I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

He was Nyxfire, born from the embers of the world with a sacred mission from his mother the one to rule over mana in the world. He was meant to come into the world in the prelude to his mother's glorious descent upon the world.

 

He was meant to help Mother's successor in his or her glory mission!

 

Mother's successor was meant to summon him into the human world using his/her bountiful mana, and such was the only mean for his glorious form to come into the world.

 

Oooh his form was glorious.

 

He still remembers the first time he was conscious of his own body when Mother gave his mind focus and molded his intelligence.

 

One of his most precious memories was when he became aware of his form in the middle of mother's domain. A jungle full of crystal spires that would raise to the sky releasing the most pure mana one could imagine.

 

The floor was covered in a dense shadowy mist and he standing tall and proud in the middle of a parade full of shadowy creatures and soldiers.

 

He would see his own reflection in his mother's purple eyes.

 

A majestic dragon that was almost four times as tall as all the creatures around, with horns that spoke of nightmarish malevolence. A sinewy and serpentine body that glimmered with an eerie and ethereal dark purple light.

 

He would look down at his own front arms and find obsidian black scales that formed patterns around his body. And a look to his back would find a pair of leathery wings that extended almost four times his size, a mere flex on his back muscles would send strong wings that almost threw away the other demonic shadowy beings around them. Of course, mother would be immutable...She was his progenitor after all.

 

My favorite part of that memory was the eyes...My own eyes reflected in mother's eye that is.

 

A pair of blazing crimson eyes that made a stark contrast against my shadowy body. And how every time I looked into another shadowy being in this realm they all submitted to me.

 

They all submitted, trembling and shivering for the eyes of the glorious Twilight Dragon of The End was judging them... And often they were found wanting.

 

Of course, some did match my own gaze, other creatures born directly from mother like myself, but most of them were peers with their own missions so I never saw them that much.

 

And since I couldn't use beings that shivered in my presence Mother granted me a gift. From my own shadows, I could spawn lesser copies of myself!

 

Not dragons but wyrms, but even so they were quite useful to have around, so my domain was soon enough full of shadowy wyrms. Together with my own connection to this shadowy realm, we would wait for the call of Mother's successor.

 

She had already started her plan, she had spoken at large about how she had gifted the world of mana and seeded the first of many to rise in power. How by the use of their [Gift] they would propagate [Mana] to the world, infecting and making the world more susceptible to their coming.

 

About how her successor in the world, the keystone to her glorious plan would be born from one of those humans. About how she had gifted him a special [Skill] to allow him to survive the heavy mana infusion he would receive.

 

About how his skill's true purpose would be to nurture the [Seed] that would be used to create the perfect [Host], the one that would call him into the world of the humans where he would begin [The end of an era].

 

And honoring his title...He would also kickstart the new [Dawn of mankind]...

 

He cherished all of those moments...Till that happened.

 

Something broke the walls among worlds opening this one to a sudden mana flux that shook the world. A [Human] of all things had pierced the veil and with her, she brought many things. She brought the gift of [Magic], a way to harness the mana her mother had seeded into the world.

 

She brought a new [Caste] for those that hadn't awakened the gift her mother wanted them to have. Making them go down another path, different from the one mother wanted, but even so they still generated mana so mother allowed it.

 

Even so, that woman wasn't that bad, granted...It derailed the plans here and there, but so long the man still could hold [The Seed] it wasn't a problem. If anything his destinied partner might mature sooner and be able to bear my new master faster. All so I could fulfill Mother's wish for the world.

 

But even if that was the plan...That woman ended up derailing it since the man that was supposed to bring my master to the world ended up tangling with that woman.

 

And if that wasn't bad enough...The woman somehow managed to finish her pregnancy to an end...Wasting all the mana that the man had collected...The life that was born from that unholy union didn't look like it would survive. Even with a [Vessel] more strong than normal, her [Soul] was being held together (Just barely) by the shadows of the [Gift] that the man had passed down.

 

Even so, this wasn't the worst of it... The worst of it was that the woman had pierced the veil between dimensions and brought...Something with her.

 

She brought a couple of humans from another world, but that wasn't the worst. The worst was that [Thing].

 

A being that pretended to be [Human] but was, in reality, a mockery of a [Human].

 

"Heyo cousin~," Said that [Thing], it was so small that I felt as if a single finger was enough to crush it.

 

"...?" Mother of course just tilted her head at this being antics.

 

"[Test Test, do you copy me?]" Said that thing suddenly speaking in the holy tongue of Mother!

 

"What is that you wish from mother invader?" I couldn't let Mother's holy voice be tainted by the presence of this thing.

 

"Oooh...The doggo speaks..." Said the small being tilting its head like mother. Of course, even if that thing pretended to be an innocent little girl, it reeked...

 

It reeked of dead mana, it couldn't hide its true form from my senses. In my mother's domain, anything that was touching the shadows was within my purview. And that wasn't something alive nor organic like us...That was as if someone took a piece of mother and tried to create a body with it.

 

"I was just coming to say Hi. But it seems cousin isn't really awake yet... I knew it before coming since I didn't feel anyone here...But brother always says I need to say Hi to the neighbors..." The thing answered. "I'm Alexa...I will be staying around for a few years so don't mind me. It seems brother made a deal with one of his older acquaintances."

 

And after that, the thing left mother returned to her idyllic life style. The whole world kept turning as if nothing had happened. At least until we felt it.

 

The tug...The calling...The connection.

 

I kept staring at that blue screen. It had the same feel as a mother's energy if nothing else. But the text...

 

That was the same name and feeling he got from that [Thing]. So he was conflicted. For one it wasn't possible to sever the connection since that was the holy mission he had from mother.

 

But the connection even if it was organic and he could feel his new master...Or mistress in this case. It didn't feel any different. The blue screen spoke as if his mistress had halved in her [Soul].

 

But he could only feel the connection towards her, and how it was pulling at him. Soon enough he was having a hard time staying awake, so with heavy steps he went towards his domains. A small nod towards Mother that was walking an admiring the spires was the last thing he did before entering his long slumber.

 

Either his mistress would summon him or she would not. That would all depend on how much that [Thing] derailed mother's plans...

 

So he slept.

 

For years and years, he could only feel vague recollections. He felt as if someone had brought his mastery to control shadows and used it to create spears to impale someone. But the control was too stiff, too mechanical.

 

He felt the vague joys and sorrows of his new mistress while she went about her life. He felt the presence of the man that was supposed to nurture the [Seed], he was once again collecting mana in his body, albeit somewhat slowly. At least if his mistress wasn't up to work there would be another hope.

 

He felt the presence of his mistress mother, casting spell after spell in the child's body. A complex defense that would prevent almost anyone from tampering with her mind...

 

At least anyone that wasn't already inside like mother's influence that is.

 

And after 15 of the human years he felt the connection gain strength, he felt his mistress embrace the shadows and how the shadows wanted to embrace her back.

 

But there was this...Barrier.

 

Something artificial in her [Soulscape] was trying to prevent her from accessing her birthright. So he nudged it.

 

He very slowly and very precisely nudged the shadows into the soulscape. It helped that his mistress was collecting mana quite fast, even if most of it went into feeding the artificial construct in her soul.

 

And then that happened.

 

He was like always trying to nudge the shadow essence toward his mistress soul when he got pulled out. He found himself in the world of the humans, his body a blob made of shadows. Like a toddler's attempt at making a toy.

 

Gone were the majestic scales he had, his horns nowhere to be seen, and his wings looked more like spikes than wings...

 

But he finally saw his mistress for the first time.

 

"You could be cuter" And got hit with that.

 

She tried to fix his form but wasn't having much success with that, so he used the shadows to guide his mistress's hand. She didn't seem to notice it, but it helped.

And with that, he felt his connection stronger than ever, more strong than even the connection he had with mother. And in turn, he felt as if his own senses were being shared with his mistress.

 

She didn't seem to notice, how the shadows around her would move things around to better accommodate her. How after that if she needed a pen from her purse it would be raised to her hand. How no matter where the fork she wanted to use was, it would slowly move towards her hand when no one was seeing.

 

How other minions were being nurtured and produced in the shadows around her. And what a surprise that was!

 

Dragons!

 

Not wyrms!

 

But honest to god dragons like himself!

 

None seemed to have a high grade of intelligence as himself of course. But he felt a closer connection to them than to any other shadowy wyrm he had before.

 

Was this another gift from mother?

 

He didn't know. His connection to mother had been unstable after coming to the world of the humans, and the last message he saw spoke about a change in path. Perhaps mother had changed the mission after he got sent to his mistress?

 

He would need to wait before doing anything. Not like he could with this form anyway.

 

But he was glad for this form, even if it didn't have the regal bearing of his previous form... He could help his mistress.

 

And did she need help...

 

First his mistress's mother ...The monster that derailed all of this came and pulled his mistress soul from her body!

 

He wanted to jump out of the shadows and follow his mistress soul but that woman was staring at him. "Who are you and why are you in my daughter's shadow?" Asked the woman.

 

"[Why did you pull out my mistress's soul?]" Was what I asked while focusing all my power over the shadows to bring forth as many shadowy spears as I could.

 

The woman just smirked at my show of force and with the snap of her fingers destroyed all of them. "Your mistress huh..." She said while caressing my mistress face. "[My daughter] doesn't have any contract on her soul. So you aren't bound to her by magical means...And yet you call her your mistress... I would bind you to her with a [Contract] if not for the fact that I can [See] how you are nurturing her [Soul]." Said the woman who then proceeded to rip her own soul off her body and flung herself after my mistress.

 

Her body unlike my mistress stood there as if nothing. Probably some kind of spell preserving her dignity.

 

So with a sigh, all I could do was get some of the lesser dragons to get some napkins from the kitchen to clean my mistress face after she face-planted into the food.

 

They returned after almost an hour and while my mistress ignored most of the questions about why she was once again clean, her mother just smiled at the shadow where I was.

 

It was disturbing how she knew exactly where I was... She just gave a cursory glance at the shadows where my siblings were and ignored them too.

 

They both spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon sleeping. And when she was leaving the apartment my mistress shared with the pink-haired being she turned towards the shadow I was using to follow her "I will leave her in your care dragon. Do not think you are safe in your shadows...I can and will hunt you if my daughter is in danger because of you." And she left.

 

After that not much changed, at least till the man that was her father came by.

 

He only gave me a cursory glance but his eyes held way too much power for me to even think about speaking to him, so after hiding behind my mistress he just smirked.

 

My mistress, as with her mother, used one of the [Skills] that had invaded her soulscape. And that...

 

Almost broke her.

 

If not for all my focus in sewing her [Soulscape] with what little shadows I could command...

 

If not for that monster of a father pouring mana into her [Soul] to try and keep her alive...

 

If not for that [Thing] intervention...Her soul very well might have cracked under the stress...

 

No [Skill] should put their user in danger! Mother made sure that her gift would never put someone at risk while using them. At least, the first generation should be like that...

 

Granted after the introduction of magic the mana had been warped and some skills might be faulty... But his mistress was born from a first-generation skill bearer... Her skills should not be this warped, and her environment while growing up was one of those with the purest mana he had ever felt if the mana he was feeling from her parents was something to go by.

 

So the problem was those [Foreign skills] after all!

 

At least he made good use of this chance and wormed more of his connection to the shadows into his mistress' [soulscape]. All the while glaring at that man for putting at risk his mistress.

 

He just watched her while she rested on the sofa...

 

At least he had the presence of mind of not to make things worse than they were. I would like to think that my brother's attempt at keeping him at bay was the reason...

 

It seems like while I was focusing on keeping my mistress' [Soul], two of the shadowy dragons that were closer to gaining their own intelligence had summoned shadowy spears and shoved them around that monster's throat.

 

They had also summoned all manner of constructs to keep him from moving. He didn't seem to mind it that much.

 

And was just staring at his daughter "I have a mana potion in my pouch, it might help her with the mana drain she seems to be having." He said while looking at me.

 

So while looking at my mistress on the sofa I emerged from the shadows, with swift movements I relieved the man from a transparent vial that turned into a sports drink in my claws.

 

"It is supposed to take the form of facility drinking...Most of the time they turn into gums for me." Said the man. I for once ignored him and flew towards my mistress.

 

She started drinking from it as soon as the straw was in her mouth, and through the shadows I could feel our connection grow stronger. " Catherine spoke about you. The reason I came around was to be sure you weren't a danger towards Elizabeth." Said the man while standing and moving his chair to be in front of my mistress.

 

"My [Eyes] tell me that you are bound to my daughter, your soul is nurturing her as Catherine said...After the backslash from her skill...You are now closer to her than before..." He said while closing his fists quite strongly...I could feel the mana permeating the area and how it was being drawn toward his fists.

 

"The only reason you get to live is that you helped in saving my daughter. So do not make me regret this." He said and with a flick of his hand, he destroyed most of the shadow weaponry in the area.

 

My brothers wanted to rise from the shadows but a mental command stopped them, this man didn't seem to be that bad. "[Why are you both putting my mistress through so much danger?]" I asked, at least he seemed more reasonable enough. Since he hadn't ripped her soul out of her body like her mother.

 

Even if he almost cracked her soul when my mistress used her skill, at least it didn't seem like it was intentional, and he did spend most of the mana he had accumulated in the last fifteen years.

 

"It isn't wasn't meant to harm her. Most [Info gathering] skills can't pierce my defenses even when I lower them as much as possible. It was meant to teach her that no [Skill] is almighty..." Said the father of my mistress. "But it seems that her's is something else..." And after that, we just waited for my mistress to wake up.

 

She seemed somewhat groggy after doing so and was warned by her father to not use her skill on her unless she was sure that she was able to sustain the backslash.

 

And after all of that, she just walked towards her room and jumped into the bed, after being with her for so long I knew of the antics and dreams of my mistress.

 

Even if I was only summoned fully into the world quite recently some of her thoughts did drift my way and right now she just wished to sleep and do away with the mana sickness she was having.

 

So she slept like that. With her clothes still on and sweaty all over the place.

 

He wasn't quite sure what to do now... He knew her mistress would not enjoy her sleep in dirty clothes and would probably awake quite angry at that.

 

So while he was undressing his mistress someone barged in the room "Eli-Eli you awake?" the pink-haired girl. She just stared at his dragon form that had grown extra shadowy appendices to help him undress his mistress. And towards his mistress who was sleeping while hugging one of said extra appendices.

 

"What?" Said the pink-haired girl who then started to breathe in and out quite hard at it.

 

Was she preparing to attack him? He couldn't have that, she might hurt his mistress!

 

But that being didn't felt like someone who could withstand his [Idea] like her mistress parents... What to do...

 

In the end, he decided to use his dominion over shadows to write in the air his message "[I'm a summon of my mistress by the name of Nyx. I'm helping my mistress change clothes since she fell asleep in dirty clothes.]" And then waited.

 

That being first was surprised at his impeccable writing, she even motioned with her hands for the message to go toward her, and I obliged.

 

For some reason, she also was staring quite hard at his mistress using the message as an excuse?

 

"I see... Silly Eli-Eli sleeping in dirty clothes...I will help you of course, and also carry her clothes to the laundry too" Said the pink-haired being while walking towards her mistress.

 

With her help and by baiting his mistress hands into grabbing his shadowy extra arms they managed to undress and then change her clothes.

 

The pink being assured me that his mistress didn't need a change of underwear since she would wake up soon enough and change again. So she ended up sleeping only with one of her silk gowns.

 

It seemed this human was quite weak since by the end her whole face and ears were flushed red and she was breathing hard by her mouth. He of course offered one of his brothers to help her walk to the laundry room but she refused.

 

"I'm okay❤...I will be okay ❤" She said to him while staggering towards the door. "I will cast a sound isolation spell so Eli-Eli can sleep without worries," She said and walked to the outside.

 

Sure enough, he felt the telltale of the mana being shaped into an unnatural form. But since the sounds of the outside were isolated he didn't mind them.

 

He could feel his mistress beckoning him towards the [Soulscape] and since no danger was present around he flew towards a desk and allowed himself to be pulled into the soulscape.

 

His brothers would guard his mistress and if something happened the breaking of the barrier would be enough to awaken him.

 

Inside the [Soulspace] he found his mistress speaking with the [Thing] and how that [Thing] was complaining about him coming from a skill instead of magic?

 

He wasn't sure what that [Thing] wanted from him, but as his mistress had said, he was with her so why did it matter?

 

After which he just observed as his mistress fumbled with one of the things that were foreign to her soul. It seemed that she was using that as a means to manipulate mana and create spells?

 

It was quite a novel idea...But he wasn't a fan of it. At the very least he could admire how the shadow energy was flowing in this side and trying to gain claim over it. And how that [Thing] was plugging all the spots that had been left over by the father of his mistress.

 

After she was done and happy with her choices they flew to the outside of the [Soulscape] his mistress found comfort in the pure shadow energy that was flowing into her, so there they ended up sleeping.

 

He was quite happy with his life...And just wanted for his mistress to be happy.

 

He missed Mother of course. But he would end seeing her when she brought her advent anyway, and if his mistress earned enough power to summon his true form...Perhaps that plan could be brought to play anyway.