The Basilisk, the king of all serpents.
With just a hiss, every serpent no matter size or age would come to answer his call.
Adder of course knew those stories, they had been told to him since he could recall.
And he also remembered how many times he tried to call out to his subjects.
The nights after being a training dummy, the moments after being treated as a monster in human skin.
Bloody and tired he would call to his subjects, and would only be met with silence.
Adder watched as more serpents slithered their way towards him, their sizes and colors varied as they made way towards their king.
Now they came, and Adder thought it was the perfect time.
His dark future still haunted him, and his judgement ability had seemingly disappeared.
Maybe even forever, as much as he knew.
But Adder didn't regret that, he had seen the path where he relied on that power.
And every action he made was to oppose that future.
Yawning, Adder left the window opened as he made his way to bed.
Wondering what dream would come to him.
…
Nazeron, the Beast of Justice and herald of the four primordial gods.
Nazeron took the form of a mighty winged lion, with feathers and fur white as snow.
One of the two divine beasts, along with his twin brother Ladon the Serpent of judgment.
Nazeron awoke with an immense sense of dread for the first time in his immortal life.
His wings spread as he took off into the sky, flying faster than he ever had before..
The force of his wings created storms and earth rattling gales with every stroke, as he flew to his brother's abode the world tree.
The only bridge between the mortal realm and the land of the gods, the world tree was an incredibly important and powerful asset for the primordial pantheon in the war with the dark titans.
And when Nazeron finally caught sight of the world tree, it was the first time the divine beast of justice felt despair.
Gone were colorful leaves and the sweet smell of fruit, now it stood a husk of its former self.
It white bark greyed, its mighty form now deflated and winkled, its heaven piercing branches now brittle and lifeless.
And at the base of the dead tree, laid his brother Ladon.
Naveron roared a cry of sadness and mourning, as his eye laid upon his brother the Serpent of judgement and sentinel of the world tree.
His body was cut into seven pieces, each piece surrounded the corpse of the world tree.
Bronze blood pooled around each piece, Ladon's bright white scales was the only thing that made Nazeron recognize his poor younger brother.
"Brother!" Nazeron roared as landed near his brother's decapitated head.
Ladon was somehow still alive, even as bronze blood pooled under each piece of himself.
Nazeron moved closer to his brother hoping to somehow comfort his younger brother in his final moments.
"It was Malakon and his fellowship."
Ladon hissed softly, his bronze eyes unfocused yet they held endless horror.
"They have betrayed us."
Each word his dying brother spoke became softer as he continued.
"They have taken the power of the world tree for themselves, they have left to the Divine realm to slay the four."
Nazeron, seeing his brother's lifeforce continued to weaken and wane, started to cry for the first time since the first time in eons.
The beast of justice had so much he wanted to say to his brother, he wanted to apologise for not leaving Ladon behind as he watched over the war.
Leaving him here where there was nothing to do but watch both realms move on without him.
And worst of all, him not being here to help his brother.
Yet Nazeron was silent, any grand speech or remorseful whispers died in his throat as he listened to Ladon's final words.
"They have renamed themselves the seraphim, they mean to take over as the shepherds and guardians of humanity."
Ladon, aware of his dwindling life, forced the rest out in a painful cry.
"We cannot allow that to happen, I saw the pride and gluttony in their eyes they would destroy the mortal realm, brother I'm sorry I didn't see any of this coming I…"
Ladon lay still finally passing from his injuries, his look of horror still frozen on his face.
Nazeron sat there still, questions flooding his mind.
Why was he sleeping?
For how long?
What had happened to Malakon and his fellowship?
Why had done any of this?
But as quickly as those questions appeared they were burned away with his fury.
But before leaving to the divine realm, Nazeron roared across the mortal realm.
"Brother, we will see each other soon!"
And as the realm shook with grief, he flew into the heavens righteous fury powering him all the way.
…
"Ahh!"
Abner screamed as he awoke from that nightmare, which had become clearer and clearer by the day.
Ever since they entered the Empire of Nalice that dream had haunted him.
But the dream always ended before he arrived at the world tree, him always waking up before catching a glimpse of it.
But before longhis grandfather burst into the caravan, obviously worried about his grandson's safety.
But seeing Abner lying in bed, the elder was able to easily understand what happened.
"Nightmares getting worse?"
His grandfather, Erdush asked.
Abner shook his head.
"I made it to the world tree, I found my brother who was brutally attacked."
"He warned me about the winged traitors, he died apologizing to me."
Abner started crying as he told his grandfather of his nightmare.
"Why was he apologizing?"
His grandfather was already holding him, as he continued to speak through tears.
"It wasn't his fault, why did he blame himself?"
This was the clearest vision of the past that Abner had ever had.
That meant he had to be close, Erdush thought to himself.
After he was able to calm his grandson down, Erdush would enter the nearest town to see if the herald of judgement was here.
…
Erdush walked through the town of Cromb, trying his hardest to hear about anything of importance while not drawing attention to himself.
That's when he came across an intriguing scene before him, a poorly dressed man standing on top of an old chair as he raved and hollered.
"Im telling you, I've seen it!"
"The crimson eyes, the monstrous strength and speed, its dominion over all serpents!"
"If we let that walking calamity stay anywhere near here, is tempting fate itself to bring destruction!"
"We are allowing our destroyer to grow, we must end this threat before it reaches adulthood!"
"Its crimson eyes are on our humble town; we must not allow this to continue!"
Many around the crazed man tried their best to avoid eye contact, others begged the crazed man not to start trouble with the bearer of the Basilisk.
But the story of a serpent eyed boy caught and held Erdush's attention.
He turned to the screaming man, and took the tone of a concerned citizen.
"Where is this beastly child?"
The others were already dragging the deranged man away as he answered.
"He lives with a huntress, in a cabin west of here!"
The man tried to continue but he was gagged before being thrown into what Erdush could only guess was a holding cell.
But he had already gotten his answer, so without a care in the realm he went west in search of the herald of Judgement.
…
Erdush had told Abner to stay with the caravan, but something within the boy told him he had to follow.
So he slowly trailed his grandfather, from the brick roads of Cromb to the western forest floor.
Not knowing if his grandfather was playing him or not, but as the forest started to thin out into a meadow he saw a cabin.
With two people in front of the cabin, an older woman and a boy his age.
The woman was teaching the boy, who was practicing spearmanship.
Abner was overcome, with the feeling of familiarity from the boy.
Feeling like he had known him his entire life.
…
Adder continued his training with the spear, his proficiency with the spear had started to show.
But It had been a week of horrid nightmares for Adder, who had been haunted by this mysterious dream where he is attacked by seven strangers before waking up to the sound of winds flapping.
He had asked Nira about it, but she had no idea what the dream even meant.
So Adder just focused on his training, especially when it came to commanding serpents.
Nira had become extremely interested in this newly awakened ability of his.
Seeing incredible potential in having command over a snake army.
But sadly the commands needing to be spoken really dampened any strategic value.
So Adder decided to focus on what worked for the time being, pushing aside experimentation for a later date.
And as he stood in the middle of the training grounds, an old man came wandering by.
Nira came up to him and they spoke for a spell, the old man had gotten lost on his way to Cromb.
His name was Erdush and he was happy to find them in hope of finding his way out the forest.
As Nira was trying to give the elderly man directions, Adder's curiosity led him to their conversation.
Erdush happily introduced himself to the boy, and as Nira pulled out a map to help the poor lost man.
Erdush handed Adder a silver coin, Adder obviously confused by this gift tried to examine it.
One side was barren but the other, held the image of a serpent lying in a tree.
Adder could not recognize the symbol on the coin, it was not a family crest or nation's emblem that he knew about.
And when the old man started to prepare his leave, Adder walked up to him.
"Whats with the coin?"
Adder felt silly to ask but for some reason he needed to know what the crest meant.
"Coin?"
The old man asked, that annoyed Adder so he decided he needed to be specific.
"This coin, the one with the tree and the serpent."
The boy spoke with the coin in hand, waving it in the elder's face.
Adder swore he saw Erdush smile before taking back the coin and pointing at it.
"This coin?"
Erdush's eyes bore into the boy.
"Yes, what is the origin of that coin!"
Then Erdush said something that made Adder's heart instantly still.
"Why don't you use your Judgement?"
And Adder froze, knowing exactly what Erdush was referring to.