'Beyond the parade and ceremony, beyond the fancy dresses of grandeur, and social banquets, the princesses learn how to become warrior angels. They are expected to ride into battle, to defend the capital even at cost to their own life. So, choose your path wisely, there is a reason that most in the empire come to terms with a more quiet existence. Being a royalty comes with a hefty price tag on your neck and, when that bill comes knocking for you, you will pay it with gratitude for your life, my dearest.' —???

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Father remained seated by my side, it was unnerving at first, yet I slowly grew accustomed to his presence. He did say anything to me and simply observed the large lake ahead.

For a while, a strange stillness descended on our surroundings. It was not the type of awkward silence, but more of an enjoyable one. My siblings had yet to awake and so we waited for them.

My mind however was preoccupied with a different matter, I was still thinking about my small experiment. Creating that ball of energy had come off naturally to me, yet when I tried to change something in it, it suddenly went berserk.

'Do I always need both my energy and mana to use this magic?' I wondered, my body was restless as my curiosity peaked. I wanted to try, but, a quick glance at my father's gigantic figure was all it took to throw away such thoughts.

And so we waited, side by side as we watched the sun slowly settle down in the distance, I stared at the water, lost in the rhythmic percussion of the small waves hitting the bank. My eyes steady on the horizon, as sunset blossomed in an orange-gold color, stretching far and beyond, with a blush of rose petals.

'Beautiful.' I inwardly muttered.

Father must have agreed since he remained unmoving, his gaze steady as he watched the sun disappear, leaving the entire world to descend unto the embrace of darkness.

Once the last rays of orange disappeared, father made his move, his body steered with purpose as he turned to stride back next to my still collapsed siblings. His enormous palm went down and gently moved them closer to him as he settled down, he did so with so much care that I was momentarily surprised, was he being careful not to wake them up? As he sat his enormous body down, this time, his eyes remained open and alert as he scanned our surroundings, as if waiting for something.

He turned to glance at me before speaking. 'Come.' He said in an authoritative voice. Seeing no reason to disagree, I hurriedly made my way towards my father and sat by his side to which he nodded in approval.

My siblings were all still sleeping soundlessly in from of us, the only difference was the fact that father had now pulled them closer to his side, while his eyes continued surveying our surroundings with a serious glint flashing through his obsidian eyes.

'Why does it seem like he is on the edge?' I wondered as I peeked at my father's now straight back. He seemed all too ready to fight, and I did not like that.

My worries came true when a sudden roar broke through the peaceful forest. Father's eyes were full of disdain as an enormous transparent red dome abruptly appeared, protecting me and my siblings from the shockwave of the roar.

'Father?' I turned to gaze at him, yet he did not seem to notice, his attention was fixed in a certain direction all the time.

He then abruptly opened his abnormally large maw, an incredibly large spinning fireball appeared illuminating the darkness. The sheer pressure it exuded was enough to bow me to the ground, yet I resisted.

My eyes were sparkling as I watched the ball appear, I could see it! I did not know how, yet I could see the flow of his energy feeding the red ball of flames, a sudden burst of strange mana, different than the one I felt before rushed from his surroundings and sent the ball flying towards the distance, leaving behind a red streak of fire in the sky, appearing as if the heavens were set ablaze.

I hastily turned my eyes to follow the fireball attack as it soared through the air disappearing in the distance. A loud explosion ensued, it seemed like the attack had landed true as a wail of pain soon followed.

Boom!

"Raaawr!"

As if nothing had happened, father brought the large dome-like shield which protected us down, before lowering his body and closing his eyes without a care in the world.

'That's it? What the hell, wasn't that a bit too fast? I didn't even get to see what the thing was!' I grumbled inwardly at the unexpected situation, father was already sleeping and did not pay attention to me any longer.

'Does that mean, it's safe now?' I wondered as I glanced at the now dimly lit forest.

The streak of red in the sky from father's previous attack slowly disappeared as everything returned to its previous state, the forest once again descending into a strange stillness.

'Aren't forests supposed to be noisy, especially at night? It's only deathly quiet when an apex predator is nearby.' Glancing at my father, I inwardly chuckled.

'I guess that's the apex predator in this case.'

Seeing at how there did not seem to be any immediate danger and father had no problem with me moving away a little bit. I stood up, stretched my limbs, and made my way towards the lake bank.

I had something I wanted to try after seeing my father's last attack. My eyes shone with a gleam of determination, as I stood next to the water. I closed my eyes as I called to the mana.

The gentle whisper once again reappeared as I felt the mana brush against my scales, I instinctively took a deep breath to calm my excited heart. Sensing the mana, I then tried to feel my energy as well, which came to me rather easily.

I took another deep breath, as I slowly imagined a ball of energy. With that mental image, I slowly willed my energy out from my body while asking the mana not to intervene.

Slowly, a small ball of bluish light materialized itself in front of me with the use of my energy alone, the mana in my surroundings seemed to heed my request as it did not intervene.

'First step, success!' I beamed.