The chamber of Floor 910 could no longer decide what it was.
Creation and Destruction clashed so violently that the floor, the walls, even the runes flickering in the corners were caught in a constant state of rewriting themselves—
light shaping,
void unmaking,
the tower's code trembling between two truths.
At the center of the chaos:
Danny
and
Dar'kan
faced each other as both began to change.
Dar'kan's Transformation — The Void Unleashed
Dar'kan doubled over.
His obsidian shards convulsed, losing their orbit.
His violet core flared like a dying star trying to reignite.
Then the voice of Bones, heavy with ancient hunger, rumbled through him:
"RISE, MY SHADOW."
The transformation began.
His body broke first.
Not shattered—
unfolded.
Obsidian plates cracked apart, revealing a slick, writhing mass beneath.
What had been a humanoid shape melted into a swirling black vortex from which tendrils of pure void erupted like living whips.
The vortex expanded.
It rotated clockwise while his core rotated counterclockwise, a phenomenon only destruction-born entities could survive. The friction of opposing metaphysics sent arcs of violet lightning snapping outward, carving trenches into the floor.
The void matter continued to rise, stretching higher than the chamber should allow.
The ceiling warped into a funnel of darkness to accommodate him.
A monstrous torso formed.
A ribcage of jagged obsidian shards locked together, pulsing around the violet core like a heart trapped in glass knives.
Two enormous arms erupted outward—
the forearms elongating into blades,
the elbows branching with horn-like spurs,
the claws dripping with corrosive void that devoured anything it touched
—even light.
A head took shape last.
A faceless, masklike structure of fractured plates that shifted constantly, never settling into one expression or form.
Only the eyes remained constant:
Twin wells of annihilation.
Bottomless.
Starless.
Alive.
Dar'kan roared.
The sound was not a roar so much as a cavern collapsing into itself.
The chamber shook; runes shattered; the tower flinched.
He stood now as a Void Colossus, a creature of pure destruction given temporary shape.
Tall as an ancient titan.
Wings like serrated void scythes.
A tail of interlocking blades that slashed the air behind him.
And still, a flicker of pain lingered in his core.
Bones had forced this metamorphosis.
Danny saw it.
And his own transformation began in response.
Danny's Transformation — The Return of the Golden Dragon
Danny's breath slowed.
The creation flame at his heart—
usually gentle, warm, quiet—
began to expand.
Then it ignited.
His skin lit from within.
Lines of gold flowed under the surface, tracing every vein,
every muscle,
every bone.
Light burst from his eyes.
Not fire—
sunrise.
His hair lifted without wind, each strand glowing brighter until it resembled molten metal caught in eternal dawn.
Golden scales formed along his arms.
Not overlaid—
grown.
Each scale was a perfect hexagon of shimmering light,
reflecting not the chamber,
but visions of creation itself—
mountains rising, oceans forming, stars blooming.
The scales spread:
Across his shoulders.
Down his spine.
Over his chest and ribs.
Across his cheekbones.
But this was only the beginning.
His body expanded.
Barely at first—
a swelling of muscle,
a shifting of posture.
Then something deeper unfurled inside him.
An ancient memory.
A genetic inheritance older than civilizations.
A blueprint of majesty.
His spine arched.
His ribs cracked outward—not breaking, but reconfiguring.
His shoulder blades split, glowing fissures appearing along the bone.
Light poured out of them.
Not light.
Wings.
Golden Dragon wings burst from his back.
They unfurled with a shockwave of radiance,
the membranes shimmering like woven sunlight,
each beat sending ripples of creation energy across the chamber.
The wings were enormous—
far too large for the room—
but the room expanded around him.
The tower, recognizing the form,
remembering the form,
yielded.
Runes reassembled.
Ceilings stretched.
Walls bent outward.
The Celestial Tower made space for a Golden Dragon
for the first time in countless ages.
Danny grew larger.
His legs lengthened, reshaping into draconic limbs.
Scales grew thicker, more numerous, covering him in an armor of gleaming gold.
His torso expanded into the noble, majestic build of a western dragon—
powerful chest, elongated neck, ancient posture.
His hands curved into talons—
not crude weapons,
but instruments of creation.
His head reshaped,
jaw extending,
horns curling back in elegant arcs.
And then—
He opened his mouth.
A golden glow burned in his throat.
The sound that escaped was not a roar.
It was a song.
A note of creation so pure that the corruption recoiled instinctively.
Dar'kan staggered backward, void wings twitching, claws scraping deep gouges into the stone.
"NO!" Dar'kan shrieked.
"THIS FORM WAS FORGOTTEN!
YOU CANNOT—
YOU MUST NOT—"
Danny lifted his head fully.
He was not yet at full size—
the chamber could not sustain the true colossal form of the ancient Golden Dragons—
but he was close.
A young Golden Dragon reborn.
Majestic.
Bright.
Terrifying in purity.
Danny's full golden radiance illuminated every crack in the tower.
The chamber reflected him:
walls glowing,
floors healing,
runes burning brighter.
The tower remembered him.
And welcomed him.
The Clash of the Dragon and the Void
Dar'kan lunged first—
a comet of shadow wrapped in screaming tendrils.
Danny answered with his wings.
He swung them forward, producing a shockwave of pure light.
The collision split the room in half.
Void consumed light.
Light shredded void.
The tower itself bent, absorbing the force.
Dar'kan:
A titan of destruction, all blades and hunger.
Danny:
A radiant dragon of creation, every movement harmonious, inevitable.
Dar'kan unleashed a barrage of void lances from his arms—
Danny snapped his jaws shut on them, crushing them into harmless dust.
Dar'kan swung his tail—
Danny caught it in one golden-clawed hand, slammed it into the floor, and ignited the ground beneath them, purifying corruption.
Dar'kan screamed as the gold burned his void-flesh.
"YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST!" the void colossus roared.
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FADE!"
Danny's eyes hardened.
"I'm not fading."
He surged forward.
The chamber filled with blinding gold—
Dar'kan's form fracturing—
void splintering into shards—
Bones' voice echoing in rage—
"THIS IS NOT OVER!"
And Danny, now towering in draconic splendor, inhaled deeply.
Light gathered in his throat.
The prelude to a creation-breath far stronger than any he had used before.
Floor 910 rumbled under the force.
Dar'kan tried to retreat.
But creation does not retreat.
It rises.
Danny opened his mouth—
golden fire igniting—
the chamber trembling—
and the chapter ends
with the Golden Dragon's breath about to be unleashed.