Dimensional Descent

"Apex, you're finally here," the gentle voice of the Celestial Ember Ancestor echoed before she frowned. "I can smell beast blood on you."

"And what of it, old hag?"

BANG!

Apex was sent flying so fast that the entire front layer of his skin was burnt off from the initial impact, while the back was torn away by the sheer flight speed of his backward ascent.

BOOM!

He collided in a mountain range that quickly erupted into a pillar of flames.

The gentle Celestial Ember Ancestor rose to her full height, her wings opening up wide and flapping with a world-ending majesty. Embers in the shape of feathers descended from the skies in a delicate rain, and yet whenever they touched an object, whether organic or inorganic, they would erupt into a rain of undeniable flames.

"Calm your fury, Nova," a voice that was just as gentle as the Ancestor Celestial Ember's own echoed, but this time it came from a creature that was somehow even more majestic. Despite this, from its voice, it was also clear that it was a male.

If Leonel was present, the first thought that would roar to the forefront of his mind was: Dragon. But the more you looked, the more... different the creature seemed.

It did have four limbs, it did have a pair of wings that could blot out the skies, and when it hummed the world seemed to listen to it as though it was truly speaking in the mythology's strongest magic... Dragon Tongue.

the

reflective blues and reds that could be mistaken for violets. If

scales they were

set of nine horns, two of which majestically curled into the skies while the others just acted as accessories to their dominance. And yet, upon the head of any other creature, the remaining sixteen horns

flowing white beard hung, accentuating its age. But those reflective blue eyes, that seemed to hold

despite his gentle gaze.

was

he spoke to calm Nova down, he cast a glance toward another of their companions, a mighty tiger, a member of the White Spectral Tiger Race... not one of their descendants, but a true

them couldn't sense that it was the descendants of their race that the so-called "Apex" had

wasn't something any of them

that there was a high chance of this happening. That was why they did it in the first place, it was easier to swallow the sacrifice if

mean

thinking. If not for her, they might have gone down a road of no return and all of this would

Walking back toward them, laughing into the skies, he truly looked no different

left flapping in the wind as though a piece of fabric rather than a person's flesh. His bone was clearly visible in most places, his organs

the worst part of it all was that with every step he took, illusory crimson tattoos that hung around him began to converge