POV: Some peasant, year 203 Current Era, about 1200 years ago
I stood in the middle of the golden wheat fields when the shadow appeared in the sky. It was a thing straight out of legend, something surpassing even the gods that had raged across the lands until two hundred years ago. Even from here, I could see individual strands of the horrifyingly massive creatures white mane. Protruding from its maw were two teeth, like blades they extended downwards, even past its chin. Extending outwards from its back, nearly thrice the size of the beast itself, were feathered wings, like those of a bird, but far more graceful, beautiful, magnificent. Strong legs were pulled close to its boy as it flew, the fur on them striped with black, contrasting the white. On the other hand, there was no fur on its tail, instead, it was covered in scales, the same shade of white as the fur, but still different. The presence of the creature was enough to make me feel weak, insignificant, like an insect. But what made me sink to my knees was the fact that it decided to land atop Mount Fahl, not too far from here. I swallowed as I gazed upon its tired golden eyes. Stripes framed the creatures face. It seemed to lay down, in the same position a cat would.
"What should I do, should I run? Can I run?" I asked myself as I stared at the creature.
No, it had already seen me, I was sure of it. The eyes were directed at me, I could see it... I could feel it. As soon as I were about to begin running I would be dead for sure. I let my gaze wander around, I was alone, why did I think there would be people here all of a sudden? I had come here alone and now I was going to die here alone! Why did I have to leave home that day? Why did I decide I needed to wander across the lands? Did I think this would end well? Did I think that I could become a famous adventurer of some kind? Was I mistaken in my hope? Did I simply come here to die? No... I realized that it wasn't true. My body simply didn't let me run away. The creature probably didn't even care if I ran. If it had seen me it saw me as nothing more than a bug, an insect crawling across the ground, something you could accidentally crush while taking a stroll. My body refused to let me run away.
That was the moment I heard laughter straight out of a story about some valiant hero. But it wasn't that of the hero, it was that of the villain. Quickly I turned my head to gaze upon the owner of the laugh.
A small person, no taller than one forty or fifty, approached. From the facial features alone I couldn't tell whether it was boy or girl. They had short unkempt black hair, a pair of goggles, attached to a leather band, sitting right in the middle of them. Red eyes stared at me from the freckled face as the person approached. From their neck down they were completely covered in leather armour, one with far too many straps. Hanging from the back of their belt was a ragged black piece of cloth that went all the way down to around their knees, why it was there I could not have said. A smile appeared on the person's face, it seemed almost like they had fangs.
"D-Don't, c-can't you see that thing?" I asked, pointing towards the creature in the distance.
"That?" the person asked, raising an eyebrow and with a wide grin on their face. "Oh how cute, you think something like that is a threat."
Their voice sounded like that of either a girl or a young boy. And now they were laughing again.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. That. That my lowly friends is not a threat. It's just an overgrown cat that has decided to piss off the wrong person!" the person yelled loudly.
The creature reacted. I could see its eyes opening a little wider and I could see it opening its mouth as if it were yawning. I swallowed again.
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"If you wanted to warn someone you should have warned Kalrim over there!" the person exclaimed loudly as if they were trying to announce their existence to the creature.
"K-Kalrim?" I asked.
"Oh please, do people these days know nothing? Kalrim, the royal dragon sitting on that mountain over there, you know, the thing that destroyed a few of the moons n' shit like that," the person said.
"W-What?" I asked, confused by their words.
They sighed.
"Useless, everyone is just fucking useless."
Without looking back at me the person continued walking towards the creature they had called Kalrim.
"Wait!" I called out but the person ignored me.
That was when I saw a massive wall of flames appeared right before me. The heat had me a sweaty mess in no time at all, but somehow I couldn't move away. I was fascinated by the colour of the flames. Somehow they were much darker than any flame I had ever seen before, be it natural or magical. The wall of dark fire now began swirling around the person that had conjured them, it continued on like a whirlwind until the flames themselves turned into a humanoid upper body with long muscular arms and a horned head.
"Jo, Kalrim! It's me! Hel! Missed me already?!" the person, apparently named Hel, yelled.
The royal dragon moved its head and just stared at Hel for a few seconds.
"You!" it eventually roared, its voice thundering through the air and even generating half a storm.
"Me!" Hel yelled back, their voice enhanced greatly.
"How dare you sho-" Kalrim began roaring but he was interrupted by Hel.
"[Hel's Flaming Pillar]!" Hel yelled loudly.
The flaming figure hovering in the air behind Hel put both hands together, then extended them forwards, showing its flaming palms to the royal dragon. As the name of the attack suggested a flaming pillar formed immediately, hitting the left side of the dragon's tiger-like face, making it stagger backwards. A roar thundered across the golden wheatfield and even the forests beyond it.
"You little shi-" Kalrim roared, but once again he was interrupted.
"[Mark of Hel!]" Hel yelled loudly.
The flaming figure extended both arms outwards, to the sides, and a flaming cross appeared. A flaming cross that quickly rushed towards the royal dragon, which growled loudly, like an angry cat... just more thunderous.
The royal dragon opened its maw and I could see a white-golden orb form inside it, drawing in energy from the air itself. With a second loud roar, the orb burst forth, turning into a beam of pure white-golden light that collided with the flaming dark red cross mid-air. The earth rumbled as the resulting explosion whirled up enough dust to form a new mountain with it. When the dust settled I could see the royal dragon, standing right in front of the mountain, unharmed. On the other hand, Hel was nowhere to be seen, but where they had been was a large crater now.
I heard a sound that was like roaring, thundering laughter from the dragon as it lay back down. Another moment like when it first appeared had come onto me. I told myself to run. It wouldn't care, I was certain of that now. It hadn't cared before getting attacked and it certainly wouldn't care now. But my body wasn't listening. Quite the opposite, it just seemed to grow weaker, rooting me in place more and more.
That was the moment when I heard loud laughter, straight out of a story about a valiant hero. But it wasn't the laughter of that hero, it was the laughter of the stories villain.
The ground in front of the dragon burst open and a flaming pillar rose towards the sky in all its dark red, flaming glorious form.
"[Hel's Burning Sun Flair]!" I heard Hel yell from within the flaming pillar, which by now had split the clouds above it apart.
The royal dragon had no time to react. Three pillars of flame came crashing down from the heavens, splitting the sky itself. All the pierced the royal dragon's head. The entire fight had maybe lasted ten minutes, less time than it had taken for the dragon to first settle in on top of the mountain. And now its body lay limp right in a ravine that had been formed by Hel's last attack.
A burst of loud villainous laughter thundered across the entire area as I saw the flaming giant disappear. Minutes later I saw Hel appear before me again, walking casually through the field of golden wheat.
"W-Who are you?" was all I managed to bring forth.
"Who am I? I'm Hel, arch demon lord of the demon lord council."