Kezzes Indrath POV
I sat on my throne, bored as usual. Matters relating to Euphotus have long since lost my interest in them. The only reason I let Agrona live for so long was because I didn't want to bore myself to death.
Unrivaled strength and authority.
I had both the things, for which every race, Asuras and lessers yearned. Yet, over the course of countless years, everything grew more and more boring. The ancient mages once posed a threat to me, but due to their passive nature and next to zero inclination towards violence or offence they were wiped from the face of the world.
One of my best friends, Mordrain Asclepius, posed a threat to me so I annihilated the whole clan of Asclepius, down to the very last member.
And now here I am. Centuries have passed. I spend my everyday sitting and lazing on this throne, listening to the caretakers who look over the lesser continent. Life has never been so boring until that day…
I was sitting on my throne just like usual doing my thing, commanding or more likely coercing asuras into doing my bidding. I stood up from the throne as white flames engulfed me and I was back in my room. Slipping out of my royal robes, and undoing the ornaments holding my hair in place, I let them fall which reached towards my waist.
I walked towards the bath, in hopes of easing the beating of my heart which for some reason was acting up. It only happened once when I witnessed one of the djinns welding aether in an offensive manner. His every movement and fluid slash sent shivers of fear and envy down my very being. Knowing too well that doing what they did was impossible for me was the main reason I ordered all of them to be wiped. If there were even a hundred of them, total loss would've awaited me.
As I walked Infront of the mirror I glanced over at my reflection. My eyes widened at the sight Infront of me. Not because I saw someone else staring back from the mirror at me, no. The reason for my surprise was something else altogether. Something I never imagined. A burning sensation spread from my neck as it sizzled.
I spotted a huge, deep cut mark that covered almost half of my neck, which was not there a moment before. I touched it as a drop of blood stuck to my finger. It seemed fresh. Like someone had just tried to sever my head. But who? Who had the audacity to do so? Much less the strength.
I walked towards the small fountain instilled inside the bathroom, as it filled the humongous pool with lukewarm water. I went inside until only half of my face was outside. I rested my head over the edge of the stony boundary as I began to caress the wound on my neck. I tried to influence a meager amount of aether so it could heal it, but even the aether refused to heal it.
It was impossible.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Aether was the higher element. An element used by the true deities - The true Gods. I had witnessed one, when I was a child. He was manipulating it in a way we couldn't even fathom. Most we could do was influence it to a meager degree. The control we had was because of the spellforms and runes of the genus we were given. Bound to a single or if lucky 2 genus at most for our whole lives.
Whether I tried to heal the wound, the aether trembled as if refusing to heal it. I tried to rack my brain over it. Since it was aether, there was only one way for me to unravel this mystery.
Realmheart.
I reached for the feeling, trying to activate the divine transformation. Warmth spread through my entire body, as runes appeared on my face, arms and body. Motes of red, blue, green and orange appeared. But that is not what I was looking for. The 5th element.
Aether.
I saw the purple motes, as stubborn as ever, except floating and being manipulated, stayed in their place. I tried to influence them using the divine transformation's effects. They did move, but became extremely chaotic once they reached the wound.
The aether refused, or more like it was ordered to never heal the wound. Like some higher being had decided on a punishment for me. But why would they do that.?
They could just simply kill me without batting an eye. So why? Why go through all this trouble? Is it because of the decree they made since the beginning of time? A decree of non-intervention, no matter how grim the situation.
If it's that, then maybe it's not them. But who else could manipulate aether in such a way? The ancient mages and Mordrain are long since gone. And the lessers pale in mana control when compared to asuras, let alone aether.
However, someone did it. The big sizzling wound was a haughty reminder of it. I deactivated Realmheart and let myself sink even deeper. Only my eyes were outside the water. My eyes glowed a deep amethyst casting the colour over the crystal clear water.
Luckily, the warm water helped ease the tension a little as I felt my eyelids heavy. I drifted away to sleep, while still being almost submerged in water.
The next few days passed, with me locking myself in seclusion in the separate pocket dimension where I kept all of the relics and books related to aether. Time flowed slowly here, so I had all the time in the world. I spent many months here trying to uncover the mystery behind the wound which was now a big scar.
I dredged through the volumes of books, but nothing came up. Not an inkling or not a single thing indicating this phenomenon.
One day I was doing the usual, trying to gain insight from a relic possibly dwelling the knowledge of an aevum edict, I was interrupted as my wife Myre came inside my pocket dimension. Only she had the access to it.
She came closer as she locked her eyes on me,
"Lord Indrath, the lessers who can be used in the upcoming war as weapons have arrived."
She said monotone, but I could feel the hesitation in her calling them 'lessers'. She has always been an oddball. A disgusting amount of inclination towards the lesser rights, but due to my power and control never voiced her thoughts.
"Very well. I'll be there. Let's go." I replied, putting the robe on and teleported to my throne room. It was still empty, indicating they hadn't arrived. I sat on my throne and rested my head over my knuckles, my mind drifting towards the scar. I was using a relic which could hide the scar.
I saw 3 silhouettes enter the room. They all bowed, but a certain boy got my attention. Despite trying to be humble he looked at me like he was far too superior than me. But what made me intrigued even more was the little two-tailed fox, resting on his head.
She was Sylvia's child.
My granddaughter..!
Activating Chronostasis, an aether art which helped me to stop time. I walked towards my granddaughter in the stationary world. But an uneasy feeling was rising in my gut with every step. The more I got near them, the more I felt like stepping back and going back.
(A/n yeh yeh that's from black clover. Need a good name for dragon grandpa's spells.)
I saw the boy's golden eyes turn towards me as fixed his gaze on me. My eyes widened as I saw him turn his body towards me.
"How are you still moving?" I asked him, my voice never faltering while exerting a bit of my king's force.
The boy stood there, unflinching as he looked me, dead in the eye.
"Grandma Sylvia passed on her will to me. She could do the same so I suppose this won't affect me."
Lies. Her art was never strong enough to rival mine. Who is this lesser.? Realising I was staring at him for so long, I extended my hand towards my granddaughter. After a few second, which felt like they were conversing mentally, she leapt off of him and landed in my arms. I turned around and took her away, releasing the spell.
Ever since that day, the uneasiness in my heart never dissipated. It remained there, hammered into my entire being. Like a curse it kept consuming me. That boy was really a curse. Overlooking his feats and accomplishments, I was convinced that he was a talented one, and could be considered an anomaly even by asuran standards.
All was well until the day he decided to attack Alacrya. At first I thought he was a mere fool and arrogant. Even the great eight never thought of a frontal assault like that on the Vritra. Sure he had the support of a traitor scythe, but that half breed amounted to nothing.
The leaders of the great eight gathered and decided that we would attack them once all of the lessers are killed from the battle against vritra, and ambush them while they're exhausted from the fight against them.
Young warriors from every tribe were selected and were sent to Alacrya, ready to ambush the Vritra, and wipe the abomination once and for all. The battle was being transmitted to the throne room via transmission relics, where I sat on my throne, while the leaders of great 8 all stood, watching the transmission with smirks over their stupid faces.
But the moment of respite was blown away at the sight Infront of us. He killed an Asura. No, that wasn't called killing. 'Toying' was a more plausible term. The vritra called Kiros was killed without much effort. But what became the source of uproar was the method he used.
He "manipulated" the aether. And wasn't using a spellform, but the mythical godrune every dragon dreamed of. To top it off I sensed another core. An Aether Core. But I knew too well. I didn't notice it. He let me sense it. He knew there were Asuras waiting for an ambush. So despite the fact that he would have killed Kiros without activating the godrune, he still used it.
He was delivering a statement.
A statement of staying away.
A statement of not prying into his business.
How dare he? I've been the king of Asuras, for more than a millenia now.
But for the young generation, it was almost impossible to fight him. Leave the young Asuras, even Agrona was going to die.
A smirk formed on my face at the prospect of a new prey, who will entertain me. I ordered my number one lackey, Windsom, Aldir, Kordri and William from the Eccliah clan of the Leviathan race, to go and collect the boy and bring him to me and to take his family hostage if required.
While Aldir, the current holder of World Eater technique seemed dissatisfied, his expression disappeared as soon as it came, his face comtorting into the same emotionless expressions the pantheons were famous for.
All of them took their leave as I returned to the pocket dimension and started working on the same relic, from which Sylvia was once able to get insight into. I found myself in a void with multiple screens. They showed multiple events. After a bit of racking my brain, I came to a conclusion. It was able to pry into and show the present, past and future of anyone. Lessers and asura alike.
I imagined my wife Myre as I saw her when she hatched. Her training, upbringing, when she came to know she was from the vivum genus, her getting married to me, us having Sylvia, her hate for me. Although I knew she was against my methods, to see that she despised me this much was still nerve wrecking.
"Fascinating."
A compliment, in the form of a slight murmur escaped my lips. I searched for others to test its validity and all of it was dead accurate.
Then a name popped in my mind.
"Arthur Leywin."
But it turned black. Nothing, just pitch reflection less black. It intrigued me but not wanting to dwell on it I decided to use it on myself. Memories amassed over a thousand years appeared. Probing among them I reached out for a single one of them.
The day I received this hideous scar. I replayed the whole day over and over again, along with the ones I doubted. But nothing came up.
I tried to think deeply. Even came with crazy ideas. But one of the craziest ideas made the most sense.
"It's impossible. Even the djinns were unable to do it."
I muttered as I rotated the circular handle backwards. The scene played, as my entire being shook to its very core. I was right. My theory was correct. Everything proved me right as I saw Arthur Leywin, sitting on my throne, Euphotus...… or what remained of Euphotus behind him. Everything razed to the ground.
Not a single thing to be spotted save for Arthur, another purple haired boy and my head which Arthur gripped from the scalp tightly as he continued to look into my lifeless eyes.
It all made sense now. The boy mastered fate, and time travelled. But he won't be able to succeed this time. He might have been able to take me by surprise last time since I could never fathom a lesser being so strong, but this time, I'll surely kill him.
But first I have to withdraw the 4 best fighters I sent to handle him. Because based on what I saw, they'll die before they even know it.