What occurred on the other side of the World after the Collapse? Beings of incredible power suddenly suffering large injuries and backlash didn't end as one may have thought. While the strongest died or were sent into hibernation, the weaker ones prospered while building their power up for the return of the others. It was mainly the dragons who filled the vacuum of power created by the absence of other races. They filled that lack of power by mating with humans.

Now, for one to understand the presence of humans one would have to go back before the Collapse and the time of King Dietrich. Humans were abducted and raised as slaves on Yeramesh. Of course, once King Dietrich united all of the lower races such a practice was stopped in its tracks. Though the humans who were already abducted couldn’t be sent back since King Dietrich wouldn’t be able to send an army across the ocean to fight a battle they couldn’t win.

As the effects of the Collapse simmered down, the Dragons had become...arrogant to say the least. They let the humans believe that they, and many of the other higher races, were Gods. It moved to the point where they began to believe it themselves and demonstrated it in their behavior. So when a Golden Aurora appeared in the sky and certain humans began developing abilities that posed a threat to the Gods, one could imagine what happened.

Those who were oppressed by the cruel beings that touted themselves as Gods became empowered and so an uprising was started. Once the troops of those said Gods began to lose battles, the uprising grew and continued to do so to the point where it became a problem. There was an easy solution to solve the ongoing conflict and that was for those so-called Gods to descend into the fray themselves but they saw it as beneath them. Thus an era of bloodshed began as humans fought to break out their restraints.

…

A Silver Fox with blue eyes stood at around 20 feet tall. It had five tails behind its body that swayed gently in the wind. It was resting in front of a small bay that lead to a crystal clear ocean when it spotted something. A naked young man with pitch black hair floating among the wreckage but it could feel something powerful roiling beneath his appearance.

“Dragon? No…Something else...” The Silver Fox transformed into a man with an androgynous beauty with two ears peeking out of his silver hair. A pair of white clothes appeared and covered his lean body as he approached the floating body. He was about to use illusion magic to look through the young man’s memories but he felt his skin crawl at the thought and changed his mind.

The unconscious man was Ira and it was unknown what caused him to pass out after his body was active not too long ago.

“Come out.” The man said and two people with fox ears on their head appeared behind him. They were a race known as the Vulpes and the androgynous man in front of them was more or less one of their ancestors.

“Take him to the town of the humans and leave him there,” He said.

“...As you wish, Ancestor.” A male Vulpes answered.

“You’re wondering why? Surely you can even feel that he isn’t normal. He can help the humans in their endeavors without being connected to us.” The man spoke softly.

The two Vulpes nodded before lifting Ira and walking through a forest with him while under the watch of their ancestor who couldn’t help but sigh.

Honestly, if he were to look into Ira’s mind he would realize he wasn’t some sort of hero that appeared out of nowhere but rather a monster with a propensity for brutality.

…

A few hours ago. Ira One could see that the repair on Ira’s mind ran into some unexpected complications so he could only think of one solution.

He looked over his shoulders as he made his way to a remote corner of the city and ducked into a tunnel. After crawling through for a few minutes he arrived in a hall that led to a rusted iron door.

He took a deep breath before opening the door and entering a dim room where Ira appeared to be asleep.

“We’ve had a few...problems, Ira.” Ira One confessed which caused Ira’s eyes to open.

“What?” Ira was clearly confused and all he could remember was his mind telling him to rest for a while.

“We were trying to repair your mind...but we’ve uh...Listen, it was a bit overdone.” Ira One answered.

“How long?” Ira asked as he sat up.

“Huh?”

“How long has it been?” Ira repeated in a groggy voice.

“A little over a month.” Ira One answered but immediately regretted even speaking.

Ira stared at him with an indifferent gaze that illustrated his complete and utter displeasure with the situation. In one month Raveria could learn new things and he wouldn’t be able to witness all of them. To say Ira was angry was an understatement as there was no way to describe how much he loved his daughter.

“...I’ll just get rid of you. Even if you aren’t real I think I’ll feel better if I just kill all of you.” Ira stood up from the bed and approached Ira One with a clear intent.

…

After an hour of finding and killing parts of himself, Ira was walking around an empty town that felt like a maze. Why was it empty? It was most likely due to Ira’s slaughter of those who resembled him.

“You said you’ll fix it if I got rid of Siegfried. I did my part...So why is it that I woke up to this?” Ira suddenly appeared in front of a small hut and reached inside of it before pulling a clone of himself out.

“Hold on, Ira. Hear me out, you’re going to love this. So what if, just listen, you don’t kill me and just let me go. Honestly, I’m not really sure how I got here so…” The copy of Ira rambled on but the Ira broke his neck before he turned into strands of black mist.

Ira opened his mouth and consumed the black mist before continuing on. It would seem like he was cannibalizing his own mind but he was essentially fixing it. Well, maybe eating parts of your consciousness wasn’t technically fixing anything but it didn’t have any obvious negative effects.

Ira spat on the ground as if he was suffering from a bitter aftertaste. He realized it had quite some time since he disappeared and his daughter was probably wondering about him.

An Ira was strolling through the empty streets while whistling nonchalantly when Ira spotted him.

“Hey. Come here.” Ira said as he narrowed his eyes.

“Woah, man. Easy does it.” The casual Ira shrugged as he walked over. He pulled a mug filled with pastries out of thin air and began to drink it.

“Where are the rest?” Ira asked.

“Calm down, Ira. Just relax, take a breath, eat a pastry. Enjoy life.” The easygoing Ira said as a chair appeared beneath him and he sat down.

“You’re right.” Ira suddenly nodded.

The easygoing Ira handed over the mug of pastries and Ira had a few before taking a breath.

“Thanks, I needed that.” Ira smiled.

“No problem.” Easygoing Ira nodded.

All of a sudden, Ira thrust his hand into the heart of laidback Ira.

“...Not cool, Ira.” He complained as he faded into mist.

Ira’s anger was increasing rapidly before he was hit with an idea. He inhaled deeply before clapping.

The scenery shifted and he stood in front of the few dozen remaining Iras stood in front of the real one.

“This makes it easy!” Ira’s eyes widened in surprise before he began to laugh.

A black hole appeared behind him and all of the Iras began to fly into it in droves. Ira Six watched on with an expression that showed he was resigned to his fate until defiance appeared in his eyes. He waved his hands and two black crystals appeared in them while he smiled at the real Ira.

“If I get destroyed, it’ll mess with your locational sensory, Ira. It’ll make it harder for you to get back!” Ira Six shouted.

Ira didn’t even react and just shrugged, “I’ll get it back.”

Ira Six lamented as he realized there was no chance of Ira taking a bargain while being threatened to do so. He was sucked into the black hole along with all the other Iras while holding onto the crystals.

Once all of the extras were gone, only Ira remained standing in an endless expanse of white. Ira closed his eyes and readjusted to the removal of certain parts of his mind. A shadow appeared beneath his feet and began to writhe while producing traces of black mist.

“What is death?” The shadow asked Ira.

“Inevitable for those who aren’t strong enough.”

“Why do you kill others?”

“It’s the natural way of the world. The lives I take won’t interrupt the process that’s already been established.”

“If that’s true then what of good and evil or ethics and morality? Surely killing when you could spare others is a despicable act.”

“As far as I’m concerned if people were really good, just, and fair they’d kill themselves to make sure they couldn’t harm anyone else. If it isn’t them who takes another life then maybe one of their descendants will. All those conventions can’t be preserved if someone stronger wishes to ignore them. ”

“I see…”

The two remained silent for a while before the shadow decided to ask one final question.

“What is reality, Ira?”

Ira opened his eyes and laughed before answering, “In the end, it’s just a word.”

Ira’s shadow seemed satisfied while Ira himself appeared as if he had gathered his bearings. The turmoil in his head had died down considerably and all that was left was to enter the outside world.