Chapter Three: Welcome to the World

She was warm and content when she stopped falling. She could not see anything, but she could feel; it felt as if she was floating in a pool. Every once in a while, she would kick her legs out or stretch her arms, but was always met with resistance. She did not hunger, nor thirst, nor even want for anything, except for more space to stretch. Slowly more and more sensations were known to her. She heard many sounds, from muffled voices to two separate rhythmic sounds that never seemed to end. It was peaceful, and more comfortable than anything she could remember from her past life. For ages she stayed in this place, content with the sounds and sensations. Then the world around her convulsed, and the pain began. The sensation of being pulled and twisted and shoved came in seemingly never-ending and erratic intervals. With one final push, the entire world changed.

It was blurry and bright, too bright. The light almost caused her eyes to sear in pain, while the sounds were overbearing. The warmth that she had felt merely moments before had She didn't understand anything that was happening, couldn't speak, only wail when she attempted to communicate. When she felt herself being laid down and wrapped in something warm, she realized what had happened. Her consciousness had come into being when her brain developed in the womb; she had just been born. Now she understood what it meant to be reborn into a world.

Nine years passed and she had gained a basic understanding of how the world worked. While she was gaining skill points as she aged and learned, she could not spend them until she reached ten years old. Her status points were gained automatically as she aged, until such time as she turned ten, when she would have to start allocating them herself. The more she studied, the more intelligent she became. The more she practiced her studies, the wiser she became. The more she worked her body, the stronger she became. Her dexterity increased with every tree she climbed. The only status that did not increase through work was constitution; with every illness it increased on it's own and apparently was based upon her parents.

Speaking of which, she was currently returning to her home with a bouquet of flowers for her mother. Her mother was a healer and a medic; her class chosen based on her talent as a child. She had been a prodigy as a child in the art of healing, even before she could use magic, and therefore found choosing the healer as her class logical. As such, their home was just outside of town with a secondary, smaller unit standing next to it to treat patients in. Being just outside of town, there was a never-ending supply of wild herbs and healing ingredients to make various tonics including healing, boosting, and antitoxins. These they would trade to the local apothecary in exchange for bandages and other herbs that weren't so easy to forage, but easy enough for the merchant to get through trade. They also supplied the local adventurers guild with such tonics in exchange for being their exclusive medic as well as a modest monthly fee. It was through the adventurers guild that her parents had met.

As she neared her home, she took in the simplicity of it. Made of bricks that had been bleached by the sun, the color was somewhere between cream and sand, with a roof thatched with palm leaves and tar. Between the leaves and the sap, the house kept quite cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. The healing room was similarly built, but considerably smaller. Reaching the thick wooden door, Toni entered the home and into the communal area. Here, a fire roared providing heat to the entire house while her mother sat in front of it humming a little ditty and working on harvesting the milk of new oats; it would be useful for when the stinging beetles spawned in the coming month.

Toni took in her mother, Valenia's, appearance, her flowing, deep, ivy green hair reaching down to her slender waste. Her oceanic eyes furrowed in focus at the task at hand. Her slender fingers worked deftly, squeezing and turning the plant they held to coax the sap out. As always, her skin seemed so white that it glowed, but in reality it was such a pale, moss green that it simply appeared to be luminescent. Her facial features were both soft and supple, a beautiful heart-shaped face with high cheekbones, a narrow jaw, and a small nose. Her almond-shaped eyes were lined by thick lashes and her lips were full. She truly was an image of beauty. She was wearing her normal robes; white material called sufflax, as soft as silk but warm as cotton, that repelled dirt and other such stains. It ensured she always looked pristine while also allowing her to not ruin clothes when dealing with a bleeding patient. It covered her slender arms and legs and left much to the imagination as far as her body, but in reality she had a modest woman's body. A typical picturesque druid woman.

Catching the movement from her peripherals, her mother called, "Toniara, come here my child."

Her soft, delicate voice was literal music to Toni's ears as she smiled and walked to her mother, showing her the flowers she had picked. While she smiled, her mother frowned at her in disappointment. It immediately made Toni's smile turn into a sheepish grin.

"Toniara of Dragstro! What exactly were you thinking going into the Werewoods to gather these?! They can only be found near Lake Mordi! How in the world did you manage this?"

From further in the house, a bass-baritone voice rumbled, "What did she do?"

Out of the master room came a man with pure white hair from root until just past his shoulders, where it turned a crimson red. Two antler-like horns grew from his forehead and red crescents lined his cheeks under his teasing green eyes. A strong, square jaw merged with high cheekbones creating a very square, masculine face. His hair was swept back, revealing his forehead with a strong nose accenting his overall dominance. The entire presence of the room shifted when he entered, his red robes paling his already white skin, parted in the front so that his broad chest and ample muscles remained exposed. The deep rumble of his voice was as melodic as her mother's voice was sweet. But the pride in his eyes quickly abated when he noticed the shape of his daughter. While her mother was concerned for her safety, her father, had no worries about his daughter's metal.

Looking at her, and her peach-shaped face, fair skin, and pale purple dress, she looked too clean to have gone into the Werewoods, especially as far in as Lake Mordi. While her tender hands did look to be dirty and a bit scraped, even her boots had only sparse signs of a journey into the woods. While she was slender and feeble looking thanks to her druid blood, she was dragonkin, and therefore was stronger than she would ever look. She was slightly taller than most girls her age, but that was due to both the druid and dragon blood that coursed through her. Her forest green hair covered her from root to her shoulder-blades, where it then turned the same crimson red as his own for several inches. Unlike his or her mother's, her eyes were the color of hot embers still smoldering on the fire. Her horns had fashioned themselves into natural pins for her hair, sweeping up just over her hairline and keeping her locks out of her face. As she grew, surely they would continue their way backwards instead of outwards like his. It was a testament to how strong she already was.

"Well child?" he asked.

She just giggled and beamed at him broadly before jumping up and instantly appearing behind him before flashing away, "I was practicing a new skill!"

While her father's eyes shown with pride and he laughed as he walked towards her to pick her up and swing her around, her mother shook her head indignantly. She did not understand how her child was already able to make such skills when she had yet to even be initiated into the world's system. While she could increase her status points, creating skills at such a young age was a feat that had not been seen by the druid in an age. Valenia shook her head as a soft smile spread over her face; she should not be surprised when her father was a dragon, afterall.

While he remained in his human form to live with them, it was not his true form. He was an ancient fire dragon; his snake like body was miles long with great wings that could block out the sun from even above the clouds. His scales were the color of molten lava with a great white mane flowing flowing down his back right to the tip of his tail, where the main turned red. His great antler-like horns extended well past his elongated ears. Called Dragstro the Indomitable by the townspeople, his true title was the Great Pitlord Dragstro. He hailed from the firelands, far to the south, where the earth was scorched and great lakes of lava could be found. Deep in the heart of the firelands was a mountainous ridge of volcanoes that constantly spewed forth the lifeblood of the planet, and that was where he had called home. Before he had gained his human form, he had defended those lands and its creatures from many threats, earning him lordship over what would eventually be referred to as the Fire Pit. It was no easy feat for a magical creature to gain human form, let alone a dragon to be able to stay alive until such a feat were achieved. She had been by his side for nearly a hundred years, and had at least another hundred before she would start to fade and he would leave to save his heart.

Breaking away from her thoughts, she called to the two dragons, "Do either of you remember what tomorrow is?"

"My birthday!" Toni giggled from her father's arms.

"And your assessment in town. You will finally be initiated into the system. All those skills you've acquired these past years will finally be of some use."

"That's right," her father's deep voice sounded, "and then you can start at a school for your chosen class."

"What if I'm not strong enough to be the class I want to be?" she asked innocently, remembering what the goddess had said all those years ago. Sure enough, she had enough skill points to level skills in more than one class, but her strength status still fell behind all of the others.

"Where there is a will, there is a way," her father stated matter of factly. "Now, go wash up. It's almost time to eat."

With that he put her down and sent her on her way into the back. He carefully eyed Valenia before approaching, taking in her worried expression and pursed lips. He knew tomorrow was going to be a hard day for her, as it marked a type of coming of age for all children. Instead of remaining in the home to train, their daughter would be off to a specialized school to begin learning the basics of her class for the next eight years. After that, she would be a full-fledged adult and participant within the world's system.

"You are not losing your child. She is merely going to be learning elsewhere. You will see her every morning, and again every evening. You have no need to worry for her," he stated with care.

"I'm not worried about that, Dragstro," she replied. "These skills and abilities she already has, they could lead to great things for her, or terrible fates. She is the only dragonkin in town, and the only half-druid. She will be blamed for being given an unfair advantage by the other children."

"Truly such things are not worth worrying about? The girl has earned every ounce of strength she has, or have you forgotten how her dragon's heart is not yet lit? She has no dragon strength as of yet, only the strength she has worked hard to build on her own. When she is eighteen, I will take her to the heart of the Pits and help her ignite that flame."

While her husband's words warmed her heart, Valenia knew how mortals were. She knew there would be whispers about her daughter's heritage and rumors that slandered her. However, that was the way of the world; while halfbreeds were normal enough, dragonkin were few and far between as dragons preferred solitude.

"All we can do is pray to the goddess she will be safe from it all," she said.