Inside the ruined marketplace of a burning city, three people could be seen hugging each other whilst crying.
"We finally killed it."
"Yes we did, thank you, Anna and Joe, your sacrifice would not be forgotten,", a man with a wand exclaimed while he walked towards a spear that was lying on the ground.
Before he reached the spear he felt a chill run down his spine followed by the bloodcurdling screams of his last two friends. He quickly turned around and cried out in horror, after seeing the monster they had thought to be dead, standing over the fresh corpses of his friends.
The battered looking winged monstrosity in front of him let out a haunting laugh and said, "Did no one tell you that a final boss never dies until the end of the story?"
The mage fell to his knees, sobbing and tensed up when he heard the beast move closer to him. The monstrosity placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "I know I should finish you off right now so that you won't try something stupid like attacking me out of hate at the worst possible timing, but would a revenge story not be interesting? The mage who lost his party, joining up with some hero in order to strike the monster, who made him lose everything, down."
The mage shouted, "Do you think this a game?"
"Actually I do and this fight was just my introduction cutscene to show everyone how evil I am and to build up the hype for the final battle.", answered the monster with a big cheerful grin. Right when he said that the mage quickly gathered some mana in order to send an arcane spear at the monstrosity in front of him. The haphazardly made spear shattered when it connected with the targets chest, destroying a piece of his shirt and revealing black and red scales.
The monster chuckled, "Now that is the attitude. I like people who never give up. Since you showed me your determination to live, I'm going to grant you your desire and spare you. Come back to me in a few years after you get stronger. Oh and do me a favor and tell people what happened here."
The monster that was walking away suddenly turned around and said, "Oh I almost forget that you need some battle scar. That way you will really look like a badass battle hardened survivor and it will also serve to remind you of this day and your incompetence until the day you die." After saying that he snapped his finger, firing a small ball of fire towards the mage. The too exhausted to dodge or block, the mage took the fireball to his face, scarring half of it.
The monster waved him goodbye before jumping into the air and flying away. Leaving the mage to pitifully lick his wounds.
Fafnir's POV
"Now that was a good fight and should serve my purpose of making my power known to the surrounding factions if I'm lucky it might even cause a bit of panic in the alliance.", mused the dragon to himself with a big smile on his face
He looked back at the rapidly shrinking figure of the man he just spared and thought, "Yeah sparing him might have been a mistake but when I was channeling my inner villain it just felt like I had to do something like this. But I need a survivor who fought with me to tell the members the alliance of my amazingness."
"It is not like I'm actually taking a risk by doing this. I mean this guy is not strong enough to actually make a difference. The only possible problem is the fact that this mage against all odds could get strong enough to help the current heroes. That would be a real pain in the ass, but if that is what causes my end then I will have no one to blame for myself. Also, it's more fun this way."
After flying for a little bit I spotted Jay and Lisabeth talking with each other on the same spot where I left them. I landed gently and then with a small smile asked, "Can I assume that you guys decided to stay on the dark side?"
Jay simply nods and Lisabeth giggles, "It was kind of stupid of me to think about leaving one of the only two people who ever treated me like a real person."
I sighed, "You know I only spared you for you knowledge right?"
Lisabeth nodded happily and said, "At that point, you might have only spared me because you needed something from me but right before you left you gave me the choice to leave. That one action is more than anyone except Jay has ever done for me. To all the other people in my life, I was just a handy pawn who's only purpose was increasing the families political power.
"God what kind of shitty home did you grow up in.",I asked with a bit of pity in my voice."
"A patriarchal noble family", replied Lisabeth softly.
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I sighed, "Well I guess I should be happy that your loyalty is won so easily. Since you two are going to stay, then I guess that I should explain some things.
After saying that I told them that I was from an other world just like the heroes and explained what Chaos needed me for. I basically told them everything except the details about my old life.
After I finish my story Jay scratched his head and asked, "I'm a really thankful that you told us everything but why did you do it? Are you not afraid that we lied to you and will use this information to harm you?"
I smiled and answered, "Simple, If I tell you now then you know what you are in for and to be totally honest it is not like you could actually do me harm by telling this information to anyone. I mean do you honestly think that you can run away from me? And even if you do who is going to believe you? And let's say that you are able to run away and that they believe you, what are they going to do? Send the heroes headfirst into a possible trap? No they will send scouts and in the time that it takes to send them I will be long gone and then I will simply start all over again. well not like I have done much at this point."
"It feels like we just avoided a deathtrap by staying.", replied Jay
"What is with that false accusation. I would not have killed you if you had run away. What do you take me for? Some kind of villain with a nefarious plan?
Lisabeth giggled and Jay asked, "So what is the next step of your master plan."
I chuckled, "Now, we wait and let the information spread."
Just like Fafnir intended his feat created a chaotic storm in small and large organizations alike. Everyone tried to get their hands on information about this new threat that suddenly appeared in the Silverpeak mountain range. The local bandit gangs met up together to decide what they were going to do fight or flee. The kingdoms sent scouts to the mountains in order to investigate if this beast could be working for one of the other countries. A lot of the smaller towns in the area around the mountain decided to relocate themselves to an area that was closer to a big city.
While all this happened I, the culprit, was enjoying myself by teaching Jay and Lisabeth how to play chess in my human form. I grabbed one of the pieces that Jay made according to my instructions and said, "This is the knight, this piece can only move in an L-shape but can hop over other pieces. It is also my favorite piece since it is so unpredictable and fun to use.
Lisabeth was absorbing the rules like a sponge while Jay was only learning how to play to do Lisabeth a favor.
After explaining the rules to them I had Jay and Lisabeth play against each other. Seeing the two of them playing so peaceful got me to reminisce about my own past and the person who thought me and his sister the game, Jen.
I mused, "I will never tell these two since that would break his evil overlord style character but he was truly thankful that they decided to stay. I have been so lonely ever since Jen died. And the worst thing about it is that I did not even notice. Maybe I should talk to my sister. Yeah-"
Before I could finish that line of thought I suddenly heard a shouting outside of the cave that we were resting in.
I motioned for Jay and Lis to hide while I walked outside and shifted into my combat form. The moment that I was outside I saw a gigantic group of what looked to be well-equipped bandits. All of the bandits looked tense and among them, I found the one that I caught a few days ago and used to send an invite the leaders of the bandits to meet me at my cave. I also made it clear who I was and what would happen if they would refuse.
I displayed a warm smile and said, "Ah I'm so happy that you accepted my invitation."
"Cut the bullshit and tell us why you called us here.", said a gigantic man with a big axe on his back. My sources (the bandit I interrogated) told me that this man's name is Jorn the knight slayer A man known for only two things his gigantic axe and the fact that he once fought an entire squad of knights to save his family while he was just a simple woodcutter. He succeeded in fighting off the knights, killing four of them and then escaped with his family into the Silverpeak mountains, starting one of the more 'human' factions and the fourth strongest bandit group in the mountains.
"Calm down Jorn, remember what he did to the city", said the more lanky man who was not wearing any visible weapon or armor but had two big white wings on his back. This man is known Safrit, the dark merchant. The angel is known for his cunning and intellect and the fact that he is the only bandit leader who actually does not have a price on his head. Safrit is actually a well-known and well-respected merchant throughout the alliance who keeps the shadier parts of his business well hidden. His faction is the third strongest in these mountains.
"Tsk, how can you be sure if he is the right guy?", asked a heavily armored small woman with a gigantic hammer on her back. This woman was the only female and only dwarf bandit leader in the entire mountain range, the Iron Queen Magnhilde. She was actually originally a hostage of one of the more wicked bandit leaders but she broke free, killed the leader in combat and usurped his position. Under her leadership, the bandit group was more successful than ever, becoming the second strongest group. Her men see her as some goddess of war and only have the utmost respect for her.
"Come on Magnhilde, I mean who else has large reptilian wings and red glowing eyes in these mountains?", asked Safrit.
"A good imposter", growled Magnhilde.
I chuckled while setting the area around me on fire for a moment, "Oh I'm no impostor I promise you."
"So why did ya call us here, lad?", asked Jorn.
"Simple, I need your help, no scratch that, I want you guys to work for me.
"Ha, and why would we do that?", laughed Magnhilde.
"I have to agree with miss Magnhilde, what can you offer us in return for our help?", inquired Safrit with a small smile on his face. He was most likely already calculating how much he could rip me off for.
An evil smirk formed on my face while I said, "Well I can offer you two things. First, you can keep your little lives and second I can grant you these entire mountains and even more."
Magnhilde and Jorn drew their weapons while Safrit took a few steps backward. After a few seconds, Magnhilde growled, "And what makes you think you are strong enough to threaten us?"
I changed back in my true form and laughed, "This". before letting out an ear shattering roar.