A sigh echoed in the depths of a cave.
The walls were surrounded by runes that bound him to this realm. How long had it been since then?
Most likely a millennium. A massive yet majestic creature looked up at the beam of light that fell through the top of this mountain. Light of Day always felt warm. The only source of company he had. Oh how he wished to spread his wings once more. To conquer the sky. To make those cowards who wronged him suffer.
Heat filled the cave. A furnace of wrath that reflected his Immortal Flame Domain.
A flame that burned forever. That flame was fading. It might take another hundred years or so but it would fade.
He lowered his reptilian head to his chest. There a large hole lay where his core had been stripped from him. 1000 years had passed since and he had been running on nothing more than the final remnants of his power.
"Mmh?" his head shot up into the distance. Did the space around this world weaken?
It didn't matter, this was a chance. The leathery wings on his back snapped open. They flapped once and he appeared at the very top of his den. The mountain shook in his wake but he paid it no heed. The structure had survived his outburst 800 years ago and he had been much stronger than he was now. It would hold.
Feeling the rays of the Daylight fall upon his scales, he felt rejuvenated. This was what he was meant to be. The sky was his domain, his kind were never meant to be restricted in such a place.
Heat radiated from his body as he took a breath, Aether from the surroundings responded to his summons and bent to his will. He was an Overlord. Core or no core, the world bowed to him.
And that it did. He opened his mouth, an orange sphere of heat and destruction taking shape and form. Space around it whined in the presence of such oppressive heat. The world trembled. His eyes glowed with an ethereal glow so intense it looked like his eyes were of fire. His wings spread out blotting out the skies.
'I am Overlord of the Immortal Flame'
The whisper in his mind was low but the world heard it loud enough.
The sphere of destruction tunnelled forward. It looked like a star shooting forward. A blazing trail of fire was left behind, space itself incinerated beneath the heat. The star exploded in the distance. Light and heat left the entire realm awash, whatever life there had been here was completely incinerated, unable to withstand the heat, even from this distance. The world shook under the destructive move, space became volatile and it could no longer hold.
The explosion cleared leaving nothing but a gaping wound that tore through space.
It was almost as wide as the mountain his den dwelled in. Its edges glowing orange like iron heated at the furnace and it was still expanding.
The Overlord of the Immortal Flame's laughter shook the already unstable skies. This was it. A path to his freedom. His wings stretched out ready to push his ascent. The Overlord's nonexistent heart thumped, his blood boiling in excitement. For the first time in over a millennium he felt hopeful.
He would finally escape this cage and embrace who he truly was.
His wings snapped once and then twice. His ascent steady. The closer he got to the path through space, the more he relaxed. He was almost there, just one more flap of his wings and he would be gone. Then he would prepare to face those traitors from Astaroth.
Vengeance would come. They would rue the day they chose to oppose him.
He had just finished airing out his thoughts when something latched onto his leg. The Overlord didn't look back. He merely sneered.
Petty trickery would not stop him.
A single pull was all it took to break free. However another took its place pulling him back.
'What?' The Overlord looked back. Dark tendrils wrapped around his leg. His eyes narrowed. What was this? He turned around and swiped forward. His midnight colored claws tore through the material easily, breaking it apart and scattering its particles in the wind. However those little pieces latched onto his body before they joined once more.
More tendrils shot forth from below. They were coming from the mountain.
The Overlord of Immortal Flame fought for his freedom. He lashed out with everything he had. His flames, his claws, his tail and even his wings but the tendrils just kept regenerating and multiplying.
They restricted his movements.
The more he fought the weaker he seemed to become. A ripple of purple energy glowed through their essence. The Overlord realized too late that these unknown tendrils drew their strength from the very runes used to seal him to this place.
The runes his betrayers had set up.
Heat gathered from his chest. His very blood boiling at the very thought of that conniving hypocrite's face.
The tendrils wrapped around him completely. Wings, arms and legs. They solidified into chains that pulled him down.
A roar tore from his maw. The world shaking beneath his rage. A rage so primal and ancient. A rage so intense that it travelled through the very crack in space he had created. The chains around him strained beneath the pressure. But they held and pulled him back into his den.
"DISCORD! YOU SCOURGE OF THE WORLD, LET ME NOT SEE YOUR FACE!"