Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 513 Snake and Fire

After the two envoys left, the Serpent God Temple was completely silent, except for the occasional bubbling of lava.

The giant serpent Egrid lay quietly coiled on the seabed of lava, its jet-black body resembling a ring of mountains rising from the earth. Its long, rhythmic breaths were like the rumble of the earth's veins, as if it were not an independent life form, but rather a part of this world, every breath and every tremor intimately connected to the entire volcano.

People have made countless speculations about the origin of this amazing giant serpent, but only the serpent itself knows that the name "Aegare" was not given out of thin air.

As the source of life in the border region, the Furnace Tree's golden-red cracked trunk above the ground is the "Furnace of Life" in the conventional sense. The Furnace Tree is found all over the world, and its endless root system, used to absorb runes and nurture life, extends into the vast underground channels, which are the Furnace Veins that are almost unknown to later generations.

If the ancient dragons and giants were the original life forms conceived in the Forge of Life, then hybrids, humans, demi-humans, Ude people, ancestral spirits, subspecies mountain demons, and other birds, beasts, flowers, insects, and fish that roam the world are the countless branches that subsequently branched out from the Forge Tree. Together, they constitute the native races of the Borderlands, ranking alongside the Star-Moon races that descended more than three thousand years ago as the two major sources of world civilization.

However, the process of the Forge Tree nurturing life did not continue indefinitely. By the early years of the Star-Moon Era, the rate at which the Forge Tree nurtured new life had slowed considerably. At that time, most scholars believed that the ecology of all races in the world had reached saturation and perfection. The Forge, as the source of all life, sensed the changes of the times and thus returned the right of survival of the fittest and the succession of life to its children.

From then on, the furnace no longer gave birth to new races, and all beings, whether evolving or regressing, were left to their own survival and reproduction.

But Egray knew that this trend might be inevitable, but the end of the furnace no longer giving birth to life was not determined by the borderlands themselves. Everything started with that golden meteor that fell from the sky.

The publicly available histories of the three dynasties have blurred the concepts of the Golden Tree and the Forge Tree. Many people after the Golden Age even believed that the Golden Tree was the origin of all spirits in the world.

However, only the true children of the Forge understand that from the moment the golden meteor named "Elden" fell into the cracked heart of the Forge Tree, it was an invasion from beginning to end.

Both originating from outer space, the God of the Three Moons and the Star Moon Clan chose to descend upon a small island isolated overseas, gradually gaining consensus and understanding with the inhabitants of the border region. But when did that so-called God of Gods, the golden beast that reigns supreme, ever give the people "blessed" by Him the true right to choose?
Two thousand three hundred and sixteen years ago, when a meteor fell on the heart of the tree, the cracked giant tree began to heal, grow, and grow stronger. Countless newly sprouted golden leaves descended with warm, blessed light upon the borderlands. Apart from the dragons who had moved out of part of the heart of the tree earlier, and the giants who had given up the method of being born through the furnace, all people regarded the Supreme Will as a great deity comparable to the three moon goddesses or even more so.

Meanwhile, beneath the radiant ground, within the vast earth veins of the Forge Tree, whose massive root system connects the entire world, the unstoppable flow of runes, like a long river, abruptly ceased. All energy began to trace its origin, returning to the Forge along the roots, and after several years, it coalesced into the eternally revolving "Ring of Origin"—with only two exceptions.

The massive ley line that originated from Mount Gemir, passed through Yatan, transited through the Sacred Tree Forest, and then continued eastward into Starfall Peak was the largest of all the ley lines. However, whether due to the terrifying energy it contained or the intervention of some powerful forces that sensed something amiss, this ley line did not sever quickly like the other ley lines when the Golden Tree rose from the ground. Instead, it broke off its connection with the giant tree during the energy backflow.

The mighty Rune Torrent surged violently along the eighty-kilometer-wide "riverway." The vast majority of its energy, guided by the mysterious cauldron of flames, flowed toward its destination, converging into the Starfall Peak, the holy land of giants. A small portion, however, stagnated in the winding and rugged section of the Gmir River. Over time, it gradually developed sentience and evolved into an independent being.

This is the origin of the giant serpent "Egrid".

In other words, His birth was indeed intertwined with Mount Gmir from the very beginning, and He was indeed the last offspring conceived by the Forge Tree. Therefore, Egrid always considered herself the orthodox deity of the Borderlands, not only scorning heretics such as the Corrupt Cult and the True Cult, but also disdaining the Golden Tree, which held the title of true god in the world. In His eyes, the only beings of equal rank worthy of His attention were the Dragon God and the Giant God, who were both older and more powerful than Him.

For thousands of years, Egrid has had many speculations about the changes in the furnace ley lines. Judging from the beneficiaries, the mysterious force that tampered with them was most likely the fire giants.

Dragon King Platonsantham took the Nest of Ten Thousand Dragons from the Heart of the Forge Tree before anyone else. Giant King Hethenes followed suit to deal with the situation. It was only natural that the life and death of the Golden Tree would be in the hands of others after it replaced the Forge Tree. His birth in this process was a coincidence, but in Egrid's own eyes, wasn't this her destiny?

Inheriting the will of the Forge of Life, overthrowing the rule of the Golden Tree that usurped the source of runes, and becoming the next native god to reign supreme after Horaeus and Hethenes, this is Egrid's innate destiny.

Therefore, during the long years of the Resurrection Era, He resisted countless temptations to break out of Gemir and expand His territory. Instead, He stayed in the heart of the volcano and devoted himself to cultivation. At the same time, He managed His sect and cultivated believers. He thought that once the outside world was fighting to the death, He would be able to descend into the world as a being above all living beings and sweep away the wild gods at the end of the Resurrection Era to fulfill His long-cherished wish. However, before He could even fight his way out, two peerless and powerful beings that He could not understand at all broke in.

At first, it was a woman wearing a pale priest's robe, holding a spiraling greatsword burning with black and red flames. Without saying a word, she almost cut off half of His body with one sword, and then pinned Him to the ground with another sword, stealing a portion of the flame's essence from His body.

Before leaving, the woman looked disgusted, as if she was wondering why He was still so weak after cultivating for so many years. She told Him to work hard, and if He was still so useless when she came to harvest next time, He would die.

Egri was both angry and scared at the time. She stayed in the lava sea for almost ten years to recover. Unexpectedly, she was met by a woman who looked even more terrifying.

The other woman wore a deep black silk robe, as dark as the starry night, and her brilliant golden hair was braided and hung down to her waist. Although she did not have the overwhelming sense of oppression that the previous woman had, she was like an eternal and unyielding mountain, capable of suppressing all storms in the world.

At that time, Aglai could roughly sense that it was a further realm, the pinnacle of divinity that transcended the limits of mortal beings, and even vaguely touched upon the realm of "gods" who broke free from shackles and transcended the world.

He thought his life would end there, but the being later known as the Eternal Queen did not intend to take action. Instead, she granted him permission to continue ruling the volcano in the new era in exchange for two portions of divine essence.

One symbolizes a snake, and the other symbolizes fire.

　Two nights a day!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)