(Moltherak’s Floating Island, Central Chamber, Leo’s POV)
*PUSH*
*CRACK*
The doors to Moltherak’s central chamber were forced open with a sharp, echoing crack as Leo shoved them apart without hesitation, the heavy stone panels groaning in protest as they scraped along the floor, announcing his arrival with the same raw aggression that had always marked his presence long before he ever learned to fear the fourth dimension.
Moltherak, who had been standing near the center of the chamber with his back turned, paused mid-motion as the sound reached him, one massive brow lifting slightly as he turned his head just enough to look over his shoulder, his golden eyes immediately locking onto Leo with quiet appraisal.
"Took you long enough to get back on your feet, boy," Moltherak said, as his voice echoed calmly through the chamber while his gaze swept over Leo from head to toe, taking in the steadiness of his stance and the tension coiled tightly beneath his skin.
Leo did not respond.
He stepped fully into the chamber instead, the doors slamming shut behind him as he came to a stop several paces in, his spine straight and his chin raised, as he met Moltherak’s gaze without the slightest hint of avoidance, as though the past twenty four hours had burned something raw and unyielding into him rather than breaking him down.
Moltherak turned to face him properly then, his massive form shifting as he folded his wings closer to his body, as he studied Leo with a sharper intensity than before, the faint disappointment from earlier now layered beneath something colder and more deliberate.
"Make sure you did not leave your balls back there where you were shivering in the void," Moltherak said, as his tone sharpened just enough to cut. "Come enter my chamber properly once you have retrieved them."
The insult hung in the air, as Leo’s jaw tightened.
His fists clenched slowly at his sides, the muscles in his forearms drawing taut as something deep within him stirred, not explosive or wild, but controlled and lethal, like a blade being drawn inch by inch rather than ripped free.
He did not speak.
Instead, he unfurled his killing intent as the chamber responded instantly.
The air grew heavy, pressure slamming outward from his body in a sharp, suffocating wave as the stone beneath his feet trembled faintly, hairline cracks spreading across the floor in slow, crawling lines while the runes etched into the chamber walls flickered in response to the sudden surge.
It was cold.
Not frantic, not emotional.
Just pure, sharpened intent.
The kind that proved that he still had his courage about himself.
However, despite his brave display, Moltherak did not move, the ancient Dragon simply watching without expression, as he looked unamused.
*THRUMM*
Leo intensified his aura, as if unwilling to take Moltherak’s ’No’ for an answer, as he pushed his aura pressure to its limits, and maintained it there for several heartbeats longer, until the entire chamber began to groan softly under the strain.
*Bzzt* *TRRRR—*
It was only at this moment, that Leo began to slowly draw it back in, the killing intent receding into him like a blade sliding back into its sheath, as silence returned to the chamber once again.
"Hmmm...."
Moltherak mused, as he nodded once.
"Good, it seems like the void has not completely broken your spirit just yet," Moltherak said, as his voice lowered and grew heavier with meaning. "You are very fortunate, very fortunate indeed."
Leo’s fists remained clenched.
His teeth ground together quietly as the words sank in, not as praise, not as comfort, but as a reminder of just how close he had come to losing everything, as well as how thin the line truly was between strength and oblivion.
He did not thank Moltherak.
He did not bow.
He simply stood there, shoulders squared and eyes burning cold, his silence louder than any retort he could have offered as Moltherak studied him with a complicated gaze.
"Whatever happened, happened, boy.
If you don’t want to re-live it again, make sure you never take space tunnelling casually again.
It’s not a child’s play technique.
I thought I already made that clear when I first taught it to you."
Moltherak guided, as Leo softly nodded in understanding.
He had made a mistake by growing too lax.
And it was a mistake that he had paid dearly for.
The Void had messed with his mind in ways the normal universe never could, and the experience had left him with much to process.
"If you don’t want to continue learning how to navigate a space tunnel, then I can respect that.
Dragons with much stronger minds than you have crumbled after just glimpsing at the void, much less falling into it.
However, if you still wish to master it, then you need to get back with it right away.....
For the longer you let the fear build inside you, the stronger it will get."
Moltherak questioned, as he gave Leo two choices:
Leo could either choose to continue learning how to space tunnel or quit, and while Moltherak could understand and respect both choices, he expected Leo to still continue learning nonetheless.
"I have to learn, damn it....."
Leo responded, his voice trembling with an untamable fury as he clenched his fists till his knuckles whitened.
"I have to learn.... I have to win.... I have to become the strongest in the universe.
For nothing else.....
Nothing else.....
Nothing at all....
Will ever make me feel complete!"
He said while emphasizing each word, as Moltherak’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Having passed through the void, one often realized what made them feel whole as an individual.
For some it was family.
For some it was respect.
For some it was revenge.
However, for Leo it was the desire to become the strongest.
Which was a trait reserved for Overlords.
The types of individuals, who would accept nothing less than their total dominance over everything there was to conquer.
"Ha....hahahahaha"
Moltherak chuckled.
Slowly at first, and then increasingly louder, as he finally realized just what sort of a man Leo Skyshard was at his core—
A man whose existence revolved not around fear or loss, but around the need to stand above all else.