Shades of the New World

Chapter 157: Perdrakar

Evin remembered how before the mad dragon Perdrakar laid waste to the South and the Heroes had gathered to slay him, the people would often joke about the Princess' name, guessing at its origins, most of the being just borderline childish insults. 

But when she thought about it a bit deeply, it wasn't hard to guess why. The Free Country of Von was lodged between the three biggest countries of that time: The Holy Land of Sun, The Hexmagi Alliance, and the Nosk Triumvirate. Obviously, most would think its existence a joke, one which only lived on thanks to the grace and mercy of the three giants. But deep inside they all felt it was only a matter of time before one of the big countries decided to colonize it into their own. 

And truly, there were attempts. The Hexmagi alliance sent one of its new Oathbound Slave armies to test the waters against the small country of Von, but mysteriously, their army disappeared right before it was able to reach the outskirts of the borders of Von.

Everyone was confused, but they reasoned that the Princess of Denial had moved herself to take care of the threat. Even though everyone made jokes of her, they knew she was still one of the Fourteen Heroes of the World. It wasn't that difficult for a Hex of that power to wipe out a small army. Especially one made of mindless slaves.

But instead of feeling awe, everyone thought it a big joke. That one of the great legendary Heroes had to act personally against a mere army of slaves. Moreover, the country of Von didn't demand any explanation for the attempted invasion, nor requested the Hexmagi Alliance to offer a political apology. The situation turned into an even greater joke.

The public didn't give it much thought afterwards, but the surrounding Empires still acted against her occasionally. Each time, they would send a stronger army, but none were able to survive to tell the tale. They would just disappear into thin air, as if they never existed in the first place. Even the ones accompanied by powerful Magi and Hexes, which had top-tier life-saving artifacts and other Divine instruments disappeared without exception.

At this point, the mocking voices against the country became silent. None was able to understand how and why these armies kept disappearing. Fear grasped the hearts of the other residents, as they urged their leaders to stop prodding this mysterious country. The armies of slaves and cannon fodder were thinning after all. If this continued, their own men and brothers would be forced to attack this mysterious foe. The leaders of the three Empires agreed and decided that it was probably best to keep the Princess unbothered in her realm. 

That was almost fifty years ago. At that point, Evin was still running around the Alliance's lands, trying to fulfill her master's orders and tasks. She heard the stories then, but she was a bit too busy to care. She even scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all.

'Oh, how I was wrong...'

If she had known about what would happen in the future, she would have begged at Von's gates to let her become their citizen. 

'And all this... because of some fucking dragon who couldn't take his human mate dying normally. There was absolutely zero reason for him to go crazy' Evin thought annoyedly.

Forty years ago, the dragon Perdrakar's human mate died of old age, putting the great being into great anguish. Evin really wasn't sure if he was truly anguished, or if he was just enjoying the attention from others. 

The dragon was, after all, widely famed for his love for attention and vanity. He declared everything he did to the World and would occasionally fly all over the world in his pure white dragon-form, he was like the biggest celebrity of Alvox. 

'The Dragon of Extinguishing Light, Perdrakar. Revered and hated by all'

Most of the time, dragons lived an extremely low-key lifestyle, with almost all of them always assuming some kind of human form and either living silently in some city, or cave, or whatever. 

Only Perdrakar and the Sage Dragon, who was the leader of the Hexmagi Alliance, bothered to mingle with human society. 

In any case, after his lover's death, even the leaders of the countries offered him tributes, expressing their sadness at the unfortunate event. Even though the dragon was a hassle to deal with, it wasn't a bad thing to get in his good books.

But for some reason, Perdrakar declared that the world was at fault for his World's death, and nothing in life had meaning anymore. He would rather just destroy everything. He then declared that he would wait for the Fourteen heroes at the Southern wastelands and if they didn't come to slay him, he would begin his bloody conquest starting from the smaller countries. It was quite obvious that he was just relishing the attention at this point. Perhaps he wanted to see the most powerful members of humanity kneeling at his feet, begging him to stop this madness.

Well, Perdrakar would have never guessed that the Fourteen heroes, lead by the Sage Dragon, would actually gather with the intention of killing him. Supposedly the Sage Dragon decided that someone so powerful, yet so unstable wasn't worth keeping alive due to the risk.

But the problem was, Perdrakar was actually strong enough to back his high-profile lifestyle. Noticing the group's intent, he locked the Sage Dragon down without caring for the damage done to his body, and breathed out his signature Extinction beam on his kin's face.

Obviously, the Sage dragon didn't take this silently, and harmed Perdrakar greatly, but was still killed due to the other's absolute attack. After that, a grueling battle between him and the heroes occured.

At his last breath, Perdrakar burned the entirety of his soul, and breathed out his strongest attack towards the Fourteen heroes in the widest angle he could manage. The heroes obviously dodged away, but the wasteland wasn't quite able to and was divided into countless islands, some big, and some small. 

This legendary battlefield was etched into the hearts of every citizen in the World, reminding them of the powers of dragons. 

But it also became the trigger for something more sinister. 

With the two dragons at the helm of the World, keeping everyone else in check, the World was relatively peaceful. But without them, the greed and ambitions of humans began to flood out. 

The Holy Land of the Sun denounced every country who didn't follow its religion, and began to convert the smaller countries around it into worshipping their god-king, Akkadi. Supposedly the Hero of Sun's power came from the belief and sacrifice they offered to him, turning him into the almost uncontested strongest Hero of the World.

The Nosk Triumvirate then began to rapidly swallow up its surrounding smaller countries, quickly turning into an Empire.

Without the Sage Dragon's interference, the Hexmagi Alliance became more and more daring with their ideas, eventually perfecting their slave chains called Oaths. Now, every new mage was forced to pledge their loyalty to the Alliance by the Oath Stamp. Even the slightest intent of rebellion was quenched by the monsters that resided in their hearts.

Eventually, big conflicts began to occur everywhere, and a crimson tide washed over the world.