They landed in a corner of the hall.
The air vibrated with energy, to the point that Wavern felt the skin tingle under her scales.
A buzz filled her ears. Was it the Nuclei?
She couldn't look at them for more than a few moments, before so many pins pierced her eyes. Next to her, Ydrano tried to shield her with his wing, but the light was stronger than they thought and the membrane took on a light color, revealing the capillaries.
Naga, on the other hand, looked straight at the two luminous spheres. A slight ripple pulled the skin at the corner of the mouth. "Finally…"
"What do you mean?" made an obscuriale. It was the same as before, Flat-Snout. "You already knew this place. Why didn't you come first to absorb the Two Cores? "
The white dragon snapped its head at him and bared its fangs. But he didn't growl. It was a smile, as if he was waiting to hear that question.
A cold shiver made Wavern's feathers stand up.
"Simple," Naga replied. "I wanted you to see. Ah, if only Dharak were here to see the new Vestalian Champion. "
What was he talking about?
"The power of Infinity and Silence, what keeps our world in balance, certainly cannot be granted to any bakugan who can find these ruins. Since the Era of Unity, only the greatest and most deserving have had such a privilege: Hexedra, Apollonir, Oberus ... Each of them has acquired the power to govern an entire element and all the bakugan that belonged to it. Each of them was chosen by the Two Cores."
Flatsnout snorted. Now he was looking at Naga, now at the tw globes behind him. "Chosen? You mean that… the Two Cores are alive?"
Naga lifted his neck upwards and took a deep breath. "Obvious! Can't you feel them? Don't you feel how this room pulsates with their life? "
Wavern felt it. The air around her began to beat with a regular rhythm, as placid as the beating of a heart. A gentle wave, similar to a warm wind, caressed her whole body up to her tail and swept the wind away.
Instinctively, she looked towards the golden sphere. The Core of Infinity. The light didn't hurt that much anymore.
A new pulse swept through space to her and enveloped her.
Ydrano's dark wing appeared in front of her. "Be careful or you risk blind yourself".
The dragoness blinked. For a moment the room hung all over to one side and staggered.
The hydra's muzzle touched hers to offer support. "Are you allright?"
"Yes. Yes, just a dizziness. " Hadn't he felt anything?
Naga's voice grew louder, more solemn. He arched his neck to form an S, with splintered horns pointing skyward. "No bakugan has ever absorbed both Infinity and Silence. They will only grant themselves to those who resonate with their energy, the future sovereign of all Vestalia. "
He turned a victorious look on his sister.
She stiffened.
Sovereign? He had never talked about ruling all six lands. The power of the Cores was to serve only to guarantee their place among the Obscurials and protection from the soldiers of Pyrria ...
As he read her thoughts, the white dragon turned his gaze on her and the expression on his face softened. "Don't worry, little sister. Under my rule, the White ONess will no longer fear anything or anyone. "
He advanced with slow, measured steps towards the silver sphere of Silence.
Small electric shocks stung Wavern's skin. The feathers on her neck swayed as if stirred by a breeze, and the hum of the hall grew louder.
Somehow she knew it came from the Core of Infinity.
What did that mean?
Her eyes darted from one obscurial to another, but no one seemed to perceive anything strange. Sheltered behind their wings, they peered at the two luminous globes and his brother.
Naga raised a claw and touched the sphere of light. A ripple spread over its entire surface, as if it were liquid, and it shone even stronger. The core of Infinity now appeared almost opaque.
"I can feel it ..." sighed the white dragon "I feel it! More energy than I have ever felt in the Six Lands! "
It stood on its hind legs and spread its wings as if to embrace the Core.
Something clawed at Wavern's chest and her heart began to beat faster. More electricity spread through the air. Faster and faster discharges hit her.
A voice boomed in her mind, as deep as the tolling of a bell: Come to me.
She shifted her gaze to the Infinity Core, which had become a bronze color, whose light was overwhelmed by the very white of the other.
Was it calling her?
She raised his paw to take a step. A grunt of pain from Naga stopped her.
He was immersed up to his neck in the sphere of light and flapping his wings spasmodically.
"Too much… Too much power! Argh! I can't stop it ... "
His strangled moans turned into cries of pain, his head turned back as if they were gutting him.
Wavern's heart sank. "Naga!"
She wanted to run to him. But her body became stiff and heavy as a boulder. Every muscle refused to obey her commands. She could hear swarms of angry wasps quivering in her ears.
Her brother's cries grew farther and farther away, until he disappeared, swallowed by the icy light of the Core of Silence.
Come to me!
This was an order.
A cord of energy stretched from the bronze core and adhered to Wavern's chest. Her heart throbbed harder, as if he wanted to pop out of the chest.
The whole body of the dragoness was dragged towards the Core of Infinity.
The claws scratched the floor. She tried to scream, but the words died in her throat. The closer she got, the more the orb glowed with a golden light, until Wavern saw nothing more.
The next moment, a thousand lightning bolts crossed her body. Every scale, feather, fiber of his body gave a painful thrill. Then another and another. The heart was pounding madly against the ribs.
For a moment, she was sure he would break through them.
Stop… stop! She couldn't take it anymore!
A lump squeezed her throat. Se couldn't scream.
Confused images swirled in her mind. Naga licking the tears off his face after a disastrous attempt to fly. The two of them snuggled under the willow tree on a cool evening, lulled by the chirping of crickets. And then Draco's green eyes, telling her not to be afraid. Nothing bad would happen to her.
The flow of those memories slowed and she realized she was seeing only the happy ones, the best that life had offered her.
A sense of warmth and safety spread throughout his body. The electric shocks became a mere tickle under the scales.
Wavern let those images carry her, like a breeze rising her higher and higher.
The Voice from before took on Draco's baritone tone: Everything will be fine, my dear.
The space around her narrowed, as if it were embracing her. She did not object, rather she curled up with his wings closed around his body and his tail coiled. The energy continued to flow inside her, but in a more gentle way, caressing her.
Something shook her.
"Wavern! Wavern, wake up! " ordered a chorus of voices.
The dragoness opened her eyes abruptly, her breath heaving.
A flash of relief flashed in Ydrano's six golden irises. "You are safe! I ... I'm sorry. I couldn't hold you back and then the Cores seemed to be about to explode and I didn't ... "
The words of the hydra thundered in her head like large hailstones. A dull ache spread beyond the horns.
What was happening to her?
Ydrano did not stop talking, but following his word seemed impossible. She placed a paw on his and he fell silent.
It took Wavern a few seconds to find her voice. "My… my brother. Is Naga allright? "
"I've never felt better, sister."
She turned and saw behind her a dragon almost twice the size of her brother. Large bundles of muscle stretched the pale skin, spacing the scales apart. Violet veins ran between the grooves, branching off from a kind of red crystal set in the center of the chest. Almost nothing remained of its worn wings: a pitch-black membrane with violet reflections stretched to the sides of the chamber.
Naga smiled and uncovered her new, serrated teeth that hinged together along the jawline.
Wavern swallowed.
What had the Core done to him?
The dragon fluttered its wings, kicking up a flurry of dust. "Nobody will oppose us anymore."