1 Old man Jim

"Over hundreds of races live in this lower realm world but there are only five main races which rule this realm. They are humans, elves, dwarves, orges and beastmans. Our human kingdom, Anthropos, is located at the middle of this realm and other kingdoms of elves, orges, dwarves and beastmans are located at north, south, east and west respectively. This is general knowledge about this world. You have already known it. So today I will tell you about a legend well known all over this world. Once__" The old man Jim stopped his words to check the boys whether they were listening or not.

The boys were listening carefully to every word of Jim as the sons in front of their father. They were wondering about the mysteries of the world. Jim continued, "Once upon a time, there was one another realm above us, above our world. We called it the upper realm world. As its name, it had more powerful races than us and among them, only the great three races could rule the world. Demons, angels and dragons. "

"Dragons? Aren't they only in legends and stories? Hmm__" A boy named Timmy who was sitting on the bare ground asked with curious eyes. He seemed quite interested in the story. His dark eyes were filled with excitement. The kind of eyes that wanted to explore anything.

"Well, no. They are real. You boys don't know because you are still too young. As soon as you grow up into an adult, you will know. Stop asking. Just listen. I hate questions." Jim said with a little impatient tone of voice. "This is why I hate kids." He muttered with a heavy voice. Anyway, he continued as the children were still waiting to listen with curiosity.

"So hmmm__where is it now__yes, the dragons. Those three races were powerful enough to rule the upper realm but the demons wanted to control alone without the other two races. Same for the angels and dragons. So they fought__fought for years...decades...centuries." He glanced at the kids. Some were sitting on the bare ground. Some were standing with their hands clasped. Then he stared into the eyes of Timmy and said, "But no one won."

Knowing Timmy was going to ask questions again, Jim raised his hand as a sign of stop and continued, "Many of them died in the wars and half of their power was gone. At that time, a god descended from heaven. He could no longer ignore the power of those three forces."

Knowing he couldn't ask, Timmy muttered to himself with a tone of excitement, "What? God now?"

Jim pretended not to hear him and continued, "He was angry that one day, they would threaten his god throne. So he took the opportunity of their weakened power and tried to destroy those three races. Three races understood that they needed to stop war for that situation. So they made a truce and joined arms to defend against the god's wrath. Although they joined arms, they couldn't face the god's full power in their weaken state. Almost all of them were destroyed."

"So is that why dragons are extinct now?" Timmy was so excited that he couldn't control anymore and blurted.

Jim sighed. He left his right hand on his shoulder and told him, "Kid, Look. First, let me finish my story. Ok?" Timmy nodded. Although he told Timmy that, he had no intention of answering his questions. A naughty old man. Other kids were looking at Timmy with a look of displeasure as they couldn't listen to the story well.

Jim continued, "At the last moment, the ruler of demons, the leader of angels and the dragon king used their last power sacrificing themselves to seal their souls into different parts which have part of their own power and sent them to the lower realm. The god couldn't stop them and couldn't descend to the lower realm to follow them because of the heaven rule: a god must not interfere with the realm which has much lower power than him. He was so furious and destroyed all remaining demons, angels and dragons. Although he had killed them all, he was worried that the leaders of three races would ascend back to the upper realm and threaten his throne again. So before he left, he had created giant guards which only attack those three races with his god blood in case."

Jim stopped talking and drank a little whiskey from his bottle. He felt like his throat was burning as the whiskey he drank was flowing into his stomach through his throat. When the kids saw him drinking whiskey, most of the kids left him and went back home. They knew Jim would tell weird things about life lessons after drinking whiskey. Which child would listen to a boring speech?

And also they were scared of Jim when he was drunk. Even if he was not drunk, the kids were a little scared because of his appearance. Jim's body was strong, muscular and full of tattoos. Scars were also everywhere, even on his face. All his hairs were white, his eyes had the golden colour and were so sharp like an eagle. Although he had many scars, he had a manly face. He looked like a white lion with golden eyes. His voice was calm, mighty and authoritative like a king. Jim closed his eyes and lied down for a moment as he felt a little dizzy. He saw the sky was clear and the sun was going to set soon.

"So is god a bad guy?" Little Timmy asked again. Surely, he was not a quiet kid.

"Oh boy! Timmy, why are you asking again? Didn't I say I hate questions? I won't answer any questions. Do you understand? I will say it again. I hate questions." Jim knew Timmy was not an easy kid. He wouldn't listen to Jim's stories quietly and would always ask questions.

"But Uncle Jim, how do I know if I don't ask? Isn't it?" Timmy replied. Jim looked into his eyes. Timmy's dark eyes were so mysterious and at the same time, beautiful. Jim felt like falling into the deep abyss whenever he looked into his eyes.

Then Jim answered, "Well, you are right but it won't change the fact that I don't like questions. It is not because I don't want to answer the questions but because instead of asking someone, I prefer finding the answer by yourself, with your own eyes. In some situations, I know that you need to ask necessarily but as I said, I hate questions. I admit it makes me a weirdo but I can't help it. Timmy, remember my words. In this world, you can't trust anyone, not even me. You must find out the answer yourself." His tone of voice was quite serious. Timmy was still listening without leaving though the other remaining kids had already left.

Jim continued, "The answer may be different with others. But it is ok. Everyone is right in their own perspective. You don't need to care about others. If you think it is right for you and also, if you believe in that answer, it's fine. Whether that god is a bad guy or not, you must find the answer yourself. Take it easy kid. You are still too young. Ahahaha__" Jim laugh loudly. He seemed to be a little drunken now.

Timmy replied with a tone of disappointing, "Never mind, you are always like that. So what happened after the god___no, I mean continue your story."

Jim reminded, "Clever boy. Well first, this is not a normal story. People say this legend is a real one. So remember this story well."

Timmy frowned and said,"You are telling me to find answer by myself and now you believe this story for real even without knowing true or not. Hmm__"

"I didn't say I believe it. I just reminded you to remember well since this is a story our ancestors told us. Every adult knows this story. This story may be true or not. Who knows? You little bastard. You dare talk back to me. Ahahaha__" Jim said and laughed loudly again.

"Uncle Jim, continue." Timmy told him with an impatient tone.

"After the god left, the rest of other races in the upper realm fought each other to replace the great three races and to rule the upper realm. From that time, the upper realm has been in chaos till now. Do you hear thunder when it is raining? People say it is because of the fighting from the upper realm. Oh_I forgot that part. The story says the sacred parts of the leaders of three great races were scattered all around this world, waiting for the worthy warriors to wield their power and to avenge the god. Well, the story ends here. Ahh__time flies fast. I will be late to view the sunset scene if I don't go now. Later, Timmy." Jim explained to him and stood preparing to leave. This village's sunset view was his favorite. Might be it was one of the reasons why he had been living here for over seven years.

As soon as he saw Jim standing up, he also stood up and said, "Then I will go back to home Uncle Jim. Bye! It is late now. I hope my mom won't scold me." Timmy left quickly as soon as he realized it was already sunset.

"Take care!" Jim shouted. Although he didn't like kids much, Timmy was different. A clever, decisive and mature kid who was not like other nine year old kids. Jim felt an adult vibe around him.

He stopped thinking and walked toward the village bridge to view the sunset. His steps were heavy as he was really drunk. Seven years had passed since then. Time really flied fast. Yes, time really flied fast. He was thinking about the past.

Suddenly he saw spiral smoke coming from the direction of the bridge. Knowing something was wrong, he controlled his breath and body. Then he ran as fast as he could to the bridge.

"Are those bastards here?" He muttered. Many thoughts were running in his head and he couldn't stop thinking until he saw five fire bolts coming his way. "Ah shit!" He cursed as he knew there was no time to dodge. At the same time, the fire bolts exploded directly to him. The air was filled with smoke.

"Is he dead?" An unknown voice appeared.

"Are you a fucking idiot? How could a man like him die because of only fire bolts?" Another unknown man scolded. When the smoke was cleared, there were five men wearing certain uniforms with long capes. One was wearing a dark cape and the others were wearing white ones.

"Well__well, I was thinking who dare attack me with such cute fire bolts. Aren't you guys the rankers from the kingdom? What kind of business do you have here, gentlemen?" Jim laughed and said. It seemed like the fire bolts didn't do much damage to him. His whole body was covered in glowing cyan flame.

"Come back with us. The king sent us to summon you. You need to go back. War is coming." One with the dark cape said with a tone of anger. It looked like he was the leader. He seemed to be furious about something. The other four were standing without moving an inch waiting for the order.

The cyan flames were still burning over Jim's body. He glanced at the other four for a second and said, "Why should I come back? I have already abandoned the kingdom. Leave or you will have to bear the consequences. I don't want to work with the king again. Leave!"

At the end of Jim's words, the leader seemed to become more furious and impatient. "We can't leave. It is a direct order from the king. Just answer me one thing. Will you come back with us or not? If not, we will take you on by any means." He said calmly with a tone of determined despite the fact that he seemed to be angry. To be precise, it was a warning.

The cyan flames seemed to glow brighter because of his warning. Jim's face turned into a tense one. "First, I hate questions. And second__" Jim said with a smirk.

"Catch me if you can."

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(Thanks for reading.😇)