Chapter 23 - The World stirs

Some time after the fall of the great city of Numan and the death of duke Bourdain, for chaos started to erupt in the Fori Kingdom. The people living in the western territory, owned by the Bourdain family, are fleeing towards the other parts of the kingdom in fear. The cause is the descent of the evil god Dasas and his army destroying everything in their path.

The royal capital city of Hogsmeade is hit the hardest as most of the refugees come here seeking sanctuary and protection in the great cathedral worshiping the goddess Lana. The great cathedral is also home of the saintess Anita Sarkeesian. She is the servant of the goddess and is considered the world’s strongest warrior. The saintess also possesses healing magic of the light element and is the only human capable of such a feat.

Panic is rampant within the royal court of Fori kingdom as nobles try to find a solution against the evil god and his horde. In the throne room the king and queen are present overseeing the nobles as they squabble. They try to find a way to solve this predicament. Then a loud yell from a royal knight echoed throughout the throne room silencing the crowd.

“The champion of the goddess Lana, Dominic, has requested an audience with his majesty king Theodore Nicholas IV!!” –Royal knight

Shock and questioning looks are on the faces of the noble crowd present within the throne room. Then the light of hope appears in their eyes right after.

“He may enter!” –King Nicholas

The large double doors of the throne room open as a bald headed man with light white skin enters with a look of disdain. The man strides across the royal red carpet with great confidence and his most striking features are his two arms. The two arms with one colored red and the other blue are giving off a metallic sheen emanating magic power visible to the eye. When one looks closely at the arms they notice it is not armor but prosthetic limbs.

The man Dominic stops before the double seated throne with the king and queen looking down upon him. A wrinkled old man with his thin tall body wearing a luxurious robe standing near the throne has an angry expression on. He is the head royal minister and takes orders directly from the royal family as he started to yell at Dominic.

“How dare you not kneel before his majesty the king and queen!!” –Head minister

“Keh! I will not kneel to a god much less a mortal king.” –Dominic

“Blashemy! Such behavior towards his majesty! Guards arrest him!” –Head minister

The royal knights within the throne room readied their weapons and attack Dominic on the orders of the head minister. As the knights got close to Dominic a loud whip sound appeared and then the throne room started to rain red with pieces of human flesh.

Screams of horror reverberated within the throne room as everyone noticed a long whip of fire coming from the red colored left arm of Dominic. The fear stricken king having blood splashed onto his face is about to faint as the nobles prepared to run away.

However, the agitated crowd calmed down as the queen Cecilia Nicholas with a small smile on her face spoke with no hint of fear.

“A fine display of power. As expected from the hero chosen by our goddess Lana.” –Cecilia

“I’m no hero. I tread the path of a god slayer. The flames of revenge burns within my soul.” –Dominic

“Ara ara. I take it you wish to slay the evil god? Very well then god slayer Dominic!” –Cecilia

“The man Dominic is dead. He was a weak man that couldn’t protect his family and friends. I am Asura!! -Asura

“Good! What is your wish god slayer Asura!” –Cecilia

“I only want to know when you all decide to move against the evil god. As I want to join in.” –Asura

“That can be arranged. I will assemble an army of 50,000 strong to retake the western territory. The royal capital will be exposed to invasion if that territory is lost. I can have you lead them as it will be great for morale.” –Cecilia

“An army of ants is useless against a large leather boot. Anyway, when preparations are ready I will lend my power to your army. You can reach me at the great cathedral till then.” –Asura

The man Asura with a fierce expression on his face turns around and started to walk out of the throne room. He spewed curses along the way.

“Evil god I shall have your head!! I will place your head on a pike and put it on top of the highest mountain for all the heavens to see!!” -Asura

“I guess we can rest our hopes on this man.” –Cecilia

Everyone within the throne room was stunned at what transpired but then excitement started to color their faces. All the nobles started to chatter and they help to spread rumors of Asura around the Fori kingdom bringing hope to the people.

+++

The great cathedral situated in the center of the royal capital is overflowing with patrons as they seek salvation from the goddess Lana. In a large white room within the cathedral that only the saintess Anita Sarkeesian is allowed to enter, there is a throne made of white marble. On this throne is the goddess Lana with an expression of joy on her face.

“I finally have a game piece ready and the war game will officially begin.” –Lana

“…………….” –Anita

“What is with that look my valkyrie?” –Lana

“My goddess, I’m just curious as to why that man was chosen to be your champion.” –Anita

“Hohoho. It’s very simple my dear valkyrie. A man that has lost everything and only lives for revenge is very strong.” –Lana

The goddess Lana then stands up from her marble throne and takes a few steps around the room in an excited manner. Then she started to wave around her hands.

“I love watching mortals fight and struggle. It’s so beautiful. So noble. Peace is a disease that I never wish upon these mortals. Hahahaha!” –Lana

“This world belongs to you my great goddess. The mortals are for you to do as you please.” –Anita

“That is where you are wrong. This world belongs to both Dasas and me. I am such a good woman to think of her man.” -Lana

“If it is what you believe my goddess then it must be so.” –Anita

“I am sharing faith energy with him. I let the humans call him the evil god. Everyone wants an enemy they can curse at.” –Lana

The goddess Lana started to hug herself and twist her body as a sadistic smile forms on her face.

“A man is no good unless a woman has a leash on him after all. I wonder if this is what the mortals call love.” –Lana

The hysterical laughter of a mad woman fills the white room.

+++

As events are happening on Zorya the demons on the continent of Volos started to move. In this desolate land full of chaotic mana running rampant there is a great black citadel. The citadel is called castle black and is said to be home of the previous demon king. He was defeated by the hero over three-hundred years ago.

Inside castle black is a great powerful demon noble as dense magic mist is forming around the room he is in. The magic mist started to condense and shrink into an object.

“Finally the soul reaper scepter is unsealed after more than three-hundred years!!” -???

A long staff colored in black and purple that is pulsating with great power is floating before the demon noble. A staff made from the blood and souls of a thousand noble demons. What appear to be ghosts of the demons sacrificed to create this weapon are flying around the staff wailing in pain and anguish.

“I can finally attain the title of demon king!! Demon king Mordor!! Soon I will lead an army into Zorya to attack and succeed where the previous demon king failed.” -Mordor

On the continent of Volos the demons have created a soul farm where they raise humans as livestock to cull for their souls. However, these soul farms can only produce a limited number of souls to consume and the demon nobles tend to fight over it intensely.

Only demon nobles need to feed upon souls to sustain their power and to gain long lives. The longer a demon noble lives the stronger their power. However, lesser demons do not require eating souls and they are the goblins, orcs, and trolls. Demon nobles are distinguishable from lesser demons as they have horns on their heads to extract the chaotic mana from the land in order use their magic.

“No longer do we demons have to ration the souls we eat. Zorya the land of bounty here we come!! Mwahahaha!!” -Mordor

+++

The events unfolding on the continent of Zorya also reached the residents of the land of Bannik located to the west of Zorya. The continent of Bannik is rough land full of volcanos and canyons with some patches of dense jungle. Very strong magic beasts roam Bannik and no enlightened being has yet to step upon this land.

The strongest magic beasts are the ancient dragons and they rule Bannik with overwhelming might and power. These ancient dragons are powerful and intelligent but they spend most of their time in slumber. Their extremely long lives also mean endless boredom.

Within one of the mountains of Bannik is an extinct volcano and home to a clan of ancient dragons, the red dragons. There are many ancient dragon clans and they are usually separated by color and sometimes by type.

“Elder! Elder!! Big news!!” -???

“To dare and disturb my slumber. What is it Dora?” –Elder

“It seems a lesser dragon from the land of Zorya sighted a crystal dragon!” –Dora

“Is this news true? It’s hard to trust those dimwitted beasts.” –Elder

The red dragon Dora lowered her head and unsure what to say next.

“Crystal dragons are very powerful and it been millions of years since the last one appeared. So why has one appeared now?” –Elder

The red dragon elder being twice the size of the dragon Dora huffs and give a questioning look.

“Maybe a lesser dragon evolved into one.” –Dora

“Evolution is extremely rare. However, that might be the case.” –Elder

“Should we fly to Zorya and enlist this crystal dragon into our clan?” –Dora

“A crystal dragon joining our clan and strengthening our blood will be great. It might even give us the leverage to be able to rule over the other dragon clans.” –Elder

The red dragon Dora then transformed into humanoid form. The appearance is that of a human woman with long straight green hair, light fair skin, purple eyes, and red dragon horns coming out the top of her head.

“I shall travel to Zorya at once.” –Dora

“No Dora. Let the lesser dragons monitor the situation first. Once there is confirmation a crystal dragon truly has appeared then we will move.” –Elder

“I just hope we don’t end up losing out to the other clans if they discover the crystal dragon first.” –Dora

“We will wait.” –Elder

“Yes elder.” –Dora

A frown appears on the pretty human face of Dora. It is easy to tell she is very anxious about the situation and wants to move to Zorya. The word of the elder red dragon is law within the clan. Dora can only wait until the lesser dragons confirm the sighting of the crystal dragon.

+++

Back to Dasas and his gang as they travel with the group of elves through the jungle swamp after they separated from Caster, Assassin, and Rider. The elves avoid traveling along the road as they wish to not have any human contact.

They are traveling on foot as elves can travel at high speed due to the aid of spirit magic. However, Dasas and his crew have no such abilities and can only travel at a slower pace. The elves are forced to slow down to match their speed.

“We going to have to get some mounts or this trip will take forever.” -Dasas