Settling In

My sisters and I looked around wide eyed at the landscape that laid in front of us. Just beyond a sparking white beach was a forest that went on for hundreds of miles, in fact as we were still at the coast line there was nothing else in sight except for the smoke from some mortal made fires rising far in the distance from the area we avoided.

As we flew over the forest I could feel that as we went deeper into the forest the mana in the air was growing stronger. Until in the distance I caught sight of a tree that towered above the rest of the forest like a lighthouse over the shore.

It was clear that our destination was near the tree as we continued to approach it. Just as we were close enough to land on some of the branches Delmar dove to the bottom of the tree. At its base the roots sat half exposed and from the area where we were headed the roots had parted and a wide river poured from it.

I would estimate that the river was around six hundred feet wide, and even grew wider as you went down stream. Needless to say that the opening was massive, more than large enough for our enormous uncle to squeeze his way inside.

As we followed him inside the inner workings of the massive tree the open space we were walking into quickly opened up into a massive vaulted ceiling.

Clearly someone had made this cave inside the bottom of the tree and was using it as a home.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Delmar said while bowing slightly.

'I was right on the money.'

"Uncle did you make this place?" I asked.

"Indeed, I used my affinity with water mana to change the formation of the trees roots while stimulating its growth. This tree is now known to the beast men who inhabit this continent as the great tree." he responded.

"How long ago did you do this? It is beautiful." Apollonia added.

"Oh about 500 years ago give or take a decade." Delmar said.

"Just how old are you?" I asked

"I am only 635 years young!" He said.

'Man this guy has some screws loose.'

"Well never mind all that, make yourselves at home we will be staying here for a while. My only rule is you feed yourselves, I don't need to eat as I sustain myself on the rich mana of this place so you are on your own. There are plenty of monsters around this place that are strong enough to train but weak enough to not be a serious threat so have fun!" He said while turning away from us and laying down in a small recess in the cave wall.

He closed his eyes as if he would fall asleep but it was clear that he was doing something much different as waves of mana started to come off of his motionless body.

"Brother what do you think he is doing?" Apollonia asked me.

I simply shrugged and after giving Delmar a sidelong glace walked back outside.

As soon as I stepped outside I immediately knew what he was up to as a dome of strange barely visible light was descending from the top of the tree.

'He must be using the tree as some sort of amplifier, he did say that it was grown using his mana.'

My sisters walked outside behind me and looked up where I was staring.

"Brother doesn't that look very similar to what was around the continent that Mother took us to?" Apollonia asked.

"I believe you are correct sister, well I don't know about you but I am quite hungry after not eating for almost two weeks, care to come on a hunt with me?" I asked.

My sisters instantly got an excited look on their faces and nodded repeatedly.

I nodded in return then turned and started to walk into the overgrown forest that was around the great tree.

I wasn't to concerned about getting lost as we could always fly above the tree canopy to find the enormous tree again so I was just walking in a random direction.

As we went I listened intently and sniffed the air for any signs of life, and after walking for a while I caught the sent of something.

I quickly started to follow the scent, and after following it for a while I saw what we were tracking, a herd of golden elk. they gave off the feeling of pure tranquility, as I stared at them from my hiding place it felt like they naturally emitted some sort of calming aura so that any predator that came to hunt them would be mentally effected and they could get away.

But from the fact that we are dragons the aura did nothing but act as a relaxing feeling, really letting me focus on the hunt more than anything.

I turned my head to the right where my sisters were and nodded, they both nodded in return signaling that they were ready.

I wouldn't be using my breath attack as there would be nothing left to eat if I did, so I summoned my runes to form a couple spears of earth and aimed them at a couple of the smaller bucks.

I didn't want to kill the largest ones as they would repopulate the herd and allow for larger elk to be born again, then we would eat them.

I quickly unleashed my spell killing three of the elk instantly, the herd immediately began to panic and started to run away.

I nodded in satisfaction, I didn't really feel like having a battle for our food right after our exhausting journey so the quick and easy meal was nice for once.

All three of us calmly walked up the the three now dead elk and took one apiece, I was able to almost devour mine whole as they may have been large but in comparison I was huge so after only two bites I was done.

My sisters on the other hand had to rip them apart but they too ended up eating a whole elk each.

Satisfied with the quick meal I looked at my sisters and said "I would like to go rest for a while at the tree if you two aren't hungry anymore."

Corentine nodded and Apollonia responded with "That was more than enough for a day or two, we wouldn't want to kill all the animals in the area as soon as we get here."

I nodded to their responses then leapt into the air quickly finding the great tree and started flying back to it.