Chapter 10: The Awakening Ceremony
"Behold!!! The 49th Monarch and the Dragon King, Elysium Haris Eleftherios, The Glory of Dragons, Princess Kyriaki Elpis Eleftherios and Prince Kyrios Ermin Eleftherios are entering! All hail the rulers of Mitherr-ge!!!"
As they entered through the opened door, Kyriaki couldn't help but admire her father. The aura around him changed in an instant like a mirage in the desert. His graceful and deadly aura was as unyielding as a tempered blade made of Cosmo metal.
And her twin brother, Kyrios was no less impressive than their father. Kyrios held his head high, his gaze indicating he would not tolerate any negative judgement towards him.
No, it was more like he was silently warning to shut up and watch until he showed how powerful he'd be. But in truth, he resembled a wary puppy instead of an intimidating dragon.
Perhaps finding him too adorable none of the ceremony participants voiced their thoughts out loud.
Kyriaki chuckled inwardly, in the original timeline, he entered this space with his back curved and shoulders slumped like he'd faint at any moment. He was timid and naive in the original timeline.
She didn't know what changed his personality this much, but she didn't hate it.
Kyriaki took her eyes off of Kyrios and looked around. Her eyes devoid of any emotion as she scanned the surroundings with indifference.
Having been born as a princess, she thought she had become accustomed to splendor. But the grand chamber of awakening in the Selene Palace far exceeded her imagination.
She was expecting a grand hall of modern architecture, knowing Selene Palace was that kind of place. It was understandable, since she momentarily pushed the gifted memories she received from the original timeline to the back of her mind, she also didn't pay attention to the memory of the awakening chamber very well.
The grand chamber she faced was more like a temple personally crafted by a thousand Greek sculptors. Everything was made of white marble, dazzling with artificial light. Dozens of colossus crystal chandeliers hang proudly from the high ceiling. The sight of dragon sculptures inlaid with jewels—like a painting—looked truly fascinating.
The architecture was medieval with a touch of ancient Greek atmosphere. Rather than calling it a grand hall or a chamber, it felt closer to the inside of a large colosseum. Enough in size to keep 100 massive dragons around 100 meters long with ease.
There were countless other things to list, but unfortunately—Kyriaki thought—now was not the time to leisurely admire them.
Her eyes fixed on the arena floor as she walked behind Elysium to the seat of the princess.
The small crystal ball, like a pearl the size of a basketball, was placed on the middle of the arena floor. The red velvet cushion underneath displayed that it was given the utmost royal care.
That was the item that'd unlock their attributes.
Without a single glance to anything, Elysium went straight to the place designated to the Monarch. It was a high shrine decorated with gold and jewels, strong and wide enough to hold an Arch-dragon weighing hundreds of thousands of kilograms.
The shrine beside him was empty. Kyriaki knew who that seat belonged to, but she deliberately chose to ignore it.
Instead she glanced at Endymion. He was sitting just below Elysium. It displayed that the former monarch had stepped down from the throne, yet he still had the authority to involve in official settings.
Besides Endymion were two other shrines. Small, dizzyingly shiny. With one glance she understood who'd sit on those.
Kyriaki, without any guide, went straight just like her father did and sat right beside Endymion. Her indifferent gaze was visible to all.
Kyrios nonchalantly sat beside her, still maintaining his warning gaze of a wary puppy. Endymion nodded proudly, observing his grandchildren's calm and composed demeanor, befitting royalty.
Whispers came from here and there. It was inevitable as it was the first time their King displayed his children, who were next in line to the throne. But Kyriaki knew that was not the only reason for those whispers.
She could feel their gazes; some curious, some doubtful and some cautious.
The reason?
Her.
To be more precise, It was the two unnatural scales under her eyes.
She was a mutated dragon, after all.
Dragons love their kin, yes, even so, how could they just embrace a mutated dragon who could turn evil at any moment?
They wouldn't care if her stigma turned out to be connected to an emotion like ignorance, overjoy or something like apathy. They could even tolerate things linked to frustration, mischief or arrogance. There is no doubt they'd accept and even make an effort to care for emotions like loneliness, sadness or depression.
But what if she'd get connected to an emotion like jealousy, resentment or things like greed?
There are some emotions they could deal with care and caution. But if it turns out to be an emotion they couldn't control, there's no saying what disaster would fall upon them.
There is already one mutated dragon who's causing troubles all over Mitherr-ge even at this moment. Hence, it was natural for them to have doubts.
On the other hand, the person in question didn't care about her own situation.
She truly didn't.
Because according to the knowledge of Time's whispers she unlocked recently, she found the hidden process of a mutated dragon getting connected to their emotional stigma.
It was simple;
Just act and think the way you want and you'll automatically get linked to one of your most used emotions.
Kyriaki had no power to remove her stigma. Rebelling against the will of the world is impossible, even for gods.
Then, if she doesn't have the power, she just has to manipulate the events to have a desired outcome.
It was that easy.
Thus the lack of interest she had shown towards her stigma.
—Silence!—
Elysium's majestic voice boomed through the colosseum, enough to vibrate the floor. With only a word from him, absence of silence took over the place in an instant.
—Today, we are gathered here in hope of witnessing the future of our race. Our successors who will lead us to a greater era, the young guardians who will fulfill the duty of our ancestors, the leaders who will bring victory to us… we shall witness their beginning and guide them to a well paved path. That is the true meaning of this sacred ceremony— Elysium slowly stood up as he spoke with the might and dignity of a true king.
—Now,—He said, his eyes glowing golden, like the dazzling sun on a summer morning.
—Without any delay, let us begin— His large wings unfolded naturally, with one swift movement, he was in the air, leisurely flapping his wings.
A strong gust of wind swept over Kyriaki, threatening to push her out of her seat. Yet unlike Kyrios, she showed no particular emotion. Her gaze was still fixed on the arena floor as if something might pop out of there at any moment.
Elysium circled around the arena floor. Unlike any other arena floor of a colosseum, this one had mysterious arcane circles engraved on the floor, like it had long been used for a sole purpose. Then, Elysium spoke with his same clear and mighty voice;
「O' great celestial spirits who dwell in the essence of time, thy children have fallen into a state of incomprehension. O' great one, May thee hear the cries of thine children, answer our call, lend us thy ear. I summon thou; Thanasios, The Celestial Spirit of Time」
With every word he uttered, the arcane circle under him glowed golden, and at the end of his chanting, a blinding glow enveloped the entire colosseum for a very brief moment.
Shinnn! Swoosh!
Kyriaki unconsciously squeezed her eyes. She unfolded her wings to further protect her vision.
When she folded her wings and opened her eyes again, she was greeted by a breathtaking image of a Dragon.
No, it was not accurate to call it a dragon.
The entity before her, standing on the arena floor, was no dragon.
It might have the appearance of an ancient Arch-Dragon, with a sturdy neck, a long tail, six wings leisurely folded together and pure golden scales.
However, his transparent body and edges that seemed to fade and sucked into the surrounding air as if he was a ghost no one but she could see, reminded her what he truly was.
A Celestial Spirit.
This is the end of a dragon.
They say dragons are immortal.
But are they really?
In truth, that statement was only half correct. Dragons, just like any other lifeform, could not and will not resist death. Well, it only applies to their mortal bodies.
Then how about their souls?
Those are indeed immortal. The reason the birth of a dragon is so mysterious is because they were a race that was free from the burden of a lot of universal laws.
And the reason the death of a dragon is so precious is that their souls would never enter the river of reincarnation once they die. No one could impede this mysterious and powerful race.
To know about Celestial Spirits, one must learn about Dragons first.
There are three conditions for the birth of a dragon.
One; A noble soul that overpowered bad karma with good Karma through countless reincarnations.
Two; the lack of divine energy to access divinity or the will to seal divine energy sufficient to access divinity of that soul.
Three; the direct acceptance of the will of the world.
Once all three conditions are met, a dragon is born. Unlike other races who were created by gods or the will of the world, dragons were created naturally, on their own.
That was why their souls were immortal.
Thus, once a dragon uses up their mortal bodies and dies, they become a Celestial Spirit.
Death does not erase their memories, their former self or personality, they just let go of their mortal body, that was all.
Thereafter, they just settle in the Celestial Plane, where only they could live.
That was how celestial spirits are made.
Nonetheless, that also made those spirits hard to approach. Although they were very interested in the mortal world and often kept an eye on major events happening there, it was very hard for them to enter the Primal Plane.
One reason is their descendants; dragons acting as guardians of the Primal Plane. The second reason is that world law doesn't allow them to break the balance of lower planes.
Due to the interference of the will of the world, even if they enter a lower plane, they cannot maintain their form without a linked medium supplying mana.
To most humans, summoning a celestial spirit was akin to suicide. And the higher races who can summon them usually don't really seek them due to pride.
On that note some dwarves are eager and able to have a good connection with Celestial Spirits.
And elves? While dark elves were generational contractors of Celestial Spirits, the light elves deliberately avoided having contacts with them till this day.
Since the end of the god's war, the relationship between light elves and dragons has been sour. That explains why they don't consider contracting with the most powerful spirits, only accepting lesser spirits of primary elements that live in the Primal Plane.
That's the general story of Celestial Spirits.
And the spirit Elysium summoned?
—We bow before the First Monarch of Dragons, Hero Thanasios Kairo Eleftherios!!!—
Every single dragon in the colosseum, be it a hatchling or an ancient dragon, all of them bowed their long slender necks, large wings fatly touching the floor as they bend their limbs in sincere reverence and admiration.
Yes, that was the person mentioned in the history books she read.
The only Deity rank Dragon.
The God slayer.
The dragon who ended The God's War and established peace.
The legend who stepped forward to become a guardian of the Primal Plane upon accepting the request from The Will of Mitherr-ge.
He was also the one who built this palace, the progenitor of the royal lineage as well as the founder of the dragon calendar. There were so many merits under his name, if listed, Kyriaki would have a hard time writing non-stop for a few days.
Regardless, the most amusing and interesting thing he had done so far in Kyriaki's honest opinion was to predict the birth of her twin brother; Kyrios, one million years ago.
Kyriaki bowed her head, her eyes never left the sight of that dazzling celestial spirit for a second.
—Rise, my children— Thanasios, with the most vast, ancient and heart-melting voice one could imagine, spoke to them.
For a moment, Kyriaki's heart tickled. She could feel his tender love for all the dragons gathered there. It was pure, warm and a soft love. So much so that it felt like she was standing under pleasant sunrays after a fresh bath in a spring afternoon, drinking a cup of tea while savouring the fragrance of gorgeous spring flowers in the garden.
Kyriaki lifted her head in a daze, only to make eye contact with Thanasios for a mere second. She thought she must be imagining things, but the gleam in his eyes as he turned away was unmistakable. Kyriaki tilted her head, but soon stopped reading too deeply into the legendary dragon's actions.
For the next few minutes, Thanasios spoke of how grateful he was to be summoned by his descendants and the value of this ceremony and so on.
Kyriaki wasn't very interested in those official talks and speeches, it wasn't like she'd sit on the throne, so those were unnecessary.
What she was interested in was why Thanasios was summoned.
According to Dragon customs at the beginning, the young hatchlings had to awaken their attributes before the king, Thanasios. But after his death, his son Apollo refused to take his place because he deemed himself unworthy.
Thus, started the tradition of summoning Thanasios to every awakening ceremony dragons held. Thanasios delightfully agreed as Celestial Spirits associated with primordial elements like himself were rare to get summoned by contractors.
To erase his loneliness and to be a part of their lives, he chose to happily help and interact with his descendants.
Kyriaki made herself comfortable as Thanasios' long and boring speech seemed to come to an end. According to their traditions, the royals awakened their attributes much later, after their subjects had gone through the process. It was to honor their kin. But truthfully—Kyriaki guessed—it must be because the royals had protagonist syndrome.
—Now then, first candidate, please enter the arena— At Thanasios' cheerful call, Elysium, who stood tall beside him, called out a name;
—Theodoros Ourea Georgios, step forward—
A Pteron-Dragon hatchling stepped forward nervously. The dark brown wings with champagne color tips seemed to flinch as he bowed before two kings.
'Ah the guy who has a crush on an older woman.'
Kyriaki observed the hatchling while recalling original Kyrios' memories. She smirked in her mind, seeing him as a useful tool. She only had to slightly change his future.
Theodoros placed his clawed limb on the mysterious crystal. Before three seconds passed, 14 light orbs came out of the crystal and began to float above them like fireflies.
Kyriaki narrowed her big dragon eyes. The light orbs, upon observing closely, appeared to be symbols.
The crimson red light with the symbol of a flame, the black light with the symbol of moon, the lime green light with the symbol of a leaf and more and more brilliant symbols. They represented each element proudly, declaring their presence and hovering above the crystal.
In this world, except for Demons and angels, who were a product of old gods, every other race was born with one or more elements among the 14 elements given by the universe.
And those 14 elements were categorized into three branches. Starting with 06 primary elements; Light, Darkness, Water, Fire, Earth and wind.
05 advanced elements; Magma, Ice, Metal, Wood and Lightning.
And finally, 03 primordial elements; Mind, Space and Time.
—Close your eyes and call for your elements, child. They'll come to you on their own— Thanasios gestured with his hand.
His soothing voice, enough to melt a young child's heart, seemed effective on Theodoros as he tightly squeezed his eyes shut.
Swoosh!
And before she could even blink, the grey light orb with the symbol of a sharp spear eagerly flew toward the young hatchling. The dragons seated above let out excited exclamations. Metal elemental was rare and useful in an expert's hand. It was no wonder they were so pleased.
But oh, how hurried they were.
The show must go on, as the nervous hatchling before them was no ordinary lad.
Another light orb, with the symbol of an active volcano glowing deep blood red flew at him at lightning speed. Gasps echoed in the colosseum.
The magma element is very tricky to handle, but once one grasps the depth of that element, some might even wield fire related spells more powerful than those with fire element themselves.
As they were overjoyed with two advanced elements choosing Theodoros as their master, they almost missed the view of another light, glowing crimson red with the symbol of a flame flying towards him.
Elder and ancient dragons nodded their heads with satisfaction. Even Elysium seemed pleased as he also had fire and magma elements.
Having both fire and magma elements will undoubtedly make a dragon the master of incredible fire power one might not dare imagine. It was truly a satisfactory awakening for a young hatchling.
Kyriaki acknowledged those facts with calculations.
Unlike other races, three elements was the average for a dragon. Keeping that in mind, the dragons appeared to think the first candidate was finished with his ceremony.
Oh, how wrong they were. Kyriaki smirked once again in her mind, amused at the dragons widening their eyes at the sight of Theodoros welcoming his fourth element.
The chocolate brown light, with the symbol of a boulder, flew at Theodore like it was his old friend. The four elements floating around him as if they were alive looked so stunning and endearing that some dragons proudly grinned at the sight.
How could they not expect Earth element from the sole heir of House Georgios, said to rule over Earth element?
Theodoros' champagne colored eyes trembled slightly as the four elements entered his body. Then he courteously bowed once again, retreating to the seat where his parents sat. His little jumps seemed to display that he was overflowing with joy.
—Sirius Lykofos Orpheus, step forward— At Elysium's call, an Arch-Dragon hatchling stepped forward with a bored and aloof expression.
His black scales, slightly shining with a purple glow under the chandelier light, seemed enchanting like the night sky. Under his wings as well as his horns, the tips of his claws and tails were painted in a pleasant violet purple hue.
His unshakeable violet eyes, excluding an aloof atmosphere, was fixed on the crystal as he bowed his head to show respect. At Thanasios' instructions, he calmly rested his purple tinted black claw on the crystal surface.
Just like what happened to Theodoros, 14 elemental light orbs popped out of the crystal.
Then as expected, a black light hurriedly flew towards him as if it couldn't delay any longer. Everyone nodded at House Orpheus' heir welcoming the element of Darkness with his inherited aloof expression. After all, Orpheus were famous for their mastery over Darkness and Space, as well as the aloof mindset towards most.
Following the Darkness element, one more light orb, tinted with navy blue flew towards him in a hurry. The symbol of the water droplet undoubtedly belongs to the element of water.
Darkness and water, at one glance it seemed out of place, but if combined, both went well together with one another. Enough to instill fear in the weak.
However before giving them any chance to be too proud, another bright light orb, with the symbol of a snowflake flew towards him, glowing pastel blue.
The hatchling leaned back, nodding in approval of his own achievements, thinking his turn was over.
But he was off for a surprise, as it was not the end.
Kyriaki shifted her balance to her right. At that moment, a pine green light with the symbol of a half closed eye flew towards him like a magnet. The sound of gasps filled the colosseum in an instant, some dragons abruptly stood up, unfolding their wings slightly and widening their eyes.
—I am surprised he didn't obtain the Space attribute— Elysium muttered.
Everyone knew it was common for House Orpheus to inherit both Darkness and Space. Although there were some exceptions in history , most heirs wielded the two elements as if it was a rule.
However, nobody could criticize Sirius.
Because…
—Death Element after 50,000 years, huh? Not only does he have quadruple attributes, but he also has a primordial element in his possession. A very dangerous one at that—
Even Endymion mumbled beside her, his ancient voice filled with amusement.
Kyriaki nodded to his statement. Mind element, it was a very dangerous, yet useful attribute. The idea of possessing such an element sounded tempting.
But neither Endymion nor Kyriaki looked amused because of that temptation, rather it was because it looked fun to observe an aloof child like Sirius using that attribute for his growth.
'This one is also a key figure in the second God's war. I should help him out in return for his powers.' Kyriaki told herself.
She wanted those she deemed useful, because the future she knew would have no mercy towards anyone. Only those with power could survive.
The awakening ceremony this time around was participated by five hatchlings. Typically, it was rarer than a half blind sea turtle looking at the sky through the eye of a needle to have more than five hatchlings attend the ceremony once at a time. That was how low their birth rate was.
'Compared to us, South Koreans should be happy.' Kyriaki was cracking unfunny jokes only she could understand in her head when Elysium's voice reached her.
—Euclid Zale Argyris, step forward—
Kyriaki unknowingly straightened her back, glancing at the Aquamarine blue and snow white hatchling carefully stepping into the arena. That was when she saw it.
The Golden thread.
Kyriaki's eyes widened like full moons.
She chose to ignore the mysterious thread wrapped around her wrist last time after meeting this little hatchling, but how could she be so careless and ignorant not to notice the other end of the thread at that time?
Kyriaki's golden eyes intently stared at the neon golden thread wrapped around Euclid's left limb at front, and then her gaze traveled back to her right limb.
It was still there. Kyriaki didn't know what purpose it had or what condition had to be met for it to suddenly appear like this.
She instinctively felt it couldn't harm her in any way. But that didn't mean she could just let it go. Something unknown interfering with her work, that was something she couldn't tolerate no matter what.
She paid all her attention to Euclid, narrowing her eyes. He was now in the process of calling to his elements.
A navy blue colored light orb with the symbol of a water droplet came running towards him in the blink of an eye. The elders nodded. Although he wasn't a direct descendant of House Argyris, it was almost inevitable for an island-born dragon to have the water element. After all, House Argyris was the master of water and ocean.
Then without any delay, a bright pastel blue light orb with the symbol of a snowflake flew towards him as if returning home after a long journey. Ice element, hailed as one of advanced attributes, was a very useful offence element both in weapon mastery and spell casting.
Following right behind the Ice element was a white, almost transparent light orb. The symbol of the whirlwind was artistically engraved in the middle. It was the first time the wind element chose someone today. So the reaction from the audience was diligent.
That was all. No, they all thought that was all.
As Euclid was about to release the crystal from his clutches and open his eyes, another light orb with fierce speed and a beautiful lilac-purple color flew and paused right in front of his nose. The symbol of a lightning flash gave away the name of the element with a one glance.
—Hmmm— Endymion hummed with a gleam in his eyes.
—Four offensive elements put together to create the Weather Element. As a Storm Born, his career path is so vast— Even Kyrios mumbled beside her with a thoughtful expression.
A Storm Born.
That was a title Mitherr-ge bestows upon those who have all four elements that can change weather to their will. Giving a title just for obtaining the elements meant it was almost impossible for one to have all those elements at once.
According to Original Kyrios' memories, there were only two people in the world that held the title "Storm Born" right now. One was Euclid, the other was his cousin and the heir to House Argyris, who was said to be a thousand years older than Euclid.
'That's why he's so useful. Plus, he'll be someone very irreplaceable to our grandpa in the future.' As usual, Kyriaki remarked in her head.
—Rio, it's your turn next— She then sent a telepathic message to her twin brother, who was so immense in watching and calculating the value of the awakened hatchling that he forgot he was supposed to go there too.
—Ah!— He let out a childish exclamation. Earning the attention of a few elder dragons around them.
Then as if to ask for help, he turned to Kyriaki. His golden eyes, more like of a puppy than a dragon's, got moist with incoming tears.
—Kyrios Ermin Eleftherios, Step forward—
Elysium's voice, half proud and half business like, echoed in the colosseum.
∆ ∆ ∆
"Being the home to the Celestial Spirits, there is no end of time to the Celestial Plane. It exists forever."
—From the book