Thunderstorms

Silas was awoken by a large peal of thunder. He started shaking from the fright of such a large noise. He didn't understand how anything could make such a sound. "Master, when will this stop." He pleaded, trying to stop his voice from shaking.

"Don't be afraid, young one. The heavens aren't trying to strike you down yet." A voice from his left let out trying to soothe him. "The heavens?" Silas asked, not knowing what it was. "Yes, the celestial being in the sky, above what the eye can see, judging all below that walk this planet. The Heavens." The voice replied, with a deeper tone than before. "The sky... what does that look like?" The young one asked again.

"Ho ho, have I not answered this before? It is an endless sea that stretches out as far as everything. Filled with countless oddities and wonders. But now the sky is dark and chaotic, you could say it is crying. The drops on your scales that you would feel outside the cave are the tears, the booms it's wails." Silas heard the voice farther away now.

Silas lamented at the fact he could not see these wonderful things that his master talked about. He had never been able to see, not since he could ever recall, ever since he had been with his master. "Well how do I look?" He asked another question.

"Same as always my boy, though a lot better than when I found you. You've got legs and a mouth and your pointy ears, long tail and snout. As well as your little wings. You've got nice shiny crimson scales not unlike the most valuable jewels. Perhaps not at the moment, however. When you are scared your scales become dim and dull, not as vibrant.

"Do we look similar?"

"Ho ho, that is funny boy, I've said this before," the voice said with a laugh, "we are of different species, you are a dragon and I am a human. Quite different I must say."

"Then how come we can talk to each other?" Silas wondered, not really understanding what the difference of species really meant or what a human was. It was a little more difficult to pick up these different things than normal people because he couldn't get the same teachings, things had to be explained a little more abstractly and with a lot more thought into how you were trying to explain something.

"Intelligent species can all learn to converse with each other. There are a multitude of different species on this planet and I've taught you most of the spoken languages as well as some dead ones. You should be able to speak with every person you meet." The master replied still trying to keep the young dragons mind off the raging storm outside. "Done with our questions now are we? Once this storm let's up we'll proceed with the next part of you're training."

"Really?" Silas got up with excitement. "The part that will let me see like you do?" He had looked forwards to this part of the training ever since his master had casually mentioned it in the past and wouldn't speak of it again.

"Not like me, no, but you will be able to perceive the things around you nonetheless. Now let's get back to sleep shall we, this old man needs his rest."

After a short while and a few more bursts of thunder, the young Silas was finally calmed back to sleep with a murmur of 'the sky' and 'master' on his lips. The old man smiled at him and then frowned towards the outside of the cave. His eyes glanced back and forth between Silas and the sound of thunder.

He then walked out of the cave and into the distance. He used his cane and pointed it up into the sky with a menacing look. "You've gone on long enough haven't you?" He muttered and a massive rush of wind went around him and into the stormy sky. The wind struck the clouds and exploded outwards, swarming the entire night's sky. "You were disturbing my boys' sleep."

The next morning was met with clear sky's and a nice breeze. The bright sun was lighting up the clearing outside of the cave and the surrounding forest had wafts of sunlight poking through the leaves. Even though Silas couldn't see the light he could feel the warmth from it. "Excellent for training Silas, let's get going." The old man said to the young dragon.

Silas begrudgingly got up and made his way to the entrance of the cave feeling the sunlight and breeze on his scales. He soaked up the warmth for a few moments and went towards the sound of his master's voice.

"Alright I'm ready Master Luis!" Silas yelled out standing to attention. He was required to do so anytime they were training as it was drilled into him. This was only put into place when they were practicing walking, running, and outdoor activities. He was a little kinder when it came to teaching Silas knowledge.

"Now we will start by training your hearing and smell." Luis said with a slight smile. Luis then spent the rest of the day picking various herbs and teaching Silas to differentiate them from smell as well as their uses in cooking, medicine, and poison making. Luis had spent the better part of many days explaining how each herb smelled and then their uses, as well as how they tasted. He always had an antidote on hand for tasting and smelling the poisonous herbs.

Silas was required to feel the effects of each herb as well even if it was poisonous because his master told him that it would be beneficial in the future. Silas hated the feeling training because it left him feeling sick and he often tried to skip it only to be reprimanded and punished for it.

This alone took almost a full year before Luis was satisfied with his current progress. Silas then spent his time listening to the various sounds throughout the forest and what each of them belonged to. Luis also began to teach him very basic combat, the ability to dodge an incoming strike based on sound.

Master Luis would throw different objects that would increasingly get more hurtful as Silas would get better. They would come from all different sides and angles and Silas learned a lot about his own body from doing these exercises. He also learned how the sound of wind blew off different objects throughout the forest, as well as people. He had to memorize which footsteps were whose be they beasts or his masters and what surface they were on.

After another year of training like this Luis mixed the two classes together and made Silas start tasting everything around him. This included the trees, dirt, rocks, as well as many things you could find in the forest. His favorite thing was the wild beasts that they had found and cooked. He didn't much like them when they were raw. The progress with smell went especially well due to dragons innately good sense of smell.

As soon as Luis felt as if he was ready he woke Silas up for his penultimate lesson.

"Now we train your mana boy."