The campfire inside the carcass of the giant serpent crackled softly, like old bones fracturing beneath the weight of memory. Its crimson light danced across the colossal ribs, casting Eldric Vaelorian's shadow upon the walls of bone, like the ghost of a war that refused to die.
Kafka sat across from him in silence.
The world he had just heard about felt like an endless ocean suddenly opening before him. Too vast, too deep, too full of secrets.
Eldric drew a long breath from his cigarette.
Gray smoke flowed from his lips like wandering spirits leaving their bodies.
"Now," he said quietly, "you must learn about your father's kingdom."
He stared into the fire as if the past lived within the embers.
"The Kingdom of Grand Aurelis."
The name echoed through the hollow bones of the serpent like a forgotten prayer.
"That kingdom was once the heart of Solareth. Its cities shone like crowns beneath the sun. Its towers rose like spears of light piercing the heavens."
Eldric gave a faint smile.
"And at the center of it all stood a king… whose name is still feared even by demons."
He looked at Kafka.
"King Viedris Cassano."
The name hung heavy in the air, like a sword passed down through generations.
"But before he became king," Eldric continued, "he was only a young man who fought alongside his older brother."
Kafka lifted his head.
"His brother?"
Eldric nodded.
"His name was…"
He spoke it flatly.
"Magnus Cassano."
Kafka's heart seemed to stop.
The name struck his mind like lightning.
Bishop Magnus.
The old man who always spoke of light and salvation.
The man who now sat upon the throne of the church.
The man who…
might be his uncle.
"In their youth," Eldric said, "Viedris and Magnus were the two greatest heroes of Grand Aurelis."
The brothers were like two sides of the sun.
Viedris was the sword.
Magnus was the mind.
One destroyed enemies on the battlefield.
The other conquered them through strategy.
"But they did not fight alone."
Eldric raised four fingers.
"Grand Aurelis was protected by four great noble families."
The firelight flickered, and for a moment it seemed as though four towering shadows stood within the chamber.
The Valaria De Conte Family.
Masters of Poison Sorcery.
Their poison was not merely a deadly liquid.
It was magic that crept through the air like a mist of death.
A single scratch could make even a dragon collapse within seconds.
The Saldira Family.
The living fortress of Grand Aurelis.
Their magic was absolute endurance.
Their bodies were as hard as steel.
Their skin could withstand high-level magic.
On the battlefield, they stood like walls that no storm could break.
The Gaviero Family.
The sacred healers.
They wielded Divine Healing Magic.
In their hands, the wounds of war were nothing more than dust to be brushed away.
Many soldiers used to say—
"As long as a Gaviero stands behind you… even death must wait its turn."
And finally,
Eldric paused.
His eyes gleamed.
The Roswalt Family.
"Ah…" Eldric smiled faintly.
"A very interesting clan."
They controlled two terrifying powers:
Gravity Manipulation.
And
Light Swordsmanship.
Imagine a sword not made of metal.
But of light itself.
A blade capable of splitting the heavens like lightning.
Kafka swallowed.
But Eldric was not finished.
"On the other side of the world," he said, "the Yue Empire had their own powers."
Three legendary clans.
Three paths of strength.
The Three Clans of Yue
"The first," Eldric said,
The Clan of Truth.
They mastered a legendary martial art called:
The Spear-Hand of the Healing God.
A technique that combined speed, precision, and cultivation energy.
A single strike could shatter an enemy's organs.
Yet the same technique could also heal an ally's wounds.
"A beautiful martial art," Eldric said.
They also possessed extraordinary cultivation techniques,
Telekinesis.
And the ability to control the flow of wind like invisible arrows.
"The second…"
His gaze darkened.
The Clan of Evil.
Their technique was known as—
The Black Flame God Cleaver.
A martial art without mercy.
Every swing of their blade summoned black flames like the wrath of hell.
Their kicks struck with the hardness of diamonds smashing into mountains.
But their most terrifying power was their cultivation technique—
The Heavenly Limit Breaker.
A method that forced their bodies beyond human limits.
Turning them into living monsters.
Their skin burned red like molten lava.
Their bodies radiated heat like the core of a volcano.
"And the last…"
Eldric grinned.
The Vaelorian Clan.
He pointed at himself.
"My family."
Their technique,
The Heavenly Demonic Blood Sword Art
A sword art that fused blood magic with cultivation.
To them, blood was not merely a liquid.
Blood was a weapon.
A shield.
And power itself.
"Our cultivation technique is called…"
Eldric raised his hand.
Blood flowed from a wound and floated in the air like crimson serpents.
Blood Manipulation.
Kafka stared with shining eyes.
Martial arts.
Techniques.
Cultivation.
All of it made his blood boil like that of a warrior hearing the drums of war.
Eldric smiled when he saw that expression.
It reminded him of someone.
King Viedris once had that same look whenever he spoke of combat techniques.
"Yes…" Eldric murmured.
"You truly are his son."
Then Eldric's face darkened.
"But everything changed… fifty years ago."
The fire flickered.
"When the cosmic beings descended from the sky."
The sky of Aethernox cracked like glass.
Strange light fell like a rain of meteors.
And from that light emerged beings who called themselves,
Gods.
They destroyed Kage no Kuni in a single night.
The continent became a hell.
Jotunheim.
The world united.
All kingdoms.
All races.
All powers.
Even Noxvale, which had always remained neutral.
"Everyone fought together," Eldric said.
And in the middle of that war…
Viedris Cassano shone like the sun.
He studied martial arts from the Wulin Alliance of Yue.
He mastered the four great energies of the world.
He even learned shadow techniques from the Shinobi.
He was a genius born once in a thousand years.
But…
Not everyone was happy to see that.
Magnus.
His brother.
Magnus possessed only mana.
He could not master the other energies.
He fell behind.
But he did not hate his brother.
Not yet.
Instead, he supported Viedris through war strategies.
Magnus was a brilliant general.
Many of Grand Aurelis' victories came from his mind.
Yet a small wound called envy…
always grows quietly inside the human heart.
The war reached its peak when the leader of the cosmic beings appeared.
His name,
Azhraviel.
Eldric spoke it like the name of the oldest demon.
That creature wielded magic beyond logic.
Time manipulation.
Space manipulation.
Interdimensional teleportation.
Atomic destruction.
Mass annihilation attacks.
"He almost destroyed the entire world," Eldric said quietly.
But Aethernox did not surrender.
With the help of the elves and the blood of the Vaelorians,
they created the greatest seal in world history.
Azhraviel was defeated.
But he was not alone.
He had seven servants.
Seven dark angels representing the Seven Deadly Sins.
Seraphiel — Pride
Malakar — Wrath
Vorzeth — Greed
Lysanthra — Lust
Belphegorion — Sloth
Gorvath — Gluttony
Envyra — Envy
Each one was a living catastrophe.
Yet they were also defeated.
The Frostborne of Noxvale summoned four savage cosmic entities through their summoning magic.
Those creatures were too wild to control.
But their power was enough to help seal Azhraviel's servants.
After the war ended,
those four entities also had to be sealed.
Because if they were left free…
they might destroy the world as well.
Their sealing locations?
No one knows.
Eldric exhaled slowly.
"After that war… the world finally found peace."
King Viedris married.
Not one woman.
But two.
The first,
Alvina Vaelorian.
Eldric fell silent for a moment when he spoke her name.
Smoke drifted slowly from his lips like memories reluctant to leave his chest.
"She was my sister," he said quietly.
The most famous daughter of the Vaelorian clan.
Among the nobles of Yue, her name once walked like a living legend.
A woman with eyes as calm as a midnight lake, yet whose sword could unleash storms of blood upon the battlefield.
She was a master of the Demon Blood Sky Sword, the highest technique of the Vaelorian clan.
"Although I'm still better than her," Eldric laughed lightly.
"Our father was the clan leader. Our mother was once a member of the Shinobi Twin Dagger Sect before marrying into the Vaelorian clan."
Within the clan, Alvina was rarely called by her real name.
Eldric smiled faintly, as if holding a fragment of the past too beautiful to discard.
"In the Vaelorian clan," he said, "she was better known by another name."
He looked at the fire.
Elara.
Kafka lifted his head slightly.
"In our ancient clan language," Eldric said quietly, "Elara means the compassionate one."
The name was not merely a nickname.
It was a title.
A recognition that beneath her cruel blood techniques, Alvina possessed a heart far too gentle for a world of war.
"She could kill a hundred enemies on the battlefield," Eldric said calmly,
"and then cry quietly when she saw a wounded child."
The fire crackled.
"That was my sister."
He sighed.
"A woman too kind for this world… yet strong enough to lead the Vaelorian clan."
Then he continued.
"The second woman was Cahyani Roswalt, daughter of the gravity-manipulating clan."
But before he could continue, Kafka was still frozen on one word.
Elara.
The name trembled in his chest like the echo of a shattered dream.
The same name.
The name of the woman who,
betrayed him.
For the first time since hearing this story…
Kafka realized something that made his blood run cold.
The name Elara might not be a coincidence.
Eldric noticed Kafka's unease.
"I will kill the bastard who dared use my sister's name to manipulate her son," Eldric growled.
"I will protect my nephew."
He smiled at Kafka.
Even with his heart deeply wounded, Kafka managed to smile faintly at those words.
"Alright… time to continue."
Eldric patted his shoulder and returned to his seat, lighting another cigarette.
The second woman,
Cahyani Roswalt.
Daughter of the gravity clan.
A woman whose light sword could slice through meteors.
Together, they became the Queens of Cassano.
But that peace did not last.
Magnus.
The king's older brother.
During the battle against Seraphiel…
he lost his sight.
His eyes were destroyed by the magic of Pride.
But the deeper wound was this,
Magnus secretly loved someone.
Cahyani Roswalt.
The woman who ultimately married his own brother.
Envy.
Hatred.
Sorrow.
All of it grew like poison within his heart.
And one day…
that poison exploded.
Magnus staged a coup.
He attacked Grand Aurelis.
He shattered the alliance of kingdoms.
He betrayed the very world he once helped save.
But before it was too late,
the Elves, Dwarves, and Frostborne managed to save two newborn infants.
The sons of the king.
They opened a portal between worlds.
And sent the two babies to another world.
With the hope,
that one day they would return.
Kafka looked at Eldric.
His voice was barely audible.
"The two babies…"
Eldric nodded slowly.
"You."
He pointed at Kafka.
"And Arga."
The fire crackled loudly.
"I still can't believe you both survived," Eldric muttered, lighting another cigarette.
"And Magnus probably sent that traitorous whore Natasha as well… the woman obsessed with him."
Eldric's voice grew heavy.
He looked at Kafka with serious eyes.
"You were sent to save Aethernox."
Then he slowly exhaled smoke.
"The problem is…"
His eyes narrowed.
"Magnus is the one who summoned you back."
The winds of Jotunheim howled outside.
And Eldric spoke in a cold voice:
"I just hope… he doesn't intend to break Azhraviel's seal again."
The fire dimmed.
As if even the light itself feared that name.
~To Be Continued~