The village of Duhndale is too hot. Even for summer it is too hot. The ground is scolding any who walks barefoot. Even the grass, which is normally evergreen, is yellowish and waking on it feels like being seared in a pan. It's too hot walk even on that for more than a minute. Even the smith prefers the heat of the forge more than the heat of anything else, "At least this heat is familiar to me" he thinks.
It had gone unnoticed but the village was bulging. The village had hills and inclines, and those are still there, but if you would look from above you would see that it is all small compared to the gigantic bulge the village is now sitting on. From above you could tell, it's quite high in the middle and it looks to stretch for miles. No one would notice looking from up close but it's clearly a bubble of some sort threatening to burst from the ground and send the village every which way.
The skies are also weirder than normal. It is still blue at noon and black at night, but twilight is much longer, far too long. The sky would turn red just 4 hours past noon and would slowly transition to night by eleven. This the people noticed, but what could they do? Sol, the goddess of the sun, might betray them, even though they pray everyday. The elder though, he knows it isn't about Sol at all. She is as radiant as ever during midday, but it is the danger that lurks underneath which is the danger. He knew this day would come, when the sacrifices are not enough, when the ancient evil and chaos would recover and take over the world.
The ancients who fought and claimed the west rose land could not defeat all threats, they had no choice but to bury them deep, and hope that the future generations would be strong enough to truly defeat them. And so the villages were created, and Duhndale, or Duhndulling, or any of it's other names were made to suppress Duhn. But soon he will waken, and the village will have failed it's purpose. Doom will ensue, nothing will remain, even the village elder does not know what might happen to the rest of the land when it does.
-----
With each passing day it looks like the ground is ever more painful, a mixture of hot and cold, and any who steps on it feels uneasiness, something beyond pain, a sort of sorrow. The color of grass is now yellowish-white, and the ground is the shades of red and purple that arrive with twilight. Speaking of twilight, it now encompass all times of day and night. You can still tell what time it is by the sky, for example it is bleeding red at noon and at night it turns blue that reminds the townsfolk of tears. But what's worst about the sky is the light that constantly emanates, no matter what time of day. When the sky is red everything turns shades of red and when it is blue everything is dark dreary blue.
The curve of the ground is now so large that standing up right at any house close to the middle of the village is near impossible and what houses that remained standing are empty of villagers. Today the ground finally breaks apart, in the middle of the village. Flames come out of the giant hole, engulfing the near, and soon enough the far as well. But people burning alive is not even the most to be afraid of, for the flames did not come alone, wings of black spread and are already in the sky.
A Ginormous monster soars above, it looks down to see the chaos and pain it caused just by escaping it's jail. It knows its purpose, its design is to destroy, and to cause disaster and despair. This village that jailed it so long, it now suffers under the monster, but instead of raveling in the irony the monster scorches the land once more to destroy it completely and leave no survivors, no escape, even the gods will forsake such a place. The monster does not dally, this tiny village is barely a concern in the grand scheme, the monster and its master hardly care about such a thing, their plans are concerning the entire world. First he must go to the place these humans call 'Mizran'.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
-----
Sortieva himself moves to the front gate of the capital. His trusted circle fighting all over and around the capital. At a time like this he would sit down at his desk and 'waste' his time looking at official forms and other church related forms, requests from nobles and churches around Uesteroza. For a long while he wanted to help humanity and destroy evil with deeds, with sword rather than pen and paper, but he does not move out to confront this disaster because of this wish, rather he moves because he is the only one who can confront it.
The savior of mankind, destroyer of evil, that is his true name. He is always afraid to lose, but always brave enough to fight. This is not the first time a Sortieva fights a true dragon, a direct descendant of the dragon-gods. But it is the first time that such a foe commanded an entire army of monsters and threw it at the capital of Uesteroza, at all of mankind.
-----
Allous is truly what she is due to merit, the third seat of the inner circle. Her power alone is reason to treat her as a great boon but also her intellect, or should I say cunning, in all of Uesteroza it is second only to her father's, who is now missing. With planning she could dispatch of a true dragon on her own, and no less she does well in this fight against dark drakes and dragons even without much preparation. At any dull moment though, her mind wonders. Her father, the greatest guild-master and strongest person she ever knew is missing. Had he been here besides her he could save the day.
In her mind, and perhaps in reality as-well, her father is the most powerful and capable of anything in ways that even the most learned of scholars can not explain. His magic seems to deny common sense and defy and law with which you would confine anything else to. She has no doubt he could save them now, so why does he not? Where has he gone? did he know this would happen? Had he forsaken her and all of humanity to die? Even when she swings her sword she cannot suppress these thoughts.
But she does not falter, admirable but not surprising. She had left her father's guild, and sought to fight on her own for what she believes in all on her own. That is why she became a paladin, that is why she does not only follow, but leads too. She keeps fighting no matter how dire it seems, but in the end it wouldn't matter how hard she fought, only whether she survives or not will be the difference, and this battle she cannot win, even if she does not know.
A powerful blow strikes, even she can hear it, when she is far from the front gate where Sortieva fights a true dragon. She gives a quick look there and she can see a man standing on top of a what is left of a tower, and behind him a falling mountain sized monster with wings and a tail. But before she can smile she notices a fleeting light from the silhouette of the dragon.
-----
Mythos trembles, the air hurts to breath, there is no greater doom than this. This is the first any of those who witness him have ever seen him, or any such thing at all, but they know who he is even without an introduction. They have know of him, but seeing him flying in the sky it is so much clearer than the stories. A black dragon, his appearance somehow radiates power, and wakes the dread in the heart of all that see him. A dragon god, a real dragon god. Not a true dragon who descended from a higher power, this is the higher power himself, the evil chaotic god, Tohu, is their enemy.
There is nothing to do anymore, his encompass everything in sight, all you could see if you were there is a black flame under the red dark sky. The sun is no longer there, nor do the stars shine, there is nothing but the black dragon god in the sky and there is nothing but flames on the land and even the seas boil at his presence.
Soon all of Uesteroza, then the entire back, then even the first place. All will burn, all will die, nothing can fight this self destructive force or deny it. before long, even the the unimaginable is annihilated. There is nothing more than Evil and Chaos now, that is what the world chooses. If that is what the world chooses, that is what I will follow. It could not have been avoided, it is more than fate, it is all that is left.
No one could have helped. Even if they tried, what could they do? There is nothing left inside so save, there never was.
The only thing I have is death.