After they had flown for a while, Alister commanded his dragons to set down close to an extremely old football stadium, which was run-down and rusted. As they descended, the ruined structure came into view, its stands now crumbling and overgrown with vegetation.
Alister landed gracefully and dismounted Terra. On the field, he turned to his dragons. “Terra, Cinder, Draven, watch over my body while I undergo the awakening process. Although with the three of you letting out your aura like this, no monster would dare come close.”
“But it can never hurt to be careful.”
Draven nodded, his massive body casting a large shadow over the field. “Understood, my lord.”
Terra, her golden scales glinting in the fading light, also nodded. “We will keep you safe,” she assured him, her eyes scanning their surroundings for any potential threats.
Cinder stepped forward, a look of concern in her crimson eyes.
“Are you sure you will be okay, my lord?” she asked, her tone filled with worry. “Last time, you lost consciousness and were in so much pain. Are you sure you can go through it again?”
Alister paused, taken off guard by Cinder’s display of worry. But this wasn’t the first time she had shown her soft side, so it didn’t entirely seem odd.
He smiled reassuringly, placing a hand on her foreleg. “I’ll be fine, Cinder. It’s nothing I haven’t gone through before.”
Cinder let out a sigh of relief, though her eyes still held a trace of concern. “Alright, my lord,” she said, stepping back to give him space.
Alister then let out a sigh, calling upon Dragonforge in his thoughts. “Begin the awakening,” The commanded mentally.
In that instant, Alister’s body began to glow faintly as the process started. Although his tech suit hid most of it, his heart shone with a brilliant golden light. Alister’s knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest as he heard the system’s voice echo in his mind.
[Reconstructing 30% of the player’s bone structure…]
[Notice: This is going to be a very painful process!]
“Ughaaaaaa!” Alister screamed, the sound echoing through the deserted stadium. He quickly gritted his teeth, trying to bear the excruciating pain that surged through his body. His muscles tensed, and he could feel his heart throbbing and heating up as if it were on fire.
Cinder stepped forward, her eyes wide with concern. “My lord, are you alright?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Alister managed to lift his head, his face contorted in pain. “I’m fine, Cinder,” he gasped. “Just… need to get through this.”
Terra and Draven exchanged worried glances, but they remained vigilant, their eyes scanning the surroundings for any potential threats.
The pain intensified, and Alister’s body convulsed. His vision blurred, and he felt as if his entire being was being torn apart and rebuilt from the inside. Every fiber of his body screamed in pain, but he refused to give in.
‘Damn it… It’s a little bit more intense this time…’ Alister thought as he gritted his teeth. His canine teeth grew slightly, now resembling fangs, and the rest of them became sharper. He could feel the sensation of his bones breaking and reforming inside his body at an absurd rate, and the way his heart pulsed while it did.
‘I’m… almost… losing consciousness again…’
Just then, another system notification rang in his thoughts.
[Dragon soul is being stimulated!]
[Ding!! Memory fragments have been found!]
[Does the player wish to reassimilate or discard?]
[YES.] or [NO.]
‘This again….’
‘By fragments… it means there are more than one… Wait, what was the first one?’
‘I’m sure something like this happened in my first awakening, but I can’t remember what the memory was.’
At this moment, in all this pain, Alister had momentarily forgotten about the ring of focus he had slid on his finger that was blocking out a painful memory that had been haunting him.
Struggling with all this pain, he couldn’t think straight, and he just wanted to get this over with.
‘Yes, re-assimilate the memory fragments.’
[Processing…]
Again, Alister felt that strange sensation, as if the world around him was melting away, his sense of identity disappearing as everything went black.
His eyes cracked open, and he found himself standing in a massive hall, the floors made of white quartz and gold. All around him, many figures gathered, and beside him stood a young man with silver hair and blue eyes, dressed in silver and black regal clothing.
The man in silver spoke, “The best of the ten clans have gathered their finest so you can choose.”
He let out a sigh, “Yukeso, you have done well. Looking at this generation of dragonkind, I can’t help but feel impressed.”
Yukeso, the man in silver, couldn’t help but smile. “You honor me, my lord.”
He then smiled as his yellow eyes flared brightly, a dragon skull-like crest appearing in their depths. “Now then, for me to choose.”
With those eyes, he looked around, seeing a sort of flame flickering within the bodies of all those present. Many flames were large, some faintly appearing on the surface of their skin. But then his eyes landed on one figure.
She had black and silver hair, red eyes, and was clad in black and silver armor. Her horns curved gracefully backward, and her flame seemed to rage like a tempest around her, making the others’ flames seem like mere torches in comparison to her inferno.
He chuckled, “Oh? What do we have here? Even among primordials, such potential is one in a
million.”
He suddenly pointed to her in the crowd. “You, the Abyss-Void with strangely parted black and silver hair.”
She gracefully raised her head to reveal her dull red eyes. “Yes, lord,” she spoke.
He then said, “Rejoice, I have decided to make you my disciple. What are your thoughts?”
She bowed her head again. “I am most grateful.”
He smiled. “Ho? Your mouth says one thing, yet your heart and mind say another. How
intriguing!”