I poke the Will leech with my Will.

image [https://timjames.net/data/acd/images/135.png]

...

No, nothing is—

"... Hello, dragon! I— am Pride! ..."

How is he doing that? I try to copy his communication method.

Rehm...

Hrum...

"... Hello, Pride. My name is Chronovoid. Are you talking to me through the leech? ..."

"... Absolutely not! I wouldn't ever! I am Pride! I noticed you poked it, so I reached out to greet you. I am at least as interested by you as you are no doubt in, well, that thing. ..."

That thing?

"... I detect a bit of disgust there, Pride. ..."

"... You, Chronovoid, exposed the truth that even Truth couldn't see. I owe you a great debt. I take great pride in my character! Sullying it through such means is a horrific action for Pride himself, of all dragons! ..."

A dragon? Well, I suppose that makes sense. Dragons are pretty much the essence of Pride and Greed.

"... So, Greed, he— ..."

"... Ugh, that loach of a dragon had no pride. Anything and everything was his. What's the point of collecting treasure if you're too buried in quartz to enjoy your diamonds? ..."

"... Absolutely agreed. ..."

"... You! You know what it means to be a dragon! I wave my wing in solidarity. ..."

"... Do you mind explaining why you decided to support Kaliwot's Will? ..."

"... Kaliwot? Ah, do you mean my host? ..."

Host?

"... You've used Parasitic Will on her? ..."

"... Huh, so you know the talent? ..."

"... I got it from killing Greed. Destroyed it. That talent is beneath my stature. ..."

A long pause.

"... Yes, I suppose it is indeed. Chronovoid, do you mind me asking whether you received all of Greed's talents? ..."

Should I share? Well, he's been amazingly nice despite the fact he's a deadly sin.

"... I did. ..."

"... Hah! Truly, the pride of our species. What is my title even worth?! ..."

Reh?

Pride continues speaking after a short pause.

"... Listen, Greed was far and away the strongest fighter amongst us sins and virtues. Only Gluttony could hold him off with his sheer mass and stats, but he had zero chance to win. ..."

Well, that's good to know.

"... Thank you, but why tell me this? ..."

"... I want to see the looks on their faces when you eat them up, of course! If they find out early it won't be nearly as amusing. ..."

HRAW! This dragon's a piece of work.

"... Not on good terms, I take it? ..."

"... Oh, I thought I was. I mean, not with the other sins so much, but the virtues are generally pretty tolerant of us sins. Except they kicked me from their little chat. Twice! I merely wanted to explain the importance of my grandness, but they would hear none of it. Utter simpletons! They do not understand what we dragons represent! ..."

Well, maybe someone deserved to be kicked. But there's no point in poking his fresh wound.

He continues.

"... To answer your question, I supported, hm, Kaliwot's Will because without it, how could she be prideful in battle? Of course, I knew her defeat was guaranteed, but! Pride can even be found rolling in the dirt; if only one is willing to fight hard enough to attain it. ..."

That's actually kinda inspirational. Especially coming from the literal embodiment of a sin.

He continues, again.

"... Naturally, those of us who understand this must fight as hard as possible. We have such solid pride in ourselves, no? We should not allow even a shred of pride to sway into others' possession without contest! ..."

Rah, there's the sin part.

"... Pride, a primary part of having pride is knowing when it's better to elevate oneself above mere scraps. More importantly, when it's loftier to allow others to succeed where you most easily could. The dignity we take from others is not necessarily dignity we receive in turn. We must allow others to become dignified, so they too can have pride, and in doing so, recognize the grandness we represent. Those who lack sufficient pride? They cannot comprehend our majesty, and so, they cannot admire us. It's very simple: we reduce their ability to venerate our pride when we take away theirs. ..."

Another long pause.

"... I see why you destroyed this talent. I want to, now, as well. I'm not the Pride I thought I was. I am but a dragon who's fallen to petty vice. No different from Greed. ..."

"... You want to? You can't? ..."

"... No. Even if I had a talent which could, my dragon body has been transformed into a pride god's body. I may look like a dragon— but inside? I am but an empty shell. ..."

Rawgh. If that ain't metaphorical.

"... Don't worry. I've taken a liking to you. This might be a little hard for you to agree to, given your immense power and prestigious status. However, if you agree to join my hoard, I have a talent which can erase Parasitic Will. I also invented an inscription array which can change your species. ..."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"... My power and prestige may be immense, but I can only be greater were I to regain my true self. The insecurity this body has caused me is utterly unbefitting of a dragon. The trade offs, here. Are they not obvious? ..."

I hear a draconic voice at close range.

"I will consider this thoroughly."

Rha?!

I turn around.

There's an immense orange and white dragon floating in space behind the planet, looking down upon us. He's so big that he covers the sky even though he's well outside the solar system. According to Pathfinder, his dot is several times larger than this solar system. He's bigger than that red giant.

Unlike a typical dragon's spiked and scaly body, however, his body possesses many thick ridges. They connect together in a weave of thick scaly rows and columns. These wind around in spirals to form an impressively artistic yet still uniquely draconic appearance. The defensive arrangement is top-notch; not any lesser than a typical dragon in spite of its showy looks.

Though, I still favor Dracosect's clean lines and sharp structures. My dutiful Dracosect remains the prime example of what a dragon should be... Even if he did shamelessly copy my old color scheme.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to let light travel through space, so you could admire my grand appearance."

Hreh. Reah, he seems to be casting a light spell of some sort. No? I think it's an inscription? What a show-off! He must've done the same for his voice.

I take stock of him with Pathfinder and notice he's smaller than my full size. I wonder if that's because his power is more concentrated within his sin body. I really doubt Pride would make a weak avatar.

Regardless, my dragons are shifting their mass and volume via a twisted gravity well pairing. Perhaps studying Pride can help us fix those inscriptions.

And roh boy, do they need fixing.

The size-changing array maintains a pair of boson-based singularities; a normal one and an inverse one. The normal one shrinks their size, while the inverse one reduces the effect of gravity upon their mass.

Meaning, it can't alter their physical composition like my body. They instead 'appear' smaller to the world around them. All their mass and volume are still on their person.

I imagine it as though the universe were looking at them through a thick lens. My inscription twists that lens which makes their body appear both smaller and less dense.

It's just a trick.

Except, if this inscription were ever starved of Mana? They'd go full size in an instant. This wouldn't harm them at all; those thousands of sigils' effects are all directed outward. It would, however, cause cosmic-level chaos.

I mean, a singularity/anti-singularity annihilation?

Yeeeesh. It's a DANGEROUS inscription.

A baseball-sized chunk of antimatter can destroy a planet. I don't want to know what'd happen if a star-mass of antimatter exploded by merging with another star-mass of matter.

Which is why I'm their backup battery. It's also why those inscriptions take priority over my temple's shield.

I did make a better inscription that works kinda like my body. But the Mana requirements are ridiculous. Initially, I thought only I can change my size because my body is so Mana conductive, which I thought was due to my Abyssal lineage.

Except, in this crystalline form, I'm no less Mana conductive than when I was Abyssal black. I'm not sure how. It obviously reflects sunlight, but I've no ability to question how it works.

We weren't able to learn a thing from studying any of my forms. I'm both perfectly Mana conductive and apparently impervious to physical matter. This makes me impossible to study.

Which made me wonder: maybe I don't know how my body functions as well as I'd assumed. Maybe this inscription is inefficient because it isn't working in quite the same way. How would I know? I can't examine myself without my Origin threads.

Pride's different.

We may be able to use what we learn from Pride to invent a permanent size-altering inscription. One that properly compacts a dragon's size. Not one that shifts the mass and volume around via a sketchy mechanism.

"You are enjoying the view this much, hm?"

"Actually, yes. I'm also thinking about studying your body more closely if you'll allow it."

"Ah! Chronovoid, I am disinterested in intimate carnal relations. I will not allow it."

Rrrrreh?

"You've been around the sins too long. I meant that literally, Pride. I want to study your sin body to advance the power of my inscriptions. I think your fine form would teach me plenty."

"Chronovoid! You don't want to merely admire my perfection; you want to subject it to rigorous scientific study? What kind of Pride would I be if I refused such an offer?!"

Reah, I knew he'd like that.

"Then that's a yes?"

"I request that you commence immediately!"

"You want to join my hoard?"

"Yes, right now!"

"Then, one more thing. I know this is a tough sell for someone like yourself."

I spool out an Origin thread.

"I make it my business to ensure all my dragons are responsible for their behavior. This—"

I show it to Kaliwot, Pride's host, but I continue facing Pride. I am admiring his looks, after all. He deserves it.

"— is one of my body's basic abilities. It's not a talent, nor a skill. It works similar to Parasitic Will, but unlike it, this does not steal Will or modify others' bodies. Well, not without my explicit command, anyway. You saw this ability kill Greed, though that's not how I normally use it."

I can't see his expressions due to time lag since the light is traveling so far. Ragh. I continue speaking.

"It allows me to see via my followers and keep tabs on them in the same manner, though. I can also use other talents alongside it, and then that would be basically identical to Parasitic Will. But, as you've no doubt witnessed, I don't deign to engage in such crass activities."

"You're right; that is an incredibly tough sell. I possess, as you're no doubt aware, far more power than yourself. We gods pay a price for descending, on top of the fact that our power is suppressed by this plane. The price is that we cannot planar shift again for roughly six of your home planet's daily cycles. It may not seem like much, but the extraordinary energies and other bounty to be had up there makes it barely ever worth descending. Most use avatars rather than waste time that could be spent becoming more powerful. This should explain the vastness of the gulf between our strength."

"Rah, then—"

"No, no. I'm not finished. This is my body. My full power. I came to ask you to join me, but as it turns out, you have far more to offer if I join your hoard. Indeed, not a clan, but a hoard. This is the way a dragon should refer to what is rightfully theirs. So. Now that I know you killed and ate Greed? I must admit my power is not inviolable. Your abilities are so much stronger than Greed's. It's to an extent that I can't understand how you killed him. No matter how much lesser your power appears, well— I must consider my power as rightfully yours. You might simply take it by force should I quibble over my seemingly lofty position."

He pauses, then speaks with carefully-chosen words.

"I am forced to consider you my better in two ways. In terms of sheer ferocity and in terms of your deep understanding of a dragon's nature. Submitting to you is not unexpected. No. In fact, I must. Induct me into your hoard."

Killing Greed was such a big deal?

He speaks again.

"I did just think of a question, though."

"Yes?"

"Other than Greed's talents, did you also receive his physical stats and Will?"

"Yes, I did."

A pause.

"You are my better in four ways, then. My earlier explanation was unnecessary. I, Pride... I... I— b— beg that y— you accept me."

Roah. Did he just fight against his own sin? A sin he literally embodies in mind and in body? Now THAT is the kind of dragon I want in my hoard.

I look at Dracosect and Kaliwot.

They look back at me with curiosity.

You two may have some real competition.

"Sure, Pride. We'll be proud to have you."

"Naturally."

"Here goes."

I transfer myself out to Pride's location in space, then inject my Origin thread into his Will.

It merges and vanishes with ease.

Then I look around. All I see at this size is a single large shiny orange surface— a dragonscale. It stretches until forming a horizon in every direction.

So this is what I looked like to Kaliwot.

Rah, that's so cool.

"Pride, you're so cool."

"Ah, how am I 'cool?' I'm not at all cold."

"Like the matchlessly cool emptiness of space, there is absolutely nothing about you which doesn't impress me. That's what I mean."

"Oh! That is only normal! I am indeed cool."

"Damn right."

"How long will this take?"

Reh?

"What? I did it already?"

"You... Did?"

"Reah. I'm by the right side of your head."

He turns his head.

I'm greeted by a huge blazing dragon eye.

image [https://timjames.net/data/acd/images/135b.png]

Roah.

His pupil shrinks.

He's impressed as well, I think?

Maybe he felt terror. I do that to everyone.

"I didn't detect you. You already put that thread of yours on me? You could, say, do what you did to Greed? Except, without me needing to take that thing you created like Greed did?"

"I won't, but yes. I absolutely could."

"Hm. I've made the correct choice— that's three more ways. You move instantly, your strongest attack is silent, and so are you. Seven ways in total that you're my better. The sins and virtues are right to be terrified."

"Terrified? Why, all they need to do is give me the respect we dragons rightfully deserve!"

"Naturally."

Hreh.