When he landed, the snow stopped.
Saritus landed steadily in front of Obsidian, his wings folded, his movements like rock peaks shifting slowly, carrying a weightiness accumulated from long ages, rather than mere muscle power.
He did not lower his head, nor did he roar; he simply gazed silently at Obsidian, his golden-gray pupils like sunlight frozen on a mountaintop.
Obsidian remained motionless, only raising one eyelid to cast an indifferent glance at the uninvited guest.
"You are—" He had just opened his mouth when Saritus interjected, "I am not here to listen to you speak, junior."
His voice was deep, like an echo from distant mountains.
An invisible pressure spread, and the snow between the two dragons silently melted, revealing dark rock.
Shadow Wing and Frost Fang had already discreetly retreated to a distance, their breathing barely audible.
"Little one," Saritus's voice sounded as if from deep within the rock layers, "you have an aura about you that displeases me."
Obsidian tilted his head, a hint of amusement flashing in his dragon eyes: "Oh? What aura?"
"The stench of the Titans," Saritus's tail gently swept across the snow, carving a deep furrow, "and… arrogance."
Obsidian showed no anger, not even a change in his smile.
If one were to speak of arrogance, this old fellow was no less arrogant than him.
"Old… Senior's nose is quite keen," he responded unhurriedly, "I admit to the arrogance. But the scent of Titans?
He bared his stark white fangs, "Perhaps I picked up a bit when I was born, but well, it's long since been digested clean."
Regardless of whether the Titans left any backdoors, Obsidian had thoroughly cleansed his body and soul when he ascended to godhood.
Saritus was not amused; he simply watched silently, as if looking at a crooked sapling.
"Young Dragon, do you know?" His voice was deep and heavy.
"Before those outsiders arrived, we Dragons had no faith! Wind and snow marked our boundaries, prey was ours for the taking, the entire sky was our hunting ground… until Galakrond went mad."
His dragon eyes reflected a distant bloody hue: "Then the Titans came. They donned the guise of order, making promises before our strongest warriors—responsibility, mission, guardianship…"
"And what was the result?" Saritus's head suddenly lifted, the grotesque scars on his horns particularly striking.
"Those who believed them became chained watchdogs; those who didn't were branded as 'rebels' and banished to the shadows of history, never to rise again!"
He stared intently at Obsidian, "Do you know what that war was later called?"
Obsidian nodded: "The War of the Scaled Ones."
He recalled the lore he had once stumbled upon (retconned) story collections on game forums.
It was a story that overturned the Dragonblight setting—which was previously the final resting place for all Dragons.
Now it was the eternal burial ground for the Dragons and Proto-Dragons who died in the War of the Scaled Ones.
The Five-Colored Dragons represented order and the ideals of the Titans, while the Proto-Dragons chose elements and self.
Iridikron led the "Incarnates" in a rebellion, advocating that Dragons should be independent of any external forces.
Alexstrasza tried to mediate, and there was the birth of the Dracthyr and the catalyst that eventually led to Neltharion's fall…
The final outcome was that half of the Dragonkind fell, and the other half wore the glorious shackles called "Guardians."
"Do you know why we fought?" Saritus pressed.
"Differing ideals."
Saritus, however, slowly shook his head, his voice dropping even lower:
"Not just ideals." He stated emphatically, "It was faith!"
"They believed in the Titans, we believed in ourselves!"
"After that war, Dragonkind was torn apart. That was not a wound…" Saritus's voice carried deep anguish, "That was an unhealable chasm!"
He paused, his gaze returning to Obsidian.
"Now you, using the name of a god, come here telling them about response, protection, grace."
"Tell me, what is the difference between you and those Titans?"
Obsidian slowly rose, his massive dragon body stretching out, surprisingly comparable to Saritus.
His dark scales shimmered with a cold, hard golden luster under the snowlight, like a peerless sharp blade drawn from its sheath.
"Difference?" Obsidian bared his fangs in a grim smile, "The Titans treat their order as an absolute truth, eager to cram it into every Dragon's mind, making it instinct!"
He raised a foreclaw, and profound Shadow divine power flowed and coiled around his sharp claws like a living thing.
"And me?"
"Those who don't believe in me, as long as they don't block my path, do as you please!"
The golden light in his dragon eyes suddenly blazed, like molten gold.
"And those who offend me, if you have the ability, come at me!"
"I am a 'merciful' god, old man."
Boom—!
The moment his words fell, the air seemed to be sucked out, and a suffocating invisible pressure enveloped the entire mountaintop.
The young Proto-Dragon playing in the snow was startled, scrambling to hide behind a rock.
Even the steady Shadow Wing flapped his wings uneasily.
Saritus was silent for a long time, finally exhaling a breath of dragonfire tinged with sulfur.
"Arrogant and ignorant young one," he said in a low voice, "you have no idea what you are touching."
Obsidian, however, suddenly laughed, his smile clean and sharp like sunlight tearing through dark clouds.
"Old man, honestly—" He surveyed the surrounding snow peaks, the vast expanse of the Storm Peaks reflected in his dragon eyes, "This place… I quite like it."
Saritus did not respond immediately.
He just stood in place, his massive body unmoving, as if he had become one with the mountains.
After a long while, he spoke again, his voice so low it almost merged with the wind and snow:
"Little one, do you really know what you are doing?"
"You are not spreading some 'faith.' You are tearing Dragonkind apart! I thought I had made it clear enough, but look at what you are doing!"
Saritus's voice suddenly rose, carrying cold fury, "You abducted a young dragon whose scales haven't even fully grown from its safe nest!"
"Teaching him to fly with you, watching you perform those inexplicable rituals, listening to you instill some twisted doctrines of shadow and claw!"
"And now you dare to argue that you are different from the Titans?" He scoffed, full of ridicule, "It's exactly the same!"
Obsidian's expression remained unchanged, but his gaze subtly sharpened.
Saritus pressed closer, his tone growing colder:
"After the War of the Scaled Ones, your Red Dragon Queen, Alexstrasza, issued a command—the Five-Colored Dragons shall not set foot in our territory, shall not mislead our kin, and shall not interfere in our lives and deaths."
"She was willing to issue such a command because she carried regret."
"And you? What do you carry? Is it greater ambition, or deeper ignorance?!"
Obsidian finally moved.
He slowly straightened his massive dragon body, his huge dragon wings slightly spread, and thick, inky shadows silently spread from beneath his feet, like ink dropped into clear water, rapidly diffusing into a chilling dark domain.
"I never intended to mislead anyone," Obsidian's voice was calm, yet carried undeniable power, "I merely arrived."
"And then, they chose to follow."
"What you have abandoned…" Shadows swirled around him, and the golden light in his dragon eyes pierced through the darkness, "I don't mind taking over."
Saritus's vertical pupils contracted violently in that instant.
A muffled roar erupted from within his massive body, and a violent dragon aura almost tore through the sky!
"This is blatant provocation!"
Saritus's voice was like rolling thunder, shaking the snow off the mountaintop.
"You want us to choose sides again, don't you?!"
Obsidian calmly shook his head and said, "It's not what I want, it's that the time has come."
"Your choice to remain silent is your freedom." He took a step forward, and the shadow domain expanded with him, "But don't stop me—from choosing expansion!"
Time seemed to pause for a moment, until—
Saritus took a heavy step forward, like a collapsing mountain!
"Get out!" The old dragon's roar tore through the brief silence, "Now! Immediately! If you dare to step one more inch into our territory, I don't care if you are Shadow or some damn god, I will personally tear you to shreds!"
Obsidian's expression remained unchanged, instead, a cold and sharp curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"I can try right now."
Wind rose with his words, snow fell from the sky!
The golden dragon eyes of the two colossal dragons collided across the air, invisible sparks flying.