I was able to get out of bed without waking Rachel. She must have been really tired. I felt bad that I had caused her so much trouble. When I went to the main room, my mother, brother, and father were all sitting there waiting for me. I walked in with slow steps with my head lowered, waiting to be yelled at. I mean, I ran off and faced an entire army by myself, not to mention killing so many people. If you add in the strange way I was acting in front of my father, I was in for a long bout of questioning.

“Faith, come sit.” My father patted his knee. I slowly edged my way over and sat down on it. He pulled me into a hug and rested his chin on top of my head. 

“Faith, can you tell us why you did what you did?” My mother asked. Her voice was calm, but I could hear a hint of trembling as if she was about to cry.

I looked up at my mother, whose eyes were indeed tearing up, before lowering my head again. “I just wanted to protect you all. Ever since I was born, I have been grateful to have such caring parents. You never once shunned me for being a demi human. You treated me so well and were even willing to be kicked out of Wandermere village for my sake. I love you all so much, so when I thought about how I might lose Father and Brother, I acted without much thought. I was willing to become a demon to keep you all safe. Even if I was hated by the world, as long as you three were safe, I would not care.”

“Faith!” My mother started crying as she pulled me right from my father’s embrace into hers. She hugged me so tight that I felt like I would die from lack of oxygen. Thankfully my father came to my rescue. “Lilith, if you keep squeezing her, she will die.”  _-.

“Ah!”  My mother eased her hug but still did not let me go. 

“Faith, while I am touched by your sentiment and how much you love all of us, you still scared the hell out of all of us. I knew right away that it was you that put up the confusion mist spell. I can sense your mana for miles. Not only that, no one else in the village has the mana to cast so many spells at once. I am very glad you came back safe and sound, but you must never do something like that again without letting us know, alright?”  My father’s words held both care and sternness. I nodded my head in response. I should have been more forward with my actions. But I knew if I did, they would not have let me go. 

“Ouch!” I felt a sharp knock on the head, causing me to look up at my mother with teary eyes. She just hit me hard! 

“I am glad it hurts. You need some sense knocked into you. How dare you run off and fight! I am glad you are safe, but this and that are two different things! If you ever do that again, I will yank your pants down, lift your tail, and spank your bottom until it is as red as an apple!” I had no choice but to lower my head and say ‘Yes, mama’ to everything she said. I could see out of the corner of my eye that both my brother and father had moved away from me. The looks that they gave me were filled with pity. Why is it that at times like this, they always leave me behind!? What happened to all the familial love from a few seconds ago? Brother, why are you pumping your fists at me as if telling me to fight on!? Maybe I should have dragged him along with me. Then he could share some of this burden!

Trapped in my mother’s arms, I was given a three hour long lecture. At some point, I became numb to what she was saying and even nodded off a few times, which resulted in being hit in the head again.  All I can say was I was able to escape the red bottom technique.  My poor little bottom had been saved! 

But before I was in the clear, Father called me to take a walk with him. We walked down the road leading towards the cliffside. He held my hand as we walked. It reminded me of the times when I was younger, he used to do the same thing. Just like this, father and daughter walked silently down the rocky dirt road. When we reached the cliff, we both sat in our usual spot at the edge, looking out over the vast landscape below. But now….  The area closest to us was no longer a beautiful sight. It was a burnt wasteland that was created by none other than myself. 

Off in the distance, the sound of explosions could be heard, and smoke in multiple areas was rising up into the sky. The images of everything that happened were flashing in my mind. Luckily the smell of blood was no longer in the air. Now that I was getting a good look, it seemed someone had cleaned up the battlefield. No dead bodies could be seen anywhere. 

We only sat in silence for a short while when my father finally spoke up. “Faith, do you have something to tell me?”

I bit my bottom lip. I was unsure of what I should even say. How am I supposed to explain anything? I mean, should I just come out and tell him everything? Should I tell him that, hey, your daughter is someone who was reborn and has this crazy system thing? I have hidden all of this in case people found out about it. I did not wish for them to be able to use anything against my family.

“Faith, you do not need to hide it anymore. I already tested your blood against your mother and I. We know your bloodline has changed. You can’t tell me your recent appearance change is due to your bloodline suddenly becoming more purer because your bloodline since birth was as pure as a dragonkin bloodline can get. But now…. You have a different, stronger bloodline running through your veins. And it is neither your mother’s nor my own.”  My father’s words made me finally look up at him in shock. He knew my bloodline was no longer the same. Right now, It could be said I was no longer blood related to him. I suddenly felt a little scared. I knew it would not happen, but I couldn’t help that sudden feeling of fear that welled up inside me of being told I am no longer his daughter.

I guess he sensed my fear because my father pulled me into a hug. “You will always be my daughter, I just worry about you. When I saw you in that state of bloodlust that was controlling your actions, I knew something was not right with your bloodline. This is why I checked. Faith, you will have a harder time from now on. You must gain control of this new bloodline. Never let it control you. A strong bloodline can be a double edged sword, as you now know. It can cause you to gain incredible power and do things you would never be able to do otherwise. But they can also consume you and erode your mentality so that the ancient will within it can control your every action. 

“I do not know how you gained this bloodline, but whatever it is, you must be careful. That is why we will put you in a situation where you will have to try to control it no matter what.” My father’s words were starting to piece together some of the things I was confused about. I never knew bloodlines had wills within them. This explained a lot about my actions during the fight.

“Father, have you ever heard of the dragonic bloodline?” I decided to ask. It may help me in understanding my new self. It was better to confide in my family than to one day hurt them due to my ignorance. 

“Dragonic?” My father fell into thought.  “I am not too sure. Is there anything you know about your bloodline?”

“I know it is a cross between demons and dragons. I…. I am also able to transform….” I did not have much practice, but I could transform my hand partially. I did not dare transform into my big dragon form right now for fear of others seeing it. 

I stretched out my hand and closed my eyes. My blood began to flow towards my right hand, and in a matter of seconds, it had grown to fifty times its normal size. A dragon claw with blackish red scales and long black claws. It was still small in comparison to my normal dragon form size but it was just as deadly. Although it was big, it did not feel heavy to me at all. I could even move it around freely. This was my second time being able to do this. 

“This…” My father’s eyes widened. “Faith, quickly transform back! Never let anyone see your transformation. Now I know where that roar came from, it was you….”

“Yes…. That was my full body transformation into a dragon….” I confessed. Judging by his reaction, it would be very bad if anyone saw my dragon form.  “Is being a dragon bad?”

“It’s not bad per se. It is more that they would try to use your power for themselves. Faith, you have to be very careful from now on. Even more so than before. Never tell anyone else about this. We will have to keep this a secret between the two of us.” Seeing my father’s serious expression, I quickly nodded my head. “Faith, it is not known by many, but dragons still exist in this world. They are still the most powerful beings known to all humankind. They are feared, revered as gods, and also objects of greed. While the dragonkin are a dying race, they are no match to an actual dragon. I now understand why you were able to become powerful enough to destroy an entire army. As for the cross between demons and dragons, this poses another problem…. Get rest today. Tomorrow we set out.”

“Where are we going?” I asked. To suddenly leave like this confused me.

“We are going to war. We need to get you to control the ancient will in your bloodline.”