Chapter One: Temple and Recruits

It's so cold here... but my soul will burn brighter. It's so empty here... so I will fill it with revelers and friends. It hurts so much... but the pain will fade. It's so dirty here... then it will shine brighter than gold. My armor is so heavy... than I will lift it for it is no heavier than the burden of reviving Nul.

I realized that something happened to Nul herself... she was fading. This normally happens to mortal ditties, but to a primordial dragon goddess, it was ilunheard of. Fading is a process of which belief plummets and when people stop believing in something, they tend to forget that something. And when people forget beings that live off of belief (i.e. ditties, primordial, demons, and fae) but beings exempt from this are old ones.

Old ones are beings like Cthulu, who are honestly kinda rude. I baked him a cake for his 15546799...th birthday and he threw it at one of his followers as a "joke".

Anyway, I needed to get up and begin preparations to revive Nul in all her majesty. Now we begin the importance of Nul and why her being gone is very bad. Nul, is the draconic deity of Death and reincarnation. You see the souls of draconic origin from as small as kobolds, to as big as ancient dragons, with half-dragons in the middle (which exist through either rituals or having a parent be a dragon) are all flung into the gap after death. When draconic souls enter the gap they enter the pool of reincarnation, aka Nul's domain to be sent to new bodies with or missing a little bit of memories. But if they do not enter her domain they explode and cause dimensional rifts.

These rifts tend to bleed into other realities and if left for too long create what I call "crossovers" which is not as fun as it sounds. They end up bring powerful beings that want power or to conquer for resources. When a rift normally occurs Great Red usually seals it shut and flies off. But when multiple occur at the same time it causes space time to collapse for some reason. So if Nul dies, the universe is doomed.

First things first, I need to get my armor off my body since without Nul, my strength weakens as her avatar. An avatar is not really what you think it is... think of it as a pope that I'd above the pope... on steroids... with magics that can wipe cities from maps in a snap. So leaving the dramatics behind it took me TWO full hours just to remove my gauntlets. That's what I get for using Celestial Adamantine mixed with Dragon cores into an alloy. Dragon cores are an organ that exists within a dragon's heart, it is the reason why it generates so much mana and how other races become half dragons by eating it. The alloy being 20% dragon core means I had killed 20 dragons per 80 ingots of adamantine... not to mention how compressed the alloy was for being quenched in celestial oil.

It truly was such a great set of armor, but now I cannot Don it without Nul's power. So after a long FIFTEEN HOURS I had finally unstrapped the armor. The only other thing I wore was a loincloth and even then it was just a rag filled with mold... ugh let's see if I can find anything in the closet.

Alright, I managed to find some priest's robes but they too were damaged... nothing like a quick [Mending] spell to do the trick.

Now back to the armor, right now there was only one use, give it to Nul as an offering. This offering is just a temporary thing to just help Nul fade away a lot slower, and at least ease her burden. So after a quick prayer and laying the armor at the altar, the set dissappear. Not like a fizzle out, pop, or flicker, just... gone.

Now onto another important part, cleaning the temple. Because I'd I was unable to contact Nul for so long I had realized that her most recent visitor to her temple was a few hundred years ago... some half-dragon named Artoria, kept shouting how she was a man or something.

So after a few hours of using what is the equivalent of holy water mixed with bleach (which I prescribe as a memory erasure potion), it finally looked like an honest temple.

Now onto how I can get visitors, first is when someone wants to visit they can will themselves here as long as they have something draconic to deal with them... even if they weild a (draconic based) sacred gear and are fully human. The second way, is the [Bell of the Sanctum]. This bell is located at the top of the temple and is used to teleport anyone on the brink of Death to our medical center in the basement.

Making my way up the steps to the bell's chamber I began to notice the aging of the stone steps, it really has degraded after so long.

Entering the room I make my way to the large copper bell and began the [Toll of Death] as a haunting ring echoed into the gap. Even frightening a large Red dragon as it rings. After the tole I saw a few beams of particles fly into the temple, which is also my cue to make my way down as fast as I can.

Laying on four of the ten stone operating tables were four people. The first one was a Kobold with blue scales and was bleeding profusely from cuts around her smaller than normal body. The second was a burly half-dragon orc that had a large gash in his stomach. The third was a black skinned humanoid that had horns curling like a ram's but were thicker than a Texas longhorn. She had bat-like wings and seemed to be sleeping, despite the bulbs of green puss growing in her skin. The fourth was... a child missing both of his legs... giving immediate attention I cast [Spare the Dying] making sure they do not pass on just yet. Then I cast [Mass Cure Wounds] which began sealing shut all open wounds. On the sickly demoness I casted [Remove Curse] and [Greater Cure Affliction] finally depleting all mana from my body.

The first to wake up was the child, I immediately began to comfort him as I brought him a wheelchair and promising prosthetics later. I will ask him later what happened, for now all I know is his name Derik.

The second to wake up was the kobold who immediately began thanking me and groveling. "Please don't, if you want to thank me, then help the poor boy," I say to her as she looked upon Derik and shot over to him. Despite her small stature she began acting like a worried mother for Derik, her name was Penelope. Hmm, usually kobolds are unable to make good names like Bucket or Toe-nibbler.

The next to wake was the orc, who was surprisingly quiet, but bowed towards me in thanks. "What's your name dune-rider" I say in an orcish tounge. He nods and briefly says "Ognar" I nod and move to the demoness.

She was still sleeping but seemed more at peace. Her skin was no longer covered in boils and I began to notice the cracks in her skin glowing a soft red.

She was not a demon... she was an elemental. It is strange for an elemental to get a desease, but that means she's a Salamander. Salamanders are a fire based dragon, but they do not have wings or horns... so that means she's a Magmatitan. The last of her kin in fact. Magmatitans are a large earth and fire based dragons and excel in lava magics. But they were hunted to near extinction due to their dragon cores... their dragon cores have the unique property to covert thermal and potential energy into mana.

When she woke up she immediately threw me to the ground and pinned my small body to the ground. Not surprising though. But after a few seconds of calming down she looked at her surroundings. "This is holy grounds great-one, even for dragons such as yourself must yield," I muttered to her. She grunted and got up.

After I got off the ground and dusted off my robes I began to explain the situation to them. "Well then, you, my lucky kin, have been blessed by Death. I am in need of members and I will help in any way, any objections and you may leave," I said. Growling in response "And where might we be?" Said the Magmatitan. "You all are here at the temple of Nul, dragon-goddess of Death, Justice, Healing, and much more. She wishes for you who she has blessed to only believe in her as she has shepherded you here from your very deaths," I stated as I walked over to Derik. I got behind his chair and began pushing, "follow me, we shall walk and talk," I said before moving to the altar room. "Nul is experiencing fading, and needs your help as well as my own to save her. For without her, everything will be either gone or in pure chaos," I said before heading down a hall. "To combat her fading I have risen to guide others to her temple via the [Toll of Death], a spell constructed to summon dragons from the smallest newt to the most ancient of dragons on the verge of death to here. But I cannot do this by myself so I ask for your assistance in this endeavor. And if you join my cause, I will provide as much as I can for the each of you, even you little Derik," I say to the boy as I turn to the alter room. "As much as our pride of our draconic ancestry courses through us... we all need help eventually... even gods and goddesses," I muttered sadly as we Halt before the pedestal that holds the altar.

Each one nodded before I spoke to the lava dragon, "Before we continue, may I know your name?" I say reaching for my hood. "Blackmane Embersneer," she says as I stand before them revealing my skull for a head. I hear them gasp as they look upon my skeletal frame.

"Are you a lich?!" Screamed Penelope in fear as she hides behind a calm Ognar. "No, just a punished man who seeks penance," I say before bowing my head "My name is Zserich, avatar if Nul, Wall of Arashin, and many other titles that need not mentioned," I raise my head, "and I ask of you to help me keep this entire universe from ruin."