I was sipping my tea while the wind blew noisily in the middle of nowhere. There was no smell, sound or any sign of living creatures.

Above, there was only the black sky. It was illuminated by the thousands of celestial bodies that were only a few kilometers away. At the top of the space comet, I could see the belts through the only window in the hut I was in. My chair creaked noisily, rocking as I swayed. A little quiet, perhaps? but it was perfect that way.

Well, it wasn't a real hut, but just as real, generated by my imagination. That's one of the skills I've developed over the centuries. Illuminating the room were candles that copied my shadow. On an old rug, on top of the old wood, glowed a book, my book: The Scribe's Diary;

The light from the book flickered slightly. Its matte gold added extra illumination to the room, pressing down on gravity at that point.

Where I stood, a ringing penetrated my ears, like a line running through my mind. It was always like this when an anomaly appeared. In the blink of an eye, the darkness disappeared and gave way to a colorful world. My eyes were lost in admiration for the green grass that was lost to sight between the mountains.

The Scribe's Diary; volume ninety-nine; chapter one.

Past

A powerful being

A green field stretched for miles, disappearing into the mountains. The grass could easily cover a country. Giant trees reflected black and gray shadows, feeding on the river that divided the rocky area and the grassy terrain in half. The water was so clear that the bottom of the river could be seen, miles below, where all kinds of aquatic creatures lived.

Giant crustaceans, octopus-headed sharks, stingrays with the limbs of different mammals, colorful seahorses that could easily be ridden by the creatures on the surface and much more. A rare phenomenon occurred there: one half of the sky was always day and the other was always night. It was also possible to look directly at the sun without going blind, as it was so close that it could almost be touched; in comparison, on the dark side, the full, brighter moon of the other realms was no match for the celestial body that hovered under that sky.

The terrestrial ecosystem also had its varied fauna. There shone the empire of Alucard. In this kingdom, one species reigned supreme over all others: the Alucar, the race of dragons.

...

city center in the kingdom of Alucard.

In a tailor's shop, a man was trying on a suit the color of the sea. The place was simple but elegant, with several shelves running parallel to the counter. There, a man was taking notes, his hands touching various fabrics on a counter, while he took the measurements of his customer, a young man by Alucard standards. Brown-haired and somewhat pale, the young man exuded charm and vitality.

"I think Sarah will like that color, hehe. Although I'm irresistible anyway," sayd Linus.

"Of course, my lord, our garments are the best in the city," replied the tailor. His wrinkled hands trembled with age, but at the same time they were agile and precise, a reflection of a lifetime of work.

Linus was an example of elegance by many cultural standards. A gray goatee on a thin face with matte black eyes, all enhanced by the military beret on his head, through which a long brown fringe descended, marking his skin.

"I hope I'm not late for our meeting. I'll be heading back to the military castle to finish the preparations for my engagement. Put the suit on the imperial account, Fred," said Linus as he adjusted his newly acquired suit.

"As you wish, my lord," the tailor replied, bowing in a rehearsed reverence and opening the door for Linus.

...

In a field north of Alucard.

"Looks like I won that one, Rachel," said Melissa, with a hint of pride shining in her eyes. The wind ruffled her long hair, carefully reflected in the shield of her sister, Rachel, who was panting in front of her. Her red reflection harmonized perfectly with her white skin and thin red lips, where a provocative smile was displayed.

"Humph," whispered Raquel. If it hadn't been for the blonde hair that set her apart from the sister in front of her, few would have been able to tell the difference.

"You should express yourself more, you know. It's hard to get a girlfriend like that," Melissa continued, blocking a knife thrown by her sister.

"Rematch!" said Raquel, jumping up to start another series of attacks on her sister.

...

In a military barracks south of Alucard.

Two gentlemen were having their afternoon tea, watching the newcomers train. Aldo and Silas were some of the oldest inhabitants in the entire kingdom, being from the generation of the previous king. Having been through countless battles, they now preferred to play chess while helping the recruits grow strong and healthy to defend the kingdom. Both considered themselves brothers, having grown up as the best of friends, always trying to figure out who would break first, the best sword or the best shield. With his incredible physical strength, Aldo was the sword, always trying to break Silas' sturdy body.

It had been a long time since they had been in a real battle, preferring to sit and enjoy the scenery together rather than the turbulent fields of war whenever possible. But if they had to fight, they would make a point of punishing those who took away their peace.

...

To the south of Alucar, a huge palace could be seen. Its walls stretched for several meters, filling the circular perimeter with silver bricks. The walls were out of sight, with a height that stood out clearly from the small houses in the surrounding villages. Stencilled on the wall was an almost living symbol, an image that those who looked long enough swore the creature was roaring. Inside, a baby was taking its first steps.

"Yes, my child, you can do it," said a woman, every note of her voice sweet and full of energy. Her light body danced like a leaf in the wind, each step graceful.

Her eyes reflected the light from the lamps, swallowing it up and sucking all its brightness into a deep black. In the mirror next to her, her hair could be seen swaying in the air. Each strand dyed black, second only to the color of her eyes. The dark tone was clearly highlighted by her snow-white skin. Her gait showed authority, wisdom, affection and benevolence. The servants called her Dulce.

The baby slowly began to transform. Steam was visibly released from its body, extending up to its face, where gray smoke could be seen coming out as it breathed. Its legs and arms grew into four legs, its spine curved, forcing it to stand on all fours. His bones thickened, his muscles became evident and his weight increased hundreds of times. At this point, its size resembled that of a newborn elephant.

On its underside, a thin tail emerged with a triangular tip. Countless black scales covered its body, its eyes turned silver and were adorned with orange pupils. The little creature would easily have been mistaken for a reptile, except that wings emerged from its back!

"Ah... you've inherited your father's eyes, how beautiful! I can't believe it, my little one has made his first transformation. Your father will be proud, we'll show him as soon as he gets back! " cried Dulce, jumping up and down with her son in her arms. For her, the size and weight of the little dragon were irrelevant.

Nicolas was just a one-year-old baby taking his first steps, but being of a superior race, he was already walking calmly and understood most of what was going on around him, even if he didn't have a structured vocabulary. While he was enjoying the moment with his son, the sound of a mirror breaking was heard and his hair stood on end. Everyone in the kingdom heard it, and the fittest felt it. It was a feeling of death, and it was getting closer.

"Someone has crossed the barrier", the pact has been broken, thought Dulce.

Five pale blue flames exploded from her fingers and were directed at the ceiling, passing through it without any physical damage. They rose for kilometers in four different directions, a summons, something she hadn't thought she'd have to do.Nicolas screamed in a kind of growl, half human and bestial at the same time. He tried, but he couldn't break free of his mother's grip, even though he was the king's son, he was just a child.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"It's done. We have to hold on until Guilfard arrives," thought Dulce.

Holding little Nicolas, now back in the form of an ordinary child, she summoned her most trusted servant, handing the boy over for protection. A blonde girl with black eyes appeared.

"The battle is imminent, flee and protect Nicolas with your life. He must grow up and train to become the new king. Summon all the soldiers, they must evacuate the city and protect as many citizens as possible, we have a few minutes at most.

...

Sarah had been the family maid for centuries and, before the relationship between servant and master, they were friends who grew up together sharing dreams.

"Yes, ma'am. But I'm sure Mr. Guilfard will easily deal with the intruder. Our walls have never known anyone more powerful than the king. Even among the supreme races, he is still feared," said the maid, Sarah.

"I have no doubt, Sarah, if... he arrives," her voice trembled, feeding the uncertainty in her thoughts.

Dulce deduced that something big was happening. The king wasn't with them yet and the situation was really critical. He loved his people, so much so that his fascination with these, in his words, mostly weak beings, sometimes bothered her. So if he wasn't here, something serious was going on.

"Dispense with the formalities, I don't know if we'll see each other again. Thank you for looking after me and my son all this time. If anything happens, tell the survivors not to regret it. May the Dragons live and grow strong again,".

Sarah felt the weight of those words. The air around her contracted and, at that moment, Dulce disappeared in a flash of golden lightning. Above, black clouds filled the sky, covering the entire kingdom. Inside the clouds, a faint drumming was becoming less and less bearable. The inhabitants were the listeners and the thunder dictated the rhythm, a rhythm of death.

...

In the center of Alucard's kingdom

A golden silhouette slowly descended, hovering over a small town that, in other cultures, would be considered primitive. There, children played, men and women worked and the elderly fished. Most of them were no different from ordinary humans, except for their eyes. The black onyx gems were clear compared to the dark pupils of the living.

The wind roared, the tornadoes swirled and grew, crashing into each other and joining together. As their size increased, they influenced the rain that fell heavily from the black sky, increasing the devastation in the environment. Reflecting off some of the houses, the silver lining of the creature's armor shone. The being grabbed the hammer strapped to its back. The movement deformed the back of its armor with the weight of the weapon.

The most attentive saw five blue flashes, launched almost simultaneously, from four castles scattered at strategic points in the kingdom. They appeared together in an instant, levitating in front of the creature, which watched the movement in the sky below. They were the defenders of Alucard, the Big Four, as the generals were known. A mortifying sensation gripped the warriors. They felt their vitality being sucked away every second by the aura emanating from the monster. They couldn't joke, every one of them felt it.

Four black wings were attached to the humanoid creature's back. Their movement was comparable to the speed of a hummingbird's wings. The cavity where there should have been eyes swept over each of the warriors in front of them. Two white horns grew on its head.

"Audacious! " said Silas, a small, muscular warrior who was often mistaken for a dwarf, something that irritated him greatly. A dragon tattoo was glowing on his bald.

The creature remained motionless, expressionless, just staring at its enemies, apparently it would stay there all day if nobody did anything. But all could sense its hostility, the mere fact of being near it made their bodies tremble.

"Aren't you going to say anything? Then I guess I can have the honor of striking the first blow," said Linus, with a slight smile on his face. He appeared almost instantly behind the creature, driving a spear through its heart. Blood spurted everywhere, staining the navy blue suit he had chosen moments before for his engagement to Sarah, servant of his best friend and lord, Guilfard.

Linus was the first general. Unlike Silas and Aldo, who preferred the tranquillity of home, he was known for enjoying long battles and torturing his enemies and, regardless of the situation, always had a smile on his face.

He earned the nickname of the white canines in his youth, as these teeth always appeared in his battles the moment his blood or that of his enemies was seen. Rumor has it that his true strength was demonstrated only once, to the king who appointed him leader of the four generals. He was feared for his quick and precise attacks, always aimed at vital points. The king always reprimanded him, saying that he should train harder. A leader should be able to protect his allies; age and strength were no reason to be complacent.

He was always well dressed, saying that battle began with the first exchange of glances, so it was important to be impeccable. Most of his colleagues simply ignored him, and only a few bought into the fight, as was the case with the twins Melinda and Rachel, the last two generals.

"Rubbish! " they said. A warrior is the strength he possesses, the rest is bullshit.

They were the female charm of the team and, despite several attempts, none of the teammates managed to win them over. There were those who said they didn't like men, but only one fact was undeniable: they were problematic for their enemies. Their attacks together were perfectly synchronized, due to the fact that they had trained together all their lives. Without communicating, they both knew exactly what to do, one causing damage and the other concentrating on maximizing the damage caused.

"That's why I avoid the heart. It's quick, but it always gets my expensive shirts dirty," said Linus.

Booomm

A wave of energy came out of the creature, in the shape of a mushroom, spreading across the entire radius where the generals were.

A giant transparent shield appeared in front of Linus, coming out of Raquel's hands and blocking the creature's hammer. Meanwhile, a rope thrown by Melissa pulled the captain back to the place he had left minutes ago, while Raquel stepped forward to face her opponent.

"You talk a lot, Linus," stammered Melissa beside her.

In Linus' opinion, she was charming when she was in a bad mood, which was often the case, since he himself contributed to it, a fact he liked to brag about. Raquel was a little less annoying, as she rarely said a word, Linus thought.

A few meters ahead, Raquel's shield shattered after a blow from the monster's hammer. As she countered with blows from her club, tearing through the creature's armor and muscles, Linus noticed that on the creature's chest, where there had once been a hole from her spear, it was now as if it hadn't been attacked at all. The same was happening with Raquel's attacks, which, where they hit, destroyed the limb, but the creature healed itself in seconds.

"Let me try," said Aldo. Unlike his friends, he and Silas had lost interest in fighting after winning the titles. Now, they were just old friends who preferred a cup of tea to these uncomfortable battles, not least because the threats had long been easily contained by the king, his teammates or other warriors of their race.

Because of the time they had worked together, the four generals knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. It was a team made up of the most experienced and powerful warriors in the entire Kingdom. Melissa threw her rope, forming circles of fire that quickly closed in on the creature's body, trapping it and hurling it towards Aldo.

"Swooosh," Aldo threw his fist towards the creature.

The sky shook with the general's punch. The creature's body evaporated before Aldo's fist could reach it, only its expressionless head hovered in the sky. The impact shattered the peaks of the nearby mountains and devastated the vegetation on the side where the daylight was, along with the animals that lived there, not to mention, of course, the weaker human population. Unfortunately, he and his friends should spare no strength, as this was a real threat. Aldo looked smugly at the creature, he had always prided himself on his strength, one more punch and the fight would be over, he thought.

Several particles came together and became visible next to the creature, along with a deformed smile that formed on its floating head.

"Look out! " shouted Silas, stepping in front of Aldo. Silas took the full brunt of the impact, the small man blocking the blow Aldo was about to receive with his chest.

"Aldo, that punch has your... no, wait, he's stronger!" Silas coughed up blood, his eyes wide. After being crowned general, it was the first time anyone had managed to cause him such damage. His ribcage was broken, his organs were almost all mutilated. The strangest thing was that he wasn't healing. The little man's regeneration wasn't instantaneous, as the creature usually took a few days to heal completely. His race was known for its high resistance, but his body wasn't responding. He coughed again, this time with black blood coming from his lips. In his abdomen, a white light shone strongly before disappearing. He turned to Aldo as he calmed down in his friend's arms.

"Sorry to interrupt, force of habit," Silas whispered. His lips formed the outline of a sad smile and his eyes closed.

Aldo clenched his fists until they bled. He just smiled back, holding back small drops that formed around his eyes. He knew that what Silas said wasn't true, after they ascended to the higher realm, neither of them needed to defend themselves. He felt the Aether, the force that commanded that world, leaking out of his friend as black particles slowly entered Silas. Those were the last gestures exchanged between the two.

Melissa quickly wrapped a rope around the dead general's body, sending him a few kilometers to the ground. The warriors stood in a circle, flying over the area corresponding in the sky to where Silas' body lay on the ground.

They had been together for centuries after being chosen. Silas and Aldo, even more so, they were childhood friends, always competing against each other and sharing all kinds of moments together. No one cried, there was no time, they knew that any moment was decisive. There would be time for mourning later, they just had to hold on until the king arrived.

"He's absorbing us somehow," Linus warned. He suspected that the monster's body had some kind of anti-ether substance, blocking the natural properties that the generals' bodies possessed.

"Maybe we can't wait for Guilfard," said Linus. It was his duty as leader to protect his friends, even if they didn't want or need it. He at least wanted to warn them of a possible farewell.

"Then let's enjoy this moment by venting some frustrations," said Raquel.

"I haven't heard your beautiful voice for a long time, Raquel. With Silas dead, it doesn't make much sense to focus on defense. Let's show what the Alucar are made of. Attack!" Linus raised his arm and everyone launched themselves at the creature.

...

"Slash"

A hammer was thrown and hit the ground. Between it and the ground, a man gazed passionately into the moonlight. He smiled as blood stained his once-white teeth. From the ground, he watched helplessly as his legs, torn off seconds before, fell heavily next to where his waist used to be. There, his viscera and various types of intestinal waste dripped to the ground, giving the grass a new color. Around him, three bodies in a not much better situation: one man and two women.

He felt a familiar energy approaching, a warmth filled his body and tears welled up in his eyes, his heart would have raced if it hadn't been for the hole that was now in its place. In the sky, a shadow stood in front of the immense celestial body, oblivious to everything around it, its yellow eyes watering as it looked at Linus and the slaughtered warriors on the ground. The tears that reached the surface of her eyes evaporated almost instantly.

Linus watched as he choked on the blood in his last words before his eyes closed.

"Tsk"....

"You were right. I should train more and loaf less, boss."