Chapter Two – The Chains and the Dragon
"What… what do you mean by that?" The man strained against the chains, each movement digging the green links deeper into his flesh. Anger warred with raw confusion in his eyes.
The robed figure only chuckled, the sound hollow, stripped of warmth. "Just as I said. I am here to take you away."
"Where?"
"Where you should have gone a long time ago. There are people waiting for you there." His voice was low, a whisper that seemed to coil around the air itself.
"Stop speaking in riddles! Just say it outright!"
The hooded man tilted his head. "You have violated a heavenly law. You've lived more than twice the span of a normal human life. You should be nothing more than a fading memory in the soil, and yet, here you are."
"I was sleeping! Dead to the world for all that time!"
"It doesn't matter," the figure replied, utterly calm. "Your time is up. Let's go."
Meanwhile, chaos rippled through the laboratory. Dr. Vikram Rao bolted to his office, slamming the heavy door behind him. His trembling hands clawed open a drawer and pulled out an outdated relic: a bulky communication device that looked like it belonged to another century. He punched in a sequence of numbers with desperate precision.
The call connected instantly.
"Why contact me about this, Vikram?" The voice on the other end was sharp, cold, and impatient.
"He… he woke up," Vikram whispered, barely able to steady his breath.
Silence. Then, incredulous: "What?"
"The Black Dragon… he is awake." Vikram hung up before another word could be spoken, his hand shaking violently as he stared at the lifeless device.
Back in the green domain, the man pulled against his chains until his muscles screamed, but the bindings held firm. At last, exhausted, he let his head hang low, glaring at his captor.
"Fine," he growled. "At least give me some clothes. Being bound here naked is humiliating."
The robed man gave a soft chuckle. "Clothes are material trinkets of the living. A soul needs no such things."
"Then why do you wear them?" he shot back.
"Ah. This is uniform," the figure replied simply, before turning. The chains slackened just enough for movement, but not release. "Now, let us leave."
They had barely taken a step when the air itself trembled.
A deafening roar shattered the silence of the green void.
"LET. HIM. GO!"
The command thundered across the domain, shaking its very foundations. The robed man froze, his calm mask cracking into terror as a vast shadow fell over them.
High above, a colossal figure descended. His form was cloaked in darkness so dense it seemed woven from the void itself, yet faint glimmers broke through: the suggestion of vast, jagged wings folding behind him, a crown of shifting flame that never burned out, and eyes that blazed like twin suns in the abyss. The very air bent beneath his presence, crushing, suffocating, absolute.
The robed man's voice faltered. "B-but… Your Majesty…" His body trembled with fear.
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR RESPECT FOR ME, TO ATTACK THE ENVOY I HAVE CHOSEN?" The words rolled like earthquakes, shaking the green domain to its core.
"N-no, Your Majesty!" the robed man stammered, bowing low. "I only… I only doubted his worthiness for the role!"