Descension & Ascension

Chapter 7: Dragons

Karenna Stone and Victor, her creation, jumped into the portal to Neofin. It was a long fall, but Karenna didn't notice Pyrony. She did notice a void underneath the Ultrock, though. Both of them fell for a really long time, but they were somehow unharmed when they landed on a platform of layerstone, which was even more surprising than just being unharmed by the sudden stop after a long fall because of literally standing on the core of the world, something that should have high gravity but didn't. She didn't have anything that would make her immune to fall damage, either.

Jean the dragon was flying around, and she said, "You DARE enter the World's Core?! You must DIE!"

Karenna said nothing because she assumed Jean already knew Karenna wanted her dead but wanted to preserve the element of surprise on the off chance she didn't know.

There were many Neofinians on the World's Core, but none of them attacked either Karenna or Victor on sight. They did attack when they made eye contact, though, but they were a distraction. Karenna shot arrows at Jean, which worked just as well as in Mai or Pyrony, but crystals on pillars of layerstone attached to the Core healed all of the damage she was taking. Karenna figured out what to do and shot the crystals.

It took longer than she would have liked, but Jean was no longer being healed due to all of the crystals being destroyed. Karenna saw something different about the dragon's eyes, but dismissed it and kept shooting at the dragon.

Victor defended their master and nearly died, but Karenna herself killed Jean. Jean fell to tatters, but rose again as a ghost with the different eyes. As a ghost, she was semi-transparent, but otherwise the same as in life, but with the changed eyes. She said, "Thank you, human."

Karenna, not scared by the ghost of a dragon, was surprised that she was being thanked by her victim. She said, "But I killed you!"

The dragon said, "The crystals healed me, but controlled my mind. I was controlled even after the crystals were all destroyed. Killing me was the only way to free me. You saved the world. In exchange, I have one thing to ask of you."

"What would that be?"

"Do you see my egg? It's on the top of my nest now. Raise my child for me, but make them aware that I am their mother, not you."

Karenna said, "I accept, Jean."

The ghost dragon was not surprised that this human knew her name. Karenna tried to grab Jean's egg, but it teleported away. She got an idea, though. She took a torch from the fountain, found the egg a bit above where she expected, and used her reflexes to break the block below the egg and place the torch where it was. This let her pick up the egg. She put the torch back where she took it from because she wanted it to look as it did when she first entered.

Entering the portal in Jean's nest, Karenna and Victor returned to her home as soon as they were shot back up from Mai. It didn't harm either of them in any way. Karenna said to her creation, "Guard my bedroom."

They replied, "Yes, Master. But can you please heal me? You'll have to brew splash potions of healing."

"Sure."

In a dream that Elyon appeared in, she learned that she needed water bottles, Pyrony Wart, and melons with gold nuggets instead of seeds to make a potion of healing. To make it a splash potion, she needed to add Bombplants' gunpowder.

The hard part of making them was getting the melons, as they were in the opposite direction from the underground structure that contained the way to Neofin.

It took several days, but Karenna made the potions and healed Victor back up to full health.

Right after healing her monster all the way, Karenna put Jean's egg in an area she dug out that would fit the now dead dragon. She felt a need to watch over her responsibility.

After a day of guarding the egg and eating food Karenna brought with her, the egg hatched, and the baby dragon looked like a small version of Jean. She could tell that the baby dragon was male, so she named him Clyde. Since she was the first thing he saw, he imprinted on her.

He asked, "Are you my mom?"

Karenna thought about what to say, replying with, "I will raise you, but the dragon who laid your egg is dead. Her mind was being controlled, so I killed her because the control didn't stop with the destruction of the crystals that were controlling her. Your name is 'Clyde,' by the way."

Clyde understood his name and identity but didn't understand the true gravity of what his foster mom had said.

Karenna raised Clyde until he was fully grown. He had a bit less than a third of the health his birth mom did, but he allowed his adopted mom to put a saddle on him and use him as a flying mount.

Elyon contacted Karenna and said, "Do you want to go to another universe similar to this one? You will spectate a game between two people you don't know while riding Clyde. Don't interfere with their game. Also, Victor will be in the audience."

"Are you hosting the game?"

"No, but my brother, Argrim, is."

"You have a brother?"

"Every Child of Vividaren is assigned to a planet that naturally has life on it. We all have equal power, powers, and abilities. Vividaren is like our mother, but we have no father because she created us rather than give birth to us. We see ourselves as siblings, though we're often closer to ones assigned to planets in our own universe as well as the ones assigned to alternate universe counterparts of the planets we're assigned to. Just so you know, planets tend to exist in more than one universe at a time, and destroying them in one destroys them in every universe they exist in."

"I accept your offer to transport me to spectate this game. Transport me to this world."

Karenna, Victor, and Clyde were all teleported to a new world. There was an arena with a single entrance and traders. Her creation was in the stands and said, "I'll stay here so I don't fall in."

Clyde was out of the loop, but his adoptive mom explained what she knew of the situation to him. She also got his consent to ride him around.