Scarlet Dragon King – Chapter 15: Shiva, the Flame That Did Not Break
The Trial Gate pulsed again.
This time, it burned blue—not with fire, but with sheer cosmic pressure. Eric's breath caught as the sigil of Shiva flared and drew him toward the mirror once more.
He braced himself.
This would be different.
This was a goddess forged in silence, destruction, and solitude.
—
The Trial Plane: Void of Reflection
Shiva opened her eyes.
There was nothing.
No earth. No sky. No storm. No dance of death. Only white.
A formless, eternal plain.
She raised her hand to summon power—and found nothing.
She wasn't weakened.
She was… empty.
From the whiteness, a voice came.
> "What are you without destruction?"
A figure stepped forth. Herself.
But not quite.
This version wore gold, smiled gently, and held a child in her arms.
"You crave chaos because you've never allowed yourself peace," the doppelganger whispered.
Shiva's fists clenched. "I am not made for softness."
"Then why did you choose Eric?"
Shiva stilled.
The mirror-world showed flashes: Eric sleeping beside her after a spar, brushing her knuckles softly after battle, smiling at her like she was more than a god—like she was a woman who mattered.
Not for what she could break.
But for what she could protect.
The double's voice cut through again: "Can you live without war? Can you feel without control? Can you love… without destroying it?"
Shiva trembled.
She had survived countless universes. She had leveled empires. But this—
This was intimacy. And that terrified her more than annihilation ever had.
Her sigil began to dim.
The trial threatened to end her.
Until…
She spoke.
"No," she whispered. "I don't have all the answers. I don't even know what love looks like without destruction."
She stepped forward.
"But I want to learn."
And the moment she admitted that—
Her sigil flared blue and gold, shining like a newborn star.
The other self dissolved.
And before her stood Eric.
He opened his arms—not as a conqueror.
But as a man who saw the divine… and offered his heart.
Shiva fell into him without hesitation.
And for the first time in eons—
She let go.
—
Outside the Trial
Eric caught her, her forehead pressed to his chest, her body still trembling.
She didn't speak.
But her hand gripped his shirt like she never wanted to let go.
"I saw everything," he said softly.
"You still want me?" she whispered.
He looked her in the eyes. "I didn't fall for your power, Shiva. I fell for your fire."
Three sigils now burned around him.
Three trials survived.
And far above, in the divine halls, gods whispered:
> "They were supposed to break."
> "Why aren't they breaking?"