Despite the fanfare, it wasn't all that alarming. I had been in a few earthquakes before, and I knew that it felt strange, though I chalked that up to the location itself and stabilized myself accordingly. Or, I began to. But only until a towering shadow entered my peripheral vision, snaking across the grass and drawing my gaze toward a being which made me reconsider that first line.

I stumbled back as I froze halfway through my descent into a fetal position, falling directly on my bottom. The grass was cool with dew, reminding me I needed new pants.

From the forest, shrouded in the rays of the slowly descending sun, was a cylindrical being extending above the trees. It took me a moment to make out the details through its self-imposed shroud of darkness in my view.

I wished my eyes hadn't adjusted, because that was, without a doubt, a very large worm. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as some vestige of a childhood memory likened it to the Alaskan Bull Worm. Though a notably less animated version, with a circular tunnel of teeth that almost seemed to spin as they undulated staring at me instead of eyes. A segmented, too-smooth pink surface covered in splinters made up the body.

I think it goes without saying that I wished I had not looked at it. At that moment, I made a promise to myself to treat any future potential threats of notable size as eldritch entities. If I saw enough of this sort of thing, I may very well have begun bleeding from my eyes. I don't mention sanity, because all things considered I hadn't yet ruled out the possibility that that was already long gone.

And, suffice it to say, I had gained another reason to acquire new pants as soon as possible. Along with confirmation that, no, this planet was indeed a hellhole and I was right the first time. Like Australia, except (probably) real and with Dragons.

Rilu looked more annoyed than afraid, which both did and didn't help to assuage my fears. I was still staring at something straight out of Tartarus' worm tunnels, and I didn't know if his standards were affected by his current weakened state or not.

I was curious about why Rilu wasn't preparing to fight when the earth shook again.

It was difficult to perceive amidst the waning sunlight, but a similarly golden flame had erupted to challenge the beast. In a sense, both combatants appeared to be silhouettes, one in a hazy regalia that blended into the rays of the sun, one casting its own shadow out of sheer enormity and my limited perspective.

The shadow was lifted at the new power's approach, and I had the sense to avert my eyes this time. I did not need to see more of that.

By the time I glanced back, the flames had become easier to see as they came to rest in the wall of shadow cast by the forest. The sparse golden fires becoming a replica of the evening sky rather than a new layer to its spectrum.

Despite the elaborate description, the entire process took mere seconds. It was too perfect to see the now noticeably humanoid (more likely Dragonoid) figure bathed in golden light, standing against a giant monstrosity shrouded in shadow.

Perfect to the point where I was pretty sure that the figure- who I assumed was the guard given his absence from the main area of the outpost- was doing it on purpose. As much as I wanted to make a point about prideful dragons, I did appreciate the theatrics. Did popcorn exist here?

Perhaps I was feeling a bit too safe, but those feelings were validated a moment later.

The flame-clad guard had finished some strange posing, likely to accentuate a monologue I couldn't hear. The worm, confused by the setup and thus holding no respect for it, simply charged at the warm, bright object.

Which was a bad idea, as the object in question apparently did not like being interrupted.

I couldn't quite see from the distance, as my viewpoint wasn't entirely clear, but it was difficult to miss a torrent of the sky erase a column of forest and, more importantly, the monstrosity, from view.

It took a few moments to realize that the flames had disappeared. The light shining through the disintegrated trees that of the actual sun. The end of those few moments arrived just before a scalding hot breeze washed over the Outpost.

This was bearable, compared to what I had experienced days prior. Still not pleasant, but bearable. And a hell of a lot more pleasant than being thrown into the toothy meat grinder that was the beast at the epicenter of the cause.

Now that fight or flight had worn off a bit, I was ready to try to look for a change of clothes. I looked away from the sun for a moment before being adjusted back around by a familiar hand.

My head was pointed at a speck on the horizon, coming up for air after being drowned in a sea of gold. And by that, I mean that it was getting larger. Or, more accurately, closer.

Staring at the sun wasn't exactly enjoyable. So I turned to my side again. By the way he was eyeing it, I quickly learned to fear the worst.

"That wouldn't happen to be our destination, would it?"

"You have ten minutes."

Fuck.

-

The scene that ensued was something never seen before on the Nexus. A human, or, well, a 'Hornless', as it were, was frantically dashing from person to person present, begging for spare pants in his size. When asked for an explanation, he glared at them, and their amused befuddlement turned an inch closer to scorn.

To the Hornless, they seemed to be normal people. He hadn't yet adjusted to the power dynamic between himself and the denizens of the planet at his current level. As such, the vague screams at the back of his mind took no precedence over his desire to not be stuck on an unidentified flying object in ruined pants.

Surprisingly, someone did have mercy, perhaps simply as payment for the show. The charitable spirit, a younger Dragon serving as an escort for someone raiding the Forge, had intended to throw them at the Hornless and make them stumble.

The Hornless, however, grabbed it out of the air, lifting his leg and let the unreasonable force of the throw spin him. He gave a thankful expression and wrestled his way out of his old pants, unashamed of the gazes on him. He put on the new clothing article and approached the edge of the platform that was the stage of his little performance.

He threw the old pants off of the edge with a small salute. They careened over the edge, landing on the surface of the lake below with a pathetic splash. It didn't float on the surface for long, shifting back and forth in the tepid current before giving in to the watery embrace of the depths below.

Meanwhile, an indistinct segment of darkness in motion crossed the threshold into the forest. Not long after, the newly pants-clad Hornless was approached by another strange specimen.

A dragon who smiled at him endearingly. He had sun-kissed skin and angular features framed by fluffy blonde hair and crystalline antlers. He looked impatient and ready to take off toward everywhere he glanced.

The Hornless gulped and psyched himself up, shaking his hands off. The dragon laughed.

"I'd better not lose my new pants."

-

I had acquired pants and the flying object was approaching. My vision was sharp, but I couldn't quite see what it was. My heart beat like an engine in my chest, fueled by an excitement for all of the untolds to come.

I quelled the shaking in my bones and held out my hand. He looked dismissive, as if to mark me as immature. He grabbed my wrist.

'Sure, free-flying may be normal to you, but I'm a squishy, decidedly earth-bound human.'

It would be a lie to say that I was afraid of heights. When I had first gone skydiving, the craft carrying us crashed into a helicopter. We all had to jump out of a small hatch that fell off in the crash as it careened toward the ground. It was probably the most fun that I ever had in my life.

By the time I had finished reminiscing, much of the nerves had fallen away. I embraced the world around me with my new senses one last time. Everything felt in harmony. A calm before a storm, the edge of a threshold before it all was set into motion.

"Hold on with your life. I have a 50/50 shot at saving you if you fall."

"Better odds than I'm used to. I'll try my best, pretty boy."

He squeezed his hand and glared at me, a gesture I returned with a grin and a wink. He could get back at me after we escaped the time-limited, life-threatening situation.

We looked at each other for a long instant. We were both unwilling to leave the edge. We both knew that this was the end, or perhaps a new beginning. It was exciting and scary and beautiful and altogether hard to let go of.

"You know, our ability to get up there is thanks to you. It almost seems like fate," he spoke, breaking the silence. "This will be my first time truly flying."

Before I had time to ask what he meant a familiar warmth shrouded Rilu. He seemed to be deep in focus. I sent him my support in the form of a reassuring squeeze, similar to his before. I couldn't do much more than tell him I believed in him, not yet.

I looked back to the outpost. We had been standing in the strange pose for a little bit now. Due to my status, we had attracted a fair bit of disapproving gazes. I stuck my tongue out as the open sides of the back of his robe were finally filled. First by plumes of unconstrained fire, and soon after bat-like wings covered in scales.

They shimmered with a slick red glow, adorned with pale crystals. They reflected his eyes and antlers. As they formed, I felt that there was more to them, as Gradient showed the air giving away around us. I felt energized and fast simply by looking at them as if my limbs had been pumped full of helium and stimulants.

The lightness was frightening rather than liberating. Especially when, within the high from the aftereffects of the speed of the wings, I found the ground 10 meters below me. And we were accelerating.

By the next instant, that distance doubled, then quadrupled, and then I lost any sense of how high we were or how fast we were moving. I stared down and saw the rivers and forest below me, separated by a barrier of dirt-colored rock. I saw the forest in a new light, clearings much like our own peeking through the trees that looked so like skyscrapers mere seconds before. I almost wanted to jump down and see what some strange points of exotic colors were.

I think it goes without saying that I didn't follow that impulse, and awe was ripped from that focus quickly once the landscape below served to simply frame the sky.

I truly saw the descent of the sun as I flew up. The rose color bound betwixt the golden cast of misty clouds and the greens of the landscapes that we could see, a warped refraction of the world's grandest torch.

Rilu may have described it as breathtaking, but I was hyperventilating.

-

The brisk warmth of Leaf and I's ascent embodied a freedom I had always been seeking. A manifestation of ambitions whose broken remains I still held close.

I might have stolen that quote from Leaf.

I didn't care. I was the one who had the sky, and I was the one who could bring him to it.

...Admittedly, though, only after he had allowed me to evolve this ability.

The glorious sunset was dyed in hesitation. I knew that my current instability was my own fault. Entrenched in my own inheritance, I just wished for something to pass on. But at every turn, I had failed.

And now I was at the threshold. The sky was incredible but still uncertain. I had a destination, sure, but it was new. I was subject to my own inexperience with a new set of limbs and senses. I was hurling myself up and praying that it ended up alright.

I grabbed onto the purple-blue spark I had felt at my very core ever since that day, sending it my self-doubt and wants. It didn't respond, only brightening for an instant in a warm, empathetic rage.

There truly was nothing I could do but my best. Everything else, my doubts and hatred, my insecurities and impulses, my expectations and limits. None of that mattered if I wanted to go anywhere. I had to break through, and those were all meaningless sacrifices in the face of what came next.

I stared at the sunset and my destination. If I wanted to carve out more of this freedom, I would need to move forward. And my trajectory was set.

I listened to the tiny spark in the most intimate depths of my raging sea of the Inheritor of the First Flame Skill. It was my reason for power, having undergone four entire upgrades before my second Class. Because of my limiting circumstances, but it was my pride and joy nonetheless.

And I was afraid of making it my own.

I reminded myself of the first meditation Leaf had spurred within me. The ability to create solid constructs, the power to protect. It was a strange but powerful application of the ability, but it was so disjointed.

I called out for that feeling once again as I listened to the spark's song of pure intent.

Despite the beauty, I let go of my senses, my body's only goal to reach higher and hold tightly onto my favorite piece dead weight.

Well, tightly was an exaggeration. Maybe firmly. I didn't want to break his wrist. Fragile humans.

Thinking back to the stories he told me one last time and how I felt toward him.

Fueled by all of these feelings and needs the spark burst into a flame, igniting the rest of my Skill with its ghostly hue. My legacy would no longer be a mere inheritance. It would be the newness this evolution was forged upon, becoming a legacy to pass on so all those I touched would do the same.

So I wished.

I had been thinking that I would end up one who held fast against all threats to Dragonkind, standing at the forefront as a guardian. But that was not my path.

Because Dragons would not stand a guardian. At least, the Dragons that I had any pride for would not. And I would sustain and cultivate the greatness they represented, standing as one who fanned our flames higher, who pushed us all forward and forged a path for others to reach the same heights.

The heights that my Dragons would always seek. And beyond.

Leaf had called such thoughts vain hubris where he could, and I could see him thinking it where he couldn't say so. I would say that he simply didn't have something to believe in. This pride may end up my downfall, but however I grew and changed, I didn't see it leaving me.

Because I was a Dragon. And if that wasn't enough, I was content to let it be the death of me.

I stole that one too. Because if I wanted it to be enough, it couldn't be everything.

The fire flooded my veins and I roared. Hopefully not too loudly, I didn't want to deafen Leaf. The flame roared within as well. Images flashed through my mind, a lizard ascending to a fleeting godhood, beings once servants becoming a people of kings. What I inherited, foggy pictures I didn't understand, a story far greater than any Leaf had told me.

One I intended to carve my way into.

Because I was no longer an inheritor. I was a Keeper. The Keeper of the Origin Spark.

I opened my eyes.

The pressure of the change burst as my Imprint twisted into myself, sealing the deal, dyeing the sky around a new depth of purple and blue. The rays took on a vivid dreamlike quality even as the brightest of the light subsided.

I wondered if it looked like the fireworks Leaf had described. I hoped it was at least a good show, considering that was what I had spent my awakening on.