‘Hello, little brave one.’

I watch in fascination and horror as a massive black shape shimmers into existence around a rocky pillar. It is serpentine, covered in black scales, horns curving around it’s head to form a crown, a shadowy orb floating as the centerpiece. Giant black claws, teeth the size of knives. Piercing purple eyes stare at me.

I mutter one word in horror, “Inik.”

The area shimmers around Kamar as he drops the stretcher, bringing his hands up, Iron katra rippling around him. He growls, cursing.

Inik’s gaze immediately moves from me to the asper, the orb in between his horns shifting with black and white shadows faster. The dragon’s claws tighten, and the rock pillar he holds himself up on crumbles, snapping.

I watch as it groans, crumbling down with a cacophony of sound and landing in an explosion of dust and sand.

The black dragon crawls over the pile, standing atop it and looking down on us. He stands atop it, proud and vicious, his gaze piercing me and seemingly seeing into my very soul.

I shiver, quickly untying the ropes that strap me into the stretcher and stumbling to my feet next to Kamar.

Kamar glances at me, and makes a disgruntled noise, and the Iron katra surrounding him seems to thicken.

Inik’s gaze shifts back to the asper, and his booming voice echoes inside my head. ‘Cease.’

A terrifying wave of uncontrollable fear crashes into me, screaming at me I am weak, should give up, die. My breath is caught in my throat, and I gasp for air, desperately batting away the aura of terror.

I feel the pressure retract, and I fall to my hands and knees, gulping in air. I stare at the sand between my fingers, my vision steadying and breathing calming.

Looking up, I can see Kamar. He has been squashed into the sand, and is shaking, trying to move. The Iron katra he had been conjuring has completely dissipated, and I can see he is trying to muster more of it.

The sand granules are slowly rolling away from him in a circle, the very weight and force of the projection affecting the world.

I bow my head, planting my forehead in the sand and say, “Great One, p-please spare us!”

I can see from the corner of my eye the pressure on Kamar being let up, and he climbs to his hands and knees, but stays bowing. He shakes his head, rubbing it.

Iniks voice booms once again, a shadow falling across me and the noise of large, heavy breathing. I don’t look up. ‘We meet again, little brave one.’

I stutter out, “A-a most unexpected, but-but magnificent happening!”

Iniks giant claw steps into my vision, his nails digging into the sand. ‘Flattery will only get you so far, little brave one.’

I shiver, because I can feel his massive jaws close to me, feel his hot breath on the back of my neck.

‘You have improved much since we last met.’

I press my head harder into the sand, “T-this… I have not improved enough to compare to you, Great One.”

I can feel Inik’s eyes narrowing, staring deeply into me. ‘Perhaps not in strength, but that which you carry inside you is most intriguing.’

A shiver runs down my spine, He’s talking about Amia! How can he see it?

I can’t help but remember the last time I had seen him. He had said to only return when I thought I could fight him.

“This one i-is grateful to you, Great One. He- I would not have gotten so far without your aide.” I say in awe, suppressing my stutter as best I can. I try to keep the dread and terror from my voice.

‘You have changed, little brave one. But I can see your will has only grown more.’

“I am but a cripple, Great One. I do not deserve your praise,” I say, finally getting my emotions in check. Stay calm.

‘Perhaps. I find it most intriguing you are here, though.’ His voice mellows out, but the deep booming bass of it still rattles my brain.

Intriguing?

“I do not understand, Great One.” I hedge carefully.

‘It is nothing of importance, or concern to you.’

I stay silent for a few seconds, before asking the question that is most bothering me. “Why are you here, Great One?”

The ground rumbles as Inik shifts his weight, the sand dunes shifting and the earth groaning. His shadow engulfs both me and Kamar, completely covering us.

‘I am hunting.’

I think on what he says, and the only thing I can conclude is something that makes me scared of him even more. “This one humbly asks why you have appeared before him, Great One.”

‘I left my home because you humans have been a nuisance. I am hunting.’

I gulp, and ask the question that I dread. “The Great One is hunting the tarrasque?”

The sand whispers as it shifts, Inik leaning down to look at me, ‘Yes.’

I make note that he doesn’t ask where it has gone. Which means he knows where it is.

Something else he said also sticks out, “Great One, what do you mean by humans being a nuisance?”

I look up from the sand, staring at the towering figure of the dragon. I feel so small.

His dark scales glint dully in the scorching sun, he stands many meters taller than me. The orb between his horns pulsates with dark and light energy, and his back is covered in ridges. I can see the tips of his dagger teeth, which glint in their sharpness. Iniks piercing purple eyes stare at me, and he says on word with both reverence and disgust, ‘War.’

The word echoes in my skull, bouncing around.

“War?” I say confused.

‘The Empire has collapsed.’

The Empire has… No, that can’t be! I try to comprehend the scope of it. Vicar had explained to me before that the Traezar Empire was strained, trying to prepare from war on all sides.

Oh gods! It is unimaginable that the Empire has fallen. This can’t be true...

I am drawn from my disbelief by Inik.

Inik shifts, looking down on Kamar, who has stayed silent and bowing, through from his clenched fists, I think he wants to get back up. ‘You travel with a strange companion.’

Kamar speaks up for the first time, “I am Kamar Arntile of House Arten, former adventurer and current Chief of Millwallow Village.”

‘You are an asper, but are also a member of a House.’ Inik rumbles, stating it like a fact, but saying it more closely like a question.

“I am adopted,” Kamar states simply.

‘You follow a strange path.’ A deep, throaty rumble comes from Inik’s chest, and it takes me a second to realize he is chuckling.

The dragon turns to look at me, his purple eyes staring deep into my soul. ‘You have finished bonding. What powers did you attain?’

I stare at the giant Sacred Beast, an internal struggle going on inside me. On one hand, I don’t want to tell him, on the other, I don’t want him to kill me. I would rather live than die.

I bow my head again, saying, “I have gained Versatile Adaption, Aberrant Resistance and Immutable Will. I also gained a System Classification called Artificer, Great one.”

‘Explain.’

“I can adapt, with the expenditure of katra, to situations and environments. Aberrant Resistance makes me faster, more flexible and grants me enhanced balance. Immutable has seemingly bolstered my own will and formed powerful defenses in around my mind. Artificer…” I hesitate, trying to find a way to explain it.

I speak up after a few seconds, “Artificer lets me create things from my own katra.”

Inik stares at me for a second, before chuckling. ‘A versatile fighter specialized in adapting. A potent combination, perhaps you may present more of a challenge than I originally thought.’

I can feel blood leaving my face. He still wants to fight me?!

My mind is buffeted by deep, booming laughter. ‘Do not fear, you are still too weak to be worth killing. I could snuff you out like a candle just by looking at you hard enough.’

That statement doesn’t really help calm me, only putting me more on edge.

Inik’s gaze on me intensifies, and I can’t not look away from his deep, purple eyes. I can feel him pulling the mind link he has formed to talk, using it to peer deep into me. That must be how he knows about my Amia.

‘You have created a katra generator, interesting. Though, I can see you did it with help.’ Inik muses.

With help? The only person that I can think of that would have helped me is Vengeance, and he had been recovering.

He rumbles something in a far more hostile tone, ‘I see you in there… You shall not harm my Apostle.’

I blink, his words ringing in my ears, the malevolence and blood lest inside them is palpable. He must be talking about Vengeance.

I listen, trying to discern if there is anything that responded to Inik’s threat. There is only silence.

Inik hmms as if he got a response, and pulls his large head back, looming over Kamar and me again. ‘I shall now continue my hunt. After I am done, I shall find you in Parasan, and we shall discuss in length your new powers.’

I bow deeply to Inik, saying, “Thank you, Great One.”

Light seems to bend around Inik’s massive frame, warping it in a rainbow of colors, then he is gone.

I blink, trying to discern where the black dragon went. He’s… gone?

All that remains is the indents in the sand from where he had been standing, the wind whipping sand up into the air and starting to cover even those.

My mind is racing with thoughts about what he had told me happened to the Traezar Empire.

Has it really fallen?

I’d always been taught that the Empire was infallible, and it sure seemed like it when I was living there. Powerful cultivators, strong Houses and much more.

I chuckle my disbelief, Yet reality seems intent on shattering everything I have ever known.

Taking a few deep breaths, I calm myself. I can confirm it when we get to Parasan.

Kamar pulls me from my thoughts, putting one of his smaller hands on my left shoulder. “I take it that was Inik, the destroyer of kingdoms?”

I nod dumbly, my thoughts racing.

Kamar takes a deep breath himself, pats me on the shoulder and says, “Let’s get you back in the stretcher, then we can talk.”

I stand up slowly, and stumble my way over to where the stretcher has been abandoned in the sand. I try and ignore the fact that now that I am moving, the dunes are undulating and moving like waves.

Laying down in the stretcher, I let Kamar tie the rope back around my waist.

I look over his shoulder, at the seemingly growing mountain in the distance. What… is that?

It might just be me seeing things, but I point and ask Kamar, “Do you see that?”

He finishes tying the rope and turns to look at the wall that seems to be moving closer. The asper grunts, “That’s a sandstorm. We best head for those rocks and hope we can find cover.”

A sandstorm? I look at the seemingly massive wall of sand that is approaching us from the east. It’s massive!

He quickly picks up the handles of the stretcher and starts pulling us at a increased pace to the rocky outcroppings in the distance.

I want to talk to Kamar about what just happened, but decide to let him focus on getting us to the rocks.

My mind loops back around to what else Inik said. He was talking to someone.

Closing my eyes, I move my mind’s eye into my soul space.

Materializing, I find myself hovering above Amia. Vengeance floats a few feet away, looking down on the world as it slowly turns.

I approach him, asking, “Was the dragon talking to you?”

The Ruler of Chains shakes his head, saying in his hollow voice, “No, he wasn’t.”

I think on that for a second, staring at Amia and it’s blue and green surface. Then who was he talking to?

I try to think of who else Inik might have been talking to in here. For some reason, the tingling at the base of my skulls starts up.

I put my right hand over it, massaging the back of my neck. Weird.

A thought comes to me as I watch my creation bellow me.

I had focused and detailed incredibly how I wanted to make things so far. Yet I don’t know all that much about them, so how did I successfully make the Asren?

I think about the strange plant that had been the first seed that sprung into my world. How did that get there?

Inik had said someone had helped me create all this. But no one did… did they?

I look over at Vengeance, who is standing silent. He seems far more rigid than usual, and is avoiding looking at me. Infact, he didn’t bow…

“Vengeance. I have a question.”

He replies slowly, “Yes, Father?”

“I never specified how I wanted you to look. I think you know I never meant to create you the way you are now.”

The armored and hooded figure nods once.

I continue, “I always assumed I had accidently created you, but for some reason I suddenly can’t help but think that maybe it wasn’t as much of an accident as I originally thought… How did you form this shape you are in now, Vengeance?”

The phantom looks at me, the leather creaking quietly and the chains covering him rattling. “Mother helped give me form, Father.”