The morning after the infamous bell tower incident, Munir made good on his promise. A considerable part of the money he and the guild collected had already been spent to fully rebuild Tolemac and repay its citizens. Azar was fully expecting that to happen; however, what Azar did not expect was the human king to call for an audience. That morning, when the sky was celestial blue, and the wind carried a faint smell of newly bloomed wildflowers, the king made his speech in front of thousands of his subjects. One would be fair to imagine that the people should greet their rulers with admiration and worship, … but there wasn’t much to be seen within their eyes. Instead, they greeted their king with an eerie silence and the warmth of a blizzard.
Azar wasn’t among the crowd. Rather, he sat a good distance away. But his ears could listen to any sound that the wind carried.
“Dear beloved citizens of Avalon. I know that you all have suffered a great deal of pain and hardship in recent times.” Henry spoke loudly and calmly, as he normally did as a king. However, one could also pick up a rather sorrowful and heaviness within his tone.
“And as your leader, …” the king paused for a noticeable few seconds before saying those three words that no one ever expected to come out of his mouth. “I am sorry.”.
“I, as the king of Avalon, and the rest of my councils have failed to do our duty …”.
The people were in shock, never had they ever heard a king apologize publicly before. But none was as surprised to hear that more than Azar.
“What game are you trying to play here… ?”
As much as he wanted to believe in what he was hearing, Azar knew that humans would not change their fundamental beliefs and personality after one night.
“I know that you have all heard and seen what happened in the last 7 days. The prophecy, the sudden death of Headmaster Solomon, and of course, what happened at the belltower. And today, I will tell you the real reason behind everything ….”
For that moment, the king and the people of Tolemac and Azar were the same. They were all holding their breath.
“That night, when the lightning struck, a prophecy was found, written on the surface of an ancient stone.” Henry took a deep breath then. “But it was a false prophecy and later we found out that it was none other than the work of the Demon King !”.
His words immediately sent the people into a frenzy,
“It’s the Demon King’s plan to divide our great nation by trying to blind us with temptation and it was the Demon King who ordered the attack from the Red Mist !”.
“They wanted us to fight among ourselves, but they had failed ! I can promise you now that we today stand more united than ever !”.
The crowd was heavily divided. While some clearly believed in Henry's speech and started cursing the Demon King out loud, Azar could still pick up on some whisperings, cursing Henry instead. But one thing was certain: Henry had done a fine job gaslighting his people. At the start, he was only greeted with bitter cold and judgmental eyes, but now, he had turned at least half of them around. Azar didn’t know whether to be impressed or mad at that human. However, Henry’s decision did manage to definitively spark a question in Azar’s mind, a question that, for a short while, Azar had forgotten.
“Who is the current ruler of his nation ? How has his nation been ? Is the current king a noble and brave one, or is he someone like Henry ?”.
Azar shook his head slightly as his chest started to ache. His heart was pounding as if he was fighting for his dear life, his fists were held tight, and his bright amber eyes were lost on the far horizon.
“I guess it’s time for a quick visit …”.
After a quick research and got his hand on the basic geographical position of his great nation. To the weak and pathetic humans, they call it No Man's Land, but to Azar, it would forever be Altair, the great nation formed by the joint unity of hundreds of mighty tribes. Luckily for Azar, it wasn’t too far away from Avalon either, he just had to fly west, cross a narrow ocean and another human’s nation to get there. His decision was made quick and simple, but the execution was far from it. If he learned one thing from the recent incident, it would be that Azar was no longer just a face in the crowd. There would be eyes constantly watching his every move, and his sudden disappearance would certainly raise some eyebrows, especially if they spotted him flying away. So just like before, the night became his closest ally. When the coast was clear, and the city had long fallen asleep, Azar spread his wings and flew home.
After one day and one night, Azar had made it past the vast land of Avalon. And during that time, he was heavily reminded of the difference between Tolemac and the rest. While Tolemac was grand and wealthy, many others did not spare the same. The gaps between the capital and the rest were truly noticeable, especially from the above. While Tolemac glittered with wealth and richness, others were still covered in mud and hardship. As far as Azar could see, Avalon, like most other nations, was still a heavily agriculture-based nation. Hence, trading guides or education facilities were only stationed within big cities such as Tolemac.
Crossing the narrowed ocean, Azar could sense it from experience,
“A storm is coming …”.
Another day passed, and Azar almost reached Altair. However, the closer he got, the more grim and chaotic the land below him. That only meant one thing … war. When he finally reached the border between Altair and the human kingdom, the smell of bloodshed had already reached Azar before he could witness the gruesome battle. Underneath him were piles and piles of dead bodies from both sides.
“NO …”.
Right in front of his eyes, he could see the army of Altair, mainly containing lizardmen, a small tribe of warriors whose claws and cold-blooded instinct made them one of the best in close combat in difficult terrains. They were all laying down their life, scaling the 50 ft stone wall of the human kingdom. Though they were considered strong and elite in fighting, their number was few, only reaching around 2000. And sieging again 40000 humans defending on their wall, … it was just suicidal. The lizard men made quick work of the stone wall. Their sharp and mighty claws could pierce the stone wall like a knife cutting through butter. They could scale the wall faster than they could run. But the muscular 9ft tall lizardmen were no match when they got up to the wall. Heavily outnumbered and facing a great deal of magic retaliation, the Altair army was easily torn apart. The lizardmen could not power through the iron defense from the human, and in the end, they were met with the cold steel of humans’ spears. The blood of the fallen lizard warriors flooded the wall, making the stone surface so slippery that some lizardmen even fell from scaling the wall. But while Altair’s army was crying their last breath of battle, the humans enjoyed the moment. Mixing with the lizardmen's screams and cries were the humans' cheers and laughter. They said that the lizardmen were a naturally coldblooded species, but now, humans were proving everyone wrong. They were smiling … in the middle of battle. When their spears thrust through the armor of their enemies and the body of lizard warriors crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the humans did not stop. They take pleasure in dismantling the body of the fallen enemies, stabbing and piercing their corpses, for absolutely nothing more than bringing a smile to their faces. But the worst of the worst was some humans very eager to scavenge the bodies of the lizardmen for the humans' so-called evidence of bravery. That usually meant taking the claws or teeth from the bodies of fallen enemies and showcasing them to others as medals of might and courage.
“ UUUUU HHHHH,” a distinctive sound of battle horns broke through the battle. The Altair’s force immediately turned their tail and retreated, … but the battle wasn’t over.
“ARCHERS !!!” the humans roared.
Weapons raised and ready, aiming directly toward the few hundreds of lizardmen running for their lives.
“FIRE !!!”.
A blizzard of arrows cut through the air humming their nightmarish buzzing noise… but they never reached their marks. Suddenly, the arrows just plummeted to the ground as if they were all tied to stones. The wind howled and growled like a raging monster as dark clouds appeared out of nowhere, turning day into night in just a blink of an eye.
The human could feel the air thicken, almost to the point of suffocating, and when the ground they stood on started to rumble, the panic began. Gone with the satisfying smirks on their lips, the terror took over their mind, and only the scream of chaotic terror came out of their mouth.
A vicious storm manifested itself in the sky, succumbing to darkness as if the human was experiencing an eclipse. They prayed for light, but when it came, they felt shivers run down their spines. A powerful lightning bolt split the sky with its blinding light, and upon the cloud, a giant shadow emerged. The human gasped as they witnessed the figure, a massive shadow, flash in front of their eyes just for a brief second or two when the lightning struck. But that was enough to send the human into pure chaos. They couldn’t tell who or what it was, but with horns that curved like a goat’s horns and wings that were so wide that they could block the sun, and a giant muscular humanoid body to add, it was definitely not human.
Upon the stormy cloud, the owner of the shadow was watching down from above with his eyes drilling through the skulls of the unworthy humans. One snap of his finger, and the ground suddenly split wide, swallowing hundreds of human soldiers whole, destroying the great stone wall in the process.
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“Kill them ! Kill them all !”. A voice, Azar’s own voice, kept whispering in his head. And even though thunders were hitting left and right, as if the sky itself was going to explode, and the screams of hundreds of humans under their pit of death, begging to be rescued, Azar could not hear a thing except for the voice of his dragon’s inferno. Azar held his hand up high and channeled the power from the cosmic. Dark clouds started to swirl as if a tornado was about to touch the ground, and from within, blue lightning was passing through them rapidly. Within seconds, the unimaginable happened, a giant dragon head was formed, bigger than anyone had ever seen or recorded, so massive that it could swallow a city whole. Made by the stormy, twisting clouds, eyes that shined by the light and power of the lightning stored within it, the storm dragon sent fear down the spines of every living soul who witnessed its birth. And once it opened its mouth, it was all over. Thunders rocked the sky before a giant, blinding blue lightning bolt started to form itself from within the storm dragon’s mouth. Without a doubt, no one could survive the execution.
With the ice-cold face, the unblinking eyes burning with hellfire, Azar’s mind went blank as, for the longest time, he finally let out his true emotion take over his body. That rage and hatred never truly went away, rather merely submerged, briefly forgotten, … but right now, they were returning to Azar in full.
Everything was perfect; his enemy was within his palms, begging on their knees, already under a shallow grave, … but then, a vision hit Azar, a blast from his own past. The crumbled wall, and the river of blood that turned the ground into mud, it was all painfully familiar to Azar. It was the constant status of his kingdom back when he was still the Dragon King. But just in that split second, it was enough for Azar to remember one crucial fact. He was not the Dragon King anymore. Maybe to him, it seemed like it was just yesterday, but in reality, it was more than 60 years ago, … and he wasn’t even a dragon anymore. God’s words came surging back into his mind, replacing Azar’s own inner call for vengeance. God sent him here for a reason, to be kind and honorable, be the light and lead everyone away from the edge of extinction.
Azar shut his eyes and held his fists tight, so tight that he could feel his own nails clutching into his flesh. Then, from the bottom of his lung, Azar screamed, … but no one could ever hear it, as it was overshadowed by the roar of thunder and lightning that turned the sky into a light show. In the end, the humans were speared, but everything around them, all the terrain and geography, was forever changed.
“It’s the Demon King !”. The voices started to call out.
After the harrowing show of power, the dark clouds faded away, and the sun finally shed its light upon the human once more. But those few seconds of knocking on Death’s door were more than enough for the humans to realize: “That thing was too powerful for mankind itself to stop.” Forget about a city; it was powerful enough to destroy a whole region in one blast. How could such a powerful being be stopped?
However, the human wasn’t the only party in shock by the show of power. The surviving member of Altair’s army was also rooted to the ground. Then when the sun emerged from the dark cloud, they finally saw who was responsible for everything. A humanoid creature, unlike nothing they had ever seen, with a body of a human, the wings of a giant bird, and the golden horns of a dragon. But somehow, there was a feeling of familiarity; even his face was sort of triggering some memory.
“Where’s the King’s castle ?!”. Azar stood in front of the army and spoke with such a commanding voice that some lizardmen almost instinctively got to their knees.
**********************
“So they move it after all …”. Azar thought. It was only reasonable; no one would want to stay in a fallen ruin. If Azar was to choose, he would have done the same. The castle and the capital of Altair were moved to the center of the kingdom, in the valley that connected the 7 great clans that remained the pillars for Altair. In Azar time, it was set in the dragon region, in the northwest region of Altair, Azar’s homeland. Though it was not odd that each king may choose to move the castle and the capital, moving it out of the dragon's region was rare.
Although few in number, by comparison, dragons were chosen to be the leaders and kings of Altair for more than just their might, but also their wisdom and honorable nature. The dragon clan had protected and taken care of Altair for thousands of years. Each time a king fell into an everlasting sleep, a new was selected with the approval of all the 7 great clans in Altair, based on his proven strength, knowledge and reputation. And the one selected might not have any say in this, just like Azar didn’t have any. He was recommended directly by the previous king and was well respected by many others. As such, even though he didn’t want to, even though he was too young, even though he was not ready, Azar had to become king of Altair.
His thoughts and questions were soon answered when he looked down upon the new capital. “War !”.
It was more like a giant barrack than the capital of a great kingdom. Within its wall, Azar could only see soldiers and magic casters; there weren't any civilians to be found. And all of them were preparing themselves for him, aiming their weapons, chanting protective spells, getting into battle position. Either the news about him broke very fast, reaching here even before the lizardmen army returned, or they could sense a great danger hovering from the above. Immediately, they sprang into action. Unsurprisingly, the first to respond and charge at Azar was the mighty griffins. Though not considered among the great 7 clans, the griffins were still considered fearless fighters of the sky; with a lion's muscular body and the eagles' powerful wings, they never waver about whether to fight or flight. Fast and powerful, wearing thin leather armor, sharpened iron talons and claws extension, they came charging at Azar without any regard for their own fate. Knowing that they would listen to what Azar had to say without giving them a reason to, he gave them a demonstration of his power. Azar took out the Soul Taker and swung them horizontally, missing the griffins on purpose. Though they could not see it with their naked eyes, the power of the attack was extremely obvious. The nearby mountain, where Azar aimed, suddenly crumbled. The top of the mountain was cut clean off, creating a perfectly smooth rock and dirt surface. If Azar wanted to kill the griffin, they would be dead. There wasn’t a chance for them to dodge or survive that simple attack.
The griffins, along with the rest of Altair’s army, were astonished by the sheer power of the unknown being. They knew that it was powerful, but this was just godlike. However, in a wildly unexpected move, the creature landed on the ground and calmly walked to them. The griffins quickly surrounded him.
“Turn back, or suffer our wrath !” the leader of the griffins force shouted at Azar.
“I’m only here to talk…” he returned to the scythe into a harmless black quill, “ I’m not an enemy !”
Azar took one step forward, but it was clear that the griffins weren’t going to let him pass.
“Listen, you saw what I’m capable of. And let me assure you, that’s only a fraction of my power. So either you let me pass through, PEACEFULLY, or you’ll be putting your whole nation in danger.” Azar slowly and carefully stepped forward. “I promise, I mean no harm. But I do have urgent matters with the king. So if you please …”.
It was just one unimaginable event after the other. First, an all-powerful unknown creature flew right to their doorstep, and now for the first time in history, the king ordered them to open the gate and let whatever it was in.
Azar walked through the gate and met with an unfamiliar welcome. “Hostility” was written on every soldier’s face, gone with the warm and obedient greeting that a king like Azar used to get; now, weapons were raised, spells were at the ready, eyes were forcing on his every breath.
Passing by the army of Altair, Azar could not help but feel emotional, seeing his people for the first time in so long. Of course, the army was heavily composed of the great 6 out of 7 clans that made Altair. There were the Elves. Out of the whole kingdom, elves were considered to be the most hideous-looking creatures … because of how much they resembled humans. If not for their distinctive pointy ears, it would be hard to tell elves and humans apart. Because of that, female elves usually hid their faces behind vials when they met with other clans. They blamed the Gods for why they were made to look so ugly, unlike other beautiful females from other clans. With skin that was as soft and pale as a newborn and a figure that was as thin and slim as a tree branch, there was a time when the elves were doubted for their combat ability. However, they were lucky enough to be born with various magic powers, ranging from offensive, defensive and even healing. Elves were also considerably fast and sneaky, added to their relatively good sharpshooting skill, they also made good rangers.
And then there were the Beastling clans. Though it was called a clan, it was, in reality, a combination of several big tribes of warriors, such as monitors, werewolves, manticore …. Gifted with strength and courage, they, however, were considered to be somewhat simple-minded. They couldn’t learn any magic and mainly took advantage of their size and strength rather than their intelligence. The size of the smallest warriors in the Beastling clans should stand at least 7 ft tall; their brute strength was to be feared.
The Lamia clan was somewhat a surprising find to Azar. Lamia had a serpent-like lower body and a humanoid upper body. Blessed with their thick rough, scaly skin that even spears or swords were hard to penetrate, fangs that were so poisonous even dragons were afraid of them and eyes that could see in the darkest night; the female warriors of the Lamia clan were considered by many as vicious fighters, especially if one would have to face them in a swamp terrain. However, what was strange to Azar was that the male Lamia were also there. Male Lamia was considerably smaller and weaker than the female. Unlike most other clans, normally, they wouldn’t be drafted into the army. But right now, Azar could see quite a number of them.
Vampires, however, absolutely came as no surprise to Azar. They were a stable of Altair’s force and a close ally to the dragon clans. Vampires closely resemble a lot with the bat, with large ears like a rodent and fur-covered torsos, their wingspan could reach up to 4 meters wide from side to side, long, sharp fangs and claws like those of crocodiles and extremely enhanced senses. Though in terms of strength, they were far from the mightiest, vampires were considered to be among the most resilient. That came from their unique ability of regeneration; eating flesh or drinking blood could help heal them immediately. Not to mention, they could only be killed if one’s head was removed; they could regenerate any missing limb in a matter of seconds, given the right amount of blood, making them very difficult to be taken down. Most importantly, vampires’ magic ability was only second to dragons, and they were also excellent shapeshifters. One would rarely see them in their true forms. Much longer lifespan compared to most other clans and tribes, vampires were regarded as the scholars and nobles of Altair, and their voices usually held considerable weight in any circumstances.
Yordle was a small and furry clan of creatures. They usually only stood to about 3ft tall, with bright eyes and body covered in a thick gray fur for the male yordle or a thinner purple-white fur for the female. Though considered the weakest among all the tribes in terms of strength, they were a very well-respected clan for their intelligence. Because many yordle had the gift of magic or size, they focused heavily on scholars and alchemy. No other clan could master the art of alchemy as well as the Yodel, their potions were second to none, and they could cure almost every disease known to Altair. Yordle also called tinkers to many others as they always came up with inventions and crafts that did not use any magic, which helped immensely in agriculture, alchemy and mass production.
Last but not least, there was the clan of Fay. A mostly female dominant clan, the fay or some called them faeries. With wings that closely resemble dragonflies, thin, see-through and somewhat fragile, body size was around a small adult human female, a very particular color of purple in their eyes and not particularly strong; the fay wasn’t meant to be in close combat. But up in the sky, no creature could match the fay speed. The fay was also known as a more peaceful clan. They did not like to participate in conflict unless it was absolutely necessary. However, the fays were masters when it came to mind-bending and manipulation magic. It wouldn’t be a surprise if someone would see the fays’ enemies suddenly start killing each other, especially those with weak wills or who did not know any defensive magic. Usually, the fay was the voice of peace and wisdom, a level-headed clan among many more aggressive ones. The dragons, however, dislike them as they proceed that mind control was weak and cowardly magic to master.
Aside from the 6 clans, Azar also saw soldiers from small tribes among the rank of the Altair’s army, lizardmen, nine-tail, succubus, … But he had not seen anyone from the most important clan, his clan, the dragon.
Led through the traditional golden carving doorway of the dragon, Azar was closely escorted to the new throne room. But to Azar’s disappointment, the throne room was deep and cold, more like a giant cave than a place for a king to resign.
“They said you come to see me …”. A voice echoed through the stone wall.