Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

Badaila was an old planet by cosmological standards. Its people had been cultivated within the System for many, many generations. The bedrock of the world was deeply infused with its own unique mana, as any planet seeded with life will create. Natural wonders which could only be found upon its silver shores were sought by the aspirational beings which aimed for the highest tiers of existence.

It was said that even the lowest child, born in a pleasure house to an uncaring mother and absent father, would be as a king to someone born elsewhere. Such was the abundance and potential that one could find in its luscious jungles or massive mountain ranges. A youth might only need to sit in a stream for a few hours and they would no doubt collect many gems or crystals as they casually floated along.

When the world was threatened, and such a thing happened often, it was defended not just by the stalwart protectors from the planet itself, but others who would not see its gifts fall into the hands of an opposing faction. In fact, most wars that aimed to reach Badaila were fought on planets far away from even the jewelworld’s solar system, let alone within its pristine atmosphere.

So when the sky became alight with colours, the people of Badaila watched in wonder, not fear. They didn’t know how to be afraid, or why they would need to be. With excitement in their hearts, they saw the lightning arc across the vast expanses. It wasn’t until the bolts began to descend through the clouds, tearing apart that perfect atmosphere that the screams started.

The mountains were ground to dust, the seas incinerated by the heat of the Storm Dragon’s descent. Its colossal shape landed upon the world with a heave. It hadn’t even attacked Badaila, it had simply arrived. That was enough. Scant days later, the planet was stripped bare of its mana-rich core. Its natural wonders would never be seen again, and the loss of Badaila was a warcry to those who would attempt to slay the Storm Dragon.

A task not yet complete.

I stumbled free from the haze of memory which clouded my mind, waking up, though I hadn’t truly been asleep. “Which wave? Another one?” I didn’t have the energy to talk, to explain what I was seeing and what was going on. There would be time for that later. I organised my mind, recalling my own name and working from there.

“That was the fourth wave. It said this was the final one.” Despite her words, there was no hope to be found in Naea’s voice. “We can leave, Grant. The quest just says these are for extra rewards, let’s go.” I couldn’t quite muster the strength to speak right away, so I unfettered our connection. I had to snap it shut when the revenants were assaulting, or she would be affected too.

Instead of malice and hate coursing down the line, she received contrition and apology. “Stupid idiot,” she sniffled. It broke my heart to make her sad or to worry her but I couldn’t stop now. The System had placed me onto this planet, whether by accident or by fate, and the fate of this world was now desperately important to me. It had already been destroyed, by a power that I sought to claim and call my own, and I wanted to do all I could.

The pure black mana and I had become intimately acquainted at this point. Each fluttering particle contained a fragment of the world’s history. The first wave held the joy and wonder which the people of the planet held for life. The next wave, and each after that, had been examples of desolation. Finally, I had seen the culprit. Deep was the hatred for this loss, felt not just by the people of the world, but those who had left it for further gains and those who hoped to journey there one day.

For some arrogant and personal reason, I had decided to face that anger headfirst. Maybe it’s the greed of a dragon. I’ll even take guilt which isn’t mine. For whatever reason, even that glib thought felt like an excuse. In so many ways, I had the Storm Dragon to thank for my own power. I had faced a remnant version of its strength, a whisper of its shadow, and it had nearly killed me for a joke. That experience, along with the insights into Dao that it had afforded me, was the foundation of my current strength.

Strength which meant next to nothing in the face of what had happened to this world. Not only was the Storm Dragon inevitably stronger now than it had been when destroying Badaila, the strength to oppose such despicable might was far beyond the realms of my understanding. How many points into Fortitude did the Storm Dragon have? Or Will? Did a being like that truly work in numbers, adding points to its character page?

I didn’t have answers, but my insights from the experiences of Badaila suggested no. The way even those most common of people upon Badaila used the System was different to how it worked for me. Whether these were either different iterations, or it literally changed from person to person, I wasn’t entirely sure. Planet to planet, perhaps? For now, it was just an interesting piece of information to add to the mountain I was already struggling to understand.

“Let’s do this,” I breathed. When the barrier didn’t drop, I had to expend some energy glaring at Naea. If I wasn’t being smashed with the pressure and malaise, then she was bearing it for me. She relented under my truly angry gaze. With tears in her eyes, born of anger and fear, she released the deluge.

As I had before, I faced the revenants without flinching. I had spent hours of time and far too much energy trying to meet the energy with aggression. Falling into the patterns which had worked against physical beings, I forgot how to deal with emotions. “Some therapist,” I joked, wincing. Throat feeling like sandpaper, my skin cracked all over, I raised my hand. The pitch black ocean blotted out the green sun.

Monster - Flying Revenant of Badaila - Level 25

Drain.

With each wave, the power of the revenants increased alongside the vitriol they contained. While my mind was harassed by the memories of Badaila, my body had increasingly felt like a balloon being inflated too far. I shunted the energy from my mana channels with ever-increasing speed, Naea’s assistance also improving with every vengeful spirit we laid to rest. I battled to keep my mind my own while Naea and I continued to purge as much black mana as possible.

Finally, the clamouring in my mind was too much and I fell into the grasp of the hateful, unending darkness of the destroyed word. I tumbled through vivid memories, each and every one the same event, played a billion times from every perspective possible. In the hours before the Storm Dragon’s immense form touched down on the planet, its mana had been destroying the world in preparation.

Bolts of draconic lightning scorched entire cities away in a single thunderclap. Yet, what was an instant in time for those lives lost played out to me thousands of times. Millions, perhaps. Each death was mine, and I felt every terrifying moment. I became intimate with the regrets and unfinished business of an entire world taken before its time.

My skin melted, my synapses and nerves exploding as everything I was got stripped away in an instant. A fragment of a portion of a morsel for the Storm Dragon. Multiplied a billion times over as all life on the planet was snuffed out. Rich or poor, powerful or not, no one survived. Not one single soul. Instead they festered on this planet, so devoid of life and power that even their spirits could not find peace.

A planet’s worth of life and an apocalypse worth of death channelled through me. Before, defeating the Storm Dragon was a goal born of aspiration and hubris. After seeing, feeling and overcoming the events of Badaila, it was far more personal than that. Thanks to Naea, I didn’t dissociate and lose myself, but it would take a long time for me to process the fullness of what the System had just shown me. What Badaila had shown. For better or worse, it would be impossible to forget what happened here.

I was certain there was no end to the agonising death of the planet. Yet, I was learning more and more that all things come to an end. Even Armageddon, apparently. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, I returned to my own body. My eyes opened slowly, squinting against a sky that felt far too bright. “Who turned up the sun?” I moaned, throwing my arm over my face.

“Actually, that was you.”

“Me? How did I make the sun brighter?” I flooded the connection between Naea and myself with gratitude, more potent than saying thank you out loud would be.

“Turned all that tainted mana into natural mana, didn’t we? Got myself a skill out of it.” She had bravado, but Naea’s shaky voice was hard to hear. Almost as a whisper, she asked “Did we really need to do this, Grant?”

I sighed, opening my eyes and giving her a smile. “Yeah, Nae. At least, I did. So, thank you for helping me. I promise, we’ll do anything you want for the next couple of days after we get some rest.” That seemed to placate her and I got her to explain her new skill to me while I was getting a little more energy back. It was simply called Cleanse and it made purging nasty effects easier. Very nice.

Final Wave Defeated

I turned to my own System messages when I could. There wasn’t much fanfare, but that was okay. I felt incredibly sombre, and any pomp or circumstance right now had the fair chance of making me vomit. That wasn’t to say that I would ignore my rightfully earned rewards, however.

Dungeon Quest Completed - Rekindle The Land

Though the scars of tragedy will never fade completely, a healing has occurred. The screaming souls of Badaila have quietened. The Tree thanks you.

Reward: Ownership of nearby Everbloom Evergreen

I had almost forgotten the reason I had entered the dungeon in the first place. I needed to recover, but remembering that this had not just been to punish myself helped a little. A crackling slash in the universe opened up, revealing the massive tree which had led to this place. “Why would the Evergreen thank me?” I asked, to which Naea just looked confused and shrugged.

With amusement, enjoying the irony in it, I mass-closed a certain System prompt. The achievement Draconic Legacy had apparently activated over and over again. Rarely noticeable, the achievement increased the duration of positive effects on me, while lowering the potency of negative ones. I was almost apologetic that the power of a dragon had allowed me to defeat a curse created by a dragon, but I was starting to get dizzy with the confusing feelings. Ignoring them, I moved onto the other System prompts.

Achievement Unlocked - Cursebreaker

Though you were not afflicted by it yourself, you chose to destroy an immensely powerful curse. By casting off a curse of a higher grade than yourself, your resistance to such effects has increased.

Effect: Increased Curse Resistance

I mostly hoped that it wouldn’t be an issue in the future, but I was glad for any additional protections, I supposed. As with most achievements in this way, like Survivor which increased my regenerative effects, it would have been more helpful before gaining it. I moved on.

Title Unlocked - Savior of Badaila

The Jewelworld Badaila was not just loved, but incredibly powerful. Even after destruction, it did not become a dead world, but a cursed one. This high grade curse was purified through you, and the planet itself rewards.

Effect: Your presence increases duration and potency of positive effects in the area.

“Well, damn. That one sounds good, you didn’t get this did you Naea?” I flipped the screen and Naea gave me a toothy, over-the-top grin. She showed me her version, which had the same wording. We spent a short while recuperating before I planned to drag myself from the still desolate Badaila and back to Earth. Naea spent the time in a kind of meditation, connecting with the now healed Dungeon and expanding her understanding of the System a fair amount. She said we could talk about it later.

I took one last look at the planet before leaving. The green hue in the sky had changed, becoming softer. Without the revenant mana flowing through the air, it was possible to see some form of beauty here. At least, it was when I looked into the night sky. A beautiful nebula danced across the cosmos above, visible even in the relatively bright light of Badaila’s daytime. A truly alien sight.

As the dungeon closed behind me, I made a promise to myself. “That will never happen to Earth, not as long as I can help it.” I knew that I couldn’t help right now. If the Storm Dragon appeared tomorrow, Earth and everyone on it was gone in the blink of an eye. I needed to get stronger.

Much stronger.