Before we headed towards the mountains, we had something important to take care of. It was obvious to me that eating the corpse would be very beneficial, and while eating all by myself was an option, I was not like that.
As a respected elder brother, it was my duty to spoil my little sister.
[Tell your pack to be ready for departure.]
Hathor nodded and leaped towards his pack; barks slipped from his jaw as he communicated to his clan members.
I looked back, ensuring no one was looking at us, I almost felt embarrassed to eat a wolf in front of my new loyal subjects.
Although I doubted they would have minded, I would rather not eat a wolf while another was watching
I patted my dear dragon sister, rubbing my hand on her scaly head, before bringing down my hand and cutting the wolf in half.
Surprisingly enough, my claws cut without issue; what made his coat impervious was most likely supported by his mana, and now that he was dead, it no longer supported him.
I made no noise but motioned towards the other half with my head. Her eyes shone, like she spotted a new shiny object. She slowly circled her piece, her tail wagging in anticipation, a greedy look in her eyes.
I wasn't much better, I was excited to see what this new meal brought me. I could feel the drool in my mouth start to accumulate. The dormant hunger, once again, roared with intensity.
I swallowed my half whole.
[You have Leveled up!]
[You have Leveled up!]
[You have consumed a fraction of the essence of the sun 0.01]
I patted my full dragon belly and burped.
While I should have been happy to level up, I couldn't help but frown. In the only game I played, I would have been able to put points into my abilities. Yet this interface was not user-friendly.
I shook my head before the corners of my lips were pulled into a bigger frown, instead, I looked at my sister.
A smile touched my lips; I quickly relaxed my face.
She also finished and was now licking her lips, a satisfied expression on her mighty dragon face. She nodded and walked gracefully to me, extending her head towards my hand.
I couldn't refuse and patted her head.
While I couldn't feel the changes in my body, I had the illusion that I grew stronger.
But without proof, I was the same old dragon.
Much to her disappointment, I stopped rubbing her head and flew towards Hathor.
I landed gracefully in front of him, and my sister shortly followed.
With a nod from me, we started our trek towards the mountains.
It was a short trip with no excitement; the wolves climbed with their claws, and we flew.
Upon reaching the entrance of the cave, I couldn't help but think.
Now this felt like a dragon's lair.
I turned and looked around; the gigantic cave on the mountainside was spacious. Although it was currently littered with wolves, with some work, it could provide a temporary home for me and my sister.
The other wolves quickly growled and started to surround us, in an attempt to hide the baby wolves from us.
Hathor stepped forward and talked to them in beast tongue.
A smaller female version of Hathor stepped out; a wolf completely covered in white fur.
[Luna Child Of The Moon Lvl.15]
[Daughter of Hathor and ????. A curse will be placed upon whoever dared to harm the child of snow.]
"My lords," She spoke out, lowering her head before raising it. Her eyes which looked like moons, twinkled like a star, as she stared at us, the Dragon Siblings.
I nodded at her, and she turned and circled us, her tail wagging in delight as she sniffed us.
"Father, I thought dragons were just stories." Her voice rose with excitement.
[What is this impertinent bug doing?] My sister's head was tilted slightly, her big, round eyes widened, but she showed no hostility.
[Apologies for my daughter, it is her first time seeing a dragon.]
[Oh, and you are acquainted?]
[Only from stories told by my wife.]
His voice cracked upon mentioning his wife.
He bowed his head slightly, his eyes closed.
[And she is where?]
[A trip.] His voice quivered, worse than when he was talking about leaving his original home.
It was clear the mutt would no longer elaborate.
I was in no mood to recall his trauma, if the question marks were anything to go by, she was a powerful entity. If they were here previously subservient to a mongrel, it was clear, she was no longer with them.
Even then, I had no further time to press, as a magic circle enveloped his feet.
I, the curious dragon that I was stepped on the edge to see.
[Apologies, it seems I am being summoned]
"Oh Wolf, Who Swallowed Thy Moon, this being desires to meet you, so that we may swallow the world together." A voice that seemed like a melody rang out throughout the cave.
[Will you be gone for long?] It would be a shame to lose my third in command so quickly.
[No, my lord, it will even seem as if I had never left.]
Does time not flow the same in the different realms?
[Can you decline?]
[Of course, my lord, do you wish for it?]
I wondered why a summon would even want to be summoned, but it seemed like I had no time to ask as the circle lit up further.
[No.] I fully intended to see the process; I channeled magic into my eye and activated Dragon's eye.
This would provide a small clue into crossing realms, that I was sure of.
[Alright, my lord, then I will accept.]
He nodded and started to howl.
After Hathor accepted, the circle grew smaller. Perhaps I was too close, because the circle started to focus on me growing smaller around me.
In a second, my vision vanished.
I arrived in a place that was empty.
It reminded me of my time before I was born.
A door appeared before me, one that seemed to call for my very soul.
I walked through it.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Diana woke up with a headache. She dreamt that she was transported into her favorite game, with one day to learn how to summon a creature, as someone whom everyone hated.
She blinked her eyes repeatedly and then rubbed them before stretching her hands outwards and yawning. She stepped out of bed and into her slippers.
A moment of realization flashed on her face as she stood up and yelped.
Her reflection from the mirror made her come to a dastardly conclusion.
Yesterday was not a dream.
She sighed loudly and rubbed her forehead, a blank look on her face as she groaned.
She started to walk around her room, her hands held tightly together across her chest, as if she was hugging herself.
"Stupid." She pinched the bridge of her nose and covered her face with her hand. She then balled up her fist and cursed the heavens. "Why did I have to fall asleep?" She started to cry, but no tears came out.
"Okay." She calmed down and rummaged through her bag, taking out a flimsy notebook and a pen.
She wrote down the detailed methods on how to summon a Moon-Swallowing Wolf and highlighted the most successful.
"As long as they have the right materials, I can succeed." She mumbled out the words while rereading her plan.
Her original objective was to summon the strongest one she could, by pinpointing the frequency to a place densely populated by the wolves. Now she had to do a random draw, because the other method required research and time, which she currently did not have.
She looked at the clock on the wall and hurriedly went to take a bath; if she didn't hurry now, she would be late.
After doing her morning routine, she left her room without even eating, running to catch a carriage.
The commute to the plaza was quick.
She ran with all her might towards the classroom, other students staring at her with strange looks.
She stepped into the classroom, with five minutes to spare. A sigh of relief left her mouth before a frown sprouted on her face.
The classroom was empty.
"Of course," She smacked her forehead. They were going to be summoning creatures, which could not be done indoors.
She ran back outside and looked for the auditorium before stepping inside just as the bell rang.
"Look who decided to join us." Her teacher's nasally voice echoed in the open space. "Give a round of applause to the High and Mighty Duchess, who found time in her busy schedule to join us." Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she stared at her with daggers in her eyes. Her hands were brought together as she clapped slowly.
The other students joined in; their eyes narrowed as they looked at her like she was a piece of trash on the ground.
The Teacher stood behind a lectern, with a book opened to its middle. After some time that seemed like an eternity, she finally stopped.
"Well." She tapped impatiently, "Take a seat." She stopped tapping and instead took out a stack of papers from her briefcase, setting it down beside her.
Diana hurriedly made her way towards an open seat, but right before sitting down, a book was placed there.
"This seat is taken." A beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes looked at her with a soft smile on her lips.
Diana turned and tried to sit at another empty seat.
"Someone's sitting there." A man with short spiky red hair spoke, while letting his feet rest in that seat.
Diana, tired of these games, went and sat in the corner far away from any student.
"Now that everyone is here, let's begin with a short quiz and then on to summoning." She waved her hand, and magic rippled in front of her. A stack of papers beside her flew towards all the students.
'Everyone is here,' the sentence repeating in her mind before the corners of her lips curved downwards. Why was everyone so mean? What did her predecessor do?
The paper landed in front of them, including Diana.
Diana looked at the first question, which asked where they usually settled.
Oh, that's easy, Diana thought to herself
She wrote down the answer before moving on to the next question.
After taking the test, the teacher collected the papers and started to call out names in alphabetical order.
"Theodore Adkins"
A short blue blue-haired lad stepped forward. He was dressed impeccably in the uniform everyone wore, and an assortment of items were placed right in front of him. His job was to pick out the best combination and incant the right spell.
While summoning your first creature was mostly random, any other attempts can be made with a specific summon in mind. Great summoning families even had a family summon, which was passed down from generation to generation.
After choosing his items and chanting the incantation. Mana that resembled the moon trembled in the sky.
A rift that bled white opened, and a full moon was bitten. A white wolf walked out, with a collar of black fur. Its eyes were crescent-shaped shaped resembling a moon that was bitten.
"Bravo, Theodore, full marks for you." The instructor patted him on the back and called the next person.
The trend of succeeding followed until they called her.
"May the Duchess please step forward." She asked with mock politeness.
Diana walked to the front of the class, the items in front of her were not unfamiliar. A snow leopard's heart, a moon herb, a tear of frost, frozen mana.
Those were the best items to summon a strong wolf; It was a shame that she did not have the current location of where they were thriving.
With it, she could personally come up with a targeted incantation.
She raised her hand and closed her eyes; she did the same motions she did when playing the game and opened her mouth to speak.
"Oh Wolf, Who Swallowed Thy Moon, this being desires to meet you, so that we may swallow the world together."
At first, the results were the same as the others, a rift that bled white opened, and then it shifted to red, the ground started to shake, the color shifted to silver before turning platinum, and everyone was forced to kneel except for Diana.
A vortex of air formed where the summoning circle was originally inscribed. The sky darkened, and a storm started to brew, before a flash of white blinded everyone and everything dissipated.
In the epicenter of the circle was a small platinum lizard no bigger than a book.