Chapter 105: The King and the Gods

I gulped at grandmother's serious tone, I didn't dare speak and simply waited for her to continue. She shook her head, the frown on her face deepened as spoke. "You see little Aether, the humans, they can't sense the different elements of mana." She sighed before adding.

"What they do, is use what they call mana stones to change the very elements to what suits them." Shaking her head, she glanced at me with a very serious expression before continuing. "Now that, that's bad. Their method of changing the elements into something they should not be causes an imbalance in the stream of mana, an imbalance that keeps on growing the more magic they use,"

I slowly nodded in understanding, 'I suppose that makes sense. I saw them use those mana stones to launch various attacks, but they don't seem to understand the severity of what they are doing,' Grandmother's gentle face had a sad expression on It as her eyes turned glossy, seemingly as if she was reliving an old memory.

"Seeing at how the humans were slowly ruining the steam of mana, a meeting between all of the elder dragons was called to discuss how to proceed in this matter." A chuckle escaped her lips before continuing, "Heh, your grandfather was one of those that advocated for teaching the humans the error of their ways and guiding them with a peaceful approach,"

My mouth widened in shock as I found that hard to believe, "Grandfather? That grandfather, the one they call the destroyer advocating for a peaceful approach?!" I cried out in surprise before realizing my mistake as I hastily bowed in apology. "Ah, I'm sorry for my disrespect, It's just a little surprising when I think about It,"

Laughing out loud, grandmother replied happily, "Haha! No that's alright, believe It or not, that old lizard used to have a soft spot for the lower races, he used to think that instead of leaving their matters to the so-called gods, we had to take things into our own hands and teach the mortals ourselves,"

Her laugh slowly dimmed as she continued. "Needless to say, I disagreed, and so did Amanita. The difference between us, however, was that I did not want us to intervene at all while Amanita wanted to outright destroy them,"

Confused I slowly raised my claw, "Hmm, what is it?" She asked, "There is something I don't quite understand grandmother. I understand your stance is to stay neutral and that you only care about keeping the balance but isn't not taking any action and not intervening would ultimately lead to the destruction of said balance you are trying to protect?" I asked to which she slowly nodded before replying.

"That's a very good question little Aether. Here's one of my own, don't you think that eradicating an entire race is also considered as destroying the balance of the plane?" She asked.

I paused for a second thinking about her question as a frown made its way to my face before I answered. "I do see what you mean grandmother, but my point still stands. It's either the mana stream or the humans. Doesn't this simply mean that you have to chose which balance is more important, and which one you want to protect?"

"Little Aether, let me remind you once again about a certain something you seem to have forgotten about already. When the Elven goddess and Demon God broke the ancient pact and the plane was in danger, who was It that intervened?"

"The Dragon King," I subconsciously replied to which she nodded with a smile. "You see Aether, we Dragons serve as guardians you might say, our main job is to protect the plane's balance. Do you know how we do that?" she asked to which I shook my head.

"We do that by fighting the Shades at the edge of the plane, preventing them from invading It. That's the job the King bestowed upon us. We can't leave this to the Gods since most of those bastards are useless," She sighed before adding, and so a long time ago, It was decided that we would be in charge of keeping the Shades in check while the Gods will guide the mortals,"

A frown quickly made its way to my face at that revelation, 'So it's the gods that are in charge of the mortals. Still, It doesn't seem like they are doing a good job at guiding them seeing how they are messing up with the mana stream,'

As if sensing what I have been thinking about, grandmother replied. "I know what you must be thinking about, If It's the Gods job to guide the mortals, how come they didn't prevent them from disturbing the stream of mana,"

I slowly nodded, "Yes, doesn't this mean they aren't really doing anything?" Another long tired sigh escaped grandmother's mouth before she continued. "As much as I hate to admit, It's not their fault,"

Confused, I asked. "Not their fault? What does that mean grandmother?" Hearing my question, she silently raised her head to glance at the sky before continuing. "You see Aether, the ancient pact that the King forced them to follow, was that none of the Gods are to directly interfere in the matters of the lower plane,"

"Not directly, then-?"

"Divine revelations, prophets, that's the methods the Gods used to build their religions without the need of intervening or descending to the lower plane. And this worked out well for a while, each mortal race had their respective deity, with a few worshipping some different ones. Unfortunately, this did not continue for long, and the reason for that was the fight between the Elven Goddess and the Demon God,"

I sat down carefully as to not disturb my grandmother, my eyes remained fixed on her waiting for her to continue with her explanation. "After their death, and with the appearance of the Dragon King, the deities' authority slowly dwindled in the lower continent, instead of the Gods, the mortals began to worship the Dragon King instead." She said while shaking her head.

Confused, I asked. "Isn't that a good thing though, grandmother?", She glanced at me before answering, "No, before when the mortals used to pray for their gods, they at least received a few revelations, a response you might say, and with them used to that what do you think happened when they prayed to the Dragon King and he gave no response?"

Shaking my head to indicate my ignorance, I silently waited for her to continue. "They thought that the King was gone, that he abandoned the plane. The humans somehow convinced themselves that they were the Dragon King's chosen ones since It was the Elves and Demons that suffered his wrath. They deluded themselves into thinking that the King left them in charge of the plane, the King who could kill the Gods, so why should they worship such helpless deities?"

A frown soon made its way back to my face as I slowly nodded in understanding. "This happened quite a long time ago, and I'm skipping a lot of stages, I simply want you to understand the general picture, little Aether, I do not wish for you to remain ignorant,"

I respectfully lowered my head before replying. "Thank you for your guidance grandmother,"