II ||| Fluent in Ways to Kick Ass
However, he said my case was different.
Naël told me that serpents like me were never seen before outside of legends from the old world, and that there was a tale that said these magical beings could only be harmed by emerald, meaning that all this emerald was simply to hurt me, my soul, and possibly my magical core and heart. And that I should have been kept in a marble coffin instead.
Also meaning she intended on fucking my 'stasis' up by doing so. In a way I would get a special ability, but would be unable to go against her and be weakened.
I don't have a way to know if this emerald-hurts-magical-serpents thing is true, but it did have an affect on me, staying for so long in the coffin as after a thousand years, it was as if my beaten bloodied skin began to absorb some of the emerald, and that's what made me have emerald scales here and there on my serpent form. And if it's true, it might have indeed weakened me, which is deeply annoying if you ask me.
But I didn't expect different from grandmother dearest. If she is disgusted by my nature, she'll definitely do something to cause permanent damage in my serpent form.
The last time Naël talked to me, he told me something that actually made me want to cry, he told me he had met my mother before all of this had happened. He met her when he was scavenging the Himalaya Mountain Range after gold, and she treated him well, and gave him three big porches of gold, an armor, and the special ruby sword that was taken away by damn Meredith when she captured him. Naël said that mother, to him, was the most talented dragon blacksmith and stylist, and that she told him all the arsenal and the clothes she was making was for me to use in the future, as well as all the treasure in our laid.
He said he found her because she allowed him to, and that mother also had the special ability of foresight, and had seen he would need her sword and armor to survive longer. Which, I had no idea off. He told me she loved me the most, and that she had a book of magical drawings I would need when I get out of here, and thus I should head to our lair as soon as I managed to leave.
Lastly, he told me he was cheering and thriving for me, and that he would be watching over me no matter where I was. Naël told me not to lose my will to fight, not to lose hope, and assured me that I would leave this place one day, but that before that happened, I should take advantage of all the training I would get (which confused the shite out of me). He wished me the best of luck, and told me to find Abellona Thygesen after I left my lair, and to go to the Academy in the North Pole afterwards.
We talked for a year, but then he never said a word again. I missed the contact in the centuries that followed, but I held onto every word he told me, believing that he knew the best. I repeated everything to myself over and over again during the time Meredith wasn't around. Afraid to forget any detail. Patiently waiting for the day I would be released of the damned suffocating emerald coffin.
While a part of me repeated everything, over and over again. The other part of my brain kept counting the minutes, hours, days until her next visit. Tracking how long I have been suffering. Aging mentally, but still frozen in a 7-year-old body thanks to the stasis.
That was when two thousand and forty years passed in total, when I was two thousand and forty-seven years old, that she came with Cosmos, the dragon who was her shadow, her private executioner that would do all she asked him to because… he was helplessly in love with her. Yes, I don't know how, but I could tell by the way he looked at her. Disgusting.
This time, after she took me off the emerald coffin, my beaten up body now covered in scars everywhere except for my neck and face, my hair that was once ebony black turned selenite silver probably because of the time that passed, and my vision had also gotten narrowed in a certain way, though I felt like I could see it all better than before, in the same way I can when I'm in my serpent form. She gave me the potion one last time, and made me drink two bottles of the burning liquid that Naël used to call alcohol, then handcuffed me as usual.
Whereas, this time, she ordered Cosmos to take the coffin away, and said that I wouldn't need it anymore, that my training would be starting and I my body needed to grow, which the coffin made it impossible to. Hope filled my inside again, as her order matched with what Naël had told me. But the idea of staying handcuffed for the rest of my time kind of made me nauseous, though it was undoubtedly better than the coffin.
Meredith than tested me out, telling me that it was time to learn what I had in me. What staying in stasis for more than two thousand years had given me, also matching Naël's description of what she was doing and why. And though I had zero idea of what to even do, I decided not to fight and accept whatever "training" she was going to give me, following Naël's advice. Thus, I listened to what they told me to do, and pretended to have lost my will to fight for myself, pretended to be submissive because that's what she expected from me.
Then Cosmos told me a bit of the list of special abilities, that if what he said was right, was given to grandma dearest by the Maden. Meaning the Goddess who was fucking me up was the one that is supposed to represent youth, purity, pleasure, beginnings, wildness, freedom, and innocence. We can tell she doesn't really care about that. It would make more sense if the Crone helped her, as she's so fucking old.
But back to the special abilities, I didn't tell them, but I was able to recognize that I have control over spiritual energy, given my encounter with all the dead in here and… well, Naël. I kept it shut about it because I may loathe her, but Meredith is smart and would be able to tell if I had gotten in contact with Naël or not. Even though I know she can't harm him anymore, I couldn't do it, and I wouldn't even if I could.
Green fire, black water, wind, earth, self healing and regeneration, speed, agility, extremely heightened senses, shapeshifting, and a poisoned toxic blood that can kill any being that dares to bite me, control over gems and crystals, and I can slow and stop time. That's what Cosmos catalogued. Out of it all, the special abilities are Gem, Crystals, Telekinesis, Time. Four for two thousand years.
Well, five, if you count the spiritual energy manipulation, but it's more than the average, and uncommon as I'm a winged serpent and not a dragon (hallelujah to that).
According to what he told me, green fire is one of the four rarest flames and almost never seen, colder than blue fire, but warmer than the red and yellow flames, often perceived as a symbol of evil and bad omen. Hah, isn't that delightful? Hurray for me. Grandma dearest is the evil one, but I'm the one with the evil flame. And the black water is said to be the water that lies near the magma of the planet, toxic to humanity, but richer in all kinds of minerals and is also said to be an inherent power of the winged serpents of the legends, so, yay. Kind of useless to me, as I can't drink it, but thankfully to me, I can also control normal water and ice too.
Gems and crystals are cool and all, but I'm not a dragon, I don't see value in it like they do. Aye, I still remember how mom loved gems and all riches, she also had this ability, so I must have inherited from her, if that's a thing. I can't kill grandma dearest with it, because using it on her would definitely be something she would appreciate.
I don't understand how the new world deals with gold, but I believe mom left enough for me in the lair.
Now telekinesis and the ability to slow and stop time is something I'm happy with. I don't know necessarily how good they are, but they sound amazing, don't they?
Meredith told me Cosmos would be coming to me every day now, ending my days of loneliness in the emerald coffin, and that first of all I would take care of my ability to stop and slow time, and use that constantly to have ten times more time to learn everything I have to. I would began to have four meals a day and to endure an extreme physical training that would hone all of my skills altogether, all while honing my mind with knowledge of the old and new world.
And as an incentive, she gave me 10 years. For the next 120 months she would keep coming on the 1st Sunday of each month, not to give me the potion but to test me, and if I got anything wrong, I would be punished (aka tortured). Nevertheless, in the 120th time, in the last month of the 10 years that were to come, if I passed through her last tests, I would be rewarded.
I knew she meant to "free" me so she could use me as her ultimate secret weapon, but I couldn't care less as long as I left this damn crypts.
That's why I gave my everything on Cosmos training. My blood, my sweat, my tears, my energy, strength, and my very soul to learn every single thing he had to teach me. I mastered the ability to slow and freeze time for us, and as I didn't need to sleep because my body already slept for more than twenty centuries, I used all of my second to learn.
About the world, it's geography, it's history, it's different dialects, it's magic, and of all the races that habituate the planet. From dragons and vampires, to gargoyles, giants, nymphs, and spirits. I learned the different religions, the tales, the beliefs, the deities, and the disasters. Cosmos taught me about all kinds of "martial arts" and taught me how to make use of all of them.
Using an arsenal of weapons, he made me learn how to use each one of them from swords, daggers, and archery, to axes, scythes, chains, and the "human-favorite" guns. Per grandma dearest's order, he would keep record of each weapon I made a mistake while practicing, so that when she came to test me, she would torture me with it. And though I know he felt nauseous when watching her torture me, I couldn't help but hate him too for obeying her orders so blindly just because of his distorted vision of love.
Ah, he also taught me survival skills such as new-world etiquette, cooking and cleaning skills, engineering and architecture skills, financial handling abilities, and also taught me about what they call "internet", "technology", and "hacking". Cosmos told me I wouldn't survive in the new world if I couldn't manage these three, and that they were necessary to communicate myself with people from anywhere in the world. Which, I have to confess, is pretty damn awesome.
Mom would be in awe if she was still here.
He gave me countless advices on how to socialize and hide the fact that I've never been in contact with other people besides them, Philippa, and my mother. To hide the fact that I've been confined for my entire life, because that would make people criticize me, as well as make them stay away, which isn't the way to go if I want to build any kind of connections. Cosmos also stated the obvious: Don't show your weaknesses and neither your true nature to any one because they will use it against you. Hah, as if I hadn't learned that first hand with grandma dearest.
One of his last lessons was related to fashion, surprising the shite out of me, and he said that I shall always look amazing. It'll make them respect me and approach me with more ease. Very superficial, is it not?
That ain't going to be a problem, because as soon as I leave this hellish prison-like crypt, I'll go to our lair in the Himalayas and I'll get all the clothes mom made for me. She was the best stylist in the world, and I'll only use what she made for me, even if I know there'll be some extravagant pieces given that she loved fancy stuff… as do all dragons, I believe.
When it comes to theoretical knowledge, he taught me everything that is to learn about linguistics, literature, mathematics, geography, history, philosophy, sociology, arts, physics, chemistry, and biology. In fact, as I stretched those 10 years as much as I could, it felt like ten centuries, one thousand years that he made me read all the books he got his hands on, which I think covers pretty much all books ever written that are still intact. Not to mention the amount of ancient books in ancient languages that he also gave me.
He taught me about theater, painting, dancing, pottery, artisan, sewing, and music. Cosmos also made me master around fifteen different musical instruments until my fingers bled. The same goes for dancing, he made me master so many dances that I'm sure I'll never even use in my life. This dragon is undoubtedly a maniac for arts and fighting, you have no idea.
But it was thanks to him being annoying like that, that I managed to learn everything. He may be a pain in the arse, but he's ridiculously smart and talented, and a dedicated professor too. Cosmos gave his all to make me give my all too, to learn, to master everything he handed to me.
However, honestly, I think the two most annoying things he made me do was learning politics and memorizing all law he could find, and use my telekinesis 80% of my day. I began to only use two shackles instead of five, that locked my wrists together, but the second they put them on my wrists, the ground under me would open to a bottomless pit, making me use my telekinetic ability to float steadily while my body rested after training to exhaustion, or while it healed after another section of Meredith's torture.
Making it extra hard to maintain my control on the telekinesis, but not impossible, especially when my mind stayed awake all the time my eyelids were closed. Unable to sleep. My mind and soul chaotically awake.
Until my deadline came. The ten years were over as Meredith came on the 1st Sunday of my last month in here, to test me. I slowed time so she could test me in everything and I passed, I got every single letter, syllable, word of my answers write. And when I fought with Cosmos, I won.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone