Intermission

For as long as he could remember, he detested bright lights and loud sounds, instead preferring the quiet darkness of a deep cave. Incidentally, this personality quirk was responsible for his nickname – Deep Darkness Dragon Lord.

His love for dark and quiet places even superseded the love of treasures, which was innate to all dragons. He wouldn’t mind getting a nice pile of valuable items to sit on, but in order to gather such a collection of valuables he’d have to deal with some demi-human tribe. Subjugating them first, then having them constantly bring new items to him… the constant nagging would likely drive him mad. As such, he did not rule over any tribes or nations, like most of the other dragons.

Even when the Wild Magic was corrupted by the new magic brought upon the world by some super-powerful insects, his attitude remained the same. While the other Dragon Lords scrambled for control over various demi-humans, in order to be able to use wild magic, he had remained in the cave he had found some time ago. Even without Wild Magic, few Dragon Lords could beat him, and none would be stupid enough to try.

Decades passed.

He was having a nice nap in his cave, when it was interrupted. The ground shook and the sky was filled with explosions. It was unlikely anything he had seen before. He was mad, but he didn’t rush toward the source of the explosions. Rash actions like that were against his personality. Instead, he flew toward the nearest Dragon Lord’s domain.

However, upon his arrival to said dragon’s territory all he could see was devastation. The city the Dragon Lord presided over was burned down, with many sections completely blown apart and reduced to rubble. The master of the city was also nowhere to be found.

His interest piqued, he traveled to meet the other Dragon Lords, whose location he knew. He didn’t have much luck finding any of them either. Their territories were destroyed and their presence unknown. It took nearly a month before he had finally run into one of his kind – the Magma Dragon Lord.

The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord learned that the ruckus had been caused by a group of powerful humans. He was surprised, these powerful humans had emerged a century ago, why did they start fighting now? However, the Magma Dragon Lord told him that this was a new group of powerful humans, and that all of the members of the previous group had died. The Magma Dragon Lord further explained the these new groups had been hunting dragons for several years now. Fed up with being prey, the Dragon Lords decided to put their past grievances behind them and to ally, in order to defeat the newcomers.

The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord was confused by their decision. The newcomer insects were quite powerful, so why confront them when you could just take a quick nap, and when you woke up the insects would all be dead? He declined the proposal of joining the dragon’s alliance, and instead complained that the noise from the battle has made his favorite cave too loud to sleep in.

The Magma Dragon Lord laughed at his reply. He was familiar with the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord and his quirky personality, so, he told him of a great cave in the mountains to the north. It was extremely deep, and served as one of several homes for the Magma Dragon Lord. According to him, the noise of the battle couldn’t be heard there.

The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord thanked the other dragon, and flew north. However, before he could reach the mountains, a large battle began ahead of his path. He could see a bunch of small figures fighting several dragons. Unwilling to get caught up in their skirmish, he decided to look for a shelter, before he was spotted.

Luckily, he quickly spotted a cave entrance in the forest he was flying over. He descended and entered the cave. It was huge, without an end in sight. He made his way deeper and deeper, until the noises from the battle were all gone.

There, he had made his lair and decided to take a quick nap, fully believing that by the time he wakes up the loud insects would all be dead. His idea of a quick nap though would only make sense to an old dragon.

Two centuries passed, when his sleep was once again interrupted. It wasn’t the loud noises and shaking ground like before, instead it was because he sensed the presence of someone else. Soon, a light came into his view, it was slowly descending toward him. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust his vision.

A human with a torch in his hand was moving toward him. His appearances surprised the dragon. Why would a human go so far down into this cave? He thought. But, there was no time for him to think of a reason, the human came close enough and the dragon’s frame was now in the torch’s light sphere

Annoyed by the light as well as his interrupted sleep he growled. However, the human seemed oblivious to the obvious threat in front of him. Instead he began to talk excitedly about his luck and how he couldn’t believe he found an actual dragon as well as some other gibberish that only angered the dragon more.

The man was still babbling on and on, when the dragon froze – his senses screamed at him like they never did before. This human was wearing extremely valuable equipment – far superior to anything the dragon had ever seen. As he focused his senses he realized something. Amongst the valuable items the human wore, there was one which was beyond everything else. Looking at it was like looking at the sun.

He made his decision immediately. The human was still yapping away about “unique flying mount” or something like that when the dragon used [Dragon Breath] to attack. [Dragon Breath] was an innate ability that all dragons possessed. Its effects would depend on the nature of the dragon. Frost dragons would have [Icy Breath] capable of freezing its target it dealt cold damage, while fire dragons would have [Fire Breath] dealing fire damage and able to burn down its target. The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord’s [Dragon Breath] was his ace, it was this ability which allowed him to stand above most other dragons.

The human didn’t seem to be concerned. He took the attack head on and just laughed, proclaiming that naturally he would have to tame his new mount. It wasn’t until he tried to attack, and had his sword bounce off of the dragon’s hide that his confidence was replaced by confusion.

The dragon disregarded the man’s condition, and attacked at full force. It was a one-sided battle. After a few minutes the human fell, and the dragon got his hands on the amazing item. It was a statue, about one foot high, made out of some strange stone. The statue depicted a humanoid being with a bird’s head, dressed in a robe. The figure’s six arms were in front of it, holding up a large gem.

The dragon looked at the figurine, but couldn’t quite tell what it was for or how to use it. His inability to understand how to use the item made him mad. I should have kept him alive, he thought about the dead human. It was too late for that though. He grabbed the other equipment the man was wearing and wondered what to do next.

After a while, he decided to venture outside to find someone who could help him figure out how to use the figurine. And so, he left his cave and once again began to search for other Dragon Lords.

This time, his luck was even worse than before, he couldn’t find any dragons no matter how long he searched. Several years later, he had almost given up when he saw something unusual – a flying island. Curious, he approached the flying island. There was a castle which took up most of the space. He landed at the entrance and went inside. He found himself in a huge hall – the ceiling was covered in an intricate golden pattern and there were several stone statues in the alcoves along the walls. However, the dust and the cobwebs made it clear that no one took care of this place.

He was still looking around when a noise came from the opposite end of the hall. Startled, he looked at its source only to find a dragon making his way over.

“Oh, I didn’t expect my luck to turn around like that. To think I would find one of my kind here,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord spoke.

“I am just as surprised to see you here. This isn’t exactly a dark cave,” the newcomer said.

“That’s for sure,” he chuckled. “I recently found a curious item, and wanted to find someone to help me understand how it works. But, I couldn’t find any dragons.”

“You have been asleep all this time, haven’t you? Figures,” the Platinum Dragon Lord shook his head. “Most of the Dragon Lords had been killed by the Eight.. by the humans who came to this world two hundred years ago.”

“Seriously? No wonder I couldn’t find any of them.”

“Yes, there is only a few of us left,” the Platinum Dragon Lord said with a sadness in his voice. “Those humans were really powerful.”

“Powerful humans? The world sure has changed. Hm, the item I mentioned also came from a human, though he wasn’t powerful.”

“You’ve run into a human with a powerful item?” The Platinum Dragon Lord asked. “Interesting, a powerful minotaur with a quirky personality had also recently appeared in the Minotaur Nation,” he mumbled.

“So, um, can you help me with this item?”

“Is it the one on your paw? I might have an idea of what it is.”

“Yes, it’s this one,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord lifted his front-left paw and shook the statue which hung from a chain that was wrapped around the paw.

“It’s likely the most powerful among the items in this world. I don’t imagine you want to trade it?”

“Of course not.”

“In that case, how about this, I’ll help you learn what this item is and how to use it, but in exchange you’ll do something for me.”

“And what is it you want me to do for you?”

“Should such a time come, I will call upon you to fight by my side,” the Platinum Dragon Lord replied.

“Fight who? You know I don’t like loud noises,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord shook his head, just thinking about fighting made him feel annoyed.

“The world has changed, old friend. The Wild Magic being corrupted was just the first sign. New, powerful beings some time come to this world. I know you care little for such things, but there might come a time when even your peace and quiet are threatened by these newcomers. Wouldn’t you prefer to fight by my side instead of alone?”

“Newcomers, eh? But, why should I fight them? A quick nap later and they are already dead. Besides, no one will find my next lair,” he chuckled.

“I won’t call upon you if that’s the case. I will only ask for your aid if the situation calls for it.”

“Fine. But if I don’t share your assessment of the situation, I won’t help. Anyway, how will you help me with this item?”

“Stay here, I need to get something.”

The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord was left alone. In boredom he examined the hall again, poking at the stone walls to see how strong they were. About ten minutes later the Platinum Dragon Lord returned. In his paw he held a small wooden wand with a blue crystal at the tip.

“You don’t know this, but the humans who came three hundred years ago had introduced a new magic, that anyone can use. Among the spells of this new magic is [Appraisal Magic Item.] However, this lower versions of the spell, doesn’t work on the powerful items. It will only tell you part of the description, leaving the other parts as gibberish. I will use this wand to cast the superior [All Appraisal Magic Item.]” The Platinum Dragon Lord explained.

He pointed the wand at the figurine and activated the item. As the information flowed into his mind, his eyes went wide.

“Well? Tell me what you’ve learned,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord demanded excitedly after seeing the other’s reaction.

“This item, you shouldn’t… no, perhaps it is best kept in your possession,” the Platinum Dragon Lord said slowly, before explaining what he had learned about the item.

“Are you sure your spell worked correctly? It’s hard to believe an item like that can exist,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord said.

“I am afraid there is no mistake.”

“Hmm, alright. I understand why that human didn’t use it during our fight. It’s not really a trump card.”

“Indeed. You must take care and safeguard it. Then, where will you head now?”

“There is supposed to be an excellent cave deep inside the mountains to the north. I’ll make my lair there. Find me there if you need my help,” the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord replied.

He left the flying castle and flew north. Every now and then he would cast a glance the the figurine hanging from the chain on his front paw. What a fitting name for this terrible item, [World’s End], he thought.

He made his way to the mountains without any incidents and entered the cave. There, he followed the directions he had gotten from the Magma Dragon Lord all those years ago, to get to the ridge and descend to its lowest level.

On the bottom he found a nice cave that was far enough from the lava that the light could be barely seen. He stretched his body in satisfaction – finally, a nice, dark, quiet place to sleep. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

Two and a half years ago

The cave was nice and dark, just the way he liked it. In the distance, the flowing lava colored the surrounding in a red light. However, his sleep had been disturbed by a rather unusual noise. Dragon’s were very sensitive to their surroundings, even asleep he could sense something was off.

It felt like something fell into the ridge, he thought. It was a pretty common occurrence, as the Quagoa and Dwarfs would periodically fall into the chasm from the bridge. Still, mindful of the powerful itemin his possession, he would always check out the source of the noise. He walked from the cave toward the light of the flowing lava. As he came closer, he could see quite a few freshly smashed bodies of Quagoas. However, his eyes were attracted to the two unusual bodies – they looked like wrotten corpses, clad in dark armor with a red vein-like pattern, covered in thorns. Two demonic horns protruded from the helmet.

Hmm, these are definitely not Dwarfs or Quaogas. And, how did they remain intact? If a rotten corpse fell down here, it would definitely break apart on impact. Could they be undead? Though it still wouldn’t explain why the bodies remained intact. And what would undead be doing here? He wondered, looking upwards. However, the ridge was extremely deep, looking up from the bottom, he couldn’t see anything. He stood still and listened, but no sound came.

Hmm, should I go to check it out? No, I need to protect this item, he shook his head. He returned to his cave and once again took a nap.

I’ll wait for you here, old friend.

 

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