Ultimus Thesaurus: The last Treasure (Era of Change Book 1)

by Maximilian Warden

  “Brothers, the times are dark, because the book told me the truth. The future will be ruled by the dwarves, and not the dragons. If we do not attack now, then this world ends. Many of our kind see this council as a waste, but we are the elite, those who will survive all of time,” said the chairman of the meeting, and I felt the tension of the prince.

  He rose and took of his hood, much to the disdain of the council members.

  “Why do we not use the book? In it rests the power to control this world! We could stop it all right here before it starts,” the prince said and I felt his fear at this moment.

  “Kneel down, Marko,” said the chairman, and the prince hearkened to the voice.

  Only after the session had ended and only the chairman and the prince were left in the room, the two conversed.

  “Why won’t we use the book? What is it that we fear so much? Is it not our privilege?” the prince asked relentlessly.

  The chairman took of his hood and said: “There are only two members of the order who can read the book, and since I am one of those members, I can tell you what it would mean to use it. For me it had been a hard decision to appoint you as a member of the council, and my son was not happy with it. Many times he has told me that he thinks that you are too weak to bear such a burden. Was he right about you?”

  “My father refused to teach me the language of the ancient gods, and only because I do not always do what he tells me to. The mistakes that our kind makes in these times will be our demise. Why are we not annihilating the dwarves and what about the weak white dragons? Why do we protect these beings?”

  “As your grandfather I might not have as much influence on you as your father, but believe me that you will decrypt the secrets of this world in time. We are a strong type, and even if a war with the dwarves breaks out, nothing is going to happen. Do not think too much of the old legends. It is my responsibility to lead these people, and so I have to warn, and direct them. We dragons have always subjugated the weaker species, but this book is no more than a direction. Do not let yourself be subject to simple words.

  We allow these beings to serve us, but now could be the time in which they no longer are in a position to serve. The generals will decide. Follow the call of your father, and perhaps he will once lead our people. Nevertheless he is one of the most powerful dragons of his generation, as are you to your own.”

  Without allowing even another word the grandfather sent his grandson forth, and I felt the anger of the prince. His own influence was important for the prince, and yet he felt it was not enough. He wanted the death of these other species, and he wanted security for his own. His destination was again very far away and led him to the eastern continent. I could hardly recognize anything, because neither cities nor villages were to be seen. The only thing I could see were these tiny encampments, where few white dragons lived. They suffered under severe conditions and were monitored by the dragon kings, who roamed the heavens above. Some of them were gigantic and reminded me of the legendary images from olden tales. The prince landed at a remote location distant from the bone deserts, near mount Ignis.

  I saw three dragons, resting at a small fire. The prince approached them, and as soon as he was detected, it became clear to me that this was his family.

  “Finally, the prodigal son returns. How is your grandfather?” asked the oldest of the dragons, and looked at the circle in laughter.

  His father had an incredible charisma, and I suddenly felt the fear in the heart of the prince. For me it was not unnatural, since I never felt comfortable in the vicinity of my father, and yet it made me sad to see that this young dragon knew nothing except suffering. So it was hardly surprising that he was not afraid to make the world suffer just the same.

  “Why are you not at the assembly of the generals? They will discuss an attack plan. Instead you sit here and try to teach these mediocre beginners things, that a real dragon would never need to learn,” said the prince, and one of his brothers spat on the ground, and the other stood up and clenched his fists.

  But their father lifted up his finger into the air, and both waived their feelings immediately. He rose and stood directly in front of the prince. He was larger than him and forced his son to look up at him, but the prince averted his gaze and went away.

  “Running away will do you no good. If this world is burning, as you believe it, then there will be no safety. We have to blame ourselves that it has come this far. These encampments, exiles, underground prisons and covenants of submission should never have existed. Violence gives birth only to violence, so it was already written in the book of the gods,” said his father, and the prince stopped.

  “These words ... are so full of weakness. You were once a contender for the title of the king. You were Fafnir, the Skyclaw. Nothing escaped your grasp and the world was in the palm of your hand. How low can one get …,” said the prince, and walked on.

  “The anger in your heart makes you blind. You should use your talents to unite this world and not to tear it apart even further. Too many of us want a fast victory, an end to it all. This world is ours today, but tomorrow it could have already disappeared. The council stirs up fear in our hearts, it uses the book in order to disseminate chaos and the generals use this chaos to bring death. I show your brethren this world so that they can understand it. Maybe you should join us. You are still a young dragon; your generation has not seen what my father and I had to endure.

  Do not blindly follow our hatred, open your eyes and see for yourself. Your music shows me that you also possess a different side, one that is aware of more than just death,” said the father, but the prince went on undeterred.

  “So many words, so little sense. Remember your past. You were once the chairman of the council, the supreme general, and the most powerful of all dragons. What brought the peace to your heart? What poisoned your mind with compassion and mercy? Remember my words when the world is burning, because if the argent and the dwarves arise, then there will be no other path in front of you than to fight. And do not tell Jarrah what he should do,” the prince said with a last turn, and spread out his wings.

  “If you could finally teach him how to play properly, I will think about it. He simply has no talent,” returned the father with loud laughter.

  This was one of the few moments in which the fear in the heart of the prince disappeared, and this fleeting moment of happiness was accompanied by a faint smile on his begrudging face.

  Chapter 51: The History of the Dragons

  The next moment that he showed to me, must have been the cruellest time in the life of the prince. He woke up on another day in his bed, as usual, but the noise and the cries that he heard were strange. He jumped up and ran to the window and saw huge machines that emerged from the depths. Hundreds of dwarves alighted from the vehicles, armed and willing to die for their cause. The young prince immediately ran through the halls of the castle and the first bombs began to hit their target. Walls, ceilings, all crashed down around him and huge holes revealed the fight outside on the court. Many of the dragons had already risen up into the air and burned it with their breath.

  The prince ran determined to the highest tower of the castle, and saw his grandfather kneeling down, with the holy book of the gods in his hands - the Code of Souls.

  “Where is your father? Where are the generals? Take the book and follow me!” he cried confused by the sound of the fight and the shouting, which was booming up from the bottom of the stairs.

  “It is too late. Take the book and flee! You need to find your father; he must be at the temple of the High Council. Go!” he ordered his grandson, and gave him the book.

  The curiosity, which the young prince felt at the sight of all this, was enormous, yet the troops that were already behind him and that he heard battle behind the doors, made it impossible for him to think further about it. His grandfather burst a part of the ceiling with nothing but his gaze and showed his grandson one last time the power of a dragon. He fought proudly a
gainst the dwarves that stormed the room, while the prince took to the air, and escaped through the hole in the ceiling. A last look back showed him the cruel image, as he saw how the dwarves used an apparatus to constrain his grandfather, bring him to his knees and decapitate him afterwards. They shouted full of pride and lifted the severed head in the air, but the prince could not return.

  Determined to find his father, he dashed ever higher into the air, and he couldn’t fail to notice the gigantic tunnels that were created by the vehicles of the dwarves when they emerged from the deep underground. There were hundreds of them now and they disfigured the once beautiful landscape. A flood of dwarves broke from the inside of the planet and overran the surface of the world. So many dragons were gathered in the sky and fought resolutely against the endless armies of the dwarves that it appeared as if coloured clouds obscured the sun. As the strips on the horizon disappeared, the prince saw the clear sea, and he breathed heavily at the thought of the death of his people.

  After only a few hours he finally landed on the island and found his father, sitting in front of the entrance of the temple.

  “Father, the dwarves, they have killed grandfather. So many died in the castle, it is a massacre. The book, I have it with me,” slipped it out of the mouth of the prince, who was still quite out of breath from the long and tiring flight.

  The prince presented his father the book, and his father then opened it, slowly browsing through it.

  “You were right, my son. A great tactician, not like your father,” he joked, much to the displeasure of his son, who angrily grabbed the shoulders of his father.

  “Do you take this all for a joke? You are the last of us who can read this book. Do something, stop them!” he asked his father, but he just closed the book and put it to the side.

  “A few words in a book do not change the world. We must do it; you and me. There will come a time when we must negotiate with the dwarves and the white dragons. Not all of us must die.”

  “The world in which you live does not exist. The first law of the ancestors tells us: who is strong governs and who governs lives forever. Our place is here and our time is now.”

  “My son, our time is over. We have done what we desired, as long as we could. Now begins the time of the dwarves and the white dragons, just as the gods once prophesied.”

  “Prophesied? Is that what is in this book? This is all what the gods have left behind? A threat?”

  “Not a threat, a warning. They gave us their knowledge, the possibility to develop, but we didn't use it. Our way allowed us to subject everything and to devour, but there can be no stronger force without a weaker.

  Now the tables have turned and the strong became weak and the anger of those who were once weaker makes them stronger than we ever were. This is not the end; it is the beginning of a new era.”

  The prince took the book back and rose again to the air.

  “Do not abuse the power of this book! It can destroy you,” his father warned him, but he did not listen.

  His flight was fast and straight and he wanted nothing more than to return to the castle. He blamed himself for ever fleeing and he hated his father because he believed him to be weak. When he returned to the castle he saw that most of the dwarves had been killed and many of them had fled into the tunnels. Lord Darius stood high up on the highest tower, and he waved immediately when he saw that the prince approached him.

  “Finally, I have looked everywhere for you. We have fended off most of them, but I think that they merely regroup. There are countless more of them. Is this the Code of Souls? Where is your father? Can he not help us?”

  The prince landed, and opened the book. He saw the chaotic characters and flowing words on the inside and was overwhelmed by its content.

  “My father has left us. He prefers to wait on an island. In his opinion we deserve this,” the prince said and heard the sound of the drums from the underground.

  All the dwarves now left the surface hastily and went back into the tunnel.

  “They surrender. This is an unusual move,” said Darius and cheered.

  “I don’t think they are giving up. We should prepare, I am sure that something is about to happen,” said the prince and closed the book.

  Only a few minutes later, after the majority of the dragons had gathered in the ancestral hall, the ground under them began to shake. Unrest broke out and many of the dragons ran to the outside, only to discern what the prince had already anticipated. The sun began to move and it came ever closer with each second that passed.

  “The machine,” the prince said to himself and he understood now that the stories that he had heard and read had actually been true.

  He ordered all dragons back to the castle and decided to do the only thing left to him. The rays of the sun began to burn the surface of the world, and so he opened the book, and transported the castle directly to the centre of the dwarven cities - the planet’s core. At first no one understood what had happened, but as soon as they did, they rushed out and burned the houses of the dwarves from the air. The dwarves could not withstand the sudden onslaught by the dragons, and so they hid away in their cities. First the attacks were successful, but soon it took years before the attacks showed any effect and only after decades could the dragons claim the core for themselves.

  Weakened and in the minority most of the dragons remained in the castle and waited for their brothers, but the surface of some regions of the world had been almost completely destroyed.

  The dwarves had designed their machine in such a way that the main impact of the attack was focussed on the dragonhoard to make sure that no dragon survived.

  And actually very few made it and escaped these attacks. A thousand years passed and the dragons conquered the underground for themselves, as the dwarves before them. A new leader had been found and the new king of the dragons, Lowan, knew only one purpose. He wanted to free the remaining dragons of the upper world, which were now kept as slaves by the dwarves, and he wanted to destroy the dwarves once and for all.

  It was a sick cycle of history, which would find its end at this point in time. Lowan planned to use the power of the book to obliterate the dwarves with a single strike, but the book had been lost over the last thousand years. The king of the dwarves was now in the possession of the artefact, and thus forced Lowan to start a last war.

  The prince entered the Ancestral Hall again after such a long time, and approached the throne on which Lowan sat.

  “My king, I bring knowledge of the frontiersmen of the northern tunnels. We have learned that only forty-five battalions are stationed in the capital. A direct attack would certainly be their death. In addition, we were able to locate the book. Our spies have told the frontiersmen that the king is keeping the book in the museum of the southern dwarven castle under lock and key. It is one of five strategically positioned castles in the city, but with this knowledge it is possible to selectively plan our strike.

  The technology of the dwarves is controlled by means of a ball in the interior of a massive apparatus on the main square of the city. I was told that the energy it radiates is so immense that it would be impossible to remove the ball by pure violence. Only an engineer of the dwarves would be in a position to do this,” said the prince and sunk down to his knees.

  “Arise; after all you are the consultant of the king. You are now a prince of the dragons, Marko. Behave as such,” said the king, and the prince rose.

  “More than a thousand years and all we have is the exact position of the book. Its loss has always been the greatest blow against us, and we seem not to recover. Send for the generals, the attack takes place tonight,” called the king through the hall and the faces of those present were shocked.

  “Tonight? Is that not a little too early? We need a plan,” said the prince and watched as many hundreds of dragons made ready for the fight.

  “Our spies, their spies, I trust no one. I will give you a task and I know you will meet it to my satisfaction. Bri
ng me the book. We take care of the king and his machines, but this book is the most important of all,” he said and the prince was about to leave, when the king continued. “And bring your father to me.”

  “My father? How could he be still alive? The storm raged for hundreds of years, I am sure that he died.”

  “Trust me, he lives. Bring him to me, and now go!” ordered the king, and the prince made ready for the attack.

  Many of his memories were vague and I was not sure whether it was due to the fact that he wanted to fool me, or whether he himself no longer remembered. I only saw a few glimpses of the attack, and the city of the dwarves burned. The beautiful monuments and machines had been the victims of the fire, while the prince left the chaos and disappeared in one of the buildings. Only from here on out my view was clear again, and I saw the father of the prince, sitting on the floor, in company of a human baby.