Li tossed and turned on his bed. A strange unease filled the air, wrapping around him like an invisible cloak. He closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep, he had been practicing the sword non-stop since early evening and knew he had to rest his body so as to be able to cultivate afterwards but sleep refused to come. He kept turning and tossing but when sleep finally came, it was not the peaceful rest he sought.
Li found himself standing in an endless void, the darkness vast and alive, pulsating with an energy that felt ancient and immeasurable. He looked round but could see nothing except cold dark space.
Then he felt pressure building up within him as if a cloth was being squeezed. He felt pain all over his body. The kind of pain he had never felt before.
Then he saw tiny red motes of liquid coming out of his skin and floating into the space around him. The red motes looked like the ones he sees in his blood whenever he looked deeply inside him.
Li felt sweet relief and an unexplainable emptiness as the last mote was expelled from his body. It felt like something important had left him..
The motes of liquid became shiny as light and started dancing in slow spirals, their glow gaining intensity and casting an eerie hue across the black expanse of space surrounding him.
"What is happening?" Li murmured, his voice swallowed by the emptiness.
The motes of light began to gather, drawn together by an unseen force. They swirled faster and faster, forming a vortex of red brilliance. Li's breath caught as the motes joined, their shape shifting and expanding until they became the unmistakable form of a giant red dragon.
The creature's scales were shining like melting fire, its eyes burning with a ferocity that sent a chill down Li's spine. Its horns curved upward like jagged mountain peaks, and its wings, vast and scary, stretched into the unending darkness.
The dragon breathed, a deep rumble shaking Li and even the darkness around him. Its gaze swept over the empty expanse, commanding and unyielding.
As Li watched, scenes began to unfold around the dragon, like fragments of a long-forgotten tale. He saw the creature soaring through skies filled with other dragons, each one bowing its head in deference. The red dragon stood at the center, its presence was exuding raw, untamed power.
But not all the dragons bowed willingly.
"You presume too much," a thunderous voice echoed, and a massive golden dragon emerged from the shadows. Its scales shinning like the sun, and its aura radiated authority.
"Bow to none but yourself, do you?" the golden dragon sneered, its tone dripping with contempt. "Your arrogance will be your downfall."
The red dragon's eyes narrowed, its voice a low growl that reverberated through the void. "Arrogance? No, it is power that speaks, and power needs no permission to reign."
The golden dragon roared, charging forward, its claws extended in a blur of light. The clash that followed was cataclysmic. Fire and lightning tore through the darkness, illuminating the void in bursts of blinding energy. The two dragons fought with savage intensity, their roars shaking the cosmos itself.
Li watched in awe and terror as the red dragon overpowered its golden adversary, pinning it to the ground with a force that seemed insurmountable. "Yield," it commanded, its voice cold and commanding.
The golden dragon snarled and continued fighting, spewing forth fire from its huge mouth. But the red dragon only snorted as with one wing he swept the fire away into the distance and with a glare, it swiped a sword like nail across the neck of the golden dragon, severing its head in one go and causing golden blood to spill all over.
The other dragons gasped in shock and disbelief, then lowered their head, acknowledging the red dragon's supremacy.
The scene shifted again, the void giving way to realms of mighty towering mountains. Mighty celestial beings of every form stood before the red dragon—gods, titans, and primordial forces devoid of any visible shape except light.
"You cannot rule over all," a being of light declared, its form pulsating with divine energy.
"And yet here I stand," the red dragon replied, unflinching. "What you call impossibility, I call destiny."
The being of light unleashed a beam of pure energy, its intensity enough to shatter worlds. The red dragon met the attack head-on, its roar splitting the void. It absorbed the energy, twisting it into a weapon of its own before sending it hurtling back at its opponent. The being of light disintegrated into a cascade of sparks, its essence consumed by the dragon's might.
One by one, challengers came, each more powerful than the last, and one by one, they fell. The red dragon stood unyielding, its dominance growing with every victory.
Finally, the dragon reached a realm beyond realms, a plane of existence that even Li could feel was the pinnacle of all creation. At its heart stood a being whose presence dwarfed everything Li had witnessed in his visions. Its form was formless yet infinite, shifting between stars, oceans, and storms.
"You seek to crown yourself the ruler of all existence," the being intoned, its voice vast and echoing.
"I seek nothing but what is mine by right," the red dragon replied, its gaze unwavering.
"You have no crown," the being said.
"Nor do I need one," the dragon replied, its voice filled with quiet fury. "A crown is but a symbol. Power is its own throne."
The being of creation hesitated, as though weighing the truth of the dragon's words. "And yet, power unchecked becomes destruction."
"Then let it be destruction," the dragon growled. "For in destruction, I shall create anew. The multiverse will know my reign, crownless though it may be."
'Your end shall come one day, and it shall be very terrible,' replied the being of light.
'I will be here, waiting. Know this and know peace, no being can match me. No being can defeat me. You will all bow to my power.' declared the red dragon.
'I curse you. I curse your blood. Although you have power, you have used it to enslave others. No matter how great you think you are, another that is greater and more powerful than you will arise. Your blood will be your undoing' the being of light prophesied.
The dragon roared, and the multiverse trembled. The being of light tried to resist the great pressure being released by the red dragon, but in the end, it had to succumb as the red dragon's released energy tore through him and he disintegrated and became like fireflies.
The void trembled and Li felt like he was tumbling through a great hole in space, trying to gain his footing. he was trying to find something to hold onto but everywhere was emptiness and he was not actually falling.
Li saw stars collapsing, time unraveling, and the fabric of reality bent to the dragon's will. It stood alone, unmatched, the crownless king of all existence.
Li's heart raced as the red dragon suddenly turned its gaze toward him for the first time. Those fiery eyes seemed to pierce through his very soul, seeing every fear, every hope, every hidden part of him.
"You," the dragon said, its voice softer but no less powerful. "You carry my blood."
Li staggered back, the weight of those words crashing over him. "What… what do you mean?"
The dragon said nothing more. Instead, it began to dissolve, its immense form breaking apart into the same tiny red motes that had birthed it.
The motes swirled around Li, entering back into his body, their light fading until the void returned to silence.
Li jolted awake, drenched in sweat. His chest heaved as he struggled to steady his breathing, the dream still vivid in his mind.
He touched his chest where his heart beat erratically. The image of the red dragon, its burning eyes locked on him, refused to fade.
"What was that?" he whispered into the darkness.
But no answer came, only the haunting memory of what he had just witnessed.