A Jaded Life

As with so many things, drawing upon the draconic power deep within me to challenge the second divide started slowly. At first, I could barely feel anything, only my finely honed senses to recognise arcane phenomena and Astral Power allowed me to sense any change at all but with each passing minute, the effect became more pronounced. With each beat of my heart, I could feel the blood rush through my body, carrying with it such mundane, but utterly necessary, resources like oxygen and energy but also the magical elements present within my body, like the powerful Astral Power I could wield. Drawn from the Astral River by my soul through the lens of my mind, it was infused in every part of my body but nowhere was it as present as it was in my Blood. Well, maybe in my hair, thanks to the Magical Hair trait, but the power within my Blood was so much more vibrant than the one in my hair, linked to my vitality as it was.

And now, as I was drawing upon something deep within me, I could feel another energy flowing through me, an energy which had already been present but far less prevalent and obvious than it was now. The same energy that made my body so much more powerful than it should be also sharpened my mind and bolstered my soul to an utterly inhuman degree by giving me attributes far beyond what I should be able to have. It also had a faint presence within every magical spell I used, every bit of my Astral Power had that other energy attached to it, making my Astral Power more potent and domineering than it would normally be. The power of a dragon, first infused into my being when the Nidhögg had touched me and later nourished as I gained levels here on Terra before being added to the foundations of my Arcane Path. It was just as much a part of me as my Astral Power was, maybe even more so, and now, it would form my gateway to cross the second divide.

That power first manifested in a slowly rising thudding sound, a slow and steady counterpoint to the beating of my heart, much akin to drums, calling the brave warriors to war. The further the beating sounds rose, the louder I could feel my heart beat in response and the more power I could sense.

Soon, the drumming beats of war were joined with another sound, one amusingly familiar to me, especially here, at the top of my tower. Even now, with the magical sounds filling my ears and drawing out some of the noise coming from the real world, I could feel and hear the wind billowing around the top of my tower, bringing with it a first taste of winter. It wasn’t cold enough to start snowing, at least not at the altitude we were currently at, but there was a faint hint of ice and frost in the air, one I was enjoying greatly.

At the end of the day, no matter how far I improved the various affinities I had picked up on, I was a creature of Darkness and Ice, someone who enjoyed the freezing cold of winter and the enveloping, oppressive darkness of the night. It was where I had been born and, if I had anything to say about it, it was the conditions I would die in, slipping away to rest endlessly beneath the eternal ice.

Darkness, as so often, was primarily linked to emptiness and the void, which was what I could sense shortly after the wind from within me joined with the wind around me, forming a rapidly cooling cocoon around me and my throne, a shell of freezingly cold wind, now heavy with snow as my Astral Power started to manifest around me, taking on my primary elements. Before, there had been a faint light coming from a partially obscured moon and countless stars in the sky far above me. But now, I could almost feel the oppressive darkness, that which could not be set alight, even by the raging fires of a star, close in on me, shrouding the cocoon and turning the winds around me into a deep, pitch-black scar in the world. Within my shell, I was perfectly isolated, listening to the howling winds and the beating drum within me, calling me to rise above.

Once I felt that sensation, I started to follow it, drawing on the draconic power welling up from within my body alongside the Astral Power I habitually used. The floating sensation I experienced thanks to the power radiating out from me was somewhat different compared to the sensation I felt when using my cloak to fly but there were similarities.

Maybe the biggest difference was that the cloak was drifting with the wind, using it to overcome the pull of gravity, while this sensation was more one of dominating the world, to the point that it simply could not hold me down. Directed levitation instead of riding the wind, though I wasn’t quite certain which I would consider more pleasurable.

The higher I rose, the more of the world I was aware of, until I reached the edge of the endless darkness, where the frozen winds of the sky and the endless night of the void touched. There, in the furthest reaches of the bleak, black sky, I could let myself soar, swimming through the air and riding atop the wind, no longer in need of domination after escaping the tenuous grasp of the earth.

Far in the distance, I could see a glimpse of a familiar outline, that of a massive mountain piercing the sky. Even now, after my mind had drifted far from conscious thought, I could remember that mountain, I could remember soaring above it until I laid my head down on it to rest. It was my home, it would always be where I would belong, it was the place I yearned for and wished to return to. It sang to me, calling my name in the wind, despite the seemingly infinite distance between us.

Knowing where my mountain was, seeing the place I yearned for and dreamed about, I pushed myself, my wings starting to beat the air into submission in order to push my body towards it. Astral Power surged within my body, infusing my Blood with purpose and strength, allowing me to push my body further than it would naturally go. Making me stronger, allowing my wings to pummel the air and push my sinuous form towards my mountain.

As I soared towards my destiny and destination, I let a thunderous roar emerge from my maw. It was a warning to the heavens, daring them to get between me and my mountain. Moments after the roar ripped through the endless beyond, into the clouds far below and the void above, I let out a very different sort of roar, this one not a mere sound but a threat far beyond anything my voice could speak into existence. With a sound much akin to that of the freezing wind, a billow of snow and ice spilt forth, interlaced with tendrils of the infinite void, greedily devouring what little warmth was up here. Anything touched by this breath would be frozen for all eternity, unable to die, unable to live, eternally preserved in its temerity, a warning to all those who dared defy me, trying to block my path. Nothing would stand between me and my mountain, nothing in this world or the next. I would reach it, nothing else was acceptable.

There was resistance all around me, trying to hold me back, even after the breath of frost, cold enough to freeze the air below me. Maybe staying pure to the eternally freezing void was not the right call, maybe drawing upon more than merely the elements I was naturally strong with was necessary. Sure, my soul was primarily infused with the cold of the void, while my body was thrumming with primordial power but I was more than my body.

My mind was just as important a part of me as my body and soul were, my infinitely creative mind, capable of drawing upon the vast diversity of powers encompassed within the Astral River. Each beat of my wings pushed Astral Power outwards, and each swipe of my tail sent out streamers of power. My flight was cloaked in eldritch lightning as the powers I called upon became manifest and the sky was shrouded in an aurora of arcane power, seeking to reach my mountain.

For a moment, I felt that strange resistance weaken under my power, making me push further and further, as hard as I possibly could until, finally, I felt the resistance give way with an utterly silent and yet deeply resounding crack. The sound wasn’t one transmitted through the air, it was something deeper, something more meaningful. And yet, despite the shattering of that barrier blocking my way, the distance between myself and my mountain remained, I was unable to get any closer as if the world was expanding just as fast, if not faster, than the thrumming beats of my wings could carry me.

Suddenly, I could feel the sky around me fade, the cocoon I had been enshrouded by fade away, leaving my body sitting upon my throne, my mind reeling and my soul filled with longing for my mountain. For a moment, as I sat there, feeling both elated and utterly disappointed at the same time, I realised that I was not ready yet.

But I would be. Maybe not soon, but I would return to my mountain.