Of Blind NightWings and NightWings Powers

By DarkSight

_It has been so many Moons since I first thought of writing this book. I was born blind under two of the Moons full and I ended having powers like any other NightWing in the same case, however those weren't the powers that were expected by our tribe, as you probably already know since you're reading this book. Nor were they thought welcome. NightWings of our times are not kind to disabled dragons, especially the ones who are too different from them. Hopefully, when you will be reading this, the mentalities will have changed.

~

But first, a foreword, if you will. I want to thank DarkStalker for helping me in writing this book. That's thanks to him if you can now read those lines even if you've never read a book before. He has shared his animus power with me and I am forever grateful to him so that other NightWings may learn and not feel alone anymore.

This books is dedicated to you, DarkStalker , may you find the greatness that you seek in your life._

~~~

1. Blindness

_I am not going to be long on that, this book is not about explaining what it is to be blind, as it is not meant and will never be visible to non-blind NightWings. However, depending on your power, you may or may not have the ability to “see". DarkStalker has made the City of Night visible to all NightWings even if they were born blind so that we could all be on the same footing but it only goes as far as the City limits and anything beyond will turn to be not visible again. I, for one, say, we should both grateful to him but also accepting in what we were given.

Now, if you have received the gift of Mind-Reading, you know that you aren't all that blind. Yeah, we can't read mind, doesn't that suck? Well, not so much when you think about it. We can see auras, and with some training we can even see all the details of another dragon that we are looking at, including their emotions.

As for being Seers, it turns out the power is not changed in itself but it is much more refined. What ClearSight 1 is doing is basically what we can do with more or less training. But it seems the Queen prefers to have cryptic prophecies rather than suffering a blind dragon by her throne's side…_

~~~

2. Mind-Reading

_Or as we should call it for us “Aura Sight", is one of the two powers given to natively blind dragonets of the NightWing tribe. There is a suspicion that it may also affect hybrids but we have not had any hybrid dragonet born blind as of the writing of this book.

The original power consists of the ability to read other dragons' minds and to communicate telepathically between two mind-readers but through some strange convoluted Goddess-only-knows ways, the blind NightWings power was converted into the ability to view souls.

Its first manifestation starts as soon as the dragonet is hatched and consists of the appearance of a vaguely shaped white light surrounding any living being, included but not limited to dragons, that is all animals and plants. To any untrained dragon, and if you are reading this, there's a good chance you are still at this level, those will appear as a white contour barely defining the shape of the dragon beneath it, but as you will start mastering your concentration, the aura will become more and more refined and eventually you will be able to view the complete shape and details to the point where you could compared it to almost having sight, minus their colors that is but with the added bonus of seeing the color of their soul, which, contrary to what our scholars think, is not fixed in time, and also most importantly their emotions.

Those last steps will come after years of intensive training, and unfortunately, there is no course for it in the school yet. For this, I will continue to do my best to advocate for it even if deep down it feels like a lost cause.

Auras come in very diverse shapes and appearance, dare I say, there are as many as there are living beings. Most of them are whitish colored in animals and plants probably from the fact that they do not possess a soul as we understand it, however, sometimes dragons' souls can also appear just as white, usually for a brief period of time, when their mind is blank, that is when they are not thinking or actively preventing any thoughts, which is similar to when we train our dragonets to block mind-readers, it seems we have the same limitations here as our fellow mind-readers here. Of course, the color can change abruptly from the moment a dragon set their mind onto something 2. As a reminder, I'm talking from the point of view of a well-trained dragon, at a beginner's stage, all auras will appear white. Except for one type.

Which I think brings us to the IceWing in the room: the animus aura.

You've seen it when you've taken this book out, it was shining with a purple glow, just like anything that an animus, as well as themselves, has touched, they will be glowing purple with no way to hide it from us —which I think DarkStalker wasn't really happy to learn— .

As my sample of animus dragon is very limited: DarkStalker and his father, I will have to extrapolate from here, I hope you will understand, if I have more information, I will make sure to write an addendum to this book.

I know other tribes also have animus dragons and if they ever visit the Night City, I will make sure to ask them as many questions as the Queen allows me to.

That said, I have managed to conclude that the purple glow is unique to animus dragons and when you look at one of them, you will notice that they not only glow purple but also from their own aura, forming a contrived mix of both that are magnificent to look at, if I can say so myself. This specific animus aura propagates to anything the dragon enchants, for example if an animal is enchanted it will both glow with its own aura and the animus aura, while any inanimate object will only glow with the animus aura as it doesn't possess any of its own. From the data I have collected, the animus aura, unlike the_ being _aura is not linked to the soul —and thus does not change color— but may affect how the soul color reflects when doing magical deeds. The animus aura has its own very steady beat, and it appears to be synced between the two specimens of animus dragons I studied. This beat remains on anything that is animus-touched, which makes me think it may not be family-related but is probably synced to something greater, something that could well be the source of the animus power… but that's not the goal of this book.

As a matter of fact, the goal of this book, if I have to chose one other than just sharing my discoveries and my knowledge, is to help you, Aura-Sighters, to master your skills just like any powered NightWing. I won't have you do silly and annoying repetitive exercises like that stupid teacher_ Allknowing _making her students write again and again nonsensical poetry because she thinks that prophecies should be undecipherable, like please… —she may be a great Seer, and that is certainly why our Queen chose her, but she's certainly not a great teacher—. No, practice of the arts the correct way is the only true thing to do, and a piece of advice to you if you want to become a teacher, don't disgust your students by overworking them.

Anyway, if you will pardon me for this aside, we shall start at the beginning, and there's no two ways to it, you will have to control your breathing. Making a conscious effort to inhale then exhale slowly and concisely outside of events that requires your concentration will make its use easier when you will need it during a battle. Training it slow will allow you to keep it steady when you will be out of breath running away or hiding from an enemy and this power is the only thing that could save your life. If your breathing is all over the place, you will not be able to focus. It is very important that you place yourself within a calm environment during your training as to not get distracted by anything or anyone. DarkStalker has suggested to me that the tower adjacent to the Tower of Knowledge that he had recently arranged would be adequate to fit one's need for concentration and training. You will find its entrance hidden behind an illusion wall (which should appear as just a purple wall for you). Climb the stairs to the top of the tower and you will be able to find the calm and relaxation you need.

That said, the next step is probably the longest and most frustrating, you will need to learn to focus. I know that for some of you, it will be easier than for others, however, there's not a single way to achieve this: some prefer to stare at something until they develop it, others may want to close their eyes and work on what they refer to as the inner-focus (you may have a different term for it but the result is essentially the same and will get you to_ 'see' _in more details and colors than your basic actual, well, vision. And it works both ways: when you will manage to control your focus, you will also be able to calm down your vision, no more blinding —how ironic, isn't it?— sea and forests.

As an indication, at the time of writing this book, half of my students managed to obtain significant results within a month and two thirds of the others did it in three.

If it sounds difficult, that's because it is and it would be dishonest of me to claim the opposite but I sincerely ask you not to give up, I promise it is worth it._

_A quick word before I conclude this book, if you are reading this from some times in the future, then I truly hope that this book became a testament of what blind NightWings are capable of. That there are schools and courses dedicated to us and that our science has progressed to include us and everyone else and showed that we can have the Queen's blessing with blind disabled NightWings in position of power as we are just as capable as any other dragon.

And in the improbable event that it had not happened, then I praise the Moons that this book be as helpful to you as I could be to my students here in Night City.

~

To LightMind my beloved, and to you reader who

took the time to read this scroll in its entirety._

———

_1. ClearSight is said to have the most impressive visions of our times, if not of all times, there are rumors that the Queen may ask her to become her Seer.

1. As a side note, I think I once saw a scavenger able to change their aura color, I am not sure if that means they have a soul, but I will certainly try to study them after I finish with this book. I know the School keeps two in a cage, so if I can get access to them, I will make sure to share my findings in the next book._

Author's note: I know I kept saying book for this scroll and DarkStalker has scolded me several times for it but I don't see how it makes any difference to me, so feel free to call it a scroll if you prefer.