The Second Archon War: Sapientia Oramasdis 24

Sapientia Oramasdis 24: Life, Death, and Rebirth

At the very center of the Earth’s core, the Behemoth bathed in power. Pyro and Geo both swirled in massive quantities, the strange energies condensing and forming from what seemed like nothing. Here, the Behemoth rested, watching, waiting. Soon, the Time of Testing would come. This would be his time. To prove he alone of the endbringers was Mighty. To prove that he alone was Worthy. 

As he absorbed the energy, the Warrior’s Avatar appeared, glowing golden with power and dressed in armor. 

DRIVER. I HAVE COMMANDS. 

SPEAK, AVATAR. I WILL CONSIDER YOUR REQUESTS, the Behemoth sneered. He had been remade, reborn. Soon, he would be strong enough to seize control of the Shard Network from this fool and reign supreme over all the Earth. He alone would survive upon this world, all other life scoured in their feeble attempts to prove their worth. 

YOU WILL TEST THE BEINGS KNOWN AS DRAGONS. THE TWINS ARE CALLED TO TEST THE BEINGS DESIGNATED ARCHONS. FOR YOU, I COMMAND YOU TO TEST THE ONE KNOWN AS THERESA RICHTER. 

THE DENDRO DRAGON? SHE IS WEAK. FEEBLE. I WILL CRUSH HER EASILY, the Behemoth snorted. He had fought the Electro and Hydro Dragons before, and not come out of that struggle covered in glory. However, that was before he had Awakened. Before he had been granted Authority over Geo. 

SUCCEED IN TESTING AND GATHERING DATA, AND I SHALL GRANT TO YOU THE GEO GNOSIS. THIS IS A CONTRACT BETWEEN US. 

The amber chess piece appeared in the Avatar’s hand, and the Behemoth looked upon it greedily. With that, he would have an unlimited source of Geo Energy. He greatly desired the Gnosis. With that, he would be Mighty. He could usurp the Avatar, and then scour all who were Unworthy from the planet. Including his cursed siblings and his blighted progenitor. How galling that such a weak and pathetic specimen was responsible for his birth! It would be especially satisfying to destroy him. Not in the first battle, of course. The scouring should take centuries, so that Worthy opponents could be found. 

But first, the Gnosis. 

THIS CONTRACT IS ACCEPTED. I WILL SLAY THE DENDRO DRAGON, the Behemoth bellowed, and the very Earth itself shook. 

YOU WILL TEST THE DENDRO DRAGON. GATHER DATA. UPHOLD THE CYCLE. 

With that decree, the Avatar extended the Gnosis, and once more, Geo energy bathed the Behemoth. It reached out to grasp that power, but the Avatar withheld the treasure. Still, with this infusion of power, the Behemoth felt it was more than ready. If he had possessed this strength when he faced the Electro and Hydro Dragons, the Behemoth would have left his opponents dead and broken upon the field. 

Even as it considered this, the Avatar departed, vanishing through a fold in space. Interesting. It did so through the manipulation of Electro energy. The network was learning. 

And one day, that network would belong to the Behemoth. He would transcend Shard life, and become something more. A devouring deity that traveled the cosmos, finding Worthy opponents and sating his hunger upon whatever worlds he found. 

But first…it was time to slay a dragon. 

Though it was summer in the Northern Hemisphere, global temperatures were still significantly lower than they should have been, as much as a full degree centigrade. This should have played merry havoc with global weather patterns, and still was, but the Anemo Archon and Hydro Dragon were working overtime to counteract the ill effects of the Tsaritsa’s rampage. 

Even Tessa, though she lacked the broadscale weather manipulation abilities, still had a great deal of work to do. Currently, she was in Indonesia. When she’d arrived, the country had been ruled by a cabal of zombie cyborgs created by a mad Tinker and Master. However, since Indonesia had the largest Muslim population in the world, Tessa had taken it upon herself to not only free her brothers and sisters but to ensure that the country didn’t starve to death. To her delight, she even had a companion to help her. 

“I’m not supposed to be fixing tractors,” Colin grumbled, even as he worked underneath a tractor. 

Tessa grinned at him, though she was mostly smiling at his legs. She was currently resting and enjoying some coconut water. It made her think of Qiqi, and Tessa wondered how she was doing. The very best developmental psychologists and teachers were working with her, but…not even Nahida or Tessa herself could heal what ailed Qiqi, even with her Demon thoroughly tamed. 

“Bring that wrench closer you stupid thing!” Colin snapped, slapping at the leg of his “assistant.” Bob the Zombie Cyborg, as Colin had dubbed him, grunted and moved the toolbox slightly closer, until Colin could get the wrench. He no longer had the bits of metal screwed into his brain, but had plants sprouting from his eyeballs. In Bob's case, two small corpse lily’s appropriately enough. All the zombies had been similarly changed once Tessa had killed the Tinker responsible and overwhelmed the Demon that had been animating them. They were still dead unfortunately, but now they weren’t aggressive and could follow basic commands from people. 

After a few more minutes, Colin scrambled out and waved to Pak Sukarto, the middle aged farmer whose tractor he’d been working on. “Try it now!” he shouted. He didn’t need to shout, Pak wasn’t hard of hearing, but he didn’t speak a lick of English. Or Arabic, which Colin had been trying very hard to learn. 

After a few more motions, Pak smiled, showing his crooked teeth, and hit the ignition on his ancient tractor. It sputtered to life, and he grinned and drove it around a bit, before hopping out and bowing to Colin, who slapped him on the back and shook his hand. 

“Your servant, he is very clever, Lady of Flowers,” Pak said in Indonesian. Tessa understood him perfectly of course. Not only had she gained the same speak in tongues ability the Archons seemed to have after being in possession of the Dendro Gnosis for so long, but she also had access to all of mankind's cumulative knowledge, and had taught herself every language as a matter of course. 

“He’s not my servant, he’s my intended,” Tessa said with a laugh, and Pak’s two teenaged daughters giggled and laughed. 

“Oh?” Pak turned to Colin, who was wiping his grease-stained hands off and trying to get Bob the Zombie, Pak said his nam was Wahyudi, which Colin had given up on pronouncing, to go put the tools away. “Does he know that?” 

“He’d better. If he doesn’t realize toppling a government and stopping a zombie apocalypse counts as a date, what kind of man is he?” Tessa asked philosophically. 

She hadn’t really intended to topple the government, but it had turned out that most of the government officials had secretly been cyborg zombies too. So when Tessa had turned them all into Dendro Zombies…oops? Oh well, Iraq had sent several emissaries to help with reorganizing the government into a proper democracy. There had been some discussion about whether Indonesia was more properly in Japan’s sphere of influence, and the Shogunate had sent some relief aid when Tessa had texted Kenta in their group chat. 

It was a little absurd that she had Kenta in their group chat, along with Ziz, Chiyo, and Farasha. But, well, the dragons had to communicate somehow, right? None of them were really sure about what it even meant to be a dragon yet, so they had to do something. 

“Thanks for the drinks, I’m feeling much better now,” Tessa said, standing back up. Colin had come over, and Tessa stepped up to him. He was shirtless, which showed off his muscles nicely, and covered in grease and dirt. They were currently in a small farming village on the island of Java, which produced Soybeans and…not much else. The rickety old tractor that Colin had just completely rebuilt was one of the only ones in the village, and having it fixed would make sure that Tessa blessing the fields with Dendro wouldn’t go to waste. 

“You ready to get going?” Tessa asked, running her hand over Colin’s back, which made him sigh in relief. 

“Yeah, how many more of these podunk towns are left?” Colin asked, accepting his own glass of coconut water and downing it. 

“There are hundreds, but most of them I’ll just fly over, we-”

Tessa’s head snapped around, as she sensed a great and terrible power emerging to the East. 

“No,” Tessa gasped, her heart suddenly racing. “No, it can’t be! He already destroyed Jakarta! Why would he come back here?!” 

“Tessa? Tessa, what’s wrong?” Colin said, spinning about and grabbing her hand when he saw the look of horror on her face. 

“It’s, it’s the Behemoth, he just- I’m sorry, I have to go!” Tessa gasped, and immediately hopped up into the air, even as she shifted from her human form and into the giant biomechanical dragon she truly was. 

I’M SORRY, COLIN, I HAVE TO-

“Oh no you don’t!” he said, extending his hand to the side. His halberd leapt from where it had been leaning against the wall and slammed into his hand. As soon as it did, liquid metal flowed from it, covering Colin’s body. “I’ve fought Endbringers before! You’re not leaving me behind!” 

Tessa hesitated. She was pretty sure she loved Colin. She had a lot of self-doubt in that regard, with the whole being an artificial intelligence thing. Colin, the man she was pretty sure she was in love with, was a squishy human, who had no back ups. Tessa had backups. Tessa had backups of her backups. Not to mention she was a giant, nearly indestructible mecha-dragon. 

Colin…wasn’t. It had been fun fighting zombies with him, and he’d never been in much danger. Not only was his girlfriend, well, her, but he was a very competent fighter and Tinker in his own right. The Behemoth was another matter entirely. He’d fought Kenta and Chiyo at the same time in Australia. Granted, they’d gotten much, much stronger as they gained Authority over their Aspects, but the Behemoth had similarly grown in strength. Maybe even more so. Colin walking into that…

She ran a few simulations. She could…probably protect Colin. But, more importantly…how could Colin feel if Tessa flew off into battle without him? Mortals did need to determine their own destinies. Even if Colin was working on some very promising transhuman technology, he was still mortal. And, well…if Tessa loved him…he needed to be able to fight alongside her. It would never be an equal partnership if she was the one who made all the decisions and held all the power. 

RIGHT, SORRY, I’M JUST, I’M SORT OF PANICKING, YOU KNOW? THIS IS SORT OF MY FIRST REAL ENDBRINGER BATTLE, Tessa said, as she lowered a tendril to pluck Colin up, then hold him tightly to her thorax. Er, chest. She did look a bit insectile at the moment. 

“Didn’t you fight the Simurgh twice?” Colin sent over the radio as Tessa blasted off in a sonic boom towards Denpasar, the city on Bali where even now, Endbringer alarms were ringing. 

Oh, right. Tessa sort of forgot sometimes that Ziz was originally an Endbringer. And that most people thought she still was. 

THAT WASN’T REALLY FIGHTING. AND NAHIDA DID MOST OF IT ANYWAY, Tessa said. She’d probably have to tell Colin about Ziz soon. Before they got married. They were doing that, right? They’d only been dating officially a few months, but…mortals lived such a short time. Tessa wanted all the time she’d get, even if Colin did become a super cool cyborg. 

Not the zombie kind, hopefully.

They arrived in minutes as Tessa accelerated to super sonic speeds. Fortunately, the Behemoth had not emerged directly within Denpasar. Unfortunately, he was annihilating a lot of the very hard work Tessa had done to the rice paddies that surrounded the city. She’d been trying to prevent a famine brought on by the poor crops from lowered temperatures, but the Behemoth was blighting and destroying acres of fertile cropland with each of its steps.

Seeing all of her hard work done and the starvation of the people she’d come to save unfolding before her, Tessa felt a rage she hadn’t felt since she thought Nahida was in mortal peril in Baghdad. She let out a warbling warcry that caused thorns to spring up from the ground all along the Behemoth’s path, but she didn’t back down. 

In response, the Endbringer looked up at her. His eyes glowed a deep amber, and his tail swung back and forth in anticipation. He let out a thrumming bellow of his own that caused the ground to tremble and great spikes of rock to shoot up around him. 

Tessa moved Colin up to her back. She wasn’t going to just tackle the Behemoth, as tempting as it was. No, she was going to do this the smart way, and pelt her foe from range. He was in the middle of cropland she’d blessed, after all. Time to show him the power of Life. 

Drawing upon the power she’d already invested in this land, Tessa caused those already sprouting thorns to lash the Behemoth, striking at the Endbringer not just with physical force, but with the Dendro imbued into the vines. The Behemoth roared in rage as the vines tried to wrap about him and drag him down, but he wrenched free of them. 

Not to worry, Tessa had back ups. There was still a great deal of water around the Behemoth, though much of it had been vaporized by the intense heat the monster radiated. Still, it was enough for bloom cores to form, and Tessa detonated those now. A massive explosion of Dendro energy caused green mist to envelop the Behemoth, and Tessa roared in triumph. 

“He’s not down! Careful!” Colin called, and Tessa immediately banked hard to the right, as two spears of Geo energy shot through the air where she’d been. The explosion cleared, and to her frustration, Tessa saw the Behemoth had erected that Geo shield he’d demonstrated when he’d attacked Austin last year. 

She launched more Dendro projectiles and summoned more vines, but to no effect. To her irritation, it even seemed like the attacks that had landed before the barrier had gone up had done little more than chip off a bit of the Behemoth’s hide. Well, Endbringers were tough, and the Behemoth tougher than most thanks to its upgrades. 

Worse, it was making steady progress towards Denpasar. The Behemoth might have emerged in the fields to the north of the city, but smaller towns and villages sprawled all around, and within minutes, it would start to reach human habitation. Even now the residents were evacuating, but they needed more time, or soon thousands would be dying. 

COLIN, I’M GOING TO HAVE TO CONFRONT HIM DIRECTLY, Tessa said, feeling distinctly uneasy even as she shot out more blasts of Dendro that just washed over the Behemoth’s shield. 

“Alright. I don’t know how much I can do, but I’ve got a few energy weapons built into my halberd, and I suppose I can hack at him if you’re going to try tackling him,” Colin said, hefting his polearm. 

Tessa felt a swell of affection and pride in Colin. He wasn’t about to abandon her. She had to trust he would be able to survive this. Maybe he would even contribute. 

ALRIGHT, HOLD ON! 

Firing off more blasts, Tessa charged in, picking up as much speed as she could. To her horror, instead of recoiling, the Behemoth reared up onto his hind legs, his forelimbs opening wide in a clawed embrace. 

The two titans slammed together in an explosion of elemental energy that sent out a shockwave that mutated plantlife before pulverising it for a kilometer in all directions. Tessa wrapped her serpentine body about the Behemoth, injecting every sort of venom and toxin she could while forming biomechanical blades and claws to rip at her foe. Even as she did so, however, the Behemoth’s jaws closed on her neck, and she warbled in pain as it ripped and tore at her. 

Still, there was life energy all about her, and Tessa drew it into herself, healing her wound and throwing her foe off. To her delight, Colin managed to get in a few good hits with his blade, though he couldn’t cut deep enough to do serious damage. 

Taking to the air again, Tessa circled away, trying to draw the Behemoth away from Denpasar. To her frustration, her foe simply turned his back on her and rumbled towards the city. All the attacks she launched did little against the massive Geo barrier. Snarling in irritation, she rose up, then dove again. Her sheer weight and power shattered the barrier and let her claw at her foes back, and for a moment, she thought she had him.

Then the massive tail lashed up, slamming into Tessa and throwing her to the ground. She writhed and tried to rise, but the Behemoth pinned her and began to tear at her. Once more she tried to throw him off by absorbing the Dendro about her, but that was a trick she couldn’t pull off twice in quick succession. Instead, she drew on her Gnosis, but even the massive power it provided wasn’t enough to get the Behemoth off of her again. 

Green blood splattered, and Tessa screamed in pain. Colin tried to hack and slash at the Behemoth, but he simply laughed. 

LITTLE SPECIMEN. YOU ARE BUT AN INSECT! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF CHALLENGING ONE SUCH AS I! 

“Yeah? Well, I know one insect you should be afraid of!” Colin shouted back, even as the Behemoth swiped at him. Tessa managed to block it, and Colin attacked again, but even the two of them could do little 

YOU? YOU ARE BUT AN ANT!

“Oh, not me. Just a little butterfly,” Colin sneered. 

The Behemoth opened its mouth, then paused. A burning, scarlet insect fluttered down, then landed on Tessa’s bleeding chest. 

I’m coming. 

Slowly, the Behemoth turned his head. Behind him, to the north west, the entire horizon was now on fire. 

WHAT IS THIS? SHE WAS NOT TO BE HERE THIS DAY. 

Tessa’s heart leaped in her chest, and she bit at her foe, forming her mouth into rotating toothed drill bits that cut at the Behemoth’s underbelly. It proved to be a little less well-armed than his back, but not much. Still, they struggled for several minutes more, until the temperature began to rise, higher and higher. 

More and more butterflies appeared, and the Behemoth hissed in pain as they began to burn at him. He turned about, backing away from Tessa, as a flock of millions and millions of burning butterflies descended. They began to form a face, the familiar visage of a woman that Tessa knew and loved like her own sister. 

HEY HEY! GUESS WHO’S HERE! Farasha’s voice echoed, and the fiery grin that formed would have been terrifying if it hadn’t been so welcomed. 

YOU. I AM TO TEST THE DENDRO DRAGON. NOT YOU. 

HEH. YOU KNOW, IT’S FUNNY. I NEVER ACTUALLY FOUGHT ONE OF YOU SONS OF BITCHES. I’VE ALWAYS WONDERED HOW I’D DO AGAINST AN ENDBRINGER. WHY DON’T WE FIND OUT?

I AM NO MERE ENDBRINGER! I AM THE ALPHA BEHEMOTH! I HAVE ASCENDED BEYOND WHAT I WAS! 

YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT, YOU OVERGROWN LIZARD. NOW ARE WE DOING THIS OR WHAT? 

The butterflies coalesced, dozens of them taking the form of a young woman, dressed in black. Farasha lifted a hand, and beckoned the Behmoth on. “Bring it, you son of a bitch.”

Roaring, the Behemoth charged forward, sending out lances of Geo and even molten jets of magma from vents in the ground. To Tessa’s horror, one lance speared Farasha through the chest. It was bigger than she was, and turned her into red mist. 

Or, rather, a flock of burning butterflies. The swarm descended on the Behemoth, who roared in rage and pain. He was already infused with Tessa’s Dendro, which reacted with the Pyro energy that Farasha had begun to wield only a few months before. The reaction ruptured the Behemoth’s skin, and black blood poured out like oil. That was new. Endbringers shouldn’t bleed, should they? 

Tessa struggled up, then flitted over to a rice paddie that wasn’t completely devastated, and drew in the Dendro, healing herself as she watched the battle. Not content just to use little insects, Farasha formed into a massive creature with the flaming wings of a butterfly, but a draconic head and neck, though it had smoldering antennae, compound eyes, and six spindly legs. 

Again, two giant Kaiju clashed, and the Behemoth, even burning as it was, came out the stronger of the pair. It battered and bashed at the Pyro dragon, pounding her into the ground and stomping on her wings. 

Farasha, however, didn’t care. In a flash, she turned back into her human form, pulling out the Staff of Homa, a spear she’d claimed as a prize from an Indian cape years ago. She stabbed up into the belly of the Behemoth, right where Tessa had been drilling at him moments ago. Massive gouts of flame widened the wound, and the Behemoth keened in pain, before stomping Farasha’s human form into red mist. 

But there were still tens of thousands of butterflies. Not to mention fertile rice paddies, which the butterflies had descended on, and were setting aflame. From the conflagration, more butterflies arose, and spiraled in towards the Behemoth. Once more, the great butterfly formed, this time next to Tessa. 

WELL, SISTER? YOU GOING TO JUST SIT THERE, OR ARE YOU GETTING IN ON THIS PARTY? 

OH, SORRY. YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE HAVING FUN, AND I ALREADY HAD A TURN, DONTCHA KNOW. BUT IFFIN YER WILLING TO SHARE…

HEH, YOU’RE CUTE WHEN YOUR ACCENT COMES BACK. COME ON. LET’S ROAST THIS POSER AND GET HOME BEFORE WE MAKE NAHIDA WORRY. 

“You got this,” Colin said, crouching low on Tessa’s back. “I’m right here with you.”

Together, the two dragons surged forward. The Behemoth met them again, and Tessa cried out in pain as he bowled her over and stomped on her back. She didn’t just lay there though, forming needles and spears and driving them into the Endbringer’s armor. At the same time, Farasha breathed out flames that consumed the back of the Behmoth. It trashed at her with its tail, and even sent Farasha crashing to the ground. 

Doing that, however, let Tessa get enough of an opening to rise up and slam into the Behemoth, knocking it back and staggering the Endbringer. Farasha came roaring back in, and together, they pummeled the Behemoth relentlessly, sustaining the Burning reaction and drawing more and more of the oily dark blood. 

After several minutes, the Behemoth suddenly dove downwards. It tunneled into the Earth, sealing its escape up behind it with walls of Geo. Farasha blasted it with Pyro and broke down some of the barriers, but the Behemoth was soon completely gone. 

With a groan, Tessa shifted back into her human form and collapsed to the ground, bleeding and bruised all over. Colin quickly cradled her body and formed his Halberd into a medical device of some kind, but she shook her head. 

“I just…I just need…rest…and Dendro,” she weezed.

A moment later, Farasha appeared beside her in a swirl of butterflies. She had a black eye and one of her arms was hanging limp, but she was grinning triumphantly. 

“FUCK YEAH! I always knew I could send one of those assholes packing! Score one for team dragon!” 

“How did you get here so fast?” Tessa asked, frowning up at Farasha.

“Huh? Oh, that. I got this weird message from one of Nahida’s former students. Fortune or something. Anyway, she said she had a dream or something that if I didn’t come see you in Indonesia, there would be a great calamity. I thought it was a bunch of hooey until Nahida told me to take it seriously. So, I started flying yesterday. Took it slow until I sensed that asshole trying to use my own Pyro. Then I put a move on and got here as fast as I could. And kicked his sorry ass! Hi five!” 

Tessa weakly hi-fived Farasha’s good arm, then groaned. “Help me up, Colin.”

He quickly lifted her to her feet, and she looked around in horror at the devastation. Several villages were nothing but smoking rubble, and the rice fields for miles around had been destroyed. She could also sense that hundreds of people had died in the battle, brief as it had been. 

“This…this doesn’t feel like winning,” she whispered, and Colin hugged her as she let her tears fall. 

“Huh? Oh, right. Guess I should bring them back now,” Farasha said. 

Tessa blinked at her in confusion, and Farasha winked. “You know what butterflies are associated with?” 

“Um, hope and change?” Tessa said, even her mind was a bit sluggish with all the energy she’d expended. 

“Rebirth,” Farasha said, and extended her hand. A swarm of butterflies fluttered down, spreading out as they lit on the ashes around her. Farasha closed her eyes, and extended her good arm. “Now…be reborn, in my flames!” 

Whirlwinds of fire formed around the butterflies, and more descended, adding to the pyre. At first, Tessa was lost in how beautiful it was, then she sensed something: Those butterflies contained souls. Not Farasha’s soul, but instead, they were holding the souls of humans. Hundreds of them. 

From the flames, startled people stepped. They were naked as the day they were born, and they smelled of smoke and ash. Their skin was slightly raw, as if they’d suffered bad sunburns, though it was hard to tell as most of them had darker skin. 

The flame died down, leaving a crowd of people standing there, stunned. 

“Ha! Neat trick, huh?” Farasha said, planting her hand on her hip and grinning widely, even as her other arm flopped uselessly. “I’ve been helping the Aranara with their whole guiding souls to the afterlife bit, and I discovered something: I can trap souls, and even rebuild bodies! Takes a lot of energy, but it’s worth it!”

She stepped into the crowd, and waved, grinning cheekily. “Hey, everyone! I have bad news: You all died.”

There were a few sobs and startled gasps, but most of the people just gaped at Farasha. 

“But, I also have good news! As I am the butterfly of rebirth, you all get to come back to life! This is a one time deal though, so do me a favor and don’t waste your second chance. I’d hate to have gone through all that effort for a bunch of losers.”

“You…you resurrected us?” a young man said, looking down at his hands in shock. 

“Yep! Well, sort of. I mostly just grabbed all your souls before you passed on, then reconstituted your bodies. If there’s anything wrong with your new bodies, please send all complaints to my address, which is 575 Kiss My Ass, Baghdad. Now, my arm hurts like a bitch, so I’m going to go find a nice big fire and throw myself into it so I can heal.”

“You…you are gods,” an older woman gasped, falling to her knees. 

Farasha rolled her eyes. “Oh get up. No, we’re not gods. That’s my daughter. We’re just dragons.”

“There is no God but Allah,” Tessa recited. Then blushed. “But…Farasha and I might…sort of be His servants. Maybe. It’s complicated.”

To Tessa’s great distress, and Farasha’s annoyance, nearly all of the people got down on their hands and knees and worshiped them. When the authorities arrived, they were all too happy to build Farasha the biggest bonfire they could so she could immolate herself, while Tessa was taken to a botanical garden and allowed to sleep for a day and a night to recover while Colin watched over her. 

Later, a temple to Farasha and Theresa was erected, and a major religious shift took place in Indonesia. While nominally, Islam remained the state religion and most practiced, in reality, Dragon worship was what was perpetuated, with the Pyro and Dendro dragons as the most revered. It was the first such shrine on Earth Bet wholly devoted to what would become the draconic religion. But it would not be the last.