WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 33

Flying was not something I had enjoyed for the longest time. I had learned to fly in my previous life after reaching the Fourth State of Spiritualism, but it had always just been a method of travel for me. It was only after meeting Siv that I learned the joys of flying. Sometimes she and I would go out early in the morning and just soar through the sky together.

At the moment, we were traveling toward the Westfang Mountain Range.

The reason it was called Westfang was not because it was in the west. It was actually located in the north, far past Vesparia where the Explorer’s Guild was located. The mountain range was gigantic. It was even bigger than the Demon Beast Mountain Range. In the center of this mountain range was a giant mountain dozens if not hundreds of kilometers taller than the others. It looked like a giant fang that was pointing toward the west. It was such a large landmark that you could even see it once you’d gotten with several hundred kilometers.

The wind blew in my face as I flew under my own Spiritual Power, relying on my manipulation of the water and lightning elements to fly. Beside me, Siv flapped her wings several times, but that was mostly for aesthetics. She didn’t need to flap them at all. Siv relied on manipulating the wind element to maintain lift and flight.

“We’re coming up on Vesparia,” I said to Siv.

We were flying side by side, though not close enough for our shoulders to touch. Siv’s wings kept me from getting too close. Even though we weren’t too far apart, the howling wind prevented me from being able to speak with my normal volume. I had to shout to be heard over the roaring wind.

“…”

Siv did not say anything, but she looked in my direction and nodded to acknowledge that she’d heard me.

“Do you want to stop for a moment and rest when we get into the city?” I asked.

Siv tilted her head for a moment, then slowly shook it negatively. I guessed that meant she wasn’t comfortable being in an unfamiliar city without everyone else present.

Vesparia soon came into view. It spread out beneath us, stretching toward a sea of trees that led into a mountain pass. This was not the Westfang Mountain Range. It was just the entrance. If we were to go on foot, it would take about two months to reach Westfang Mountain, which was why we were flying.

As I looked down at the city we were passing over, I could not help but recall all the good times I’d had at the Explorer’s Guild, the many people I’d met, the friends I’d made. It was a shame I couldn’t see them now. With the changes that happened in this life, I would never be able to join that sect like last time. Our paths had forever diverged.

I didn’t think anyone noticed our passage as we flew over the city, and we were soon leaving Vesparia far behind.

Because the mountain range was at a much higher elevation, Siv and I ascended until we were traveling within the clouds. I did not fear clouds. As we passed through one, I absorbed all the natural energy in the cloud, drawing it into myself to bolster my reserves of Spiritual Power. Large swirls appeared around me as the white vapor-like water crystals were absorbed into my skin. The cloud soon vanished.

We had completely left civilization now. Down below there was nothing but mountains and trees. There were a few valleys located between the mountains. I saw a large lake with crystal clear water in one that we flew by, while another was just a large forest, and one looked like a massive plain. The terrain here was not as varied as it was in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Far in the distance, beyond even Westfang Mountain, I saw a strange object sticking out of the ground. I wondered what it was…

While flying, I could not help but feel like someone was watching us several times. Once when we passed over the lake, I thought I felt eyes on me, and then again when we flew over the forest. However, there was no one present aside from Siv. Was I being paranoid? I’d like to think so, but I had learned long ago to trust my instincts.

Just when I was about to suggest to Siv that we set down, a massive bolt of lightning tore through the sky toward us. It had not come from any thunder clouds. It had come from the ground.

Siv screamed in surprise, but I moved in front of her and held out my hand. The lightning bolt struck my hand, the hairs on my arm stood up from the static shock, and I was pushed back. An intense Spiritual Power had been used to create this attack. However, it was still just Spiritual Power from someone who had reached the Third State of Spiritualism, and it was the lightning element. My forte.

With a click of my tongue, I flung my arm wide, knocking the bolt of lightning away, watching as it curved around me and Siv and disappeared into the sky.

That was not the end of our troubles. The moment I blocked the attack, a loud roar echoed from the forest below. Siv and I looked down. That was when I saw it. The creature flying toward us.

It was not as large as Siv when she transformed, but it was still around ten meters in length, covered in glistening light blue scapes, and had two massive hind and front legs. It did not have what I’d call hands. Sharp claws like talons extended from its feet. The hind legs were thicker than the front legs. A torso full of rippling muscles undulated with power as the massive wings on its back moved up and down, flapping to bring this creature to our height. I gazed into its face and saw the rhomboidal blue eyes.

This was a dragon.

“Siv! It’s coming for us! Don’t transform yet!” I turned my head to Siv and shouted to be heard over the dragon’s roar.

Siv was pale-faced, but this was not the first time we had faced danger together. She’d gotten much better at showing courage. With a nod, she flew back a little to give me some space.

She knew what I wanted.

The dragon did not speak as it charged toward me. Releasing a loud roar, a bluish white sphere of lightning appeared between the two horns jutting from either side of its head. So that was how it attacked me. The sphere turned into a bolt of lightning that was launched at me. Lightning traveled fast. A loud rumble echoed around us as the bolt arrived in the blink of an eye.

I swatted it aside.

If the dragon was surprised by what I’d done, it did not show it. Snarling like it was enraged by my casual disregard for its attacks, the dragon flapped its wings and prepared to engage me in close combat.

Except I was already right in front of it.

The dragon never saw me move. I had turned my body into a bolt of lightning and closed the distance between us, then transformed back into a human. Before the dragon had time to realize I was right in front of it, I was already acting, kicking it right in the snout with a heel drop.

A shockwave spread through the sky as my heel smashed into the dragon’s muzzle, causing the wind to ripple and the trees down below to sway. The scales where I struck shattered like they were made of glass. The dragon released a pitiful cry as it was sent spiraling down, out of control. It flapped its wings to try and reclaim its balance in the sky, but I had already dropped down, extending my foot.

I had already reached terminal velocity. My extended foot ignited with fire from the friction, and I had pumped a good amount of lightning into my limb, causing sparks to flare along it. My attack struck the dragon in the torso without mercy. It didn’t even have time to roar as it was launched back down, striking the ground with so much force the wind it generated uprooted trees for several meters away from the point of impact.

Dust was kicked up, obscuring my vision, but it soon cleared, revealing the dragon lying in a large crater that was at least three times bigger than it was.

Siv quickly flapped her wings and flew back to my side. I looked at her, nodded, and then traveled down from the sky and landed on the ground at the lip of the crater. Siv landed next to me. She looked down curiously at the dragon, her brow furrowed.

“Can you sense the blood of your kind from it?” I asked her.

Tilting her head, Siv eventually nodded. “It’s very weak, but I sense something familiar coming from it.”

“That should be its drakvar blood,” I said with a nod. “The dragons originated from the drakvar.”

“Hmmm…”

Siv didn’t seem to know or care about what I was saying. She had never been the type to think too deeply on these things. I sighed and tugged at my bangs.

“What is going on here?! Who are you people?!”

A voice, deep and rumbling like an earthquake, echoed all around us before I could decide what to do about the dragon. Siv squeaked in fright and closed the distance between us. She hugged my arm as I looked into the sky.

Another dragon was flying toward us. This one was much older than the one I had just pounded into the ground. Its massive body was covered in deep red scales with a fire burst pattern running across the surface. If I had to judge, I would estimate this dragon was about three times larger than the one I’d just smacked around. It had the same general appearance—four large legs, taloned feet, a long neck, and massive wings. However, this one also had spikes protruding from around its neck like frills. It had a horn on either side of its head, and it also had one giant horn emerging from the center of its forehead.

A fierce wind kicked up when it reached us. Siv shielded her face with a hand, but I did no such thing as I stared at the dragon. The dragon stared back with its golden eyes, face set in a snarl. Anger radiated from its body as it looked from me to the whimpering dragon in the crater.

“Humans! You’d better have a good reason for hurting my brood, or so help me I’ll—”

The dragon abruptly stopped speaking when its eyes landed on Siv. It stared at Siv like she was something terrifying, slitted pupils contracting in astonishment and maybe even fear.

“A drakvar?! Impossible!”

“Not impossible,” I said, stepping forward as Siv leaned into me. The dragon looked back at me, though it kept one eye on Siv. “This is Siv. She is my wife and also a drakvar from Vindenket.”

“Your wife?! You mean a proud member of the drakvar race married a mere human?! Why would a member of my forebears stoop so low as to marry such a pathetic creature!”

My words seemed to make the dragon even angier. I’d once heard a legend that dragons were very prideful creatures. They isolated themselves from humanity not because they were afraid, but because they felt humans were beneath them. What was a human when compared to a race that had been born from the drakvar? Their entire race had the blood of one of the eight great races, and the second most powerful race at that.

I did not much care for that pride.

The dragons words made Siv bristle by my side. She was not the type of person who got angry thanks to her timid nature, but there were a few things that upset her. Insulting me was one of those things.

“A mere human, you say?” I mumbled as I slid my arm from Siv’s grasp and took a step forward. The moment I did, I released the restraints on my Spiritual Power, allowing it to run free and rampage across the area around us.

The ground cracked underneath my feet.

Sparks flew from my body, damaging the already damaged surroundings.

Water gathered around me, swirling and coagulating before eventually forming a massive spinning pillar that traveled into the sky.

One of the lightning bolts that erupted from my body struck the red dragon in the chest. A scream tore from its mouth as it stumbled back. I did not pay attention as I took all that power into myself and transformed my body, combining both the water and lightning elements.

When someone reached the Third State of Spiritualism, they could turn their body into the element they had an affinity toward. At the Fourth State, their control over that affinity had reached the pinnacle. I had two affinities, and right now I was transforming my body into a combination of water and lightning. My skin turned translucent and blue. Sparks and arcs of powerful energy skittered around outside my body, which was composed of a water so pure it had nothing to conduct electricity with.

The dragon had recovered from the shock by this point. There was a large black mark on its chest, the scales blackened and scorched. However, while it had physically recovered, it could do nothing to hide the shock in its eyes as I floated off the ground until I was a mere two meters from its snout.

“You… what are you?! There is no way you’re a mere human!”

Even though my body was composed of elements now, I could still project my voice, though my lips did not move at all.

“What I am does not matter.” My voice was cold. “Do not dare insult my wife by suggesting her judgement was wrong. I do not care if you don’t acknowledge our relationship. Your opinions mean nothing to me, but I will not let you insult her. Do so again, and I will make sure you live the rest of your life regretting those words.”

Dragons were prideful creatures, but they were also intelligent, and the one before me was definitely a couple hundred years old at the very least. I could tell from the fact that he knew the human language. A dragon who could understand and speak the human tongue was someone who had been around since before the dragons isolated themselves, or someone who had lived amongst humans long enough to learn the language.

The dragon took a deep breath. “Hmph! It seems I was mistaken. I will retract my previous statement.”

It wasn’t going to apologize for what it said, but I had expected as much. I actually recognized this dragon from when I was here last time. I didn’t know his name because I didn’t stay long. I had only come here to steal their treasure, and this was the dragon who had chased after me when I failed to acquire it.

I pulled back all my Spiritual Power, reverting to a purely human form. The dragon didn’t seem to notice the tension easing from its own muscles. I did but said nothing, choosing to instead float back down to Siv, who reached out to grab my hand the moment I was grounded. I raised my free hand to brush the back of my fingers against her cheeks.

“Ahem.”The dragon released a coughing sound, which sounded odd to me. “Will you tell me what you are doing here now? And more importantly, how did this drakvar find her way into our realm? I had been led to believe the other eight realms had been sealed off.”

“Let’s not talk about this in the open,” I said. “Do you have someplace we can speak?”

The dragon regarded me with deep gold eyes, then sighed.

“I do have a place like that. Come.”

The earth rumbled as it turned around, gesturing with its head for us to follow. Then it took off. A powerful gust struck our faces as the dragon flapped its wings and flew away from us.

Siv and I flew after the dragon as it traveled through the skies. We made sure to remain behind it at all times, maintaining a distance of ten meters.

During this time, several other dragons joined us, their eyes glancing curiously at me and Siv. None of them were as large as the red one we were following, which also meant none of them were as old. A dragon’s size was also determined by its age. The older and more powerful a dragon was, the bigger they would be.

I glanced around at some of the dragons surrounding us. They were not a uniform race. Some had bright green scales, others had dull brown scales, and still some had scales that were red, yellow, or blue. The color of their scales represented the element they had an affinity toward. Green for wind, red for fire, yellow for lightning, brown for earth, and blue for water.

The dragon set down in front of the Westfang Mountain, which was so high it pierced the clouds and disappeared into the sky. Siv stared up at the mountain with wide eyes. The mountain was so tall that we could not see the top. However, I knew from my previous life that at the very top of this mountain was a flat plain with a massive temple. Inside the temple was the treasure of the dragon race and a Warp Gate.

A large cave had been carved out of the mountain. While the other dragons set down several dozen meters from the cave, the red dragon we’d been following had set down right in front of it.

“This place is my home. Come. We can speak in here.”

As the dragon lumbered into the cave, Siv and I followed after him.

This cave did not possess anything in the way of amenities. It was, quite literally, just a cave, a large and vast space filled with nothing but a stone floor, stone walls, and a stone ceiling. I wasn’t sure why I’d been expecting something different. This was a dragon, and it wasn’t like they needed creature comforts, but a part of me felt disappointed to discover that this massive cave didn’t even have a table.

The red dragon reached the end of the cave, turned to face us, and sat down on its haunches. It regarded me with those intelligent golden eyes. However, it could not help but occasionally look at the girl plastered to my side.

“You may speak freely here. Tell me your story and your purpose in coming here.”

Since Siv was not someone who could speak with someone she didn’t know, I did all the talking. The first thing I spoke of was how Siv and I met. I told him about how she had been enslaved by the Sekbeist, which seemed to make him angry, and then I spoke of how Siv’s home in Vindenket had been attacked and she and her father were forced to flee. I kept it brief, talking primarily about how I saved her and how we came to be married.

“Now I understand,” the dragon said with a snort that launched flames from its nose. “I know of these Sekbeist. Over one thousand years ago, they invaded this world and were beaten back. I was but a youngling at the time, so I am not completely aware of what happened, but I do know eight of the Nine Great Overlords sealed away the Sekbeist Overlord, then sealed themselves away as well.”

I already knew about this matter thanks to Ask’s journal. Eight of the Nine Great Overlords sealed away a piece of the Sekbeist Overlord into themselves before they were in turn sealed away. It should have been for all eternity, but Ask had woken up at some point, and the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain had also been revived….

I frowned as my thoughts turned to the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain, but then I shook my head. Now was not the time.

“I happen to know a little more on this matter than you do,” I said to the dragon.

“Oh? So you know of what happened back then? Don’t tell me you have achieved immortality and were alive during the Great War?”

The dragon’s words were sarcastic, but I was not bothered.

“No, I have not alive during that time, but the Great Overlord of the First Plain was awakened from his eternal slumber and tried to invade my home. After we killed him, I found his journal, which spoke of how Eight of the Nine Great Overlords had a piece of the Sekbeist Overlord sealed inside of themselves. The Great Overlord of the First Plain had a hand sealed inside of him, but the Great Overlords of the Ninth and Seventh Plains had the heart and mind sealed inside of them.”

“And what about our queen?” asked the dragon, now very interested in what I had to say. “What did Lady Tiamat have sealed inside of her?”

Tiamat was the name of the queen of the drakvar race. Also known as Mother of Dragons, she was the strongest of the drakvar, the supreme ruler whose power was so vast she could cross realms without aid. Ask had described her as a surprisingly gentle woman who was an absolute terror on the battlefield.

“The torso,” I answered. “It was decided by all of them that she would have the torso sealed inside of her because of her overwhelmingly strong defense. Physically speaking, she was the strongest and sturdiest of the nine.”

“Hmmm… yes, that makes sense. It explains much.” The dragon was silent for a moment, its head tilted up as though it was looking at something high above us. I was certain that if I could follow its gaze, I would find the temple located at the very top of this mountain. A moment passed in silence before the dragon returned its gaze to me. “So what brings you here, young human and drakvar? I cannot imagine you came all this way to inform me of why Lady Tiamat was sealed away.”

“We did not,” I agreed with a nod. “I came here today because I wished to form an official alliance with the dragons.”

“An alliance?” The dragon looked stunned.

“That’s right,” I said. “Long ago, the nine great races combined their strength and formed an alliance to fight against the Sekbeist Invasion. I’ve recently discovered that the Sekbeist have not been truly defeated and are attempting to restart their invasion. Siv and I have already fought against three of their Lords. While we successfully eliminated them, the appearance of three Lords does not bode well for our world.”

Dunherr, Fritz, and Unglück had displayed an overwhelming amount of power and attempted to create a portal that linked this realm to another realm, though I did not know which one.

I still did not know if these Lords had been present in my previous life, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t change the fact that they had appeared now.

My greatest fear was that they were not the only Sekbeist Lords hiding somewhere on Midgard. If there were more, then it could spell a lot of trouble, especially if those Lords were more powerful than Dunherr. If they had a stronger grasp than Dunherr did of those higher level concepts, I was not sure how I would defeat them.

“Hmmm…” The dragon released a deep rumbling breath like it was thinking. “An alliance between us is not impossible. You have a drakvar by your side, and she is your wife at that. We dragons have always worshipped the drakvar race as our ancestors. Lady Tiamat gave us life and blessed our kind with her own blood, so you could also say we owe her our existence. The little one beside you does not possess Lady Tiamat’s majesty, but I can sense the incredible power inside of her. Just being in her presence has caused my blood to race.”

“So you’ll agree to an alliance?” I asked.

“I will need to speak this matter over with the others,” the dragon said. “Although I am the oldest among our kind, we dragons do not have a ruler. We dislike listening to others. However, there are among us several elders who, like me, have been tempered by age. If we all agree on something, we can force the younger dragons into compliance. Leave this place for now and come back later. I will convene a council with the other elders and inform them of what you have told me. When you come back, we will have a decision for you.”

While I didn’t really feel like waiting for them to make a decision, I knew better than to force the issue. Nothing would change even if I beat the snot out of all the dragons present. Of course, I did not have the confidence that I could do that. This red dragon had been surprised by my power, but if it were to fight at full strength, I would have to exhaust a good deal of Spiritual Power to beat it.

With a nod, I turned around and was about to walk away with Siv, but then I paused.

“You never told me your name,” I said, looking back at the dragon.

“I suppose that is true. I have not. Very well. I shall tell you. My name is Feuer. It was the name given to me by Lady Tirma herself. Remember it well, human.”

“I will remember your name,” I said.

“And you? What is your name, young one?”

“Eryk Veiger,” I answered before turning back around and leaving the cave with Siv.