Omega's Rebirth

"Mi Lady is here again." Mor’rud acknowledged.

It had quickly become his habit to come over to check on Neveah whenever he sensed she might have come in to continue on from where she left of.

Neveah glanced up at the grinning dwarf, making an effort to return his smile with a tired one of hers that did not quite hold.

"Mi Lady appears exhausted." Mor’rud pointed out.

"I came over after the training session." Neveah said.

Mor’rud nodded in understanding and then peered over at what volume Neveah had in her hands.

"Ah...the great conquests of the Asvarian beasts. I would call it a marvelling read." Mor’rud said.

"It is. Most of the events recorded date back to centuries ago." Neveah asserted.

"King Jian’s rule has known many peaceful and flourishing centuries, the people attest to it also. This is why there are no recent battles to be recorded...not until now." Mor’rud explained.

Neveah nodded in understanding, this was not the first time she would hear a testament of the excellency of King Jian’s regime.

Neveah did not doubt it at all, if there was one thing she knew of King Jian, then it was how protective he was of things that held consequence to him and what greater than his people?

"I only ever hear of the uprising and the overthrow, one would think those were the only two battles the stronghold has known." Neveah replied.

"These two conquests were the pivotal battles shaping the stronghold into what we now know it to be, hence they are indeed spoken often of. There were many battles prior to that and between those time periods." Mor’rud related.

"I see that now." Neveah agreed.

"I also see that this is not the first time the dragons would declare conquest on the hidden city..." Neveah began to say but trailed of when it dawned on her that her words could possibly be unpleasant to Mor’rud.

Mor’rud noticed Neveah’s hesitation and laughed, shaking his head slightly.

"Mi lady can ask anything yer wish to know, I will explain it to you to the best of my ability." Mor’rud assured.

"There has once been a conquest to the hidden city, yet the battle did not end decisively... the dragons had conquered every other race at the time, why did they leave the hidden city be?" Neveah asked curiously.

"Yer know, we dwarves do not have a lifespan as long as that of dragons, but I have seen my fair share of decades and over a century at the least." Mor’rud began.

"Of hundreds of events that have come and passed, that battle is one I still recall vividly. It was in that very battle I first encountered the lord of ruby scales." Mor’rud revealed.

"Menarx?" Neveah asked, placing her book aside as her interest was piqued.

"May I sit then?" Mor’rud asked with a light chuckle at Neveah’s interest and Neveah nodded without hesitation.

"Indeed. The invasion of the hidden city was not one that came as a surprise to my kind, the intent of the dragons to conquer the entire realm was established knowledge right from the uprising."

"Even more so when word of the victory of the dragons over the mer kind... the last race who dared a resistance against dragon rule and so it was known that the hidden city was next."

"However, my kind did not fret much. We were not like the other races whose territory were exposed to the dragons, ours was completely underground...a fortress that could never be accessed by enemy forces."

"Thinking back to it, I do find our confidence laughable. The dragons had just conquered the mer seas even when it was not their own habitat...yet somehow we believed our stronghold was impenetrable." Mor’rud said with a shake of his head.

"Though our confidence was not without cause, the hidden city had stood for centuries and even the dragons were at a loss...but it did not stop them, not at all." Mor’rud recalled.

"I was of the battalion sent out to guard the Northern mines from the invasion of the dragons. The Northern mines was one of the most important outposts of the hidden city."

"It was also one of the outposts that still mined the dragon killing ore against the orders of the dragon king." Mor’rud explained.

"The adamantium that hurt Menarx." Neveah murmured, understanding what the dragon killing ore was.

"Our king put up a great resistance against the subjugation of the dragons, swearing never to bow his head and solidifying our resolve."

"To resist the dragons, it was of absolute importance to protect our adamantium mines... adamantium was our only hope against the dragons." Mor’rud continued.

"Thousands of us were ready to put our lives on the line to protect our outpost even when we knew the battle was not in our favor... particularly for those of us who had left the safety of the city walls to the mines."

"The very mines that were the great wrath of the dragon kind."

"All for the faith we entrusted in our king, we were the line of defence above surface." Mor’rud said.

"What happened then?" Neveah asked when Mor’rud went silent.

"It was the fifth day since the war bells were tolled when my battalion caught our very first sight of the glorious beasts of asvar..."

"We had anticipated a flock but when a lone massive shadow flew overhead, blocking out the sunlight and casting the mine in pitch darkness, the only light being streaks of ruby red reflected of the beast’s scales... we knew a flock was never needed."

"The dragon king had begun the battle with the intent to win, he had sent to us one of the most lethal dragon lords... the cruel ruby, famed Northern dragon warrior and king’s guard."

"We knew it then... that we had lost before the battle even begun, and so when the earth shook in response to his enraged roar and the first wave of scorching hot flames rained down on the mines... I made peace with my fate, I would not return home alive." Mor’rud recalled.