Ziedranteon sat in the Eternal Prison, he was facing a man who was locked in the deepest part of the prison. There were no guards in his cell if the huge arena could even be called a cell.
Runes, symbols, precious materials, and even a formation filled the arena as pitch-black chains from which black smoke came out bound the man in front of Ziedranteon. The man's long, black hair fell down to the floor, a rough beard grew on his chin while his calm eyes stared at the patriarch of the dragon clan.
His arms and legs were restricted by the chains that ended in spikes that penetrated his body and spread his limbs apart. Rags could be seen covering the man's body as he simply stared at the patriarch without any emotions.
"It's been, quite a while since you last visited me, Zie." The man spoke with a calm voice as the patriarch poured tea into two cups, one for himself, and the other for the man.
"I sensed the prison open a bit ago, a new prisoner, I assume?"
"Yes, a young seedling, one that reminded me of you in our youth, a lot more reckless and dumb, however." The patriarch spoke as he finished pouring the tea.
"And how do you presume I can drink that, in case you forget, my arms are bound."
"We both know that you can still use some mana, the only reason I didn't restrict you completely was that it will never be able to help you get out of here," Ziedranteon said as the man chuckled before one of the cups started levitating and moving towards him.
"Ah, nice tea, I would prefer something stronger, but this isn't bad either, considering it's been thousands of years since you last visited me." The man spoke with a rough voice as he calmly drank the tea.
"So, what did the young dragon do to force your hand, flirted a bit with another power, tried to plot to take over the clan, wait, maybe he was simply a bit more talented than you liked?" The man spoke in a teasing tone as he stared at the patriarch.
"Most of it, but he attacked the Immortal with two other Supremes."
"He what?" The man asked as he stared at Ziedranteon with a stupefied expression.
"You heard it right, he attacked the Immortal, and tried to kill him with two other pups."
"Three Supremes, thought they could kill him?"
"Yes, they're fresh, hadn't even realized how weak they are."
"Well, I would say that imprisoning him to appease that man was a good choice, but what about the others, what about me, can you say that for all of us?" The man asked as he stared at Ziedranteon with slight hatred.
Ziedranteon met his eyes and calmly looked at him.
"You were the first after me to rise above the realm of Supreme, one of the brightest stars our dragon clan had seen in its whole history, but your ideas were too much, too extreme, one wrong step and we would have been annihilated, not even the Immortal would have helped us at that point, perhaps he would have been the one to end it all."
Ziedranteon said as he shook his head. He still remembered the days he spent with his old friend fondly, both were young, and after the heavy loss, the dragon clan took, they were the two that worked the hardest in order to rebuild it.
Ziedranteon was older and a bit luckier, resulting in him reaching the realm after Supreme earlier. But it was even before that, back when he just reached the realm of High God, that he became the patriarch.
He knew that he needed to continue working hard, harder than ever even in order to not let the others down and succeed in rebuilding the clan. After much time, he reached what he thought was the pinnacle of power, only to learn how much he actually didn't know.
"Too extreme, how laughable, if it was so, I wouldn't have had so many of our clan members behind me, you were too meek, too scared to bare your fangs at others, which resulted in our clan being called a bunch of weak, overgrown lizards, LIZARDS!" The man suddenly shouted as he stared at Ziedranteon, his eyes filled with fury as the whole arena shook from his anger.
"And yet, our clan now stands back at the pinnacle of power, respected and feared by many, the reason for all of that was because I was ready to bide my time, grow in power before taking revenge on those that wronged us, there are none that now dare speak ill of the clan, none that would even think of taking us lightly," Ziedranteon said in a stern voice as he stared at the man.
"You lost, but you were a person I considered to be like a brother, one with whom I shared good and bad, one whose life I saved many times, and who saved mine just as much, that is the only reason why you are here, and not dead."
"The only reason, huh, don't try and fool me with your tricks you sly bastard, the only reason you put me in here was that you hoped that the prison could do the same to me as it did to others, you wanted, you hoped to have a puppet as powerful as I was that would unconditionally serve you, but you were wrong, even after so long, you are still unable to make my mind crumble, how does it feel, to not succeed after so long, to fail?"
"I never intended to do such a thing, Aeomir, there is no need for me do to such a thing, if our clan ever falls in danger and I need your assistance, I know you will help me, even with all your faults, you still care for the clan, as deeply as I do, I know you would never sit idly at the side and watch it collapse."
"Hmph, and what then, do you think I will just calmly return here, do you believe I won't try to stab you in the back and take revenge?"
"There is no need for me to fear such a thing, much time has passed since you were put here, you are unable to threaten me with your strength, old friend." Ziedranteon suddenly started emitting a powerful pressure on Aeomir, one that the latter couldn't stand up to at all.
"I see, you, you managed to reach even higher, hmph, no wonder you are so confident about everything," Aeomir said as the powerful suppression assaulted him, making it difficult for him to even speak.
"Goodbye, old friend, perhaps one day you will change your mind and we will be able to stand side to side as we once did, I pray that that day will once come."
"Spare me your words Ziedranteon, stand side by side, join forces again, like that will happen!" Aeomir suddenly started shouting as Ziedranteon walked towards the exit.
The arena shook from the anger that Aeomir was exhibiting, so much so that even the other prisoners were feeling it. It was natural, after all, as a full 40% of the prison's power was used in order to keep Aeomir captive, an astonishing amount that even the second-strongest person in the prison couldn't come close to.
"You talk about keeping the clan safe, as if!"
"The only thing you are guarding is your reign, every time something that might pose a threat to you in the future shows itself, it ends up dead, or here in this damned prison that you created to keep me locked for eternity!"
"You are a hypocrite, a bastard that only cares for himself and his title, the little care you have for the clan is perhaps the only thing keeping you from destroying it, so don't you dare and talk to me about the clan and what I did!"
Ziedranteon stared at his old friend from the other side of the door as it slowly closed. Aeomir's rant continued, each word of his filled with anger and power that would make the chains move and the formation and runes light up in order to suppress him.
"You damned fool, you bastard that has lost himself because of the power you wield, I will never stand by your side, even if the universe was coming to an end, I will never bend my knee, never!"
Bang!
The door closed with a heavy bang as Ziedranteon sighed before turning around and slowly making his way out of the prison.
He and Aeomir had been friends even before the fall of the dragon clan, they were amongst the most talented of the young generation, and the only two that managed to survive that battle.
Aeomir was someone that Ziedranteon truly did love like a brother, but his ideology of what the dragon clan should do was simply too radical, it was too risky and he couldn't allow him to divide the clan anymore.
They fought, one last battle took place far away from the eyes of others, and Ziedranteon won. He didn't have the heart to kill his old friend and decided to lock him up. He hoped that maybe one day he would see the folly of his plans and change, but even after millions of years, he was still the same.
'One day old friend, maybe one day you will finally see why I have done the things I did.' Ziedranteon said as he left the prison.
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