“You have disturbed me,” the Great Black Dragon growled. “What do you want?”

Leon smirked. “Disturbing you was the point; I’ve already gotten what I want. But so long as you’re here, I was hoping you could answer some questions for me since you’ve been surprisingly helpful these past few hours. I mean, you’ve gone from not helpful at all, to being as mildly helpful as ‘mild’ could possibly be! That’s an infinite increase in helpfulness!”

The monochrome projection of the Great Black Dragon in human form flickered, his expression turning almost murderous. The Thunderbird, on the other hand, was practically squealing with delight with every word Leon said.

“As a matter of fact,” Leon continued, “I heard some things about your power that I wanted to pick your brain about.”

“My brain is decidedly unpickable,” the Great Black Dragon growled. He then glared at the Thunderbird as she stood up again looking like she wanted to say something, and his eyes flashed red. The Thunderbird’s projection vanished instantly, instantly putting Leon on edge.

“What did you do?!” he demanded, all trace of levity gone. When he concentrated, he could feel her power was still within him and still within the gem, but that wouldn’t matter if he lost her.

“Power is so often wasted on the foolish,” the Great Black Dragon bemoaned. “If you choose to make a fool of yourself instead of seeking me out for anything meaningful, then I will at least make the most of the opportunity provided. I will talk, and you will listen. This is no place for those who hold no dragon’s blood in their veins—my words will not fall upon the ears of the worthless.”

Leon was, by now, scowling, but a quick scan of his soul realm showed him the Thunderbird there looking mighty upset. It seemed she was trying to say something, and even approached his throne where his magic body had been hurriedly deposited with the Great Black Dragon’s arrival, but he couldn’t hear her. Even Xaphan, whose attention had been fixed on Leon for several hours now despite his silence, seemed trying to communicate, but to no avail. Whatever the Great Black Dragon was doing even blocked demonic contracts.

“What did you do?!” Leon again demanded.

“Gave us privacy,” his Ancestor growled. He stalked forward, his projection having a greater sense of weight and physicality than the Thunderbird’s had, despite appearing just as spectral and translucent. “I have long written you off as worthless, boy. A mongrel dog to be given no thought. That you were spawned in the womb of one of my most favorite descendants nearly led to me writing her off, too. No dragon lays with such weakness as that which takes shape in the blood of the Reachers, the newly-ascended.”

Leon scoffed. “Rich words coming from a dead man. Your legacy is the descendants you’ve left behind. Ignoring them for perceived faults—”

The Great Black Dragon glowered so malignantly that Leon’s words were cut off. It occurred to him that the Great Black Dragon had just demonstrated a degree of power in death that even the Thunderbird hadn’t. She still retained some power, of course, but it was minuscule compared to what it had been before. Through the gem, she’d have access to whatever power Leon could store in it—and he had some ideas on that front—but so could the Great Black Dragon. Regardless, it was clear the dragon knew more about what was going on than the Thunderbird did—that, or he was just that strong.

“I do not require a lecture from one so young,” the Great Black Dragon stated, his words as heavy as a mountain and twice as certain. “You should be grateful, boy. For where I had once written you off as worthless, I now amend it to ‘slightly more than worthless’. Such amendment is cause for joyous celebration, though you will do so on your own time, not on mine. And since you have no questions of meaning, then I will begin immediately.”

“I do have meaningful questions!” Leon argued. “You’re just not listening!”

“I have heard goats bleat with more pertinent questions than what you’ve allowed to flow from your mouth so far.”

Leon just glared at the Great Black Dragon, his eyes blazing with antipathy. The dragon glared back with equal amounts of arrogance, though he didn’t immediately ‘begin immediately’.”

Following several seconds of tense silence, Leon broke it with a quiet and angry murmur, “What. Did. You. Do?”

The dragon smirked. “Disrupting the magic allowing this meeting was easy. Such magics are known to me. They formed much of the basis upon which power is passed down in blood and the Mists of Chaos.”

“There won’t be any side effects?”

“The chickling is fine, boy. Spare her as much thought as she deserves: none.”

Leon had to bite off a scathing reply. As much as he respected the Thunderbird for her support over the years, he knew that any defense he could render her would fall upon deaf ears. With a quiet resolution to make it up to her in other ways, he pressed on.

“You spoke of my mother. You know her personally? Do you talk to her?”

The Great Black Dragon grinned almost condescendingly. “She held promise. She squandered that promise, so my attention fell upon others. Though they are of my blood and bear some of my power, none have yet so intrigued me as to deserve conversing with me.”

Leon wanted to press more about his mother, but he considered the current situation to be more immediately relevant, so he kept going in that vein. “What changed? Was it my eyes? I’ve heard that your red eye thing has never been inherited before.”

“The Eye of Calamity was my greatest and most powerful tool,” the Great Black Dragon proudly declared. As he spoke, hints of a third eye appeared on his forehead, the impression of which was formed by the furrows of his brow rather than any physical eyelids or shining red-orange light. “I commanded the black fire of doom, which my enemies became most familiar with in the moments before I sent them beyond the Aesii. My Eye, however, was a power I reserved only for the most dangerous, the most deserving of foes. One stricken within it is not only killed but annihilated. So complete is their destruction that nothing remains—no body, no mind, no soul. Nothing reaches the other side of the River of Ghosts; all is rendered less than dust in the light of my Eye.”

The Great Black Dragon paused there a moment, his eyes shifting color from their usual red-orange to a brighter gold. The rest of his body retained its colorless, translucent quality, but the power in his eyes was real, almost tangible to Leon.

“You are the first among my descendants to carry that power,” the dragon stated, his tone softening to something more curious than affronted or arrogant. “I do not know why.”

Leon was quiet for a moment as he mentally refreshed himself not only about all that he knew of blood magic but also what little he knew of this power.

“You induced that power from me, didn’t you?” Leon asked.

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“I had to be certain,” the Great Black Dragon stated.

“It wasn’t the first time I’ve used that power.”

“No. You sent that vile creature Planerend scurrying away with it. Undoubtedly, he even now licks his wounds and considers himself lucky that he did not face me, but rather a boy unused to wielding Calamity.”

“You killed Krith’is with that power…”

“Yes, as I did many of that butcher’s kin.”

Leon slowly nodded, possibilities racing through his head. “Are you familiar with what I pillaged from Krith’is’ tomb?”

“I’ve noticed you pretend to be a lesser creature, yes.”

“I’m unable to do so with your power. Theoretically, there shouldn’t be an issue… I think. I don’t know anyone else with dual bloodlines, and especially not anyone who I would be comfortable sharing that transformation power with and who I could study, so… But from what I understand about the enchantment and how bloodlines are inherited and expressed in descendants, then it should work with your power. But it doesn’t. I can’t transform into a draconic form.”

Hubris shone on the Great Black Dragon’s face brighter than any sun. “Perhaps you calculate accurately with the Reachers. But of the true sons of the universe, those brought into being from the moment of the universe’s conception, you understand little.”

Leon frowned and started pacing, his mind focusing on this problem so completely that any anger he felt at his draconic Ancestor’s attitude was lost.

“So there are empirical, qualitative differences between the power of a Divine Beast as opposed to an Ascended Beast? In what way? And how would that interact with the transformation enchantment?”

“My brothers and I were brought into being with the universe. We saw its first moments, we bathed in the first rays of light that shone from the Origin Spark, and at the same time, the universe’s first origin sparks that were not centered upon the Nexus ignited. Back then, the universe was raw and so young that it was… malleable. Magic hadn’t yet solidified into its current form, and wouldn’t for some time. The Elemental Planes hadn’t yet formed either, and the universe was boundless—unbound by the limits of space or law. My power, boy, formed from this chaos, and touches upon the universe’s foundation.”

Leon’s heart raced as he contemplated just what the Great Black Dragon was explaining. While he took everything said with some degree of skepticism, he was certain that these things were at least broadly true, if embellished in the dragon’s favor. Simply thinking about such an early time in the universe’s history was something he found compelling, and it brought forth many more questions that weren’t necessarily relevant to him at the moment, but one at least he couldn’t help but ask.

“Right, you were there at the beginning… Does that mean you know who created humanity? As I remember, didn’t both the Primal Gods and Devils claim that they made them? In addition to the angels and demons?”

“The works of our lessers were less concerning to us than the works of our own,” the Great Black Dragon stated. “We were left alone, my brothers and I. It was believed then that just as we were there at the beginning of the universe, we would be there at the end. Many of the universe’s True Children feared us, and some believed that I specifically would be the end of the universe. When we deigned to lower our eyes to see the maggots squirming in the dirt and much of the universe, you were already there. I had neither need nor interest in finding out who or what put you there.”

‘Unsatisfying,’ Leon thought, ‘but hardly surprising, I suppose.’

He shrugged, letting the matter rest for the moment. “All right, then. Let’s get back to your power. I… could really use more information on it. If I’m right, I… well, that’s something that we can talk about later. For now, can you explain just how your power differs from the Thunderbird’s? Or anyone else’s? Such that my transformation enchantment doesn’t work with it?”

“The true explanation lies in years of study, boy. But in the interest of instilling the proper respect and appreciation within you for your greater and worthwhile half, then I will explain it thusly: the chickling’s power is born of a Universe Fragment. Her power was attained in defiance of the natural order—Reachers are named that for a reason, for they reach beyond their station, beyond their birth, beyond the limits of their lower kind twice over. I have seen your transformation enchantment, and it assumes this is the case to function.

“My power, however, is of a different nature. It is born of the universe, it did not manifest despite the universe. Doomfire and the Eye of Calamity are as much laws of the universe as the Origin Spark and the Nexus.”

“If that’s true,” Leon said, somewhat cutting the dragon off in his haste, “then why was my initial transformation partially draconic? It worked then, but subsequent versions, even those that didn’t target the Thunderbird’s power specifically, did not work. My blood mages have even attempted to target your power but have failed to produce any results.”

“Of course they have. What do they truly know of the universe except how to defy it? Krith’is knew this, and the butcher’s work took this philosophy into account during the enchantment’s design. I’d even go so far as to state that it began as an ancient rune before expanding out into the enchantment as it now exists.”

“That…” Leon whispered in thought, hardly noticing the way the Great Black Dragon’s eyes narrowed in subtle approval as his pacing intensified, his thoughts racing. “Modern runes are used because they’re more convenient and versatile, but how did they come about? Were the original Primal Beings all fifteenth-tier at the moment of their birth? Is that how they already ‘knew’ of the ancient runes?”

“The discovery of the modern runes came sometime before the war that ended the Primal Age,” the Great Black Dragon explained, pausing Leon’s murmurings for the moment. “I believe your ‘Khosrow’, though he did not discover them, championed their use so that he might write his Law. Truly, the arrogance of humanity in thinking that you can impose your own law over the universe knows no bounds.”

“So then… but then how did… who discovered the modern runes?” In asking his question, Leon halted mid-pace and almost collapsed onto his bed. “Where did they come from?”

“Who cares who discovered what, boy? They were discovered and now they’re here, an imposition of order upon the natural world. Never will they be stronger or more versatile than the ancient runes in truth; only more convenient for the witless.”

Leon huffed in annoyance but let the comment otherwise go without comment. “So then… is there an ancient rune for transformation? Do I need that to get better in touch with the power I inherited from you? Or should I restart from Krith’is’ work since that seemed to stimulate your bloodline whereas the more recent enchantments didn’t?”

“You will never be a dragon in body, boy. Only in spirit and in power. Accept this and know peace.”

“How about I don’t accept it and prove you wrong?”

“Waste your time as you see fit. But when I demand your time, you will give it, and spend it as I say.”

“I’ll consider your generous offer. You’ve given me a lot to think about, but I’d like to go back to the Clan. Can you… tell me anything about them?”

“Their power and lineage are impeccable. Unimpeachable. Enemies fall before them like a field of grass to fire.”

“… I was hoping for more specifics about the current Clan.”

“Concern yourself with yourself, not with others.”

Leon deeply sighed. “How about you just tell me why you’re here, then, if you’re going to evade these important questions?”

The Great Black Dragon’s face contorted in an almost grotesquely wide and proud smile. “I am here because, as I said before, you are not completely worthless, and I intend to forge you into something that at least won’t embarrass me in the future. As the only inheritor of the Eye of Calamity, expectations will be high and failure punished severely.”

“You… want to train me?”

“Your tone speaks well to your lack of forethought—a defining characteristic among humans, but one which you have taken to like a pig to slop.”

“Given your attitude, it speaks ill of your intelligence that you wouldn’t expect this from me.”

For a long moment, Leon thought that he might’ve pushed too far, gotten too informal, too comfortable. The Great Black Dragon glared at him, eyes darkening back to red-orange. However, after that moment passed, his other Ancestor grinned.

“Hm. You have the spirit of a dragon at least, if not the proper form of one. Or a hatchling given how you yip and hiss.”

“We’ll see if your assessment keeps after I figure out the transformation enchantment.”

“You are human, not of such august stature as myself. Now, we will begin immediately. Conjure your fire; I would ensure my descendant does not embarrass himself—and the Clan, by extension.”

Leon held up a hand and summoned a globe of black fire in no time at all. “So…” he muttered, “do you speak with anyone at the Clan? How many have awakened their bloodlines?”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” the Great Black Dragon growled, his eyes locked onto the sphere of black fire, nearly as smooth as glass, made so as a casual display of skill.

“Maybe. How do you feel about demons? I know one who would love to meet you.”

“Concentrate. Silently,” the dragon commanded, and though Leon didn’t quite follow the command, he at least decided to put most of his attention into whatever the Great Black Dragon wanted to teach or show him. No matter what it wound up being, he was sure it would be useful, and he didn’t know how long this state of affairs would last…