The only characters I don't own in this chapter are Acnologia and Irene. Deal with it!


"In training, there is no winning or losing.

There is only learning."

~Tucker Max


"Deep breath in, deep breath out." Celestiana instructed as I sat crosslegged in the grass outside of our cave. She was coiled up next to me, perfectly relaxed as she walked me through the first steps of meditation. "Let yourself relax, and clear your mind."

I took in a deep breath, and let it out, letting all tension slip from my body as I started pushing my thoughts of the last few weeks away from the surface.

After the ritual, Acnologia and I had been whisked away by our dragons to begin our training immediatly. Unlike him however, I had to wait for quite some time before my magic settled enough to begin training. It had only fully stabilized the day before, and I was finally able to begin delving into my own magic to discover what I needed to do to bring it to the surface.

"Very good." Celestiana whispered soothingly. "Another breath in, another breath out. Let your mind become blank, and begin to build your mental world. It can be anything, any place you are familiar with." She paused for a moment before speaking up again. "Are you there yet?"

"Yes." I whispered as I mentally opened my eyes, and found myself standing on a white sandy beach just out of reach of the cerulian waves. I turned around, taking in the rest of my surroundings. "It's an island, tropical, with jungle everywhere, the bright sun shining down, and white sandy beachs bordered by blue water that streatches as far as I can see. There's a huge tree in the center of it that is so tall it blots out the sun with it's branches."

"Good." Celestiana whispered. "How do you feel?"

I took another deep breath, and started focusing. I stretched my senses out, and smiled slightly at the magic curling around me. "Happy." I breathed. "I feel like it's welcoming me home, though as far as I know, I've never been here before."

"Probably a result of your lost memories from before we found you; your magic is mimicking the feeling. But I digress, we are not going to try and retrieve your memories today." I sighed in disappointment ever as Celestiana continued. "Today, we are looking for your magical center. Now focus, do you remember what your aura looked like durring the ritual?"

I nodded, and began looking around myself. "I don't see anything like it." I stated after a moment.

"It may be further in." She reasoned. "Pick a direction, and start walking."

I thought about it for a moment, before shrugging and turning to walk inland towards the tree at a steady pace. I'm not sure how long I walked through the jungle, but eventually I came to the base of the tree, where a strange monument stood set back into a shallow cave. It was a set of six pillars, four of them arranged in a square around the small alter that the last two stones were set on. The two stones stood parallel to each other, and carved between the two of them was a circle that was wide enough to fit my entire arm in. Two dragons, and eastern dragon and a western dragon, were carved facing eachother into the bases of the biggest stones. The western dragon was inlayed with pure gold while the eastern dragon was inlayed with bright silver.

On the wall behind it, a large two handed greatsword with a golden hilt set with bright orange sunstones hung on display. It's silver blade seemed to pulse rythmicly with a faint orange energy. A small pedistal was carved into a nitch in the wall below it, and a red velvet pillow was set on top of it. Resting on the pillow was a key made entirely of a strange black metal that was studded with polished obsidian.

However, the entire monument seemed to be made of a green tinted gold that practially glowed under the tropical sun.

"Celest, I think I found it." I declaired as I stepped closer to examine it, ignoring the sword and the key for now.

"Very good Vega." Celestiana praised happily. "Now, do you see anything special about it, like some place you need to touch?"

"Yes." I said as I accended the steps until I was standing right in front of it.

"Then start off slowly." Celestiana instructed as I studied it for a second. "One finger to start, just so we can grasp the scope of your power."

I nodded and, after hesitating for a breif moment, reached out to touch the stone that was carved with the silver dragon.

The moment my finger hit the surface of it, I gasped at the rush of pure unrestrained power surged through my body. It took everything I had to jerk my hand back seconds later as I struggled to drag in the air I needed. "What the heck?" I whispered breathlessly to myself, before I spoke a little louder. "Did you sense that?"

"I did fledgling." She answered, sounding just as confused as I felt. "You followed every instruction?" She questioned.

I nodded in shock, not trusting my voice for the moment.

"Hmm," She hummed. "I did not quite expect the dangers of my magic to transfer over so quickly." She mused almost silently. I raised an eyebrow in curious askence before she obliged me and elaborated. "Star Dragon Magic is literally the magic of the stars. Stars are a force that no one can ever hope to control, as they are literal wellsprings of power, both magical and otherwise, in and of themselves. Like the element of lightning, they can not be contained or regulated, just directed. Celestial Magic, both light and dark, may be the root of all other magics, but Star Magic was one of the first to be created and one of the first to be abandoned by mankind because of it's high level of difficulty and need for presicion control and dicipline."

I let out a dissapointed sigh as I sagged in place. "I've got a long challenging road ahead of me, don't I?"

Celestiana let out a huff of agreement. "Either way, we will start off with control exersizes. Take another deep breath in, let it out slowly, and reach out with a single finger again. This time, focus on your breathing as you feel the power flowing through you, and once you feel like you can sincronize yourself to it's flow I want you to..."


"This spell is a trademark of any type of Slayer," Draco began as I sat in front of him, listening with rapt attention. "God Slayers refer to it as a Bellow while the Devil Slayers believe it is a Rage. However as Dragon Slayers are an entirely new species of mage, an entirely new set of spells will need to be invented for your use. Acnologia has already begun experimenting, but thus far he has not made any significant progress." His ruby eyes turned to me with a calculating look. "As a Celestial Dragon Slayer, your training will be far more difficult than any other Slayer there has ever been or will ever be, but in the end it will be much more rewarding."

A pulse of energy rippled out from him and my eyes widened as flames licked the ground around his feet, fueled by a log that sprouted out of the ground and fanned by a small gale that sprung up. The earth shifted and changed benieth me, forming into a more comfortable seat with the plants that sprung from it. A small pond of clear, clean water formed in a knoll a few feet away. The light from the sun seemed to intensify, while the shadows that were cast by the forest around them seemed to darken into a nearly solid form. All the while, a soft golden aura danced across Draco's scales.

"Celestial Magic is the magic of creation and destruction." Draco explained, looking over at me once again as his red eyes glowed a solid comforting gold. "The root of all other magic in the world. Many search their entire lives to find and obtain either of its powers, but what most of them do not understand is that creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin. Like light and darkness, life and death, you cannot have one without the other."

The fire and wind around him died off, leaving behind the scorched log and grass in its place. The plants wilted and died as the water bubbled, steamed, and slowly turned a poisonous black.

Draco looked around at the destruction with sad eyes. "Death Magic and Soul Magicare not the kindest of magics out there, but they still play a nessiscary part in the world, otherwise they would have never been developed and utalized. All things must die eventually, but even when faced with death, life continues on. That is the way of the world, the circle of life." His eyes darkened with something I couldn't identify. "Those who break the circle are those that have defied magic itself, thus they are punished by magic's harsh penalties until they sincerly repent in their very heart and soul." He settled down in front of me even as more grass began growing around him and the water began to clear once again. "Understanding that fact, is the first step to mastering Celestial Magic."

"Now close your eyes and feel for your power as your mother taught you." He commanded sternly. "Let it rise to the surface and let it take shape, then follow your instincts."

I nodded and took a deep breath as I shut my eyes and let myself slip into my inner world once again. It was becoming easier and easier every time I did it. This time, I appeared right before the alter instead of on the beach. With a small smile, I reached out and touched the pillar that had the gold dragon carving. Immediatly Celestial Energy surged through me, not nearly as powerful as the Star Energy from the other pillar, but somehow deeper and more refined. It felt like one kind of element, and yet at the same time, hundreds of different elements. Impossible to differentiate or separate from one another, impossible to work with unless they were all combined.

So I decided not to try and separate them at all, and simply gathered them together, and let the result take shape.

It seemed almost as easy as breathing.

My eyes snapped open as a gold and black spell circle formed in front of me, and on instinct I yelled. "Celestial Dragon's Roar!" A small stream of black and gold energy flowed out from my mouth, and as soon as it hit the spell circle it exploded into a tornado that carved into the forest and earth in front of me. After a few seconds I cut off the energy and panted in exhaustion as I surveyed the damage I had done with wide eyes.

There was a twenty foot deep, ten foot wide, hundred foot long trench carved into the earth, and the forest looked like an actual tornado had ripped through it along the path of my roar.

"I did that?" I questioned weakly in disbelief, pointing at it with a shaking finger.

Draco nodded his head in answer, words escaping him for the moment. "I think, we should end your training here for the day." He stated after a moment.

I nodded silently in agreement, still in shock at the destruction I had caused.


I kept my breathing steady and calm as I slowly worked through my hand-to-hand katas with Acnologia's help and guidence. "You over extended yourself a bit on that last punch. If you stop just shorter, it will flow better with your style." He corrected, before showing me the proper stance. I nodded in understanding, before repeating the kata twice under his watchful eye. He smiled and nodded in pride, and I moved on to the next kata as he moved on to help the teenage girl next to me.

It was one of the rare days when most of the Dragon Slayers were gathered together. There were about ten of us all together now, and I was the youngest out of all of us at six and a half, while Acnologia was the eldest at twenty five. All of the rest were anywhere from their mid teens to their early twenties, and as such were easily sussceptible to their newfound instincts and the mood swings of growing up.

Because of that, Acnologia quickly made it painfully clear when we all first met each other, using one of the overconfident teenage boys that thought they could take him on and win as an example, that no fighting outside of sparring would be tolerated. It solidifyed his place as the Alpha Male in our minds, the strongest male of all of us.

Currently, I was learning the fighting style that Acnologia was developing for Dragon Slayers with the help of Irene, the Queen of Dragnof and the new Sage Dragon Slayer. She was twenty though, still leaving Acnologia as the eldest, but she was still in better control of herself than most of the others. Somewhere along the way we started seeing her as a Beta Female, not in charge, but not without power in our little budding clan.

It was a brawler's style, heavy on the strength and power side but easily adaptible into a personal style with enough pratice and imagination. I was already working on adjusting it for extreme speed and blitz attacks to turn it into the balanced style that I and my magic favored.

"That is enough physical training for today." The sharp command rang throughout the field, freezing everyone in their tracks. Draco's eyes scanned over us critically. "It is time to continue with your history lessons." Most of the males let out groans as the other girls and I perked up in interest. In an instant we were gathered around Draco as he laid down. "Now, can anyone tell me where we left off last time?"

The girl next to me, Terra Nakamori the Earth Dragon Slayer, piped up then. "We were just begining on the first Dragon War and the birth of Alduin."

"Ah yes." Draco agreed, his eyes hazing over as he remembered. "That blood soaked time..." The other dragons gathered around as well as he began to speak of times long past.

"Skyrim was an oddity in it's age," Draco began as he started to glow. A small illusion popped out of the ground in front of him, showing off a map of the world that was unfamiliar to everyone except the older dragons. "A human kingdom ruled purely by humans in an era where most human rulers were mere figureheads and puppets to higher powers that reigned without consiquence. It's people were the hardy sort, used to the hardship of the harsh north, and therefore greatly immune to the tricks and manipulations of the Daedric Princes and the Titans. While it was by no means easy, they prevailed and thrived as they always seem to do." The illusion showed several scenes of humans and other creatures going about their days, hunting, fishing, creating, and many other activities. "Make no mistake however," He cautioned, looking around at all of us. "It was a much wilder time back then, where many humanoid species and now extinct monsters roamed alongside humanity and fought for their living, even struggling against the other species for their way of life if needed. Under the Titan's and the Daedric Princes' influence, war, sickness, starvation, and death were extremely common." The illusion changed then, and our mouths dropped open in horror as it showed off a frost covered land that seemed to be ravaged by war, countless broken bodies of many different species littering the ground and turning the frost red with their blood.

"With that in mind," Draco continued gravely. "Understand that it was only a matter of time before someone slipped and gave them the opening they sought. Then one day, the mistake was finally made. Hircine, the Huntsman of the Princes and the Father of Manbeasts jumped at the chance to begin spreading his influence when a foolish hunter prayed to him, and inadvertently opened himself to possession." The illusion showed off a cackling figure that supersceeded itself over a fur wearing man.

"What happened next will forever be remembered as the first blood of the Dragon War, and the birth of the Dragon Cults." Everyone held their breaths for a brief moment as he paused. "That posessed hunter purposfully sought out and slaughtered an entire nest of fledglings and their sick matriarch." Our breath came out in horrifyed gasps as the scene flickered by, before focusing on a large male dragon as his bright blue scales slowly bled to a horrifying pitch black. "The patriarch of the nest, an Aura Dragon by the name of Faervel, meaning 'Strong Spirit' in the old tongue, was driven mad by the backlash of his mate bond snapping. But what happened next was unprecidented. Faervel took on a new name to match his new monsterous appearence and mindset. Alduin, or Akatosh, the World Eater, and the first Black Dragon of the Apocolypse."

"How could he have survived that?" One of the other girls, a Gold Dragon Slayer by the name of Aureum Dilectio whimpered in shock. "He shouldn't have been able to survive the abrupt loss of his mate and brood like that! The Laws of Magic would have never allowed it!"

"Daedric Magic unfortunatly was the cause." Draco continued, answering her question even as he moved on. "With his mind warped and twisted beyond recognition, Alduin began a near century long reign of terror across Skyrim until he was confronted by and battled the Warriors Three, Felldir the Old, Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, and Hakon One-Eye." The illusion showed off the three men mentioned and a portion of their battle with Alduin. "Through the use of an ancient spell, they forced Alduin through a tear in space, transporting him two hundred years forward in time. Their actions, while ultimatly killing them from the backlash, bought us the time we needed to innact our greatest counter measure."

Draco took in a deep fortifying breath before he let it out in a sad sigh. "Thanks to Kronos, the Dragon of Time, we knew that a threat was coming, but due to the restrictionsthat are set and agreed upon by all beings of time, he was unable to tell us what exactly it was. It was with his help and knowlage however, that we found our first canidates. A man and a woman who were capible of handling the greatest power we could grant them."The Slayer's watched with wide eyes as the illusion showed an average man and woman standing before the Dragon Council, completely unafraid in the face of the great beasts who somehow looked even feircer than their modern day appearences. "That day the two of them became your predicessors, the first Dragonborn, the first Dovahkiin."

One of the other Slayers, a nineteen year old Music Dragon Slayer by the ironic name of Melody Adagio, began huming a tune that seemed oddly familar. Draco raised an impressed scaled eyebrow. "I see Fantasia has been teaching you the ancient songs Melody." Melody broke off then, blushing in embaressment as she let her dark brown hair cover her beautiful brown eyes. "Don't be afraid child." He affirmed softly. "Those songs were written for those who would appreciate them! Dovah and those like them. It is instinctual, so let it flow. Let us hear the ancient songs once more." Melody nodded shyly, and took a deep breath before she let her haunting voice ring out in the silence.

"Alduin's wings

They did darken the sky

His roar fury's fire

And his scales sharpened scythes

Men ran and they cowered

And they fought and they died

They burned and they bled

As they issued their cries

Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin,

naal ok zin los vahriin

Wah dein vokul

mahfaeraak ahst vaal

Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod

nust hon zindro zaan

Dovahkiin fah hin kogaan mu draal

We need saviors to free us

From Alduin's rage

Heroes on the field of

This new war to wage

And if Alduin wins

Man is gone from this world

Lost in the shadow

Of the black wings unfurled

But then came the tongues

On that terrible day

Steadfast as winter

They entered the fray

And all heard the music

Of Alduin's doom

The sweet song of Skyrim

Sky-shattering Thu'um

And so the tongues freed us

From Alduin's rage

Gave the gift of the Voice

Ushered in a new age

And if Alduin is eternal

Then eternity's done

For his story is over

And the Dragons...

...are gone."

I shivered as she ended the song, and glancing around I could see all of the other Slayers looking at her with wide eyes. "Wow." I breathed in awe.

Melody blushed and burried her face in her knees, too shy to meet any of our eyes. A quick glance over everyone once again revealed to me that Acnologia was looking at Melody with an expression akin to wonder and shock.

"Melody?" I questioned gently, getting a little closer to her. She looked up shyly at me. "Is today your birthday? Did you just turn twenty?"

Melody's beautiful deep brown eyes met mine and she silently nodded, and I looked up at Draco and the other dragons. They were all watching us with wide eyes as Acnologia got up and slowly approched Melody, taking care not to move too quickly or show any aggressive motions that would startle her. "Melody?" He inquired softly, kneeling down in front of her to be at eye level as a small smile crossed his face.

"We may want to give the two of them some privacy for awhile." Draco spoke, startling all of us at his sudden interruption. Acnologia and Melody ignored him however, seemingly lost in their own little world. "This is not something we anticipated would transfer over when we designed the Dragon Slayer ritual. Finding a Mate is a sacred event that is treasured and reviered umong our kind. We should not interfear as the two of them get to know each other better."

With that, eveyone moved away, giving the two older Slayers a wide berth as Melody curled into Acnologia's gentle arms with a relaxed sigh.

"What will happen now?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of them as they spoke in tones low enough not for any of us to hear. "If what I remember is right then Mates can't be separated for long before they bond."

"I will speak to both Lilith and Fantasia on the matter." Draco assured before he looked back at the two Dragon Slayers and his eyes softened in understanding. "The two of them will be at war with both their human and draconic instincts until the bond is completed. Even so," His eyes narrowed jsut slightly as the two slayers in question shifted slightly until they were comfortably leaning up against a nearby tree. "I would rather that the two of them get used to each other before they bond. We have no idea how the human half of their mind will react with the addition of their new draconic half."

"It's much more simple than you think." Another Slayer spoke up. We all looked over at him in confusion. Arthur Nagisaki, the Malestrom Dragon Slayer had a small smile on his face even as he kept watching them. "The malestrom of emotions and instinct around them was at war with itself, but it is slowly calming even as they stay in contact. Melody is calming him down without even doing anything."