A sudden flash of light and explosion of sound sent Yana slamming into the dirt to his right. Sharp sounds repeated in series from all around him while the thick smell of smoke hung around. He couldn't find the Orb or his staff, and it felt like something was scratching at the inside of his head. Tearing away his sense of identity in a way that not even the System had managed.
To make matters worse he couldn't see the seems of mana in anything around him. And, his strength and magic seemed to be leaking out of his skin into the dirt and air. It was just hard to breath in the heavy smoke and a coppery taste let him know that blood was being spilled. Confusion was the best word to describe everything around him, and it didn't seem to be stopping or slowing down.
"W-what is this madness." He muttered between coughs.
"The best kind of lesson." The voice was like a cold breath on his neck, and barely a whisper in the otherwise noisy world. Yet, it was so very clear, but there was no one around.
"No matter the species, we always find a reason to make war." It continued while curls of black smoke formed the outline of a person. Yana couldn't look directly at them or they would just fade. He had to look at the space around it to actually see the lines and shapes. The shape gestured at the air, and a hole appeared in its form before Yana felt a sharp pain in his hand. A hole had been made in the center of it, and there was no sign of what did it.
"It was said that only the dead had seen the end of this war. A horror of gas and industrialization of slaughter, fear, and human suffering." The creature continued, unfazed by its audience, "It's not a surprise that many terrible things happened all around, but for that girl..." It waved its hand dismissively.
"You already know how that story begins." The scene seemed to crumble around him as pain exploded within his body. Then, he just woke up on the cold floor of a stone cavern.
"The world had long lost the wonder that allowed for a focus on other things." The smoke figure was now a faint outline within the darkness, "I sometimes wonder what could have been done differently, but we are here for you, not me." Yana's confusion settled as the cave gave him comfort from that place of noise.
"Did the System fight back against my purification?" It was the only explanation for these illusions. A cold laugh bounced around the stone walls, and almost sounded like many.
"The girl was right about you being obsessed, but that's normal for Dark." As the figure stumbled around it seemed to multiply until there were dozens. A few started to hold staves and make gestures in the air, "No, the System is a parasite, but it's not that good." A glittering object flew in the air, and Yana caught it with deft skill. It was a strange figurine that was lighter than iron, but the same grey color. There were also flecks of red and gold on the figure, but they were some kind of dye and not metal.
There was no energy or presence from the thing, but he could smell the smoke and feel the fear of the dirt walls as he held it. When he tossed it up in the air those feelings faded, and returned when he caught it. What was this thing?
"What is it?" He asked the darkness, but only got a shrug in return.
"A curiosity born of -------, it affects the Realm greatly with it's presence due to its connection." The word caused him to stumble to the ground and barely hear the rest of it's words. Something about the concept was like having an ant eating through his brain. He could see the word, but it wasn't something he could say. The darkness looked at him, a tilt to its head.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Right, you only look like a dragon. That is too strong for a being made of mana." It's words left him confused, everything was made from mana.
"Look, I am trying to give you some hints on how to not fall apart from imbalance, but I doubt you are willing to pay attention." Then Pyra was there in the cavern. She stumbled for a second and looked around before moving over to Yana. Keeping an eye on the shadows around them both.
"There we go, you can both deal with this together. The more time you take the more the Realm breaks down. Just throwing that out there. Good luck." And it was just darkness again, no outlines or shapes remained in the cave.
Pyra looked at her brother as he breathed heavily on the ground, blood still falling from his ears. When he had ran away from her in that fake library she had gotten worried, and the metal figure on the ground made her feel wary. Something about it reminded her of the Mana Well in Mother's dungeon and she didn't know what, but it glowed with a faint, white light.
She then smacked her brother on the head, hard. He had been an idiot to try something without letting them know what. It could have cost him his life at the least and all of them at the worst. Sure the System was oddly not aggressive, but they were on the top of it within the Gates of Madness. At least if Mother was right about that. A groan was the response.
"Why! Damn it, I already hurt." He growled at her, "Yes, I know it was stupid, but risks need to be taken if we want to dive deeper into this. I thought--" Another smack of her hand to his head sounded in the darkness.
"WHY?!" His voice low and aggressive, "It was clearly a calculated ris---" SMACK and Yana went sprawling to the floor from the slap. Pyra was beyond angry at him, he wasn't communicating with them, and deciding things on his own thinking he knew best. Just like she did and it was childish, it had gotten many people killed who didn't need to die.
"Fine." He lunged at her, his fingers now claws and his face shifting into a draconic maw. A dark light glowed from his yellow eyes as he attacked with animalistic aggression. Pyra spun a few ribbons of fire from the air, and her body ignited in fire.
Yana slashed at her face, wanting to remove that judging gaze. He was superior to her, she was acting like the lesser races not born from Mother. They were superior to them in every way, and now he was a mighty dragon on top of being a perfect being. Pyra leaned back just out of range, before sweeping her leg out to balance herself and strike. Yana's arrogance made him take the sweep, and he found his stance broken. Falling forwards he just had time to see Pyra spin around and strike his face with a blazing fist.
Bones cracked from the force while skin blistered from the heat and his body flew into the darkness. Stunned but even more angry he continued his transformation, and awkwardly balanced before rushing off towards the living torch. Pyra blew out a breath and lowered her body, touching the floor with her hands. He came out of the dark like he was a part of it.
Time slowed down for Pyra, she hadn't just been talking to people lately, she had trained actual fighting skills. Pushing down with her hands at the same time she released a wave of heat and force from her feet helped get even more height. Giving her the arc to tumble through the air above the dragon. It swung its tail up at her, and she forced another wave of force out to push her downward from midair.
The force wasn't as great if she had also used the ceiling, but with her natural weight and flames it came with an audible cracking sound. The dragon bent in the middle before collapsing to the ground, if she went further he would be critically injured. To her, he was having a temper tantrum like a child, like she had done and been. She hadn't had anyone to beat some sense into her when she needed it though. Marshall was too scared of her, and with good reason after and before the Day of Ash.
Yana had her luckily, and she wouldn't let his powers and ego get so far out of control. She was the older sister after all.
"You aren't perfect, brother. We are both young and need to grow up. You aren't in charge either, you have skills we rely on is all. Don't forget that." She then picked up the figurine on the ground.
----
"Well that was well done." The white smile from the void muttered, and crunched another monster bone.