1 Awakening of hope

"Across the universe many races lived and grew in peace and harmony for many years. Occasionally threats would rise. The many races were strong of heart and no threat could ever truly take root, until the birth of a new race that disrupted their harmony. After millions of years humanity took its place among the many races, a race strong in potential, but weak to corruption."

This was the first time Caminus heard about humans. He had been dreaming about it a lot lately; he hadn't expected all the dreaming when he entered hibernation. He kept replaying all the important bits of his memories; particularly the teachings and heritage of the dragons and the invasion by the humans. This was good, he shouldn't forget these things, and after 100,000 years he will awake and fulfill his mission to end the threat and bring back his species.

Humanity had grown among the other races, originally praised as having great potential. One day a new power arose among the humans, a faction that rose quickly among the humans, led by Cuth'Ro'Dol. This name, Cuth'Ro'Dol, could not be forgotten by Caminus. Cuth'Ro'Dol corrupted the rest of his race and united them to commit genocide against the dragons conquering their planet. To survive this threat the dragons fled to a hidden dimension leaving behind Caminus, hidden, carrying the hope for dragon kind to return. Caminus slept underground, undetected, until the end of his hundred millennium hibernation when he began to awake.

Caminus felt the ground that had shifted to encase him on all sides, solid stone. Trained instinct kicked in, Caminus kept still and examined himself and his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was his fully mature body; he is no longer the young dragon he remembered, he matured in his sleep. His scales, flesh, and bones have all hardened immensely, and his inner flame is pulsing with power.

The pulsing alerted him, his flame is active and incredibly strong; searching with his mind he traces the activity 100 kilometers above him to the surface of the planet where there are humans drawing on his energies to cultivate and battle. A kingdom of humans is living directly above Caminus and they seem to be symbiotically using and cultivating his flame. This activity is something new to Caminus, which surprised him as he was taught from birth the knowledge of the dragons, including every technique and cultivation in the universe. It strikes him that this must be, the potential of humanity defying the eons of knowledge before them.

Caminus has a mission, and he can't be lax, he must first discover the state of the universe. If he were to leave the planet in body this may be easier, but then humanity would immediately know of his existence. It is a much better move to remain hidden and begin reconnaissance in stealth. In comparison to 100,000 years, 100 years isn't that long, and that is all he estimate he will need if he uses the second body technique of the dragon. Drawing on the minerals and plant life in a secluded forest on the surface Caminus is able to form a human avatar to act independently but remain in connection with his dragon body. Taking some time to examine the local human kingdom, he establishes a plan to gather his information.

Caminus extends his senses to examine the local kingdom but cannot reach any area beyond. The Kingdom of Ferak is controlled by a ruling family that retain the name of the kingdom. The Ferak family cultivates fire and uses it to defend their territory. More accurately they cultivate Caminus' flame, but call it the 'heart of the mountain.' There is no indication they know about dragons, or that they are living above one. The connection with Caminus' flame provides them with unmatched power among other kingdoms when they are within Ferak, but leaves them vulnerable when they go further away from him. The areas around the kingdom are avoided for this reason and Ferak stays secluded having little to do with the outside world. In the kingdom they rate power below planetary transcendence with colours from red to violet. To establish the state of the universe he will have to cultivate his human body to beyond violet to leave the planet and explore the outer universe. After finding a secluded forest he begins the process of forming his human body.

Drawing in plant and animal life in and combining them with the various elements nearby, Caminus sacrifices part of the forest to create the core of his second body. Taking it slow, Caminus does not want to make any mistake in forming his second body or else he might ruin its potential. After forming the core he enclosed it in an incubator to begin its growth and infuse a seed of his essence and his memories into it.

Waking up in his new body Caminus feels weaker than he ever has before. Unable to properly defend himself before growing he can only depend on the incubator to protect him while he begins his cultivating. Caminus' second body can only interact with his first in a limited manner; until he reaches a stronger cultivation, his second body will only be able to receive basic warnings or messages intermittently. To improve his connection, Caminus begins cultivating his flame essence; luckily the connection between his human body and his dragon body appears identical to the connection formed by the natives when they cultivate the heart of the mountain and will not draw unwanted attention.

Forming a connection with his fire took a large amount of time and effort. However because Caminus is already extremely familiar with the fire essence his speed is much faster than the locals'. Even though his cultivation is faster than the locals, he is going to need many resources to cultivate to higher levels before the human body dies of aging. To get the resources he needs, Caminus knows his two best options are looting and joining a local sect or family. Looting would be too risky in the long term, families are unlikely to give sufficient resources to outsiders, and he would need to show strength and potential to enter a sect. Caminus had already planned for this when he formed his human body in this location. He formed his human body near an abandoned hidden resource stash that he could loot once he reached the red flame level of cultivation. Once he raids this stash, he should be able to reach a sufficient level to impress and join a sect, even without a background.

While cultivating the essence in his human body, Caminus had a very high standard. He would only accept a high quality essence for himself. By cycling the core essence through his human body, Caminus nurtured it and it started growing a little bit stronger with each cycle. After each cycle Caminus would refine the essence to purify it, improving its quality. Doing this he would never begin a cycle with lower quality essence and it could retain a high quality level. Caminus did not keep track of time while cultivating, the incubator would protect him and keep him alive until he reached the red flame level. After enough time passed the familiar flame finally burned within his core.

When the flame began to burn, the incubator cracked. The crack glowed red and expanded; the incubator could no longer contain and sustain him properly now that this human body was the body of a cultivator. When the incubator fully opened Caminus received a brief message from his dragon body, the information included the changes in the surroundings including the nearby beasts. Only one of the nearby beasts between Caminus and the hidden stash posed a threat, a fire fox. Fire foxes were not ordinary beasts that would avoid humans out of instinct; they would count humans as potential food. With its red level essence the fire fox could be counted as a cultivator and the size of the target would matter less as the fox had the intelligence to preserve larger targets and convert them into cultivation aids. Further, Caminus' body was still small, even with the increased growth speed from the incubator it was still only comparable to the body of a six year old, he would need to rely on his cultivation to fight it effectively and would not survive a direct hit from the fox.

Caminus pulled himself up, out of the shell of the incubator and starting crawling on the ground before remembering that humans walked. He pushed himself up and grabbed his balance then began to put one foot in front of the other. Using his cultivation and experience, Caminus was able to learn how to walk extremely quickly. Despite this he was unfortunate enough to fall once while learning, earning himself his first injury as a human, a small cut above his right eye and a pair of matching scrapes on his forearms. He then began to walk the short journey to the stash; he estimated it would take him only ten minutes, he was wrong.