Free Web NovelChapter 13: The Dragon’s Inheritance
–Chapter 13–
Title >> The Dragon’s inheritance
"Wait... How have you found me?"
The words flew right above Xavier’s head at this point. The only thing he felt, or better still, the first thing he allowed himself to feel in that moment was relief.
A deep-seated, relaxing relief that made everything else seemingly slow to a brief halt.
No...
...This wasn’t relief from a job well done.
It was actually the start of an interactive prompt triggered by the Fallen Prince’s question.
[Interactive options prompted]
[Option A] I have gone through the Trial of the Fallen and now walk the same path as you.
[Option B] The Warden has granted me a favour.
Xavier took a deep breath and picked the actual truth.
[Option B]
"The Warden has granted me a favour."
"Ohhh, I see," the Prince replied.
But there was something off about him.
Turning fully away from the massive mirror that occupied most of the wall behind the throne, the Fallen Prince stepped forward from the shadows that concealed part of his body within the amber-hued hall.
His face looked as though it had been sculpted by a god and it definitely took longer than seven days.
With skin that glittered and seemingly brought its own brightness to the room, the Fallen Prince looked perfect.
Almost...
Because what the body hid behind regal robes and jewellery, beautiful posture and an elegant aura...
...the eyes unravelled in a single glance.
Unlike the rest of him, which looked spotless, the dragon’s eyes looked tired, distraught and generally uninterested.
They had sunk deep into their sockets, carrying an innate analytical gaze that followed Xavier without trying.
But even as mysterious and contradictory as the Fallen Prince was, what actually pulled Xavier’s attention the most was the massive mirror.
Never in his life, whether in-game or in the real world, had he seen something like it.
It looked as though it had been made from quartz instead of glass, and yet its surface flowed like liquid mercury.
The surface was fractured, thousands of cracks running in every direction, each one catching the light differently. And within every crack...
...A reflection.
They were all of the same man. Yet every one of them was different. Some wore full-body armour. Others stood in tattered rags.
Some were little more than outlines, neither fully real nor entirely gone.
But every single reflection shared one unmistakable trait.
They all stood with one foot forward, forever caught mid-step, perpetually about to walk out.
And every one of them resembled the Fallen Prince of Dragons.
Noticing Xavier’s interest in the mirror behind him, the Prince smiled as he walked closer to his throne.
"I see you have come for Luminiera."
Tap!
His fingers tapped lightly against the top of the throne.
"I am sorry... but you might have wasted your time."
The words immediately snapped Xavier out of his brief distraction.
"I have not come for your treasure," he quickly cleared.
"Ohh, is that so?"
Xavier nodded calmly before taking another composed step forward. His boots remained completely soundless within the hall.
"Then why have you come before I send out my echo?"
’Echo?’
That term again..
The Fallen Prince had mentioned it earlier, but Xavier had assumed it was simply one of those cryptic NPC remarks meant to throw players off.
His eyes drifted back toward Luminiera.
Then the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
All these years...
All those playthroughs...
He, his viewers and the entire Arillion Online community had believed they were repeatedly killing a Dragon Prince for an early Bloodline path.
It had all been a lie.
All of those had merely been echoes.
The real Fallen Prince...
...stood before him.
Taking Xavier’s silence for what it was, the Prince continued instead.
After all, this was his first visitor in longer than he could remember.
"I take your silence to mean you’ve come for me."
The words were neither a question nor a prediction. it was basically a spoiler.
One Xavier admitted simply by stepping farther into the hall.
"Indeed... I have."
"Is that so..."
The Prince’s voice lifted ever so slightly. A hint of excitement hid somewhere beneath it.
"Then have you come to kill me?"
He tapped the throne once more.
"Or to take what others have failed to find for centuries?"
"Neither."
The Fallen Prince cocked his head slightly.
Those blue slit pupils studied Xavier for a long, silent moment.
"Then what?"
Xavier closed his eyes, expecting another interactive prompt to appear.
But nothing happened.
Suddenly...
...everything felt real.
Completely real.
And for reasons he couldn’t explain, he felt that whatever he said next would either make or break the entire reason he had come here.
Drawing inspiration from a source he couldn’t even remember anymore, Xavier finally spoke.
"To inherit what you hold. To share the burden that weighs on you."
The silence that followed wasn’t uncomfortable. It was deafening.
Xavier waited for another scene to trigger.
But he was fairly disappointed again.
"Nobody," the Prince said at last, quietly breaking the silence. "...has ever asked for it that way."
He crossed the room in a blur before stopping directly before Xavier. He looked at him from head to toe.
Up close, The Prince was a lot taller and broader than every Echo Xavier had ever killed.
"How did you find the castle?"
"A compass. And a memory."
The Prince’s expression did not change but something behind it did. Life slowly returned to his sunken blue eyes.
"He said someone would come eventually," The Prince paused."But he never said when."
Without ceremony, the man’s hand transformed into a claw.
His burning eyes hummed with ancient power. And before the level four Xavier could even react...
...the Prince raised his transformed hand and placed it upon Xavier’s shoulder.
The touch lasted only an instant. What followed did not.
***
Xavier felt the cold first.
It was as though liquid nitrogen was being pumped into his veins at an alarming pace.
His entire body convulsed where he stood before the invisible thread tethering him to humanity froze...
...and snapped.
"Arghhhh!"
A loud, agonizing scream tore from Xavier’s lips. His eyes turned solid white. His fingers trembled violently.
Then came the heat...
It washed through every ounce of his being.
It was as though everything he had ever known was being burned away before being replaced by an endless furnace of want, conquest, growth, greed and power.
All of it cradled somewhere within his stomach as an inextinguishable orange flame streaked with lines of black darkness.
A second later, Xavier lurched forward.
He barely caught himself before collapsing completely.
"Bloody hell... I never knew it hurt so damn much." He spoke between deep, ragged breaths.
Only after lifting his head did the notification finally appear on the HUD or was it always there.
[A PRIMORDIAL BLOODLINE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED]
[Purity: 15%]
[Aspect: Faith]
Xavier’s eyes narrowed.
"Are you fucking for real... This--"
Before he could even process the overwhelming rush of power flooding through him...
...another notification appeared.
This time directly in front of him.
[HIDDEN BLOODLINE CLASS UNLOCKED: DRAGON SOVEREIGN]
[Unlock Condition Met: Prince’s Personal Blessing]
[Description: This class does not exist prior to the union of faith and cruelty. It has never been obtained before. And it will never be obtained again.]
Xavier’s jaw dropped.
Then his eyes slowly drifted toward yet another notification appearing to his right.
"By the gods..."
–End of Chapter–
