Mimic Awakening

"Have you ever considered serving me?"

When Azrael states those words, both Zyren and Dareon tense up and stare at Azrael with hostility. For them, what he just said is extremely offensive, and they cannot just let him disrespect their master any longer.

"Watch your mouth, young man." Zyren expresses his displeasure as he points his staff at Azrael. "You may have overwhelmed us, but that doesn’t mean we have to submit to you."

"I would say the same thing," Dareon seconds Zyren’s words. "We have been tasked to protect the sacred land with all our lives. You have to walk over our dead body before you can take a step on it."

"Say the one who attacked me first," Azrael retorts to Dareon. "Also, aren’t both of you already dead? Nevermind."

"Zyren, may I have a word?" Probably cannot just stand any longer, Claire speaks up. "Giving up the island is the best thing you could do considering that you approached and then attacked us without stating your intentions. Let us hear your side."

Azrael has heard Dareon’s reason why he attacked them, and he finds that it was plausible for Dareon to do that given his nature. In addition, he has never been hostile to him before, during, and after they fought until Azrael suggested they should start serving him.

Dareon’s case is explainable, but Azrael cannot say the same for Zyren. Based on their interactions so far, both of them have possibly lived for a long time. Both of them must have a lot of experience and possess a certain level of knowledge, especially with Zyren. So Azrael concludes that they would not just attack them without any reason.

"Yeah. I want you to explain yourself first," Azrael concurs. "Firstly, how did you even find us in the first place? The ocean is so vast that even two floating islands should not have met."

"Very well."

When the confrontation turns into questioning, Zyren eventually stops pointing his staff at Azrael.

"A while ago, I sensed a powerful magic outburst from far away. Though it was faint, I could feel that the source must be immensely powerful, especially considering how isolated we were."

A powerful magic release? Could it be my final attack against Vordoth? Azrael wonders to himself.

"So you went here to check it out yourself?" Claire says; she is skeptical.

"That’s right. Also, I was not only interested in that powerful magic; I wanted to know why I could sense the traces of the Evil God’s mana along with it."

"!"

As if in front of an exploding bomb, Azrael and Claire tense up and widen their eyes as they are caught off guard by the elder lich’s words. Seeing their reactions, Zyren can say that they know something about it.

"Judging by your faces, it seems like you knew a thing or two about it."

"You knew the Evil God," Azrael asks.

"Of course. Though not personally, I knew that he was the god responsible for the creation of dungeons all over the world."

"Wait," Claire chimes in. "So you attacked us because you sensed the Evil God’s mana here? That is kind of unreasonable."

"For that part, other than pinpointing the source of the magical explosion, it might be my fault for trying to find out how magic has progressed in these times. If the cast of that powerful magic was there, I could not help myself but test them."

"He’s right," Dareon agrees. "The same as him, I also want to fight tough opponents since all we could fight these thousands of years are monsters from both the sky and the ocean. I have been itching for a fight, and, unfortunately, I ended up in this poor state after tasting the power of this young fellow there."

Zyren checks on Dareon’s state once more and realizes how battered he is. Zyren knows that Dareon would not give up a rough fight without activating his multipliers. If the undead knight ended up in that situation, Zyren has to reevaluate how powerful Azrael can be.

"Young man, judging by the amount of mana in your body earlier, I have a feeling that you are the one who created that powerful magic outburst back then. You could not deny that since I also felt the same energy earlier, albeit it was weaker this time."

"So what if it’s me?" Azrael responds. "What is your deal with the evil god, by the way?"

Azrael tries to shift the topic back to Zyren. He wants to know what kind of relationship Zyren and Dareon have with Vordoth before he can decide whether to reveal his encounter with the god or not.

"Very well. I will tell you the things you want to know. Though it might be a long story..."

◆◇◆◇◆◇

More than twenty thousand years ago, there was a prosperous nation situated on the western side of the continent of Revoria. With a temperate climate and vast arable lands, the Empire of Fulzion had become one of the most powerful nations at that time.

It was the nation where Zyren and Dareon resided when they were still living as humans. They both serve a noble of the empire, working as the personal advisor and bodyguard under their lord, respectively.

At that time, they were the most powerful people in the fiefdom, but they were far weaker than the powerhouses around the world. Nevertheless, they served their lord for years and protected his territory from outside threats.

Primeval magic was the main magic system as long as they could remember. But the primeval energy in the magiasphere was gradually thinning out for mysterious reasons. At the time of Zyren and Dareon, the potency of magic had fallen, and the number of magic casters continued to decline.

Even with less magic, the continent was pretty much chaotic at the time, and wars were waged within a few years. The map changed occasionally as nations kept disappearing and popping up over time.

The Empire of Fulzion had powerful neighbors such as the demonic empire and the elven nation, with a portion of them somewhat still standing in the current time. They had a diplomatic relationship with the elven nation and were in peace with the elves.

Even though the empire was on bad terms with the demonic nation, the massive mountain range between them acted as a natural barrier to prevent them from invading one another.

One day, two ridiculously powerful beings descended on the continent, specifically, in the Empire of Fulzion. Those two beings were Veleriz and Vordoth, the duo who possessed energy this world had never seen. To the people of this world, they thought that those two were godlike beings who descended into the world.

At the beginning, the two gods were helping humanity by defeating powerful monsters they had no chance to fight with. Later on, the people of this world started worshipping the two for their actions.

But the people mostly praised Veleriz for his more beautiful appearance and kindness. Vordoth was not going to accept that, and he began envying Veleriz. A few years after their arrival, Vordoth could not handle being second to Veleriz, and he planned to kill him.

A great war broke out between the two gods and their followers. The scope of the war included the whole world.

However, during the fight between the two gods, the Empire of Fulzion was entirely destroyed and eventually turned into a barren land. But before it was fully destroyed, the capital sacrificed thousands of mages to make the capital and the area float in the air and move it eastwards.

Feeling left out, the lord that Zyren and Dareon were serving resented the empire and sacrificed hundreds of his mages to do the same spell. Seeking revenge later, they moved to the south before beginning their journey around the world.

Veleriz eventually sealed Vordoth under the depths of the planet. However, Vordoth was persistent. Since the seal was not perfect, he leaked his powers through the cracks and created dungeons to summon countless monsters throughout the world.

As legends had it, Veleriz sacrificed himself to fuse his whole existence with the remaining existing primeval energy in the magiasphere, creating a new but more complicated magic system that is still widely used to this day.

The defeat of Vordoth was also the defeat of his followers. Since the winners wrote history, the followers of Veleriz persecuted Vordoth’s followers and even branded their god as an evil god.

They later forbade the use of primeval magic as it was mistakenly associated with the evil god, who was remarkably known for refusing to use Veleriz’s magic. The new magic system took over the world, and primeval magic gradually vanished in history.

When the magic was widely available again, the floating empire went back to the continent to create more floating islands. Years later, a coup took over the capital, and the imperial family was kicked off the throne.

The reign of the Empire of Fulzion ended, and a new nation was established. Several rebellions occurred on the floating archipelago for tens of thousands of years until they settled it with the Kingdom of Laevern more than a thousand years ago.

When Zyren and the others heard the news of the fall of Fulzion, they had lost their reasons for revenge and decided to isolate themselves from the civilization.

While traveling over the ocean, the floating island is ambushed by a powerful and massive sea monster. Zyren and Dareon defeated the monster in a brutal fight but died afterwards.

Consumed by his grief, their lord desperately used a forbidden primeval magic spell to resurrect them as undead. The spell took such a great toll on his body that he eventually succumbed to death. Before his last breath, their lord has given them the mission to protect their land at all costs.