"She's safe now," Beatrice said calmly, folding her wings as she looked at Ashley, who was slowly regaining her strength. Her divine glow had not returned, but her breathing was steady, and the black corruption was gone.
Alex exhaled deeply. "Thank the heavens…"
But Beatrice turned, sharp eyes resting on him. "Now, human… you were asking about the Evil God, right?"
Alex sat up straighter. "Yeah. What is it? Who is it?"
Beatrice nodded, then transformed. Her enormous dragon form shrank, bones twisting, scales folding—until before them stood a tall woman with wild hair, dark skin, and piercing golden eyes. Her cloak still billowed like wings.
She crossed her arms. "Long ago, there was only one goddess. The Goddess of Light."
Ashley, still lying on the stone bed, slowly turned her head toward them. Her eyes were dull, but she was listening.
"Back then," Beatrice continued, "creatures weren't at war with humans. In fact, we were allies. We traded. We shared stories. I still remember visiting elven markets, eating fruit dragons aren't even supposed to eat." She smiled faintly.
The healer boy was nearby, sipping something from a floating cup, watching nervously.
Beatrice gestured at him.
"Can you believe this lazy brat is the current Demon King?" she said with a snort. "He sleeps all day. Doesn't train. Doesn't care. I keep visiting just to bully him and remind him who's stronger."
"Hey!" the boy coughed. "Why are you roasting me in front of guests?"
"Because you deserve it." She looked back at Alex. "But anyway... yes, the Evil God."
Her expression darkened.
"I don't remember when exactly… I was still a child. But my father and mother, they were respected dragons—leaders of our kind. They were friends with humans, elves, dwarfs… even angels."
Alex leaned in. Ashley was fully alert now, her hands trembling slightly as she listened.
"Every fifty years, the world held a Gathering," Beatrice said. "All races, from every corner of the continent, came together for one week. They shared knowledge, discussed peace, and renewed their oaths of harmony."
She clenched her fists.
"But that all ended... the day something came from beyond. Something ancient. Something corrupted. A being that once ruled the stars—a forgotten god—returned from the Void Beyond."
Ashley's breath caught.
Beatrice's voice lowered.
"That god didn't speak. It didn't explain. It just corrupted."
Flashes of memory…
A sky splitting open above the Gathering.
A sea of darkness pouring from the rift like blood from a wound.
Creatures screaming.
Elves turning into beasts. Humans into husks.
The gods who attended—lesser ones—vanished in an instant. As if their divinity was consumed.
Beatrice, just a young dragon, remembered seeing her father soar into the storm.
She remembered her mother's last words—"Stay behind the mountain. If we don't return, never fly east."
She remembered the way light bent around the Evil God, as if the world itself refused to show him clearly.
She remembered how her father burned with divine fire—then crumbled to ash in a single touch.
---
"My parents gave everything they had," Beatrice whispered. "But they couldn't defeat him. No one could."
She looked away.
"That day, thousands died. Dragons. Spirits. Angels. Even gods."
Alex swallowed. "…What stopped it?"
Beatrice glanced at him. "The humans. They were the last to surrender. But eventually… they agreed to form an alliance. With what remained of the other races."
"That's when the killing stopped. But not because the Evil God lost—he just disappeared. Vanished after taking what he wanted."
"What did he want?" Ashley asked quietly.
"No one knows," Beatrice replied. "Some say it was divine blood. Others say he was looking for a vessel."
Ashley and Alex both froze.
The healer boy coughed awkwardly. "If you're done with your trauma session, can I go back to sleep?"
Beatrice ignored him. Her eyes were on Ashley now.
"You don't remember any of this?" she asked.
Ashley shook her head. "I I wasn't born then."
"No. But maybe your power was."
The room went quiet.
Outside, the fireflies faded back into the night, and the Ashen Veil stirred.
-