"Aghahaha... *Coffs hard*, it seems my time is at an end..."

A terrifying, deep voice resounded within the caves of the Hell's Dungeon, the single most dangerous and largest dungeon to have ever existed. 

Inside of it, at the last room of the dungeon, a titanic, western style dragon was curled up in a ball, coffing hard every now and then. Near him, a beautiful girl stood with worried eyes. 

"Ashimaar, what are you talking about? Do you need more mana stones? I can get my army to get any amount for you!" She said worriedly, earning a chuckle from the tremendous dragon.

"Don't worry... It... It's nothing major... Age is just being a bitch with me... *Coffs harder*" 

"No! I can obviously see something's wrong! I've known it for the past millenia, but what in Satan's name is happening to you!?" She screamed at him in a mix of rage and intense worry. 

"Haa... I guess you should know..." Ashimaar sighed and stood up, towering a good hundred meters in height and at least 4 miles in lenght.

"Did you know... why I retired from my duty as the king of dragons?" He asked tiredly as he moved away from his previous spot and slowly walked towards a man-sized crystal ball that seemed to contain all the beauty in the world. 

"Back when the gods created the world, I was the first being they made... They told me these exact words 'Nothing is immortal, no matter how much anybody claims such a thing, and that includes you'. Back then, I couldn't understand. Beings that seemed eternal roamed around the world like flies. Titans the size of mountains were as common as normal people, and the seas were filled with leviathans whose size you could only ever imagine. Immortal magicians filled cities and undead with the power to bring night to the day lived together with everyone else..." He trailed off, coffing a bit.

"However, every single one of these legends, very powerful in their own rights, gradually died out, snuffing themselves out in wars where not even the souls of the deceased could pass on due to the damage received. Nowadays, that war has long since been forgotten... Aghaha... I still remember those days where I led legions upon legions of dragons to defend out continent... how futile it was..." His draconic face filled with unbelievable sadness and regret, he lied down, the ground shaking under his weight. 

The girl, confused ask "What does that mean? What does it have to do with how you are now!? I don't understand!" 

"Damn it you brat... Let this old dragon rest for a bit, will you... *Coffs*" Seeing his already weak demeanor, she realized that it wasn't like he finished talking, it's that he even had trouble doing so.

She had never seen him in such a weak state. Sure, sometimes he would appear weak and damaged, too fatigued to move, but to not even be able to talk? That had never happened to him.

"*Coff Coff*... As I was saying, during that war, all, and I mean all, creatures of old were wiped out. Only the smallest of the small and weakest of the weakest survived... Except me. I lived, not because I was the strongest, but because I realized in time what the gods meant. That war was meant to bring about a new era, it was not something we could stop nor prevent... To survive, I entered the void for a thousand years. My body received tremendous damage and strain by my stay in that hell... But I lived. When I came out, all that remained of the glorious floating cities, the beaitiful forests, the great mountains... was a mere wasteland. The world was damaged beyond repair, and it would never return to it's former state..."

"But, I did not give up... After recovering sufficiently, I helped those creatures that survived prosper. I cared for them like they were my children. I taught them everything I knew, I showed them the powers of magic..." He closed his eyes in mourn for a second at those times. They had been the absolute best times in his life.

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"I remember having the would-be kings of the various races clinging to me and saying things like 'Grandpa, can you read us this' or 'Grandpa, can you show us a magic trick'... Aghahaha..." 

By now, the girl had fallen completely silent. She herself remembered doing such things when she was much younger. After all, Ashimaar just had that friendly grandpa sort of aura, when you ignore his insane size and sharp teeth.

"And so, slowly, they grew and grew. I watched as generations passed, carefully bringing them up from stone-weilding idiots to the humans of today. I transformed those savages into the beastmen and I taught the evil spirits love, creating the demons..."

"I'm sorry I never told you all of this, but I didn't want you to ask questions... Knowledge is a curse sometimes... Anyways, to cut it short, when the races had regained a portion of their former glory, I stopped helping them. I didn't want to bring back the immortals, as another war would surely accour otherwise. Then, after a couple million years of my retirement, the gods suddently reappeared. They made churches and helped the populace, or at least on the surface. In reality, they limited their powers... And I was thankful. I didn't want another war to accour..." The dragon said with a heaved breath, obviously tired at having talked this much.

"I... Then why?... Why did... Why did you help me?" The girl asked with tears in her eyes. Her intuition was telling her that something was severely wrong with Ashimaar. And her intuition rarely failed her.

"Aghahaha... Well brat, I wanted to feel what it felt like being a father for real... at least once. I still remember that day I picked up that random rock from an a absolutely random mountain, you were so pitiful... and look at you now, the greatest dungeon to have ever existed... It's a shame I won't be able to see how much more you can grow..."

"No! What are you talking about!? You old fart! What the hell!! Get up!" She screamed as his head fell on the floor with a huge thump, shaking the entire dungeon.

She was the only being whom had ever shown her, a treacherous dungeon core, love. Although it could be argued that he was the one to make her, and thus also his responsability, one also couldn't argue that he may very well have simply treated her as a slave. Dungeon cores were valuable, especially ones as advanced as her, whom were even able to obtain a flesh avatar.

Seeing him not moving, she rushed at him and hugged his huge head, desperately calling out to him. She could feel him getting weaker by the second, his heartbeat slowing down and his never-closing eyes, slowly closing down. 

"What happened!? I can fix it! Just tell me what happened!" She screamed, crying and sobbing pathetically as she held him for dear life. This was way too sudden and quick for her. It made no sense that he would just suddently fall over and die.

"Aghaha... It seems I can't hide this anymore... A shame... Argh..." He groaned painfully as he tried shifting a bit. Even just moving by now hurt.

"When I hid into the void... it caused great damage... I never said it healed... in fact, it never did... and never will..." He slowly said, struggling to move one of his huge front leg in front and bringing the crying girl close to him with it.

"I'm on my last hold here... Don't cry, girl... It doesn't fit you... Where's my hard-headed brat that never listened to my suggestions for her dungeon... He said, a lonely, giant tear slowly falling from his almost-closed eyes.

"Here... Take this... I made this as a last gift for you... Hold on it, as it may help you one day..." He said as a small necklace that resembled a great dragon coiling around itself. 

He softly put it on the girl's neck, and smiled when he saw how well it fit her. "Don't waste your life over mine... live nicely, explore the world and grow beyond your race's constraints... Remember, I loved, love and will always love you, my dear... Sarah..." He said as his eyes finally closed.

Sarah. A name she hadn't heard for a long, long time. It was the name she had once called 'cute'. Dungeons didn't have proper names after all. 

As if ignoring her cries and pleas, Ashimaar's body slowly began glowing, turning into many, many light particles that filled the dungeon and rose up in the skies. 

Even the dungeon town could see this. Millions of lights slowly rising up from the dungeon into the skies, and although it sounded impossible, it was as if the dungeon was crying, an aura of dispair and sadness suddently flooded the surroundings of the dungeon.

Meanwhile, 3 figures were watching from the skies.

"So he finally died, huh..."

"Yeah, that guy was seriously though. Even I wouldn't have survived this long with those kind of injuries."

"Jeez, well, we best get ready. The others surely noticed, and I'm sure they're going to want his soul for themselves."

As if they were never there, the figures suddently disappeared, leaving the few whom had noticed them to scratch their heads in confusion.

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Wow, that came out really fucking sad. Hopefully it'll get happier, though I'm not sure since I'm not sure how to write down the next parts... Oh well    ︵‿︵(´ ͡༎ຶ ͜ʖ ͡༎ຶ `)︵‿︵