Within the Elysium, the City of Eternity, the four main roads leading from the four outer gates of the city and into the inner city were empty. The black road was spotless aside from the dividing line painted on the center of the road. Despite this the citizens of the largest city on Gaia remained peaceful.
Today was a special celebration. Although the Day of Origin Celebration was held every year on the first day of the new year, especially in Elysium, this Day of Origin Celebration was special.
It was knowledge proven through history, because every thousandth Day of Origin the Seven Pillar Gods would descend onto the inner city of Elysium and celebrate the defeat of the Outer God that terrorized the World of Gaia eons ago.
Many citizens lined up on the sidewalk of the main roads in anticipation. Most of the citizens were humans, elves, and half elves, but there were hints of rare races such as hobbits, ogres, beastmen, demihuman, giants, and fairies fluttering above them.
Deep inside the outer city was a grand white temple, its marble white walls stood in contrast to the empty space surrounding the temple as it was forbidden to have any other structure within one hundred meters even in the largest and most populated city of Gaia. And within the temple a group of priests praying before 7 idols.
Each of the seven idols standing upon their high pedestals depicts the humanoid form of the Seven Pillar Gods. Some were human in form, some had the elfin ears, others had beast like features, but all of them had horns growing on their head.
And behind each idol high above embedded in the walls were stained glass depiction of their true dragon forms. The light from the outside pierced through the glass, coloring the white idols into the God's representative colors.
"In the primal chaos when the world had yet to form, there existed the Outer God and forty-nine dragons. Shub Niggurath the Outer God corrupted all within the world and the dragons fearful of this Outer God fled to faraway lands on the edge of the heavens.
Then one day the youngest and wisest dragon, Black, gathered nine other dragons and led them in an eon long primordial war against the Outer God before emerging victorious. With the Outer God fallen, the dragons led by Black purified the Three Great Lands upon which they divided their territories and ruled, allowing the races threatened by the Outer God to prosper.
However the remaining dragons grew jealous and greedy, they attacked the dragon led by Black in order to steal the Three Great Lands and the second primordial occurred, known as the War of the Dragons. The dragons led by Black triumphed but not without any losses, they banished the defeated dragons to the edge of the world.
The seven dragons left ascended to Greatwyrms and became the Gods of the Seven Pillar Faith.
Red God, the Flamewyrm and Lord of Fire.
Blue God, the Seawyrm and Lord of Water.
Green God, the Galewyrm and Lord of Wind.
Yellow God, the Landwyrm and Lord of Earth.
Silver God, the Steelwyrm and Lord of Metal.
Gold God, the Voltwyrm and Lord of Light.
And finally Black God, the Realmwyrm and Lord of Magic.
Oh Gods of the Seven Colors grant your blessing upon Gaia and ward off the Outer Violators for the prosperity of these great lands. On this first day of the new year of the 21,000 year of G.E. (Greatwyrm Era)."
The leader, a cardinal dressed in black priestly robes embroidered with golden threads, kneeled before the seven idols while speaking his prayer to the seven gods. Although this temple mainly worshipped the Black God, leader of the Seven Pillar Gods, worship of the other gods were common unlike the rest of the temples on other continents where only one god was worshipped.
Finishing his prayer the Cardinal and his followers stood before bending their waist to bow once more. The followers then glanced at the cardinal with shiny eyes, and the cardinal suppressed the excitement on his wizened face however his long ears betrayed him.
That's right, the cardinal was an elf and one that lived passed the typical thousand year lifespan of most elves as evidenced by his wrinkles.
The cardinal took a quick glance at the clock installed in the temple, noticing he was still slightly early he decided to lead his group on a more leisurely pace towards the gate into the inner city.
It was not like the cardinal didn't understand the priests' feelings. One thousand years ago, he too was a tender priest-in-training not even talented enough to be led by a cardinal like his current self. Instead he lined himself at the entrance along with the other common citizen waiting for a chance to witness at divinity.
He still remembered vividly the sights of that day, forever engrained inside his mind as if it was just yesterday.
The cardinal blinked as he realized he had arrived at the North Inner Gate. He motioned for the bishops and archbishops to proceed as he and his fellow priests prepared to receive whichever god decided to grace the North Gate with their presence.
Whatever thought the cardinal had was blown away as he felt "its" aura,unconsciously he raised his head towards the sky at the North Gate. Although he was already nearing one thousand and two hundreds years, his eyesight was still impeccable and he could discern it flying towards the northern outer gate.
The very air surrounding it was dyed red by it's very aura as the sky distorted. A pointed head with two great horns protruding backwards, long serpentine neck, four limbs, a tail wider than the tallest trees, two wings that seemed to encompass the sky, and fiery red scales covering the majority of the body sans the orange scales covering the underside.
This was the Red God, the Unending Flame, the Flamewyrn and ruler of all fire.
The Red God landed before the North Gate and its aura dramatically weakened as if purposefully reigned in. The Red God pushed its body through the gates and began trekking towards the Cardinal and his fellow priests.
Wherever the Red God passed, the citizens on both sides of the streets kneeled. The abnormally wide street that was always unnecessary large for the normal daily lives of the citizens now seemed perfectly matched with the Red God that had descended.
The cardinal felt his breath quicken with each step the Red God took as it neared him. Once the Red God reached the Inner North Gate the cardinal and the priests all kneeled and saluted in ceremony.
"Rise"
It was a dominating voice that resounded in their heads, containing a fiery passion. The cardinal broke out of his stupor as he realized it was the Red God's voice and motioned for the ones behind him to quickly rise.
Once they rose, the Red God was enveloped by a tornado of flames. Although a few jumped in shock there was no harm done as the flame gave little to no heat. Once the flames dispersed, in place of where the Red God stood was a woman of near two meters, her bronze skin flickered with luster, her red hair was fire itself, and her burning red eyes was the unending blaze itself, and the two horns above her human ears confirmed her identity.
The priests quickly came forward with an elaborate dress favored by the nobility but modified so that it was easy to move and aided in dressing the now humanoid Red God. The cardinal motioned for an archbishop to lead the Red God towards where their Lord, the Black God, waited.
That was the cardinal's duty for the day. He was to wait until one of the Seven Pillar Gods arrived and lead them towards the Black God. Until the signal was given that the Six Gods had arrived, the cardinal was to wait at the gate.
Sitting upon a towering black throne was a young woman. Alabaster skin that shone like lunar light, an oval shaped face, small pink lips, a straight nose, and bewitching phoenix eyes. Straight long hair the color of the luminous night sky with bangs trimmed just above the eyelids, side locks tripped at cheek levels, a gap exposing the sharp pointed ears of a half elf and three pairs of black horns above her ears forming a pseudo crown.
She wore a form fitting long black dress with a snug collar exposing her upper arms and a slit on the sides of the dress starting from her waist. It was a dress made of the mysterious fabric known as silk that had high defensive and magical properties only produced within Elysium and embroidered with golden threads depicting the symbolic flower of the Black God known as the Holy Globeflower. She wore black silk sleeves running from her arms to the back of her hand exposing the palm and fingers and knee high silk socks exposing the sole of her feet, they too were embroidered with golden silk threads.
She was one of seven seated upon their colored thrones, facing a circular platform in the center where a glowing blue orb levitated above it. The blue orb was mirage-like and clear allowing one to see through to the other side. Green and brown marks marked the orb depicting the continents on the planet gaia. There were even three smaller orbs of different tones of gray orbiting the globe of Gaia.
She was the Black God and facing across from her were the Red God, Blue God, Green God, Yellow God, Silver God, and Gold God. At the edge of the room were the priests of the Black God ready to be called upon to serve the holy beings seated upon their colored thrones. And on each side of the throne was a scribe ready to record any words spoken.
Black cleared her throat and a melodic bell like voice was soon heard. "Now that everyone has gathered I shall hereby commence the twenty first meeting of the Council of Greatwyrms."
There were sounds of affirmation from the remaining six members of the council room. Black sighed at the enthusiastic responses. "First off, let's discuss the recent information outside of our domains. I'll start off.
Recently it seems that Welsh has purified a greater island and has started gathering followers to create a nation. Although I heard that Welsh destroyed the foundation he has built in a fit of rage."
At this the other occupants of the room smirked and chuckled.
"Something of note is that it seems that the number of our brethren has once again reached forty-nine. A greater dragon has taken him under his wing from what my magic detected."
The one sitting upon the glossy yellow throne said. "Hoh? Our numbers have reached our peak once more? But the younglings are so weak nowadays." She resembled a dwarven woman with wild mane like yellow hair but with the height of two and a half meters.
"It can't be helped, unlike us who were born under the threat of Shub Niggurath the younglings don't need to be that strong in order to be born upon this world." It was a beautiful middle aged woman with vibrant hair like strands of the sun. She was Gold and the eldest Greatwyrm.
"Those days," Red spoke as if reminiscing the past as her eyes gained a faraway look. "They were the most thrilling days of my life."
"Thrilling?" This time it was a blue haired woman with light blue skin wearing a dress that resembled more of a bodysuit. "Only you would like to be embroidered in combat all your life. I quite like the peaceful days of now."
"Save the small talk after official business has been done." Black sighed as she leaned her head against the tips of her fingers. "I have no other information concerning the regions outside our territories. Anyone else?"
All the other Greatwyrms gave signs of having received no noteworthy news. Black once more nodded. "Our next topic, have there been any differences in our territories? I recently noticed that the number of humans have grown and more towns have been popping up of late."
"Is that important?" Green, a beautiful nymph like woman with vibrant green hair and a dress that seemed to have been grown off a branch with the texture of a leaf said. "Nothing has changed for me although there seems to be more elves in my territory."
Black nodded. Green didn't come into contact with humans much as her doman, primarily consisted of floating land masses located near the northern tip of the Lesser Horn Continent. Black suppressed the vein threatening to bulge as the meeting boiled down to "Nothing has happened inside my territory" and "Why should I care about some random insects multiplying in number?" and such.
Black rubbed her temples and took a glance at the Lord Scribe that was trembling while attempting to write down all that was said with shaking fingers. Black was sure that he would later transcribe the words he wrote along with the other scribes to perfectly record what happened during said meeting. "As there was nothing major of note occurring I pronounce the twenty-first meeting of the Council of Greatwyrms at end."
At this the five of the Greatwyrms practically stood up at the same time with their eyes shining in delight. Without needing any guidance they walked out of the council room towards their destination.
Black held her face in her palms in dismay. "Sometimes I think the only reason these guys come is because of the feast."
A slender hand was placed upon Black's shoulder in a comforting manner. Even without looking up Black already knew it was Silver. Dressed in her gown made of mythril fiber, an equally magic conductive material as silk but far heavier, and wearing light armor that only protected the essential parts Silver wore her hair in an elaborate bun with only her sidelocks flowing freely passed her chin.
"Come on, the others won't eat unless you take the first bite you know." Black gave a large sigh once more before standing up and walking towards the feast too, like her fellow Greatwyrms.
The feast was held within the largest pagoda of the gardens, surrounded by numerous hedges that had numerous different types of flowers growing from it, large bushes of all sorts of flowers arranged in a pleasing manner as well as a circle of Holy Globeflower, and protected by metal fences three meters tall separating the garden from the meadows.
Just outside the pagoda were eight large cylindrical constructs and seven square constructs that had numerous metal spikes laying atop of them, all of them with a blue flame underneath heating them.
And within the pagoda was a seven meter wide black ashwood table with seven chairs, all crafted by the foremost woodsmith and decorated by the most famous jewelsmith. All seven of those chairs were now occupied by the seven Greatwyrms.
Soon seven beautiful nobles with dignified airs placed a bowl of broth in front of the Greatwyrms. The broth itself was clear brown almost to the point of mistaking it for water had it not been for the layer of fatty oil floating atop and decorated with precious herbs in the middle. This was broth that was simmered using bones and marrow for seven days straight with chefs constantly monitoring it.
The seven all picked up their spoon before scooping a large spoonful and bringing it to their mouth.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Moans of ecstasy could be heard as Greatwyrms drank the flavorful broth. It didn't take long for the broth to disappear, some even faster as they directly lifted the bowl to their lips. Red had even breathed a slight wisp of fire in satisfaction afterwards.
Soon the empty bowls were taken away and another bowl was placed before them. This time it was a broth much darker in color, a thick meaty aroma wafted from it. Pieces of vegetables floated about and most importantly cube cut pieces of meat glistening under the light.
"Ahhh, I was waiting for this."
Red spoke and without waiting dug into her bowl of stew. By the time the others finished one bowl, red had already finished three bowls.
Next up was a plate of carpaccio, thinly sliced meat with its marbled texture perfectly clear, oranges pieces, thinly sliced onions and tomatoes, sprinkled with more herbs all atop a salted red wine sauce that was both sweet, tangy, and salty.
Variety upon variety of dishes were brought up to be served to these seven Greatwyrms, all of them quickly devoured. Soon Red stood up after finishing the large five centimeter thick steak.
"Black, I think it's time that we move onto the main course. Is that not right?"
Black looked around the table and she soon saw the agreement of her fellow Greatwyrms. Left with no choice Black nodded and gave her consent.
At this the six Greatwyrms smiled victoriously and left the pagoda, with Black sighing and still sitting at the table. Soon the six figures of woman disappeared and six Greatwyrms replaced them.
All of them crowded the large metal constructs that viewed from a Greatwyrm's true body revealed their true form. One large pot filled with broth, seven pots filled with stew, and the metals pike were revealed to be large steel skewers with meat barbequing on the square grills.
Leaving aside the pot of broth and Black's portions, the Greatwyrms began devouring the meat and stew with reckless abandon.
"Split the broth and rest of the meat among the clergy and the rest for the city's citizens." At this the cardinals and butler nodded with excitement shining in their eyes as Black too left to join her fellow Greatwyrms in the feast.
Although she preferred to elegantly sample all sorts of dishes, eating full bites of meat in her true form was also delectable, especially in the companion of her fellow Greatwyrms.
Black form was covered in darkness and growing towards the size of thirty meters before the darkness dispersed revealing Black's scale the color of the void that would rhythmically shine with golden runes. Like in her human form Black had three pairs of horns, a pair of arms and legs, an angular head with a slightly shorter neck than average, a long tail and six pairs of wings.
From the figure of the seven Greatwyrms, black was the smallest as she was the youngest.
Silver was the second smallest with the features of the classical dragon with hardly any deviation with exception of her beautiful scales.
Red stood tall at forty meters while blue was in similar height, her body was slightly more serpentine with wings that resembled a long find starting from her shoulder to her tail.
Green was smaller than Red but had the greatest wingspan while Yellow was the same height, wingless but bulky with thick muscles and barely any neck to show.
Gold was the most unique with a pure serpentine body with seventy meters in length with tiny wings all over her back. Having a golden beard and two large whiskers, rather fly Gold seemed to levitate.
"Black why can't you hold more feasts such as this?" Red asked.
Black replied the same as always, even though this question has already been asked before many times. "I told you! Behemoths take two hundred years to mature and if I slaughter too many of them at once there will be a decrease in the amount we can eat in the future. If you like it so much, go catch your own and grow them yourself."
Red shook her head. "No way, I killed a behemoth in my territory but the meat wasn't nearly as decadent as those at your place."
Black simply said. "Naturally"
Behemoths, creatures of land that grew to the size of forty meters. Having a large bulking body covered in black fur, it had the head of a wolf with two large oxen horns, the boy and front legs of a lion, hoofed back legs and tail of a serpent. Normally such legendary beasts were the stuff of myths included in tales of brave knights saving princesses.
However Black Behemoths were different. Called Black because the Black God had captured them tens of thousands of years ago and selectively bred them to produce the largest behemoth with the most perfect marbled meat. Naturally it wasn't just selectively breeding but feeding them mana rich herbs and feed. All of them have been raised young, separated from their mothers that no longer contained the instincts of wild behemoths. It wasn't just behemoth meat but the milk of females that were often used. Of course after slaughtering once, the skin would be made in leather and sold at high prices due to it's defensive properties.
Naturally these processes weren't directly done by Black, but by a noble Duke's family who had this duty for generations. They weren't just responsible for Behemoths but also all the livestock within the inner city such as cows, boar, and chicken. They would use what they learned from other livestock to experiment and attempt to perfect the Black Behemoth meat even further.
As properties of the Realmwyrm, it was forbidden from slaughtering the beast or selling the meat unless given permission by Black herself. The duke family, however, were allowed to make any transaction on the other livestock such as cow, boar, and chicken.
Outside they were called Black Beef, Black Pork, and Black Chicken due to the highly flavorful meat, tender marbling, and benefits of mana rich meat. Naturally Black Behemoth meat was also miraculous and equally treasured as elixirs able to heal wounds new and old.
The feast continued for seven days straight. The citizens and clergy all eagerly lined up for any leftover morsel of food left behind by the Greatwyrms. On the eighth day the Greatwyrms could be seen flying from the inner city towards their domain once more.
Despite this the festive mood remained in the city with many citizens exclaiming in awe, and drooling while remembering the Black Behemoth meat they have been blessed with.
And Black returned to the floating core of Elysium. A large palace constructed upon a hemisphere floating above the lake at the core of Elysium. This was the true Elysium, the Orbital City, that was said to exist on the first day of the Greatwyrm Era and said to contain all accumulated knowledge of the world.
And within the grand throne room sat Black, once more in her half elf form, upon her towering throne. Black's violet eyes pierced through the wall of her palace and into the edge of the heavens. "I really want to make a gate to Earth."