"To explain what we have to gain by you succeeding, we have to start at the beginning. The very beginning of dragons." Jormun said with his devilish smile.

  "Thousands upon thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of years ago, the universe came to be. Not the one you came from, Mafu, but this one." Jormun was now gesturing with his hands in a grand manner, enraptured by his own story.

  "For untold ages, there existed nothing but the stars and the planets, the celestial bodies." His devilish smile turned into somewhat of a grin.

  "Then, what we call the Second Birth happened. The first birth was, of course, the universe. The Second Birth spawned 8 beings out of the primordial dust. Out of it, my true siblings and I spawned."

  "There was me, the draconic aspect of water. My two brothers, the aspects of fire and earth. And finally, my only sister, the aspect of wind. Alongside us, the universe came to life. All manner of microscopic life was born."

  Mafu was listening through Jod, frankly quite stunned. If the story so far was true, Jormun was more of a deal than he had previously thought. But why was he here then? Mafu was about to ask when Jormun continued.

  "We spent countless years drifting from planet to planet, with no real goal in mind. We were curious beings, not the beings of destruction that most people think dragons are. Meanwhile, there were the other four."

  "The four beings who were not dragons had been born at the same time, yet we never saw them and have not ever seen them. As life started sprouting throughout the universe, they remained hidden. They remained idle in the vacuum of space, never setting foot on a planet."

  Jormun sat down in his seat again.

  "We were curious, of course. Were these long-lost siblings? Were they something else? Yet when we tried to approach them, they simply retreated. We decided to leave them alone, as they weren't actually... doing anything."

  "Then, one day, a burst of power emanated throughout the universe. It was the others, who seemed to emanate a new sort of energy. We decided to call this energy "mana." It was overwhelming, penetrating, all-encompassing."

  Jormun had a look on his face of something akin to sorrow for a second, but it soon passed.

  "Every few hundred years, this burst happened again. Always emanating from the others. Eventually, the amount of mana was too much, and planets started collapsing. Stars went supernova, and black holes formed. Cataclysmic events were a daily occurrence."

  "But the universe is not so easy to break. In response, mana formed to create the first gods. Simple gods, really. Gods of the forests, the valleys, and the mountains. I once met a god of blueberry bushes. Each god consumed a small amount of mana, lessening the impact of the cataclysmic events."

  "The gods, not one to trust their own kin, did not want more gods. So they created creatures that could consume mana. Thus humans came to be."

  Nidh?gg disrupted Jormun with:

  "Your story is dragging on; get to it."

  Jormun nodded slightly and then continued.

  "It was around this time, when humans arose, that I cut off a part of myself to create Nidh?gg. We did not have the powers of creation that the gods were granted, but with sacrifice most things are possible."

  "It was slightly later, when the first civilizations were established, that my brother Surtan became a god. He was the aspect of fire and is the one most responsible for the dragons being thought of as destructive. We did not understand how he had become a god, but soon found it out."

  "He had subjugated a few planets and had the humans living there worship him. They sang his praises, sacrificed their firstborn to him, things like that." Jormun physically waved his hand, as if to make the horrible reality of human sacrifice disappear.

  "As a god of destruction, he kept subjugating planets and soon was one of the most powerful gods. This is where our current predicament started. In response to the approaching god of destruction, some gods decided to seek power in a new form."

  "They started consuming human souls. Usually, human souls reincarnate without their memories, a slate wiped clean. But through consuming the souls of intelligent beings, these few gods gained immense power. It was not temporary. Every soul consumed made them stronger forever."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Nidh?gg had left at some point and now came back with tea and a platter of fruit. She dropped it off and soon returned to her spot next to Jormun.

  "This created a rift between the gods. Those who saw the folly in consuming human souls, as the cycle of reincarnation would eventually break if it continued. And those that cared not for the consequences, simply seeking power."

  "Our brother turned god decided to join those who consumed souls, rather than those protecting them."

  "We remaining three siblings had kept out of the business of gods but now felt compelled to act. Our brother was our business, after all. All three of us joined with those that became known as the "Gods of the Cycle."

  "It was a long, bloody war. Planets collapsed, their surfaces scorched clean of even the smallest organism. Gods fell too, as the only thing that could kill a god was either a dragon or a more powerful god. But after what felt like an endless age, the gods of the cycle was pushed to the brink."

  "The gods of consumption had gotten too strong, owing to the ritual of soul sacrifice. So the gods of the cycle came up with a new idea. They themselves chose to sacrifice. As I said earlier, most things can be achieved through sacrifice. And the most potent sacrifice turns out to be self-sacrifice."

  "All the gods of the cycle sacrificed themselves to imprison the gods of consumption in the center of the universe. To keep them imprisoned for eternity, a system was put in place to harvest the energy needed to sustain it. Nowadays it is simply called "The System."

  Mafu felt a lightbulb light up in his head. He had wondered about the origins of the system but had let it go, as researching it would have taken both his sanity and time.

  But how did it harvest power? Did it not give Mafu power?

  "But the system doesn't seem to harvest any power from me?" Mafu exclaimed.

  "No, it does not. Not right now." Jormun's devilish grin returned. "But what of earlier?"

  Earlier? Since he became a mushroom, he had felt that the system only gave him power.

  "Earlier? No, it did not harvest any from me even then."

  Jormun gave a short laugh at Mafu's confusion and continued.

  "Not your mushroom self. When you were on this "Earth." Did you enjoy using the abundant mana flowing there?"

  Mafu felt a shiver going down his spine. The system existed on earth?

  "No. It took power from there?"

  Jormun took a bite of an apple and looked as if he was trying to think of how to say his next words.

  "Yes and no. You can think of Earth as a farm of sorts. It is the soil in which souls grow. You are then picked and replanted in this universe. You get to live out your life enjoying the use of mana and skills. At the end of your life, your soul is then harvested for the power you brought with you from Earth."

  "It is not perfect. I and my siblings had many discussions with the gods of the cycle before the system was put in place. But, in the end, it is better than breaking the cycle and consuming your soul. The most cruel part about the system is not what happens here, but rather that the farm worlds cannot be aided by mana or divine intervention at all."

  Mafu was deep in thought but resurfaced for a second to point out:

  "Well, divine intervention does not seem to work in this universe either." His tone was bitter, as his experience with gods so far had been less than stellar.

  Jormun gave a short, dry laugh.

  "True. Yet that is here, on these worlds. There are other worlds that are close to utopia. Gods do fail, but those who succeed are no longer on a world fragment."

  No longer on a world fragment? So the gods of these world fragments are failed gods who have yet to succeed.

  "You still have not told me why you want me to succeed." Mafu reminded Jormun.

  Jormun looked surprised and quickly gathered himself and then continued:

  "Oh, right. My dear brother turned god did not feel like losing alone, so his last act before being imprisoned was to curse us siblings in his wrath. He banished us to the fragments of destroyed worlds and bound us here."

  "The only way for us dragon aspects to be free of this curse is if the fragments are combined, something that is entirely out of our control, as the curse forbids us from helping in the matter. So, I have waited for someone to arrive that can conquer the fragments and bring me along for the ride."

  "And that someone is me? How many have come before me?" Mafu asked.

  "Oh, about ten prospects maybe?" Jormun said.

  "Fourteen." Nidh?gg corrected.

  Jormun focused on his apple again as Mafu was hard at work digesting all this new information that he had learned.

  "And, none of them have managed to conquer three fragments?" Mafu asked.

  "No, two of them did." Jormun answered.

  "Huh?" Mafu replied in a confused manner.

  "You have seen the size of Nidh?gg in her dragon form. That is not her true form, as her true form is at the very least ten times bigger. When I am in my true form, her true form would be less than a gnat in size compared to me." Jormun paused and looked at Mafu intensely.

  Then he continued:

  "The next thing you should keep in mind is that the system values free will above most things. Even though it might not seem like it, you can always say no. If the system does something you disagree with, you simply need to clearly focus your mind and say no. Most likely, the system will not do whatever it is you disagreed with."

  "That is good information, yet I do not quite understand why you are telling me this. What happened with the two people who combined the world fragments?" Mafu asked again.

  "Any more information I give you will be regarded as me helping you, and then it would defeat the point of me telling you all I've told you today."

  Jormun stood up and walked closer to Mafu.

  He stared at Mafu in a very intense manner and said,

  "Just know that I like to save the best things for last. Be it a meal, an event, or information. It is about time you head back down the mountain now."

  With that, Jormun walked off and disappeared down a stairwell that Mafu had previously not seen.

  Nidh?gg followed soon after, and Mafu was left on the mountaintop sanctuary alone, wondering about the abrupt end to the conversation.