Shade stood impatiently in front of the newly erected statue of Mozan, tapping his feet. "If you're going to ask someone to meet you somewhere, the least you could do is be on time." He peered around the bustling square in front of castle Endross, trying to find his grandfather.
After another 15 minutes, something went in front of the sun, dousing the square in darkness, which caused everyone, including Shade, to look up. High in the sky was Mozan, king of Endross. He floated in the air for a brief moment before he dropped down from the sky and landed next to Shade to a chorus of oohs, and ahhs from onlookers. The 9-foot tall, built like a tank Lucifer dragon, proudly placed his arms on his hips while looking over his own statue. “Well, what do you think?” Mozan asked.
A 15-year-old Shade turned his attention from the statue, to Mozan. Mozan was wearing his heavily jeweled gold and platinum kings crown, as well as a bright purple silk tunic that went down to his knees, with bright red silken pants underneath, both striking against his pitch-black scales. “Erecting a statue in honor of yourself is a bit conceited, don’t you think? It's sort of like asking someone to meet you somewhere, then being extremely late, before topping it off by making some overly showy entrance.” Shade responded.
Mozan laughed a loud belly laugh while patting Shade on the head. “Yes, yes, quite arrogant indeed. But you have to admit, it does look pretty good.” He said, clearly ignoring the comment on his tardiness.
Shade sighed, letting his frustrations go. “I guess." He shrugged. "Though It looks more like a statue they would build in honor of someone whose died.”
Mozans jovial mood vanished in an instant, turning his attention from the statue, to Shade. “Well actually, that’s why I asked you to meet me here.” Shade raised an eyebrow at the rapid emotion change, but didn’t say anything. “As I’m sure you’ve heard, I ran into Lilah on the battlefield, and.” He paused. “And I.... killed her.” He paused again, before somberly looking back to his own statue. “It’s made me think about death, dying. Lilah was no slouch, stronger than most, but death eventually comes for us all. We are dragons, immortal in theory, but only theory. Each new child born is stronger than the last. You know this as well as anyone, you’re what, 15, and already there are few within Endross who could best you in a true one on one.” He paused once more, then let out a somber laugh before continuing. “I’m getting old Valvath. Very few dragons have lived longer than I have at this point. Lilah pushed to me to my very limits, and I would never admit it to most, but I almost lost. It’s the closest I’ve come to dying in hundreds of years, and after staring death in the face, it brought me here, thinking about what comes after.”
Shade continued to look rather confused as he turned back to the statue. “Thinking about what comes after death led you to make a statue in honor of yourself?”
Mozan let out another soft laugh. “It’s made me ponder how people would remember me once I’m gone. I didn’t tell them what to make the statue look like, I asked them to make the statue of how they...." He said, gesturing to the people moving about the square. "How they would remember me if I died, and this is what they made, a statue of me as a hero.”
Shade shrugged again. “Sure, but this is a statue of what people in Endross think of you. Of course you’re a hero here, but if you did ever die, I’m sure the other 4 kingdoms would have vastly different looking statues.”
Mozan turned back from the statue to Shade. “That may be true, but that’s always going to be the case. Almost all stories of heroes are stories that end with one person killing another. Which means that hero is actually a villain to someone else.” He paused and placed his large hand on Shades shoulder, taking a serious look. “Val, I know my son hasn’t exactly been the best of fathers, and I know at times i haven't been the best grandfather to you. You have some rightly placed anger towards your family, but you are still an Endross. And not just any Endross, you might become the strongest of us all. This is something everyone thinks about one day, but it's especially something you’re going to have to think about."
"Why me especially?" Shade asked, one eye on his grandfather, the other on the hand on his shoulder.
"Because you're strong." Mozan replied. "One day, when you hit your prime, you’ll be one of the strongest beings in the entire world, if not the strongest. You’ll be able to change the world in any way you see fit. What will you do when that time comes? Will you become somebodies’ hero? Will you do what’s necessary? Will they build a statue for you? Or will you run and hide, as history passes you by.”
Shade looked at Mozan and the hand on his shoulder rather cynically, slowly pushing the hand off of himself. “Thanks for the life advice....I guess. But is that really why you called me here? To act like an old sage passing on their dying wisdom.”
Mozan laughed once more. “Teenagers, never wanting to listen, to learn. You’ll think of this conversation again one day, I promise you that.” He then paused, with his somber expression returning. “But you’re right, there is another reason I wanted to talk with you. Something I wanted to ask of you if I do meet my demise.”
“Let me guess.” Shade responded flatly. “You want me to build you a second, even bigger statue?”
Mozan snorted. “It’s odd how refreshing I find your dry sense of humor.” He paused. “No, I don’t need more statues. I need you to do something for me with this statue, something I’m only going to ask of you.”
“Why?” Shade asked with narrowed eyes.
“While I love your father, your aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, they’ve all fallen for the same drug many with loads of power do. The never-ending quest for even more. But you, you’re different. You don’t seem to care about the power, the prestige, the quest for influence. Honestly, I wish you cared more, which is why I wanted to talk with you about how you should use your power in the future. But I guess for now we’ll table that conversation for a later date.” He turned once more to face himself in marble form. “This statue doesn’t only memorialize myself; it guards someo…. something precious to me. Underneath it is where that precious thing lies. If I die, I need you to take responsibility for what’s down there.”
Shade shook his head as he looked at the statue. “You built a secret dungeon containing personal treasures underneath a statue of yourself posing as a hero? How cliché.” He then looked back to Mozan. “What’s in this dungeon that you care about so much you would hide away, then worry about its whereabouts even after you die?”
Mozan though shook his head. “I dare not say what’s down there, and what I wish to do with it, in fear of what some gods may do in response.” Shade raised his eyebrow again at this. “I hope I complete the project before I inevitably die, I hope you never have to think about this again. But if I do pass, I need you to complete the project, I need you to fix my mistake.” He pointed to the dagger his statue form was holding. “You see that dagger? I applied a sort of incantation to it. If you drop your blood on it, the statue will move aside, revealing the staircase to the room below.” He then placed his hand back on Shades shoulder, taking that same serious look. “Val, I need you to promise me. Promise me, if I die, you’ll go down there and find what I’ve left. Finish my work. Promise me.”
Shade looked at the hand again, then the statue again, then to Mozan. Mozans bright red eyes were blazing with emotion, but Shade couldn't quite place it. It was like a mixture of somberness, seriousness and hopefulness. “Sure, whatever." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Though personally, I would prefer it if you didn’t die.”
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Mozan snorted again. “So would I Val, but thank you.” He then patted Shades shoulder and nodded to him. “I’ll take my leave now, but we will talk more about you’re future, someone with your strength could even become a king one day.”
Shade laughed. “Yea, that’s never going to happen.”
Mozan smiled wryly. “I’m not so sure about that. Until next time Val.” He then took off into the air, disappearing out of sight in moments.
Shade looked at the marble dagger his grandfather’s statue had in its hand. For a brief moment he thought about slicing his hand on it right then and there, seeing what was so precious that his usually overly confident grandfather would reveal some soft side to him for. But after that brief moment, he remembered something. He didn’t really care. He turned, and walked away from the statue.
Shade stood in front of the apparently recently fixed statue to Mozan, staring up at the large marble dragons’ proud eyes. He thought back to that conversation he had with him. At the time it had seemed quite innocuous to his teenage self. It turned out though to be mere months later that Mozan would meet his maker, and Shades life would slowly spiral to where it was now. This wasn’t the first time he had thought back to that conversation though, he had thought back to it many times in the past.
“It seems you’ve finally got your wish Mozan, I guess as of today, I’m now the king of Endross, or whatever is left of it.” His eyebrows tilted angrily as he grew a frown on his face. “I’m worried though Mozan. The previous things you asked me to try haven’t quite worked out in my favor. You wanted me to use my overwhelming power, change the world, do what’s necessary, and I did. Or at least, I tried. But those statues you said they would build if I did, weren’t in my honor, but in the honor of the one who ‘killed’ me. Hell, everyone hated me so much, the celebration of my false death was one of the few things that brought all the kingdoms together.” He kicked the base of the statue in frustration, causing a large crack to work its way up the newly renovated statue. “Power isn’t everything Mozan! It never has been! You always thought the powerful should lead, should be in charge as the weak would follow, but that’s bullshit! I can blow up a mountain, but that does nothing for running a kingdom! It takes mental strength, emotional strength, fortitude and patience that I don’t have! You should have seen it! You should have known! The way my parents ignored me, the way the other dragons ignored me, all for being a bastard. It tore at me, day after day!” He growled as he created a large ball of fire and launched it into the air, causing a large fireworks like explosion a few hundred feet up. “I didn’t ask to be born from some stupid fucking bet! I didn’t tell my father to bet my mother he could beat her in a fight, and bet her if she lost, she had to carry his child! Why was it like it was my fucking fault!”
He took more than a few rapid breaths as anger coursed through his body, but after a few minutes, he calmed down, and began pacing back and forth. “It’s not all your fault obviously. I should have seen it as well. I should have known. Never once did I really look in the mirror. You would think when the person you thought of as a best friend tries to literally stab you in the back, it would bring about some self-reflections, but no, it didn’t. Hell, the very first thing I ever did when given an opportunity to be ‘strong’, was run away. Mentally weak, that’s what I am. It just took me too long to figure it out.” He reached down to his belt, removed his obsidian adventurers’ badge, as well as the badge that anointed him a knight of Alessandria, looking down at them in his hands. “I really did try at one point Mozan. I tried so hard to use my power to change the world in a positive way, but I’m weak. Mentally nothing more than the slimmest panel of glass. I couldn’t handle it, the way people would look at me, talk about me. The lies they would tell, the stories they would weave. It built, and it built, and it built, and eventually everyone seemed like the enemy. And of all the things you might understand, its what you do to your enemies.” He squeezed the two badges in his hands in frustration. “I slowly became the monster everyone said I was, a walking, talking, self-fulfilling prophecy.”
He shook his head as he looked back up to meet Mozans stone stare and let out a soft giggle. “I’m having an argument and therapy session with a ghost. I really am crazy, aren’t I?” He walked up to the statue and placed the two badges on the now once again cracked pedestal. “I guess the only thing to do is move forward. But I’m not really sure how. Once everyone finds out I’m still alive, they’ll come for me again, I know it. And I might hate myself now, but I’m not one to let myself die. I’ll kill, and kill, and kill some more again. But will I fall down the same rabbit holes? Will I become nothing more than that same killing monster?” He sighed. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Then he slowly floated up to the dagger that Mozan was holding in his hand. “Let’s just see what you left for me, though I’m sure it’s going to be nothing but more problems.”
He took out his red dagger from its sheathe, placed his hand around it, then sliced. Blood started pouring from the palm of his hand, and he moved it over the marble dagger, dousing it in blood. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then the blood seemed to melt into the marble dagger, before the ground started to shake and the statue began to move aside. Shade floated in place and watched as the probably 1000-pound statue moved across the ground all on its own, revealing a dark staircase. He floated back to the ground and staired into the dark hole. “No magically lighting lanterns, huh? You could control the weather, but lighting a staircase was a jump to far for you.” He sighed once more, taking in a deep breath, before making a ball of fire in his hand for light and working his way down the stairs.
At the bottom was no door, instead the staircase opened up into a large stone room, the size of a large auditorium. Surrounding the walls of the room were hundreds of sets of all black knights’ armor of different sizes and heights. At the center of the back of the room was a set of knight’s armor on a stand, holding a spear. Outside of that, the room was rather empty, with the center of the room containing absolutely nothing. The walls did however have lanterns that seemingly could be lit, so Shade threw balls of fire at them them, then let the fire in his hand dissipate. He then walked over to the large set of black armor in the back and looked it up and down. It seemed to be a rather standard set of knight’s armor, with a little bit of red trim and some horns on the shoulder pads. Other than that though, it didn’t look that different from the other sets lining the walls.
“Is this really what he wanted me to so desperately find? This was his life’s work? His project?” Then he sighed. “Oh, I get it. I was meant to become king. He named me the next king. This was all probably for that, to protect the kingdom in his stead.” He laughed. “Some job I did of that, huh.” He then looked down, there was only one piece of furniture in the entire room, a small wooden nightstand next to the set of armor. On the night stand was a black book with dust on the cover. He picked up the book, wiped the dust off the cover, then opened it and began to read.
‘Dear Val, if you are reading this, either you couldn’t wait to see what was within this room, or I have met my demise. Seeing as you didn’t seem all that interested, I unfortunately must assume the latter. As you can obviously see, this room is filled with armor for your army. All of them have various enchantments on them, as well as the set I have left for you, and within this book is what every piece of armor does. That is not the task I have left with you though. I must ask you to do something in my stead. Something that may make the gods angry, and may put your life at risk, but I beg of you to make my mistake right. The next few pages will go over what you will need to do, and how to do it, but the first thing you need to know of is what my greatest mistake was. Next to your set of armor is a stone slightly jutting out of the wall, please push it, then continue to the next page of the book.’
Shade looked up from the book, and to the armor. It didn’t say if the stone was on the left or right side, so he tilted to the right and saw nothing, then tilted to the left, and saw a slightly out of place stone. He shrugged, now somewhat curious of what was going to happen, and clicked the stone in. The ground started to rumble again, and he turned from the armor to face the center of the room, where stones on the floor were moving aside and a large rectangular hole appeared. From within the hole, a glass container began to slowly rise from the ground. Shade shook his head. “What’s the point of hiding that underground? You left a book down here explaining how to make it appear? If someone somehow broke in, they could read the book just like I did? Seems like overkill to me.” When the glass container finished its ascendancy, Shade slowly walked around it, inspecting it. On top of the container were about 50 soul jars, mostly empty now. Only 3 and a half still had any light from the souls once within still flickering. The jars had tubes running from the top of them, to inside the glass container, and into what the container contained. Inside the container was the naked body of a blonde female, rainbow winged fairy. “Who the fuck is this?” Shade asked out loud. He then turned the page of the book, and his eyes went wide. “Oh, for fucks sake.” He mumbled, as he read the title of the page.
The top of the page had only four words. ‘How to resurrect Lilah’.