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Pyrral, the Ember Depths was just like its name. The sky was smouldering red-orange, lit by a massive star(sun) that bathes everything in twilight ember glow.
Now that we're out in the open, the heat is so intense that it makes breathing harsh. The air was dry, each breath burning my nostrils. Luckily, I could survive without breathing, so I held my breath.
From a distance, giant obsidian mountains, sharp like huge draconic fangs, were scattered all around the visible terrain, and the earth was basalt plains, indicating the presence of volcanoes
"Let's go."
I added, ignoring the dragons around the gate.
The wasn't a heavenly staircase in Pyrral so we made contact with the earth in no time. The moment I set my foot on the surface, I couldn't believe I heard it cracking.
'This is a living hell. The earth is a frozen lava.'
"Don't put on too much weight, or you'll end up falling."
I warned.
"I know. I saw a lot of people get sunk into this thin earth."
She replied. As a prisoner on the run, she must've seen all kinds of horror.
"Shh, stop talking about that so often."
I whispered. Such information can sell us out and draw attention.
"Ok. You can levitate, right?"
I took off, waiting for her to join me.
"Of course I can. Don't fly too high, you'll attract attention."
"I won't. We're skipping the earth, nothing else."
She took off and followed me.
"Where are you going?"
"To check the settlement ahead."
"And do what?"
"I don't know. Learn something."
"..."
"It's almost nighttime."
She said, drawing my attention.
"How can you tell?"
She pointed at the ground, and the earth was glowing red from beneath.
"This part of the area is mostly crowded with Void Dragons at night. Weird ones like Caraxis Family. You're strong, but in groups, they're more deadly. In the worst-case scenario, I might get killed because I'm not strong."
I understood where she was coming from. Even with my fake Family, caution still mattered. This world didn't forgive mistakes.
"We can use a shelter for the night."
I said.
"Rest and plan for tomorrow."
I didn't wait for an answer. I landed softly in the forest. The trees here were tall and ancient, their trunks petrified and black as stone, thick broad leaves yet they still offered cover from the harsh, scorching sky above.
As we moved deeper between the trees, the air changed. It grew darker and cooler, which surprised me. This burning layer of the world shouldn't have felt cold at night, not with the volcanoes and fiery aesthetics.
The forest itself glowed faintly; flowers scattered along the ground emitted a soft, coal-like light, enough to see by without the need for anything stronger.
'I love this layer. It's beautiful in its own way.'
I sense a few signatures approaching us from above, so immediately mask ours with that of the trees. The leaves were broad, obscuring the sky, but judging from the pressure of the signatures, they're under Void Dragons.
"Hold."
I commanded, and we came to a halt, the creatures breathing red or black flames into the air as they flew around.
"We have to find shelter as soon as possible."
"Don't be a scary cat. Just stay close."
After a few minutes of walking, we found a cave, a perfect cover for the night.
We stepped inside, and once again, Pyrral left me in awe. The caves were lit by natural crystals that glowed with trapped heat.
'No need for an artificial fire.'
We went further into the cave before taking a break. With the invincible threads at the entrance, no one can get past it by ringing a bell in my head.
We sat down in front of a huge glowing crystal, our eyes reflecting its glow.
"I think this is the best time to tell me all you know about the Draconic Tiers. Knowing it will help me in the future."
I can't actually like a Silverwing Blood without knowing exactly how the hierarchy operates.
"Since we're in the lower levels of Kalidor, I'll give you all I know regarding the Void Dragons Tier & Family."
"What about the Dragons themselves?"
"Let's make our way out of this first, and I promise to tell you."
I didn't reply, I simply waited for her to begin.
"Here's the tier list in ascending order.£
The D Tier. This is where the young and small Void Dragons fall in. The lowest in this Tier is the Arrax. These are very young and small. But their strength isn't to be underestimated.
"They're tenacious and tend to fight to the death even against higher dragon-kin."
"Do you know about the Star Realm Hierarchical System?"
"No."
"I just wanted to run a little comparison between them. Don't worry about that."
'Arrax are automatically off the list if they're this weak.'
"Next is Vermas. They're medium-small, strong enough to fight, but nowhere near the biggest. Vermas and Arrax are usually found in forests or cave systems like this one.
Think of them as the Dilophosaurus and Compsognathus of Void Dragons: small, weak, and skittish.
Things start heating up with the next Family.
Vizerion, the largest, fastest, and strongest of the D-Tier. Even with all that power, they're still overshadowed by the C-Tier. Like all D-Tier species, they prefer to stay hidden.
The D-Tier is basically a collection of nature-plot Void Dragons. They don't excel at anything. They're just… there, filling out the system and making it feel complete."
'The comparison between a Dwarf and D-Tier is irrelevant. I can't wait to see what C-Tier has to offer.'
I thought, marking off the D-Tier off the list.
"Next is the C-Tier."
Zunfrya is more of a beauty-type dragon than a combatant. They're renowned for their radiant appearance and possess just enough power to defend themselves against other Void Dragons within their own Family.
Next is Seasmoke. Similar to Vizerion, it's the fastest in the C-Tier, extremely agile but only mid-tier in battle. They may be larger, but fighting isn't their speciality. Older and noble dragons often use them as swift messengers.
Then we have Syrax, a mid-level, battle-experienced Void Dragon. The Void Dragons you saved me from belong to this Family.
"This is the point where draconic evolution starts to shift, some dragons from this line can even form an incomplete humanoid shape."
"Two Tiers of weaklings. That's not what I expected."
"You expected world breakers from the bare minimum, huh? Well, me too. The D-Tier is a new group created about a thousand years ago. I don't round up it to a thousand, but it's close."
'They're older than me. Good thing age is just a number. But since time is fractured at home, it may be complicated during comparison.'
"The C 'ier isn't even ten thousand years old."
She continued.
All these newer generations of Void Dragons are basically filler placeholders to round out the system. In the past, the hierarchy was dominated by pure destructive Dragons like Caraxis and his line. That era was something entirely different.
"This brings us to the B-Tier, often referred to as the Legends. Their age numbers reach into the millions, with the Caraxis Family alone boasting tens of millions. As usual, I'll start from the bottom."
Drogan, the first stable stage where true evolution becomes noticeable. Drogans aren't much of a threat on their own, but they serve as the structural foundation for many dragon lines.
"By adulthood, a Drogan naturally migrates into one of the two Families above it."
"No requirements?"
"Just existence."
She nodded.
"Most female-leaning Drogons evolve into Keleys, a fast, strong, and highly experienced Family of Void Dragons."
"What about the males and the other females?"
"Remember, Void Dragons are genderless. Their identity only becomes clear when they take a humanoid form for the first time. Some never do based on inability or choice. Either way, those Drogans without a humanoid form evolve into the Caraxis Family instead.
Aggressive female-leaning Drogans and all male-leaning Drogans end up as Caraxis. Evolution reshapes their appearance, but nobody knows the true reason behind the change.
What matters is this, the Caraxis Family is the only one capable of rivalling or even surpassing the A-Tier, Royals, in raw numbers.".
"How strong are they exactly, the Caraxis Family?"
"Well, Caraxis like Obsidian Wyrm are stated to flatten planets in Superworlds with just a roar."
'Superworlds? No matter how much time is fractured in Kalidor, ten million years isn't enough to trace back to O-Class. If that's solid, how can they get their hands on Superworlds?'
"How do you know it's a Superworld?"
"The Dark Stars and Void Dragons are allies. Few of the Dark Stars used to be Stars, so they must have a way to create Superworlds."
'By using the Mega Art Axis Mundi. This is the only reasonable answer.'
"In case you're wondering, which you're right, that isn't a feat to hit the Supergod Tier."
"Move on to the next."
'Caraxis can be classed as White Dwarf Tier at the bare minimum. The table is turning. And it's turning fast.'
I braced myself for the infamous A-Tier.
"The A-Tier, also known as Royals or Ancient Powers for the non-royal dragons. Note, the A-Tier is tricky. They're no Family with a solid top one spot because their powers and growth are unstable."
Just like any other Tier, they are three Families here too namely; Vaermithorh, Silverwing & The Cannibal.
Let's start with Vaermithorh, the biggest & larger Void Dragon-kin that first made its appearance in B-Class."
(Vaermithorh = VAIR-mih-thor)
"Approximate?"
"Yes, approximately around that Class. The first Vaermithorh was so large that it could view each angle of any Kalidorian Realm from the centre."
The Black Desert is the Black Desert because of Vermithys, the first of the Vaermithorh Family. That was before, and now he's grown. Grown so big that no Kalidor Realm can contain him, so he was ejected from the system."
"You make it sound like a test subject?"
I asked, following her scientific, almost experimental tone.
"Maybe they are. That's the only details I have on Vaermithorh. Next is Silverwing.
Nearly Vaermithorh's size and rumoured to be strong, but the Silverwing isn't a combat battle specie. She's often called the Mother of Void Dragons because that's their role in the system. To create offspring. She does that without mating, just a power to create Void Dragons."
"All Silverwing are males?"
"No. Her children are Silverwing Blood, but not all of them are males. Last but not least is the abomination among Dragons kind itself, The Cannibal.
A wild, enormous, and terrifying dragon known for eating other dragons. And not just any dragons, but including the Ancient Powers themselves."
"They can eat Vaermithorh?"
"Not Vermithys but other Vaermithorhs. If it can get its hands on them, then it'll kill and eat them. As you can see, the Ancient Powers are unstable, any Family can be at the top. But due to Vermithys, Vaermithorh is considered the top. Most of them these A-Tier keep their humanoid form and retain form using their draconic form in Kalidor."
"That's reasonable. Where are they, though?"
"In a distance place called the World of Darkness."
'Hailing from B-Class, so the Ancient Powers can rival and perhaps surpass Hypergods. What a huge leap. B-Class. Kalidor fell in O-Class. It's not reasonable that those three Dark Stars took down the Pond & Kalidor all alone.'
"Is that all?"
I asked, watching her carefully.
"That's all you need to know."
So there was more. The way she avoided my eyes made that obvious.
"What is it?"
She hesitated before answering, and when she finally did, her voice dropped low enough that even the trees felt closer.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you. These are beings you never ask about unless you wish to draw their gaze. There are dragons so ancient, so vast, that even the Ancient Powers fear them. Beings that not even the World of Darkness could contain. They are not part of the system… they are the system. Learn their names too soon, and they will learn yours."
The air seemed heavier after that, as if the cave itself had leaned in to listen. She didn't look like someone exaggerating to scare me; she looked like someone who had already made the mistake once.
Instead of continuing, she crouched and picked up a thin stick, pressing its tip into the dark soil and beginning to write, her movements slow and deliberate, as though even shaping the letters felt dangerous.
The moment the last stroke touched the soil, the cave shuddered like something had slammed into it from the outside, the stick in Vera's hand shrivelling into ash before it even hit the ground as black fire bled out from the letters she'd carved, spreading across the floor in jagged veins and swallowing the earth whole, and my heart stuttered because I knew those flames too well.
'V…void?'
I didn't think, I moved instantly, telekinesis bursting out of me in a sharp wave that hurled Vera across the cave just as the fire devoured the space she'd been kneeling in, the nihilistic energy brushing past my coat without burning it as I stepped forward and let my own void answer the intrusion, darker and denser, crashing into the foreign flames and forcing them back.
The moment my void pushed back, something answered. Their gazes fell on me.
To be continued...