Okay well you certainly cannot be called a coward now can you? Not many mortals travel into the pits at all even if it is only the third out of an uncountable number. Well done for getting this far. I will start with why your quest to find me has brought you here as it seems I've built up a bit of a routine with these things...I apologize unless you're skimming to find something, if that's the case stop it. This is a layer of the hells even most mortals know of. The layer of the Dragon Queen. It may look quite desolate now but that is because of the brilliant battle that ensued here...Just like the past it was...I came to take the demon lord's eye. Gruesome? Indeed, it held great power for my goal though so I will pay that no heed. As for your story today I will give you one of the unholy lands you stand in. Not the battle that ruined it recently no...But the first fall of the Dragon Queen.
It must have been around my fifth or sixth life...After the first ten you start to forget which one was what but I know it was an early one. My levels in the newly founded powers of Ki were strong and very easy to make your own. This was a time I believe I thought that I could be a prodigy once more since my cursing. A rich king with a large sliver of land put out a quest to all heroes in the world that was very simple in theory. Kill the Dragon Queen and bring him her heart. You may have guessed at this point that not many were even willing to go in. Let alone try to finish the deed but me...Well you know me. An adventure to keep close to my memories on my next trip to the Isle was my thinking and well...That would be true.
I was the second forward behind a young elven mix. Skin and body looking like a Sun Elf but with the hair, eyes and other features black like that of a Draught. His clothes gave him the look of a page boy trying to be a mage. Weaponry telling a different tale. A short sword and shield were carried on either arms with an old oaken slingshot. His blackened eyes meet mine as we stepped, only interrupted by the king's degree that we work as one, we obliged and I started this quest along with my new companion. Jeremiah was his name. I can only remember since I've never heard a similar name since.
Our travel to even enter the never ending pits was arduous to say the least. Many a dragon, Ogre and many more oddities along the path. Jeremiah could handle himself though, with both breaking with his weapon and casting with precision and beauty. We stopped and rested once more before entering the known. A small little tavern in a growing forest outside the border to the Seven Sands. We decided not to waste our energy travelling to the town of Nomadir and used this to drink away the aches and dreams one last time before entering what most would consider the worst nightmares in existence. When the sun broke finally we went to leave for what could be our ends until the owner of the establishment, A small greenish goblin handed us two seeds and asked us to give our back to the world. Jeremiah chose a place directly in front of the doors around ten feet. Me? I picked a place in fresh grass slightly to the side, I hope one day they will grow into something of worth to someone. We both did.
The first layer was exactly like the fables proclaimed. Fire sprouting from the molten ground and obsidian rocks. Jutting out more like daggers that tried to grab at your flesh. Screams of every pitch imaginable. No place in this twisted land safe from them piercing your very thoughts. I do not need to say more, after all you travelled it yourself right? What you saw is much more tamed land than the one I saw...I wished it to have been like this when I came first. The second layer was the polar opposite to the one above. The snow of black embers landed soft to the touch. Here is where we saw the souls of one's lost to time itself. The hells once held all these souls that the gods of the forgotten now claim as their children. The questions I have for them still burn in my head forevermore,
''Why would you let your precious children suffer so?''
When we made it into the third layer...well...as you have seen yourself here. Nothing lives here that ain't a demon for very long. They seem to be attracted to new blood or anything not related to them. Savages that give their mortal brothers a sour name. For three days we made our way to the Dragon Queens fortress. Both of us suffered injuries along the way but finally outside its looming walls of brimstone we stood. Jeremiah and myself spent one final night under the crimson stars that were famous in these pits, just like the sad harness that is reality though they were burning demons that could not die. Only purpose left being to light the sky for the ones chosen to continue. This was the motivation we needed for the final fight. This is what would make us take the demon's heart...Oh what fools we both were.
The moment we burst through her throne room door was a moment that decided it all. Clawed forearms raised from the floor, skeletal and from an elder dragon, gripping hard around us both. The sounds of my ribs cracking is something that still makes them sting no matter how many life's I live...Jeremiah was a true man for being to live it. Her minions of a demented draconic form started to circle us before we believed our time to be done. Me? I was hoping that dying in a layer would end my plight. Oh how wrong that was but that is for another time.
Before my vision became blank I saw it. A form that resembles a demon in shape and speech, But with the aura of a god stronger than any I had or ever will meet. Strength came back to me and Jerimiah, overflowing our bodies and giving us the power of ten Orcs each. I thought he would want us to be a helper in this fight but no...No he did not. A light took over everything before our vision showed us outside the bar we stayed before we entered those nightmares. We did not know the reason but we did know we each had two golden Dragons from the first era and hearing a single sentence in our minds that will burn forevermore,
'Find the man with eyes of violet and green, He will make you feel at home, He will set you free.'
Jeremiah did not care for these words but to me they were clear and now...now I know who exactly. The story ends with us both having a round on the house for surviving the trip from the old man. We went our separate ways but stayed close until my cycle once again ended. If you are wondering what this story is meant to indicate? Well that would be this. No one is unbeatable. God or demon. We all bleed out.
-Signed Perry Lakefield