Chapter 62: Demon kings and heroes
"Since the dragons have lived for so long, we have information about the demons and much more, but for now, I want you to see what the ancient demons are," Lily said. She flew into the air and took out one of the several books on the shelves, then she flew down and handed it to Silva.
Silva took the book and then took a seat. He opened it up and started reading.
Gods exist, and they watch over all life. They are believed to be the ultimate form of life. But not all gods are good and gracious. In fact, many are terrible and have no care for other lives. These are regarded as the evil gods.
Evil gods are gods that have fallen from their initial grace and goodness and have taken it upon themselves to reap the souls of all life. In many places, they are referred to as devils, but they are just evil gods. However, evil gods are as important as gods.
A god is a being that lives eternally, and so, it becomes hard over eons to keep helping races of lesser beings that refuse to listen. If there were no evil gods, gods would have no opponents, and as such, the boredom would lead them to try to create an evil that would challenge them. The lesser beings would bear the brunt of the destruction, and the god would fall to become an evil god.
Then again, are evil gods truly bad, and are gods really good? To a lesser race, they may want to see it that way, but no, they are neither truly bad nor good.
The only difference is one seeks to keep the balance, and the other seeks to destroy it. It doesn't matter if destroying the balance will save lives; the god will not allow it.
At this point, is he a god anymore? Is he good or just selfish?
A mere mortal may never understand what an evil god is or what a god is because gods and evil gods revolve around a single law called Order. A law that is said to be before the gods, a law by which they all take their standing and make their decisions.
Due to all this, a god can't disrupt order to save anyone, and to combat this, they created the races of Angels and Demons. Every world and every dimension has its own type of angels and demons.
In this world, the goddess Ophelia made the ancient demons and the celestials. She did it with the help of an evil god, whose record no one knows.
These two races became the holders of balance. They battled for as long as they lived, and they couldn't defeat each other. This became the new order.
But soon, by some mysterious means, the order was destroyed, as a new, extremely powerful race came to be and aided the demons.
The dragons, and then all other beasts, started aiding the dragons and the demons as well, and this offset the balance.
Because of this, the only race that chose to help the celestials were the humans, and this created a mighty disorder. This disorder became something that the goddess had to fix.
And so, she created two realms: the Abyss and the Heavens. She sent all the ancient demons into the Abyss, and then she sent the celestials into the Heavens.
She wanted the normal races to be separated from the two major races. But that was far from the end, because from the realms of Heaven and the Abyss, the celestials and the demons reached out.
This brought about the creation of the Heroes and the Demon Kings.
The heroes were humans chosen by the celestials to bear their will and be the keepers of order, whereas the demon kings were chosen by the demons.
In every generation, an equal number of heroes and demon kings are born, and this is what has kept the peace for every generation.
Any generation where the heroes or demon kings are fewer than the other, a great war will break out, and the stronger side will dominate until the next generation comes.
A demon king can be from any race that is not human, whereas the heroes can only be human.
This new system is what has regulated the peace and has allowed order to be retained. No one knows how long this will stay.
Silva closed the book. He had gotten the information he needed for now. He looked at Elsa and spoke.
"Those men said that they came here because there was a demon lord candidate here. What does that mean?" Silva asked.
"Hmm, that would mean a new generation is starting, and the search for the hero candidates and the demon king candidates will start soon.
These people might want to offset the order. If there is really a demon king candidate here, then it would make sense. If they got him or her, they would be able to make the humans have a headway by killing him, or help the demons by supporting the demon king candidate, depending on their plans," Elsa explained.
"The first Dark Dragon was a demon king, known for his powerful abyss magic. During his reign, he rose to become the first demon lord.
A demon lord is a being almost as powerful as an ancient demon, or more to be honest.
He offset the balance, even with equal numbers of heroes and demon kings. He led the other demons, and during that time, humans were heavily subjugated," Drake said.
"Hmm, for humans to still survive, how come?" Silva asked, considering they were only one race.
"That's because half of the world is made up of humans, and they keep giving birth. Elves have low birth rates, the same as dragons and other races.
Only beings like goblins can keep up, but female goblins are rare, so goblins kidnap women to have their children.
But with how weak they are, it is hard for goblins to make a lot of children because they are killed in large numbers," Elsa explained.
[You have learned information about your function from goddess Ophelia.]
[You are on the right path.]