The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

PART16

In the skies over south-western Serminak, above a forbidding range of volcanic mountains, four dragons emerged near the mightiest peak in the region, the crater of which had been filled in and built up to a point with a flat top only five hundred and fifty meters wide. A cone of darkness expanded upward from the mountaintop, obscuring what was occurring there and blocking the mid-morning brightness for as high as the eye could see. But they knew what was within the darkness, since they'd seen it in Readings.

Each of the four was about forty-six meters in length from tail-tip to snout. Karz looked the same only adult and larger; still uniformly glossy black over every part of him.

Fire had colored herself to match her nickname, being red on her legs and belly, varying in streaky patterns through orange to light yellow along her spine and on the top of her head, with glowing orange eyes. Though not realistic enough to convince anyone that she was actually on fire, it was done well enough to provide an amusing facsimile of it, particularly when she was moving quickly, while simultaneously accentuating the lines of her muscles and contours.

Val had kept close to her true coloring, being black on her wings and along her sides, silver on her back and belly, and her eyes were still a vivid dark violet.

Six had colored every part of himself that same dark violet, with a reflective metallic sheen to his scales that made him emit cascades of violet sparkles in the sunlight. "I just love the color of your eyes." he privately mentioned to Val, and she privately giggled back.

It didn't escape her mind that he had excluded both Karz, and Fire, whose eyes were normally the same color as her own. It pleased her a little, in an indefinable way, but there was no time to think about that now. She mentally filed it away for future consideration as Karz psionicly announced their arrival in Grande High Draconian, and with considerable volume.

"I am Karzog. You are my blood-father. We would speak with you."

A moment later the response came in the same language, and just as loud. "You may approach."

They flew forward and entered both the cone of darkness and an Illusion that encompassed the same volume, making everything within seem to glow just enough to be seen, without producing any real light. The stars and moons overhead glittered and glowed like it was midnight.

Zarkog reclined upon the stone with his eyes pressed to the twin eyepieces of a great device. They recognized the components of the Psionic Distant Listener, but those components were now only a small par of a greater device. The immense hundred and eighty meter long bulk of the eldest mortal dragon filled a significant portion of the mountaintop. His physical, magical, and psionic presence was impressive and intimidating. He was now completely flat black, having removed the gold and silver accents he'd worn as Dragon Lord of Serminak and the glossy reflectivity that had gone with them. Even with the Illusory glow, it was difficult to physically see him in the darkness.

In a moment of mild panic, Six checked to see if Zarkog was still sworn to justice, and detected the Marking of The Just Alliance only six millimeters wide located just beneath the base of his tail. The size and location of the Marking said much about Zarkog's opinion of his involuntary vow of justice, but the vow was still in effect.

"I have come to ask you what changes you made to me while I was still in the shell." Karz bluntly stated, snarling and growling even more aggressively than the language required, waving his wings and writhing his tail for emphasis.

"You are me, reborn." Zarkog returned just as bluntly in his awesomely thunderous voice, without looking away from the eyepieces. "Not as I was when I was born, but as I was when you were conceived, with all of the improvements I have made in myself over the last eighty-seven million years. You think Tekritimaki is your blood-mother, but she is not, for you did not have one. She was merely the female whose body created your egg and laid you. You inherited none of her traits or characteristics in any way. You are me, younger."

"I see." Karzog stated. "So I ask again, what are the changes you have made in yourself, and in me?"

"My size is obvious, beyond that I will not say specifically." Zarkog answered, still gazing through the device. "To do so would reveal the details of too many of my own advantages, which would be tactically and strategically unwise for me. Suffice to say that you are inherently superior to every other dragon who has ever lived, in every way, with the obvious exception of myself. Beyond that, you will have to discover your capabilities for yourself."

"I thank the Source that I did not inherit your personality." Karz growled. "I realize that your observations of the demons are important to all of Kellaran. None-the-less, you are being discourteous. I think you could spare me a glance as a sign of basic respect."

Zarkog waited a long and leisurely moment, making an obvious point, before he turned from the device and considered his son. “What a ridiculous costume. You earn no respect for trying to appear more impressive than you are in this immature way. You are a barely-born infant, and you are verging on serious disrespect yourself. We agree on one thing. You have not inherited my personality, more's the pity."

"The appearance of this Simulacrum is no more mature than my abilities, which are far more advanced than you would expect from me at my age. My companions chose to wear such things as a courtesy, so that they could converse fluently in this language. We chose this size so that you wouldn't have to strain your tired old eyes to see the subtleties of our communications."

Zarkog stared at him for a moment, then suddenly rocked forward and back with his tail raised a bit a few times; the laughter of dragons. "My tired old eyes can see you with sufficient acuity still. But now you have piqued my interest, and I have considered you with almost half of my attention. You are indeed correct. You have emerged from the time-bubble early, and you have only experienced twenty-two years. Your determination and your eloquence are both far beyond your age. And your mind..." Zarkog trailed off as he Probed the youngster psionicly, and met a blank wall of Shielding. He pushed harder, then harder still, to no avail.

"Amazing. You have the finest Psionic Shielding of any being I have encountered beyond the gods. Now I am truly curious. I ask you with all due respect and courtesy. Remove the silly costume and let me see you, and share your surface thoughts."

"I will let you see what I really look like." Karz stated as he altered his Simulacrum to have his true appearance. "But that is all. When you have given me the specifics of how you have altered me, I will share more with you."

"Hmm. You look as I expected you to." Zarkog stated, and turned his attention to his son's three companions. He focused on Fire.

"That is very attractive. If I were still Lord of Serminak and that was more than a costume, I would rape you quite vigorously."

"You might have tried." Fire returned derisively. "One of us would have died before that happened, and it might not have been me. And if it was, you would still have to fornicate my corpse."

"So you think." Zarkog snorted, with the equivalent of a chuckle. "Many others thought the same, and were proven wrong."

,

"None were me." Fire shot back, and snorted two rings of fire from her nostrils.

He considered her again. "You know, I think you are not really a dragon. And if that is the case, you are more fluent in Draconian than any other small folk I have met.

"Why are you here? To provide this cub with moral support, or to marvel at my magnificence? Or perhaps to try to protect him from me, should I overcome the vow of justice?"

"We each have our own reasons for wishing to speak with you." Fire stated. "My own personal reason is to marvel, not at your magnificence, but at the most colossal failure in the history of Kellaran. You could have had it all, you could have ruled the world, you could have been the greatest person who ever lived, you could have saved us from the demons. You could have ensured it!☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐