I Received System to Become Dragonborn Chapter 911: Talking?

While still consud by inner chaos, Thar'Zul-Vekar could barely register what was happening in front of them.

Their glowing eyes trembled then becoming wide and unfocused. Their mind had been torn open. The tangled lines of thought and mory were no longer coherent. It was just fragnts.

Fire, betrayal, war, and loss. Now it all beco confusion. The Dragon that had hated them was gone… replaced by sothing else. Another form, or another presence entirely.

They couldn't understand it or grasp where they were now. So when Erend and Eccar ca streaking toward them they didn't move.

They just stared as if their brain couldn't process the incoming force.

And then the attack landed one by one.

First ca the bolts of arcing lightning that struck their chest, shoulders, and face. Each one detonating with a thunderous blast that cracked the air.

Then ca the crushing weight of the earth power in Eccar's Magic-infused claw attack that slamming into them with brutal rhythm.

Vines tried to react to protect their master but far too late.

The flurry of blows battered the god's form until the last hit from Erend's claws that wrapped in spiraling lightning struck their chest with a deafening sound and throw Thar'Zul-Vekar from the sky.

They crashed to the earth into the scorched ground with enough force to shake the ash-covered land. A ring of black and green energy pulsed from the impact, warping the terrain and making the air shiver.

Smoke and Magic curled from the crater. But the god still breathing.

They didn't rise and send counterattack. They just lay ther with their massive fra twitching. Their claws digging into the broken ground.

The chaotic storm of their forest Magic still swirled faintly around their body. Flickering violently and without direction.

But the wounds on their body from Erend and Eccar didn't seem to be the cause pain they were feeling right now. It was sothing deeper. Sothing breaking from the inside.

Thousands of years old mories scread through their head. Voices from another ti. Faces twisted in war. A forest burning. A Dragon laughing as it turned life to ash. Promises broken. Bonds shattered. Then centuries of silence and corruption from unknown force. All made them beco like this.

Thar'Zul-Vekar writhed and scread again.

"AAAAAAA!!!"

Above, Erend and Eccar hovered in their Dragon forms, drifting in the charged air with their wings beating slowly.

"They didn't even fight back. Didn't block or dodge. They just stood there and took everything." Eccar said, his voice uncertain.

"Yeah," Erend answered, still watching carefully. "It feels like they didn't even know what was happening. Or like… they're not in control anymore."

"Or maybe that thing just accepting its. Like it's their fate or sothing. I don't know."

"Or they've lost their mind. We don't know what that thing is anymore. Maybe it was a god before but now? It's like sothing else is inside their head. Breaking it from the inside out." Erend's tone was grim.

"So what do we do?"

Erend didn't answer imdiately.

Because down below, the god scread again. It wasn't rage. It was pain. Agony tearing through their throat like sothing sharp was dragging itself out from their soul.

They twisted on the ground. Their vines spasd. Magic exploded outward in unstable bursts that flared and collapsed in rapid pulses.

They weren't dying. But they were definitely breaking.

Erend hovered for a mont longer with lightning still crackling faintly across his scaled body. His eyes narrowed with uncertainty and worry.

Not because he feared the god might die. But because if Thar'Zul-Vekar did collapse on their own mind they might never get the answers they needed.

The ancient being below them was clearly at the brink of ntal collapse. And that was worse than death. A shattered mind couldn't explain the past or reveal the truth buried in ti.

If this thing was a god once, it could be had fallen into a deep madness that even its own identity was lost in the dark. Any answers Erend got now might not even be real. Just fragnt of corrupted pieces twisted by grief and pain and whatever force had poisoned its soul.

He exhaled slowly, letting steam pour from his nostrils.

Then he spoke through the bond. "We should try sothing to try to calm it down."

"Did you just say calm it down?" Eccar replied, disbelief clear in his tone. "You an that thing that's been trying to kill us for the past hour?"

"Yes. That's the only way we'll get anything out of it. We can't just beat it into submission and expect it to start talking. Not if it's broken like that."

Eccar let out a long breath. His huge Earth Dragon form tilted slightly as if even he was having a hard ti wrapping his head around the idea. The pain the god causing him were making him so mad that he refuse the idea of just… talking to them.

"Normally when we deal with monsters, the only thing that calms them down is being dead," Eccar said.

"This isn't like that. It's not just a monster. It rembers things about us. It hates. That ans there's sothing in there that's still aware and still capable of thought even if it's cracked."

Eccar didn't respond right away. Then, finally he said, "Okay… fine. Let's say I agree. But how? I don't rember any Dragon power that works like a lullaby. I don't have a 'calm spell' stored in my tail."

Erend was silent for a mont. Then he said, "We try the oldest thing we know."

"What's that?"

"We talk to it."

Eccar blinked his large, golden Dragon eyes. The motion looked comical on such a massive form.

"Talk? You an words? Like a conversation?"

"Yeah."

Without another word, Erend folded his wings and began to descend. His claws dug gently into the scorched earth as he landed beside the writhing god. Steam hissed around him as he stepped closer.

Eccar hesitated, then growled and followed down. The ground cracking beneath his heavier steps.

Thar'Zul-Vekar was still twitching aand spasming with pulses of Magic. Their breathing was erratic. Magic bled from their body like smoke leaking from deep wounds. But Erend was sure that they were still there. Sowhere inside.

Erend lowered his head slightly. Then, he spoke.

"Can you hear ?" His voice was steady but not aggressive. It rumbled with power but carried a strange calmness to it. "I don't know what's happening to you. But I know you're not just a mindless monster who suddenly beco like this."

The god twitched again. Their glowing eyes flickered, then locked on him even though just barely.

"You know ," Erend said slowly. "You called sothing before. You hated before. Why?"

Silence happened next. But the flailing vines slowed just slightly. The Magic pulsing from their body cracked unevenly as if hesitating.

Eccar stood beside him, tense but not making any move. Just watching closely.

"We need to know the truth," Erend continued. "What happened back then? What did I do or… whoever I was? Why do you hate us so much?"

No answer.

Just a low, rumbling growl from deep within the god's chest.

Erend stepped closer.

"We're not here to destroy what's left of you. Not if there's sothing to save. But you have to give us sothing. You have to speak. We were not the sa Dragonborn that betrayed you or anything. We were just getting our power without knowing too much of it."

For a long, thick mont there were nothing ca out.

Then a whisper ca. Cracked and ragged. Barely a sound at all.

"…you…"

Their voice was not angry now. It sounds like dry bark snapping in the wind. And behind the pain, there was recognition.

"…you… the Fire Dragon… burned it all…"

Erend looking at them with his blue Dragon eyes. "I'm not a Fire Dragon."

Thar'Zul-Vekar's eyes flickered again. Confusion twisting through the glow. The air around them pulsed with another burst of unstable Magic. Vines flaring outward.

Erend and Eccar tensed and instinctively lowering their stance, claws ready.

Eccar growled. "I told you this was a bad idea. Talking to a this never works."

Erend didn't argue. A part of him felt the creeping hopelessness too. The sense that they were trying to speak through shattered glass.

Then, without warning, the chaotic Magic stopped. The storm of green and black light suddenly pulled inward like breath being held. A quiet returned.

And then, Thar'Zul-Vekar moved.

They stood up in a single swift motion and beco unnaturally still. Their eyes were clearer now and more focused. Their gaze snapped toward Erend.

"You are not the Fire Dragon," they said. "So what are you? Where is the Fire Dragon?"

Erend glanced at Eccar, surprised. "Maybe… maybe we really can talk now."

Eccar didn't relax. His golden eyes narrowed. "If this turns into a trap, I'm breaking their jaw first and asking questions later."

But for now the god was speaking so they need to listen.

---