Dragon's Era (3)
The children had obtained dragon bodies. How much time had passed since then? Another new change was visiting the evolution of life.
“Kraaaak!”
“Grrr! Kyak!”
A dinosaur versus dinosaurs. No, one dinosaur against a pack of dinosaurs.
Several small dinosaurs were starting to hunt a single massive one by ganging up on it. Each one was weak on its own, but by increasing their numbers, they overcame the disadvantage.
“Kuhhh...”
The massive dinosaur, struggling desperately alone, finally collapsed covered in wounds, allowing the small dinosaurs to claim the huge meal without any sacrifices on their side.
“Mother. What are you watching?”
“Hm? Oh, Erebos.”
Erebos emerged quietly from the shadows. He could appear anywhere darkness touched—pretty amazing, really.
“I was watching the other lifeforms. Look over there. The small dinosaurs are starting to form packs.”
“The small dinosaurs... banding together to survive.”
“That's right. That's another choice for survival.”
While some of the tiny dinosaurs guarded their hunted prey, others fetched hatchlings from somewhere safe. They hid the young in secure spots and fed them from the kill. They were trying all sorts of things to survive.
“Is that what the families from your stories look like, Mother?”
“Hm. No proper family structure has emerged yet, but for now, yeah, something like that.”
No true intelligent beings had appeared, nor any form of society. This was as primitive as families got.
“Do you... want a family like that too, Mother?”
“Hm? Me? Well... I'm not really sure.”
Ever since getting this dragon body... I just didn't know. I didn't feel particularly lonely being by myself. The faint sense of solitude I'd felt had vanished once I met the kids.
They weren't the ones I gave birth to, but... I felt like I could keep going thanks to them.
I stroked the head of Erebos, who was watching the small dinosaurs devouring the big one to fill their bellies, with my front paw.
“There's still plenty of time, so let's keep watching. The concept of family is still pretty vague in this world.”
The kids called me Mom, but it was ambiguous whether that counted as a real family.
“By the way, do you know what the other kids are up to?”
“The others? Probably just playing around doing whatever they want.”
Whatever they want... well, aside from Sylphid, the others couldn't even move from their spots.
If I were them, just wandering the world would be fun enough.
“Sounds like they're having a blast.”
“Yes. We never had bodies that could move around before.”
I smiled at Erebos. Seeing them so happy made pulling out my scales worth it—even if the spots stung and itched a bit. Totally bearable.
“But Mother, why are you spreading life across this land?”
“Hm?”
Why spread life? Well... the Creator God had dropped me into this world, but I didn't have to go around seeding life everywhere. Yet here I was, traveling the world, scattering new life and checking on it, tweaking things here and there.
Erebos must have found my behavior odd.
“Hmm. Why, indeed. Maybe I just hated how quiet and still the world felt after I arrived.”
A world where the only moving thing was me. It must have felt awfully desolate and empty.
“Lonely, even.”
“I see. Understood.”
Was he satisfied with that? Erebos just nodded with a small smile.
And his face was draconic, but I could read expressions on it. Guess I've fully become a dragon now.
Dinosaurs were thriving, and the kids were joyfully living their lives with their new bodies. Lately, what I'd been focusing on was...
How to use mana. In short, magic.
Mana was the power to turn will into reality. Which meant, with it...
“Hm. Success.”
I could even change my body.
Of course, it was just the appearance—my actual physical specs were mostly the same as before.
I checked my reflection in the lake. A girl with pure white silver hair and small horns on her head. She looked like a tiny child, but turning human-like was satisfying enough.
Yeah. I tried smiling at my reflection, but my facial expressions weren't easy to control. As a dragon, it hadn't been hard, but in this human form... totally expressionless.
Eh, still pretty good. In a world without humans, managing a human shape was an achievement.
Yeah.
One complaint, though... since it was just a body change, I was naked.
I sighed softly and grabbed a large slime crawling nearby. It wriggled in my hand.
First, I crushed its core, poked a hole to drain the fluids, and spread out the remaining skin.
I'd love to skin a dinosaur for clothes, but with no proper tools... doing it barehanded? Possible, but...
Lazy. Yeah.
I examined the dried slime skin. It had a slightly elastic, glossy texture like fabric.
I dyed it white with mana and draped it over myself. It barely worked as clothes, but better than nothing.
Still, to think I could change this much... mana had incredible potential.
Maybe even stuff like meteor falls? Not that I'd try it now. No plans to end the dinosaur age myself.
But magic needed more research. I could light fires, splash water, lift objects with telekinesis, and more.
It wasn't systematized yet, so organizing it was next.
As I pondered magic...
“Hm? That's Mother's aura...?”
A blue dragon poked her head out from the lake I'd used as a mirror.
“Thetis. What brings you here?”
“Ah, Mother? Why are you in that form again?”
“This one? Well... it's the form of beings from another world.”
No humans here yet, so that explanation should work.
“Another world... right, you can see other worlds, Mother!”
“Yeah, that's right.”
Close enough. I could see other worlds via the internet. The stories I'd told them were from there too, so it wasn't awkward.
“Anyway... you look incredibly cute. So tiny, too.”
“Just the outer appearance—my body's the same underneath.”
I looked up at Thetis's massive head. It was bigger than a van.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Oh, nothing big. I got curious watching the dinosaurs.”
“Curious?”
I tilted my head slightly, and Thetis smiled deeply at me.
“Oh my! Mother in that form is just too cute! To think the mighty Mother could become this adorable! Oh, heavens!”
“S-stops embarrassing. Enough. Get back to your story.”
“Ah, yes. So... where was I?”
“You got curious.”
I prompted her, and Thetis continued as if it had just clicked.
“I got curious. You gave us bodies just by sharing your scales. What if we shared ours with those dinosaurs?”
Hm, the kids' scales?
“Dunno. Never thought about it. Giving you mine was the result of Erebos's brainstorming.”
“Hm. Makes sense. Hmmm... truth is, while I was swimming in the sea, some dinosaurs would circle near me and play.”
“Near you? Fearless bunch.”
Thetis chuckled softly at my words.
“They are fearless. No natural predators thanks to their huge size.”
“Big dinosaurs, huh. Yeah, in the ocean, size wouldn't be an issue.”
“Exactly. I got curious what would happen if I gave them my scales, like you did for us.”
Hm. Giving the kids' scales to dinosaurs. Kinda intriguing.
“But is that okay? Scales are part of your body.”
“Even so, you did it for us, Mother. You gave us parts of yourself.”
Oh, right. She wanted to imitate what I'd done. Like a child copying their parent.