I Received System to Become Dragonborn

While still consumed by inner chaos, Thar'Zul-Vekar could barely register what was happening in front of them.

Their glowing eyes trembled then becoming wide and unfocused. Their mind had been torn open. The tangled lines of thought and memory were no longer coherent. It was just fragments.

Fire, betrayal, war, and loss. Now it all become confusion. The Dragon that had hated them was gone… replaced by something else. Another form, or another presence entirely.

They couldn't understand it or grasp where they were now. So when Erend and Eccar came streaking toward them they didn't move.

They just stared as if their brain couldn't process the incoming force.

And then the attack landed one by one.

First came the bolts of arcing lightning that struck their chest, shoulders, and face. Each one detonating with a thunderous blast that cracked the air.

Then came the crushing weight of the earth power in Eccar's Magic-infused claw attack that slamming into them with brutal rhythm.

Vines tried to react to protect their master but far too late.

The flurry of blows battered the god's form until the last hit from Erend's claws that wrapped in spiraling lightning struck their chest with a deafening sound and throw Thar'Zul-Vekar from the sky.

They crashed to the earth into the scorched ground with enough force to shake the ash-covered land. A ring of black and green energy pulsed from the impact, warping the terrain and making the air shiver.

Smoke and Magic curled from the crater. But the god still breathing.

They didn't rise and send counterattack. They just lay ther with their massive frame twitching. Their claws digging into the broken ground.

The chaotic storm of their forest Magic still swirled faintly around their body. Flickering violently and without direction.

But the wounds on their body from Erend and Eccar didn't seem to be the cause pain they were feeling right now. It was something deeper. Something breaking from the inside.

Thousands of years old memories screamed through their head. Voices from another time. Faces twisted in war. A forest burning. A Dragon laughing as it turned life to ash. Promises broken. Bonds shattered. Then centuries of silence and corruption from unknown force. All made them become like this.

Thar'Zul-Vekar writhed and screamed again.

"AAAAAAA!!!"

Above, Erend and Eccar hovered in their Dragon forms, drifting in the charged air with their wings beating slowly.

"They didn't even fight back. Didn't block or dodge. They just stood there and took everything." Eccar said, his voice uncertain.

"Yeah," Erend answered, still watching carefully. "It feels like they didn't even know what was happening. Or like… they're not in control anymore."

"Or maybe that thing just accepting its. Like it's their fate or something. I don't know."

"Or they've lost their mind. We don't know what that thing is anymore. Maybe it was a god before but now? It's like something else is inside their head. Breaking it from the inside out." Erend's tone was grim.

"So what do we do?"

Erend didn't answer immediately.

Because down below, the god screamed again. It wasn't rage. It was pain. Agony tearing through their throat like something sharp was dragging itself out from their soul.

They twisted on the ground. Their vines spasmed. Magic exploded outward in unstable bursts that flared and collapsed in rapid pulses.

They weren't dying. But they were definitely breaking.

Erend hovered for a moment longer with lightning still crackling faintly across his scaled body. His eyes narrowed with uncertainty and worry.

Not because he feared the god might die. But because if Thar'Zul-Vekar did collapse on their own mind they might never get the answers they needed.

The ancient being below them was clearly at the brink of mental collapse. And that was worse than death. A shattered mind couldn't explain the past or reveal the truth buried in time.

If this thing was a god once, it could be had fallen into a deep madness that even its own identity was lost in the dark. Any answers Erend got now might not even be real. Just fragment of corrupted pieces twisted by grief and pain and whatever force had poisoned its soul.

He exhaled slowly, letting steam pour from his nostrils.

Then he spoke through the bond. "We should try something to try to calm it down."

"Did you just say calm it down?" Eccar replied, disbelief clear in his tone. "You mean that thing that's been trying to kill us for the past hour?"

"Yes. That's the only way we'll get anything out of it. We can't just beat it into submission and expect it to start talking. Not if it's broken like that."

Eccar let out a long breath. His huge Earth Dragon form tilted slightly as if even he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea. The pain the god causing him were making him so mad that he refuse the idea of just… talking to them.

"Normally when we deal with monsters, the only thing that calms them down is being dead," Eccar said.

"This isn't like that. It's not just a monster. It remembers things about us. It hates. That means there's something in there that's still aware and still capable of thought even if it's cracked."

Eccar didn't respond right away. Then, finally he said, "Okay… fine. Let's say I agree. But how? I don't remember any Dragon power that works like a lullaby. I don't have a 'calm spell' stored in my tail."

Erend was silent for a moment. Then he said, "We try the oldest thing we know."

"What's that?"

"We talk to it."

Eccar blinked his large, golden Dragon eyes. The motion looked comical on such a massive form.

"Talk? You mean words? Like a conversation?"

"Yeah."

Without another word, Erend folded his wings and began to descend. His claws dug gently into the scorched earth as he landed beside the writhing god. Steam hissed around him as he stepped closer.

Eccar hesitated, then growled and followed down. The ground cracking beneath his heavier steps.

Thar'Zul-Vekar was still twitching aand spasming with pulses of Magic. Their breathing was erratic. Magic bled from their body like smoke leaking from deep wounds. But Erend was sure that they were still there. Somewhere inside.

Erend lowered his head slightly. Then, he spoke.

"Can you hear me?" His voice was steady but not aggressive. It rumbled with power but carried a strange calmness to it. "I don't know what's happening to you. But I know you're not just a mindless monster who suddenly become like this."

The god twitched again. Their glowing eyes flickered, then locked on him even though just barely.

"You know me," Erend said slowly. "You called me something before. You hated me before. Why?"

Silence happened next. But the flailing vines slowed just slightly. The Magic pulsing from their body cracked unevenly as if hesitating.

Eccar stood beside him, tense but not making any move. Just watching closely.

"We need to know the truth," Erend continued. "What happened back then? What did I do or… whoever I was? Why do you hate us so much?"

No answer.

Just a low, rumbling growl from deep within the god's chest.

Erend stepped closer.

"We're not here to destroy what's left of you. Not if there's something to save. But you have to give us something. You have to speak. We were not the same Dragonborn that betrayed you or anything. We were just getting our power without knowing too much of it."

For a long, thick moment there were nothing came out.

Then a whisper came. Cracked and ragged. Barely a sound at all.

"…you…"

Their voice was not angry now. It sounds like dry bark snapping in the wind. And behind the pain, there was recognition.

"…you… the Fire Dragon… burned it all…"

Erend looking at them with his blue Dragon eyes. "I'm not a Fire Dragon."

Thar'Zul-Vekar's eyes flickered again. Confusion twisting through the glow. The air around them pulsed with another burst of unstable Magic. Vines flaring outward.

Erend and Eccar tensed and instinctively lowering their stance, claws ready.

Eccar growled. "I told you this was a bad idea. Talking to a this never works."

Erend didn't argue. A part of him felt the creeping hopelessness too. The sense that they were trying to speak through shattered glass.

Then, without warning, the chaotic Magic stopped. The storm of green and black light suddenly pulled inward like breath being held. A quiet returned.

And then, Thar'Zul-Vekar moved.

They stood up in a single swift motion and become unnaturally still. Their eyes were clearer now and more focused. Their gaze snapped toward Erend.

"You are not the Fire Dragon," they said. "So what are you? Where is the Fire Dragon?"

Erend glanced at Eccar, surprised. "Maybe… maybe we really can talk now."

Eccar didn't relax. His golden eyes narrowed. "If this turns into a trap, I'm breaking their jaw first and asking questions later."

But for now the god was speaking so they need to listen.

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