Path of Dragons 17 - Chapter 20 - Protection (Patreon)

Eli struggled to breathe.

And that was before Kirlissa laid a delicate hand on his shoulder.  That nearly stopped his heart, there and then.  It also confirmed that she had come to him in person, which wasn’t supposed to be possible. 

“How?” he managed to mutter.  The simple word barely escaped his throat, and when it did, it was mangled into little more than a grunt. 

“Too strong?” she asked, smiling down on him.  It nearly melted his body, mind, and soul.  Briefly, the dragon known as Prosperity closed her eyes.  The pressure Eli felt lessened considerably.  Not enough to make him comfortable, but sufficient to give him room to breathe. 

His shoulders drooped, and his breath finally came. 

“Better?” Kirlissa asked.

Eli didn’t trust himself to answer.  Instead, he only nodded.  Over the next couple of seconds, the metaphysical weight of her presence gradually lessened until he barely felt her at all.  When he felt capable, he said, “I…thank you.”

“I seldom interact with mortals.  I hope you will forgive me for coming on too strong.”

“O-of course,” Eli responded, still shaky.  Now that he didn’t feel like the weight of a galaxy was pressing down on him, he’d begun to wonder why the planet’s ruler – indeed, the Vyrin clan’s matriarch – had blessed him with her presence.

He knew that, technically speaking, he was part of the clan.  Part of the main family, in fact.  His uncle was Kirlissa’s adopted son, which meant that he held some vague position within the hierarchy.  However, he’d never really thought much of it.  Certainly, aside from being trained by Birk and Tura, Eli had never enjoyed any privileges of his position. 

That he knew of, at least.  That was an inescapable caveat, and one he was forced to acknowledge.  Likely, there was an entire suite of benefits he’d been granted, regardless of his ignorance.

“How are you here?” he asked, getting his proverbial feet under him.  Enough of the shock had worn off that, based on everything he knew, Kirlissa shouldn’t have been able to step foot on the planet’s surface.  Not without every single citizen knowing she was there.

That was one of the issues with transcendence, especially when someone had taken it as far as Prosperity.  She had power, but with that came an end to anonymity.  She couldn’t go anywhere without her power affecting reality.  That was why she lived on the moon, as opposed to in her capital city.

Of course, she could mask her presence to some degree. And she had proven often enough that she could appear as a projection.  However, Eli felt comfortable enough to recognize that the person in his room was more than an illusion.  Kirlissa had come to visit him in person.

In addition to the how of it all, the other inescapable question was why.

“Let’s just say that I have made some long-awaited progress,” she answered with a motherly smile.  It immediately put him at ease. 

“Cultivation?”

“Of course.  When you reach transcendence, you will discover that there are many paths to personal progress.  Levels will always exist in one way or another.  So will the system’s preferred trajectory remain a viable option,” she explained. “But know that cultivation will always be the most important means of personal improvement.  Difficult, certainly.  Impossible without the others, most would agree.  However, it is also the most impactful.”

“I see,” Eli lied.  He was experienced enough with cultivation to recognize that it was incredibly beneficial, but in his experience, gaining levels was at least as important.  But that was probably because he’d been denied the opportunity to progress along that line.  He was mature enough to know that his views were influenced by said denial.

She laughed, the sound echoing like falling coins.  “You do not, but with time will come wisdom.  Suffice it to say that I have faith that you are your uncle’s nephew.”

Eli could only nod at that.  He barely knew Elijah Hart, at least personally.  However, he had grown up hearing stories about the butcher of Bloodrock Bay.  The man who’d destroyed an entire city because they had embraced slavery.  He had heard the more personal stories from his mother and father, from his grandfather as well.  And his grandmother had contributed plenty of her own tales, from both before the world’s transformation and after.

So, despite having only held a handful of real conversations with his uncle, Eli felt like he knew the man.  Better than most, at least.  And he had avoided the hero-worship so common amongst the Hartwood Grove’s other children. 

Instead, he saw his great-uncle as a real person, with flaws to go with his virtues.

Still, he wasn’t certain how he felt about being compared to the man, and by someone who knew Elijah far better than Eli did. 

“I hope I can live up to your expectations,” he hedged.

“That is why I am here,” she revealed.  “I have come to offer you an opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?” he asked, excited despite his very present fear.  After all, she was an entity powerful enough to destroy worlds on a whim.  To harm him, she wouldn’t even need to try.  Instead, she would only need to let a tiny fraction of power loose upon the world.

He would be utterly obliterated.

And it was impossible to forget as much.  Still, Eli had spent most of his life in the presence of people who could easily destroy him.  Did it matter if said person was a demigod or a transcendent?  Not to him.  He was far enough below both that it wouldn’t make much of a difference one way or another.

“The sort that can change the entire trajectory of your life,” she answered, frustratingly vague.  “I have watched you since you arrived on my world.  Did you know that?”

He shook his head, though he felt a bit silly to have never considered it.  Even his uncle could feel everything in the grove, so it made perfect sense that a transcendent like Kirlissa could do the same within  her vast domain. 

“I have many regrets,” she went on, looking away.  The lack of attention lessened some of the pressure on Eli – enough that he let himself feel a little suspicious.  Kirlissa continued, “More than even I could count.  Most of them have led us here, with the empire on the brink of civil war.”

She turned her gaze back to Eli and asked, “Do you understand what is coming?”

He shook his head.  He’d heard rumors of unrest, but nestled in the center of Kirlissa’s domain, he had been insulated from any real effects.  The same couldn’t be said for some of her outposts – worlds that stood on her borders, where her protection was a little more tenuous. 

Those stories did not paint a pretty picture.  Raids were common enough, even in the best of times.  But now, instead of unaffiliated bandits, the attackers were supported by the empire’s other great clans.  Some refugees had even come to Esik where they hoped to build better, safer lives.  Many had come to the rude realization that the wealth that put them at the top of those outposts counted for very little in the capital.  The scale was just different.

Either way, the same rumors claimed that escalation loomed on the horizon.  True armies clashing, trade blockades, and assassinations were inevitable. 

Eli was worldly enough to know that the attacks weren’t one-sided.  Doubtless, the Vyrins had employed their own bandits.  And what’s more, Kirlissa had already begun to tighten the noose around her competitors’ necks, though her preferred means were economic in nature, rather than purely martial.

“It’s because of Elijah, isn’t it?” he asked.

“In part, though this conflict has been coming for many millennia,” she answered.  “The Empire of Scale is not built to last.  No iteration ever has.  Perhaps because of our nature.  Or because true power cannot be subordinate.  Regardless, the same script has played out, time after time.  Empire after empire.  The name remains.  The structure is consistent.  But that is where continuity ends. 

“The Emperor tried to stop it, believing that if they cloned themselves enough, they could be everywhere.  That they could be everything to everyone.  The plan had merit, though they neglected one very crucial variable.  Do you know what it was?” she asked.

Eli recognized the tone of a teacher.  In that moment, she sounded remarkably like Tura, though without the aged affectations of the latter.  Given that Tura was Kirlissa’s daughter, perhaps it was the other way around, though.

Even so, Eli didn’t know the answer to her question.  He admitted as much, adding, “I don’t know much about the history of the Empire of Scale.”

“Of course not.  You have spent most of your time working to improve yourself, rather than looking back at a failed experiment,” she responded with another motherly smile.  From someone who looked no older than him, it was an odd expression.  She continued, “Do not think that your efforts have gone unnoticed.  You toil, day by day, against those who should be vastly superior to you.  You work on your cultivation.  You learn the lessons you have been taught.  And you have improved, all without gaining levels.”

“I’ve gained a few.”

“By healing those in need.  Not because you were told to, but rather, because you believed it was the right thing to do.  That is rare, child.  Very rare,” she praised.  “Both Tura and Birk speak very highly of your character.”

“They do?”

“Of course.  Strength of character, no matter how impressive, is not why I am here, though.  Not entirely.  It is one of three reasons.  The other is simple talent.  I  have begun to believe that it runs in your family.  Your uncle has it.  Your mother as well.  Even your father possessed rare ability,” she explained.  Then, she added, “I do wish I had been in a position to offer him the same opportunity I will grant you.  He would have made a phenomenal dragon.”

“A…a dragon?”

“Yes.  A dragon.  I look forward to the day he meets Mano’lith.  They both possess a similar obsession with all things martial,” she explained.  “But I am not here to speak of your father.  Miguel has long since chosen his path, and it will never include becoming a dragon.  You, however, are a different story entirely.  You are like wet clay waiting to be molded.”

Eli was stunned.  He couldn’t believe what she was saying.  Of course, he’d thought about it.  How could he not?  After spending so much time in the Empire of Scale, he’d dreamed of being a dragon like all the others.  And he knew it was possible, too.  After all, his great-uncle had been born an ordinary human being.  It was only towards the end of his time as a mortal that he’d been granted a dragon core. 

That had changed the trajectory of his life, and in a way that had altered Earth’s future as well.  However, Eli believed that Elijah would have been special regardless of whether or not he was a dragon.  The only difference was that he might’ve had a little less power.

Even Elijah would tell people that he would be long dead without his dragon core, so maybe Eli wasn’t quite as immune to hero worship as he sometimes believed himself to be.

“I see that you require more explanation,” Kirlissa stated, guessing wrong about the Eli’s expression.  “There is a third reason I am here, and it sadly has very little to do with your potential.” She shook her head sadly.  “As I said, war is coming to the Empire of Scale.  When it is done, the empire will be remade, perhaps in a very different way.  However, we have a little time before it escalates.  Until then, there will be rules.  Our enemies will hold themselves to certain standards, as much because they wish to avoid change as because they still harbor hope that war can be avoided.

“This puts you in a precarious position.  Can you guess why?”

This time, Eli knew the answer.  “I am a part of the clan, but not a dragon.  That means I am fair game.  Someone might come after me to get to Elijah,” he said.  Tura had explained as much to him, and in his first few days in the Empire of Scale.  She’d done so to help him avoid putting himself in situations that might place him in danger.  But it still applied, though it seemed that the scope had expanded considerably.

“If you were a dragon, you would be safe for a while longer.  Perhaps long enough for you to develop your wings,” she said.  “Three reasons, all converging on a single solution.  The only question is whether or not you will accept my gift.  Will you take a dragon core?”

Eli frowned.  “This was planned all along, wasn’t it?  That’s why Tura cautioned me against upgrading my core.”

“All along is an exaggeration.  Though you are correct in spirit.  I intended this from the moment I knew you were special.”

Eli rarely felt special.  In fact, he’d spent most of the past decade getting beaten to a pulp, then healing himself so he could do it again and again. 

“I thought there needed to be a quest,” he said.  “That’s how it was with Elijah.”

“Of course,” she said.  Then, she waved a hand, and a notification appeared before Eli’s inner eye.

A powerful entity has offered you a Task:

Obejctive:

Give Prosperity a hug.

Reward:

Blessing of the Dragon, Kirlissa

Do you accept?

His eyes widened.  “A hug?”

Kirlissa spread her arms wide.  “Do not begrudge an old woman a little affection.”