Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1371 The Dragon's Haunts

1371  The Dragon's Haunts

Jiggorrhax had never known weakness in his entire life. He prided himself on his strength, cultivated through knowledge, Divine favour, and best of all, time. He was a Herald, a capable one who had been ordained to mend the Rules of Aigas with his breath after Quintess and Listafelle departed. He was no beast. He, his father, Seongssax the Ivy, and his younger sibling Jerthrax, were descended of the Eternal Drakkens, the first creatures created by the three governing Deities of Aigas – the vessels whom they charged most of their strength and ingenuity into.

Jiggorrhax was one of the few to reach the summit of Aigas' power system, a feat made much easier by his title as a Herald, and also his race. He was a Beyond The Veil Stager – indeed, cultivating strength like the humanoid species on Aigas – and had even begun to feel stranded at the peak.

No other Herald held a candle to him in strength and wisdom. That was only natural. However, Jiggorrhax wished his descendants would inherit even a sliver of his potential. The Giants, offspring of the dragons, were nothing like him at all. Indeed, Jiggorrhax was a little impulsive at times, always eager to find a situation to exercise his great might, but he would never jeopardise the balance of the world for such a trivial want.

Twitch, twitch!

He remembered it as if it was only days ago.

The Giants had set off on a campaign to give knowledge to the humans and the Sif, hailing themselves as missionaries, only to be called back to Edagon and scolded by him. They had hidden their true intent for a while. They had hoped to rule over all the continents of Aigas, holding dual roles of teachers and dictators. They believed themselves to be a promised race.

Perhaps it was no lie, but that didn't mean their ambition was right. Patience and obedience were great virtues.

Later in time, Jiggorrhax would prove that he held both when he was forced to hold himself back, still and passive even as Fulgardt the Immoral wreaked havoc on Aigas.

He had hoped his kin would exercise such restraint, but alas…

His rage at the actions of the Giants had been great back then, but it also opened his eyes. The world was not ready for the end of the lineage of dragons. The Giants were yet to evolve into true representations of their Elders. A dragon needed to remain in Aigas until such a time came.

And that was why Jiggorrhax had fed many of the Giants to Jerthrax, sacrificing them for his accelerated growth. It was harsh, but necessary, and the Giants accepted their fate. Well, perhaps not all of them.

Jiggorrhax now wondered if that had been wise.

Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch!

He remembered his battle against a four-armed creature, an anomaly. He was aided by the Immoral, who had claimed that it was an outsider eager to sow discord on Aigas. Initially, Jiggorrhax had believed Fulgardt, who was adorned in a different set of flesh. Together they had battled the anomaly in Jiggorrhax's own time… and then in another time – a distant future.

He hadn't processed it then, but it was a pathetic excuse for an Aigas. The mana was less than rich, and there were few powerful souls.

Tragically, in this future, the Herald was unable to sense the presence of Jerthrax, and he was not naïve enough to be remain optimistic about that. It must have meant that his younger sibling had perished. No, he must have been killed. This assertion was supported by the fact that Jiggorrhax couldn't sense any Giants on Edagon, save for one.

It was odd, and ominous.

Jiggorrhax had even detected a great pressure, stronger than Suzamete's during the battle. It was clearly that of a Deity, but not of Quintess, and not of Listafelle.

Indeed, Boron had risen then.

This was a cruel, unfamiliar world, but one where the Rules were intact, scorched by his old breath from back then. It must have been a world that proceeded his successful mending of the Rules, but…

Why was it like this?

Jiggorrhax had hidden his frustrations during the battle, but they slowly surfaced the more queer everything around him became. Soon, he was even questioning if the individual he was fighting – the four-armed anomaly – was the enemy at all.

Nothing made sense.

Twitch, twitch, twitch!

How did it become like this?

A sharp throbbing thought answered, slow and meek. A whisper.

Jiggorrhax rebelled against the thought. He was wise, wise enough to know that man and Sif were a people of their own. In the same way they joined hands to fight against the Giants in the First Grand War, they would eventually revolt even if the Giants succeeded at first in putting most of them down and staking their claim on Opungale and Feinheath.

'No. That could never happen. Not if you had supported them,' the voice came again, sharper.

Jiggorrhax refused to believe it.

It couldn't be.

It couldn't be!

It couldn't…

Twitch!

The Herald's eyelid opened with a crunch. The scales on it were still charred, but healing. He was coming to. Flakes of snow fell on him as he laid his head over a great mountain, feeling the great chill wandering about its peaks. At once, the dragon noted that he was in a Majestic Territory.

He heard voices.

"…aware of it?"

"Of course, I'm aware. I can sense the hundred and some powerful souls running about, killing foes, ahaha."

"You have that much faith in them? Hmm. I shouldn't ask. I would have thought you would rush to Edagon after sensing that disturbance, but you were suspiciously confident."

"I already told you. I have one last battle in me, ahaha. Besides, I'm no Herald, and no Divine. I'm quite sure that freak of nature, a skeleton ascended to an anomaly, will deal with it. If not him then Suzamete herself."

"I'm once again unnerved by how alike we are. The only difference is that I seem to desire Divine experiences more than you. Queer. Maybe I, a lowly, innocent bird, am the one descended from the dragons."

Sause, a transparent, ethereal form high in the skies, laughed.

"It just may be," he said before his eyes noticed the glow of a large eyeball below. He reeled and stormed down at once. "Elder!"

Ashton followed after him.

Together, they floated right in front of Jiggorrhax's eye. Its slit-like pupil dilated with focus at the sight of Sause, and then a booming voice left its giant mouth.