NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1010: As long as we’re alive, there’s still hope
With Tangere and Clymene flanking him as subordinates, Orion's own power and status were terrifyingly clear. Xylia understood that now.
"Enough," Orion said, raising a hand. Clymene immediately retracted his oppressive aura. Orion then looked down at Xylia, still struggling on the ground, and his voice softened slightly. "What is your name?"
"Xylia, honored sir."
"Xylia, let me be clear. Even if the Wood Elf race were at its peak, I could wipe you out with a wave of my hand. Is that enough power to protect you?"
"I…" Xylia didn't know what to say. The two Legendary level powerhouses standing behind him had already said it all. Still, a part of her refused to admit that her people, at their peak, could be so weak.
"Our enemies were never you Wood Elves," Orion continued, his composure absolute. "They are the demonic monsters—the ones who shattered your forces. You and your people need to understand something: this territory I hold, I did not take it from you. I took it from them."
Every word was a statement of fact, and every fact was a hammer blow against the crumbling walls of their pride. Orion glanced over the defeated elves. He had anticipated this exact scenario before he'd even set foot in the Silverwood Realm. It was one of the reasons he had waited for Aerin to be the one to beg for help.
"If you wish to stay, then follow Aerin. She will teach you how to survive in The Stillness."
With that, Orion turned and walked away, Clymene and Tangere falling into step behind him. From start to finish, he hadn't revealed an ounce of his own power. To make a show of his strength here would have been beneath him. Besides, he knew when to stop. Pushing any harder would be counterproductive.
Only after Orion's figure had vanished into the castle did Aerin rise and help Xylia and Angel to their feet. This was the final task he had left for her: to use her own charisma to win them over now that their defiance was broken. Only then would they truly follow her lead. Building on the gratitude they already felt for her saving their lives, she could finally earn their trust.
"It's not as dark here as you might think," she said gently. "Besides the undead, there are humans, too." She gestured to the distant figures of Shield Warriors felling massive trees to reinforce the wooden ramparts and arrow towers. "You saw them when we came in. They are part of this community."
She met Xylia's gaze. "I don't think, from where we stand now, that we're in any position to judge the lines between light and dark, good and evil. Your duty right now is to survive. And then, to do as I did: save more of our people. Wouldn't you agree?"
Xylia and the others tore their eyes away from the distant Shield Warriors and looked back at Aerin.
"Elder," Xylia asked, her voice barely a whisper, "if we stay… will we truly see the day the Wood Elf Tribe is rebuilt?"
Aerin stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.
"Trust me," she said, her voice firm. "As long as we're alive, there's still hope."
.....
Emerald Dream Realm, Lorelia.
Led by Lilith and Delilah, the high command and younglings of the stoneheart horde stepped through the wide-open doors of the Dragon Crucible. The interior was surreal, radiating a profound and ancient mystery. Just inside, a series of archways made from the colossal bones of dragons led to separate pocket dimensions. The air thrummed with the tormented wails of countless dragon souls, bound to this place by the Crucible's power to summon them back to their mortal remains.
This agonizing sound wasn't a punishment; it was a tool. To undergo the ritual in this environment was to be tempered by the raw, furious power of the dragon souls, a trial by fire for the will that would forge it into steel.
"I'm going in," Delilah said, squeezing Lilith's hand before walking toward one of the bone-white doors.
Lilith was confused for a moment, but then she looked at the hand Delilah had touched. Resting in her palm was the second Banshee Crystal.
Don't refuse it. You know the succubus race needs a lord. And the wife of the King of Giants must be one as well, Delilah's voice echoed in her mind, a private message through their sisters' telepathic link.
Lilith didn't answer. She took a deep breath, her resolve hardening, and walked Pallas to one of the bone archways.
"Pallas, listen to me. Once you're inside, summon your dragon. Then, train just as you always do."
"I will, Mom."
"Good. Now, go."
She watched until the shimmering portal of the bone door closed behind him, then walked back to pick up Elara.
"Be good. Meditate and train hard inside. And release your Inferno Dragon—this will be good for him, too."
"Don't worry, Mom!" At critical moments like this, Elara dropped all of her usual sass and attitude.
Lilith sent her into the portal next to her brother's. Only then did she turn back to the assembled leaders of the horde.
"Send the rest of the horde's younglings in first," she commanded. "Then, you may each enter a chamber and begin the rite."
"As you command!"
Moments later, after the last of her people had passed through the bone doors, Lilith finally stepped through a portal of her own.
The space within was even more otherworldly than she had imagined. It was a perfect, egg-shaped chamber. She was standing on the surface of a lake of crimson liquid, shot through with veins of shimmering gold.
The lake was bottomless, yet its surface held her weight like solid ground. In the center floated a diamond-shaped stone slab covered in cryptic, glowing runes.
As Lilith stepped onto the stone slab, the crimson-gold water began to churn. It rose rapidly, filling the entire chamber until she was completely submerged. She felt no discomfort, no need to breathe.
After a moment of adjustment, a tidal wave of pure, raw energy surged into her, nourishing every muscle, every cell in her body.
On the curved walls of the chamber, luminous dragon symbols began to glow. They peeled away from the walls, swimming through the liquid like living creatures. They swirled menacingly before surging towards her, merging with her body, one after another.
A strange new consciousness, a torrent of life energy, flooded her being. It was an extraordinary sensation, as if she were forming a symbiotic bond with a nascent, mindless dragon. Mysterious knowledge and primal instincts bloomed in her mind, cleansing her spirit and reforging her body. A wondrous transformation was beginning.