The short trip back home from the temple of the dragon king was uneventful, my mind was occupied by the various potential uses of cosmic mana as we arrived back towards our floating mountain. Father's large figure landed with a loud thud in front of the cave and I hastily jumped from his back.
Stepping inside, my eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness before I felt a weight crash into my face, It was Essie. She had lunged herself towards me with and was latched unto my face with her upper arms clutched around my horns, while her lower ones were locked against my neck.
"Yes, Yes, I also missed you," I chuckled as I tried to get her off, yet she would not move as she kept licking my face for a while before Immy appeared and moved her away by the neck earning her a pitiful cry from Essie.
I moved towards Immy who also licked the side of my face affectionately before she spoke. "Welcome back," She said, to which I nodded happily. My eyes glanced around the empty cave, as father stepped inside as well and made his way towards mother's usual resting spot.
I turned to face Immy and asked in curiosity. "I don't see Sidus or Ynos, mother is not here as either?" Before she could answer, Essie jumped towards my back excitedly and settled herself between my horns, and replied.
"I know! Brother Sidus and brother Ynos left for their rite of passage too!" She explained causing me to raise my eyes in surprise. "Rite of passage?" Immy nodded as she laid under the opening in the ceiling, basking in the sun.
"Yes, they still didn't come back,"
"And what about you?" I asked in surprise, to which Immy yawned lazily before she answered. "I already finished mine, Essie's one is-" Before she could finish explaining, the little dragonness sitting on my head hastily interrupted her.
"Let me say It!" This earned her a snort from Immy who closed her eye not bothering to say anything else. "Mother says my rite of passage is special so I will have to wait until she Is finished with guiding brother Sidus and Ynos before I can go on mine!" Happily explained Essie, her hands clutching my horns as she tried to turn my head towards the entrance.
"Let's go out and play older brother!"
"I just arrived, can't I get some rest first?" I asked with a chuckle, to which I felt her firmly shaking her head before she replied. "No, brother Aether is strong, you don't need to rest!" She said and continued to pull on my horns.
"Okay, okay, let's go," I sighed, my eyes scanned the cave one last time, Immy was sleeping in the middle basking under the sun while father was the same only in the deeper parts of the cave. 'Ah well, not like I had anything better to do,' I inwardly mumbled as I made my way towards the exit.
"So where do you want to go?" I asked Essie as I jumped into the air. "I don't know, anywhere with older brother is fun!" She replied enthusiastically causing me to smile as I circled the floating mountain for a bit before I turned east.
My goal was a place I had always been curious about but never explored as much in the past years, the ancient ruined city. And since I was officially recognized as a dragon, what better time to visit but now? And so with Essie happily settled on my head, we made our way east towards our goal.
Surprisingly, along the way, Essie seemed to use her control over the wind mana to help increase my flight speed, making the journey significantly shorter and more pleasant. When I asked her when did she learn to do that, she just shrugged and said she don't remember.
Pushing that to the back of my mind, we passed through the giant forest before the familiar ancient ruined city extended before our eyes once again. "Whoa, it's so big! But the buildings are so tiny," Said Essie as she glanced at the ruined city below.
I nodded in agreement, with my current size the buildings did indeed appear to be rather small. Still, I reckoned they must have belonged to the humans or at least a race similar to them. I flew at a low altitude as I scanned the various ruined below with interest before I managed to find a relatively large clearing in the middle of the city where I landed with a thud stirring a large dust cloud.
Essie quickly jumped off my head and took off into the sky, "I don't like It here, older bother I'll wait for you when you finish," She suddenly said before she rose in the air causing me to frown.
"Didn't you say you want to play with me? Isn't this just playing by yourself?" I mumbled with a sigh as I watched her tiny figure happily dancing in the air the clouds seemingly moving with her. I shook my head and began to walk around the ruined buildings.
Some seemed to have collapsed with time, others were overrun by grass and various vegetation. I wandered about in curiosity trying to think of what must have happened here before. The city seemed to have belonged to a humanoid race, that much I knew, but I never encountered any race here on our continent that could have been responsible for building such a large city.
'There are those weird grey humanoid monsters I fought against with Ynos back in the day, but they didn't seem to have that much intelligence,' I inwardly mumbled while studying the collapsed buildings.
I was curious about the history that this place witnessed as I aimlessly walked around. I found myself imagining how It must have been before, how It must have looked like once upon a time. It was then that I suddenly felt the cosmic mana inside my soul space stir, seemingly as If It was able to resonate with my wish.
The cosmic mana then slowly made its way towards my eyes as a shocking scene unfolded before me. The world suddenly seemed to spin backward, It was as If the plane itself was going in reverse, the day turning into night and then back into day in an extremely fast cycle.
The collapsed buildings remedied themselves as If they were guided by an invisible hand. I watched as the world seemed to turn into a blur for a second before I was left with a jaw-dropping scene before my eyes. The once old ruined city was alive and well, countless people, walked down its bustling streets, humans, elves, and even some that looked like demons, all side by side.
No one seemed to see me, some passed right through me even as If I was standing on a different plane of existence. I gulped in shock, my eyes darting about In disbelief. "Is this also, cosmic mana?" I unconsciously muttered.