Primal Rivalry, Gold & Destruction I

The Disruptive Universe was a relatively small cluster of clashing red auras of different contours, the flow of destruction phased through the myriad realms, engulfing stars that approached their end and took with them countless planets and stellar bodies with a single explosion.

Gales of red wind rushed in a ceaseless Typhon atop the highest peaks, it was the only planet that existed in this universe of destruction.

'For balance to exist in the universe, there must be as much destruction as there is creation'

Atop one of those peaks, a marginally gigantic dragon slumbered. His scales were a mixture of crimson red and abyssal black. His appearance could only resemble the deepest terror of a highly intelligent person with a rather creative mind.

He was as domineering as he was terrific.

His wings fell loosely at either side of the mountain while his tail wiggled. From his tail, an aura was released with a reddish colour that mixed with the whole Disruptive Universe.

The aura was tyrannical and dangerous, attached to it a title that would give more than a few gods a reason to flee on the spot upon sensing it.

[Primordial Dragon God of Destruction, Hallow Crush. Emperor of the Disruptive Universe, Emperor of the Primal Realm's Crushing Dynasty...]

His aura told tales and it couldn't be helped since the dragon had more than a million years of age, having roamed the Multiverse of Helius for a long time, destroyed countless enemies and toppled countless Empires, setting them ablaze with his flames that decimated anything in existence to inexistence.

But there was a single enemy this Dragon couldn't defeat in his lifetime.

'Dragon King, Furious Haze... bastard, how could you die before I killed you' the Dragon God growled in fury, so much fury. Clinging to that resentment as if it was his motto. His eyes were pitch black with but a shining red slit, giving him a menacing countenance.

After the Dragon King died to claws other than his own, Crush couldn't take it and all that hatred translated to the next one in the line. The dragon he once considered but a dastardly infant whose scales he desired nothing but to tear apart to use as his treasures.

Richter Magnanimous Haze, the Dragon King's son. He made sure to make the bastard's path as difficult as he could. Destroying his kingdom, hunting him down through the multiverse, even then... he could never reap the Golden Dragon's life.

Something was protecting him at every corner, someone he couldn't fathom, Destiny.

That measly infant grew to become one of the strongest Dragon Emperors in the Primal Realm before he plundered a primal spark from the clutches of the God of Death, Zenkron. With his very claws and effort, he ascended as a primordial. All that happened before Crush, the biggest aspirant as the next primordial among Dragon Emperors, could do so himself!

Their ages were vastly different, but Richter had attained the status of a primordial first, becoming Richter Magnanimous Golden-Haze, the Primordial Golden Dragon God.

'But you had to choose such a pathetic law, segmenting your fate below me~' He mocked haughtily, the only edge he possessed over his adversary, 'destruction' would never fall beneath a mere concept like 'gold' or at least, that's what he believed.

After a few more thousands of years, one of his goons found a primal spark that materialised in a region of the Primal Realm. In order to fuse with it, overbearing talent and strength are needed, and that goon gained more by selling it to him than by recklessly attempting to fuse it himself. Such an action would only end up in death without even a spirit remaining.

That very day that Crush fused with the Primal Spark, choosing the law of destruction and becoming primordial, he travelled to Goldstein to challenge Richter.

Alas, his control over the law of destruction wasn't good enough just yet for him to fight a much more experienced Richter. He had been wrong, Richter was a genius for a reason, he might have chosen a weak concept like gold, but he was a master at it.

The fight disrupted the whole Primal Realm; forming what was labelled as the 'Stagnant Starcrest' a cluster of stars and planets, a small galaxy that had been petrified into gold due to the sheer monstrosity of Richter's strength. Some of those stars were also erased into nothingness due to his destruction, this galaxy no longer rotated and was bereft of life.

At the centre of this galaxy was the Cursed Planet of Goldstein.

Richter had taken so much pride in beating his ass, that he made that place his new home. Later on, this galaxy became the now renowned Treasury Realm.

'Had it not been for Destiny, I would have died back then...' He growled inwardly, this detail only exacerbated his anger. Destiny was the matriarch of primordials while Nebulous was the patriarch, although they exuded no pressure over the other primordials, as the oldest existences; their words couldn't be ignored.

Their commitment aside from keeping Helius' existence together was to keep the peace between the primordials, she couldn't allow Primordial Destruction and Primordial Gold to fight as it would disrupt one of the most primal cycles of the universe: The creation and destruction of matter.

Hence, he and Richter had to stay far away from one another as it was decreed by the Primordial Council.

Such arrangements had already existed prior. The Primordial God of Death and the Primordial Goddess of Life had deep enmity and were prohibited from ever encountering one another, there were several such examples.

That said, there were different ways to mess with one another that didn't necessarily translate into a violent confrontation.

*RUMBLE!!*

"How are you feeling, dear?"

As he considered things in his mind, a voice resonated approaching together with a subtle aura. She seemed to have no problem flying through the chaotic typhoon. Aside from the other primordials and those blessed by Primordial Destruction, anyone else that stepped foot into this galaxy would without a doubt, perish sooner or later.

[Dragon Empress Celestine. Empress of the Disruptive Universe, Empress of the Primal Realm's Lasharte Dynasty...]

A dragoness with a body almost as big as Crush's fell on the nearby peak, producing a rumbling of dust as her wings flapped with a wide span before she came to a stop, laying down and looking at him.

She's the mate he has been together for more than ten thousand years, together with their daughters, she was his pride, but also... his greatest weakness.

Celestine and Richter had a 'past' together that spawned from before he became primordial. From this past, only hatred remained between the two or it was safer to say that she deeply loathed Richter, while the latter barely recalled her existence.

And that was also another reason why he choose her in the first place.

"I can't leave the disruptive universe yet, Celestine. The cycle of destruction grows particularly dense during this season, I can't leave this realm as weak as I'm now" He answered, closing his eyes again, weak? if any God or Dragon Emperor heard those words, they'd spit blood.

The Dragon Empress released a slightly tired breath before closing her eyes and leaving Crush to his own thoughts, already one that he was the type to get encased in his own grievances until he inevitably fell into a slumber.

Nevertheless, her thought began ranging as well, thinking most particularly about a set of golden scales in her memories.

While the two drifted into their own thoughts, Crush recalled his rather pitiful treasury stove.

His counterpart as primordial was Ether and Richter, originally Ether who represents the creation of matter as the other half of the coin. During different seasons the balance of the multiverse would lean towards either creation or destruction; during that period he'd be weaker while Ether was stronger and vice-versa.

As for Richter, as Primordial Gold; his element was independent of both creation and destruction. All the gold that existed in the multiverse was all the gold there was, he couldn't destroy it and Ether couldn't create it, that authority was Richter's.

Such conditioning made gold one of the rarest elements of the multiverse, it was a treasure that even primordials coveted since it had properties that allowed divinities to harness more faith and ascend into the ranks of Godhood, it was also highly coveted by dragons to form part of their treasures.

During his earlier stages of Godhood, for unknown reasons, a berserk Richter began a rampage in which he mercilessly plundered the treasures of many planets in the Primal Realm, he plundered riches, dragonesses, eggs and anything valuable that he could find, making himself public enemy number one of the whole Helius, everything while attracting all the gold of the multiverse to himself regardless of who it belonged to.

It was a chaotic period in Helius that thankfully lasted less than a century, the result was the Golden Primordial being labelled as a tyrant.

It was the rest of the primordials -particularly Ether and Destiny- who had to intervene with him. The Treasury Realm ended up harnessing at least 90% of all the gold in the multiverse, and to top it off, the primordial also plundered countless highly coveted inheritances like the [Heart Lineage] and it was even rumoured that he held another [Primal Spark].

Gold in itself was already an extremely scarce material, let alone those inheritances that would make even a God salivate.

Richter found himself encased in his own treasury due to the decision of the Primordial Council and as revenge; a swarm of Dragons Kings, Emperors and Gods -Crush included, invaded in the hopes of attaining a part of those treasures.

A big mistake.

When they arrived they found themselves being transformed into gold little by little. This poison was later known as Gold Corrosion, a product of Richter's control over Primordial Gold having reached the peak.

Hallow Crush -who at that time had yet to become primordial- managed to escape with his life, losing a horn in the process.

The Treasury Realm, the only place in the multiverse where gold abounded, was a site of warfare between Gods and the endless races, but only a few dared to step directly on the cursed planet that was Richter's home. In the end, even if unintentionally, the Golden Dragon God had become the most prominent existence in Helius.

Every so often the different realms would send an envoy to humbly request the Primordial Dragon God for Gold in exchange for other treasures. The realms would pray in his name for him to be lenient and concede them even if a few of his gold.

The greedy bastard was simply too stuck up to give away a material that he could create with his breath, for nothing. So he shamelessly received the greatest treasures in exchange for something he could create for free.

Little by little more Gold was circulating in the multiverse due to those transactions, but the amount was still infimal compared to the amount concealed in Goldstein.

Thinking about that, Crush growled in wrath, as a dragon he also desired riches, but there wasn't a single gram of Gold in the Disruptive Universe. Wherever there was gold, Richter was there, watching.

He couldn't allow him entrance to this concealed universe and hence; got rid of all the gold in there. Richter Golden-Haze was his mortal enemy and there would be no rest until either of them perished.

It wasn't a promise.

It was fate.