Supreme Magus

3049 The End of the Wick (Part 1)

The Fire Dragon quickly finished the first cow and cooked another for himself. "Feel free to askany question you might have. Food for the body and the brain."

"I was thinking, why are you teaching us how to use Primordial and Immortal Flames? We don't fully belong to the Dragon bloodline and you don't even know us." Tista asked.

"Because giving you solid foundations is the best way I can help you master your bloodline abilities. Until you do, I can't evaluate you as possible candidates as the next Father of Fire." Valtak replied.

"Isn't that a title that belongs to the Fire Dragons?" Lith furrowed his brows in confusion.

"No. The title belongs to Grandfather Leegaain and Fire Dragons carry the torch because we are the best suited to pass his teachings. If another and better candidate species among his offspring appeared, I won't hesitate to relinquish the title."

"Why now and why us?" Tista wolfed down her cow, feeling hungrier as she ate.

"Because you two are young and are the first members of your own species whereas I'm old, hatchling." Valtak twirled his fingers, making a bonfire of magma appear between them.

It gave Lith and Tista the impression of being two kids on a weird camping trip with their grandfather.

"Dragons slumber only for two reasons. Because they are bored of life and want to wait for more interesting times or because they are dying. I'm not bored and now that the Dragon Dance has wokenup, I haven't many years left." He sighed.

"I haven't cto visit you earlier simply because I was asleep for most of your life. From before your Kingdom was founded, hatchling."

"You are dying?" Tista felt her heart squeeze and looked at the Elder Wyrm with Life Vision, noticing that under his majestic aura and tremendous mana flow, there was little life left. "But you are so powerful!"

"Thank you, hatchling, but a well-tended candle always burns the brightest at the end of its wick." Valtak laughed. "Don't worry for me. I had a long life and I'm satisfied with what I've achieved.

"My final worry is to find the next Father of Fire. Younger and more prideful Dragons might not be as open-minded asand I don't want to leave a mess as my parting gift."

Lith stared at the Elder Wyrm while switching between Life and Death Vision. The former showed how little vitality Valtak had left while the latter how it was supposed to go out.

Most of the times, the Father of Fire died of old age. He stopped breathing with a peaceful expression on his snout and it took the rot a long while to defile his majestic corpse.

In those moments, Lith saw Nana in him.

Lith's old mentor too had found peace in death, but there was one major difference between them. Nana had lived most of her life considering herself a failure, her mind tainted by the bitter poison of betrayal.

It had corrupted her body and mana core over the decades, cutting her life shorter. Valtak, instead, was already at peace. He was like Nana would have been if she had lived a full life instead of letting her grudge define her.

Yet the similarities didn't end there because Lith felt like he was part of the equation as well. In a way, his old and current mentor were the embodiment of what Lith's future self might look like depending on how he dealt with his inner demons.

At least until he blinked and Death Vision showed Valak dying a violent death. He was burned alive by Origin Flames, his heart pierced by powerful Spirit Spells, or his neck severed by a giant shadowy ax.

"What is that?" The Fire Dragon pointed at the black veins that now punctuated Lith's cornea.

"Death Vision." He replied while explaining how it worked and what it allowed him to see.

"Sounds like an interesting but heavy burden to bear." Valtak said.

"Once. Now I'm used to it. You and the lunch look disgusting, but Tista is immune to it."

"Seeing the fate of everyone but those you care the most about sounds like an even worse curse to me, not a blessing." The Dragon shrugged and changed the topic. "Based on what you guys have told me, Tista is the best candidate between you. So far."

"Really?" She asked in confusion. "Why?"

"Because Lith just destroys things." Valtak replied. "His powers are his own whereas a Father of Fire gives. Like Leegaain did for his children. Like I'm doing for you and like Tista does with her Queen's Blessing."

"It makes sense." Lith pondered. "No offense, big sis, but so far, I'd still pick a Fire Dragon as Father of Fire. Unless you can do what they do plus Queen's Blessing, you'd be limited to impart power, not knowledge."

"None taken." Tista sighed. "I agree with you."

too." Valtak nodded. "You are both wanting. I was just expressing my current evaluation. I won't decide until we discover the full scope of your abilities or I die."

"Would I be the Mother of Fire, then?" She asked.

"No. Female Fire Dragons have carried the title but never changed it. It defined them, not the other way around." Valtak snorted a thick black puff of smoke from his nostrils.

"It's just a title."

"No, it's a legacy." The Elder Wyrm shook his head. "All the previous Fathers of Fire carried on Leegaain's teachings. We help our people to control Origin Flames by sharing his knowledge, not ours."

"Unless you find a way to teach it to everyone else, it would be worthless." Valtak cut her short. "I mentioned your bloodline ability to underline how you seem to have the capacity to share like a Fire Dragon, but that's it.

"If it's just your power, something only you own, then you are no different from Lith." Seeing that his disciples were still confused, he added. "Look at it this way. Menadion chose the title of Ruler of the Flames because she knew that most of the techniques she shared weren't something she had discovered or created from scratch.

"Runes and pseudo cores existed before her. Forgemastering has a long tradition that dates back to the first Awakened. What she did was to improve on the work of others, organize what she knew better, and arrange everything in a way that was easier to learn.

"Don't getwrong, Menadion was a genius and an innovator, but she didn't do everything by herself. Without her master, her fellow apprentices, and all the past Forgemasters, she would have gone nowhere.

"A Ruler of the Flames recognizes the importance of their predecessors and uses their legacies to builds their own. A Father of Fire, instead, recognizes the importance of Leegaain's legacy and shares it.

"Fire Dragons have never added anything of their own. Even then, unless what you bring matches his tradition, it would be arrogant of you to alter the title just for yourself. Especially until we discover if your descendants will inherit your abilities.

"A unique individual may be great, but they leave nothing behind. It's the one true difference between a white core and a Guardian. One gains power for themselves the other for Mogar.