I'd always thought that it was all just a dream. An eternal well of pain, despair and silence, with not a whiff of happiness to be heard of, and that alone— haunted me.

  But then again, a strange girl with eyes so serene, you get lost in them easily, made me realize there was so much more. I know not who she was, but for some reason, fate brings us together.

  As I lay under the Soul Tree, the scent of nothingness filled the air. It was sunny but not hot. It was loud and at the same time quiet.

  Whispers from the souls lost forever, frozen in time and the roaring but quiet wind seemed to whisper a single word;

  "Awaken"

  And with that, my whole world began to disintegrate, piece by piece, I could see as the fragment of space and time began to distort, it was a whole lot of pain. I couldn't scream, even if I tried to.

  Then all of a sudden… the pain was gone.

  ****

  It was dark, and in the midst of that darkness, a faint but clear humming in the distance draws nearer and nearer. The world around me revealing itself the closer the hums came.

  I opened my eyes slightly.

  A woman stood over me. She was beautiful enough to give me the strength to sit up.

  We stood beneath a tree so vast the ground dimmed beneath its crown. The trunk rose beyond sight, ridged like stone aged for centuries. Roots as wide as roads broke through the earth and vanished again. The air felt heavy. Warm. Slow.

  A pulse moved through the bark. Not sound. But a heartbeat. Each beat rolled outward and passed through me. I felt what the tree carried. Pain layered over ages. Scars. Loss buried deep. And hopes worn thin by time.

  My head ached.

  The woman spoke. "Feeling all that emotion at once doesn't feel so good, right?"

  I turned to her.

  She smiled gently. Eyes the colour of the sky. Scales with a blue outline traced her skin. Her long white hair carried a faint blue tint. She was breathtaking, yet beneath her grace lingered dread, sorrow and regret.

  "I am Nyseria. The nexus of Aqualis and the Dragon of Nymirel. I am one of the four Elemental Dragons." She said.

  She turned towards the empty plains then sighed. "I once was, but now I am trapped here, as a punishment for my Stupidity."

  She faced me with a gentle smile, the type of smile shaped by solitude."May I ask your name?"

  I looked at her for a second before answering. "I am Zandren... T-that's all I know about myself."

  I never really thought about who I was. I didn't even think about anything until this present moment.

  She smiled. "Hmm… I feel him in you."

  "Who?" I asked.

  "My lover… Zurieth." She whispered.

  "What?"

  "Oh, nothing. Don't mind what I said." She waved it off.

  She walked closer and sat before me. Her presence was calming. The gaps between her scales slightly glowed blue. I could see a bit more of her figure, she was truly graceful.

  "I'm sure you are a bit confused. Well, that's to be expected. Stories of our origin have almost been completely wiped" she said.

  "It's left for you to discover, Zandren. After all, I don't want to anger her..." She glanced back at the primordial tree behind us.

  My brows furrowed. Confusion was written all over my face.

  She looked at my eyes and smiled. This time around, the smile came with warmth.

  "..but I will show you how your current state came about, and how caramien became the way it is now..."

  she grabbed my hands gently,while slowly pulling me up. She held both my hands closely at hip length and leaned in, pressing her forehead against mine.

  She chanted something in a different tongue and mist started rising up from the ground, enveloping us.

  The World around us began to shift.

  I began to enter a trance-like state, and suddenly, we were no longer under the tree.

  ****

  We appeared inside a grand palace. We were spirits among the living. They couldn't see us, but we could see and hear them. People from different nations were gathered in the throne room. The atmosphere was joyous.

  The people gathered in the room consisted mostly of high-ranking nobles from different nations of Caramien.

  I turned to look at Nyseria. Joy and sorrow shared her face.

  She noticed me looking at her and smiled, then signaled for me to come along with her. We walked a bit further and could hear what was going on in the throne room.

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  It was a really bright day and the cries of newborns could be heard.

  A man shouted joyfully."The princes are Here!!! They are Here HAHAHAHA!!!"

  The king of Ardor was overjoyed as his beloved

  Queen had given birth to male twins.

  Nyseria nudged me. "That's Aethon, he is a vessel and bearer of Ignisia, and that's his wife, Nixara.

  "My liege, I beg you, compose yourself" A huge heavily armored guard told the king.

  "That's Sir Mar'gareth of the Aevorah family. Aethon's knight and best friend." Nyseria explained.

  Aethon smiled ."Let me enjoy this moment of happiness." He groaned softly. "The time of despair is near... I-I feel it."

  Mar'gareth's face dimmed. "What seems to be the matter Aethon?"

  "Urrghh." Aethon groaned. "My senses are on high alert, and I have no idea why."

  Aethon leaned closer into Mar'gareth, hiding his face from the people present in the throne room.

  "It's hard to be King, it's hard to be the strongest, I- can't... I just ca- I am scared Mar." He brokedown.

  "Can you stop this." Mar'gareth interrupted him. "This is not the place to be weak, Aethon. You are still the king."

  Aethon scoffed.

  Sensing the Aethon's increased distress, Mar'gareth decides to end the visit going on in the Palace. The princes were returned and everyone was shown out.

  Mar'gareth walked up to Aethon and then nodded for him to follow along.

  I and Nyseria tagged along

  They both walked down a beautifully structured gallery, which had the Murals of all four Elemental Dragons.

  I was finally able to take a good look at both Aethon and Mar'gareth.

  Aethon was a fine young man, who looked like he was just at the peak of his 20's, He had long red hair which looked fiery and majestic, he had a knighty build and was slightly shorter than Mar'gareth. His whole appearance was king worthy.

  Mar'gareth on the other hand— who seemed younger than he looked—had short golden hair. He had a Large build and was clad in an Armour of Silver and Gold with a Greatsword. His whole appearance just screams, Impenetrable.

  They walked on for a while in silence.

  "Tell me now Aethon, What's actually going on?" Mar’gareth asked, breaking the silence.

  After a short while Aethon answered looking more serious. "Something. I don't know what it is, and I don't know why I know this. But something really dark is on its way here."

  At this moment, the sound of a pick axe striking a stone could be heard, and I wondered what it was

  Clang!!

  "This darkness would devour us, would destroy us, and would eventually—"

  Clang!!

  "—kill me!!".

  CLANG!!

  Suddenly we were no longer in the palace, but deep in what seems to be a mine.

  "Sorry about the sudden change, this is how things flow for me" Nyseria apologised.

  DING!!

  The Axe struck one more time and was repelled, it felt like it had hit something that was not a normal stone, but more of a magical type, just that this was different from the ones they usually unearth.

  As the stone fragments enclosing the magical stone slowly break off, it reveals an Onyx Black stone that emitted a strange and ominous aura. But the miner didn't notice this.

  The miner, slowly picking up the stone, observed in awe, as he has never seen such a thing before.

  "What's this?" he examined the stone again.

  The miner called out. "Hey, captain. Captain!, come check this out."

  He made his way to his captain, holding the stone, that seemed to begin to emit more ominous aura.

  "Ah yes, nuksh, what did you find?" A tall and broad looking man asked.

  "He is the captain of the mining team, an Holder of Emberia." Nyseria briefed.

  "Captain look at this stone, quite unique ain't it, hahahaha..."Nuksh laughed and said cheerfully presenting the stone,thinking it was a new type of rare gem.

  The captain, at first glance noticed something was wrong, and that the others were too low skilled to notice it.

  The other miners gathered around to have a look at this "unique stone". When they came closer, they saw that the gem resembled a tear drop.

  As the Captain took a closer look, the tear drop emitted a large amount of aura and whispers which sounded like laments. At first it seemed to be overwhelming, and in the blink of an eye... the aura and whispers stopped.

  The miners who were all shaken by the whole thing, breathed a sigh of relief, unbeknownst to them the aura of the stone had already dispersed, filling the miners with, greed, anger and murderous intent.

  They began to fight wildly,brutally— turning on each other.

  "GLLKK!!"

  The Captain still observing the tear drop gem turned around to see where the weird noise came from. His eyes widened in horror, as the head of his fellow comrade rolled to his feet.

  The miners... had started killing themselves, all trying to get this "unique stone".

  The captain with his years of experience instantly realised, the reason for the chaos, was the precious stone.

  Sensing an incoming attack, the captain drew his blade and defended himself.

  "Klaaannng"

  Sparks flew followed by a grunt from the captain as he defended himself against multiple attackers, who were members of his team.

  The Captain let out a loud, sad cry as he was about to kill the people who once served under him. He then unleashed a breath of fire and charged into the chaos of miners who were now possessed.

  We watched in silence as there was nothing we could do because that wasn't our timeline to be in, and we were also in a spiritual form.

  After what seemed to be an eternity, it all went quiet, but not long after, footsteps could be heard, and out of the shadow emerged Nuksh.

  He staggered forward,trembling and twitching. He was engulfed by the darkness. His eyes changed— distorted, agonised. A grin stretched across his face as he wept.

  "Help me…", he whispered "P-please… kill me."

  After taking a few more steps forward, the staggered walks, became more normal as his face morphed into something unimaginable.

  With it came a lot of agonic screams from nuksh who could still feel the excruciating pain.

  Then.

  BAM!

  A powerful punch from Nuksh sent the captain flying and crashing into the wall and then on the floor which was now soaked with the blood of his fallen comrades

  "Wow, you are quite strong for a mortal. Being able to block our attack like that." "Nuksh" said mockingly with a distorted voice made up of a legion of voices, while still approaching the captain.

  "Alas we are free, hahahaha"; he chuckled as he crouched in front of the Captain.

  "Hmm, let's see..." he placed a finger on the captain's forehead. "Captain Galden, An holder of Emberia, The leader of the survey and mining team, what else?" "Nuksh said".

  "Who... are.. you..?" Galden grunted in pain, as he slowly reached for his sword

  "We are an embodiment of Ominence." They replied.

  They held Galden's head and then a single voice spoke. "I am here because I was sacrificed for the sake of someone else to get stronger."

  The voice chuckled. "But now, I have returned to continue where I had left off on my revenge , and also to make the Dragon of Ardor pay for sealing us. Thanks to you and your lovely team of course."

  The voices came back. "But to begin, we need a stronger body than this."

  They started gouging Galden's eyes. He screams in pain and agony. Darkness began to enter Galden. The voices laughed as this went on.

  With a distorted voice. "You shall be our vessel. Be proud."

  Galden's screams slowly turned to a screech, his eyes turning an onyx black, and also his mouth, as Galden was no longer.... Galden.

  I covered my mouth in horror after witnessing that.

  "Shall we begin?" A male voice speaks out

  "Let's get this over with, I'm sleepy." another male demonic voice was heard

  "Finally out of that fucking stone. Can't wait to get my own body though."a female demonic voice screams out.

  A male voice silenced the rest. He was the leader. "Proceed with caution, we finally have another chance. We can't lose it. We have to take control over this continent before Zurieth awakens once more."

  "It's time for The Seven Thrones of Ruin to resume the taking over of Caramien, and for me to finally surpass and kill my brother."

  He sighed. "Let's head out. See the light. See the new Caramien, after 700 years...."

  "For we are free once more."

  They all said in Unison as they began to cackle, slowly turning their heads... towards where—

  Nyseria and I had been standing the whole time.