In the very heart of the city, at the origin of the River of Labes where a small underground volcano ejects a stream of lava in regular intervals, a giant pool was ford under it.
A pool whose hardened edges contained the highest quality minerals in the river, while also being the origin of multiple snake-like aqueducts of lava flowed under the city of Bothal.
The Materials present here were the richest in quality and energy, even legendary ores like adamantine were as common as dirt in this small pool.
None dared to mine it, nor did anyone have access to this place with the exception of so chosen few. Besides employing a couple of grandmasters to protect the Lava pool, generally, this area is always empty.
But today was different.
A couple of dwarves in ceremonial clothing stood next to the pool, with one holding a silver robe, while others behind him shouldered a ton of cooked food, waiting for the arrival of sothing.
No, it was soone. Soone very important to the dwarves, soone that can be considered their god.
And knowing what had happened in the city, although a bit scared due to their negligence, they understood what had to be done.
It was why they were here before soone woke up, they were here to calm his anger before sothing bad happened.
Before they even got the chance, the volcano in the cavern erupted at full force, causing multiple rocks to crumble as it sent quakes throughout the city.
For a city filled with caves, an earthquake was sothing akin to disaster. If not for being prepared beforehand while also developing building techniques that were sowhat resistant to the quakes, countless lives might have been lost due to a single eruption.
And this was just the start.
The mountain exploded, throwing lava and rocks all around the giant cavern, causing collapse and destruction all over the place.
If not for the dwarves here having a prestigious bloodline and strong build, most of them would have died by now. But they carried on, they did their best to save the robe as well as the food they carried.
It was more important to them than their life, otherwise, it would be their family that would have to pay.
Quakes that caused the silent river of Labes to flood all over the place, increasing its intensity. "Great Guardian, please calm your anger." The dwarf holding the robe shouted.
His na was Feldolf Grimkar, the Culture minister of Pulgasari. Infamous for his hard-handed tactics while pushing against the traditional reforrs in the governnt.
Many people hated him, many in the governnt even wished to kick him off from the seat as his worldviews were too out of date and incompatible with the rest of the world as well as his own people, who were pushing toward a more secular future.
But no matter what happened, Feldolf never budged.
Governnts changed, and parties ca and went. But Feldolf always remained seated in his place and no matter how much the people cried for change. None of the governnts did anything.
Even the ones who promised to kick him out turned silent the mont they sat in the seat of power.
And the reason for this was here.
"I, your servant Feldolf Grimkar, beseech you to calm your anger." His other identity was that of the Grand Regent for their guardian. The only one who had the right to speak for their guardian and the only person having the appropriate bloodline to do so.
The bloodline of the Golden Dragon, which shone from his body, at first tried to interfere with the aura that surrounded the air, before slowly succumbing to the Aura and depressing back on Feldolf’s body, showing its defeat and submission.
An action that can be considered blasphemy towards greater existence if it was so other culture. But here, the eruptions in the volcano slowed down, while a turbulent river of Labes also slowly cald down.
"Feldolf... you sound old." The lava pool slowly split apart, as a small dwarf crawled out of it.
Whose re presence caused the eyes of those present to burn.
They saw it.
A dragon had coiled around the dwarf’s body like a snake. A dragon that was the personification of deification of a person.
Making the Feldolf and his companions fall to the ground, showing their subservience.
"Is being old, the reason for your naivete?" The anger was overpowering, Feldol didn’t dare to look at the Guardian for fear of what might happen. He just spoke with his head down. "Foreigners, they were the reason. Our n are doing a clean sweep..."
"Enough!!" The Guardian of Pulgasiri was not in the mood for excuses, his body disappeared, along with all the food and the silver robe, leaving Feldolf alone in the cave.
"Guardian?" He wondered before panic appeared in his eyes while screaming at his n to go back and get ready.
"Those fools... look what they have done." There was a hint of regret in his voice while rushing back to the city. Dread mixed with guilt that the Guardian has probably detected.
"Tell , you destroyed that lab completely?" He asked one of his n that was on his side.
"Sir, the process will begin in a few hou..."
"Shit!!" He knew that he couldn’t calm down his master in ti and he had taken the matters into his own hands.
Sothing bad was going to happen in this city. Sothing much worse than Max could ever hope to imagine.
"Insect, enough is enough..." Up in the sky, high above into the clouds, the figure of a guardian appeared and the very first thing he did was catch a bird in his hands.
"Fascinating... your kind should have gone extinct. But no worries, I can complete what my predecessors failed at." With those words, the bird was crushed under his hand, which started a chain reaction, as multiple rats, insects, and even birds died one by one at random.
Which surprised so people who noticed such bizarre explosions. Being scared and worried for their life. But that was it.
This random killing of critters went unnoticed by the majority and in truth, it was not random to begin with.
"Such filthy beings have entered my land and these descendants remain oblivious to it all." Intense disappointnt filled the Dwarf’s mind. Even with all the changes he saw in the city since falling sleep. All of it was for naught if small insects like that parasite that infiltrated the city so deeply.
And he even wondered, how long has this been going on.
"Not the true body... it has escaped."
His body disappeared and reappeared on a small hill that was closed off from outsiders while various temple priests were conducting a purification ritual.
But for so reason, while just being a few ters above these people, they didn’t notice the Guardian. He just took a deep breath in the air, as a few images of an old tree entered his mind. "That tree... another extinct one."
The extinct ones in the Guardian’s mouth were gods that had disappeared from the world, the ti when one of the Pri Daemons went mad. Causing disaster on a massive scale.
"This sweet sll, that parasite was here as well... this one is different from its brethren." The guardian thought as he tried to follow the sll and find it at its source.
But to his surprise, the sll was everywhere in the city. It was all over the city, turning his face uglier by the minute.
And as if in response to his emotions, the city of Bothal experienced another quake.
"Incompetent!!" His body then appeared in the soon-to-be leveled facility, the very place that Feldolf had tried to hide. But it can be considered to be bad luck that the Guardian woke up a lot earlier than he had anticipated.
That’s how serious the corruption on that hill was. And if it was just that level of corruption then after causing so drama, the Guardian would have gone to sleep after eating his fill.
But before anything of such could happen, he had detected him, that disgusting sweet sll that forced him out of his "sleeping chamber."
"Such intense hatred... " This lab was filled with death. And the Guardian understood that this can’t be blad on those outsiders.
*****
In the rchant district, Zone One. An old woman suddenly looked toward the sky, before turning her head toward the research facility.
She knew that he was awake.
"Ho, that boy still can’t hold onto his temper... my whole shop is shaking." She shook her head in disappointnt.
"Grandma Po... you are still alive?" The Guardian appeared in the shop, looking at the old woman with so disappointnt.
"Did you hope I die, little Wolf?
"Your death would have been much better than your inaction." The Guardian nad Wolf turned to look at the panicked citizens that had co out in the open due to regular earthquakes. "You knew what was happening, you should also know about that little dream parasite. But you let them prosper. Why did you do this?"
"You should ask this question from your descendants, they put the chains on using that old contract."
"..."
There were two legends in the city.
One among the Dwarves and one among the dragons.
"They have beco unruly, lazy even..."
"So you plan to kill your people at this point?"
"Yes... There is no other way. An example needs to be set, they need to understand fear." The Guardian nad Wolf said, as his body lit up in golden glimr again, materializing a dragon behind him.
But the woman called Grandma Mo just shook her head.
"Ignore the ignorant rabble, they were doing what they thought was best, it was their way of showing fealty to you."
"I didn’t ask for innocent sacrifices..."
"You were not there to reprimand them as well."
"..."
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