From the children’s point of view, there was no way for them not to love the Elder Wyrm.
His scales were shiny, his beard soft and pleasant to tug, and they could feel his affection through the Dragon scales.
“Adorable isn’t the term I’d use to describe our abilities.” Tista said while in her Hekate form.
Lith had shared the lessons about human evolution with her and the results of their attempts to manipulate life force with Valtak. The Father of Fire had no interest in non-Dragon bloodlines but he had quickly found a way to use the results of those studies to his advantage.
He had brought Valeron along so that Lith could use, amplify, and share the baby’s Life Maelstrom during the Elder Wyrm’s lessons.
“All of our abilities based on Origin Flames depend on our life force. It’s the currency we pay to exert our powers. If you’ve found a way to amplify your life force, it might help you trigger your dormant bloodline abilities.” The Father of Fire had said at the beginning of the training.
It hadn’t taken long to prove that he was right.
Lith and Tista were already capable of using Primordial and Immortal Flames even without Primal Spark but they still had a long way to go before mastering them. Immortal Flames in particular would take some time before Lith could use them in battle safely due to his cracked life force.
The real issue was uncovering his still-unknown bloodline abilities and triggering Tista’s Queen’s Blessing and Prismatic Wind. Even after weeks of practice, they had made no progress.
So Valtak had brought the kids along, hoping that an enhanced life force would help them in their endeavor.
The Hekate had greatly benefitted from the Elder Wyrm’s theory. She had discovered that the issue with Prismatic Wind was that the bloodline ability was activated solely by the willpower imbued in her life force, not her mana.
She had to charge her feathers with the desired elemental energy and program the life force inside of them with the spell she wanted the feathers to form. The hard part was weaving runes with her life force, the easy part was that she could do it while the feathers were still attached to her wings.
After learning how to influence the spark of her life force imbued in her Flames from a distance, manipulating it inside her body was much simpler. Valtak had Tista start with tier one spells because they needed few runes and she could make many attempts before needing to rest.
Prismatic Wind consumed several times the life force needed for Origin Flames. That was because each feather needed a spark of energy to form the rune and because they couldn’t be regrown with a healing spell.
Once Tista ran out of feathers, she needed to use the breathing technique Salaark had taught her and consume more life force.
The Hekate had later learned how to also activate Queen’s Blessing in a similar way.
Her second unique bloodline ability turned out to be more versatile than she expected since it could be used with Origin, Primordial, and Immortal Flames as well as Cursed Flames.
On the other hand, Queen’s Blessing also couldn’t be used carelessly.
The first step required Tista to conjure one kind of Flames like she always did. To bless someone instead of burning them to cinders, she had to expend more of her life force, enveloping her knight in a protective cocoon.
It shielded the blessed target from the Flames and harmonized their life force with Tista’s, preventing them from becoming another victim.
To achieve such effect, the Hekate had to pass on to the knight as much life force she had used to conjure the Flames so that her followers wouldn’t suffer any damage from the mystical fire while it lasted.
Origin Flames were the easiest ones, followed by Primordial, Cursed, and Immortal Flames which were the most dangerous to use.
Cursed Flames needed to be summoned in pairs and if Tista waited too long or didn’t have enough people with whom to share them, she would suffer the backlash from the unused Flames.
Immortal Flames were a pure nightmare since they required so much life force that Tista could use them once before collapsing. Even with Valeron’s Life Maelstrom and Valtak’s Primal Spark, she could use Queen’s Blessing on four targets and then she needed hours of rest.
“I don’t get it.” Tista said while trying to conjure her bloodline abilities without the silver lightning as a crutch. “How could I activate either of them on my first try if they are so complex? I mean, even with all this training, I’m nowhere near getting the hang of them.”
“Silly hatchling.” Valtak said while cooing at the babies and rocking one in each arm. “As I told you, your bloodlines abilities are based on life force and willpower. Both times you activated them when the alternative was death.
“Survival instinct is the driving force of all living beings and when our existence is threatened, our bodies do everything they can to escape death. Even things we never knew we were capable of.”
“What about me?” Lith groaned. “I’m still at square one. Sure, I’ve learned about Primordial and Immortal Flames but that’s it. No blue flames, no Dragon Eyes, no nothing.”
“And how is that my fault?” Valtak grunted. “If I had to guess, I’d say that maybe the rest of your powers are related to your Pheonix side and I don’t know anything about that. Same thing for your human side.
“I can’t help you with your eyes and wings so deal with it.”
“I noticed how you glossed over my Abomination side.” Lith pointed out.
“I didn’t gloss over it. I saved it for later. It’s different.” The Father of Fire tutted. “Now, since we have run out of options, it’s time to put a personal theory of mine to the test.”
At a wave of his hand, Tista stopped her training and the babies floated with her to a safe distance.
“Before starting, I want you to know that even though I enjoy the company of those little bundles of love and scales, I didn’t ask you to bring them here just to play family. I needed their help to help you and Tista unlock your bloodline abilities.
“I’ve succeeded with her and now it’s your turn.”
“What are they supposed to do for me that they haven’t already done?” The Tiamat asked in confusion.
“Give you the strength to face the monsters inside of you. To survive their taint. Maybe even master those blue flames of yours.” The Elder Wyrm replied, his voice turning grave and solemn.
“What are you talking about?” Lith was confused and annoyed in equal measure. “I know you hate Abominations, but that part of me is no monster. It’s just one aspect of my messed-up head and life force.
“Same for the Voidfeather Dragon and I’m appalled you called my Dragon bloodline a monster.”
“I wasn’t talking about either of them.” Valtak replied. “And before you ask, no, I don’t like humans but I don’t consider your human side a monster either. I was talking about real, soul sucking monsters.”
