The giant dragon stood under the town gate, thick clouds of smoke spreading from his heavily armoured body. The yellow light flickered all over his body, especially inside his mouth, with three magical pulsing squares inside.
Suddenly a thin and bright golden ray erupted from the dragon’s mouth filled with bright light. The thin golden line split the plain around the town in half, the line vanishing under the trees in the distant forest. The line was bright, pulsing in golden light, looking like a laser beam. Its temperature was immense, with the air around it shivering. A repetitive buzzing sound was coming out, spreading through the whole plain.
The bright ray was thin but glowing in such a bright light that it hurt just to look at it, its bright golden light illuminating almost the whole plain. The clouds of steam rose along its entire length as the surrounding raindrops evaporated. The dragon slightly turned his head, the thin ray moving together with it.
‘This must look ridiculous to fire such a thin ray from such a large mouth.’
The dragon moved his head rapidly, the ray moving like a laser cutter. The thin bright ray moved through the horde of demons in a bright golden flash, cutting through their bodies.
Everything looked as if nothing had happened. Vesuvius even doubted if his attack had reached the demons.
“Graaaaa!” a cacophony of painful cries erupted from the dozens of demons as they suddenly fell apart, their bodies split in half, falling onto the muddy ground. Trees in the distance fell all over each other simultaneously as if someone had triggered a domino. Loud cracking and banging echoed from the forest.
[+310XP]
[+320XP]
[+300XP]
…
Ding!
//
You are now level 34
All stats increased!
+5 stat points
+1 ability point
//
The dragon moved his head covered in beautiful shiny scales littered with glowing letters. The thin golden ray beaming out of his mouth moved with it as if it was attached to it.
The streak of gold flashed through the horde of demons once more, and more demons fell to the ground as if he had a stupidly long sword in his mouth. The demons on the whole side of the town fell apart. Their bodies were cut in half as the golden ray swept through them. Their upper halves were still moving, their painfully cries filling the whole plain.
[+310XP]
[+320XP]
[+300XP]
…
Ding!
//
You are now level 35
All stats increased!
+5 stat points
+1 ability point
//
The cracks spread through the first square, a screeching sound coming from it. Vesuvius immediately dispelled all three circuits.
‘Ohhh, my, if nothing else, these lesser demons are a great source of an XP.’
A large grin grew on the dragon’s face, his reptilian eyes shining in golden light as he thought about his new spell. He couldn’t help but feel pleased with its effects as it was cheap, easy to use, with an extensive range and highly destructive power.
Seeing the brutal death of their brethren, all of the demons stopped their attack on the town, their loud squeals echoing everywhere as they changed their direction, running into the forest, the swarms of red dots quickly vanishing in the dark shadows of the trees.
Lesser demons were violent and wild, but they were not suicidal, especially if there weren’t strong enough demons nearby that could command them. They were willing to fight brutally with high casualties on their side, but they weren’t as stupid as to fight someone they had no chance of defeating.
The silence fell upon the town before loud cheers of survivors erupted. Lines of people on the wall were eagerly waving their weapons, throwing their helmets as the red dots vanished in the dark and thick forest.
The golden radiance around the dragon slowly faded away, and the red hell fires spread around the town were quickly diminishing without demons to sustain them.
The cheers quieted down almost immediately as the people saw the destruction left by the demons. Sections of the wall were turned into dust, and roofs of the houses were burning, thick smoke drifting above the town. Blood flowed down the stone streets, and mutilated corpses were piled around the walls.
The dragon flapped his leathery wings covered in dozens of glowing letters and leapt into the air. Clouds of dust were rising from where he launched. His eyes looked at the town under him, the pungent odour of rot, death and smoke carried by the wind entering his nostrils.
His eyes were focused on the burning town, ‘My town is burning… this way, my taxes will go to hell.’
During the golden age of dragons, it wasn’t uncommon for the dragons to turn surrounding human settlements into their tributaries, collecting hefty “taxes” from them. In exchange, dragons considered such a town their property, defending it from anyone that would disrupt their income.
The dragon’s mouth opened in a grin, the yellow magma dripping out of them and raining upon the ground like an apocalyptic rain, ‘I can easily use this to cement my image with the local population.’
The dragon flapping his wings, rose high into the air, levitating above the town. An aura erupted from his body, descending upon the town.
All of the eyes looked at him, hundreds… no thousands of human gazes glued on his smoke-covered body.
The dragon opened his mouth, pushing his mana into his vocal cords. “Mortals, I am elder wyrm Vesuvius, the messenger of the dragon god!” his thundering voice descended upon the town, all of the air vibrating in magic carried by that voice.
“And I will save your town…” loud cheers erupted from the people, but the dragon continued.
“Silence, mortals!” as if struck by the bullet, everyone quieted down, their bodies trembling, “But as a messenger of the dragon god, I will not work for free. Remember this, mortals. There is never anything truly free in this world. There is only difference if you know the price beforehand or not!”
Vesuvius had a long time to think about spreading the faith in the dragon god while preserving the nature of the dragons it worshipped. Charity and benevolence were never a creed of dragons, and to make it a message of their religion would be just blasphemy.
Eventually, the dragon realised what would be the central pillar of the dragon cult, ‘Pray and Pay!’
In his mind, the cult would set prices for their services. Ranging from the cheapest, like healing or blessings, to the more expensive ones, like hiring cult forces to take care of a “problem.”
‘This feels lots like some company… believers hiring priests with gold.’
Vesuvius couldn’t but feel like something like that was entirely like dragons and their progenitor and god.
“Pray and pay mortals. I will not spread false charity, hiding corruption happening behind the scenes. There will be fair payment and a guarantee of service! Worship the greatest dragon god and their draconic servants to gain tangible benefits! “
Murmurs spread in the crowd, people whispering between themselves.
“As expected of a greedy wyrm…”
“Why? It seems fair to me. Do you think that we humans would risk our lives for free?”
“No, but angels would do it for free!”
“Shut up, I don’t know if you do, but I can’t see any angels here.”
Vesuvius wasn’t naive, thinking that the newly created dragon cult could just survive in a world filled with prominent and influential churches. He knew he needed a new and catchy concept like this that would separate him from the rest of the churches. He knew that many people would despise it and be unable to afford it, but that wasn’t the point. He just needed to convert a portion of them that could afford it.
In his mind, he felt that it was like free healthcare versus paid one.
He could see the benefits of such a system. Dragon Cult would always provide tangible results for a fixed and fair price.
The dragon’s thundering voice shook the town, all of the murmurs vanishing. “Mortals, you are paying churches large donations and gifts, hoping they will heal you or your family member without any guarantee! In the dragon church, you will pay a fixed price for these services with a guarantee of delivering them!”
,m Loud shouts erupted between the people on the streets and the walls.
“The wyrm is right! I donated ten gold coins to the church of light last year, and they still ignored my sick daughter this year!”
“Shut up, you heretic. You weren’t just pious enough!”
“How dare you. Have you seen their priest today? He was a demon! Like these demons that killed my brother today, and you are advocating them!” a man in the crowd punched another man, and then a fight erupted, people, kicking and punching each other in pent-up frustration.
Vesuvius felt like it would be even fairer than the church of light, where people bribed priests in shadows to gain priority for their services. So why not just make it without all of that corruption, false preaching about charity and shady dealings?
The dragon flapped his large wings, strong winds howling above the city, pushing all of the raindrops from outside towards burning houses, concentrating them into streams of water. The streams of water surged through the air in small currents, quickly gathering into thicker ones, thick showers of water falling on the burning buildings.
The clouds of steam rose up, the flames quickly weakening.