Kal hated the cold, or course it had almost no effect on him considering Naga's were cold blooded. But thus was a season that brought about the unfortunate and accursed shedding. The very idea if having his body itch like hell for weeks did not see well with him, it never has anyway for the past 800 years of his life.

He slithered across the cold ground, but extremely annoyed by the grating sounds his armored lowed half caused when he moved. It made him wonder how the gorgons could be so silent when they move regardless of the terrain. Those women were true snakes in every sense of the word, and he would not mind have a few warm his bed every night.

Kal could hear the approaching army behind him. They were not much of an army, considering there was only about a hundred of them, but black mamba legion was if not the best of all legions in the army of the Naga's.

However they were now being forced to make stupid journey thousands of kilometers high into mountain range of Noxis Nyx. Kal beloved the whole mountain range that stretched for hundreds of thousands of kilometers was cursed.

If the cold did not get you, the monsters will. And if the monsters did not get you, then the thousand of aggrieved souls and spirits that wander this mountain for eternity would take great pleasure in ripping the souls of any living being to pieces.

This was no place for a snake, but he had no choice but to lead his men through a routine two month journey every two years, as a prison inspector for the masters the humans and what ever stuck up jerk had their asses planted on the council of light. The Naga's used to be a fearsome race, their talent in magic, especially when it came to poison, and traps were unrivalled. At least when the rune smiths were not in question; those guys are freaks and abomination as far as he was concerned.

But the Naga heritage has declined ever since the battle of Noxis Nyx. A lot of things changed since then. At that time two thousand years ago, Noxis Nyx was a weaver and sorcerer, he was unique in such a way that the way had bestowed upon him two different paths of growth and improvement. And as such he was a crucial part of the war, in fact the entire war was built around him.

It is unclear what really happened all those years ago, the number of people still alive from that time could be counted on one hand, and if there are others, then they were probably in hiding.

Officially Noxis Nyx was a great human weaver and sorcerer, and that it was through his love for the light of Shearath and all its splendor that he was able to rally all the races of light under his banner, and even convince multiple races of the dark to fight for him.

And all this was done in a bud to rid the world of the ever growing infestation that was the vampires. History claims it was a bloody war, the bloodiest to have ever graced Shearath. There has never been anything like it, and they never will be again.

This story goes that Noxis in all righteousness had been betrayed by a dark elf lover. It was said that she left him for a vampire. Heart broken and angry Noxis had waged war upon both races, he had also managed to black list the dark elves as creatures of the first sun. He called them a race of liars, and disapproved of them saying that the fact that they were born of the roots of the great tree showed them for what they were. Parasites.

Kal doubted such an argument would have stood in any court these days, but that was how the story went. A final battle was held in the place that would later become the mountain range of Noxis Nyx, or as some other people call it, the cursing.

Noxis fought long and hard and bravely blah blah blah. But in the end seeing as he could not defeat his foes, he made what was most probably the greatest weaving in the history from Shearath. He made the mountains, a series of snow peaked landscapes, hundreds of frozen lakes, thousands of valleys, millions of caves. And beneath this monstrosity of a land that towered all the way to very clouds, he built the Dancing caves of Noxis Nyx.

The most fearsome prison ever, and then he trapped millions of vampires and dark elves within its deep, dark and continuously twisting system of caves. He created a seal for all of their abilities and made a catalyst that could administer this seal. And then he died, having accomplished the greatest victory for the world and ridding them of vampires and their traitorous allies the dark elves.

Kal did not care one bit for this story, no one really knew what happened all those years ago, considering there’s another version to the story told by the dark elves and vampires still privileged to be running around Shearath, free and not imprisoned. Their own version claims that Noxis was actually a dark elf, and all this war started talking because he refused the advances of a human woman, in favor of a vampire princess. And then when Noxis was creating a weave that would keep both their people safe, this woman perverted it, and turned what was to be a haven into a prison.

That version of the story would get its unfortunate teller a trip to the executioner, or a one way express ticket to the dancing caves as a new prisoner. That is if they even survive the journey.

Kal moved on with slow rhythmic gaits. There was a lot of things in this life he could not be bothered about, but there was a lot of things he actually cared for. Unlike most people, he believed there were ways that the vampire and dark elf races could have been punished without them having to go through the hell that they had to. But things has been the way that they have been for countless years before he was born. The vampires and dark elves have lost their rights and have been relegated to nothing more than slaves to humanity and the other races on the council of light.

A lot of brave or maybe stupid men and women over the years had tried to change the stays quo, to make a world where the vampires and dark elves could be accepted as equals and denizens of this world. Not many people are happy about it.

The world has changed a lot since two thousand years, the vampires and dark elves could have had the chance to be a proper part of it. Instead the modern world was built on the suffering and tears of the back breaking labor they have had to go through.

Kal had a penchant for trying to predict the future, and from the way things were going. Should the vampires and dark elves somehow become free of their bonds, the world as everyone knew it now will end. Because there would unleash two thousand years of pain and animosity unto Shearath. No one would be safe, the common people who now live in this era of great technological and magical advancement are quite happy living this way. They know without a doubt that the luxury they enjoy was built by and watered by the sweat and blood of the people imprisoned thousands of kilometers beneath the cursing.

But should the day of reckoning come, the vampires and dark elves become nothing more than the monsters the stories portrayed them to be. This new world was great, it was beautiful and marvelous things can be done. But much like two thousand years ago, the people of thus world are so selfish and self centered that anything that shakes their some of comfort becomes a wicked and vile thing. War was coming, and unlike what the history books said, it would be unlike anything that has ever happened before.

Kal knew such a day would be bring great joy to his people. The Naga's were a race that strongly thrived on violence and war. They were naturally incline to torture and always fight with the intentions of inflicting the most painful damage possible and for as long as their victims could take it. They were sadistic and cruel, and sometimes Kal could not help but be ashamed to be a part of such a race.

It was a pity me though, once he had wanted to be known as the greatest healer to have walked Shearath, and then fact that he was a Naga would have given him more prestige and made people speak his name in awe and wonder. But life never goes the way its planned. He was now the first prince and general of the Naga people. Tasked to make their wars, kill their enemies and be the personal torture device of the council of light.

He was forced to make this journey every two years, to bring torture and pain to a people that were ready quite unfortunate. To remind them who held the true power and emphasize on how weak and worthless they were. In another lifetime maybe thing would have been different, maybe he would have been like that human Kael Cor and fought for this helpless people, maybe.

But he was a Moro, the Kal Moro; one if the greatest generals and princes that has ever graced the Naga people. He may not like war and torture but he was good at it, in fact you could say he was almost the best in all the world. There was no room for doubt’s or regrets.

This was the mandate of his people, the responsibility he had to carry for their safety and happiness. He would gladly give up his life, and rip a thousand families apart, burn men in front of their lovers, and torture children in front of their parents as long as it kept his people safe and happy. This was his duty, thus this was his WAY.

Kal first felt the dull him and vibrations that was sometimes always the tell tale sign of magic. Then he headed the sounds, the crisp volumes it made as it sliced through the cold wind currents of this frigid mountain. He looked up to see the airship that would carry them for the rest of their journey. Its metal body seemed almost invisible under the intense gales that blew as the wind carried snow from the top of the mountain.

The airship was forged from the purest orhicalum, a magic metal mined by desperate vampires and dark elves. It was beautiful, powerful, and very deadly. It could go toe to toe with a dragon and had very good defense. To bad it was built from suffering and the blood of many.

“your highnessss, the transsssport hasss arrived.”

Kal could not help but cringe at the way his fellow Naga spoke the common tongue. He had been trained to speak right from when he was a little serpent in the right way, without letting the hiss mingle with his words. The other members of his legion however were not so fortunate. After all most of them had once been poor street urchins he picker and trained.

“very well, six. Pack up and move out, we have to be at the volcano in three weeks, the airship would only take us so far.” Kal ordered.

The Naga called six gave a nod as he slithered away to deliver Kal's order to the rest of their legion. Kal shifted his gaze to the ship as it was slowly coming down from the sky. Its golden hull, with the symbol of the first sun showed it was most definitely manufactured by the royal family of the human empires. Which meant there would be runes and seals to increase performance all over that thing. Many people believed that the vampires and dark elves are the source of all evil and should be punished. But Kal believed that the most unnatural thing on this world were the rune smiths, or seal masters or as vampires and those ancient scholars called them; weavers. What they did destroyed, the natural order of things. He could never say it out loud, but the only good weaver, is a dead weaver.