"There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined."
― Albert Camus
"I think you've confused me with someone else..."
Ven forced the words from his throat. The massive dragon seemed to have long expected a rescue, now the blame for the late arrival fell to him.
"Impossible," The mountainous pupil in the sky narrowed. "It's faint, but the blood of this dragon runs in your veins!"
Ven looked at his taloned hands. So far, he'd been told he smelled of titan, now this dragon insisted he was her descendant. Maybe she'd gone mad from her long imprisonment?
"Whatever you say," Ven nodded, a smile on his face. "Any chance you've got a human form? Talking to you like this is a bit..."
"Oh, sorry!"
The stellar dragon folded on itself, a disgrace to physics as she shrunk to a much smaller form. A youthful woman, white hair cropped short. Loose white clothing covered her pale, translucent skin.
"Better?"
"Yeah, much better" Ven glanced at the stone below. "Would you mind if we moved off this alter?"
"Not at all," The dragon-woman cast a hateful glare at the monolithic structure. "Let's go!"
She waved her hand and the world changed. Nothing moved, the scene around them... became something else. A small sitting room, decorated in blue and white. The windows opened to a blissful landscape. Open fields filled with restful livestock, a peaceful village framed in the distance.
"This is..."
"My inner world," The dragon smiled, her teeth still sharp. "Now we can have a good, long chat!"
----------------------------------------
"What the hell is going on?"
The castle trembled, blue stone lit like the sun. The King held his daughter, who gripped Jun by the foot. The palace below squirmed and shook, fortified runes useless against an invisible force.
"Look, Daddy, the statues!"
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
The Royal palace was formed of countless stone dragons, all carved to resemble the Dragon God. Many years ago, the King had shaped them himself with the Dragon God's help. Now, without exception, these spirit-stone depictions pulled themselves free.
They howled to the skies, a chorus he'd not heard in centuries. A call to arms, a trumpet to war that should have never sounded again.
"Impossible..."
----------------------------------------
"My kingdom has truly fallen so far?"
Ven's capture investigated his body in an overly familiar way while he narrated his life experiences. He left out his system, but not much else.
"It's not so bad, the King is pretty strong, and one of his kids shows real promise as a ruler."
"Still," The Dragon God returned Ven's pants, explorations finished. "My children should dominate the world!" She squinted at Ven. "Speaking of, why do you smell of my bloodline?"
Her finger lanced out, a sharp pain that faded as soon as it came. An orb of his blood hovered before her, almost the size of a basketball.
"That's a bit much..."
"Barely a drop," She waved him off. "Now let's see what's going on..."
The goddess pricked her finger and tossed some of her own blood into the mix. The two reacted, a silver glow that raised a dragon's roar.
"SEE," She smiled, triumphant. "I told you, my nose is never wrong!"
The blood shaped itself into a crimson dragon, edged with silver light. It swam around her, joyful as a newborn. She ignored its adorable mewls and sucked the whole thing into her mouth.
"Hmmm..." She swished her gulp around like wine before she swallowed. "You DO have my blood, but your bloodline is a real mess."
"Vampire..."
"Oh get over it," She rolled her eyes. "I can taste a jumbled mash of different creatures, including something that shouldn't exist."
"I know, I know, 'child of the titan' or whatever," Ven shrugged. "Not that I know what that means..."
"Titan?" The goddess frowned. "Maybe... I've got no idea about that. What I taste is the blood of the old ones, the first dragons."
"Oh..."
Ven had long given up on figuring out his race, but it seemed like he was a mishmash of legendary creatures. His system had certainly delivered, but he felt like a mutt. A Frankenstein of lore, all squished into one body.
"They died out long before the Titan ever came to be," A veil of sadness over her face. "They were the first race to be deemed 'too dangerous' for the greater multiverse."
"Deemed by who?" Ven had a good idea, most things seemed to fall on the lap of the greater gods.
"The Lord of Balance," Red flashed in her emerald eyes. "He holds sway over all things, his decree came after the first old one broke through." The skies above flashed, thunder in the distance. "The first True God of the dragons led to their destruction..."
"Some of you survived," Ven patted her shoulder, awkward. "You and your descendants are still here."
"Half-breeds," She snorted. "Even my blood comes from both a dragon and another beast. We will never rise to the level of a True God on bloodline alone."
The Dragon God squinted at Ven. A wave brought him to rest before her.
"In fact, you might have the most complete bloodline of any dragon alive," She gripped one of his talons and wiggled it back and forth. "It's just all mashed up in this melting pot you call a body."
"I don't just call it a body... I live here!" Ven struggled. "Now can you let me go?"
"You might be the greatest chance at the rebirth of dragon kind," She shook her head. "There's no way I'll let you go!"
----------------------------------------
"Daddy, somethings wrong..."
A premonition rose in Huan's mind, a vision of a mighty battle she had yet to fight. Ven was in the clutches of a devil. She would have to use all she had to set him free.
"What else?"
The King sat, defeated before his crumbled home. An army of dragon statues replaced it, useless when it came to anything but battle.
"I think I've got a new rival?" Huan tilted her head. "Someone thinks they can have Husband all to themselves!"
"GOOD!" The King snorted. "The day that boy came into this house, everything turned upside down!"
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Huan lept on her father. "He's the best thing that's ever happened to us, EVER!"