A New World

"Now, it's showtime!" This article A New World, is the sole property of Per and as such, no user may edit this article without explicit permission from the aforementioned creator. If you wish to use this article in any way, please ask me first.

"Even if you beg for mercy, I won't listen!" This article A New World, is the sole property of CPU Noire and as such, no user may edit this article without explicit permission from the aforementioned creator. If you wish to use this article in any way, please ask me first

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Deicide Arc

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A New Land

"Where am I...?" Delst had awoken, lying on soft grass. The smell of the earth and plants had caught his attention, his eyes snapping open as he sat bolt upright, looking around. "Where...what is this place?"

The green grass rustled beneath him, as a small, white-textured dragon flew from above to greet him. ...Yes, it was a dragon. Of all things, this was the most surprising. "...You don't seem to be from here. Who are you?" That...thing...was suspicious; but of course, a dragon reaching plain sight was even more suspicious.

Delst looked up at the creature with surprise. His mental state at the moment seemed not to include fear, in fact, he was merely surprised this thing had come down to talk to him. "That's strange....I don't remember gathering together seven large marbles..." He seemed to have missed what the dragon had asked, lost in his strange stupor.

"This isn't any fiction, you idiot." The dragon reached out with its t-rex sized claw, attempting to dope slap him. "Now, who on earth are you?" His mullet made him look like somebody from thirty years ago.

"I'm...actually not sure." Delst frowned, trying to wrack his brain, but all he could see was muddled blackness. "I can't remember everything...only some things..." He could remember...magic...and he knew this strange creature was a dragon, or at the very least something like it. However...he had no idea what his name was, or where he was from. 'I just...woke up here."

"I see." The dragon shook its head, sighing. "This is awfully convienent. A human who came out of nowhere and claimed to have no memories...but remembers their magic. There's just so many enemy mages I don't give a damn anymore."

"I'm not an enemy!" Delst insisted, affronted. "I don't intend to harm any living creature; in fact, I'm rather grateful that you haven't taken it upon yourself to devour me when you had the chance." Delst breathed a sigh of relief, only just know realising this dragon could have killed him. "It's...nice to wake up and have an amiable conversation partner." The man smiled up at the dragon, obviously sincere.

The dragon paused momentarily, before relenting. "I see. Then we must find out your name and other details. I cannot put my finger- er, claw, on it, but something seems awfully different about you compared to the other humans."

"I can't really compare." Delst smiled again but shrugged. "I don't remember any other humans, so I can't say." He ran his hand through his hair for a moment, sighing. "How do we go about finding who I am...or would it be best to forge a new identity with what I have?"

The dragon used its superior mind to think about this. "Perhaps you should think up your own identity until you remember everything- or somebody tells you about your past life?"

"Good point." Delst agreed. "I suppose for a name....why not...Yasuragi?" He suggested, throwing the name out there. "I think it sounds passable."

"That means peace, hmm..." The dragon laughed slightly. "Ironic, yet meaningful. You humans are so destructive that the extinction of several races is on your hands. On the other hand, you yourself seem non-dangerous."

Delst frowned. He wanted to see what these humans were about. "So what's your name?" He asked curiously. "It wouldn't do well to just call you "dragon", would it?"

"My name...is Leviathan, the Deep Drive Dragon. And despite all appearances, I am certainly a female." The dragon, no, Leviathan responded curtly, though she retracted her constantly bared fangs. 

"It's nice to meet you then, Leviathan. If this isn't too presumptuous, would you consider travelling with me for awhile?" He looked up at the dragon with his strange eyes. "I wouldn't mind having a companion, I know nothing about this place after all."

"Then I shall be your guide." A white light surrounded Leviathan's body, as a holo-screen composed of light was emitted from her body, "This shall help you find the way, even in the deepest darkness. Now, where do you wish to go? A place where you can rest, or to explore?"

Delst frowned. This world, and the way she described it, it all seemed so horrible. "The way you speak of this world...which, just looking around, appears to be beautiful, something must have upset you." His curiosity was getting the better of him. "Why go anywhere just now? I want to know more, just from what you can tell me."

"We have an entire world in front of us." White light expanded from her body, forming a map of the region- no, a map of the world. "You are a human, and you seem to be unaware of the demons of this world. Before you ask, there are no evil demons, but the humans are the true demons. Do you wish to see how badly your race has tainted this world, making it so stained in black? Maybe then, you'll see my solution. I will inform you of that once you see the follys of the world. ...No, I have something better. Do you see the most horrid abominations to grace this world, despair made manifest?"

Delst raised an eyebrow. "While that certainly sounds...er....appealing..." He gave her a piercing look. "You avoided my question. I wouldn't mind if you refuse to answer, but you simply glossed over it."

Leviathan dismissed him, "Some things are better left unsaid. It's a similar case to those baby seals which I fed on yesterday. ....Yes, some things are better left unsaid." She attempted to backtrack on her words, but to no avail.

Delst definitely had a deep set frown at this; what could he say, he was curious. However, Leviathan was being kind, and if he pried, she might simply leave. "Alright, I apologise." He said quickly, and cast an eye at the map. "I suppose...travel. Why don't you show me more of these 'humans'?"

Leviathan let out a deep sigh; and with a mighty flap of her wings whipped up a storm; all by accident- probably. "Very well. Hop on my back and we shall traverse the SEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS." She coughed up for a brief moment. "I mean, I will show you what humanity is capable of, fleshbag."

Delst obliged, clambering onto her back and sitting as comfortably as he could at the base of Leviathan's long neck. "Thank you, Leviathan. I am sure this will be an enlightening experience."

Leviathan snarked, "Oh, you'll see." The moment that Delst touched down on her back, Leviathan took off like a rocket, shooting high into the air in the blink of an eye with such velocity that she almost struck the sound barrier. "We've yet to hit maximum speed, as well." Her eyes scoured the land, to see if there was any place where she could stop off and just show Delst terrible humans there, instead of making a full trip; lazy dragon she was.

Delst let out a gasp of awe; looking down, he could see lush grasslands, large blue lakes that glistened under the morning sun. Animals such as deer, large cats, wolves and the like roamed the ground, while birds flew past in the air. "This world...it's beautiful."

Leviathan looked down at the sundered earth- shaking her head, disappointed at his words. "The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. The way the sun goes down when you're tired, comes up when you want to be on the move. That's the real magic; despite the atrocities, it really is impressive."

Delst nodded in agreement. "I can see that point of view. There's beauty in everything." He took a breath, and felt the air enter his grateful lungs. Even a simple breath could have beauty if one could appreciate it.

"Suppose so." She mulled over Delst's seeming innocence, wondering if he was actually making up this amnesia stuff. Nobody would be so abscent-minded- as for every good thing, there was a much worse thing lurking around the corner. "Despite this, the bad outweighs the good. You need to realize that."

"Leviathan, your way of thinking won't do." Delst admonished. "I'm trying to make the best out of it, you see? I have barely any memory of anything except magic, I'm stuck in a strange land of which I know nothing...it's better not to have a negative mindset."

"Or maybe you're wrong. Once you see how bad humans are, your viewpoint ain't gonna change, even after all the positive thinking in the world. Just deal with it." She snarked in response, continuing, "I could just laser breath the whole damn country and be done with it, anyway."

"What good would that do?" Delst frowned at her train of thought. "You'd solve nothing. Violence begets violence and then hatred is born." Where had he heard that before? He wished he could remember. "So...show me these humans."

"Hold on tightly." Leviathan suddenly swooped down at breakneck speeds, not even allowing Delst to catch his breath from the instant descent- dive-bombing head-first into the ground. Thankfully she was nigh invulernable and had a hard head. Delst might not be so lucky, however.

Or so would be the thought, however, Delst seemed to be mostly unscathed. He was, however, making several hacking noises. "Dust...in my throat...urk..!" He coughed again, trying to clear his throat; he was surprised, he hadn't expected a steep dive. "Leviathan, were you trying to kill us?"

Leviathan looked back nonchalantly, muttering something along the lines of "hey, it's a free ride, you take what you get and you don't get upset". However, it was very clear that she did such a spectacular dive to try and get on Delst's nerves.

Delst quickly backtracked with guilt. "I'm apologise, you have a point." He sighed with exasperation at his own stupidity. He kept offending Leviathan more often than he should have, and it had only been a few minutes. "Thank you for the ride, Leviathan."

Leviathan noddded. "Any time." She slowly got up from the ground, shaking the debris off of her snow-white coat. "Now, allow me to take upon a more compact form." White light shrouded her body, as it converted her into a small white sphere, which bounced playfully up and down. "That was neccessary. I may be all-powerful but if a bog-standard humans sees a giant bloody dragon hanging around they'll get the torches and pitchforks."

"I assume whatever you wanted to show me is further off?" Delst asked her, not the least bit surprised by her transformation, though he did try to inspect it. "There isn't much here besides the new crater."

"Follow me." Leviathan replied, as she bounced towards a cave a few meters away- covered by moss and stones. "You can avert your eyes once we enter. I wouldn't mind."

Delst shuddered at those words; a feeling of foreboding coming across him in waves. What was she about to show him that he didn't want to see? He shrugged this off. "I'm already here, I shouldn't back away now." Against his better judgement, he trudged along after Leviathan.

As the two wandered further into the cave, what they saw was...

The dark reddish-black pool of blood... The scattered pieces of flesh... Organs strewn across the floor like the blossoming of a grotesque flower... The explosion that had torn through her body had been powerful. The dragon's neck had been twisted at an odd angle. Leviathan suspected the explosion had thrown her against the wall. Half of her face was crushed, and the other half was covered in blood. Most of her abdomen had been emptied, either by explosion or by gravity. She had landed on her back, and stark white ribs jutted out of her chest like some sort of macabre crab.

"This is what you humans do to our kind, for "fun"." Leviathan lamented, having given up the will to actually fight against the humans.

Delst stopped dead when he saw the horrific sight that lay before him. The hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies that had originally been here reduced to organs, limbs, and ash. The smell of death had overtaken this area, and because the battle was not fresh, it was strengthened, overcoming Delst's sensitive nose, causing his head to spin. "Urk..." His head was swimming as he collapsed to his knees, trying to collect himself. "What...all of this...everything here was destroyed...these dragons..." The image he'd seen of Leviathan flashed in his head. "Beautiful creatures...utterly eradicated like this...why?" The thoughts he could form in his nauseous state were ones of confusion.

Leviathan mulled it over. "Humans are greedy, jealous beings. They'll do whatever it takes to prove their superiority. They're scared of those stronger than them, and they'll eliminate the target of their greed and jealousy without remorse. There's no end to the cycle of death and destruction as long as humans are still around."

"So this is the handiwork of humans..." Delst staggered to his feet, looking at the gravesite with strong feelings of pity. "Leviathan...can I show you something?" He wanted to help. The sight of this mangled and sorry display was too much to bear. He had to do something.

"Then show me what you want. I doubt that you will be capable of swaying my opinion. This is a futile situation." Leviathan sighed, ceasing with her bounding for the briefest of moments for Delst.

Delst took a breath....he could absolutely taste the corruption. Not in the way that one normally would; an area so rancid it affected the sense of taste. He could taste the lack of life energy in this area. Everything was slowly dying. This, however, he could fix. Delst took a breath, suffering through it as he nearly choked, and began to draw out life energy from his own body, before placing his palms onto the ruined ground, channeling the rich energy into it. "Watch this..." He breathed as the life energy was expelled into the ground, and began to spread outward. As it did so, the land began to purify; plants began to grow, springs returned to normal, and the gravesite, despite not returning life to the bodies, were covered in an abundance of flora, hiding them from view.

"That doesn't change the fact that the corpses still exist, you know." Leviathan casually commented- though deep down, she really was touched by Delst's act of kindness. Maybe he was different than humans, after all?

"It should, however, begin to open your eyes to a point I want to make." Delst replied, just as casually. Despite the fact that Delst had just induced terraforming, the two were talking as if they were having a cup of tea. "Even the most horrible recesses of our nightmares can produce a bit of beauty if we try."

"Well, a certain dictator produced amazing paintings which were rejected. They produced a bit of beauty, but the end result was the same." Leviathan 'argued', but she did genuinely appreciate Delst's act. "...Thank you in any case."

"Think nothing of it." Delst smiled, and waved it off, but he was nice to see her open up with a response of gratitude. "This area will become something much more beautiful with time." Even with this, however, he hadn't forgotten what she said only a few moments ago. "Humans did this....against such beautiful creatures." He gritted his teeth. "Show me more, Leviathan."

"Very well." The sphere which was the Deep Drive Dragon, Leviathan exploded all of a sudden, with the sphere disappearing, revealing her majestic form once more. "Hop on my back again, fleshbag. I'll try and make the landing less disastrous, but I do not keep any promises. We're heading to the outskirts of Hargeon now."

"Hargeon, hm?" Delst clambered up onto her back again. "I already know this won't be a pleasure trip, I'm resigned to that after what we saw here." He gestured to the terraformed plain. "Alright Leviathan, show me your worst."

"Hang on, then." White light began to scatter from her splendid wings, as she took off like a rocket- accelerating into the air at high speed, the amount of G-forces generated could actually tear a man in half from the sheer pressure. "Humans are an odd lot. They go from fighting amongst each other to forming alliances- only to snap back into battle immediately after the crisis at hand is solved. I mean, just make up your minds, fleshbags."

"I wouldn't know anything about that..." Delst replied sheepishly. "All I know is, I'm not like other humans, especially if they're as violent as you said." Enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing around him. An average man would be rent asunder by now, but Delst was anything but average. "I know I'll have my own way of seeing the world, so, I'd like to see these 'humans'."

"Not humans, per-se, but the effect is quite similar. These demi-humans, they were born from within the bodies of despairing humans; destroying the human's soul before bursting from the host and gaining a physical humanoid body appearance and receiving the ability to disguise as the human which had given birth to them. It's an improvement for me. They're plotting SOMETHING, which has to do with a specific stone." Leviathan began to explain.

"I see...." Delst turned all of this over in his mind. Demi-humans...not entirely human...that ran on the power of their own despair, and eventually replaced them. Why did he have to wake up in a world like this? "Plotting something for a specific stone? What do you know about it, Leviathan?"

"It's a special magical artefact that's existed since the very beginning. It was created by Makers millions of years ago by condensing countless numbers of souls into a regular Magic Stone- the despair and fear cultivated by these people upon death allowed the stone to turn people into these demi-humans. If a demi-human manages to use it, it will allow them to bypass the laws of magic." She muttered, "It's the Philosopher's Stone."

"My first inclination is to destroy it." Delst said quickly, seemingly ignoring the "bypass laws of magic" part of the explanation. "Something like that, fueled by despair and fear, shouldn't exist."

"It's indestructible; so there's not like you can do anything about it." Leviathan argued, "Besides, with great evil comes great good with these sorts of things, at least most of the time. With the Philosopher's Stone you could wish for an everlasting perfect world, at the cost of it crumbling away."