Later that day, Miko and his father returned home from the city.
After telling his siblings about what he saw there, Miko went in the yard by himself.
In his hands, was a book titled “The World As We Know It”.
It was a book that had facts and history about the world in it.
Miko blackmailed his father into buying it. He also wanted some books on magic, but they were too expensive.
He took the book and sat down leaning under the tree.
(If you wanted to know about the world, you could've asked me you know.)
Tiamat spoke to him.
“If I had asked you, you would've probably told me things that were convenient to you. You would definitely omit a lot of facts, thinking I don't need to know them yet.”
(…....You don't trust people easily do you?)
“I trust in only myself and those who earn it. Even then, I make preparations in case they betray me.”
(Good. We’ve both suffered because of trust. So, we can't afford to be naïve anymore.)
“……..”
Miko didn't say anything in return, and silently opened the book.
“….Oh. So, this world’s official name is Terra. That's a pretty common name for earth in lots of literacy works.”
Miko slowly read the book. He stored every word and every piece of information in his head. He was careful to not misinterpret anything.
“So, this world is 3 times that of earth. Just like earth it has 7 continents.”
He looked at the world’s map. There he saw the names of the continents.
The Aureus Continent
The Canus Continent
The Belua Continent
The Deus Continent
The Daemon Continent
The Lux Continent
The Nox Continent
“…..Why are the names in Latin? Not only that, the names have a certain pattern.”
Gold, Silver, Beast, God, Demon, Day, Night.
If you translate the names into English in order, that would be the direct translation.
“If you exclude Beast, all the names are the opposite of the other.”
(There's no deep meaning behind it. We just called the continent's by the first thing that popped up in our heads.)
“How irresponsible are you people?”
Miko sighed and continued.
By the way, the kingdom Miko was in was on the Canus (Silver) Continent.
The book then spoke about the different races that existed all over the world.
“There are 4 main races. Lesser Gods, Lesser Demons, Beastmen and Humans. Every intelligent being except monsters belongs to at least one of these categories.”
Lesser Gods: Descendants of the Divine beings that ruled over the heavens. Unlike their ancestors, they don't possess almighty powers or influence. But they are still the strongest at magic.
Lesser Demons: Descendants of the rulers of darkness and corruption. They possess dark and evil powers like their ancestors but on a smaller scale. They are the opposites of Gods in every way, but are considered their only equals.
Beastmen: Lesser beings who are neither Gods nor Demons, but either descended from them or was created by them. They closely resemble humans, the only difference is that they posses beast like features and powers, which are normally hidden until needed. Out of all the races, they possess the highest physical abilities.
“Oh? Because they are various types, they listed some examples.”
Minotaurs, Scorpion Men, centaurs, feline people, canine people, lamia, manticores, etc.
“It seems that out of all the Beastmen, five races stands out in term of power. Mermen, Vampires, Werewolves, Gryphons and Dragonmen.”
(Ah, yes. Those races were really annoying to fight in the war. Especially, the Dragonmen. You would think that as the Mother Of All Dragons, I would be shown mercy. But noooo, they came for my head first! Saying stuff like, “If we can take your head it will prove that we've surpassed you”. Isn't that cruel?! They're practically my grandchildren you know! But they came at me with blood thirsty eyes!)
“You must've been a bad grandmother.”
(Don't mock me, boy.)
“…..Huh? It says here, that humans are the weakest of the 4 races.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
(It's true. Most humans can't even scratch a lesser god. But they're dangerous in their own way. They just need a special weapon or power, and they become bigger monsters than all the other races.)
“It sounds like you respect humans. Or should I say, you're cautious of us.”
(And I shouldn't be? Do you know how many tales there are of humans slaying gods, demons, and beasts? You're a dangerous race.)
“Thank you.”
Smirking, Miko continued to read the book.
After it finish explaining the main races, it spoke about the mix breeds. But since Miko already had an idea of them he quickly scan through it.
“……Huh? There's no mention of elves, dwarves, fairies and other cliché races you'll find in every fantasy novel and RPG. Did they die out in the war or something?”
(No, those beings are considered monsters because they weren't created by Gods or Demons. They mutated from their original forms, to become what they are now.)
“What caused them to mutate?”
(You don't need to know.)
“…….”
Miko glared for a while, but stopped when he realized that there was no one around him to glare at.
He continued to read the book, and stopped when he saw something unexpected.
“…..Why is my family name in this book? Is it because we're Tiamat's descendants?”
He was in a section of the book that was explaining the individual kingdoms and empires throughout the continents. He then saw a kingdom named “Dragna Kingdom”.
“Now that I think about it, I didn't know the name of this place.”
He started to read out loud.
“The Dragna Kingdom is a kingdom that was created over 10,000 years ago. Legends have it that it was created by a human who became the first king, Augustus Dragna. It was said that he built it in honor of the goddess Tiamat?”
Miko stopped and waited for Tiamat to say something, but she didn't. So, he continued.
“After 100 years the kingdom flourish and became one of the most famous Kingdoms in the world. However, a battle erupted over the throne among Augustus children. This led to the death of all five of them, and Augustus himself. The details about the war aren't known, but it's said that Augustus descendants took the throne and continued to rule the kingdom until present time.”
Miko had a surprised look on his face and said-
“So, you mean to tell that we're royalty. And that, my relatives are ruling the kingdom while I can't even use the Internet…”
(I see you have your priorities in order.)
“Shut it. It's unfair that we're poor even though we’re royalty.”
(You're not royalty. You're branch of the clan, renounce their rights to the throne 500 years ago.)
“Wha?! Which idiot did that?!”
(Your ancestors. They did it to prevent another war for the throne. Since they were the last branch left in the kingdom, the current royal family alone has the birth rite for the throne.)
“Tch.”
Miko frowned for a while, and then he realized something.
“Wait, they were five children so they must've been five branches. What happened to the other 3?”
(They left the kingdom several centuries ago. They're currently scattered across the world.)
Miko made a pondering expression for a while, before turning back to the book.
When he started reading again, he saw something really eye-catching.
“The War For Supremacy And The Introduction Of Proxies.”
He expected to see it mentioned, but he didn't expect it to cover over half of the book.
“The War For Supremacy was a Great War that lasted for 9000 years. It was originally a war among the many different Gods to see who should govern the world. However, the demons didn't like the idea of gods ruling over them, and waged a war against the gods. 2000 years later the Beastmen and humans fearing for their own survival, betrayed their creators and waged war as well. This led to mass destruction across the world for many millennia.”
The book then went on about the many major events in the war.
“Oh, Zeus and Odin clashed several times. Each time resulting in sinking of several islands.”
(Those two could never see eye to eye, even though they're a lot similar. There was a time when they ordered their sons, Hercules and Thor to assassinate each other. It was mayhem, when the two encountered their father's assassin on the way to complete their mission. They clash for 3 days straight.)
Miko began to imagine Hercules’ fists clashing against Thor’s hammer. It sent shivers down his spine.
“Vlad Dracul vs Lucifer? Wait a minute, Dracula fought Lucifer?!”
(Yeah. He almost got him too. He was a brilliant strategist. He cornered Lucifer’s army by instigating a war between him and Shiva, when he made it look like it was Lucifer who tried to assassinate Shiva. Lucifer was shocked when an army of vampires showed up behind him. He would've been done for if Leviathan didn't come to his aid.)
“……I can't even imagine one thing that you just said. Just how chaotic was this war?”
(That's nothing! There was that time when Gilgamesh and Arthur teamed up to kill Loki and his children. There was also that battle between the Chinese Monkey God Sun Wukong aka Son Goku, and Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Then there was Hades vs Beelzebub. Alexander the Great vs Apollo. Behemoth vs the werewolves. The dragons vs-)
“Stop! I can't take it any more! My common sense is fading!”
Miko mind was thrown in turmoil because he couldn't even imagine what kind of war it was.
“….I understand why the world was destroyed so many times. You people were insane. I'm surprised that normal human beings even survived such a war.”
(Ah, the good old days.)
Tiamat spoke with a nostalgic tone.
Miko ignored her and skip the events of the war. He planned to read them another time.
He then found what he was looking for.
The introduction of the Proxies.
“10,000 years ago, the Higher Beings finally got tired of the never-ending war and destruction that it caused, and a peace treaty was implemented. They came together and created a fair method that could decide a winner without them trying to kill each. That method was called the “Proxy System”. The Higher Beings would each choose a person from any race to represent them. This person will then be called a Proxy.”
Miko then skip through the information he already knew or figured out until he found something new.
“Proxies are able to draw power from their Parent. They can do so manually or using their Regalia to assist them……Regalia?.....Regalia are weapons given to Proxies by their Parent as proof of inheriting their will and power.”
Miko stopped reading for a while.
“………I've never received anything like that!”
(Continue reading.)
Miko frowned but did as Tiamat said.
“However, if their Parent believes that the Proxy is still too weak, they won't give them their Regalia….”
(Exactly. You're still too weak to wield my will and power. Get stronger and I'll give you a Regalia……Well, if you can't wait that long, there's a Demon Sword inside the palace that you can use. It's sealed in the treasure room. But no one has been able to wield it. Maybe you can?)
“When I take the throne, I'll give it a try.”
Miko casually spoke such dangerous words.
“By the way, this ‘Parent’ thing…”
(That's referring to me. Because Proxies appearances changes to resemble the Higher Being who chose them, that's what we're called.”
“So, it's like a child growing up to look like their mother?”
(Our relationship is more intimate than that, but yeah.)
“…..I don't intend to become intimate with you.”
(Too bad. Our relationship surpasses that of a parent and child, or a husband and a wife. Our souls are practically one. So, we're literally soul mates.)
“For some reason, my stomach hurts thinking about that.”
(…..I'm going to eat you one day, just watch.)
“Ha! Like I'd be scared of someone who refuses to show herself to me.”
(Oh. Don't worry we'll meet pretty soon. That's once you become someone worth meeting of course.)
“....Don't test me, God.”
(….Know your place, Human.)
A tense atmosphere developed between the two.
Despite its outer appearance, the relationship between Miko, no; between Logan and Tiamat wasn't nowhere near a good one.
They both saw the other as a means to grant their eternal wish. But, at the same time, an enemy aiming for their heads.
A poisonous relationship.
One will devour the other.
And the time for the two will meet was fastly approaching.