Accompanied by the sound of footsteps matching her every stride, Nafız sat in the chair at the far end of the table. The gaze of the man with hair blacker than night was fixed on her; his pale blue eyes meticulously scrutinized her every move. As Nafız took her seat, the man drew a deep breath—so violently that half the air in the room was instantly depleted.
"That repulsive human stench on you has vanished!"
Even though the Master was a human himself, speaking like this earned him a response wrapped in laughter.
"Look who's talking, you hypocrite! Can't you smell your own stench?"
"Yes, I do! Damn it all, I have to live with this filthy stench every day, every single moment. This must be my greatest curse!"
After the words of the man who looked to be in his mid-fifties, Nafız raised a single eyebrow; the inconsistency in his words seemed to annoy her.
"Don't get mad, I'm not mocking you. If anyone here has been played for a fool, it's me. But I know you won't believe me unless I tell you a story. Open your ears and listen closely, orc warrior. Let me tell you a tale that took place far, far away from this world!"
The Master's voice was smooth as velvet; someone unaware of the rumors about him could never peg him as the ruler of the world.
"Do you know of dragons, orc warrior? They are the most noble, the most mighty, and at the same time, the most just of all beings. The hero of this tale is the one who led these dragons—the Dragon Emperor!"
The man took a brief pause; his eyes, looking up at the sky through the small windows, gleamed under the morning sun.
"The Dragon Emperor stood above all living things in that world, watching the others from his cave atop a majestic mountain. He accepted what life brought within the natural balance of nature, never using his power to disrupt that equilibrium.
His beloved family was always by his side. You wouldn't know this, but it is incredibly difficult for dragons to continue their lineage; a colossal amount of nature's energy must be consumed for every newborn.
Despite this, the Dragon Emperor was a lucky one. He had two sons born from the same egg, followed by a breathtakingly beautiful daughter. While their days passed free of sorrow—filled with happiness, joy, prosperity, and love—he encountered a species he had never seen before.
He discovered beings who protected their small, fragile bodies by hiding underground, lacking power compared to other creatures. When these beings saw him, they crouched down and bowed, pressing their heads to the dirt in reverence.
The Dragon Emperor was deeply moved by this behavior. Though other creatures showed him respect, none had ever acted with such sincerity. His heart ached for them. Although he left their side that day, he continued to watch the community in secret.
They were in a miserable state. They fell prey to predators so easily that the Dragon Emperor, unable to bear it, decided to help them. First, he gathered them all under his wings—one tip touching the ground, the other reaching the sky—and relocated them to a place near the mountain where his cave was.
Because it was his territory, powerful beasts were forbidden from entering, putting an end to the rapid decimation of the group he had aided. With endless patience, the Dragon Emperor taught these frail beings how to understand the energy found in nature and how to gather it within their bodies.
The lifespan of the species he took under his wing was tragically short; the most resilient among them could barely endure for thirty years. The Emperor didn't give up; for generations, he patiently started teaching them from scratch all over again.
Over time, the lifespans of these beings extended, and each new generation was born inherently knowing some of what their predecessors had learned. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor's children grew up, and they too began to interact with the beings their father was training."
The man took another deep breath. When his eyes met Nafız's, he picked up where he left off.
"Thousands of years later, when the beings under his protection had grown strong enough to leave their safe haven, the Dragon Emperor granted them permission to explore the world. They had grown so close that his two sons had even started hosting some of these beings in their own caves.
Everything was going perfectly, until the order of nature began to unravel. Unexpected events were taking place across the world. Some of his kin, living scattered across various regions, started to vanish. First the lesser dragon species, then the elder dragons, disappearing one by one.
When the beings scattered across the world returned, they pointed the finger at other creatures forming factions as the culprits behind this. The Dragon Emperor believed them—how could he not? He had been with some of them for over a century, and they were the beings that showed him the utmost reverence.
Carrying hundreds of these beings on his back, he set out, targeting the monstrous creatures slaughtering his kin. But he soon learned that the truth was entirely different. The beings whose terrified ancestors he had dragged out of the dirt were the very ones betraying him.
Using the skills they had acquired while roaming the world, they trapped him and managed to inflict wounds that would lead to his death. The Dragon Emperor was driven mad with rage; the only reward he reaped for all his kindness was pure betrayal.
As he drew his last breath, his family flashed before his eyes for a moment. His two sons and his daughter were going to fall into the hands of those monsters, and he could do absolutely nothing. For the first time in his tens of thousands of years of life, he begged. He begged to be given a second chance.
As he embraced death, he realized someone had heard him. He plummeted down through a gray void and heard voices speaking in a language he didn't understand. When he opened his eyes, there was a creature in front of him. They cut the cord dangling from his belly and placed him into the arms of this foul-smelling beast.
The Dragon Emperor had gotten his second chance, but he was clad in the very same flesh as the beings he hated to death."
When the Master fell silent, Nafız spoke a single sentence—one that summarized the entire tale.
"He was reborn as a human!"
"Do you have any idea what it means to see, to feel, and to breathe the filthy stench of your greatest enemy in your own body every single day? You came from another world too; you know full well that the soul remains the same, that you can never scrub the old memories from your mind.
I must return to my world. If you clear all the dungeons in the World of the Six Civilizations, you earn the right to a wish from those who sent us here. Orc Warrior Nafız, I have to enter the dungeon in the place called the Other Realm. I will enter it, whatever the cost!"
While Nafız was reeling from this new information, the Master's harsh tone snapped her back to reality. The man's gentleness was fading away; the energy overflowing from his body was surging by the second.
"You have a goal too; you want to resurrect the one you lost. We can help each other. The dungeon housing the Altar of Rebirth is under my dominion. If you join forces with me, you will be reunited with this person called Sangre before the next solstice!"
"And if I don't?"
"Whether you do or you don't! The moment I set foot on this continent, your fate was sealed. As the orc race, you are either with me, or you are with the humans who are about to die!"
As the Master rose from his seat, Nafız followed suit. The tension between the two was so thick it was causing the tower's walls to crack.
"I've seen you multiple times. The first time, you tried to kill me. The second time, I witnessed how you shattered the Orc-Druid Alliance. And now, you stand before me threatening me. Do you still think you're the Dragon Emperor?"
Nafız slammed her hand on the table, and the ten-pace-long wooden trunk splintered into pieces. The Master's response was brutal; the energy erupting from his body blew off the tower's roof and blasted its walls apart.
"Have you ever seen a Dragon Emperor in your life? You pathetic piece of orc trash!"
The sky, which had begun to lighten, darkened with the Master's words. Black clouds massed over the Hell Palace, dragging back the dead of night. The white energy surging from the man's body began to coalesce in the pitch-black sky. In less than ten breaths, a dragon phenomenon materialized, its roar striking terror into the hearts of all who heard it.
"You arrogant bitch calling yourself the Dragon Emperor! Look at me and answer my question!"
As the blood-red energy surrounding Nafız flared up, it mingled with another dark green energy pouring from her body. While the two-toned energy gathered in the sky, her eyes were locked onto the Master.
"Have you ever seen a God in your life?"