《· of rousing quakes ·》

～·～·～

He wanders, aimless and amiss.

A man without scale, without wings or a beast's pride and honour. A man without purpose but the path ahead of him. It feels like a distant dream. One he can nay recall, like a word teetering the tip of a tongue. His soul is embroiled by what is, by what should be. Yet he is unsure what it is. Always unsure.

The sky around him absorbs a blackened night respectable of one's might. But whose? A dotted path of obsidian stones lay in a lava-ish river; a blue inferno that overflows on either side of him in rippling waves, falling into an abyss. And he's balancing on the edge of the realm on a fine, fine thread.

He has never fallen before, or has he? What should happen if he does? He can nay remember.

The heat licks against his bare skin, yet he feels naught but numbness. An embroiled emptiness that has him longing. For what? He is yet to discover, or has he forgotten?

Teetering the obsidian path all he knows. Mindless steps dip stones further into the lava that leads endless—so far out the glowing blue river dwindles to naught. His simple long-sleeve shirt tucked into breeches remains unscathed, and hair far outgrown its time drawls down the breadth of his back in layers of obsidian.

Then, in the distance, the soft brilliance of a star appears. He pauses, tilting his head in curiosity. He does nay recall that happening before, that he is certain. Then another, and another, another. Soon, an entire galaxy of stars glitter around him.

Clusters of raging white stars collide into a rift of violet energy, where bleeding wisps of pink furl into one's night. As he watches, another star soars, trailing across the sky in a blinding flaunt of light. He turns around to follow it. It crashes into another, sending blazing white shards amidst as the collision's heavenly power erupts into an explosion of light and energy.

Its boom resounds through the cosmos, rippling with a power that's enough to have him shielding his face from its heaving scorch. Yet it leaves his jaw slackened in astonishment. All around him, the stars radiate with a fierceness rivalling that of a beast, warring upon themselves in rupturing gestures of heaven-defying force.

He is awestruck beyond belief; a staggering balance almost tosses him over the edge.

A lone star descends, falling onto a stone far, far away from him. He looks onwards, watching as it grows and morphs into a glowing silhouette. One with feminine curves and flowing hair—yet he is much wary. More so as she lifts her arms, and the glow of her essence reaches for him in the form of small roaming stars.

He grows uneasy, watching as the small orbs scatter around him, brushing golden warm upon his skin. They reveal what was once there; a reflection of his heritage. He lifts his forearm. A star drifts by, exposing the scales to its light. Another grazes against his cheek, across his stomach, down his back, at his legs, revealing what should be.

He holds up his hand, human-like as ever, until gold illuminance reflects truth—talons for nails, scale for skin.

"What is this?"

A beast of sorts?

He glances questionably at the star. Beneath her veil, she smiles soundlessly. Her stars drift away at a risen hand. She flicks her wrist, and they assail. White-hot pain abruptly burns his skin. He grunts with a dangerous stumble. The stars divulge into all corners of his body. They sink, absorb, then devour—their intensity searing beneath his skin in glowing white fury.

He shouts and glares in horror, helpless as darkly lit scales prickle and erupt in clusters through the raging light of his skin like mountains. Pain snaps into his spine. He yells a muted cry. A sudden force protrudes from his back in a series of ear-piercing cracks and squelches, leaving behind the contorted writhe of a wing. It's enough to drop him onto all fours, utterly at the mercy of the stars' wrath.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Through his pained wince, he glances up at the feminine star. Her hand, still raised, wields another brighter, hotter, angrier star. His eyes widen in dread. She only smiles a voiceless symphony, then drops it.

It charges at him.

He quickly staggers to his feet, making the mistake of back-stepping into the lava. The thick liquid swallows his leg, anchoring him knee-deep. Desperation can nay pry it out, and he has nay time to brace himself when the burning orb crashes into his chest. Its force throws him over the edge.

Its scorching rupture is unlike anything he has ever felt. It seeps within the cavity of his bony cage, imploding an insatiable heat. He roars of inhumane, muted agony, feeling the star melt and burn deep into the ache of his chest as if he has swallowed the sun itself.

And yet, it kindles into his very soul.

～·☆·～

Burning blue irises snapped open.

The density of one's tomb shadowed blue across the long-ago withered skeletons of those who dared, those who deceived.

A thunderous growl rumbled through snarled jaws. Its quaking echo bore a force that quivered and groaned. A shift of lethargic movements abruptly gave way to the enclosed walls of one's tomb in staggering heaps—a crippling will to keep its prisoner embroiled and trapped.

Nay.

Pupils of darkened daggers dipped into ringed pools of ravenous blue, narrowed in fury. Power earthed from scaled brawn, leaking an aura so intense that with a mere glance, broken claws of abysses ripped into jagged rocks for walls.

Such devastation crumbled the mountain's might upon one's stirring presence, unleashing a force long since dormant in waves of smouldering heat. Thunderous quakes ruptured through the ridge of earth in reverberating agony. Boulders collided and smashed, threatening an inevitable demise.

Wings stretched out in aching relief, heaving air beneath with a violent, primordial nature reawakened, too overwhelming for the realm to bear.

One's presence ripped into the earth beneath. Ear-piercing rumbles tore apart the binding fabrics of stone and clay, prying open the darkened hell of a fissure so vast and wide. Seconds watched with one as it swallowed the will of the mountain range. Booming groans erupted, deafening the moonless night as it fell prey to an ominous cloud of gravel and dust.

Above, beat the wings of the awakened as one's runic tomb of mountains dug its own grave, buried.

Lo-and-behold, a dracen roused, for he was embroiled nay longer.

—

ヾ(￣▽￣)Bye~Bye~

~ Sonya ~

Word count excluding A/N: 1086