The rule of seven, an almost common occurrence in history as a lucky number or even a universal number of which people understand and follow. From the seven days of a week to the seven deadly sins themselves, this is a story of how the seventh source of a world of fantasy earned its place and its importance.
Prologue
In the beginning there was a world untouched, all that existed were beings of a forgotten age and the elder dragons. Creatures with untold power and influence over the very balance of life and nature, given names and titles from those who fear but respect them as well. Their presence was enough to change the ecosystem around them turning wasteland to lush forest and volcanos to snowy mountains. With dramatic changes in nature monsters appeared and evolved with abilities seeming existent in only fantasy alone.
The enigma surrounding these creatures baffled the beings for how could such incredible wonders and feats be accomplished. A mind baffling mystery of how monsters, elder dragons included, have these strange abilities but not them. Thus, an obsession was born from the beings to discover all that was possible from every monster in their world with the discovery of the source of all their power.
As enough time passed this enigma was solved by an ancient civilization of multiple races, its name long forgotten called them the primal sources of nature that saw to it to obtain the control the elder dragons possessed and did so without mercy but with cruelty and greed. This power was not so easily obtained as each source had meaning or truth that allowed a connection called an arcanum, but work arounds could be made by taking specific parts from monsters which are naturally connected. Throughout their existence the ancient civilization had created monumental structures and advanced weaponry of massive devastation, all from items on elder dragons and all aimed against them. As secrets were unlocked and the ambition of this society grew, the greatest atrocity was about to be created so horrific it was aptly named the forbidden act.
For all achievements and feats, one was left for the ancient civilization to accomplish, the means to create an entire life form. Thus, an idea was formed, if their creations were reliant of the parts of monsters then they shall use them to make a creature of their own design, one that would rival the elder dragons, the equal dragon weapon. A monster of gigantic stature under the command of the ancient civilization, but to create life took life as 30 dragons had to be slaughtered to create one.
Time had come for the dragons to rise against the ancient civilization which remark as the great dragon war. The civilization needed a reminder that they were not gods, they had weaponry capable of contending, so much so that cowardice dragons fled far for they feared their demise. But the dragons that stayed fought till the end, for they were the masters of the primal sources.
Those of sun burnt the lands,
Those of moon made nighttime feared,
Those of earth shattered the ground beneath,
Those of ocean drowned the coasts,
Those of sky summoned tempests,
Those of star deceivingly guided them to demise,
Even with all the might the dragons had they were slowly killed off until one dragon, one of few connected to the seventh primal source, ended the war. The power of this dragon was measured only by the hatred it bared for humanity, and it was when the stronghold of Schrade had met its fury that it was given its name. As a crimson storm had settled above castle Schrade a dark silhouette was spotted, from the shape a light was seen and before anyone could retaliate a great flame had drowned the lands, metal melting in mere seconds, people turned to charcoal.
This day a legend was born of the greatest enemy to all life itself, the rise of the wyvern of destruction, the beginning of the wyvern of destiny, the infamous master of the seventh source,the legend of the black dragon and he was called Fatalis.
All feared the beast of a dragon to be described as evil and with his power the decimation of the ancient civilization was inevitable. With their destruction all those remained cowered in fear and ran far from his presence for the legend of the black dragon spread full force and carved in their hearts forever as reminder they were mere prey.
Fear now ruled the fleeing survivors for when they found safety the dragons would now be their and they begged for mercy. However, these dragons saw other means, they used the fear of Fatalis to create another kingdom of which they were the masters and deceived them from the legend that was true, how easy it was to manipulate the mortified humans and elves. The deceptive dragons horded this secret from the other elder dragons, Fatalis included and claimed themselves as rulers of these new lands they named Xadia.
Grief and misery prevented the elder dragons from spying on this betrayal for the war had brought numerous extinctions of which can never be recovered. Even with the cruelty of the black dragon the war ended in a stalemate, both sides would never be able to return to their former glory. Fatalis did not care and resided at Castle Schrade as mockery to the civilization, none to dare challenge his reign, none would dare grow nor come close to the once vibrant region.
Centuries pass and the tale of the great dragon war becomes forgotten history, only mentioned in folk lore and children songs as reminder to never break the balance nature has formed. The once majestic structures created are ravaged by time becoming nothing but ruins of crumbled stone and rotten scales and bits. Humanity, however, recovered as small villages but with large holes in their history, after all who would wish to remember a horrible past when one's survival was of utmost importance.
A lost world of Xadia had been hidden by the deceitful dragons, summed up as a minor myth among men whilst the elves played with the lie for favoritism of the dragons. Generation after generation this lie was conceived as truth and the elves benefited from it, so much so to help hide their new world and becoming the closest to achieving their long lost glory only to be stuck in equilibrium with living in lie and building from truth. This state of equilibrium gave prosperous times for the elves as it gave birth to a relationship with the elder dragons, now calling themselves the arch-dragons, as allies and friends.
Humans were given far greater struggle as they were surviving so long they couldn't rebuild and fought amongst themselves for scraps of living. Hatred had grown towards the dragons as they had shown favoritism to the elves, seeing the relations between the two be rewarded with magical control for the elves sparking a catalyst of wrath. They saw fit to find their own magic but not of the six primal sources the dragons gave the elves no, the humans saw fit to master the seventh source that lingers from fear. The arch-dragons saw the seventh source as a sign of the return of the dark world they fled and there go banished the practice as its presence shall signify the return of the black dragon.
One man out of hatred and ignorance persisted in his search for dark magic, for the purpose of aiding other humans, but was unsupported in his campaign from the other in fear of angering the dragons and elves. All but one, an elf named Aaravos, a master of the six primal source who now wished to obtain the seventh source and achieve complete mastery of the primal sources. By gifting his staff to the dark mage, he would indirectly learn and absorb all manner of dark magic for the staff would never accept anyone other than their true wielder but still he could never be able to understand the arcanum, the meaning of the source.
Furious and fearful, an arch-dragon had demanded that the human would give up dark magic, attempting to convince him it was the only path forward. The human was not convinced, and the dragon's blatant arrogance only fueled his convictions to pursue the seventh source. The dragon promised the human's safety but deceived him, threatening him with the destruction of a city unless he gave up the pursuit. Before he could decide the dragon flew to enact his threat, the human retaliating with dark magic casting a ball of hell fire as suddenly the dragons flame met his. The human burned to death but not before burning the arch-dragon's eyes blinding him forever.
In response to the blinding, the elves and dragons sent every human to the western regions splitting the lands in two, the human kingdoms of the west and the magical lands of Xadia in the east. A severe response but what could be expected from the dragons as it was them that ran from the war, them who feared the presence of Fatalis, them who saw the seventh source as an atrocity, once again a war was imminent and once again it ends in a stalemate with chances of peace sliming by the day. Aaravos never got what he had achieved, his treachery discovered, forced into imprisonment forever but he waits eager to manipulate and whisper in the ears of others.
A millennium passes by, the conflicts lessoning from both worlds as the stalemates of war become a foggy story for all but one for Fatalis still sleeps in his conquered castle, memory clear as day. his presence still potent, waiting for the time to set the lands ablaze, to turn the world to ash, for he was the master of the seventh primal source.
Death