Eden knelt in the trembling cave, his sword useless in his hand, as the great dragon's telepathic voice thundered through his mind. Its immense form loomed before him, a creature mightier than the stars, its dark scales gleaming under a halo of fire that crowned its head. Golden eyes blazed with an otherworldly heat, searing Eden's soul without touching his flesh. The dragon's words dripped with ancient authority, each syllable a weight that crushed his spirit further.
"Tarq, son of Bhelm, the hand of battle, father of Eden-son of faith," it intoned, its voice reverberating in the minds of all who stood in the cavern. "He was no worthy sacrifice. Had you not come, child, your slumbering mother would have been next."
Eden's heart shattered. "No, no, no, Dad!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face. He lunged forward, desperate to strike, as he had so many times before in battles against lesser foes. But the dragon's will pinned him to his knees, an invisible force as unyielding as the mountain itself. The cave quaked with the beast's movements, stones trembling as it drew closer, its fiery gaze locking onto Eden's.
"Buddy, stay calm," Revan whispered urgently, his voice strained with fear and awe. His wings twitched, feathers catching the dim light. "This... this is power beyond anything we've faced. I'm sorry about your father, but we have to tread carefully, or you, me, and your mother-we'll all follow him."
Eden's tears fell harder, his mind flooded with memories of promises made to his parents: to soar beyond the stars of Midgard, to explore the realm's wonders together, to live out their days in joy. Those dreams lay broken now, scattered like the dust around him. The cave shuddered subtly, as if the Midgard itself felt the growing rage within the son of faith.
"Why?" Eden choked out, his voice raw. "Why did you kill him? You knew I was the one you wanted!"
The dragon's eyes burned brighter, radiating a heat that warmed Eden's soul yet spared his body. "My reasons are beyond your mortal ken," it said, its tone both dismissive and ancient. "Sacrifices are offered to me, and mine is to receive and bless. Yours is to weep and beg for mercy, son of Tarq. Will you plead for it?" It stepped closer, its presence overwhelming, its fiery gaze a furnace that threatened to consume Eden's very essence.
Revan, watching his friend's torment, could bear it no longer. His wings snapped open, unleashing a concussive blast that shattered the cave. Stone and debris rained down, the air thick with dust. Eden coughed, shoving aside kilotons of rubble with desperate strength, his eyes searching for Revan and his mother. The dragon's form emerged from the chaos, unscathed, its voice cutting through the haze.
"Your life, your loved ones, this ancient world, this universe-they will all fade, but I endure," the dragon declared. "Eons before your universe was sealed from the multiverse by Elañorr, I came to this old rock from a realm of raw power. My kind were immortal, defying the law that every universe must end. We watched countless realities rise and fall while we sustain ours by our own Infinite powers, but when beings beyond power-servants from mystery-came to punish us, they destroyed my world with a thought. I alone survived, fleeing through the multiverse to this ancient realm, broken and diminished. For a million years, your kind has revered me as a god, and I have sworn to protect this universe from those who would shatter it."
The dragon's claws gleamed as it lifted Revan, impaled and suspended midair, his blood dripping onto the shattered stone below. "Your father, your friend-their sacrifices fuel my power, greater now than in my lost world. They ensure this universe endures against those who would unmake it. Their lives, and yours, are but specks in the grand tapestry."
"Kill this bastard, Eden!" Revan gasped, his voice weak but defiant, moments before the dragon reduced him to ash and bone. Eden's mother, still suspended in the air, was shielded by the dragon's power, untouched by the devastation.
Eden's vision blurred with tears and rage, his heart a storm of grief and fury. Around him stood the princess and the young druid, encircled by the druidic troops, all dwarfed by the dragon's radiant glory. Above, the Red Sun of Sand Haven burned brighter, its light casting an eerie glow over the scene. The dragon roared, a sound that rippled across the multiverse, shaking the very fabric of reality.
The great dragon loomed, its scales shimmering like molten obsidian beneath a fractured sky. Elyse, felt a chill grip his heart. "By the Source!" he gasped, his voice quaking as the beast's presence pressed against his spirit.
"Drink these—now!" Ilse shoved vials of glowing potions into Elyse's trembling hands and that of Eden's, her movements sharp with urgency. The elixirs pulsed with faint hope, but doubt clouded Ilse's gaze. She didn't truly believe they could survive this fight. Still, she pressed on, her voice tight. "Where's Revan? Did you find your parents?" she asked Eden.
Elyse steadied himself, channeling his druidic power to weave a protective dome around them, its surface rippling like starlit water. Beyond the barrier, the Takers—cloaked figures shrouded in darkness—chanted in ancient, guttural tongues, their voices a hymn to their wrathful god, who roared in divine fury above. The air thrummed with raw power, heavy with the promise of ruin.
"Revan's gone," Elyse whispered, his voice cracking. "I feel it. His father's dead, and so is he. Hate consumes him now…" His words were cut short as a blinding pulse erupted from Eden, standing defiant at the heart of the storm. His rage shattered Elyse's dome, obliterating the Takers in a flash of radiant light. They dissolved like shadows before dawn. Before Elyse or Ilse could grasp the moment, Eden surged forward, his sword blazing a fierce, electric blue, mirroring the fury in his soul. He charged the dragon, a lone midgaedian against a cosmic titan.
Each clash between Eden and the dragon sent tremors through Midgard, their power a beacon to the unseen gaze of the darkest one on his darkest throne, far beyond the veil of Midgard.
"Foolish midgardian," the dragon rumbled, its voice like a collapsing star. Flames hotter than a sun's core roared from its maw, aimed at Eden. But he moved with impossible grace, slicing through the inferno as if it were mist. His sword, molten under the heat, began to drip like wax, and his clothes burned away in an instant. Elyse, gritting his teeth, poured every ounce of his druidic will into conjuring a magical armor around Eden. It shimmered into existence, a lattice of light that held against the dragon's star-melting fire—but only just. His focus wavered, the strain threatening to break him.
The battle raged, a cataclysm of fire and steel. The dragon, tiring of Eden's defiance, spread its titanic wings and unleashed a force that shook Central Midgard to its core. The ground split, mountains crumbled, and Eden was hurled downward, buried kilometers deep in the midground's embrace. Elyse's barrier shattered, and both he and the princess collapsed, unconscious, as the world quaked around them.
The Eighth Realm
Beyond the Midgard, the battle's echoes rippled. In a garden of otherworldly beauty—where flowers pulsed and the air hummed with ancient magic—Elañorr and Reficul watched. They knew Eden could not defeat the great dragon without his crown, and even then, he would need a weapon beyond anything Midgard or the universe could offer.
Elañorr summoned Eden's astral form from the depths of Midground, where his body lay broken and still. Eden materialized, translucent and disoriented, his voice raw. "Is this death? Where's the dragon?"
"You ask too much, Eden," Elañorr said, his tone gentle but urgent. "I've woven rare magic to bring you here, beyond the dragon's sight—an Astiri's perception. There's no time for answers, only solutions." His touch, warm and grounding, steadied Eden's flickering form, though even Elañorr's vast power strained to shield this meeting from the dragon's gaze.
"He killed my father," Eden growled, his astral form trembling with rage. "I'll take his head."
Reficul stepped forward, his voice calm but heavy with truth. "We don't always get what we want, Eden. Your father was a sacrifice to the dragon's hunger. No power in Midgard can bring him back. But your mother still lives—for now. We must act swiftly."
"How do I kill it?" Eden demanded. "What even is an Astiri?"
"An Astiri," Elañorr explained, "is a being bound to two sources of power. The dragon hails from a race of Astiri beyond our universe, unmatched by anything within it. Its essence and form are immortal, its magic woven into its very being. My power alone cannot slay it—but together, we can forge a weapon to counter its essence." He joined hands with Reficul, and a dagger materialized between them and Eden, its blade pulsing with unearthly magic. "The dragon wields Faith as vast as Maya of the Belief Council. Only faith from an axis—your faith, Eden—can overcome it. We'll craft a device to channel a fraction of your infinite power, which you cannot yet access." Elañorr wove a tiny sphere from the universe's primal patterns, drawing a portion of Eden's untapped ocean of might and coating the dagger with it. He placed the weapon in Eden's hands.
"What about the Takers? Did I destroy them?" Eden asked.
"You must go," Elañorr urged. "Your questions will find answers soon. I'm sorry for your father and Revan, Eden. There's no afterlife for beasts, or I'd have remade him. Stay strong. The dragon believes you're dead and is turning toward your mother."
"No! Send me back!" Eden cried.
"The Phoenix is holding him at bay," Reficul said, her voice steady. "You'll need that dagger." With a wave, she returned Eden to his body.
Midgard - Sand Harbor
KRRRBOOOOOOM!
A deafening roar tore through the skies as the Phoenix, answering Elañorr's call, teleported to Sand Harbor. It unleashed a torrent of explosive fire shaped like its own blazing form, aimed at the dragon. The beast, its senses defying comprehension, met the attack with its own flames. The clash of their fires shattered reality itself, cracks spiderwebbing across Central Midgard. Elyse stirred awake, his druidic instincts flaring. He summoned a stronger barrier, shielding them from the fracturing world as reality broke like glass, pulling the Phoenix and the dragon into the void.
In that no-space, their fiery duel raged on. The Phoenix's flames burned through the dragon's, striking true, but the dragon retaliated with claws that tore the void itself. It wove the torn fragments into a cage of unbreakable magic, trapping the Phoenix.
On Midgard, reality held—barely. The Architect's law whispered: Reality is subjective. When broken by a non-divine force, a version of it shatters, but the true world endures. Elyse, his strength returning, healed the princess and reached out with his magic, pulling Eden's body from the depths of Midground. But he felt no spirit within.
"Is he dead?" Elyse asked, his voice hollow.
"No!" Ilse snapped, thrusting a healing potion toward Eden's lips. "Try this!" But the potion did nothing. "His spirit's gone, but his body hums with power. It's… like astral projection. Can he do that?" Elyse questioned.
"How should I know?" Ilse said, shaking her head. "He's flying, keeping pace with an extracosmic dragon after wiping out hundreds of Takers. I don't understand his power—maybe he can project."
Just then, Eden coughed, stirring awake, a wooden-handled dagger clutched in his hand. "Where is it?" he demanded.
"They broke reality and took their fight to the void," Elyse said. Before he could say more, reality cracked open again. The dragon emerged, summoning the light of every star in the infinite universe, a cascade of cosmic fire aimed at Eden. Elyse reacted instantly, opening a portal to redirect the energies back into the cosmos. But with a flicker of its will, the dragon erased Elyse from existence.
The dragon's cosmic blast tore through reality, reducing atoms to nothingness in its path. Eden raised the dagger forged in the Eighth Realm, its blade humming with otherworldly power. The force of the dragon's attack pressed against him, relentless, driving him back through the shattered rocks of Midground. Sweat beaded on his brow, his muscles straining under the weight of the assault. With a defiant roar, he took to the skies, redirecting the blast downward. It struck Sand Harbor, unmaking the city in a cataclysmic explosion that left a crater vast enough to swallow the entire region. The princess, quick to act, downed a potion and teleported just beyond the city's edge, narrowly escaping the devastation.
"How long will you dance this futile dance, mortal?" the dragon sneered, its voice a thunderclap that shook the heavens. "I will end your mother now."
In an instant, Eden vanished, his body propelled into the Hyperzone—a realm of speed beyond mortal comprehension. To his own shock, he moved faster than thought, a blur of vengeance. But the dragon was no stranger to such cosmic velocities. With a swipe of its massive claw, it tore Eden from the Hyperzone, hurling him back to Midgard. Yet the strike cost the beast dearly—Eden's dagger, sharp with the faith of an axis, severed the dragon's hand in a single, clean stroke. Golden blood, hotter than the core of a star, sprayed forth, sizzling as it met the air.
The dragon's scream shattered the skies, summoning a storm that engulfed the infinite realm. Oceans surged, flooding the land; rain lashed down in torrents, and the agony of the beast echoed through the two remaining realms. For a fleeting moment, fear gripped Eden, the sheer scale of the dragon's power threatening to overwhelm him. But his resolve burned brighter, fueled by the loss of his father and the need to protect his mother.
Before he could seize the moment, the dragon moved with speed that defied even the Hyperzone. Its fiery claws tore through Eden, piercing his chest. Blood spilled from his mouth, his vision darkening as he teetered on the edge of oblivion. With a final surge of strength, he drove the dagger into the dragon's flesh. They hung suspended beneath the roiling storm, lightning illuminating their entwined forms—two titans locked in a dance of death.
"SCRRRYYYY!" The dragon's cry was a primal wail, its golden blood pouring from the wound, a substance so potent it could unravel the fabric of reality. Yet Midgard, a realm forged in mystery, withstood its touch. And Eden, son of faith, clung to life, his belief unshaken. The beast's immortal essence, once inviolable, was defiled by the dagger's engineered power.
The dragon plummeted from the heavens, crashing into Midground. In that moment, a pulse of power rippled outward, felt even by the Darkest One on his shadowed throne. From the deepest, blackest corners of his being, he unleashed trillions of winged horrors—creatures of thought-speed that surged from the Sixth Realm to Midgard. They descended in a writhing swarm, their dark forms blotting out the sky.
Behind Eden, a voice cut through the chaos. "Relax, you're not the only unkillable soul on Midgard." It was Awisk, his presence a flicker of defiance. Having burned through the void's binding magic, he had teleported back to the battlefield, his eyes gleaming with resolve.
"What's happening?" Eden gasped, watching as the dark creatures enveloped the dragon, their touch knitting its wounds before their eyes. In moments, they lifted the beast into the air, spiriting it away, while others turned their malevolent gaze on Eden and Awisk.
"They're healing it," Eden said, his voice thick with disbelief.
"The Eth Gamour sent them and it seems some of them are coming for us," Awisk replied, his tone grim. "Hold tight. I'm taking them for a ride. Find the princess and your mother—I pulled her from the dragon's grasp during our battle, beyond its perception."
Eden's lips curved into a weary smile. "I know that magic. Elañorr used it, too."
Awisk smirked, his form igniting into the blazing Phoenix. With a surge of orange fire, he ensnared the trillions of dark creatures in a radiant sphere, dragging them through dimensions beyond the three directions of spacetime. In a blink, he scattered them across countless planes, trapping each in its own fragment of reality. When he returned to Midgard, he held a conjured drink in hand, his grin undimmed by the chaos.
Gorjj
A day had passed since Harrell guided Osiver to peace in the far north of Midgard. A day since Lorrd rode off in search of purpose, leaving Lialeb to watch over Harrell, convinced she still needed guidance. A day beyond the deadline set by the Four Brothers, who had come to claim their due from Harrell's uncle. Now, they stood before her home, their presence heavy with menace.
"What do we do?" whispered, her voice trembling.
"We stick to the plan," Lialeb said, his tone steady but laced with caution. "Tessa, the high mage, is beyond my power, and my nature forbids me from opposing the Brothers directly. I can only hope to reason with them." he stepped outside to face the four towering figures, their eyes glinting with cold purpose.
"Greetings, Brothers," Lialeb began, his voice clear. "You've come for the Screens of Gallahãd, taken from Osiver. But I have nothing to give you."
"Then we'll scour Midgard for Osiver and take his head," one Brother growled.
Lialeb raised a hand, undaunted. "We've sent Osiver to a distant corner of Midgard, where he threatens no one. But know this: Tessa holds your artifacts. Even if I joined forces with all four of you, we'd stand no chance against her. I propose a different path—one of reason."
The Brothers exchanged glances, their silence heavy. "Reason?" one said at last. "The Screens are our sacred treasure, the heart of our identity. Without them, we are nothing. What could possibly compensate for that, if not a life?"
Lialeb's lips twitched with a wry smile. "I could craft a life—entire worlds of life, if you wish. But I doubt that would restore your identity, Brothers."
"Your wisdom shines, spirit," another Brother said, his voice cold but intrigued. "Life won't suffice. You wish to atone for Osiver? Then be our guest. You have three days. Do what you must to retrieve the Screens, or we'll search all the realms to find a way to break you, Lialeb. We know what you are."
In a flash, they were gone, leaving only the echo of their threat in the air.
The END.