Dragon's War (4)

A massive meteor pierced through the clouds, revealing itself in all its glory. The dragons staring up at it had eyes filled with shock, terror, and despair.

"M-Mom?! What the heck is this?!"

"Mom?! Please calm down!!!"

"My God…."

I'd never unleashed power like this before. To think they'd force my hand like this.

"Mom! We did wrong!!! Forgive us!!!"

"S-Sorry, Mom…."

"If that thing falls, the world's done for! It'll shatter everything!!!"

The immense pressure from the giant meteor bore down on the world. Even the sturdy bodies of dragons could barely move under the overwhelming force pouring down. The meteor hadn't even fully descended yet, but a massive crater was already forming in the plain below.

If its precursor alone could do this, what would happen when it actually hit? Obviously, this world would be destroyed.

"I merely showed you what I can do because you all underestimated me so much."

"Mother?!"

"Of course, I have no intention of letting that meteor actually fall."

What I wanted wasn't the destruction of this world. I just needed to give these foolish children a glimpse of my power.

I scattered the clouds completely and gazed at the meteor in its true form. A colossal rock blazing red as it passed through the atmosphere. A mountain of a meteor. If it fell, the earth's crust would shatter, underground lava would boil up, and the rocks and soil flung into the air by the impact would blanket the world in massive dust clouds.

But that kind of apocalypse wasn't what I desired.

I gathered mana in my mouth and unleashed it with all my might. A silver Breath. The property infused within it was… annihilation.

A Breath of utter destruction that erased everything it touched.

A single stream of silver—like a streak of the Milky Way—struck the massive meteor dead-on.

"Mother's Breath…?"

"No way a Breath like that can do anything to that meteor…!"

Despair still lingered in the children's eyes. It must have looked no different from splashing a single drop of water on a raging forest fire. Naturally so.

But.

BOOM!

The moment the Breath hit the meteor, everything changed.

The Breath pierced straight through the meteor like chopsticks sliding into soft tofu, then slowly spread across its surface. A silver mist that annihilated everything it touched, converting it back to mana, began carving away at the meteor.

In mere dozens of seconds, cracks spiderwebbed out from the silver hole, the massive meteor turned entirely silver, and it shattered into fragments that scattered away.

Not a single shard remained. The dragons fell utterly silent at the sight.

"Have you forgotten who spread life across this world? Who gave you these bodies? If I wanted to, I could destroy this world all by myself, but you all just assumed I'd stay quiet and do nothing."

Terror filled the children's eyes. Shock. Fear.

It was already too late. Irreversible.

But perhaps this was for the best.

"My children. Return your scales to me."

I said softly.

"You failed to properly control your own children. You couldn't manage them. Right up to the moment my patience snapped, you showed no results—just exploiting loopholes in the rules to run wild."

I approached the children nearby.

Sylphid.

"Return to the wind."

"M-Mom!"

I peeled the silver scale from the underside of Sylphid's jaw, who couldn't even move properly, and her body dissolved into a single gust of wind.

She wasn't dead or annihilated. She'd simply lost her physical form, scattering her ego. Like with Ifrit, in time, she'd reform as her original whirlwind.

"Thetis."

"M-Mom…."

"Return to the sea."

"N-No!!"

Thetis shook her head, unwilling to go back, but it was too late. Hadn't she failed to heed my words? Hadn't I given countless chances?

If she didn't want this, she should have managed her children properly.

The silver scale peeled from under Thetis's jaw turned her into water that scattered away. That water would flow and flow until it reached the ocean, and there she'd awaken again.

"Sagarmatha."

"Yeah. Sorry, Mom."

"Return to where you belong."

Sagarmatha quietly accepted his punishment, handing over his silver scale without resistance. His shining scales crumbled into dust and dispersed.

The stoic forehead of the world would return to its original place.

"Yggdrasil."

"I'm sorry, Mom. We should have done better…."

"Regret always comes too late. Return to your original form as a tree."

I removed the scale from under Yggdrasil's jaw, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and her green scales turned into leaves of the same color, scattering away. New buds would sprout on her original massive tree form, leaves would grow, flowers would bloom, and she'd awaken.

"Shamash."

"M-Mom…."

"Shamash."

"S-Sorry, I… I…."

"Shamash."

I called her name three times, and only then did she offer her scale.

"I… I'm really… so sorry…."

"This is your punishment. For failing to manage your children properly."

"Mom…."

"And punishment for me toward you as well. For failing to manage you all. Though our blood doesn't connect us, it's the punishment of taking back the bodies of my precious children."

I peeled away Shamash's silver scale, and she vanished in a blaze of dazzling light.

And finally.

"Erebos."

"Mother."

The child like pitch-black darkness looked up at me.

"Do you have anything left to say?"

"I'm sorry. I was too foolish. I was too hasty."

"You didn't need to apologize to me. You needed to apologize to your children."

What must those children have felt, sacrificed to their parents' greed despite their faith? And yet, they followed their parents' commands—what must their hearts have been like?

That's why I couldn't just leave Erebos be. Because he was smarter than the others. Because he was a good child who longed for family.

I couldn't just leave him.

"Return to the darkness."

I should have paid more attention. Or could I have paid even more than I did now? If I could turn back time and do it over, would the outcome be better?

I didn't know. I couldn't know.

I was just tired.

"I'll take your scale."

I placed my hand on the scale under Erebos's jaw.

"Kuh!"

In that instant, a burst of mana exploded from Erebos's silver scale.

"Erebos? What have you done?"

"I'm sorry, Mother."

Perhaps from the explosion, the silver scale under Erebos's jaw had split into two pieces.

"Really, I'm sorry."

And with that, Erebos sank into the shadows and vanished in an instant.

"Erebos? Erebos?!"

Even calling his name again brought no response.

Even infused with my true intent and mana, Erebos didn't show himself.

Did he hate losing that scale so much? How could his greed run so deep?

All I wanted was for him to live peacefully with the others.

Where did it all go wrong? From the beginning? When I gave them the scales? Or when they wanted to share scales with other dragons like I did?

I could only feel regret.