Chapter 19: Dawn of the Final Day
Aarx and I continued through, Ashlight Bastion was a realm big...and there’s no way I had the definite time to explore most of it. If the PvP hub was just this deserted...then I truly don’t want to know how the rest of it is.
Even if...the devs said that the realm was practically "infinite" in size. They must’ve been joking, right?
Right?
I glided forward, "Aarx. You mentioned...the Dark Age. Tell me more about it,"
He gives me a reassuring grunt, smoke pours through his nostrils and mouth.
That’s what the ones above call it. It was not marked by a certain period or time, but instead, an event. Just...out of nowhere. It happened.
"What happened?" I furrowed a brow. This dragon always talks slow. His NPC dialouge used to be worse, but now he just sounds like his voice actor. Trippy.
He stops, just for a second. I stop too, and look at him. I put a hand on his wing.
The disappearance of dragonkind.
My eyes slowly widened.
It happened out of nowhere. I watched, as thousands...maybe millions vanished in the blink of an eye. Everyone was confused, wondering...where did they go? Most were left behind, and when it came down to it. 99% of dragonkind was gone.
Then, he looks at me.
Sovereign Ryuuzen...I...I do not mean to get sentimental...but it seemed like we were almost extinct.
Wait.
Is...Aarx, no...no.
For once, I thought about it. Just how being stuck in a game treated me, as the player. But not once had I ever managed or wanted to think outside of that.
That potentially...
...how would this feel for the NPC’s we made friends with and left behind?
Aarx wasn’t just describing a traumatic event, no.
He was describing the moment the literal servers ended in his point of view. I could only imagine how scared he was...and how sentient he would’ve became then.
That’s...that’s scary.
But...what about the other plays who played as different races? Whatever it was, the majority playerbase of dragonkind must’ve been alarming throughout.
Do I...do I tell him the truth?
But even if I did...would he understand? He would probably think I’m crazy or something.
"What...do you think happened? A Dragon Genocide?"
Most likely. Dragonkind across all realms vanished, and then, when our numbers dwindled noticeably, every realm was affected. Suddenly, Ashlight Bastion became densely populated, tournaments were no longer being held.
At times, it looked like there was no help. The remaining of us looked confused, lost. That just...a far majority of us ran the realms tightly secured.
I wondered, and wondered. Who was behind this? The almighty Dragon Sage?
I could only shake my head, "Would the Dragon Sage wish death on us?"
Aarx bows his head. You are most certainly right...but some had questions that were never answered, and wouldn’t be...for such a long time.
Time, yeah.
"Aarx, how long was I gone? Surely it could’ve been that long, right?" I ask, Aarx stops in his tracks, and then turns his head towards me.
Sovereign Ryuuzen...you...have no idea, do you?
I shake my head.
Then, I could hear him audibly sigh.
The realms moved on. Things...got better, but not the same. And ever since then, we moved on from the Dark Age. And into a new age. The Golden Age.Everyone who was living then at that time...died.
...huh?
Even I, as of now, am unsure how you are still alive, Sovereign Ryuuzen. Because ever since that day...
...it’s been 10,000 years since.
...
...
...
"T-ten...ten thousand years...?" I ask.
Aarx nods.
Oh...
Oh God.
S-so...when I was in the black abyss.
Waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
10,000 years had passed?
Generations...of generations...of generations...?
Aurea Islands...
No, no. I felt sick, nauseous. I don’t know why, but I did.
Aarx could only look at me, and sigh again.
That’s why, I waited. Persevere. Just for the existence of you. Some used to think that all of dragonkind was displaced across the realms, but by the passing decade, we’ve realized that wasn’t the case. We would’ve found each other by then.
And in the coming centuries, reproduction rates slowed down. We’ve lost entire species. The Wyrm no longer exist. Fae’s are almost extinct...and the Ice Serpents had it the worst.
Millennia after the next, the rare existence of dragons from the Dark Age would be limited only to those who survived. We hoped...that things would change, and they would come back.
There was a pause, a brief moment of silence.
They never did.
I could only remain silent. And just stand there.
Was...was this fantasy anymore?
Or just evolutionary grief?
And in that moment...I felt it.
My spine burning.
Not from pain, not from annoyance, not from fear.
But from something waking up.
Something that remembered before I did.
I bit my lip, my tail tied itself against my waist instead. Calm down, to calm myself down. That...that thing needs to be the least of my worries right now.
But that explains it all, in the overworld. Why nobody even knew, who I was. Or even the receptionist not believing me when I told her I was a Dragonoid.
All of that shit is long ago! In concept, I’m literally older than her entire bloodline! Anyone’s bloodline!
And how Vaniti, the Spirit Elf after generation and generations and generation somehow got into the spot she did...it’s...just more thought-provoking.
"Then...then what about the others? Like me? You said they were like me?" I reference, bring it up again. If...if there are players then surely I should connect with them.
But...who’s to say they didn’t get trapped in here like I did? What if I’m just contacting their characters who just talk as NPC’s?
No, no. I can’t doom myself. Surely there must be an answer.
I got this one, and I don’t like it. I need another answer.
Aarx looked at me, I tried to study his gaze, but it was unreadable. He seemed older than I remember. Aging must’ve caught up to him. I could only imagine if the devs never made him in lore to be almost pseudo-immortal...
...then maybe I would’ve been stucking in Ashlight Bastion...or never came here at all.
A lot has changed. The other Sovereigns’ locations are...sporadic. Undisclosed. All I know for now is that they exist...and that you were the last to awake.
"Awake? What do you mean awake?"
Long ago...during the heights of the Golden Age, there were four statues. Made strictly out of stone. One, were you, and three others were there. Most of us had concluded that—because of such you’re high ability, whatever you encountered made you suffer the repercussions of the genocide, in exchange for your state.
Slowly, and by each century, one by one each would awaken from your statue. But...that’s the thing, Sovereign Ryuuzen.
It took the longest for you to awaken. And when you did...your statue was misplaced by...the Echo Witch.
"The witch? Who’s the witch?" I asked.
We...don’t know. We searched for your statue all over the realms, and could never find it. It’s a miracle you awakened now...because things are different. She operated completely on a different scale. Strong, beast-like, was able to copy our strongest spells. She was mana personified and not at the same time.
I see...so another strong person, huh? Think I can take her down? Maybe. But that’s 10,000 years of magical advancement she has under her belt.
I’m still rolling with a Final Day patch.
Not fair man...