Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the next instalment of this wonderful story by Draxenath. It is entitled “Interview with the Dragon Goddess”.
Background music by Smartsound
Part 7: The Quarrelling Cities
– What would the next largest settlement be?
– This is not exactly one settlement, but eight cities, which is said belonged to a single kingdom. They are collectively called The Quarrelling Cities. The population of each individual city is quite uniform in racial distribution. There is a city mostly inhabited by humans, another by giants, another by ungulans, there is another by felids, one more by canids, another by insect-men, another by reptilians, another by avians… they are not very far from one another, and roughly in the center of that territory is a ruined castle, where it is said a king used to rule them all.
I noticed she had gone absentminded. After a couple minutes, she asked me to continue. – Each city is very different from the others, with different social organization and activities. They form a sort of synergy with each other, as each city produces something the others need.
The goddess nodded. – Humans produce technology, giants are miners and blacksmiths, insect men and ungulans are agricultural, canids and felids are hunters, avians are carpenters and hunters, reptilians are metallurgists and glassworkers. Or has anything changed?
– It has not changed at all. As for this ancient king, the lore and legends are different in each city. In fact, those differing legends are what have kept them from reunifying and have contributed to the ongoing quarrels. The legends of King Centurion. The humans claim he was human, the avians claim he was an avian, the giants claim he was a giant, the canids claim he was a canid, and so on. Each legend tells of how King Centurion liberated their people from human oppression. As for the human version, it tells of how he united them all under the same banner.
By then, I noticed the goddess’ wrinkled brow. – I would like to hear the legends. – she said. My excitement could not be greater at that time. – Do you know the real story? My understanding is it happened over a thousand years ago. I can tell you the legends, then I would be happy to hear the real story. – Draxenath nodded, remaining silent. I proceeded to relate the legends to her.
– There is a sort of basis all these legends have in common. They start in the same way: From far away came a warrior, his strength worth that of a hundred. Centurion was his name. His sword was broad like a giant meat cleaver, its hilt adorned by two intertwined dragons, its aura strengthened the worthy and weakened the unworthy. Its weight was so great no one else could wield it. He rode a dragon, as a horse had no strength to carry both him and the sword. – As I said this, I couldn’t help but look at Draxenath’s sword… it matched the description. She was nodding as I described it.
I decided not to ask anything and continued. – I will start with the Giants’ version. One day, a human woman with bright crimson hair purchased a considerable amount of giant slaves. She claimed to be a princess from far away lands and wanted the slaves for a very important task which required a lot of strength. Little did the slaves know that she was the wife of a giant warrior unlike any known even until today. This warrior had fair skin and golden hair, fierce eyes, a prominent nose, and was very tall, even for a giant, and his strength had no equal, he was called Centurion The Courageous. – Draxenath had a very unusual smile. Was she entertained? It seemed like something else. Nostalgia maybe? I was not able to tell for sure. Maybe it was a fun fact for her that she matches that general description as well.
– He trained the slaves in wrestling,
