The ancient dragon's roar of recognition shook the entire temple, causing chunks of stone to rain down from the ceiling. But it wasn't a roar of greeting—it was pure, distilled hatred given voice.
"VALERIA!" The mental scream hit me like a sledgehammer to the skull. "After a thousand years, you dare show your face here!"
Through the transparent walls, I could see her clearly now. Valeria the Truthseeker looked exactly as she had in the ancestral memories—ageless, beautiful, and radiating an aura of cold authority that made my skin crawl. Her silver hair flowed around her like liquid starlight, and her eyes were the color of winter ice.
In her hands, she held what looked like a crystalline cage containing something that writhed and pulsed with darkness.
"Hello, old friend," she said, her voice carrying easily through the temple's barriers. "I see you've found another heir to corrupt with your lies."
[EXTREME THREAT DETECTED: VALERIA THE TRUTHSEEKER]
[POWER LEVEL: BEYOND CURRENT ASSESSMENT]
[ENTITY CLASS: ANCIENT MAGE - FOUNDER]
[WARNING: SUBJECT HAS MASTERED DRAGON-BINDING TECHNIQUES]
[RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE EVACUATION IMPOSSIBLE]
"Lies?" I looked between the ancient dragon and Valeria, my mind reeling. "What lies?"
"Do not listen to her, young heir. She speaks with honeyed words that hide poisoned intent."
"Oh, but I think he should listen," Valeria said, raising the crystalline cage. The dark thing inside pulsed brighter, and I could feel its influence trying to worm into my mind. "After all, hasn't he been lied to enough already?"
She gestured toward Ryze, who had gone pale as death. "Your mentor there hasn't told you everything, has he? About why he really sought you out, about what the Mage Council truly wants with you."
"Ryze?" I kept my burning sword raised, but my eyes were on him. "What is she talking about?"
"Liam, don't—" he started, but Valeria cut him off with a laugh like breaking glass.
"Oh, this is delicious. He doesn't know, does he? Doesn't know that dear Ryze is my grandson?"
The words hit me like a physical blow. "What?"
"Forty-seven times removed, but yes—direct bloodline." Valeria's smile was cruel as winter. "The Mage Council has been planning for your emergence for centuries, young heir. Every contingency, every possibility, every way you might be controlled or eliminated."
[REVELATION ANALYSIS: GENETIC SCAN OF RYZE]
[BLOODLINE DETECTED: MAGE COUNCIL FOUNDER LINE]
[TRUSTWORTHINESS: REEVALUATING...]
[BETRAYAL PROBABILITY: 73%]
I spun to face Ryze, fire erupting around me in waves. "Is it true?"
"It's complicated," he said, but he couldn't meet my eyes.
"STOP SAYING THAT!" My roar carried harmonics that made the temple shake. "Just once, just ONCE, tell me the truth!"
"The truth?" Ryze's storm-cloud eyes finally met mine, and I saw pain there that looked genuine. "The truth is that yes, I'm her descendant. Yes, the Council sent me to find you. And yes, I was supposed to bring you here to be tested."
"Tested or eliminated?"
"Both." His admission was barely above a whisper. "If you proved worthy, I was to help you develop your powers in ways that wouldn't threaten the realms. If you proved... unworthy..."
"You were supposed to kill me."
"I was supposed to ensure you never became a threat."
"And yet he did not," the ancient dragon observed, its mental voice carrying surprise. "Curious. The bloodline of Valeria, showing mercy to a dragon heir."
"Because I was wrong," Ryze said, looking at me with something that might have been regret. "They were all wrong. You're not like the dragons of old, Liam. You have something they lacked."
"Which is?"
"Humanity."
Valeria's laughter echoed through the temple like the sound of worlds dying. "Humanity? Oh, my dear, foolish descendant. Humanity is exactly what makes him so dangerous."
The Shadow Dragons outside began to move, circling the temple in tighter spirals. I could see their corrupted forms clearly now—what had once been magnificent creatures reduced to living weapons of void energy.
"What do you want, Valeria?" I demanded, my flames burning brighter as my anger grew.
"What I've always wanted—to protect the seven realms from dragon arrogance." She raised the crystalline cage higher, and the dark thing inside pulsed with malevolent energy. "This contains the concentrated essence of every void creature your ancestors supposedly died to stop. One touch of this to your bloodline, and you'll become exactly what I always said dragons would become—a force of pure destruction."
[VOID ESSENCE DETECTED]
[CORRUPTION POTENTIAL: 100%]
[COUNTERMEASURES: NONE AVAILABLE]
[DRAGON BLOODLINE: EXTREME VULNERABILITY CONFIRMED]
"She seeks to prove her point by creating the very monster she claims to fear," the ancient dragon snarled. "A self-fulfilling prophecy written in the blood of the innocent."
"Sometimes," Valeria said, "prophecies need a little help to come true."
The temple's barriers began to crack under the combined assault of the Shadow Dragons. Their corrupted breath weapons—darkness that unmade reality itself—ate through the ancient wards like acid through paper.
"How long until they break through?" I asked Ryze.
"Minutes, maybe less." He was checking his crystal blade, but I could see the hopelessness in his posture. "Against that many Shadow Dragons, with Valeria directing them..."
"We're dead."
"Most likely, yes."
[SURVIVAL ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
[CURRENT PROBABILITY: 2%]
[FACTORS: OVERWHELMED, OUTPOWERED, BETRAYED]
[RECOMMENDATION: CONSIDER DESPERATE MEASURES]
Two percent. Even worse than before.
"There is one option," the ancient dragon said, its mental voice carrying reluctance. "But it would require you to trust me completely."
"Trust seems to be in short supply around here," I said bitterly.
"Indeed. But I offer you something the others cannot—truth without agenda. I am already dead, young heir. I have been bound here for a thousand years, sustained only by the hope that one day, an heir would come who could break the cycle of fear and hatred."
"What are you suggesting?"
"A merging. Your living bloodline with my ancient knowledge. It would give you the power to face Valeria as an equal, but..."
"But?"
"But it would also complete your awakening all at once. You would become a full dragon in minutes instead of years. The risk of corruption, of losing yourself to the power, would be enormous."
"And if I don't?"
"Then Valeria wins. She corrupts you with void essence, turns you into the monster she's always claimed dragons to be, and uses your rampage as justification to hunt down and eliminate every being in the seven realms with even a trace of dragon heritage."
The barriers cracked further, and I could see the Shadow Dragons preparing for a final assault.
"Liam," Ryze said urgently, "whatever you're considering, remember what I said about humanity. Don't lose that part of yourself. It's what makes you different."
"Different enough to survive this?"
"Different enough to save everyone."
[CRITICAL DECISION POINT]
[OPTION 1: MERGE WITH ANCIENT DRAGON]
[OPTION 2: FACE CORRUPTION WEAPONIZATION]
[OPTION 3: ATTEMPT IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE]
[TIME REMAINING: 47 SECONDS]
Forty-seven seconds to decide whether to risk becoming a monster to stop a monster.
"If I do this," I said to the ancient dragon, "will I still be me?"
"I do not know. The merging has never been attempted with a living heir. You might retain your consciousness, or you might be overwhelmed by the accumulated experiences of every dragon who came before you."
"Comforting."
"I offer power, not comfort."
The barriers shattered.
Shadow Dragons poured through the breach like a tide of living darkness, their corrupted roars shaking the very foundations of reality. Behind them came Valeria, floating on wings of crystallized light, the void essence cage held high above her head.
"Time's up, young heir," she called out. "Choose your corruption—mine, or theirs."
I looked at Ryze, who nodded once, his expression grim but determined.
I looked at the ancient dragon, whose eyes held the wisdom and pain of a thousand years.
I looked at Valeria, architect of betrayal, keeper of fears, destroyer of trust.
Then I made my choice.
"I choose option four," I said, raising my burning sword toward the ceiling. "I choose to trust myself."
And I drove the crystal blade into my own chest.
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
[DRAGON BLOODLINE: FORCED AWAKENING]
[WARNING: SURVIVAL NOT GUARANTEED]
[TRANSFORMATION: BEGINNING]
Pain exploded through my body as something fundamental began to change. But through the agony, I heard Valeria's scream of fury and knew that whatever happened next, I'd surprised her.
That had to count for something.