I Received System to Become Dragonborn

They stayed, watching for another minute as the illusion refused to let go.

Maelric, the Fire Dragon, was not finished.

From above the burning canopy Erend and Eccar saw flame upon flame erupt outward. Forests around the area began to vanish under waves of fire.

Smoke rose in distant spirals like a grave marker for places that now reduced to ash. It was then Erend realized something grim, this forest wasn't the beginning.

It was the end.

Maelric had already burned everything around it.

Cities, valleys, mountains, or maybe entire civilizations. This place, Thar'Zul-Vekar's sanctuary forest, had been the last breath of untouched place and now, even that was being erased.

Then came the next horror.

The god of the forest rose once more while battered and shaking only for Maelric to slam into them again.

There was no honor in the fight. Maelric was tearing them apart.

Fire clung to Thar'Zul-Vekar's body, burning through their vines and bark and skin.

Erend could hear the plea in their roar of the god because right now he was begging. But Maelric didn't stop. His claws raked across their fleshes. Their fangs tore into roots and their fists slammed again and again.

Erend flinched. It wasn't a battle but just a straight up slaughter.

Then Maelric spoke.

"I killed your children," he growled coldly. "Every last one of them. They screamed for you!"

Erend and Eccar gritted their teeth.

"Children…?" Erend said through the bond. "Did he mean their literal children…?"

"I don't know. Maybe not literal children. Maybe guardians of the world, or spirits. Creatures born from the god's power. But it doesn't matter. They were his and now they dead," Eccar answered.

And that made it worse.

"GRAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Thar'Zul-Vekar let out a roar that shook the burning forest. Not a battle cry or a call of vengeance. It was a scream torn from a soul cracked wide open by pain.

They lunged. But it was too late right now.

Maelric met the charge with a brutal counterattack. His fire exploded outward and engulfing the god's chest. His claws tore through their body and Maealric fangs clamped down on their throat.

The forest god collapsed and died.

Their green light dimmed into nothing. What remained of Thar'Zul-Vekar was a dry blackened corpse resting on scorched earth and falling ash.

After all that there were only silence.

Maelric stood in the center of it all while panting. Fire flickered along his scales. Smoke curled from his mouth and nose. His eyes no longer gleamed with triumph.

They were hollow.

Erend hovered above.

Eccar shifted beside him. "He looks… empty."

"Yeah," Erend said quietly. "He won. He had burned it all but look at him."

The Dragon stood over the dead god. But there was no satisfaction in his face.

"…We shouldn't be able to feel him," Eccar murmured. "But I do."

"I do too," Erend said. "It's like something's echoing from him. Maybe this is what Dragonborn were sharing."

The emotions that reached them weren't fiery rage. It was something like emptiness, and a little traces of guilt.

"Why would someone do all of this and feel like that?" Erend asked.

Eccar didn't answer at first. He kept his gaze on the Fire Dragon.

"Maybe…" Eccar said at last. "Maybe something was influencing him. Pushing him to do it. Maybe this wasn't what he wanted."

"You think he was controlled?" Erend asked.

"I don't know," Eccar admitted. "But… we both know have that Black Rage and knows how it feels like."

Erend stiffened.

Black Rage, the force that surged inside them during moments of intense loss or fury. The thing that pushed them toward destruction and madness.

"We've both almost lost ourselves to it," Eccar continued. "We've both come close to killing without reason."

"That's true," Erend said slowly. "But that doesn't mean he was innocent. This might not be madness. It might be who he is."

"Of course," Eccar said. "It could be. But what if it's not?"

Erend didn't answer. He just kept watching the Fire Dragon in silence.

Whatever truth lay behind Maelric's actions it was buried deep and Erend and Eccar need to know more.

Maelric just kept standing there like a statue among the ruin he had created. His body still pulsed faintly with fire but he didn't move. Not even a twitch. The silence dragged on too long for comfort.

Erend narrowed his eyes. "Why is this still going?"

"This is weird," Eccar said slowly. "Let's go closer."

Erend frowned. "Why? It's no use. This is a memory. We can't interact with it. He can't see us."

"Then why haven't we gone back yet?" Eccar asked, his tone tense. "The god's dead in this memory. The scene should've ended. But we're still here. There's something else happening."

Erend didn't respond immediately. Because he didn't know.

They had seen the truth. They had witnessed the betrayal. That should've been the end of the vision. The end of the dream.

But it wasn't.

"You're right," Erend said quietly. "Something's not finished."

Together, they flew lower, their massive wings pushing against the scorched air. The forest beneath them was a sea of ruin, still smoldering with golden fire, and in the middle of it all stood Maelric.

They landed gently not far from him.

The Fire Dragon didn't react.

Erend and Eccar circled him slowly. His body was still heaving from the battle, his flanks rising and falling with ragged breaths.

His scales flickered dimly like dull embers in a dying forge. And his eyes stared at the blackened corpse of Thar'Zul-Vekar without focus. Like he wasn't really seeing anything at all.

Then something changed. Maelric blinked.

Suddenly, his body jerked slightly as if a wave of pain passed through it. His massive limbs twitched. He looked down at his claws that stained with blood and ash. Then he lifted his head to the sky and let out a roar.

It wasn't a roar of dominance but agony and sadness. Erend and Eccar can feel it.

"GROOOAAAAHHH!!!"

The sound cut through the dead forest.

Erend and Eccar flinched.

"Did you feel that?" Eccar asked.

"I felt it," Erend said. "He's waking up inside the memory…"

Maelric reeled his eyes wild. Then they softened just for a second as if he finally saw what he had done. The burning trees, the dead god, and the scorched land. It hit him all at once.

He looked devastated.

"That… that's real pain," Erend said slowly. "He didn't want this. At least, not all of him."

Eccar stared at Maelric, then at the ruin around them. "Maybe we were right. Maybe something pushed him into this. Something powerful enough to take control of a Dragonborn."

Erend's chest tightened. "But what could do that?"

Neither of them had an answer. And that was what terrified them most.

What if… whatever had driven Maelric to this wasn't gone?

What if it was still out there? What if the two of them could be next?

They stood in silence, the echoes of Maelric's pain lingering in the air.

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