The Songs of the Wyvern [Nation Maintenance & Lore Building]

[Aeyariss]

[[ Web Novel ]]

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THE SONGS OF THE WYVERN
A Nation Maintenance Saga

First Working Draft / WIP

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Welcome, this is a nation maintenance thread for Aeyariss.

This project depicts a grand epic, involving multi generational story arcs spanning throughout the entire history of Aeyariss; from legendary protohistory period; to the dawn of man all the way up to modern 21st century.

A short story is scheduled for a monthly update (at the very least) depending on the writer's availability.

Feel free to read and enjoy and send me a telegram if you have anything to comments but please do not post here without permission.

The current publication are considered first draft and subject to future changes before final publication at later date.

#sotw

[Aeyariss]

this section is left blank intentionally

[Aeyariss]

Current lore back story

PART 1

THE RED EYES, THE FIRST TRIBE OF MEN, AND THE ANCIENT GODS OF AURELIS

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In the beginning, set a very, very long time ago in this realm…an age now long forgotten by men, in the age where tales of myths and ancient legends were born and echoes throughout time...

It was a time when the Outsider Tribes of men first migrated into the new world of Aurelis. There they encountered vast green plain of lush valleys after valleys and many great rivers and heaven reaching mountains after long journey across the great lakes from which they came from.

The Outsider were looking for warmer climate, wanting to escape the cold harsh barren world of in the north or elsewhere, where there were very little food left. So they set out for a great journey, moving out in small tribes, headed into the unknown when they set their destiny and foot in Aurelis where they will make it their home, making tiny villages in valleys, hunting for animals and foraging for the food that the land had to offer.

It was not too long after their first migration there that these Outsiders first met another tribe of people native of this realm, whom they immediately thought were not like any other.

The Outsider who lived during that time called these tribes as the Red Eyed People - for their irises were blood red, almost glowing red - unlike the members of their own tribes who had brown and black irises. But that is not the only thing that made these tribe stood out. Outsiders had their bodies covered by rugged long hair and generally shorter in stature, the Red Eyes seemed to have been gifted with dominating heights and clean silky hair that waved in the wind. Outsiders made their clothing from animal fur, yet the Red Eyes seems to have adorned themselves with colorful light clothing made with nothing they had seen before.

The Outsiders noticed the Red Eyes had shiny tools as well, unlike their primitive hunting weapon made from rocks. But most importantly, the Outsiders knew there is something even more special about these Red Eyes; the ability to command and manipulate fire at will. The Outsiders tribes were amazed with such skills, while they themselves were able to start fires using simple tools like flint and dried woods; the Red Eyes simply started one seemingly by a flick of their fingers, flame seemed to arise out of nowhere. That converted some of the first outsiders tribes to believe these Red Eyes were supernatural in nature, and they are of Godlike creature. Some respect of them because of their different abilities. Some worshipped them. Some became downright terrified and avoided these Red Eyes.

In the beginning however, the Red Eyes and the Outsiders simply watched each other. They would sometimes come into the Outsiders tiny villages to interact, but they came in few numbers, it was difficult in the early stages, but the Red Eyes seemed to be able to learn the Outsiders languages rather quickly by simple observation of the Outsiders life. Exchanging words for words until a simple sentences become comprehensible to one another. The Outsider noticed that they were not too many people in the Red Eyes tribe, and were told that the Natives were too few now, and soon they would be gone from this world as well.

As times passed by, the social interaction grew closer. There were very little friction between the migrants and the native in Aurelis; food was abundant for the migrants. But dangers were plentiful as well, sometimes giant predatory beasts would attack the human settlement, killing many of the migrants, sometimes it would wiped out an entire villages.

On such tragedy that was when the Red Eyes came to assist in numbers. They came down from the skies, riding another giant winged beast that seemed to be able to breathe fire. Their warriors had weapons that slain the predatory beasts, when the migrants’ own were not capable of. Then when it is all over, they would fly away again, and the migrants moved their villages to a new location again. No one really knows where the Red Eyes lived, but they seemed to be everywhere near the other tribes. No one seemed to be able to locate the Red Eyes villages. No one seen the Red Eyes people hunts or gathering. Once in a while they did saw those giants winged beast soaring in the azure sky above. Sometimes a lone rider, sometimes there were great many uncountable numbers of them. But as the migrants villages moved deeper into the heartland, nearing the mountains they began to encounter the Red Eyes people more frequently.

They had great villages made of stone! And wall that seemed to have stretched across the valley. The Red Eyes called their home a ‘fortified city’ which they build not too far from another great mountain. This mountain however was different, sometimes the mountain would roar – terrifying and spew fires and blackened smoke.

The Red Eyes told the tribes that the mountain can be considered sacred or unholy; that another supernatural beings made their dwellings on top, and sometimes great evil would lurk just inside one of those fire mountain, and that the Red People had been guardian since the creation of the world. The tribes were warned not to move and lived closer toward the mountain, fearing that they would awaken one of the terrible evil beasts slumbering underneath the earth - when the fire mountain awoke, that was when the Beasts would usually come out, and that would bring trouble for everyone in the realm. The winged riders would fly toward such fire mountain in order to perform their spiritual ritual – to cleanse evils, to ward off evil, to sacrifice offering for the God underneath the fire mountain, hoping that they would remain slumbering.

Later, the tiny villages turn into town, and town into a city. Men no longer foraged for food and went hunting, instead they learn like how the Red Eyes had done it, planting food of their own and to tame beasts. They wanted to learn how to tame the winged beasts that the Red Eyes were riding, but were told that they were not possible as the beasts lived on top the great mountains. Men weren’t too contend with it, they no longer consider themselves as Outsiders and believe they too had a claim in the realm. But as some ventured into the mountain, they could not locate any of the winged beasts. But as they build their town bigger, they began to unearth rocks to be molded into building stone. This was when the men learn of new richess in the earth. Shining gold, they believed this is worth a fortune. In one valley, the men found more of this shiny gold flowing down from mountain streams. Some men wanted to explore the mountain, looking for more.

That started an issue with the Red Eyes, as this mountain was one of those of those considered Unholy – but men believed differently as it wasn’t one of the smoking fiery mountain, and all would be fine.

That would not be case.

Men from the villages came up to the mountain, found several caves that is also passageway to underneath. They found heaps and heaps of the shiny new golden rocks, and other more unfamiliar gems that bewitched their senses, but they found no Unholy Beasts despite the Red Eyes warning, and thought that the Red Eyes had lied to them to keep the richness for themselves.

The leader in the city wanted more of these gems and gold, so he sent out expeditions to extract those riches and that proved to be early men downfall, they were met with the Red Eyes guardian on those mountains, but without his winged beasts these Red Eyes proved to be as human as these tribes of men are, and killed them before they set out deeper into the heart of the mountain…

…and that was when the unnoticed Three Headed Demon Snake woke up.

A colossal slithering beasts that had body like as thick millions of ropes weaved together, and body as long as a great river - this beast can wrap its body around the mountain itself, such was the size, that men stood almost like sands when compared to this unholy beasts. No men survived its attack, as it spits out dissolving venomous acids from one head, and freezing breathe in another, and all sent to that mountain perishes, but the beast was not yet finished. Awoken from it deep slumber, it felt terrible hunger and went to the human town to hunt for food. Countless human and live stocks became prey and devoured by this demonic three headed beast, and it move on to another city, then another, leaving nothing but a trail of death and destructions wherever it goes. The Red Eyes felt betrayed by the other tribes and decided to simply stood at the sideline and let men deal with the demon themselves, feeling men needed to be taught a lesson as even with their winged fire breathing rider they would not stand much hope against one what they called an Ancient Demons.

The others came to the Red Eyes cities begging for assistant, but was told that even them would not be able to stop that demonic beast - even some of their Red Eyes Winged Rider fell victim to the demon snake, and they told the other that once it hunger is satisfied it will return to its mountain again.

However, one of the Red Eyes High Priestess believed that it was wrong to allow such travesty to happen and the Red Eyes has their duties to protect the world of men else the entire realm would be plunged by the darkness as the other Ancient Beasts would be awoken as well, and all would be lost. She sacrificed herself to summon another Ancient God - the Wyvern God - that has been slumbering in Aurelis highest and holiest mountain.

The Wyvern, the largest of the fire breathing creature, returned into the realm and battled the Demon Snake for 3 days and nights, laying waste to almost a quarter of the continent and leveled mountains and hills, but in the end saved the world of men when it finally defeated the unholy beast and returned to its mountain.

But the relations between the Red Eyes and other tribes of men were strained for eternity, and they would not trust the Outsiders for many generations to come. Despite their High Priestess sacrifice, the Red Eyes King were angry at the other tribes for their foolishness and severe their ties with them, and their Wyvern God cannot be summoned without another highly trained High Priestess, and there are other countless Ancient Demons still slumbering underneath the Earth.

Any one of those were just as worst as the Demon Snake, and a few could have been awoken during the chaotic battle between the previous two...

#Mythology

[Aeyariss]

PART 2

THE RISE OF THE TITANS & THE AGE OF ICE AND FIRE

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The Red Eyes; ancient, non homo sapiens native species that lived in Aurelis when homo sapiens and others began migrating into the subcontinent. Had red colored irises and advanced technology.

The First Men: A collection of primitive homo sapiens and other human species during the dawn of humanity.

Titans: Mythical creatures, now extinct or slumbering deep inside the earth. Once dominated the planet and were treated like gods. The First Men performed human sacrifice to place the beasts from rampaging across the land.

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Corruption began to spread across the world after the defeat of the first monster earlier.

Fouled beast began to appear and starts hunting human for food and the number of human dwindled.

Some monsters were more sentients; capable of psychic communications or through dreams to communicate. Others were just mindless rampaging beast.

Humanity and the Red Eyes tribes formed an alliance; began sharing knowledge and taught the human advance technology to fight the titans from rising from the depth of the earth. Red Eyes tribe began to dwindle. Not many are born into this realm.

Some human factions, unable to fight, submitted to the rampaging monsters. Surrendered to the monsters demand to provide 100 children every year or risk total annihilations.

Rise of monster hunter caste in earlier human society; became revered and legendary in early Aeyariss lore. Human, enhanced by Red Eyes technology became super human. Capable of taking smaller monsters.

There were balance in the world. Until The Serpents, a different breed, capable of transfiguration into human form corrupted multiple factions from within.

The Wyverns race, allies of the Red Eyes tribes, revealed they too were able to turn into human and walked among them, observing, learning, secretly influencing their species development. The Wyvern revealed the Red Eyes time is running out, and they are about to go extinct.

The Serpents plan however worked; led to ancient human to betray the Red Eyes Tribe, claiming their coveted technology and secrets to longevity for themselves. Humans treachery led to the Awakening of another ancient gods; this one capable of breathing ice and form blizzards.

Humanity and the Red Eyes worked their difference; the leader of the traitors were killed; a human and red eyed child sacrificed her self to summon the Wyvern Gods once again.

The Serpents allied with the Ice Dragon and battle the Wyvern, humans and the Red Eyes. This battle however was lost. And the surface of the Earth became covered by ice that lasted almost 100,000 years. (Or so the legend says it why Ice Age happened)

The Serpents destroyed the Red Eyes citadel and dominated humanity. Red Eyes survivors fled to the skies and some say ascended to the three moons.

#Mythology

[Aeyariss]

PART 3

THE WAR OF THE TITANS,
THE RUMBLING & GODDESS OF THE MOONS

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The Serpents race dominated the World; humanity was enslaved throughout those centuries. They also hunted down other ancient gods that did not side with them when they expelled the Red Eyes and defeated their Wyvern god.

A human faction rebelled with the help of some Wyvern human hybrid but was defeated when they were betrayed by the Son's of the Serpents. An occult organization that believes the Serpents will cleanse the world and bring about a new era of unity, once their Enemy has been defeated.

Serpents King commanded the enslaved human to build a tower that can reach the Moons; where the Red Eyes tribes had retreated from the world. The Serpent's race sees the Moons as the dwelling of their enemies; the call it as one of 'hell'.

A human-wyvern hybrid had a dream and saw the Prophecy. That the Wyvern God will rise once again. It will descend onto the world of men and smite the corrupted Serpents and send the other Beasts back into the earth dwelling; where humanity will finally learn peace once more.

So, humanity waited for the day when the gods will rise again and prayed to the moons. (This bring to the belief in the Moon Goddess). The Moon Goddess, probably another one of those human-wyvern hybrid, told them the gods will come down from the heaven (moons).

Parts of humanity didn't belief in placing their fate to other creatures; or to wait for the arrival of the Gods from the Moons; groups of human formed a resistance, a guerilla freedom fighter alliance across Aurelis. Some of them were descendants of enhanced human-red eyes hybrid that still possess some supernatural abilities and had inherited the knowledge of taming with the other wyvern descendants;

They hunted down the Serpents when they are in human form when they had to sleep during the day, so in turned they created a new breed of non human monsters to guard them during the days. In retaliation, the Ice Dragon lay waste to other parts of the world and turn them into barren frozen wasteland.

Meanwhile, the Serpent's King continued to bring slaved human to finish the tower they now call 'Stairway To Hell', when it was completed the Serpent's King demanded a sacrifice of 1,000,000 humans, to garner its spiritual energy and to use it as a weapon.

The ancient tower weapons was activated, and a pillar of fire so great was fired that it reached one of the three moons, vaporizing it in the process. The Serpent's King then demanded the entire humanity, what's left of them, to be sacrificed to fire the ancient weapon.

The goddess of the moon finally retaliated; the largest of the moon break apart revealing it was an egg; another Wyvern God hatched out of it. It descended onto the earth and smashed through the Stairway to Hell. It battled the Serpent's God in its monster form, almost defeating it.

Until it let out a roar that was heard throughout the realm; and then came the rumblings that shook the world; when all other ancient monsters answered the summoning and began converging into the same place. Men trampled by monsters; their settlements lay waste, if not by the monsters itself by giant tidal waves created by the monsters from the sea.

Almost all of humanity were snuffed out in the ensuing rumblings.

The wyvern god battled all the other monstrous ancient gods, but this time it is aided by the last offensive from the Red Eyes that launched the Spears of the Heaven, raining down and decapitating the massive titans killing weapons that unfortunately also caused widespread destructions.

The last legion of the Wyvern Riders descended from the moons, aided by the wyvern riders from the human tribes. Together they battled the armies of the Serpent's Race and the remaining ancient gods on their side. Other neutral ancients god began joining the fight; defeating the the Serpent's armies including the Ice Dragon.

The Wyvern god and the Serpents god final battle began. When it became clear that it cannot win, the Serpents tried to flee from this world, flying into space, but was caught, dragged and thrown into the Sun by the wyvern gods.

All the other ancient gods, returned into the earth, and the wyvern god was last seen flying in the stars.

Humanity were finally free; the Red Eyes tribe returned to the Moon - never to be seen or heard from again.

Until today there is only one moon left.

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#Mythology / to be expanded into longer stories

[Aeyariss]

PART 4
THE GREAT FLOOD & THE BEGINNING OF THE AGE OF MEN

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Humanity survived, but before they can claim this as the age of men, they need to continue surviving.

Even though there is no more monsters roaming and preying on men there are still danger all around. Their villages, their settlements and cities are gone. Because there were very few of them left, the survivors from the rumbling began moving around again as they could not rebuild - hunting on animals; foraging fruits from the forest.

Humanity lived a simple life like this for a generation; and when their numbers grew a little; their world changed again. Only this time not from supernatural beasts from the nature itself.

The ice began to retreat. It became warmer and the once barren frozen wasteland now starting to make way for lands. Perhaps there is chances for humanity to rebuild on those lands.

But as the ice retreated; ponds turned into lakes; once still flowing streams now grew large into impassable rivers. The oceans claimed the land. Forcing humanity to migrate all the time. And because they kept moving all the time, everywhere their numbers didn't grew to replenish to what it once was... and food was not in abundance.

The human asked; "Why the gods cursed human with the flood all the time?"

There were no answer from the gods so some men replied:

"It wasn't the gods that did this; it was the work of the ancient Ice Demon".

"Gods? There is no gods. Only the devils exists."

Some denied the ice demon; saying it was merely the stuff of legends; some say it was god's punishment, everything was god's punishment. Punishment for what? We haven't done anything wrong, they said. No one remembers their forefathers sins; and they thought certainly they should not be responsible to bear it especially if they didn't remember it.

There were believers, and there were non believers. But soon, as they grew older; and their children grew older and their children's children grew older - they all forgot the ancient world for what it was. So it passed on as mere legends. The stories of the three moons. The ice dragon that freeze the world. The ancient rumblings of the titans. The war of the gods. It all faded into memories, now all but forgotten.

Many moons had passed - one too many moons to count - but eventually the flooding stopped. The seas rises no more. And the barren frozen wasteland now gave way to lush green plain and forest. The world became a warmer place ; and they no longer had to wear thick woolly coveralls to protect themselves from exposure to the winds.

Young men began to stop moving around and began settling once again. Building villages. Tending farms. Raising animals.

During the night, while resting by the fire, starring into the heavens and the oceans of stars; some claimed they saw a flying creature soaring in the stars when they lay down at night.

[Aeyariss]

PART 5

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The fire crackled. Lights from the fire pit chased away the shadows and coldness of the still night. High above in the skies, the golden crescent of a young moon was just about to ascend, accompanied by the stars that were as many as the sands in the earth. Not too far from the fire, men and woman hurdled together, embracing the warmth, gazing at the fire.

There was something special about the fire at night that drawn men and women together, as if bewitching them. Well, of course, it's not that hard to understand when a single gentle breeze of the night touches your skin and sent shivering cold running to your vein, even when you had wrapped your body with the thick wool coverall.

The moon priestess. the matriarch of the group, was humming melodic hymns meant to worship the Moon,, and she did that every time the new moon rises. The men passed around fermented fruit juice stored in leather bag, and they too mumbled something, something gibberish. Perhaps they were already drunk from drinking that intoxicating juice.

Two woman walked into the group, carrying a skinned sheep into the fire pit tied together on a large stick.

"Oh, goddess of the Moon, we give ye thanks for the food we are about to received." The moon priestess said. "We thank you for your continued protection for our clan and our offer these blood and flesh in your name as token of our gratitude." One of the woman handed over a leather bag, she walked closer toward the fire and poured the blood content into the flame. The burning coal hisses, sending sparks of flames into the night sky, carried into the night skies by the rising warm air.

The sheep was then gently place into the burning flame.

"There. We can eat once it's ready." the old matriach smiled, slowly sat down on the ground. "So how is everyone doing?"

"We've saw a new mountain ranges on the edge of the land this time, matriach Eva... we followed the river as you said, but we couldn't go around it, there's a massive fork cutting through the entire valley, and there river seems only to get wider.." Kazan, one of the lead scout in the group, was the first to reply.

"Hmm. Looks like we need to think of a way to cross the river. How far is it this time?"

"About 300 tai". Kazan laid down a leather parchment, showing a rough map of the area was etched. He ran his finger from where their location was, tracing it from the lines meant to resemble a river.

"About here." He tapped his finger. An empty spot on the map, temporarily marked by charcoal with a triangular symbol; for mountains.

"Well, continue following the river, we might reached the northern seas." Matriach Eva said softly.

"But mother Eva, we've been travelling and exploring these land for many moons now we still haven't seen the end of the great river." Tuorin spoke up. The group turned to him. Tuorin is the only son of matriach Eva. Unlike Kazan, Tuorin is the lead hunter of the group.

"Hmm, our clan has been charged in taking the Northern route. We shall continue to do so for as long as we can."

"Well, we can do that, but matriach this is a good fertile lands, we can build our roots here, make a more permanent settlements. Let the children grow up. Make more children." Shiloz, another one of the more older men spoke, glancing at a woman at the other side of the fire, smirking.

"Oh you would love that that do you, Shiloz." Matriach Eva snorted. The other women giggled.

The older men who had been with woman laughed too.

"Ohh, go make some tents at the edge of somewhere, we don't need to hear you lot making noises in the night."

"Who says we have to do it at night?" Shiloz continued, taking another sip of the fermented juice. The laughter roared again.

"YOU. Don't you dare! It's a sacred ritual mean to be witness by the goddess of the moons. Also, what are you doing during the day, I sent you hunting for food. AND YOU Mailah." Eva pointed to the other woman. She didn't finished. The laughter continued. Instead, the grabbed the fermented juice and drunk a mouthful of them. She let out a deep sigh.

"I am ony joking, matriach."

"Well, Shiloz is right mother, we could use more numbers in the clan. Settling down will make child rearing activities a lot easier. Besides, this vast valley is more than enough for us. Let us make a village here. Let our children continue the journey north to reach the northern seas." her son said, softly.

"What do you say, matriach?"

[Aeyariss]

PART 6

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"If all of you agree then we shall plant the root of our clan right here in this place but I shall need to consult with the goddess first. We are traveler passing through these lands; if we are to claim these land for our bloodlines without their approval then it will only bode us ill and we will not survive long. Nature will be against us." Matriach Eve stared emptily at the fire pit, where the flame roared gently.

"What do you need, mother?" Tuorin her son. said, leaning toward her.

"I shall need to walk these land in the morning and read the signs. We must place the boundaries of our land, and then we shall pray to the moons for guidance."

Shiloz look up, but he saw only one moon in the sky.

"But there is only one moon, matriach. What are you talking about?"

"Pft, you do not possess the gift of the third sight young Shiloz. You cannot see what I can." Eva looked up; the whites of her eyes glowed a bright red for a while before turning again." Shiloz somehow didn't noticed it.

"Our clan are a descendants of the moon goddess. There those of us who still possess the third sight, and through that you will learn it from the goddess that these are the land promised to us ... but we haven't earned it, yet." The group went silent;

"The goddesses had promised us that the land from the southern shores to the northers shores shall be the possession of our race. To be passed down to the our children and their children, all the way to the end of time and space itself or the last member of our bloodline dies. Or so what our foremothers had told us in the past."

"How do we know we have earn the right over these lands?" asked Kazan.

Matriach Eva gave it a thought for awhile.

"The dragons will appears before us."

"The what?"

"The previous owner of this world. Legends has it they still live in the high mountains somewhere. They're the most majestic creature you will ever set your eyes upon. They can fly higher than the birds; and they can breathe fires. If was said that we human started the first fire ever by learning from them?"

"I've never encountered such creature before."

"Have you climb many mountains?"

"Our foremothers learned to breathe fire? Hehehehehe. That must be a sight." Shiloz laughed again.

Matriach Eva reached for the letter bag, the one with the most fermented juice. He took a mouthful of them, took out a small burning stick from the fire and brought it closer to her mouth. A jet of fire burst out as she spit out the juice from her mouth.

"Whoa."

"You don't see that much have you? Young Shiloz. Quite a neat little trick I learned from my younger days of drinking."

"Alright, if everyone agrees that we settled this land here. Please voice up."

"Aye, mother. We should." His son replied.

"Yes." Kazan said.

"Oh for the suns. Why not." Shiloz grunted.

The rest of the faces nodded, ayes, yes followed.

"Very well, then our clans shall make permanent settlements here; tomorrow we will walk this land and place the boundaries stone; we shall perform another sacrifice and pray for the protections of the goddess and to ward off evils within our boundary. Then we shall set a journey to find a dragon."

[Aeyariss]

PART 7

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In the morning - well it was almost midday but the people of ancient Aurelis haven't rediscovered the means to tell time - Matriach Eva, led her clan in the land clearing procession, humming hymns, waving her walking stick around, she said a few incantation in language the others did not understand. Kazan the lead scout walked beside her; showing her the terrain feature, explaining to the group what the feture in front of them, before they even saw it.

The land as they already saw before was good. A vast green valley, mostly flat but was no doubt fertile for plants; a snaking river cuts the valley in two. Kazan told them that the river forked into two more tributaries one heading to the west, and another to the north. He said he saw highlands far to the east and figured that must be the source for the river.

"We tried following the river but unlike these part of the lands; the forest gets thicker and there is no way for us to head into unknown forest without much preparation." Kazan said, pointing to the direction of said mountains.

"You reckon a dragon live up there, mother?" Tuorin gazed at the distance, he saw ridgelines but they were too far out.

"Must be more than 300 tais. So, about 3 new moons to travel?" Tuorin looked on to the lead scout.

"There about. Those mountains might be farther than they look."

"300 tais is considered close??" Shiloz grunted.

"Well, either way, one day we will need to send people to explore that land over there. But for now, let us stop and plant the seed here." Eva said.

Tuorin took out his stone axe, and start making a hole in the ground. Eva placed a tree sappling into it; put some dirt to plant it - one woman handed over a leather bag filled with water.

[[In the name of the goddess]]

She walled the sapling with tiny rocks, grunted as she tried to stood up.

"Alright, let's head to the center. This tree will form the eastern border for the clans. It will grow up and continue to do so until hopefully the last of our bloodlines was born. Let us head back to the center."

And so they did.

The matriarch repeat the same process; planting another sapling into the earth.

"This is the center of our village; so I'm planting the seed for the World Tree."

"The world tree?" Shiloz asked.

"Aye. The world tree."

"So, what is this world tree?"

"It's a tree that is going to grow larger than everything; it's bark so thick that the wyvern gods will saw fit to hang on of of it. Your children, their children, their children's children will look after it since it's our path to the ancient gods."

"Ah."

"Then in the name of the moon goddess, I shall plant this world seed. May the goddess bless our offering as we put our roots into this earth, and we do hereby claim these land for our people, to be looked after until the end of time and space." The matriach eyes turn into a gentle reddish glow once again.

[[In the name of the goddess]].

Some where in the blue sky, a distant gentle roar was heard.

[Aeyariss]

PART 8

The Clan Start A New Village; Young Boys Set Out For A Journey To Become Man

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It did not took the clan long for them to set up a more permanent dwellings; their original huts was expanded, and a new larger structure with an open sky was built so everyone can gather together to feast during the new moon celebration every month; though usually they all gathered there almost every time when they are not working. Now that the travelers had settled in this patch of land, they are adjusting to a new kind of life as a villager.

Life in the village was simple. It was peaceful, though some men find it odd since they no longer walk long distance, to explore the land ahead. Though men like Kazan still went out leading expeditions to the distant corner of the land they now claim as theirs but not many men took up the role as scout anymore.

But because they no longer exert too much physical work on their body, compared to what they once did as a nomadic tribes, thus some of their men resorted to drinking fermented juice made from fruits they foraged in the wild. Food was abundance in their lands too... and it was not a surprise when some of them start growing a lager belly. The woman laughed at the men with their new physical shape; some joked they're almost with child. Matriach Eva didn't like seeing the men acting like that; so she often scold them, telling them to work or bring some food for the clan.

As many moons passes; the sapling started to grow into a small tree, and new villagers were born. The entire clan celebrated it by sacrificing a carabao which roamed freely near the rivers, in numbers. Tuorin and the others caught that one. Soon, there were many toddlers. Child rearing was a collective responsibility ; every woman will look after a child; and every man provide for the entire clan. A few years later; the clan grew to about five or six dozens people.

The world tree continued to grow, and so did the trees planted in the outer border of their lands. Kazan, Tuorin and the other men took woman as their own, and they too start having children of their own. Men like Shiloz has multiple children, and not too longer after that, his older son - Sethoz - finally ready to become men. Seth and some other boys gathered before the clan, where Matriarch Eva - who seemingly only to continue becoming graceful as she aged - sent them for a moon long ritual. Their challenge were simple; built a habitable hut on their own; hunt animals and bring them back to the clan, but most importantly they simply had to work together and survive in the wilderness for a month. If they survive on their own, then they can be called a man.

Five of young boys set out into the wilderness, they were all about the age of twelves to ten. The matriarch blessed them with incantation, and gave everyone wrist guard made from tree stalk as amulet. She also charges Kazan and Tuorin to secretly observe those boys and forbade everyone else to provide assistance. Shiloz was confidence with his son, but the other mothers were worried. Young boys were taught to use the stone spear; axe and how to lit up fires. The woman taught them how to pick plants as herb should they had some light illness and to differentiate which plants is edible and which one are poisonous. Well, food shouldn't be a problem, there was more than plenty in the village. They were however told not to go into the river at night. They were commanded to be aware of their surrounding to watch each other presence all the time.

However, one of the young girl who had been playing with the boys wanted to join the group, but the entire womanhood and matriarch herself forbade her, so she sulked in the huts, crying while her other friends left the village for a month. The group had to say good bye to her first and assure her they will come back and play with her again once they're finish with the rite of passage.

~~~

Then the boys set out for an adventure. Sethoz, the eldest at age twelve, carried his father hunting spear. He became the group leader. Arruvin, age eleven, son of Amoz, one of the elder scout, set out with his father's stone axe. Mazirii however, at age ten, became the envy of the group - his father, another one of Tuorin's hunter, made a hunting bow for him, along with a dozen stone tipped arrow. Rekab, at eleven, simply carried a sling shot. His father, Romab, didn't have a specified task, and did whatever was needed in the village. The last boy, an eleven years old Raiz, didn't get anything from his parents. A quiet boy by nature; he was one of the more elusive child in the village - but it was sadly because of both his parents had died before the village was build. His mother died giving birth to him, and his father, one of the older scout before Kazan took over the role, had died when a predator animal with a yellow and black striped (tiger) attack their group. And so he matriarch Eva gave him the skin taken from the predator for Raiz. So he became the boy with the prettiest clothes.

Sethoz, like his father, was unnaturally loud but he had a good heart. What he lacked in wit he made up with agility, and he can thrust the spear real good - well, at least as good as far as a twelve years old could.

"So, what is your plan?" Mazirii asked not long after they all reach the border of their village, which they had walk from from sun up to mid day just to reach to edge of the border.

"I don't have one. Let's just do whatever we want for now. I'm hungry. Who carries the smoked chicken?" they all sat down by the river. The sun glistening on the river. For some reason, the voice of the river and the reflections was quite soothing.

"Here". Raiz said softly. He put down the rattan bag to the dirt, and unwrapped the leaves covering what was supposed to be their emergency food.

"Alright, let's dig in." Sethoz said.

"Don't we need to ask for blessing from the moons?" Arruvin said, almost hesitating.

"Bah! It's day light, there is no moons. Let's just eat, or you can pray to the sun gods if you want." Sethoz plucked the wing.

"There is no sun gods. Only the moon goddess exist." Aruvin said rather dismissively, plucking part of the chicken. The other boys started tearing the chicken too.

"Raiz? Here you go. You can have the breast part." Sethoz said, passing what's left to the one left, waiting.

"Thanks." Raiz started chewing too. Their lunch was completely gobbled up as fast as the boys started it.

"Ah, now I feel like taking a nap." Sethoz said, letting out a burp.

"Now? We haven't set up camps." Mazirii looked to him.

"Well, there's plenty of time left. We can just sleep under some tree or something. Let's just take a break. Do whatever you want." Sethoz was already lying on his back. Mazirii stood up.

"In that case, I'm going for a swim. Anyone wants to join?" He said, walking toward the river.

"Yeah, I'll join." Rekab replied.

Raiz watched them all playing; he turned to see Sethoz lazily lying on the grass. Arruvin was sitting on a rock, next to the river bank watching the other boys going into the waist deep river, he probably just want to bathe in the sun for now.

"I'll ... stand a guard watch." He finally said, softly, not sure if the rest even heard him, but Sethoz sure did. Someone need to keep a watch, everyone else is playing around, something bad is bound to happen if no one be on alert.

"Here, use my spear. Scream if there's any danger." Raiz saw the spear stick up. He grabbed it.

[Aeyariss]

PART 9
Five Boys In The Wilderness

---

The boys played and continued to play in the river; taking a break only when the sun is scorching hot on top of their head; too hot for them to continue walking in the humidity, and so they all sat under the shade of a medium tall banyan tree. Mazirii however, sat high on one of the tree branches, watching over them, scanning the plain for incoming danger, ready with his bow.

"How far away are from the village?" Rekab spoke, not addressing anyone in particular.

"About 3 hours walk away from the border. Why?" Sethoz answered lazily.

"So, is that considered 'outside of the village' and we are in fact in the 'wilderness'?"

"Guess so."

"Doesn't feel much different to me honestly... besides, this land feels like home." he said. Excited.

Sethoz suddenly sit straight up. Smiling mischievously.

"Let's go exploring. Somewhere our villagers hasn't gone to."

"What?" Rekab turned to look up.

"All this time we've been playing, wanting to go out exploring the land but the adults kept telling us to stay in the village, now is the good time. We had all the time for ourselves and no adult to tell us otherwise. This is the perfect time for an adventure. We'd probably had to work like the other adult when we return to the village."

"Yah, why are you so excited? It's so hot right now for us to be walking. Let's just wait when the sun is down a little." said Arruvin.

"Need I remind you guys that we haven't set up camps and hunt for dinner." Maziri said from up top. "We still need a plan."

"Plan, right, here's a plan. We'll catch some fish from the stream, save some for a days worth and we'll go across the river. Toward the rising sun." Sethoz said.

"How about camp?"

"Bah, let's just sleep on the tree tonight. We'll lit up fires down below here to scare off predator. Save us time." The other boys looked at each other. Rekab nodded. Mizarii jumped down from the tree, landed softly.

"Then we needed to divide the work; one group to catch dinner, one group to collect the fire wood."

"I'm better at catching fish." Sethoz said.

"I'll go with you." Maziri said.

"Well, then I'd go collect the wood. Come with me?" Rekab turned to Arruvin."

"Then you join them too Raiz, you're not good in the waters." Sethoz said to Raiz.

Raiz simply nodded.

[Aeyariss]

PART 10
Fishes and The Children of the Blue Eyes

---

The group went to work; Sethoz and Mazirii head down to the river bank again, the site where they saw school of fishes swimming earlier when they were playing earlier. The river was about chest deep for the boys, it wasn't especially a problem except for the of them.

"There." Maziri pointed out to the waters.

"Hyah!" Sethoz thrust his father's spear into the river. ... only to catch nothing. "Huh?" Sethoz looked perplexed. He swore he hit the spear right where the fishes was seen. The fishes swam away, and the two boys had to wait before the waves on the surface calmed down once more.

"What witchcraft is this? You saw I hit it just didn't you." the child said, smiling.

"How did you?"

"Hmm, apparently you didn't." Sethoz grunted hearing that.

"Hit it again." The two of them located another fish somewhere further up stream. Sethoz lunged the spear again. And again, nothing.

"Agh, this is making me nuts. This is how father and the others did it. Why are we not hitting any!" He threw the spear into the water, instantly regretted it once he saw it floated back and started flowing downstream.

"Wait, no!" He went into the waters chasing after his father's spear. Luckily it was blocked by a large rock sticking out in the river.

"We need a smarter plan." Mazirii sighed.

"Your turn. Use your bow." Sethoz said, panting.

"Pft, I'm not wasting my arrows. There's no way to retrieve them back if I shot it into the waters." Maziri said , smirking.

"Let's try hitting them with rocks. A big rock." Sethoz said again. He looked the ground, found a ball shaped rock as large as his two fists combined together. He carried it forward, to where the fish swim away just now. And threw it with all his might.

SPLASH! - but no fish.

"What are you two doing?" a voice came from their back. Surprised, the two boys quickly turned. It was another boy. Smaller than they are. Maybe about 10 years old. Way thinner. Only unlike them this one had blue eyes.

"Who are you? How did you came up to us so quietly?" Sethoz said, firmly, alarmed.

"If you didn't make so much noise, you'd probably hear me coming over here." the blue eyed boy said.

"Still doesn't explain who you are. What your name?"

"Name?"

"Yes, what are you called? I am Sethoz this one here is Mazirii. What is your name?"

"Name." The blue eyed looked up; confused. "I don't have one. Mother usually call me "Child. We lived over there." Child pointed toward the dark ominous looking forest across the river.

"I didn't know there's another village in the area." Mazirii said looking confused.

"Well, you shouldn't be out here... my people, they don't really approve of your kind. What are you doing in this river?"

"We were catching some fish. What do you mean your people?"

"You don't know about us?" The child stepped closer; his blue eyes gaze deep into Mazirii.

"Ah, you had the black eyes. Hmm. So you are not Descendants of the Red Eyes. I suppose that means we're not enemies."

Sethoz and Mazirii looked at each other confused.

"Well, you're free to catch the fishes in the river, but just so you know we claimed the land on the other side of this river. So, don't simply cross into it. My people are watching too, also that's not how you catch a fish."

"Wait, you know how to catch one?"

"Sure. Come here." They all went to the river again. A small school of fish was swimming.

"Let me use your spear." Sethoz hesitated for a while, then slowly handed it over. The child scanned the water, then with a superhuman thrust ; much stronger than what Sethoz was able to, impaled not just one but two large fish.

"Here. My compliments to you and your people." the blue eyes shines again, handing over the spear.

"Well, I'm afraid I have to go." The boy start walking up stream. He turned around, and waved. "Be seeing you, Sethoz and Mazirii of the Black Clan".

"What was that?" they both said, blinking confusedly.

---

"You are not going to believe what happened just now." Sethoz said to the group when they got back with several more fish.

"The moon goddess swimming in the river?" Arruvin , who was trying to start a fire, replied casually.

"We met a strange boy." Arruvin looked up. "He had blue eyes and had a very strong arm."

"Huh?"

"Look, a boy crept to us near the river bank. He showed us how to spear the fish after we've failed so many times. The way he thrust the spear a lot more stronger than the adults in the village."

Arruvin looked perplexed now; he looked to Rekab and Raiz, who doesn't seem to pay much attention to the conversation.

"You do know that there is no other village within 300 tais in this area don't you?" It is known. We're the only clan this far up north. The elder must've encounter other people in the area all this while."

"I know, but -"

"Look, we're telling the truth." Mazirii cut him off. Arruvin starred at him for a while.

"Alright, I'm not saying you two a lying but ... it's unlikely there's anyone else in the area we didn't know of."

"Are you sure you two met a person?" Rekab said.

"What do you mean? He looked just like us."

"Remember what granny Eva said when we were younger; spirits of the world can look like us human?"

"Hmm. Now that is a good point." Mazirii said.

"Well, did this 'spirit' said anything?"

"Yeah, he said they made claim to the land east of across of the river. We can go and check the area to look for them." Sethoz said, pointing somewhere to the darker looking forest in the distance. The boys glanced at the direction; they can feel the wind rustling, trees waving, ... suddenly they all shared the same ominous feeling.

"Yeah, no. Just no. That's feels, bad" Rekab shook his head.

"Come on, we are planning to venture out to the east anyway. Maybe we'll meet him or those spirits again." Sethoz became excited once again.

"No." Raiz said firmly. The group was surprised to hear him saying that. He was usually soft spoken, but hesitate most of the them.

"No?" Sethoz drew closer.

"No. Something is watching us from hat direction, across the river. I can sense their presence but I can't see them."

[Aeyariss]

PART 11

---

Raiz began explaining to the other boys.

"I started to have this strange feelings ever since we left the village border." he spoke softly. "Like you know when something was lurking behind our back, that sort feeling. I felt like we were being watched by something. Like we're being stalked."

"But you said nothing." Arruvin pointed out.

"I -- I didn't mean to stop you lot from playing."

"Is that why you volunteer to stand guard in the first place?" Sethoz asked, starring at him, everyone else was starring at him too. Raiz started to feel visibly discomforted with the attention.

"Yes. In any case; let's not go to the East." Raiz turned; toward the eastern plain, where the vast plain across the river started to roll into hills.

"I thought everyone agreed to go exploring East." Sethoz protested.

"No. You wanted to explore in the East." Rekab shot back.

“Yeah, but you lot agreed too, right? Right? Ah, come on. We saw a boy who claimed there’s another village to the eastern lands, but you’re not curious about it?”

“He also said our people are not welcomed by his people.”

“No, he said ‘we’re not enemies.’”

“Whoa, whoa, what? What’s this about being enemies? What are you talking about?” Rekab was alarmed but Sethoz is already arguing with Mazirii.

“That blue eyed child, said we’re not Descendants of the Red Eyes. That his people ‘don’t approve of our kind’ or something, I forgot.” Mazirii tried to explain.

“Great. So what? You are suggesting we go look for this boy and his village? Sounds like you are inviting us to go look for trouble.” Rekab said.

“No! You know that’s not what I mean. I’m just… curious.” And Sethoz replied.

“Guys… granny Eva had red eyes.” Arruvin suddenly voice out.

“No she didn’t. She had black, same as ours.” Sethoz said.

“No. She sometimes had red eyes. I saw those eyes changed to red whenever she read those moon runes incantations.” Raiz spoke up again.

“You’re joking right?”

“I asked her once; she told me if was the gift of the third eye. Something about her bloodline inheritance." Raiz said again.

“What’s all this got to do with us?” Sethoz pointed out.

“Maybe Descendants of the Red Eyes has got something to do with granny Eva.” Said Arruvin.

“Because she can turn her eyes red sometimes when she did all those weird moon spell?”

“I’m saying we don’t know much, and heading to the East, to find this boy ‘spirit’ and their settlements doesn’t seem like a good idea.” Said Arruvin, again.

“I just think we should go back, and ask granny Eva about it, if she knew anything.”

“And risk being ridiculed by everyone else? The boys who returned only after a day?! They’ll never see us as man if we do that?”
Sethoz became agitated; and the boys began raising their voices. Raiz tried to drown out all the noise in his head; but he couldn’t help from glancing across the river again; to the eastern.

He saw the figure of a boy standing at the edge of clearing, just under the tree lines.

He blinked, once, and but now there’s another figure standing next to him.

“Did you see that?” Raiz spoke to Rekab who was closest to him.

“See what?”

“There.” Raiz pointed out.

“Wait… I see them.” Rekab eyes went wide.

“Guys!” He yelled at the other boys. Pointing toward the direction. Arruvin, Mizarii, and Sethoz turned too see.

Now there are five of them. Five children.

“Hello there.” Sethoz yelled out.

They didn’t reply… instead four of them simultaneously turned to their back; and start walking back into the shadows of the forest. One figure stood still.

Sethoz waved again. That child like figure remained still for a while, before he finally walked away again.

“That was weird.” Sethoz finally said. The other boys became perplexed too.

But Raiz, oh Raiz… Sethoz turned to him and he was completely petrified.

“They’re demons.” He said. Sethoz walked closer trying to reach for his friend.

“Hey, calm down.”

“They’re demons!” Then Sethoz noticed, Raiz own black eyes had changed and are glowing red.

[Aeyariss]

PART 12

---

Matriarch Eva called it the Wyvern Sight; whoever posses it is destined for many great things beyond the ability of a normal human being. In ancient time, it was said that those who has the eyes became the bridge between human and the wyvern race; a deities connected to the Moon Goddess.

Sometimes, such rare breed became great warrior; some even rose to become Wyvern Rider themselves, a human deity, riding with the gods. But the wyverns are no more... or at least none had been seen for the last thousand years.

How Raiz son of Raizo came to awaken the blessing of the third sight is not known.

"I can see their true form; they're serpents demon."

"Raiz, I'm glad you are talking more, but this is not the time to joke around. Tell me what is happening to your eyes?" Sethoz grabbed both Raiz's arms, shaking them.

"Oh, my goddess. He's got the sight! Same as granny Eva." Rekab yelled; backing away, fearing the young boy.

"I can hear them whispering in my head." Raiz said, terrified, almost shaking.

"What? What did they say?"

"They say we're Descendants of the Red Eyes, they're going to kill us. They say they will gouge my eyes out and offer them as sacrifice to their gods."

"No they won't." Sethoz said, looking back at the eastern location whey they saw the five children again.

"You're scaring me. You scaring me just as granny Eva scared me when she had those eyes glowing." Maziri said, nervously.

Raiz rubbed his eyes over and over again, and they saw the red glowing eyes returned to normal again. Black. Just like everyone else.

"So what do we do now? We need to tell the adult about those five children we saw. If they're really demons we're a in trouble here boys." Rekab said to Sethoz.

"Not necessarily; there are five of us; five of them."

"Oh now you are looking for a fight? If Raiz has the same scary sight same as granny Eva, and what he says is true that they're snake demons, then it's the end for us."

"Sethoz, listen to me. They will attack. We need to go now." Raiz pleaded to Sethoz.

"Friend, it's about 4 hours of walking back to the village border. A few more back to the village center. It will be dark in about 2 hours. We need to make a decision. I agree with Rekab; we need at least to tell the adults."

"Argh! Alright. We can make it in 2 hours if we run. Let's go."

They were about to turn when they all felt the tremors in the earth. Something roared from the east; across the river. Larges trees waved violently, some fell to the ground; then they saw it - a large serpent raising above the tree line.

"Oh, my goddess."

"RUN!"

[Aeyariss]

PART 13

---

"RUN!"

The five boys began sprinting toward their village. Their light weight helped them cover the distance in such a short time; Mazirii the youngers, and smallest was the fastest, with Arruvin and Rekab following a few feet behind. Sethoz turned around; saw Raiz is lagging a little and struggling to catch up with the rest of them.

But the Serpent's race - even for its young - outrun the mere human being when it is in true monster form. In short moment it slide across the water, hissing, slithering just as fast once it was on land.

"Don't look back!" Sethoz yelled to the other boys.

"We'll never out run that beast!" Rekab accidentally look back; the giant serpent was gaining on them.

"He's right! Look for cover! Something to hide in! We're dead if it caught us in the open." Mazirii yelled back.

Sethoz scanned a terrain; it's open ground, flat plain to almost all the way to the village to their. There was another forest with tall trees further to the north.

"There! We'll hide in the forest."

The five boys raced toward the tree lines; canopy rises as they approach it, the hissing growl grew closer too.

"Almost there! Find some thick trees."

The giant serpent slammed into the ground; almost crushing Arruvin who somehow side rolled to the side, avoiding it.

Sethoz yelled out, and thrust his spear into the scaly serpent body which was almost a thick as the oak trees around them. It penetrated but was lodged. He lost his grip and was thrown to his back when the serpent slammed his body.

Mizarii yelled; he launched three shot of arrows in quick succession. Two bounced off its face but one struck right underneath its mouth. It let out a painful hiss, it rose its head, it's movement restricted by the tall trees.

It slithered back, lowering itself. Black mist seems to have come out of its body, filling the space. The form of the serpent gradually fading and faded into the mist, shrinking.

The boys took the opportunity to shield themselves behind the trees. When the black mists disappeared five 'boys' emerges out of it. All their eyes were glowing blues.

[[Hand over the one with the red eyes or all of you shall perish here, human.]]

[Aeyariss]

PART 14

---

"You going to have to pass through me first!"

Sethoz charged forward, he didn't have his spear so he threw jabs at the leader of the opposing team; the boy who they have met at the river earlier that day. Arruvin followed behind, waving his axe at the other 'boys'. The blue eyed leader stood still; the other four leaped forward on his flank. One deflected Sethoz's punches; the other gave him a low kick on his legs, causing him to lose footing and slam head first into the ground. One of them pressed against the back of his head, holding him to the ground.

Arruvin tried to slash his nearest target who also deflected the axe with one hand, and the other chokeslam him by the throat causing him to let go of the axe; struggling to breathe. The enemy 'children' lift him up in the with one hand with ease.

The fight was over before Mizarii, Rekab and Raiz could even blink.

[[Surrender your self. There is no reason for your friends to die here today.]] The blue eyed leader hissed inside their head.

"Let them go!" Mizarii let go one shot, aimed at the leaders face. The stone tipped arrow flew straight, but at the last moment the 'boy' simply moved his head a few inch and the arrow missed him. Without command; two of the enemy broke off and charged toward the rest. Rekab let off a shot from his slingshot; hit one of the opposing team right in the face, cutting one side of his cheek - but the enemy was simply annoyed when black blood started to gush out. He let out a terrible hiss, using both arms to threw Rekab against the tree.

"Rekab!" Mizarii tried to let off another arrow but the his enemy ran in a serpentine movement and it missed. He was about to launch another shot when the opponent grabbed his bow and pushed it to the side and used his own body to threw Mizarii onto the ground.

Raiz roared. His eyes now glowing red.

"Heh, so there's your pretty red eyes." The blue eyed leader wasn't whispering inside their head this time. Both charged at each other.

"This one is mine!" the blue eyed threw a punch first; Raiz grabbed his arm, and using the momentum threw him against a rock. The rock shattered; and the enemy vomited thick black blood. Raiz went after the one choking Arruvin who upon seeing him charging decided to throw Arruvin at him. Raiz reached out to stop Arruvin from smashing into him, spun him around.

Raiz gave kicked him straight to the chest. That send the opponent flying five foot away. The remaining three enemies charged at him, freeing the rest of the boys. Sethoz looked around; found the axe. He grabbed it.

"Attack!" Sethoz let out another scream. Everyone screamed and charging at each other.

The three enemies grabbed hold of Raiz. their leader who now managed to get back on his feet ran from Raiz back but disappeared, and the black mist reappeared surrounding Raiz. Now is his serpent form the enemy bit Raiz on the neck.

"Argh!" Raiz let out a blood curling roar. He swung around in pain; and the other enemies had to let him go. The boys went for the kill; attacking their enemies directly to their head.

"Raiz!" Sethoz saw Raiz body was shaking violently. "What have you done?!"

The blue eyed serpent leader was in its human form again; he smirked as he wiped off the blood on his lips.

[[I told you you to hand him over. Now you're all going to die here.]]

Raiz screaming in pain; the boys prepare for another round of fight. Sethoz was about to charge again when another terrifying roar fill the forest and the sky.

GROWL!!! It was some kind of beast, flying in the sky.

it ripped above from the tall canopy; bursting jets of fire from its mouth. All five of the demonic serpents disappeared in puff of black mist again. Raiz was screaming in pain; his body convoluting - the last thing he remember before blacking out was seeing that large flying beast descending from the sky and seeing the strange figure of a white haired woman and the screaming face of the other boys...

[Aeyariss]

PART 15

---

“He’s awake.”

A familiar voice.

Raiz felt his head spinning around, buzzing, and something felt burnt inside his body.

He opened his eyes and saw matriarch Eva glowing red eyes gaze penetrated his own.

“So, finally someone else awaken their dragon sight as well.” She said, smiling at first. He realized he was back in the village.

“What?” He tried to sit up.

“Don’t get up… you need to rest.” Raiz reaches for his neck; it hurt. A lot.

“Everyone else alright?” He looked around, none of the other boys were with him.

“Yes. They’re fine, a little bruised but otherwise unharmed. Sethoz already informed me of what happened, and we had to thank our guest for rescuing you and bringing you back to the village.” Eva glanced to the side. He saw the tall woman standing next to the fire. Silky long white hair. Fair skin. She doesn’t looked like she is from around here.

“This is this Lady Alcendina. She is a very, very old friend of our clan.”

“Please, Eva … I’m still in my prime.”

“You’re the same just as we last met, 50 years ago, but I’m the one turning into an old hag now.” Eva grunted.

“You’re still in your prime too, young Eva.”

“Ooh, you flatter me.” Eva steppe aside; the white lady called Alcendina sat next to Raiz.

“Hello, Raiz.” She smiles. The first thing he noticed was her eyes, they were red as well.

“Are you the Moon Goddess?” The old woman laughed hearing that.

She simply smiled.

“That what’s your matriarch said to me as well the first time she saw me.” Alcendina glance at her.

“So, those demons…” Eva said. “They started hunting us again.”

Alcendina nodded.

“I was tracking them across the land, hoping to learn the location to their hide out first. But looks like they managed to engage your settlement first.”

“Did they regrouped?”

“Yes, and they’ve multiplied too. This time, they can transmute into human a lot faster.”

Eva sighed.

"Well, we're bound to encounter them again, I just didn't expect it would be in the same life time." Eva starred longingly at the fire. There's sadness, and regret? Raiz could not tell the expression of her face.

"Well, we fought them the last them they reappear; we can do this again this time. How many warriors do you have?"

"You mean with their sight awakened?" Eva turned to Raiz.

"One."

[Aeyariss]

PART 16

---

"One." Eva said in a rather grim tone.

The two woman turned to the boy. Neither said anything for a while.

"Well, if you haven't settled these land, I'd tell you and people to pack up and head to another land. I assume you've planted those barrier trees?"

"Yes. Trees are still growing."

"Well, time to summon the ancient magic of our goddess."

"I'm sorry, but what's going on?" Raiz said, struggling to utter out the words.

[[You are one of the born with gift of the Wyvern Sight".]] Alcendina said. Inside his head.

"OK, you people need to stop doing that. Talking inside my head." the boy protested. Eva closed her eyes; concentrated her mind. Her own red irises were activated when she reopened them.

[[You'll get used to it. But now we need to hide you.]] Eva said. Also inside his head.

[[It would be so much easier if I can just show you."]] Alcendina said.

Raiz grasped for air. It wasn't just voices inside his head now, but memories, and memories of events taking place throughout thousands of years suddenly burst inside his own head.

He saw the red tribes; an ancient civilization of immortals. Created this world from a ball of fire. Saw the world turn into a great watery world. Then a world of ice. He saw the red gods seeded this planet with life. Millions and millions of years ago, and how those life rose to become the ancient titans.

Then came the big calamity from the stars as a burning rock fell to the earth, wiping out the ancient titans and the ancient civilization of the red tribes.

Then he saw the great ancient Serpent's God. How the ancient titans and the red tribes fought to push back the otherworldly invasion.

He saw the birth of the wyvern race.

The creation of first men.

The first garden of paradise. How the Serpent tricked men into corruption, and men betrayed the red tribes.

He saw the beginning of endless series of wars and destructions. Witnessed the events in the last War of the Titans, the ancient rumblings and the destructions of the other moons.

He saw the eternal crusade between the two sides.

It was harrowing to see all the endless cycle of deaths and destructions. The sufferings. The corruption. But in the end Raiz senses a glitter of hope; warmth; a sense of destiny. He saw the others born with the Wyvern Sight, their own stories; adventure; struggles; deaths and how it impacted their successor and world around them.

He saw shared events with the younger Matriarch Eva. And how his forefathers in the tribes fought back against another descendants of the Serpents half a century ago. He saw the events in the past few years; past few days and now present.

Raiz eyes were flaming red when he came back from the vision.

[Aeyariss]

PART 17

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"Mother, forgive the intrusion but that monster is back. It's attacking our village border." Tuorin suddenly appeared at the door. He sounded alarmed; but trying his best not to show his fear. Eva and Alcendina exchanged a quick look at each other.

"Let's go." the white haired said.

Raiz tried to get up; but was stopped by the matriarch.

The two woman exited the hut. First thing they saw was a dark whirlpool like skies forming in the distant, where the border tree was located.

Alcedina's eyes were to first to glow bright red; Eva's activated her seconds later. A low roar was heard from behind; Alcendina's single wyvern descended from the sky, it passed through a crystalized form of barrier which opens up for it and resealed again.

[[What do you see, Lukif?]] Alcendina look into its eye. Lukif, the wyvern growled.

[[20 serpents including five younglings. Their leader is a titan class elder. ]]

"An elder? Well, I shall leave it to you then, my lady. I'm too old to fight demons like this."

"Nonsense."

Tuorin starred at the wyvern in disbelief.

"Recall the warriors; we'll take it from here. Bring everyone to the hut." Eva said, her own red eyes scaring off his own son. He'd never seen her with such gaze in the past.

Tuorin starred at the wyvern again; causing it to growl and the human slowly backed off.

"Yes, mother." he said, running off to the border.

[[Shame, if only my own son inherited the wyvern sight.]]

[[Worry about that later; now I wish your moon tree had grown taller.]]

[[Oh you wish. We just planted that several years ago! Of course it's rather small.]]

[Aeyariss]

PART 18

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"Everyone get inside the hut and bar the door." Eva said to the small groups of villager, mostly women and young girls who had gathered at the village center near the World Tree. Things started to grow tense around there. Lightning strikes and thunder roared in the now darkened skies, and the day turned into night.

The large wyvern roared. It took off, and flies in a circle, just above the still growing but already tall world tree that the matriarch had planted several years ago when they opened the village. Lady Alcendina walked toward the tree, she touches it with her right palm, and began chanting moon spells.

[[Mother of Earth, the great goddess Gaia, I invoke your spirit; come! Dwell inside of me, whom share the Light of the Moon.]] She said in some ancient language.

Her eyes continued to glow red. Eva prostrated herself on the ground next to her, repeating repeating the same chant; rising and bowing over and over again.

[[Mother of Earth, the great goddess Gaia I invoke your power; come! Dwell inside of me, I who command the Wrath of the Sun.]] The tree starts radiating a strange light, bluish in form. It gets stronger and stronger before finally it let out a pillar of blue light shoot up straight into the skies, and the dark cloud dissipates revealing the Moon.

Similar ray of light descended from the moon, shining upon Alcendina. Her red eyes turned into reddish gold.

[[Summoning complete; Sage of Wyvern materialized.]]

Eva stood up, Alcendina touches her, and ray of lights radiates from her hand. The old woman suddenly transformed into a young beautiful lady. Alcendina looked up to the sky, she pointing her hands toward the wyvern who now received the same blessing - and grew 10 times larger.

The wyvern roared again.

"Let's go." Alcendina said, but her voice wasn't hers anymore. It was like multiple voices speaking at the same time.

[Aeyariss]

PART 19

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The lone giant serpent stood motionless, its towering against the backdrop of rolling plain. Its giant blue eyes glowing in the dark. Few dozens human shaped stood underneath it in a battle line. They donned their own scaly serpent armor - with shiny looking weapons. They haven't began their attack, for now they seems to be waiting.

Across the field; the humans from the villager stood in their own line, but they were mostly behind the lines of 50 feet tall shorea tree which mark their village external border. Strange though, those trees were glowing blue a few moments ago.

"You are not welcome here. Go back to where you came from, demons!" Kazan screamed to the creatures.

((Foolish humans. We shall feast on your flesh today but first you have to witness the death of your guardians.)) Once voice. The giant snake, the human formed, they all spoke in unison.

A thunder boomed in the sky, Kazan and his hunters looked up only to be almost blinded with the burst of light came descending from the sky in the form of a massive pillar. Sage Alcendina and the Sage Eva took to the field, strange runic symbols appeared on the ground around them when the light disappeared.

"Hello, there." Alcendina said, walking forward. "I remember you. You will not escape me this century, Belial." she said to the giant snake.

"Careful, my lady. She almost killed you the last time."

"Oh, now that you remind of that..." She sounded agitated.

"Tell your younglings, stay behind the tree lines by rights the powers of our gods should prevent them from crossing over."

"I'll let you have the first strike." Young Eva said, before turning back toward the border.

((Hehehe. HAHAHAHA. You need to stop obsessing about me, child.)) The giant snake opened its mouth, another human, this one in the form of naked woman emerged from inside the snake.

"You die." Sage Alcendina said in rage, she extended her arms and a golden spear materialized. A hiss. The giant snake spitted out venom that sprayed across the field. A golden bubble shield protected Alcendina and Eva... but everything else touched by the spray withered and decayed within second.

The ones in human form began dashing across the field.

A wyvern roared in the dark skies... then ball of fire came crashing down. It struck the giant snake right at its back. Then another and another.

"Stand back!" Eva roared but too late. She saw Kazan ducked behind the tree. But the venom spray caught some of the warriors in the open. They all decayed into skeletons before her eyes. She dashed forward... only to be overtaken by the human form serpents that now began converging onto her.

"Not today!" She swing her own walking stick, which emits a strong knockback blast.

An adult serpent charged at her but a spear came from her back, and struck the human form right in the center mass. Eva swing her stick, destroying its head. A dark mist starts appearing, and floats away, and the human remains turned into shed of skins, now empty and hollow. The rest broke contact and retreated a little.

"Kazan!"

Kazan looked up, a little confused.

"Matriarch Eva?"

"I'll explain later; stand up and get behind the trees."

---

draft version; not finalized

[Aeyariss]

PART 20

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Illustration Image
Credit: @taana7

The giant dragon went against the giant snake; the immortal sage went against the immortal demons. Each side exchanged blows upon blows, with no clear of winner or loser. But each attacks drew the giant snake demon further from the tree lines making up the border of the village. Behind them, the mortals battled against the human formed creatures, led by their equally valiant matriarch, but there were too many of them and only one hybrid Sage.

Matriarch Eva fell to her back; having absorb the full superhuman kick by one of the adult human form; but quickly regain her form. The human warriors tried to assist her; throwing wood javelin; firing bows at them - but none seems to be effective. The armor worn by their enemies simply outclassed them all.

One of the human formed demons leaped into the freelines; but its bodies simply shattered into ashes - hitting the invisible force field protecting the village border. Seeing what happened to one of their numbers stopped the rest from attacking Eva. They all hissed in unison.

What was left of them disparate into the dark mist; a thunder struck the ground, then a rumbling in the earth began and out came another large snake - large enough but smaller than the other one.

Everyone, including Eva were shocked in disbelief. The giant snake swung its tail to the ground; it came into contact with strong enough force to reveal the dome shape crystal like shield.

"Find some cover!" Eva yelled out. She transform her walking staff into a bow, launched some magical flaming bolt at the serpents head. it failed to do much damage; except it made the second serpent angrier. The giant tail smashed into the shield once again; then its head turn to attack Eva, attempting to swallow her whole. She disappeared into the mouth.

"Matriarch Eva!" the warriors screamed... only watch the mouth of the giant snake burst into flames.

She emerged, unhurt, as heir own shield was intact... but panting.

***

((Smart of you to be dragging our battle farther from the village.)) Belial, standing on top of the serpents head, said through telepathy.

[[Well, we're now free to unleashed our true strength without worrying hitting one of our own.]] Alcendina, looking down from the back of her Wyvern shot back.

((You assumed I care what happened to my younglings? How presumptuous of you. Let's end this.))

[[Prepare your self!]]

The dragon blasted jets of that changed from red into blue; the serpent spits out streams of venom. Both attack struck one another.

A mighty explosion engulfed the sky.

---

first draft version/not finalized

Alright, this story is a mess now. I'm pantsing around too much and lost track of my own road map; originally I intend to take it slow, write some stories about exploration; the younglings meeting villagers who happened to be non human. they were originally planned to befriend one another and as they grew up, they realized the two factions are sworn enemies - and not, directly jump into another battle of the titans like this oh well. I will end the story arc here and modify it before final publication.

[Aeyariss]

Intermission

[Aeyariss]

PART 21

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Belial was knocked off from the blast; Alcendina leaped down from her wyvern. At the same time, wyvern went for the kill - the giant demon snake was decapitated with a single bite. Alcendina's spear lodged on top of her opponent's skull.

Both came crashing down to the ground.

"This is ... not the ...end... sister. See you... in the next 1,000 years." Belial whispered. No longer had the powers to use her voiceless communication.

The skin around her slowly became petrified. The Sage looked on silently, twisting her spear as she pulled it out. Belial lifeless body now turn to ashen rock cracked and a faint black participle rose into the air... and dissipated.

"I'll be waiting for you then."

The wyvern behind her roared and blasted jets of fire into the sky - the dark skies dissipated and the sun came out again. When it was clear again, she noticed there were five humanoid shadows floating in the sky above them. She sensed that they were watching down but they too faded away against the the clear blue skies not too long after that.

Back at the village ... the giant snake turned to see their elder had fallen, it suddenly became at a lost... something went wrong and came crashing to the ground. The black mist appears again as the transmutation gets cancelled with the loss of their source of power.

... and they returned to their human form once again.

The adult shaped 'human' writhed in pain, hissing, their skins tearing itself apart. Cracks began appearing before they too turned to dust, blown away by the wind.

...Leaving only five young boys unconscious on the field.

Alcendina came flying back, and they looked on at each other, then at the unconscious children.

[Aeyariss]

PART 22

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Voices spoke in the shadows...

"So, we've lost Belial."

"We have lost the Seedlings too, then."

"Aye. They've fallen into the hands of the humans."

"And what of the Wyvern Sage?"

"Alive."

"She needs to be dealt with. How many aeons has she been hindering our plans?"

"Several hundreds millions of years?"

"Patience. We have all the time in the cosmos. We are eternals. She is not. Her time will end... eventually."

"Well, perhaps... but this petty things means nothing to me, I shall return to the Void. Wake me up when she ceased to exist across time and space, or let me sleep until the we're ready to move on and time in this universe stops running.""

"She's not the problem, the traitorous rogue is the real threat."

"Have we located him?"

"Not, yet."

"Then we need to intensify effort to track him down, across all time and space".

"Or we can just wait... sooner or later he needs to acts."