Myth (2)
The sky blanketed in snowfall was white. Cold clouds heavy with snow filled the heavens, making it hard to catch even a glimpse of proper sunlight. But not this sky.
Crimson flames engulfed the clouds and the firmament alike. That immense heat scorched the air, birthing the acrid stench of char.
"...Urk?!"
The blistering air was so fierce that ordinary folk couldn't even draw breath. It dominated the space.
Yet.
How foolish, lizard.
The flames never touched him. Or more precisely, they meant nothing to him.
Verinal, who had descended upon Kellian's body, was the god of the domain of life. He wielded the potent vitality that birthed new existence.
—Sizzle!—
Kellian's flesh had once erupted entirely in the red dragon's blaze. Yet skin turned to ash, organs, bones—all reverted to their original form, pristine as before.
[...!]
The red dragon couldn't help but be stunned. Never in his life had he witnessed such a thing.
His breath was like a curse. No matter the regenerative power unleashed, no matter the mightiest healing incantations chanted, the burns he inflicted lingered eternally.
Yet Kellian's body was spotless, as if it had never known a single wound. The red dragon's bewilderment was only natural.
And Verinal seized that opening.
—Kreeeeen—
He gathered divine power into his hand. The prayers of countless devotees converged in his right palm.
The divinity, once mere concept, manifested as physical force. At last, it took shape as a colossal hand, vast enough to seize the red dragon's throat.
We cannot battle here. I will not let my followers fall into peril.
—Crunch...!
He twisted the red dragon's neck, gripped it tight, and hurled him far away.
—Whoosh—!!
[Hrrk—?!]
A dragon of such immense bulk cleaving the sky and soaring into the distance was utterly surreal, defying reality itself.
—Ruuuumble...
But Verinal didn't end it there. He amassed power as if Kellian's body might burst, then pursued the red dragon like a shooting star trailing afterimages.
It was as if he embodied why he was an avatar—proof of the divinity he bore.
[...Hmm.]
Meanwhile, the red dragon, awakening in unfamiliar terrain, felt more disoriented than expected. He is stronger than I thought.
Encountering an avatar for the first time, facing a being cloaked in such divinity—it rattled him.
Yet, strangely, he wasn't afraid. The attacks were bearable. Moreover, he had regenerated. Not invulnerable—no damage landed at all—but recovering from it.
A clear sign of Verinal's limits.
But "bearable" didn't mean unscathed. For the first time in ages, the red dragon felt the ache in his joints.
His wrenched neck throbbed; the sting of divinity lingered.
From an ancient era, when the world was void and all struggled in desperation—he recalled that pain. Verinal had inflicted it upon him.
You are 'evil.'
Verinal knew this well. He reappeared before the red dragon, unleashing his authority once more.
A being coalesced of malice. A great evil useless anywhere. Thus, you must vanish from the world.
Authority. The mythic might of gods. The feat sustaining their godhood, their very divinity.
Divinity held power to eradicate evil—and gods defined what evil was.
Thus, the red dragon, bearer of destruction, chaos, and calamity, was evil incarnate, without question.
So Verinal branded him as such.
Receive judgment.
His words tore open colossal gates in the sky.
Pay for the original sin of countless lives stolen.
From them sprouted something all too familiar.
The world tree the red dragon had once incinerated. Its massive trunk began to emerge.
This is your duty, your obligation.
The world tree grew at speeds even the red dragon couldn't track.
Perish. Die and be gone. I shall drag forth your soul and ensure it never resurfaces. I will reclaim your 'life.'
The trunk split.
New branches sprouted from the ends.
They burrowed into the earth, extending toward where the red dragon lay.
—Shhhk—!!
Twisting like serpents, the branches lunged faster still, binding him as they touched.
—Crackkk!
[...Hmm.]
The red dragon analyzed the thick tendrils coiling around him. Pull hard, and they snapped. But they regenerated instantly, tougher and more resilient.
Meaning: incinerate them utterly, leave no chance for rebirth.
So he recalled an old memory.
The conflagration that mercilessly devoured countless foes. Flames leaving nothing behind. Hellfire eternally tormenting sinners—he spat it from his maw.
—Roooar...
Urk...?!
It was scorching—beyond scorching. Heat dragged straight from the abyss.
What madness is this...!?
The blaze surged along the branches, annihilating all in its path. It didn't stop, backflowing toward Kellian—no, toward Verinal.
—Sizzle—!
Fire and recovery. Destruction and regeneration.
This cycle repeated endlessly upon Verinal.
Gaaahhh...!!
Unprecedented agony shattered his focus.
—Ruuuumble...
It sealed the celestial gates that had yawned open moments before.
And severed even the branches binding the red dragon.
[So, what now?]
The red dragon didn't miss his chance.
—Crunch!
His razor fangs tore into Verinal's arm.
Hrk...?!
The limb ripped clean off, lodging in the red dragon's jaws.
From the stump flowed not blood, but divinity—betraying the damage's depth.
—Crunch, munch.
The red dragon devoured it greedily. As if Verinal were mere snack fodder.
[Not tasty at all. Because you're just an avatar? Or are you simply worthless?]
Provoking him, he shoved it all into his gut.
How dare you...!!!
Fierce rage. Provocation from one he deemed—needed to deem—weaker.
Verinal couldn't stand idly by.
He regenerated his arm and leaped back, widening the gap.
[Where—!]
—Begone!!
A bolt of divinity hurtled at the red dragon.
—Boom!!
Even for him, tanking that head-on was grueling.
[...Hrrk!]
He dodged, but Verinal had already pulled far away. He regenerated his arm anew, amassing even more divinity.
But this was different. Tinged with deep blue... mana.
Its meaning was clear.
One of his domains: magic. The archetype of magic, derived from dragon tongue and bestowed upon mortals.
That, he now wielded.
Blizzard shall come. It will freeze your flesh, your very life.
Verinal envisioned winter. No—envisioning fell short. He created it.
A frost colder than any winter. One that would slow even the red dragon.
[...!]
The red dragon wasn't foolish. He had to block it. Even he couldn't ignore the God of Magic's blizzard.
He evoked scorching heat once more.
The calamity that incinerated and destroyed all. With will to erase even that god.
He poured everything into this strike.
—Fwoooosh—
Merciless winds.
—Roooar—!!
Flames hotter than anything.
—Kababoom!!!!
They clashed in the heavens.
[Grk...!]
Shredding air, scorching space, freezing time.
Guuhh...!!?
Calamity and life. Fire and ice.
Mighty divine power tangled with the dragon's primal mana.
All entangled into chaos.
Even they—the red dragon and Verinal's avatar—struggled to hold their footing amid the clash.
This unfolded across the firmament.
Yet.
Something stirred in the chaos.
—Flutter.
—Flutter, flutter.
The red dragon.
He ascended through it. Enduring agony, he tore through the swirling crimson-black storm of mingled mana.
His path had one destination.
[Verinaaaal!!!!]
Still clutching his head, Verinal took the full brunt of the red dragon's hurtling body.
—Kabooooom!!!
Cough...!
Verinal couldn't evade. He hadn't escaped the backlash of his own spell and the dragon's breath.
Unaware of the incoming threat, he endured the meteor-like impact.
Hack, grk...! Guh...>
Divinity leaked.
—Sizzle...
His skin, his flesh burned.
Im... impossible. This, this...>
As an avatar. As one descended upon Kellian. He could endure because of it.
Even if the soul was Verinal's.
The body was Kellian's—a mere mortal human.
Too frail for Verinal's overwhelming power.
Too fragile for the red dragon's searing breath.
Seeing this, the red dragon knew Verinal had reached his limit.
—Crunch.
Grahhh...!
So he kept biting.
—Crackkk.
Arms.
Stop, stooop...!
Legs.
I said stop, you lizard—
Head.
He shredded the form beyond recognition. Body and all.
Even as arms and legs regrew.
Even as wounds healed.
With resolve to see it through, he hammered down, struck again.
Venting the fury of all he'd endured.
For all his own that had suffered.
The red dragon dismantled him with utmost effort.
—Sto...p...>
And at last.
After a week had passed.
—Fwoooosh...
Kellian—or Verinal's avatar—turned to ash and vanished.
Scattering to powder before the red dragon.
[...Ahem, cough.]
The red dragon gazed at the spot where it had crumbled away, closing his eyes.
[...Sleepy.]
He was utterly exhausted.
He needed sleep. Deep sleep.
Unaware that this... would become myth.