reload.
But I wasn't going to give her that chance.
Quickly scooping up a clump of snow, I formed a fairly large, melon-sized snowball in my mouth before tossing it to my tail and whipping it at Krystallo's fading figure.
And this time, I didn't miss.
*PAMF* Slamming into the back of her head, her face was instantly thrown to the ground before her tail and body lifted up and over each other in a glorious tumble.
Quickly trotting over and flapping my wings to disperse the cloud of snow that still lingered, I found Krystallo laying on on her back, half-buried, with her limbs sprawled out like a broken toy.
"Hehe…" I had to contain my laughter seeing her annoyed look. "I think that makes three."
"PFF!" Blowing out the snow caught in her nose, a momentary puff of smoke shot out toward me. "You cheated!"
"So did you!"
"But you cheated more!"
"No, I just didn't miss!"
"Ack-!" Unable to think of a comeback, her eyes darted to the side.
*Crunch* *Crunch* Eventually hearing Mother's gentle footsteps approach, somehow lighter than mine, we both looked over to find her eyes shimmering with pride and amusement.
"It seems like Vasilias is once again the winner."
"Mmmm…" Grumbling, Krystallo laid out again before looking Mother in the eyes. "You need to teach me magic so I can beat him!"
"Hoho~, that time will come eventually, sweetie. Don't worry." Smiling so warmly it could melt the snow off my scales, she extended her wing to help Krystallo out of the snow before gently laying down after she refused. "You two should really cherish times like this. Play without consequences is a rarity for us dragons."
"But it's no fun if you always lose…" Grumbling, Krystallo laid her head back and looked into the dark forest some ways away.
"But you landed a hit this time. That's improvement, is it not?"
Likely thinking back to last year, where our snowball fight using forts was a completely one-sided massacre, she could only pout.
"You want to challenge me again tomorrow?" I gently nudged her wing in hopes of lightening her up.
And sure enough, while her expression didn't change much, the tip of her tail poking out of the snow started swaying, and my smile warmed like Mother's.
Just like that, the world went still.
As we all laid down, curling around Krystallo like Mother would curl around the nest, a gentle quiet settled over the field, only broken by the rustle of leaves from the snow-covered forest.
It was peaceful.. no responsibilities, no titles, and no work that I had grown all too used to in the human world.
With every passing day, my memories of the life I led on Earth dimmed. My mind had begun being molded by my mother and sister, and before I knew it, I was acting more like a young, pure dragon would. Some childish innocence returned, and with it came some unrecognized naivety.
But I didn't want to stop it. Laying out in the field with my new family, I felt bliss I never could have imaged before.
It was heaven…
A dream…
One I'd hoped would never end.