Kael Cor: A Vampire's Awakening Chapter 248 Dragons V : The Imperial Dragon Norcia

I had no idea how long I slept, but it was one of the single most satisfying sleep of my vampire life, if not the best so far. I felt refreshed, stronger and ready to face whatever it is, I had to face.
The library which was practically the size of a city was a very tempting attraction. I really wanted to spend my time moving around it, reading and learning from the vast archive of knowledge that's been kept here. I'm sure the experience would have really awesome and I would have learnt a whole lot of things, but I really had to get a move on.
I couldn't drag my feet or be distracted, because if I loose focus for even one second, I don't think I will be able to continue. This whole ordeal was becoming really terrifying for me, and any form of procrastination would probably make me unable to continue. I was very afraid, so much so that even if I used my Aura, pushing my emotions outwards, the terror still refused to leave me.
So as soon as I woke up, we left the library, and went even deeper into the forest, this time ting higher, towards the mountain peak. If I survive this, it's never too late to come back and experience the library, when my heart wasn't pounding every second in fear of the pain that I was now sure was coming.
At this point the sun was up, or whatever it was that made the realm so bright. It was also a lot more louder, and with the way I was feeling, every sound heard seemed to spook me, or scare the shit out of me. I felt like I was loosing my mind, and I really didn't know how to deal with it, this was a lot harder than I thought, and it was taking a toll on me.
Even with my good night sleep, in no time at all exhaustion began to creep into my bones, as my mind was beset by tiredness. And then we came into a glade, or to be more precise a grove. At firs there was a wide field of green grass, spread for as far as the eyes could see. But then there were really massive trees, spread around the whole place, and each of them had their branches connected to each other, creating a network of bridges.
The top of the trees had, tree houses built into, around and on top of them, with some of the trees being the house itself with their insides completely hollowed out. But then again, they were all alive, their leaves were vibrant, and they dance softly with the caress of the wind. They were placed in a sort of hexagonal formation, though I would say it was more like a helix as there were quite a few trees in the middle.
And again, stuck right in the middle, was a massive totem pole, and curled around it was the figure of an eastern dragon. Jade green, sparkling scales, cat fish like whiskers, a beard, a serpentine body and four legs. Whit horns that seemed to stretch towards the sky, a full mane like those of a lion, and piercing yellow eyes that just had murder in it's gaze.
"That's an imperial dragon! They're very powerful, and many of them believe it's better for us to remain in the realm, rather than to leave. Your Majesty I think it's better we go around this place, rather than through it." Bobo suggested to me.

"That seems like a good idea Bobo, but I can't. This place is the fourth temple, and that totem is what I'm here for." I said to him.
I think at this point it was safe to say that getting that dragon off that totem pole, was going to be very complicated in and out of itself. It seems to really love it's perch on it. I walked towards it, hoping to engage in some sort of conversation, but the closer I got, the louder it's breathing was, and the sharper it's gaze became.
I felt like this dragon was trying to intimidate me, but I couldn't be sure, either way, I had to suck it up and get this over with. I took a deep breath and kept walking towards the dragon, but I had scarcely gotten last the first set of trees before it started growling at me. I saw it angle it self, it's sharp claws scraping against the body of the totem pole as it's fangs were exposed and pointed towards me.
"I don't mean any harm, I just need to touch the totem pole for a few minutes. I need it to find the soul dragon!" I said to it, trying to avoid any sort of conflict, because to be honest the closer I got to it, the larger the damn dragon became. That sea serpent would look like a child beside it.
"You don't mean any harm! You're nothing, what arrogance you have, thinking you can cause harm to me; the great Norcia! I'll burn you!" the dragon spoke to me in deep baritone voice. And it was a voice that was loud and powerful the very air itself vibrated.
This was an example of what a dragon's power really feels like. Ever since I've started this journey, I've had the feeling that compared to the legends, Bobo seemed a little to weak for a dragon, and now it seems what I was thinking was somewhat true. This dragon in front of me had a terrible suffocating aura, I could literally feel it's anger and disdain for me, so much so that I couldn't help feeling insignificant and puny in front of it's might and power.
"Please that's not what I meant. The universe is in danger and I need the totem pole to find the soul dragon. It's the only way we can all survive, we all need his help, and yours too. Please that's the reason why I came here, to look for help."
"Is that so? Well I don't care. The realm has been cut off from the troubles of the Shearath and the universe for countless millennia, we don't need to get involved in the affairs of all of you lesser creatures. Your presence here, you so called 'Dragon King' threatens everything, it threatens the order that we dragons have made for yourself and have been living by for a long time. Your actions will bring death, suffering and betrayal to us all once again. So you must die!"
"Oh shit!"
That was all I could say before I had to pull my shield out and used my runes to make ten meter tall and ten meter wide shield, blocking the streams of dragon fire that came gushing out of the dragons open jaws. Bobo and Soren bunched behind me, protected from the intense heat of the bright red flames.
The force behind it was so strong, that I was slowly being pushed back, with my legs dragging on the ground, like a plow. The dragon breath seemed endless, almost like it could go on forever and ever. And at this point to be honest I was angry, so far all I've experienced was one painful shit show after another, and this bloody dragon now wants to kill me, because he feels threatened. Well fine! I'll give the bloody overgrown snake something to feel threatened about.
I opens right palm where my soul rune [PUSH] was branded, and then sent a serious amount of my soul energy into. This was a different dimension, so I had no idea how my runes would work, according to some study I've made, I learnt that the power and intensity of runes and the act of weaving on it's own, could be stronger or weaker depending on the plane of existence the weaver find his or herself.
In a dimension that has balance laws, the runes would works just as easily as on Shearath. But on dimensions with differing natural laws, some runes would be too weak, too powerful, or not even work at all. It was one of the most glaring and obvious weakness of a weaver, and it did not just stretch to dimensions only. The same thing could also be applied to other planets that had different world laws as compared to Shearath.
The flames of the dragon suddenly stopped, hanging there for a moment, and then it flew back with a whoosh, showing such extreme speed and power that even the owner of the flames could did not muster himself. The flames washed over the form of the dragon, forcing a roar out of it's mouth as his body was thrown off the totem pole.
Then there was silence and a whole lot of smoke and the smell of burnt skin wafting into the air. Then suddenly the dragon burst out of the cloud of smoke, jaws opened wide, gliding in the air towards me. And he was moving with such speed that I could actually see air getting displaced around his body. And if I could see it, it also meant I was fast enough to dodge it.
My body was a lot faster than my mind could keep up with, which was why Soren's speed was so hard for me to trace, even though it was somewhat possible for me to reach such speeds or as close to it as possible. But if my mind can't keep up with it, then it's completely useless. But somehow, I could actually see the dragon's ever move, almost as if it was moving in slow motion.
I turned to the side and let the dragon fly past, and as it was doing so, I stretched my right palm forwards, slamming it into it's smooth scales, using [PUSH] to add more force to the hit. The dragon was blasted away like it was nothing more than a rag doll, rolling on the ground, and crashing into a couple of trees in the grove. I expected those trees to fall or break sort from the impact of the dragon's body on them.
But nothing of the sort happened as they stood strong, like pillars of really strong metal, putting a stop to the dragon's momentum, and based on the series of loud cracks I was hearing, more than a few bones have been broken in the dragon's body. I had no idea what was happening to me, the strengthened runes, the superior speed, and now the strength also added on top. It didn't make any sense.
"I'm going to kill you! Arrrgggh! How dare you? I am an imperial dragon! My very bloodline is the most noble of them all! You will die, all of you will die!"
The dragon had a badly broken body, it was mangled and hurt, and it's golden blood was slowly bleeding out if orifices. I guess he really is as noble as he says, I mean come on, his blood is golden! And he looked really majestic, at least before I beat him half to death.
The dragon dragged itself up, glaring at me as it twisted his head towards me. His eyes began glowing a deep golden light as he opened his jaws, flickers of golden flames began to appear on their edges as a massive spell circle appeared over it's jaws. Whatever the fuck that was, I doubt it would feel any good if I took it head on.
"Your Majesty! Run. You can't defend against those flames, they're the golden flames of heaven's judgment. It judges and burns everything in it's path, and it declares judgment on whoever it touches, so if you've done anything wrong in your life, even something as mundane as lying, it would erase you from existence!" Bobo shouted at me, worry in his voice.
I narrowed my eyes at the dragon. For some reason, I really didn't want to run away like a coward, not unless I knew I no longer had a choice. I called my sword out, and almost immediately used [Perception Cutting Gleam], the white sword beam of sword light flew out of my sword and cut into the head of the dragon. He screeched in pain and faltered, and almost immediately his sleep circle untraveled and exploded in his face, throwing him backwards and on his back.
A massive amount of golden flames was released into the sky, and I called my armor out. I used the my lion's soul form, and the armor transformed going from it's lithe dark blue, black and red form, to it's slightly bulky golden, white and blue form. I shot towards the dragon, my speed almost ten to fifteen times my previous, and then I sliced my sword on it's leg, showering my armor with it's golden blood. At this point I realized I didn't need my armor, so I deactivated it, and proceeded to relieve the dragon of it's remaining three limbs.
This was way to easy, and I didn't understand why. Now the dragon was nothing more than just a huge snake without it's legs. It had turned itself over, and was floating in the sky, looking haggard, but still glaring at me with death in its eyes. He was not going to give up until I was dead, that much was sure. I called out my aura, and wrapped it around my body, skillfully distorting gravity around my body as I slowly rose into the air, standing face to face to the dragon.
"If you expect me to beg for mercy, then you're as delusional as you look." The dragon said to me, with venom in his tone.
"I'm not expecting anything, just walk away(or fly away? He's go no legs right?)" I said to him, hoping to bring this fight to an end.
"Walk away! No! My honor has been sullied, and so has my fearsome name. Because of what had happened today, I can not stand face to face with my brothers and sisters. I'm a shame to my bloodline, and the only way to wipe that shame, is to kill the person who caused it in the first place. So no matter what, one of us must die here today. You are a worthy opponent, tell me your name, so that I can etch it on your tombstone." the Dragon said to me with anger and arrogance still dripping from his words. I raised an eyebrow and gave him the answer he asked for.
"My name is Kael Cor."
"Cor? Of the seven noble families of humanity?"
"Yes, I'm the current head of the family." I answered him, though I didn't know why's I felt the need to tell him.
"But you're now a vampire. It's quite ironic that you're the one chosen to be the dragon king of the soul dragon. Because we dragons really hated your family before we had to be sealed here." He said to me.
I was surprised by that reveal, I knew the Cor family had countless years of history, but I never knew they've existed since the time when dragons still roamed Shearath. It was quite impressive to be honest.
"Why?" I asked him, confused.
"Why? Well it's quite simple. Because of all the humans, only your bloody family had the class Dragon Slayer! Killing us is your birthright, it's in your blood, it is who you are and who you're meant to be. I'll like to see how you can be the king of any dragon when they find out who you are. Now Kael of house Cor, die for your crimes, and the crimes of your cursed family."
And the he rushed towards me, jaws outstretched and open wide. I didn't hesitate, I flew out to meet him, sword pointed and mind focused.
BOOOOOM!

Chapter end