Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"I understand why you are worried, but you should at least keep the armor equipped," Isa said when Rain showed up. "I can tell that your troublesome friend will behave as long as that woman is nearby. By the way, is Seara fine knowing that you are here?" "No, that is why I can say bye quickly and not for a long talk," Rain said. "I also wanted to say that we are even since you helped Sealyn and Seadrei before." "I was acting out of my own volition, but that is fine by me," Isa said. "I can't stay out of the battles from now on since we already lost too many people and that will only give the enemies more chances to attack us." "What about the behavior of the people now that they know that you are a half dragon?" Rain asked. "Those I care about didn't change at all, and those who don't like me for it didn't like me before, so it doesn't matter," Isa shrugged. "Anyway, you should try to learn Telepathy already to solve the problem of communication. That way, we can talk and your wife won't be bothered by it." "Even if we are on the opposite sides of the world, she will feel bothered no matter what if we talk," Rain said. "In any case, if you are wondering where you should go now, I would recommend trying to find the capital of the dragons," Isa said. "If the dragon god isn't around, you might find the fire dragons there. Once you find and learn about their situation, we can prepare a plan to wipe them out. However, there is a problem… it is a place that can't be seen and it only be felt by those who had been there." Rain raised his eyebrows when he heard that… it seemed like a very weird place to be. He had thought that he should pay a visit to everyone and talk with them that everyone was mainly fine, but perhaps that could wait. "Is it a flying piece of land as well?" Rain asked. "That is right, back in the day, it would fly around the world watching the species doing their things and no one ever realized it," Isa nodded. "I can't say if the current dragon god used the capital like that at all, but the place should still be guarded by countless fire dragons." "The world is big and it is getting bigger… it will be a massive pain to find it," Rain said. "Well, I should start already and see what I can do." "Good luck," Isa said. Rain saluted and then left the tent, as soon as he did that, he disappeared from everyone's sight thanks to the Water Mirror technique… Isa chuckled since even with her dragon eyes, she had a hard time seeing him moving away. "Maybe he is the real deal," Isa said. Rain immediately began to fly south, and soon saw that the clouds in the sky had dissipated… the ice dragons returned to their territory. Thanks to that, Rain began to fly while wondering what he should do… "Isa probably trusts me completely now since she revealed such a thing without hesitation… the capital of the dragons is a flying fortress that can't be seen," Rain thought. "It is a miracle that such a place didn't find my friends while it was flying around in the last one hundred years." "Most likely it didn't fly and it is somewhere in the dragons' territory," Larisa said. "I don' know how they can keep such a thing floating endlessly, but it should consume a lot of mana." "First things first… I need to find a way to stop letting you guys talk to me while I am outside and read my mind," Rain said. "To be able to do that, your power will have to surpass all of the people here combined," The woman in the darkness said. "Right now, if I were to materialize, you would be five times weaker than me." "That is a nice goal to have for now," Rain said. "Anyway, so you can materialize… like your human form, am I right?" "Correct," The woman in the darkness said. "I can't recover my old body, but I can mimic using pure power." "She means by coming an entity mainly made of shadows and corruption…" Larisa said. "She must have absorbed an insane amount of dragons blood… I can't imagine her former body actually managing to withstand all that power while keeping its former shape." "It didn't," The woman in the darkness said. Rain felt a deep sense of worry and unease wash over him. The idea of sacrificing one's original form for the sake of power was insane to him. He couldn't fathom what would drive someone to forsake their very essence to gain strength. The woman in the darkness had taken a path that led her to embody shadows and corruption, abandoning her former self entirely. The thought troubled Rain deeply. He held firm in his resolve not to tread down a similar path. The allure of power offered by the Sins influence was tempting, but he was resolute in his decision not to succumb to becoming a monstrous entity. He preferred to maintain his identity and distance himself from the dark and corrupted aspects of the sins' power. "Anyway… time to see the rest of the memories," Rain said. "Let's skip the boring parts." "They aren't boring, they are my proud youth and childhood," Nigel said. "They are boring as hell," Rain said. Nigel's memories from his younger years were quite similar to Rain's expectations. Nigel was an incredibly irritating and bothersome child who, as he grew older, transformed into an equally vexing teenager. His recollections mirrored Rain's perception of Nigel as someone who was consistently exasperating and troublesome and got on everyone's nerves. The End. "Don't give such a brief summary about my past..." Nigel said and then sighed.