Back with another chapter, I don't really have a schedule for this novel and I plan just to write a new chapter when I feel like it because if I set myself to a task I usually disappoint myself. I also just woke up and it's 1pm and I fell asleep at 10pm which means I have a horrible sleep schedule too, ain't I great!? Because my parents don't think so...
And on that happy note Enjoy!
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Finally after almost 5 hours of dodging, smashing and deflecting fallen rocks Zariel, Rag and the dragons lay on the cave floor panting. Slowly Raganrok got up and started pacing the cave, wincing at every step but continuing.
"Damn this isn't good... I didn't know it would be now, I thought at least a couple of thousand or millions years..." Rag murmered under his breath while pacing, he seemed disturbed by something.
"W-what do you mean Raggy?" Said Nerreth, her voice trembling from the shock.
Rag turned to Zariel with a rare panicked face "Remember when I told you this world has set instructions to it? And how the first was to create and birth these dragonlings?"
Zariel had a bad feeling "Yes... what of it?"
"Well it seems that it is now carrying out it's next instruction, which is splitting its crust"
Vareth and Medreth giggled, the adults turned to them with a curious gaze and the two stopped
"Sorry... it just sounds funny" said Medreth, Rag was unimpressed but Zariel was glad they could still laugh at a time like this, he turned back to Ragnarok who had already looked away from the giggling couple
"So it's creating the continents and islands?"
Rag narrowed his eyebrows "Indeed, we might be stuck with this for a while..." Zariel had a profound knowledge of the planet from his wish and was still a little annoyed that Ragnarok could tell the planet had a conciousness and he couldn't.
"So do those fancy gadgets of yours tell you how long this will go for excactly?" Zariel said in a miffed voice, on Earth the continents were already split up although not entirely but from his knowledge this planet was completely covered in lava and rock, underneath it was water stores which Zariel assumed would flow out when the rock breaks apart.
"I don't have an exact number, but I think this will go on for a while, do you have any idea Zariel?" Rag said in an equaly miffed tone, unaware of Zariel's experience with geology and history.
"Unfortunatley, this will probably go on for a couple of million or billion years... it's indefinite how long but it certainl won't be less that the millions" Zariel realised that he had just become the bearer of bad new, the dragons had stiffened but much to Zariels discontent Ragnarok's face remained unchanged.
"But I'm sure that we will all be fine!" Zariel said in a rush to reassure the children, honestly he was unsure whether dragons truly had long life spans like in the stories, and he was unsure how long Ragnarok could live for. He was certain that he would be fine no matter what, whether he was shot, stabbed, beheaded, beaten or burnt he always healed and came back but even if the young dragons could live forever or just a long time he was certain they couldn't regenerate like him. He and Rag shared a dislike of each other but they did care about the dragons, although Rag just cared for Nerreth mostly, so he knew they would at least be in safe hands.
At the very moment that Zariel though this a large piece of rock dislodged itself from the ceiling of the cave and hit his head, bringing his body down and crushing it completely. The dragons screamed his name and all he saw or heard was nothingness.
When he regained conciousness he was in a familiar blackness, but this time he atually had his body with his nice suit that Ragnarok had weaved. A familiar voice spoke to him.
"Oi, you going to start paying attention to the divine mistress or just keep inspecting that pathetic excuse for a suit"
Unfortunatley this familar voice was not a wanted one, it seemed monocle man had dropped the nice-salesman act and had reverted to his my-mistress-is-the-greatest-and-I-am-the-most-loyal-so-you-are-below-me persona. Zariel was unsure whether monocle man was human or not but monocle man's manners were certainly monsterous.
"Now now, be polite Yuven he is an important guest" said the harmonic voice that came from the darkness around him, monocle man whose name was now known was floating in the perpetual darkness like Zariel was but seemed more used to it.
"Welcome Zariel, I summoned your conciousness here while your body heals, I am here for an update"
"I can't exactly do my job without any humans here"
"I am aware and every thing is going as planned but the update I meant was how you are going"
"I am fine... but my hair has turned black and my eyes seem to glow plus my pupils have become slits..."
"Ah, that's just a gift I added, your eyes should now see farther now yes?"
"Well yeah but... why is my hair black? and why make my pupils slits"
"Well I am a woman and do have a sense of fashion and neon blue eyes and brown hair do not mix and your pupils are just a side effect"
"So... I'm a dress up doll now? Excellent..."
"No no, don't worry I won't interfere anymore I just thought it would be useful for the coming days, it's not the greatest gift but you can see better than any bird from your planet or about 18 million others but no thanks needed" Timera seemed almost annoyed and Zariel could see Yuven silently fuming in a corner.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Sorry, thank you very much benevolent goddess, what else did you want to ask?"
"Ah yes that... there is an issue on that planet"
"And what is it? Are you talking about Ragnarok because he certainly i-"
"Not the alien, he was unprecendented but I do not mind him as he doesn't affect my plans, what the problem is, is something that is yet to come" Timera's words annoyed Zariel but he accepted them. Her words did strike a spark of curiosity in him though.
"So it's something in the future?"
"Indeed, I used a large amount of mana to see about 2 billion years in as a precuation and it was certainly dangerous becaise that amount could alert other gods but, I found something useful and..." The goddess paused, seeming unsure of her next words.
"And?"
"And it's not exactly good, something happens soon that will make the humans non-existent on this planet, but I don't know what it is"
"So you aren't as powerful and all-knowing as most would think"
"How dare y-" Yuven interjected, he couldn't stand by while his kind goddess was insulted.
"Yuven" the goddess interupted him before he went on his rant of how great and divine his beautiful master is.
"This 'most' thing was sarcastic right? I plan to be invisible for a reason and I don't want these 'most' to know of my existence, I plan to hide from the Hi-"
"What is it?"
"I have spoken too much, you do not need to concern yourself in these matters yet, but I want you to be on alert for something that is different in the planet's evolution like monsters that have arisen too soon or at least think about the magic you shouldn't use"
"Is that what you saw? Can you tell me what you saw at least so I know what to look for instead of your guesses"
"I should but...fine... I saw creatures rising out of the magma and I saw them attacking everyone but that dragonling Medreth, I felt that he was the one creating them, I didn't want to say this before but I want you to be cautious around her, of course this is only a possibility, the future can go any way I just saw the most likely one"
"Medreth may be hot-tempered but I don't think he would make monsters rise out of the magma to kill us all"
"Time does things to mortals minds, those dragonlings have a life span of almost 9 trillion years and that number could become higher the more powerful at magic they get but they are not immortal, they have a limit thus they do not have the immortals minds, imagine 3 million years of just rock, lava and earthquakes, that could drive any mortal insane, their weakness is pathetic" Yuven interjected, he spat the word mortal everytime.
"So immortals can't go insane?"
"Yes, I made it that way, originally there were only gods that had my gift and each god held a lot of power, the weakest could destroy a large planet, imagine what would happen if they went insane? Utter chaos would ensue and that's something that no one would want so I created the immortal mind to go along with my gift" Timera started speaking again, she sounded unhappy with her servants interjection.
"I see..."
"You are taking the fact that one of your students might betray you better than I thought"
"You said it before, it's only a possibility..."
"Yet you worry" Timera said in an amused voice.
"How could I not..." Zariel cared for them and the possibility that Medreth would do that was an unpleasant thought
Zariel suddenly remembered that he needed to get back to the others.
"You want to go back now, I see, I'll talk to you later" The goddess said, she seemed to have read his thoughts.
Zariel smiled at the fact that the goodbye was starting to sound like the last lines of a date.
"Goodbye, and I guess... thanks for the warning, and the eye's"
"It's fine, by the way you have gotten very advanced in the magic spectrum, in another world you are almost equal to a Master, if you keep practising you could become a Grand Master"
"I see then... once again thank you"
"You are very gratuitous"
"I am grateful to those who deserve it"
"As a parting gift I'll tell you something Zariel, it's not the most important thing or very useful but I feel like you deserve it, it's going to take about 1 billion years for the whole planet to settle and become habitable"
"Seems I have a lot of bonding time ahead of me"
Zariel couldn't see the goddess's face but he liked to think, that maybe she smiled.
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When Zariel woke up his view was blocked by the faces of the dragons, Rag was standing behind them looking out at the growing sea of magma.
"Hi"
The dragons looked at him stunned, they weren't aware of his immortality yet but after seeing his crushed body heal... well...
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD AND YOU JUST SAY 'HI'?" yelled Medreth, he was alwas quite loud.
"Sorry? I guess I should have told you sooner so I am truly sorry for worrying you"
Zariel now noticed tears on their faces, he had studied retiles once and the main reason they cry was to clear out their eyes, he felt touched that he was a special case to his little reptiles.
"So you are immortal but I have to say, I thought you just had no age limit but the fact you can regrow a crushed head and fixed a broken body was past my expectations" Ragnarok finally spoke, he was less surprised that the children but was still just as confused as them
"I'll explain as we journey, it's a really long story"
"Journey?" Taevarth spoke, the others also seemed confused
"It's going to drive us insane to just stay in one spot while the evolution happens to this planet so I just thought walking around and exploring while it cracks apart seems kind of fun" The group just nodded, the alternative was incredibly boring so walking around seemed like a good choice.
"Plus... we have a long time to get to know each other, about 1 billion years"
"You said you didn't know an exact time" Said Ragnarok, a suspicious tone was hidden in his voice
"I was... enlightened recently"
And so Zariel got up, dusted himself off and walked ahead, having no specific direction in mind and the others followed. For 1 billion years they traveled all over the planet, surprisingly Ragnarok but wouldn't explain how long his life span actually was and Zariel stopped fighting with him, 1 billion years is too long for fighting. Ther dragons slowly grew during that time and each became the size of a very large horse by the 1 billion year mark. And Zariel had a family that didn't die on him, and he was happy. He still kept a look out on what might happen to erase the possibility of human life and kept an eye on Medreth and for those billion years... he was content.