Side Story 5: The Soul Fields

"Listen, Erandur, as a newly spawned being, you must train your skills. You only have your intuitive understanding with the skills and breakthroughs you are spawned with, so you only have three levels in knowledge and nothing else; you are weak." Safyr lectures the tiny red dragon.

Safyr has settled on a large island far in the Eastern ocean not long after rescuing the whelp. It's a Nexus where mana currents gather and fall down into the center of the planet. Being this far away from the bickering pests, Safyr will finally have a peaceful place to rest. And the leviathans in the ocean will provide good sport to hunt.

"Right now, you may be level one thousand, and you may have the stats of a level one thousand. You are Legendary tier, but a powerful, well-trained, and well-prepared Grand tier can still slay you. All spawned, no matter what tier they are born at, are at their weakest when first born. You must train; you must raise your skill level, understand them and discover more breakthroughs."

The little red dragon sits, drinking in all the lessons Safyr has to teach. Usually spawned whelps are arrogant, but it seems that his encounter with the Elementals calmed him down, if only all spawned whelps listened.

Safyr had almost died once to a human warrior early in her life, just like many others she had thought herself invincible, at the pinnacle of the world. This is when most spawns die; usually, the higher tier they are born at, the earlier in life they die, thinking themselves ever higher in the food chain. Dragons, being born at the highest tier, are often the most arrogant and prideful for the first few hundred years of their life, and it usually takes near-death experiences, displays of true power, or encounters with cursed beings to ground whelps in reality.

"First, you want [Total Mana Immunity]. I don't care if your scales are just as strong; if they get ripped off, you're vulnerable. It also defends against vitality attacks that bypass your scales. Next, you want [Soul Damage Resistance], but do it carefully, befriend a soul mage, and train; it's far too dangerous to train it against enemies; most who do, die. Next, you want [Physical Damage Immunity] or, better yet, get the [Invincible] skill, the ultimate culmination of all damage-reducing skills. However, be warned, Erandur, Magic, true magic cannot be totality resisted; instead, that skill will only reduce the damage you take by some degree" Safyr leans closer to the dragonling.

"Magic will always be able to kill you, it's rare to meet someone who can use it in full and even rare for a mage who can use magic, but they exist. This is what makes Cursed Beings so dangerous; they always use magic, they are beings of magic; their claws will tear through your scales even if you have [Invincible], for these reasons you need some form of healing."

"What're the most common Cursed Beings? Where are they often found?" Erandur asks, looking serious.

"Ruins are places filled with fear, terror, despair, pain, and more negative emotions; wraiths are often born if the place is disturbed. Cannibals are usually rare, but half of the time are created intentionally by mortals; when that happens, they many are usually created at the same time. Undead, like risen skeletons and zombies, are often the result of grave robbery, defilement of the dead, or the intentional forgoing of burial rituals. Never disturb the dead, Erandur, let them rest, let the past remain buried, and always treat the dead with respect no matter who, what, or how deserving they are. There are many, many more cursed beings, but these are the most common."

"What level and tier are they usually?"

Safyr chuckles, "Cursed beings don't play by our system, for that implies having a soul. No instead, they just wield magic; the more mana is in an area, the more powerful they are, the more powerful they can become. Not to mention, the ones I listed are usually the weaker ones. More powerful variants for cannibals are Wendigoes and Kudoku Cannibals. Revenants and Shades are the stronger versions of wraiths, with Nucklavee and Vampires for undead. These aren't all of them, but you get the idea."

Erandar nods, committing the lessons to memory.

"Now, go train your skills and do not get into any major fights until you have gotten all your skills to at least ten breakthroughs and above level one hundred," Safyr commands and curls up to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Mother! I got [Invincibe]!" Erandur brags.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not your Mother!" Safyr lets out a sigh.

It has been one and a half centuries since the whelp started following her around, and now he's insisting on calling her "Mother."

Regardless of Safyr's protests, the whelp is looking at her with wide-eyed enthusiasm, and his tail is flicking excitedly. No doubt the little whelp wants praise for doing something that every dragon should do. Still, the whelp has been humble all this time and has been working hard on his skills.

Safyr, still laying down, brings her tail over and pats the whelp on the head. "Now, just because you have it doesn't mean that you have all the breakthroughs. You are still susceptible to what you haven't gotten a breakthrough in; get it enhanced, and then you are ready to fight beings that use Magic."

Erandur beams with happiness and bounds off, lighting striking the whelp with no effect. The storms of the Nexus has been rather strong lately, but no matter, Safyr likes the rumbling of the lightning, She likes the warmth of fire storms, she likes how the water storms wash her scales clean, and for that, she doesn't even have to do anything other than lay here.

This nexus was worth evicting twelve elementals, although she needed Ithronon and Xerithro's help. It had cost her favors that she would need to pay back, but honestly, what dragon wouldn't turn down the opportunity to rid the world of elementals?

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Safyr is woken up by a dragon's call, the world echoing roar rings in her ears. It is Ithronon's call, and by the sounds of it, he's in trouble. Even if she hadn't owed the dragon favors, she would have still answered the call.

"Wait here, Erandur, if a Dragon is calling for help, it's too dangerous for you, just focus on your training," Safyr commands and takes flight.

Safyr flies through the skies as fast as she can, flying low to the ground. The tailwind churns up the water behind her, the vacuum of air sucking up the water and splashing it up in the air. Flames lick at Safyr's scales, the air burning from her rushed flight. It takes Safyr an hour, and she has to fly over several mountain ranges. She flies over the last mountain, and in a valley nestled between mountains lies devastation.

An army of specters and zombies. Ectoplasm lays thick in the air, and the souls of the dead are swirling around a dark-robed skeletal figure. The otherworldly screams echo as the souls are drawn into the ribcage of the cursed being.

Seven dragons have responded to Ithronon's call, a battle that unleashed so much mana a maelstrom of spells are flying around a massive core of nexus mana. Laying on the ground, bleeding is a dragon Safyr has not met before, dozens of spectral harpoons chaining her down. A final harpoon materializes and slams down, ending the Dragon's life.

Ting! Thelyr, the dragon, has been slain by a Soul King Lich

Safyr charges into the fray. An army of specters counter attacks, their claws cutting through her scales, the magical beings bypassing her [Invincible]; fortunately, the skill is enhanced and provides some measure of reduction to the magical attacks.

The soul of Thelyr is drawn from her body and into the Lich. At the same time, Ectoplasm forces its way into the body of the dragon who gets up, the spectral harpoons and chains warping, fusing into the being the body burns with sickly green ethereal light, the chains hang loosely from her body as the corpse takes flight to fight on behalf of the lich.

Safyr tackles the undead dragon to the ground, where an army of skeletons and zombies, all with spectral chains, swarm Safyr. With an enraged roar, a Tsunami bursts forth, sweeping all undead away in churning waters that wash the beings to nothing. Safyr opens her mouth and blasts the dead dragon with a beam of water.

Ethereal specters swarm over the dragons, unharmed by their attacks. Chains harpoons fly out, taking down another dragon and quickly killing him.

Ting! Zaru'Karg, the dragon, has been slain by a Soul King Lich.

Suddenly, the mana around Safyr vanishes, and then she finds herself falling. She hits the ground and sees her headless body slump over the reanimated dragon that pushes Safyrs body off her. Safyr then finds the ground under her feet as her body regrows from her severed neck. Several green spectral chained harpoons stab into her headless body, which takes on the ethereal glow and stands back up on its feet.

"How unpleasant," Safyr mutters and tackles the two reanimated bodies, a wave of water overtaking them to wash away her foes, even if it's her old body. Like a cutting jet of cutter curved back in on itself, the waves grind away the corpses, leaving only bone dust, invincible scales, and blood.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Safyr lays exhausted. The Specters fades, and the trapped souls rise out of the destroyed Lich like a fountain. Four dragons have died in the battle, and more would have too if not for reinforcements of eight other dragons. But, The greater cursed being is defeated, and Safyr has not one but two legendary points gained from this fight, one for slaying the Soul King Lich, or rather taking part in the battle, and one for saving the continent from annihilation.

Ectoplasm lays thick in the air; however, the mana in the air is rapidly disappearing, fueling magic. Within seconds the mana storm fades, the mana consumed to birth a new land. Specters emerge from the lingering and strengthened ectoplasm, appearing and disappearing. Echoes of screams and battle, flashes of the struggle of dragons against Lich are replayed from spectral images, only lingering for a few minutes.

Ting! You have entered the Soul Fields!

In time the Ectoplasm will form soul crystals, and scholars brave enough to enter these fields will document the re-enactment of the battle played out by spectral images if the spawning specters don't kill them. Luckily these specters are formed purely from ectoplasm and don't have magical attacks, and thus are harmless to the exhausted dragons.

I should return home. My adopted child is probably worried...

Safyr closes her eyes, and darkness takes over her mind.