Soon Marina and I were caught up with each other in our studies. We could both control all the elements, we could both fly for a long time, we were at the same level in Psychic magic, everything. We stopped competing so much with each other, since we were at the same level. Well, in most things. Marina could already turn into a mouse at will. I had no clue how she did it. Mom would try to explain it to me, but it just didn't make sense and I couldn't turn into anything.
"Come on, Miriel," Mom urged. "Focus."
"I am!" I insisted. "But nothing's happening!"
"Are you doing what I told you to do? Every last detail of instruction?" Mom asked.
"Of course I am," I said, giving up. "What's the point of shape shifting anyway? It's stupid; why would I want to be anything other than a dragon?" Mom looked at me.
"There are a lot of things you can be that are just as fun as being a dragon. Plus, if you leave the dragon realm, a lot of places wouldn't want a dragon to be loose. So it's safer to travel in another form."
"I'm not going to leave the dragon realm. Everything that I want is here."
"Come with me." She took off into the sky and I followed. She lead me out of the dragon realm and into the human world, into a large forest, untouched by humans. We landed in a clearing. "Turn into the first animal that you see," she ordered. I slowly crept through the trees, not really keeping an eye out for any animals. Mom wanted me to turn to a squirrel or something, probably, but I didn't want to turn into anything, so I didn't notice any small animals.
But there was an animal that no matter how I tried, I couldn't avoid seeing.
There was a rustle in a nearby bush, and despite my want to ignore it, I looked over to see what it was. I saw a flash of gray fur before it bounded out of it's bush. We stared at each other for a while. Just me and the wolf. It wasn't growling or anything, it just stood there, staring at me. I closed my eyes and followed the instructions Mom had given me. And when I opened my eyes again, I was a wolf.
"Very good, Miriel! I didn't expect a wolf; those can be a little tricky to shift into on your first try. Well done!" Mom praised. I smiled up at her. She was huge. I turned back to my original form. I fought back a surge of pride. Shape shifting's stupid, I had to remind myself. I don't care if I can turn to a wolf.
"Now, the first one is always the hardest, so you should have no problem shifting into other things as well," Mom continued as we flew back into the dragon realm.
Come on, you like it, Marina said in my head.
No, I don't! I insisted. She laughed. I had to admit, though, there was something that I enjoyed about being a wolf.
Anyways, it took you long enough to figure out how to shape shift. I had that down half a year ago!
I know you did, but I turned to a wolf on my first try. So there. She laughed again.
"That's it for the lessons today," Mom said once we were back in the dragon realm. "DO you can go play with Rovreln or whatever you like." As if on cue, Rovreln ran up to me, tripping on his wings, tail, and claws clumsily.
"Miriel, Miriel!" he pleaded. "I want to play hide-and-seek!"
"We need more than two people for that to be fun," I said.
"Nyra and Marina said they'd play! You've gotta play, you've gotta!"
"Alright," I laughed. "Who's seeking?" Rovreln smiled.
"You are!" He ran off to find a hiding spot. I laughed again, and waited a few minutes before going to look for my siblings. I found Marina easily, she was hiding in our room as a mouse.
"You can't hide from me," I joked.
"Well when you enter my mind to see where I was, it's not exactly fair," Marina pointed out, turning back to a dragon.
"It's not like I tried to enter your mind!" I said. "So anyway, did you see where Nyra and Rovreln went?"
"I didn't see where Rovreln went, but Nyra went to the treasury."
"Thanks," I said, leaving and heading to the treasury. I stared at the mountains of gold and jewels, looking for any sign of my older sister. I sniffed the air and the scent of the gold and jewels flooded my nose, but there was something else, something fainter. The scent of dragon. I followed the scent and dug through the piles of treasures until I saw Nyra's blue scales.
"Found you," I said. She stepped out from hiding and shook off the remaining gold pieces.
"I thought the gold would've hidden my scent," she grumbled.
"It almost did," I said. "Do you have any idea where Rovreln went?" Nyra shook her head and followed me to find our brother. We couldn't find him until after the sun had set, when we noticed a flash of black scales rushing down a hallway.
"Rovreln! I found you!" I announced. He stopped and looked at me.
"I won!" he declared.
"You're good at this game. You're like a spy!" Nyra said. I laughed.
"Well, come on, Spy," I said. "We need to eat dinner." And so we went to eat dinner, and my siblings and I always called Rovreln Spy after that.
500 years passed. It was Spy's 500th birthday. Plenty of dragons were invited to the party. All our friends, tutors. I searched the crowd to look for Igneel, who was my tutor in Fire Dragon Magic, and he was one of my favorite tutors. I found him talking to my dad, while Spy was taking in every detail of every present. Marina was quietly reading a book, and Nyra was gossiping away with her friends. Mom was pleasantly chatting with one of her friends, someone I didn't recognize. I headed over to Igneel.
"Hello, Miriel," he said.
"Hey, Igneel," I replied. "I figured out how you-" I was interrupted by a crash and a scream. In a flash, I turned around to see my mother collapsed in a pool of her own blood, a blade piercing her chest.