11

I kept on forcing the lightning to compress into one spot. It kept on fighting me as I forced it to compress into one spot. It fought me more, and more as I gave it more, and more power. It didn't have enough juice to become an actual crystal yet so I kept on fighting back against the lightnings defiance. Then I started to lose control of the lightning.

I wouldn't be able to bring this back under my control, and it felt dangerous. I threw the ball of lightning into the air as hard as I could. It exploded. Lightning arced in all directions. Turned the sky golden with the thousands of individual lightning bolts that shot off in every direction.

I shielded all the guild buildings from the lightning energy that I'd just released. Directing it upward. It was quite a bit of energy. It felt almost as if a massive amount of force was coming down on me. It was all my mana.

All I had to do was regain control over it. Easier said then done. I kept on forcing the lightning upward. Letting it disperse into the air. I sighed in relief when the threat finally dissipated.

I sighed relief, and dropped my hands now that the threat was over. I'd used too much mana when I tried to turn the spell upward. I didn't have enough mana to remain in human form. I didn't bother fighting the effects of the spell wearing off as I reverted to my true form. My tail lashed a little in irritation.

I hadn't know it would be that difficult to compress elemental mana into one point. Regala had made it look easy. I paced along the street as I thought over what went wrong. My wings opened slightly as I slipped into deep thought about how, and why I failed. Calen came over at some point.

"Yes I know," I brushed him off, "I failed at something I was trying. I won't do it within the guild again. I didn't realize it could explode until it was already exploding."

I knew that I would have to keep doing it until I figured out how to do it properly. I felt a bit guilty about scaring all the people because of my own failure to control my own magic. I fully extended my wings slowly. Holding them up above me as the membranes snapped tight in the light breeze. My wings really didn't let any air pass through them.

I needed a break. Maybe a quick flight would help relax me. I tensed my legs, and crouched down as I got ready to leap. People moved back since it was getting very obvious what I was about to do. I leapt.

Buffering everything below me with a burst of air. I reveled in the feeling of my wings supporting my weight. I wasn't all that heavy despite my large size. I might have scratched the pavement with my claws when I jumped, but that was a minor problem. I was quickly learning how to fix that kind of mistake.

Pavement was humanities preferred material for roads, and parking lots. I smiled as I looked down onto the new lake that had formed near the guild. Dozens of those gator like creatures were along the far edge. Lizardmen were dumping baskets of water. I dropped down a good distance so I could look at the water closer since it looked kind of odd from up there.

It turned out there were fish in the water baskets as well. I decided to go as high as I possibly could after that. Being allowed to fly freely was fun. I hadn't been allowed to do anything like this on earth. I was too busy hiding.

I wish I could replicate this freedom on earth. I planned to eventually make it so dragons could fly freely on earth. The preparations were complete. It was time for us to move out of the settlement. I was looking forward to it.

I circled back. I could fly for hours, but I still had exercises to run, and a few new elements I needed to experiment with. I still didn't know what the darkness element even did. I coasted down to a spot outside the settlement. My mana had regenerated a good amount.

Back to creating my own mini solar systems. I tried manipulating darkness, and it was slow to respond. The shadows tugged toward me. I put more power into it, and the shadows started growing. Consuming the plant life with them with a rabid viciousness.

I cut off the supply of mana, and the darkness continued to consume the plant life for nearly a minute after I cut off the supply of mana. I snorted. Giving darkness too much power was dangerous. I gave the shadows a small supply of mana again. The shadows darkened, and tugged toward me again.

They didn't do anything else after that, but they didn't look like the surrounding shadows. I walked toward the shadow slowly, and cautiously. Sniffing it experimentally. I didn't know why I smelled the shadow considering I didn't have the greatest sense of smell. I touched the shadow, and my arm sank in.

I yanked my arm back out of the shadow, and looked my arm over. The shadow hadn't harmed me at all. I jumped into the shadow, and sank in like water. I found myself looking up at the same spot of forest I'd been standing in a minute ago. It felt like I was floating in a cloud.

I flicked my tail, and I was propelled toward the surface of the shadow easily. Swimming through the shadows was incredibly easy. I jumped out of the shadow, and landed on the ground calmly. My wings twitched as I cut off the mana I was supplying to the shadow. This was a trick I might be able to use whenever it was dark.

"Cool," I hissed happily, and jumped into the shadows again.