Red. No matter where you looked, that color was the dominant one in this world. There were rivers of blood flowing down mountains of corpses. The stench of death made it impossible to inhale the air. The whole world was like one huge battlefield, which sat on a wasteland.

The seas were polluted with corpses of all kinds of beings. Some looked like monsters, others looked like beasts, while others looked like they came from the heavens. However, they were all equal in death. Despite the world being in such a state, battles still continued on. No, the battles may be happening because the world was like in the first place.

“Give it up. There’s no reason to continue fighting.”

In this world, a bright light illuminated the land. It was like the heavens were opening up to bless the mortal world. A voice came from this light and soothe the ears of all who heard it.

*Boom!*

Something fell from the sky and crashed into a volcano, which was on the verge of erupting. The volcano soon exploded, causing lava to rain down on the land.

“Give up?”

A dark being emerged from the sea of lava, standing proudly and arrogantly facing the heavenly light in the sky.

“I will not give up. It’s my role to carry out the necessary evil needed to make this world balanced. So to me, you who started this war and threw the universe into chaos and out of balance is an eyesore.”

The dark being pointed at the light.

“The moment you gave up your role is the moment you become my enemy!”

“We both know that this wasn’t what I had intended.”

The heavenly light answered back.

“True. This is caused by those foolish gods, who lost themselves in greed, that’s why I want to eradicate them and this world. I want to reset everything! So, why are you stopping me?!”

“Because you destroying everything isn’t the answer. We must allow them to figure everything out on their own. That’s our role as beings of our level.”

“And I’m saying that they are too stupid to admit their mistakes. They’ll continue on until everything is destroyed. If that’s the case, why not let me reset everything?! For a new era to be born, you must first destroy the old one!”

“I see that we can’t come to an agreement. It’s regrettable considering that we’ve maintained the balance for so long.”

The dark being laughed.

“Yeah, it’s unfortunate.”

*Rumble!*

The world started to shake, and long cracks spread through the world. Volcanoes erupted, tsunamis flood the lands, storms wreak havoc in the skies.

“You….For you to even involve him.”

The voice behind the holy light became serious.

“Of course. Just like us, he too protect the balance as our brother.”

“ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!”

A mountain sized beast burst out from under the earth and made the world tremble with its roar. This beast was so black that even the night pales in comparison, it’s red eyes were like a thousand burning suns. Just looking at it made one feel like their heart was gonna give out.

This beast stood in front of the heavenly light and faced it with the dark being.

“Today, even if we fail to defeat you and reset the world, I promise you that we will return one day and end this foolish war! Even if we don’t come back personally, there will be others who will rise in our stead and carry out our wishes.”

The dark being grinned along with the beast.

“Our children will be born from nothing and oppose the laws of this world, Supreme Being!”

The heavenly light was quiet silent for a while. Soon a sigh echoed out in the world.

“Fine. Let the future decide which one of us was correct.”

“Come, Brother!”

The dark being and the beast rushed towards the heavenly light, and a world shattering battle ensued.

From the dawn of time humans have asked themselves one question, why are we here? This question is undoubtedly the hardest question to answer, since there is no known correct answer; just speculations.

However, this wasn’t the only question they had. From the moment they obtained intelligence, humans have questioned themselves and the world around them.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is this world? What is life? Why is this so? Who made this? Etc.

The more they tried to answer these questions, the more questions they started to ask. Before long, life became an endless series of questions that mostly went unanswered.

It didn’t take long before people started to create answers to these questions themselves. This led to the birth of superstitions and religious beliefs.

Human created religions in their search for answers, and in time theses religions became nothing but myths as new religions rose to replace the old. Like this, humans created an endless cycle of beliefs without truly getting any closer to the answers they seek, only coming up with ones that pleases them.

However, what about the myths that were discarded over time?

What if when they created and discarded these beliefs and superstition, humans had unknowingly caused a phenomenon outside of their imaginations and brought life to beings that they discarded as mere figments of their imagination?

Mundus, a world that mirrors ours in almost every way. There was one difference, here the so-called myths and figments of imaginations were as real as they can be.

Gods, demons, beasts, monsters, heroes, all of these mythical entities lived in this world. However, not in harmony. Until 20,000 years a single person ruled Mundus, that person was known simply as the Supreme Being. They ruled a world where invincible gods like Zeus, Odin, Shiva, and others resided, and ruled over them all. However, this person one day declared this-

“I have had enough to ruling over the world, you all should decide a ruler among yourselves.”

That sentence was the changing point of the world. A grand war broke out among the gods which led to massive destruction occurring all over the world. The various mythos and their pantheons waged war against each in the bid to turn their leader into the next Supreme Being and rule over the world for all eternity.

The war grew more intense, when the demons decided that they wouldn’t just allow the gods to decide their fate and waged war against the gods for the right to rule as well. Following this, the mythical beast that struck fear into the hearts of gods and demons alike, also chose to take part in the battle to rule resulting in even more chaos. Finally, with their very survival at stake, Human heroes rose up against the rampaging super beings and fought for the throne as well. This led to a chaotic four way war with the four major races of the world.

Gods vs Demons vs Beasts vs Heroes.

The war saw beings like Thor, who represented the Gods, fighting the likes of Hercules, who fought on the behalf of humans. This wasn’t the only crazy battle.

Asmodeus vs Cerberus, Vishnu vs Gilgamesh, Dracula vs Lucifer, battles like these were commonplace as every being of myth and legend were present fighting for the right to rule.

The chaotic war raged for 10,000 years with the world being close to destruction countless times over. Eventually, those fighting the war all said that enough was enough and all signed a peace treaty and a ceasefire agreement.

They agreed that if they continued on like this, the world would ultimately perish, and they would lose what they were fighting for. As such, they came up with a way to decide the next Supreme Being, without them fighting directly. They created a Proxy System.

The Proxy System was a system where those who were born from myths, legends, and faith, could chose a lesser being to fight in their stead for the right to rule. These chosen people were called Proxies, and the God they represented were known as their God Parent. With the implementation of this system, the battle for the throne changed forever.

Present day, 10,000 years since the war among the mythical beings who fought against each, aka Higher Beings came to an end and went down in history as the War For Supremacy.

It was the currently the Proxy Era, where the world was ruled by lesser beings while the Higher Beings took an observer’s position.

On one of the seven continents, the Silver Continent there was a powerful empire known as the Dragna Empire. It was an empire that existed for countless years and still standing tall. It was recognized as one of the powerhouses of the world.

The ones that headed this empire was none other than the Dragna clan, which was a clan famous for its powerful members as well as being the direct descendants of the first ever dragon, Tiamat.

In the Imperial Capital, there was a thousand year old tree on the outskirts of the rural area. It was over 1000 ft tall and could be seen from almost anywhere. On one of the branches, someone sat while bracing their themselves on the tree, facing the sun.

This person was around their mid teens 14 or 15, had long azure hair, which was tied in a ponytail, a slim figure, and a very beautiful face; dressed in white, black, and gold.

“……..”

They sat on the tree branch with their eyes closed and arms behind their heads, as they leaned on the tree. They seemed to be sleeping.

Small birds would sometimes land on them, while tree animals would gather around them as if admiring them. The entire scene seemed so serene and tranquil.

The scene was disturbed when the person slowly lifted their eyelids to reveal their ocean blue eyes.

When they looked in front of them, there was someone standing there with one hand on their hips.

“Momo…”

They spoke before yawning.

The person who stood in front of them had similar physical features such as the azure hair, and blue eyes. They, however looked younger and more feminine. It was a young girl around 12 or 13 who had her hair divided into twin tails, and had on a pretty floral dress and holding an umbrella.

“I just knew you were up here, Miko. I was looking for you.”

Said the girl, Momo.

“You’ve skipped out on the academy again, haven’t you?”

She asked.

“I see no reason to go there, when I have you as my personal teacher. Attending the academy is not compulsory for members of the Dragna Clan. Hence, I won’t go there.”

Answered Miko.

In the Dragna Empire, once someone is between the ages of 13-20 they must enroll in one of the various academies, so that they can be trained to become people who can contribute to the development of the empire. The only exceptions are those from the royal family who are assigned masters from birth.

“Even so, we go to the academy to familiarize ourselves with the future of our nation, also socializing and learning from our peers.

“Whether it be the military, alchemy, or tradesman academies I have no interest in them.”

“Besides, I’ll just make everyone uncomfortable if I go.”

Miko mumbled. He then stood up and jumped down from the tree branch and landed on the ground.

“Rather than the academy, let’s do something fun Momo.”

At that moment, Momo jumped down while holding her umbrella, and gracefully landed beside him.

“You should really stop goofing off and take life more seriously.”

“This comes from a 63 year old woman who takes the form of a little girl 24/7.”

“I’m still just 63. Don’t make it sound like I’m old.”

“You’re literally four times my age, but looks younger than me. You have no right to tell me to live life seriously…Ow!”

Miko screamed out when Momo suddenly grabbed his face with her small hand and started squeezing it.

“Oh? You’re pretty cheeky today.”

She showed a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“How about I pinch those cheeks off….Literally?”

“Ow, ow, ow! I give I give! I was wrong!”

Miko shouted.

Momo released his face and he fell on his butt.

“Hmph. I’m only 63, by our clan’s rules I’m not even considered an adult before 100. Don’t judge me using human rules.”

She said while pouting. She then looked at Miko who was rubbing his jaws.

“Did something happen? You only visit high places when you have a lot on your mind.”

“I was just thinking of a way to skip out on the ceremony.”

“Don’t even joke about that. This a ceremony that’s vital to our clan’s future.”

Momo said with a frown.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s the ceremony where you can be chosen to be Tiamat’s Proxy. But you know, Momo. Do you think that an abomination like myself will be chosen?”

“………”

Momo looked at him for a while before sighing. She then gestured him to stoop down. He did, and then-

*Wham!*

She hit him upside the head. Miko stood up, rubbing his head.

“I’ve told you time and time again. You’re not an abomination, and you will never be. No matter what anyone says, you included.”

She looked very angry as she spoke.

“Stop being so gloomy or I’ll really angry.”

“So you’re not angry now.”

Miko said while rubbing his head.

“Don’t misunderstand, Momo. It’s not that I’m wallowing in self pity, I’m just stating the facts.”

He stood up straight.

“I also have no problem calling myself a monster, an abomination, or a creature. I’ve been called those things all my life and have gotten used to them.”

“Don’t you get angry when they treat you like that?”

“It’s too much of a pain to be bothered by everything that a swarm of flies have to say. It’s also a bother to swat those flies every time I hear them buzzing. So I just ignore them.”

“Besides, I agree with them. I am a monster in human flesh. Nothing more, nothing less. There’s no helping it. I also don’t want to be a Proxy. Proxies will have to fight in the battle for the throne, and that’s a pain in the ass if you ask me.”

He looked in the sky.

“I…..I want to be a koala.”

“Huh?”

Momo was dumbfounded by what Miko said.

“Did you know? A koala spends 18-22 hours of the day sleeping. That’s at least 75% of the day. They then wake up eat and go back to sleep.”

Miko spoke with admiration.

“That’s how I wanna live!”

Momo couldn’t believe her ears. She sighed.

“If you live your life like that, you’ll become a hippo rather than a koala.”

“Hippos sleep 20 hours a day, so I don’t mind.”

Miko immediately responded.

“Besides, I can’t get fat with this body. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

He showed a bright smile.

“I’m lazy, have no ambitions, and is a monster. The only way for Tiamat to pick me to be her Proxy is if she’s an idiot.”

Later that day.

There was a huge commotion in the ceremonial chambers of the Dragna Clan. Countless members were in a state of panic.

“I-I can’t believe it!”

“Our mother and divine ruler, Tiamat….She’s…”

“She’s chosen Miko to be her Proxy!”

Miko stood dumbfounded with a ball of light floating in front of him. He soon started clenching his teeth, and fists, before shouting-

“She was an idiot!”