TWINCEST CULTIVATION: a Tale of Vengeance

The landscape was blurry, surreal abstraction of shapes and colors with dry and tall hill.

In the midst of that hard to describe world, loomed a beast—titanic and primordial, its black scales gleaming like polished obsidian. A pair of black as ink wings covered the heaven. Its eyes burned with an unnatural light of the dead, and its presence filled the whole atmosphere with a palpable weight.

And Zesh stood there.

Trembling upon this nightmarish sight.

"Dragon?! Impossible!"

As an Elden beast, obviously he knows other powerful creature than themselves. He would never forget how his mother always boasting that she had been a friend with a certain dragon in the west when she was young. Then his father would put a sour expression.

Dragon—it could be said that they're (once) the most powerful being in the world!

But the thing was, they believed to had long extinct.

So how could one appear before him?

While Zesh trembled in shock and confusion, the abyssal black dragon loomed over him and speak, "the Last Elden Beast."

"Wh-who are you?!"

Zesh asked, voice trembling but defiant as always. He was surprised to found that he could speak using his mouth and tongue just like humans, but his situation didn't allow him to marvel at this discovery.

The dragon did not answer immediately.

Instead, it lowered its colossal head, the glow of its blue eyes intensifying as it gazed into Zesh's very soul.

Zesh didn't know how to react.

But then the dragon finally spoke, its voice was deep and resonant, carrying so much weight that felt older than the world itself.

"I have been waiting."

Zesh's breath caught, his fur bristling. "Waiting for what?"

"For you," the beast rumbled as it pointed right at Zesh with its gigantic index finger. "I will give you what remained of my power, my legacy. You will take it. You will wield it. And you will destroy them. The one who took everything from you."

The dragon lightly moved it's finger, and the fogs around began showing a scene.

A certain scene... of that day.

Zesh's fur bristles, a low fearful growl escaping his throat but he still step forward, glaring at the towering being for showing him this nightmare.

"They've already taken everything from me! What more could I possibly do?!"

Zesh knew that he had to take revenge.

Those who killed his father must die a horrible death.

Those who took his mother must pay.

The one who orchestrated all of this, he will make them pay with tens thousand years of suffering.

That's what he want.

That's his desire.

But—HOW?!

Inside his tough shell, deep inside, hidden by his burning hatred for humans, Zesh knew something very well; He is weak.

Too weak to save his kind.

Too weak to save his father.

Too weak to help his mother.

Too weak to protect his sister.

Too weak that few humans could knock him down, rendering him useless while they torturing his sister.

If only he had the strength, would all this happen? Would he wandered aimlessly with Ayin? Would he have to seek human's help to treat his sick and wounded sister? No.

Nothing bad would happen if only, Zesh had power.

But he didn't.

The dragon snorted, the world shaking under its weight; "You carry their might on your soul, their terror across your back. Their cruelty has stripped you of pride, but I see the embers of rage still burning within you. That rage is not weakness—it is the strength they fear most. And it is why I chose you."

The dragon's voice darkening, resonating with ancient air as its gaze fell on Zesh again, "What I from you is not servitude—it is vengeance. Not for me, but for yourself. For all of us who came before you. For the wilds they burned. For the sky they poisoned. For the balance they shattered. You say you know what they've done? You don't even begin to grasp it. The humans are not merely cruel; they are a disease. A blight upon this world. They do not kill because they must. They kill because they can. Because they believe that nothing is beyond their reach, that the heaven itself bends to their will. That is the sin that can no longer go unpunished."

Such words obviously ignited his hatred.

But then…

"I… i…" Zesh's chest heaved up and down in fury, but in the end, he slumped weakly, "I just wanted to protect my sister."

Far more than the satisfaction he will surely got from slaughters those human, he keep thinking about his weakness, his helplessness as he could only bark like a lowly dog while his sister got tortured right in front of his eyes. Ayin's heart wrenching scream, her tears, her soft whimpers—it was like thousands knife stabbing his heart at every moments, infinitely.

"And how would you do that without power?" the dragon snorted, causing Zesh to jolted in despair.

The dragon gazed far, far away at something only it could see, "You have been told the truth: humans do not rule this world. They devour it. And they will continue until there is nothing left—not the beasts, not the forests, not even the heavens themselves. You carry the scars of their sins, and in those scars lies the power to make them pay."

Some memories of Gatts and Kaska words echoed in Zesh's mind, and just as the dragon said, his parents always told he and his sister the true nature of the being called humans.

"But my power alone could not stop them." the dragon's eyes fell on him again, "It is not enough to roar or to rage. It is not enough to fight them on their terms. You, Elden beast—you are the beginning of something greater. You will rise not as a predator but as a agent of order. The storm that sweeps through their cities. The wildfire that consumes their empires. The reckoning that they have long escaped."

Zesh stayed silent with his head lowered. "You're want me to be a monster."

"You will be a reminder in form of the Beast of Vengeance." the dragon voice laced with primal edge, "A truth that humanity has forgotten in its arrogance. They believe themselves untouchable, invincible, destined to rule all creation."

The dragon rises to its full height, its presence overwhelming as its voice echoing like the very will of the heavens. "Show them that they are wrong."

"…Why me?!"

At this point, Zesh couldn't care less even if this being was a true dragon and he was being disrespectful.

He asked harshly.

"You're ancient, powerful—YOU ARE A DRAGON! You're a part of the myth I barely know. Why would you give your power to someone like me? What do you gain from this?!!"

The dragon's voice reverberated, "My time has long gone, my claws dulled, my roar lost to the ages. The world has forgotten my rage, but I do not."

The dragon shifts, its massive claws tearing mountains into the ground as it leans forward, blue eyes burning with intensity. "Once, my kind ruled the skies, the Deep Dweller ruled seas, the Elves lived in harmony in endless forests, the Moonlings smiled at night…. We were the balance of the heaven, neither more nor less than what the worlds decreed. We are the protector of humanity from what lies beyond the eternal fogs. But humans—they were not content to coexist. They built fires to drive us away, forged blades to hunt us, and chains to bind us. They spoke of dominance, progress, a future where the dragon, titans, and Elden beast were nothing but relics of a savage past."

The dragon's voice grows softer, mournful yet resolute. "The heavens have allowed their tyranny for too long. The balance must be restored. The humans believe themselves untouchable, so let them learn the price of their arrogance."

Zesh gritted his teeth, at this point what else could he do? Can he say no?

This titanic dragon could kill him with a slap.

And this deal suit Zesh—He need power.

"What do you want?!"

He's too old to believe that there's free food in this world. Even Clara and Nakan had betrayed them after showing their so called kindness.

The dragon's cracked form glowed brighter as its voice filled the air, echoing like thunder. "Come to the place where blood and shadows mingle. Follow the whispers of the forgotten. There, you will find me."

The world began to dissolve, the vibrant colors fading into darkness like water returning to the sea.

"Come, child of hatred!"

—As the dragon's glowing red eyes became the only thing left in that nightmarish world, its ancient voice filled Zesh's mind one last time…

"Come and fulfill your destiny!"

Zesh jolted awake, his body trembling from pain, cold and the lingering intensity of the dream.

He looked around weakly, the reality around him was far more grim. He lay in the corner of a decrepit barn, his body weak and riddled with wounds. His fur couldn't be more dirty, even his mouth tasted blood. His stomach growled, the pangs of hunger gnawing at him relentlessly.

He can barely think straight.

For example, the earlier dream; if he wasn't so tattered and hungry, he would have realized it was a dream and not acting like a total loser in front of the dragon.

He didn't even realize that he had been mysteriously freed from the rusty chains that had bound him there.

In that instant, like thunder had strikes on his brain, his muddled consciousness cleared.

And he saw her.

Ayin lay not far from him, her small frame barely rising up and down with each shallow breath. Her wounds were festering, her once beautiful pink fur was matted with dried blood, and her eyes closed tightly.

Zesh feel something more desperate than hunger.

Sadness.

Total sadness.

As he crawled closer, the sadness instantly replaced by fury.

Anger.

Absolute wrath.

But he still maintained his rationality as he nudged her gently. His telepathic voice weak, his growl cracked, raw from days without food or water.

Ayin didn't even flinch.

Radagon's chest tightened from sadness, his breath coming in short sharp bursts with anger.

His sister was dying, slipping away before his eyes.

he growled, his voice shaking with nothing but terror,

Tears running down his cheek.

Zesh instantly reminded of that day, how the humans had slaughtered his father heartlessly. He never forget his last word——But at this moment, the promise he took from the dream he just had reignited the flame in his heart, burning away the despair that threatened to overwhelm him.

The words from his dream echoed in his mind. "Come and fulfill your destiny."

Zesh's scarlet eyes glinted with cold determination as he, for the first time ever, use his tongue to voiced his words. "I'll find that place, and I'll take whatever power it offers—For you, sister. For us."