The Fool's Freedom

The presence that followed the dragon’s appearance washed over them, taking the air out of their lungs and making everyone tremble as if gravity had quadrupled. If some of the beings Alan had met through his time, be it spirits, those in the Bazaar, or even the damned Bone Lord, were close to the dragon in strength, then they had held back.

It was his first time fully experiencing the weight of a being such as this. The memory of the Bone Lord was still fresh, and while the patron’s aura had been overwhelming, it had also not been experienced in person. It had been a trick of the mind, an illusion.

The dragon was before them, larger than Alan’s mind could comprehend, and holding the whole world with one of its claws as if it were a snow globe. Alan wondered what would happen if the dragon chose to shake its claw, throw them all into the void, and be done with it. Probably nothing good.

The golden eyes seemed to take it all in at once. Without warning a small body flew into the air and toward the gaze of the giant beast. Alan recognized it as the Outpost Master. Wilbis was still unconscious and his wounds were nothing to scoff at.

Something red and gold washed over him, like a flash of fire that had only lasted for a brief moment. All the wounds disappeared and Wilbis gasped, opening his eyes in a start. He looked around and thrashed but his body was not his to control and once he met the gaze of the dragon above he grew still.

A single word, oddly human even if it was accompanied by a gust of wind that made few of the still-standing hills and mountains shorter.

“EXPLAIN!”

Alan struggled to remain on his feet. His fatigue was only growing under the massive weight of the dragon’s presence and he tried to conjure a chair of shadows for himself. It took extreme effort – his mind was sluggish and nonresponsive to his desires and his control seemed to be lacking. He had never felt as tired before and he had the vague sense that something was horribly wrong.

For a brief moment, he felt like something was piercing through him and all of his secrets and wants became revealed to the world, but the feeling disappeared just as it had come. This was the second time he experienced the same feeling. Zirida supported him as he sat down and Emerson was on his other side. His two friends were silently staring at the massive beast and only Kalyntha seemed unbothered by what was happening.

I wonder… will it get mad I have a bloodline? Can it sense it?

There was another flash of blue and gold fire, much larger than the one that had washed over Wilbis. It covered the Void Dragon’s body, and while there was no external indication it was doing anything Alan somehow felt that the beast was growing stronger because of the fire covering it.

“UNNACEPTABLE!”

The voice of the dragon came again, and Alan could physically feel his irritation. He felt as if he was being pressed down by invisible hands and struggled to maintain his concentration and presence of mind.

He couldn’t hear what WIlbis was saying, but it was obvious the great beast was displeased. What remained to be seen was whether the dragon would just get rid of them all, or be a reasonable godlike being. Alan wondered what tier it was. What tier made one so large? Or was it purely a dragon thing?

In comparison to the great beast above them, the Void Dragon was tiny too. If they were ants, then it was just a large beetle, and it was pushing tier three at the very least, according to what Alan had heard.

As he was busying his drifting mind with thoughts, trying to keep himself awake, the world grew darker. Zirida and Emerson disappeared from his peripheral vision and the only thing remaining was the large dragon above, as if a spotlight was shone on Alan himself.

“WHY IS IT THAT YOU HAVE A DRAGON’S SCENT, HUMAN? WHAT ARE YOU?”

Alan puked another mouthful of black blood on the ground. It seemed to be becoming a fast-escalating habit. No one came to his aid, making him wonder if this was another trick of the mind or if the dragon had simply erased everything else.

“YOU WILL ANSWER.”

There was no sense of anger in the words, even if they rumbled like thunder. There was only arrogance that left no room for him to defy the order. He felt the pressure mount and it only made the fatigue worse. Something was wrong with his body but no gold-red flame descended to heal him as it had done with Wilbis and the Void Dragon.

Becoming shadowless had made him feel much better for a time, but it seemed the consequences of all he had done and how far he had pushed himself were catching up now. The dragon’s overwhelming aura didn’t seem to help.

Alan opened his mouth despite his wishes, a sudden desire to tell it all as it was and be done with it washing over him, but something stopped him.

A sensation coming from the connection he now shared with the Void Dragon. A warning, a plea for silence. He hesitated. He would tell the truth. He had gotten involved on a whim and helped the dragon! He was a victim of the plot too! Not that anyone seemed to have gained even half as much as he had during his stay on the fractal…

He tried to resist the urge again and his will stirred. It was like trying to fight a fire with a piece of dry paper. The dragon’s will had him in a steel grip and demanded his answers. It was not mental control or anything similar to that – his [Shadow Mind] remained inactive and dormant. It was as if the dragon’s own conviction was influencing Alan. The beast’s words were law, and he had to follow it because it was the natural order of things.

He gritted his teeth and bared them in a smile. The shadows that were all but gone after the [Bestowment] ended reappeared like thin dark ropes around him, struggling against the encroaching will of the great beast. His days of conforming to power were gone, no matter how overwhelming. The giant lizard in the sky could posture all he wanted, but Alan wasn’t about to just bend over backward because of a little pressure or pain. For all its size and posterity, the dragon was just an animal in his eyes. This is the level I need to reach to be taken seriously. No, I need to surpass this.

A black shape appeared far on his other side, shattering the veil that had fallen on the rest of the world, and the mounting pressure decreased. Alan saw the others watching him from below with wide eyes and he also saw Wilbis floating not far from him. He hadn’t realized he had been pulled next to the gnome as well. Why him? Was he about to be seen through?

The gnome, despite the express healing he had received, was looking as if death was an inevitability. Pale and shivering.

The Void Dragon roared something. Alan vaguely recognized it as words, but his trait seemed to be lacking the ability to understand them. There was a short exchange during which the large dragon in the sky remained mostly silent.

“I UNDERSTAND.” He finally said.

“ONCE AGAIN, THE RACES OF THE REALM NEED A REMINDER OF WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANGERING US ARE. THE DRAGON THRONE WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS INSULT.”

“WE ARE NOT UNFAIR. IF YOU ARE INNOCENT YOU WILL BE SPARED. EXCEPT…”

There were screams as more than ten figures floated against their will toward the sky. One by one they burst in fire and a second later were nothing more than ashes blown away with the wind. Alan felt the heat wash over, but it was gone in but a moment and so were those the dragon had targeted. Just a moment to end their lives.

And I did the same while I was wielding the Void Dragon’s power. It felt amazing… a dangerous feeling. Least of all he wanted to become a murder-addicted monster. People seldom handled power well after all.

There was a shift as the dragon’s whole body became flames that spread around the fractal realm like chains and bound it together.

In the next moment, a man stood before them. He had the same golden-red eyes as the dragon, and horns adorning his head. His robe was intricate and made of patterns that closely resembled the great beast’s scales.

His words came with the same intensity and Alan was sure it was just the beast in human form. A neat trick that took a whole lot of the pressure away.

“The loss of the Deathless Plate is inexcusable, Wilbis. You were vouched for as one with a great sense of responsibility and the capabilities to deal with such a barren rock, despite your low tier and lack of potential. The Exploding Library has let us down once again,” the dragon-turned-man said. His voice was colder now but there was another note to it.

“This is a complete and utter failure,” another voice said, echoing like a funeral gong. It was a woman with fully white eyes, dressed in a simple black robe. She was standing not far behind the dragon-man. Alan hadn’t noticed nor sensed her arrival, and even now it felt like she wasn’t there.

His skin crawled as he looked at her.

“We take full responsibility,” the dragon-man with an almost reverent tone. Was she the reason he had taken a human form?

“Yes, you will, Overseer,” she answered and the fractal shuddered once again. Her eyes surveyed everyone gathered.

“This place will fall apart in mere minutes. Shall we continue this discussion somewhere else?”

“Yes. Send anyone innocent away. Those who were bound to the plate may go if there are any who survive. Low-level criminals are worthless as Deathless. It was a favor to you to have them here,” the woman ordered.

The Overseer nodded. He turned toward Alan with a scoff as if speaking to someone so weak was an insult, but he would do it nonetheless. “You have done the Realm great service helping our young one. We will find a place for a servant as devoted as you.”

A servant?!

“This one…” the woman’s white eyes turned and bore straight into Alan. “A lowly shadowless. I thought they were extinct. I don’t think your Throne will look favorably on a servant having a Dragon’s bloodline though…”

Alan’s blood froze in his veins. The dragon man, whom the woman had called Overseer, seemed to explode. His hand was around Alan’s neck sporting golden claws and holding him with a vice-like grip. He sniffed deep and long, and then his features twisted. The void above and the ground below shook and people screamed as the dragon’s presence spread in an instant once again, stronger than ever.

“You… you dare. YOU DARE! I WILL RAZE YOUR WORLD FOR THIS!”

Alan felt death loom over him, but there was nothing he could do. The shadows fell apart around him and he was too weak to call on his skills. It was almost as if his mana was locked in place.

“We need to soul-search him. He may know more of the Plate. It is justifiable for such an offense,” the woman said with a smile.

The Overseer’s eyes narrowed.

[Mortal Peril] hadn’t stopped screaming since the claw had grabbed his neck and now [First Pathfinder] sang too. A roar of anger came from the side. Something smashed into his body with great but somewhat gentle force and took his air just as he felt the mana around him shift dangerously. The shadows whispered in joy.

“LIVE, BROTHER.” a voice said in his mind just before he sank into darkness.

***

Emerson watched helplessly. What had Alan done? Why were those unfathomable people treating him like that? It all took a turn in a second. He heard the strange scarred woman next to him gasp, and the lady covered in liquid metal curse as the dragon-man grabbed Alan by the throat.

The presence of the two strange beings was overwhelming and it took all of his strength to stay upright and not prostrate himself. Emerson wanted to help, to scream, to offer himself as a replacement, but he was once again, helpless.

Then out of nowhere, a large dark shape rammed into Alan, sending his body flying as the dragon-man took a step back. The world was torn like a piece of paper and the last thing Emerson saw was Alan’s body fly into the new hole. It closed a moment later, with the Void Dragon standing where it had been like a guardian, roaring.

It had all happened in but a blink of an eye.

Laughter that reminded him of the silence in a graveyard seemed to make the air shudder. It was the woman in the black robe. The one who terrified Emerson more than even the giant dragon that had held them in the palm of his clawed hand. The one who felt like the Deathless Plate had.

“Unruly children bare their fangs to the elders. A tale as old as time,” she said.

The Overseer’s expression was cold and his eyes bore straight into the Void Dragon. He waved his hand and the light went out.

There was nothing and but a single System message, and a whirlpool of space.

Your mandatory service in the Fractal Battlefields has ended.