Reborn as a DRAGON

Chapter 23: Jump

'His hair, dirty blond and a little greasy were fake, as was his mustache, and uneven teeth. He looked fifty years old, but he was actually in his twenties. Nobody knew the man's real name, but in the guild, he was in, a name was the last thing he could afford. He was known merely as "The Dark Angel," and he was one of the highest-paid and most successful assassins throughout the continent. He had been given his nickname because he always sent an apology letter to the family of his victims.' ???   ************   The wind suddenly changed, this time giving us no chance to retaliate. Even Green with her abnormally large wings was unable to keep her balance as mother jumped to the air with a mighty flap of her wings.   The wind carried us as we followed after her. 'This is her mana?' I inwardly mumbled. I could sense the different types of mana surrounding us, it seemed to be listening to mother as it followed her orders.

  A part of me was curious, what would happen if I tried to communicate with said mana? Perhaps it was a stupid idea, yet I couldn't stop myself from trying. I closed my eyes as I reached out trying to feel it.   It was different, not the type of mana I was used to, this one was wilder, more untamed, it completely ignored me and did not seem to care about anything or rather anyone other than my mother.   'So this is wind mana?' My eyes shone with excitement, although it did not listen to me at all, that did not mean I had no way of commanding it.   If before I tried the nice approach, then now there was no reason to continue with that since it did not seem to work. I closed my eyes again as I tried to concentrate.   We were soaring through the air, so wind mana was strong all around us. This time instead of trying to be friendly and asking for its help, I instead tried to force my will unto it, compelling it to heed my command.   A small subtle change occurred, it reacted yet it did not seem pleased at being ordered by me, so it struggled against me. My energy unconsciously flowed out forcing the mana to settle down as it begrudgingly formed a small palm-sized wind tornado above my claw.   The little tornado barely formed before the mana retaliated with even stronger vigor causing it to disperse. 'Looks like that's my limit for now.' My control over my energy was still lacking, hence I was unable to keep the mana under my command.   'Looks like I will have to work on my control when we go back. Wait where the hell are we?' My eyes scanned our surroundings in curiosity.   While I was busy trying to use wind mana, Mother had brought us on top of a giant cliff, it was a tower of grey rock rising in salute to the sun. As my paws touched the ground, I first glanced at mother who nodded to herself before peeking at the ledge.   The ground was far, too far below, the cliff was dizzyingly high and appeared to be in a cylindrical shape. 'Damn, that's a long fall.' I gulped.   'Wait why are we here?' I wondered as I turned towards my mother awaiting her explanation.   Her gigantic body moved closer as she extended her wings to cover us all in what might have looked like a motherly hug, yet her next words caused my blood to run cold.   'Jump.' A simple word, yet my heart almost stopped at it.   'Jump? Is she crazy? There's no way we'd survive that fall.'   For the first time, Golden boy seemed to hesitate and chose not to rush forward, his wings were the smallest out of all of us. I could sense that his emotions were in disarray.   He tried to step away from the edge but was met with our mother's wings which blocked his retreat. 'Shit, she's not letting any of us back down.' My mind was going into overdrive as I tried to think of a way out of this, it was then that mother spoke again.   'Jump to fly, not to fall.' She then gave us a gentle encouraging push.   Surprisingly, Our youngest, Green was the first one to gather her courage, her eyes darted between mother and the long fall before a glint of determination filled her gaze.   As she unhesitantly jumped off, I watched with an open mouth, her figure plummeting towards the ground with unprecedented speed. My body unconsciously moved as I rushed to glance down, I was not the only one, White, Golden boy, and even Blacky seemed nervous as they dashed towards the edge to see if Green had made it.   'Roar!'   Her tiny cry reached our ears before her small figure rose through the air. She was flying! My eyes widened in amazement as I watched our youngest soaring in the sky.   'Damn, what am I still doing here when I'm supposed to be the eldest!' I mentally steeled my resolve, my eyes unconsciously wandered to the ground below yet I shook my head ridding myself of any useless thoughts.   'Jump to fly, not to fall huh?' With mother's words still resounding in my ears, I closed my eyes...and jumped.   The feeling of weightlessness overtook me, as the loud wind howled through my ears. I was falling fast, yet time seemed to stand still. The air pushed against my scales as I picked up speed. It was very windy, very loud, and incredibly fast!   My mind had no time to think, but my body seemed to know what to do. I straightened my tail, and slowly spread my wings, and then I flapped.   'I-I'm flying!' a roar of excitement escaped my throat as I soared through the sky. The feeling of was indescribable, my mouth unconsciously curled upwards as I watched the scenery pass by below.   The wind howled to my left, I turned around to find Green who seemed way more excited than she had ever been, her tiny body danced through the air gracefully, she even managed to make a few spins before flying close to me. Although I was in the air, flying in a straight line without making any abrupt turns was the best I could do at the moment, the little brat was a genius when it came to this.   Wait a minute, how do I land?!