'This bow has been my steady partner all these years, safe at my side. The arrows it launches fly straight and true, always right on target. They fly true because I am true. After all, every fiber of my being realizes I am right on target. After all, I shoot with my heart. There was a time I would never have turned into carrying a weapon, yet necessity calls for you to defend what you cherish, else what is it? What else are we without something, or someone to protect? What are we without a place to call home? What are we without a place to go back to? I pray for the day I lay my weapon down, to find my peace, and to walk away from all the fighting. Until then, this is how it is.' —Einar the Divine Archer of the Timaru Kingdom.

***********

My eyes were glued to the small bluish ball hovering in front of my gaze. The occasional lightning streaks only served to make it look almost hypnotic. I could feel my energy alongside the foreign one which surrounded me feeding the ball, causing it to be able to sustain itself.

Neither my energy nor the foreign one overpowered one another, quite the opposite. Both sides seemed to flow together harmoniously as they reached a strange state of balance.

'Is the energy that surrounds me what's usually called mana?' I wondered as I recalled the familiar term from my previous life. Mana seemed to be all around me, yet I was also able to feel different varieties of it.

The one I felt closest to, was the mana surrounding the large body of water. It was the one that called to me with gentle whispers urging me to come closer.

'So mana is in our surroundings, but then what's the energy inside my heart? It seems a little bit different.' Thinking about such a thing, my curiosity peaked.

What would happen if one energy was stronger than the other? Would the ball collapse? Would the lightning grown stronger? Can it still maintain itself?

Unable to control my curiosity, I ended up trying to will the flow of the energy coming from my heart to slow down, breaking the balance between it and the mana.

This however proved to be a bad thing. As if sensing its chance, the mana from my surroundings suddenly overpowered my energy eagerly, resulting in the small ball of lightning to grow out of my control.

'Wai-!' Before I could do anything a thick lightning bolt suddenly shot out from the ball narrowly missing my head as it landed on a tree a distance away.

Boom!

A loud explosion soon followed as the tree blew up into countless pieces, some of which even landed next to my father. 'Ah shit, that was stupid!' I unconsciously gulped down as his giant figure suddenly moved.

His eyes shot open as he glanced in my direction in annoyance. His dark obsidian eyes fell on the ball of energy and lighting, quickly growing out of my control in momentary surprise before his gaze regained its annoyance.

A low growl escaped from his mouth as it revibrated throughout the surroundings causing my insides to twist. His monstrous palm came crashing down.

'I'm dead.' That was the only thought on my mind faced with that palm that seemed to blot out the sky.

Boom!

Water suddenly rained down on me and my ball of energy instantly puffing it out of existence. 'Huh, I'm still alive?' My father's clawed limb had crashed on the lake bank sending the water splashing towards me, the sheer force from it had me stumbling backward soaked to the bones as I lost contact with the surrounding mana.

'Did he just help me?' Before I even registered what had just happened, our eyes met. I could sense his irritation as he gazed at me.

He seemed to be contemplating on something, 'He won't kill me...right?' I tried to reassure myself that I was safe since he had technically helped me with my failed experiment.

He finally seemed to have reached a decision as he let out a loud harrumph which again sent me tumbling backward into the water. 'How the hell is he that strong?' I inwardly growled as I stood up and tried to shake the water off my scales.

'Can I catch a cold?' An absurd thought made its way into my mind.

My father who was content with just lazing around as he basked under the sun suddenly moved. I watched as he brought his giant body over, each step causing the land below to shake, he then settled down next to me, his eyes observing the large body of water in front of us.

I curiously stole a peek at his majestic figure, some of the scales to his side were broken, as countless scars of various shapes and sizes covered his body. One peculiar scar was more prominent than the rest, a large claw mark running down from his neck.

He seemed to have noticed my curious stare yet did not seem to mind, almost as if showing off his battle scars proudly. A deep voice full of an air of confidence suddenly thundered in my mind.

'Your mother.' He said as he motioned to the claw mark.

My expression must have been quite the sight to see, as my jaw hung loose in shock. 'Holy shit he can speak!!' I inwardly yelled. I had thought that Dragons communicated with feelings, emotions, auras, whatever that had been, but this...this is a game-changer, he can speak!

But then again, if he was able to talk all this time, why didn't he do it before? Why now? Thinking about that, I suddenly remembered his seemingly uncaring gaze the first time we met, the hidden intent he leaked before, and finally the acknowledgment after I awoke from that realm.

'Does that mean I was not worthy before?' I wondered, there was so much I did not quite understand.

The language he used was not one I was familiar with, no I had never heard it before, yet still managed to understand it as If I had been using it all my life. 'Wait what did he say, my mother? She's the one that caused that scar?' I unconsciously gulped.

'Mom is scary...let's not piss her off...' I mentally took note.