Volume 3, Chapter 9: Trial (Part 1)

“We have arrived, little Drenai,” I said toward the sleeping girl I held with one arm. I dropped her against the marbled floor without even one second of hesitation.

The Drenai were a race of humanoid creatures with light blue skin. Likewise, the little Drenai girl I had dropped against the floor was no exception.

She woke up with a startle and a moan of pain, her hands rubbing at her blurry eyes. The tears on her face had dried long ago, but her eyes were still somewhat red. The Drenai girl was a weak creature, her slightly chubby face which had still not lost the battle against childhood, and her short brown hair which was cut in a childlike fashion—weak.

The memories of my childhood were hazy and blurred from the edges of time. Centuries and a few millenniums had passed since my birth. But even with these blurred memories, I could still remember what was known as the Age of Residuum—the period of time I was born in.

It was a chaotic period, the aftermath of the Ages of the Warring Gods, where men, dragons, demons, dwarves, elves, and a multitude of other races cowered in fear before the might of the Gods. The oceans and the continents raged with their magic and their might.

Mountains were formed. Lakes were created. Whole continents were split into pieces. Death was rampant.

Even for me, I count myself lucky to not have been born during the Ages of the Warring Gods.

“Where are we,” the Drenai girl asked with a look of childlike curiosity mixed with a tinge of fear.

“The sacrificial chambers,” I replied back in her Drenai language.

The Drenai girl kept looking around the marbled chambers, but she saw nothing that could satisfy her curiosity. There was nothing interesting about these chambers. There were only marbled pillars, a floor with intricate carvings, and off in the distance, near the end of the room, was a plain-looking throne made entirely out of grey stone.

There was nothing to suggest that these chambers were for sacrifices.

I dragged the Drenai girl out of the dark illusion I had placed her under.

Reality crashed against her, opening her eyes to the true nature of the chambers.

Her screams went up high into the air, echoing around the chambers. She looked below to find herself in a pool of blood that reached more than half her waist. These screams became even louder when she saw what was around her.

Surrounding her and lined up against the walls of the chambers, against the marbled pillars of the chambers, against the floor of the chambers, were a multitude of corpses of various races. Their bodies were tortured beyond imagination and each and every face of the corpses were frozen in an expression of unimaginable terror.

Fresh blood, decaying bodies, and an atmosphere of malignancy permeated the sacrificial chambers.

The Drenai girl quickly trudged through the pool of blood she had found herself in.

She fell, tripping against a bleached white skull that had floated upward.

A scream which turned into sobbing shudders was let out.

Then the Drenai girl died as soon as my hand reached for her face. A poisonous dark cloud instantly surrounded her, dissolving her flesh, until all that remained was a hazy cloud of blood and the white skeletal frame of a child.

Another sacrifice had been added into the pool of blood. A sacrifice which would serve as power for my servants. Around me, I heard the moans of trapped souls who had witnessed these familiar scenes far too many times.

I ignored their pain. Their moans were just born out of futility. They would never be allowed a blissful departure into the realms of death.

As for the Drenai girl, I had only taken her blood. Her soul was not taken. I had no more need for souls, so she could count herself lucky for having taken a quick departure into the realms of death.

A few seconds had passed already, so the soul of the Drenai girl was out of reach for me, even if I wanted to change my mind and trap her soul. Once a creature died, only a few precious seconds were allowed to interfere with the soul of the creature.

“Arise,” I quietly whispered into the pool of sacrificial blood I stood in.

All around me, misshapen creatures, skeletons, undead warriors, dread knights, death knights, liches, and other powerful, dark creatures stood up from their slumbers in the depths of the pool of blood. Their eyes glowed with an evil light, the malignant presence of all the hateful souls and all the deaths having affected them deeply.

“My Great Lord,” the closest lich said to me in a baleful voice that could sear the very soul of a lesser creature. “What is your command?”

<><><><><>

I woke up shuddering in the middle of the night, gasping for air. Even for me, I could not stay calm at the evil memories of Demon Lord Codrixas. The images of all those tortured souls and corpses were branded into my very mind.

“Damn you...” I muttered. Even half sealed, Codrixas could still influence my memories. I could only hope he would stay trapped with the Deathwalker in the very depths of my mind and my soul. It was already hard enough that I was beginning to integrate with his magic and powers. I did not need his memories and personality as baggage. I could only vow to myself to never bring myself near the breaches of death, else the consequences would be dire.

I looked around the small cave I was in. It was near Navra's chambers, just to the other side of the mountain. The eldest had created a small chamber in the mountain for me to live in and so that I could stay close to him.

Could this be due to some sort of fatherly affection?

Then the Eldest's impassive, calculating eyes, and his amused face with that small incongruous smile came floating into my mind.

There was no way such a dragon whose age was almost unimaginable, I was beginning to think, could hold some sort of affection for the son he had created. And to begin with, I was not even his real son, just some creation of his.

I could only laugh at myself for even forming such a thought.

We were similar in mind though. I held no real fondness for the Eldest. I only held caution and respect for his might.

Snuggled against my chest, Aqua, the small two feet tall fairy, was sleeping blissfully. I had been careful not to move too much to wake her.

Her delicate and thin wings that looked as if they were made of silk were folded behind her back, and the slender curves of her body were hidden gracefully by the white silk-like material she was wearing.

I could have easily tear them apart...

Where had that sudden thought come from?

Mentally, I shook myself free of the cobwebs of memories.

The silk-like material Aqua was wearing was a form of water-crafting that was unique to her Asrai race. The aquatic fairies were quite skilled at that, having born and lived near water all their lives. Their miscellaneous abilities with water were quite impressive.

I let my head fall back down onto the floor of my cave, which was made of the soft furs of a variety of animals I had skinned.

But sleep came like a distant and ephemeral thing, hard to grasp, and nothing to retain.

<><><><><>

When morning came, I stood once more inside Navra's chambers. The details of the small trial, he had told me, would be given to me this morning.

Now, I only awaited for his instructions.

“You already know this, Verath, but it bears repeating. Do not, under any circumstances, devour the blood of a dragon more powerful than you. Your human soul will not be able to handle the power. It is already strained considerably with those two souls that are bound to you.”

“Also, your magic, judging from the first tribulation, only seems to work with the blood of a dying dragon, when the soul is readying to depart. If the blood is not taken from a near-death state, you will only gain temporary power and increased healing.”

“Your advice has been transferred to the forefront of my mind,” I said with a hint of humor in my voice.

“I shall hold you to it then,” he simply replied.

“So what is this small trial you speak of. Knowing you, it is no small trial.”

“Ah yes, do you remember when I said for your third tribulation, I would give you a task that even I could not accomplish?”

“How could I forget?” I said with no hesitation in my voice.

The Eldest let out a small, mandatory chuckle. “I have decided to change your third tribulation into something different instead of this small trial I am about to make you undergo.”

I could only somewhat sigh inwardly at his words. “So you plan to give me two third tribulations, one under the guise of a small trial?”

The Eldest formed a small smile which did not show off his teeth. “You could also call it that, though this small trial will be beneficial to you. It will help to stabilize the influences Demon Lord Codrixas and the Deathwalker will have on you.”

“What is this trial?” I asked with some forced enthusiasm. Navra was most likely having some self-amusement by drawing out his words.

To put it metaphorically, I was waiting for Navra to drop the other fireball.

A long pause passed by before the Eldest spoke up with that ever incongruous smile on his lips. “We shall head toward an island in the middle of the Asgardian Oceans, far away to the north of this continent. This island will be the place you will undergo this small trial.”

“Sounds exciting,” I said with false cheer.

It was just one of the many ways I spoke to Navra. He didn't really mind, since it somewhat amused him, to see me act so out of character.

Then the other fireball dropped. Literally.

“You shall bind yourself to a Lesser Fire Elemental.”

“Wait. Wait. Just what is a Lesser Fire Elemental. And don't I already have two souls bound to me? What would another binding do?”

“Trust, me,” Navra said with a smile, except this time, the smile he formed was larger.

“If you say so,” I said, knowing that my words were a lie. I did not trust the Eldest when it came to trials.

“We shall be teleporting a little over halfway and then fly the rest of the way.” Navra let out a small laugh. “I would have actually liked to teleport all the way to our destination, but even I would not dare offend the King and Queen Fire Elementals by intruding directly into one of their hidden territories.”

Hearing his words, I was curious about telportation. I had been meaning to ask Navra for a long time now. “Just how exactly do you teleport?”

“Hmm...for now, do not worry about it. You have no in-born talent to learn teleportation. However, I shall teach you the dragon magic for teleportation when you become more powerful. Right now, you are pitifully weak.”

Navra's words were blunt, and I did not bother to contest with his judgment. If I was weak, I was weak. It was a deference to his awe-inspiring power and age. “I see.”

I didn't bother to ask what the Fire Elementals were. I knew that Navra would only reply with these words:

“Wait and see.”

Without even one bit of warning, the scenery changed and I was suddenly standing beside the Eldest in midair in the middle of a vast ocean.

Then I was falling.

Having gotten used to his surprises, I quickly used my magic to grow my dragon wings. Then I flew back up a little to hover beside the Eldest, where Aqua was slightly shivering at one side. She was still afraid of the Eldest.

The Eldest was in his white-haired human form, wearing elegant black clothing with a red outline of a dragon, and stood about seven feet tall. The red outline of the dragon on his attire suited him, for his dragon form was of a gigantic and ferocious red dragon. At least, that was what his dragon form appeared to be during his crowning.

I would not have been surprised if he was deceiving every dragon that had attended his crowning. No, I would not be surprised even if the eldest transformed into a variety of colored dragons.

Even without wings, the Eldest was still hovering in the air. I could not even sense or see the magic he was using, but I knew that he was using some sort of magic to hold himself in the air.

“Follow me,” he simply said. Then he surrounded Aqua in a small sphere of thin, red-colored magic and quickly started flying. The small sphere of magic followed Navra like an obedient child following his mother, except the small sphere had a fairy who was banging her fists against the magic walls.

I followed as Navra quickly flew toward wherever we were going. It took the entirety of my physical strength, along with strengthening myself with magic to even catch up to Navra and the flying sphere behind him.

His speed, even without trying or even without breathing hard, was simply too fast. I knew that Navra was purposely slowing himself down for me to catch up with him. He was just going as fast as my limits would allow me to fly at.

Seeing this, I did not even feel envious.

Actually, that would have been lying a little. I just simply no longer felt envious due to having been in his presence for such a long time.

What could I say?

I was used to Navra being able to do anything. He was like a God among mortals, a bored giant crushing the ants underneath him.

<><><><><>

In the three days of flying without breaks, we passed by vast stretches of the Asgardian Oceans, a few islands, and a few sea creatures. We even passed by strange tentacles which were just protruding from the ocean surface and waving themselves around, as if they were bathing beneath the sunlight.

I shudder at the thought of what those tentacles could do when they grabbed hold of their prey. It was not a nice thought.

As for nourishment, Navra captured some sea creatures living on the islands and some in the oceans. It was relatively easy to do so since there were many sea creatures.

Finally, we arrived at our destination.

From above, I could see lakes of fire and five huge volcanoes all lined up together in the center of the enormous island.

“We have arrived, Verath. Here is one of the territories of the Fire Elementals. It is here in this place that a Lesser Fire Elemental resides in.”

“Where exactly?” I asked with a bit of trepidation.

Behind me, Aqua, who had been released from the sphere of magic that entrapped her, was silent as usual. She dare not speak even one word, so fearful she was of Navra.

“Ah yes. I want you to go down into the depths of that central volcano. It is where the Lesser Fire Elemental habituates.”

I looked toward where Navra had indicated. It was the middle volcano out of the five volcanoes. It was also the largest one.

And as if the volcano could somehow sense my staring, a spray of fire suddenly shot upward from the summit of the mountain, through the largest crater. Directly below to the sides of the summit of the mountain, there were also multiple smaller craters, each crater having their own sprays of fire constantly bursting out.

“...” I became somewhat silent. It was a long moment before I spoke again. “Are you sure you are not trying to kill me?”

“Hah. Were I trying to kill you, I would not need a volcano to do my work.”

“True. But...” I said, my words trailing off as I saw another spray of fire shoot out from the largest crater. It looked very dangerous. Suicidal, really.

“Proceed,” Navra simply said. His voice did not sound commanding, but I knew that it was a command. It was unmistakable.

“As for the Asrai fairy, I will keep her company.”

I could see the terror in Aqua's eyes as Navra directed his amused smile toward her. At that moment, she looked like a small insect in comparison to Navra.

Aqua's small hands tugged at my pants, willing me not to abandon her to Navra's mercy.

I did, anyway.

I had an important matter to focus on.

Leaving Aqua alone with Navra, I descended toward the island.

“Virdus Vict Sangius,” I whispered the Ancient words to myself. I had to be cautious. Who knew what this island held, even though the lakes of fire and the hot ground and soil looked relatively safe.

With my Dragon Living Blood Armor equipped, I landed at the foot of the central volcano and immediately felt its awe-inspiring height. Compared to it, I looked like a mere ant. I estimated the volcano to be more than 5000 feet tall.

My first priority was my safety, so I would need to start from the bottom and look for any clues and dangers.

This was a trial, so the Eldest had only give me the barest of instructions.

A dragon's mindset about strength was that one should never rely on someone else in a true situation. Even training under another elder dragon, you only truly had yourself to rely on. The results depended upon your willpower.

Dragons were fiercely independent and warlike, especially Astlan dragons, and most focused on honing their might into finely sharpened weapons. They would use these sharpened weapons against other dragons in a Dragon's Duel of Dominance and sometimes, even in duels to the death. The seven major Astlan dragon clans would oftentimes pit dragons from each clan in a tournament to see who was the most superior. It was in these tournaments that heavy injuries and even death would occur.

For a while, I kept on observing the volcano as it emitted streams of molten fire. The timing between each outburst was irregular. There was no set time. I could not predict when the next fire would come.

Some time passed and flying halfway up the volcano where not even one patch of grass was to be seen, I stopped, feeling another rumbling. I looked up and saw a huge spray of fire come out of the summit. The liquid fire crackled in the air above and then it instantly dropped down at me, covering the sky of a large section of ground where I stood at.

I was thankful that I had wisely chosen not to fly directly to the top of the summit, else I would have instantly been burnt alive by that insane amount of molten fire.

I looked up, seeing the imminent fall of the molten fire. I knew I could not fly away from the stream of falling fire—it covered too much area for me to easily fly out of its range.

I quickly formed an a huge spherical shield of fire that stretched around my entire body, covering me entirely. Then I formed layers upon layers of stronger shields of fire.

As for the inner defense, I created a shield of hardened blood mixed with some of my blood. It was just in time too before the molten fire hit my defenses.

The molten fire easily smashed and burnt its way through the shields. The first dozen layers of my spherical shields of fire instantly dissipated against the power of the molten liquid fire. Around me, the stream of molten liquid fire splashed against the ground of the mountain, hissing like a fierce snake.

After many layers of shields were being broken through again and again even as I strengthened it, the molten fire finally gave up after breaking through my second to last shield, the last remnants of the molten fire falling against the sides of the mountain. The liquid fire then followed its natural downward path.

Having escaped the danger, I instantly flew up into the sky, wondering at the impossibility of the task.

Just how was I going to go inside the depths of the volcano with these constant streams of molten fire?

The molten fire almost seemed alive...as if it was aiming for me. Was it the work of the Lesser Fire Elemental? Whatever such a being was? I could not really tell.

“You could have at least given me a hint...” I muttered to myself, cursing a little in my mind at the Eldest.

And just how was I going to bind with that Lesser Fire Elemental. Navra had not told me how to do such a ritual, if there was even a way.

Very well, I thought to myself. I could only try to peer inside the dark crater of the volcano, where I could not see anything even from the skies.

I quickly flew toward the summit of the volcano—there was still time left before the next multiple streams of fire, as irregular as the outbursts were happening.

I dodged a sudden outburst of molten fire from one of the smaller crater. Then I formed a hardened blood shield when another stream of fire came at me from one of the other craters. The fire splashed against the blood shield and I quickly charged my way through the molten fire, before finally coming out of the other end, free from its barrage.

As I constantly kept dodging and blocking these multiple outbursts of molten fire, I arrived at the summit, landing at the edge of the huge crater. Even with the crystallized blood armor covering my feet, I could still feel a warm heat from the ground.

I peered inside the largest crater located at the summit of the volcano. But I could see nothing but an enormous pool of molten fire below.

Then suddenly, as if the volcano was angry for having seen it, molten fire form the pool came shooting forth.

“Ashes!” I shouted, quickly flying away from the edge of the crater. I flew upward as fast as I could, but I still could not outrun the path of the stream of molten fire.

I formed layers upon layers of fire shields even as I continued flying away from the summit of the volcano. The shields of fire did not even detract the path of the chasing stream of fire.

It really was alive! The Lesser Fire Elemental must have been controlling the molten fire!

I could not outrun it!

Left with no choice, I turned around and formed a hardened, crystallized shield of blood mixed in with my own blood. I immediately felt weakened from the blood loss.

The molten fire then collided with my shield, the impact it easily breaking through it—this stream of molten fire was more powerful than the last time it had hit me!

I manipulated my Dragon Living Blood Armor to cover my entire face, and at the same time, stretched the armor to cover every spot of my skin that was exposed, including the back and front of my wings.

I quickly turned around, trying to escape from the hungry molten fire even as it burnt through the back of my armor and my protected wings. I could feel my magic and blood being consumed as my armor instantly regenerated its mass.

I did not know how long I kept on flying as the molten fire surrounded my whole body. I could not even see where I was going—I only knew that I was flying upward.

Finally, I could no longer feel the heat of the molten fire. I had most likely broken out of its range.

I returned my armor to its normal state, dropping the temporary blood hardened helm, which had blocked my vision.

With my vision returned, I could see myself being surrounded by a large encompassing red sphere of magic made by Navra. Inside of this sphere were Navra at the center, Aqua shaking in fear beside him, and I at the edge of this sphere that had a more than ten feet radius.

The molten fire around us threw itself against the sphere surrounding us. But it was futile. The fire could not break through Navra's magic defense. Nonetheless, the crackling molten fire still threw itself and even surrounded the sphere entirely, as if angrily searching for the slightest crack of weakness in the sphere.

It found none.

“Well, I had not expected you to return so early. Did you succeed?” Navra asked in a neutral voice.

I could only laugh at his words. “Stop joking around. Does this look like a success to you?”

Navra only chuckled for a few seconds. “True. It only looks to me as if you angered the Lesser Fire Elemental.”

“How do you even expect me to finish this trial?”

His lips curved upward and Navra opened his mouth widely, showing off his white fangs. “No need to worry, we have plenty of time. I never really expected you to succeed on the first try.”

My slight worries dissipated a little at that.

So failures would be allowed in this “small” trial.

“Well, that is accommodating of you.”

“What am I, if not an accommodating dragon, as you so make me out to be?” Navra replied, no, retorted.

He turned his head toward the molten fire still attacking the red sphere of magic. “Go back, or even I will get angry,” he said toward the molten fire surrounding us, which blocked our entire vision outside. We could see nothing but molten fire around us.

At his words, the molten fire instantly stopped, hesitating, as if unsure of whether to keep up its barrage against the three of us inside the protective red sphere of magic. Then the molten fire suddenly let out a crackling whip of fire that slammed against the shield of magic, before finally retreating back toward the ground.

Was that whip of fire a form of frustration?

That was somewhat amusing. The personality of the Lesser Fire Elemental seemed to be similar to Eden, who was also quite belligerent.

“Just exactly how far can that Lesser Fire Elemental reach?”

“Hmm. I suppose I can give you a little hint.”

“It has a reach of about three thousand feet.”

I looked down at the five volcanoes that stood side by side majestically. We were most likely a little more than two thousand feet above the air. And the Lesser Fire Elemental could still reach about a thousand feet more!

“I am not sure whether you are trying to kill me or not...Am I not suppose to be your only son.”

“Whoever said that you were my only child?” Navra said in amusement.

I was genuinely startled at that. He had other children?

“Of course, I am merely joking,” Navra said after a while. “You are my only child.”

Aqua let out a small suppressed laughter. Even her fear could not constrain it.

I turned toward Aqua, giving her an indescribable look.

Navra, likewise, turned to look at her.

“Eek!” Aqua yelled out, quickly flying behind me.

“You may start the trial again whenever you like, Verath.”

I stared into Navra's dark brown eyes.

“...”

I could not even reply to those words.

Volume 3 (Chapter 10)