Reincarnated As A Dragon With A Godly Inheritance

Immediately they entered the abyss, two things happened—and they knew, they felt it.

First, the bodies they had left behind—their skeletons—burned faster, hotter, and their light-forms here felt the pain. It was as if hot coals were being forced down their throats.

"So that's how it is!" Rauk hissed. "The deeper we go, the faster our bodies and souls will burn!"

"But all the strong Incarnatio are below us."

It was instinct that told them this. Instinct born as their souls left their bodies. The strongest Incarnatios were deep in the abyss. If you wanted them, you had to burn.

The more your soul could withstand, the more time you had to search for powerful Incarnatios.

And what they wanted were the strong ones.

They plunged, three blazing lights flashing down into the abyss, ignoring the pain blooming within them.

It was just as dark inside, yet they could see their surroundings well. It was as though they were falling down a vast tunnel.

It didn't take long before they started seeing the Incarnatios—there were many. The first they saw were weapon-shaped, different types made of different materials.

Power flowed out of them in continuous streams, but the three didn't stop. They ignored all the Incarnatios they passed until they reached the middle of the abyss.

Then, they slowed.

Kaedros grimaced. "The pain is getting worse. Our bodies are burning too fast. But I don't think this level is enough."

The first Incarnatio they saw here was more human and beast-shaped. One appeared as a fat man with a mouth that opened downward, sealed shut by long teeth. It held a short stick of wood in its hand.

It floated toward them, circling slowly.

"Anyone want this one?" Taria whispered. She could feel its power—the air around it shivered.

"I'll pass," Kaedros said flatly, and they continued deeper, though more slowly now. They realized that the faster they descended, the faster they burned.

"It's fascinating, isn't it?" Taria murmured. "My guardian in that last chamber told me how the first Dragon team wasn't called into the abyss at all. They simply summoned the Incarnatios and bound them into crowns. But every Dragon after them is called inside."

Kaedros looked into the darkness again—so deep and vast, yet now broken by flickers of light as Incarnations of power floated about.

One imp-like figure, made entirely of fire, danced around them, its burning eyes narrowing as it traced their descent.

"That one almost claimed us for itself," Taria shuddered. "The more powerful Incarnations are, the more intelligent they become."

The deeper they went, the harder it became to speak. Pain tore through them, so they gave up on words and focused all their energy on pressing downward.

Their bodies were burning too quickly now. Kaedros' skeleton was already gone from the thighs down, the rest of him turning to fire at an alarming rate.

"I can feel it… feel him," Rauk's eyes glazed, then sharpened. "He's down there. So close to the bottom."

"We can't make it." Kaedros jerked to a stop.

It was the bitter truth. Their soul-lights were dimming even as their bodies blazed brighter. They would turn to ashes before reaching the abyss floor.

The others stopped as well.

"You don't know that," Rauk argued.

Kaedros gestured at him. "Look at yourself."

Rauk glanced down, shocked at how much of his form had shrunk. Even so, he squared his shoulders. "I want that Incarnatio. At least to know why it's calling me. We're already here seeking power… why not go for the greatest?"

Kaedros frowned, then smiled faintly. It might be worth the risk. But he had always lived by one rule: do only what benefited him. Burning to death benefited no one—least of all making his team burn with him.

The safer choice was to select an Incarnatio here at this level.

He checked his burning body again. An idea flickered in his mind.

"Well, you're right. But if we aren't careful, we'll burn before we even get close." He told them, "Let's keep going—but I want your promise: if the fire becomes unbearable, you'll take any Incarnatio immediately."

Taria promised readily. Rauk resisted, eyes glazing over three times before he finally shook himself and agreed.

Down they went. Fast, they burned.

The closer they got to the bottom, the slower their descent as their energy dwindled. The pain was a raging inferno, but still they pressed on, floating as though through mud.

Their skeletons were nothing more than skulls now.

Then Rauk jerked to a halt. "Do you feel it?"

They did. The power boiling the air came from directly below, so intense they could see its aura piercing the dark.

And it wasn't just one aura. There were many.

They had reached the dwelling place of the Incarnations.

Below, yawning cave-like holes stretched wide. Kaedros pointed. "Seems the Incarnations here dwell inside those caverns."

Rauk's eyes were fully glazed now. "Yes. And he lives in one of them. He's calling me."

Kaedros exchanged a glance with Taria. She bit her lip, worry shadowing her face as she looked at Rauk. "We're about to burn completely."

Damn! Kaedros clenched his teeth. No helping it now. He had come this far—turning back was no option. He would have to put survival aside and take a calculated, desperate risk.

"Do you think we can make it inside before we're gone?" he asked.

No one knew.

They would have to try.

As one, they dove. The aura was like a raging sea current, smashing against them mercilessly, burning them faster still.

With desperate cries, they fought against the overwhelming pressure of countless Incarnatios.

And then—like a lamp with no oil, like a technique without essence—their bodies in the waking world burned away to ash.

Kaedros flinched as his soul shuddered. He screamed without sound as he flickered, nearly swallowed by the abyssal darkness. In desperation, he cast his mind outward, reaching for anything.

Anything at all.

His thoughts brushed against something cold—a white light that burned with frost—and he latched onto it like a starving man clutching crumbs. But nothing happened. He thought this was finally the end.

He was losing consciousness as he sank deeper into the abyss. So this is how I die… taking a risk I might have avoided.

Kaedros was angry. His actions had always been calculated, weighed for what he could gain. He was selfish, proud of it, and that selfishness had kept him alive this long.

And now—on one of the rare times he decided to take a true risk—this? Just as he was beginning to accept the idea of forging a clan of his own, he was about to die?

"No way!" Kaedros roared silently. "This risk must pay! I want power for myself!"

And he pulled on the white light with all his strength.

The abyss was absolute darkness, silence reigning as all Incarnatios of power listened to the death throes of those who might have been their masters.

Then, suddenly, a light long unseen for millions of years blazed through the abyss, illuminating it for miles. The Incarnatios reacted in shock, lashing out with their auras, causing an explosion of cascading light.

And in the midst of it stood Kaedros, blazing silver. His once-blue light now burned argent, and he stood in his Dragon form.

He ignored the chaos, eyes searching for Taria and Rauk. They were little more than flickering candles now.

Kaedros floated toward them, cupping them gently in his palms. He didn't know how, but at that final moment, he had drawn upon the Silver Stone—and because it was bound to his heart, it had answered him.

"Will this work?" He directed a stream of Silver Stone energy into their dying flames. He expected nothing. But here, in their light-forms, things were different.

The two drank greedily, regaining strength. Their own Silver Stones must have activated, for Kaedros felt their power flowing back into him as well.

Soon, the three were locked in a triangular exchange of energy, power surging between them until Taria and Rauk returned to full strength.

Kaedros sighed in relief and tried to cut off the flow, but it had grown volatile, the energy swelling and rolling until it exploded. The shockwave, though heatless, blasted them apart in different directions.

Kaedros tumbled through the dark, grunting, struggling to steady himself. But the current was unstoppable, so he yielded, letting it carry him.

The Silver Stone, Kaedros thought. Thalso and the Castle have saved us again. Without it, we'd be dead.

The thought chilled him. Then another followed—that their bodies had already finished burning in the rooms above. He could only hope that choosing an Incarnatio would remedy that.

The current slowed, then stilled. Kaedros looked upward. He couldn't tell how far he'd been swept, but above him he saw the faint flames of Rauk and Taria, burning steadily.

"It'll take some climbing—or is it swimming? Flying?—to reach them." He muttered. The Silver Stone still burned within him, but it would not last. He needed to choose an Incarnatio quickly.

He looked around. "No caves here. And I've reached the bottom. Maybe the place where that Incarnatio was calling Rauk—that was the true one."

Still, he searched again. And then he saw it.

One cave. Small, easy to overlook. Its aura mimicked the chaotic ones above, a weak echo—but it was there, yawning open, cloaked in pitch darkness.

"Damn." He was about to turn back when his Silver Stone began to fade. He smiled bitterly. "Seems I've miscalculated this risk."

He drifted toward the cave. It was man-sized, forcing him to fold his wings tight to slip through.

Inside, he stopped, stunned. The walls and floor weren't stone at all—they were fashioned from the Bones of the World.

He marveled. "The walls… the floor… everything. The very material from which Incarnatio Crowns are forged."

At the chamber's heart, he found the Incarnatio.

Kaedros froze.

It was a tall, slim man. White hair flowed down his back—no, not hair. Each strand was a filament of the Bones of the World, spun impossibly thin.

He sat upon a throne of bleached bone, long legs stretched before him. His green robe draped elegantly, his face concealed by a mask of white. Behind it, two eyes blazed, shifting constantly in hue—icy blue to burning red, green to purple, never still.

Kaedros' first instinct was to bow, to kneel. This Incarnatio radiated dignity and power so effortlessly that submission seemed natural.

For the first time, Kaedros thought perhaps he had taken the best risk of his life. Slowly, he approached the enthroned figure, unsure of what he should do.

In the end, he chose bluntness. He raised his hand and pointed. "I want you as my Incarnatio."

Silence fell. The figure blinked, eyes turning yellow, then green as they focused on him. At length, the Incarnatio shifted on his throne.

"You want me to be your Incarnatio?"

The word was strange on his tongue, as though spoken for the very first time. But Kaedros had no time left. He needed to secure one—now.

"Yes. I don't know your strength, but it doesn't matter. I ask again—be my Incarnatio."

The Incarnatio tilted his head, amused. His eyes turned brown, his mask smooth and expressionless.

"No."