"Oh, Runihara~"

A large head slunk down until it was level with Rune's ear. The voice was deep and playful, but the scent of cherry blossoms was heavy, and Rune felt like he was suffocating. He could practically taste it. Or that might just be the iron from where he was biting his cheek to stop his knees from shaking.

The dragon with the magnolia tree shifted and caught the sunlight which sent scattered reflections of gold that stole Rune's attention. The magnolia tree had its roots wrapped up into a domed shell made of dirt and red clay. The stuff he thought was moss was closer to skin. The dome elongated at the bottom into muscled haunches and four legs thick like tree trunks. Every time it moved, soil and boulders unlodged itself.

Rune forced a desperate smile on his face.

Weren't they supposed to be dead?

At least, last time he saw them, he could fly away. Or try. He quickly gave up on the plan to run before it was formulated. Somehow, he didn't think that would be a pleasurable outcome.

What did the town's highest level [Herder] say again?

Stand up to your bullies. They won't ever stop if they think you're easy prey. Have courage. You're a strong young man.

The three earth dragons towered over him, blotting out the warmth, leaving him in cold shadows. If Rune was a kitten, then they felt like the size of a house. The magnolia dragon bared its teeth, sharp and needle-like points that could have been half the size he was.

Ha.

Remiia, he thought, I don't think that applies when you really are easy prey.

A figure appeared at the mouth of the tunnel he just came from, shedding its invisibility like a second skin. The pure white dragon wasn't as large as the earth dragons, but long and slim. She only had two font legs, and she hovered in constant motion, never touching the ground. Her dark blue eyes drowned him in an unknown paralysis.

"We have a visitor."

"Uh, yeah. I'll get off your tails and just be going..."

Rune laughed awkwardly, trying to keep a chagrin expression on his face, knowing it came out pinched and constipated.

“Not everything's about you, flesh bag.”

The dragon's whiskers and thick main of white fur flowed around her caught in some unseen current. Her form wavered like a mirage unless Rune kept his eyes focused on her.

Runihara had never known the names of the creatures whose laughter used to haunt his waking dreams. So instead, he used the name a naive child once chose for her. “Snowy! It's been a long flick of the wing, since you've stopped by. What have I done to deserve this. Uh, this, um, this fortuitous meeting?"

A snort of frostbitten air escaped her, "Close your flame hole. You're making my head hurt."

"No, really. What have I done?" Rune whispered underneath his breath.

A cackling laughter answered him, echoing from the depths of the burial of stone and back. Rune couldn't tell which tunnel it was coming from. He looked but saw nothing.

"Oh, please. Not her.” He begged.

A flash of shadow. A smaller figure dived down from the opening above, almost faster than he could see. She landed before him, curious black eyes right in front of his.

The dragon was pitch black, a thief of the light and joy of all things. The black dragon let her wing fall over him. Rune braced himself but still didn't expect the weight as it knocked him off his feet, and she pinned him easily to the ground.

She was only a handful of feet taller than he was and three times the weight of him. Maybe she was a wyvern? But she shared no other characteristics beyond being dragonic-shaped and small in stature. At least for a full-blooded dragon. He wondered which one he would be, not including polymorphing. Probably huge, right? Otherwise, it wouldn't be as terrifying. But the black dragon was quickly proving him wrong.

She leaned into him and licked the side of his face. All he could smell was copper.

"I've missed you, Endbringer."

Rune slowly reached up to touch his cheek. It was slick with blood.

"Let him out."

"Let him out."

"Let him out.”

The whispering came from the three earth dragons. They began to move but not towards him. They circled Rune. Like a predator just satisfied watching its prey trying desperately to escape.

From the lithe and graceful white dragon, to the small dragon with her glistening teeth, to the three earth dragons’ craggy and hulking forms. They all had a look in their eyes. A look he understood because it was the same one in his own.

Corruption.

But where corruption was simply part of Rune, they were inflicted with it. It coursed through their veins, eating away at them from the inside out. Someday, they'll forget everything. An empty husk acting only on instinct whose only purpose will be to spread as much corruption as possible.

But the first step was complete and utter madness. And, if he was honest, that wasnt what sent chills down his spine. It was the way they looked at him. It almost strangely, oddly, peculiarly looked like…

Adoration. Yes, or something close to it. Like they were seeing something that wasn't truly there. Like they were looking at an old friend.

For the first time in all the years he had known them, a thought crossed his mind. Who did they used to be before the corruption?

Rune tried to meet each of their stares unflinchingly. Animals attack when you don't hold their gaze. He read that somewhere. Or was it the other way around? In their black pupils that continued inwards and onwards for infinity, Rune saw the beginning of the end.

The young man started to sweat. "Hi, Blacky. I have also…missed…talking to- Er, spending time with- Er, seeing your visage.”

Blacky laughed. Her body shook, and her claws flexed digging into his flesh and pressing him against the ground. And she laughed. And laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

Then as suddenly as she started, she stopped. And left silence washing over them like a wave.

"Ha. It's time."

Rune spit dirt out of his mouth and took a casual look around, or as best as he could still stuck to the stone floor. “For what?”

She ignored him and turned to the white dragon, all her teeth bared in a wide grin, "Hey, you still remember, right? I think you have the memories of baby Rune. What did he call us again?"

Runihara felt his face begin to color. He forgot that well-earned fear for his life and the lives of everyone he loved wasn't the biggest reason behind his abhorrence of them.

It was embarrasment.

"Lady Snowy, Maggy the Indestructible, Cherry the Indescribable, Rainbow the Igneous, and Blacky." The white dragon responded before curling herself up around Rainbow's tree of eternal autumn.

“Why am I the only one without a title? That's hurtful, you know.”

Blacky grinned and lowered her glistening teeth to where Rune's arm had been trying to get to his pack.

“Oh ho. And what do I sense here? That's a lot of magic.”

She picked his arm up, surprisingly gently, and tore the sleeve of his cloak away. Twenty black rings circuled his right arm from below his wrist to almost reaching his shoulder. Each one looked like a solid band of black but the more you looked, the more you saw.

Words in languages where even the very earth that once held it's speakers were long lost to the millieniums of time. They were unlike the [Words of Existence], if the [Words] were simple truth then these tattooed words were a desperate plea to the world drawing on the memory of that which has been far gone and past. Time knows no cruelty or pain. It gently kisses the back of entropy's hand before pulling it into a waltz that becomes everyone's problem.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

And only if you held very, very still could you see the rings rotating. The symbols and pictographs spin in time with Rune's heartbeat.

Blacky whistled and stepped back, raising her wing to let him up. “You've started quite the collection, haven't you?"

“How did you make that sound without lips?” Rune avoided the subject. He didn't know how else to reply. It was a birthday gift of a kind. One Rune should feel guilty for. A better person would feel guilty. A kinder person, a hero. But not him. Runihara just felt grateful.

"The old man must have saved a pretty coin, because that's quite the cost." Blacky said, an underlying tone pushing for answers.

Rune jerked his arm back and glared, "Too much to regret."

All five dragons moved at that, the first thing he’s said that didnt come out slightly wavering and hesitant.

"Oh, there he is! Our Endbringer." Blacky leapt into the air and landed on Maggy’s branches in one concise motion.

“Let him out.”

“Let him out.”

“Open him up.”

The earth dragons hissed one after another. They moved in orbit with each other, and the spark of intelligence that still lit Snowy and Blacky’s eyes were much dimmer in theirs. More primal. Rune scrambled to his feet, taking steps back. But one step for Rainbow took him from one side of the cavern to meet Rune in the middle.

Before reality could catch up, Rune found himself floating in the air. Well, it felt like floating for a moment. If he stretched out his arm, he could touch a stalagmites on the underside of the cave.

Then, Rune came to the realization as to what this cave was for before it had become a courtyard. It was a nesting spot for vampire dragons. You could tell from the stalagmites, not naturally-made by the calcification of water dripping from the cave ceiling but rather the cave itself had been carved out around it to create sectioned off rooms and intentionally placed scratching posts for a family of four. Then later, something sheared off the top to let in the light.

This all that went through Runihara's mind as he began his descent into his cruel fate below. Destined to be dashed upon the rocks, fragile body crumpling against the stone as he individually feels each and every bone cracking before it all went dark.

But then he was caught a moment away from his feet touching the floor. Cherry held him by the back of his cloak, before the earth dragon launched him towards Rainbow. He caught Rune easily in his jaws and tossed him to Maggy.

He screamed the whole way.

At least, this was familiar.

Snowy and Blacky watched in apparent amusement for a couple of moments before Snowy stopped them.

"That's enough. He's coming.”

Rainbow had Rune held like a hatchling, dangling storeys away from the earth, and he twisted towards his back to present Rune to the white dragon. Snowy pressed her forehead against the young man’s. It was cool to the touch and the cold grew the longer he stayed still, "Are you ready for everything that follows? You've been waiting, haven't you?"

"Waiting for what?"

“Oh, for nothing. No one special.”

“As much as I’m enjoying this game of cryptid sentences. It’s a bit heavy-handed, makes the story hard to…”

The realization hit him even before he finished rambling. Rune’s eyes widened. No, that can’t be true. He would know if he was nearby, wouldn’t he?

Rune scowled. “I’m not a kid anymore. I won't fall for that again.”

To his left, Blacky's expression flickered like a candle going out, and it seemed as if her entire personality took a heel turn. She lashed her tail.

"You can’t even see what’s in front of you. We don't have time playing nice with fools. Open your eyes, Endbringer, and join us in new skies. " She growled, a low and slowly growing noise that had Rune ready to cry in frustration, “This will be our last offer.”

They were always like this. Nothing has changed and everything had gotten much worse at the same time. Vague words that led to one-sided conversations that never happened and to nowhere. Confusion leading to anger leading to being jerked around like a puppet. It made him feel helpless and as much as he was used to that sensation, it was hard to stay that way.

He could do something. He could make them kneel. He could if he was a different person. If Rune could just not be Rune, then maybe that could fix everything. Everything that will go wrong. Has gone wrong. Should go wrong. But that would ruin all his plans.

Vague sentences without context. That put a dead stop to Runihara’s thoughts.

“Ah.” Corruption. It got worse the longer he was near them. Made it hard to think clearly.

That was enough of a response for them because Snowy snorted and addressed the others. “Put him down. He’s coming for us. Let's have a little more fun before the end.”

Rune did not like how she said that.

Rainbow the Indescribable dropped him without warning and the fall only hurt a little.

Rune stood, wiping himself off, and without another word or look back at the others in case they changed their minds. He started walking towards the path he knew led to his father.

They were joking, right? He couldn’t be here. There was no way. Rune had waited. Rune had waited his life for him. And now, he didn’t know how to comprehend it. Him. Being here? After all this time.

“If you're right then…”

Rune paused, then turned despite the consequences.

“If you really are telling the truth then what do I do? What do I say?”

He took a stance, closed his eyes, and voiced from somewhere in the distant past and certain future. “Hello, Era. I'm Runihara, you don't know me, but someday you will and nothing will ever be the same.”

The human-shaped dragon straightened his back and squared his feet before baring his neck like a sacrifice. “Hi, Era. It's me. What? You don't recognize me. Haven't you waited lifetimes for me.”

He grinned, a smile as brilliant as every wished-for day that never came spreads across his face.

“Oh! You must be Era. My father has told me everything about you. Hi, I'm Runihara.”

The anxious and terrified boy fell somewhere into the shadows and there stood something else, a hand held out to an invisible dance partner.

“Someday, I'll destroy the world.”

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a jolt of lightning run through his body. A buzzing. A truth. A need.

“Every ending leads to me.”

All the light that shone through the opening above dimmed, and his shadow grew longer and longer. Like light itself feared him, dragging itself with bloody fingers to escape him.

“Corruption will devour everything I touch until you stop me.”

One eyelid cracked open hesitatingly, almost as if he wasn't sure what he would find when he opened them. And once again, there stood a boy with a bad haircut and stooping shoulders.

“…Is that too much?”

Rune sent a despairing look to the four figures behind him.

“What do I do?”

But something changed in them. It wasn't something he could place, their expressions went unreadable. He didn't notice whatever passive atmosphere there was until it was gone. The air turned cold and the pressure coming from them spiked.

They all slowly turned to him, teeth bared into gentle smiles. "Run.”

Runihara gulped. He didn't need another warning before he was off in a full sprint.

The tunnel ended into what used to be a marketstreet. He could tell from the paved, cobble flooring for carts to what was left of decorative flourishes that marked the plazas from the wide rows of buildings. He always wanted to know what it was like back then. When dragons lived and built a city throughout these mountains. Most of it had already worn away and crumbled with time, or at least what was left after the great hunt. But the pathways and bigger structures still stood fairly intact.

Maybe with some work, it could have been a stronghold for whatever new and upcoming world power that hungered for a free home or at the very least to open a trade road through the eastern mountains of the [Existence Line]. Only if it wasn't for its sheer proximity to the Unsea and the corruption that made its home in bloody graveyards. It wasn't as bad as the various and numerous wars that created corrupted spirits and destroyed most of the northern continents; but where the last dragons were butchered, the land itself held a grudge.

His father had a theory that it had something to do with dragons’ memory magic but that was not helpful at the moment. Rune tripped over the root that he knew wasn't there before and fell to his knees. Where could he go?

There were plenty of places to hide but none of them would last long. They would always find him eventually. So running it is.

Rune finds a stamina potion, low-grade health potion and two unlabeled glass vials in his pack. He puts them in his belt pouches and searches for absolutely anything else that isn't the stupid bone marrow.

“A spare [Acid Orb], maybe? No, of course not.” He almost screeched to the sky, then took a second to breathe.

Rune opened his window. A seam became visible in the area in front of him, and with a touch of the hand reality split open into a window with glowing blue [words].

Runihara

[Healer Level 0]

Str +0 Int +0 Chr +0 Dex +0 Con +0

Skill Points Available: 2

Skills: [Absorb Pain]

He left it open, watching the level zero with a steadfast determination, and headed for the nearest intact watch tower. If he couldn’t hide then he would do the opposite. If he can confuse them and make them forget their very real bloodlust maybe they would go away once they think they’ve ‘won’ whatever game they were playing. It worked last time. They were like children sometimes, misdirection worked wonders. If he could pretend it was a game then maybe they would think it was a game too. A stupid idea. He knows. But logic doesn’t work well on the corrupted. So maybe a higher vantage point will.

This was a great plan. Like all his plans. They were always centered around the same two things. All Runihara had to do was not die and do all that he could do to not level up. That’s all. So he gulped down half the stamina potion and ran. It coursed through him instantaneously, an imperceptible buzzing through his body.

“The experience gained from running for my life will lessen if its propelled by an alchemic force not created by me.” He reminded himself.

Out of his various lessons, that’s the one that stuck the most. Not just how to level up but how to see what makes people level and avoid it. A hobby born from the deep need for all living things to stay that way.

“And,” He reassured himself, “something that has already been experienced will have less of a chance of gaining more experience. No experience, no drive, no levels. Unless of course…” He was getting off track. Maybe this could be the first time his childhood bullying might come in handy.

He chose the action already taken and took the steps of the watch tower. They were unlike normal bipedal steps. They had to be large enough for various sizes of dragons so one side had steps a normal-sized human could take and they grew more and more distant from the next step the closer to the other side of the flight of stairs that wrap itself around the tower.

Ksshhhhht-

Stone exploded behind him and with little cover, he was hit with the ricocheting debris. The impact threw him against the side of the tower. His head hit rock.

Pain. White flashed across his vision.

He couldn’t see or feel anything. Only for a moment, then he blinked hard, rubbing his eyes. Blood. He had a cut above his eyebrow and blood ran into his eyes. Rune stared where the impact came from. A colorful figure of various shades of red and gold had broken through to lunge at him.

No. It was falling. Something had thrown it through the wall of rock.

The [Healer] felt that floating sensation again but his feet were still on the ground. So why was he staring into Rainbow’s eyes?

The pain of moving, breathing it all came to him at once. He realized. He was in the dragon’s path.

“Ha. Get it.” He mumbled, voice slurring.

Rainbow’s eyes were glowing a bright orange and a growl escaped it’s mouth. Rune could feel the vibrations through the earth. Their eyes met and whoever Rainbow the Igneous had been had gotten further away and whatever was left was coming straight for him. Rune didn't want to know what threw the dragon like a toy but he didn't want to meet it. Friend or foe.

Rune stumbled to his feet and took the steps two at a time. The sounds of fighting began below him but a single look backwards showed him Rainbow’s open jaw. It grew wider and wider until it tore open scales and skin, seams opening up until it’s long neck was half mouth and blood ran down it’s body. Rune could see lava bubbling up the back of its throat.

He dove behind one of the last sections of brick railing and squeezed his eyes shut tight. Rune's heart was racing.

“It's just a game. It's just a game. It's just a game.”

As long as he truly believed that, it would become true. Rune cursed the gods, hoping he wouldn't meet them soon. He was fire-resistant, not immune to death by lava. Rune felt heat followed by a thunderous thud that made the tower quake but after a long moment nothing happened. He needed to check but his legs wouldn't move. The seconds passed and he knew his window of escape was slipping past.

He peaked his head over the railing, wincing. But Rainbow was gone. When he stood, he could see molten lava slowly flowing down the side just below him and Rainbow was on the ground shaking it's head. Something had rammed it from the back. Rune saw the glint of a sword.

He slammed the rest of the stamina potion. His body was consumed in it. It was Aizlyn’s creation, and the half-elf didn't believe in low quality. And before Rune knew it, he had reached the top.

He never had a problem with heights but he felt dizzy looking down at the chaos below. A faint figure could be seen battling the other four dragons. As far as he could tell, they were probably human? Not that he could make out the details but their skin was pale like his and not many species get that light.

Maybe some Angles, since the birdfolk lived among the clouds. Not that he would ever call that to them to their face. Rune only made that mistake once to a rare passing traveler and, well, let's just say don't take well to being compared to those winged monstrosities, ancestors or not.

“But wings, ya know.” Voice slurring, Rune wondered why he was thinking about birds and came to the conclusion that he probably had a concussion.

He didn't know how much time had passed. It felt like he closed his eyes only for a moment.

“Oh, right. Dragons have wings.” Something told him that was really important but the darkness was sweet. He didn't have wings, Rune thought glumly.

“Dragons!” He shot up as he remembered. Rune rushed to the edge in time to see Rainbow scaling up the side of the tower, mouth bubbling molten rock as it trailed blood behind it. One wing was broken, so it was half leaning on the stone and half flying. It wanted him.

And it would get him. A game.

The world swirled and his legs gave out at the edge of the open platform. He began to freefall.

Before he could go any further, a hand wrapped around Rune's neck. He staggardly breathes in around the building pressure in his throat, Rune would sigh in relief if he had the air.

The [Healer] looked up. And met red eyes. An endless graveyard lived in them. Somehow, Runihara knew. He stared into the eyes of the man that would someday kill him.

His [Hero].

The man's empty expression turned to a burning rage as he looked over Rune's back. "That doesn't belong to you. How do you know Aizlyn?"

Huh?

Then Rune remembered the staff strapped to his pack, “Uh, I'm his son."

Era's eyes narrowed dangerously, “Liar. Aizlyn hates children.”

“That's um-”

Before Rune could reply, Era tore the staff off his back and let the bag of holding fall.

“Where’s Aizlyn?”

Rune scrambled to say something, anything, but his mouth just opened and closed.

Era readjusted his grip on Rune's throat so he could respond. The man kept glancing down to check on the rampaging dragon and Runihara knew his time was counting down either way. He fumbled for something to say.

“I-I-I meant I'm his apprentice.”

His eyes narrowed, and Rune had a foreboding feeling. “I hate liars.”

“Wait, what? No, he's at the ridge. I-” His words cut off as the man gripped his neck hard and lifted him further from the edge.

He's not actually going to…

“Go be a distraction.”

And then he lets go.

And Rune didn't even have time to scream. He watched his [Hero] walk away without another glance backwards. Not bothering to watch.

The heat grew more and more intense. The pain felt like what he imagined the stars to be. So much that it felt like nothing at all. It finally broke through his heat-resistance.

But the end of the world couldn't look away from that man's back.

Bastard.

That was Runihara's last thought before he was turned to ash.

[You have died!]

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[Rerouting to administrator...]