Chương 16: Sadness

Archer made his way towards the eastern gate after buying a water skin from a vendor near the old man's stall.

He's barely drunk anything and only survived by eating hearts. But he still wanted to eat and drink regular food.

Speaking of food, he pulled out two wrapped meats and scarfed them down when he finished.

He licked the juice off his fingers while exiting the gate after telling the guards he was going on a quest.

Turning north, he started walking. An hour into his journey, a pack of wild dogs came across him.

Archer and the dogs stopped walking while staring at each other. Quickly casting Cosmic Sword and Blinked to each one, slicing their heads off.

Killing all six, he pulled out their hearts but didn't eat them, but he stored them alongside the bodies.

He carried on with his walk until he came across a creepy-looking lake. Tall trees darkened the area.

The water was flat, empty, devoid of life, and there was no movement whatsoever, no birds singing or beasts howling.

A dark forest grew up to the river, branches hanging over the dark waters. Standing on the bank of the river, he stared into the void-looking water.

Archer got a shiver as he did and felt like something was watching him from the river, like a predator waiting to attack.

He shook his head and started to look around for any wolf clues. Looking around, he found tuffs of wolf fur, picking it up and smelling it.

The nasty smell coming from the fur was that of blood, wet dog, and rubbish that's been sitting in the sun for a year.

But he still sniffed it to see if he could track the wolves. Once he took in the nasty smell, he threw it away and started smelling the air.

After ten minutes of sniffing, he smelt the same foul smell coming from a mile away. He ran towards the smell.

It didn't take him long to reach the source of it. There was a pack of ten wolves relaxing at the edge of the river.

A couple of them were keeping watch, making sure nothing could sneak up on the pack. He smiled as he saw the challenge sitting in front of him.

Casting Cosmic Sword, he blinked into the middle of the pack and startled all the wolves.

Archer started slashing at the dogs' bodies as he danced around. They were scared and tried to bolt away in different directions.

''HAHAHAHAHAHA.''

He was laughing as he was killing the wolves with his dance of death. As he spun around to attack another, his senses tried to warn him, but it was too late, and a wolf punched him.

His Cosmic Sword vanished when it fell from his hand after getting taken down. The wolf was biting down on Archer's right arm.

Archer's white scales blocked most of the teeth, but some teeth from the wolf's lower jaw pierced his inner arm, making him scream. ''Ahhhhh.''

It started yanking its head as it used its claws to slash at Archer's chest and stomach, slicing into the areas that didn't have scales protecting them.

Blood squirted all over the place as his adrenaline kicked in, so he couldn't feel the pain much. He put his hand on the beast's neck and cast a Fire Missile at it.

The beast yelped as it let go of his arm and went to run away, but before it got the chance to.

It was struck by a purple beam that tore clean through its body. The wolf dropped to the floor as Archer's hand that was held up fell after casting a spell.

He had three slashes going down his chest, the blood started to slow down and clot, and Archer felt a skill level up all of a sudden.

[Regeneration: 1>2]

Archer was lying injured on the floor as he felt them slowly start to stitch together. The puncture marks on his inner arm had already closed up and felt better, but the pain didn't go away.

It seemed as though red-hot iron rods were being driven into his body, but after enduring the pain for a while, he began to feel better.

After recovering, he slowly got off the ground and cast Cleanse on himself. It cleaned his body and clothes but didn't repair them.

His sleeve was torn, and the chest area was torn up. Archer decided not to change as he only had two shirts and pants left until he could buy more.

Looking around, he saw seven wolf bodies, so three escaped. Archer looked around and caught the same foul smell coming from the north.

Quickly taking out his knife, he cut the hearts and stored them with the wolf bodies. After that, he followed the smell for a few hours.

The afternoon sun cooled him down as he found the last three wolves. He quickly kills them with a Plasma Shot and loots them as he notices something behind the three wolves.

Dense fog gathered in the center of the terrain. Surrounded by rolling hills on each side, a desolate and ruined temple stood abandoned, the fog slowly creeping towards it.

Tendril-like fingers clawed their way closer, slowly smothering the open pathway leading to the temple's entrance.

The hazel frame of the door had a corner missing, all splintered and fractured from where the mites had been chewing for decades.

Gravestones that surround the temple outside were standing stationary and crippled from age.

Each tombstone in the cemetery symbolized a life, its essence echoed by the soft, gentle glimmer of light filtering from above.

The wind, carrying the mournful howls that mimicked whispers of the departed, created an eerie symphony in the graveyard.

Amidst this ethereal serenity, only Archer's footsteps dared to disturb the quietude.

The departed found company in stone statues depicting mythical dragons and dragon-kin, perched gracefully against the aged, black wrought fencing adorned with creeping vines.

Though weathered and seemingly ravaged, the temple bore witness to a profound history. Statues lay shattered on the ground, now home to encroaching vegetation.

As Archer approached, the broken walls unveiled a glimpse of the temple's interior.

Burnt tapestries, still hanging on the walls, spoke of a turbulent past, a narrative etched in the very fabric of the structure.

Upon reaching the shattered doors, he applied a deliberate push, causing them to creak open, revealing the mysteries beyond.

Entering the large hall, he saw a massive western dragon statue with six massive limbs, but its head was missing.

He saw the dragon's head lying on the floor further away from the statue. Looking at this scene, old memories flooded back to him from the previous Archer.

This is one of the temples of the Dragon Goddess Tiamat. She was the protector of all dragonkind

Decades ago, after the last Draconic-Human war ended, the dragons were defeated and vanished from Thrylos.

'Makes sense that Mother was in the Avalon Empire. They are a mixed empire, and the people don't care what race you are.

He shifted through all the memories he had filed away in his brain and learned that the God of light.

Darikha hated Tiamat with a passion for an unknown reason and encouraged his followers to go on crusades against all dragonkind.

Over five millennia ago, a catastrophic conflict ravaged the world when the knights of a kingdom, long lost to history, committed a heinous act against the dragons.

Deep in the heart of a human kingdom, a group of powerful knights conspired to take a prized possession of the dragons forcibly - the dragon princess.

They believed that the young and innocent princess had magical powers to help them take over the kingdom.

The knights kidnapped the princess, taking her away from her family and kingdom. When the news reached the dragon king, he was consumed with fury and heartbreak.

The princess was his only child and heir to his throne. He saw it as a direct attack on him.

Overwhelmed with rage, he summoned his mighty dragon armies and set out on a rampage, obliterating everything in his path.

The sky turned red as the dragon king's army burnt, destroyed every kingdom they came across, and burned any human army that dared to challenge them.

The humans soon realized their actions had awoken a terrible wrath in the dragons.

As the rampage continued, the church began to fear that the end was near and soon realized that the abduction had been a great mistake.

This calamitous event marked the beginning of the Draconic-Human wars, a brutal and prolonged struggle that would pit fiery dragons against valiant knights, plunging entire societies into chaos and upheaval.

Centuries after the abduction, numerous human kingdoms and empires aligned with the church in their relentless pursuit of dragonkind.

Various dragon breeds dwindled in numbers throughout the millennia until the dragon race ultimately emerged victorious.

The Followers Of The Light and the knights who had sought refuge in their respective homelands went into hiding, biding their time for five millennia to pass.

They enacted their revenge and brought the infamous dragons to their knees by raising crusades against them until they finally fell.

The surviving dragon kind fled to the northern wilds to roam as nomads. Some adventurous dragon-kin made a place for themselves in different kingdoms thanks to their fighting prowess.

Archer thought that religion was relatively simple in this world. Many gods and goddesses represent different things, such as love, war, home, and conquest.

There are many temples worldwide where worshippers can pray to their chosen God/Goddesses.

When the war ended, the God of Light ordered his followers to destroy all the dragon temples and butcher their residents.

Archer left with a deep sense of sadness spreading within him.