Chapter 279

Felling a Dragon (VI)

Cain heaved back, blazing fires following him precisely, almost at his tail. The clash of the two in the sky shook the whole world round, illuminating it into a day. In line with it, the backlash matched the visual spectacle; Cain had immediately begun bleeding from virtually every orifice. He desperately tried suppressing it through raw Mana but he only managed to mitigate the problem somewhat rather than wholly fixing it.

The explosion had blown him backwards and, whilst healing, he also had to spare some attention on the side to cease the incredible backward momentum and come to a halt. He’d only managed to do so after flying nearly ten miles backward. From his position, he saw that the Dragon had barely moved back and was flapping its wings indifferently, the cosmic-like eyes staring into his with still piqued curiosity.

Dammit, his mind abuzz, Cain shook his head and took a deep breath. He’d already recovered almost completely, barring the consumed Mana. That clash, however, made him realize something—they were very, very unlikely to kill the Dragon. In fact, the only way Cain could see them killing him… is if the Dragon literally assisted them. The fact, however, that the Dragon didn’t immediately attack and try and obliterate Cain swiftly told him something else—that there was likely another condition, past just killing the Dragon—to clear the Trial, even if it seemed unlikely.

After all, the reason they were ‘hired’ to complete the Trial was because the Dragon ended a species. Still, there was another way, Cain knew. No, rather than to say ‘knew’, he felt it—intuition of someone who’d been doing trials and quests within the Tower for three decades screamed at him, telling him it wasn’t over.

The key to it, though, was maintaining the Dragon’s interest and curiosity. That also meant that Cain would repeatedly have to pull something new in an ever-increasing fashion, hoping that, eventually, it will be enough before he runs out of things to do. In the meantime, it was unlikely that the others would defeat the Wyverns and come join him. Even if they did, he suspected that at least a couple among them would, similarly, pique the Dragon’s curiosity.

All the same, clearing his head of stray thoughts, Cain roared at the top of his lungs and coated himself in several, thick layers of Mana before bolting forward, leaving a gushing trail of flaming colors behind him, alighting the world once again.

**

He felt strange. Tired. Yet rested. Just before he opened his eyes, he was swimming in darkness for what felt like eternity… yet was a moment. It was indescribable, the strange passage of time. He felt it yet didn’t experience it. Even for him, someone who knew almost all there was to know, it was a uniquely lovely experience. Though thankful to be woken from his slumber, he was still angry that someone so brazenly crossed into his territory. The last time he was lenient with the lesser creatures, they snuck into his lair and tried stealing from him. He swore to never allow it again—he’d exterminate them all without warning.

Yet, when he saw the tiny creature that woke him, his curiosity was peaked; the creature couldn’t have been taller than his toenail, and it appeared skinny and malnourished. Yet, despite that, strange auras compelled him to inspect the tiny creature further. Those auras, they wrote a story—a story so complex and pervert that his curiosity wasn’t yet quenched. There were all sorts and all manners of intertwining webs and lay lines interconnecting around the tiny creature; there was the breath of Time, the touch of that infinity that even he could be felled by. Beyond time, there was also the terrible, stench-filled touch of Divine—yet… that touch was also uniquely different, uniquely… un-Divine, if there were such a thing. He couldn’t understand it. No, before he could devote any more energy to understanding it… he caught the sight and the scent of something else. Something far less alien and strange and something far… closer to him. He caught a scent of a Dragon.

It was a faint scent, and the scent itself came from a weak Dragon, either a hastily bred one or one of the last newborns ever. Either way, the scent wrapped around the tiny figure gently, cradling him, sending off a message of sorts that the tiny creature… was a friend, a protector even. How a creature so tiny and so weak could ever be considered a mighty Dragon’s protector… that was beyond him. However, the scent didn’t lie.

And even beyond those, there were a myriad of other scent and sensations, some so minute they nearly escaped him. This tiny creature, so young and plump it seemed, had experienced so much and had seen and heard and lived very many different things. Even he was in slight awe and wonder—after all, most creatures, tiny or large, only ever live out a single reality. Within that reality, they are further restricted by their strength and knowledge—and even further by to whom they were born, where they were raised, and how they were taught.

A small trillion of things go into forming a whole and unique picture of someone’s reality, yet this creature’s was… countless times larger, more diverse, and louder than others’. Within it all, he even scoped out a tiny trace of his former friends, the awfully titled ‘Council’. How long has it been since he was last in contact with them? Must have been quite a few cycles. When he left them, they were on an upward surge. They begged and pleaded and promised him everything to stay and continue fighting… but he couldn’t. It was too much, all of it.

Life was not meant for war, he realized back then; though nigh every intelligent species was remarkably good at it, war was just a transitionary measure. It was not the food and the seed through which a species sustains itself. Yet, his was condemned to a war for all eternity, and a war that they would inevitably lose. What was the point? He pondered. Realizing there were none, he withdrew and hid and cut off all contact with the reality.

Yet, that reality, almost wholly, came surging back in the form of the tiny creature—seemingly all his former friends and foes somehow touched this tiny thing and either blessed him or cursed him, endowing him with colors of fate beyond measure. In fact, they nigh matched his—and he was someone who splashed crimson blood across the countless eons of life and death, having seen and heard and done everything that there was to see and hear and do.

Fighting the tiny creature, all his doubts were confirmed. The tiny thing was weak—immeasurably weak. He had to hold back so much just from the fear of accidentally killing it. But… the tiny thing was uniquely strong for its infant-like age. Not to mention that its Mana is fresh and raw meaning that it was a participant of the damned Crucible, and a recent one to boot. There was an uncapped swirl of elements happily dancing round the tiny thing, like the fractured notes to the still-in-work symphony. Though it was rough to hear and didn’t sound all that great, the potential was there, and it was evident that with just a bit of polish, it would be able to shine splendidly.

Staring at the tiny figure in the far distance recollecting itself and gathering Mana, he almost smiled; little remained in his life that was worth not just waking up for but also smiling. And, somehow, this tiny creature of humanoid species had most of those reasons rolled into one.

He replied to the humanoid’s roar and roared back, belting out the voice that had remained dormant for so long that the cosmos had nearly forgotten it. After so many years, so many eons, so many cycles, he was ready to flame out again, like a candle with its wick on the last breaths. Nonetheless, with one final push, that tiny candle could illuminate the entire cosmos, twice over, and remind everyone that, once upon a time, it was the Dragons that nearly dethroned the Divine.

**

Staring at the extremely unique scene, Ar’dyzar couldn’t help but smile. Standing opposite one another were the two of the most perversely unique creatures that she could latch onto for some fun, both capable of raising the kinds of chaos that could utterly reshape the cosmos, but in very different ways. Now that the two had med up, her role was completed; closing the tunnel that she had suffered quite a bit to keep open, she took a deep breath and glanced to the side where a tiny creature, palm-sized and rabbit-shaped, stared at her with gem-like red eyes.

“You are playing a dangerous game,” a voice broke out, soft and melodic, seemingly coming from the rabbit-like creature. “If discovered…”

“Eh,” she shrugged. “What will they do? Strip me of my Divinity and kill me? Or toss me into the Infernal Hourglass? Besides, I’ve been more than careful enough.”

“Fabricating an entire Trial and interfering so much… he better be worth it.”

“We’ll see,” she replied, smiling cheekily. “The two of them are a unique pairing, after all. If all goes well, inevitably… we might just learn what the fuck is happening within the Divine Hall.”

“Why can’t you be like the others?” the voice sighed. “And just resign yourself to not knowing and living out a peaceful life?”

“Tsk, that’s boring. Besides, that kind of content is what led to the entire cosmos being in the state that it’s in. If we cared a little more about the truths and less about what the next, big fetish is gonna be, we might have gotten much farther than this. Anyway, you’ve sat with me through the entire thing. The hell are you raising your concerns for now?”

“I’ve raised them plenty of times beforehand; stop making things up.”

“Really? I can’t recall.”

“Mighty funny coming from a creature that’s physically incapable of forgetting.”

“I might just be super unique.”

“You definitely are; just not in this department.”

“Ugh, fine, fine, enough. I’m tired. I need to take a nap. Wake me up when he reaches twentieth floor or enters the Void. You should rest some as well.”

“… very well.” The rabbit-like creature cast a last glance toward the veiled woman who lay down on top of the bed and sprawled herself without a care in the world before closing its own eyes and nudging its head against the cool, wooden desk. It will be a while before the two woke up; the amount of Mana they expanded in the last few months was enough to create an entire new world and breathe life into it, after all.