"Lone," Soph suddenly said as she stopped gathering her magic power. "I can feel a really really really big amount of mana flying towards the tree."

Lone stopped meditating and got up. He cracked his neck gently and sighed. "I guess he's here. How are you two doing on mana points?"

Eolande stretched and fluttered her wings lightly. "I have about thirty-percent back."

Soph frowned. "I only have twenty-percent."

Eolande grinned. "I'm far more skilled at gathering ambient mana than you are, apparently."

Soph's frown turned into a growl. She was going to retort, but Lone stopped her. "Now isn't the time for you two to be bickering. Go help Ele'hunda and Lipsilk."

Soph and Eolande both blushed a little and they looked embarrassed. Eolande just sheepishly nodded her head while Soph replied, "Yes, Lone. Sorry... I'm just too used to responding like that to her... Sophie always tells me that I need to be more aggressive about you..."

"It's fine. I'm glad you girls can mess around considering the circumstances, but now really isn't the time." Lone's tone was warm and devoid of anger.

Eolande licked her lips. "I like it you when you're bossy, Husband."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Scram. The both of you," Lone said as he shooed the two of them away.

Eolande flapped her wings and flew off while Soph lightly kissed Lone and wished him luck before she gave control to Sophie and then created a small barrier disk and clambered on top of it. The semi-transparent green barrier took Sophie off into the direction of Eolande.

Now alone, Lone looked at Saturn and asked it a question. "Since you can hover, can I stand on you and ride you instead of wasting my stamina to fly myself?"

Saturn happily hummed before it quickly went down to Lone's left foot and hooked itself onto his boot via its rotating ring. It floated up into the air and waited for further instructions from its master.

Lone had no trouble keeping his balance due to his high agility, however, he would be lying if he said that this wasn't peculiar and very surprising. "You really are very useful, aren't you?"

Saturn's response was more happy chiming sounds from the crystal sphere. "Okay, take us to the barrier. Can you sense Ythmagobla? He's made up of a lot of primal energy just like you. If you can, go to the point that he'll meet the barrier. If you can't, head to the point that the barrier is closest to the general army."

In response, Saturn whizzed through the air with Lone atop of it. Its speed was so great that Lone was struggling more with the wind pressure than he was with balancing himself.

It was only a few seconds before the sentient weapon and its master had arrived at the western side of the barrier. There was no one around as far as the eye could see. "So you can sense him? You might be a really handy little fella for sniffing out the remaining Primal Essences, huh? I'll have to test your range another time. I want you to hum once Ythmagobla is almost here, okay?"

"Th're is nay needeth, f'r I am already h're, Vile Fox," a strange and creepy voice whispered into Lone's mind.

Saturn quickly brought Lone down to the ground and detached itself from his boot. It then floated up and vibrated menacingly.

"An int'resting trinket.  I can seeth wherefore mine own issue wast so int'rest'd in 't.  I shalt enjoyeth destroying 't.  I am not as curious as po'r Van wast," the voice stated as it continued to use that speech which Lone could barely understand.

"Who are you?! Are you Ythmagobla?! What the hell are you saying?!" Lone shouted as he clad himself in his bone armour and prepared himself to let Darkness take control of his body at a moments notice.

"Ah. T'is easy to f'rget yond simple m'rtals cannot fully und'rstand the fusty speech from bef're the days of the system's coming to our humble home.  V'ry well.  I shalt speaketh in a way yond is easi'r f'r thee to comprehend." It was after saying those words that a massive dark-purple cloud of energy slowly descended from the sky.

This cloud was at least three-hundred-feet long and two-hundred-feet wide. A few seconds passed by in silence as the cloud and the Foxkin faced each other. Sweat trickled down Lone's brow. He could sense the sheer volumes of power rolling off of this... thing, and it honestly scared him.

The cloud rapidly congealed and formed into the body of a massive, but skinny and lean-looking dragon. This dragon who was undoubtedly Ythmagobla, gave Lone a distinct feeling of loneliness and despair as opposed to the feelings of hope and cheer that Garadia emanated.

"You are the one. The one who is interfering at every step. Not only did you oust and defeat Itchy in one of Van's toys, but you also fooled my most important spy into revealing himself. Even now, you lead great warriors who have the means the defeat those who should be far out of their reaches." Ythmagobla's tone was surprisingly one of respect, not hate.

Lone felt like his mind was being torn apart just listening to Ythmagobla's voice. He was very thankful for his high level of Mental Pain Resistance. 'So her real name was Itchy, not Scratchy? She isn't very inventive, is she?'

"I did wonder how any of this was possible, but I have my answers now. A true Ascending. Not one of those fakes created by the humans, but a true Ascending. To think that I would live to see the day that an Ascending would be born. I am thankful for your existence, and it saddens me that I must kill you." Ythmagobla almost sounded... genuinely upset.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Lone was confused. "You are Ythmagobla, right? The Darkness Dragon who wants to murder the world tree and steal its power?"

An expression of regret filled the skinny dragon's face. "Indeed. I shall not waste my time explaining myself to a vile fox like you, no matter how special you may be. I will, however, say one thing. The value of my life far outweighs the value of the life of a single world tree. This was not an easy decision to make, but it was one that was needed regardless. I don't expect you to understand, but I would like it if you knew that I do not do what I do without reason."

"As if any excuse could justify murdering a whole world tree. Not to mention the fact that one of your minions cursed two innocent foxkin with your power. They were killing him, yes, but he was a necromancer that had committed crimes, so it was within their right. Can you justify that?" Lone asked with a bit of snark in his voice.

He couldn't believe that he was arguing with an Ancient-level being. Lone was thankfully for every extra second that he got, though, since he could use that time to restore his mana. Unlike Eolande and Sophie, Lone was far less talented at that without the help of his Meditation skill.

"I admit. I am no saint, nor are my followers. However, do the actions of one man really show the views and nature of a whole group?" Ythmaoglba countered.

"Of course not," Lone snorted. "But it hardly helps that there is literally nothing good to be said about you and your people in any records or accounts of history. Even Darkness himself admits that you are far more evil than good."

"Ah... I was right. So he has chosen an avatar... To think it was you. Well, that confirms my final suspicion," Ythmagobla said with a long and heavy sigh.

Suddenly, the pressure in the air skyrocketed. Lone found himself unable to move out of sheer fear. 'W-What the fuck?! Is this a skill or something?!'

Unfortunately, very little was known publically about dragons, Ythmaoglba especially since he was unusually secretive, even more so than his fellow dragons.

Ythmagobla swiped his claws at Lone, fully intent on killing him. "Hmm?"

Ythmagobla was surprised. He felt resistance. He had used Dragon Fear, a skill that all dragons who had reached Divinity owned, so the vile fox was most definitely immobilised. Of course, Ythmagobla was aware of the peculiar ability of Lone's that allowed him to freeze attacks, but surely that wouldn't effect Ythmagobla, right?

The Darkness Dragon's assumption was correct. He was too high of a rank to be affected by the Lord of Possibility skill, and Lone's Bone Armour skill was much too weak to block an attack on the scale of Ythmagobla's claws.

What stopped the attack, was a long bladed-spearhead made of pure primal energy. Saturn, with much effort and after consuming one of the stored ten X-ranker souls within the Divine Soul Prison, was able to successfully counter Ythmagobla's strike, protecting its immobilised master.

"Astounding. This device, this weapon, it successfully blocked a full-power claw swing from the great me?" Ythmagobla was starting to consider retracting his statement about destroying Saturn now after witnessing its potential.

Lone held Saturn's ring and looked at Ythmagobla with clear terror in his eyes. He had only now been able to gain a skill that allowed him to resist the effects of Dragon Fear, a skill called Fear Resistance. It sounding stupidly simple, but Lone was thankful for it nonetheless. Moving was still a struggle, but he could clearly think now.

'That was really dangerous. If I hadn't had Saturn, could I have healed the damage that swipe would have done?' Lone shook his head. 'I think I was definitely dead if that hit me... Terrifying. Darkness, get out here.'

'Oho? I thought you wished to test your metal first against my strongest child?' Darkness' playful voice filled Lone's mind.

'I don't have time for your fucking games. Take over my body now! I'm not sure if this lizard is going to attack me with something stronger, something that Saturn can't block,' Lone ordered with a very stern and almost panicked voice.

'But what if I don't want to?' Darkness' sultry voice was quickly starting to enrage Lone with the words it was speaking.

A strict and commanding voice that Lone had never heard before responded to Darkness in his stead. 'You will help the Lord, or I will force you to help him. Do not make me control you, Darkness. If the Lord dies, I vow that I will not rest until I wipe the word 'Darkness' out from existence along with everything associated with it.'

A calm and soft voice followed shortly afterwards. 'I agree with Sky. Though I may be the weakest Primal Essense, I too will not cease to hunt you and your children down should my own child perish due to the Mighty Mortal's demise.'

'So that's Sky? He sounds like a decent guy so far,' Lone privately thought.

'Scary, scary. I was only kidding. It would have done Master some good if he fought with Little Purp a bit more, but fine, I'll stunt his growth since you're all so keen,' Darkness replied to Sky and Radiance in his usual sarcastic and jokey tone.

Immediately, Lone's tail fur, his hair and his eyes all turned a deep shade of purple. Saturn reacted immediately and distanced itself from Lone as soon as it felt a change in its master. "Hey don't be scared, little ball of death, I'm your master's friend, which makes us friends, right? Give me a hand putting my child in line, okay?"

Saturn hesitated for a moment before it cautiously floated next to Lone again. 

While very brief, Lone changing to Darkness and the following interaction between said Primal Essence and Saturn had taken more than enough time for Ythmagobla to attack Lone at least three times.

Why hadn't he? Simple. He wished to meet Darkness as soon as he had sensed Lone contacting him. "So you are my creator, my origin and my father?"

"Yup." Darkness waved playfully. "That's me. Darkness, in the flesh. Well, in someone else's flesh."

Ythmagobla's gaze sharpened. "Why did you choose a mortal to be your avatar?"

"Well, the rent's all-inclusive, three meals a day, oh! And free wifi. That is the right way to use that word right? I've heard a few heroes in the past complaining about it. The worlds they come from sure do sound like a lot of fun, don't they?" Darkness asked as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You wish to dodge the question?" Ythmagobla was starting to feel nothing but disgust for Darkness. He had never been fond of the very concept of the Primal Essence in front of him, so all Darkness was doing was solidifying Ythmagobla's views on him.

"Little old me, dodge a question, from big old you? Don't be silly. It's called small talk. Small. Talk. Anyway, I didn't really choose Master here, per se, it's more like... the forces inside of his soul were so attracted to me that they just couldn't let me go the moment I made contact with them? Yup. Something along those lines," Darkness said as he nodded his head a few times as if to reassure himself of his statement's validity.

"Anyway, the questions can wait for when you're nearly dead, can't they, Little Purp? Master is yelling at me over and over again to start already. He really is quite very impatient," Darkness explained with a bit of a sigh.

"Very well, though in your current state, I highly doubt that you can injure me, let alone bring me to the cusp of death," Ythmagobla claimed with no intentions to taunt Darkness. he was simply a firm believer of what he had said.

Darkness smiled mysteriously. "I wonder about that."