====== II. Earth-Mending Dragon ====== ---- ==== 2-1 ==== //"You are the oldest of countless beings\\ And must protect these brothers and sisters..."//[(Spoken in Titan language.)] In the years spent wandering the earth,\\ The Giant Dragon always remembered the Titan's words for their worth. The beasts of the land surrounded it in protection,\\ While twisted being shuffled and roared,\\ And delicate chimeras climbed up its shoulders. After, the tiny humans came into being.\\ They dashed alongside the Giant Dragon,\\ Then in the blink of an eye, disappeared across the land. //"What a beautiful era of peace..."//[(Spoken in Titan language.)] Yet the deep irises of the Giant Dragon saddened in gloom.\\ The ancient creature saw, earlier than the Titan did,\\ Hidden in the deep ocean, the incoming doom. ---- ==== 2-2 ==== The Giant Dragon recalled,\\ At the moment that Strife was born,\\ The Chalice of Plenty sighed,\\ And the heretical tide spread from the seabed. Bearing their bone-gnawing pain and agony,\\ Georios tightened every fiber in their body,\\ No longer hearing the call of their creations clearly. //"Your pain cannot save the lives in this world."//[(Spoken by Terravox.)]\\ The Giant Dragon once swore an oath at the Titan's breast. And now, the dragon silently turned and departed,\\ Leaving the plateaus and mountains of a secluded world,\\ And entering the bustling cities humankind crowded. ---- ==== 2-3 ==== {{ :readable:saga:soaring.dragon.without.restraint:dan-heng2-3.png?200|}} Thousands of years later, the Giant Dragon realized,\\ Those tiny creations of Kephale,\\ Had rooted their civilization in time. //"H—How can there be such a huge dromas?"\\ "Dromas? No. That's a walking mountain of gold."// Curious residents were amazed at its appearance,\\ While greedy brokers calculated its value. Yet the Giant Dragon simply walked in leisure,\\ Not harming a single building of any stature,\\ Nor paying heed to anyone. It quietly listened to the people's language,\\ And its form dissolved in the flames of war. ---- ==== 2-4 ==== Many years later, Aquila closed their eyes,\\ And the Giant Dragon's steps were finally halted. A swordsmaster who broke the waves stopped its way,\\ And a ruler, commander of the chessboard, looked up with inquiry. //"Are you the dromas that has been attacking all states?"//[(Spoken by Cerydra.)]\\ The commander invited the Giant Dragon to hunt the divine flames together. The Giant Dragon nodded,\\ But it did not look at the commander,\\ And never mentioned where it came from. Its timeless sight,\\ Had already seen past the Flame-Chase's final plight... ---- ==== 2-5 ==== //"Georios shall be executed here!"//[(Spoken by Cerydra.)] The Titan, in a painful daze, closed their eyes with a sigh...\\ //"I do not blame you... wild ancestor of souls..."//[(Spoken in Titan language.)] Suddenly, the mountains shook and the land cracked.\\ The wounds dealt by the black tide, once mended by the Titan,\\ Now tore the land apart again. The calamity of lands asunder...\\ Who should shoulder such a duty?\\ The Giant Dragon sunk into the earth in answer. For the earth was the breast of Georios,\\ And the dragon's birthplace. And from that day forth, Amphoreus had forged a new legend...\\ Of how a giant dragon collected the broken lands,\\ And once again made the earth whole.