Chapter 57 The First Key
Chapter 57 The First Key
Ravelyn appeared in an unfamiliar place. Her mind was in shambles. She didn’t even realize she had left the exam perimeter where the test began. While her mind was still reeling from the revelation about her bloodline, she suddenly realized she was no longer with Kieran and Lucius.
Panicked, she stood up and looked around. She was in an enclosed space that looked like a tunnel, only the corners were rough with deep, claw-like markings.
"Malphas," she whispered.
Instantly, her beast appeared from a cloud of thick, black velvet smoke. Its eyes still ignited with a bright flame as it looked around defensively before suddenly leading her toward the end of the tunnel.
Ravelyn frowned. "Malphas, come back here."
Malphas paused, then walked back and looped around her leg, waiting for her to follow.
"Should I follow you?" she whispered.
The beast pawed the ground before walking ahead. Reluctantly, Ravelyn followed.
As she walked through the tunnel, she noticed ancient carvings and markings on the walls. Mysteriously, she was able to understand the ancient language of the dragons.
"What the..." she muttered.
They walked further for a few more seconds before Ravelyn stopped. In front of her was a small, elaborate wooden platform. Right in the heart of it sat a stone-like sword.
Ravelyn walked over to it. "What the hell is this?"
She gripped the hilt and tried to yank the sword out, but it didn't move. She pulled harder and harder, straining against the weight, but she still couldn't pull it from the platform. Pissed, she yanked her hand off the hilt.
The sharp edge caught her palm, cutting her skin. She didn't really feel the pain. Being connected to Malphas made her immune to it, and the injury healed almost immediately.
Frustrated, she turned to leave. She walked over to the nearest wall, her fingers tracing the ancient tongue carved into the rock.
"Ignis et Umbra, Sanguine Revocata," she read out loud.
The moment the words left her lips, the vibrations became intense. The rhythmic shaking grew so violent that the ground beneath her trembled, making her body shake.
Ravelyn turned back fast. "What is happening?"
The stone exterior of the weapon was shattering, flaking away to reveal an actual, pristine blade. The hilt had transformed completely, beautifully molded into the shape of a roaring dragon.
"A dragon sword?" she whispered, staring in disbelief.
Mesmerized, Ravelyn walked back over to the platform. She reached out and wrapped her fingers tightly around the dragon hilt.
"Let's see what you really are," she muttered.
The moment her skin made contact, her eyes went completely blank. Her body remained standing in the tunnel, but her soul was violently pulled out, transported entirely to the ancient Dragon Realm.
Golden light blinded her. When her vision cleared, she was standing in a breathtaking, endless valley beneath two suns.
"Where am I?" Ravelyn asked, looking around. "Is this... home?"
The crushing weight of the academy tunnel vanished, replaced by the crisp, sweet scent of crushed pine and ozone. Overhead, two brilliant suns bathed an endless emerald valley in a warm, golden haze.
"Look up, little hatchling!" a booming, melodic voice echoed from her right.
Ravelyn spun around. Standing on a massive stone tier just above her was a towering man with eyes of pure molten gold. Intricate crimson scales traced his jawline and forearms. Next to him stood a woman with hair like spun midnight, her laugh sounding like shifting wind as she leaned against his shoulder. They were half-shifted, their massive, iridescent wings folded loosely against their backs.
"They're starting the dance!" a young girl laughed, sprinting past Ravelyn's spectral form. The child's legs suddenly shifted into heavy, golden-scaled talons as she leaped off the ledge, launching herself into the sky with a joyous shriek.
Down in the valley basin, thousands of dragons were gathered in a massive, swirling amphitheater. It was the Festival of the Twin Suns, the one day a year when the clans completely integrated.
"Watch the sky," the crimson-scaled man murmured to his companion, his voice thick with pride. "The Noctyra are setting the canvas."
A dozen massive, pitch-black Abyss Dragons soared into the upper atmosphere. They exhaled a thick, velvety midnight smoke that rolled across the sky, temporarily blotting out the twin suns. But it wasn't suffocating; it was a perfect, dark velvet backdrop.
Instantly, a hundred Aurelian Sun Dragons dove through the black smoke. They unleashed torrents of brilliant, white-hot solar fire that didn't burn, but instead illuminated the darkness like artificial stars. The crowd below erupted into cheers.
On the valley floor, the celebration was electric. Drummers beat a rhythmic, primal pulse onto massive brass gongs. Hundreds of dragons in human and half-shifted forms locked hands, dancing in massive, concentric circles around a towering, central bonfire that burned with an eternal violet-gold flame. The heat radiated against Ravelyn’s face, feeling incredibly real. She could smell the roasting meats, the sweet honeyed wine, and the crisp, clean air of a realm untouched by malice.
"We dance as two, but we bleed as one!" the dancers chanted, their voices vibrating through the valley floor.
Suddenly, the music stopped. The rhythmic drumming faded into a respectful silence as an old warrior stepped onto the high platform overlooking the bonfire. He wore no armor—only a simple white tunic—but his presence was absolute. He held the stone-like sword high above his head, its pristine blade catching the dual sunlight.
"For ten thousand years, the Grand Coalition has looked at our sky with envy," the High Chief shouted, his voice reaching every corner of the valley. "They call our power volatile. They call our dual nature a threat to their rigid order. They want us to choose—light or dark, sun or abyss."
The crowd growled, a low, rumbling sound that shook the trees.
The Chief raised the sword higher, a proud smile breaking through his weathered face. "But we know the truth! The sun cannot exist without the shadow it casts. The abyss is nothing without the light that defines it. We do not choose. We endure, we unite, and we thrive! Let the houses of the angels and demons play their political games in the mud. Up here, we are sovereign!"
A deafening roar split the sky as hundreds of dragons shifted fully into their true, massive forms, circling the bonfire in a breathtaking display of absolute freedom.
"They were happy," Ravelyn whispered, tears pricking her blank eyes. "They were completely at peace."
Then, the sky cracked.
The beautiful golden light was instantly choked by a sickening, piercing silver light. A horn blew in the distance—the high, mechanical chime of the Grand Coalition.
"Invasion!" a voice screamed from the ridge. "The shield is down! The angels have breached the eastern gate!"
The happy memory bled away into horror. The sky rained blinding celestial spears, piercing through the wings of the soaring sun dragons. From the shadows of the valley, demonic hellfire erupted, consuming the dancers.
"No," Ravelyn gasped, watching the vision rush forward to a final, desperate stand. The High Chief, now covered in gashes and black blood, raised the exact dragon sword to defend a pile of dragon eggs. "Stop this! Stop it!"
Right before her eyes, a golden spear pierced the Chief's chest. He fell to his knees, his hands still gripping the hilt as the pristine blade began to turn a deep, horrifying red, stained with the blood of her slaughtered ancestors.