Raiz stands in front of the cave door, its green and black twisting together, a phial filled with deep red intertwining with a trace of gold held in his hand. It had taken him many months to gather the phial of blood. He’d thrown everything else to the side. Specimens, books - even the journal. Perhaps he didn’t need so much, but Raiz thought it was better safe then sorry.

With glee Raiz immediately takes off the stopper on the phial and starts smearing the blood across the carving of the dragon. He pauses for a moment and then smears some of the remainder across the phoenix, and then the words above the door. A further pause and he shrugs his shoulders and starts smearing wherever else he felt would be useful. The blood starts glowing amidst his actions forcing him to pause.

With agitation Raiz bounds back and throws the phial away into the forest, ignoring the blood seeping out of it and flowing into the ground. Life instantly bloomed where the blood fell, the vegetation growing denser as a powerful aura of life emanates from it. The tree nearby unconsciously draws its roots toward the blood, allowing it to seep inside of itself, causing its body to instantly thicken and strengthen as it grows longer and wider; towering across the trees in its vicinity.

Miraculous changes filled with the vestiges of life bloomed wherever the blood fell, and yet Raiz failed to spare it even a glance, his eyes fully focused on the glowing blood. FInally with a heavy, discontent creak the door begrudgingly opens itself up bit by bit under the bloods embrace. The vegetation and molten rock that had lasted for many ages cracks under the doors weight and dissipates as the two sides of the door split apart and open up, inviting Raiz to enter.

With unreserved glee Raiz races in and the interior immediately presents itself to him. It’s not strange; a cave in the true sense of the word. Plain and simple. The only thing out of place are two things. A large pool towards the back of the cave, filled with a thick molted liquid glowing a rich, pure gold. And a message scrawled across the cave’s wall in blood similar to what Raiz had gathered. Peering at it Raiz realises it isn’t in any language he has seen so far. Though he has only seen a few inside the library.

With interest Raiz’s eyes glow as he activates Insight and looks again at the words. Like with the cave door the words seem to manifest themselves. Raiz hears the roar of a dragon’s authority as the words peel themselves off the wall and curl together, a heavy aura emanating from them. It is as if a dragon is peering down at Raiz, not willing to be blasphemed even in death. As Raiz stares at the words that seem to have come to life, he finds he can understand them in an incomprehensible way. After a few minutes of deciphering, and exhaustion from withstanding the dragon’s will, he finally pieces together the message.

Kin,

Or perhaps not. My life is at its end. This pool is left for my descendants.

If you are a Celestial this will temper your bloodline, rebirthing you in the most natural way to ascend to greater heights.

If you are not, this will be your death. I have no sympathy for the greedy.

Closing his eyes Raiz turns away from the message, the aura instantly disappearing and the pressure no longer there. Turning toward the pool he opens his eyes again, still glowing, as he looks into its depths. An overwhelming feeling of reverence rises up as Raiz stares into the viscous golden pool, far stronger then anything the previous dragon inflicted on him. It comes from the depths of his soul as if he isn’t looking at a pool of liquid, but a higher being. The reverence continues to grow stronger as Raiz stares at it, its pressure building greater and greater as if trying to overwhelm him, to force him to fall to his knees and treat it as his ancestor.

With disgust Raiz slaps his own face, the aura immediately dissipating as the feeling of pain overwhelms his senses. “Fuck your reverence,” Raiz scoffs, turning his eyes back to peer at the pool. Exhaustion continues to pile on him until he looks away but Raiz can at least confirms the messages truth. He can feel overwhelming power inside of the pool. The bloodline inside of it is far, far stronger then the draconic bloodline he had gathered. It is almost like the gray energy in its nature, whispering to him that if he just took even a piece he would ascend to heights beyond his knowledge.

Yet the pool is a poison to him. If he doesn’t induce a resonance within it then it’ll immediately turn hostile and turn him to ashes. And resonance is something only the Celestial bloodline can induce. Still, Raiz isn’t too chaffed. In truth he only wanted to see inside. Now that he has solved the puzzle and seen what’s inside his interest has waned.

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With his mind drifting Raiz walks out of the cave. Shortly after he does so the caves door shudders as it starts to move again, its body turning slowly until the cave door shuts once again. Raiz only gives it one more look before turning away and leaving, not even glancing at the strangely vibrant patch of land near him.

After heading back Raiz finds himself at a loss inside of the library, glancing at all of the discarded books scattered across the ground. After a moment of thought he decides to take a look at the journal and see what else is written inside. Kicking some of the books out of the way he quickly finds his journal, kept safe and secure away from the rest of his things. Opening it up he reads through the new material inside.

Most of it are Lorvane’s thoughts and ideas as he tries to learn more about his people’s past. Every time Lorvane had attempted to delve further into the mystery he faced resistance. It is seemingly coincidental but when it continues to happen again and again it is undeniably purposeful. One particular passage caught Raiz’s eye.

There are very few things that date back to before our missing history. The barest of scraps are all that remains, perhaps an unfortunate outcome of whatever purge happened inside of that missing history. All of them say the same thing. ‘Why did you abandon us?’. Worlds filled with resentment. Who or what abandoned them? I’m afraid I may never find the answer.

Raiz’s curiosity is provoked, but with no other information he’s forced to close the journal and put it back in its place. With that accomplished Raiz thinks for a moment before deciding to head out again. On his way out he grabs a leather pouch from the junk corner and stuffs it full of phials and daggers before slinging it over his shoulder.

Upon exiting he pauses for a moment and reviews his surroundings again. In front of him are the sprawling forest and ashen land which he has frequented regularly. Behind lies a land of white ice and flowing water, as well as a place of jagged metal and towering mountains. To his right, the discomforting ground that goes from high to low and back to high mere steps from each other with strange creatures in the distance that appear to float as they jump across the land. And to his left is the swamp, its splashes of purple and green and murky white sifting together in an uncomfortable way.

The way the environments clash against each other intrigues Raiz. They fight in silent roars and invisible slashes, their very breaths inhaling the land and begrudgingly exhaling it. None visible to the eye, and yet when Raiz’s eyes glow he sees it in its glory. Their breathtaking fights against each other, none content to stay on their land; or perhaps none willing to relent in fear of being encroached. Raiz recalls one of the journal’s passages as he continues to drink in the sight.

I’ve entered this land many times now. Sometimes to hide and sometimes to observe. Each time the environments stay consistent but their boundaries are always different. When I look at them it is as if I’m looking at a sentient creature, their blood bleeding into each other as their claws dig in and their mouths widen to swallow their neighbors whole. Only to be forced to relent as they face equal amounts of aggression, desire and resistance. A desirous environment. What a strange and terrifying thought. Could this be what our tribes one day become?

Letting the thought drift by Raiz returns to the present. A decision on where to go has to be made and Raiz chooses to make a new one. It was getting harder to find specimens inside the forest and fiery lands, and so he set his eyes on thick earthen and metallic land behind him. With a few bounds of his legs he stands just before its edges as he looks across its land. Looking down on the land Raiz found it made of some type of red earth mixed with blue metallic specks. As his feet sinks into the ground he feels it resists back, its joined nature biting into his foot as if munching on food.

It feels painful but the sharpness isn’t strong enough to cut through Raiz’s skin and bleed. Only the pain and discomfort carries over as he makes another step, and one more as the familiarity slowly dulls the pain and his speed increases. Soon he finds himself bounding across the land as he passes lots of jagged and rounded hills around him. He moves like he would do in the forest, only this time he has to ensure his jumps stay low to the ground to ensure the impact doesn’t give the ground what it needs to exact its vengeful prejudice.

In front of his eyes the mountains he peers at from the distance grow larger, far larger then he had ever thought. They tower so far above him he feels as if a god is looking down on him. Seeing just how large they are puts Raiz’s perspective in place when he looks up at the giant island floating amidst the clouds in the sky. Such a huge mountain can be stacked up ten times before it can ever reach that island.

Raiz finds the distance daunting, and also exhilarating. What could be up there? He will find out one day. His train of thought is interrupted as he encounters his first creature. An armadill built of a thick metallic shell. It looks innocent and harmless as it waddles forward, not yet detecting him nearby. Still cautious Raiz approaches it slowly as he readies his dagger.

The beast moves suddenly as it rams itself straight toward him, its claws reaching out from under its shell to strike him. Raiz jumps out of the way, his glowing eyes catching the glint of something dangerous laced through the claws. Not giving it a chance to react he kicks it over, immediately digging his blade into its soft underbelly. Its cries call out for a moment before going silent as the body turns still. The usual gray energy seeps out of and immediately enters Raiz’s pores, settling into his body.

Raiz doesn’t spare the body a glance as he continues forward in search of more specimens.