“The four dragons who rule the world each have their own agenda. The Lord of the Earth, the Wyvern does not meddle in the affairs of mortals, but is a reassuring hand in times of inter-realm turmoil. The Lady of Fire, the Phoenix, rarely makes an appearance but leaves her trail of spark in her wake when she does. The Master of the Wind, the Harp, prefers to remain unseen by all eyes, yet they watch over us and let the wind flow. The Monarch of the Seas, the Serpent frequently makes appearances, winning the hearts of the mortal realm with his benevolence time and time again, his every public battle and demise enough to fill up a book longer than the Divine Inscriptions. The dragons are said to be humanoid beings who may or may not live among us. They can change their forms, but their original look is supposed to be a humanoid figure with horns and varying features.
The strongest of the four dragons that rule the natural occurrences of this world is said to be the Wyvern. The source of the world, the ground, soil and non-conscious living beings were under his regime. Since his birth, he has been said to not have died a single time. His true form was very much similar to the depictions in folklore- a large beast of thick flesh and wings similar to those of evil sprites, with a snout and reptile-like eyes.
Then there was the lady of fire, the Phoenix, guardian of the Everflame that watched over us in this otherwise cold world, the shining ball of fire in the sky. She has the ability to burn the world to nothing but cinders, yet she guides us with never-extinguishing warmth. Her true form is a large bird enveloped in fire, with a luscious tail made of embers with ruby eyes.
The Harp, the one who lets the wind flow is a unique dragon. It is said that they simply follow the wind, and none of their actions have ever been recorded, any information simply unknown. However, folklore depicts their true form to be a humanoid being with snow white wings and horns, playing the Harp while watching over the mortal realm and glaring at the Underworld.
FInally, the one who lets the rivers and oceans flow, the Serpent. His whereabouts are mostly known, with many public presences throughout the mortal world and has suffered many deaths before the humans’ eyes. His true form is said to be that of an enlarged snake with glistening blue scales and eyes bright enough to light one’s path at midnight.
Consolidating the information on dragons after analysing “Deities, dragons, and demons” it is clear that the dragons vary much from the deities, as they have an unrestrained influence on the mortal realm. Furthermore, there have been recent Demon Invasions in the five rifts, with the area’s respective factions struggling to hold back the forces. The Quarts Faction has suffered severe wounds from encountering a singular enemy, the Underworld’s ruler, the Undertaker’s aide, which has caused much harm in the North. The Jeril Tribe have suffered casualties from recent legion attacks, but despite the overwhelming number of demonic kind, they were still able to hold them back. The other factions, the Yerr Clan included, have been working tirelessly to deal the rift before the demons come to them.
However, in light of the recent events, it is impossible for the demons to invade through all of the five rifts despite the season being the time for renewing the enchantments and seals, making the sealing weaker. I believe that there is a third party aiding the demons in their cause. As I mentioned above, the dragons are all divine forces- yet they are unrestrained and cannot be touched by even the Divinity. Unless there are more divine beings who have been undiscovered by us foolish mortals, then at least on of the dragons should be supporting the demonic cause.
When the Quarts Faction was attacked, it was said that a day before the invasion many changes in the land, windspeed, water currents and firepower were observed. The Former Faction Leader’s son has released a public statement after his father’s demise claiming that they were doing damage control for a moderate earthquake in the region when they were attacked. It might be no coincidence that the Quarts faction is based on worldly elements as well. The wind-based sorcerors of their end were stunned to find that there was barely any wind blowing, stunting them. The earth manipulators could not control the tremors that shook during the invasion, the fire-based fighters could not even light a spark, and the water manipulators found the currents in a usually calm stream so violent that it could rip a person into shreds. From this, is it not obvious that a divine being is pulling the strings from behind?”
There were a few strokes of his pen at the end, probably to form another word that was left unfinished due to the calamity that approached. Kael stood with the scroll in his hand, staring at the forever incomplete piece of writing. One could not think of it any way other than a final will of sorts.
Kael re-read the text multiple times, his frown deepening with each passing word.
“The dragons…” he thought out loud.
The dragons were merely those who ‘took on the burden of the world’, and had no motive to get involved in the demons’ affairs. The contents of the scroll were…plausible, but the mortals knew too little of what was going on with the divine to come to conclusions.
Where did Thalorin even get this idea from?
It was quite a shame that he had no chance to finish the thought.
Kael deep in thought when his eyes suddenly flashed with realisation.
“You…” he looked straight at the snake, which was stretching its entire body to look up at him. This sight made Kael slightly taken aback. It seemed like the snake was…observing him the entire time he was reading the scroll…
“Why did you point at this? It’s just some useless theory of a dead man…are you trying to prevent me from finding out what you are?”
It was a reasomable theory, but still just a theory, and it had distracted Kael from his real objective.
The snake immediately rattled its tail and turned around, as if not willing to entertain him anymore. Kael thanked all the gods and goddesses for not having to entertain the reptile anymore.
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But why did it look…mad?
Kael brushed off the thought of the stupid reptile and headed to complete his main objective. There were numerous bookshelves in the living area, and Kael brushed his fingers over the covers, trying to find a book with the word “Beast”, “Monster”, “Mythic”, or “Creature”.
While skimming, the word “Beast” inscribed in a gaudy red font caught his attention. Instinctively, he used his index finger to pull out the book buried in a pile of its kin. Kael dusted off the cover, the specs of grey resting on the title flying all over the room. He then read the title.
“Beast in bed: Volume four, limited-”
The book flew across the room.
Perhaps it was an unlucky day for the poor thing, but the reptile that almost died alone on a cold mountain mere hours ago, that almost got its throat slit minutes ago took a direct hit from the book.
If it were a human, perhaps it would yell ‘WHAT THE HELL!” or “OUCH!”, but it was a snake- so it merely hissed sharply, perhaps an unspeakable curse in the snake language.
Kael’s face was, in this scenario, not stoic as ever. His eyes darted left and right in confusion. As flustered as he was, his face did not turn red- perhaps that was because of the tan, or perhaps his experience of schooling his expression had reached such a mad extent.
Kael then realised he was being foolish and quickly calmed down. One could say that his ‘fit’ hand only lasted seconds. He desperately did not want to do it but, albeit disgruntledly, he walked to the other corner of the room and picked up the unsightly book. He looked away from the onscenely named book with an obscene cover and obscene content and placed it back on the shelf- the dead may be obscene but the dead was still dead.
He continued scanning- until his eyes landed on a hand-written log titled “mythic beasts records”. Despite the book having absolutely no chance of being obscene from the title, Kael still tilted the book from the shelf and peeked at the cover before taking it out. Just in case.
The book was as big as thick as his palm. Kael, who had no desire to go through page after page of probably useless content just to find an answer about the absurd reptile, decided to take the book with him anyway.
Before leaving, he eyed the table with the incomplete scrolls of the Spellmaster and his reference material. Out of impulse, he swept all the paper into his embrace, carrying them along the corridor where he came. Little did he know, he had left behind a half-conscious snake, which was injured from his own actions, and it was trailing behind him. It really deserved a sincere apology.
As he was walking, he noticed that after half a day of a relentless thunderstorm, the rain had finally come to a stop. It was truly a mystery- the rain had started the moment Thalorin stepped into the battle against the demons at the Rift.
Kael remembered vividly when students from the Yerr Clan laid dead all around him, as if forming a summoning circle, as if he and Lord Felt were the last hope. The rain that poured without warning drenched everyone, and the blood of the innocent poured down the mountain like a stream of crimson horror. On the golden gate at the peak of the mountain stood a silhouette, radiating a luminescent blue light from him. Thalorin had specialised in water-based sorcery but none knew of his true prowess, nor Kael’s or the Lord’s.
From the highest point, a yell pierced the hearts and ears alike.
“STAND DOWN!”
Hearing the familiar voice of authority, the Yerr Clan’s members all switched to defence. They protested, “MASTER THALORIN, WE WILL LOSE IF WE DO!”, “SIR THALORIN, COME DOWN AND HELP!”, “THALORIN, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Unexpectedly, the last yell was his. But despite all the protest and confusion, everyone did as he said. He was the Spellmaster, after all.
Thalorin threw something down in a swift motion. Objects fell from the sky, a gift from the divine.
“HEALING AND BOOSTING POTIONS!” The Yerr Clan’s members rejoiced. The Spellmaster was adept at alchemy, and this was renowned among the clan members. Replenished, re-energised and motivated, the clan members all stood sturdy in their defence.
“HOLD YOUR GROUND AND EVERYONE GROUP WITH THE SORCERERS. SORCERERS, FORM A LARGE-SCALE COMBINED BARRIER!”
Everyone shuffled towards the sorcerers, who summoned light from their palm for the others to identify them. They had already begun forming a barrier that rose up from the ground like a wall, and then enclosed everyone like a dome. Kael himself was unable to use strong barriers, so he was obliged to stay in the shade.
There was buzzing among those in the barrier. One would expect it to be full of questions asking “Why are we in this formation?” or “What about Master Thalorin?” But instead, it was full of realisation and terror. “Master Thalorin…why is his silhouette different?”
There was something on his head, and Thalorin seemed a bit taller than he normally was. Blue aura gathered around him, and he was obviously reciting an incantation- which Thalorin never did. The aura around him deflected the long-rage attacks of the demons, until finally, a glistening sabre the size of half a man came flying towards him.
“CLOSE YOUR EYES!” This time it was the lord’s voice.
Even with closed eyelids, the Yerr Clan could tell that there was blinding light in the dark midnight, and the sound of gushing waves deafened everyone.
“You can open them now.” The lord rubbed at his eyes.
When everyone opened their eyes, they saw a mostly empty remnant of a battlefield- with twitching humanoid and beast-like figures here and there. The demons had been pushed back. By one single man. How?
“I’M GOING TO GO GET THEIR LEADER! HOLD YOUR GROUND! FOR THE YERR CLAN!”
Normally the last verse would evoke the ground-shaking chants of the clan members. However, apart from the part that some of the loudest among them were deceased, everyone stood speechless. Not at the display of strength or because of grief.
But because everyone understood that that was the last thing that Thalorin would ever say.
That would be the last time they saw him.
As Thalorin’s back faced his clan, as he jumped down from the golden gate and headed into the dark forest, cloud-piercing, ground-shaking screams chased him. The clan members were all family. They were going to lose their family, so they cheered to send them off peacefully. It was supposed to be a cheer, but many actually yelled with tears. They were going to lose their family, so they screamed to grieve with each other.
Everyone knew that Thalorin was different, some thought that he might have colluded with demons, some thought he engaged in sacrificial ceremonies. But they still cheered.
Because he was family.
When Thalorin delivered the final wave of his large-scale attack that killed almost half the legion of demons sent their way, he had already been pierced through the stomach by the sabre. When the stupid Spellmaster ran into the forest to “seek out their leader”, he never returned- and neither did the demons. Kael noticed that much. However even after he vanished into the night, the rain continued, strong as ever. Kael did not run down the mountain in search of lost hope.
“THALORIN WILL COME BACK!” The lord had yelled. “ON MY NAME AS THE LORD, HE SHALL NOT DIE!” His voice erupted the loudest.
Those who were crying stopped their tears. Those who had began grieving slapped themselves. A cheer erupted once more, this time in glory and not grief.
Because it was Thalorin. Thalorin dying was like the sun rising at night. To think he would die was insulting him- and he was too nice of a man to insult.
So they all convinced themselves that he was goi n to come back and joke about demon genitals.
Before Kael went in search of a body either cold or warm with blood, Lord Felt whispered in his ear.
“His soul…his aura is different.”
The morale from before had faded.
The words sent chills down Kael’s freezing body.
So even after the demons ripped him apart, gashes and bruises adorning his body, Kael- wincing in pain in the rain- ran down the mountain in search for the spellmaster. He may be a demon, he may be dead, but he may be alive.
And that sliver of a chance was what he had searched for the entire night, to no avail.