It was finally time. I had reached the big five-oh, had gained my free points from the Dragon Touched Trait but had yet to spend the points I had received from levelling up, having collected five of them since level forty. Now, I could either push my Intelligence up to thirty-five, my Intuition to thirty or wait and see what points crossing the first divide would net me. Depending on that, I might want to spend the points somewhere else, hoping to get some useful traits. Maybe.

But first, I had to cross the hurdle before me, the first divide.

Without a moon to guide me, drawing me in and setting me on my path, I had to look inwards. Deep into my body, into my soul, tracing the pathways of my Astral Power as it suffused my body. Here, there be dragons.

Closing my eyes, I let my mind wander, allowing it to flow with the power within me, searching for that spark. The spark of pure power, unrelenting force that could change the world as I saw fit. Primal, something inherent to myself but stemming from the touch of something outside of me. I was Touched by a Dragon, and that touch would remain with me, remain with my body, my soul. A touch I considered akin to the Divine, undoubtedly stemming from my interactions with the Nidhögg.

Little Sister, they had called me. A sibling to the winged serpent, touched by their power. The memory of their power, alongside the memories of the devastation I had wrought on Mundus, flashed through my mind and for a moment, I felt different. No longer a small, pitiful humanoid but powerful, my body covered in indestructible scales, my claws ready to rend anything in my path. All to protect my mountain. The one place I would never allow anyone to despoil, the quiet, snow-covered mountain hidden in the mist. Where I could rest my weary soul.

Following the flow of power from outside of myself, I started to move into myself. Let my mind flow on the stream of my magic. By now, my magic was quite diverse, almost amusingly so, but the foundation remained steady, the eternal Ice, the utter void of Darkness and the pulsing of blood, they were what defined me. But those three weren’t what made up the entirety of what was I. The other elements were there, too, even the scorching Fire was part of me, an unpleasant part but, from the feeling I was having, a necessary part nonetheless. As the joke went, nothing, or nobody, was useless, they could always serve as a bad example.

Fascination was flowing through me as I tried to understand what I was seeing, as I explored the depths of myself. Somehow, I could feel power flow into myself even as power was flowing out of me, an endless cycle, though I was merely a tiny part of it. Each cell within myself took in a part of the power, altered it before letting the altered version join back into the cycle, all part of the extremity that was Eternity. Cyclic and extreme, parts of the same coin, the truth only depending on the scale one was observing.

From deep within me, I could feel a faint rumble, shaking my body, tearing at my mind. A desire to rage, to conquer, to bring down all those who opposed me and yet, even as that desire tried to control me, I pushed it down. My mind was my own, my body was mine, no matter what shape it took. Only Lenore, my dear companion, was allowed to share my mind, to rest within the Hallow within my body. She was far from me, far away but never forgotten and I would never allow myself to let the desire to destroy control my body.

To avenge, to bring those who wronged Sigmir, yes, for my vengeance I would be the Destroyer. But not for the sake of destruction itself, I had purpose. And purpose gave me power.

As I began to control the desires swelling up from deep within me, I could feel power flowing alongside them, a clear distinct stream that tried to suffuse my body. To either influence my physical form, to perfect and temper it, or to meld into my magic and change that in some way. For a moment, indecision gripped me. Changing my magic, it sounded wonderful but also scary. What if it would be something akin to the change to my Mind Magic, limiting it by driving me further to an extreme? Did I want to limit my options, even if limiting my options early would allow me to drive my powers further than I could ever hope without those limits?

Improving my body sounded easy, a simple solution that would leave me stronger, give me security, or I could take a risk, take the plunge.

Power, it always came back to that damned need, to the desire to change the world as I wanted it to be. And for that, I needed power, needed to reach the ultimate pinnacle. The greatest extreme.

Gripping the power flowing alongside the raging desires to conquer and destroy, I guided it, letting it flow into the pathways within me, melding into my Astral Power. I could feel the power try to inundate only parts of my Astral Power, but I was having none of that. Even as my body started to ache, my mind started to burn, I continued to draw power from deep within myself. Now that there was only one way for it to go, I would keep drawing it out as long as I could.

Finally, I felt strangely full, as if I had just eaten a full-course meal, only that I also felt sore as if I had been running for hours while lifting weights. The sensation of having claws from earlier returned, only more defined and I knew what those claws were. The claws of a dragon, ready to cleave through any defence, capable of shredding anything in my path.

I was a dragon and my magic was my claws.

It was strange, I was incredibly aware of my body, of my magic, isolated within myself. It was as if there was only I, a world of myself, my magic thrumming through me, pooling in places, ebbing and flowing within me. The different elements, they were not in balance but the basics were all there, ready to build more if needed. A thread of primordial power was woven through all of them, not quite binding them together but strengthening them all the same.

Before, I had followed the flow of Astral Power from outside into myself, to search for… to search for myself, within myself, as absurd as that idea felt. Was I not the product of my mind, my body and my soul? Only with all three, I was me.

Which made me wonder, how could I have been on Mundus? Was that metaphysical I ever there, if only part of me made the transition? Unless something rather whacky had been going on, my body had never made the transition, certainly my mind, maybe even my soul, but not my body. So, could I even claim to have ever met Sigmir, if the I needed to be all three?

Shaking off the strange sensation, I followed to flow of power outside, to rejoin the world. The strange acute awareness of my body started to fade from focus and instead, I began to perceive the world again. First, I started to feel a faint chill on my skin, where a bit of sweat was slowly evaporating, cooling my body down. Next, I became aware of my limbs, the way my legs were folded beneath me, providing balance, how my hands were resting on my knees, even how my hair was falling down my back. There was something strange about my limbs, but I couldn’t quite figure out what.

Focusing past the barriers of my body, I focused on my environment. Smelling the air around me I found a potpourri of scents and instinctively started to catalogue them, even as my tongue flicked out, tasting the air to add some more information about my surroundings. The familiar scents of my companions were in the air, alongside the scent of dust, dirt and a bit of blood. That scent somehow always managed to cling to us, regardless of our showers.

My ears started to add their own information to the picture, the soft rustling of cloth from the next room, the faint sounds of breathing from nearby, different sensations all allowing me to know the world without seeing it.

Finally, my eyes blinked open once more, the darkness of the cellar we were occupying no barrier for my sight. I could feel blue boxes in the corner of my vision, waiting for my mind to acknowledge them. Letting out a soft breath, I knew I had succeeded.

The first Divide, shattered before me.

I am Dragon, hear me roar!