Firewing - Chapter 002

Chapter 002 – More

Devour his soul.

It was the ultimate conclusion I came to, as I thought about how to end Sutur's life, by taking inspiration from the misguided mortal, that had tried to do the same to me.

Sutur's greatest strength had always been his connection to the Eternal Flame, which made him pretty much immortal, as he could revive infinitely using its power.

My hate and resentment though wouldn't allow me to simple kill him once and leave him with a chance for life, so I had to take some drastic measures, which meant destroying his soul completely by devouring it.

With the knowledge I had taken from the human's soul, I also knew about the things that were coming in the future. And adding to the fact that I had been enslaved for several thousand years now, which made it unbundandently clear that my power was not enough to guarantee my freedom.

I wanted to change that more than anything, of course I did.

And the most optimal path to take was to consume the Fire Demon's soul and gain his powers and innate abilities.

The devil essence I had in my soul though, wouldn't be able to do such a thing, as its strength and quantity was simply too little. But a crazy plan had formed in my mind with, which may be able to change that.

Crazy or not, I was willing to take the risk. For revenge, power and my freedom.

Focusing, I drew rune after rune in my soul with my dragonforce all around the devil essence. Using ancient draconic knowledge of magic, I created magical formations that would either kill me, or give me back my 'wings'.

It took days and months of work, but I had nothing to do either way, being bound  in place with magical chains.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I finally finished my work, but I noticed that I had almost emptied all of my precious dragonforce.

The sun-like fires of my soul had dimmed greatly, thanks to the exhaustion of my dragonforce, which also doubled as my lifeforce.

Though intricate patterns, runes and lines could be seen forming a construct of magic formations around a few tiny spots of black light all over my draconic soul. And while I had finally finished my work, I could yet to activate the formation and see if it worked, as I had to wait for my reserves to fill up again.

The reason was quite simple, as in case of success, my bindings would finally be broken and I would have to face Sutur and his army, which wasn't something I could do with only a few scarce drops of dragonforce.

And so I waited, proving myself patient, like an Elder Dragon should be.

Muspelheim was a sulfuric hell of fire, which aided me in my recovery of dragonforce, as my draconic physique allowed for the absorption of heat and its consequential transformation into dragonforce.

It would still take years for my reserves to fill up completely again, as the chains somewhat limited my bodies ability to create and regenerate dragonforce.

I didn't care though, as I could almost taste the freedom I had longed for millenia on my serpentine tongue, with every breath of sulfuric air I inhaled through my nostrils and took into scalding bellows that were my lungs.

It was hope that let me stave off despair and impatience, as I endured the tight chains around my limbs and neck day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year.

Until finally, I felt my dragonforce reach its saturation and I knew it was time to break my chains and unleash my kind of hell upon the Lord of Muspelheim, after activatign the magic I had prepared in my soul.

A simple thought was enough and the runic formation in my soul began to work its magic, as soul-crushing pain wrecked through my form. And yet I didn't give off even the smallest noise, as I endured, what would have broken weaker beings in moments, stoically.

Runes drawn with dragonforce gave off brilliant lights, as they directed my very lifeforce at the devil essence. Using my own soul as the furnance and my lifeforce as fire, as to change its composition and make it purer, while stripping it of even the most minisculine traces of its devil origins, all the while preserving its devouring nature.

For hours I was in anguish, waiting for my magic to succeed. Or for my own death, willing to accept either calmly.

All that remained at the end was an inky drop of pure darkness, that gave off a terrifying black light and I knew that the next step of the process was very likely to cause my demise, though I didn't hestitate.

Activating the last formation, I watched on with serene fascination as the drop of pure darkness was drawn to towards the true core of my soul, the very origin of what I was, represented by a sphere of liquid fire and etheral runes of creation – my Dragon Heart.

The runes and lines raipdly retracting towards the abyss-black drop, before fusing into it and causing it to pulse lightly as if alive.

And as the inky droplet fell onto my Dragon Heart, it felt as if a thousand icy spears had pierced through flesh, draining me of my life, while an icy cold invaded my body. Extreme pressure descended onto my Dragon Heart and threatened to tear it apart with every passing moment.

In all of my existence, I had never come across a word that could even describe the suffering, I was now forced to endure, as my pain had reached a scale that simple was impossible to bear. And so at this point, even my willpower couldn't hold up any longer, as my consciousness was ripped from me.

…

Slowly regaining my consciousness some time later, I already knew that I had succeeded, as me being alived proved as much. Because if I had failed, my Dragon Heart would have shattered, which would have definitely killed me.

Carefully sensing within myself, I looked at my Dragon Heart.

What had looked like a white-hot spherical fire with runes of creation all over, now had a black star hovering in its center, giving off a devouring aura with a distinctive draconic tint to it.

Even as old as I was, I could hardly suppress the terrifying smile that threatened to spilt my maw apart, as I had done something many of my race had attempted before, while none had succeeded in the end.

I had changed the very origin of my existence.

I was no longer just fire incarnate, a flesh-made being of magic and might. No longer just dragon, but something else.

Something more.