Chapter 74

The creature spanned over a thousand feet in length, from its horned head to its spiked tail. Its black scales were the size of a tower shield, and impenetrable to all but the most powerful weapons. A pair of leather wings jutted from its back. With a wingspan so large, they all but blocked the sky and shook the earth with each mighty flap.

The dragon was midnight black, and the light of the sun reflected off its scales, creating an oil like sheen, a kaleidoscope of colors. Its muscles rippled with power with every movement it made.

But it wasn’t its physical size that filled Wil and the other humans with terror and awe, it was the magic and mana that it exuded. It had a substantial presence, a tangible thing. Its magical power was able to take form in their reality.

All around the dragon, an inky black darkness followed it, pressing down on the earth below. Its magic was chaotic, affecting reality in unpredictable ways. A stretch of trees grew larger as it passed, while others wilted and died.

A swiftly running river that ran outside the city slowed to a stop, frozen in time, while a group of clouds began to move with unnatural swiftness across the sky.

Wil could feel the Elder Dragons mana affecting him as well, even with it still far away, well beyond the city’s outskirts. It was like a weight pressing down on him, driving him to his knees. His mana core slowed, the power within coming to a standstill, and he couldn’t force it to move or respond in any way.

Next to him, Astrid had fallen to the ground, curled into the fetal position, moaning weakly as her mana ran rampant inside her body. Wil could sense the energy moving through her veins, so excitable that he thought she would burst from its agitation.

Anwir began to laugh wildly, staring at the approaching Dragon with an expression of pure madness. His eyes were wild, and Wil couldn’t tell if the man was actually aware of anything around him. Tears streamed from his eyes, and he was speaking in gibberish, words falling from his mouth so quickly that Wil couldn’t understand a thing he said.

With each beat of the Dragon’s wings, reality shifted for Wil, from the past to the future, but the Dragon was present in both. In the past, it had form and presence, unrivaled power. In the future, it was a shadow, an illusionary figure that flew towards him, a vague sense of menace came from it, but one without substance.

Beat. Beat. Beat. A steady rhythm, each announcing its imminent arrival. A herald of their doom. And with each beat, Wil was brought from one reality to the other, from one timeline to the next.

Just when he couldn’t take it anymore, between the flashing realities, the power pushing down on him, and the voice still screaming in his head, everything instantly became quiet and reality stilled, the voice stopped.

The Dragon glowed with power, its magic covering it in an instant as it reached the city. Its body shrank in moments, leaving a trail of black mana behind. In its place, a man stood, staring down at the Patriarch from the air, observing him silently.

The Dragon’s new form was tall, muscular, and handsome. His long black hair retained the unique feature of the Dragon’s scales, the light creating a rainbow hue as it shone upon it. He was dressed in black armor, scaled and form fitting. In his hand he held a sword, pure white and slightly curved, like a Dragon’s tooth.

The only sign of his true form that he retained was a pair of twin horns that curved gracefully from his forehead, sweeping up and backwards, almost as if he were wearing a high crown.

The Patriarch climbed to his feet wearily, the effort clear to everyone who remained to see him. Wil could tell that the man was exhausted, pushed beyond his limits by the Ascension tribulation. This new threat, if that’s what the Dragon posed, would be beyond him if it came to blows.

The Patriarch was a Rank 20 demigod, the pinnacle of humanity and on the edge of divinity. An Elder Dragon, however, was strong enough to fight the gods. It was their war that ruined the world in the first place.

It was then that Wil had a realization, this vision of the past was old. Incredibly old, possibly thousands or tens of thousands of years ago. Could he be witnessing the world before the war between the gods and dragons? The single sun, the short nights, the Patriarch’s ascension, and the presence of an Elder Dragon, all screamed at him that this was the truth.

The golden glow of the Ascension was still present around the Patriarch, the beam of light from the heaven’s above covered him in its power. He merely had to take that final step, to traverse his mortality and enter the divine.

The Elder Dragon, now in its humanoid form, stood silently for a moment, assessing the Patriarch, before turning to follow the shaft of light to its source. His eyes narrowed, as if he could pierce the veil between realities and gaze into the heaven that was concealed from mortals.

“You mortals. Never content with your place in the universe. Constantly pushing for more, to overcome your limits. It would almost be commendable if you weren’t standing in our way.” The dragon spoke, his voice drowning out all other noise. It echoed off the shattered buildings and the cracked ground.

“This world belongs to us, mortal. We will not allow any more of your kind to threaten our dominance.” The Elder Dragon finished, raising his sword above his head. Its magic gathered along the blade, black mana honed to a razor-sharp edge.

Wil shuddered as he felt the power within that blade, it would easily obliterate everything in its path.

“There will come a time, Dragon. When my kind will surpass you. Even if we must climb over the bodies of our dead, one generation after another, it will happen. Your time of supremacy is coming to an end.” The Patriarch stated, standing proudly in front of his floating palace, one of the only structures still floating above Aaru.

“Doubtful, mortal. You are ants, trying to reach the stars.” The dragon said, frowning at the thought of mortals surpassing Dragons. Without pausing, he slashed downwards with his sword, a crescent moon of power slicing through the air with enough force that the world screamed in agony from the strike.

Wil covered his ears with his hands as the deafening screeching sound of the attack reached him. In the blink of an eye, it had reached the Patriarch, leaving a long trench in the ground, in its wake.

The Patriarch gathered his remaining strength into a shield, a Prismatic Barrier that formed in front of the black, crescent moon of mana. Shimmering in a multitude of colors, the barrier rang like a gong as it met the attack, holding for a moment, before cracking. It shattered as the blow against it was negated.

A howling wind blew over the city from the forces being used. Wil shielded his eyes with his hands, and he felt the sting of dust and dirt blowing from the gale.

The Patriarch collapsed onto the ground, his strength failing and the divine light around him flickering for a moment, before leaving him. Drained and powerless, he watched the Dragon, floating in the sky, lift his sword for another strike.

“Take comfort, insect. Few could defend against a single attack from my blade. No one has survived a second.”

Swinging his sword, a stronger and more powerful black crescent moon of mana cut through the air, reaching the Patriarch in an instant. To Wil, it seemed as if time slowed, until the vision in front of him stood still.

‘Behold, my greatest triumph. I was filled with pride and vanity. I could have selected a remote place, far removed from the city. I could have…should have…sheltered them. But I reveled in the adulation. For nearly a thousand years I lived, yearning for a single moment.

I would pierce the veil, ascend beyond my mortal limits. I would become a god! But in my pride, so many died in the attempt…and many more would follow.

Dragons care nothing for humanity. We are beneath them, insects crawling on the ground. They are bred to dominate, to rule all they survey. My ascension was a challenge to their dominion, a mere human, seeking to rise to power, it was abhorrent and offensive to their sensibilities.’

Wil listened the voice in his head, whispering as time stopped around him. The past was a page in a book that refused to turn, the reader pausing, the story refusing to continue.

‘Witness, Chosen of the New Gods. You have seen my greatest failure, witness my greatest success. When balanced, it hardly compares to that which I have lost, but I cannot help but feel pride. Hubris.’

The voice finished, trailing off and Wil’s vision twinned once again. In one reality, the past, the Dragon in human form had its sword raised, ready to end the life of the Patriarch.

In the present, a crimson haired woman, devastatingly beautiful, was reaching forward, preparing to snatch a Shard of Divinity. A pinpoint of light, like a star, floating in the sky above the ruins. Time had ceased in the present as well, her fingertips about to brush against the shard.