John felt the Dragon King’s voice echo inside his mind, a deep, resonant presence that bypassed ears and spoke directly to his soul. “John, transform,” the king commanded, his telepathic words heavy with expectation.
John hesitated for only a heartbeat before drawing in a breath, letting draconic energy surge through his veins. As the change began, a sudden, searing heat flooded his body—not the familiar warmth of transformation, but a boiling rush that felt alien and powerful. It was not his blood, he realized, but the ichor he had consumed—the divine essence reacting violently to the draconic metamorphosis.
The process was agonizing, every cell writhing as if forged anew. He was taking a new dragon form unlike the one used during the parallel world’s dungeon. When it finally ended, John stood on the platform as a dragon unlike any Golddeep had seen: his scales pure, radiant gold, shimmering like molten sunlight, his form larger than Kael’s, though not yet matching the immense bulk of Draco, let alone the gargantuan sizes of the council elders like Zephyra. The air around him hummed with latent power, and the ichor’s influence was evident—his golden hide seemed to pulse with a light of its own, as if the very essence of divinity had been woven into his draconic flesh.
The council members, ancient and mighty, exchanged glances filled with awe and curiosity, while the Dragon King’s eyes gleamed with pride. John, now a dragon of gold, felt the weight of his new form, the ichor still burning within, marking him as something beyond even the mightiest of his new kind.
The Dragon King threw back his massive head, jaws opening wide, and unleashed a roar that shook the very mountain and sent echoes crashing through Golddeep’s cavernous halls. “Behold the new king!” he bellowed, voice rolling like thunder, “the golden king of prophecy!”
All around, dragons fell silent mid-flight, wings pausing in the air as every eye turned toward John, the radiant golden dragon standing tall on the high platform. The light from his scales seemed to intensify, casting a warm, divine glow across the city, bathing the watching throngs in shimmering gold.
For a moment, the entire hive-city seemed to hold its breath. Then, as one, the dragons erupted in a chorus of roars, cheers, and celebratory breaths, filling the cavern with a symphony of draconic acclaim. The air crackled with magic and anticipation, as if the world itself recognized the arrival of a king foretold by ancient legends—a king whose very form defied the ages and whose power promised a new era for the dragon race.
John, golden scales gleaming under the adoring gaze of thousands, felt the weight of prophecy settle upon his shoulders. He was no longer just a boy from a distant human village; he was the fulfillment of destiny, the golden king whose name would echo through the halls of Golddeep for eons to come.
After the last echoes of the celebration faded into the mountain’s silence, John found Kael and Orwen waiting for him in a quiet alcove off the main chamber, their expressions heavy with unspoken worry. Kael’s eyes, usually bright with defiance, were shadowed by the weight of his collar, while Orwen’s gruff demeanor softened into something resembling concern.
John approached, his heart aching for his friends. “I don’t know how to help you remove your collars,” he admitted, voice low but firm. “But I promise you, I will find a way. No matter what it takes.”
Kael stared at him, shock flickering across his face. “You… you not only got rid of the collar, you took your pet out of the parallel world?” he asked, incredulous. “And she’s not just humanoid, the rarest kind—she’s… an angel?”
John nodded, watching Kael’s disbelief turn to awe. “I didn’t think it was possible either,” John said. “But somehow, she followed me here. She’s more than just a pet—she’s… something greater.”
Orwen, the dwarven smith, let out a low whistle. “An angelic humanoid pet? That’s unheard of. Even in legends, dragons have never managed such a feat. You’ve truly broken every rule, boy.”
Kael shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “John, if you can do that, maybe you really can find a way to break these collars too.”
John met their gazes, resolve burning in his chest. “I won’t rest until I do,” he vowed, the promise echoing in the quiet chamber, a beacon of hope in the shadow of their shared burden.
Stolen story; please report.
After several days spent reveling in the splendor of Golddeep and the weight of his new title, John felt a restless pull deep within—a sense that it was time to depart. He did not yet know where his path would lead, but he was certain he needed to grow stronger. The memory of his brush with lesser divinities haunted him; he knew he would be powerless if such beings attacked him again. He also wondered how he would fare against adult black dragons—creatures whose very names sent shivers through the hearts of lesser beings. They would probably be no match for an adult version of his Golden Dragon King form, but he was no adult.
His thoughts turned to the vast ocean, where he had once met the Leviathan Shark, a monster of level 150—still far beyond his current level, but certainly an apex predator of the deep. Given he could breathe underwater, if he could swim in his dragon form, a skill he had yet to test, the ocean might serve as the perfect training ground. The water would conceal him, protect him, and challenge him in ways the mountain city could not.
John steeled himself for the journey, feeling the call of the deep. He would return to the ocean, face its dangers, and forge himself anew. Only then would he be ready for whatever trials awaited him in the future.
After biding farewell to his new friends and acquaintances, one day, John unfurled his golden wings with a deep breath, the sun glinting off his radiant scales as Archangela took flight beside him, her wings a dazzling white against the sky. The first few moments were clumsy; John’s draconic instincts were still raw, and his wings beat unevenly, sending him swaying through the air. Archangela, ever graceful, matched his pace, her flight steady and sure, a silent guide as he struggled to find his balance.
As the journey stretched on, the awkwardness faded. John began to sense the rhythm of the wind, the way his wings caught the air, and the subtle adjustments needed to glide rather than flail. The long flight became his training ground—each mile teaching him control, each gust a lesson in power and precision. Archangela stayed close, offering encouragement with her presence, her own wings beating in harmony with his growing confidence.
By the time the Bluecrag Mountains came into view, John was flying with newfound ease, his golden form cutting through the air with purpose. Archangela soared beside him, her radiant aura a beacon of support as they approached the endless blue horizon behind the mountains, ready to face the challenges that awaited them beneath the waves.
John, now in his golden dragon form, stood atop a jagged peak of the Bluecrag Mountains, the hurricane winds roaring around him but unable to budge his massive, scaled body as he was now strong enough to resist them. Beside him, Archangela stood on firm ground, her retracted wings shimmering with an ethereal glow, a silent guardian in the tempest. The abyss below stretched into an endless ocean, its surface churning with unseen threats. John peered into the depths, and it seemed as if the ocean stared back, ancient and hungry.
John’s golden dragon eyes pierced through the gargantuan waves, allowing him to gaze deep below the surface. Given what he saw, the 100-meter-long shark—once a terrifying sight he had faced—now seemed like a mere silver minnow, dwarfed by the true monsters of the abyss. The ocean floor was too many kilometers beyond his sight but what he could see was a realm of titans, where colossal shapes moved in the darkness, their forms too vast for the surface world to comprehend. Even in his transformed state, John felt a shiver of dread: the ocean was no place for the small or the weak, and he was but a speck in the presence of these ancient, ravenous leviathans.
Even as a dragon, John felt a chill of uncertainty. The true monsters of the deep were not like the shark; they were true leviathans and abyssal predators, beings whose very existence was a testament to the ocean's relentless power. The waters held creatures that would see even a golden dragon as nothing more than a snack, their jaws capable of crushing mountains and their eyes glowing with the cold light of the abyss. John felt like some leviathans had noticed his presence and were staring back; others were just ignoring him. Some were hunting, some were eating other unlucky sea monsters. The ferocity of the deeps was nothing like what John had witnessed until now.
The path ahead was no longer just about strength or transformation. It was about survival in a realm where even dragons were prey, and the abyss itself seemed to whisper a warning: enter at your own peril.
John decided to instead visit the underwater cave with the crystal.
He shifted back into his human form, too large as a golden dragon to fit inside the narrow underwater passages. Archangela followed close behind, her wings shimmering as they dipped into the water. As they dove beneath the surface, her wings unfurled gracefully, transforming into delicate, translucent fins that glided through the water like flowing silk. Light refracted around her, casting a soft, ethereal glow that illuminated the ocean floor. Her movements were fluid and elegant, each stroke propelling her forward as if she were dancing through the currents, her presence both serene and powerful in the depths.
When John and Archangela reached the large blue crystal nestled deep within the underwater cave, John glanced at his companion. Suddenly, her voice echoed directly into his mind, clear and gentle: "John, you know of a second resting place of divine bodily remains?" John replied, "Actually, I even know of a third one." They both settled into a meditative silence before the crystal, allowing the soft blue glow to wash over them. Yet, unlike their previous encounter with the golden crystal in Golddeep, nothing extraordinary occurred in the presence of this blue one—no sudden visions, no gateway to the realm beyond the walls opened before them, no encounter with a sleeping beauty. The crystal remained serene, its secrets still locked away, waiting for a different key or a deeper understanding.
