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Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 52 - Clean-Up

After spending nearly an hour scrubbing months’ worth of grime from his body, Elijah settled down to deal with the hunger gnawing at his belly.  When he’d looked in the mirror, he had been appalled to see the deterioration of his body.  What little fat he’d cultivated over the years was entirely gone, and his muscles had all but melted away.  His cheeks were hollow, and his eyes were so deeply set that his head looked like a skull. 

Every rib was visible beneat...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 51 - Leaves of Identity

Elijah had not set out to take the next step in his mind cultivation so soon, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t ready for it.  For months – even before he had attained his silver body or master-tier soul – he’d prepared himself to reforge his mind.  He’d never settled on an exact method or a way to kickstart the process, but now that one had been forced upon him, it felt like something had clicked in his mind.

Now, he knew precisely what he wanted to do.  Whether...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 50 - The Voice of Integration

Six months, long, tedious and arduous, had passed since Elijah had begun to incorporate the crystal shard into the growing ancestral tree.  In that time, the seedling had grown nearly a foot.  With his guidance – through Nature’s Design as well as more mundane ways to manipulate growth patterns – it had wrapped around the crystal. 

Soon, he would no longer need to guide it.  Instead, only power would be required.

His actions harkened back to his efforts g...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 49 - Pressure

“Walls will not stop them,” said Zek with an exhausted sigh.

“Maybe they would slow them down, though,” Benedict suggested. 

“Useless effort,” Moza – one of Dravkein’s other council members – stated.  She represented the Tradesemen who lived and worked in the center of the city.  “They will simply destroy them.”

“But –”

“There is a reason we do not build walls, outsider,” interjected yet another council member.  Ovani...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 48 - Insidious

The tree could not survive alone.

Not yet.

Without Elijah’s constant infusion of vitality – born on the shoulders of his Mantle of Authority and Blessing of the Grove while being guided by Nature’s Design – it would eventually wilt.  It simply wasn’t equipped for self-sufficiency. 

Knowing the seedling was at such a delicate point, Elijah refused to abandon it.  So, he remained in place, the bulk of his mind wrapping the nascent tree in his protectiv...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 47 - Inspiration

The branches of Elijah’s soul spread out for nearly half a mile.  If he let it drop, even for a second, the plants would perish.  So he had learned over the past couple of months’ worth of work. 

His initial joy at seeing the grass flourish had quickly faded when he realized that, once converted, each plant had a shelf life that could only be extended through the use of his Mantle of Authority.  The structure he’d created worked in tandem with the web of fungal...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 46 - Solutions

“I’m a moron,” Elijah muttered to himself. 

It wasn’t the first time he’d berated his own intelligence, but the self-inflicted insult felt more personal – and appropriate – than ever before.  Largely because the answer had been staring him in the face.

Or answers, plural.

In retrospect, it seemed so clear.  But in his defense, he’d been too disappointed to see things clearly.  For the past couple of weeks, he’d tried to repeat the train ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 45 - The Cyst

The Cyst recoiled from Elijah’s presence, almost like it knew his plans.  As he stood at the center of the massive tumor, his Mantle of Authority extended to its full diameter, Elijah cast his awareness downward.  Beneath the rubbery, skin-like terrain and below the ocean of half-congealed pus, Elijah felt a spark of awareness.  It wasn’t sapience.  Nor was it even sentience.  But if it was left to its own devices long enough, that could change.

It was ever ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 44 - Called to Defend

Nokar De’lkinaton Val Soren clutched his spear in one hand with his shield strapped to his other arm as he marched in formation.  The smell of corruption danced in his nostrils, mingling with the scent of the woman in front of him.  He nearly sneered at her odor.  She was from one of the lower districts, and by all rights, she never should have been allowed to march next to someone like him. 

Even if she wasn’t so obviously corrupted, with black streaks decoratin...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 43 - Hunger

The abyss was not a monolithic force.  At times, it could attack like a hammer, powerful but ultimately crude.  At other times, it sliced like a dagger, precise and well-aimed.  But the most insidious of its methods was far more subtle. 

Hunger, potent and all-consuming, roared through the leaves of Elijah’s mind.  It devoured everything in its rampage, forcing him to feel nothing but the ever-burning desire – no, the imperative – to consume.  Elijah ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 42 - Naked Will

The smooth, glassy surface was cold beneath Elijah’s feet, and yet, each step left blisters upon his soles.  Corruption, thick and corrosive, tangled with his Mantle of Authority, writhing around the branches.  The cloud was diffuse but ubiquitous, like a dense fog from which there was no escape. 

Elijah plunged ahead, his mind focused inward while he forced his mantle as wide as possible.  It stretched for dozens of feet in every direction, surrounding him in a ha...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 41 - Small

The monstrous foot fell, slamming into the ground with all the weight of a calamitous avalanche.  Flesh rippled across the eye-covered surface.  The orbs blinked and narrowed as a thousand voices screamed in agony, horror, and gleeful hunger. 

Crouched nearby, Elijah couldn’t help but recoil.  That slight flinch was nearly his undoing.  Hundreds of eyes flicked in his direction, then focused on his hiding spot.  He froze, the breath seizing in his chest.&...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 40 - The Crack that Became a Ravine

Silence reigned across the battlefield as Elijah let Shape of Spores fall away.  For the first time in months, he assumed his human form.  Doing so left him feeling awkward and out of place.  Weak.

And compared to his dragon form, it undeniably was.  For all that he’d been born a human, he was rapidly becoming a dragon in spirit.  By comparison, his once-natural form felt oddly constrictive, as if it was a cage around his power. 

He pushed that thou...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 39 - Mockery in Motion

The world ignited.

And Elijah ignited with it.

His every cell burst into flames that burned brightly enough to briefly rival a star.  The first pulse lasted no more than an instant, and it sent a ring of flame tearing across the landscape.  The flesh tree sizzled, and its smaller branches burst with boiling pus and glistening fat.  The second pulse continued that trend, raking across the landscape and melting the rocky ground.  The roots trapped inside that slu...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 38 - A Tree of Flesh

The smell arrived well before Elijah saw the abomination.

Like rotting garbage, sewage, and ozone tied together into a wholly grotesque amalgam that very nearly prompted a gag.  And as Elijah trudged ahead, still under the Guise of the Stalker, it only grew stronger.  Each passing mile brought the odor into starker relief until Elijah felt as if it had seeped into his very pores.

Normally, he’d have long since grown accustomed to such a smell.  But this time was d...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 37 - On the Shoulders of a Simple Woman

For Elijah, trauma was a truly insidious thing.  It was so easy to quarantine and forget about it.  And yet, it never went away.  If he wasn’t careful, it could very easily compound into something he couldn’t handle.  For the most part, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem – at least, until he tried to take the next step in his cultivation.  Only then would he be forced to deal with it, and all at once.

With his advancement into the garnet tier, he’d...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 36 - A Sea of Hunger

According to the notes Elijah had been given, the Restless Sea had once been well named.  Before the World Tree had extended its branches into Gorveth, the body of water had been characterized by strong currents that churned the sea into a frothing maelstrom.  Even back then, it had been considered all but impassible.

It was worse, now.

Much, much worse.

The waves reached as high as any skyscraper, and they looked like dark mountains covered in grey seafoam.  ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 35 - Pillars of the Dead

In the end, it took nearly two weeks for Benedict to finish the project.  When Elijah went back to collect the new book, he once again asked Benedict to accompany him.  But the answer was the same.  So it happened that Elijah set out on his own, plunging into the corrupted terrain and leaving Dravkein behind.

Idly, he wondered if he’d ever see it again.

If everything went according to plan, he would.  But looking back, Elijah couldn’t deny just how infreque...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 34 - An Invitation Refused

“I think you already know my answer.”

“I didn’t even ask the question.”

Benedict sighed, then shook his head without looking up from his notes.  “I don’t need to be a seer to know what you’re going to ask,” he stated.  “Also, it’s very rude to just climb onto someone’s balcony.  You could have just knocked on the door.”

“Do they knock on doors here?” Elijah asked, settling into the chair next to the one Benedict occupied.  Th...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 33 - Predictable

Elijah sat atop the tallest building in Dravkein, his legs swinging back and forth over the ledge.  He wrapped his fingers around the mug, cherishing the warmness spreading through his hands.  Above him, the ever-present rivers of corruption – purple and virulent – slithered through the black sky.  If he used Eyes of the Eagle, he could see the barest hint of the monsters hovering just outside the city’s influence.

He let out a sigh, his breath misting in the cold, ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 32 - Counting Down to Extinction

The portal shimmered with barely-contained heat as a snake-like demon slithered around Benedict’s arm.  It left tiny scorch marks on his bare skin, but otherwise, its control was phenomenal.  Much better than imps, which were uniformly unrestrained and difficult to manipulate properly.  Most of the time, it was better to simply point them in the right direction and let them foster their brand of chaos.

The hell wyrm was much better, though it strained his attributes to ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 31 - Might and Consequence

Rivers of vitality, dense and mighty, rushed through Elijah’s body as he clashed with Vhalor.  Arrows tore into his scales even as reflections leaped free of the cloud of mirror shards floating above him.  The unseen assassin knifed in, leaving only a ripple of air in their wake as they ripped through Elijah’s side.  Spears of fire seared his wings, and his Mantle of Authority fluttered under an attack from the Stillborn.

Vhalor’s sword arced through the air, leavin...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 30 - Flames

Elijah burned.

And the world burned with him.

Pain blossomed within, sweeping through his body so quickly that even Flames of Renewal couldn’t keep up.  If he hadn’t recently put himself through so much punishment, he never could have endured it.  Not and managed to hold on.  But his experience atop that obelisk, where he’d let himself dissipate to little more than a few cells, proved necessary for more than simple cultivation.  It allowed him to persist ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 29 - The Keepers of the Bough

“What is it?” asked one of the men in the back of the formation, his voice laced with trembling fear.

“What did it do?” asked another.

“It doesn’t feel corrupted.”

On and on they went as the creature planted itself at the center of the Arbor Crown.  Behind him, the tainted Branch glittered, black veins pulsing with barely contained malevolence. 

“Silence,” commanded Okani, commander of the Keepers of the Bough.  They were the martial fo...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 28 - Black and White

Even as riots swept through Ithalon, Elijah dropped to his knees in despair.  But his eyes never left that corrupted tree.  He could feel it, now.  He could sense the rot within.  The influence of the abyss – of the Ravener – wove its way through the Branch’s entire structure.  A poignant reminder of where he was.

Of what he’d left behind.

Of his most recent failure.

A thousand images, mostly of the people back on Earth, flashed through his m...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 27 - Hollow

Ko’rien was angry.

Always so angry. 

Even when everything was going perfectly, there existed a deep-seated rage simmering below the surface of her thoughts.  It didn’t matter that her anger had no root.  No reason.  It simply was.

Such was the curse of being the Hollow Voice.

But that was when things were going well.  In this rare case, she had good reason for her rage.  After all, someone had trespassed in her domain.  They had d...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 26 - The Only Way

A week later, Elijah dragged himself back through Ithalon’s gates.  Despite crashing through multiple buildings, his injuries hadn’t been serious.  As a result, it had only taken a few hours to return to full health.  However, his failure hung from his shoulders like a lead cloak.  It took a few days for him to recenter himself before he returned to the city.

When he did, he found it far more secure than when he’d first arrived.  The whip-wielding guards i...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 25 - The Corrupting Influence of Absolute Power

The Upper Veil was very different from what Elijah had experienced down below, but that could be said for each of the four districts atop the plateau.  Though his contact – Naika – had maintained her insistence that she couldn’t help him access the Branch, she had no problems getting him topside. 

The first part was the easiest, and she’d given him a crystal pendant that would allow him to access the lift.  However, that only got him to the middle reaches.  T...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 24 - Ithalon

The plateau rose more than a mile into the sky, its crown decorated by elegant skyscrapers that mimicked the artistry and grace Elijah had seen in various ruined cities during his trek across Gorveth.  However, where those structures had been ravaged by age, the buildings of Ithalon glittered with unbroken glass, potent ethera, and well-maintained stone. 

And that was just what Elijah saw from afar.

After so much desolation, the sight was breathtaking, and he couldn’t ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 23 - Martyrs

The battle was one-sided.

It was also short-lived, with the green-armored force overwhelming the others.  They did so mercilessly, efficiently, and quickly.  The battle was over in less than thirty minutes, and Elijah watched as the victors swept through the fallen, looting anything of value.  When they’d finished, there was nothing left but naked corpses. 

Those were left where they’d fallen.

Not long after, the surviving army marched away.  Poi...