"That fucking brat! How dares he?" a rowdy furious voice rang inside a small keep in the western part of Ragna. Once belonged to Mephisto's clan, this particular keep has been home to the devils for the last few centuries. The royal guard used to be its leader until he was promoted to his current position, forcing his to abandon his post and pick a successor, which was the devil Diablo.

"Calm down, dear or your wounds will open up again!" a luscious woman tried to appease her angry husband. Possessing similar features to him, the woman was also a devil but her wings were much smaller and possessed a thin smooth black tail with a heart shaped head at its end.

Dismayed when her husband was carried back without his left arm, she has tried to calm him down ever since. From what she heard from the people bringing him back, it was the demon lord who did that to him for daring to speak out against his new regime. Apparently, despite being of young age, the new demon lord was particularly cruel and ruthless, making anyone who has seen him paralyzing in fear. Having known the previous demon lord herself, even just through a few exchanges, the demoness couldn't believe Alastor was his son as Asgore was reputed to be one of the kindest and gentlest demon lords they ever knew. Such was the irony when what made the demons doubt Asgore so much, thinking it was his weakness actually made them reconsider now that Alastor, being a tyrant as he was, was much worse than anyone could imagine.

"How do you expect me to calm down? He tore my arm off! He stepped on me in front of everyone. Such humiliation...I just want to strangle that little prick, torture him, make him beg for my mercy just to vent out my anger." Diablo grunted in anger.

"But he is much stronger than you, stronger than anyone of us. You can't just go after him like that." The wife said. "You have to be smart about it."

What a scheming woman! Already, she was planning to plot against the demon lord, even though she was fully aware of what the boy was capable of. It made one have to wonder if she was courageous or just plainly stupid. Indeed, both were two sides of the same coin with a very faint line in between. Still, it was no wonder she was named Milim, the Deceiver back in her prime.

"Do you have something in mind, Milim?" asked Diablo as he sat down next to her.

"Alastor may want to have peace but that would be impossible to accomplish without the other leaders' consent. And I am not talking about the demons but the kings and queens of the other countries. Instead of trying to disrupt the peace talk itself, we should after the other leaders. If they have doubts, amplify that doubt! If they are against, bring them to our side! And if they are with Alastor...well, that country might need a new leader any time soon." The demoness whispered shrewdly. "In the end, if everyone including his own allies, is against peace and declares war, Alastor would have no other choice but to either accept our demands to go to war or be dethroned. In any case, a war will be what we have."

"I see. With our current force, there is no way we can lose, not when all other countries are either fighting each other or in turmoil. This is the perfect chance to attack." Diablo conveyed.

"The seeds of chaos must be spread around to ascertain that future. Until then, we will remain a low profile to avoid his suspicion. With the Gates opened, it will be easy for you to send your agents across the world for this purpose."

"Hahaha! Yes! This way, I will make that brat. Like they said, vengeance is best served cold. Just you wait, Alastor! I will destroy everything you built. I will make you go through thousand times more pain than what you did to me." Diablo laughed out loud.

Milim tapped lightly on the devil head, signaling him to be quiet "Don't be too loud or you will wake up our son! It takes a lot of effort to calm him down after he learnt that his father lost an arm."

"Oh sorry! How did I manage to marry such a capable wife like you?" Diablo grinned.

"Blame me being stupid for falling to your flirting!" Milim jested.

"Hahaha! Be patient, my dear wife! One day I will be the king of demons and when that time comes, you will be the queen of Ragna. Everyone will have to bow to you."

"That does sound tempting. I would love nothing more than to see that wench Martel bowing to me."

"That future will come, my dear. Soon enough!"

* * *

"What? Tasha hasn't returned yet?" Edward yelled out loud.

The boy has just returned from his meeting with King Charles. However, he didn't expect to be held for that long, mostly because of the boring ball he had to attend to. While Charles himself had no intention to indulge in such extravagant festivity while his people was still not out of the water yet, it was a way to rise morale for everyone after the recent declaration of war he was forced to make against Valhalla. Being a king, especially a righteous benevolent king, didn't mean you could have everything under your control. If not for the pressure from Dor, Charles would have never consented to this needless war. And so with hesitation and doubt in his heart, Edward has reluctantly accepted to be among the royal retainers of His Majesty and would be among the commanding officer in the incoming war. To have such a successful and influential position at such a young age, any sane person would have screamed in joy. But not little Edward, not after what he learnt of about Tasha's disappearance upon his return.

"Yeah...she went out this morning to the market but hasn't returned since. I sent people to look for her but according to the merchant, no one with her description has come today..." Lord Osborne said in a regretful tone. He was aware of the dangers lurking outside nowadays but was not able to stop Tasha from going out due to his weak personality. The noble feared that perhaps something might have happened to her. "I have contacted the city guards and they are currently looking for her but so far nothing has shown up yet.....Wait where are you going? Edward!!!"

The boy could not stay there any longer. He refused to remain idle while his precious Tasha, someone he saw as his family, could have found herself in danger out there. Running from outside the mansion, he searched blindly from every possible street the girl usually frequented. Even though it was in the middle of the night and the streets were cold, void of people, a small figure was sprinting through the misty roads breathing heavily as he called out the name of his loved one. But there was no answer. The only voices he heard back were people insulting at him for waking up everyone in the midst of night. But even when they were throwing rocks or whatever they had available at their disposal, the boy refused to stop, not until he found her.

Yet despite his relentless effort, even after hours of searching, the girl was nowhere to be found. Not a trace of her was left. It was as if she simply vanished into thin air. Collapsing on his knees in despair, the boy still muttered her name, even when his throat was left dry from all the shouting he did.

"Tasha...where are you? Please...come back to me....*cry*! Please..." Edward sobbed gloomily.

He was at his rope's end. He didn't need all these titles, richness or fame. He just wanted her back. Was it too much to ask? The boy has never hurt anyone or done anything bad in his life. He lived in respect others. Even when people tried to hurt him, labelled him as demon sympathizer and shunned him, not once did Edward strike back in any form. He was kind, he was good in all senses of the words. So why did misfortunates keep happening to him? Was there no Gods after all? Was the world all about survival of the fittest? He became strong, not just so one day he could meet up with his mentor Alastor, but also to protect the ones he loved. But yet, despite all these powers he has endured so much to obtain, it still was not enough? Was he still the same weak boy as before? Only lived by through the sacrifices of others around him?

"WHY???"

.....

"Why indeed?" a creepy voice spoke. Its mere tone, a mixture of multiple voices at once from woman to man, young to old, was alarming enough to bring the boy back from his desperation as he stood up and looked around for the source of the voice. The figure began to manifest itself from the ground, making the boy jumping back upon seeing it: wearing a dark torn cloak concealing its whole body, the ghastly figure looked like a ghost with no face in sight. Appearing like a floating cloak on air, it spoke. "To live is to suffer. Pain and misery await the living. Such is the curse of life!"

"Who are you? Or what are you?" Edward shouted at the figure, weeping away the tears on his face. He realized that whoever this person was, he was strong....very strong. But Edward was after all a Deus, one of the strongest mages in Ceadric. He would not go down that easily. T was still waiting for him.

* * *

Canaan, the City of Firmament Spires. Being one of the most cherished wonders of Astora, second only to Avant-Heim, Canaan's structure consisted of a muster of gigantic towers reaching up to the sky with no end in sight, divided into two layers.

On the first outer layer, six towers stood firmly, arranged in the form of a hexagram with each tower at a corner of the figure. These six towers were then all connected together by humongous sustained chains, allowing one to view the shape of the six-angle star from above.

As for the inner layer, a collection of hundreds of smaller towers creating a twister figure converged like a whirlpool toward the tallest and biggest tower situated at the center of the hexagram.

As old as time could remember, with many covered in green moss at their bases, it was unknown how Canaan was built in the first place or who did it. Still, this place was the sacred sanctuary of the dragons as many lived in these towers, creating a society of the most powerful race in Astora. Ruling above them all was the dragon council, a congregation of the strongest and wisest dragons aiming to keep the peace not just with the other countries but also between themselves. At least that was how it was intended when the first council was formed. The dragon council today however was completely different from their predecessors in the past, ruling Oros with an iron fist and subjugating all those who dared speak openly about them. For the dragons, who were as lawless and boisterous as one could imagine, only knew of strength. The strong would dominate the weak. It was as simple as that.

And yet, these mighty individuals, who thought themselves as the leaders of this bunch of giant turbid lizards, were now facing the biggest crisis they have yet seen so far. For the first time in history, a civil war has broken out between the dragons with one side, the dragon council and the other, the rebels led by an enigmatic conqueror named Kaiser. Many efforts have been spent to limit his influence but none has borne fruit. Perhaps, the dragons who rebelled have finally gotten tired of living under this tyrannical rule. They wanted change. And that change would demand of the destruction of the old order: the elimination of the dragon council.

At the moment, while Kaiser's army was marching toward Canaan, the members of the dragon council have gathered here to form a strategy against this conqueror. Flocking around in the amphitheater located at the hundredth floor of the central tower, each member raised their concern over this civil war. The room itself was gigantic as it was able to host a hundred dragons in their true form

"According to our latest report, the rebel army will arrive here in three days. Five thousands with more than a hundred elder dragons, accompanied by ten thousands knights including dragon riders. Furthermore, the dragon lord Celdora has allied himself to the rebels, creating doubt in our ranks. Even as we speak, people are switching to their side every day. This is a real force to be reckoned with." Said a member.

"The solution is simple: we crush them just like those before them. It's as simple as that."

"It will be difficult. Our force is roughly the same number as theirs. Whoever wins this war won't get out unharmed. At worst, we might be looking for a huge drop in the population because of this."

"Then perhaps we should try a different approach. Cutting the head of the snake and the rest would die."

"Easier said than done. He is constantly surrounded by his retainers and the guy himself is quite a warrior of heavenly caliber, able to take on a hundred wyverns by himself without a scratch. He won't go down that easy."

"Anyone has any idea where this Kaiser comes from?"

"That's the problem. We don't."

"You are telling me that this guy came out of nowhere, took half of troops and declared war against us without anyone even knowing who he is?" a member shouted out loud. "Preposterous! How can you not know that? What the hell are you even doing?"

"Speak for yourself first! We are all in this together so you too share the blame."

"ME? You dare accuse me?"

The rabbling continued with the room filled with exchanges of insults and condemnations from left to right between the members as each denied their own responsibility while accusing others of their lack of prudence. But to put it simply, this situation was brought upon themselves by their own hands. For years, these members have tried to isolate the dragons from the rest of the world, claiming it was not their duty nor it was in their interest to care about the politics of the outside world. And no matter what you might think, they did have a point. Unlike humans who lived for a century at most or for the elves, several centuries, dragons were immortal creatures that never ceased to grow. In other words, they couldn't die of old age. So to a dragon, a war between Ceadric and Zagon might seem only like a small squabble between two neighbors as even when generations have passed and when everyone participating in that conflict was already dead, the dragons would still be there, laughing at them about how pointless it was.

In reality, the most common cause of death of dragons was actually themselves. Just like humans, they killed each other because of personal conflict and sometimes due to very petty reasons. However after a certain incident involving one of their own turning into a demon lord causing the disappearance of a whole clan of prestigious dragons, it was decided that something must be done to prevent these kinds of needless tragedies from happening again. And so, for this purpose, the dragon council was created.

However, as time passed by and the old values of the first dragon council began to faint over the years, the current council has turned into a totalitarian regime with a constant surveillance of their people, imposing unreasonable rules that would only empower themselves even more while putting the population in an even more suffocating spot.

Celdora was a perfect example of the dragon council's ineffectiveness in knowing what their people wanted. When the threat of the demon lord ten years ago was recognized worldwide, they decided to stay out of it, letting the other races dealing with the demon lord by themselves. Only when it was seen as absolutely necessary, would the dragon council intervene, or so they said. This has sparked some major discontent among everyone who saw the demons as a real threat. That was until a member of the dragon council betrayed his own and left Oros to deal with the demon threat. His name was Celdora, a dragon lord and also one of the most influential members of the council.

Of course, Celdora's betrayal was not seen kindly by the rest of his peers, at least by most of them anyway. Still, they decided to not take any action against him for he has already been hailed as a hero upon his return by both the dragons and the outside world. If they were to get rid of him, it would give them a very bad image.

And now their worst fear has become reality. Celdora has joined Kaiser in his conquest, bringing even more people to his side. Even among their own side, the council was aware that many stayed simply due to fear and not out of loyalty. At the very least, they were not stupid enough to be oblivious of this fact. The longer they waited, the more chance that people of their own side would switch to Celdora's and Kaiser's. If they wanted to retake control, something must be done, and fast.

"STOP!" a loud voice echoed in the amphitheater, silencing everyone in the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, please, we can't dispute between ourselves like this. Many more urgent matters await our decision so instead of fighting each other, why not cooperating with one another to solve this?"

"Lord Maragon, what do you suppose we do?" a member asked the black dragon sitting at the very top spot in this chamber together with a few others. Although dragons were said to be immortal, the fact that this dragon had wizened skin with long white beard and eyebrows attested that he was very old, even to dragon' standards.

Even inside this so called democratic council, not all members had the same influence. In fact, their influence could be easily determined based on where they were sitting: the higher the spot, the more influence they had.

The black dragon Maragon was said to be one of the original founders of the first dragon council and has lived since the time of the Gods. Needless to say, he was among the most powerful, if not the most powerful dragon alive till today. And strength was not the only thing he had. Combined with his thousands years of experiences, Maragon was a walking archive of knowledge and wisdom, knowing many hidden secrets of the world people were not even aware about. In other words, he was practically the voice and the mind of the council itself.

"Recently my son Targon has come to me with an idea, perhaps a solution that might help us in this dire time. I think it would be better to let him speak for himself to all of you, see what you think about it." The old dragon turned to the smaller black dragon by his side, looking almost like a younger version of him back in his prime.

"Thank you, Father!" the young dragon bowed slightly before stepping forward and addressed the whole congregation. "The people are confused, unaware that they are being manipulated by this deceiver against their own brothers and sisters. Still, that doesn't mean we can abandon them. They might have committed a mistake by going against us but everyone deserves a second chance. So how do we make these lost lambs, these rebels see past the way of their errors?