Pillar of Yita

”The Lizardman prophets have foretold that the Sea of Light is about to extinguish, and coupled with astrologers observing the birth of a new star, I suspect that the advent of the Star of Calamity has begun.” Kalatu paused, listening to the slow creaking of the wooden cabin beneath his feet, then raised his head, his deep gaze fixed beyond the stern window.

”There lies the Streamflame Constellation, where a sixth magnitude star, the Dark Star, often blinks. Although the astrological phenomena of Eteliria today are vastly different from ten years ago, observing the birth of a new star is still a rare occurrence.”

Fang Hong listened to the speaker’s story, lifting his gaze from the Light Page in front of him, and asked, ”I’ve heard this term more than once, but what exactly is ’Verdant’ in history? What is the Star of Calamity, and how did it bring the Dark Giant Dragon, Giants, and Naga to Eteliria?”

”When Verdant arrived, the Catastrophe of Aithelin occurred, what exactly happened?”

”The notes left by predecessors are vague, so few can answer this question now. But I have still found some documents from that era, and the advent of the Star of Calamity seems to be the beginning of a series of catastrophes, divided into two stages. The first stage is the Year of Disaster—”

”When the Year of Disaster arrives, Eteliria will undergo a series of changes as omens of catastrophe. Unprecedented long droughts, earthquakes, great floods, locust plagues, until mountains and rivers shift, stars fall, long days and long nights, celestial anomalies—a thousand and three hundred years ago, Elf Mages recorded the largest starfall event in history—the comet ’Red Tail’ fell into Alzeya.”

”The comet’s fall created what is today’s Great Rift Valley in the south of the Empire, and over a thousand years later, the consequences of this event are still clearly visible—a long fracture belt, nearly severing the Osh Floating Continent in half. At that time, it was still a wilderness; if it were today, the consequences would be unimaginable—”

”Then after the Year of Disaster, comes the second stage. During the Year of Disaster, the descending Star of Calamity will continuously approach Eteliria, and when the two are close enough—a passage will open between them, ’Dark creatures surge in from the Teleportation Gate, consuming everything’ as recorded by the Numelin Empire in their documents.”

The light of the Crystal flickered briefly in the exhaustion of Magic Power, and dimmed.

The room fell into complete darkness, but after a brief moment, moonlight streamed through the stern window, casting a cold silver glow inside.

The Big Cat Person lit a pipe.

The light of a match briefly illuminated his silver-grey eyes and the scars on his face.

Moments later, only the red glow from the pipe flickered in the darkness.

And Kalatu’s calm voice gently narrated:

”In just a few years, the Dark Army swept across everything, though this is not clearly stated in documents. But it can be inferred from the constantly shifting defensive lines of the Numelin Empire in the early stages of the Giant War.”

”One letter sent to Dorxuya mentioned the appearance of the Dark Army around Beolan. ’Dorxuya’ was the heart of the Numelin Empire, where the Elf Royal Court was located, and the Beolan region should be to the north of Tarun today—”

”At that time, it was also considered the core area of the Elf Empire, similar to the Colin Plains, or the Losrian region of the Osh Empire.”

”Dark creatures,” Fang Hong looked at the others, representing everyone, asked, ”Does it refer to the Dark Giant Dragon, Giants, and Naga?”

Kalatu thought for a moment, and replied:

”It is said that in the early stages of the Giant War, there were even more powerful dark creatures, such as the twelve Primordial Giants defeated by Tarot, who in the early stages of the war were equals with Dark Giant Dragons. But by the later stages of the war, the Hill Giants, Troll Creatures, and even Ogres that the Mortal Kingdoms fought against, had already degenerated innumerable times, becoming even servants to the Dark Giant Dragons.”

”However, how strong the original dark creatures were, we can no longer know. It is just that the surviving Giants, after becoming the native species of Eteliria, still inherited the mighty power of their First Generation bloodline, from which we may glimpse a little.”

Fang Hong couldn’t help but think of those Hill Giants they encountered in the canyon, they were stupid, irritable, and could hardly be considered dark creatures anymore, but the strength they exhibited in the battle against the Spider Queen was still impressive. And this was after countless times of hybridization with local species, a degenerated and distorted product—

It is hard to imagine how strong the Primordial Giants truly were.

It made him realize why that war was called the ’Giant War’ instead of ’Giant Dragon War’, perhaps this was the reason. Although the wars waged by the Mortal Kingdoms against the Dark Giant Dragons were epic, people often overlook the fact that everything after the Catastrophe of Aithelin was already at the end of the ’Giant War.’

The Master of Chongshan, Tarot, defeated the twelve Primordial Giants and enslaved them for eternity, followers of later generations created countless works to celebrate this battle. Fang Hong recalled seeing statues depicting similar stories at the Traveler’s Rest, in Fenris and Golande—

But as a Deity, if the opponent was not strong enough, what pride is there in a victory of combat? Especially for a god as proud and arrogant as Tarot, who, although less yearning for honor than the lady of war and bravery, Marlan, would never feel complacent for defeating a few weak opponents.