From the top of the highest tower of the priestly palace, an immense light exploded, illuminating the entire cave so much that it was no longer possible to see anything but a white spot propped up by the faint gray outlines of the objects. The light spread slowly enough for all the arachnes in the city to close their eyes or turn around in time, but some were too slow and were blinded for a few minutes. The glow was so powerful that for an instant it was possible to see the bones through the skin and flesh. All this lasted just about ten seconds, and then a figure emerged from the light; when the glow finally died down and it was possible to use sight again, everyone could see that the ceiling of the cave had just been covered by two immense wings.
Above Tigu-cthu-tal a gigantic figure had appeared; it wasn't as massive as Balagaberan, but it was close. His enormous body occupied at least three quarters of the entire cave; the gigantic paws seemed capable of crushing whole neighborhoods, but fortunately they remained suspended above them and even those few buildings tall enough to touch them seemed not even to be grazed by them, as if they were passing through them; the giant wings spread so wide that by themselves they could have darkened the whole city if it had been in the sun, and the enormous body was covered with iridescent scales that glowed with different colors and emitted a candid light. Right next to the tower, the gigantic creature had both a beginning and an end: the huge tail hundreds of meters long converged on the ancient scriptures placed there, emerging from them as if it were generated, and then the body turned on itself until the head didn't reach directly to the opposite side of the tower. A huge, horned head with a long, reptilian snout and crystalline eyes aimed at the top of the tower, as if watching the people standing there.
Haku had gasped, unable to do anything but stare at the huge dragon that had just appeared and was now looking at him. He felt just as he had felt when he first looked at Balagaberan's skeleton, except this time what he was looking at was a dragon with flesh and skin and scales on him, vibrating and moving and he breathed just as if he were alive. The sound of his breathing alone was like the noise unleashed by a tsunami crashing against the coast with all its violence. Haku felt his heart almost stop as he admired that giant, and he didn't know if it was out of fear or amazement or any other emotion. Not that the others were outdone: all the people on the tower, indeed, throughout the city, were watching the newly appeared dragon with their mouths wide open and their eyes bulging. Then Iflhet let out a kind of gasp and threw himself on his knees: "I don't believe my eyes... the great Akenothustar... has returned!"
All of the arachnes instantly knelt in turn, not even daring to raise their heads to look at the dragon in front of them. Haku's eyes widened. It was true! That dragon was identical to the one he had seen on the frescoes! Although neither the frescoes nor any other form of art could have truly expressed the magnificence of the creature in front of him. Now the frescoes seemed to him only a pale imitation of the power that dragon was emitting. Then Akenothustar spoke; the sound of his voice was like the rumble of a thousand thunders roaring at the same time. "Haku, Rhaegal, Tikka, Teramon, and also all of you who are watching me right now through the communication device, and also you who will come to know of what happened here from the tales of your siblings… for me it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Akenothustar, and I am recording this memory in the tablets which will be called as ancient scriptures in the future in the year 9,872 of the New Age... or, from your calendar point of view, exactly 20,128 years ago, at the end of what newcomers will call Age of the Gods, even if, as I will soon reveal to you, this name is somewhat misleading and fraudulent"
Haku was shocked after discovering that the dragon in front of him knew his name and that of his siblings, even more after discovering that at that moment he was using a communication device connected to Darbi's (which was also hidden by the rune of invisibility), but the thing that amazed him the most was that Akenothustar wasn't speaking as if they were in front of him, but as if he were dictating a message to someone who had to transcribe it. He looked at the tablets from which the dragon's tail continued to emerge, as if anchored to them, and murmured: "It's not really Akenothustar... it's just a... a memory"
"What you're thinking is correct, Haku" Akenothustar said, almost making him jump. "Well yes, what you are seeing is not the real me, but a simple memory that I have trapped within these tablets. A complete recording of images and sounds due to a long series of spells that would now be too long to list. By the time you're seeing this tape, I'll be dead a long time ago. You're wondering how I know that you're standing in front of me right now, or how I know what you just thought and said quietly, my dears... and I'll tell you, someday, but not today since it's not the time yet. I know you wish to find out how I know your future so well, but please be still patient. Especially you, Haku, that you've always been thirsty for knowledge, just like I've always been; this time you'll have to wait. Hate me if you want, but I made this decision after evaluating several scenarios and concluded that it was the best choice. However, I intend to give you much knowledge today, much more than you have ever received in your entire life; but first, I have to tell you a story, an important story that you all are now a part of, and in which lies the fate of us dragons and all life in this world. Listen carefully however, because the History you have known so far is only part of the truth; it's time for you to find out what really happened in that era that newcomers naively call the Age of the Gods, and which they believe was a golden age thanks to the presence of the gods... what deluded people. So let me tell you the story of our species, from the moment we emerged from the underground until we lost our title as rulers of this world"
Haku let out a slight snort, being irritated by Akenothustar's choice not to reveal them as he knew the future... but at the same time, he was curious as few times in his life to find out what the ancient dragon had to tell him. Under his gaze, Akenothustar lifted his right forepaw and turned his palm upward, and upon it appeared an image: an image of a thriving, green world, covered with lush forests and filled with animals that Haku he had never seen or imagined, and in whose sky countless dragons flew. "The story I'm about to tell you actually begins long before the Age of the Gods. Specifically, it begins in the Age of the Dragons, the golden age of our species, where we were the absolute rulers of everything that exists on this world" Akenothustar said in a somewhat dreamy voice, looking at the image in the palm of his hand with a certain nostalgia in his eyes. "I was born in that world, a long time ago, and even though I was only able to live there a few years, I could tell you things that would blow your mind. We dragons hadn't only completely conquered this world, leaving the stage of pathetic animals and starting a true civilization, but we had also created and discovered things that are beyond all imagination. I could tell you about immense constructions, so gigantic that they reached areas of the sky so high that not even the air was there anymore, and which would make the few constructions that our species has left on the world in your time and that newcomers refer to with the reductive appellation of 'dungeons'. I could tell you of entire cities that floated in the sky, supported by spells so advanced that they would make the ones you use seem at all time for sleight of hand, for pathetic street tricks. I could tell you about giant towers made of alabaster and precious stones, and halls filled with golden light, and riches you can't even conceive". In his hand the image flickered, replacing itself in sequence with that of the many buildings he had listed. "I could tell you about how, as we peered into the vast depths of the sky, we discovered things a person could not even dream of. I could tell you about stars and objects so far away that it would take billions of years for light to reach us, and others that are so far away that their light will still not have reached you even in your era, and that perhaps it will never reach us before the world you live in reaches its end.I could tell you about masses of gas and dust so immense that they collapse on themselves and generate objects so dense as to create new stars. I could tell you about celestial whirlpools so powerful and violent that they can even suck in light. I could tell you about clusters of stars so immense that not even our incredible dragon brain would struggle to understand their dimensions, immense processions of hundreds of billions of stars that continuously swirl around a common center like objects dragged by an eternal whirlwind of space" and strange images formed in his hand that neither Haku nor anyone else could understand: a gray cloud that united to form an immense ball of fire, a strange black sphere around which clusters of hot and luminous gas swirled with extreme violence, and a giant spiral structure made of billions of stars that seemed to shine with the strength of hundreds of billions of suns. "Or I could tell you about how we dragons have explored this world, understanding it in its most hidden secrets. I could tell you about trillions of creatures so tiny that you could not even see them with the naked eye and that every day they are next to you without you even realizing it I could tell you about the smallest structures that make up your body, and I could tell you about how things like disease and infection really work. I could tell you about elements fused together to form the building blocks of matter. I could tell you about what the elements themselves are, particles so tiny and in turn composed of even more tiny particles. I could explain to you how they are generated, how they interact, how they unite and break, and I could tell you about what incredible power you could get if you were able to break them" and in his hand formed other images that Haku was unable to understand: strange gelatinous creatures that moved quickly and were continuously dividing and assimilating, strange blocks stacked next to each other forming together a structure similar to skin, long filaments composed of millions of pellets linked to each other, very small objects made up of dozens of pellets and with other pellets whirling violently around them. "But that's not what I'm going to tell you about now. Don't worry, I've made sure that all this knowledge that our people have discovered over millions of years will not be lost, and that it will come down to you. But now I won't It's time to discuss all of this. For now, focus on this piece of information, which is the key to the story I'm about to tell you: the dragons knew the secrets of the sky very well, and thanks to this they also knew what was coming. They knew their world was destined to end, but puffed up in their arrogance they did nothing to stop the catastrophe that was about to befall us, and which manifested itself one day in the sky in the form of a second sun"