A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
***
"Dada! Da!"
Prince Vars threw his head back. He's laughing joyfully from the tickles he's receiving from the Emperor. He's trying to push his father's face away from his tummy, but he's weak from the tickles.
"That's what you get for upsetting Daddy. Say, 'Dada wabwab' to me,"
Prince Vars calmed down and looked at his father, "Yada," he refused.
"Alright! Tickle attack!"
Prince Vars squealed and laughed until his face turned red.
Celia placed the snacks for the Emperor on the table. She shook the milk for the Prince.
"Dada! Hihihi! Mik! Mik!"
Prince Vars called for a timeout as he reach for his drink. Emperor Ohms hid it, "Nope. Say 'Dada wabwab' first,"
"Yada."
As his punishment, Emperor Ohms pretended to drink his milk. They only stopped from teasing each other when Voltage Xirquit knocked on the open door before coming in. His eyes were still red. He had a talk with his wife. As of the moment, Franchetti Xerene passed out from crying too much. Spike is looking after her, playing with Solana. Elektra is nowhere to be found; her sons, too.
Emperor Maxism is with his wife. They believe that soon, she will go into labor, that's why she hadn't left his chambers since. Prince Maxigaufeas is with Prince Claxiord, playing with the Prince. They're using the rewards against Prince Maximilien that's why he's been holding himself back.
"Dada da!" Prince Vars squealed now that he sighted his grandfather. He jumped on the Emperor's lap from the excitement, clapping his hands with an adorable gummy smile.
Voltage Xirquit felt light, like the burdens he was carrying was lifted from his shoulders. How could he be depressed when his grandson acts like that as soon as he sees him?
"Vars,"
"Dada da!" The Prince tiptoed while raising his arms. Voltage Xirquit picked him up and showered him kisses. Emperor Ohms smiled.
"It's annoying how much he likes you already. I don't know who stole who,"
Voltage Xirquit chuckled and sat. Prince Vars became grumpy so he stand up again.
"How's Mom?"
Emperor Ohms took his teacup to take a sip.
"She's resting. You should meet Elektra and Spike. Her boys are as wonderful as ever. Like this cutie pie. Right, cutie pie? You're a cutie pie."
Prince Vars giggled and nodded.
Emperor Ohms sighed softly, "They sure are. I'll meet them personally soon. I heard she has a daughter. Three sons and a girl. Like us,"
"Yes. Very much like Elektra and your mother. A naughty child. Will our Vars be naughty, too? No~ You're a good boy. Who's a good boy?"
"Dabu!"
"Your Grace, it's milk time," informed Celia with the milk in her hands.
"Mik!"
Voltage Xirquit fed his grandson.
"How many times does he have to drink milk? This is his third time today and it's not yet lunch,"
"It's essential for him to drink eight bottles of milk a day."
Prince Vars closed his eyes. He settled on his grandfather's arms, looking for the most comfortable position and sleeps.
"He's so cute. Sometimes, he looks like his mother. Then he will look just like you... So adorable," Voltage Xirquit smiled and gently pinched the Prince's cheek.
Emperor Ohms nodded with a wry smile. The silence between them was awkward. All they could hear was the noises the Prince is making as he drink his milk. When it's empty, he's still sucking on it. Celia pulled it from him and he followed the nipple.
"Make him another, Celia. My son is still hungry."
"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."
"What... What do you want to happen, son?" Voltage Xirquit braved, his voice is shaky.
"What do you want to do?" The Emperor threw back.
So, is father looked straight in his eyes seriously.
"Should I kill Lorreign for you?"
King Liorei who was approaching the room from the dead hallways was stunned. His feet were nailed against the floor upon hearing the conversation the father and son were having.
"You would do that for me? Hmm," the Emperor pretended to think. He knew that King Liorei was outside, listening.
"I don't know. It's not like you can handle her backup. Not to belittle you, but to get to her, you must face Gerson Liorei first."
Voltage Xirquit lowered his head.
"B-But what she d-did to y-you..."
Prince Vars's eyes fluttered when he felt warm drops of tears fall to his face. Celia just came back and gave him another bottle of milk. She wiped his cheek and gave Voltage Xirquit a handkerchief.
"Da..." Prince Vars stretched his body before curling up.
Emperor Ohms sighed. He was about to do something when a harmonious hymn put him to a pause.
Curious, they went to stand on the balcony to see what's happening. They found the dragon descents outside, kneeling on their locations. Their hands are clasped together, looking up and singing and humming.
"They're blending," said Celia as she watch a dimension warp the skies open, "The Ki'zaar and the Empress are blending."
Prince Vars felt the pull to sleep more thanks to the lullaby he's hearing, but the flickers of the light coming from the dimensional cosmic space sneaks through his eyelids. So, he opened them and found the beautiful cosmic bodies of his mother and the Ki'zaar. Their physical bodies remained on the altar, but the stars visualized their blending for everyone to see. All stepped out of their houses to look up and see a magnificent event that will only happen once in a lifetime.
The union of a great dragon and a Warlock.
"Their Patron Deity loved them a bit too much," the Emperor smirked, because they've never seen Blending this grand and phenomenal.
The female dragon descents stand up and danced, whilst the men and children remained on their knees to sing.
The cosmic bodies of the husband and wife aligned. With their cores aligning, a hypernova took place right before their eyes. The energies came from the explosion created points around their cosmic bodies; these points drew lines to the other points until a heptagram star was made. The points sucked the energy of the hypernova to seal the blending.
Their core pulsed rhythmically. Soon, the Ki'zaar's cosmic body became one with hers. The star glow brighter as it shrink to the center of her abdomen, taking shape of a fetus. Just then, the dragon descents stopped singing. They were holding their breaths as they pray,
"Please, be an egg. Be an egg."
And when a shell enclosed the fetus, their victorious cheers shook the world.
An egg. It was an egg! The Mi'zaar is successfully with child!
Emperor Ohms could finally breathe in relief. He too wished that the child be an egg. He wanted to see what's it like to carry a dragon egg as an Ancient? How is she going to give birth to it? He's curious. He's excited.
Voltage Xirquit found his relief rather strange. His son is a husband to her, but why does he look so accepting? Where is loyalty?
Emperor Ohms took his son from him, "See that, son? You're not the youngest anymore. You will be a good big brother soon."
"Dabu!"
***
"D...addy?"
Prince Valerian slowly opened his eyes. The Ki'zaar covered the streaks of the sun with his hand to not hurt his eyes. When the Prince is fully awake, the first thing he saw was his father's smiling face over him.
He looked around and found his mother sleeping, but her body was going through evolution. Her cosmic body took over her physical body to process the changes in her.
"What's wrong with Mommy, Daddy?" He worried and get up. He was about to touch his mother when the Ki'zaar stopped his hand.
"Shh, it's okay. If you touch her, you will create a ripple. Who knows what will happen? She's very vulnerable in that state, so let's watch over her like this,"
The Prince nodded. He gasped when he saw how his hands looked like.
"D-Daddy!"
The Ki'zaar smiled at him proudly.
The Prince's hands had turned into a dragon-like hands.
"Did it scare you? It's alright. That's you. You're a dragon,"
The Prince's eyes glittered as he gawk at his hands. They look strong but also marvelous. His talons were sharp, his scales were smooth and hard.
"C-Can I fly? Daddy, let's fly together! Please? I want to try!"
"But you're not fully transformed yet. Take your time. The first time was the hardest. I was the same. They called me a failure when I couldn't revert back as a dragon after learning how to become an Ancient. So, take your time."
The Ki'zaar gently pet his head before going close to kiss him. The Prince stand up to check his body. His wings and tails were only protruding, but they were there. His feet too are with scales.
"Is this my color as a dragon, Daddy? I'm a white dragon? Look at my scales, they look like opals!"
The Ki'zaar's heart is filled with contentment and joy. His heart is very big that he feel like it will explode in any moment. So, he release it through his tears. His son, someday, will be greater than him.
"Our Forefather, his color was white, too. We call him The Diamond Dragon. And now, you're an Opal Dragon. You're the second to be named after a gemstone in history, son. I am...so proud of you."
The father and son embraced each other.
"My baby uncle, what about him? Where is he?"
"I sent him back first. Your Uncle Valor and Grandpa Feryzen are looking after him. He's still asleep,"
Prince Valerian looked at his mother's state. Her cosmic body...is wonderful. A being made from a whole galaxy---his mother is a god of her own.
"Do you want to fly on my back, son?"
~
The bustling streets were much livelier than it was because of the yet another event they had witnessed. Everyone was talking about the blending of the proven Third Lady of Heart and her husband. Rumors about her affairs were circulating like wildfire; people criticize her for allegedly breaking Watts Xirquit's heart just so she could be with someone greater and better. The deeds she had done before during the Examinations hadn't died down yet, and she created another topic to talk about.
But then, without warning, everything stopped. A sudden shadow slowly swept over the ground, casting the Vernignac Empire into an eerie twilight. Conversations faltered; every single person froze in place. Slowly, as if pulled by an invisible force, their heads tilted upward in unison. Their mouths had hung open.
The sun had vanished behind something immense. At first, it was impossible to make sense of what they were seeing. The silhouette blocked out the sky itself, a shape so vast that it felt like the heavens had darkened. As their eyes struggled to adjust, the faint outline of scales began to shimmer through the dim light, glinting with an unnatural sheen.
Soon, from the bleak color of black, the scales showed its true color. Each was in the magnificent color of purple, outlined and gradient with gold.
A dragon.
But not like anything from legend or fantasy books. This creature was beyond comprehension, its massive form stretching beyond the limits of their vision. They craned their necks, but no matter how high they looked, they couldn't take in its full body. Only sections of it were visible at once—a tail the size of a city block, wings that seemed to stretch forever, and claws that could rend the earth beneath them.
The air was still, thick with awe and terror, as the dragon moved slowly overhead, blotting out the sun as though it were a mere afterthought. Its presence was suffocating, the very sky bending beneath its weight.
And over the head of the dragon was the Prince, his son, his heir, the Prince Valerian, looking past the sceneries his eyes could see beneath him and in the horizon.
"Wow~ Daddy, you're purple-gold! Your scales are very pretty!" He shouted down to his father's face who only smiled.
"Daddy, let's go higher! Up there! To the sun!"
"The sun is very hot. It's dangerous."
The Prince giggled, "But Daddy, I'm with you!"
With his trust placed on his father, the Ki'zaar then began to soar. The Prince held on his horns that became like his crown. The Ki'zaar's body emits a soft glow of purple and glow. His beautiful form cannot be described with words alone---because he's too beautiful that the strongest compliment will put him to shame.
"There he goes. Are you not going to chase him, Valor?"
Prince Valor snorted, "I'm not a child anymore, Uncle. Let him be with the Prinsiaze. This is the first time he's ever unfurled his wings again," he said with a smile.
It's overwhelming. Their people are crying. Their Ki'zaar, once again, is flying. The Wrathful Void is flying over their heads once again in a different era, not to burn the world but to take his son for a worthwhile ride on his back.
Suddenly, he reverted into his Ancient form, startling the Prince when he began falling down like a comet. It surprised him, panicking, that's why he couldn't do anything.
"Waah! Daddy! Mommy!"
The Ki'zaar laughed and caught him in his arms.
"Daddy, don't do that again! Hnngh! It's so scary! I got so scared!" The Prince cried and the Ki'zaar is having the time of his life.
"Forgive me, my little dragon. I wanted to try the same thing on you, too. I did it on your Uncle Valor first. Let's make it a tradition."
Prince Valor got goosebumps when he saw it. He knew it! The Ki'zaar pulled the same trick on the Prince!
The Prince cried again when the Ki'zaar threw him up in the air and turned into a dragon once again, but smaller. The Ki'zaar flew fast and turned around swirling below the skies before catching the Prince who went from crying to having fun. The Ki'zaar flew faster, going past the skies until they're in space.
"A star! Daddy, a star! Moon! Cute planets!"
The Ki'zaar carried him in his arms when he's an Ancient again.
"The planets look weird. Why they look like that, Daddy?"
"I don't know. They're bizarre but they're wonderful, aren't they?"
"Are there other lifeforms living in those planets, Daddy?"
The Ki'zaar was caught off guard by the Prince's controversial question.
For as long as he could remember, so far, the planets he had visited were empty. It's like the Creator experimented to see what he can do with his abilities; there are dead planets, weird planets, and habitable planets like Cosmo-Vale but without life. He's never seen new beings other than them.
"None. I think it's just us here, son. Because I traveled far and wide and never seen anything but dead and empty planets. Why ask that?"
Prince Valerian looked around him, "Well..." His grip on the Ki'zaar tightened, "I'm scared, Daddy. Let's get down, please? I feel like... I feel like somebody is watching us."
The Ki'zaar looked concerned. Right then, he used all his senses to detect anyone or anything within his expanding range but there was nothing to pick up. He couldn't sense what his son can sense.
"Must be because you're sensitive. You're going through a process. But don't be scared, I am here."
But his words didn't encourage the Prince at all. He continue to look around him, hiding his face with his dragon hands, and looking between his fingers.
The Ki'zaar had decide to descend to not scare his son anymore. They returned beside Azarese whose naked form is of flesh. Her natural appearance is back: the Third Lady of Heart is back. Her horns were gone, her claws too and even the shade of grey of her hair.
"Daddy, what's this?" The curious Prince asked while pointing at the mark on his mother's stomach. The Ki'zaar smile happily.
"My little dragon, you're going to be a big brother, soon. Your mother is carrying an egg."