The entrance was anything but large, but even then, the little light that seeped in somehow still glared into my eyes, and I stirred awake from the discomfort.
I stretched and yawned as a mighty dragon would, and I could almost hear my bones creaking into place.
Flames flickered from my breath as I opened and closed my mouth, tasting the air around me, causing my face to scrunch up in disgust. The taste of five different elements mixed together was not pleasant.
A glance around told me nothing had changed in the time we were asleep.
My eyes slowly trailed down to my younger sister, her shimmering red scales with a tinge of a plethora of colors made her look like an exotic lizard, her horns outstretched like a small crown on her head, her wings wrapped around herself like a blanket, while puffs of smoke came out of her tiny nose.
Adorable.
While my previous self knew little of Dragon kind, the information from the inheritance helped fill in my gaps, and if it was one thing, dragons were known for it was their all-encompassing greed, and if it was a second thing, it would be their laziness.
A day's sleep wasn't even considered a nap; it was probably the equivalent of blinking, but as baby dragons, time was short, and we couldn't afford to grow too large in this small mine. Imagine the stories the other dragons would tell about them, the hole digger twins.
I shook my head while inwardly scoffing, doesn't she know? The early dragon gets all the gold.
Even with all that said, I wasn't going to wake her, not when she looked so comfortable, and I wasn't even prepared to go outside.
How hard could flying even be? I stretched my limbs, my wings unfurling behind me, like I was trying to scare a predator away. I started to flap my wings, the initial result was abysmal, I couldn't even get off the floor, the pebbles and elements around me were pushed away with the gust of wind from my flaps.
Perhaps if I were born a dragon, it would be much easier, but I wasn't used to having wings. Time passed slowly as I practiced over and over again, it started to become natural, like walking or running, and I finally took off. Well, that might have been an overstatement. I only managed to hover.
The corners of my lips pulled upwards, the method to fly was starting to come to me; it was like riding a bike, and I started to ascend higher.
I was gliding, in the enclosed space, playing around in the sky, getting used to it, I wanted to practice until it became second nature, and so I did, and so IT did.
Now came the challenging part, my eyes slowly made their way to the entrance. I flew higher until I was at the base of the hole, the absurdity of how minuscule the entrance was dawned on me, if I grew any larger, I would have to dig my way out of here. I flapped my wings and reached the top poking my head out, my eyes scanned the surroundings.
We were in a small clearing, wild plants and tall grass surrounded us, the atmosphere was so warm, like a hue of orange overtook my vision. The grass was a sharp green, and the flowers were reminiscent of sunflowers, except the outskirts of the rings were blue.
A strange addition.
I looked further, a forest full of what seemed to be maple trees, their orange leaves further enhancing the orange hue the place seemed to give. Beyond the entrance of the forest, a range of mountains lay in what seemed to be the middle of the large forest.
From what I could see, only slightly hindered by the tall grass, there were no other forms of life around us, besides the vegetation.
With the initial scouting done, I lowered myself into the mine, descending with grace and landing slowly.
As the older brother, it was my duty to ensure the safety of my younger sibling, so I was glad to have had the chance to scout the area where we would begin our 'adventure.'
I instinctively looked at the topic of my thoughts. I had never heard of a platinum dragon, and in the inheritance I received, there was no mention of a dragon with five different elements.
A pair of strange siblings we were, both one of a kind.
One could only imagine what or who our parents were.
Regardless of who or what we are, it was about time to get a move on, so I decided to wake up my snoring sibling.
I poked her with my claw, causing her to get up like a disturbed cat, backing away suddenly, her big round eyes blinking repeatedly as she got a sense of where she was.
[It's time.]
My squeaky voice echoed throughout the mine.
She nodded, walking closer and nuzzling against me, like a housecat who wants some food.
After a bit, she rubbed her eyes with her dragon hands.
My eyes started to widen before I suppressed it. The majesty of an older sibling mustn't be broken.
I hadn't expected to see such a human action, but in a dragon's eyes, an insect and a human were the same thing. To them, it was probably a dragon action.
I inwardly laughed at my joke.
Now it was her time to learn to fly, I was eager to see how long it took her.
[Learn to fly.]
My words were curt and to the point. The arrogance of a dragon deeply instilled in my voice. She nodded lazily as she stretched her wings, she began to flap, and as I was ready to silently laugh at her first attempt to fly she started to hover above the floor.
Quick.
Was my Tiamat a prodigy?
Nope.
She landed with a thud, like a deer slipping on ice, her legs sprawled on the floor. With a huff and a puff of smoke, she shook her dragon head with a sneer and started to hover once more, this time a little higher than before.
Good, I nodded proudly.
While she was getting the hang of it, I took this time to organize my thoughts. Our current realm suited our present states, but a move to the overworld wouldn't be out of the question. From the knowledge he had inherited, there wasn't much to do in this realm. Our dragon pride wouldn't let us be complacent in this small world.
Of course, this was a topic for much later; the power required to cross planes wasn't small, nor did I even have the opinion of my sister on the matter.
I looked at her, she was starting to get proficient in flying, she flashed me a toothy grin, with an excited look in her eye. She zoomed around me, flexing her new mastery of flight like a toddler would show you their bad drawing.
I rolled my eyes before speaking. A hint of pride swelled up inside of me at watching her fly with no problem,
[Good Job.] She nodded joyfully before hovering Infront of me. She presented her head, like she desired to be rewarded.
I pet her lizard head, she instinctively nuzzled into my dragon 'hand'.
Her vertical eyes turned into thin lines as she happily made some dragon noises.
Yeah yeah, good job I mumbled to myself.
Yet I couldn't help the grin forming on my face.
I retracted my hand and turned towards the hole, with a gust of wind I flew towards the outside, breaching the hole and landing on the grass near the hole, my sister following shortly.
I nodded at her.
[Stick Close to me.]
[Yes, Brother]
She nodded back at me before moving closer to me.
Not the type of close I had in mind, but whatever works.
[Are you hungry?]
I turned towards her, my stomach grumbling with hunger.
She looked at me with her big round eyes and nodded. She then turned and looked around, her eyes sparkling in joy; it was her first time ever seeing the world above that wasn't in a memory.
The same vegetation from earlier surrounded us, so far, the world didn't seem much different from an untouched earth.
My dragon ears twitched as I heard a sound coming from my right, the sound of something moving through the grass.
I turned towards it, my claws springing out as I prepared to kill whatever predator made its way towards us. I clenched my jaw as I got ready to roast this would-be combatant. This would be my first ever fight in this new life.
What came from the tall grass was not a predator like what I was expecting, but a small three-horned rabbit.
White text was above the animal, as a pale blue transparent window was its backdrop.
[Three-horned Rabbit lvl.1]
[Herbivore, unlike their treacherous cousin, the two-horned rabbit, these peaceful creatures wouldn't even hurt a fly.]
This text and description weren't mentioned in my memories.
How peculiar, it was probably related to that strange voice I heard earlier.
My muscles relaxed as I scoffed, the tiny creature wouldn't even be enough to pick my teeth, much less feed both my sister and me.
Besides, it wasn't like it was harming us; if anything, he should commend the small creature for being so composed near two dragons who naturally radiated a dragon's aura.
It was a shame that dragons needed a lot of food, or our snack would be taken care of. The small creature had no Idea how lucky it was.
I shook my head, while it turned and looked at me, its eyes locked on mine for a second, before its ears sprang up as it frantically turned and tried to run away.
I turned away from it, letting it go, before a burst of elements erupted from beside me, evaporating the creature and the grass around it.
The ground where the rabbit was now resembled the mine where we came from, fire surrounded by ice, green scorched by acid,
[Tiamat.]
I growled as I turned to glare at my little sister.
[What?]
She defiantly stared back, as if she had done no wrong.
[The bug dared to invade our breathing space,]
She said it like it was a matter of fact, and the rabbit had no one to blame for its death but itself.
This girl, I almost pinched the bridge of my nose, before remembering I was currently a lizard.
[To kill without reason makes us no different from these animals; have some restraint]
I wasn't so self-righteous to declare that we shouldn't kill anything, but there was no need for mindless killing that did nothing for us. As higher forms of life, it was our duty to set examples.
Kill only when you need to. it was imperative that she learned this, I didn't want my only sibling to be led down a path of evil.
And while it was distasteful, I understood her, after all to a dragon all lesser creatures were nothing but bugs.
She nodded begrudgingly; I could even sense a hint of defiance in her eyes.
[Unless we are attacked, or we require food do not kill mindlessly.] I restrained from giving her a long-winded speech about the sanctity of life, and how it is beneath a dragon to wantonly kill.
[Whatever.]
She scoffed and turned away.
Tears threatened to form at the corner of my eyes, not two days old and already so rebellious.
[That mountain, do you see it]
I pointed at the giant mountain between two others.
She nodded.
[That will be our lair.]
I declared, with arrogance befitting a dragon.
[First, we hunt in the forest, then we make our way there.]
She nodded again, refusing to speak to her older brother.
I shook my head. Do dragons spank their kind? I was starting to heavily debate starting a new trend.
At the end, reason won and I ignored the feeling.
With that said, we headed into the forest.