Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

The void of death was marked by silence. It was a shame I had died but I struggled to feel the loss personally. The events of the last few days might have happened to someone else for all they mattered now. I vaguely recalled the dangers of the System Dungeon but I saw them as quickly fading dreams. It was impossible to hold onto the thread of the memory.

Pieces of me fell away as I dropped the bundles of memory. The burden on my soul lessened with each hazy reliving of the past. I saw my parents and siblings, hopefully still living in Ireland. Their names slipped through my fingers. I remembered friends, only to forget what brought us together. Pets and music and holidays, romances and heartbreaks… everything fell away. I was a shattered mirror, and the pieces of my mind fell from the frame like raindrops.

The more I lost, the more a singular emotion invaded the sanctity of the void. My memories of love, happiness and safety were eroded. Harsher recollections, my moments of fear and doubt, were left in place, amplified by the absence. It wasn’t long until I was screaming into the nothingness, silently sobbing against the unyielding expanse.

I saw the day I had been sent to England to study, the sneer on my family’s faces at my success and their happiness at my being gone. A carousel of each time I had been bullied for being too tall, for my eye colours or the state of my shoddy clothing spun maniacally through my head. Cheated on again and again, stumbling upon the proof over and over. My soul buckled at the pressure.

Through it all I maintained a spark of lucidity.

This was… wrong. The nudge to my soul had been a step too far. Each battle I frayed my nerves and added a new mental scar. My mind was being held together by flimsy reasoning, hopeful naivety and duct tape so it was easy enough to fool. Whatever was happening to me had done an expert job at grilling away my positive memories. I sensed the pressure on my soul increase, likely in response to my attention.

Unlike my mind, I had been strengthening my soul every waking minute of the previous days. The same events which had weakened my mind were spiritual lessons which I had taken to heart. The world tried to break me, and I broke everything the world tried to throw at me. Why should the void be any different?

Impossibly, a ripple shuddered through the darkness. I looked around. For the first time, I realised it was strange that I could move. In the pitch black nothingness, the action had been irrelevant. Now I knew it was just empty, the action took on meaning again. My memory was still under assault. Why? What was happening to me?

I know this place!

How could I not? I was within my own soul. Something external was destroying my mind and body. Actually, the body situation was my own doing, I reminded myself. Hopefully, if I rectified the situation inside, my mortality would take care of itself. Either way, I was thoroughly knocked out, so dealing with my physical issues was impossible. I set myself to task.

My inner world had been utterly ravaged, down to the tiniest molecules. I had done… something and that something had cost every morsel of power I could feed into it. I nodded. That feels right. It was good to claw back some understanding, if nothing else. I scoured the vast expanse, gathering the scattered fragments. From my wide, open landscape, I found a tiny patch of dirt, all that remained of my magic. I managed to crush the dust remaining from the volcano into a single pebble.

I had to rebuild. Without my inner world, my mana was stagnant. With my mana stale and unmoving, my body was dying. In my hands were my soul and the Aspect of the Dragon. Two pieces of my eventual whole, though there were still more aspects to bind. I would leave space for the other aspects to grow into but I could only work with what I had.

The visualisation came first, and was the hardest part. Actually knowing where the foundations lay was of supreme importance. Working with my soul now was no different from working with my mana while awake. I could manipulate, experiment and improvise from moment to moment, fixing small mistakes later. The bedrock of my soul needed to be remade, and I had far more experience in doing so than before.

First, the core.

I fused the patch of dirt with the pebble before releasing it forward. The metaphorical forms faded and I watched as the two energies found equilibrium with each other. My soul was verdant green, the dragon’s energy a deep purple. My previous understanding of mana had been haphazard and full of bad habits, something I had the chance to correct here. There was no split between my mana and the draconic energy. Such thinking was docile and timid. There was no such thing as the dragon’s mana.

It’s all mine.

The void thrummed with energy. Green and purple fused into blinding white as the energies clashed. I worked to contain the power, acting as gravity for the forces which were trying to explode. I needed to create a shell, but to do that I needed mana. Unwilling to panic, I held the unstable magic in place. If I slipped, the result would be disastrous. Visualisation came with dangers and I was currently holding the equivalent of a neutron star in my grasp.

Outside my soulspace, my body was twitching. Unknown to me, two sets of eyes were watching my form with desperate interest from one and curious amusement from the other. The Storm Dragon nodded and Naea immediately slammed the complex healing energy she had crafted into my chest.

I wasn’t confused when the packet of energy found its way to my soul because it came with a message. Naea had done similar to myself. She had put most of her own soul into the magical working, creating something new. Something much greater than the sum of its parts. I watched both amazed and excited as the bundle fell into my waiting hands. It was perfect.

The blinding white light at the centre of my world increased. I began to unwrap the bundle of miracle magic. If what I previously created were "dragon crystals" within my mana, then Naea had made a "fairy dragon crystal". The power of the dragon, smothered in the healing nature of the fairy. I pulled the top layer of energy away and wrapped the core of my new inner world with it.

Immediately, my embattled soul calmed. Like a baby wrapped in a comforter, the petulant mana became malleable. I carefully continued the process. Using my vague knowledge of geography, I created a core, a mantle, a crust and an atmosphere for my recovered inner world. Millions of years of formation occurred in moments. Yet, to my mind, the process was slow. I took my time. I did not hurry the natural, watching with interest as the mana interacted with itself to create something similar to life.

After a peaceful eternity of creation, I looked out onto my world and was happy. It was next to impossible to avoid delusions of grandeur when you had actually just created a planet, but I did my best. I revelled in the pride, but never forgot my situation. All of this was to survive the damage I had taken in the real world.

At some point during the rebuild, I had the sense my life had moved out of immediate danger. Any point afterwards I could have chosen to wake up, but it would have meant not guiding the process anymore. Now, the inner world was complete and secure. However, a few more minutes enjoying the place wasn’t going to hurt. There were dramatic differences between my previous world and the new, after all.

The volcano, the river, the fields and the flowers were all here. The marks of my own soul, the Aspect of the Dragon and Naea’s influence were all more vibrant and defined than before. Instead of disjointed, awkward representations of my own idea for the powers within, the pieces of my soul worked in tandem.

I took in a breath and looked to the sky. Clouds rumbled with thunder and power, but now I could see beyond them. Instead of an unending blanket of choking smoke, three stars could be seen. My previous world had been a child’s sketch, and the new was a renaissance masterpiece. If I do say so myself. Waiting in the sky, along with the stars which represented mastery, were the three moons.

Three aspects still to be bound, three satellites to the power I now held. There was a chance I would find an Aspect which would also be appropriate to build my soul around, but the dragon wouldn’t allow it. I wouldn’t. I didn’t even consider the possibility. By making my inner world a combination of myself and the dragon only, I was setting myself on a path. Any further Aspects would be facets of the power I currently held, used in service to the Dragon.

Whatever came later, my image of the dragon would be central. I would take what I wanted, gain enough power to protect what was mine and do as I pleased. I felt a sense of pure rightness as I made the decision to link myself more deeply with the dragon. Something intrinsic fell into place as I cemented the ambitions of a dragon as my own. A comfortable sense of accomplishment followed my success.

If I had allowed myself to wake up when I first could, my soul would have guided the mana and returned my inner world to the state it had been beforehand. I had used every trick and technique stumbled upon since I discovered mana to push beyond that first basic attempt. Remembering the volatile power at the centre of my world, I shuddered at the danger had I failed.

Instead, I had done something truly miraculous. At some point, my body had woken up, but I kept my eyes closed. Feeling like I was floating on a cloud, I was just revelling in the staggering waves of power and potential which were rippling through my body. I read the System messages I received upon my success with excitement.

Aspect of the Dragon evolved to Dao Pool of the Dragon

Dao Pool - Dragon

Lesser beings claim your virtues as sins. Revel in your individuality. There is no doubt, there is only power.

Effect: Mental +50, Will +30, Mental Attribute +15%, Will Attribute +5%

Achievement Unlocked - The First Step (World First)

A path can be walked by many, or a trail can be blazed. For the newly integrated, there is no difference. You are the first to grasp the Dao on your new world, proving yourself a trail blazer.

Effect: +2 Attribute Points per Level, Attributes +10%

Indeed, at the very depth of my soul lay a pool. Just like I could take mana from my core, I knew I could use this strange liquid to make me stronger. The fact it existed within my inner world at all had already started the process, but this was just the beginning. Each draconic urge and aspiration I had chased cultivated the pool, so I just had to keep following the path of the dragon, and the power would increase.

Finally opening my eyes, all my work was nearly for nothing as I narrowly avoided a heart attack. Naea looked at me with a red-eyed, tearful smile before wrapping her arms around my neck and crying. I gently patted her head, but didn’t take my eyes off the threat looming over me. My other hand closed around my staff.

The Storm Dragon was still here. With a glance at my quest, I could see it had been neither completed nor failed.

The trial was still ongoing.

————————————

Name - Grant Kaeron Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 29

Title - Dragon Slayer

Fortitude - 20 Speed - 20 Mental - 123 Will - 60

Free attribute points: 0