[TWS] Chapter 289 – The Blessed Race

Miria trotted back to Ast’s side alongside the other girls, leaving multiple incapacitated guards behind them. Asterios looked around at the carnage they had wrought on the Lizardkin sentries as the street was littered with their unconscious bodies. Thankfully, no one seemed seriously hurt, just a little bit roughed up at best.

“Bryn, would you mind?” He turned to their Valkyrie friend.

“We are fine, Master,” Miria interjected with a small smile.

“Not for you. For them.” Asterios gestured around. “I know that this much wasn’t even a challenge for you girls.”

“Leave it to me, Master.” Bryn nodded softly and began weaving her while moving her staff-spear around.

As golden energy started flowing through the air and coiling around the fallen, he turned his attention back to the chieftain. The man was still kneeling, just like everyone else. Also, now that the lead guard had revealed his wings, Presto brought his own out too, which remained folded behind his back.

“So, what is the meaning of this?” Asterios asked.

“My sincerest apologies, Great Lord. We are but simple men and did not recognize your majesty before. It wasn’t our intention to be disrespectful. Our duty to protect this sacred place made us extremely cautious and distrustful. Now that you have revealed your greatness, we are at your service, Great Lord,” the man answered without moving.

“First of all, get up. All of you. It’s uncomfortable speaking like this. For both sides.” Asterios crossed his arms over his chest while watching the villagers hesitantly rise and exchange uncertain glances. “Now, Great Lord? Ancestor? What exactly do you mean? You might be mistaking me for someone else.”

“Your aura is unmistakable even if you take this form.” Presto shook his head. “And while I am aware that you aren’t the same person as our ancestor, that aura you two share is definitely similar. By that, of course, I mean the aura of a True Dragon, oh Great Lord.”

“True Dragon?” Selene squinted at him. “Is that why your captain said that they had no idea there was another?”

The chief looked at the head guard, who cleared his throat and stepped forward to stand by the man’s side. He seemed a tad pale, but it wasn’t that surprising. These people definitely knew a thing or two about the might of True Dragons and he might be scared for his life after directly offending Asterios.

“I beg your forgiveness, Great Lord. I have no excuse for being so blind to your greatness,” he began with a hesitant voice. “I assumed you were like us, a descendant, but from another village which we weren’t aware of, and your goal was to confirm the location of our sacred grounds and to destroy them, or report about us to your chief.”

“What do you mean by descendant?” Zoe chimed in, her confusion and curiosity pushing through the nervousness caused by the unusual situation. “Aren’t you… Lizardkin?”

“We were. And some of us still are. But many of us are of blessed blood already. We’ve become Dragonkin,” the chief replied.

“Did Red cause it? Did he experiment on your people?” Asterios asked with a frown.

“Who?” The man exchanged glances with his companions but no one seemed to recognize the name.

“This person.” Asterios extended his hand forward, palm up.

Thick, crimson flame erupted above his skin and reached the size of a human head, more or less. The dancing tongues of fire took different shades of crimson, scarlet, and red, twisting and turning to attain some kind of shape. After a moment, they recreated Red’s visage just the way he could be seen in the paintings they had found in the past.

“I’m afraid we do not know this man.” Presto shook his head. “In the first place, we have never witnessed our ancestor’s shifted figure.”

“Does that mean you only saw him in his True Dragon form?” Miria tilted her head.

“That is correct.” The chief nodded. “He did not change after passing and that’s why have never been graced by his other forms.”

“Well, now we can be sure that they don’t mean your father,” Silvia said. “As far as we know, Red should be alive somewhere.”

Asterios smiled at her softly and refocused on the man. “You talk as if you have met this ancestor of yours. Are you that old?”

“It is true. I was there when he fell onto our lands from the heavens. I’m also one of the first Dragonkin, having the honor of being turned rather than born, which is no longer a possibility,” Presto answered.

“Is the story about the meteor fake, then?” The panthergirl’s brows pinched together.

He chuckled lightly and smiled. “I’ll gladly explain everything from the very beginning, but should we move to a more comfortable spot than the middle of the village? There are things I can’t mention in public. Unless I’m ordered otherwise, of course.”

Asterios glanced around once more and agreed that it was a good idea. There was no need to stress out everyone else. Just his presence was clearly making people uncomfortable and the news about his actions and identity must have already spread throughout the settlement. Therefore, they waited a few more minutes for Bryn to finish up her treatment and followed the village head together.

Instead of the small keep they had visited previously, they were led to a different place. It was still made of baked clay but its structure was much more refined and finely decorated with carvings. They had a feeling that they were heading toward a shrine or temple of some sort. Tina noticed that the entire structure was covered in a pattern resembling Dragon scales.

There wasn’t much inside. The small, circular chamber had only one thing standing in the very middle of the room. It was a rectangular altar with a depiction of a sleeping True Dragon resting atop it. The sculpture was the size of Miria’s panther form. If the minute details were accurate then it certainly wasn’t Red, judging by the bits of his draconic form Asterios had stumbled on in his memories.

The inner walls of this sanctum had solid benches protruding from them all around and the chief brought them to one of the sides and sat down. Since the space was relatively small, Miria, Grea, Selene, and Tina decided to take a closer look at the altar while Silvia, Bryn, and Zoe took a seat by Asterios. There should be no issues with the former group hearing everything anyway. Making it a bit more comfortable for himself, Asterios retracted his additional features.

“Where should I begin…” Presto rubbed his chin as his voice echoed in the silent room. “The meteor, I guess. Its story is only half true. No giant rock crashed into the ground next to our village.”

“Does that mean the meteoric ore is fake?” Silvia asked.

“That part is actually the true half,” he replied. “One day in the ancient past, when our village housed multiple beastfolk subraces, including the Searfang family, the sky lit up in crimson even though it was still the middle of the night. Everyone who wasn’t asleep directed their gazes up and stared at the unusual phenomenon. I was one of the guard captains back then, standing watch with my friends. Most of the guards belonged to the Lizardkin since we were the original founders of this settlement and took its protection seriously.”

Sensing an interesting story, Miria snuck closer, paying the man’s words some more attention.

“Then, the source of the light rushed past the clouds in the form of a giant, scarlet, flaming comet heading for the ground. The earth shook strongly as it crashed and erupted in flames before the glow fully dissipated. Back then, the village was much smaller so it didn’t land as close as it feels now. Thankfully. But, nevertheless, I took half of our men to quickly investigate it and see if we aren’t in danger of an uncontrolled wildfire.”

He chuckled and shook his head.

“We didn’t expect to see what we witnessed after coming to the crash site. A massive winged creature with four limbs and its entire body covered in scarlet scales lay in the crater while gravely wounded, leaking copious amounts of dark red blood onto the earth. Later we learned that it was a True Dragon, but before that, it spoke to us with its pained voice, promising power in exchange for treatment. We were wary of the offer but had to decide quickly before anyone else came as the Dragon demanded to be hidden from the others as he recovered.”

“It seems like you agreed in the end,” Silvia commented.

The man nodded. “Even though it was dying, that creature emanated a mighty aura. It felt almost suffocating but also promising. I was young, eager to prove myself, to be the strongest, the best. I was the first one to step forward, and a few of my friends joined me. We drank his blood, carved some symbols onto our skin, and were bathed in his flames in extreme agony. After that, we already felt incredible. We swore fealty to the Dragon, even though we knew deep down that we had no way of disobeying his orders now. Since the crash site was located near a mine, we moved him into the biggest abandoned shaft. How? Our group had enough strength to lift his heavy body, which was the first sign that we had changed.”

“He made you his slaves,” Asterios pondered out loud. “But, if it was a Dragon that crashed into the earth, how is the part about the ore true?”

“I was just getting there.” Presto smiled knowingly. “We had to explain that whatever landed in the crater seemed to break down in pieces and get absorbed into the ground. Thankfully, we had evidence to back up our claims. The Dragon crashed into an underground deposit of tin. When we brought the chief and others there in the morning, we found a different metal littering the hole. Bathed in the Dragon’s blood and leaking spiritual energy, tin turned into what we began calling Dragonsteel. Of course, others know it under a different name, related to the meteor.”

“Wait. So my blades are made of Dragon blood?” Miria gasped with wide eyes.

“Your blades?” He turned to her with a raised brow.

“Show him,” Asterios suggested.

She unsheathed one of her shortswords immediately and passed it to the chief.

“Yes, this is definitely Dragonsteel. I recognize this style and pattern on the pommel. Unfortunately, its creator is no longer among us, but this once belonged to one of the Turned as each of us had our own weapon made first before the metal was used for other people. He left the village to travel the realm after getting bored of the beasts around our settlement that no longer provided a challenge for him. It looks like he must have perished somewhere as he should have been long-lived just like myself,” he explained.

Miria looked between him and Asterios with an uncertain expression. “Will I… have to return them?”

“Oh, no, I would never dare!” Presto bowed while holding the sword out to her. “We are honored to know that it’s now in the hands of the Great Lord’s companion!”

“You said that the Dragonsteel was later used to make equipment for others but all we saw around the village was this brownish metal,” Grea chimed in. “Do you have any of it left? Stored somewhere?”

“Ah, I apologize for deceiving you, but we chose to disguise all the Dragonsteel used in public to fool any outsiders coming here in search of it. The quality of weapons and tools made with it is incredible and we got too used to it to switch back to normal metals so we had to think of something. People still come here in hopes of finding pieces of the meteor or taking our resources, either with money or force. We always insist that nothing is left. Well, not all of them listen, but we can take care of ourselves.” He smirked.

“That’s why my sharpened blade did nothing against that guard’s weapon,” Miria mused. “I knew something was wrong! I shouldn’t have been that weak!”

Asterios chuckled and ruffled through her hair. “It’s not like you even needed them to wreck those guards. Only the leader was Dragonkin, wasn’t he?”

“All of the guards are Dragonkin, Great Lord. Those who are born with tails and wings are considered True Dragonkin by us, as they resemble the Turned, but that’s just their luck coming into this world stronger than others. There is no definite method to assure that the child will receive those traits. We can only choose who receives the blessing of our ancestor, not the final result,” Presto responded.

“That sounds quite confusing.” Grea huffed while flicking her black hair away from her face. “It sounds like you guys can be born as Lizardkin, Dragonkin, and what you call True Dragonkin. You said you can choose who receives the blessing, which I assume makes the latter two. Don’t the Turned like you make Dragonkin babies by default? How does your fucking work in the end?”

The man smiled at them mysteriously and stood up without answering. Asterios wanted to rebuke his foul-spoken mate for offending the chief, but he stopped after a ceramic thunk echoed through the chamber. Everyone looked towards the middle and saw Presto pressing his finger into one of the sculpture’s scales, and a moment later, the altar began scratching over the ground as it moved, revealing a staircase leading below.

“Follow me, please. I’ll continue down there.” He gestured into the passage illuminated by red torches and began descending.

Asterios and the girls followed after the man, moving through the narrow tunnel, watching their steps on the sharp stairs. It went on for quite a while, long enough to make a few of them feel claustrophobic. Finally, they stepped into another chamber, much bigger this time. It was carved inside the reddish-brown ground which most likely was the source of the clay used for construction.

Rather than perfectly chiseled, the walls looked almost natural. They were smooth but even and angled differently. Traces of explosives and pickaxes were easily noticeable everywhere around. It was clear that this room had been part of the mines in the past. The obvious outline of a sealed tunnel on the side proved that even further.

Now though, the chamber served a completely different purpose.

A ring of big, silvery braziers burning with the same scarlet flames surrounded the middle of the room. Inside that circle of fire, lay a huge skeleton. No one had any doubt that it was a complete skeleton of a True Dragon. It clearly resembled the Skeletal Dragon Asterios and the others had seen in the past, but a bit smaller. If he had to judge, Asterios felt like he himself was about half as big as its owner.

“Looks like he didn’t make it out of here alive,” Grea commented.

“Unfortunately.” Presto sighed heavily. “We didn’t manage to heal his wounds fully. They were nothing like we had ever seen. Our healers could only support his life for a few years but our ancestor finally passed away in his sleep. As you can imagine, we lost a great deal of power when that happened, and the way to create more Turned. We were distraught. For a long time, no more Dragonkin could be born as children brought up naturally even between the Turned arrived as Lizardkin.”

He gestured at them and led everyone past the line of braziers, bringing them closer to the skeleton. It was big enough for them to comfortably walk through the Dragon’s ribcage and step inside, under its spine. They stopped around the height of its chest and Presto looked up.

“That is until we discovered the blessing,” he said with a wide smile.

Right above them hung a head-sized dark red orb. It was surrounded by scarlet flames that swirled both inside and outside the perfect sphere. The enchanting jewel seemed suspended near the bone by some kind of invisible force. Asterios, Miria, Selene, and Silvia immediately knew what it was.

“Now, we can bring those willing to give birth to new Dragonkin here and have them procreate under the Ancestral Flame. Any children conceived in its warmth and light are always guaranteed to be Dragonkin. Though, as I said earlier, we can’t be sure which kind,” the man continued.

“I’m really curious how they discovered the power of this blessing,” Grea whispered into Ast’s ear with an impish grin, earning herself a light elbow in the ribs, which evoked a stifled grunt from the demon lady.

“Is that a Dragon’s Heart, Master?” Miria whispered to his other ear.

He nodded. “It emits the same energy I noticed in the crater. This entire area seems to be soaked in its aura.”

“Ah, yes, that is true.” The chief returned his attention to them. “From the moment our ancestor passed away, the land began changing. The climate became hotter, the flora became more dense, and the fauna turned more aggressive and violent. Thankfully, all of us inherit the necessary resistance to heat, no matter the pairing. It is even in the blood of normal Lizardkin born from our people.”

“The draconic mana seeping out of it is certainly very powerful. I’m not even surprised it’s capable of reshaping the entire ecosystem of this region given enough time. If not for your acquired resistance, you would have been forced out of this area just like everyone else,” Selene commented as they stared at the mesmerizing orb.

“It’s unfortunate that they had to leave. We are unspeakably proud to have received the ancestor’s gift and have been chosen by him. Thanks to that, we could remain here without any more worries about hiding this secret from the villagers as the settlement became fully ours. We are the true owners of this land here and will guard our ancestor till the end of days.” Presto bowed towards the Heart and began a silent prayer.

Asterios and the girls exchanged glances and waited for the man to finish while looking around. They didn’t wander away from him just in case and limited themselves to exploring the inside of the skeleton. After about ten minutes, Presto came back to them and offered his service once more. Seen enough, they asked to be led outside and back home so they could rest.

Naturally, the chief wanted to move them to the best possible quarters now, but they politely declined the offer, having to be a bit more forceful as he didn’t want to let go that easily. But, they succeeded and returned to their previous locum. Right after stepping inside, Asterios enveloped it with a silencing barrier and they plopped down on the bed.

“Seriously, I can’t believe they are fucking inside a Dragon’s corpse to evolve and get power.” Grea raked through her hair with her fingers.

“We are fucking a living Dragon to evolve and get power.” Selene smirked at her, causing the demon lady to snicker.

“So, what do you think about this Dragon, Master?” Bryn asked first. “Was it Red who killed him?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. It’s possible. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this guy randomly stumbled on Red and was silenced. Or he might have been actually coming after him. Or someone he was killed by someone else, like Black for example.” Asterios shrugged. “Not like it matters. He is dead. We came here for a different reason.”

“The Dragonsteel.” Miria nodded. “They will surely give it to us now, right? You are a True Dragon and they seem to revere your kind.”

“We have also learned how to make Dragonsteel,” Tina chimed in. “We should test if Ast can use his own blood for it too. And if any tin works or if it has to be from here, or this realm. If this succeeds, we won’t have to depend on their resources. Their supply is surely limited as they have no more blood to use.”

“Good thinking, shortie.” Grea snapped her fingers at the blue-haired girl. “That cute elf family might appreciate having a monopoly on this amazing stuff. They would surely owe us lots of favors if we became their supplier.”

“That thing in the cave was a Dragon’s Heart, right?” Silvia asked.

“Yeah.” Asterios nodded.

“Wouldn’t absorbing it make you stronger, Master?” Miria snuggled her cheek into his neck.

“Possibly. It feels mightier than that woman’s,” he answered. “But it’s not like we can just take it. With it gone, the Lizardkin will again lose their ability to evolve, and even the land might slowly start turning back.”

“So what? You are a True Dragon!” Grea pushed herself into his back, nibbling on his ear. “Just take it from them and say that they are not worthy or some shit about it rightfully belonging to your kind. It’s not like they can do anything, especially with Dragon blood mixed with theirs. Your Aura of Authority should be able to dominate them with a single word.”

“Why should I be a total dick to them, though? They haven’t done anything bad. I might be a True Dragon but I’m not going to follow in their footsteps and be a complete ass to everyone just because.” He sighed.

“Sorry,” Grea whispered softly. “I got a bit too much into the mood. I didn’t mean to sound like that. I love you the way you are.”

He smirked and turned his face to place a peck on her crimson cheek. “I know. We’ll think about it. The ore comes first. Let’s start with Tina’s idea.”