The Forgotten Language

Rune quickly learned the Rune Language. His proficiency got nearly on par with his martial skills. When he thought of his crude runes before, he felt ashamed.

And to think he spent six years taking the rune class, and even graduated as one of the best in the rune class at the Dragon Imperial Academy....he sighed at his wasted time.

He erased all the runes he had scribbled on his home and tower, and replaced them with new ones. At first it was hard to write these runes on objects because any mistake resulted in a backlash of energy which could break bones and burn afingers and hands .

Slowly but surely, he progressed. By the time he was done replacing the strengthening runes, it seemed so simple to him that he felt foolish whenever he thought of the near misses he had with dismemberment.

Time flew by while the duo's relationship deepened. It was a relationship of trust and reliance.

One day Zafira brought up the issue of the dragon egg to Rune. For years she had tried to hatch it to no avail. Day and night , between rests, she had breathed her flame at the egg hoping to hatch it. If she were to perish before this egg was hatched, her kind will go into extinction.

Rune had some experience with Dragon eggs from his time as a knight of the Grimvalle Kingdom in the Imperial Dragon Dynasty Empire across the endless sea. He had tented to the dragolings when he was an apprentice. So he definitely knew one or two things about dragon eggs.

The egg that Zafira showed him was blueish and much larger than the ones he had seen before. It was as big as a two hundred litre drum, and oval in shape like any other egg. It had a lot of intricate veins on its smooth surface.

....

The egg had started pulsating the blue light on its shell four years ago. When Zifara had seen this, she had rejoiced, flapped her wings and took to the sky with happiness. She still remembered that day. She had gotten giddy and restless waiting for the birth of her sister. She had soared high up in the sky, feeling the gentle caressing of the wind on her scales.

She sharply banked to her left, cutting the crisp cold air with her wings, and turned back to the place where she had just flew from. Her wings tucked tightly beside her body and she fell like a shooting star. The feeling was exhilarating. Her spirits rose and she roared into the air, sending shockwaves and vibrations. All the beasts were astounded, sentient trees trembled where they stood.

This was the king of the beasts. She had been reclusive for thousands of years, and now, out of nowhere, she was in the sky celebrating only her Majesty knows.

She approached the tree level with tremendous speed. Just before hitting the tree tops, her wings stretched, catched the wind, and arrested her speed nearly to a halt. Dust and debris flew in every direction from the force of her deceleration. She lightly extended her legs and sank her talons into the ground. Gently she landed and gave one mighty roar towards the sky. Nearby trees swayed away withe force.

She looked back at the egg and saw that it had gone dormant in just this short period. She had knocked the egg with her talons, breathed the hottest flame she could conjure upon it to no changes. She felt disappointed, it had looked like the egg was about to hatch. And what was this now?

Did my sister die before she could break the shell? No. I can still sense the life force within the egg.

Thought Zafira.

What? The life force has just doubled!? How is this possible!?

She had no one to ask. But she definitely knew that what she was sensing was right. She wasn't wrong. Her senses were never wrong.

She summoned Rune with the hope that he may know something of what had just happened. The moment Rune Sachem appeared, a golden light shot out of the egg and enveloped Rune. His life force began to exponentially decrease.

He fought back with his soul power, but he had underestimated his opponent. The embryo in the egg's soul power was already more powerful than what he expected.

A dragon egg can remain dormant for thousands of years without losing it's potency. On the contrary, it's soul power grows as it gets tempered in dragon fire breathed on its egg shell. By the time it is hatched, its soul power is as strong as that of an average cultivator in the Divine Transformation Realm.

He exerted his Primal Heaven Master Realm level soulforce and instantly severed the link, but the damage was already done. His life force was nearly extinguished, only a glimmer remained.

Zifara was stunned, she was slow to react. By the time she came to, Rune was already on his knees sweating profusely. There was no doubt, he was dying, and the only thing she could do was to save his soul and destroy his immortal body.

She greeted her teeth, her eyes hardened and gleamed with determination. She will do what she has to do to save him even if it meant her own death.

Rune felt the change in his friend and looked up only to be blasted by a soul force he had fought countless times. But this time, that soul force was fully unleashed to its extreme and was locked on him.

This was an unmovable mountain. Even if he were not in this weakened state, he wouldn't have been able to withstand this power. It was more than primal. It was dominant and commanding. In its presence, he could only yield.

He felt a stream of life force in the soul power locked on him. It was feeding his soul while the soul power was destroying his body.

He wasn't naive. He knew the repercussions of such an act. It was one of the Forbidden spells in the whole Emlem Empire. It's a spell that can revive a dying soul at the expense of one's life force. And if something goes wrong during the spell, or if the savior's life force isn't enough, an abomination is born. A creature of the dark. And the sad thing is the speller will die at the spot.

[ Only someone who had reached the Primal Heaven Realm can be referred to as a Master. And can be sometimes be referred to as Primal Heaven Masters. ]