Music for today:
Grandma (Destruction)
https://youtu.be/IYFZJnTXMCs
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Chapter 478: A Generations Conclusion
Late Morning - Early Summer : Year 39 : The Cabinet | 'Bahamut'
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Bahamut had fallen. The dragon, the nation, the society.
In a single breath, it all crumbled to dust.
Where bustling cities once stood proud and tall, oceanic masses of ice scraped everything clean. Every building, whether a twenty thousand year old monument or a new family home, every field, and every landmark left untouched for millennia.. without exception, it was all reduced the the same amalgous sand.
All that was allowed to remain was frost, dirt, and memory...
Memory many actively wished to forget...
After losing your children—the irreplicable beings you dedicated your entire livelihood to raise and nurture—its hard to find a new motivation.. a new purpose that drives you to push through the pain and struggles that life throws at you.
And while some manage.. not everyone can move on.
Since the attack, draconic suicide had gone from something completely unimaginable to something not uncommon. Old dragons that had grown and cultivated their strength for hundreds of years for the sole purpose of nurturing another, stronger generation, returned themselves to Delphi's embrace on a regular basis.. some perhaps hoping to be reunited with their children, while others merely wished to escape the hell that had fallen upon them, believing it all to be a nightmare they simply couldn't wake from.
But reality wasn't so kind.
Over the years, as the air was steadily filled with the stiffness of ownerless auras, the haunt of mentally shattered souls only grew in number.
In death, souls were meant to come to terms with the life they had lived.. to move past the nightmares with the help of warm memories, and put themselves.. their lives.. to rest while awaiting reincarnation.
But in some extreme cases, resting in the afterlife wasn't possible. To some, the nightmarish hell they so desperately wished to escape became the reigns of a trap almost impossible break from.
Memories became their shackles, and despair became their chains—dragging every second of their time between lives into an endlessly expanding eternity.
The more they refused to rest, the more their perception of time would slow, and the more their nightmares would replay until they had descended into a hell far more scorching than the one they gave their lives to escape...
In the end, it turned them into spirits—listless souls forced to drift across Delphi while they were consumed by, and forced to spread their most blood-curdling anguish.
It made the land quiet and empty on the surface.. but indescribably haunting and unnerving the moment you looked deeper.
But that was only the beginning.
With every warped eternity, the spirits of anguished dragons souls would collide and consume one another until their miseries compounded and a thread of consciousness formed from it.
In passing, you could feel the emotions radiating off them—feel their stares.. their tears.. their screams...
Seeing them made your skin crawl.. but at the same time, they were a fascinating sight, reminding me of how I believed the old gods of the Pantheon were formed. -Aimlessly combined souls with the compounded personalities of those they absorbed...-
It was like I was watching the birth of a new god that was to follow the end of the draconic generation.. though instead of it clinging to the pride, youth, or love that filled many of their memories.. despair and horror prevailed.
Though, perhaps as if by Delphi's will, such negative beings were hardly allowed to exist freely.
*Snap-Crackle* With the gentle twist of time, the angered soul that floated over us split and fractured before the figure of a familiar goddess appeared beside it.
"~Please rest well, child...~" It was Skuld, the Goddess of Oracles, with a figure far more defined and vibrant than I had ever seen from her.
She had grown a lot. "~You seem to be in good health, Skuld.~"
Most certainly already knowing I was there, she paused as if to prepare herself before clasping her hands in prayer, and lowering herself before me.
"~It was only thanks to the whim of fate, my lord.~" Her figure visibly tensed with each word—her gaze never straying from my paws. "~Please forgive me for not coming to greet you sooner... It seems my vision of when it would be was.. incorrect...~"
I nodded gently, as not to wake Hera or Krystallo. "~That's quite alright.~" -It seems you've been busy while I was gone...- "~What have you been up to?~"
She immediately tensed. "~W-Well.. are you already aware of the disaster that happened fifteen years ago..?~" She was already clammy and nervous.
And it only worsened when I spoke. "~I am.~"
Feeling my aura fainty flare like a flutter of my wings, she jolted violently. "~W-Well then.. I can make this quick...~" Taking several breaths, she finally managed to gather herself, "As you likely already suspect, I saw a vision of the disaster not long after you disappeared.. one telling me Hera's plan would fail...~" Her shoulders curled inward with uncertainty as she continued, "~Back then, I tried everything I could to spread the word about it. I told Hera, Myles, Lief... I told everyone who could hear me... But even still..."
She failed to make a difference in what followed.
"~Since then, I have done what I could to try and rectify my failure, by doing everything I can to answer the prayers of those who survived.. putting lost souls to rest.. and granting oracles of a warmer future to those who needed hope... I know it isn't much of a punishment, especially considering I've somehow grown in that time, but...~" Throwing herself into a bow, her eyes strained close as if to hold back tears. "~I hope it's enough to show the sincerity in my wish to rectify my failure.~"
Her expression was heavy, and laden with guilt and regret.
That was it.. her final plea for forgiveness before the incarnation of death—the being that could end her existence with an idle thought.
Though, had she simply looked me in the eyes, she would have known such a pitiful plea was unnecessary. "~Thank you for your efforts, Skuld.~" Unlike she seemed to believe, I had no reason to find someone to blame or hate for the attack.
Not only was it obvious dragons wouldn't listen to the warnings or pleas of a human god.. I already had my sights on the beings that would pay for what had happened.
I had no reason to take my anger out on someone who truthfully wished for, and earned the right to be forgiven many times over. "~You've already proven yourself to be trustworthy, Skuld. Your efforts are payment enough. Please lift your head.~"
Finally easing her tense, though only somewhat, her gaze finally rose with a quiver.
"~Is Grace doing well?~"
She nodded, struggling to maintain eye contact. "~She is still watching over Elizabeth in Siratha. She has become quite a powerful voice after the attacks.~"
-That's great news...-
Finally easing, her words slowed and anxious quiver faded. "~Thanks to Elizabeth, while Siratha took a crippling amount of damage from the attacks as well, the country held itself together.~" Unlike Bahamut. "~The draconic population there grew significantly, and while the elven and demihuman populations plummeted from casualties, morale didn't collapse like it did here, and the population is expected to rebound.~"
-I see...- It was excellent news, but somehow, something about it landed sour on my tongue. "~Was there another matter that helped hold the population together?~"
Her eyes fell again with strained nod. "~The Sirathan people were additionally unified by war.~"
-Figures...- It was the Holy Kingdom.
Quickly going on to explain, the Holy Kingdom had invaded with huge entourages of ships only a few months after the initial attacks. They razed coastal cities, and before long, pushed inland to capture and occupy huge chunks of northern Sirathan soil.
Similar to Bahamut, Siratha was in shambles after the attack, but instead of the chaos of a war being the final nail in the coffin, with a correction from the apostles, namely Leif and Elizabeth, the despair people felt turned into anger, rage, and the urge for revenge targeted at the new invaders.
And so, over the last decade, the war raged on without end. At the worst, Siratha had lost nearly a third of its land, but after managing to pull things to a stalemate with the help of more dragons that had migrated from Bahamut, things were turning around.
With the new realm of 'science', as well as more refined military tactics making public headway, the land the Holy Kingdom had occupied was thinning rapidly.
New spells utilizing more powerful chemicals, more efficient logistics, and improved camouflage all played a role in the swing of resistance.
However, while Siratha seemed to be taking the upper hand, war wasn't only an accelerant of growth for one side of the front.
"~On the other side of the battlefields, the Holy Kingdom has been growing.. concerningly fast lately.~"
And that was thanks to their other wars.
Fighting dozens of other humanoid nations at the same time, the Holy Kingdom was conquering land like a crusading monarch. Entire kingdoms fell in days, and the Holy Kingdom was reaping everything from gold and industry to talented minds and bodies like a farmer harvesting a neighbors crop.
It was multiplying their military might by the day.. and internal reconnaissance only showed it was going to soon worsen.
"~The Holy Kingdom has been intercepting Toria's merchant ships carrying 'world serpent' blood, bone, and organs—retrieved from The Frost to the west... Though the purpose isnt entirely known besides making improved weaponry, it's been theorized that they have learned how to create elixirs and aim to use them on their soldiers...~"
-They must have captured an alchemist in the invasion...- It was so be expected, but... -For such a human-superior nation to use elixirs...- It didn't sound like them... "~Has the Aesir made any moves?~"
She nodded immediately. "~I haven't confirmed much yet since Eir has.. gotten into some trouble.. but I believe Frigg has finally broken completely free from her 'cell'.~" She paused with a breath of anxiety. "~Though I don't wish to share speculation, I believe she has taken a more commanding role, and is playing part in the advance of her church into the main continent, and across the sea toward the Empire of Kaelallan.~"
My gaze thinned.
The second strongest god in the Aesir was now wandering free—carrying a crusade in her wake—and breaking the Holy Kingdom away from the beliefs that were staggering their growth. -That's bad...-
It was really bad...
However... -I'm not as weak as I was before I disappeared...-
Looking down at Hera and Krystallo, my mind ran with questions, theories, and memories, not just contemplating.. but gauging.
-How careful do I need to be about dealing with her...-
The longer I waited, the stronger not just she, but the Holy Kingdom would grow.
But to the same extent, I wasn't sure I was strong enough.. even now.. to kill her without letting a single thread of her consciousness survive, and prevent the ripples of the fight from rolling over what I needed to protect...
-The more land they conquer, the more the nation itself will become the problem...- If she preserved even a fraction of her soul somewhere, with so many believers, she would be able to regather her strength faster than I could.
It made the nation just as large of a threat as the Aesir itself.
But to that.. I didn't have the resources to stop their advances on so many fronts...
Or...
-Do I..?-
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