Blue eyes with round pupils stared into two yellow stars.
Instead of pupils – sharp spindles.
A human and a dragon looked at each other.
A creature that had lived for many millions of years, the last of which it languished in its eternal tomb. Unable to move neither its tail nor a single claw, it stared into the eternal emptiness of its soul.
A human who had lived in the prison of his own body for one life and continued to exist in the same for a second.
A magnificent dragon whose beauty was celebrated in a thousand and one songs. The legendary conqueror of the skies and master of starlight was cast down like a mere mortal.
A youth of repulsive appearance. Hands twisted at unnatural angles. Skin covered with scabs, a face disfigured by scars, an almost white, bald scalp and festering blisters. Instead of legs – wooden stumps.
One of the most brilliant masters of his time, who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts development in his country.
Once a talented prince, whose body was made incapable of even running, let alone practicing art.
In a dark cave, among ancient chains sealed with energy so dense that it could even be touched, they lay before each other.
An insect and a monster the size of a small mountain.
Whether fate, chance, or an absurd coincidence brought them together – no one knew.
The dragon was going to devour this disgusting mortal out of boredom, but suddenly noticed the gaze. The gaze of blue, sky-azure eyes. Despite everything, there was neither despair, nor regret, nor fear, nor a single flaw in them.
Only the body was rotten, while the gaze remained clear and fierce. So fierce that if it were material, it could split the heavens and bring them down upon the earth.
"What is your name, bug?"
"Khaal Soren. And yours, scaly face?"
The dragon was about to dissolve the insolent one in his power, but suddenly laughed, and from his laughter, the thousand-year-old chains trembled and the stone in the dungeon split with cracks.
"Kalen is my name."
They looked at each other. A prisoner of an impregnable dungeon and a captive of his own body and fate.
Kalen knew that, even without being bound by chains, no mortal could escape from here. It remained a mystery to him how this ant had managed to climb up here in the first place.
This Khaal could not bring help to him, could not deliver news to the world that the great Kalen was still alive. Now they were locked here together. Forever, or at least until the mortal died of hunger.
So Kalen's revenge would never come to pass.
Khaal did not understand how he was so lucky that he not only did not drown in the underwater current, did not crack his head on the endless rapids, did not crash to death in a waterfall, and did not get caught by archers' arrows. How he even escaped from the city on his homemade prosthetics.
Yet one look at the whirlpool that had spat him out into this underwater grotto, and it became clear – he would die here of hunger.
So Khaal Soren's revenge would never come to pass.
The dragon saw the same fierce gaze of the bug. He did not flinch, did not waste his fury, even after realizing the fact of complete hopelessness.
"I have lived a long life, Khaal Soren. I have seen empires built. I have seen eternal cities crumble. I have fought with geniuses and vanquished immortals. I created techniques so complex that many adepts still rack their brains over them. And yet, Khaal Soren, I remained only a small stain in the world of martial arts."
"A small stain?" Khaal mentally scoffed and summoned one of the few functions that his neural network was still capable of.
Name: Kalen
Development level: ????????????????
Strength: ????????????????
Agility: ????????????????
Constitution: ????????????????
Energy points: ????????????????
If this is what a "small stain" looked like, then what were all the previous adepts he had met? What was he himself then? A microbe? Dust? A memory?
"I have lived two lives." If Khaal had the strength, he would have made a smug grin. "So consider me cooler."
All he had left were stupid jokes and bravado. And to be fair – that's all he ever had in principle. Jokes, bravado, and an unbending will.
"Khaal Soren, will you make a deal with me, which will most likely result in a death so terrible that children listening to stories about you will faint from fear?"
"And will you entrust your 'deal' to me? Because as a result, even idiots will probably laugh at you."
The dragon laughed. Today was a good day for his death and the beginning of his revenge. Finally...
"Crawl under my claw, bug."
Khaal did not argue. If this creature wanted, it would have already split him into atoms with a single desire. So Khaal, gritting his teeth, crawled. The scabs and blisters, tormented by the stone floor, caused unbearable suffering.
But he crawled.
The steel claw the size of a windmill resembled a guillotine.
But he still crawled. To his death. To his revenge.
Ten meters of steel became his personal "green mile."
Kalen, with visible effort, raised his claw. A little, just the smallest amount (for a dragon), but enough for the bug to crawl under it.
"Are you ready, Khaal Soren?"
"Go ahead, face. Get on with whatever you're getting on with..."
And the cave was flooded with the cry of a human and the roar of a dragon.
[Message to user! Unauthorized changes in the physical structure of the carrier! Replacement of one of the central organs!]
Khaal's old heart, which had survived so much pain and despair, was drowning in the whirlpool. In his chest now beat the heart of a dragon, created by Kalen from a drop of his blood and all the will he could find within himself.
The dragon was dying and the human was being reborn.
The age-old chains were collapsing, the ancient dungeon was falling, and streams of water, enveloping the body writhing in agony, carried it toward the sun shimmering above the surface.
But how did it happen that a human with a neural network appeared before the eyes of a dragon and received his heart?