An encounter that no one could have expected.


    Two beings that were similar in nature, yet completely different. One was the embodiment of ''strength'', ''determination'', ''power'' and ''courage'', the other was living with these concepts as his way of living.


    A creature that was so enormous it had to hide itself in the deepest waters of the continent, and the other, a hybrid in constant danger simply due to his nature and past, also walking through the continent while maintaining a low profile.


    Velridar rarely showed himself, and even less in front of a single being.


    But he felt something incredibly worrying approaching the coast, and stayed alerted in case that being came for him, but to his surprise, it was a single being, with a mixed essence, plus the dragon''s and lamia''s, which could only happen if you had closely exchanged with one of them.


    The silence remained for quite some times, with both of them trying to identify the identity of the other, until Velridar noticed two details.


    With an unfazed expression in his presence, it meant that the man was already accustomed to a Remnant.


    And he was not interested in attacking, at all. There was no signs of a fight preparing.


    Once Velridar confirmed in his mind, he switched his thoughts, thinking that this was useless to continue confronting that man without at least answering him.


    "I am Velridar, the father of the dragons, and the lamias. I represent the strength that you seem to possess, and would even dare say that you follow it to heart."


    Orion''s expression changed to slight surprise. He wasn''t expecting to find another Remnant during his journey east, and surely not the father of dragons.


    But that was it. Feeling no animosity toward him, he decided to remain neutral in front of the giant white half dragon.


    "I''m Orion Feales. I''ve met with the dragons a few months ago, and the lamias recently. The dragons have saved us in a dire situation at the time, and I''ve resolved something troublesome for the lamias a few days ago. I consider those two factions as allies if I had to define our position."


    The dragon''s nostril opened, as he turned his head away from Orion before letting out a massive amount of steam from them.


    "I see. Someone like yourself who bears the words I empower would not lie in front of me."


    Velridar lifted its neck high in the air to look far away, seeing that there was no sign of an attack on him for revealing himself.


    Showing himself was one thing in the middle of the Northern Sea, but on the continent, that was another matter altogether.


    "Nothing on the horizon..."


    He dropped his head really low on the ground, and began to rest on it, laying his whole elongated body that still had a third of it in the water.


    "Can I take it that you have no ill intent toward my creations?"


    Orion nodded, under the intense gaze of the dragon.


    "That would be more troublesome for me to do that. I might be capable of erasing the lamias'' city, but the dragons? With Monolavir and Ruminona, none of them would go down without a fight."


    "Though, I would most likely win if they don''t fight seriously."


    Orion shrugged.


    "Otherwise, I would probably lose my life."


    Two dragons was no joke. And two mutated ones at that?


    ''No thank you. I''m not that stupid.''


    "I imbued the most ''power'' inside of these children. There is no way they would lose to other creations. But you seem to be a strange exception. And what''s even more strange is the fact that you do not wield that strength carelessly."


    "Were did you learn to control it? I don''t mean physically. ''Power'' and ''Strength'' both go hand in hand, but there is a clear distinction between the two."


    "Both are needed to make a perfect balance. Strength is there to sustain your power. Without it, there is no vessel to get the most out of it."


    "But power without strength is just as bad, since you are unable to nurture your own physical abilities, and instead cripple your own body from the lack of restraint."


    Orion looked at the white dragon with amazement. He decided to have a conversation with the being instead of leaving.


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    "I''ve been trained by someone who''s physical abilities were tremendously superior to anything I knew. I learned how to control my own strength with a lot of training, but I''ve improved my power with a lot of knowledge on myself. Choosing what to focus on instead of running aimlessly was my way to change to what I am today."


    Velridar blinked a few times slowly during his explanation. There was one word he wasn''t expecting to hear.


    "Knowledge..."


    He wasn''t necessarily smarter than most, but he was still incredibly wise, mostly because of he''s long life, but there was things he would be ignorant of.


    Since he wasn''t the Remnant of Intellect, the most he knew was purely how to fight, and use his body.


    "I understand that feeling. Knowing yourself is the way to manipulate all of those wasted resources to maintain a perfect state at all time, and to learn details that you would otherwise miss."


    "It has been so long since I''ve spoken about strength and power. I had almost forgotten."


    Having lived with the dragons for a month, Orion could decipher their expression. Velridar was truly glad to have found someone who understood the concept he was born to represent.


    "I need to ask something, because of a choice we made recently."


    Velridar, in his happiness, agreed.


    "Sure, I am in a good mood, so I will entertain your mind."


    "Were the lamias created with the objective to bring the humans and them closer?"


    Orion explained what had happened, unknown by the mighty dragon Remnant.


    ...


    "Male lamias... That is indeed a mutation. I have never thought of creating them in the past. So you are right saying that it was a genetic instinct to survive. Just like a mutated dragon is needed as a leader instinctively."


    "That''s news to me."


    "Because dragons are prideful by nature, someone needs to represent them. Just like the first humans and their ''kingdoms''."


    Pieces began merge together in Orion''s head.


    ''I wondered why the lamia faction was a monarchy. Now I understand, Velridar made them exactly like the humans prior to Elliot''s appearance. They just held it firmer than the humans themselves.''


    Indeed, there was no human monarchies remaining on Triazils, but the past was different. After Noah saved everyone, the age of the humans took place, and Velridar chose this period to create the lamias.


    Only a few books had this information listed. Only because Orion managed to stumble upon some of these books did he knew that they had existed.


    "I get it, but why not create males from the start? I know it could have broken the link you wanted to build with the other faction, but if you had thought of setting similar to the current one, it would have been easier to deal with."


    "I made the lamias as an experiment, and it failed splendidly. But they never asked help my help until know. I was persuaded that they were fine."


    Orion noticed that something was weird from his side.


    "What do you mean by that? They were clearly in an awful situation for the past two thousand years?"


    Velridar closed his eyes.


    "The link I have with the lamia might have been mimicked at some point, or falsified in some ways. Even as we speak, it feels as if nothing is different from when I''ve created them."


    ''This is strange...''


    Orion fell in deep thoughts.


    ''Is there even someone capable of doing such a thing? Or was it also a coincidence?''


    Since he was oblivious to the past, he stopped making guesses.


    "Do you mind if I look at it myself?"


    "Oh? Do you think able to find the link between me and my children? Do try it."


    With a nod, Orion walked toward Velridar, and stopped near the side of his head. He placed a hand on the white scale, and closed his eyes.


    ''If it is similar to the flow of magic between me and Tiohr-nam, I should be able to find it.''


    For a few minutes, Orion and Velridar stayed silent.


    ''What the heck is this thing?!''


    As Orion tried to find his way inside the magic system of the dragon, he realized what he had in front of him.


    ''This amount of magic makes me sick...''


    This dragon was completely different. A pure, unfiltered mess of raw magic. No elemental magic, just pure magic energy.


    Feeling his own magic tracing inside, he finally found what he was looking for. A small thread, link to a second one.


    This felt incredibly weird for him, as he also felt the link with the two factions.


    He traced the one that felt like Deveralna, and at one point, he opened his eyes.


    "There''s something on the path?!"


    Velridar opened his eyes too.


    "Hmm? What do you mean? Is there really something that blocked my senses?"


    "Sure there is. And I know it all too well."


    Orion clenched his free hand.


    "You have corruption inside of you."


    "!"


    That was a word Velridar wasn''t prepared to hear.


    "..."


    "You yourself is fine, you''re body itself is clean, but the link between you and the lamias was indeed corrupted. It feels similar to when I got corrupted."


    "And you lived through it?!"


    "Yes, I''m able to cure corruption, unless it has already taken place and killed the host."


    The big yellow eyes of the dragon opened wide. Orion immediately prepared himself to remove that unwanted parasite.


    He focused his mind on the link, and sent the light element through, before sending the dark element as precaution. At last, he also decided to send the void element as support.


    ''Something encroached that much will not be easy to remove. Let''s hope it won''t injure him.''


    A battle of very small scale happened. Three elements battled the corruption knot until they won. It took twenty minutes for it to finally be erased.


    But that was maybe the worst thing Orion could have done.


    Because Velridar''s eyes opened completely and shook in all directions.


    "Gr-rrrrr..."


    That''s all Orion heard, before the dragon removed its head from the ground, and stood in all its glory in the middle of the sea.


    What he didn''t knew, was that all of the two thousand years of emotions, calls for help, despair, and deaths returned to him in an instant.


    The white dragon opened its mouth, and a roar that shook all of Triazils echoed. It was so loud, even the other continents heard it.


    *VROAAAAAAAAAAAH*


    It lasted for a minute. Orion had to plug his ears in a hurry, as the roar was so loud it could burst his eardrums in an instant.


    The water shook relentlessly, and a heavy aura formed around Velridar.


    Particules of magic accumulated in his mouth, before being released as a beam of destructive magic toward the sky.


    ''What is happening?!''


    The white light engulfed everything around, as the sea split around the dragon. The ground cracked from the pressure, until the beam finally stopped.


    That beam took the world by surprise. It was way brighter, way larger, and way more noticeable than the one he released in the Northern Sea.


    His previous roar, and the sudden release of magic shocked Orion, but also the whole continent. Everyone though the world was ending.


    Only one being smiled, situated all the way to the west, sealed inside a crystal.