"You...why have you returned after turning your back to the will of Val?"

Lira shrugged.

She sat atop the head of the high dragon Valerikynthimos, or the White Queen of the Elements as she was called among the mortals that worshipped her.

The high dragon's enormous, serpentine body sprawled out atop cratered and smoking earth, marking out a shining white line amid the blackened rock.

Her body was riddled with bleeding scars and the six pink frills comprising her elementally charged mane were dull, drooping down with quiet, pitiful crackles of once roaring lightning.

"Wanted to meet the old man again. Call it homesickness," said Lira as she looked up, towards the last stretch of Torr Valeris that stood right at the cusp of the void between the world's skies and the infinite starry expanse of space.

She was one of an exceeding few creatures in the entire world with the power and privilege to reach this far up Torr Valeris, at the highest point in the world.

Funny that the tallest spot of this whole planet was her father's head. There must have been some kind of joke about pride there, but two hundred and twelve years had mellowed her humor just a tiny bit.

Maybe that was why all the high dragons were so damn grumpy.

"You take our crowning treasure, break your horn to sever your ties with us, consort with the mortals, and now, you wish audience with Val?" Valerikynthimos's voice boomed, and Lira shut her up by slamming the Prometheas down on her head.

"It's been two hundred years, big sister, and you still talk the most out of all of us." Lira looked around her. There were eleven more high dragons of varying shapes and sizes sprawled out in states of injury and unconsciousness throughout the mountainous battlescape. "And you still have no idea that staying up here, holed up in this mountain and lording over everyone and thinking everything under these heights truly beneath you makes you weak. Empty."

"Oh?" hissed Valerikynthimos. "And you are strong because you cavort with those that are less than the very air we breathe? That ring on your finger - you believe that is proof you are better than us?"

Lira held out her hand and looked at her wedding ring, smiling at the emerald winking back at her with its luster. It had been many years since the other half of that ring had returned to the earth, but that did not reduce the shine of the memories any.

"Yes I do," said Lira simply as she stood up and then slammed the Prometheas down hard on Valerikynthimos's head, causing tremors to rumble through the earth from the sheer impact. The high dragon grew still, knocked out cold.

"Now to talk to father," said Lira as she jumped up, fire billowing from the thrusters in her armor as she headed up to the stone carved visage of her father's head.

====

"Hello, father," said Lira as she stepped into the cavern that housed her during her youth. Or perhaps her prison. It was much the same as it was, and she remembered clear as day despite the experience being two hundred years ago.

There was father still, his soul still trapped in the rainbow colored orb at the center. A side effect of completely fusing with the World Vein that once stood here - he became part of the world itself, a natural landmark more so than any independent, living being.

In a way, Lira pitied her father. She was old enough to know now that he did not do what he did out of sheer and senseless selfishness. From the moment he had come to this world, he had foreseen its end, and he had sacrificed everything to make sure that he could produce a champion capable of fending against it.

Fusing with the vein, implanting a genetic drive for all dragons to want to grow stronger and reach the top of this mountain, and using the vein's powers such that the environment his body became was brutally harsh and nourishing to produce the hardiest of dragons - all of it was to produce a champion.

A shining star. Lira.

"My dear shining star," came father's voice. It sounded just the same as it had been the day she left. "You have returned. I knew you would accept your destiny."

"I have," said Lira.

"Good," said father. "Then you have integrated the Omniscale into your being?"

"I have. I might as well be the strongest being to have ever lived on this planet. As strong as any of the great gods. Perhaps stronger."

"I had feared without my guidance that the Omniscale would destroy you, but I have always held hope in your abilities, for you are blood of my own blood." Father paused, contemplating Lira. "With such power flowing through you, then you must realize now the folly of staying among the mortals. They are fickle. They will never unite. The demons, too, are little, greedy creatures.

They will all be consumed by the darkness whereas you, my shining star, will stand bright against the darkness, and our mountain will remain while the world burns.

Then we will restore the world anew. Recreate it in your image as it was meant to be, my shining star."

"I will pass on that," said Lira with a curt shake of her head. "I have to come to tell you I will uphold the destiny you have placed upon me. I know of the darkness. I have seen it firsthand, and I know its danger.

I will become a shining star. But not for only you, for only us, but for all.

All the mortals. All that live on this world. All that live on other worlds."

She turned around, the weight of the Prometheas sitting comfortably on her shoulder. "And I will not wait for the darkness to descend. I will take the fight to them, ensuring that never will they disturb this world nor awaken the shadows that slumber deep within.

In other words, this is goodbye, father. Take solace in that though not all has gone according to your will, that I will still defend you and your children, that your sacrifices will not have been in vain."