Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 609 - 562: Shadow of Time

Mr. Dragon dissected those incessantly flooding images from his consciousness and soon realized they were memories from the Dragon Priest Kolosis’s past, living through a part of the Dragon Priest’s life as an onlooker, the most engraved and unforgettable part.

...

Upon the clear lens surface of the Deep Red Crystal cluster, a vague shadow emerged, and a massive creature drilled out from the crystal. Drenched in yellow, its body was covered with multicolored gem-like scales. The jumble of colors didn’t diminish its wildness but rather endowed the monster with a delicate sense of art. Diamond-shaped spines extended from head to tail, while its claws and sharp teeth were deliberately concealed by the dragon; its amber snake eyes shed their eyelids, pupils dilating. What was once a fierce and malevolent image softened, revealing even a tinge of sorrow.

"Koranac, how are things?" Kolosis immediately stepped forward, with three Gem Sages standing quietly behind him, waiting for the dragon’s command.

"We have failed, our efforts have fallen short, Morocoy has already dispersed the Dragon Priests, and I have brought back this news. Kolosis, our darkness, has descended."

"So that roar earlier..." Kolosis’s voice was full of disbelief.

"That was the lament of my father, Yemotar..."

The reality of the situation made the Dragon Priest stagger in his steps, steadying himself with his staff, while the three Gem Sages also descended into chaos. As a result, the light in Ashpurin’s Dragon’s Nest dimmed slightly, and the upheaval in the ruling class spread fear throughout the city of Manu.

"Steel your will, Kolosis!" The rebuke from the Firstborn of the Dragon, laden with consolation, steadied the wavering Dragon Priest. This was the downside of a dragon being too powerful; the delicate balance between the Dragon and the Dragon Priest now ebbed and flowed in the presence of the Firstborn of the Dragon’s strength.

"I owe you my thanks, Koranac," the Dragon Priest said after sending the Gem Sage Destan to soothe the crowd, "I struggle to remain as calm as you do. This is probably why I am shunned by Ohmhead and the others; I am too weak."

The Firstborn of the Dragon was infinitely tender with his apprentice, "Your wisdom and strength are exceptional, Kolosis. But as for temperament, I must admit, that is the bane that accompanies me. The aura of fear diminishes you too greatly, I am sorry that Manu could have had a firmer leader."

Kolosis merely laughed and waved his hand, "I realized long ago that I’m not cut out to be a tough leader, autocracy is not my style. I am quite content with who I am now, and I have three Gem Sages and you, the great Firstborn of the Dragon. I believe that together we can ensure that the Manu tribe will not suffer."

"A gentle king, huh..." The dragon Koranac crouched down, shook his head vigorously, bowed his torso, and his head lowered, his vast eyes locked onto Kolosis, revealing comfort and satisfaction, "You will accomplish great deeds, Kolosis. Even the feeblest dragon whelp will have its day to soar with wings spread wide because you are my student! Without me, you will surely become stronger."

From the unusual demeanor and words of the Firstborn of the Dragon, Kolosis sensed something. Gripped by unease, he questioned his own dragon, "I do not like this joke, Koranac. If you think I am too weak, I will change... "

"This is no joke, child, the end of days for the dragons has come." Koranac spread his wings, revealing his side to the Dragon Priest, where a burning patch was scorching his body, the parts illuminated by light losing their gem-like luster—it was the curse of the holy light.

"This is the end of days befalling the dragon race, and I have begun to bear it, the sin of my father."

"No! We will heal you, Koranac, we will find a way to cure you!"

"Don’t be foolish, child, this light slew my father, how could you possibly contend with it." The wings of the Firstborn of the Dragon crashed down, the patch having crept up to his shoulders.

"What should I do, Koranac?" Kolosis spoke the words that instinctively came to him in his moment of perplexity.

"Kill me before my curse passes to you, before it engulfs your tribe."

"No!!! I will never agree!!!" Kolosis shook off the bewilderment, waving his staff in the air as if to dispel something.

"You must make a choice!" The roaring anger once again awakened Kolosis, the immense serpent eyes displaying the dragon’s terror. Koranac repeated in the dragon language, issuing the harshest of divine decrees, "The Staff of Mercury Stone is my gift to you as you come of age. The poison of gemstones, this destructive power, symbolizes kingship, and I, too, will succumb to the power of kingship. One day, Dragon Followers will grow their own wings, severing the bond between you and me. This is my expectation of you, my student."

"This is not what I want!!!" Kolosis, controlled by the dragon language, trembled as he approached his mentor, raising his symbol of kingship.

"This is what they need, life is about choices, you ascend the throne, and you will face the cruelest of choices."

No matter how much Kolosis wept, his body steadily approached his mentor, the tip of the mercury stone already aimed at Koranac’s exposed chest, at the magnificent, rainbow-like ventral scale.

"Please, mentor, please don’t force me to do this~" The puppet Dragon Priest uttered the most desperate of cries.

"Child, this is the last time. No one will ever force you again. Become the dragon, become the dragon nobody dares to anger."

The Dragon Priest’s staff pierced the heart of the dragon. The dragon blood, tainted into mercury, sprayed onto Kolosis’s face, the Firstborn of the Dragon’s howling shook every deep red crystal.

"I betrayed my father, I escaped his palace covered in wounds! Oh Manu, you filled the void in my heart, Ashpurin is my home, it is my Dragon’s Nest! My children, tear my flesh, chip off my bones, carve the most dazzling of gemstones from my body, let the Firstborn of the Dragon, Koranac’s light eternally shine on your crowns!" The body of the Gem Sage disintegrated into countless pieces, and in the underground city Ashpurin, there fell the only rain ever known, a rain of gemstones. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The Firstborn of the Dragon left his final admonition.

"Kolosis, this is our oath. My most adored child, let my light live on... within the tribe of Manu..."

...

The dragon felt the searing heat on its body, the near-mad adoration Kolosis, the Dragon Priest, held for the Firstborn of the Dragon, his echo still resonating in its own mind.

"I am, after all, a failed student..." The lingering image of Kolosis appeared before the dragon, unshielded by the Dragon Priest mask, those gemstone eyes of Manu filled with nothing but purity and... liberation. "Will you make Koranac proud?"

"Of course, I am not a student." The dragon mentor replied without hesitation. "I am an outstanding mentor."

The Dragon Priest initiation ceremony came to an end.

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