Dragon Gods Reign

Chapter 40: Steel mountains

[Steel mountains]Flying above the mountain range, Darganth and the other dragons made their way towards Orynth's layer. After their conversation in the capital, Vagha had decided to return to the elven city while the rest made their way here. Allaire and Jennia were carried by him, sitting together on Darganth's back.

The two of them were currently staring mesmerized at the enormous mountain chain, stretching further than they could see. Its peaks seemed to pierce the skies, with even the giant dragons circling around them looking small in comparison.

But all of this paled in comparison to the peak they were heading for, a mountain so large that they wondered whether it was even natural. Standing at nearly twice the height of the rest, it held what looked like a temple entrance carved into the stone. While small when compared to the mountains height, it allowed even the largest of dragons present here to fit through it without much trouble.

Soon they also felt the pressure emanating from it, a dragons fear potent enough that they grew uncomfortable even at this still enormous distance from its source.

“Just a child bragging.” Darganth said when he noticed this. Following his words a liberating warmth encompassed them, freeing them from the effect of the dragons fear.

“I only now start to realize why this is said to be an uncrossable barrier. Even my mother would find it impossible to force her way through here, at least before her evolution.” Jennia said, letting her gaze fly over the hundreds of dragons whose power reached into the mythical rank.

Continuing their flight, they drew the attention of nearly every dragon they passed. While they already grew accustomed to the solar dragons flying overhead, seeing all of them at the same time still drew a lot of attention. But as soon as they noticed Darganth, a small commotion broke out. The void lineage was easily recognizable, leading to nearly all dragons in the vicinity turning towards them.

By the time they landed, words had already spread throughout the mountains, leading to hundreds of additional dragons flying in the area. When they landed in front of the entrance, nearly every dragon living in these mountains was there.

Ignoring their spectators, Darganth let Jennia and Allaire down before walking together with them into Orynth's lair. Passing through the entrance, they found themselves in a hall far larger than the throne rooms of most kingdoms. Directly in their line of sight, on the halls other end, sat a monumental dragon, curled into a crescent form.

Its red scales blended perfectly with the flickering flames around it, adding to the strange sense of majesty that permeated the room. Unimpressed by this, Darganth continued walking forwards, soon followed by Allaire and Jennia.

While walking through the room, they looked at the trophy’s displayed at its walls in marvel. From rare metals to powerful artifacts, all manner of them stood on display. The closer they came to the sleeping dragon, the higher the objects value. By now they could even see a handful true draconic weapons among them.

Coming to a halt a few meters from the dragon, they waited for a few moments. After a few seconds Darganth's own dragons fear burst forth fully, no longer just covering Jennia and Allaire and instead filling the entire room.

Felling himself being affected by dragons authority, Orynth abruptly awoke and opened his eyes. Seeing the group of sun-dragons he already wanted to berate them when he noticed Darganth. Shocked by the presence of a member of the void lineage, his words remained stuck in his throat. In this short moment he noticed the dragons authority pressing down on him to be unlike that of high tier dragons, confusing him.

“Who are you?” He asked.

Raisin his eyebrow at this, Darganth didn't answer the question. With his mana heart back, dragon mana is constantly circulating in Darganth's body, leading to the silver and emerald lines along the edges of his scales to be always active unless consciously suppressed. After a second Orynth finally noticed the pattern, causing him to widen his eyes in shock.

“How?” He said, still shocked by the revelation.

Just as he finished his words, he got an idea about the situation. Looking at Darganth questioningly, the latter just nodded.

Having received confirmation about his theory, Orynth fell into confusion. Seeing his questioning look towards him, Darganth just shook his head. This made Orynth nod understandingly.

“Alright, what do you need?” He asked.

“Information and a ritual chamber.”

At the first part of Darganth's request Orynth just nodded and while he did the same to the second one, he was noticeable confused. Before he could voice his question, he noticed Jennia's dragon-hydra bloodline.

“Ritual chamber?” Jennia asked.

“What do I get in return?” Orynth asked nearly simultaneously.

“Witnessing the first dragon-hydra with the space and time elements.” Darganth said to Orynth before turning to Jennia. Ignoring his shocked look, he explained her it effects. These are, at its core, simply the ability to stabilize all manner of rituals and it is used by nearly all races.

“Though in your case its just an additional precaution.” He added. This alleviated some of her nervousness about her evolution.

“Deal.” Orynth suddenly said just after he finished. Nodding with a smile, Darganth kept the slight surprise at him not trying to negotiate further hidden.

“The are you read?” He asked Jennia.

Taking a breath to calm herself, she nodded. Looking towards Orynth, he waited for him to conjure a small portal. With both transforming into their human forms, they walked through it and were soon followed by the others.

Arriving on the other side, they found themselves in a cubical room with smooth gray stone walls. All over the walls, floor and ceiling were different magical inscriptions belonging to all manner of casting systems.

Magic circles masterfully worked together with words of power, runes and other symbols. Just by stepping into the room, they could feel the difference to the outside world. While mana normally was a strange mix of chaotic and orderly, at the same time following certain rules and being random, here it lacked this.

This caused the entire room to feel unnatural, the controlled mana flow causing an uncomfortable sensation on everyone’s skin. Waiting for a few seconds, they slowly grew accustomed to it.

“Are you feeling alright?” Darganth asked Jennia.hough it is likely as the emperor himself seems to train him from time to time.” This made Darganth frown.

Among the different kinds of summoned individuals, heroes were the most troublesome to deal with. Due to the individuals traveling through the barrier around the Vunreon multiverse much of their latent potential get unearthed. This leads to most of them being especially talented or to have a unique power.

And the hero summoning ritual specializes in summoning those people with the most raw power. This leads to them often having powerful abilities or affinities rivaling those of dragons. This is especially dangerous when one doesn't know what their power is as some can turn the tides quickly unless countered.

Dealing with the other major type of summoning was far easier in that regard as it specializes in summoning a suitable apostle for a god. This means that often compatibility is favored over raw power.

“But why do we need to bother? I doubt that they will send him after us.” Allaire asked, breaking the silence.

“Probably not, but running into him is not impossible. Heroes are commonly send to form the front-lines. Him being send to attack the beasts isn't unlikely and we will cross over their territory.” Darganth explained.

“And that guy apparently has an obsession with immortality, he could quite try and ask a dragon for a method to achieve it.” Orynth added.

“Another one of these?”

“Yes. There are actually two rumors concerning him, the first being his constant hopes for immortality. The second is his extremely discriminatory view towards other races, going as far as nearly causing an incident with the dwarfs.” He told them.

“Another troublesome one.” Darganth said with a sigh before thinking about how to best deal with this.

After a few moments he decided to at least offer him the chance to return. With him being largely responsible for allowing the recent mass summoning to happen, he would give them at least a way out. Though after this they would receive the same treatment from him as everyone else.

“Can I go now? My curiosity is killing me.” Orynth asked after a few seconds. With Darganth shrugging his shoulders disinterested in response, he teleported away.

Seeing this some of Siurin's group also decided to go their ways, with soon only Siurin and Averyla remaining. Seeing this he turned to them once he finished his thoughts. Seeing Siurin's communication rune floating above his hand, he conjured his own and they exchanged them.

“Just say when you need anything. And while I would accompany you for the rest of your way, I think my girlfriend would kill me if I didn't spend some time with her. Though I doubt this to be our last meeting.” He said, while Averyla nodded with a dangerous smile at the scenario.

“Alright, see you.” Darganth said, followed by Allaire and Jennia.

With the two teleporting away, they were they only ones still in the hall. Making their way to the entrance, they discussed how to proceed.

“Vampires and a monster infested wasteland, I don't see any not to visit.” Allaire said sarcasticly when the topic of stopping in the wasteland directly south came up.

“So directly to the dwarfs?” Darganth asked.

“Definitely.” “Alright.”

Hearing their responses, he nodded and transformed into his true form. Soon they were again flying above the mountains, heading straight south.