Reincarnated As A Dragon With A Godly Inheritance

Kaedros shouted in pain and fear, mixed with confusion, he couldn't turn towards Taria. He raised his hand which was covered in monsters, and continued his slow pace towards Rauk but the monsters were focusing on only him now and they dragged him down.

He wished for a quick death but he knew it might not be possible, not with the swarm of monsters fighting over his flesh, then a laughter as light as winds on summer night flitted through the room. The monsters paused as one, their heads tilted as if they could hear something then they were gone.

Just like that, disappearing into invisible cracks on the floor leaving behind their dead.

Nothing moved in the room, the smell of blood was a thick heavy blanket mixed with that of hundreds of guts cut open. Then Kaedros's hand trembled, he was still holding his sword, hand tight on it.

He started moving, slowly and painfully. Hissing all the way, he sat up. He couldn't say if he still had silver stone running in his body but pains were muted, his eyes dull.

He didn't know how long he sat there, then he opened his mouth, the upper side of his lip had been left half chewed. "You two dead yet?"

Taria groaned, she was lying on her back. Half of her face had been chewed away, the flesh gone and bones could be seen flashing in some parts of the rest of her body. Her words were slurred. "No. Not yet, you think you can get rid of me so easily?"

Kaedros snorted wetly, blood clothing his mouth and nose. "You're right but it looks like Rauk gets to have the first body wash."

Rauk was now like a rag, a bloody one who couldn't move any part of his body except his mouth. It was surprising that he could still speak, because his gut had been eaten, leaving a hollow gash in his stomach. "I'm not dead yet! But... but..but I'm getting there."

Kaedros could only smile.

"Oh? Is this the new way humans comfort themselves when they are near death? Seems interesting!" A voice that belongs in the library said. The man's voice was soft with a satisfying smoothness.

"Really? Humans are always like that. They accept change the most unless of course, they are the powerful ones." This one voice was sharp and clinical, the voice of a man as well.

A woman's voice, husky and surprisingly deep. "That shouldn't be your focus. How long was it since you last saw humans reach this far in the training??"

"Yes, that's why humans don't become Eldritch often. They are too weak to take the trials! The last human was what? Seven hundred years ago?" The sharp voice said.

The woman hissed. "You meant that human that sealed us! He had kept us from guiding the Incarnatio of Aetheria to new masters this past year!"

"Well now, you have three to guide..."

"I used to have thousands." The woman grumbled.

The sharp voice continued. "Think of it this way, you have a quality candidate that reached room eight. Even dragons don't reach this room most times, without mana all beings are equal."

"No," the soft-spoken man said. "Some beings are superior in strength even with their mana restricted and that was why most Eldritch are non-humans but now we have three come this far at once! Interesting indeed!"

"Wait! Wait! Even you all-knowing don't seem to see that far," the sharp voice carried a hint of amused mockery. "Can't you see the monster that stood among the two humans? He wore a human's guise!"

The soft-spoken voice grunted. "That's not a monster you fool. I've never seen one before myself but those are the new beings created by the Devils. I heard it's an experiment between devils themselves and monsters..."

"How do you hear all these things with us always here?" The woman asked in fascination.

"Nothing can stop the quest for knowledge, that was why it pained me greatly that we were locked here for years."

Kaedros didn't know if he should be amused or annoyed, those three were there talking about them as if they didn't exist, as if they weren't bleeding and about to die.

Kaedros gritted his teeth and used his last strength to make his voice sharp. "What are you here for?"

The voices paused and then Kaedros felt them come closer.

"Yes, yes! Let's begin." The woman's voice said so close to him that Kaedros could smell her sweet scent. She put her hand on his head and warmth flooded him, his pain melting away and with a groan, he leaned against the hand that was healing him.

The healing took time because the woman said she must get him into a healthy body as she could. She even asked him to remove his illusion for better healing but Kaedros was active now and would not agree to do such a thing.

He also got his first proper look at the three. They were dressed in flowing robes of light blue. The woman was beautiful with eyes of solid purple and thick golden hair.

The soft-spoken man was healing Rauk, a glass hung on his nose but Kaedros got the impression that it was there only for show because the man's purple eyes were clear sharp under his bushy brows.

The clinical voice was healing Taria, all sharp angles with the purple eyes of a falcon.

They took their time with the healing and finally, the three stepped back to admire their handiwork.

Kaedros was now a healed man in a robe made sticky with his own and the monster's blood. He bowed to the three. "Thank you."

The woman waved her hands, and the three of them floated in front where the next door stood. "You don't have to, it comes with the room's challenge."

Kaedros could tell that these three were not humans. They had that 'other' feeling that the Demons and monsters carried with them.

"That's good to hear." Taria's eyes had been healed with the rest of her body. The body that was still matted in dried blood and her hair was held stiff together with it.

"Maybe I'll live to wash myself after all." Rauk's voice was a grimace. He still hadn't forgotten that hours ago, monsters had chewed his gut while he still lived. He shuddered, the pain had been the highest yet in his life.

None of them could forget it. It was a torture that had slid and now latched into their minds forever. Nothing was more dreadful than being eaten alive, slowly, by hundreds of mouths.

Taria and Rauk bowed to the three anyway. Not only had they stopped the monsters from killing them they had also healed them.

"I told you before, it comes with the room because this is the room of acceptance." The woman said.

"Room of acceptance?" Kaedros repeated.

"Yes, do you think you can pass the trial of this room? No matter how strong you are unless you are using technique or spell, this is the highest room any candidate can reach. This is where you accept that you cannot pass the trial and accept your death." The woman said.

"Then why is it here? What is the use of having a trial that wasn't meant to be passed?" Kaedros felt anger building behind his eyes and silver stone hummed in his chest, full and ready.

Are they saying they were played? That their near deaths were something that wasn't that important?

"You fighting the monsters in this room was the challenge itself. You might have chosen not to fight against those impossible odds. You doing it is the challenge, not winning." The woman's voice was calm, too calm that it put Kaedros on edge.

He knew voices like that, voices that were calm before the storm. Kaedros took a deep breath and with an iron will he shoved his anger away, it wouldn't serve him here after all. "Thank you and I apologize."

The woman said nothing but she nodded, the man with the glasses adjusted it on his nose and continued. "A lot of candidates chose not to engage this room you see. They prefer to stop here."

"But that means they fail right?" Taria exclaimed. To have come this far only to fail!

"No," the soft-spoken voice smiled, "You have passed the candidate's trial since the sixth room."

A stunned silence descended, and Kaedros felt the shock take over. He hadn't expected this. They had passed since? Then why the other rooms?

"Why? How?" There was complete surprise in Taria's voice.

Rauk nodded along with them. This was getting confusing. So they already passed?

"Aa...yes. Candidates don't always know. The trials are meant to draw out your highest potential. To stimulate your soul so accepting the Incarnation will be easy. Those six rooms are already enough."

"And if we have died?" Kaedros asked.

"If you have died before the sixth room then your bodies will be used as materials for Twilight but if you died in the sixth room you will be transported to the tenth room immediately." The glasses man said.

Kaedros breathed easy. "What's in the tenth room?"

All sharp angles man replied. "That's the last room where the Incarnation Crowns lay and where you will have the last test."

"You said something about stimulating our souls?" Taria asked.

"Yes. The Incarnatio are linked with the souls after all and the amount of power you will possess as an Eldritch will depend on how it was linked with the soul."

"Explain...please." Kaedros caught himself in time not to make it a demand.

"Eldritch have the powers of the Incarnation right? But they don't always have the full power, you will have to draw it out slowly through the years. The total amount of power you will eventually have will depend on how far you go in the trial rooms since they are made to stimulate the soul."

"And you will be an Awakened Eldritch when you merge your core and soul with the crown."

They digested that in silence. So their passing the sixth room paid off even though they didn't understand what they meant by drawing the powers out slowly through the years or by Awakened Eldritch.

In time, Rauk asked a question. "Then....is this the last room?"

"Of course not. You will pass into the ninth room now and the last one next."

"The last, the tenth one where potential dies." The woman whispered.

"What do you mean?" Kaedros tried not to make his voice sharp.

The woman shrugged. "The last trial and the most important. All other trials are built around this single fact. Can your soul link with an Incarnation of Aetheria? That is really what all this is about. Years ago when the Incarnatio were first summoned, candidates simply tried to link directly without stimulating their soul."

"Some passed but millions died this way and the trial rooms were then created, this way the death was reduced to several hundred thousand. Of course, this is not counting those who died before the sixth room."

"Well....shit," Rauk murmured and Kaedros agreed with silence.

The chances were not in their favor, the only edge they had now was that they reached the eighth room and possibly, if they passed the ninth room.

Taria though, was looking at the three with suspicious eyes. "Are you trying to intimidate us?"

"Why should we? That was simply the fact. Accept or do not, it changes nothing. You will either join the millions who had tried to wear the Crowns of the Eldritch and died or you will wear one." The woman said; she sounded bored. As if she had had this conversation before.

And maybe she had, Kaedros thought. Warriors...mostly not even humans always came as candidates to challenge. How many had these three seen dead? How many had they seen boast about their skills and end up failing?

"I apologize," Taria mumbled after Kael raised his brows at her.

"Eh.... why are you apologizing?" The woman sounded baffled, and she watched them closely. "You are a weird team but not as interesting as I thought."

"Which team was interesting to you?" Rauk asked in curiosity.

"There was a team of Eldritch. They came here, seven in all, and won all Crowns. They are known as the Eldritch of Fear. They drew the most power from their Crowns. Their Incarnation was the most powerful ever in history and they are the death of Voidrender."