3 Chapter 2 - Awakening

"Ahh." A dwarven child in a lightly lit room let out a small gasp. He had red hair and red eyes like the leaves of maple leaf in autumn. "What happened?" He asked confusedly. His pupils visibly contracted at the sight of lights inside the room. After a while of looking at the ceiling and putting his thoughts in the right places, he finally oriented his mind. "Ah yes, I was born." He tried to say but his mouth and tongue aren't moving perfectly. Still trying to talk but failing miserably, he said "I remember being pushed out by the flesh that wrapped around me. What a weird feeling." He tried to look around, searching for anyone and anything, but being covered in some sort of crib, his vision was blocked and could only see the ceiling.

"I need to get up." He said as he flailed his arms and feet around, trying to get up. He was curious at his current situation. 'Where was he? What was he? Where is his family?' And so he tried to get information by standing up and looking above the barriers of his baby crib. His body was weak, but not as weak as he expected. "Huh? Were babies this strong? I was only going to make an attempt but was prepared to fail with my weak body." He struggled and tried to grab at something to support his body. "Almost there." He said while he gritted his non-existent baby teeth. After a few slips and tries, he finally stood up and put his head above the crib, panting slightly but with a huge grin on his face since he was proud of himself for successfully standing up. A stellar achievement for a one-day old baby but a not-so-proud display for someone who was a fully grown soul.

His young eyes were greeted by a beautiful room made with various stones and metals of different colors. Some were grey and some were black, some were golden and some were shades of red. It was all so beautiful to him. It was not like some prince's room where everything is richly extravagant, filled with riches and chandeliers made with gold. No, the room was all intricately designed manually. Every nook and corner was designed in such a way where it was pleasing to the eyes. The walls were embedded with pictures made with differently colored stones and metals. The pictures were figures of different people, beasts, and nature. Every detail told a story, and as a whole, it was a world of its own.

The dwarven child's mouth dropped at the sight. His eyes focused at the masterpiece before him. He felt that this room, compared to a king's or a rich person's room was several hundred times more precious. It's like comparing an expensively bought gift, to a gift that was personally made with hard work. Although the expensive gift was definitely appreciated, the personally made one felt more heartfelt and more precious to the receiver. The room he looked at felt similar. He knew it was made with love and passion for his work.

However the room wasn't the only thing visible to him. His vision was also filled with astonished looks from people that were apparently in the same room. "Ah I forgot babies weren't supposed to stand up." He murmured. The only two people in the room were staring at him. They both had red hair like him. The man who he assumed was his father had thick hair and beard. His hair was very curly, so curly that it was like very frizzy lightning bolts. It was well kept and clean however, giving him this imposing and mature look coupled with his powerful looking body. The woman, who was most likely his mother, also had curly hair, although the curves were like multiple waves on a beach. Her skin was whiter unlike his healthily tanned father. She still had the tough looking muscles dwarves had, but was definitely slimmer. She was also way taller than her father, around half a foot left to reach six feet, although that was simply his assumption. As he looked at her more closely, her ears were slightly pointed. "Mixed blood?" He thought. "That does make me also a mixed blood too?"

They were in awe at him for a few seconds until they got their gears up and running again. His mother walked up to him and said. "Belthrum, my baby. One moment I look away from you and you're already standing up!" She was still confused, but the reality was in her face, and could only be happy about her baby being already able to stand up.

Belthrum, the dwarven child that was the third soul, didn't recognize his name from the mumble jumble that was the new language he was hearing. It was confusing to him and didn't recognize any word from it. It was slightly similar to some language in his previous life, but only sounded like it. "Speaking of my previous life, I distinctly remember having two other souls being sent reincarnated with me. I wonder what happened to them."

As Belthrum thought that, sharp memories came flashing to him. A memory about snowy mountains and a giant white dragon, and another memory that was the sensation of death and blood. The memories suddenly exhausted him, not physically but mentally. "I see." He murmured as he passed out.

***

In the mountains of Talar, three newly hatched grey colored dragons were frolicking about and eating a carcass of a giant frost boar when one of the three abruptly turned his head towards the south. He narrowed his slit reptilian eyes, thinking about what just happened. He felt a felt two connections forming to his mind for a moment. It was but a split second, but that was all he needed to figure out what was going on. The two consciousnesses made him feel whole, as if finding that he had another pair of limbs all along, but just forgot about it.

"That was… me." He said with a pause, and then grinned with his savage looking draconic mouth. "They were the two other me's. Ahaha! We had quite the fate did we? One turned into a mixed breed dwarf, another turned into a dragon, while another turned into a literally bloody plant. This is too funny. Ahahaha!" The serpentine dragon said while laughing. His two siblings were looking at him weirdly. That speech he just finished came out as low grunts and roars, while his laughs just looks like he's gasping for air. Most of the speech was just in his mind since his draconic mouth is not fit for speaking.

"But I see, a name huh? I didn't completely understand the words, but I could tell that my dwarven part was given a name by his parents already. Just like any normal humanoid would." He said while nodding his head. "I shall have a good name of my own. What should I call myself? Maybe a legendary dragon name like Fafnir? Or maybe a cute one like Tohru? On the other hand, Ouroboros is also cool."

He thought of different names, most of them coming from his previous life that he could barely remember. The young dragon was so enthusiastic about choosing his name that it was too late when he finally noticed how his siblings had finished eating most of the boar meat.

ROAR! He roared angrily at his siblings and chased them away from the remaining meat. They scampered and ran weakly at the corners at the cave, fearing their intelligent brother. "Ah you big brutes, you left me with this pile of bones?!" He shouted loudly. "Bah, forget it. I'll just ask father for more meat. And speaking of father, maybe I can ask him for a name? Now that I think about it, isn't it weird that he still hasn't named any of us?"

The intelligent young dragon focused his mind and called out to his father. "Father, may I talk to you?" There was a moment of silence for all siblings. They were waiting for their father to respond. Although the two other young dragons still don't know how to express themselves fully through the mental communication between them, they still knew when their father was going to speak. And they were very afraid of their father.

"What is it my child?" Came a booming voice. The intelligent young dragon gulped a bit. His siblings hid even further in the cave, afraid. "F-Father, I was wondering why you haven't named us yet. I-I wanted to have a name." He said, stuttering. He wasn't really afraid, but there was just something about the presence of their father that makes him as meek as a lamb.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm." A very long thoughtful voice sounded in their minds. He could feel the vibration of the voice in the surroundings and his ears despite the voice just sounding in their minds. It was truly illogical how a mental communication could affect their surroundings.

"My child, we usually don't give out names until the day of your awakening." His father said. The intelligent young dragon waited for a bit to make sure his father was done talking, afraid of interrupting him.

"Awakening? What is the awakening father?" He asked as cutely as he possibly can as a 15 meter baby dragon. The topic of awakening seems to be some important event and he didn't know if his father would be comfortable talking about it to his few-days old children, so he asked cutely to convince him. Well, he didn't even know if asking cutely would have an effect, but it was worth a try.

"Well, my child, the awakening is a very important event that happens not just in the lives of us dragons, but every sentient race as well. It would have a very major effect on your path of life. It is a process of awakening one's race sole racial trait that other species would never hope to get.

For example, to elves, they would awaken with life magic, able to bring back a person from the brink of death no matter how severe the injuries. But to us dragons, we would gain breath magic that is more destructive and more powerful than any other race could achieve." The voice sounded proud.

The intelligent young dragon, curious about his dwarf counterpart, asked. "What about the dwarves father?" But then his reptilian eyes widened when he realized, 'Oh no, I forgot I was supposed to be a baby. It's impossible for me to know about the dwarves.' He immediately acted cutely to try to save himself from the predicament. He still wasn't sure if it's working.

He felt a stare coming from outside the cave, scrutinizing him. Beads of sweat came out of his forehead with that. He did his best to act indifferent and continue with his cute baby dragon acting.

Finally, his father replied, not asking him about how he got the information. "The dwarves… hmmmmm, are old friends of mine. The dwarves are fanatics of crafting and forging. Even their awakened racial trait is heavily related to that. When they awaken, they would be able to summon a hammer that is the embodiment of their soul, and a special kind of fire that could be considered equally as powerful as ours.

We call their racial trait, the hammer and forge. Although I call their fire as powerful as ours, it is not as destructive as our breath. Instead, this fire is made to create and craft. It is a fire of life and wisdom, unlike ours of destructiveness. They have another racial trait closely that is also very closely related to forging, but that is a story for another time." His father finished.

"So how does this relate to names father?" He urged his father to continue.

"To humanoids, although their awakening is equally as important, in the end they would still remain the same person, just with added abilities. However to us dragons, and other intelligent beasts for that matter, it changes our very bodies and being. That's why we avoid giving names before our awakening, for it changes our very person." The voice ended.

The intelligent young dragon was taking all this information to the heart, a little bit surprised at the revelation. "I see father. When does this awakening happen then?" The voice returned, this time with a higher pitch than usual, as if amused by his son. "For humanoids, it happens usually before they age 10 years old, although with variation depending on the race. For us dragons however, it's around 50 years old, when we naturally accumulate enough mana inside our bodies." His father paused for a while, thinking. "Hmmmmmmm. However, you're a smart child, so I could probably give you a name right now. Aaaahaaahaaahaa." His father laughed very slowly.

"The act of not giving names until the day of awakening is more of a tradition now anyways, since our ancestors in ancient times put heavy importance in naming children. They always give names very fitting of your image and abilities. I remember being so proud receiving my own name and making sure everyone knows of it. Aaaahaaahaaahaa. Those old fogies. I kind of miss them." His voice was slightly nostalgic and upbeat, unlike the usual intimidating voice.

His voice continued to change. It is now more imposing and majestic, throwing away his old lazy voice. "Child, if you really want a name now, I will give you one. It's the new world now. Those old traditions are now impractical and needs to be changed. I can just give you a neutral name and we will not have any troubles on the day of your awakening." The intelligent young dragon felt as if his father was grinning for some reason.

"T-Then I want a name now. Please father." He said, still slightly stuttering, but more confident now. Even if he wanted to back out now, he felt that his father won't let him.

"Then I will give you a name now, but under certain conditions." The intelligent young dragon felt that his father was grinning even further.

"What conditions father?" He wanted to frown, but instead tried to make a cute face so that his father would not make the conditions harsh. It was just for a name anyway, he could just call himself something in secret.

"I know what you're thinking child, that the conditions would be harsh, but trust me that these conditions will mostly only be beneficial to you. You're an exceedingly smart child, so I can give these conditions to you, but your siblings' minds are not yet developed enough to understand." The intelligent young dragon sighed with relief. If it's mostly beneficial, then he sees no reason to not accept it.

"The first thing you should know is that normally, 50 years old is the time when dragons naturally accumulate enough mana to awaken. But there is a way to speed it up." His father looked at him intently from outside the cave. His father's gigantic green eyes were serious.

"How do I speed it up father?" He responded with serious eyes of his own.

His father looked at him and said. "Cultivating. Actively control and accumulate mana inside your body, and you would speed up the naturally occurring process."