Sakolomé was outside, sitting on a massive rock, his gaze lost toward the horizon. The wind swept through his hair as he pondered the threat looming over them: those mirror-men, capable of copying and distorting, lurking somewhere in the shadows.
Kai finally joined him, hands in his pockets, his step heavy but assured. He stopped right beside him and observed Sakolomé in silence.
— So? asked Sakolomé without turning his eyes. How does the new Deviant feel?
Kai let out an ironic breath.
— Tsss... I mostly want to smash your face. But first, we need to deal with your damn double problem.
Sakolomé smirked before plunging his gaze back toward the horizon. His thoughts wandered. He remembered the Kai of before: closed off, cold, almost insensitive. And now today, he seemed... different. Still tough, but with a human crack, a new breath.
— Tell me, Kai... what changed you? Why are you finally opening up to us?
Kai turned his head toward him, his dark eyes locked on Sakolomé's. Then he looked away with a sigh.
— I'm not obliged to answer you.
Sakolomé let out a slight laugh, though a bit bitter.
— Ah... your character is still just as irritating.
A silence settled. Kai stared at the ground, then abruptly lifted his head.
— Your sister... She gave me a kind of light.
Sakolomé's eyebrows furrowed.
— My sister? Salomé?
— Obviously, I'm talking about her, idiot! How many sisters do you think you have?
Sakolomé let out a mocking smile.
— Say, Kai... don't you think you're a bit old to be chasing my little sister? Don't tell me all this time, it was just a broken heart story that made you so stiff?
Kai's face immediately flushed, a mix of anger and embarrassment rising to his head.
— Have you lost it or what?! It has NOTHING to do with that! he shouted. She... she supports me, that's all! She made me understand that I'm not alone in my fight!!!
He calmed down, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. His voice dropped to a graver tone.
— Anyway... I understood one thing. One way or another, you all might be useful to me to reach my goal, Sakolomé.
Sakolomé slightly tilted his head, his gaze hardening.
— Useful to you, huh? And what is this goal you're talking about?
Kai looked away, his features tightening.
— To find an entity... The one who got me into this mess, partly.
Sakolomé's eyes narrowed.
— An entity?
Kai nodded slowly.
— Now that I'm a Deviant... I have crossed the barriers of causality. Normally, nothing can escape me: neither causal threads, nor the Delzluhud, nor giant dimensions, nor what lies beyond. I have access to everything… to the infinite order of causes. And yet...
He paused, his fist clenching, a shadow of frustration crossing his face.
— Yet, I still can't perceive it. Not a trace.
Silence fell. Sakolomé stared at him, and in his eyes one could read that he just grasped the extent of what Kai was seeking. If even a Deviant, able to transcend laws and probe the invisible, could find nothing… then this entity was either exactly his level and had found a way to hide, or... something even higher, more dizzying than anything they could conceive.
— Kai... murmured Sakolomé. We have to keep progressing. Faster than ever.
Kai slowly turned his head toward him, his eyes burning with cold determination.
— No need for you to tell me. I already knew.
Elsewhere, in the vast glade protected by draconic runes, Salomé trained relentlessly under the stern eye of Zelongue. This time, Ysolongue was also present, arms crossed, ensuring no misstep occurred.
Shushu, comfortably perched on Salomé's head, watched with a falsely blasé but attentive look.
Zelongue, in a deep voice, said:
— Salomé, remember this well: among Dragons, the breath is not just a weapon, it is the very essence of our power. There are many levels: the breath of fire, the breath of wind, of ice... Each Dragon is capable. You, with your draconic affinity, should easily master these basic elemental breaths.
He paused, his gaze growing more serious, almost sharp.
— But what you must learn today... is not an ordinary breath.
Salomé raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
— A superior breath?
Zelongue nodded slowly. His reptilian pupils slightly glowed, as if to emphasize the weight of his words.
— Yes. The Primordial Breath. It is the ultimate breath of the Heir Dragons. The absolute summit of draconic breaths. This breath can... annihilate immortality itself.
Salomé froze, eyes wide.
— Wait... annihilate immortality? Even that of great mythical beings?
Shushu, lifting his head, whistled admiringly:
— Damn... that's not some little lizard spit of fire!
Zelongue continued, impassive:
— Yes, Salomé. A powerful enough breath can erase from existence even so-called immortal entities. But this power has a price. If you face a much weaker being, it will be pulverized. If it's equal, everything will depend on your mastery and the energy you channel. Even for us, great mythical beings, our mana seems infinite... but a Primordial Breath can exhaust you to oblivion.
He stepped toward her, his shadow seeming to crush her.
— And if the opponent is far above you... pray that your breath is strong enough to survive the counterattack.
Salomé swallowed. A spark of excitement mixed with fear flickered in her eyes.
Zelongue disappeared with Salomé into a void he had just created for her training.
The void stretched endlessly. No sky, no earth, not even the shadow of a star. A white, neutral space, without beginning or end. Salomé floated in the center, disoriented. She felt as if her body no longer had weight, no warmth.
— Welcome to the Void, declared Zelongue, his voice resonating everywhere at once.
He transformed into a dragon. The immense dragon appeared behind her as if he had always been there. His scales gleamed with a red glow that contrasted with the absolute absence around them.
Salomé clenched her fists.
— Why... why here?
— Because what you are about to learn can annihilate worlds. Here, there is no time, no space, no life to destroy. You can fail a thousand times without consequence.
He fixed her with his amber eyes, deep as suns.
— We will start with the basics: the elemental breaths. Air, fire, water, earth... These are not powers but extensions of your breath. As long as you breathe, you can summon their essence.
Salomé clenched her fists and took a deep breath. The air was nonexistent, yet she still felt her lungs inflate with an invisible substance.
— Close your eyes, said Zelongue. Visualize the wind, the touch of a breeze. Inhale, hold, then exhale with intention.
She obeyed. The moment she released her breath, a faint current of air materialized before her lips. It slid in a light wave, almost imperceptible but enough to disturb the infinite whiteness.
Salomé smiled.
— It... it works!
— Yes, but that's child's play. An average dragon wouldn't even waste time with this. Master it anyway.
For hours – or what seemed like hours in this timeless space – she repeated the exercises. She learned to twirl whirlwinds of air, to spit a stream of water like a blade, to expel controlled flames, then telluric vibrations that cracked the void. Each elemental breath responded to a clear intention: to give shape to the invisible through breathing.
But Zelongue remained impassive.
— You are ready for the Primordial Breath.
Salomé felt a shiver run through her being. The name alone evoked a power beyond natural laws.
— This breath, explained Zelongue, does not belong to any element. It is the Origin. It contains time, space, matter, thought, causality, multiverses... Everything that exists in the mythic world exists thanks to this breath. One single mistake, and you erase yourself from the Real.
He approached his gigantic snout, his nostrils exhaling cosmic heat. — Inhale as if you wanted to swallow the Void. Hold it, not in your lungs, but in your essence. And exhale... to recreate Truth.
Salomé swallowed. She inhaled, and it was like sucking in oceans and galaxies. Her body trembled. Her veins glowed with a silver light. Luminous cracks ran across her skin, as if her being could not support the density she absorbed.
She wanted to exhale the breath... and it was chaos. A wave surged, ravaging the void. The nothingness bent, folded like a parchment in flames. Black lightning streaked across the whiteness, fragments of unknown realities flickered and vanished instantly. Salomé screamed.
— Stop! ordered Zelongue. His voice cracked like thunder. He closed his claws around her, absorbing the energy wave before it swallowed them both.
Salomé was suffocating. Tears streamed from her eyes.
— I... I can't...
— You can. But you refuse to be silent. You want to impose your will on the breath, while it only responds to inner emptiness.
— The inner emptiness?
Zelongue pressed his forehead against hers, his aura piercing her like an ocean of serenity.
— As long as you breathe with fear, with rage, with doubt... the Primordial Breath will only amplify that chaos. Empty yourself. Become like this space: formless, desireless. Only then will you be able to contain it.
She closed her eyes. Breathed in. Breathed out. Again. Again. Her thoughts slowed, dissociated. She felt her heart quiet. No identity, no inner voice. Nothing.
Then, she inhaled a second time. But it was not an inhalation... it was as if the void was inhaling her. And this time, her body did not tremble. The energy curled inside her like a docile, pure, infinite serpent.
She opened her mouth. Exhaled. A translucent mist burst forth, silent, yet so dense it bent the space around her. Within this mist, Salomé saw worlds being born and dying. Constellations forming, laws writing themselves. This breath was not a power... it was the very act of creating a world.
Zelongue gave a fierce smile.
— Yes... This is the Primordial Breath. The weapon of creation and destruction of the Heirs and father Orlongue.
Salomé was still trembling, but this time with power. She felt as if her body was no more than a veil. Behind it stretched an infinite, silent, patient force.
— Zelongue... if I use this in the real world...
— You must not use it lightly. This breath can rebuild a universe... or reduce it to nothingness. If you want to save your brother, you will have to learn to use it without destroying everything around you.
Salomé raised her eyes. Her irises now gleamed with a silvery brightness, like twin moons. She took one last breath, the Primordial Breath vibrating inside her like a promise.
— I am ready....