The Dragon King stood in silence, eyes lowered to his own ruined body.
There was no disbelief on his face. No fear. Only a deep, quiet disappointment, as if he had already measured every remaining possibility and found them all wanting. He exhaled slowly. The sound carried no strength. Escape no longer seemed real. Turning the situation around no longer seemed real. He simply lifted his gaze and looked at the being who hovered before him.
Icarus watched him with a gentle, almost fond smile behind the veil.
"What is wrong… oh King of the Dragons?"
The Dragon King's expression remained still.
Icarus continued, voice soft and measured, as though recounting a story to a child.
"In the Upper Realm there stands a tree. Vast. Beautiful. Covered in living golden light. Long ago, lesser beings fell into greed at the sight of what that tree could offer. Its fruit was not merely sweet. It could restore a broken body, cleanse a stained soul, rebuild shattered cores and foundations from nothing."
He paused, letting the words settle among the cries of the flying horrors.
"That greed is what finally separated the lesser beings from those who still remembered restraint. The Supreme One grew weary of their endless hunger. In the end, He split the great tree in two. One half would bear the Fruits of Rebirth. The other would bear the Fruits of Transcendence."
The Dragon King said nothing.
"Even after the division," Icarus went on, "the greed did not die. So the Supreme One separated the two halves and hid them across the universe. But in doing so, He also laid a curse upon one of them."
The Dragon King's eyes drifted down to his arm. He closed his fist slowly, as if testing whether anything inside him had changed.
Icarus's tone remained almost kind.
"Those who go searching for the fruits do not always receive what they desire. You climbed all the way to the Upper Realm without the proper knowledge… and still you managed to obtain a Seed." A soft chuckle. "Did you truly believe your body would simply be rebuilt by swallowing the Seed of Rebirth? Oh King of the Dragons. For one whom we considered wise… today you stand here as a fool. A wise fool."
Silence returned.
The Dragon King's face did not change. For several long heartbeats he gave no reaction at all. Only the distant, endless crying of the horrors filled the air between them.
Then, slowly, he smiled.
It was a calm smile. Empty of hope. Empty of defiance.
Icarus tilted his head.
"Why do you smile? Was there something amusing in my words?"
The Dragon King chuckled — a low, rough sound that held no joy. Only the bitter clarity of understanding that had arrived too late. He knew, with absolute certainty, that he could not win against the Lord of Darkness. Even if the Seed had worked exactly as he once hoped, the gap between them would have remained impassable. He was insignificant here. The realization settled over him without resistance.
"No tricks?... You will do nothing?" Icarus asked.
His smile widened, neither scared nor happy; then he sighed, the last of the tension leaving his shoulders.
"No... I am tired."
Far across the ruined field, Rhelga stood frozen.
Every word had reached him. The truth of the Seed. The curse. The quiet admission of defeat. Fear moved through his body in a cold wave, and his legs finally gave out. He dropped to his knees amid the blackened stone, staring in raw disbelief.
Then the Dragon King's voice entered his mind — calm, absolute, and final.
Run. Do not look back... Survive.
Rhelga's head lifted. His green eyes locked on the distant figure of the Dragon King. His teeth clenched hard enough to ache. For a moment it seemed he might refuse. Then the order settled over him like a chain, and he forced himself to obey.
The Dragon King did not need to turn his head to know. He felt the elf's presence begin to retreat.
At the same time, something long delayed finally stirred inside his ruined body.
A current of power — foreign, golden, and inexorable — began to move through him. Light pierced outward from beneath his remaining scales, first as thin cracks, then as widening fractures of pure radiance. The dark spikes embedded in his flesh hissed and began to burn away. Drake, still planted in the ground before him, was released as his fingers opened. The great sword remained upright, humming softly.
The Dragon King folded his arms across his chest.
He looked at Icarus one last time.
"I did try."
Icarus said nothing. He simply watched, the purple ring behind him turning with the same unhurried patience as before.
The golden light surged.
It flooded through every remaining scale, every wound, every broken place, until the Dragon King's entire form was consumed by it. Wind rose in a tight spiral around the radiance, whipping ash and dissolving purple sparks into a luminous cyclone. The light grew denser, brighter, until it became a single overwhelming pillar that erased the colors of the graveyard battlefield and forced even the crying horrors to fall silent.
For a moment the world held only that light.
---------------
In the quiet green chamber of the present, Rhelga's voice was low and steady.
"The Dragon King… turned into an egg."
Rhelga's voice was quiet, almost distant.
"I ran as hard as I could. Even after my mana was completely gone, the fear did not leave me. Simply standing in the Lord of Darkness's presence had been suffocating. But to lose the greatest hope Chaos had left… that was something else entirely."
Indura's golden eyes remained fixed on the soft ground of the chamber.
"I see."
He lifted his gaze.
"So how did he get out of Chaos?"
Rhelga smiled, the expression tired but genuine.
"I truly do not know how it was possible. The egg was enormous — the size of a massive boulder. The Lord of Darkness never touched it. He simply watched, as if waiting for something. And while I was still fleeing…" His smile widened, carrying a spark of old wonder. "I felt it. The Dragon King's presence returned. It flooded the entire battlefield once more."
Indura's eyes widened slightly. A slow smile touched his mouth.
"I do not know how," Rhelga continued, "but when I looked up through the darkness covering the sky, I saw the egg flying. It tore through the black clouds and vanished into the void beyond. Seeing that gave me joy. It gave me hope. I knew then that the Dragon King had not simply given up."
Indura's smile deepened.
"And the Lord of Darkness?"
Rhelga sighed, the warmth dimming.
"I do not know. I had already fled far from the battlefield before I could see the end. But… right after I escaped, I could no longer feel the Lord of Darkness's presence. He may have chased after the egg."
Indura exhaled slowly.
"I understand now. It makes far better sense than the theories I pieced together over the years."
Rhelga chuckled softly. Then he placed both hands on his staff and rose to his feet. With calm, deliberate care, he bent forward, the gesture deep and sincere.
"Thank you," he said, voice steady, "for surviving."
Indura's eyes widened. For a moment he looked almost flustered. He lifted one hand and scratched the back of his head, glancing away.
Rhelga remained bowed a second longer. When he lifted his head, his green eyes were not focused on Indura's face. They looked deeper — past flesh and scale, into the place where the older soul resided.
Far beneath the surface of thought, in the endless dark void that existed only within, the True Self sat cross-legged in perfect stillness.
His face was shadowed. He had heard every word of the long recounting. He had no need to speak. The silence around him was absolute.
Yet at Rhelga's final gratitude, something almost imperceptible moved across his features.
A small smile.
Quiet. Rare. And gone almost as soon as it appeared.
The True Self lifted his gaze, as if a distant memory had finally risen to the surface.
---------------
Six hundred years earlier.
Through the endless black of the void, a golden point of light shone alone. It brightened, then surged forward at impossible speed, leaving a long, burning trail of gold and deep crimson in its wake. The light resolved into the shape of a vast egg, its surface layered in radiant crimson shell veined with molten gold. It tore through the thin membranes between realms, crossed the dark gulfs between galaxies, and passed silently, turning planets without slowing.
Ahead lay a single blue-and-green world.
The egg plunged toward it.
Atmosphere met the shell in a violent bloom of fire. The egg became a falling star, a searing streak that split the night sky of the unknown world and screamed downward. It struck a deep forest with the force of a meteor. The impact erased trees in a widening circle, hurled earth and stone skyward, and sent shockwaves rolling for miles through the darkened woods. When the dust and flame finally began to settle, a massive crater smoked at the heart of the destruction.
A figure appeared at the crater's edge.
She was a high elf, tall and slender, with long silver hair that caught the faint starlight and clear emerald eyes wide with caution and wonder. She stepped carefully down the scorched slope, drawn by the low, resonant hum that still radiated from the cracked egg at the center.
The moment she drew too near, a violent pressure erupted outward.
The force slammed her into the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. Cracks spider-webbed across the crater floor. The egg shuddered. Fine fractures raced across its surface, glowing brighter with every second. Then the shell split open with a deep, ringing sound.
A small figure climbed free.
It was a dragon, but young — no larger than a great wolf. Its scales shimmered like fresh embers under the night sky. Its limbs were short and unscarred. Small wings lay folded against its back. No horns yet crowned its head. Golden eyes opened for the first time and reflected the stars.
---------------
In the same instant, somewhere deeper than flesh, a consciousness stirred.
Indura — the True Self — opened his eyes in a place of perfect darkness. There was no floor. No ceiling. No sound. Only endless, patient black.
He looked around slowly.
"What is this place… and how am I still alive?"
The next moment his vision shifted. He stood once more in the crater, small and newly formed, the night air cold against unfamiliar scales. Confusion rolled through him. Ahead, the silver-haired elf still struggled to rise. Instinct moved before thought. He took one short step forward. Pressure crashed outward again, driving the elf flat against the earth.
Then he blinked—
—and was back in the void.
"What has happened to my body? What is this?"
His eyes widened.
Before him lay a small crimson dragon, its scales still steaming. He reached out to touch it. An invisible force flung his hand back. The young dragon turned its head and met his gaze directly.
A slow, disbelieving smile crossed the True Self's face.
"Impossible…"
He leaned closer. The resemblance was exact — the same eyes, the same bloodline, only unfinished.
"It looks just like me. Why am I staring at my younger self?"
The hatchling's form rippled. Scales receded. Limbs lengthened. In the span of a breath, the small dragon became a humanoid child with long crimson hair falling down its back and the same piercing golden eyes. The boy looked up at him.
Indura looked down at the boy.
Realization settled over him like cold iron.
He was looking at himself. And himself was looking back.
For a long moment neither spoke. The True Self simply stared. Then the corner of his mouth curved.
"I understand."
---------------
In the crater, the young dragon blinked hard. Its small body steamed as if something outside had struck it. The silver-haired elf stared at it in open disbelief as she descended onto the ground. The hatchling took a few unsteady steps toward her, head tilted, studying the strange creature with pure curiosity. It opened its mouth and forced out broken, imitated sounds — fragments of the words she had spoken earlier.
Eventually the elf found her voice. Soft. Cautious.
"What… is your name?"
Space folded.
A towering silhouette of crimson and shadow manifested above the crater where nothing had stood. The pressure that rolled off it was ancient and absolute. The elf's breath caught. Blood began to trickle from her nose and the corners of her eyes as the presence crushed down on her soul.
The silhouette spoke, voice deep and final.
"Indura."
Golden eyes looked through her.
"It is Indura."
The elf collapsed, unconscious, blood dark against the pale ground.
The True Self regarded her for a moment, then turned his attention to the small dragon body that still stood blinking in the crater. A quiet, considering breath left him.
"So this is what I have become."
He studied the younger form at length.
"Two souls existing in one body… this would draw conflict."
A pause. Calculation moved behind his eyes.
"…No. This would be good."
He lifted his gaze to the open night sky and the void beyond it.
"I have weakened. I am lost. But this way… they will not find me."
His eyes returned to the forest, to the strange blue-tinged darkness of the sky, to the clean, unfamiliar flow of mana in the air — softer and clearer than the wild currents of Chaos.
A single question formed, quiet and edged with something almost like curiosity.
"Where am I?"