Path of Dragons-Chapter 52Book 9: : Legacy of Titans

“Cindrandir,” Elijah muttered to himself as he followed the fire giants through the city of Stillstone. Normally, he would have marveled at the various architectural wonders, but he barely noticed any of it. Instead, all but two facets of his mind settled on a single subject – the origin of Shape of the Master.

For the longest time, he’d considered it an off-shoot of the mother of the first dragon. That little fire salamander had given rise to the most powerful race in the multi-verse, and though Shape of the Master came with key differences, he couldn’t deny the similarities. Some – like the facial features and the coloring – were visual, but others came from its characteristics. Not only was it resistant to fire, but its key ability was strikingly reminiscent of how the mother of dragons had finished her final opponent.

But apparently, it was based on a draconic creature native to Ignis and revered by the fire giants. Or so Wyrk, the fire giant leader, had explained after Elijah, Oscar, and the pack had overcome the Ring of Elements.

According to him, cindrandir were elusive creatures, rarely seen but widely respected for their power. For fire giants, they were hailed as servants of the gods, and seeing them was said to be an omen of good luck and a bright future.

“They make pilgrimages to Ignis. You heard that, right?” Elijah addressed Oscar once they reached the rooms the fire giants had so generously provided.

“I did.”

Escobar barked excitedly.

“He wants to go too,” Oscar added. He reached down to pick up the small dog, saying, “You’re not strong enough yet, but we’ll go someday.”

The other dogs had already jumped onto the giant-sized bed, where Freddy was busy dragging the linens into a pile so she could make a nest. She settled down a second later, and after only a few moments, the rest of the pack had snuggled close.

“They must be tired,” Elijah remarked.

Oscar shrugged. “They don’t sleep much anymore,” he revealed. “We don’t get much chance. After the Trial of Primacy, we…we just kept busy. If we stopped…if we took a break, we’d start thinking about Jojo.”

Elijah reached out and patted his friend on the shoulder, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d lost pets before, but he suspected that to Oscar, the loss of Jojo was more like losing a close friend or family member. If Elijah started talking about burying his childhood dog, he felt it would be misinterpreted. And the last thing he wanted was to offend Oscar or the dogs.

So, he decided that silence was the best option.

Instead, he headed to the adjoining room, where he found another bed. Instead of resting, he took the opportunity to shower beneath the rain from Blessing of the Grove, then settled onto the floor to meditate on his soul cultivation. He hadn’t made any big strides forward, but still, he knew that if he didn’t keep on top of it, it would mean more work for later.

Plus, it was almost relaxing.

Sure, holding his ethera perfectly still was anything but comfortable. In fact, it was distinctly painful, and in a way that he found difficult to ignore. However, the struggle was cathartic, and when he truly gave himself to it, he achieved something akin to a runner’s high. freёnovelkiss.com

That made it slightly easier to push himself harder, to hold the stillness for longer.

So it was that Oscar found him hours later, still seated on the floor and dressed only in a pair of loose-fitting pants. Elijah felt him standing in the door, though he didn’t release the ethera for a few moments. When he did, he opened his eyes to see that Oscar was studying him with a quizzical eye.

“You have scales.”

Elijah barely felt them anymore, but he couldn’t deny their existence. Indeed, they felt right in a way he couldn’t quite explain. Glimmering with a trace of ethera, the twin strips of emerald scales circled his upper arms, descending from his shoulders all the way to the backs of his hands, where they ended in sharp points.

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“It comes with being part dragon,” Elijah remarked. “Took me a while to accept them.”

Oscar sat, his intense gaze never wavering. It wasn’t one of admiration. Instead, it was as if the man was trying to see through to Elijah’s core. From most other people, it might have been unnerving, but with Oscar, it was only slightly off-putting. That was one thing Elijah had discovered about Oscar – there was a kinship there. He didn’t really understand it, but he acknowledged it nonetheless.

“I could have changed my form as well,” Oscar stated. “When I ascended. I could have been one of the pack.”

“I thought you already were.”

Oscar shrugged. “I am still a man. They know it,” he explained. “I know it. The gap between us shrinks with every level, but it will not close for a long time. I am not their master, but I am not a true member of the pack, either. It is…frustrating.”

“What did you pick?” Elijah asked.

“Den Father,” he answered without hesitation. “Most of my power goes to the pack. My other choice was to empower myself. I…it was probably the best option, but I couldn’t do it. I wanted to. I wrestled with the choice. But I couldn’t.”

“Is that the one that would have transformed you?”

He shook his head. “No. Pack Ascendent would have been better for everyone. I would have been stronger. The pack would have benefited. It should have been an easy choice,” he stated, his voice shaking. “I was too weak to give up being a man.” He looked down at his hand, turning it over. “Too attached to this form. I don’t know how you do it.”

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“The transformations? It’s easy. They come with instincts and abilities. It feels natural,” Elijah responded. “But they’re temporary. I don’t know if I could make any of those changes permanent, no matter how much power they gave me.”

“But you said you were turning into a dragon.”

“Oh. Yeah. That’s different.”

“How?”

Elijah opened his mouth to offer a response, but he stopped before the words ever emerged. “I…I don’t know,” he admitted after a second. “These scales, they’re a part of me. I fought against them for a while, pushed them away. But at the end of the day, they’re just me. I can hide them if I want to, but they’re still there.” Then, he added, “But I’m not turning into a dragon. I am a dragon, just a young one.”

“How does that work?”

Elijah shrugged. “I’m still figuring it out,” he answered with a small smile. “From what I understand, I’ll end up as a full dragon at some point. I’m not sure what that’ll entail, except that it’s supposed to come with a degree of power. I suppose I’ll find out more when I visit the Empire of Scale.”

“What’s that?” Oscar asked.

“Oh. I’m guessing you don’t know much about the rest of the multi-verse,” Elijah answered. Then, he went on to explain how he’d gotten the attention of Kirlissa, then earned his dragon core. He ended with the revelation that he’d been invited to the Empire of Scale. “She made it sound like I’d be there to learn, but I’m not sure how it’ll work.”

“Interesting.” He glanced back toward the door. “The giants come. I believe it is time to leave.”

Elijah nodded, then smoothly rose to his feet. Meanwhile, Oscar headed to rouse the dogs. As it turned out, he didn’t need to, because they erupted into a cacophony of barks only a second later. Clearly, they could sense the coming giants as well as Oscar could. For Elijah’s part, with Soul of the Wild suppressed inside the city, he could feel far less than normal.

Soon, a giant knocked on the door and when Oscar opened it, he was informed that their presence would be required in an hour. That gave Elijah a chance to dress, gather the few belongings he’d taken from his storage, then don his armor. He’d taken the time to sprinkle a little cleansing powder on it, so while it wasn’t perfectly fresh, it was cleaner than it had been when he’d arrived.

In addition, he brewed some coffee, which he shared with Oscar. The dogs didn’t get any, much to their distress. He placated them with a few hunks of dried meat. That settled them down.

Eventually, they found themselves following an armored giant through the palace, and their path ended at what appeared to be a throne room. Wyrk sat on an elaborate chair that rested upon a raised dais. The chamber itself was built along the same architectural standards as everything else in the palace, with banners featuring subtly shifting geometric patterns along the walls. If Elijah looked at them for more than a second, he found himself feeling a little dizzy.

In addition to a handful of guards near the entrance, there were four other fire giants – two on either side – flanking the throne. They wore garish orange skirts and nothing else, which revealed their burn-scarred torsos. Resting upon their raised forearms were red-glowing basins containing burning embers.

The whole scene smacked of regality and ritual, which suggested that Wyrk was more than the simple bureaucrat he seemed to be upon first meeting.

Regardless, when they entered, the giant rose to his feet, then immediately prostrated himself. That definitely took Elijah by surprise. He glanced at Oscar, who just shrugged.

“Uh…this is unnecessary…”

“Great cindrandir,” Wyrk intoned. “We are ever your servants, but we also must beg your forgiveness. By completing the Ring of Elements, you have set yourself upon the path tread only by the titans. You must challenge the Elemental Maelstrom.”

Recalling the notification he’d received upon entering the Primal Realm, Elijah said, “That’s okay. That’s why we’re here.”

“Do you know what that entails?” the giant asked, pushing his torso upright. He remained kneeling, but due to his great size, he still loomed over Elijah and his friends.

“I’m guessing you can tell us,” Elijah replied, though he had some inkling due to the aforementioned notification.

“There are four challenges that must be completed,” he said. “The Crucible of Fire, the Drowning Depths, the Gauntlet of the Sky Lords, and the Unyielding Path. Each represents a different element. Fire, water, air, and earth. Only when one completes those challenges will he be capable of enduring the Elemental Maelstrom and finding the Legacy of Titans.”

“What happens if we skip the challenges and go straight for the Legacy?”

“You will be torn to pieces by the elemental forces,” Wyrk answered. “Not even a demigod could withstand such damage.”

“Oh. I guess that rules us out,” Elijah said, though he couldn’t help but wonder how damaging it truly was. He’d been through a lot, and he’d achieved a degree of durability that he suspected was truly astounding for his level. But he knew to approach it with caution. Anything less would be the height of stupidity.

“Anything else we should know?” Elijah asked.

“The journey to the Maelstrom is not to be undertaken lightly. Stillstone protects us from the monsters outside. Know that the creatures you encountered in the Ring of Elements are the least of what you will find in the Cracked Lands.”

“So, it’s dangerous out there.”

“Indeed. The environment as well as the wildlife,” the giant said.

“What can we expect?” Elijah asked.

Then, Wyrk explained what he could. Much of it was secondhand knowledge due to the fact that he had never personally ventured into the wilds. However, he detailed dangers like immense windstorms, geysers of fire, and earthquakes. And the wildlife followed similar elemental themes, much like the creatures they’d fought in the Ring of Elements.

In short, he made it sound like a hellscape of warring elemental forces.

“Is it weird that I’m kind of looking forward to it?” Elijah asked as they were escorted out of the palace.

“It does sound like a challenge,” Oscar agreed, though he didn’t sound eager.

For his part, despite mostly just wanting to get it over with, Elijah couldn’t ignore the fact that he was excited about seeing such an alien landscape. After all, just because it wasn’t the same expression of nature that he might see on Earth, that didn’t mean it was any less valid.

However, he also couldn’t escape the worry he felt for the grove. Sure, he’d enlisted help to protect it. Nerthus had begun to cultivate a host of plant life that would prove hostile to any invaders, and Kurik had agreed to stay on the island while he was gone. However, they couldn’t protect it the way he could.

In the end, though, Elijah didn’t know what else to do. He refused to abandon Oscar, as much because of their friendship as because he couldn’t imagine a life where he remained in his grove toiling away in safety and solitude. So, he hadn’t had much choice in the matter.

Now, he was in the Primal Realm, and he needed to focus. If he didn’t, he would never make it back to the grove. Neither would Oscar or the pack.

Those thoughts accompanied Elijah as they crossed the city and eventually reached the gate on the outer wall. Once they were there, Wyrk handed Elijah a rolled-up map and said, “I wish you luck. Uncover the Legacy of Titans, and you shall be immensely rewarded.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Elijah said.

Then, the gate opened, revealing an entirely alien landscape. Elijah gaped at it for a few moments before stepping forward. The dogs followed, with Oscar bringing up the rear. It wasn’t until the gate slammed shut that the isolation truly set in.

They were on their own, now, and with only a map to guide them forward. Hopefully, this Primal Realm wouldn’t be as difficult to conquer as the last one.

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