Draimon: Fracture: Erasend- Book 2: Journey's Beginning

Chapter 7: Reveal

I looked at the date; my dad's shift ended weeks ago. Where are you? I thought, wait, his wife left him and then his son went missing. His own home must have too many bad memories.

"Chuben."

He turned to face me, "yes, what is it?"

"How is my dad?" I asked.

The Fualow's snout lowered, "I can tell he's troubled; master Dyven only comes home to pick me up for hunting in Grave-houses. He doesn't even sleep or eat here anymore."

"But you fight with him," I said, "that's something.

"It is, but those Monsters are too weak for us. I am meant to make my master stronger and protect him."

"Geez, complain much," I replied.

"He just takes me, so I feel needed. I have failed at my duty," he sobbed, lying on the floor, "I can't comfort him like a pet, and this isn't something I can kill to protect him. I am grateful that you've returned."

My dad must be trying to protect her memory. "Sorry for asking, but did you try joining him at work."

He sighed, "I did, but it didn't work."

"What happened?"

"I would either try to go out and fight the Monsters I saw in the sights, remember the old days and how they may never come back, or sit around doing nothing when none were close. You know I've been so bored ever since my service has switched to your father. My days were full of fighting, sleeping, and eating to keep my strength up, but now I don't know what to do with myself. These video games and animes seem to be the only things I can do."

"Right," I said, "the next time that Mono-oct girl comes back, you're free to fight her; just don't kill her. See it as protecting me from people I may. Have, to, Kill—One day. Don't want outside opinions that'll make me doubt— Why the hell do I even have to think about this stuff," I sighed.

"Very well, master, and I'll be sure to cover this place in a guard barrier, so nothing gets damaged," Chuben stared at me with wide eyes. "What was that thing you mentioned about protecting people?"

I sighed, "O nothing; just this big bad thing is gonna unleash an army right here that'll kill everyone."

"When?" Chuben asked, seemingly teleporting right up to my face then flying back, "I'll protect the two of you when the time comes," he said after clearing his throat.

"Do you remember how you got into this life?" I asked, "I've always wondered; I could tell you weren't a pet Fualow and wasn't sure why we had you."

"Yes, I can remember, it's simple, I was born outside of this place, one day I saw your great grand father's mother or, however that's said, saw her as strong and felt the need to protect them."

"Good, you went into this life by choice. Thought sometimes we forced you to be here."

"It's just my undying sense of loyalty that keeps me here; I was also waiting to see if any members of your family would become Hunters. Anyway, our deal was that she would feed me and protect me, and I would protect her, which would let us fight even stronger enemies. For how many I have served, all have passed from old age," Chuben slumped to the floor, "and then there's your father, Hunter, for a time, but after meeting miss, Ulla decided to work the turrets."Are you sure that he would accept you?" Shard asked.

"I am; he'll look past what I am."

"What's that thing saying?" Chuben asked.

"It's just whether my dad'll accept me like this," I replied.

"I think he will, not ready to decide if not."

"Or he sees you as a Monster, one of these Sludged. He may give you up."

"Well, this was the only place I thought to go. It's the only place I can be," I cried, "my dad will accept me, and everything'll go back to normal. I just won't go to school anymore. I'm fine with that."

"That is your draconic stubbornness talking; just try to prepare yourself for the worst. For both our sakes, I hope you are right."

Chuben placed his paws on my seat and put his head on my lap, "is, is this right?" He asked, "come on, stoke my ears; it'll be alright."

"Yeah, that's right, thanks."

"How long will this last?" I asked, after a length of silence.

"I do not know, though my guess is a few hundred years, Enoridal needs to..."

"Just wanted your estimate," I interrupted as I won another match.

"Enordial is using Dragon cores to empower the Wyrm Devourers, those cores are weak, and he needs to give them a lot of power."

"What if he dies before then?" I stopped playing, "you know I've always wondered where the Devourers came from, can you tell me. From what we know, they were here since our records began."

"I'm interested," Chuben said, "how the hell do those things work?"

"Yes, I know, the first Devourer was created when the first Human who came from a Dragon tore the core from a Dragon that followed him. That one was kicked down the spire and proceeded to turn every Dragon it saw. We also call them Core-torn."

"Something about the first Dragon turned person tearing a Dragon's core out, it becoming the first Devourer and then making more from Dragons. O and they also called Core-torn.

"Nothing about how they work?" Chuben asked.

"I suppose since they are the antithesis of Dragons, they are masters at shifting."

"They just really good at shapeshifting," I said to Chuben; I would keep his explanations brief.

"Hey, if Dragons are immortal, which means I'm now woo," I said, slightly raising my arm, "If Devourers are the opposite to Dragons, then shouldn't they have, not immortal life spans?"

"They are not immortal.." Shard answered.

"Great, so I can just wait this thing out."

"But so long as they keep eating, they are, adding the years of those they devour to their life spans. Though using might drains their life force as it fuels their bodies. Like Dragons, they get stronger with age but can only grow by absorbing living beings.

"So long as they eat, they're immortal and get even stronger."

I swallowed, "so if, during the time of the first core-torn, Dragons were old, doesn't that mean it's still-- They aren't classed as alive, right?"

"They have no organs. Is that what physical beings need to be considering living?"

"They have no organs, so they're undead," I saw Chuben's face switch to confusion. "Ok, so you said all non-elemental beings got teleported here; how many of those Wyrm Devourers are there? Does he have the first?"

"There are only eight Wyrm Devourers or Wyrm-torn, each adapted at hunting in a specific kingdom. Enor had all eight, but I know that one escaped and is currently in the plant kingdom. He does not have the first, or Vorem as it calls itself."

"One of Wyrm-torn isn't on this world, and the first, called Vorem, is still out there," I relyed on Chuben.

"Well, it hasn't come for us yet."

"It giving itself a name just shows how old it is. Even Wyrm-torn, for all they have eaten to achieve their status, never see themselves as alive. They only think about devouring and growing; they even ditch the non-combat focused memories of those they eat. Along with their organs."

"So--Wait, do Devourers have genders?"

"They do not."

"Well, Vorem sounds like a man's name. So he's still out there, waiting, doing, something. What that is. We don't know."

Chuben stared at me, "That's what I just said!" He cried.

"Well, I was doing something cool, getting into role."

"What?" Both asked.

"Nothing. So what would have happened if the first person didn't do that ?" I asked.

"I do not know, though without Humans dealing the first blow, Dragons and our kind would have no reason to hate each other."

"If that never happened, this world may be much different. There could have been peace from the start; that must have been Adam, damn our god."

"There is simply no way of knowing," Shard answered, "though the Devourers existence played a part in the expansion of your kind. They favoured cores, so many Dragons chose to become Human to extend their lives but losing their immortality. That is just the length some of them would go to live."

"So, if there were no Devourers, there might not be so many people."

Shard sighed, "indeed, though every Dragon can become a Devourer if they shatter their core due to draining their elemental energy completely."

"Dragons can become Devourers if they completely drain their energy," I told Chuben.

"Maybe why still live is because they want to become whole again, could explain why they go after Dragons."

"That might be right, actually; I've heard stories of people being unable to die until they achieve something. Wait, isn't there time magic? Can't we just go back in time and change that event."

"Even Enordial and Chrogon, the Dragons with the strongest time magic, can not go back that far. Even if they could, they would not; it may lead to their death. At most, they would turn back time by minutes for an area, among other time manipulations."

"Ok, you know, maybe there's another dimension where that decision did play out. Maybe that happens for every decision. Shard?"

"Sorry, there are other dimensions, though I do not know of alternate ones. Maybe there are. We just have no way of interacting with them."

"This is too confusing," Chuben said.

"Right, so from what I know we came to this place somehow. What about that?"

"I do not know."

I switched the screen to show the outside of the wall, "not much has changed," I said to myself. I saw two Monsters the height of mountains fighting each other; one fought with multiple arms whereas the other, an armoured, took the hits and countered. "Wow, they still going at it, yeah that's right, keep fighting and ignore us also driving Monsters away. Ok, can you tell me why Monsters exist?" I saw Chuben's head rise.

"Yes. There is a kind of Shifter called a Transformer; they can take an element less Dragon form, some could not turn back, they bread, and that is how Monsters exist," he said.

"So your great ancestors were people who could shapeshift. Some couldn't change back and then Monsters."

"Yes, I could tell shapeshifting couldn't have come from evolution. I can even turn into a Human," his body morphed into a female figure with some of his features. Chuben's body stumbled slightly, then returned to normal. "One of the few other things I can train in is shifting; I tried learning more bio elements. But," his body swayed, and he hung his head down.

"But?"

"Well, I was able to breathe fire, but the house caught fire and water falling from the sky soaked the room. I had to get repairers myself, very awkward opening the door. I could breathe water but couldn't control the amount and flooded the washtub. One time I got the internal mixture wrong and got acid instead. Burned through the tub, and my insides, but nothing a little regeneration couldn't fix. I stopped when they fixed the tub and the rest of the building. Nearly reached the bottom."

"So Monsters just produce elements from organs in their bodies? I've already been told that might is just stamina."

"Indeed, and if you're wondering about how there are those who can fight endlessly and become really big, it's just powerful biology," Chuben answered. "Though I suppose they are constantly channelling guard, a style of might that absorbs damage and turns it into energy, though their legs. The guard-powered legs take the weight, and that gives them more stamina."

"Cool," I answered, "I mean cool use; not cool if that means there's no limit to how big Monsters can get."

"They would need to survive for quite a while before they could."

"What about catastrophes?" I asked.

"As you have said, all elemental material has been drained, causing the outside to have high physical levels. Those levels are causing those storms as the balance is trying to maintain elemental and physical levels."

"And the Monsters who can create weak storms."

"O, I have this one," Chuben said excitedly, swaying his head up, "they either emit large amounts of might to force one or create one due to releasing the conditions with biology."

"The plants?"

"Just evolved to survive."

"Makes sense; there are Outwaller Monster people like Tycal. I guess the only difference between them is where they were born."

"Caliran, what's wrong?" Chuben asked.

"O nothing, I'm good, I'm fine, just got this stubborn drive to know everything because o I don't know I have a clone of one of the first Dragons who I bet even knows the beginning of everything, Shard?

"In the beginning, there was nothing until Ominomgon appeared. He created Eldragoon then made the old world, the two created Dragons and eventually that lead to all this."

"Basically, everything that exists is because of Dragons," I told Chuben.

He looked puzzled and moved the camera to show the physical form of a Primordagon burning down a village and then perching and roaring on a crumbling building. "What can those do? Well, other than that."

"Tell him that true Dragons have a core which controls their body and that their flesh is elemental matter. The ones you see out there are the ancestors of those consumed by Devourers, Core-clones, the parts the Devourer had no need for. They could retain their original forms and produce biological versions of their element. Dagons are their children."

"Ok," I breathed in, "what you call Dragons are what true Dragons call Dagons, ancestors of Core-clones. True Dragons are elemental beings who have a crystal for a brain. When a Devourer eats a Dragon, they ditch the parts they don't need, and then they can become a biological version of themselves. Then their Children become Dagons, and Dragons made this all possible being how they are why Devourers exist."

"Very well, not like anything'll change with me knowing this stuff."

"Though I must ask, where did Ominomgon come from? Surely he didn't just come into existence."

"..."

"No way."

"He simply came into existence; it is possible for beings to be born from planets and even the void, space as you call it."

"But if he was born in space, from nothing, then that shouldn't let him create."

"That is just how it is," Shard replied.

I felt something behind me; it staying only for a moment.

"Can you tell me what happens when we die?" I asked.

"I can not tell you what happens to Human souls, though I can tell you what happens to Dragons."

"Sure, it may be similar," I replied.

"When Dragons die, their souls are carried to the undead kingdom by Harvesters and become undead Dragons. They are stripped away until nothing of themselves is left; they are then sent back to Ominomgon, who holds them until a Dragon egg needs to hatch."

"So these, Harvesters move souls around?"

"Yes, and they can only be seen by those that are near-death. Harvesters are black faceless beings with tentacles, if that helps."

"There are stories of people seeing white maws before they die, that means souls aren't being moved, and there can't be a place like that one here. So Soul-devourers are formed from the dead," I chuckled to myself, "so even the dead want us dead."

"Then how are Humans able to be born?" Shard asked this time.

"Guess we can create souls then," I thought for a moment, "what happens if a Dragon egg doesn't get a soul?"

"Then a Devourer is created, due to the egg's energy not being able to sustain itself, the core inside breaks."

"I think that's the same for us; a mother can be eaten inside out, quite rare though, I guess soul-less flesh leads to a Devourer. You know, Variant Shifters born here are killed on sight; they think they have no soul and well look like Monsters. Makes you think about what'll happen when we meet Dragons."

"There will be those who hate you and those who do not," Shard answered.

"So our situation with the Fualows is possible," I said.

I saw Chubens body sway, "we're Monsters that protect and support people, but we're still Monsters; I know that total peace isn't possible. A person may have a hatred of Monsters. I mean, you have walls to keep my race out, and my kind all doesn't serve this place; some Hunters may have had their friends killed by a Fualow who serves a master of another city."

"Come on, don't think like that," I said, "the best thing you can do is stay yourself; you can't expect everyone to agree."

Chuben nodded.

"Is there anything else you wish to know?" Shard asked.

"I know everything relating to Dragons and magic."

I sighed, "ok, tell me about my mother. What is she?"

"When humanity was young, Enor, the same Dragon who wishes to destroy this place, saw the potential your kind had. Now Dragons and Humans had made peace between themselves, the Humans harvesting the mechanical and arcane Dragons for technology and power sources. The other Dragons maintained the world and allowed Humans to use the resources."

"Isn't Enor the one who birthed the first arcane Dragons? Where are you going with this?"

"I am getting there. Enor saw this peace but believed that with Humans coming from Dragons, they could return and even expand the Dragon race. He started by creating the Draan, the first being a girl given the blood of Pyrordial, the fire Primordial; she could use magic but in time lost herself. Though Enor wanted their humanity intact, he still saw it as a success; many Dragons also learned about Draan and saw them as the next step. The creation of the Draan restarted the war once more."

I gritted my fangs but let Shard continue.

"He then tried giving elemental energy stipped of Dragon data and consciousness and placed the energy within nine children, an element for each. These children became known as the Infinants due to their near-infinite power and infants when they received it. They are immortal, ever-changing, and their children brought magic and shifting into the world. One of them being your mother. She is the Infinant of the undead element."

"You could have just said that," I replied.

"It is just I got inspired for all those flat movers you watch. Was it good?"

"Yeah, it was pretty good," I ground my fangs, "so that bastard Enor caused..."

All of a sudden, I heard something crash into the city, and I hit the floor.

"MONSTER ATTACK, MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE NEAREST SHELTER!"

The noise stunned me, and the windows switched to the outside to reveal a thick pale-orange laser breaking through the roof and punching through home-houses.

I saw the ground rise and c***k feeling the floor shake as it did. Orange shone through the cracks, and not long after, the ground erupting sending it and all debris into the sky. They then fell as meteors and destroyed what they stuck.

It was then that I fell off my chair and, looking up, saw a giant line of silver might cutting towards me. The blade just missed me as it sliced my building in two, and looking up, I saw it unleash more in a barrage.

I saw that it was serpentine with six large wings and bladed arms as it soared down its tail whipping as it plummeted with blades outstretched.

"RUN!" The sirens blared.