"Want to know my story, do you? Now, where to start?" Drax began.
"How about before you ascended to godhood, start from there," I said as I made myself comfortable. Bradley joined me by floating at my side. I have to wonder, does he get tired when he does that?
"Good idea, Kid. Minion, join us," the god called to the dark mage.
"Sorry, he can't here you now." Bradley said.
"He dead?"
"Nah, just passed out cold,"
"I see. Well then..." Drax stretched himself on his hammock and laid perfectly on his back. "Let's begin then, shall we? So, it's good you know I wasn't always a god."
"Duh,"
"Don't interrupt me boy! Where was I? Ah, yes. I was born from a elf and human, a telling time during those days. Of course, the elves–"
"Pause. What time are you talking about?"
The god's eye twitched in irritation. "As I was saying, the elves–"
"Pause! I asked what–mmh!" a dark hand suddenly covered my mouth and two others locked me in place.
"Mhhnn?! Mmmh!"
"If you want the full story boy, you'll have to be quiet! I'll answer your question. The time I was born was before the creation of teleporting technology. We good now?"
I nodded under the restraints.
"Okay then. As I was trying to say, the time I was born was a very bad time for us half-elves. It also didn't help I was born with no power nor ability so that made my existence even more dreadful to a world where power was everything in those years,"
"But my parents protected me, bless their souls. Due to my elf ears–and before you ask, I'm a god, I can change my appearance at will, including my ears– but anyways, because of them, the humans viewed me as a monster yet, monsters were not yet discovered nor made known to the world."
"The elven society was no different, but instead of where they viewed me as a monster, they also saw me as an impurity to their kind. I'm sure you are familiar with this feeling, Max,"
I nodded my head in agreement. Though these days they've eased of on the half-elves, they chose another target, my race. The fact that it's most of the half-elves instead of the many pure bloods that view us as impurities always makes my blood boil even more.
"The only people that I could look at for protection were my parents, but they too had their limits. I was just a fifteen year old when it happened, but that day I will never forget it. My mother had made us a good meal, something that didn't come easily since she lived with a human but she chose that time to spoil us,"
"I was just in the process of learning the little magic I could before reaching of age, but not even that little would have helped in anything. A group of bandits attacked my home that day. Sure, if it were just two or three, my parents would have made quick work of them, but they were ten. And they were more experienced than your average everyday bandit,"
"My parents were strong, but when faced with such a large number of experienced enemies, they were easily overpowered. I remember my father asking what they wanted, and I remember the words of the leader of the group to this day."
" 'An impurity such as this child shouldn't be allowed to live'. That's what he said but that was just one of their goals. My father was shocked to the core when the leader removed his mask and an elven noble stood before us. Some proud elf who fell for my mother,"
"The bastard could never let it go that my father was the one who won my mother's heart. So that day, in front of me and my father, he had his way with her and once done his friends joined in."
"Dear gods..." Bradley muttered. I could sense that this wasn't something the god liked to talk about.
"Hey, Drax. You don't have to go on if you don't want to," I said, once free of the binds.
"But I do want to. And please, that was like a thousand years ago or something. I'm way pasted that point of caring about it." he smiled when he said this, but his clenched fist said another story.
"Like it wasn't enough that they'd violated my mother in front of her husband and child, in order to keep this a secret from the board of elves, they murdered both of my parents in cold blood."
"For any normal fifteen year old, my tear ducts were already dried up from screaming and crying in pain and agony that even when the killed my parents in front of me, my mind was already numb with pain. But from that day onwards , was the beginning of my ascension to power,"
"Of course, they kept their word and beat me to a bloody pulp before one of them delivered the fatal blow that was to do me in. The damned sick bastards though that it would be real funny if I bled out to my death, while I laid there with both my parents' dead bodies to keep me company, but something happens when they left,"
"Wait, hold on. I have to know, did you get your revenge on those physios for what they did to you?" I asked Drax. Cause in all honesty, if he were to give me that mission to search and kill the descendants of those elves, I wouldn't have hesitated one bit.
"I wouldn't really be a dark god if I didn't take revenge on them now would I?" Drax smiled at me.
"Moving on, they thought I was a goner, and I would have been too, but Chaos had other plans for me. All I wanted was to join my parents in the afterlife, but that day, dark magic rose from my parents blood and imbedded itself inside me."
"Next thing I knew, I was still alive, and a message written next to my head: Get stronger."
"The hell was that message for?" Bradley asked, fully invested in the story.
"Believe me worm, I had no idea too,"
"I said I am a system!"
"Still don't care. But as I was saying, I had no idea yet, of what I was suppose to make of that message. That is, until I buried my parents bodies and realized I could transform my hatred into power."
"Take this to heart, kid. Dark magic is not for the faint hearted. It can only be performed when one has passed through painful hardships and is desperate for power. I had both going for me, so I quickly got the hang of it and began my revenge against all those who looked down on me and my parents."
"So that's when you became a dark mage?" I asked.
"No, Max. That's when I became the first dark mage. From there, it wasn't really hard finding followers to join my cause. You would be surprised by how many people are born without power and looked down by their peers. We invited all races, and that itself, brought the rise of the dark era."
"Many races realized that we were growing in a steady number, so they sent assassins to reduce our population. Unbeknownst to them, we were a lot more powerful than we looked, and the fact that we could corrupt their magic before to could do damage to us was a huge trump card of ours."
"Since I was their leader, I rose to power relatively quick that at some point the same power that was granted to me became too much. Chaos realized this and saw the only was I could survive with that much power is when I ascended to godhood. And I did just that."
"A lot of gods were surprised by the new god in town and immediately disliked my existence cause I was housing just about every race in the world. I was elated, at first, that now I could look after my followers without any problems, until I realized that with godhood, came a lot of restrictions."
"The most painful one of them all was when all other races banded together and slaughtered my entire group while I just stood by and could do nothing when they cried out for help from me."
"That's when the gods had this bright idea that I should go for a vacation to cool my jets. Obviously there was something fishy with that idea. But I thought that this was their way of showing no hard feelings,"
The god smacked his head. " How could I have been so stupid! It was so clear that they wanted to kill me, and I gave them the perfect chance to do. But thankfully, I managed to escape with a whisker of my life by focusing my essence in that orb you had. How the orb travelled all the way back to that noble elf's hands, I'm not sure, but one thing was certain, I wanted to kill that arrogant brat!"
I nodded my head. "And that was the start, and end, of the of the dark mages. I always thought you guys were the evil ones, that's why the gods issued for their death, but I had no idea you guys were the victims of this story,"
"That we were–wait what do you mean that the gods were the one who issued our death?!" the god asked as he suddenly stood up from his hammock.
"You didn't know? I've only read it in stories, but I'm sure it says that all other races were given an order by some gods to eradicate the evil of dark mages. At that time, we followed their decree to the latter, so..." I trailed of as I saw the anger growing from Drax's eyes.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! THOSE BASTARD GODS PLANNED FOR MY COMRADES DEATH?!" he roared in anger as an incredible amount of dark magic flowed from his body.
Oh no! He's going to think about getting revenge on the gods! I'm not sure he even has the strength to do that. Thinking from his story, he wouldn't even care if he died trying to kill all gods that wronged him. I have to find a way to calm him down. Thankfully, I remember a part of the story that the god didn't probably know about but was very crucial in this instance.
"Um...may be they saw you as a threat to their followers cause if you were the god they prayed to if they were weak, then possibly–"
"I KNOW WHY THEY DID IT BOY!"
"But... "
"BUT WHAT?! WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY TELL ME THAT WOULD CHANGE WHAT I HAVE TO DO?!"
"What if I told you that what you told me about dark mage is not what they embodied,"
Drax looked at me confused before reducing his mana output. "What are you trying to say, Furrha?"
"You told me that the dark mage were a group of people that desperately seeker power due to their circumstances, but that's wasn't the case. I don't know if you noticed but..." I nodded to the dark mage knocked out cold. " That guy might have had a good life, but he chose to join the dark side cause he wanted more power."
"Let me tell you something, Drax. When you ascended to godhood, the dark mages realized that the didn't have to limit their selves to only gaining the power to survive. The all wanted more, and since you weren't there to keep them in check, they saw that taking over the world would be an even greater cause. And since they had you as their supporter god, they felt invinsible."
"No... they wouldn't! I left my subordinate Synide to keep them at bay!"
"Synide?" Bradley joined in. "Do you mean the dark mage that became a sorcerer by eliminating half a continent? That Synide?"
"This can't be..." the god fell back in his hammock in shock.
"I'm afraid so. They gods weren't the ones to blame for this. I'm sure they didn't just see you a threat to their power, but they also so you as the hope of the dark mages so if they were to kill you..."
"...then all the dark mage would lose their will to fight," the god finished as he placed his hands on his face.
"I can't believe the dark mages went to such a path. I never wished for the destruction of the world, you know. I–I'll have to think on how to handle this new news,"
"It's okay. You have all the time in the world," I consoled him.
Drax raised is head to me with a defeated look on his face that I almost felt pity for him. Almost.
"Sorry, kid. Now it's your turn to tell me more about you,"
"About that..." I rubbed my head in embarrassment.
***
"What do you mean you lost your memories?!"
"Just as I said it. I have no recollection of my earlier years," I answered the god after explaining to him of what I could remember from the time I entered camp. There's no need for him to know about my life before that when Flintheart left me. No one needs to know that.
Drax looked lost in his thoughts but then suddenly snapped his fingers. "I can return your memories,"
"Wha–really?!"
"I just need the magic I've been talking to you about. Find me the dark magic, and your memories are as good as yours," he said.
"WOO-HOO!" I leaped up in joy. I can't believe that I can regain my memories by just looking for dark magic. What stroke of luck! And if the mission of retrieving the world tree involves dark elves who have an affinity of dark magic...
"Oh, now that I've heard your story, I suggest you leave my domain. I can only do so much to hold you in here and after my needless outburst, I've gone ahead and shortened your time,"
"Oh, OK. I hope we can meet soon," I said. I willed myself out of the room, with hope that my memories could be returned.
–––***
"Hey, worm, a word?" Drax called Bradley.
"I thought you said you could hold us for much longer," Bradley turned back to the god.
"True I can't hold you here for long, but I've got a few minutes at best. Listen, that kid is hiding something,"
Bradley wobbled in question. "What do you mean he's hiding something?"
"Just as you've heard. I'm sure he spoke the truth about losing his memories, but there is something else he's not saying,"
"What makes you say that, Drax?"
"I have the power to sense the potential of someone's affinity to dark magic. That kid may not know it, but that was the highest amount of pain and resentment I've ever felt from someone, let alone a kid. It's just been locked away in his heart,"
Bradley became quiet. Then, he chose to ask the god something that has been bugging his mind. "If I may, could it perhaps be because he still feels regret about that mage over there killing his friend's brother?"
The god shook his head. "No, this is different. It's almost like he doesn't want anyone to know about that darkness in his life. And from what I can tell, it happened in his younger years, maybe after he lost his memories. I want you to investigate on that. Good luck worm,"
"Investigate... Hey! I won't say this again! I am a sys–" Bradley turned into a white flash of light before he could finish.
Drax walked over to the dark mage and tried kicking him awake.
"Damn, what did that worm do to you?" he wondered as he sat down on the ground when the mage couldn't get up.
"I don't know what you are hiding, boy. But that hatred is very familiar. You could say, it is a spitting image of my previous anger. Just like the way you wanted to help me take my revenge for what those elves did to me, it goes both ways. I will hunt down and kill that person who has made you carry all that resentment!"