The wind continued to blow through the rift valley, and Yoichi was finally standing with his shoulders straight. The fear of Therion had passed, and the desire for redemption burned brightly in his eyes.

The fateful moment had arrived: Yoichi would face the first of the long tests that would enhance his draconic powers, making him the most potent Demon Tamer in the world.

"That's the answer I wanted to hear," the giant black dragon muttered. "I will lead you to the first of your twelve challengers. I warn you, the path you are about to take will be the most difficult of your life. Step forward, young Yoichi," the Dragon King continued.

Yoichi took a step forward. His right hand touched the handle of Ryutaro's katana, whose blade had not yet left its sheath. As the young tamer approached his mentor, the supreme Therion lowered its neck, bringing its face closer to him and moving a large amount of air that Yoichi perceived as the beginning of a storm.

Resting the underside of his jaw on the valley's turf, Therion turned its face to the side and waited for the blond-haired warrior to come closer.

Am I really going to get on the back of the Supreme Dragon King? Yoichi asked himself, unable to believe that the Tear's vision would allow him to interact so closely with the most divine of Lumya's beasts.

He took a long breath and placed his first hand on one of the large scales of the dragon's face. His left leg followed the movement of his right hand, and, alternating the use of his limbs, Yoichi climbed onto Therion's head, being careful not to fall to the ground, knowing that if he did, he might end up inside the rift.

"Find a handhold and hold on tight, boy. If you die during the vision, your mind will return to your mortal body, and the magic link will be broken," the Sovereign of the Heavens stated, waiting until he felt both of Yoichi's legs on its head to move its neck.

Yoichi said nothing and forcefully grabbed one of the scales on its extended nape, placing his feet into the end of its neck and holding on tightly. The dragon placed its front legs on the ground and poised to leap, spreading its wings outwardly and preparing to take flight.

The powerful muscles of its legs contracted, and its clawed feet sank into the soft soil of the cliff on which Yoichi had awakened after the time jump.

*whoom*whoom*whoom*

Therion's wings flapped hard, and although they seemed to move slowly, they used the dragon's strength to lift its body off the ground. Yoichi was slightly off-balance as his winged mentor's neck stretched upward, lightening its lower limbs and giving it additional stability.

The starting manoeuvre was turbulent, and the young tamer had to use all the strength in his body to hang onto Therion's body. However, when he managed to detach his cheek from the black scales that held him in balance, what he saw left him speechless once again.

Beyond those gigantic, heavy black wings that ended in large, clawed legs, the view from above made Yoichi feel like the king of the world: the Tentochu of the past shone radiantly under the rays of the sun, illuminating the valley below to the horizon and over the mountains.

Finally, Yoichi realized that he had never visited the area of his awakening, located on the other side of the Southborne Mountains. In the company of Therion, his journey to the lair of the first of its demonic warriors had begun. But who was it, and what were its powers?

The Southborne Mountains stretched for thousands of miles, standing in the center of the map as if they were the vertebrae of the backbone of Tentochu.

Unlike what he remembered from the many maps of the region he had seen, the Lumya of the past was a place devoid of cities and towns: no matter how hard he looked, there were no villages in the distance, and the vegetation was so lush that it took over the entire landscape.

Forests, woods, lakes, hills, even desert-like sand dunes in the northern part. Tentochu was nothing more than a boundless expanse of diverse and colorful biomes, the colors of which changed dramatically within a few dozen miles.

Nature reigned supreme in that magical and untouched world, giving the demons and the wild animals, its only inhabitants, the opportunity to fly over the skies and populate the plains and mountains.

For under Therion's wings, hundreds of demons smaller than dragons fluttered happily, moving from territory to territory to hunt, mate during mating season, or genuinely enjoy the cool air currents and migrate.

"This is the world I left you, Yoichi," Therion spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "Behold, admire how much beauty," he added, proud of its actions.

"It is astonishing. I didn't think I'd ever been able to see Tentochu from up here. Or rather, I didn't think I'd be able to see Tentochu before it even had that name," Yoichi replied, clinging tightly to his mentor's scales.

"Indeed, that was not its name. It is the name you humans have given to my kingdom, dividing it into zones and erecting walls that we dragons had never dared to build. The one you are looking at is not Tentochu, Kamakiri, or Mukade. The one below us is just Lumya, the realm where my dynasty has ruled for millennia, respecting the cosmic balance and natural laws of all living things," Therion explained, flapping its wings and continuing to travel through the sky.

"Where are we going, Supreme Therion? Where is the first of your warriors that I must challenge?" the young tamer inquired. His hands were shaking with excitement and, as if he had been waiting for that moment his entire life, he couldn't wait to get involved.

"Your first challenger will be Urgerross, the White One. It resides in the place that lies at the end of the Molten Scar, the rift below us. Where the hot magma enters the white rock, a blanket of gray smoke leads your gaze to the sky, where the golden reflections of the Sanctum of Infinity shine radiantly," the Dragon King remarked.

"Urgerross..." Yoichi whispered, chewing on the consonants of that ancient name and trying to picture the dragon's appearance from its sound.