Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV:

“So what are my options for Juvenile Evolutions anyway?” I asked, having realized that just following Ylma’s advice - as well meaning as I believed it to be - might not be the best idea. “Presuming only a single horizontal Evolution beforehand in the Young stage.”

I was, currently, sprawled out on the roof of the inn as Rauvin, Chaurl, Tamlin and Karlin were handling a quest inside of town. In what was certainly the most egregious oversight ever to occur in any world, the buildings in the town weren’t built Wyvern sized, and so I was sunning myself while I waited for my teammates to handle the quest.

I was joined by Ylma and Ray because Ylma was about as subtle as lighting someone’s hair on fire and Ray stood out in the purely human population. We were talking about monsters and Evolutions, and I decided to ask about my own. I had been swept up before, but really this requires more thought.

“Oh there are quite a few,” Ylma answered. “If you choose one of the three basic elements for your horizontal Young Evolution you have a ton of options. Although I do think the Lake Wyvern Evolution is far better than the others.”

“I agree with Ylma,” Ray spoke up from where she lay with her eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun despite the cool air. “Plus, the Lake Wyvern requirements were pretty easy to meet, whereas a lot of the others would require a bunch of work.”

“I’m not really arguing about whether it is the best choice, but I am curious on what my other choices are.” I do admit that I suspected that they were hiding something from me, but Ray just started giggling when she felt it through the bond so I don’t think it was that much of an issue. “I mean, I can guess what you mean by an ‘elemental Evolution,’ but I am still just guessing.”

“It is pretty self-explanatory,” Ylma agreed. “An elemental Evolution is simply an Evolution associated with one of the primary mana elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. So you, as a Gale Wyvern, are associated with Air and a Lake Wyvern would be associated with Water.”

“And presumably an Ocean Wyvern would also be associated with Water?”

“If they existed, yes.” Ylma nodded before explaining that strictly speaking there were no Ocean Wyverns, but there were Coastal Wyverns and Deep Wyverns.

“Wouldn’t a Deep Wyvern be stronger than a Lake Wyvern?” I mean, “Deep” sounds more powerful than “Lake” to me. Admittedly, a Deep Wyvern would probably lose to a Lake Wyvern if they fought in the air, but that isn’t really saying anything about their power but instead about their adaptation.

“Yes and no?” Ray felt thoughtful, although she looked rather serene; Elves seemed to be Talented at Meditation. “It depends on what you mean by ‘power.’”

“A Deep Wyvern has a more powerful [Hydrokinesis] ability,” Ylma pulled out the information we had purchased and was reviewing it. “They have different racial hide Abilities, but the key difference for you - and for us - is that the Lake Wyvern still has a Talent for Flight.”

Makes sense, I suppose. A Deep Wyvern, by the sounds of it, didn’t exactly need to fly much. That said, a more powerful [Hydrokinesis] did sound nice…

“More importantly,” Ylma continued on as she read. “Becoming a Deep Wyvern would have a significant impact on your Juvenile Evolutions. Options like the Cloud Wyvern would be off the table, which would prevent you from becoming a Storm Wyvern as an Adult without taking another horizontal Evolution somewhere.”

“Hmmmm,” I distracted myself as I noticed that when I, presumably out of human habits, used “hmmm” as an interjection it sounded like I was growling. No, Cadence, stay on topic! “What about the other elements?”

“I have to admit I have a personal bias towards Fire,” Ylma unnecessarily admitted. I knew she was a pyromaniac, so that didn’t surprise me at all. “But becoming something like a Blaze Wyvern would be problematic anywhere near flammable objects. Unfortunately, I know from experience that pretty much everything burns if you try hard enough, so that would be very inconvenient for you.”

“Blaze Wyvern’s hide can hit high enough temperatures to set paper on fire,” Ray noted. “It would make riding you pretty dangerous for me. Ylma would have to pick up the [Wyvern Rider] Class.”

“Can you imagine?” Ylma smiled and laughed, “throwing fire down on our enemies from on high?”

It would be pretty amazing… What monster would be able to stop that? Of course, the only difference between Ylma’s fire and Ray’s arrows is that Ray doesn't cause collateral damage. It did sound fun though - wait, was her pyromania contagious!? It doesn’t matter anyway, I liked Ray and I wouldn’t throw her away so quickly.

“Pretty much all the Fire element Evolutions have the same problem,” Ray smoothly ignored Ylma’s slightly crazy smile. “You would be able to control the temperature, but if you ever stopped paying attention it would rise again.”

“And having Ylma for a rider would end up with the world burning to ash,” I tried to imitate a sigh, with mixed results. “So I suppose that really isn’t an option.”

“Hey! For the record, I can put out my own fires very easily!” Ylma said in mock anger, “I am better than those [Fire Mages] that let their fires burn uncontrollably! By mixing my understanding of curses with my Fire Magic I can put it out at will!”

“Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way,” I suddenly had an idea while I also ignored Ylma. “Instead of looking at my next Evolution, I should choose the best Adult Evolution and work backward from there. What is the strongest Wyvern species?”

“There isn’t one?” Ylma was serious again, “Wyverns are so adaptable that you could say that there are many ‘bests,’ because each species is adapted so well to living in one particular environment.”

Fair enough, that was the whole point of our discussion about the difference between the Lake and Deep Wyverns earlier.

“If you want my advice,” she continued, still quite seriously. “You shouldn’t worry so much about ‘power.’ It took me a long time to realize that being the best doesn’t necessarily mean being the strongest or having the most power, but that you have to do the best for your life. You can be better than others just by having fun with your job, considering how many people just unhappily plod through their own. Have you ever just considered, not fighting? You still get experience over time, you don’t actually have to adventure.”

I had considered that actually, but there were a couple of problems with it. First, society was designed with certain body types in mind. I couldn’t, for example, pick up a job waitressing at a tavern because I didn’t have hands to carry food nor a body that could weave through tables without smashing them. Opening a door without breaking it would be a challenge for me, and that was presuming that even if I could open it, I would also be able to fit through the door frame.

So what could I do? Or, more practically, what could I do that someone with thumbs couldn’t do better?

Well, I could fly things from A to B, which would essentially reduce me down to a beast of burden. Staying with the party over the past few days, I have come to realize that I would never have been able to keep up my original idea of acting dumb. Sure, I can put on an embarrassing show to raise my Acting Skill, but to be treated like that all day, every day?

No, it would simply be too degrading. With Ray and her party I can talk and act like a person, albeit one with a scattered mind.

On the other hand, I did understand what she meant. If I close my eyes and think back to before all of this started - I was just a regular girl, wasn’t I? But this is one of those things I should never think about, isn’t it? Because as soon as I do, I remember just how badly I want to go home.

Except, is Earth even my home anymore? If I could go back, it would only be to visit, because if I could I would go back to my son and my husband.

I think that I am more Cadence than I am Hemere, though… I have to think that, because if I don’t keep myself separate from the lives I lead I think I might just collapse. Hell, I can admit that half my erratic nature this life is probably partially caused by my desire not to dwell on anything too much.

I am flighty and excitable and erratic because I want to be; need to be. Just thinking about all of this is making me feel-

Why did Ray just poke my nose!? I suppose she could feel my emotions through the bond, but why poke my nose? I am a biological death machine wielding magic and poison death, not a cute baby!

“I have my reasons, Ylma.” I huff and settle down. “And honestly, I can’t say that I don’t enjoy fighting to some degree. I hate getting hurt and I hate being in danger, but I absolutely love winning.”

That got a laugh from both Ray and Ylma.

“So,” I try to get us back on topic. “The strongest Wyvern is…?”

“Again, it is really dependent on what you want to do. The Storm Wyvern is probably the one with the single most direct strength,” Ylma idly held her hands out and let electricity spark between them. “But controlling lightning is difficult even for dedicated [Lightning Mages], and Storm Wyverns don’t so much bother to control their attacks as just try to blast away everything in front of them. A smart adventurer will just jam a long iron pike into the ground and let it absorb most of the attack, a dumb one will show up in metal armor and get fried.”

“There really isn’t much point to an attack if I can’t aim it, although I could see it pairing well with Ray’s arrows…” Her arrows would guide my lightning to the target, which would solve the main problem that a Storm Wyvern had. Admittedly, I would be somewhat dependent on Ray, but given what I had learned about Elves it was unlikely that I would have to worry about her dying on me.

“It would,” Ray agreed. “But I think I prefer the Fog or Mist Wyverns. Using your toxins with their abilities you would be practically unstoppable by most foes.”

“Hewka would also poison us though,” Ylma pointed out. “If she used her abilities to their fullest extent and managed to spread mist or fog throughout an entire battlefield, we would be in it too.”

“She can control her toxins, so we can choose one that we can make an antidote for,” Ray countered. “Plus, it would make scouting incredibly easy and she would be nigh unkillable on top of that.”

“Unkillable sounds good,” I agree readily. “Although why would a Mist or Fog Wyvern be any more or less killable than a Storm one?”

“They are two of the more famous - or rather, infamous - species of Wyvern because of their racial Abilities: [Fog Body] and [Mist Body].” Ylma showed me the page, which I did my best to read. Seeing an explanation for those racial Abilities, I could see why they were a prefered option.

[Fog Body] and [Mist Body] did essentially the same thing: if I had one of them, I could generate fog or mist from my body in addition to breathing it out. More importantly, my body would become partially intangible and damage I took would be split between my health and my Mana. So many attacks would do less damage to me - especially if I saw them coming - and the damage I did take would be reduced.

The third effect of the Abilities was that my Mana would drain to restore my lost health and my Stamina would convert into Mana as my mana dropped. This also worked in reverse for Stamina; if my percentage of Mana was higher than my percentage of Stamina, Mana would be drained to fill my Stamina.

The Ability sounded amazing, but I wasn’t as young as my body was - I could see the problems with it. The numbers were slightly different between the two, but somewhere between fifteen percent and twenty five percent of the damage I took would be taken from my Mana instead, but my Mana was significantly less than my Health.

My Stamina would be drained to refill my Mana, which looked nice on paper, until you realized that in any prolonged fight my Stamina would drop far faster then it would have otherwise.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure I liked the look of any of those options, Storm, Mist, or Fog. If I had to choose from those three, I think I would choose Fog - it only redirected fifteen percent of the damage I took to my Mana - but I would need to explore my other options. Maybe there just wasn’t a good option at all? Hard to say.

I sighed, wishing I was good enough with Air Magic and [Aerokinesis] to flip the pages like I would have with hands. Hopefully, I thought to myself, the boys are having an easier time than I am.