'My father was a hero. He had a shield, a great piece of protective armour. For as long as I could remember it always lay upon the floor near the hearth that kept us warm. As a child, the shield was my boat or a roof when the rain doused the land. It was a soothing thing that shield, though plain and functional. My father only ever touched it upon the roar of a foe, the call of one who means to harm. He raised it to keep us safe during the continental war, his heart beating as steady as when he slept. He was sure of himself when he left and so having faith in him was easy, we simply did our best to imitate his ways and yearn to one day be as great, for he truly was a hero.' — ???

************

Mother did not wait for Blacky and White to wake up, instead, she used her magic to grab them alongside us as we made our way back to what I assumed was going to be our cave.

By now, the sun had finally set in the distance as the moon took its place. This time mother did not allow us to fly on our own, but rather brought us even closer to her body as we soared through the sky.

I watched in curiosity as the scenery changed below, from a dark forest to a tall grey mountain range. 'We didn't pass by this area before did we?' I inwardly mumbled.

The cave where we were born was situated in a tall mountain that looked similar to those below, the only difference was that ours was taller. The mountain range was completely barren and devoid of any sign of vegetation, it looked like a sea of grey.

I squinted my eyes as countless dark figures suddenly appeared from the ravines between the mountains. Their numbers were too much to count. My scales suddenly tingled as a shiver ran down my spine, a sense of danger seemed to overtake me.

Mother did not seem too worried, yet she still rose higher in the air. 'What the hell are those things?!' They were completely black, I was unable to spot their eyes, mouth, nose, nothing, just a complete mass of darkness.

Some figures that appeared were humanoid in shape, others took a more bestial form, the only thing they all had in common was their complete lack of features.

Even though they had no eyes, I could still sense their 'gazes' gather on us, they were watching us!

'That's creepy as hell!' I gulped, a deep repulsive feeling welled up inside of me.

Some of the shadow monsters ran across mountains as they followed us! 'How the hell are they so fast?!' My eyes widened at the sight of a particular figure with wings on its back.

'That's a humanoid form with wings?' Just as I was trying to make out its exact features, the monster abruptly shot towards us with an incredible speed leaving behind a black trail in the sky.

Mother who had her gaze in front of her the entire time suddenly turned her golden eye to the monster. I could sense her disdain as she let out a low growl.

The shadow monster was barely able to cross half of the way towards us before a sudden rush of wind appeared out of nowhere slashing at his body like blades.

The monster let out an inhumane roar full of pain before he exploded into a puff of black smoke. Mother completely unconcerned continued on her way while dragging us all behind.

'Yep, I said it before and i'll say it again, mother is scary!'

The swarm of shadow monsters below seemed unfazed by the death of their brethren as they continued to follow, those that fell were trampled to death by their comrades, a few flying types attempted to close the distance between us yet were met with the same gruesome end under mom's wind blades.

It was then that a familiar roar echoed through the air, the giant figure of a red dragon appeared to our left in the distance as he slowly drew closer. 'Father!'

Soon, father was flying alongside us as we continued towards our unknown destination. Blacky and White had already woken up by now, they remained behaved yet still occasionally shot a few death glares at one another.

I could sense the mana ripples in the air, as mother and father seemed to communicate using some special method. After a while, the duo appeared to have reached an agreement as father rushed ahead and took the lead.

His crimson shield suddenly appeared around us as it encompassed us within it. I could sense the mana gathering around father, he opened his large mouth as a whirl of flames suddenly appeared.

'Dragon breath? But why?' I wondered.

I watched in curiosity as the golden ball of flames soared through the sky, igniting the night, and outshining the stars, leaving a trail of red behind. Just then a large tear in the sky appeared as a shadowy claw struggled to push itself out of whatever abyssal plane It came from.

father, however, seemed to have already anticipated his appearance, as his dragon breath collided with the monster claw instantly pushing it back to its plane, an unwilling roar soon followed as the space gash closed while we continued on our way as if nothing had happened.

'Wait, wait, wait! That's not normal! Are we just going to ignore the fact that father just pushed an eldritch horror into the nether?! What was that?!' I mentally complained, my eyes glanced at my mother who had a calm look on her face as if everything was expected.

My siblings on the other hand did not seem to notice the bizarreness of the situation and we're instead staring at father's figure with newfound admiration. 'Am I the only normal one in here?'

I curiously peeked at the ground below, as the scenery changed once more, this time the grey mountain range was no more, in its stead a large grassland suddenly appeared with a set of ruins that extended for as long as my eyes could see.

'A city?' I mumbled in amazement.