CHAPTER 52: HIERA’S BLOOD HAS AWAKENED

Still, he acted as Luke had commanded.

The Ancient Dragon lowered its head in front of Luke in a matter of seconds. The Ancient Dragon’s head was metres in size.

"You know who I am, don’t you? I’m sure you do, as sure as my name," Luke said calmly.

Upon hearing Luke’s words, the ancient dragon shifted its head to the right and began to sniff him. Slowly.

Within seconds, the ancient dragon had raised its head as if it had recognised a familiar scent. When it sniffed Luke again, as if in disbelief, Luke could see that the ancient dragon was delighted, almost like a small puppy seeing its owner.

Luke smiled calmly and asked, "What’s your name?"

When the ancient dragon heard this question, it growled, and Luke said in surprise, "Usur? That’s a very strange name... It means ’calmness’ in the ancient dragon language, doesn’t it?" Then he shook his head and said, "That won’t do."

As the Ancient Dragon tried to understand what was happening, Luke pointed to the ground and said, ’Obey and bow your head.’

As the Ancient Dragon obeyed the command, Luke spoke:

"Andromeda Ariadne Hiera is gone. Hundreds of thousands of years have passed since her death. Yet I am here, and I must possess you as my ancestor, Andromeda, once possessed you. If you bow before me and join me, I swear that I will always love you, value you, and never use you, but instead make you a part of me."

When Luke spoke these words, the Ancient Dragon proudly raised its head and began to roar toward the sky, flapping its enormous, perhaps forty-metre wings:

"SKKKRRRYYAAAAAARRRKKKHH!!!"

A sound as loud as the winds and rain in a storm rose into the sky. It was a sound that shook the very air.

A proud, terrifying, and majestic cry.

The dragons and phoenixes around them were almost trying to flee in fear. Each of them had been intimidated by the majesty of the ancient dragon Usur and had tried to hide among the plants.

Still, there was one person who was not afraid of the ancient dragon.

"I am not afraid of you, Usur. I am a Hiera, like those who came before me, and especially my ancestor Andromeda Ariadne Hiera. Leave your name behind and serve the person before you, your new master... no, your new king."

Luke’s words somehow reached him amidst the ancient dragon’s earth-shaking roar.

When the ancient dragon stopped roaring and its cry echoed and faded away in the boundless region, it turned to look at Luke.

Luke could almost hear the ancient dragon’s voice in his mind.

The ancient dragon was questioning whether he was certain of this, whether he was truly the person Andromeda had spoken of. Luke had not yet noticed, but the aura around him was beginning to change. With each passing second, he was transforming into someone far more authoritative. His gaze was growing more serious, more realistic... how to put it... more weighty.

It was so heavy that it could even bring the Ancient Dragon Usur to heel.

"I am not Andromeda, I am the person she thinks I am, but I will not be the person she wants me to be. Do you accept that?" Luke asked calmly.

The Ancient Dragon began to growl, its voice echoing through the air, but eventually it stood before Luke with respect, its massive, truly colossal body.

Luke looked up at the sky. His eyelids were wide open, and his eyes gazed deeply into the dark sky.

It was midnight. He had been travelling for over a month, and by the time he reached the summit of One Mountain, the sun had long since disappeared, the moon had risen, and the stars had come out.

Luke seemed to disappear as he gazed at the stars.

Seconds passed, and two minutes had gone by.

Luke trembled as if a name had appeared in his heart. His heart was pounding with excitement, joy, and hope.

When he looked at the Ancient Dragon again, he uttered these words:

"You will now leave your allegiance to Andromeda behind and serve me, Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera. You will continue on this path until the end of your life or the end of MY life. You will leave the name Usur behind."

After uttering these words, he signalled with his hand that the Ancient Dragon should move from its position, then pointed to the stars in the sky and uttered the name:

"Raise your head, Ancient Dragon, Shenhal."

[Shenhal is a word in the Ancient Dragon language meaning {Starfall}.]

This was a fitting name for the ancient dragon with eyes as white as stars and white scales.

Usur, now known as Shenhal, raised his head to the sky once more upon hearing these words and let out a proud, long, echoing roar that seemed to stretch into eternity:

"RROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRHHHH!!!"

Luke smiled and then looked at the dragons and phoenixes around him.

"Go, go to the capital and find yourselves a Hiera. Protect them with your lives. Love them forever. I am certain they will love you back."

As soon as he spoke these words, eleven phoenixes and dozens of dragons took flight.

On that day, as the phoenixes and dragons flew at hyper speed toward the capital, every person of every race who watched them thought the same thing. Those who saw the return of those monsters, those beings, those sacred things beyond eternity thought the same thing...

[The Hieras had been reborn.]

The lineage of the Hieras had been revived. Their blood had awakened, and the phoenixes and dragons had begun to return to their masters, the Hieras.

The age of the Hieras had returned.

And all of this had been accomplished by a single person:

[Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera.]

This was something everyone would come to learn.

The master of the Hieras, the highest rank of blood, the master of every Ancient Dragon and Ancient Phoenix, had been reborn and had issued his first commands.

[Find a Hiera.]