Chapter 375: Rebirth

Unknown Time - Late Spring : The Scar

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- Chrysi Floga ~

"Have you heard about what happened in Siratha?"

"Hm?" Looking over at Chamrosh as I gathered my supplies, I tilted my head. "I haven't. I didn't even know you guys had a way to hear the happenings of the outside world."

Gently opening one of my large bags with his claw, he started filling it with general supplies, such as food, water, and potions. "It's the network I told you about a few weeks ago. We finally set it up and recently started receiving news from Siratha. Supposedly our Lord did something quite grand."

"Hoh?" -What did he do?- I paused what I was doing as he spoke.

"For some context, our Lord recently made a summons for there to be a Prayer outside the sixteen-year cycle, but the apostles were having issues preparing for it because of the amount of mana seeping out of the ground around the Tree of Prayer. Supposedly, a few weeks prior, people saw the Lord tunnel underground and, shortly after, felt some huge surge of mana that nearly killed a few people. To me and many others in the nest, it sounds like he made a 'mana well'."

-Huh?- "Those are real?" Although I may have sounded skeptical, there wasn't an ounce of doubt in my mind. -I wonder how he did it...- Returning to packing my things, my mind started wandering. "Has there been any news about why he did it yet?"

"None." He immediately shrugged his wings. "The only tidbit of information we know is that it's fueling the reincarnation rune without the need for the prayers of the Sirathan people, but we don't really know what the implications of that are just yet. None of the apostles have said anything about it."

-I guess that's to be expected...- Keeping hush about the actions of your god was common sense, after all. -But for him to fuel the reincarnation rune like that for the first time in history... Why does it feel so.. ominous...-

The reincarnation rune was something I, like most other dragons, initially heard of through old tales, myths, and legends relating to the world's initial conception. It was an important thing, not just to those worshipping the Ancient Fenrir, but to draconic culture as a whole. In Bahamut, we were formally taught in school that the rune was responsible for rebirth, assisting the souls of those who have passed into the afterlife with detaching themselves from their lives, their memories, and their lingering regrets to move on and start anew.

-But.. for him to forcefully turn it on without the need of peoples' prayers...- While a part of me wondered how he did it, another felt the air around the topic turn heavy whenever I gave it thought, as if it was something better left to ignorance. -I should just try and change the subject...-

Eventually shifting gears and moving on, we got my things packed and finally equipped the thick vest holding my bags across my back before giving Chamrosh and a few others a quick farewell and heading into the tunnel toward the neighboring cavern.

It had been several weeks since Lord Vasilias left the nest at that point, and the whole time, I had been exploring the cave systems connected to the tiny cavern he pointed me to, nearly without rest.

As it turned out, the small cavern was connected to an absolutely massive array of caves stretching for dozens or even hundreds of kilometers in every direction.

After taking about a week for each expedition, I had covered thousands upon thousands of kilometers of tunnels, but at the same time, I felt like I barely even made a dent into what I needed to explore. The caves honestly just felt endless.

But thankfully, the trips weren't all boring.

On several of my previous expeditions, I had actually made multiple fascinating discoveries, from a silvery-white metal that sparked and exploded when clumped together, to an alien forest that was lit by the light of towering, glowing mushrooms.

As things were, even if I didn't find anything related to the phoenix, I was at least looking forward to what other new things I would find.

However, as I trekked deeper and deeper, my excitement took a shift. After just a few days of creeping through tiny caves, barely big enough for me to walk through, I found a path that was almost completely straight, lacking the typical curves and bends I had come to expect from natural caves. -It's abnormally horizontal too...-

For a while, I didn't let it get me excited, after all, the odds that it was nothing were quite high. However, after a couple of days of traveling, the air started turning dry and began warming up to the point that I had to drink a heat resistance potion to stay comfortable. -It looks like the walls of the cave are getting smoother too...-

Eventually, it felt like I was walking through a dungeon, with a level of mana and heat unlike anything I had come across until that point. -Even the previous magma lakes I came across weren't this hot...-

*Blub-Blub* *Plop-Tap* Taking careful steps across a shallow puddle of magma, my mind and heart started accelerating. -I'm getting close to something...-

With the heat only growing as I trekked forward, my body filled with adrenaline, until eventually, the cave opened up to an unbelievably massive cavern, so large I couldn't see the other side even with the blinding glow of molten rock. -Woah...-

It was simply an ocean of molten rock, so endless it seemed to form a horizon. -I need to be careful though...-

Heeding Lord Vasilias's warnings, I strained myself to try and check how deep it was with my aura before deciding to jump in, however, with just a glance over the surface of the magma, I could see that the ridiculously powerful currents pushing and pulling magma off the surface were just waiting to suck me under. -I might really die if I fall in here...-

But thankfully, I had another option in that cavern.

Quickly pulling out and chomping on a few more potions, I wasted no time leaping out of the cave and flapping my wings as hard and fast as possible to stay in the air. *FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH*

Eventually getting some altitude, I could only let out a stressed breath. "Hooh..." -The air in here is so thin it's hard to fly...- But thankfully there was no need to worry about accidentally damaging anything, so I could freely use wind magic I normally couldn't. -Now.. I just need to search this unbelievably massive place...-

Considering the curvature of the wall, it was at least six or seven hundred kilometers wide, meaning even if I extended my expedition, I likely wouldn't be able to search the whole thing.

But my gut told me I wouldn't need to.

Following my instincts, I went straight for the middle of the cavern, and after flying for what felt like an eternity, found an area where the magma dipped down, as if it was being pulled on something from below. -Huh?-

It certainly wasn't a phoenix, but as I passed over it, I spotted a rather a small, glowing orange string sticking through the surface of the magma. -What is that?-

Unable to stop and land, I circled back around and glided just over the surface of the magma, reaching out and plucking the string as I passed over it. *Blub*

But while I wasn't sure what to expect, as I looked down at it, I could only tilt my head.

It was a bundle of fuzz, radiating so much heat it made my claws glow. -Woah... Is this the source of the heat in the cavern?-

As I started holding it with my aura so my claw wouldn't melt, my thoughts raced to figure out what it was. -Is it a flower.. or maybe a coral?-

I went on to have countless other theories about it as well, but as I got the idea to bring it to the edge of the cavern and more closely inspect it.. all sound ceased and the blazing hot air I was flying in vanished.

"~To think a dragon would sneak in here... Did that old dog send you over?~" The voice was deep and guttural, sounding as if it was coming from inside my own head.

But it wasn't a hallucination.

Breaking into panic as I started suddenly falling out of the air, I used every spec of aura I could control to pull hundreds of silver rocks out of my bags with my aura before using dozens of runes to spontaneously fuse them together. *Flash* In an instant, they all turned into a single blinding, glowing blue light before I hurled it all into the magma below. *CRACK-PLOP*

They were rocks I had found on several other expeditions, ones that violently glowed and exploded when clumped and fused together.

However, I could have never expected the reaction I would get after fusing hundreds of kilograms of it together.

"~Huh? What is-~" *FLASH* The voice was instantly cut off as my vision ceased.

Without even realizing it, I had blinded myself, but before I could even react, a shockwave blew through my body, shattering my ribs and rupturing my veins before a wave of heat blew over me as well, melting my scales and vaporizing my nerves.

In an instant.. I had lost every sense I had.

It was an explosion so powerful the entire mountain trembled, shaking dust off the ceiling of the nest hundreds of kilometers away.

But I survived. Although only barely, I could still think, and use my aura to see how unbelievably ruined my body was.

However.. it only lasted a moment. *Vwoop* In an instant, another body appeared next to me within my aura. It was so close I could reach out and touch it, but even though I tried, my body didn't move.

"~What kind of cheap trick...~" The voice carried a hint of anger and awe as he spoke in a dialect of draconic I couldn't recognize. "~You... What did you just do...~"

As the creature reached out and touched my chest, I felt my scales drip off my body before the heat began melting through my skin and flesh.

But I was numb.

The only thing I could do was listen to the voice of the being next to me as if it were the voice of death... The voice of the being that would claim my life. -Is this really all I amounted to..?- I felt both content and disappointed. -I found it.. the creature I was looking for.. yet I can't even look at it with my eyes...-

It felt like fate was playing an evil trick on me.. but I didn't have a choice but to be dragged along with the beat of its drums. -If only.. I could see it...-

Devoting every last drop of brainpower I had to reading my aura, I concentrated it on the center of the being next to me...

But just as the shape of a feather was painted in my mind.. it ceased. *Blip* And my consciousness faded.

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Early Evening - Late Spring : The Tree of Prayer | Valtivar

- Leif Vilulf ~

"This is the first time I've seen you so.. anxious..." Liv spoke softly as we overlooked the endless sea of dragons and people waiting for the beginning of the prayer.

"How could I not be... Something just.. feels wrong..." Looking up the side of the Tree of Prayer, I felt my chest tighten. "Since the incident several weeks ago, I haven't heard a thing from him, and somehow his presence feels like its.. weakening..."

"Are you sure that isn't because of all the mana making your senses fuzzy?" Holding out her hand, the blue fog of mana swirled in her palm before slowly dissipating.

"I'm certain." The amount of mana in the air, especially close to the tree was indeed indescribable, so thick it was sickening. -But that doesn't cloud my senses like it does others...-

Looking up toward the Gods' Abode, unable to ease my nerves, the countdown finally began, and Liv quickly left to go to her post on the other side of the tree.

"Hoooh..." With a long, deep breath, I tried to use the anomalous hum inside the tree to calm my mind before raising my gaze over the crowd. "Everyone. Our mighty Lords need your help." My voice, burdened by anxiety, faintly quivered as I spoke. "It hasn't been long since the last prayer, but we have been asked to gather once more to pray, for those who have fallen, for the prosperity of our nation, and for the strength of our lords."

The endless crowd below waited with bated breaths as I paused.

"I am not someone able to read the mind of our lord. I am unfit. Unworthy. However, for the first time in the recorded history of Siratha, we, the arms and legs of the Ancient Fenrir, have been tasked with raising our arms and mana in prayer. Now, if you all could join me..." An indescribable silence fell over the forest in an instant. "Everyone, grip your hearts and raise your hands with me! For tonight, beneath the limitless sea of stars, we give our lords our strength through this eternal prayer! Tonight, we shall give our strength to our God!"

*VWWWWOOOOM* An unfathomable tidal wave of mana instantly erupted from the people on the ground, countless magnitudes larger than the previous prayer, before the tree started pulsating, shaking the entirety of Valtivar to its core.

It was a prayer on a scale I struggled to even fathom.

But as I spread my arms and closed my eyes, giving up my mana in prayer as the sickeningly large mana wave blew over me, I looked up the side of the tree toward the Gods' Abode, waiting for our lord to call us up.

But it never came. With every passing second of silence, I grew more and more anxious...

Until finally.. after a minute that felt like an eternity... *Woop* Without giving us any warning or chance to react, his ever-thinning presence vanished completely, and my soul trembled.

Without even thinking of signaling to Liv and Alva, I darted up the tree as fast as I could. *WooooOOOOSH*

But when I got to the Gods' Abode and finally looked inside while praying as hard as I could.. my heart stopped.

The sight of my lord's body laying there, at the center of the reincarnation rune, completely still.. and lifeless.. engraved itself into my soul.

I wanted to rush over, but.. before I could move, I fell to my knees, unable to scratch the sight of his broken neck and bleeding legs from my mind. -H..how.. could this be...- Like a sand castle being hit by a wave, my mind was helplessly plunged into ruin.

The being I devoted my entire existence to.. the being I served with every ounce of my flesh and blood.. was dead... -This.. can't be...-

After a moment, my anxious and sadness seemed to fade, but my expression hadn't changed in the slightest.

I was simply lost... Drowning in a river of despair...

Even as the prayer eventually concluded, there was simply nothing I could do.

I couldn't shed a tear no matter how badly I wanted to cry.. and I couldn't distract myself from the image that had engraved itself into the core of my being.

From that moment, time became a blur. Lady Zachari and Lady Asimi came to visit in order to see me and check on the Lord and his Father.. but I couldn't muster the courage to let them see me... My mind was simply.. ruined.

Unable to do paperwork, the only person who I allowed to see me was Liv Sigmond, the apostle I took as my apprentice.

But even she.. after visiting the Gods' Abode, was forever changed.

Before long, rumors began spreading that something happened to the Lord during the prayer with concerns stemming from the way we were acting, but even as months started ticking by, we hadn't even made an appearance to the public.

Every single day, I wanted to go up and check on him.. to try and give myself some hope.. but at the same time, I didn't want that last string of hope I had to snap...

With my sanity hanging on by an indescribably thin thread, all I could muster was to hide behind a veil of ignorance...

However, one evening, as I was sitting in my dark office blankly staring at the mound of paperwork that had piled up, I got up from my desk and opened the curtains, letting a beam of moonlight strike my face for the first time in six months.

But it didn't feel warm at all... My skin was pale and cold, and my expression was just as emotionless. -Is it really okay.. for me to continue clinging to such a delicate string of hope like this..?-

After months of falling deeper and deeper into despair, Siratha was at its limit. Even with my subordinates running most of the country without me, if I wanted to keep the country from crumbling, I had to finally face reality... -I'm going to head up the Tree of Prayer...-

Just thinking about it made my heart ache, but as the following day came and went, and nightfall returned, I slowly started coming to terms with it.

*Pat* *Pat* *Pat* Slowly walking on the grass around the base of the tree, I looked up the towering tree trunk, easily able to see the entrance to the Gods' Abode from the ground, with a calm heart. -It's finally time...-

*Thump* Carefully hopping up onto one of the towering tree roots, I started from a walk and slowly built up speed before zipping up the side of the tree, doing everything I could to prepare myself for whatever reality I would have to face.. even if I didn't feel ready for it.

However, the moment I was about to enter the abode, the voice of a being I had never heard rang through my head. "~Leave.~" *Vwoop* Almost instantaneously, my surroundings changed and I found myself back on the ground.

-H..huh?!- The voice was that of a god.. but it was one I had never heard before, and was one laced with hostility.

It made my mind snap instantly. -You.. you're the one who killed him...- With the life behind my eyes fading, I used every ounce of strength I had, to bolt up the side of the tree while releasing a bloodlust so thick I left a trail in the air. *VWOOM-CRACK*

However, before I could even get halfway, a presence appeared, the air trembled, and the moonlight shining through the canopy warped. *VWOOOOOM*

"Ack-!" Before I could even react, my mind felt like it was splitting, and the very core of my being trembled from fear, as if my soul was on the verge of ripping itself apart.

It was a presence so immense that my mind had to numb itself to the point I couldn't think, and so heavy it caused the night sky to descend beneath the Tree of Prayer's canopy.

The presence of a being leagues above Lord Nott, announcing itself to the world as if returning for the first time in eons.

A warning to the world that it had returned, this time not as a mortal, but as a god.

A message that was felt by every being on the planet, no matter how strong or weak, near or far they happened to be.

It was a moment of realization for every being around the world…

The descent of a god…

The descent of a king.

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