For centuries, the Green Primordial Dragon roamed the western continent without issue, despite the unease and caution toward him.
Humans wove folklore about a lone wanderer who passed through their settlements, sharing wisdom, curing sickness with magic, and offering knowledge of the world.
After the events in his homeland, he felt that meddling in their affairs in his true form would be unwise. He saw the hostilities between tribes, the rivalries sparked by new discoveries, and the hunger for power when opportunities arose.
The elves were the least disdained by the Green Primordial, as their simpler nature and longer lifespans allowed them to remember lessons lost to the short-lived races. Unlike humans and beastkin, they forgave and grew rather than warring endlessly.
Out of lingering distaste for his homeland's past, he avoided the newly landed dwarves altogether.
After the Year 378, he began noticing strange disappearances and blood-drained corpses, their bodies riddled with fang marks along the mountainside. He searched for the creature responsible, curious as to the animal responsible, but the vampire would vanish for years, sometimes decades, before reemerging.
It wasn't until the Year 467 that they finally confronted each other- an enraged Primordial against the vampire, servant of the Smiling Tree of Wishes.
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Year: 467
"You are very bold."
"Yet it appears not bold enough."
The Primordial, looming with an expression of pity, watched the vampiress grinning with a sinister smile as a red mist floated around her and shards of hardened blood formed beside her.
Dried blood layered her form like silken clothing, maintaining its structure regardless of water or intensity of movement. Her black hair fell down to her waist, framing her face with dangerously glinting ruby eyes. Waves of crimson florets rippled down her skin, converging at her fingertips as new shards formed and drifted beside her.
"I've been curious for some time how the blood of your kind would taste," she cooed, licking her lips with anticipation. "But I haven't had the luxury, nor the opportunity, until now."
More shards of blood, strong as iron, shot toward the Primordial's scales but shattered harmlessly on impact. Her expression twitched in annoyance before she suddenly found herself slammed backward, crashing through multiple trees and skidding across the ground with painful yelps.
Her instincts, however, remained sharp. With a violent spray of blood, wings erupted from her back, immediately propelling herself from the ground. Enraged, she had never suffered such defeat nor humiliation from her prey before and she continued her onslaught.
A storm of blood shards and red mist bombarded the Green Primordial's form, but each one deflected harmlessly against his scales. Within moments, she realized this battle was lost. She turned to flee only for another powerful gust of wind to slam into her from above, forcing her back down.
The ground split apart, trees uprooted, and a shockwave from the impact sent loose soil spraying in every direction as she crashed into the earth. Her shrieks of pain echoed through the base of the Primordial's mountain home before silence fell once more.
"Is this the extent of your intelligence?" the Primordial asked, his steps shaking the ground beneath him. "This is disappointing after a century of curiosity."
Expressionless, though irritated underneath, she spat up blood from the crater where she lay. "I've lost. Just kill me and be done with it."
The Primordial's emerald eyes glowed and it exhaled, lowering its head to meet her gaze. "This magic does not belong to the land. And there is an invisible thread tying you to the wilderness above my homeland. Why?"
Questions burned in the heart of this Primordial, and the vampiress sneered.
"Curiosity killed the dragon."
Silence fell for a moment before its rumbling voice continued. "Are you enslaved?"
"Enslaved?" she rolled her eyes. "I devour as I please. I gave my will freely."
"And this, too, is your choice?"
"..."
She refused to answer, and the Primordial shimmered again before the connection tying her to the Smiling Tree of Wishes broke. In unison, both her and the Smiling Tree of Wishes screamed in agony, their forms violently twisting and shaking in torment.
All of the faces that belong to the Smiling Tree screamed, and the creatures of the land under its control echoed its misery.
And the Vampiress?
After her convulsions stopped, she laid there exhausted before her eyes fluttered open and she sat up abruptly. Her gaze fell to her hands and body, still shimmering and rippling with waves of the red mist and her blood magic, but her expression seemed less maddened.
"You are free now. Do as you will." The Primordial's rumbling voice echoed and it started to turn. "Attack me again, however, and I will not be merciful twice."
"You had no right to do that..." she whispered, her voice trembling. Tears welled in her eyes and fell. "It was my choice."
Pausing, it looked back, but didn't respond. This was unexpected for the Primordial. A creature that wanted to be enslaved, or connected to a corruptive force? Inconceivable. Perhaps it was merely the echoes of the connection.
"The mind will clear. Your judgement is still flawed."
"My mind was always clear! The connection you severed gave me purpose after the dwarves massacred my tribe. Now- No, I can still return and restore it!"
Panic flickered across her face as her wings flared. Even with blood dripping from her lips and her fingers trembling from the convulsions, she was ready to take off.
The Primordial hesitated. At the mention of dwarves, something beneath its surface shifted.
A power birthed from suffering, and a bond formed through vengeance.
Had the Black Primordial been altered by the same force? If the Green Primordial had acted as he did, would he have fallen to the same corruption?
"Do not return." the primordial interrupted. "Your suffering will return if you do. Give it time."
"Time and do what?!" she gripped her forehead. "Nurturing the tree became my only purpose after my kin died. That will be gone too!"
"Travel with me for the time being. So long as you do not return to your old ways, I will allow it."
"You will find a new purpose with time," it said as its form morphed into that of a human with ginger hair.
Multiple expressions twisted across the vampiress's face before she slowly stepped forward, conflicted feelings gnawing at her subconscious.
And when she did the CDIM replay paused, freezing on a brief and sinister glint that flickered through her ruby eyes.
"So she's manipulating the Primordial," Atlas mused. "She said the right words, and now he's letting her tag along despite everything. He's still too trusting, despite all he knows."
Even as the replay slowed, he caught the subtle flick of her tongue, as if in anticipation, the moment the Primordial's back was turned.
"Thirty-three years later and they still travel together? Either it really is the echo of her connection stopping me, or she's extremely patient for a glorious kill."
His finger tapped on her figure, but the status screen briefly flickered before fading, refusing to give him any information.
Sighing, he fast-forwarded the years, moving forward until the screen froze on a moment by a waterfall on the year 500.
Atlas raised an eyebrow as he observed the elves bathing, their partially clothed figures visible on-screen.
He zoomed out. Beneath the dense canopy of trees, faint goblin outlines were etched and highlighted for him in the shadows, creeping forward.
In the far distance, the Primordial and Vampiress hovered, silently observing.