Chapter 356
The scent of pine needles, sleeping trees and damp earth, a familiar comfort from Fanache, had long since faded, replaced by the sharper, wilder tang of untamed air.
Two days had blurred into a relentless journey across vast, unforgiving landscapes.
Draco, a fledgling dragon-kin grappling with a destiny far larger than his years, followed Aasterinian through skies that shimmered under a persistent, watchful sun.
The elven forest, with its ancient trees and gentle whispers, now felt like a distant dream, a stark contrast to the rugged wilderness they navigated.
Finally, the land began to twist and buckle, giving way to immense, craggy formations that tore at the clouds.
Below, a verdant valley stretched, scarred by old rivers and dotted with pockets of dense, primeval forest.
This was the threshold, the outer rim of the Valley of Dragons.
A sense of reverence and foreboding settled over Draco as Aasterinian dipped her head, her movements becoming more focused.
She led him towards a singular mountain, a sentinel standing guard between the vastness of the Valley of Dragons and the distant, monumental peaks of the great mountain range.
Its slopes, unlike the sheer rock faces of its brethren, were gentler, adorned with hardy, wind-battered trees and resilient shrubs.
As they ascended, spiraling higher, Draco spotted it: a small clearing near the summit, an improbable patch of cultivated life amidst the raw power of the peaks.
In the heart of this clearing, a humble house stood.
It wasn't grand or imposing, but simple, built of sturdy wood and stone, its chimney exhaling a thin curl of smoke that diffused rapidly into the crisp mountain air.
To its left, a small, meticulously tended farm stretched, neat rows of green against the wild backdrop.
Draco’s keen eyes noted the rich soil, the careful furrows, and the signs of consistent, dedicated labor….a curious incongruity in such a remote, barren looking place.
Yet, his attention was not permitted to linger.
Before he could fully process the domestic scene, a series of guttural, piercing roars ripped through the silence behind them, echoing off the mountain faces like thunder.
Draco pivoted in mid-air, his instincts flaring, and was instantly taken aback.
A flock of what looked to be wyverns, their leathery wings beating a frantic rhythm against the sky, were rapidly closing the distance, their serpentine necks extended, razor teeth glinting in the afternoon light.
Their tawny scales, usually a camouflage against rock and sand, stood out starkly against the blue.
Aasterinian had provided him with some briefing on the region before their arrival.
Wyverns were opportunistic predators, territorial beasts that rarely ventured beyond the outermost fringes of the Valley.
They were known to be wary of outsiders and typically avoided direct confrontation unless provoked or driven by extreme hunger.
She had warned of a "tiny chance" they might attack if they sensed an intrusion near their established territory.
But Draco was certain they had maintained their distance, flying a wide arc around any known wyvern nests.
This aggressive pursuit defied the information he had been given.
‘Unless…’ a cold thought solidified in his mind.
Had their territory expanded drastically in the three months since Aasterinian had left the valley? Or, more disturbingly, had something within the valley itself pushed these creatures outwards, forcing them into a desperate, uncharacteristic display of aggression?
The latter possibility sent a prickle of unease down his spine.
The Valley of Dragons was home to creatures of immense power, and anything capable of displacing a flock of wyverns was not to be trifled with.
"Sigh, what a pain," Draco muttered, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features.
While a few wyverns were hardly a significant threat to either of them, the resulting commotion…..the battle cries, the inevitable spilling of blood……was guaranteed to draw other, potentially far more dangerous, denizens of the valley.
Their objective here was discretion, not a grand, noisy entrance.
He extended his claws, a faint glow emanating from his scales as he prepared to meet the unavoidable assault.
Just as he coiled his powerful wing muscles, ready to launch into an assault maneuver, Aasterinian swiftly intervened.
Her tail, thick and powerful, swished subtly, signaling him to halt.
"Don't bother," she said, her voice surprisingly calm amidst the growing clamor of the wyverns. She pointed a slender finger downwards, towards the small house on the mountaintop.
From the front door of the unassuming dwelling, an old man had emerged.
He was a striking figure, impossibly ancient, with horns the color of cooled ash curving gracefully from his brow, and faint, almost imperceptible scales of the same hue dappling his weathered skin.
Dressed in a simple, unadorned robe that blended with the muted tones of the mountain, he looked less like a powerful being and more like a hermit tending his garden.
He shielded his eyes against the setting sun, tilting his head upwards.
As his gaze found them, a benevolent smile spread across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes.
He raised a hand, waving it gently, a gesture of welcome so warm and unexpected it felt almost unreal, as though greeting a long-lost family member returning home.
Draco, poised for combat a moment ago, found himself caught off guard by the strange shift in atmosphere.
The wyverns, moments before a snarling threat, now seemed to hesitate, their roars dwindling into confused squawks.
Unsure how to react to such a domestic, tranquil greeting in the midst of burgeoning chaos, Draco awkwardly waved back, a tentative, almost childish gesture.
It was a reflex, an attempt to mirror the unexpected civility of the old man below.
Then, as swiftly as a shadow lengthening, everything changed.
In an instant, an utterly suffocating pressure slammed into Draco.
It wasn't a physical blow, but a pervasive, omnipresent force that seemed to warp the very fabric of reality around him.
The air, which moments ago had been invigoratingly crisp, suddenly turned thick and viscous, as though he were no longer flying, but swimming through some incomprehensibly dense, treacle-like liquid.
His powerful wings, accustomed to cutting through the atmosphere with ease, now felt sluggish, heavy, each beat a monumental effort.
‘Am I still flying?’ Draco questioned, his mind struggling to grasp the absurdity of the situation. The sensation was disorienting, dreamlike, battling his ingrained understanding.
His breath hitched, a desperate, shallow gasp as his lungs rebelled, feeling as though he were choking on air itself, the invisible weight pressing in on his chest, threatening to crush the life out of him.
His scales tingled, not from cold, but from an overwhelming internal tremor.
He felt a primal instinct to dive, to escape, to breathe, but even that impulse was sluggishly slow to form.
Then, almost as abruptly as it had descended, the pressure vanished.
The suffocating weight lifted, the air around them snapping back into its normal, clear state with a palpable 'pop' that only Draco seemed to hear.
The wyverns, which had been frozen mid-flight, their eyes wide with fear, let out a collective, terrified shriek and scattered, beating a hasty, disorganized retreat back towards the distant valley.
All that remained on the mountain summit was an unsettling silence, broken only by the whispers of the wind.
Draco, still reeling, found his descent momentarily uncontrolled, staggering slightly as his feet touched the earth a few feet away from the old man.
A shiver, not of cold but of awe and terror, ran down his spine as he stared at the unassuming figure.
Aasterinian, standing beside him, seemed completely unaffected, her eyes serene, her demeanor unchanged.
Draco, however, was shaken internally, a sense of humility, bordering on self-reproach, settling over him.
He had encountered several powerful draconic auras before.
He had felt the immense, power emanating from his lover, Bahamut, and had even stood, albeit for a short time, in the presence of Falazure, during their titanic clash.
While he wasn't certain if these deities had been exerting the full might of their aura in those instances, he had never before experienced from them enough to suppress him to such an extreme degree.
He had always felt a nascent strength within himself, a spark of resistance, a capacity to at least fight back against overwhelming power.
Yet, before Io, he had been utterly helpless, reduced to a struggling creature choking on air, his very existence seeming to falter.
The only thing that came close to this experience, was the aura of the one eyed black dragon.
Aasterinian, Bahamut, Falazure…..they were all beings of immense power, of a caliber that was only one stage below Io.
This he learned from Bahamut.
If Io, this old man with ash-colored horns, could exert such effortless, soul-crushing pressure, then didn’t that mean…
He tried to formulate the thought, the implications staggering, but his mind refused to fully grasp the chasm of power he had just glimpsed.
His thoughts trailed, a jumbled mess of awe and self-correction, as Aasterinian’s tail smacked him squarely on the back.
It wasn't a gentle nudge; it carried genuine force.
"Ouch!" Draco yelped, startled, his hand instinctively reaching back to rub the spot, though his physiology made it an awkward, futile gesture.
"What was that for?" he complained, still trying to soothe the unexpected pain.
Aasterinian fixed him with a disapproving stare, her eyes narrowed.
"It was punishment for being rude and acting like a fool. Shouldn't you be paying your greetings to your progenitor and savior?"
Her tone was stern, but a hint of amusement danced in her eyes.
Draco immediately straightened up, his posture becoming impeccably rigid, almost comically so, given his earlier flustered state.
"Ah, I apologize for my unseemly behavior," he offered, his voice formal, almost stilted.
Honestly, he was utterly unsure how to act around Io.
This was the creator of all dragon-kin, the very source of their existence.
More personally, Io was the one who had, in a way, been one of the reasons for his continued existence.
And crucially, Io was the only one who possessed the knowledge to rectify his current, fragmented state….an act that would undoubtedly come at a significant cost to the leader of the dragon gods.
It was a truly bizarre situation, with no manual on proper etiquette for addressing a literal creator deity who had saved your life.
So, Draco defaulted to the safest, most universal approach.
‘When in doubt, just be polite first,’ he mused internally, hoping his overly formal tone wouldn't be taken as disrespect.
"My name is Draco Black," he began, offering a respectful bow of his head.
"It is an honor to finally meet you, Lord Io."
Immediately after Draco finished his introduction, Aasterinian burst into a cascade of delighted, melodious chuckles.
It was a sound like wind chimes catching a gentle breeze, utterly disarming and endearing. Io, meanwhile, simply watched Draco, his benevolent smile unchanging, a knowing twinkle in his ancient eyes.
"What's so funny?" Draco asked, a distinct hint of annoyance coloring his tone.
He shifted uncomfortably, feeling acutely self-conscious under their combined gaze.
"Why do you look so stiff? And what's with that overly polite way of speaking?" Aasterinian managed to gasp out between fits of laughter, clutching her sides as if her mirth threatened to split her.
"I don't remember you giving me the same treatment when we first met!"
"That," Draco retorted, a touch of his usual sass returning, "is because the circumstances in which we met were vastly different!"
The two of them soon broke into a rather amusing banter, their previous strained formality dissolving into familiar back-and-forth's.
Io, watching the playful exchange, simply smiled, a deep sense of contentment radiating from him.
He nodded slowly, his eyes filled with a peace that transcended time.
He was genuinely happy.
The reason for his happiness was simple: Draco was happy.
If there had been resentment, bitterness, or a burning hatred for the fate thrust upon him, Io would have felt it, even if Draco had meticulously hidden it.
But there was none.
Only annoyance at Aasterinian, and a certain awkwardness when addressing Io himself, but beneath it, a clear spark of life, of joy in existence.
Io had always carried a quiet burden of guilt for his actions.
Saving Draco, the last of the dragon-kin, had been a deeply selfish act.
Draco was still a child, burdened with the immense weight of being the sole inheritor of an extinct race.
He would bear the burden of his lineage alone, forced to navigate a treacherous path through a world increasingly hostile.
Adding to this chaos, deities, some of whom Io had considered allies, subtly worked to ensure the dragon-kin ceased to be, a burden far too heavy for a mortal child, even one of such unique heritage, to bear.
Io had always assumed that Draco, once he fully grasped the scope of his fate, would resent him for thrusting such a monumental burden upon his young shoulders.
To Io, the dragon-kin were more than just creations; they were like his blood children.
As a deity, the concept of procreation was alien, a mortal endeavor.
But the dragon-kin, born of his essence, were the closest thing he had to offspring, a living legacy.
Seeing the spirited fire in Draco's eyes, the lack of hate or disdain, only a healthy curiosity and the faintest hint of humility, Io felt a sense of ease wash over him.
His silent burden lightened, if only for a moment.
"It's great that you two get along," Io spoke for the first time in what felt like an eternity, his voice a low, rumbling baritone that carried the weight of ages, yet was laced with warmth.
"But the evening is approaching, and the mountain air grows cold. Why don't we head in for dinner?"
He gestured towards the humble house, extending an invitation that felt both casual and deeply significant.
Turning around, Io began to walk back towards the house, his steps unhurried, his silhouette long against the deepening twilight.
He reached the front door, his hand resting on the weathered wood, but paused just before entering.
He turned back, his smile widening slightly.
"Oh, and feel free to call me father, grandpa, or just Io, Draco" he said, his eyes twinkling playfully.
"I feel much more comfortable with those titles than 'Lord' this and 'Lord' that."
With that, he stepped inside, disappearing from view.
Aasterinian, after a final, knowing glance at Draco, quickly followed, her scales shimmering in the fading light as she passed through the doorway.
But Draco remained still, rooted to the spot.
His mind was a jumble of swirling thoughts.
However, he took a slow, deep breath, letting the cool mountain air fill his lungs, allowing the immense pressure of the day to dissipate.
He looked up at the setting sun, a fiery orb sinking behind the distant peaks, painting the sky in hues of orange, purple, and crimson.
Then, his gaze drifted, drawn inexorably towards the far-off inner area of the Valley of Dragons, a place still shrouded in mystery, yet already a locus of intense emotion within him.
A place that made his blood boil even from this distance.
A specific memory, a specific vow.
‘Just you wait,’ Draco thought, his internal voice clear and cold.
‘One-eyed black dragon… one day, I will come for you.’
He turned, his internal turmoil settling into a steely determination, and walked towards the open door, ready to face whatever lay within.
Meanwhile, far off in the distance, nestled deep within the billowing, sulfurous smoke of a great volcano, a subtle, rhythmic rumble began to shake the surrounding earth.
It was a pulse, deep and ancient, a steady heartbeat beneath the molten crust.
The being causing this bizarre phenomenon was in slumber, its power coiled, waiting.
But just for an instant, as the last vestiges of twilight faded from the sky and a new presence settled upon the mountain, its massive nose flared, catching an almost imperceptible scent….a scent that seemed familiar.
Its cold, reptilian eyes, vast and devoid of warmth, snapped open for a fraction of a second, revealing a depth of malice.
But just as quickly, they slowly, deliberately closed again.
Now wasn’t the time to wake, not yet.
It continued its long, patient slumber, conserving its unimaginable power, preparing for the promised time, a time when its own destiny would intersect once more with its hated foe’s.
A/N: And there we go readers, now I just need to give some summary then time skip, or do you guys want an in depth description of how Io heals Draco, let me know in the comments.
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