Chapter Twenty-Two: Crawl to the Light

  Despair devoured me—like a beast tearing apart the final thread of my soul.

  Everything around me was dark… faint… meaningless—But there, deep within the void, a flicker…

  A gate of light, shimmering from afar,as if promising salvation in a world that had long since forgotten my name.

  Was it truly… light?

  Could I live if I reached it?

  Would this cursed chase finally end there…or was the end just another illusion?

  Then suddenly—hope ignited.

  Like a spark setting fire to a heart that thought itself nothing but ashes.

  That distant light awakened something within me I thought had died forever.

  My heart pounded violently.

  My muscles burned with power I never knew I had.

  Pain? Gone.

  Exhaustion? Faded.

  My tears mixed with the frozen blood on my face,yet still… I ran.

  I ran as if the entire world were collapsing behind me.

  Then—without thought—I lunged.

  The tiger’s fangs were a breath away from tearing my throat open…

  but its death reached it first.

  I seized its skull—and crushed it between my jaws until its bones shattered in my mouth like brittle glass.

  Now… the light was no longer far.

  If I reached it… I would see Mia again.

  I would see the old serpent… waiting for me with that cold smile.

  A roar tore from my chest—a sound born of agony, fury, and life itself.

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  Then… a scream.

  A scream that split the sky.

  My leg—gone.

  Ripped from me in an instant,by savage fangs tearing flesh and bone alike.

  Dragon’s blood burst from my wounds like cold lava.

  Tiger fangs sank into my flesh, rending me from every side.

  Was this… my death?

  No… no… NO!

  I will not die here!

  The light is close… so close!

  I am a dragon!

  And the law of dragons knows no death!

  I will crawl if I must…even if it costs me my final breath!

  Closer… closer still—the light grew brighter.

  But another scream tore through my throat—my other leg… devoured by another beast.

  Blood flooded the ground, pain ravaged my body—and yet… none of it mattered!

  Nothing would stop me.

  I will reach that light…

  even if all that remains of me is a shattered shadow.

  Ah… ah… my body was nothing but a heap of agony.

  Countless stings, wounds that refused to heal.

  I had lost my legs, my arms, my beautiful wings—my tail, once proud, that used to sweep the skies.

  My spine shattered; I could no longer stand… not even crawl.

  All that remained… was the wreckage of a torn dragon.

  And yet—I still breathed.

  My heart still fought on,simply because life within me refused to fade.

  Had I been human…

  I would have perished long ago.

  Regret gnawed at me harder than their fangs ever could.

  If time could turn back…

  I would have refused this cursed trial.

  I would have held onto my body, my beauty, my dignity—before it was crushed in this hell.

  The light… before me.

  I could almost touch it.

  With the last of my hope,I gathered myself—dragged my ruined soul toward the end.

  It was there…like the very gate of heaven.

  I pushed forward with everything I had—and my body, or what was left of it,hurled itself toward the gate.

  Then—

  Darkness lifted.

  I found myself where it had all begun—in the heart of the same cavern.

  The air was cold,the ground drenched in the scent of blood…

  but— I was alive.

  And then, a voice echoed through the cavern—deep, ancient, dripping with power and extinction itself:

  Well done… You have passed my trial…and proven yourself worthy of my legacy.

  Take this— it will restore your body to its original form,and renew every part that was torn from you.

  Prepare yourself, dragon…for the life you lost shall now be reborn from its ashes.

  I spoke firmly — my voice carried a blend of defiance and awe.

  “Very well… I’m ready. Give me your legacy.

  A faint, enigmatic smile curved the lips of the Vampire Progenitor — calm, yet imbued with an authority that could not be defied.

  His voice, low and ancient, rolled through the air like the echo of forgotten ages.

  Very well… but before I grant you my legacy,I shall give you… a gift.

  Then suddenly—

  The void before me shattered like a mirror of frozen glass,revealing a white crystal of ice — radiant, deadly in its beauty,as though it had been carved from the very frost of eternity.

  A fierce wind erupted from nothingness,whipping against my scales, tearing at my burning skin.

  Snowflakes scattered in every direction,as though the ceiling of the cavern itself had begun to rain frozen ash.

  In the blink of an eye,everything around me turned into a world of blinding white.

  There was no longer ground, nor sky, nor air…only ice.

  When I lifted my gaze, I realized —even the air itself had frozen solid.

  My breath crystallized before my eyes,turning into glittering shards that drifted away,and the temperature… it plummeted by more than a hundred degrees in an instant.

  The atmosphere grew suffocating,cold and merciless —as if death itself had taken form.

  Everything around me had become vast cubes of ice —

  silent, unmoving,yet radiating an unspeakable dread —as though time itself had stopped here centuries ago.

  A crushing helplessness devoured me.

  My strength, my energy — everything within me — froze still.

  Had I not been a red dragon,my body born of fire and my blood forged in flame,I would have perished the moment it began.

  I could not find words to describe the sensation…but three alone echoed through my mind:Cold… Freeze… Ruin.

  Then I saw it —a white flame dancing amidst the endless ice.

  It did not blaze with heat —instead, it emanated a chill as pure and lethal as death itself.

  I stood before it,and a shudder ran through the deepest parts of my being.

  Every sense within me trembled —as though even my heart had shrunk from terror and awe combined.

  In a hoarse whisper,half disbelief, half wonder,I murmured: Could this be… a cold flame?

  My eyes lifted toward the cavern’s frost-laden ceiling.

  Snow drifted downward slowly —like tears of dead light.

  And in that silence, I whispered to myself: Why… why does the air itself feel so unbearably cold?

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