Dragon Gods Reign

[Dragon peaks]

Standing in front of Irsyr's lair, Darganth saw a wildly different sight among the mountain peaks than he had when he had first arrived. Letting his gaze wander across them from time to time, he watched the activity there to pass the time as he simultaneously kept his attention on the horizon and waited.

At the moment the previously sparely filled sky was abuzz with activity as Locis dragons flew around between the peaks. Even the oldest among them acted once more, with even the laziest of them rousing from their sometimes centuries-long sleep and setting out to fulfill Irsyr's directive to lay the foundation for Darganth's burgeoning empire.

Flying a few hundred meters beyond the furthest mountain peak that reached into the heights at which the Locis lived, these dragons then moved to or returned from across not just the universe of Ikrus but also a few nearby universes. Due to that, there were portals constantly opening all around the peaks which caused the surrounding space to become turbulent as a multitude of tunnels formed in it one after another.

To those who could expand their senses into the fabric of space, these tunnels looked somewhat like a wormhole. At both ends of the portals, the underlying section of space sank down as if it were a rubbery surface that was pulled into the direction of the other portal. Stretching out further as the two ends rapidly moved toward each other, this deformation of space caused the rounded funnel that had formed at the points of origin of both halves to become both wider and steeper.

The space in between was meanwhile left completely undisturbed, as though the tunnel moved through these parts of space, it warped them in such a way that one could still move through it. As such, even if one wanted to interfere with the portal anywhere apart from its two ends, it would be difficult.

Finally, both parts would intersect in the middle, smoothly flowing into one another and creating a single stable shortcut between two points.

While this process didn't leave any traces in between the portals once they were closed, the space at both ends needed some time to return to its original state. As a result, to Darganth's eyes, the skies around the dragon peaks looked like a sheet of metal that had been hit multiple times with a sledgehammer. And most Locis would see an even more drastic sight, with Darganth's low current power making the portals of the majority of Locis unnoticeable for him as they used deeper layers of space when creating portals.

Despite this he had a clear view of the skies beyond this, allowing him to spot what he was waiting for from a long distance away. Initially appearing as only a small dot in the distance, Neandra was soon close enough that he could make out her form, shortly followed by the unmistakable feeling of ascendent mana registering to his senses.

Her arrival wasn't just noticed by him, with multiple solar dragons briefly becoming visible from his vantage point as they rose to the skies. He even saw some who lived on the lower peaks as they broke through the dense blanket of white clouds that hung at roughly one-third up inside the heights where the solar dragons had their lairs.

But one after another these dragons returned back to the ground. Those who not only recognized Neandra but also knew that she wasn't intruding were the first to do so, with some others instead being wary after recognizing her as an ascendent, while a few only stopped rising higher to not intrude into the territory of the Locis clan.

As a result, Neandra continued making her way through the skies above the dragon peaks undisturbed, reaching the Locis clan's area after a few minutes. And though she had to evade a bit to the side as a portal sprang into being in her original path, she still flew through it in a minute and reached Darganth.

Descending by folding in her wings and letting herself fall, she dropped past the ledge of the flat stone ground that protruded out of the mountain in front of Irsyr's lair. As she passed it, she unfurled her wings again, catching her fall after just a few short meters, and turned back upward with a tight curve.

Rapidly flying back up, she transformed into her humanoid form while still in the air and let the remaining momentum carry her onto the platform. Nearly scraping it as she shot past the ledge with only a few centimeters of distance between herself and it, she landed effortlessly and with a casual demeanor.

"Nice show." Darganth commented with a laugh as she did so.

"I'll gladly show you the second part." Neandra said to him in a flirtatious tone.

Grinning at her words, Darganth didn't let himself be distracted for long despite the enticing offer.

"Tonight." He said.

"Gladly." Neandra whispered into his ear.

Looking back up after having leaned into him, Neandra finally let her gaze wander across the plateau they stood on.

"By the way, where are the others?" She asked as she turned further to the left and looked across the dragon peaks.

"Yldra is helping Jennia train her control over the space element and Allaire is preparing herself for the advancement to the mythic rank." Darganth said.

Half occupied with marveling at the sight of hundreds of Locis flying around, Neandra reacted with a moment delay.

"Oh, she's already that far?" She asked amazed.

"Not yet but soon. Probably even within this week."

"Then I've come at the right time, a mythic advancement is always fascinating to watch." Neandra said.

Wordlessly nodding in agreement, Darganth stepped next to Neandra and simply followed her gaze for a moment.

Neandra was meanwhile deep in thought, unconsciously clenching her fist and relaxing it again as she watched one oppressive mana signature after another pass by with a frustrated look.

"How many ascended Locis are there?" She suddenly asked.

"Huh, why?" Darganth question in surprise.

"Because I want to test my progress."

"That's going to be difficult." Darganth said with a slight frown.

Watching Neandra leaning her head to the side and look at him questioningly in response, Darganth could only smile wryly. Any ascended being would have some pride, especially a draconic one, so he knew she wouldn't like what he had to say.

"As harsh as that sounds, any one of them would win against you without a contest." Darganth said with an apologetic smile.

"I expect that." Neandra said, surprising Darganth.

"I also hate it, but that is another matter." She continued, "What I'm hoping is to experience something like the battles I had before becoming the beast empress. Back then my opponents were regularly stronger than me but those were the fights that helped me grow the most. And it wasn't just in raw power as is always the case but my technique also improves by leaps and bounds under such pressure."

"That makes sense. Sadly I still doubt that there are any ascended Locis close enough in power to you but we can ask Irsyr later."

Disappointed by both her plan failing in general as well as her own weakness, Neandra accepted Darganth's assessment with a sigh. And though there was still the option of training against an ascended Locis that was holding back, to her that was an insult toward herself that she wasn't willing to endure, so she had no alternative than to hope that Irsyr knew of someone that met the criteria.

"Now then, where are the others? I don't want to miss the spectacle that Yldra training Jennia probably is." Neandra said after a couple of seconds.

"Then follow me." Darganth said, turning toward the entrance to Irsyr's lair.

Walking through its corridors a minute later with Neandra at his side, Darganth made his way deeper into the mountain.

"And, how was the beast continent?" Neandra asked him as he finished giving her a quick summary of his journey with Allaire, Jennia, and Serania.

"Calmer than its reputation suggests, at least in the beginning."

"So still the same as when I last visited." Neandra said bored.

"Probably, I doubt that that place would have ever changed without outside interference." Darganth said.

Shrugging indifferently, Neandra also didn't know more than him, though she leaned toward agreeing with his assessment.

"Whatever it would have been, it doesn't matter anymore. The only question now is how much it'll change, something I'm looking forward to seeing."

"Yes. And while we're already on the topic of change, did anything important happen on this continent? Especially political or other less obvious changes, no dragon ever bothered with infiltrating any groups so you're far more informed on these matters." Darganth asked.

"Not really, why?"

"Caedmon, the vampire we had made a deal with, contacted me to arrange a meeting before the emperor meeting so I had assumed something happened. But if nothing happened it might just be that he wants to introduce the vampire's emperor candidate to me or something."

"Probably."

As Neandra spoke, the two of them simultaneously reached the massive hall that he, Yldra, Jennia, and Allaire were provided with to use how they saw fit and in which the latter three currently were.

"Time to see what they're doing." Neandra said before pushing the door before them open and stepping into the large hall beyond.