Volume 3, Chapter 17: First Monster

It was quite surprising how far the wall of vines extended. It took about thirty seconds before we were finally out at the other side of the wall of vines. I imagined the thickness of the vines to be possibly more than seventy feet. Nature could not have just grown this herself. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the nature magic of the Driads.

“Dragons, I humbly welcome you to Asfora, one of our enclaves,” the Driad said, giving us a flourish with her hands, which I noticed were also covered in those strange, black markings.

Fascinating—that word echoed through my mind and roused my curiosity.

Before me were structures made entirely out of wood, growing from the sides of the enormous trees. These structures were houses that could have made nice abodes for a family of humans with plenty to spare. Furthermore, there were layers upon layers of these houses, interconnected to each other with wooden bridges from one enormous tree to another. Below, there was also a huge lake where small flying insects glowed on its surface with a soft, yellow light.

Up at the very top, the canopies of the tree were also spaced out strategically, allowing light to enter. It created a display of reflective lights, brightening up the places which needed the glow of the sunlight.

“As usual, I am impressed every time I come here,” Elder Kronos said from beside me. “The nature illusion magic with the wall of vines is also quite impressive.”

Somehow, I knew that those words were directed at our group, perhaps even me specifically. I had not sense any magic from the wall of vines, and Elder Kronos was informing me of the magic which he had called nature illusion.

I suppose it made sense. There was just simply no way that a complex community such as this Driad's Enclave could have been behind the wall of vines, not to mention the large lake below us—we were standing on a tree platform near the lower middle of an enormous tree. In front of us was a bridge that led to the community of tree houses that grew around the sides of the trees.

“Did you notice the nature illusion magic the first time you came here?” I asked Eden.

“Of course I did,” Eden declared proudly. At that, Kiara gave an amused look toward her. “Fine, I didn't,” Eden admitted.

“Neither did I the first time I came here,” Kiara added.

I felt a small tap on my shoulder from behind. Turning my head to look around, I saw the other female dragon of our team. If Elder Kronos was to be believed, the third female teammate was called Aria, and was a blue colored dragon. Her appearance was short, perhaps about five feet and a half tall with light, blue hair, and eyes of a soft yellow color. She was pointing a finger toward my front.

“Follow,” she said in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

“Aria, correct?” I asked.

She nodded, before saying, “Follow,” again.

I proceeded to catch up to Elder Kronos who was already halfway across the bridge which extended outward, connecting the tree we were at to the complex community of tree houses growing around the other trees.

Hovering to the side of Elder Kronos was Xalanth. He had still not woken up, but his injuries had stopped bleeding. Dragons were fast healers, and we could quickly heal all but the most serious wounds in just a few hours.

As for me, the light wounds on my face had stopped bleeding, but they were still far from completely healed. There were also some heavy, but not serious wounds on my arms. The only serious injury I had sustained were to my wings, which had been completely torn apart by Xalanth's earth magic. I was in my human form without wings, and had I transformed my wings out, they would still look torn apart.

It was somewhat logical, I suppose. Transformation magic could not heal your wounds. It would still be carried over.

Crossing the bridge, I saw the many Driads, both males and females, looking at us from the floors above and from the floors down below. From my observations, all of them seemed to have black markings on their mostly half-naked bodies. The males, interestingly enough, had larger antlers than the females. Almost all of them wore clothing which seemed to have been weaved from leaves, most likely using some sort of magic.

It took a few minutes of crossing tree bridges before the Driad guiding us finally stopped before a door. Unlike most of the tree houses that extended outward from the sides of the tree, this door seemed to lead to a home that was probably a hollowed out section of the enormous tree.

“We have arrived,” the Driad called out. “Please follow me inside, Elder Kronos and the rest.”

We followed the Driad in and arrived at what seemed to be a living room. Inside the room was an old Driad with a scraggly white beard. His antlers, unlike the other brown antlers, were of a pure white color. The old Driad was standing before a wooden table with a frown on his face, while mixing some sort of concoction, which I could smell all the way from here.

“Grandfather!” our guide Driad shouted out, running toward the old Driad with a jump.

“Oh, Mareivea, you are back,” the old Driad said, quickly hiding the concoction behind him with one hand.

“Don't even think you can hide that from me, Grandfather! I can just tell from the smell alone.”

“Looks like you caught me, Mareivea. I guess I will just have to go outside for a while and get rid of this.”

“Oh no you don't. Just quietly hand that over to me, and I shall be the one to dispose of it.” Our guide Driad, Mareivea she was called, it seemed to me, had an impatient and somewhat angry look.

The Grandfather Driad let out a sigh, handing over the bowl of heavy-smelling concoction over to Mareivea.

“Seriously, Grandfather, you should stop trying to make these antler-enlargement potions. They just do not work as you prescribe them to be. In fact, they only make breasts grow larger regardless of gender.”

I was curious. “Could I see that bowl for a while?” I asked.

Eden jabbed her elbow toward my right kidney, but I quickly blocked it. From my other side, Kiara also simultaneously jabbed her elbow at me—that, I had not expected, and could only take the blow.

“What was that for?”

“It seemed like the right moment to do so,” Kiara said.

“I was irritated,” Eden only said.

I sighed a little to myself inwardly. Seriously, these dragons were beginning to act like some of the human women I had known in the past. It was somewhat startling.

Elder Kronos turned around to glare at us, as if to say, “Stop making such an unsightly display.”

“I shall go dispose of this and Grandfather can begin healing you,” Mareivea said, going past us and out the door, while holding the bowl in one hand.

“Ah, Elder Kronos, welcome, welcome to my humble abode.” Mareivea's Grandfather said in a warm voice, a large smile on his somewhat wrinkled face. He was taller than Elder Kronos, that is, if you counted his antlers, which added about a foot to his height.

“Elder Jarukir,” Kronos greeted back, a small smile displayed on his face.

“Haha, there you go again, calling me an elder, when I am but a child compared to you.”

“Nonetheless, I only accord you the respect you deserve,” Elder Kronos said with the hint of a smile still on his face.

It made me think that they were old friends that went a long way back. Perhaps dragons were not so bad, after all? Not that I was one to speak with my blood-stained hands.

Xalanth's body floated toward Elder Jarukir. “Could you heal this dragon here?” Elder Kronos asked.

“Of course, of course. You need not even ask.”

With his hands only slightly away from Xalanth's body, a white-colored magic began emanating from his hands, traveling toward Xalanth's body and surrounding it like a protective sphere. Half a minute passed and the result was startling.

Xalanth's pair of torn wings began to grow out, reforming into its original span of twelve feet, and the injuries and cuts on his faces and body began to instantly close.

Suddenly, the pair of brown, leathery wings twitched with a jerk and solid brown eyes were seen as Xalanth awoke with a startle. “Elder Kronos,” he said, dropping to the floor with a light thud. “How long was I out?”

“Less than about half an hour,” Elder Kronos replied.

“I see.” Xalanth faced the white-antlered Driad. “I thank you for healing me.”

“You are welcome, dragon.” A pair of bright, green eyes with hints of brown in them settled over me. “You are next, I suppose?” Elder Jarukir said with a smile. “As usual, you dragons are quite brutal, even to each other.”

The words of the Grandfather Driad were surprising. My eyes quickly looked toward at Elder Kronos for his reaction, but he only wore his usual, calm demeanor.

Xalanth turned toward me. “In hindsight, I regret not dodging that blood magic you used to surround me with. I was too confident of my defenses. It shall not happen again.”

“You fought well,” I simply said.

When my turn came to be healed, I felt a warm glow over me and my wounds and cuts healing at an extremely fast rate. It took only about ten seconds before the warm glow stopped, and I was fully healed.

I was about to thank Elder Jarukir when I felt a hand grab at my vest from behind, and my whole body move backward.

“What—” I heard everyone shout.

Then my surroundings instantly changed.

I found myself underneath a night sky with countless stars and one moon. Looking around, I saw that I was standing in the middle of a huge, circular grey stone platform with circular patterns, and around me were empty, similarly-fashioned thrones encircling the perimeter.

What was surprising, however, was not the fact that there was only one moon to be seen in the night sky. No, what was surprising was the tall, beautiful human woman in front of me, and the two armored males on her left side, and the two armored females on her right side.

“Verath,” Navra said from behind me. “Meet Sabria vral Lethios, the leader of the Slayers, one of the Greater Races.”

“How did I get here?” I asked, turning around to meet Navra in his human form.

“I just dragged you through a quick portal I made. It uses quite a lot of energy, so I did not have much time to warn you. No worries though, I made sure Elder Kronos sensed my magic in time.”

“Who is this suppose to be?” the lead human woman said in a commanding voice.

“Sabria, this is Verath, a dragon who is under my temporary keepsake.”

“He is weak,” Sabria stated, her eyes of orange glowing with an unnatural light.

“Pitifully so, I will have to agree,” Navra added.

I was unsure of what was going on around me, so I kept my silence, waiting for further clues. I only knew that the five beings around me were unimaginably powerful.

“I shall be taking my leave now, Navra Bloodseeker, second Astlan Dragon King.” Saying that, Sabria vral Lethios, the leader of the Slayers, and the four people beside her disappeared into thin air. I did not even sense the magic they had used. It made me ever the more sure that they were more powerful than me.

“Where am I?”

“You are in Nilfloria.”

“The realm you told me about?”

“Indeed, Verath. This is the realm in which the Greater Races and the leaders of many other races meet.”

I gave my surroundings another cursory glance, but there was no one here but Navra and me. I wasn't too sure, however. It could have been that there was some powerful, strange magic involved.

“It is just you and me in this place known as the Unity Conclave, Verath. All of them have left. Sabria and her commanders were the last ones to depart.”

“Why did you call me here, Navra?”

The white-haired human form of Navra showed a smile that looked out of place with his impassive eyes.

“Do you wish to know the true reason behind why I reincarnated your soul into the dragon body that you now hold?” Navra said in an evenly measured voice.

Hearing those words, in this strange land, underneath this night sky with only one moon, and in this Nilfloria realm which I had not one jot of clue about, there was only one word with which I could answer his question.

“Yes,” I said.

Navra formed a small grin that showed off the points of his elongated teeth, which were sharpened into fine points that could tear through flesh oh so very easily. “Then let me begin from the very start.”

At that moment, Navra's voice almost seemed to be a whisper, a reminiscent tone of long forgotten memories, memories which were buried by time, and covered in ancient cobwebs.

“You see, before the Ages of the Warring Gods began, there was only one true God. That is, before the true God splintered into many pieces, creating a pantheon of seventy six Gods and Goddesses. With the Splintering, many Realms were formed in addition to Nilfloria, the Elemental Realm, the Ethereal Realm, and the Mortal Realm which we now live in. And in these many Realms, many other races were created, including what is now known as the human race.”

I was shocked. A one true God? And seventy six Gods and Goddesses? It was too mind boggling to comprehend. I could have believed in ten Deities, but seventy six? It was a shocking number.

“Before the Splintering, the one true God had already created the Greater Races, the Ancient beings, and the Mortal Realm, which was originally known as the Golden Realm, a long-forgotten age where all creatures lived in prosperity and in immortality. The Splintering, however, changed everything. A great piece of the true God splintered into what is now known as the Dead Realm, a realm in which the souls of all living beings depart into. There was no more immortality with the advent of the Splintering. There was no more prosperity, nor peace. There was only war, a war between the seventy-five Gods and Goddesses that engulfed all the new Realms and the Golden Realm itself. Only the Goddess of Death, the largest piece of the True God, remained unaffected by this.”

I was greatly intrigued with the history Navra was speaking of, but what exactly did this have to do with my reincarnation. Thoughts and suspicions formed inside my mind, but there was no telling if even any of these suspicions held a grain of truth. I could only wait for Navra to continue.

“It was thus that I was born into this war-torn Realm, in the late period of the Ages of the Warring Gods. The sky crackled with magic and fire, mountains shook, and the oceans themselves were sundered apart. Every living being less powerful than the Gods and Goddesses ran, hiding in dark, underground caves and isolated places where we fervently prayed for salvation. None came.”

Navra closed his eyes, most likely reminiscing of the ugliness of the time period he had been born into. When he finally opened his eyes, there was a sadness in it that was quickly gone the next second. “Only death came,” Navra whispered in a soft voice, so low that I could barely hear it.

“And by death, I mean that the Goddess of Death, the largest piece of the True God, descended into the war-torn Golden Realm, or should I say, the Mortal Realm. She held an absolute power over the other Gods and Goddesses. None of them could even hope to go against her. Imagine! The Goddess of Death herself had grown tired of all the dying, so much that she herself would willingly participate in the Warring. It was too late though. By the time a peace was forged between the remaining Gods and Goddesses, many of the populations, and most of the Ancient beings were dead or dying.”

A loud laughter resounded throughout the night sky. It sounded almost hysterical. When Navra finally stopped laughing, he continued with a glint in his eyes. “By the time the Ages of the Warring Gods ended, my whole family and my mate had died...long, long ago. I was around 2000 years old back then, hiding in the depths of the world, in deep, dark, lonely tunnels, hoping to see the sunlight again. When I no longer felt the power of the Gods and Goddesses shaking the world above, I finally came out of hiding from the lonely underground place I was living in, and onto the surface world, to bathe in the ephemeral sunlight, which I had not felt in years.”

“I came out onto the changed world alone, wondering if there were even any survivors left of my race. My first glimpse of the surface world was of a desolate land and only a deep, dark forest far away. I headed for that forest, and upon getting closer, I could see that the trees of the forest were gigantic, taller than what my eyes could even follow. They were possibly more than thousands of feet tall. The forest was encompassing beyond imagination.”

“But that was not the most surprising thing. No, the most surprising thing was the magic emanating from the center of the forest. It was a magic so powerful that it could be felt for miles. I followed that magic liked a docile lamb to the slaughter, and when I finally found myself at the center of the forest, the magic was so strong that it drove me to my knees. At the center of that forest was a beautiful, unmoving body. Though unmoving, there was an unnatural grace to the body which had the appearance of a human. The body was of a piece of the True God, a male God.”

Navra paused his words there, staring at me, before finally showing a small smile. “Then I ate that God.”

I did not know what I could say to that revelation. I could only question Navra. “Did you become a God then?”

“No,” Navra plainly stated. “My body and my very soul itself could not withstand the power of that dead God. I fell to the forest floor, my dragon form contorting into its human form. It seemed to me that I laid on that forest floor for an eternity, inch by inch of my body eaten away by the power, turning into ashes. It was then that I met the Goddess of Death, who had come to collect my dying self.”

“She laughed at me, saying, 'Impressive, dragon. To think you would get as far as devouring half of a God's body before dying.' I was surprised at her words. Had the Goddess of Death been watching me?”

A silence came over Navra who had closed his eyes in reminiscent.

“What happened then,” I urged a little.

“You see, I had thought wrong. The Goddess of Death had come for the body of the dead God. She had not come for me, who was but a lowly creature in her eyes. No, she had come to collect the bodies of the Gods and Goddesses who had died in the Mortal Realm. The magic of the dead Gods and Goddesses were still strong enough to interfere with the land itself and to interfere with the magic of the Goddess of Death, so she had no choice but to search and collect the bodies herself.”

“I can still remember the mind-echoing words she said to me before departing with the half-eaten body of the dead God.”

'I applaud your insolence, dragon,' she had said, her voice striking the very depths of my soul. 'So I shall let you live. But your soul shall never be reunited with your brethren in my Realm. Now watch the world for perpetuity until you choose to die a death of your own making. We, the Gods and Goddesses, will be in a higher plane, slumbering away, and never interfering with you mortals again. Consider it my gift to you and the rest of the realms.'

“The Goddess of Death left me then, taking away almost all of my excess magic power and restoring my body to its original condition, before finally transforming my soul. I was to live forever! At first, I was daunted, yet somewhat bedazzled by the lure of true immortality. Thousands of years passed by in a blink of an eye as I roamed the lands in what was known as the Age of Residuum. It was in the late period of the Age of Residuum that the soul which was known as Demon Lord Codrixas was born. Then the Age of the Four Great Beasts came.”

“The Four Great Beasts were originally the favored creations and pets of the Gods and Goddesses; they were the only surviving beast pets after the many wars. They were made strong, far stronger than any of the Greater Races and the Ancient Beings. They terrorized the populations during the Age of Residuum for thousands of years, and the four Great Beasts became so infamous that the time period eventually became known as the Age of the Four Great Beasts. Back then, my magic and strength were still improving. I could only cower in the shadows of these Four Great Beasts. I could only hide, developing my strength through means which could have killed me had my soul not been immortal.”

“Then, after a few more thousand of years, I finally challenged all four of the Great Beasts. Uraza, however, I kept alive. She had devoured many of the dwindling members of my race, and many members of the other Greater Races. She was a terror, the most tyrannical and most powerful out of the Four Great Beasts. I kept her trapped underground for thousands and thousands of years as punishment.”

Navra showed a large, disconcerting grin. “The irony is that I became somewhat fond of Uraza. She was the only being left in this world who could live as long as I. You could say she was my companion throughout the ages. As for Demon Lord Codrixas and the Deathwalker, I had preserved their souls in carefully fashioned time-decelerated prisons. This was why they could live for such a long time.”

“So how old are you now?” I carefully asked in an even tone that betrayed none of my emotions.

“I forget...I believe I am somewhat a little over fifty thousand years old.”

Insanity! The ancient dragon in front of me was insane! There was no doubt about it. His mind had become eroded by time.

“I see,” I said carefully. “What happened next?”

“When the Age of Mortals came,” Navra continued, “the populations began to expand again, and families gathered around each other. That lasted another few thousand years, before the Age of Divide washed over the world. I forget the cause exactly, since I had not been paying attention during that time. After all, what was time to me, a dragon who could live forever. Perpetuity was nothing to me.”

“It was during this time, the Age of Divide, that the whole Mortal Realm became embroiled in conflicts. Other races and beings from Nilfloria, the Fae from the Ethereal Realm, and creatures from other far away realms crossed into the Mortal Realm. For a long time, I did nothing about these conflicts. I merely spectated with Uraza imprisoned beside me, and the soul of Demon Lord Codrixas trapped in a time-decelerated prison.”

“I had long grown tired of everything and everyone, even my dragon brethren, though they could no longer truly be called my brethren. For what was I? A dragon? Perhaps. I no longer felt like one though.”

“By coincidence and a pure stroke of luck, a group of Devourers led by the Deathwalker showed up before me, fleeing from the Fae. I slaughtered them all. But the Deathwalker, I preserved, for he was a unique being. For some strange reason, I could sense a tiny power similar to that of the God I had half-eaten inside that forest. It was only later that I learned that the Deathwalker was a past remnant of the Goddess Linara. He was the descendant of a long line of forgotten champions to the Goddess Linara, who was still worshiped by the race of Devourers, though they went by a different name back then.”

“As I conversed with the soul of the Deathwalker, I learned many things of his past history. His incessant pleadings for me to help out the Devourers and their Matriarchs brought up a past memory of my long-forgotten life. I felt a small pity, perhaps even sympathy, for the Deathwalker, who half-looked as if he wanted to kill me, and half-looked as if he wanted to beg me. It was somewhat amusing to me, who had become jaded by the passing of time and the many rise and fall of kingdoms I had seen. I had seen such uncountable deaths that I no longer felt anything for the dead, and the dying.”

“I accepted the Deathwalker's plea, setting out from the isolated forest I had been living in. Then I began slaughtering the Fae, the beings and races from Nilfloria, and many others alike. I plunged the world into further chaos and division, escalating the Age of Divide. I killed the leaders of the conflicts without a single thought. Of course, all the while I was doing this, my identity remained a secret. I had long ago learned transformation magic to its limits.”

Navra let out a small chuckle. “It was not long before I became known as the First Monster, a being of unimaginable power, a God unto itself. The irony made me laugh out loud, for I was nowhere near as powerful as a God or a Goddess. They had long forgotten the Ages of the Warring Gods, which was a blight in their histories, a time of darkness—the Dark Ages.”

“Conflicts soon ended with some shadowy guidance from my hands; and of course, records of me were manipulated. It was then that the Age of Unity came to be. Borders were made, divisions were united, and each realm became separated unto itself. The Greater Races made treaties among themselves and inter-realm treaties were also made. This was also how the first Astlan Dragon King came to be, uniting the seven major Astlan dragon clans. Traditions were formed, among which included the First Tribulation, which is somewhat similar to what a few other Greater Races impose on themselves.”

“Thus, a few thousand years later, we are here, young Verath. This was how you came to be. You see, after being called the First Monster, and with the curse of Fenrir on my soul, I decided to create an offspring with Uraza. For the past few thousand of years, I have been tinkering with methods as to how to move the body of a soulless dragon. Many combinations were made, before I finally found that a suitable human host soul linked with a soul of a member of the Greater Races, and the soul of the Deathwalker, worked.”

Navra's words shook the depths of my mind, spinning it around like a small child would a round ball. I felt frightened. There was now no more doubt in my mind that the ancient dragon was insane. All semblance and traces of doubts in my mind had been blown away, erased by his words.

Insanity.

Time had eaten away at Navra's sanity. It was no wonder that he switched between so many forms and was as fickle as the wind.

I could only wonder what Navra planned to do with me. Dare I ask him?

“What do you want, no, have planned for me then?”

There was an amused smile on his face. “Nothing much. I merely wish to see how far you can grow.” His smile grew wider. “I have grown bored of everything and everyone. I can sense, smell, feel, hear, and know that you think me insane, trapped in a prison of perpetuity.”

I felt nervous...even a little frightened. Navra's smile was like death itself, his words like the soft footsteps of approaching death.

“And you are right. I know well myself that I am insane. My soul and body does not decay with time, but my mind is an altogether different matter. I stand on the border between life and death, balanced dangerously. I want to die, yet I want to live. Is it not strange?” Navra let out an echoing laugh that struck the stone floor of the Unity Conclave. “Perhaps this was what the Goddess of Death meant when I would die of my own making.”

For the first time in my life, I felt truly speechless. No words would come to me. What could I even say to this ancient dragon in front of me, who had reincarnated me on a whim.

“Do not worry...my son. I would not kill you after all the troubles I went through to create you. It would be such a shame, a perversion of my nature. Just like me, you are a unique being.” Navra frowned a little, before letting out a small laugh, his eyes becoming wilder and wilder. He almost looked deranged.

Then a blue fire.

I could only see fire all around me, yet they did not harm me. To my front, to my right, to my left, to my back, the blue flames covered the entirety of the Unity Conclave, yet they did not burn anything.

A scream shattered the silence, breaking through the silence of the blue flames, which did not even crackle nor let out any sounds like a normal fire.

When the scream ended, the blue fire all around me was instantly gone.

“What was that?” I asked, my voice louder than what I had intended. Control over myself had slipped, and Seraphine was loudly chattering inside my mind, having come out of Animus. She had been doing so since the middle of Navra's speech.

“Nothing. Just an insect,” Navra said. His arm moved—a blur—and in the next moment, a hand was on my right shoulder. The movement was so quick that I did not even realize what had happened until his hand was on my shoulder. “You see, Verath. I have many things planned for us, and for a few...shall we say, companions?”

I met Navra's stare. His eyes had become its usual impassive and ancient-looking state, not even a sign of insanity in them, yet his words were fickle and contradictory.

“What things?”

“Time will tell. We have plenty of it.”

I could not tell what Navra was thinking, nor guess at his intentions, though many thoughts and suspicions formed in my mind.

“If you say so.”

“Here, I will send you back to Elder Kronos. I have some other things I must attend to.”

Navra's magic instantly surrounded me, and this time, I could sense its power. No doubt, he was allowing me to purposely sense it, as if he was making a statement. The teleportation, this time, was also theatrically slow—it served a purpose and also added to the statement.

“I will see you at the Inter-clan Tournament, dear Verath,” Navra said with a small, mysterious smile.

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AN: Surprise, surprise. A history lesson by Navra-senpai ~ :3