A seemingly (not) peaceful world

Sky Dragon’s Temple, Heavenly Kingdom. World of Draconia, year 4219 of the Star Calendar.

The Sky Dragon’s Temple was known for being luxurious, its main hall had granite columns with golden capitals supporting a large cupola with a map of the constellations. The walls were decorated with detailed pictographs narrating the main events of the previous rulers of the temple-palace.

“All of this holy energy around can be sickening sometimes.”

A girl that resembled a dragon spoke in an exhausted tone. Nobody doubted in referring her as a dragon even though she had no reptilian traits, but black feathered wings. She wore an elegant purple dress with black frills under a large gray coat that resembled that of a modern general, which gave her an elegant yet dark, menacing aura.

A large game board separated the winged woman from her host. For this scenario, it had created a large valley with a central river, on which both players would use magic to move the many pieces scattered across it. Next to it laid a second table, loaded to the brim with various snacks and sweets, a still steaming teapot completed the sight of a friendly meeting.

“You don’t have to force yourself to be here, you know?” The ruler of the place munched on a dumpling without much interest, thinking of her next move.

The second woman in the hall had long white hair and a reptilian bifid tail with scales of the same color covering her limbs. She wore a fancy white and golden dress that matched her eyes. While it didn’t look like anything seen on Earth, the winged dragon thought it resembled fancy Chinese clothes, which left her with a calm and refined look.

“I love your food more than I dislike your kingdom.” The black dragon was resting her cheek on her closed fist. “This kind of thing happens when you are a guest. “

“If you will entertain me with a match I can always arrange a meeting somewhere else, the dragons in this world can’t provide a good challenge.” She presented it as a fancy way of saying that she was having trouble.

“I don’t think I’m good, it just brings me memories.”

The lady in black was too focused on her tea to make a thoughtful move, she overextended her captain, now within reach of a counterattack her friend could have exploited.

“You were a general, were you not?” The white dragon didn’t take the bait, taking a captain out wasn’t worth a counterattack.

“In your language you could say I was a queen, even though I always led my army into any war we had to fight. “ She replied with an unnaturally long shrug.

The white dragon was interested in that, but her preparations for a large push were almost done, maybe she could distract her guest a little bit.

“You also told me you were born a human, what kind of world do you live in?” She stopped moving and locked her eyes on her rival’s.

“I wonder where I should start from...“ The visitor moved a few pieces on the back pretending not to notice her rival’s plans. “A long time ago there were only humans, then something destroyed most of the world, to the point it is now referred to as the Great Cataclysm.” She took a handful of sweets for good measure.

“Some sort of weapon, I presume?” The white dragon’s long tail swept the ground behind her.

Once the preparations were complete, it was time to move onto the offensive, aiming at the thin center of the black dragon’s formation. Her idea was to split her forces in half, so she could take on them one piece at a time.

“I believe it was, but I was a kid when that happened. Don’t ask for details, it isn’t important anyway.” She responded to the attack by falling back, concentrating her forces. “What matters here is that the sudden death of half of the world population charged the atmosphere so much that magic became possible, and with that, creatures known as apparitions began to form in places where the negative energy concentrated, and they weren’t exactly friendly towards humans.”

The white dragon was listening, but she wouldn’t let that distract her push. She had to be decisive or she would lose. What worried her, however, was that all of the artillery was set at the flanks, but stopping the push to counter it would be a problem.

“The thing is that at the same time the feelings of hope gave rise to a race known as the contractors, floating little shits with no combat abilities, but they can bestow magic upon humans like me, those humans would be known as purifiers.” The black dragon kept talking, her eyebrows furrowed as she went on with her explanation.

“So you received your power from someone else?” As she asked, the white dragon’s thumb went over her right ear scales.

“Yes and no.” The black dragon’s flanks closed into her attacker’s rear. “I got the initial push, but everything else I did by myself.” Confirming her worries, she spread her artillery across her flanks and then fired upon the compact formation, leaving it with nowhere to run. “For instance, under specific circumstances a purifier can become an apparition, I evolved past that and became what I am now, a demon, as we are called in our world.”

The moment the white dragon tried to change her tactics, the center she tried to push was reorganized and began pushing back. Playing with her hair for a moment, she realized there was only one thing left to do.

“Very well, I admit defeat” She arched back with a tired face.

That said, for someone who met real demons, the name made her think her visitor’s world was childish.

“Always stay aware of your surroundings” The black dragon offered a gentle smile.

“I am curious, had you ever been in trouble with one of these apparition things?” The white dragon asked, as she rearranged her hair.

“Yes.” The winged “dragon” smile was gone. “There was one I have been hunting for centuries, but it kept disappearing. I found the place of its slumber before coming here but...”

“Do you have a custom against hunting a sleeping game?” She crossed legs.

“No, it’s not that, when it is asleep it locks itself in a barrier I can’t get through.” She drank all of her tea in one go before going on. “Well, I don’t think it’s going to wake up while I’m off world anyway.” She closed with an exaggerated shrug.