Chapter 1 – Let’s Walk
Arcacia was panting with exhaustion and pain. Giving birth always hurt her. It always hurt physically, mentally, and emotionally because of him. But this time, the pain was only physical.“Strength, love,” Beud, her consort, said, gently resting his head on hers to remind her that he was with her. It made her smile between the countless sighs of exhaustion, pain, and memories.She steeled her will because of Beud’s support, and with one last strong push she laid an egg. The egg was gray, fresh, still a little sticky, but hard and intact. It was covered in scales like a true armor while at the same time being a recognizable characteristic of its species.She tilted her head to see the egg beneath her. Perfect, she was relieved, finally resting. Beud’s two other heads rested against Arcacia, giving her even more comfort and relief.“Well done, Arcacia,” Visena said. “Well done, my friend.”Visena, the other and first of Beud’s two consorts, approached. A beautiful and powerful green female dragon with pure yellow eyes. He walked over to join them.“Are you okay, my dear?” Beud asked, concerned. She was more exhausted than he had expected. “What can I do?”“You’ve done everything for me,” Arcacia said wearily. “You’ve given me joy in life again.”“You’re exaggerating,” he said.“She’s not,” Visena replied. “For the first time in our lives, we can give birth to offspring we love. You didn’t just save us, Beud. You reminded us what true love is. And what beautiful lives can come from it.”For dragons like Arcacia and Visena, giving birth to offspring was a nightmare. They had been present at “Dragocide,” a massive dragon massacre led by the most violent of their own kind, Gralgor. With only size, fire, and strength, the Winged Death challenged the world, and won. When others of his own race came to participate in this immense conquest, some willingly and others forced, Gralgor showed that he shared no sympathy or affinity for anyone other than himself. Even though he was a dragon, he conquered the continent not for the dragons, but for himself. Hundreds of the winged beasts fought the Beast, but almost all were slaughtered by the claws, teeth and fury of the End of the World.The ones who survived fled, but two were captured: Arcacia and Visena. Both were tortured and abused by Gralgor to bear his offspring. Having only each other’s trust and faith in that terrible moment, they both swore to step on and destroy the eggs laid by the other, so that they would not feel the guilt of killing their own children and preventing that monster from having descendants.For years it was like this, and none of Gralgor’s offspring remained intact to hatch from the egg and breathe. The monster then decided to separate them, keeping Visena where she was, and taking Arcacia to another place. Even alone, Visena’s hatred for the monster was so great that it gave her the courage to destroy the eggs she had laid herself. After Gralgor was killed by the legendary duo Otes Abiak and his dragon Beud, Visena was found and rescued. Unlike before, she was treated with respect, affection and care, few examples of the many qualities with which Beud treated people. Shortly after, Arcacia was found in a fortress to the north, built on the base and inside the Warm Mountains. Confused and broken, she was brought to the safety of Otesis, where she was reunited with her friend and was well cared for and restored to health. Of all of them, Beud was the one who dedicated himself the most to helping them, as he was disgusted that a being of his own kind would be capable of doing something like what Gralgor did to those two.Even with all the violence, trauma and abuse suffered, Beud’s kindness and genuine goodness helped them heal from these brutal wounds. He transmitted simple security, comfort and well-being just by his presence; the kind of person who makes you sad to see him go, even knowing that he will return soon. With their bodies revitalized, and their minds healing after years of mistreatment, mainly due to Beud’s continuous support and care, Visena and Arcacia became the consorts of Otes’ dragon. And the dragon granted his two companions nothing less than the immense love that one is capable of feeling for another. The love of a family. Arcacia was a beautiful and slender young female dragon, just like Visena. But, unlike her green friend with yellow eyes, she was red with green eyes. And the more sentimental of the two. The red one laid her entire body down, with her neck wrapping around the egg she had just laid; a gentle smile formed as she rested her head on her offspring. “I’m happy for you, my friend,” Visena said, genuinely. “This is just an egg,” Arcacia replied without even opening her eyes; It was as if she wanted to start dreaming about that being that had not even been born yet. “You have already given birth to two, Visena. I saw you give birth to the second one myself, and with such ease and effortlessness. I wish I was as strong as you.”“No. You are stronger,” Visena affirms. “You were rescued two years after me. You were at the mercy of that monster’s minions. So tormented that you can barely remember your time in that fortress. Any more and your body would not have the strength to keep you alive.”Arcacia opened her eyes and raised her head slightly to look at her companion, for her words of consideration had struck her.“Visena…” she was saying, moved.“Don’t strain yourself,” Visena said. “Rest. Live. Enjoy this moment. Because you were strong enough to reach it.”“I will be here for whatever you need, my dear,” Beud said, gently bringing his three heads closer to Arcacia again.“No,” Visena interrupted him. “You will not.”Before their faces could change to one of awkward doubt, Visena continued, “Your friend, Beud, has been gone
Prologue – A Dream
There once was a dream. A dream that people who had never met before shared. For this to be possible, only by experiencing the same nightmare. This nightmare had a name. Gralgor. Not just one, but many. The Winged Death, Rage Incarnate, Evil In Scales, Doom From Above, Ruin of Life, Black Devastation, The Last Fire, Burner of All, The Beast, The First Calamity, The End of the World. The number of its names grew along with its fame. That thing was more than a dragon, it was a punishment, as soothsayers said all over the world. It killed, destroyed and burned without distinction. Good. Bad. For Gralgor, there were only victims. That is until there were servants. The Beast began to see value in the existing and potential tyranny wherever it went. The dragon seemed to have an incredible and arrogant sympathy for the oppression that beings he considered inferior were capable of carrying out against beings even more inferior. Gralgor’s disgust for the wretched was so great that he felt no motivation to even blow a spark of his fire to incinerate them, or even move his colossal paws to crush them like vermin. No, the suffering and despair of those who were already slaves did not amuse or delight him. There was no pleasure in taking the lives of those who did not even have one. Thus, Gralgor preferred to allow the existence of tyrannies that exploited and removed the pleasure of life from the lives he would no longer take pleasure in taking. Devotion and tributes. Everything that Gralgor asked of those who remained governing due to his benevolence. Whether with statues, monuments, temples and prayers, they paid their devotion. Whether with gold, jewels or slaves, they paid the tributes. All in exchange for not having their empires that took years to build, destroyed in a few days. The continent was then taken over by corruption, cruelty, violence, ambition and tyranny. Gralgor took possession of the region of Swormundí, in the center of Eredwyn. A flat region of vast green fields, now obscured by the presence of the Beast and his fanatical followers. Because it was located in the center of the continent, Gralgor kept its territory close to all the governments that owed it money, moving an immense amount of resources and people to the core, like a true funnel that unified and monopolized everything on the edges. False devotion and forced payments. This was how the tyrants supported by the dragon kept their governments and themselves alive. Always keeping their proud heads low, for they were afraid to look up and see nothing but the dragonfire that would extinguish their ambitions for great conquests. Through strength and fear, Gralgor brought the greatest names on the continent to their knees, and kept them that way throughout his life. All these tyrants who had their plans and ambitions curbed would be known as “Successors”. In the south, there was Maliris. The oldest, at least among those born in Eredwyn, of the tyrants conquered and allowed to continue existing by the First Calamity. His government was the Dranate, which he ruled with his descendants generated and multiplied over 300 years. Dranis, they called themself; all who had the blood of Maliris in their veins. Being an elf, Maliris tolerated the elves in his Dranate, but only Dranis were true citizens with rights and true freedom. Any other race and individual who was part of them and did not demonstrate great usefulness was promptly enslaved and assigned to carry out the activity that their drani master found most necessary. Through 3 centuries, countless descendants, and blood supremacy, Maliris made the Dranate the largest empire in Eredwyn. In the east, it was the domain of Golenat. One of the two Successors who were not born in Eredwyn. He was an Interegor, a being born from the essence and will of a god, in his case, the god Horblash, The Peacemaker and The Ruler. Horblash was not even a god of the planet Eredwyn, in fact being one of the Profane Universal Gods, with reach and influence throughout the universe. Golenat was brought to the planet by Maliris to help him against an enemy which the king of the drani was having great difficulty in overcoming. The Interegor and his allies were the leader of the Dranate, but not beyond that enemy. After the victory, Golenat took the newly conquered territory for himself, reaching a stalemate where Maliris or even Golenat himself were able to defeat each other without great losses. In this way, Golenat established itself in eastern Eredwyn as a profane kingdom where cruelty, malice and wickedness are more than valued, they are rewarded. This union of different beings, mortals and immortals, servants and devotees of malice and cruelty became known as the Unholy Alliance. In the northeast, there was Hanadon. Along with Golenat, Hanadon was not native to the planet, nor even to that Plane of Existence. Being a member of the spiritual race of the Oni, Hanadon warred against the natives of the isolated region of Desoria. Despite the number and strength of his race, born of the spirit Rekonitar, The Great Arm, the oni were the monsters hunted and massacred in the region; that is, until the arrival of the Winged Death. Gralgor turned the tables on Desoria, making the oni the dominant ones in the region, now hunting and enslaving the mortal races that lived there. Being the strongest of his kind at that time, the dragon placed him in command. Since then, the oni ruled Desoria with great strength and hatred for those who hunted them and who were now oppressed by them. Without the mortals of Desoria to contain the oni population, the day would come when these monsters could no longer fit in the isolated region alone. In the north, Voligar emerged. In the icy region of Joturn, the giant Voligar was not allowed to continue ruling by the dragon,