As the 24 hours of claiming the fortress passed he gathered as much information as he could. The first thing he did was check in with Viv and see what the situation was at the compound and if they knew where Jason was.
The news as dire. The Pantheon had decimated everyone on their side outside of the people in the compound. Currently they were working on breaking through their own barrier, which, because they had put so much points into upgrading it was taking a long time. When he mentioned coming to join them ahead of the group Viv explained to him that he could use one of the two remaining teleports to come back to the compound immediately, which, upon hearing, cut out a lot of his travel time.
He agreed to come back as soon as the fortress he was in was claimed, then he would split away from this group and come to wreck as much damage against the army at their door as he could. He was hoping that once Jason was dead he also could leave and the event would wind up. There was no certainty of that happening though. Worst case scenario he would just lock himself up in the compound until the timer runs out and just craft.
There was still hours left of the claiming, even after everyone woke up and started moving around, fully rested form a night of celebrating after the fight. There was no need for any of them to stay here though and he planned to have the on their way as soon as possible. When he found Eric and Yarila after they woke he told them he was going back to the compound via teleport after this claiming was done and that they could all continue on to wherever they wished to go.
There was some discussion around whether someone should join him but he shit it down quickly. There was no point in anyone joining him and leaving the rest of the group. Anyone that could join him in teleporting back to the compound was a leader of this group and if people saw them just leave them to go fight elsewhere it could cause an imbalance amongst the different races.
They both agreed that they would move out as a group, leaving Shaun behind to finish off the claiming and then join the main battle. Eric did stay behind for a moment and explained that Eli and his entire team left the event, claiming that they were done with fighting other people.
He had expected this and he was glad that they had done what was right for them. To say he was a bit envious was an understatement. He was forced into the leader position and now forced to stay. Still, he hoped there was only one more fight before he too could leave.
He watched the entire group walk out of the compound, he stood on one of the buildings they passed so that they could see him as they left. There was no big speech or heart to heart with anyone. He simply gave them a dip of his head as they passed to mark his thanks.
He watched as they all left and travelled out towards the central fortresses, now that he was alone he started to go back to things that had fallen on the way side over the last few months. Most importantly, he went back to his Dragon Core. It had been a long while since he took it out and a lot had changed since then. He was curious as to how those changes would effect his bonding of the core and whether it would even recognise him now that his race had changed.
To his surprise, when he took out the core and placed it in front of him it acted very differently than it ever had before. Rather than slowly emit the essence it usually did, it immediately latched onto him and seemed to almost dance with joy.
Curious, he let out his own aura for the first time since fully awakening his heritage and found it to be changed. It no longer had the feel it used to, now it practically vibrated in the air emitting a soft glow. The core joined him in pushing its presence into his and he felt as if there was so much to the core that he had never even seen before. There was more than just connection, there was feeling and history within the core.
He still didn’t know what a dragon”core’was exactly but what he did get was that their was personality to it, one that seemed to recognise what he was instantly. The only thing he could confidently conclude was that the core was once part of a dragon, not something that was created by dragons.
The core couldn’t communicate in words but it could in feeling and, what he started to understand, also memory. He received flashed that passed him in the blink of an eye. He got sapphire scales and green tinged wings. He got the feeling of flying next to a loved one and even the joy of swimming?
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It was all confusing and he didn’t quite get it all but he did feel happiness and joy in being connected to him. He didn’t think there was anything further to learn outside of forming this connection and being able to somewhat communicate. He didn’t put the core away though, not wanting to take away the feeling from the core of being connected to him. He did though ponder on why the king had given him this.
Why would the King of Dragons want him to learn how to connect to the memory of a dragon? He understood him wanting to feel closer to the dragons but he felt there was more than that. Potentially it was to actually prepare for him to bond with a dragon? When he thought about bonding a dragon the core vibrated even faster, going into a frenzy. Was it answering his question?
Do you know why the king gave you to me? The core vibrated quicker.
Was it just to learn more about dragons? The core slowed.
Was it to learn how to bond with a dragon? Quicker vibrations.
Did you know any Nephilim? Even quicker vibrations.
Were you ever bonded to a Nephilim? As soon as he asked the questions the cores vibrations and manner went off the charts. He had figured out why he had the core, specifically why he had this core.
After working that out he didn’t really ask anymore questions, the core didn’t really push him on anything either. Rather they both just enjoyed the feeling of being connected. He thought about taking out the cube that would help him train his affinity but decided that doing so could lead him to lose track of time or just stay at the fortress.
When the timer finally did he sit zero and he claimed the fortress he apologised to the core and explained that he had to move again. It may have sounded like a weird thing to do but he knew that the core was once connected to a dragon that had a very close relationship with the Nephilim. By putting it away he was severing his own connection to it and he thought that apologising for taking that away was needed.
When he was ready to get going again he activated the bracelet and looked through it till he got to the place where Viv said the teleportation choice was. He clicked on it immediately and as expected he got a confirmation screen.
Two uses left for leadership to teleport to home compound. Do you wish to use one of these remaining uses?
He accepted the use and in the blink of an eye he disappeared into darkness and a split second later found himself standing in a room in a building he had never been in before. He wasn’t alone either. In the room was a decent group of people although only one of them he really knew.
“Viv.” That was all he said at seeing her again. It had been a while since they had seen each other face to face but they really didn’t have much to say to each other since they were messaging every now and again with updates.
“You look healthy and human Shaun. To be honest I was expecting more….”
“Wing?” In an instant he used his metamorphosis skill and grew his tail horns and brought out his wings. He spread them out behind them leaving a very impressionable view.
“…..yeah, that was more what I expected.” He transformed back into his human form after the show and tell, leaving everyone a stare at him like he had grown a second head…..or horns and tail and wings more likely.
“So, I want to wrap this up as quickly as possible. Point me to the enemy, preferably Jason, so we can get out of here and back to real life.”
Viv walked with him out of the building, a number of the people that were inside of the room he appeared followed behind him as well.
“Do you have a plan for us?” Viv asked him without slowing down so he didn’t mind the question.
“Nope. I go out, kill as many as I can, if not all of them, and you do what you want.”
One of the people behind him started laughing at what he said. “There are millions of people out there, hammering away at the barrier at all hours. And you are going to what? Go out and kill them all while we sit and watch”
“Well there you go, now I have a plan for you. Sit and watch.”
After that no one said anything further to him. None of them had actually seen him fight though so he didn’t think that they had any idea what they were going to be watching. When they finally got clear of the building and made their way along a road he stopped them. He would preferred to come out form the sky, not walk out.
“Bye for now.” Shifting back into his lightning form he flew into the sky, as high up as he could while still being able to get a good view of the layout of the compound and where most of the enemy army was.
He was relieved that they hadn’t completely surrounded the compound, instead having chosen to focus on just on area of the barrier where everyone was gathered and being rotated around. From his view he could see group after group of people being walked up, they would attack with everything they had and then get sent away, while the next group came up. The process repeated again and again.
They weren’t doing much, but a quick check of the barrier told him that if they continued like this for another few days they would get through. Too bad for them though, they didn’t have a few days left. He was going to end it all right now.