Even in her power-crazed state, Dee realized that the situation was very bad. If she had been thinking clearly, she would have noticed the portal opening and could’ve used her speed to avoid the serpentine dragon coiling around her. If she had reacted faster, she might have used her unnatural flame to hurt the damn snake! Now it was too late. The dragon was somehow preventing her own powers from working correctly, mostly by flooding her system with its own power, and she was slowly losing her grasp on consciousness. It wasn’t even the serpentine dragon squeezing her unconscious, but just the sheer pressure of the serpentine dragon’s presence surrounding her that was doing it!

She feebly tried to claw at the sides of the serpentine dragon, and to her surprise had some limited success in breaking some of the scales. Unfortunately, it was too late and she no longer had the strength to continue. All this new power that she didn’t even get to explore properly and here she was, getting strangled to death by a snake calling itself a dragon!

Slowly but surely the darkness overtook her.

-----

Unlike the Valkyries that were paralyzed by fear, the old man had sharp enough eyes to see the dilemma Dee was in. He wanted to rush in to help but held back. He could tell that if he challenged the blue scaled dragon he would lose. Badly. Attacking the dragon was just throwing his life away. Normally something like this would not stop him from at least trying to save his precious disciple, but there were some other matters that stopped him from doing so now.

First thing was that he recognized the rough type of the dragon. The serpentine form was typical of a category of dragons with many names, Cloud Dragon, Kirin, Celestial Dragon, Imperial Dragon, and many, many more. Not all of the dragons of that category were the same, but in general, they tended to be the righteous type. That’s why they were often a symbol of many imperial dynasties on thousands of worlds, hence the name Imperial Dragon. Dee’s earlier behavior and nature as an Abyssal Dragon might provoke one of their kind to action, but usually they didn’t move without a damn good reason.

There was also another thing. The Kirin, as the old man liked to think of them, were less physical and ferocious in combat than their normal cousins, the standard metallic and chromatic dragons whose bodies were more developed towards physical combat. That was still on the spectrum of dragons though, so underestimating a Kirin in physical combat was a really bad idea, but the undeniable fact was that most of them tended to be more calm and fight mostly with magic and their breath. This dragon had gone out of its way to attack Dee physically and in a way that would potentially leave her unharmed.

The third and final factor was that this was Dee. She had a knack for surviving. Even if the other dragon had something wicked in mind like trying to enslave her, Dee would most likely survive. The deities watching over her didn’t seem like the type to just watch her die either. That being the case, it might be important for him to bring word of what happened here to the Four Winds instead of throwing his life away. Where he alone might not be enough, the word of the Four Winds carried a lot more weight. Besides, didn’t the Crimson Witches want to court Dee as well? If the Witches helped Dee, that would leave Dee indebted to them, but alive at least.

Suddenly a deep male voice traveled through the distance to the group on the cliff and the serpentine dragon looked their way. “No need to look so aggrieved master of Haydee. I intend no harm. Well, not permanent harm anyway. As you most likely noticed, your disciple lost herself to her dragon side and would not be able to find her own way back. Such is the downfall of Abyssal Dragons, unfortunately. This made my intervention necessary. I will take her with me and help her deal with the problem, whatever it takes.”

“Who are you, and how long will this take?” The old man asked in reply. He didn’t exactly trust the dragon, but according to what he had heard, the Kirin didn’t lie. Mostly because they didn’t have to. Like here, the Kirin didn’t have to say anything. There was little he could do about it anyway.

The dragon seemed to give a sigh, though it was hard to tell from this distance. “Most people know me as Xinglong. As to how long it will take? Who can say? It could be days, or it could take decades. It takes as long as it takes. For immortals time is irrelevant. Just know that I have watched over her for a lot longer than you have, and I will do what needs to be done.”

It seemed the serpentine dragon didn’t feel like discussing things further, as it clumsily rose from the ground while still remaining coiled around Dee, and another portal appeared in the sky. The dragon moved much slower, almost as if it was slowed by injury in addition to holding Dee, but the old man was too distracted to pay further attention as it disappeared. He was almost certain about the destination the two dragons were headed to as he recognized the name.

“Xinglong, as in star dragon? As in the rank thirteen being holding the sixth spot in the first circle alone? The one who is supposed to be dying?” Sigrun suddenly piped up while kneeling on the ground. She too had heard the name before.

The old man knew that the young Valkyrie was correct. He had much more information on the being she spoke of. If that had really been Xinglong, then that explained why the dragon had given the impression of being injured. It also explained why despite the fearsome presence it had projected, the feeling wasn’t as overpowering as a rank thirteen being in battle should have. He had felt that feeling once before and the oppressive feeling had been much stronger, strong enough that he wouldn’t have even considered engaging in battle. That was partially why he had started striving for strength himself.

“You.” The old man suddenly pointed at Sigrun. “You’re going to deliver a message for me.”

“And why would I want to do that?” Sigrun asked rather audaciously.

“Because your little friends here will not be going anywhere before you do. Need I remind you that you’re trespassing where you do not belong?” He asked with a steely look on his face.

“And what’s stopping me from going to my kin for help against you?” She asked just in case. She suspected there were several reasons but wanted it said out loud to clarify their position. An implicit threat made things easier.

“Do you think I live alone on this mountain?” The old man asked with a small smile. “Or even more precisely, do you think your kind will be able to help you even against just me alone? There’s a reason why that dragon chose to pacify me. No, you will go and deliver the message, and most likely bring at least one person with you back here. Go to the Four Winds and ask for a person called Moirai. Tell her this exactly as I say it: the dummy disciple is in trouble. She’ll know what it means and will likely not even bother asking you questions. Some of the others might though, and you’re free to either reply or not as you see fit.” Not that the Four Winds would really give her a choice.

He watched as the Valkyrie left through the portal. Moirai would have a conniption fit. He took another look at the other Valkyries still sitting on the ground as a non-threatening gesture. They might actually be worth some training, assuming he could set their heads straight. They each seemed to have certain talents and together they might be really strong. Not as strong as Dee of course, but they might be able to rival the other idiot disciple someday. Maybe their intrusion might turn into something useful? Besides, Dee’s training had left him restless and he needed someone new to torture.

----------

Dee woke up still lost in a haze of greed and lust for power but was calm enough to survey her surroundings. Her dragon form was bound to the ground by some means she could not see or break. Her inability to see was because her neck and head were also bound in place, and she could not physically turn her head to see the bindings. Her ability to see and read mana didn’t actually need direct sight though and told her that whatever bound her was entirely magical, but too intricate for her to recognize or identify.

Suddenly her sight was occupied by the head of the damn snake that had knocked her out! She wanted to roar in defiance and anger but was unable to even manage that due to the bindings. The same bindings also made it impossible for her to use any of her abilities. This was the first time she even heard about something like this. She could not even feel her Domain and totem, though now that they were truly a part of her, she knew they were there somewhere. They were simply being obstructed by something.

“Turn into another form.” A deep male voice commanded her.

Although she could not roar in defiance, she could still stare at the damn snake and make it clear what she thought of his suggestion! Why would she bother taking some inferior form, when she was already approaching perfection with her current one? What could those feeble forms do for her? Nothing, that’s what! With only very slight interest she did notice that she still retained the ability to change forms, somehow. Maybe a weakness in the bindings she could exploit?

“I see you’ve decided to be defiant. That’s alright. We have time.” Suddenly the bonds around her tightened, enough to really put pressure on her. The pressure kept growing, and finally she could feel something breaking. She wasn’t sure what, but it hurt like a bitch! She managed to utter a pained sound just before being knocked out by the suddenly flaring presence of the serpentine dragon in front of her.

-----

As she woke up again, the only change in her condition was that whatever had been broken before she got knocked out was repaired. She also felt no hunger or thirst, so something in here sustained her, even though she could manage without sustenance for a long time. Almost as soon as she woke up the same serpentine dragon appeared in front of her and calmly said the same thing. “Turn into another form.”

She continued to stare her defiance at the snake! The damn snake continued. “I see you’re still defiant. That’s alright, we have time.” His words mirrored those he had said last time.

This time Dee knew what to expect when the squeezing force came. She had the ability to block pain, something she found when being operated on by the assassins, but to her shock, something seemed to be preventing that ability from working. That didn’t matter. Although it hurt, she was no stranger to pain and could take this much. Something once again broke inside her and the pain seemed stronger than last time. The dragon’s presence once again knocked her out.

-----

It was the tenth time the two went through the same routine when something changed. Something else besides the level of pain that is, as that seemed to grow every time. She had managed to figure out that the pain was magically transferred into her mind, which was why she could not block it and she also knew the spell purposefully increased the pain every time they went through this.

“Turn into another form.” The calm and deep voice said once again. Her defiant stare was the only reply she could manage.

“I see you’re still defiant. That's alright, we have time.” Then the damn snake finally said something else. “We can do this for years or decades if necessary. Sooner or later you will do as I say. You could spare yourself that pain, but I doubt you will do so.” Those words did not fill her with confidence.

The pain and the darkness followed once again.

-----

Dee had lost count of how many times they had gone through the routine. At least a hundred, though the details blurred a little. As a psion, she should not forget such details, but even for psions, there were certain coping mechanism. Something she had discovered during her time with the assassins. She could fight those coping mechanisms if she wanted to but decided against it.

This time there was something different once again. There seemed to be some faint voice calling for her. The voice seemed familiar, but for some reason, she could not remember why. The pain had become too much and put her mind deeper into a haze. Luckily the darkness once again claimed her and made the pain stop.

-----

The faint voice seemed to be calling her name. Was it crying? It seemed like the faint voice was sobbing and repeating the phrase “Please!”.

“Turn into another form.” The snake in front of her said once again, the words having become an unchanging routine. A routine that preceded the pain. This time she didn’t defiantly stare at the snake but was too focused on trying to hear the voice. For some reason, that voice seemed to tug at her mind and move something inside her. For some reason, the routine also didn’t seem to be going as usual and that caught her attention.

“Turn into another form.” The snake repeated. The snake never stopped repeating his words.

“Turn into another form.” The snake repeated his words again.

Maybe this once. The lesser forms were useless, but she knew what would happen next if she didn’t abide by the damn snake's wishes. She didn’t like obeying anyone else. Something about that made her recoil in a very fundamental way. But, maybe she could try, not because she was told to do so, but because she chose to do so. Maybe something else would happen if she used the lesser forms just this once.

Her form glowed for a moment, and she shifted into her normal form. The bindings fell to the ground around her and power once again flowed through her freely. As she switched forms, it was like a deep fog was lifted from her mind. She could hear Croestia’s sobbing. What had she been doing? What the hells had happened? The dragon side of her had never had that much of an influence over her.

“Well, that was faster than I thought.” Suddenly a deep and satisfied voice sounded from in front of her. She looked up and saw a large blue scaled serpentine dragon in front of her. The dragon seemed somehow familiar, and not just because of the pain she had gone through. She had not forgotten that part or the loathing she had felt towards the being, though that too had disappeared with her transformation. The earlier loathing had been something almost instinctive like she was looking at some lower life-form.

“How long?” Dee croaked. Apparently the time spent as a dragon without drinking or eating anything had done a number on her voice. ‘I’m alright. I’m back to myself.’ She also sent a silent message to the crying Croestia. This was the first time the magical item had shown such emotions.

‘I just couldn’t bear watching you suffer like that. You were not yourself anymore and in so much pain!’ Croestia sent a thought back. Instead of replying Dee sent back a feeling of gratitude and how Croestia’s voice had helped her come back. That seemed to placate the still crying item that was quickly recovering.

“About seven months.” The dragon answered Dee’s question. “It’s a little hard to judge time in the first circle since the sun is always up here thanks to our 'honored' first ranked community. You also kept waking up erratically, sometimes many times a day, sometimes only once a day. Here, you might need this.” A glass of some clear liquid appeared from nowhere and floated towards Dee.

She took a deep gulp and felt that the liquid also had some healing and nourishing properties. “What happened?” She managed to ask between the gulps from the glass that seemed to be re-filling automatically.

“The bane of all Abyssal Dragons. They lose themselves in their desires and never come back. The emotion differs from abyssal to abyssal. Most lose themselves in rage and anger, hence the reputation of your kind going berserk and going into a frenzy. You lost yourself in greed and desire for power, which I suppose isn’t a surprise considering how much you must have gained when becoming immortal. Normally there’s nothing to be done, but luckily you’re only partly abyssal.” The dragon explained.

“Will it happen again?” Dee inquired with worry. She had no desire of going through that again.

“Well, that depends. Your case is a little special. On one hand you’re only part abyssal but on the other hand someone really did a number on you and used the blood of Tiamat, an Old One and the first of all Abyssal Dragons to create you. That means the abyssal blood in you is really pure, but on the other hand Tiamat was able to control himself, unlike his progeny.” The dragon seemed to be considering for a moment. “In short, I would say it will eventually happen again unless…”

“Unless what?” Dee demanded an explanation.

“Well, there is a way for me to balance the abyssal blood inside you. But, before we go into that, there’s a few things you need to understand. First is my identity. I don’t just mean my name and position, although those will explain a lot as well. My name is Xinglong, and I’m the being everyone is talking about when they speak of a spot opening in the first circle of day city. I’m also an Astral Dragon. Our home is the Astral Sea, which you are already familiar with.” The dragon explained.

“So you’re the one who has been watching me when I go through the portals.” Dee mentioned after a moment’s consideration.

“Yes and no. I have been watching you, but I’ve been doing that for much longer than that. Also, I’m not the only one of my kind, although I might be the strongest. The others might have also taken an interest. We are the rulers of the Astral Sea after all, and someone like you traipsing through the place is a curiosity. Some of my kind might be just curious, while others might be less than pleased. Many of my kind feel that the Astral Sea belong to us alone and some of them feel that the presence of others is more like a contamination rather than something to be encouraged. Visitors used to be much more common in the past, so we tolerated them better then.” The dragon’s answer didn’t exactly fill Dee with confidence.

“And why exactly have you been watching me?” Dee asked with her eyes narrowing.

“Because your mother Selvaria sent you to me. Or at least that was what was supposed to have happened. Well, if you’ve heard the rumors about what’s going on in the first circle, I think you know what happened just when I was supposed to be coming to pick you up. I lost touch with you at that point and didn’t find you again until much later after you had already been rescued from the assassins. After that, it seemed better to leave you where you were at, rather than draw attention to you by bringing you to me. That would’ve made you enemies you were not ready to face. I kept an eye on you and maybe nudged you a little into a direction more beneficial for your growth.” The dragon’s voice took a sad tone and gave the impression of sadness, though not so much towards the end.

“And I’m supposed to just forgive you for leaving me alone all this time?” Dee asked with her eyes narrowing.

“No. I failed, and there will be a recompense paid. I won’t ask for forgiveness, nor do I want it. I failed, that is a fact. However, all things considered, I think things worked out rather well for you. You might be the youngest immortal in Pantheon's history, you have friends, and you’ve also had something akin to loved ones. Your training is much more expansive than anything I could’ve provided. I’m not really a teacher after all. You’re also blessed by the four most powerful deities in existence. Yes, I noticed that. You’ve had to suffer and face many things you’d probably rather not have faced, but that has made you into who and what you are now. Things are as they are and regrets are useless.” The dragon said firmly.

“That’s it?” Dee asked surprised. That seemed awfully callous. She wasn’t one to complain, but her whole life had taken a turn due to the dragon’s failure.

“No, I did say there will be a recompense paid for my failure. While your current situation now is not bad, it doesn’t remove my mistake. One of the few things I could’ve taught you if things had gone otherwise would be to control your abyssal side, so the least I can do is to make up for that. However, things are not quite so simple. Since you have heard rumors of what’s going on in the first circle, have you never wondered why I didn’t take revenge for the curse laid on me, and perhaps, more importantly, me losing touch with you and thus breaking my promise to Selvaria?” The dragon posed a rather obvious question.

“I had assumed you couldn’t for some reason. Now I’m guessing it has something to do with me.” Dee replied after a moment of thought.

“Somewhat correct. There are three reasons. The first reason is that I already took partial revenge. Astral Dragons are beings of almost pure magic, and the curse laid on me by the Coven was well chosen. It quickly infected me completely, making removal impossible, and targets my very nature. Every time I use my power the curse progresses and my life grows shorter. The same curse would not work on another being of my level or even someone weaker. However, what the Coven did not consider is that I managed to tie my fate to the one that laid the curse on me. The leader of the Coven will die along with me when I do.

“The Coven is divided into those that do the witch’s work and those that increase their ability to do battle. Their leader is much beloved and respected by both sides as she came from both backgrounds and bound them together. With her death, the two sides will have trouble selecting the next head of the Coven because the balance between the sides will be broken. That will be my parting gift for the Coven that was mostly just a pawn in all this. Part of my revenge for the Celestial Emperor is to sour his relations with the Coven, who already disliked him because they were half forced into cursing me.” The dragon explained rather patiently.

“You said there were three reasons. That’s just one. Two if you consider you lacking power due to the curse.” Dee pointed out.

“That is a bit wrong. It’s not that I don’t have the power, but because I need the power elsewhere, and I didn’t want to shorten my time in this world. I had a promise to fulfill after all. Something like balancing your abyssal side will take my remaining strength as it is.” The dragon replied seemingly not worried about what he was saying.

“Wait, so helping me will kill you?” Dee asked, shocked.

“I told you there would be recompense, and I meant for both of us. Besides, I would die anyway. It’s only a matter of when. I really dislike breaking my word. I loathe it in fact. I also loathe the person who forced me into it. As it happens, me doing this will also serve as the other part of my revenge against him. I’ve been hiding your presence from him after your new status as an immortal and will continue to do so after I’m gone. However, before you once again disappear into the depths of Pantheon, I will reveal your presence just for a moment. That will be my revenge. You don’t have to feel obligated to seek his death. Just your continued existence will be enough of a thorn in his side.” The dragon opened his maw in a something like a grin.

“Why?” Dee asked.

“Because you both have a Domain and totem that is about dominance. Domains are all about desires and concepts important to the person in question. Yours is much more dominant though, and that will hurt his pride deeply. His Domain and totem are all about being the emperor and ruling over others mortal and immortal alike. That reveals his deepest desire. Yours is about standing above everyone and everything in a way that no one can threaten you anymore. That includes beings like the gods and those involved in the War in the Heavens like the angels, and that includes him. As a result, your concept is much more dominant and powerful, and he won’t be able to tolerate it as it flies directly against what he holds most important.” The dragon laughed, releasing a deeply disturbing sound. A dragon laughing was not something most beings wanted to hear.

“So why do I think you balancing my abyssal side won’t be so simple?” Dee pointed out. The dragon had seemed very hesitant earlier despite his apparently complete plan.

“Because you’re smart. There will most likely be a price to pay. I can’t just suppress the part of you that is abyssal, it’s too much a part of you. It’s also because the blood comes from Tiamat. You can’t just suppress something like that. So instead, I will have to add to it with my own power. Something like that will not come without consequences. What those consequences will be, I have no idea, except I’m almost certain there will be some price you have to pay. There will be changes. Whether you think it will be worth it is up to you.” The dragon said looking into Dee’s eyes.

Dee could somehow tell that she would lose something important if she took this decision, but on the other hand, she would also regret not taking the decision for obvious reasons. She remembered the dragon’s words. “Things are as they are and regrets are useless.” She wondered if that was really true.