Chapter 1704: The Three Primordial Titan Siblings
As Drake was finally sent back to his body, another portal opened within the Realm, as an even larger titan than Surtr and Skadi emerged from within. His skin was dark brown, covered on white tattoos, he had a single golden horn made of crystals coming from his forehead, gentle, golden eyes, and short silvery-white hair.
Several sharp golden crystals adorned the rest of his body, especially his shoulders and elbows, making them resemble mountains made of crystal, and to an extent, they were just as big as mountains.
This titan was at least twice as big as Skadi or Surtr and seemed much older as well.
"What happened? Why were you two fighting?" he wondered, with a rather gentle voice.
Surtr and Skadi panicked as they saw their elder brother appear, quickly stepping back and pretending they were just being nice to each other and that they didn't threaten to fight one another before.
"E-Elder brother?!" Skadi panicked.
"Vilive?! What are you doing here? We're fine!" Surtr tried to just tell him to leave.
"Hey, aren't you being too cold with your big brother? It has been a few years since my last visit," sighed Vilive, quickly sitting down and even while sitting, he remained taller than them.
He smiled gently and carefreely, patting their heads as if they were still children to him.
"You two have grown closer together? Are you finally getting along?"
Skadi and Surtr looked at one another with a bit of nervousness.
"Err, well, yeah... We've put our differences behind us," Skadi nodded.
"Long ago, actually," Surtr smiled. "Actually, you just lost the opportunity to see something really shocking. There's this lizard guy-"
"Oh? You mean Dragon King Drake? Oh yes, I did see him," Vilive smiled.
"Eh?! You did!" Skadi gasped. "Wait, elder brother, I can explain what he is...!"
Vilive laughed, looking at his siblings with a relaxed expression.
"Why are you two so tense? It's fine. Did you think I would just get upset about it? Nah," Vilive giggled. "I wanted to check on that child, but he left faster than I could catch him! I suppose it comes with being a Mountain Titan that I am so slow..."
Vilive was not just any Titan, but he was the Progenitor Father of all Mountain Titans, the third type of Titan and Giant in the world, and the first child Ymir ever had.
"Every time I look at you I can't believe there can be someone bigger than me... Only father was ever bigger than you, brother Vilive," laughed Skadi.
"Yeah, and you keep growing! Do you want to dwarf us that much, you bastard?" Surt laughed.
"Hahaha! Well, father put a lot of effort into my creation..." Vilive giggled.
Ymir had no wife of his own, as a Primordial Father, he did not mate with Tiamat either. Much like how Tiamat laid the eggs of her daughters, Ymir created his children from parts of his own body, which he feed to Yggdrasil's roots.
Then, Yggdrasil created three fruits, which were created at different times each.
Vilive, his first son, was born from Ymir's nails.
Surtr, his second son, was born from Ymir's blood.
And Skadi, his third child and first daughter, was born from Ymir's tears.
He loved his three children equally and guided them into the creation of the rest of the titans, unlike dragons who had many families, Titans remained with only three big families.
"I suppose another thing that makes us different from dragons is how we were born, and how we created our children," Skadi sighed.
"Maybe that's why you don't get along with dragons as much?" laughed Surtr.
"Come on now, Dragons, despite being conceived differently, are our siblings," said Vilive.
Vilive sculpted the first Mountain Titans from mountains themselves, feeding them his blood afterwards.
Fire Titans were made by Surtr as he feed his blood to the volcanoes.
Ice Titans were born from Skadi's ice sculptures.
After the first ten titans of each family were born, over time they made families, loving each other, and having children through sexual intercourse.
Sometimes, Skadi, Vilive, and Surtr would have children with the other titans, hybrids were never born even if they mated with a titan of the other's family, always ending in the bloodline of the trio.
"Unlike us though, they never created a race for themselves, isn't it?" Skadi wondered.
"Well, aren't lizardmen their creation?" wondered Surtr.
"No, they are unrelated, but do pray to Dragons as their gods," said Vilive. "They are considered Beast people, actually!"
Eventually, over eons, the Giants were born, "titan mortals" as Ymir called them, smaller, much smaller than any Titan, but stronger and bigger than any human, dwarf, or elf.
Although Vilive, Surtr, and Skadi weren't really into the idea of raising mortals due to their pride as powerful titans, their father was enthusiastic.
"Remembering back then, I didn't really like the idea of the giant tribes..." Skadi sighed. "I already had such a hard time trying not to stomp over the little ones... Even as a child, I had to be careful where I walked to."
"Yes, but father wanted the little ones to fill the world with life," Vilive smiled. "And now, most of our kindred is dead... We fought and sacrificed our all to end the Ragnarök and save Yggdrasil. Our bodies have now gone back to the world itself, becoming its new foundation."
"The Realms, once separated, are all unified into a big world, the races, which once did not interact with one another as much, have now been exposed to each other for eons," Surtr said.
"I still remember how that very thought scared me..." Skadi sighed. "But now, the world has healed, and there are many new heroes willing to put everything they have for a brighter and better future."
"There are many threats left behind, our world, even after everything, is still vulnerable and fragile..." Vilive sighed. "But without us to protect it, it is now the Dragons and the mortals' task to do so."
The siblings nodded, looking into the skies as the night arrived.
They had died long ago already and understood that the future belonged to them now.
"I'm looking forward to the future you're going to make, Drake," Skadi said.