It was like the birth of a new star.


    The Tsar spread all ten of his wings, each capable of breaking continents, and began gathering the Kilnessence he’d need to travel to the Seventh Dimension where he knew the silent watcher stood.


    The world of Melanite immediately cooled upon losing the Tsar’s presence as he ascended to the Hereafter where Kōritsu awaited him, dwarfing the Dragon by uncountable folds.


    And, as every single being or structure in the universe did, the Tsar bowed, lowering its powerful maw at the Angel’s feet.


    Tsar Gules waited for what flet like an eternity for the Angel to speak to or even acknowledge him, but not a word was uttered, nor was a motion made.


    Filled with shame, the Tsar folded its wings and descended back to its world, where it successfully manifested to the cheers of millions of Dragons, but their voices didn’t reach him.


    He had just experienced the greatest humiliation and could not bear to stand above anyone or anything.


    Ruby approached him and gently nuzzled his side in an attempt to shake him out of his dazed state and this worked, with the Tsar turning his shaken gaze at her.


    She, while able to sense his feelings, didn’t need to look further than his eyes to know what he was feeling.


    [Did he…]


    [He did not harm me. If anything,,, it was his stillness that…] The Tsar’s head lowered, and, to save his dignity, Ruby turned to the other Dragons and snapped at them.


    [Leave this place at once!]


    The other Dragons quickly fled, leaving the couple alone, with a silent third keeping watch from atop a small rock.


    [What did you see?] Ruby cooed, making the greatest dragon lean on her a little.


    [I saw… paradise. A heavenly city where they seemed to roost. Inhabiting it was every kind of creature but… the others… the other gods showed favour and tended to their subjects. So why didn’t ours—?] The Tsar’s words were caught in his throat as he trembled, and this made the Taunter, who clicked his tongue repeatedly, huff.


    [Pathetic!]


    Ruby was one breath away from torching the lizard, but Gules stopped her by nuzzling his nose on her neck.


    [To think that you would even desire anyone’s favour— you are the Tsar, for goodness’ sake! If you must be so defeated, at least do so with dignity!]


    The Tsar didn’t know what to say.


    There was simply no way for any being, living or dead, to reach the heights of the Angels.


    However…


    The Tsar had sharp eyes.


    In the brief moment he spent in the Hereafter, he caught a glimpse of an army that was unmoving, not alive but not quite dead.


    The greatest among these strange warriors had powerful things crawling within them.


    These stood out to the Gules because they were beings of physicality yet radiated with primordial power.


    They also circulated through the veins of the unmoving warriors, which made Gules wonder.


    If he, a single entity, could only ever be so powerful, what heights were reachable through such infusion?


    Of course, he possessed neither the intelligence nor the knowledge to create such creatures, but he had an idea.


    One that was crude, raw, and one that he wasn’t sure would work in the first place.


    But it was exciting to think about.


    From his shame and pitifulness, a desire was born.


    The same desire a defeated lion has when it returns to a rival’s territory.


    A fierce determination.


    He turned his eyes upwards, temporarily ignoring the Angel, and beheld the worlds in the star system his world belonged to.


    For his plan to work, he would need to conquer the four vacant worlds, so he left his nest and spread his wings.


    As he did, his mate and the Taunter followed closely behind.


    [No. Stay. Make sure no rascals make a mess of things while I am away.] Gules instructed while flapping his massive wings.


    He then rose above his world and into space, a boundary he had visited before, but now he wanted to go further.


    Gules knew just how ridiculously vast the expanse of space was.


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    He knew that, at least physically speaking, it would take him far too long to reach the other planets, even if he was immortal.


    So, as he flew, he rapidly absorbed residual Kilnessence and, using the primordial sparks, slipped into higher dimensions where his form was not bound by the common restrains, jumped to the largest of the planets, the one closest to the stat.


    It was a burning world with nothing but rivers of lava and searing hot rocks.


    This was the perfect crucible for what he hoped would be an army capable of meeting the one in paradise.


    Satisfied with this, he flew to the third planet, one much further from the star than his home world and there, he took countless dragon eggs along with countless dragons.


    He demanded that they reproduce at an even faster rate, but Dragons could only lay eggs once a century.


    Gules laughed at this limitation and told them to accelerate the process using Kilnessence.


    The Dragons did so, and in the coming years, their numbers exploded from the tens of millions to the hundreds of billions as they occupied the four local worlds.


    The strongest among them were sent to the crucible world of Hephaestus where, after torturous training, they were turned into Rubians.


    But it didn’t stop there.


    Gules had seen the forms of the heavenly warriors and he admired them so much, he had eight of the ten wings of every Rubain mutilated, stripped and bound until they resembled arms.


    He did the same to himself and made his Dragons brandish swords that could cut through the dimensions, swords that were made by the Taunter who used other small lizards like himself as the cores of gargantuan stone swords that used the suffering lizard within to slip between all spaces and deliver unblockable cuts.


    Ruby oversaw the production of new dragons and made sure that every new generation was stronger than the one before.


    She was also in charge of developing a new kind of Dragon.


    One that was smaller, fatter and could hold far more Kilnessence.


    These bloated, pitiful things were gathered en masse in their home world of Melanite, where they awaited the day when they would serve their tragic purpose.


    These little grey dragons were called Envoys, and they sang the sweetest, most painful song in the third dimension as they awaited the arrival of their lord.


    Gules, however, wouldn’t be back for some time.


    He wasn’t satisfied with how strong the new Rubians were.


    They numbered in the billions, far outnumbering the heavenly host, but they didn’t have those things.


    Those things that empowered the unmoving warriors.


    The Envoys were made towards that end, but they were just fuel.


    What Gules needed was something intelligent.


    Something that could organize and work efficiently.


    And so, he commissioned the Taunter again after describing what he saw in the Seventh Dimension.


    The Taunter immediately went to work, using millions of his small brethren and breeding them until they took a form that pleased him.


    They, like the Envoys, were able to store a lot of Kilnessence within themselves but, so much so that they glowed white, but they were fast, intelligent and their flesh could meld together to form clots and other vital structures.


    This swarm of lizards was taken to Hephaestus, where they were given to a million of the strongest Rubians.


    The lizards, Greater Envoys, burrowed into the flesh of the Rubians, absorbing Kilnessence as they did, empowering the Dragons even further.


    Gules'' army, the Scarlet Swarm, was finally ready.


    Now it was his turn.


    To attempt transcendence.


    But before he returned to his world, he convened with Ruby and the Taunter one last time.


    They sat on Melanite’s largest moon and watched as the distant star soared idly by.


    Gules let a deep sigh, and this made the Taunter softly chuckle.


    [See? All the fun you would have missed out on if you were still sleeping?]


    Ruby rolled her eyes.


    [You are most correct, little one, but I hope you realize that terrible deaths are most likely awaiting all of us on the other side.] The Tsar mused, and, as usual, that little lizard stood tall.


    [It will be a death well-earned then.]


    [I swear, I regret not being able to kill you with every day that passes.] Ruby shook her head, making the Taunter stick out his tongue at her.


    [Lazy woman, you can thank me when the Tsar stands as the summit of all things.]


    Gules softly laughed at their bickering before watching as his world was gently blanketed by darkness.


    The passing of time.


    The swaying of tides.


    All of it felt so natural.


    Even the drastic course he had set for him and his kind.


    It was all acceptable within the bounds of all that was.


    Gules laughed a little harder as a most stupid idea came to mind.


    What if he were to exist outside the bounds?


    .


    ..


    The time had come.


    Gules allowed Ruby and the Taunter to awaken from a brief but peaceful slumber before spreading his two remaining wings.


    His eight arms brandished the profaned swords, and his eyes burnt bright gold.


    He was almost ready.


    And so, after giving Ruby one last glance, he flew to his nest on Melanite just as the song of the Envoys grew its loudest, with them screaming and weeping for him.


    The Greater Envoys arrived shortly after, crawling on to the Dragon Lord while the Envoys gave him all of their Kilnessence, turning to ash when their reserves were depleted.


    The Greater Envoys synchronized themselves to match the rhythms of Gules''s body, tricking it into believing that they were his cells.


    In this state, they were able to help him channel the primordial fire that drove existence, and once it all clicked in Gules’s mind, he caught a glimpse of it.


    Something far beyond even the gods above.


    Sleeping in the heart of all of creation was a being whose form encompassed all.


    His slumbering breath drove the very concept of actuation.


    God.


    The one true God.


    Gules grinned as his scales burnt with power.


    Popping and exploding as his physical form struggled to maintain his exponentially rising power.


    He knew that if he stayed in the third dimension, he would destroy his own army, and so he ascended to the sixth, just beneath the Hereafter, all while honing in on his own existence.


    But he needed to act fast.


    There was no telling when the retribution of heaven would fall upon him, so he reached back to that centre place and, in an act of the highest blasphemy, drew power from the very cradle within which God slept.


    This immediately alerted Kōritsu, who gnashed his teeth as he watched the dragon moult and transform into a being that, while still not as powerful as an Angel, had an incredible control over reality.


    Not just that, the Dragon had touched a forbidden place and while Kōritsu was willing to forgive this—


    Yana immediately manifested in front of the Dragon and was about to smite Gules but Kōritsu stood between the two in the trembling sixth dimension.


    [Wait! He didn’t know what he was doing!] Kōritsu begged, but Yana’s rage tore across all of space, reaching a very much startled Gules.


    Yana ignored his classmate and tried annihilating the Dragon Lord only for Kōritsu to block the attack with one of his wings, which was torn in half, subjecting all the Angels to so much anguish and pain that Gules quickly returned to the third dimension where he looked up and beheld the aftermath of what had just happened.


    A streak of white light cut across the sky, visible in all dimensions and everything, living or inanimate, felt Kōritsu’s pain.


    Yana’s tearful eyes glared at Kōritsu.


    [Why?] The Angel of Faith asked coldly.


    [Because I believe that all things should be allowed to make mistakes.] Kōritsu winced.


    [I believe that too. I also believe that all things are bound to the consequences of those mistakes.]