The Void Wolf

“So when does my training begin?” Kayden asked Ira who was currently in the middle of stuffing his face with food.

Ira gulped down his meal before speaking, “It’s starting right now.”

Kayden shared a look with Amelia, his younger sister, before turning back to Ira.

“You have to train your mental state first,” Ira lied without blinking an eye.

“...I see,” Kayden nodded as if he was imparted with some great wisdom.

“Anyway, you finish that and I’ll uh...Go kill some dragons.” Ira stood up and two Vulpes approached him.

“Are you leaving?” One of them inquired.

“Yeah, might as well.” Ira nodded.

“...Be careful, the city is on lockdown though it probably doesn’t matter to you. The two of those dragons are said to be hidden deep within the mist of the plateau so that’s where you’ll want to look.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ira replied before vanishing.

…

Rhys found her days within the Underground City were incredibly calm. She worried about her family from time to time and sent word for them to immigrate to the Dark Elf Empire but they seemed hesitant to leave their hometown behind. That was until she informed them she was pregnant and they instantly changed their minds. It would be a few weeks until she could see them but it didn’t matter to her.

Though, if there was one thing Rhys disliked it was the fact that Ira was gone. No matter how much everyone attempted to help her, she still felt apprehension. Ira’s presence was one of reassurance, especially at the current time.

Rhys gave a mute sigh before feeling her slightly protruding stomach. While the development was slower than Raveria it was way faster than normal human standards.

There was a knock at Rhys’ door and then Sylvia entered with a tray of food.

“How are you today, Rhys?” Sylvia smiled as she brought over the food but she soon stopped. The metal cart and the utensils on it began to slowly levitate toward Rhys who broke out into a panic. She waved her hands and assumed that she was the cause but the control she had over her own abilities had increased drastically.

“It’s fine, just stay calm.” Sylvia attempted to soothe Rhys while struggling to hold back her laughter.

More and more pieces of metal that were scattered about began to float around the room.

“It has to be your child,” Sylvia said with a happy laughter. “When Avery was pregnant something...similar happened, though this is a lot less harmless.”

Rhys widened her eyes before finally calming down. The meal which consisted of some type of expensive meat, vegetables, and a mooncake had fallen to the floor in the middle of the commotion. Rhys made a move to clean it up but Sylvia immediately stopped her.

“Please, don’t worry about the food. I’ll get someone to clean up the mess and get another plate for you while I go inform my mother and Casey about your condition.” Sylvia placed her hands on Rhys shoulders to comfort her before departing.

Rhys felt light-headed from the entire ordeal and sat in a chair while exhaling. What she didn’t realize was that the reaction of her child was due to its excitement. It could instinctively feel that it was time to eat and was eager to have a mooncake. Unfortunately, the unborn child wasn’t smart enough to realize its actions would cause a delay. After waiting its mood began to diminish and the floating items fell to the ground with a loud clattering sound which startled Rhys.

...

Ira was surrounded by a thick fog that permeated the air. It carried a humidity that emerged from somewhere underground. His current location was far away from the City of Clouds and closer toward the layer of the dragons.

He let his senses guide him until he reached a wooden bridge and as far as anyone could’ve guessed the twin dragons lay beyond it. It seemed that the legions of the Twin Dragons used it as a pathway to obtain orders from the dragons.

Ira stepped across it and found there was a dark gorge beneath him that spewed out hot air.

“Volcano?” Ira briefly contemplated finding a way to make it erupt but decided to stay focused.

Crossing the bridge, Ira arrived at the mouth of a cave with active geysers in front of it. A loud and sporadic hissing that came from the eruptions filled the otherwise silent area. While it would be off-putting to most, Ira didn’t even blink as he entered. It wasn’t even a few minutes that passed before he was met with draconic statues and ornaments as well as offerings. The other temples and palaces with dragons had at least a few people tending to them but it appeared the two dragons didn’t feel the need.

“A visitor…” A deep and winding voice echoed throughout the caverns.

“From what I can feel...It must be the one who has been causing trouble lately,” Another voice, that had a slightly higher pitch than the first, resounded. It was clear the deeper voice was Hyld and the other was Hvette.

“Since you know who I am, maybe we skip the talking and get right to the fighting, what do you say?” Ira offered in a generous tone.

“What is it that hope to achieve with this?” Hyld questioned.

Ira grunted with annoyance as he heard the question. “Really? We’re doing this?”

“Do you think that peace will come after you disrupt the system those dragons set? Or maybe you wish to eradicate all of us? There are some who live quite peacefully, tucked away into a forgotten corner of this continent. Would you kill them too?” Hvette whispered.

“Please stop talking,” Ira began to walk faster while trying to trace the voices through the giant winding pathways.

“Even now isn’t that city about to implode on itself.”

“Are you willing to shoulder that responsibility? The inevitable power vacuum will cause far more bloodshed.”

“Shouldn’t speeches be left for the strongest dragon? Listen, if you guys die too easily it’ll make that whole thing irrelevant and pointless,” Ira had gone from a light jog to a full-on sprint while feeling out the wind.

Since the sound was carried through the air he would be able to trace it if he focused. After realizing that, he ran toward the source of the sound with haste. Each step he took shattered pieces of the ground under him and caused the caverns to lightly tremble.

“We know we aren’t Gods, but in order to preserve some type of order we must maintain this position.”

Ira stopped giving replies and dashed through the cavern before arriving at a wide open space. The top of the cave had a huge entrance in it which allowed light to pour in but that wasn’t a problem considering a river of lava was flowing below. In the center of the lava was a rock structure that held two dragons with dark grayish scales and dark red eyes. They had an aged look about and it looked as if they hadn’t moved in years.

“Alright, so how’s this gonna go?” Ira slowly raised his hand toward them and black mist slowly began to emerge from his palms.

“If you were to kill us, this entire place would become unstable. Even if you managed to survive the entire city would be annihilated.” Hvette and Hyld stretched their necks lower to meet Ira’s unflinching gaze.

“Are you threatening me? Come on, aren’t you both hundreds of years old? Don’t you think you could’ve come up with something a bit better,” Ira said. He had numerous ways to counteract a volcanic eruption, one of them was shifting into his beast form and consuming it while the other was simply connecting the space to the ocean and moving it way. Even if he didn’t, the only flames that could damage him had to be on the level of Thessia’s or an even higher level like Avery’s.

“You don’t care about the innocent lives residing in the city?” One of the dragons asked.

Ira just sighed to himself and then a black hole opened above the two dragons.

“We’re not doing the whole ‘morality’ thing. If you have nothing to offer I’ll just kill you right here.” Ira narrowed his eyes.

The two dragons couldn’t understand the ominous black circle above them and felt some hesitation toward their plans.

“...What is it that you want?” Hyld asked.

“If you can tell me about a Lares named Gicae I’ll leave without causing trouble.” Ira offered.

As Dragons who were centuries old, Hvette and Hyld would have access to an unprecedented amount of wisdom and information. They could answer many questions and impart tons of knowledge...except anything that dealt with a Lares named Gicae.

Hyld figure he could request the information from someone so he sought to reason with Ira. “...I have no idea who that is, but–”

“No, no, no,” Ira said while shaking his finger. “You had your chance.”

The motionless black hole began to move, or rather, the space around it creaked as it pulled everything inside. Sharp tears of white static appeared in the air accompanied by a shrill scraping sound. The dragons, the flow of magma, and even the rocks were devoured by the endless darkness that was a burden on reality. The scenery was stretched and contorted strangely as reality tried to cancel out the Void but it couldn’t find any ground.

…

Outside, the mist began to clear and a volcano could be seen but it was clear something was wrong. Gravity had changed and loose sediment, rocks, and magma began to float into the air. The top of the volcano began to collapse in on itself and then it suddenly stopped. A deafening shock wave spread through the air and pushed away the fog surrounding the entire plateau. The gravity seemed to be permanently disrupted around the volcano as large chunks of debris continued to float.

Not too long after, a cloud of ash began to rain down over the city causing mass confusion.

“Get back in your houses!” A Legionnaire shouted at the gathering crowd. Behind him, was a group of Blessed Ones who looked incredibly worried.

There was no one who could possibly ignore the strange phenomenon so it made sense they would defy the lockdown in place.

“Didn’t you hear him?!” Another Legionnaire wiped the ash from his face and drew his sword.

No matter how many legionnaires shouted and threatened, the crowd continued growing causing increased tension and fear.

“Get back!” The Legionnaires shouted as they pushed the crowd.

No matter how much they tried to hide it, there was fear in the eyes of the Legionnaires and Blessed Ones. They all were questioning whether or not the dragons were still alive, they had to be. After all, their survival was tied to the existence of the twin dragons.

The boiling emotions reached their tipping point when someone spoke up, “The Gods are dead!” That shout seemed to echo through the ash-covered city and caused everyone to be silent.

Then, chaos descended and infected the city, the crowd roared and began throwing stones toward the Legionnaires and Blessed Ones. Others grabbed makeshift weapons and decided to be more active with their attacks. Within minutes, the crowd became an indistinguishable mass of mayhem and bloodshed.