He reigns with fear, his presence always near,
A tyrant's grip, kingdoms in tears,
In shadows deep, where darkness reigns,
A father to dragons, the dark one gains.
His coming, foretold in whispers of dread,
A prophecy spun, where hope hangs by a thread,
No light shall pierce his shroud of night,
For his evil knows no end, no respite.
Beware oh world, for his hour draws nigh,
Prepare your hearts, raise your battle cry,
For no good will withstand his sinister might,
As he descends, cloaked in eternal blight.
The skies shall darken, the earth shall quake,
As his armies march, bonds shall break,
In the heart of a spirit, a spark shall ignite,
To stand against darkness in a grueling fight.
Heed this warning, holders of light,
No one can break the dark one's might,
His reign fierce, his cruelty untamed,
Until the spirit rises and light is reclaimed.
The world was in uproar. Every Kingdom had received the exact same prophecy, word for word. However, it contradicted the one from earlier. The new prophecy, unlike the former one, posited the idea that the father of dragons would not lose.
It, at best, insinuated that light would be reclaimed, but what did that even mean? To make things worse, the prophecy claimed that the father of dragons would be here soon. No one wanted that. Everyone was scared. A tyrant was coming, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Valkorath, however, had zero idea this was even happening. He had been left on an island of snakes. He had tried to get into the water surrounding the island, but it was also full of poisonous snakes. So, with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes, Valkorath stood still as snake after snake bit him until he lost all consciousness and, in his thoughts, died.
Except, unlike he thought, he was not dead. A lot of traitors had died on the Island of Snakes. However, "a lot" and "all" were two very different things. Some traitors had survived, and in this very moment, Valkorath owed them his life. They had not only saved his worthless life, they had administered anti-venom. They had also treated his injuries. Why? Well, let's find out together.
It was not because they felt like him or they sympathized with him. It was not because they wanted to hear his story, nor was it because he was any different from anyone here.
It was for one single reason: a priest was here. He had commanded them to save Valkorath. Valkorath had more to do in this world than the next. In the moments before he was saved, he had accepted death, and that was more than enough.
The priest had been told by his god that he was to receive and set free the dark one. His pursuit of this led him to the Island of Snakes, and the moment he saw him, he knew Valkorath was the dark one. He had accepted death, unlike anyone who had ever been here. He had silver-gold hair, as it was written, and he truly fit the criteria of a god among men, as it was written.
Valkorath woke up to see three faces staring at him. At this point, he was very confused. He asked if this was the afterlife, but to his shock, it was not. He was very much alive. He was still confused, though. Where was he? Who were they? What did they want? Had the King forgiven him? All these questions raged in his head as he promptly lost consciousness again. He had not rested enough for what his body had been through.
The next time he woke up, he was told exactly where he was. He was at the Island of Snakes. To be exact, he was in a civilization of traitors who had been sent here. They had survived for years, months, and in some instances, decades. They had been taught in the ways and knew one thing for sure: the dark one would come, and when he did, they had to help him in every way they could.
All the information they gave him was good. However, he had one problem: he was not about to live his life in servitude to some dark one whom he had zero knowledge of.
Everyone there just laughed. They told him that was fine. He did not have to serve himself. They would serve him. At this moment, it dawned on Valkorath: he was the dark one. He, of course, did not believe in any dark one, and regardless, these people were traitors. Why would he believe anything they said?
He had never heard of any prophecy about any dark one. How could liars on an island hear of prophecies that had not been uttered in any kingdom? It definitely made no sense, and they were clearly lying—if only Valkorath had heard the prophecy uttered on the day he arrived at this Island.
He did not believe or trust any of the people here, but since they worshipped and revered him, it was fine by him. Soon, they told him he had to leave this Island and travel to the land of Irkasi. There, he must find the old temple of Oduduwa.
On the day the sun rises highest, namely September tenth, at approximately twelve AM, he must place a child, back facing down, at the circle in the middle of the temple. Then, he must let the glass in the temple concentrate the sun's rays and scorch the baby to death.
The child must be no older than a day old, and it had to be conscious, for its screams were absolutely necessary. His screams are what would call forth the gates.
The gates to the spirit world. There, he must eat from the tree of life, the tree of death, the tree of power, and the tree of wisdom. Then, and only then, could he take the entire world. That was his fate.
Valkorath burst into laughter once all of this was said. He really could not believe any of this shit—spiritual world, trees, bro, this was obviously a load of crap. For some reason, those people were pleased at him for laughing at them. When he asked them why, they said it was because the dark one laughed at them, as it is written.
This time, he snapped. What the fuck did they mean by "as it was written"? Where the fuck was it written? He wanted to know. They showed him, though, where it was all written. Apparently, for centuries now, there had been a cult dedicated to finding the dark one and helping him get the world.
This book changed everything for Valkorath. It detailed his life, from the time he was born to the day he married Aurora, to his banishment. It even talked about how he would die at the hands of a Queen much younger, the daughter of Alexander, millennia from the time he started ruling.
Valkorath was very happy. At least, he shall rule the world for a millennia, and he knew by whose hand he would die: the daughter of Alexander. He would just have every kid named Alexander killed, and then he would forever live and rule as the lord of worlds, a spirit god.
The priest, Father Pucci, however, disagreed with him. According to Father Pucci, he could never escape dying to Alexander. It was his fate, the same way it was his fate to get here. He could not escape it.
Valkorath scoffed and told him they would see about that. The book was going to be Valkorath's guide now, though, and the very next thing it said was that soon after reading this book for the first time, he had to leave for Irkasi. And leave for Irkasi he did, alone, on a makeshift boat everyone there had spent a long time building.
Valkorath was unbelievably happy now. He would be getting what he wanted. The world would be his and only his. The book had not mentioned it, but life at sea was horrible and testing. But Valkorath did what he had consistently shown himself to be good at: surviving.
He survived and made it to Irkasi, and he did not just make it there; he made it there alive and well. Now, he needed to get to the Medici hospital and take Louis Machiavelli. His life would be exchanged for the world.
He waited patiently near the hospital, as the book said he would. Mrs. Machiavelli had just been brought into the labor room, and in that room, she shall bear him—he who will be the key to THE FATHER OF DRAGONS...…..