Pyra blinked at the void black sky, and the shattered buildings of the city. She hadn't lived here long, but she couldn't help but feel grief for the children that she was sure had died here. Perhaps it was due to gem now pulsing in her head. It seemed to be trying to do something and she was holding it back.
Each of her siblings had a similar gem in their own heads, and, from their gazes, each was fighting whatever it was trying to do. Marshall just looked like he would need a day of rest to move again, and Pyra didn't blame him. He didn't have their bodies or their gifts for control. In fact he was basically pulled along by whatever they could grab, and they had been walking and running for most of a day before they got to that blasted place.
The only thing that kept her spirits up was the knowledge that they had done it. The fantasy about getting revenge on the System was fulfilled and she had felt it's death. It was the only way to describe the feeling of loss and panic of vanishing in her mind. The System had been alive and still made the choice to hurt her and all the others in the Realm.
Not that she didn't feel fear about the ground shaking beneath her, and the knowledge that a dragon had been the source of the System's power. Though, they knew what a dragon looked like, not much else was really known. Yana tried to explain once that dragons felt like something far superior even to being a child of Mother, but she ignored him after he said that.
The land buckled upwards as a red blur shot into the sky, and it just kept going. Pyra finally realized what she was looking at, at the same time her siblings did.
"How big do dragons get?" Mirabella asked, her voice squeaky.
"We keep growing as we age." Yana responds, his voice hollow. The red form of the dragon was actually just the arm of the creature. Which now was pulling itself out of the ground. Hundreds of feet per second of scale, muscle, and flowing mana breached the surface of the world.
Until a red dragon stood taller than the Door itself. It flared it's three pairs of wings, each wing a different color of scales, and tipped with an opal like claw. A pair of rainbow horns curled towards the void of the sky, while four different colored eyes looked out. Not even the beasts of the world would speak in the presence of this creature. All stood quiet as it continued to look down at them.
Pyra couldn't help but notice one odd thing about it. A large red gem was embedded in it's chest where it's heart should be, and it even flickered with light like a heart beat. Words oozed into her mind, Realm Heart, the core of the Realm itself.
They caused her to shudder. This was what it was like to stand before her and her siblings wasn't it? This knowledge that you were nothing but ants before a creature so strong. Even the world wouldn't be anything. This was the actual ruler of this place, this Realm. It stood like a god among sand.
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Then a hand slapped it's chest, and everyone's head snapped around to see another giant. While not nearly as big as the dragon, it looked to be a normal woman just great in size. She had blue hair and gray skin with a broad figure more like a warrior. Pyra just stared.
"It's that Mother?"
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I was quite happy the movement spell worked, but it had burned most of the mana I was able to get from the well. And, it was looking like being near the dragon was at least providing enough energy to keep myself going.
A body made from my dungeon, with my core at it's heart wasn't the perfect way to see the world. Yet, I was able to move around finally, but of course there was something else to do before I could get to do my traveling. Slap a dragon.
Turns out it was pretty easy to do, but it didn't cause any damage to the beast. Way too strong for that, but it did get it's attention.
"Good morning to you too." I say, happy to hear the words without having to create a spell or vibrate the air manually. Now I had a whole series of spell scripts to do the work for me, and it felt so right.
"WHAT?" It wasn't quite a roar, more of a confused howl. Clearly, it wasn't quite awake yet, so I figured I had a good chance of confusing it at least.
"Well, just trying to be polite, not that you can tell what time it is with the sky this way." I waved my hand at the blank void above, and noticed that the light was rapidly running out too. The dragon looked around for a while and then closed it's eyes.
And it stayed that way for minutes! Minutes! My time was precious and the only reason I didn't start hitting it again. Was the certain knowledge that I wouldn't do anything. That and just being this close to that beating crystal was keeping all my scripts and body moving. Otherwise the Door would have probably drained me of everything.
"I see," It said finally, all of it's body tension leaving it at once, "I have been a sleep for so long I missed a lot didn't I?" It's voice reminded me of Pyra slightly, and I started to worry the sound scripts were overloading or something.
"I think Father had something to do with all this as well." It continued, tapping the charging Door, "I will have to have a long talk with him when I get back. The humans will have to be returned, though I wonder what state Earth is even in now..." It- no she trailed off. I didn't like not being informed, but I had a few theories from the various odd situations I recalled. It was enough to piece a few things together, and now I was close enough to my children. Their own experiences were flowing into me, giving me additional context.
"Is the Realm going to be broken?" I asked, as it was my biggest concern. The dragon looked down at me.
"What? Oh, right, um, kinda? It never was a place to begin with, just a shelter to hide from the war. We had always meant to return everyone to Earth." This both peaked my curiosity and crushed my hopes in a few places.
"And myself? I am pretty sure I use a lot of mana and I am from here." The dragon looked, no felt? Amused by my words, and that made me even more confused.
"Ironically, you are what my father and I were hoping for when I first came here. So we will make sure you are fine." She nodded at me, "In fact you will be able to do what you want and travel a whole world." I completely froze, how did she know that was my wish.
"Yes, I can read your mind." She answers, almost sounding bored, "I am the Realm, and the Realm is me. As close to a God as is possible. Now let's get this all cleaned up before the Door opens." With a clenching of her hand, the Realm spun.