At the end, I left the Venerable. I didn't wanted to train my soul this night anyways and wanted to go somewhere else where only I can go. I left Belle in the outside world, she transformed into a little fox and hopped over the bed, sleeping comfortable through the shared warmth. She was a strong-willed girl and every day I feel more motivated to just adopt her as my third daughter, but she's way too old for that to be honest. Her desire for motherliness from her creator seems to be a subject separated from being treated as a child or something. I don't really want to judge the venerable anymore, I already told her everything I thought about her ways of doing things, and I simply decided to move on with my plans.
Tonight, I wanted to meet with someone special which I've been delaying for a while, mostly because I've been very busy practicing my powers and also helping my family grow stronger. But in the sidelines, I've been manipulating darkness-attribute mana and making it flow through my bloodstreams. It seems that I finally reached the threshold and I can now awaken my Draconic Record of the Dark Dragon Family. After all, I am the son of Fafnir, a Dark Dragon. I am not simply an Ice Dragon but also a Dark Dragon.
Though… I've mostly developed my powers as an Ice Dragon, with Wind Magic to boot, which my mother said was something that happened not so uncommonly with ice dragons, developing ice magic with wind magic was not that uncommon. Nonetheless, I never developed anything "dark" until I ate that guy named Black and got his element, and since then I've been using it as much as I can, but even my status shows it has low rank. I guess I got more off my mother than my father, and that's the reason why it is so hard to develop Darkness Element. Of course, now that I got the power to awaken it by making darkness flow through my bloodstream, it is finally time to check out the Draconic Records Pseudo Realm where the souls of the dark dragons rest… and something else as well.
When I opened my eyes once more, I found myself within the same space where I was before when I first met my mother. It was all completely black, and there were many streams of bright red light flowing everywhere, leading to the phantasmal souls of resting family members who had perished long ago. Some noticed me and looked at me, while others continued sleeping without noticing me, or perhaps merely ignoring me. However, my mother didn't ignored me, quickly noticing my presence, as her own presence quickly reached me, her astral avatar emerging before my eyes as the beautiful and majestic ice dragon goddess that laid my egg greeted me.
"My son, you're here. Have you come to cuddle with your mother?" She asked. Often times at night, I pay her a visit through this realm, and she forcefully cuddles with me saying that it is to "make up for the time she couldn't raise me". I really appreciate it though, there were many times when I was a tiny lizard that I wished a big dragon mommy could embrace me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
…But I am not an adult and got a wife and two daughters! I cannot simply think about cuddling with mother all the time!
"No, mother, I came here to reach to the Dark Dragon's realm." I said. "I think I've gathered enough darkness energy to open the path."
"Oh, right… You've been having a hard time, haven't you? I guess it is my fault, due to my stronger power as an ice dragoness, you inherited more from your mother than your father, sadly." Sighed Nifl. "Maybe if your father had gotten together with one of my daughters instead… But he seemed captivated by this old woman."
When she said that, I couldn't help but imagine my father hitting on a Milf… And I hated how realistic this explanation was. It was in fact just that.
"Ugh, anyways, don't worry about that, mother, I understand that it wasn't your fault at the end." I said. "Anyways, can you help me open the path with your draconic power?"
"Yes, if you got enough darkness within you… It should be possible to receive my aid. Come here my son." Nifl said, as she quickly moved my soul to her side and she kissed my head. "Mooch."
"Was that necessary?!" I asked while feeling slightly embarrassed.
"You have to give mommy a kiss every day dear. Don't be rude with the one that brought you to life." She said with a gentle demeanor.
"O-Okay, just help me get to the Dark Dragon's Realm…" I sighed. My mother giggled slightly mischievously, she enjoyed teasing me. Are all dragon mothers like this?
"Very well~" Nifl said with her calm and cold voice, despite it being filled with motherly love. The other ice dragon souls were all looking at us as if we were a very cute couple of mother and son. I feel like I should talk more with them, but they're often sleeping a lot. Maybe I could one day summon their souls somehow, after all I got Death Magic. Reviving them as Undead wouldn't be a bad idea and would be quite cool. But I don't know if that's what they even want anyways.
FLASH!
My mother flew towards a certain area within this dark space, touching the streams of red light and then opening a door within this space towards another… almost identical looking space. These realms were all phantasmal in nature, so they had little difference from one another in appearance, which was rather sad-
However, that was quickly changed, as the moment the red light reached me, my sight changed. The entire surroundings changed as well.
"Oh, it seems you can finally see through the Realm's appearance."
"Eh?!"