Primal Rivalry, Matter & Fate

[Primordial Dragon Goddess of Matter, Ether Laplace, Mistress of the Godly Trials of existence]

Her aura was serene, delicate and beautiful but also... majestic and voluminous. Like she was existence itself.

"Aren't you going to give up?" She spoke lightly as if bored for repeating the same sentence over and over.

"..."

"Ignoring me, huh?" Ether lay down lazily, her white clouds easily repelling the Typhon of destruction.

"If you come on your mate's stead, tell him that I will tear his wings soon, I have nothing else to say" Crush knew better than to antagonise Ether, one of the most loved Dragonesses, more often than not she'd pay a visit to make him reconsider his hatred, useless chattery.

"I don't come in Richter's stead... I try to keep the two of you separated because we should be working together, you're feeling weaker than usual during this season, do you know why?" She asked lightly, her voice as subtle as a flowing lake.

"It has something to do with his faith, right?"

"Even though your concept is strong, your faith is low. It is to be expected, no one likes Destruction, Hallow..." Ether sighed, when choosing a concept as a Primordial, one must choose carefully.

Who made the right decision between Richter and Hallow, she already knew, but wouldn't tell.

The moment he was given the chance, hatred and desire for revenge filled his mind, making him choose Destruction without thinking twice.

"I don't give a fuck, Ether... if we're to face I'll still obliterate him, his gold is weak" Crush was convinced.

"Why must it always be a contest on who is stronger and who is weaker?" She wondered sadly.

"As a Dragon, you should know that our enmity is not easy to get rid of" He declared, only to stop in his tracks when a voice that he wasn't expecting resonated like the giggling of bells.

"It is an enmity you shall get rid of eventually, Crush"

!!!

It wasn't only Crush that was flabbergasted, Ether was as well. The two Primordials looked to the side, only to find that in another peak far away the Typhon stopped in its track around a cluster of light in the form of a dragon. She rested lazily; flapping her gigantic wings and creating unprecedented light in this dark realm as the time around her seemed to have completely become stagnant.

[Destiny of Primordial Fate, The Second Primordial, Voice of Helius, Mother of the Sacred Pond of Recurrence]

She didn't have many titles, but the ones she had were already earth-shaking.

The Primordial of Fate never leaves her pond, but here she is.

Crush's eyes shone brightly upon regarding her, so much so that he stood up and lowered his head in respect and obsession.

"Destiny..."

He didn't receive any answer.

Ether instead narrowed her brows, this was completely unexpected... the last time she ever witnessed Destiny's Dragon Form was so long ago that she had almost forgotten how it looked.

The light Dragon's tail wiggled slightly before she placed her golden eye on Ether, she had two, one of them was closed but the one that was opened looked like a golden clock.

"Why are you here?" Ether asked, her voice no longer as delicate.

"Why can't I be here?" Destiny answered with poison as if outraged over the questioning.

Crush felt an unprecedented tension as if he was in the middle of two clashing supernovas even though this was his own private universe.

"Instead of being here, why don't you go and cuddle with your mate? won't he get jealous?" Destiny added with plain mockery.

"You're right~ I should head to Goldstein instead, a place you're prohibited to enter~"

!!!

It was at that moment that Crush felt as if his whole private universe had gone stagnant, Destiny wasn't happy.

"What did you say? I can go to his cave whenever I want to!"

"I haven't seen you trying, old hag" Ether giggled, releasing several gusts of white clouds in the process.

"I don't want to hear that from an incorporeal dragoness with a billion years of age".

The Primordial of Destruction dropped sweat like never before, his slumber was being disturbed and he couldn't even usher those two dragoness away, in fact, he didn't want to be here!

'Why do they choose my universe to bicker!?'

Ether soon realised the atmosphere between them was getting too poisonous, and Destiny's aura was increasing. Despite the fact that her opinion wasn't bad on Destiny, the latter was quite confrontational when the two were together. It had to be expected, the two of them were in love with the same Dragon, but he had already chosen.

It was a long story.

Ether had seen Richter from the moment he became a Dragon Emperor, it was then that he entered her eyes and she knew that Destiny had her eyes on him even before that; it was also one of the reasons why she grew interested herself, wanting to know who was the Dragon that caught Destiny's golden eye.

It would be far-fetched to say that she had fallen in love right away, but Richter's charisma captivated her, he was a fearless dragon who would fight anyone regardless of the odds for what he desired and would do whatever he wanted, regardless of what others thought, all of that on his own, without followers or an entourage, he was a force to be reckoned and that was by himself.

That unyielding personality caught her attention and she understood why Destiny was so obsessed with that golden-scaled dragon.

Once he ascended as a primordial, she decided to accept her loss... there was no way he would choose her when Destiny was in the queue, the same could be said for the primordial goddesses that had their eyes on Richter, including the Primordial of Life, the moment they saw Destiny's interest, they all gave up.

There was not a creature in existence that would ignore Destiny. In the past she only had one mate, Nebulous... but the two of them -after lasting for several billion years- broke ways and remained as the deepest friends. Those two were the literal cores of Helius, they couldn't be enemies.

Nebulous took a Primordial Goddess of the Stars as his mate, while Destiny... remained single for the next trillions of years.

When Richter became single again... all the primordials had expected him and Destiny to be naturally drawn together, the Dragon Goddess had already stacked her claim and whoever dared go against it, should await the consequences.

But Ether who began speaking more and more with Richter due to the nature of their laws began to notice something. They needed to get closer as both of them represented Matter, it was Ether who approached Richter at first, expecting their cohabitation to be friendly, during those days she also became Monique's friend.

Once Richter decided to remain in Goldstein, being labelled as a tyrant, she was the only one he ever spoke to. In their interactions, she noted... courtship.

Ether noticed she was being courted by Richter.

She was initially disgusted, thinking that Richter was being disloyal to Destiny... a Dragon may have several mates, but... a Dragon could never have two primordials as his mates. Destiny would never accept it, and she too wouldn't share anyone with Destiny.

Primordials were too haughty, having two of them in a harem would never work, there were precedents that ended badly, affecting even Helius.

Initially trying to evade Richter, Ether then noticed something else... she was being courted and Destiny was being ignored!

She couldn't believe it, the young primordial had his eyes on her. This only became more evident as Destiny's behaviour turned poisonous towards her in raw jealousy. Ether didn't know what to do, she and Richter were completely incompatible, she was abstract and he was material.

But Ether knew his story with Monique and what he was going through, they hit up well and the fact that she was already interested worked wonders, quickly turning the interest into love... but this love would suffer tribulations.

The two of them couldn't have a child, her authority over matter could allow her to create a body they used to mate, but... she couldn't sprout life with his seed, it would be wasted each time. They both asked the Primordial of Life for help but she rejected, after all... why would she help? that woman also had her eyes on Richter, she wouldn't help a rival.

They tried and tried, never successful, this constant failure made Richter -who had somehow recovered, get back into his Treasury Realm in depression while she too noticed that she wasn't pouring as much energy into creation as she had to; affected as well, depressed.

They had to reluctantly make the distance between one another, she was sad... it was a failed pairing. What was the use of being happy as a couple if -at the end of the day- they couldn't fit their primal needs?

Sighing at all these memories, Ether decided to stop arguing with Destiny and disappeared from the disruptive realm; the reason she had been trying to push Richter to Destiny was not that she was happy to share him, not at all... but at least he would get what he desired that way.

'Grayfia Lucifuge...' she wondered if that 'devil' would fit the bill.

Destiny saw that Ether departed and mocked her inwardly. She didn't come here with any other purpose other than to antagonise her love rival. She couldn't do so in front of Richter because every time Richter would take Ether's side, but in this disruptive universe... perhaps they could even fight it out.

Alas, Ether was a pacifist and if a fight were to break out; Nebulous would surely take Ether's side, just like her, he's always watching.

Before Hallow could even take the chance to build himself some rapport with his 'crush', Destiny disappeared as quickly as she materialised.

He growled inwardly, 'Destiny is blinded by that bastard'.

All the primordials knew of Destiny's infatuation with Richter, and although most of them could understand why she would be, they couldn't comprehend why she was so insistent, going as far as to antagonise Ether who was widely known as a pacifist that everyone loved. After Richter and Destiny, she was the most worshipped entity.

Those two venerated the stars, that brought warmth. The land, the crops, water. The smiths venerated the steel they made weapons with, even the fire that burned in the cold winters to bring respite.

All of those people were indirectly worshipping Ether... it is said that she's one of the strongest, but nobody knows because, in her billion years as a primordial, Ether hasn't fought a battle once.