At the Summit of the Mountains

"Since the gods appeared, all things shall flourish. With birth as mother and death as father, they rule the skies, roam the mind, shape the elements. All glory belongs to the gods, all creations are offered to the gods. Through endless cycles of rebirth, this shall never change..." Tishalar, Lord of Dragons and Sovereign of All Dragons, shouted from the summit of Timirora Peak, the source of all things and the highest of all mountains.

Mighty, surging divine power flew from the cloud-wreathed mountaintop into the abyss of the Sacred Sea. Whether they were Ralierman Dragons born of the elements or Lulolinge Divine Dragons roaming the Sacred Sea, such words echoed through their minds. No Common Dragon could resist the divine power of the Lord of Dragons. Countless dragons of flesh and blood flew toward the mountain where the Sovereign of All Dragons stood.

"Has it begun again... The Dragon Tyrant is howling once more, and death will arrive as promised. O Sacred Sea, exalted above all things! Please tell me, how can I escape this cruel fate? How can my people break free from the shackles of Destiny—" Raslin'er, bathed in the pure light of the Sacred Sea, slowly opened his eyes and prayed as if singing.

This sacred and solemn dragon shone with the magic of the soul. Hope clung to his golden scales, flames of thought surged within his clear eyes, and his white, translucent wings symbolized the noble dignity of the Lulolinge Divine Dragons.

"My revered father of holy dragons—" In the unfathomable depths at the center of the Sacred Sea, the incorporeal beings responded to Raslin'er's requests and questions. As products of the Mind Divine Realm, the Lulolinge Divine Dragons possessed knowledge beyond ordinary imagination, while even more powerful and ancient beings lay hidden within the sea abyss.

"The decayed evil god is about to awaken from death, yet the cruel tyrant remains ignorant and unaware. From the summit of the mountains comes the howl of a wild dog. The coming end and former glory begin to intertwine. The decayed Child of Fate shall sleep alongside the hero. A new era slowly emerges. All that remains is to wait..."

Thus did the incorporeal beings of the Sacred Sea answer the Father of Holy Dragons, Raslin'er, and the Lulolinge Divine Dragons behind him. The summons of Tishalar, Sovereign of All Dragons, began to fade from the minds of the many Lulolinge Divine Dragons. Though the summons had temporarily ended, Raslin'er knew that the shackles upon himself and his kin had not been broken. Unless the future foretold by the incorporeal beings arrived, they would forever remain slaves to Tishalar, Sovereign of All Dragons, and the Northern Old Gods.

The pain began—

The voice of the slave master echoed in his mind—

Not even fire and stone could block such pain—

Mara'an, born within the earth's crust, twisted his body in magma. A frenzied swelling sensation crushed his body, while the pain of thought linked to his soul far surpassed the suffering of the flesh. The divine power of the Sovereign of Dragons could not be resisted. Mara'an wailed and cried out.

"Who—who will save me?!"

Flames poured from the dragon's mouth, charring black rocks into fragments as crimson magma began to flow backward. His tail fins were dazzlingly vivid, his eyes fiercely terrifying, and his gray scales were covered in roasted, cracked corpses.

The Ralierman Dragons born of the elements were descendants of the Old Gods. In the beginning, they were born in fire and grew in rain and dew. Wind granted them the power of flight, while lightning was the weapon bestowed upon them by the ancients. But as time passed, the bloodline of the Elemental Dragons became tainted.

Dragons Ben meant to be born in fire were instead born in the sea. Dragons meant to ride the wind had to rely on the blessing of lightning to race forward. The power of the elements began to scatter, and kin who should have been as close as brothers instead bared their fangs and claws at one another.

"No—no—"

Mara'an roared, unwilling to move forward, but his offspring pressed on without hesitation, following the voice of Tishalar, Sovereign of All Dragons, within their minds toward the summit of Timirora Peak.

At the summit of the mountains, Tishalar, Sovereign of All Dragons, gently folded his wings. His enormous tail and claws transformed into armor, his orange-yellow eyes turned gold, and after spinning and roaring, the black-and-gold dragon took human form.

Below Timirora's summit, dragons of every color prostrated themselves like lambs. Ordinary dragons, elemental dragons, and even Lulolinge Divine Dragons who foretold the future were all the same. Looking down at the dragons who should have been proud and untamable but now submitted at his feet, Tishalar, Sovereign of All Dragons, burst into frenzied laughter from the depths of his heart.

"Ah—dragons!"

Seeing the dragonkind gathered upon Timirora Peak, Pervi could not help trembling in astonishment. Only dragons could emit such overwhelming pressure. Gazing at the dragon atop the mountain, young Pervi asked his father:

"Why have these dragons come here? Aren't they cold?"

"Silly child, they are dragons. They do not feel cold at all." Pervi's father, Pipapengpa, explained. "They say that every hundred years, dragons come from all over the world to Timirora's summit to receive gifts from the gods. The chosen dragons will fly to the divine halls of the gods and serve the higher gods, basking in immortal divine light."

Pipapengpa carried young Pervi and slowly walked toward his tribe's encampment. The thick snow on the mountain concealed the footprints they had left behind. As a member of the Dragon Tooth Tribe, Pipapengpa worshipped Tishalar, God of Dragons. This higher god provided shelter and food for him, his wife, and his child. In return, he contributed his small measure of strength to Tishalar's divinity.

Pipapengpa raised the divine fang bestowed by Tishalar, God of Dragons. The blazing rays emitted by the dragon fang turned the endless snow into mist, and a path back to the tribe gradually became clear.

Pipapengpa set Pervi down and headed toward the tribal encampment. The tents boiled from dragonhide were indestructible, while the light emitted by dragon jade from within dragons' bodies illuminated the entire tribe. The flesh and blood of dead dragons had been dried by the wind and snow for food. Weapons forged from dragon fangs and bones glimmered with elemental light; in the northern Bikasoya Empire, such weapons would certainly fetch a fine price.

"Hey—Pipapengpa, have the dragons the priest spoke of arrived?" The burly man approaching them was Kayisi, chief of the Dragon Tooth Tribe. He first saluted Pipapengpa, and Pipapengpa returned the gesture.

"Yes, the dragons have arrived. They are worshipping Tishalar, Lord of Dragons, right now. Once the ceremony is over, we can go there," Pipapengpa said.

"Are the dragons big?" Kayisi's daughter Li, who was not yet ten, hid behind Kayisi and asked shyly.

"I saw them! The dragons are huge—really huge!" Pervi ran out from behind Pipapengpa and gestured wildly to show Li the dragon's size. "That dragon was this... this big!"

"Were you frightened by the dragons?" Kayisi asked with a smile.

"Of course not!" Pervi said, patting his young chest. "When I grow up, I'll ride on a dragon's head and become a great hero like the Sovereign of All Dragons!"

"What a lively little clever one—" Kayisi said with a laugh, rubbing Pervi's head.

The dragons' pilgrimage took several days to conclude. At the moment it ended, tens of thousands of dragons flew away from Timirora's summit together. In an instant, the sky over Timirora was covered by the dragon swarm. The endless daylight became night, sunlight could not pierce their wings, and the daytime snow became the wind of night.

It was only about half an hour later that the snowflakes turned white again.

"Looks like the dragons have flown away. Everyone, set out!" Kayisi led his tribesmen toward the sacred ground of the Dragon Tooth Tribe—the Hall of Dragons.

"Me! Me! Me! I want to go to the sacred ground too!" Pervi broke free from his mother's embrace and ran toward his father, Pipapengpa. "I want to be a warrior! I want to become someone like Father too!"

"No—" Pipapengpa refused. "You are still too young. You cannot go to the Hall of Dragons. It is not safe there!"

"But..." Pervi wanted to plead again, but Pipapengpa refused even more firmly.

"Alright, alright..." Kayisi smoothed things over. "You are still too young to go to the Hall of Dragons. When you grow up, we'll take you there, alright?"

"Then how old do I have to be before I'm grown up?" Pervi asked.

"Eighteen, perhaps..." Pipapengpa and Kayisi exchanged smiles.

The journey to the Hall of Dragons was exceedingly long. As a nomadic people, the Dragon Tooth Tribe only came from fertile pastures to the bitterly cold Timirora Peak once every hundred years. Every hundred years, the dragons began their pilgrimage. The pilgrimage route was exceptionally difficult. Some dragons died along the way, while others died during the process of ascending to godhood. The Hall of Dragons was the graveyard of these dragons.

Two days, three days... The journey to the Hall of Dragons was just as distant for humans. Pervi watched as the wind and snow drew closer day by day, yet his father and the Dragon Tooth warriors never returned. In his heart, Pervi silently prayed that Tishalar, Father of All Dragons, would bring the warriors who had gone to the Hall of Dragons safely home, even if only his father returned.

Pervi's prayer seemed to come true. On the seventh day after the warriors left, a familiar figure emerged from the snow. The man had long hair, a face full of beard, and a broad, mighty back that looked just like his father's.

"Pipapengpa—" the priest of the Dragon Tooth Tribe called out loudly. "Where are Kayisi and the others?"

Pipapengpa did not answer.

The priest called again, "Pipapengpa—"

Pipapengpa still did not answer, but his steps grew heavier.

"Father—" Seeing that the approaching man looked more and more like his father, Pervi rushed out of the tent and ran toward Pipapengpa.

"Wait—don't go over there!" The priest grabbed Pervi's hand and shouted. "That fellow is not—your father!"

"How could that be?! That is my father!" Pervi twisted his body, trying to break free from the priest's grip.

Yet when Pipapengpa entered the barrier surrounding the Dragon Tooth Tribe, his disguise vanished in an instant. Huge black wings burst from Pipapengpa's body, a decayed body surged out from within the corpse, and a rotting dragon appeared before Pervi.

"That... that... isn't my... father..." Pervi fainted at once.

The priests of the Dragon Tooth Tribe joined the remaining Dragon Tooth warriors in resisting the terrifying enemy. Green flames spewed from the dragon's body, and decayed, rotting energy roamed through the entire Dragon Tooth Tribe.

"Death! Death!" the dragon wailed as green sludge erupted from its body. "In the name of Rosa Kevin—the Elder Evil God, the Demon King who devoured seven worlds! I curse you! I curse you! I curse you parasites of dragons! Your clans shall die one by one, until the very last person!"

"In the name of Tishalar, God of All Dragons! I block, I repel, I protect! Let immortal divine light guard our people! Let the demon's curse fail! Let eternal souls never decay—" Bright yellow magic surged from the priests' staffs, resisting the dragon's curse.

"How tragic..." The dragon's body decayed completely, while its final words repeated endlessly from its mouth. "Rosa Kevin's Curse... shall pass through your bodies and spread across the entire world..."

"What is happening..." Pervi's mother cried as she held the unconscious child. "Why has this thing appeared on Pervi's body?!"

Black markings slithered through Pervi's body like snakes. The wandering decayed energy quickly seeped into the snow, and the white flakes turned blackish brown.

"Rosa Kevin's Curse..." the eldest priest said slowly, stepping over the Black Snow. "A curse passed down from the beginning... a curse that will vanish only when the world is destroyed..."

On a distant mountain peak, two dragons rejoiced over their good fortune. Just moments ago, all three dragon eggs they had laid had hatched into hatchlings, and the newborn dragons played among the treasures Rosa Kevin had left behind.

"We really are lucky..." the father dragon, Li Laar, said. "Thanks to the treasure Rosa Kevin left behind, we were able to narrowly escape Tishalar's summons..."

"Yes..." Mimilar said, leaning against Li Laar's shoulder. "I only hope our lives can remain peaceful forever."

Outside the dragons' nest, the windmill maintaining the barrier continued to spin...