A Tale Of Dragons And Sorcery IV

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Record Of Oltreni, 2nd Grand Matriarch:

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Our failures to foresee our fall lied in the fault of our pride.

When the humans summoned this man, we had ignored him.

When he began hunting the wyverns, we laughed at their brawls.

However when he killed his first dragon, we were no longer amused.

We came to the realization that this human had grown in strength far too quickly. In five years, he had begun to hunt dragons.

Many of our kind would face him in combat, their failures mounting as we began to face a terrifying prospect.

We were no longer in control of this war.

However, despite his onslaught, there was a flaw we quickly learned to exploit.

There was only one of him. And he could not protect all of Kyros's lands and peoples at once.

And so, the fire dragons laid waste to the ancient lands of the titans. Though powerful, there was no titan that could stand against us.

Thus, their homeland's were lost, and the titans themselves were scattered to the winds.

However this advantage would not last forever. As the years passed, other countries and races began to summon more and more heroes.

And though in the end none were capable of facing a matriarch, we had been unable to stop them from killing our kin.

After a lengthy session of deliberation, I have come to make the decision that us Matriarchs should cleanse the world of these "Isekaijin".

And so we began our crusade against these invaders.

However as were about to bring about our full might, something curious happened.

The Isekaijin turned on their summoners. They began to create their own kingdom.

Thinking this would be a laughable end to such a terrible saga, our advisors told us the humans and other races were practically beating themselves. And so us Matriarchs made a foolish decision.

We left the Isekaijin alone.

This was a failure that would be remembered by all of Dragonkind forever.

The invaders turned their sights on us the moment we turned our backs. They no longer wielded the swords and spears of this world, and instead wielded technology beyond even what I could comprehend.

In an ambush on the Iron Wood forests, the Matriarch of Darkness, Thyll, was killed.

For the first time ever, in the history of Dragons, a Matriarch was murdered.

In a rage, the entirety of the Dark draconic race threw themselves into the fortresses of the Isekaijin, fighting tooth and nail to have vengeance for their fallen Ruler.

Though her daughter Tyvelia tried to reign in the rage of her ancestors and brethren, she failed.

I have been challenged by the current Matriarch of Fire, Pyra.

I will be giving way to the new generation. My failures will be a warning to the future generations about the dangers of pride.

Perhaps with this change in leadership, we will be able to purge this menace.

…

Closing the record I placed it down before flopping back onto the massive bed.

I was not the first person to be brought here.

Was I summoned?

Well that's unlikely given that I was killed before I arrived.

I honestly didn't feel like picking up the next Record.

However I needed to know what happened. The records themselves weren't very detailed, and while the notes that came with them were fairly explanative they still were slightly vague. I needed to read everything to understand the full picture.

And within that picture, there could even be a clue that could give me a chance at returning to earth. I don't know whether I was transported here or reformed here. So going home could even be a possibility. More than that I am now sure of one thing.

Maria is likely alive.

I was unsure before as I really didn't know whether or not I was a special case.

However now I know I was not the first. Maria may have arrived as well, simply in a different place. Just the idea of her being alone in this world was absolutely horrifying.

So I need to know everything.

Opening up the third volume, this next record had been authored by Pyra, the one who challenged Oltreni, the prior Grand Matriarch.

Tyvelia was also mentioned before so the fact that she is alive may mean that she was victorious in her campaign against humanity and the Isekaijin.

This book was a proper tome. It's cover literally felt as though it were made from stone. The paper was rough and black as charcoal. It was written in a white ink, with the handwriting being a little rougher than the previous records.

I felt much different from the previous records I had read. The weight it carried was more than physical.

Flipping to the first page, I began to read.

…

My predecessor was a failure. Dragonkind now barely numbered over two thousand. In the most tumultuous times ever faced by our species, our Grand Matriarch had failed us. So in an effort to halt this degradation of our species, I challenged our cowardly leader.

Without any resistance, she stepped down. As she handed me the future of our kind she didn't say a word. And seeing what she had left me I understood why.

I wouldn't have wanted to hear what she had to say anyway.

Our failures had been caused by her inability to unite our race, and her tendency to be caught up in the pace of others.

I must not, no, CANNOT repeat her mistakes.

Immediately after my coronation, I had the matriarch's gather their clans. No child nor drake nor draco shall have their claws or teeth untainted by the time I am done. (A/N: Drake is a male dragon, Draco is a female. I was originally just going to say man and woman but that felt off given they weren't human)

The purging of these Isekaijin neither simple, nor was it easy. However under my watchful eye, we conquered the north western hemisphere by sheer force of numbers alone.

In our wake we left nothing.

The annihilation of the foolish Isekaijin and their propagators was taken seriously. They were hunted down, one by one, and beset upon by hundreds of dragons.

No other being but a Draconic Matriarch could bring about such a genocide.

However there was no other option.

The invaders needed to go.

No matter how high their fortresses, nor deep their caverns, we would flush them out and kill them.

When their cities were razed, earth dragons were left as sentinels, guardians of the crumbling rubble.

I left nothing to chance. There would be no rebuilding. I would make sure the future generations never fought this war again.

My predecessor had foolishly let the young do as they wished without restraint. But I shall make sure they grind their claws on bone, and sharpen their teeth as they devour our enemies flesh.

They have been the vanguards of these battles. Their elders and predecessors fought as the main force, destroying all that they left behind.

Even the previous Matriarch of Fire, despite resigning her position to me, remains active as a warrior.

When the time came, I, alongside Iacon, Matriarch of Void and Nautun, Matriarch of Water, slew Hiroki Sato.

With his death, the Isekaijin fell into despair. We then hunted down their remainder, and annihilated them.

In under twenty years, I turned the tide of the war. However that did not show my prowess, simply the incompetence of my predecessor.

Now, the grave of the invader is carried upon Vildun's back, within the city of Abdur. A reminder to all dragons of what it means to fail as a Matriarch.

I must now focus on our race's reconstruction.

The dragons of darkness are gone. Their sole survivor was the juvenile Tyvelia. Mother has taken custody of her in the hopes to have her foremother's seat at the table.

…

Reading after that, it was mostly about the restructuring of the draconic society.

And insulting Oltreni. There were a lot of insults thrown towards Oltreni.

'Still…'

I now know what happened to the Isekaijin. They were eradicated by the dragons. But the knowledge that they may have left behind is somewhere.

On the back of a dragon named Vildun.

This fact did not inspire much confidence in me. The fact that both Oltreni, and Pyra had spoken highly of her, and the fact that she was of the scale that she could literally carry cities did not help. So figuring out how to sneak onto a living being and then steal from them, was something I did not look forwards to.

On top of that, there is one more, much bigger problem.

Tyvelia had her race massacred by Isekaijin. This could lead to some serious problems if I wasn't careful.

"I myself, am some sort of Isekaijin after all."

"I thought so."

I froze as a cold, dead presence seemed to pervade the room.

However it wasn't directed at me.

Looking to the side, I saw Scola slowly unravelling from her ball of chitin and crawling up in front of the newly arrived Tyvelia. The door was completely shut, so there was no chance of her being able to enter by reasonable means.

Yet nonetheless, she had arrived. Not a single segment of Scola's carapace was raised off the ground as Tyvelia seemed to peer down at the giant centipede.

Then, the pressure that had fallen on us both finally lifted.

"I know you are not the Isekaijin that killed my family and people."

I sighed relief flooding through as my taut muscles finally relaxed.

"However there is one thing I won't forgive."

*CRAK!!!*

In an instant, Tyvelia had lifted Scola off the ground by her neck segment, crushing the giant centipede thick carapace with one hand.

Yellowish blood slowly poured from the cracks in her armor like a broken bottle, staining the floor and filling the air with a sickly sweet copper scent. The blood spray had splattered Tyvelia's face yet she simply faced the weakly squirming Scola with little more than a twitch of her eyebrow. Scola slowly went limp as I stood there in shock, unable to move. Tyvelia's mouth then split open from ear to ear, becoming a massive toothy maw as she spoke in a quiet, hissing voice.

"Do not ever damage what's mine."