>>5326460>>5326479“I want power,” you declare. “I want to achieve my full potential, by my own will!”
There is silence, except the quiet crackle of the candle, and the pounding of your heart. The Dark God of Hidden Truths says nothing. But… Why? You gave the right answer!
That’s when you realize why: you gave the ‘right’ answer, the answer you would expect a Dark God to want to hear—the proper answer for a member of the Master race, or a Dragon King of yore…
But not the truth.
“I… Came seeking answers as to whether the amulet should be worn or not because I did not wish to lose face, or support.”
“Why not?”
“…I desire to belong,” you admit, a touch ashamed to speak to such a n ignoble desire. “To be… Admired, respected… To be worthy of such, and to live up to expectations.”
It’s the truth, you realize: you have ever been an outcast, ever felt alone among most of your race. They way they express themselves, relate to one another… You have always felt isolated, and shameful in that feeling. You’ve desired connection, community, all your life. It’s why you hung about the breeding pits, wishing to enter: not just your <appetite>, but your wish to BELONG there, to have a mate who could be a match to you and thus affirm your own place in the natural order, and in Reptilian society.
Your fixation of becoming a dragon… yes, it’s or power, freedom, self-actualization, but it’s more than anything because your sole bond of any depth was long with your ’brother’, the Great Green Dragonborn. More than that, it’s because a dragon has a place in the community—IS the very Foundation of a community. Where a Dragon King exists, his presence draws the reptilian races, binds them together as one.
That’s what you want: to be the thread at the heart o the tapestry which is the so-called Great Design.
“Then so be it,” the Insightful One says.
The arms of smoke and fire withdraw towards the candle, as the Dark God leave you presence.
“Instruct the Chaplain’s Daughter to imbue the amulet with the Potion of Diminution,” he advises you. “Then, you may wear it, and even as it transforms and transfigures you, you will have what you want. This is my gift to you.”
“…Thank you,” you say, and you believe you mean it.
“Your truth is… Unexpected, unusual, but appropriate. You are your mother’s son. You have realized what she did not, until it was too late, and may yet achieve what she never could. Wield this truth wisely, mortal. It defines not only YOUR future, but may yet draw the shape of the age to come.”
