45th of Season of Fire, 220th year of the 32nd cycle
The heavenly flames subsided, the orange-yellow world returning to normal. Newt took a deep breath and raised his hand. He stared at it, looking for signs of damage and smiled. Not a hint of burn marks.
I guess I’ll try doing it with my clothes on next time. Then again, he had over seventy years to prepare, and his control and technique should improve by an order of magnitude until then.
He quickly dressed himself, then waited for the pandemonium to reach him. The saurians were making a hell of a noise, the lower realm ones were fleeing the area, the seventh realm overlord no doubt rushing towards him to check on the source of the disturbance.
Newt cracked his neck and stretched, not because he needed it, but to check the spike in his power the celestial alignment of extreme flame had caused. The remnant power still coursed through his limbs, tempering and reinforcing them. He focused one part of his attention on absorbing it evenly, while another had a more immediate concern.
A seventh realm ultraraptor rushed into the charred clearing created by the explosion of energy. The monster’s eyes went wide, and it was about to dash away, sensing Newt’s clearly eighth realm aura.
“I mean you no harm, and I apologies for causing a mess,” Newt hissed. “I am waiting for Lord Magminion.”
The creature paused. Its eyes shone with intelligence beyond that of a human as it nodded without speaking and then ran back into the jungle. Newt could sense it speed up once it was a mile away, but it kept a confident, dignified pace before that.
Newt had traveled twenty-four thousand miles into the Summersweald to experience his baptism. While the immediate ruler of the area was close enough to arrive in a matter of minutes, he knew he would have to wait for hours for the actual powers.
Life is so strange. I view manabeasts at my realm as beneath my notice, and they agree without even bothering to probe my strength. Worse, I’m pretty sure I can fend off an eighth realm without much difficulty.
At least back at the order, Newt had been sparring with those a realm beyond him and won more often than not.
He kept stretching and moving. Enjoying the feeling of enriched mana coursing through his threads, without manifesting any outward techniques. He just kept them primed, ready, and lethal.
Two hours passed before an eighth realm appeared. Newt sensed the creature’s absurdly large, serpentine body as it entered the range of his perception, and he rose above the treetops to greet it.
“I mean you no harm, and I apologies for causing a mess,” he hissed the exact same words as he did to the ultraraptor. “I am waiting for Lord Magminion.”
The dragon stared at Newt as if he had sported horns.
“What?” it hissed.
“I have regular contact with Lord Magminion. Now I have important news to bring him, and I am certain his Lady Mother will also be interested in hearing it.”
“That little cockroach.” Another dragon, much larger and a whole realm more powerful than the one Newt had been speaking with, descended from beyond the clouds. “He found the anomaly and didn’t report it to me. He lied to me! When I was in charge!”
Newt bowed before the ninth realm dragon as the creature fumed. While he had sparred against grandmasters back at Explorer’s Gate, it was more to demonstrate the gulf in power than for any real practical benefits.
“He did find me, Lord, and he brought me to his Lady Mother. I have an appointment to see Lady Exalt in thirty-nine summers.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The ninth realm dragon snorted in anger, flames leaving his nostrils. Meanwhile, its younger cousin, however, just seemed befuddled. A human had appeared within its domain, but before he could even consider the problem, a figure of greater authority had shown up to handle the problem. Worse, the ninth realm dragon was clearly annoyed, yet didn’t eat the offender.
“I’d best get going, Lord Calderion.”
The grandmaster dragon dismissed its lesser with another snort, all its attention focused on Newt.
“I’ll take you to Mother myself.”
The dragon snatched Newt, a lot less gently than the already rough Magminion, and took him deeper into the jungle.
Newt glanced at his torn robes and bleeding scratches. There had been no need to injure him. He posed no danger and offered no resistance. As for the dragon, Lord Calderion certainly had perfect control of its body, but he still had to make a statement and inflict intentional humiliation. The dragon scored much lower than Magminion in just about every category he compared them in.
They flew for most of the day before they approached a familiar volcano.
“Why were you causing a disturbance in my domain?” the voice rang out in his head while they were still miles away from their destination.
“I apologize to Lady Exalt.” Newt didn’t bow for obvious reasons. “I have made certain discoveries and bear important news.”
“Oh, and pray tell what is so important?”
The other dragon made no sign of it, but Newt knew it was listening to his side of the conversation.
“I have discovered that my kind is not from this world, and that there are certain amongst our number who are plotting to bring in other alien creatures here, possibly to destroy the world.”
“We already know your kind does not belong here. But I am willing to listen. We shall talk more once we’re alone.”
Newt nodded, and five minutes later, the grandmaster dragon gently dropped him before the volcano and flew away.
“So, you have come to my domain, caused another disturbance, all to ensure another meeting with me. Why take the risk?”
“It was a calculated risk. If my kind is really plotting to bring more of those things into the world, I will eventually either die fighting them or get consumed by them. Unless I change something. But first, do you remember anything odd happening sixty summers ago?”
Newt paused, and when no immediate response came, he continued. “Sixty summers ago, one of those things had broken into our world, with the assistance of those I wish to fight. It was at the seventh realm, but moved much faster than that. One of my kind gave his life to slay it, and then you arrived there, claiming the area.”
The titanic dragon finally opened its one eye and focused on Newt.
“The remnant mana I found there was beyond the tenth realm. Are you telling me it was left behind by a seventh realm creature?”
Newt nodded. “The one who slew it in mutual destruction told me that the monster had broken in to find and eliminate him. He also said that its early descent was probably the reason it was so weak. It was in a hurry to stop him from growing stronger because he could threaten them.”
Newt let the words sink in before continuing.
“There are more such monsters, and with the threat gone, they will wait until they can form exalt-grade bodies. My allies and I, we live on this world, and we aren’t going to surrender without a fight, but the rest of our kind are ruled by those who seek to summon these monsters. Most of them are living sacrifices, reproducing and creating more sacrifices, our entire civilization feeding those monsters.”
“Why don’t you just tell them?”
Newt looked at her.
“With all due respect, Lady Exalt, what would happen if you gathered your peers and told them a threat they don’t know about and can’t sense nor comprehend is threatening them this very moment, and that they should abandon their old ways and submit to you because you know best.”
“They would laugh at me.”
“And what would happen if you were in the ninth realm, spreading the rumors that those above you are just fattening you up so they could eat you one day?”
The dragon stared at him, as if expecting him to ask a real question, but Newt just returned the stare.
“What are you asking?” she finally said.
“All right.” Newt frowned, thinking the dragon had been an exalt for so long she had forgotten everything before that. “What would you do if you heard a ninth realm subordinate of yours went around, telling everyone you were just fattening them up to devour them for mana, and that they should struggle to overthrow you?”
The dragon still seemed confused, but indulged Newt’s question.
“Nothing? That way of doing things works, and has worked when I was at the ninth realm, trying to outwit my father. You prove you are competent enough to be of greater value alive than as food, but not too dangerous, all the while looking for opportunities to further your own growth.”
Newt stared at the dragon with a slack jaw. Explaining how things worked for humans might prove more difficult than expected.
