At the top floor of the abandoned pagoda, Erias was sitting at the reading table, looking out the window and watching as the perfectly circular ball in the sky started to flicker and glow, growing in intensity by the hour. The coldness was receding, and pleasant warmth was returning to this strange, abandoned but perfectly preserved sub-realm.
"The change in day and night is gradual. No, it is not a real change." He wrote into his notebook, thinking, biting the end of his pen. "The device in the sky does not go out. It changes its luminosity. I have been observing it for a week now. During the day, it converts dense energy into light-based mana. Then, when the time comes, it starts converting it into darkness-based energy. It does not stop working; it does not turn off… it just emits darkness instead of light. The most fascinating thing is the transitioning phase. When darkness and light exist in harmony at once. I think… I think I can replicate it. When I meditate here, I lose my mind in a weird trance… it is dangerous, I know… but I am so close to something wonderful."
After closing his notebook, he couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead. He was deeply conflicted about what to do. He had been stuck in here for weeks now, although time was turning into an indescribable mess, especially when he fell into a stupor and subconsciously started meditating. Turning his blue eyes towards the bookshelves, he couldn't help but sigh again before standing up and walking to the closest one.
"The Golden Claw Sect…" To his gaze, the strange writings were not unreadable. He had been studying this ancient language for a decade now, first coming in contact with it while living with the dragons.
Reading through the library, he quickly learned that this was once the home of a famous and influential sect named the Golden Claw. Their principle was simple– finding harmony in everything. Nature strives to establish a perfect balance, and so do they. The core tenet of their belief was that every action has an equal amount of reaction. When someone exhibits wild, unbridled rage, its counter will arrive. It may not do so immediately but further down the line, but one day it will rebound, and there is no escaping that. Not even if you are a God.
"Gods…" He whispered, tasting the word repeatedly, looking at the many books preserved in their entirety. He already read through all of them, translating as much as he could. The problem came when he wanted to copy them or write them down. It had to be some kind of protection placed on them by the ancients, as he couldn't do it. All that knowledge was gone the moment he wanted to write it down. "I can only share… what I truly understood." He whispered because he did manage to record his own revelations, things he figured out, but everything else was locked inside his brain. For now…
In the end, Erias simply shrugged, picked up his notebook, walked down, exited the pagoda, and looked at the seven others. They were all dedicated to one element, teaching the disciples about them, one at a time. It gave him the idea to establish an institution where he would do the same. Gather followers and then raise the ensuing generations well, so they will always be ready.
"The Undead…" He sighed, feeling vexed by the thought. Outside, he noticed the patterns. Adventurer groups disappeared, small towns were being 'raided,' while no bodies were ever recovered. None of these were the acts of bandits or some dark groups... no. He went investigating and found clues about the Undead, but they ignored him no matter where he brought them, asking for action. Throughout these investigations, he found a reference to the Golden Claw. It took him years to follow the clues back here, expecting to find an Undead base. Instead, it was a weird, abandoned sub-realm of a bygone powerhouse.
It was still unbelievable to learn about the lives of ancient people. About what happened thousands of years ago, the forgotten cataclysm that his beloved Meriath experienced once. Back in those times, the Golden Claw was one of the leaders of the Realm, along with five other Sects: The Eternals, Sect of Purity, Soulbound Sect, Ravagers, and the Kodai Clan. They led Meriath, splitting it up amongst themselves, all lording on their respective territories while leaving smaller, independent forces to thrive around and off of them. It was a healthy ecosystem, proving useful and stable for eons even if they often went to war over small things. Their real focus by then was not on Meriath. It was only their home base, their hidden treasury of the untold riches collected from the infinite Cosmos. The vast expanse outside of Meriath which is filled with countless other realms. Other… weaker ones… those that they conquered, each doing it their own way. Every Sect had at least two or more domains under their control by the time their retribution had arrived.
For Erias, reading about it, it was unbelievable. These ancient powers, these Sects, had control over other realms! Over territories the same size as Meriath itself! How was that even possible? What kind of power did they have at their disposal to maintain something like that? To be able to rein in so many and so much at once? And it was not all. They were still expanding. Watching the blue sky, he couldn't help but shudder, realizing that there was an entire universe out there, something they were blocked off from. By an even stronger force… It happened when the Soulbound Sect kicked not just an iron board but a whole wall.
"How did such vast and powerful empires fall?" Erias wondered loudly, walking around the pagodas, trying to understand their history, so he could write it down and preserve it for the next generation.
He read in the tomes inside their libraries that the Soulbound Sect came across a small realm that was still untouched. The people inside were only beginning to realize that a bigger world was above them. The Soulbound Sect's rising heir wanted to claim it for himself and strip it from its resources and people. Consume them like a whale swimming in the ocean, filtering the water for food. What he did not expect was that a never before seen force stood in his way, one that the Golden Claw only recorded down as the 'Immortals.' What Erias managed to piece together was that their leader, a so-called 'Thunder Immortal,' was declaring that the small, budding Realm was under her protection.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
This was the first spark in their conflict. The ancients of the Golden Claw recorded that it was still only a tiny ripple on the fabric of actions and consequences. They wrote that it was their fault for not stepping in and smoothing it out in time… they couldn't perceive that their supposed ally wouldn't be able to let go, and very quickly, it was already too late. They started escalating things, resulting in injuring this… 'Thunder Immortal's' daughter. That was when the ripples became so big they turned unstoppable. Only one thing could come of it: War.
"War on a never before seen scale… maybe our plight of the Undead is nothing compared to those times… Maybe it is the punishment of this Thunder Immortal?" Erias thought to himself, opening his notebook while walking, managing to write down those thoughts that he gained an understanding of.
As for how long it raged on, there was no mention of that. Only the slow but ensured fall of the others. One by one, their realms were conquered, their forces defeated, and they were brought to their knees. The last mention he found in those books was about the Golden Claw and the Soulbound Sect. He had a feeling that the rest were destroyed, but as to what happened to the two, he never found out. The Golden Claw simply disappeared. Their Realm was sealed away yet preserved in its entirety… as if they intended to return one day. Were they dead? Erias couldn't tell, but he had a weird feeling that the answer was no.
What he experienced so far, their strength was something else; they couldn't have all died. The Golden Claw pursued harmony, and in that, they managed to fuse different elements together.
"Twelve hours of Fire, Twelve hours of Ice, yet the day is only One. When Fire burns, Coldness recedes. When Coldness creeps in, the Warmth weakens. The Scale is balanced. Warmth must be found in the Coldness. The Flame brings forth Chill." He repeated one of their mantras in his mind.
Their sun was the clear evidence that they combined light, darkness, fire, and ice. In the daytime, it gave light and warmth; darkness and the chill reigned supreme in the evening. They combined not just two but four elements. And if they managed to do it, he could too. He was still in the middle of understanding their profound teachings. He scoured all of the books he could pick off the shelves and read, and he felt his own powers growing. What he was genuinely trying to do was to combine them into one.
"I need to meditate… but…" that also meant he would, once again, lose all connection to reality… "It may just be worth it…"
Coming to a decision, he was already at the central point, at the dead center of the circle formed by the eight pagodas. There were no markings on the ground or anything that would indicate it was a special space, but he had already figured it out while falling into a trance multiple times. Sitting down, he let his focus slip away, falling into a very weird state where nothing mattered anymore. There were no Erias, no Meriath, no worries, nor elements. There was only the inexhaustible energy of nature. Amongst the pagodas, one suddenly lit up, ghostly lanterns appearing around it, glowing in a white hue, giving out the feeling of the element of light. It didn't take long for a second pagoda to exhibit the same phenomena but with black, smoking lanterns floating around it. An ethereal line connected the two to Erias, sitting in the middle, his mind comprehending the two elements simultaneously. His mind was free of the previous chains, the bindings of all the knowledge he grew up with. The notion that the elements were opposing each other because that is how nature works was washed away.
"No…" He whispered to nobody.
In his enlightened state, darkness and light swirled around him, at first fighting, pushing against each other, trying to expel the other and gain dominance, but then, their conflict started to die down.
"Harmony is key… don't let the ripples get out of hand…"
His words were a reminder and an order for his own consciousness. He started to let the two opposing energy slowly mix, maintaining their strength at the same level and beginning to coexist instead of vying for dominance. The feeling was surreal and indescribable yet also relaxing. As if it was always the right way. The only way.
When he reopened his eyes, feeling lost, needing time to recall who he was and why he came here, he finally understood the principle behind it. Opening his notebook, he wanted to write it down, but his hand stopped. Not because he was forbidden to tell what he had just grasped upon, the new power opening a door for him… No. It was because there were no words to describe it.
"You have to feel it." Erias wrote in the end, closing his notebook. "Even the ancients couldn't describe it." He looked at the once again, dormant pagodas, "They could only talk about it vaguely as everyone has to experience it for himself. Everyone's harmony is unique to the person!" He laughed, finally understanding it and watching the dark yet glowing energy around his hand.
"ERIAS!" Resonated a deep, reverberating shout, shaking him to the core, drawing a happy smile onto his face.
"Finally!" He grinned, shouting back, "ARCUS!"
A huge dragon was visible from a distance, soaring through the air, scanning the countless rock pillars, and searching for his friend in an apparent panic. The moment he heard his words, he changed course, flying towards him at breakneck speed before landing with a loud bang, shaking up the whole pillar, yet the pagodas remained unharmed.
"Brother!" He turned into a young man, looking precisely like Erias, only with black hair, hugging him closely, at the edge of crying. "I thought you died! Damn it! I have been searching for you for weeks! Damn it! This sub-realm is humongous!"
"Ahaha, Arcus, I'm fine, I'm fine!" He patted his back, trying to escape his inhuman grip, "You are crushing me! Stop!"
"Ahaha, what are you on about! You can take it!" Arcus laughed, raising him up and hugging him even closer, "Good!" He let go in the end when Erias started to groan in pain for real, "I thought you got done in by the Undead!"
"There are no Undeads here!" He moaned, cracking his waist. He knew that the best course was to remain still. Arcus could fly, and he covered bigger swaths of territory than he ever could, and it turned out to be right.
"There are."
"WHAT?!" Erias flinched, looking into his brother's eyes.
"I found a pillar full of them. They seem to be in some kind of stasis. There are around… a hundred thousand? Give or take…"
"Shit… take me there! I need to see this!"
"Sure! Hop on!" He transformed back into a huge, black dragon, and they were off. Undead…? Here? Then why is this Realm still in one piece? Something had happened in the past that was not in the books he found… and he was eager to find it out.