Welcome to the most exciting chapter you readers will ever see! If you see this at all that is. Certainly more exciting than what you have read already!
Hahaha!
Really though, I've read the previous chapters of this tale, and my word; what a whining, weak little peon Druk is!
For now, anyway. He is still young. The way his soul laments makes my scales curl up into balls of odious disgust and shoot off into space crashing into stars and causing cosmic explosions!
Now, I can't tell you where or how exactly you will see this, as it goes in chronology, and I won't be telling you where I entered either. No need to spoil the story's ending or chapters to come, if they come at all of course.
Know this: Druk has been writing this for some time. Putting down what he felt was important to him through his journey becoming a superpowered being; one who would set the world straight. At least when dealing with us dragons.
Who am I?
Nidhogg of course!
Don't ask how I was able to put my own writing into this tale. And again, don't ask when I did it either. Let's just say it was at some point "in the middle", or close to it anyway.
If Druk survived long enough to share this boo-hoo story of his great adventures and his intense love of Bada, well then, you may be reading this now! He may have seen this chapter, obviously, and removed it, in which case you wouldn't be reading this at all. Perhaps he made it a "forward" or a chapter in the "Appendix", I simply do not know.
Enough of that rambling! Let me tell you who I am, my purpose here, and what I need from Druk!
I am the World Eater!
With a constant hunger, a rumbling, painful growling of my stomach takes place with no end!
Torturing!
For centuries I have been searching, beneath the Earth's crust, for the Tree of Life. To no avail that is!
Why look underground?
Because it's the roots I need! Roots satisfy me, and make me grow stronger! For many, many years I have devoured the roots in life. The roots that hold friends together. The roots that hold families together. The roots that hold nations together. The roots that hold humans together. And my personal favorite due to its volatility; the roots that hold lovers together!
You can't see these roots, yet they exist! They exist and they provide the driving force for human life to flourish, indeed! There are many things, "positive" things I guess you can call them, that I can devour as well!
You people, human beings in general, are fantastically complex!
Your likes, your loves, and personal drives are all things, so long as they are of "goodwill", that I devour. This makes the world a harder and darker place to live, you see, the more wickedness that presents itself in the world, the stronger I become!
There is a setback though. If the world became too dark, too evil, and there isn't enough light and goodness to eat, then despite being more powerful, I would eventually starve! What a juxtaposition!
So, I must eat, and grow, yet not devour completely, or die!
I must stay hungry forever! Eating just enough to keep myself ceasing to exist.
I have found a great balance to this all, however. After making some mistakes of course. During the Dark Ages, I was insatiable when eating! And the food was running out too quickly! World War I and II were great feasts, especially II; with the suffering so powerfully intense, I felt as if I could conquer the world! Until the pickings for meals became too small.
Nowadays, things are balanced well enough. I've found a way to move around the world as well. No longer being stuck in my homeland of Northern Europe where the Vikings used to feed me plenty in days long past. My power has grown and I, unlike my worldwide cousins, can move freely about the world undetected.
World conquest? No, too boring. Unlike Zmei, I don't need it. I need to world to suffer, yes, and I have no desire to rule it. And unlike Malix, I have no senseless idea of being a king and don't wish to lay about on gold doing nothing! Not at all!
The most disgusting of them all are dragons like Yong Yungary, Piasa Bird, or even Druk The ???? as some call him now. Do-gooders! Protecting people! Truth and justice and all that incomprehensible non-sense!
Then what is my ambition?
At this point in my existence, I've grown tired. Tired of these small meals of consuming people's hopes and dreams. I want the root of it all! The roots of the Tree of Life!
To gobble those rich and powerful roots would bring this world to its knees, with pain and suffering so intense; no one would ever be happy, and the Earth would be reduced to rubble! After eating those roots, the total core of all that brings heavenly bliss into people's hearts, I would never have to eat again!
Being full, and satisfied, and having power over everything, anyone, anything, and everything! To watch the life on Earth, suffer and grovel and beg for mercy would fill me with total joy!
Rule the Earth? No. Be on top of the world? Yes.
My life's goal has been to find those roots, and to consume them, demolish them, and gulp them whole! Now, I am ready to do it! Now, I know what I must do!
Druk, if you see this, I will tell you what I am planning. Not the details, of course, the end of it all! I have seen the power that you hold. I know what and who you are, and what you are meant to do!
A boy from nowhere, with love and support drowning his soul keeping any sense of greed or desire far away. A grandparent who had a deep connection with the powers of light and who could take his mind to great places through meditation. A great-grandparent, the former dragon protector of your land, and a pure spirited creature; the short-lived Druk who should have been sitting on his throne for years to come who met an untimely death at MY hands! Or my jaws if you would like to be precise!
Yes, it was me! I had to! He was infuriating! Giving birth as a young man then taking the crown of Druk the Thunder Dragon and ruling his land with peace and love, turning his back on power, gluttony, and avarice!
The mythology tells of this all. Stories are being played out that have already been written. Yet the ending of these stories is yet to be answered exactly. For there are many. One of which is your turning and the most likely answer!
Yes, you will turn! One way or another, you will become the most dominating and controlling dragon in history; and all others will bow down to your feet!
I am fully ready to do this as well. For when you have your fill of power and glory, I will have my stomach full, and the world will be my playground while you rule in your kingdom of riches!
It's easy, you see. You are poor. No matter the peaceful and fulfilling life you led as a child; you still had nothing. You are learning of power now. You are learning of greed, lust, deceit, and more than anything; you are learning of life and death and your ability to make those choices for others.
This is too much for a poor, simple boy to handle! Here is the mistake your making! The one flaw that will turn you to my side! Once you learn of pain, suffering, wealth, comfort, and have to make choices that mean life or death of your enemies, your friends, and your most precious loves; you will turn!
You will use your power to lead me to the roots of the Tree of Life, let me engulf them, then go to your new kingdom in your homeland that will remain untouched by the world's calamity, and rule quietly and comfortably able to sit on your mountain steep and remember the freshness from your childhood while I revel in the rest of the world's calamity!
You will see my writing of this soon. You will deny all of it! You will convince yourself to fight me when the time comes, and yes, we may even battle it out once, or twice, or tenfold! In the end, though, you will make your decision, and it will be to give me what I desire!
The Ying and Yang", two sides to the coin! You can't defeat me, so you will join with me, and we will make this world perfect for both of our desires!
As of now, you haven't met me, but rest assured, I am around, watching you, and guiding you.
When I do reveal myself, this story will be sent into such a thrilling elation no one will be able to set it down! If anyone sees it at any rate!
I hope I have the chance to do this again, to write more to you, to tell you of your destiny. I feel though, it is better to show you!
Well then, that is all for now. I WILL BE seeing you, every day! And we SHALL MEET soon!
Nidhogg