Serendipity (Veldora x TBATE)

I vividly recall my own self-reflection in the void as I processed my own unmaking, and awaited the emergence of a new storm dragon—a new me.

Mortals are peculiar creatures. They speak of loneliness as if it were a curse—a burden too heavy to bear. They look at me, Veldora, and see an existence they deem apocalyptic and tragic. Absolute strength, they say, must come at the cost of companionship. Immortality, they believe, must be a sentence to eternal solitude.

They live in fear of the end, always aware of the ticking clock. Their entire existence is bound by time, by limits I know anything but. They love and hate each other because they know they won't be here forever.

How quaint.

I've lived for a long time, witnessed the rise and fall of countless civilizations, some of which by my own hands. And through it all, I've never once felt the sting of loneliness that seems to plague these ephemeral beings.

True, there are few who can stand as my equal. The other True Dragons, perhaps, but we're scattered across the world, each pursuing our own interests. We don't seek each other out for tea parties or idle chatter. Why would we? Our very bodies are the very roots of the world around us. We are forces of nature incarnate, not socialites at a garden party.

Mortals might look at my life and see endless solitude. They imagine the centuries pressing down and think that each passing year is a reminder of my separation from the world of the living. But they fail to understand the fundamental truth of my being.

I am complete unto myself.

My strength isn't a prison that isolates me from others; it's my identity. I don't yearn for companionship because I don't need it. The storms are my playmates, the mountains my confidants, and the seas my mirror. In the crack of thunder, I hear laughter. In the howling wind, I feel embrace.

Yet, I'm not blind to the world around me. I observe, I interact, I even form bonds of a sort. The creatures of my domain, the spirits that embody my elements—they provide fleeting amusements. But do I need them to feel fulfilled? No.

The world continues to turn, days would fade into nights, night into days. A million years could pass, and I'd remain the same. Even if the sunset turned blue or the moon and sun swapped places, I'd still be here.

Perhaps that's what mortals fail to grasp. They see an eternal being and assume eternal longing. They project their own fears and desires onto me.

I am Veldora, the Storm Dragon. In every moment, I am fully and completely myself. There is no void within me to be filled by others.

Absolute strength isn't a burden; it's liberation. It frees me from the petty concerns that consume mortal lives. I can move through the world as I please. I've never known the fear of being alone, because I've never truly been alone, even as I was stuck in that seal for centuries.

I don't fear death, I don't anxiously count the passing years, I don't desperately seek meaning in fleeting connections.

I simply am.

And in that state of being, I find not loneliness, but wholeness. A completeness that no mortal could ever truly comprehend. For in the end, I stand alone not because I am lonely, but because I am enough.

The world is vast, ever-changing, full of surprises, and as long as that's the case, I'll never lack for something to keep me entertained. That's my shape of mind.

It's just life. A life where the horizon stretches endlessly, and I'm free to explore it all at my own pace with all the time in the world.

No regrets, no fears.

Just… existence.

Living as the world.

As myself.

~🐉~

"—...While the Beast Glades house countless monsters and creatures, they also contain wondrous treasures with long-forgotten origins, accessible to those who dare to seek them. Many adventurers and mercenaries have written about the dungeons and lairs of powerful entities and the riches to be found therein, which can turn even the most generous priest into a greedy...—"

...…

...

…

Veldora opens his eyes, staring at the thunderstorm clouds raging above. His hands were dripping with thick and viscous monster blood as he gripped the severed head of what looked to be a gigantic gorilla. He stood up, his black cape that is fastened at his shoulders waving slightly with the wind carrying stenches of blood and monster corpse.

He stepped down the peak of a mountain of monster corpses, all of which died by his own hands. This once lush forest in the Beast Glades had been reduced to a scarred wasteland. Uprooted trees lay scattered like discarded toys. Craters pockmarked the earth.

"I wonder what rank I'd be now?" Veldora muttered to himself, somewhat excited and hopeful. Then, he thrust two of his fingers and clawed in the empty air with his black nails. There was an indescribable sound as the space severed to reveal a dimensional gap. He allowed the void of space to voraciously swallow all the corpses he diligently slaughtered.

He was currently in the deeper parts of the Beast Glades—one of the four main regions of Dicathen. The Beast Glades was a vast, untamed wilderness, much of it still uncharted and unexplored due to the increasingly powerful monsters that lurked closer to its core. Large portions of this territory remained shrouded in mystery.

Veldora was deep into this region, and the monsters he slaughtered that ranged from ranks A-S, while he himself was still bottom-rung since he just registered yesterday. Veldora was particularly impatient in raising his ranks as he deems it unbecoming of a god to stay at bot frag.

Just as he was about to fly back into Xyrus, Veldora stopped in his tracks and took a look behind him. Nothing changed, there was just a lifeless horde of corpses piled up into a mountain embraced by a mist of reddish smoke and dust.

"Hmm," Veldora hummed as he picked up a piece of rock. It was just a small pebble, and he examined it closely for a little while. Then, without warning, he flicked it out into the desolate clearing. A shockwave boomed as the rock collapsed and burned from its speed having reached faster than sound. But the message was clear, nonetheless.

Then, there were sparks in the air. The sparks ignited into flames whatever it touched, including the battered and broken trees and even the smallest traces of grass on the ground. The sparks began to coalesce, forming a figure of flame that gradually took on a humanoid shape.

Looked incredibly close to a human if you just ignore his abnormal height of over two meters—much like Veldora—and the fiery aura that clung to him like a second skin. He had spiky orange hair, an intimidating face framed by a sharp mustache, and a muscular, toned chest left exposed by his minimal armor.

The most unique feature about him is his eyes—one is orange like a volcano caldera and the other is glacial blue like a white light. Another thing was he was carrying a giant battle axe strapped to his back.

"A human this deep into the glades," the man's deep voice echoed in the ashen desolation. He narrowed his fiery mismatched eyes at Veldora as if attempting to see through him rather than at him. "Care to state your business?"

Veldora just stared at the man, his head proudly raised high. "Just passing by," he said, waving his hand dismissively with a tone as if snorting. "You aren't exactly human either, are you?"

"…I see," the man responded. Then, without a word, he unsheathed his battle axe and gripped the handle firmly. He held it as if the massive thing was feather. "You've seen me, and though it's a pity, you have to die."

"Pfft," Veldora rebukes. "Try me, bitch."

The man then charged instantly, leaving a trail of blaze in his wake as he swung his gigantic axe twice his size in an arc motion. The weapon blurred and exploded into a shockwave as it seemed to make direct contact with Veldora. The atmosphere cracked from the force as the earth split into a trench.

"To be so brazen in front of a phoenix when you're but a mere lesser," the man muttered, seemingly assured of his own victory. "Ignorance is bliss, after all."

But he felt something wrong. His axe won't budge no matter how much strength he used, and from the cloud of dust kicked up by the sheer force of his swing, there were two amber lights shining brightly like newborn stars.

"What's your name?"

Veldora's voice pierced through the dissipating cloud as he revealed himself, still in the same spot he was in before—unharmed and unbothered. He held the fiery man's axe with his right hand, while his left stayed sheathed in his pockets.

The man just eyed Veldora, in shock and in disbelief. Veldora finally released his grip and the fiery man leaped backwards to make distance. He stared at his weapon, crumbling at where Veldora's hand had been, and then switched his focus back to Veldora.

This guy, the man thought. He seemed to ponder for a while as he readjusted his stance. "…I am Chul Asclepius of the Phoenix Asuras."

"Veldora," came the quick reply. "Just Veldora."

The fiery man—Chul—tensed as he prepared for the inevitable clash. He released his axe from his hand, and it fell to the ground with a loud boom.

"You aren't using that?" Veldora asked, curious.

"Nah," came the curt reply. "Brace yourself, stranger called Veldora," he warned. "You may have survived my initial strike, but don't mistake that for victory. Us Asuras are not to be trifled with."

"Ah? I'm not here for victory, Chul. I came here because I was bored. A bit of fun, you know?"

Chul simply growled at this as he prepared himself. He tapped into his colossal mana pool, analogous to an ocean, and released all his suppressed power. The surroundings then exploded into a bright fiery orange light as Chul's phoenix powers fully manifested. He was going full power.

Veldora was willing to respond in kind. He amplified his dragon spirit's haki as he let it course through his fists, making them glow an ominous amber color. His haki-infused hands were scorching the surrounding air, giving Veldora a very haze-like aura surrounding him.

A dry and half-scorched leaf glided in the space between Chul and Veldora. It descended slowly, like it was counting the ticking of the second hand of a clock. The leaf passed Chul's and Veldora's eye level, continuing its descent down as it miraculously survived being fully burnt.

Then, it touched the ground.

Chul rushed forward with maximum speed, his own fist coated with the maximum amount of mana he can output and the highest force of his magic he can unleash. He blurred through the air, and even the sonic booms were far too left behind as he instantly closed the distance to Veldora.

It's my victory!

Chul could feel it, feeling euphoric to put this lesser in his place and to reaffirm his status as an asura—a deity. The sheer force behind his punch would have shattered the largest of mountains, and he was certain it would obliterate this seemingly arrogant opponent. His strike was about to make contact with his opponent's face, with time seeming to stretch and slow, when Veldora looked up.

Chul's world stopped. He bore witness to the most beautiful and eerily unnerving golden eyes in the world, framed by deep brown marks like tattoos tracing down the bottom of his eyes and into his ears' base. His pupils were diamond-shaped and very vivid—impossible to not notice—and there seemed to be stars of red and blue dancing in them.

Chul was mesmerized. He even failed to notice Veldora casually sidestepping his full-power strike in a split second. Chul felt a world-shattering force connect with his chin. Veldora had struck him with an uppercut, and the force was of biblical and mythical proportions.

The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, cracking the very space around them. Trees for miles around were instantly vaporized, the ground beneath them cracked and split, forming a chasm that looked like it could reach the very core of the planet. The sky above darkened, clouds swirling into a vortex centered on the point of impact before exploding outward in a clearing.

Chul felt himself perish, his consciousness fading as his body disintegrated from the sheer force of Veldora's strike. But true to his nature as a phoenix, he arose once again from the ashes, his form reconstituting in a brilliant burst of flame.

He opened his eyes, blinking away the disorientation. Veldora was gone, there was no trace of him, but there was every proof of his existence.

Chul found himself lying at the center of a massive crater extending as far as the eye can see. The very clouds above had been torn apart, leaving a vast, circular opening that revealed the sun blazing down from the heavens. He lay there, stunned, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The devastation was beyond comprehension—the very geography of this part of the Beast Glades altered by the force of that single blow.

"What the hell?" Chul muttered. What would've happened if he hadn't aimed it upward?

He slowly got to his feet, wincing at the phantom pain that lingered even after his resurrection as his mind raced. Who—or what—was Veldora? No being he had ever encountered, not even among the toughest ranks of the Asuras, possessed such power. The casual ease with which Veldora had destroyed a noble blood like him was not just humbling—it was terrifying.

In the distance, he could hear the panicked cries of beasts fleeing the area, sense the tremors still reverberating through the lithosphere. Chul's mismatched eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of Veldora, but finding none. He clenched his fists, feeling equal parts conflicted, frustrated, and curious.

Chul stood up as he spread his fiery wings, preparing to take flight and report this incident to his superiors hidden in the depths of the Beast Glades' center.