>   "Here be Dragons."

>

> -A simple wooden sign, on the rim of the Cratered Peaks

I am perfect.

A statement Anagas Song echoed over and over inside his head, much like the sound of every step and breath taken in the hoard-halls of his family's den. He was a dragon, nay, a Dragon Godborn, from the lineage of Caineris Suneater, the ancestor of all Chaos Dragons, and that of the revered God-Monarch, Putri Sayu. His father was the heir-prince of the House of Balance, second only to the House of Unity, while his mother commanded a swarm of hell-forged beasts and monsters known to all as the Sundering Blade. The two met in warfare as a third party sought to pitch them against one another in a bloody feud, but in a ring made of the bodies of the fallen, the two souls met their match in body and mind, and thus, they fell for one another.

Anagas knew this story inside and out; it was something his parents were quick to tell to all who would hear it, and though their son always liked to hear the tale one more time, he was not quite as tolerable to how clingy the couple was with each other as they told their story. When he was younger, he would complain and tell them to stop being so gross, but as he got older, he usually took the initiative to leave them to their incessant love-talk.

"Dek, should we not be down in the courtyard, practicing for the ceremony?" Anagas' sister, Kiasan Sanjung, or 'Kia' to those close to her, spoke from inside his mind, her form utterly subsumed into, but not consumed by, the raging maelstrom that was Anagas' soul. The two was a twin unlike any other, with the elder brother consuming almost everything that Kia was supposed to be in the womb, save for her very soul, which, by some stroke of luck, managed to survive and co-exist with Anaga's own soul.

"In a minute, Kak." Anagas said, exhaling a gout of fire from his nose. "Do you think I look better with black scales, like this?" Anagas's changed color from a golden sheen to sleek, black perfection, the monotony broken by the royal markings of both the House of Balance and the Chaos Dragons. Anagas' lower pair of arms preened proudly at the mark of the royal heir emblazoned in the middle of his chest, while the upper pair cupped his head in deep thought.

"Black is boring. I prefer purples and pinks, myself." Kia said, exerting her meager control over Anagas' body to produce several stripes of pink and purple marks near the wrists as well as the sides of the ribs.

"I'm not a dancer!" Anagas said, blushing at the risque patterns such colors made in the shadows. "I can't dance like Ko and Ce does."

"What does dancing have anything to do with the color of your scales?" Kia asked, bewildered by the turn of subject matter.

"You know, dancers are really colorful. Their skin is, I mean. And I-" Anagas stopped as his mind conjured the memory in question for both siblings to see.

"... really? You saw-"

"Yes! And I wish I didn't, but I did. It was a private event for-"

"I know, but why didn't I know this? I don't sleep."

A strange twinkle came over Anagas' eyes as he faced himself in the mirror once more, changing his scales back to their natural golden self. "I've been learning some new things, Kak. Soul magic and the like, and I think you'll be able to get your own body if I get good enough at it."

Despite being spoiled rotten since birth, Anagas had managed to avoid becoming a complete degenerate due to the constant guidance and advice that Kia gave with patience and calmness. This quality, combined with an early realization of his burdens as the only heir of two esteemed bloodlines, made Anagas very attached to his sister.

If I am perfect, then so is my sister.

He first turned to his parents, asking them about Kia's condition, and whether it can be fixed in someway. The two lovebirds didn't take Anagas seriously at first, but after he said that he'd do anything to help his sister, his mother regarded him with a serious eye before saying,

"There can only be one heir in this family."

That had ended Anagas' attempts to get his family to help him out, and started his search for a solution to an impossible dilemma.

"Dek, don't tell me you tried to ... separate me from your soul? Because that is-"

"No, of course not! I know it can't be done, not normally, at least." The suffering sigh his sister made gave Anagas doubt about whether he was doing the right thing with his plan, but his resolve remained steadfast.

"Just don't do something you'll regret, Dek. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now." The tone with which Kia said those words broke Anagas' heart just a little bit more.

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"I wouldn't have stayed this long if it weren't for you, Kak." The dragon prince said while tenderly stroking the markings on his body that belonged to his sister. "I would do anything for you, even fight against the world."

A beat passed as the world took in the heirling's words, only to be broken by Kiasan Sanjung's first ever guffaw. It took Anagas completely by surprise, which left him at the mercy of his sister's laughter for a good five minutes or so without pause.

"Ampun, stop that. You don't need to fight the world, Dek! Just live as the heir and get married to a dropdead gorgeous goddess. Ow, how am I getting cramps?! Oh, the things my baby brother says sometimes just tears me up."

"...Kak?" Anagas' voice was as still as the blade of an assassin.

"Yeah, Dek?"

"I'm not going to talk to you anymore." And in act befitting of his tantrum, Anagas Song, heir ascendant of the House of Balance and the chaos dragons, as well as the little brother of the ghosly echo of one Kiasan Sanjung, exploded into flames and trashed his own room.

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"You're late, Song." His mother's words hit Anagas as soon as he left the charred remnants of his room. No one else was around though, and on it went until right up to the residence' inner wall gate, where tireless and powerful stone guardians stood watch. From there, the only souls that could be seen were that of Anagas' pets, the various random wildlife that occasionally wanders in, as well as the specialized populations of unique beasts meant to be used for training, for sport, or for simple enjoyment. It was only once one met the middle wall gate that actual people could be encountered; a veritable legion of servants, laborers, traders, cooks, hunters, and many others sworn into service of the heirling's every need. Indeed, that Anagas could hear his mother's words were more of a testament to her size and power than their proximity, as proven by the undulating shadows cast upon the clouds above him, darkening the perpetual day that shone on the estate.

"I'm sorry, mom. I was a bit distracted by something." Anagas took notice of a random moon passing by before a single arm shot out from one of the looming shadows and crushed it to pieces. The fragments were swiftly erased by the estate's wards, and so the arm retreated, joining the vast multitudes of its like that ringed the body of the strongest Chaos Dragon in existence.

"Are you still thinking about your sister?" The tiniest hint of his mother's voice rose and Anagas instantly found himself resisting the urge to prostrate and beg for his life. "I love you both, but what happened to her is not your fault. She should be grateful she still gets to live with us instead of with the lowest of the low in the Garbage Fields below."

"No, of course not." Anagas lied as he wiped sweat off his face. "And she's got nothing to do at all with why I got distracted. Honest." The heirling stepped through a portal a servant had set up while he was talking, putting him right up to the transportation chamber right near the outer walls of the estate.

"I'd like to walk for today." Anagas announced to his servants, all of which immediately began setting up various snack stands and entertainment ahead of the heirling at breakneck speed.

"Your father is waiting for you. Did you remember to do what I asked you to do?" Anagas' mind tried its best to remember, but failed quite miserably.

" ... Yeah. Of course." Anagas whispered his lie before deciding to change course. "No, sorry. I don't remember what you told me to do, mom. It really just left my mind somehow."

"Don't worry, dear. It happens." Anagas' mother chuckled, blowing away some of the nearby clouds. "I want you to go out for a bit and look for something unique to bring back. Something you've never seen before."

"When am I going to get the time for that?" Anagas complained as he took a whole roast cow off its grill and began eating it in earnest. Kia, being the more weight-conscious of the sibling pair, opted instead for refreshing refills of green tea, which she drank using a small mouth under Anagas' abs.

"You need to eat more vegetables, Dek. Otherwise you're never going to get taller." Kia said as Anagas consumed yet another cow and two fried satyrs.

"I'm a dragon and dragons only eat meat." Anagas countered, his many mouths salivating at the prospect of continuing his feast. "Besides, it worked for mom. She's huge."

"Don't let her catch you saying that. She'll kill us both. And she eats worlds, Dek, which also contains plants, so there goes your brilliant plan of an all-meat diet." The bodiless princess sighed at how childish her younger brother was behaving.

"Ugh, fine. I'll eat the green stuff for dinner." Anagas yawned as he licked off the remaining sauces from his lips.

"And could you lay off the soy sauce on everything? Even on the tea?! What is even going on with your tongues?" Kia's voice broke a bit near the end, but was otherwise calm.

"I don't know, it just tastes better. I like to think of like salt, in terms of necessity." Anagas said as he took a massive chomp out of a caramel-glazed, bacon-strip wrapped, beef-on-the-cob pancake burger.

The rest of the walk went much the same, up until they reached the transportation chamber. Hundreds of thousands of beings cycle in and out of the monolithic structure, which towered just shy of the Anagas' family estate outermost wall. At least, that's the illusion it gives. In truth, its size is always adjusted specifically to everyone that enters so as not to feel too cramped and not so spacious that people get too comfortable at remaining inside its insides.

For Anagas Song, Heirling Prince of Chaos and Harmony, the chamber was a bit above his height and the width of four burly men with their arms outsretched. It also looked remarkably like a hotel lift, but brand-new and, as he stepped inside and pressed a button with a square symbol on it, had decent elevator music for once.

The ride took about three or four minutes, which was the perfect amount of time to clean oneself up and make some silly poses and faces to no one. It's one of those things were having a travel time ends up enhancing the experience of the journey so that it feels earned rather than handed to you with a quick zap and some funny sounds.

As the lift door opens, brilliant, stinging, and soft light filled the space, snaking into Anagas' retinas and to the deeper, lightless depths of the heirling' inner workings. It took several filters of the light with his wings that Anagas Song manages to once more look at his dad' realm in full.