Damon understood one thing. It was pointless to resist the storm. It was better to let it carry him wherever it wished.
He wasted no ti. He lay flat on the boat, tied the rope tighter around his waist, and wrapped one arm through the railing. Then he lowered his head and waited for the storm to pass.
A thunderous roar shook the heavens. The darkness of the storm trembled with the echo of a dragon’s voice. Damon could not tell where the clouds ended and Aethergon began. He only knew the creature was there. Once again he felt the vastness of the sky and the crushing might of a great dragon.
He shut his eyes. He did not dare look at Aethergon for fear of drawing its attention.
Vast black waves rose and slamd into the small boat. It was thrown into the air and crashed into another wall of water. The boat was dragged under.
At first Damon did not panic. Then he rembered this was not his body. Drowning was a very real possibility for Mugu.
The buoyancy of the boat dragged him back to the surface as lightning struck the sea around him. Wind scread in his ears. Rain lashed his skin like needles while the boat skipped across the water.
It felt like hours before Aethergon finally passed. From what Ashcroft later said, it had only been thirty minutes. The dragon and its storm vanished as suddenly as they ca.
Damon could not move. He lay on his back staring at the sun, his throat dry and burning. He turned his head toward the water pooled inside the boat and lowered his face to drink.
"Ahhh I have a feeling he is going to die before he reaches Soltheon," Damon muttered, realizing it was seawater mixed with rain.
He lay there for a while, squinting at the sun. Slowly he raised his thumb and asured its position to find his direction.
"Ahh, Soltheon should be that way then."
He pulled himself up and unfurled the sail. The one doing this was not Damon but Mugu. Even half dead he refused to stop.
"Abellona, I will save you."
That was enough to keep him moving.
Damon smiled faintly as he watched Mugu’s resolve.
As if the world itself wished to help, wooden crates drifted toward the boat. Supplies from the destroyed ship bobbed in the waves. Crates of food, bottles of fresh water, fruit, and rchandise floated within reach.
Mugu laughed. A boyish sound on a hardened face. He grabbed the oars and pulled the crates closer one by one. He drank deeply and ate without restraint until the boat was filled with salvaged supplies.
Ashcroft chuckled.
"I do not know if fate is with him or against him."
Mugu continued his journey. Two weeks passed on the open sea.
He stood at the edge of the boat and looked west.
"Hmm. I am almost out of food and there is still no trace of land."
Damon placed a hand on his chin.
"It has been ten months since I started seeing Mugu’s life. My anger has quieted, but I am still worried about my capsule. I hope this much ti has not passed outside.
"Perhaps it has. I am curious to know if it survives or just dies of starvation," Ashcroft said.
"Shut up," Damon snapped imdiately. His voice carried a sharp edge that cut through the calm inside his mind. He did not want to think about that possibility at all.
He exhaled slowly, forcing his focus away from the thought.
"Anyway, so weeks ago you said you would tell about the great dragons."
"Ahh, so you have been pestering about that," Ashcroft replied, amusent curling in his tone. "Very well. Since you are practically begging, I will tell you. But you owe a question as well. Do we have a deal?"
Damon sighed and shook his head slightly.
"Sounds reasonable."
"Very well then."
Ashcroft’s voice deepened, settling into sothing heavier, more ancient.
"A long ti ago, a god you know as Lazarak rebelled. He had just broken out of a world dungeon. He made his last stand in Vuldren, the sky continent. There he put many of the lesser gods to sleep, but he perished in that place. That was the final battle of his rebellion."
Damon’s eyes widened slightly.
So that was how Lazarak died.
Ashcroft continued without pause.
"But that death was not the end. It was the beginning of sothing else. From where he died, his desires and unfinished will called forth the Unknown God, forming what we now call the Abyss."
Damon went silent, absorbing the weight of it.
"The Unknown God is called the God of the Abyss because wherever his influence spreads, an abyss appears. It takes many forms. A whirl of eternal darkness, a whirlpool in the sea, a burning void in a desert, even a storm that swallows light. Anything that resembles an abyss is his mark."
Damon narrowed his eyes.
"How does this relate to the great dragons? I have never even heard of an abyss in Vuldren."
Ashcroft gave a faint scoff, as if Damon had asked sothing obvious.
"That is because after Lazarak died, Aetherus, his brother, raised the sky continent itself. He used it to suppress the Abyss. To weaken the Unknown God’s influence. The Goddess followed and erased Lazarak’s na from history. Though that last part... was likely part of his plan."
Damon’s expression darkened as the implications settled in.
Lazarak’s death was not just an ending. It reshaped the world.
No wonder the sky continent was the only floating landmass.
He forced the thought forward.
"The dragons," he prompted.
"Yes. I was getting there."
Ashcroft’s tone shifted again, turning colder.
"They were born from scale dust of true dragons that once lived in the true Abyss. When those dragons existed, their scales shed fragnts. Those fragnts mixed into this world’s ley lines, what you call dragon veins. That is what gave birth to dragons across the world, including the great ones."
He paused briefly.
"They are not even true dragons. They are dust. Insignificant remnants."
Damon froze.
Those calamities. Those world-ending beings.
They were only scale dust.
Not even a scale.
Just fragnts of sothing that once existed in a higher place.
A cold realization settled in his chest.
How powerful, then, were the true dragons?
Ashcroft continued, unbothered.
"Now you understand. If there is a way out of this world, it lies in the sky continent. But reaching it ans entering the Abyss. I am sure any outsider who tires of the Pillar War would consider it."
The wind over the sea felt suddenly heavier.
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