Chapter 4- Scales and Fire

 

With the near extinction of the dinosaurs, the dragons flourished and spread across all of Ward. But with their common enemy defeated the different dragon species began to grow apart and control their own territories. But the nature of the dragons is not peaceful and eventually that hostility turned inward amongst the different dragon species. Although mighty and terrible the Swamp Dragons could not match the strength of the Red Dragons. With nearly being driven to extinction the Swamp Dragons escaped and hide in the plague filled swamps and marshes. Between the Blues and Reds, a great many skirmishes erupted over large swaths of territory. Ice and fire destroyed entire continents. But in the end the Red Dragons beat back the Blue Dragons. Defeated and knowing the Red Dragons could not survive in the frozen north, the Blue Dragons with their natural resistance to the frozen ice lands of the north, retreated knowing the Red Dragons couldn’t follow. The smallest and physically weakest of the different dragons took a different approach. Using the knowledge of how their Swamp and Blue brethren survived they elected to flee into the deep underground caves where the Reds could not follow due to their enormous size.

 

Deep underground beneath the plague swamps the Dragon Fox toiled. They honed their psychic abilities in the attempts to one day return to the surface and take back their territory and push the Red Dragons into the miserable existence they now faced. They pushed their abilities to their very limits seeking the source of their abilities. Then after hundreds of years, they pushed through the unknown fog of their abilities and found the font of their abilities. It was connected to a pocket dimension adjacent to their own. They knew by tapping to the source of their abilities they could take back the surface. The Dragons Fox did it. They pushed through to this dimension and forced a small incision into it to boost their powers. But through this small crack something looked back.

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The Dragons Fox living beneath the Plague swamps were the first to fall. Hundreds of thousands of Demons from Utralll poured through the crack before it could be closed again. But one amongst them radiated with malice above all the others. The creature known as the Demon King led this terrible host, nearly destroying the Dragon Fox overnight.  

The Swamp Dragons were the next to fall. With their low numbers the Swamp Dragons put up a mounted resistance killing many demons, but their power was no match for the Demon King and his endless horde of Demons. When the fighting was nearly over, he commanded his Demons to stop fighting and began capturing the remaining Swamp Dragons. A few escaped but many more were captured. One by one he challenged them to single combat. The strongest he would defeat and then infect. Converting them to join his army. The other weaker ones he gleefully slaughtered for amusement.

 

The demon army flooded across Ward killing and tainting anything in their path. There were many species that were destroyed or converted by the endless sea of demons. The early Human tribes were no exception. Many of the different tribes of Humans were destroyed. But there was one in particular that survived one of these attacks. Many members of the tribe were tainted by the demonic corruption turning them into serpents, but before they had fully succumbed to the evil, they escaped their captivity and fled into the sea. Free of the focus of the demons and dragons the corrupted Humans thrived and built a thriving underwater city. These Humans were no longer, but a hybrid, half serpent-half Human, and so the Naga civilization was born.

 

However, the Red Dragons, the strongest and most territorial of all the dragons were not about to let their hold on the world go without a fight. As the Demon Host passed through the great open plains at the foot of their mountain roost an opportunity presented itself to them, for the great plains were not as peaceful as they seemed for it was the hunting grounds for something far more terrible than the dragons or demons. Hundreds of Red Dragons lay in wait behind the Mountains waiting to strike. Then without warning the Red Dragons responded in full. Hundreds of dragons ascended into the sky launching an assault on the main Host of Demons. Hundreds of thousands of Demons were immediately incinerated as a massive wall of dragon fire turning everything in its wake to ash. A great battle followed and tens of thousands more demons fell but the Demons were cunning and learned quickly. They countered the dragons’ second attack and turned the tides of battle taking with them thousands of dragons as well. The dragons attempted to rally but the Demon King was powerful beyond anything they could throw at him. Slowly the dragons were losing.

 

As the battle reached its crescendo and the destruction rang out for miles across the great blackened fields, the dragon’s gamble seemed to pay off. The battle seemed to be in the favor of the Demon King, until a loud thunder was heard from the thick southern jungle. The dragons knew immediately what the sound meant and retreated. The dragons took to the skies fleeing back to the safety of the mountains to the north. Unorganized savagery took hold of the demon host as they began cheering and feasting on the corpses of dead who littered the battlefield. The demon king stood in disbelief, but only for a moment. Louder and louder the thunderous noise grew. Then from over the horizon a massive shape began to grow. The Demon King attempted to reorganize his army, but it was too late. The massive Giganotosaurus’s speed put it on top of them before they could properly reorganize. The Giganotosaurus tore through the weakest and strongest of demons as if they were but playthings. Stomping, shredding, and swiping scores of demons with every movement. The futile resistance the demon put up only enraged the beast more, driving it into a blood frenzy. The reorganized dragons saw their opportunity and flew in close and scorched the entire battlefield with red flame. The Demon King was in a losing position, but had a plan. At this moment, he cast a spell unleashing all the collected souls from the Swamp Dragons and the Dragon Fox. Using the raw power of soul energy, the Demon King ripped open a new yet unstable portal for but a brief moment, much larger than the first, and from the depth came the great enemy of the Cosmos, The Cosmic Demon.

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The Cosmic Demon laid waste to the remaining dragons, forcing them to retreat. He then turned his attention to the Giga that was still wreaking havoc on the lesser demons, and engaged with the creature. The ground shook and the shock waves from  the might clashes flattened mountains and dried up rivers. The Giga with its incredible  raw strength was able to outmatch the beast. But the Cosmic demon was a being of the infinite and used its control of negative energy to subdue the Giga and bind it in a prison of negative energy.