“My Lord…!”
…
“He’s dying, help him…!”
…
“If he falls on your soil, the Ashbourne lords will not be kind. Do whatever you can… bring him back!”
…
Voices echoed in the mind of a man with snow white hair. It made his face which had been peaceful for the past few days wrinkle, attracting the attention of a watcher.
With a soft groan, Asher opened his eyes, his pupils slowly adjusting to the unexpected sight of sparkling blue water above him.
A massive fish loomed in the distance, its shadow undulating across the seafloor. Sunlight scattered across the water’s surface, casting an ethereal glow over the scene.
Yet, despite being able to see the top, Asher knew he was too deep to be spotted by anyone above.
“What’s going on?” he muttered, struggling to comprehend how he’d ended up at the bottom of this incredibly deep pool – and how it was possible for him to be surrounded by water within a dome that was, impossibly, free of water.
Not that it wasn’t a possibility but for some inexplicable reason, this scene felt natural. Such mastery over the elements was beyond his understanding.
“Finally awake.” A soft voice made Asher tilt his right. Resting on the waterbed was a golden koi, its eyes locked on him.
“Okeanos…. What happened?” Still lying on his back, Asher asked.
“You were a second away from death when I intervened. The amount of energy you unleashed caused an upheaval in the city and beyond. First, walls that had been standing for centuries have been cracked open, it also felt like the city would fall into the earth as we experienced tremors never experienced before, and the sky was cleaved through. Till now, a mark of your sword beam still lingers, a constant reminder of the human more dreadful than a dragon.”
The moment Okeanos mentioned DRAGON, Asher’s eyes widened as scenes of the battle flooded in, from when the dragon appeared until the feeling of dying after he splitted the dragon into two.
“Ha…” He sighed heavily.
Okeanos blinked. “You are the first man I have seen with such an exorbitant amount of energy. How has your body not blown up with such an amount stored inside you?”
Asher looked at the koi. “Does that matter? You must have seen me as a fool as I proudly uttered a promise to kill a dragon.”
Although Asher didn’t want to believe it, Okeanos smiled. “You are just a cub. Dragons are beings created just like I to wield unimaginable power, power beyond any sentient race. It embodies perfection which is why they’re called perfect dragons.”
“I heard Alicia say the one I fought was smaller than the one we were to hunt? You knew it was that powerful?”
“I did but you didn’t. I wanted you to know like I did a thousand years ago but what I fought wasn’t a young dragon like the one you fought, I fought an elder dragon. A dragon 30 meters tall, its wingspan blots out the sky, darkening everything under its wings of destruction.”
Okeanos blinked.
“Elder dragons not only breathe fire, they can consume life, drain it right out of you to heal themselves. I had rivers worth of life drained, millions that lived inside of me died. Then I realised, even I, the embodiment of the world sea can’t win without a great loss.”
“Why are they that powerful?”
“The higher you get, the more you’ll realise there are beings out there, created for the sole purpose of preserving Tenaria. I do it too. Sometimes I rage, capsizing ships with hundreds.”
Asher sat up, his silence daunting. “It was different from that young red dragon. It didn’t come to hunt, it came for vengeance and only those that have been hurt seek vengeance.”
A contemplative light flickered in Okeanos’ eyes.
“I had many assumptions but didn’t think of it this way. We might have to check out the lair of that red dragon to know if they’re related.”
Asher puffed out.
“Might I assume by we, you mean me?” He faced the koi, his gaze piercing yet calm.
“Your talent grants you the ability to counter dragon flames. Other ice would melt quickly.”
“Unfortunately, my ice also melted and this is to a young dragon.”
Okeanos swarms closer to the dome, watching Asher rise to his feet, the sound of his popping bones echoing.
“That’s because you have not spent time nurturing your ice, to make it truly worthy of the name, Kryos ice.” Okeanos said.
Asher turned his head over his shoulder, his furrowed brows and narrowed eyes reflecting in Okeanos’ black eyes.
“Nurturing?”
“The way you use your ice is like looking at the world through a small opening in a box. There’s an entire world out there but you only get a limited view. Although what you see might be great, it’s nothing compared to the entire world. For example, have you tried focusing on the density of your ice?”
Asher blinked.
“Do you know that above the regular ice is black ice and glacier ice? Both are higher forms, much denser than the ordinary ice? You already possess great ice density, imagine how powerful it would become if nurtured?”
Creases formed on Asher’s forehead as he contemplated Okeanos’ words.
“Don’t you know Kryos was able to create soldiers out of ice and make it snow endlessly. That was the reason this region was named the endless north. It was originally called the endless snowy north but was later called endless north.”
Asher couldn’t believe this was the same Kryos ice he had.
“He could make it rain ice swords, daggers, hence he was able to fight armies alone. He could summon transparent ice, so thin that you can’t see yet it cut clean those in its path. He could raise thousands of ice soldiers, he could make the entire north an Iceland, therefore transforming it into his domain, a place where he reigns supreme. Kryos had to be killed because though he was the youngest, the versatility of his talent made him the strongest.”
Before Asher could speak, Okeanos continued.
“This talent cannot become a disgrace in your hands so you must master it!”