Ald sat upon his wooden chair, staring down at the stream slithering by only mere inches away from his feet. He clasped his hands together, fidgeting his fingers as he laced and unlaced them, threading the fingers of one hand through the crevices between the fingers of the other, and repeating this action again and again.
'I wonder…' Ald thought, 'Was I right to let that boy through? Is he really worthy of the title of Dragon King? If not… if he were to become corrupt… what would become of this world?' The thought frightened him. He imagined a monstrous dragon arising from the Egg of Chaos, obliterating everything in it's path and destroying, not just Seryad, but the entire world.
Ald sighed. 'It's a little late now for me I be regretting my decision. All I can do now is have faith that boy stays true to his ideals, and himself. I just hope…' his eyes narrowed, 'this war does not kill his heart.'
Ald had seen, countless times, pure of heart Dragon Kin become engrossed in hatred, despair, and agony due to war, loss, poverty and suffering. It is something he was not unacquainted with, and he'd witnessed it first hand many times. Dragon Kin, as all beings, are always at the whim of the world, and always susceptible to change.
One could be the most pure of heart being of all one day, and the next, a change of events and occurrences could make them take a drastic transformation into an almost unrecognizable being. Ald's eyes drifted on sadly, staring off into something far away that no one else could hope to see, and his mind went to Mourtas. Ayden's brother had suffered many hardships, he knew, and he had changed because of them.
'Ah the sad way of the world. We are all just minuscule puppets dancing without rhythm upon the palm of an unseen and uncaring god, who watches our orchestra of chaos only for his own amusement.' Ald thought.
Then Ald's heart thrummed painfully in his chest, his eyes going wide as he hunched forward and gasped for breath.
"What… the hell..?" He spoke, short of breath.
Then his eyes turned to look over at the most open section of the field. There, some sort of strange energy had begun to form in the air, shimmering and shifting in glimmering waves of red-violet.
Ald's eyes narrowed and he held out his hand, a crest glowing upon the back of his palm as the earth began to rise, wrapping about his hand and coming together to form an earthen hammer. The hammer had strange slots and holes throughout it, though they were small, they were visible enough to see, and what seemed to be some kind of wind current went from Ald's hand through the hollow shaft of the weapon and up to the actual head of the hammer itself.
More stone lifted into the air, warping around his body as wind began weathering it down and forming it into a solid, sleek set of stone armor. Ald stood to his feet, slamming the head of the hammer down beside him, awaiting whatever was invading his home to show itself. He felt tense and uneasy, not sure whether or not he was strong enough to face what came, that is, if it was a foe. He had honestly no clue what was happening, but he felt an intense sense of dread.
And then the strange energy began to open wider, a talon emerging from it and pulling at the edge of, what Ald could only assume, was some kind of magic gateway. 'A dragon?' Ald thought, 'what reason would a dragon have to come here?'
And then the gateway opened wide as red-violet magical energy swirled around in waves, casting a dark glow over the entirety of the chasm as the lights dimmed out. Then the head of a massive dragon almost the size of Phenor emerged from the gate. The dragon had smooth, shimmering reddish-black scales and a sleek snout. Large horns protruded from its head, curling and pointing forward like the horns of a bull. Two smaller horns protruded from each horn, one pointing up and one pointing back, both being attached to the main horns.
Narrow, cold, luminescent red-violet eyes glared over at Ald, who was awestruck and frozen, his eyes locked in fear and fascination with the dragon's. More of the dragon's features could be seen as it walked through, putting one serrated, sharp talon before the other as it slowly strode forward. It had blood red markings across the scales of its body, almost like tribal patterns of the ancient dragon tribes. Two rows of thin black spikes went down the dragon's spine, and it had two pairs of wings with reddish-black webbing and spiraling red, luminescent patterns. One pair of wings was much smaller than the other, though, it was still there.
The dragon had a long tail that, at about half way, split in two, both ending in sharp diamond shaped points like the end of a spear. The dragon let out an intimidating, low growl, slowly walking in a circle around Ald as it's black tongue flicked in and out of its mouth like a snake. Red-violent magical energy seemed to cling to the dragon's body, as though it were an extension of it.
"What are you?" Ald asked, keeping his voice firm despite his shock and fear.
The dragon stopped, tilting it's head. It then raised it's head high, staring down at the Kin. "So…" it hissed, it's voice grim, dark and brusque like a growl. "The Kin of this era speak in Dragon Tongue as well?"
"What..?" Ald asked, confused. "This… era..?"
"It is not of your concern, Pure Blood. As for who I am… you may call me the Dragonic Antigod."
— — —
Elderren's eyes opened ever so slightly. He felt an intense, dark energy that seemed to seep into the earth, corrupting and infecting it.
"You feel it too..?" The man that lay beside the dragon asked.
"Yes… this.. does not bode well."