POV Brown:
The future priests knelt in the wast city square, paved by the same volcanic stone used for all the buildings around them. They all quietly waited, no one daring to interrupt the sanctity of the moment with chit-chat.
The hot summer sun shone on their backs, the heat becoming even worse thanks to their thick robes. They all felt sweaty and hot.
Suddenly a wind rose up, blowing past them and cooling down their overheated bodies. A colossal shadow covered the whole square, the sun vanishing, but the air temperature became even higher.
The brown looked up, his eyes going wide as he noticed the majestic dragon high in the sky. Its beautiful and shiny black armour, interwoven with sparkling gold and glowing crystals, was faintly glowing with the magma glowing in golden and purple light within the cracks in it.
‘So the head of the church is also that dragon!’ His eyes almost shined in excitement, his heart beating as he thought about all the views he would get after recording the whole ritual of sanctification.
‘I never wanted a priest class, but now I think it is worth it!’ It was his opportunity to finally get close to the dragon.
The dragon spoke, his voice clear yet carrying a powerful energy, the mana within everyone’s bodies almost boiling, “So you are the one that wants to spread the words of the greatest of all gods, the dragon god and his divine draconic descendants?”
Just that one single sentence carried lots of lore, confirming and destroying theories floating around the forum, ‘So dragons are really descendants of the dragon god. It wasn’t just a myth!’
Dragons were never a talkative race. They kept to themselves, making the lore around them very lacking, consisting mostly of myths and deductions made by other races.
The dragon continued, the magic within its voice growing stronger and stronger, the hot burning feeling intensifying, “In that case, I officially name you to be the priests of the dragon church. You shall heal and aid the believers… but for an appropriate price. You shall also fight and support the armies fighting against these that sinned against the greatness of the dragon race!”
The dragon horns brightly shone, the golden radiance connecting with heaven itself. The sky responded, the golden aurora brightly shining as the golden rain fell upon all of the assembled future priests.
Notification after notification dinged and passed before his eyes, but he paid no attention to them, his mind occupied, ‘I need to somehow get the dragon’s attention… Wait! Maybe there is a way to ask questions!’
He collected his resolve, already thinking about what to do if it failed, ‘I have to try it. How long will it take until I get the chance to speak to the dragon again? What if someone will be faster than me? No one cares about the second one; everyone always cares only about first reveals! ‘
While kneeling, he shouted out of his full breath, “Your holy draconic Majesty, there is no divine text for this great church. Please allow me to compile it, and please share your smart words with a poor servant like me!”
The whole silent square focused on him, dozens of eyes bearing on him from every direction. Then the terrifying eyes of the dragon looked straight at him, his body almost splattering on the hard stone as he felt an immense weight on his shoulders and back.
He held his breath, the pressure so terrific that he couldn’t breathe out even if he wanted.
He kept kneeling, keeping his resolve and posture while he waited for the answer.
Finally, the dragon spoke, interrupting the nerve-breaking silence, “You are right minion… Believers need to have their holy scripture compiling all of the church’s lore and tenants, the book that will be always with them. Do it, think about what you think are the core values of our church and compile them. Then visit me and I will share my wisdom with you.”
Ding!
//
New unique mission!
Objective: Compile the holy scripture of the dragon church!
Reward: 2 X Insta Level Up; 1000 gold coins; Unique title; Relationship with the dragon church; +100 FAIT
Failure: The dragon will be angry
Fatal Failure: The dragon will be angry; You will be branded as a heretic and criminal
//
Later the same day:
POV Vesuvius:
The huge dragon descended from the sky, the world around him turning into a single, blurry image. His eyes brightly glowed as he scanned the terrain under him. There were mountains in the distance, but most of it was covered in vast green pastures.
‘Is that minion stupid? Why would he volunteer for such a boring and ungrateful task?’ Even after hours, he couldn’t comprehend his new weird minions, ‘Why is everyone that I attract so weird?’
Hastily built fortifications stood to his right side at an equal interval, the quickly built walls looking shabby and rough. Hundreds of human soldiers in purple cloaks and Arabian-styled chainmail armors shivered on their walls, staring at the dragon in horror.
Vesuvius braced his wings, stopping right next to the border. The next moment his horns shone brightly, and the whole ground trembled. Tremors passed through the whole land, the hastily built fortification slightly shaking, the armours of the guarding soldiers clanging.
The stone and soil under him compressed and shifted, the mass of stone and dirt moving with the fluidity of the water. A massive fissure formed in the ground, quickly moving along the border, the black chasm leading into the depths of the planet opening and prolonging, forming a barrier between the two countries.
The stone moved out of the ravine, pilling on his side of the border, forming a natural-looking wall.
The rumbling stopped as fast as it started, and the clouds of dust settled down, the soldiers just staring at the ravine separating the two countries in shock.
‘It will not stop any powerful foes, but it will make crossing for large scales armies of weaklings a nightmare.’ Vesuvius refused to simply do nothing but wait for his enemies to come. He decided that he would fortify his whole country.
‘I will build an army. I will uplift swarms of drakes and wyverns. I will build fortresses and change the whole terrain. I will turn the whole country into a fortified bastion.’
The dragon’s eyes shined again, the ground shaking one more time as the stone shifted again. Boulders raised into the air, floating above a thin section of the crevice. The next moment almost as if they melted, they joined together and formed a smooth surface of a narrow bridge leading over the ravine.
‘Enough for the supply and people to move while in peace but still easy to tear down in the war.’
The wind raised through the countryside, and electricity sparked and crackled on his wings as he moved forwards, continuing to fly along the border.
‘The borders are long, very long. It will take some time to secure them. But in the end, it will be worth it.’ He was a dragon lord. He wasn’t like humans that built along the terrain. Instead, he shifted the terrain moved to accommodate his needs. He would never build around it. Instead, he would shape it to his image.
‘Maybe I should already start searching for the information for the quests from the dragon god and the dead winter dragon.’
POV ???:𝔬𝓋𝔩𝒩xt.𝑐𝑶𝑀
A small group of players sat around a polished wooden table with a map spread on it. They were all silent, submerged deep within their thoughts.
Suddenly the player with a bow on his shoulder and the weird punk haircut looked at the map, “This war will be huge. But it will possibly take even years for it to happen, so we have time to prepare.”
The rest of the players all nodded. They were all the old members of their faction that joined when it was still small and weak.
The elven sorcerer, Lili, also looked at the map and pointed at the surrounding countries, “Maybe we should seek allies or at least support from some of our neighbours.”
She pointed towards two large swatches of the map, one green and the second grey, “To the south, there are the undead-infested wastelands. There must be some high-ranked undead… maybe we can entice them to join the war. Then there is the elven enclave, they are isolationist, but we can try. There is nothing to lose by trying.”
They all invested in the faction, and it paid off as they gained power and standing within it, but if they lost the upcoming war, at best, it would be diminished, and at worst, the whole faction would be annihilated.
“Nah leave the diplomacy with other NPCs to NPCs, they must have someone more qualified for that. They know better how to deal with each other. We should focus on the players. The outer kingdom with its lax laws is already a great attraction. We should capitalise on it and lure more players to join us or change sides.”
The two of them glared at each other while the player ignored it all as he spun his spear, uninterested in the boring stuff.
“How?”
Finally, Booba looked at them as he stopped spinning his spear, “Let’s organise a huge competition for the land! It will lure in powerful solo players that would otherwise be unable to control their own territory.”
They all looked straight at him as if doubting that it was him who got a good idea, the Lili quietly mumbling, “That is actually not a bad idea… it will give us the publicity and a platform that we need.”