NOVPUB"This isn’t over"
"!!!!" (me)
"..." (everyone)
"..." (Samara)
Even while I was sealing the enemy and sending him to the Star Path, I was always aware of the surroundings, I didn’t believe that God Akatosh had been captured for even a second.
True Dragons could die in battle, but being captured alive was a herculean thing to do, Primordial Dragons didn’t even have that chance, they would die before being captured and would throw themselves against any type of prison they were in until it broke or they died, that was something I was sure of, it was an intrinsic pride in Dragons, even I am no exception and I can feel it in my instincts.
It would be impossible for the one acclaimed as the greatest of all Dragons to be captured and if he were killed, I as a Dragon would feel it, all Dragons would feel it, especially those Primordials who have Dragon Totems like I do.
Because of this level of certainty, I was always on the lookout for an enemy that was so strong that it required the Dragon God to immediately move in to face it while abandoning an almost defeated enemy in the process.
But it seems that I still wasn’t prepared enough, that voice was something that shook even my Soul, he was speaking calmly, but his words felt like an attack in themselves as they struck my Soul and threw my mind into turmoil.
Suddenly it was as if the world around me had disappeared, all that existed was pure darkness in an eternal void.
In the middle of this darkness an eye larger than a planet opened in front of me, that eye was focused on me emanating a murderous intent that I hadn’t felt since I left hell, there was also an infinite hunger shining in its gaze.
It was the eyes of a Predator, a true Predator without equal, I didn’t feel like I could fight against it, I was feeling intense fear, I was terrified to the point of not knowing what to do, but even though I was trembling I continued to stare at that eye in defiance.
"You cannot escape forever, little Dragon."
"The day will come when you will be between my teeth or those of my brothers."
"Maybe on that day it will be you who are bleeding beneath my claws!" (me)
"Raising your voice against me proves nothing, child."
"You have humiliated the greatest predators in existence, your mere presence is a stain on our history, we will never let you go."
The voice continued speaking, it seemed to come from every corner with each word feeling like mountains being thrown at me, each sentence making my entire body tremble involuntarily, but I did not allow my voice to fail or look away, this was my pride and will at stake, no kind of fear could make me retreat, I stood in Hell and here it will be no different.
"One day, Zenos... one day..."
"..." (me)
For a second I wanted to say ’I’ll be waiting’, but I restrained myself, I don’t want to wait for them, one day I’ll be the one to hunt them, I can’t leave such a strong enemy loose forever, especially when I’m immortal, spending eternity looking over my shoulder seems like a pathetic way to exist.
I remained silent as that eye closed, the world seemed to gain light and color once more, when I looked around everyone was looking at me, only Samara was staring into the void, her eyes burning blood red.
The others didn’t even seem to see her, their eyes focused on me, they started to talk, but I focused only on Samra before turning to Hinata, that’s because she was standing further away looking in the same direction as Samara, her eyes were empty with pure darkness like a bottomless pit.
The two had a strange energy around them as if space was denying their existence, I ignored the others and tried to share the vision of the two, each of them in one eye and that’s when I saw it.
The two had exactly the same vision, a grotesque silhouette that seemed to be made of a piece of a universe trapped in a metal cage, it was a vision full of violence where strange energies distorted the vision making it almost impossible to see everything.
I also noticed that there was a Dragon no smaller than the bizarre creature I was seeing, it was fighting the creature as it retreated, but the way it moved was strange as if it was fighting against currents or attacks, the Dragon on the other hand was being protected by something that made it impossible to see its appearance completely, I wasn’t even sure how I knew it was a Dragon.
It all seemed to last a mere second before disappearing, then I found myself bleeding from my eyes, my vision was hazy, my Aura was shaking and the Anomalous Power was leaking from me continuously.
The others kept their distance from me for a second in silence with only Hades and Samara approaching, Samara was also bleeding and her face was half cracked, Hinata who was previously far away returned to normal and was coming closer without showing any change.
I was surprised by what I saw, especially the scope of everything here, a size compared to entire Star Systems, a power that distorted reality itself around them, that level of power was a mystery to me.
I turned to Samara and she didn’t even let me open my life to ask, she started talking directly to my mind.
"It was the power of the Essence, just an Essence that you are not able to understand yet." (Samra)
"..." (me)
"What are you talking about?" (Hades)
"Master, are you okay?" (Nix)
"Hungry..." (Hinata)
"Eat this." (Samara)
Samara takes a part of the sealed metallic body of one of the Dragon Eaters and gives it to Hinata who hugs that piece of metal that begins to writhe in her arms a strange energy flowing from Hinata that seems to slowly dissolve that piece of metal that she licks as if it were a melting ice cream.
"Do you understand now?" (Samara)
"..." (me)
"..." (everyone)
"Tasty..." (Hinata)
The energy that Hinata used to melt that piece of the Dragon Eaters’ body is the same as what I felt in that battle, the power that seems to be something breaking reality.
I tried to use Hinata’s senses, but I wasn’t able to understand it, it seemed like I was on the surface of something trying to see a depth that was filled with darkness, an endless Abyss.
"He’s back." (Samara)
Suddenly the space trembles and something heavy seems to enter, causing waves that make the Universe itself ripple around us, then a young man appears even smaller than me, he looks like a speck of dust, that’s when I realized that I was still in Dragon form.
I return to my Humanoid form, my entire body was stiff and hurting, but my eyes had a strange feeling of incongruity.
When I looked at the young man once more, I noticed a claw wound on his chest that looked more like a portal to another universe, Divine Energy and Essences leaking out from the wound before dissolving into the universe causing ripples that made it difficult to approach.
This was the God Akatosh, he was looking at his own wounds seriously, then with one of his hands covered in flames that seemed to burn the very Essence of the Universe, he passes his fingers over the wounds cauterizing them so that they stop ’bleeding’ before looking at me.
"We have to talk, but first I have to find Arash." (Akatosh)
"< Open >" (Akatosh)
Making the strange flame in his hand go out, he waves with a finger while his claw extends parting the space as if it were a curtain.
The crack formed in space extends on its own revealing a Chaotic space where energies were in conflict and a pressing intention meets, I still advance entering the crack, on the other side I see the destroyed space trying to recover, it was another mirrored space.
Arash was floating, his Dragon body was colossal, reaching the size of a planet. He is much larger than me in my Dragon form, but he was covered in wounds, his Scales were broken and his blood was floating out, exuding murderous intent.
He seems to have lost one of his wings and one of his claws, his tail was shattered into pieces, one of his legs was spaced and all the bones in his torso were destroyed, even his jaw was hanging completely broken with many teeth missing.
My eyes wander and I can see several pieces of metal still writhing as well as pieces of Anomalous Cores burning in intense black and red energies.
"FATHER!!!" (Nix)
"Don’t come..." (Arash)
"Nix! Wait!" (me)
Akatosh approaches, but I feel something and hold Nix, preventing her from approaching, Samara and Hades do the same.
I look at Arash and see a wound in his chest, it was like Akatosh’s wound, but this one went through, it was a hole in his stomach that seemed to contain parts of a universe inside his body, veins expanded from this wound trying to spread through his body shining as if there were stars inside.
"It seems I arrived in time." (Akatosh)
Akatosh begins to treat Arash’s wounds, while I see Samara pointing in a direction, then I notice a circular hole the same size as Arash’s wound, this hole led to the same Chaotic space where I saw Akatosh fighting that creature.
