Chapter 20 – Aric
The night sky stretched endlessly above Aric as he walked through the quiet forest surrounding the safehouse. Daren had insisted on giving him time alone to process the lessons of divine hierarchies. Yet Aric's mind was restless; the world felt far larger, more complex, and far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.
"Father said gods and dragons shaped the world before mortals could even dream of understanding it," Aric muttered to himself. "How much of our history has been erased… hidden?"
A sudden flash of light streaked across the sky, and Aric instinctively dropped to one knee. A faint ripple of magic passed through the air—subtle but unmistakable. He felt a surge of energy from the nearby leyline, one that thrummed with ancient power.
Daren's voice echoed in his memory: "Divine history is not written in books alone, Aric. It is etched into the land, into the currents of mana, and into the minds of those who remember."
He knelt, placing his hands on the earth. Focusing, he let his senses extend outward, attempting to perceive traces of past divines. Shapes and images began to form: massive dragons gliding across continents, their wings creating storms as they soared. Giant figures of mortals clashed with monstrous beasts, mountains trembling beneath their might. Cities of stone and magic, burned and rebuilt countless times.
Aric's pulse quickened. These weren't merely myths; they were memories imprinted into the world itself. The first dragons, the founders of civilizations, the early mortals who had touched transcendent power—all lived here, hidden in the lingering echoes of mana.
He saw glimpses of the early gods: one towering figure born of human flesh yet radiating authority so immense it bent the skies, another cloaked in shadow and temptation, their movements precise and calculated, a demon god stirring creation from mortal experiments, and an elf goddess weaving subtle threads of fate across centuries. Their interactions shaped not just nations but entire magical currents, influencing what powers mortals could wield and what they could never hope to grasp.
Aric's mind reeled at the scope. "So… gods aren't just stories. They were… and are… shaping everything." His hands trembled as he tried to comprehend the scale. "And dragons… they weren't simply beasts or rulers—they were… rulers of the world itself."
A gust of wind rustled the trees as if acknowledging his realization. He sensed a presence nearby—ancient, intelligent, and vast. It wasn't hostile, but it made him cautious. Could it be… a lingering fragment of one of the dragons?
He remembered Daren's warning about the dragons' royal family. Even among dragons, hierarchies existed. The King and Queen, their children… all had been alive long before the first mortals reached even moderate power. Many dragons were predators, but the royals had purpose, guiding their kind and indirectly maintaining balance in the mortal world.
Aric closed his eyes and allowed the visions to settle, drawing patterns and histories from the traces of divine magic around him. He began to see connections: the rise of human civilizations, the emergence of war and peace, and how dragons and gods indirectly influenced mortal destiny. Everything was interconnected—mana, politics, conquest, even faith.
His pulse slowed, replaced by a growing sense of clarity. "I understand," he whispered. "The world isn't chaotic. It's structured. It has… rules. And if I can understand them, I can navigate them."
From the shadows of the forest, a soft shimmer passed, and Aric felt a flicker of recognition: a dragon's aura, fleeting but potent. He didn't see it fully, but the memory of its presence lingered, like a shadow across the tapestry of history.
Aric rose, his mind set. He now understood the past, the forces that shaped the present, and the dangers that awaited him. Gods and dragons weren't abstract threats—they were real, and their influence was absolute. If he were to survive, to rise, and to protect mortals, he would need to wield knowledge as much as power.
The first steps had been taken. The lessons of history, the echoes of dragons and gods, and the whispers of divine strategy had prepared him for the path ahead. And as dawn approached, casting pale light through the canopy, Aric knew he would face the future not with fear, but with a burning determination to understand, adapt, and ultimately, to conquer.