(Leo's POV, The Mysterious Floating Island)
"Uncle...?"
Leonardo's voice trembled faintly as he blinked, the confusion in his eyes quickly giving way to fear.
Leo stood over him, his expression calm but heavy, the weight of disappointment clear in the stillness of his gaze.
"I told you to wait for me," he said quietly, his voice low yet carrying through the air like a blade, "and to stay away from danger."
Leonardo's lips parted as if to speak, but the words never came.
"Yet you disobeyed..." Leo continued, his tone reserved and measured, though beneath it simmered an anger he refused to let surface. His aura flickered faintly, restrained but restless.
"Your very first mission," he said after a pause, "and this is what you do. Tell me, boy, how am I supposed to trust you again, eh?"
Leonardo lowered his head, his gaze falling to the glowing floor beneath his boots. His voice faltered into silence as guilt settled like a weight on his shoulders.
"I'm... sorry, Uncle—"
"Save it," Leo interrupted, raising one hand to silence him. "Keep your excuses for your mother. I'll be the one telling her about this."
The words struck harder than any shout could. Leonardo's heart sank instantly, knowing well how his mother's wrath could eclipse even the fiercest storm.
She had always been overprotective, often unreasonably so, and the thought of her finding out made his palms sweat.
Leo, seeing the panic flash across his nephew's face, sighed softly before pulling something from his inventory, a small crystalline token that shimmered faintly with layered runes.
"Here," he said, holding it out. "A teleportation token. Crush it, and you'll be taken straight back to the flagship."
*Clutch*
Leonardo took it with both hands, the cold surface pressing into his palm. His grip tightened, and though his voice was quiet, it carried a tremor of remorse.
"Uncle... Before I go, I must warn you, there's something ancient here. Something alive. The aura that hit me... it wasn't normal. It was stronger than anything I've ever felt. Stronger than yours, even."
Leo looked at him for a long moment before letting out a quiet, humorless chuckle.
"It might be dangerous for you," he said, his tone calm, almost amused, "but not for me."
He had barely finished the words when the island itself seemed to awaken again.
*GROAN*
*Tremble*
*Rumble*
The metallic ground beneath them vibrated as a low, primal sound rolled through the air, the deep, resonant growl of something impossibly vast stirring from its rest.
The faint golden veins running across the platform flared once more, pulsating with violent light as the atmosphere grew thick and hostile, with the air itself beginning to distort.
Leonardo stumbled back, clutching the token tightly as a crushing wave of pressure washed over him, the same devastating force that had flattened him before.
His breath caught in his throat, his knees weakening as panic flooded his senses.
But this time, the weight never touched him.
*Hummmm*
Leo's aura flared around him, a vibrant red that formed a protective bubble enveloping them both.
Within its boundaries, the air grew still again, the violent tremors fading to muffled vibrations.
'W-what...?' Leonardo's eyes widened as he looked up.
The same aura that had reduced him to nothing only moments ago now dispersed harmlessly against his uncle's defense, like waves breaking against a cliff.
Leo stood firm at the center of it all, unmoving, calm, and utterly in control.
'The aura that took me out doesn't even faze him...' Leonardo thought in disbelief, his mind struggling to grasp the difference in their strength.
He turned to look at Leo's face, expecting strain, but there was none.
Only a steady gaze, cold and unwavering, as though the storm raging around them was beneath his notice.
'Just how strong is Uncle?' he wondered, awestruck.
But before he could ask, Leo's voice broke through the noise, steady and composed.
"Go," he said simply. "You don't belong here yet."
Leonardo hesitated for only a second before nodding, swallowing hard as he tightened his grip on the teleportation token.
"Understood, Uncle."
*Crack*
With a flash of light, his figure vanished, leaving Leo alone once more upon the trembling island.
For a few seconds, he stood still, his cloak rippling under the unseen force as the protective barrier flickered faintly.
The air pressed harder now, a weight beyond comprehension.
Though Leo's face betrayed nothing, every fiber of his being strained to keep the barrier intact.
His aura control was pushed to its absolute limit, the invisible pressure clawing at his body like a living force trying to tear through his defenses.
'So this is the true might of a God's slumbering will...' he thought, his pulse steady even as blood began to trickle from the corner of his lip.
Yet even as the crushing force bore down upon him, Leo smiled faintly, not in defiance, but in recognition.
"I've felt this pressure before," he whispered under his breath. "Back then it was only a projection, a fragment of your true soul, yet this time, I'm meeting the real you. It's been a while.... Old friend."
Leo said, as he began walking towards the source of the aura, as this time, Motherak finally jolted awake from his sleep, as Leo's presence finally gave him enough reason to wake up.
'A peculiar human with Dragon blood that isn't an ant? Where have I met such an interesting individual before? I'm sure I've seen him somewhere...'
Motherak thought, as the haze of countless centuries slowly lifted from his mind, the deep fog of sleep giving way to flickers of awareness that pulsed through his colossal form.
*Shake*
The island responded in kind, trembling faintly as the golden veins across its surface glowed brighter with each heartbeat of its master.
Fragments of ancient memory stirred.... echoes of battles, the rise and fall of the beast gods, the faces of mortals long gone, until one name surfaced above the rest, clear and deliberate, cutting through the remnants of his slumber.
'Leo Skyshard...' the Beast God murmured inwardly. 'Is that what the boy was called?'
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