Drakaryn stretched his massive frame on the rocky ledge, his opalescent scales catching the dappled sunlight filtering through the tattered canopy. The Dragontongue hummed faintly in his mind, its resonance ever-present as he contemplated his latest musings. Over the years, his experiments had led him to grasp pieces of elemental forces, time, space, and vitality. Yet, none of these concepts seemed complete. They were fragments of a greater whole, elusive pieces of a puzzle he couldn't yet see.
Today, his mind lingered on a peculiar thought: curiosity. It wasn't an element, nor was it a force he could shape directly. But it was the thread that had woven through his entire journey, the invisible drive that pushed him to experiment, to uncover, to learn.
"What is curiosity?" Drakaryn murmured to himself, the weight of the question pressing against his thoughts. "And where does it lead?"
The Dragontongue stirred within him, its layered melody rising like a familiar tide. He felt the words take shape, rolling off his tongue before he could fully comprehend their meaning.
The first syllable carried a faint pulse of energy, rippling through the clearing like the drop of a stone in still water. The mana-rich air around him stirred, swirling in delicate eddies that shimmered faintly. Drakaryn tilted his head, his curiosity deepening as he spoke the next word.
The air thickened.
Threads of light began to appear, faint at first but quickly growing brighter. They coiled and twisted, forming intricate patterns that pulsed with mana. Drakaryn blinked, startled by the sudden intensity. He recognized the patterns—each glowing thread represented one of his past experiments. The fire grasses, the water vines, the dimensional pockets. Concepts he thought had failed or faded now danced before him, alive with a vitality he hadn't anticipated.
"What is this?" Drakaryn growled, his tail lashing against the ground.
The threads connected, forming a vast web that spanned the clearing. Each node pulsed with energy, their light intensifying as they linked together. The hum of the Dragontongue grew louder, the resonance cascading outward in waves that made the earth tremble. Drakaryn's claws scraped against the stone as unease gripped him. He tried to speak a word of command, something to contain the growing energy, but the Dragontongue seemed to defy him. Every syllable he uttered only added to the storm.
The clearing around him began to warp. The vibrant greenery dulled, the air crackling with raw mana. The threads of light spun faster, their patterns shifting into something incomprehensible. Drakaryn's frustration turned to alarm as the storm spiraled out of control.
"Stop!" he roared, his voice resonating with the weight of the Dragontongue. But the web flared brighter, its glow blinding as a sphere of light began to form at its center.
Drakaryn squinted, his eyes narrowing against the searing brightness. The sphere pulsed once, twice, and then exploded outward in a burst of energy that engulfed everything.
Drakaryn opened his eyes, and everything felt… wrong. His body was gone, replaced by a strange, soft form. His limbs felt small, clumsy, and weak. Panic surged through him as he tried to move, but the motions were uncoordinated, as if they weren't his to control.
The first thing he noticed were the hands—tiny, chubby fingers wiggling in front of his face. They weren't claws. They were fleshy, fragile, and alien. He flexed them experimentally, the sensation unnerving in its unfamiliarity.
His perspective shifted as he realized he was lying on his back, cradled in a small, enclosed space. Above him loomed two figures, their forms unlike anything he had ever seen. They were upright and slender, their limbs long and delicate. Their faces were soft, framed by strands of hair that caught the dim light.
The smaller figure—a female—leaned over him, her expression tender and filled with an emotion Drakaryn couldn't name. Beside her, a taller figure—a male—placed a hand on her shoulder, his face radiating a quiet strength.
The two spoke in soft, melodic tones. Drakaryn couldn't understand the words, but their meaning was clear: love, warmth, and wonder. The smaller figure reached out, her hand brushing gently against his tiny fingers. The touch was startlingly warm, sending a strange sensation coursing through him.
Drakaryn's gaze drifted to the ceiling, his vision catching faint glimpses of the room around him. The walls were smooth and enclosed, nothing like the open wilderness of the Valtheris Expanse. The air felt dense but gentle, filled with faint scents that hinted at warmth and comfort.
What are these creatures? Drakaryn's mind raced, struggling to reconcile the sight with everything he knew of the world. They were fragile, impossibly weak compared to dragons, and yet there was something profound in their presence. Their eyes gleamed with purpose, their voices resonating with a depth he couldn't comprehend.
The vision shattered, the blinding light pulling Drakaryn back to reality. He gasped, his body trembling as his senses snapped back into place. He stood on unsteady legs, his claws sinking into the cracked stone beneath him. The clearing was quiet, the swirling threads of light gone as if they had never existed.
Drakaryn looked down at his claws, flexing them slowly. The alien sensation of the tiny, fleshy hands lingered in his mind, a disconcerting memory that refused to fade. He lifted his head, his gaze drifting to the horizon as he tried to make sense of what he had seen.
"What was that?" he muttered, his voice low and uncertain. The words hung in the air, unanswered.
For the first time, Drakaryn felt a flicker of doubt. The creatures he had seen—fragile yet purposeful—were unlike anything he had ever encountered. They didn't belong to his world, and yet their existence felt undeniable. The Dragontongue had shown him something vast and incomprehensible, a glimpse of a future he couldn't yet understand.
He shook his head, his tail flicking against the ground as he tried to push the thoughts aside. But the vision refused to fade. The chubby hands, the tender faces, the melodic voices—they haunted him, sparking questions he couldn't ignore.
Drakaryn turned his gaze back to the horizon, his mind swirling with uncertainty and curiosity. Whatever he had seen, it was only the beginning. The world was far greater—and far stranger—than he had ever imagined.