Thousands of Years Ago

Thousands of years ago.

There was a crack, a grunt, then a thud. I watched as the last warrior fell before me; head twisted unnaturally like an owl. His eyes stared with the dread of his last moments, forever horrified in death.

I turned around and beheld the carnage that surrounded me, or at least the aftermath of it. Thousands of fallen warriors were sprawled all over the cave, their weapons and banners soaked in blood and mud. The most numerous were the banners of the Dragonic Imperium, a red three-headed dragon fluttered in its center, perched on a golden crown.

Their warriors were the most troublesome, given that they were dragonkind. Armored skin, mouths that spewed fire or ice, wings that gave them flight. They had everything from keen senses to great reflexes.

But they all ended up the same, sprawled on the muddy floors of a nameless cave.

Magic residue formed a pale mist in the air, I could still sense the tingle of spells long cast. To think they'd go this far.

I had nothing else to fight for, everything I loved was gone. Yet here I was, pursued deep within a cave I thought would serve as my refuge.

That bastard prince. I should've killed him when I struck down his father. My mercy allowed him to gather the best warriors and sorcerers from every race and send them after me.

And when I found myself cornered, I had no other choice.

I took the lives of thousands in mere minutes, deprived parents of their children, and children their parents. As I walked across the bloody rocks and muddied my diamond sabatons, the coughing whimpers of a survivor caught my attention.

I went up to an overturned golden carriage as it smoldered with dying flame. It flipped on its side when a fireball I deflected exploded beside it, killing the driver and trapping someone inside.

With a gauntlet fist, I punched through the golden door and ripped it open, revealing the battered and bruised prince that started it all.

"I told you to leave me alone." I said as I met the eyes of the young dragonprince. He donned a gilded chest plate and chausses, while a red-soaked coat ran down his fair scaled body. A golden crown shaped like a long dragon sat atop his white hair.

His name escaped me, but it didn't matter either way.

Not anymore.

"You... you will rue this day!" He hissed, his once mighty dragon voice was but a pale rasp now, "Gilford... Gilford will smite you."

"Gilford is dead." I said, matter-of-factly. The old wizard died alongside the others, putting up more of a fight than the rest.

I felt nothing, even as I grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out into the dark cave.

"See this?" I said as he choked in my hands. His frightened eyes gazed at the bodies of his men and allies, illuminated only by the dying fires that dimmed with each passing second.

"Yield and I will spare you," I said, "Just leave me alone."

Still, despite the fact that he was the most cowardly of all dragonkind, he remained defiant in my arms. He glared at me with almost the same pride as the real dragons I slew not too long ago.

And those bastards were bigger, stronger, and had honor. A shame they had to go.

Now here I was, choking a pale imitation of those grand beasts of legend.

A prideful coward.

I threw him into the dark, hearing the cracks and splashes as he went tumbling. I found him leaning against some large rocks, his armor dent and cracked. He tried to stand, flame spiraling in his palms as he tried to muster what magic he had left.

I appeared beside him, startled the coward, and backhanded him down into the ground.

"Why." I said, it wasn't a question I wanted answered. I already knew it.

"Because you overstepped your-" My fist met his face, shattering his lips, then they met again, then again.

When I finished, I took him by the hair and slammed him against the rocks, over and over. He wouldn't die from such trivial attacks, but it hurt nonetheless.

He coughed and trembled, yet he did not yield. Not yet.

"You... went against... the wishes... of the gods!" He stuttered weakly, blood dripping down his eyes and mouth.

"Their wishes meant damnation for untold millions." I said.

"The gods... knew best." He shouted through broken teeth.

I kicked him in the stomach, silencing him for a moment.

And in that silence, my vision blurred.

"Mankind is gone." I blurted out, a crack in my voice betraying the facade of my person.

I felt nothing, nothing but rage and guilt. Sadness overtook my eyes.

The dragon prince noticed my tears and scoffed, "You... you only had to listen! Your punishment is mankind's, you knew that... You represented them!"

The prideful scorn in his eyes finally disappeared when my fist tore through his chest, ripping his heart out along the way.

"Your gods are dead. And now you will join them." I said.

The dragon prince squirmed for a moment, then slowly went limp. His eyes stared at me with the same dread. He died just like his soldiers, afraid.

I withdrew my fist from his chest and beheld the still-beating heart of my fallen foe. Even in death, the hearts of dragons were the most stubborn of them all.

I crushed the heart with a clench, splattering more blood all over my armor. As I did so, however, I felt a tingle in the air. A sudden build-up of magic.

From the corner of my vision, a pillar of holy magic shot out from the other end of the cave, drowning the tunnel in bright white light as it tore through the air towards me.

I stepped aside, allowing the attack to pass by me. It seemed like someone as stubborn as the prince survived.

A stubborn old elf.

"You demon!" Shouted a glowing wrinkled elf in blue mage robes. He wielded a wooden staff with a precious blue jewel embedded at the tip, using it as both a cane and a wand. He stood over a pile of rocks, eyes glaring at me.

"I was certain you were dead, or maybe that was a fake." I said as I raised my hand, conjuring a fireball that swirled in a maelstrom of molten rock and flame.

"But I guess I shouldn't have underestimated Gilford the Grand Wizard."

The old elf was tired, I could see it even from afar. Sweat dripped down his wrinkled face like a shower, while his arms trembled even as he held on to his staff.

"You've used up most of your mana," I said, pointing out what he already knew, "It was smart of you to give the warriors protection spells, but casting potent magic shields on thousands of warriors and afterwards attacking me isn't exactly an efficient way to use magic."

I walked towards him, eyeing the old elf as I drew close. "You're centuries old. The greatest wizard to ever live, and yet here you are barely able to stand on your own."

"I will take no insult from a demon," The old elf hissed.

"I killed the demons long ago, remember?" I stated a fact.

"And you killed the gods!" He also stated a fact.

The tip of his staff began to glow, and I felt once more the tingle of gathering magic.

"I will vanquish you, even if it means killing myself!"

With great difficulty, he unleashed a volley of holy lances at me, rods of magic imbued with the sharpness of the divine. I shattered them all with my free hand as they zipped towards me, while the other maintained the fireball I conjured.

A torrent of violent wind gushed out from nowhere, threatening to usurp me from the ground and fling me away. But I remained on my feet and walked on.

The cave rumbled and a column of rocks sprouted from beneath my feet, pushing upward towards the ceiling in an attempt to crush me.

With a stomp, I shattered the column into a million pieces, filling the cave with dust as it collapsed back onto the ground. The spikes that dangled from the ceiling of the cave fell, stabbing the ground around me in a rain of violence.

What followed after was an onslaught of lightning strikes, water floods, fiery infernos, earth shattering quakes, and abysmal air spells. But even as he broke oaths and dabbled into forbidden magic and reality broke around me, I carried on my steady march.

I had killed monsters, slew every beast of legend, bested every fighter, and defeated every mage and wizard. Not even the mightiest Demon Lord could defeat me.

And... I had vanquished the very gods that gave me this blessing, or rather, this curse.

My hatred ran deep, deeper than the deepest oceans and darkest caves. Standing before me was a wizard I once considered a friend.

Only for him to kill... them.

I clenched my free hand and readied myself to strike. I would strike this old fool down where he stood, but not before making him taste the same pain.

But as I finally closed my distance with the old elf, his spells faltered.

To my unending disappointment, he had already been defeated without me needing to raise a hand. His body was now a husk, his skin wrinkled and pale as gravel, and his eyes white as snow.

He had pushed his body to the absolute limit. The stench of chaotic magic practically leaked from his skin.

The old elf fell to his knees, his eyes staring blankly in the distance. His mouth whispered a few words, none I understood. My anger flickered out.

There was no use striking down a walking corpse.

By now the cave was dark, the flames of battle finally extinguished. The only light came from the glow of my fireball as it sat in the air between me and the wizard.

"Fools." I whispered.

Mankind was gone, wiped from the face of the world. Only I remained.

Here I was, alone in a cave. The corpses of my enemies offered me little comfort. Even if I destroyed this world, nothing would soothe me.

I failed them all. And fled like the coward I am.

This cave... the fact it hadn't collapsed despite the tsunami of magic attacks was a testament to my own suffering.

Forced to live on.

I let my spell go and watched as the wizard was consumed in a brilliant display of inferno.

As the last embers died, my heart did as well.

And only then did I feel nothing at last.