I'm Veldora, So What?

(Lizardman Chieftain POV)

I closed my eyes and thought carefully. "Hmm... Competition for Administrative rights is it?" I mused aloud.

"Father!" My son, Gabil, who was newly named, had called out to me. "Surely you must know that we must respond! I shall go, as the strongest of the Lizardmen!" He declared.

""Ohh!!!"" The younger faction was all in awe of Gabil's confidence and speech, supporting him wholeheartedly.

It wasn't a bad idea. Gabil was easily the strongest of us besides myself, but even then, the gap in ability was very small and mostly due to my experience over my long life. If we gave him the Vortex Spear... but the Orc Lord would be a beast. I doubt even Gabil would stand a chance against him as he is now...

"Very well, HOWEVER!" I said, yelling the last word to emphasize my point, drawing attention to myself and quieting the crowd. "Gabil will not leave the caves of the Lizardmen until the day of the challenge! My son! You will spend every day with myself and the warriors training while the Shamans prepare a ritual to give you more strength!" I declared.

Gabil looked at me in shock. "Father, do you honestly believe that we need to do so? Am I not strong enough already?" he asked, arrogance dripping from his voice.

I shook my head. I couldn't have him waste time and energy thinking he would blow through the completion due to his power and not taking the training seriously, so I had to relent in something. "No. The completion is called by Lord Veldora! If you take your opponents lightly they might team up to defeat you! You need to be prepared for such a situation... besides. If you do well in this training, I shall give you this!" I said, holding up the Vortex Spear.

"""Oh!"""Everyone in the crowd was awed by what I'd said.

Ownership of the Vortext Spear was the right given only to the Chief of the Lizardmen, so what I had basically done was tell my son and everyone here that if he took the training seriously and won the competition, I would make him Chief. Of course, Gabil was still young and foolish, so I couldn't completely step down and leave everything to him, so I would stay on as an advisor, but hopefully, after this training, it wouldn't be needed. Gabil was already a powerful generational talent even before being named. Perhaps with this training, my guidance, and Veldora's blessing, he could eventually even become the legendary Dragonewt spoken about in legends.

"Father! I shall not let you down!" Gabil declared to the applause of the crowd.

I nodded my head and stood from my throne. "Good! We begin immediately!" I declared as I walked towards the training ground, Gabil and the tribes most elite warriors following closely behind me.

...

(Female Gozu POV)

"And I said we can't do it!" My father screamed at his brother.

"If we don't send a representative, then what if the Mezu send one and they win!" Uncle yelled back.

"We can deal with any Mezu! For now, we cannot let our guard down! The Mezu might wait for us to send our strongest warrior next week and attack us!" My father, the Chieftain of the Gozu tribe declared. "And if the Mezu attacks us, then we shall finally destroy them once and for all!"

I couldn't stand the bickering anymore and quietly snuck out of the camp. This war had been going on since before any of us were even born and no one ever remembered why it was happening. To be honest, I hated it. Sure our territory overlapped with each other, but prey was abundant and there was no shortage of resources. Surely we could share...

I sighed, thinking about it as I slipped out of the camp and into the woods. The walk was long, but as I was stronger than most monsters in this forest, even able to defeat Ogres in one strike, I feared nothing that lurked in the shadows.

After a long walk, I emerged from the forest into a hidden clearing at the edge of a small cliff. I looked over at the border of the cliff and froze. Standing there, in the moonlight, was a Mezu! His golden fur danced lightly in the evening breeze. He was looking out, over the forest and towards the Sealing Cave. I could tell since this spot was somewhere that I had discovered myself.

*Snap*!

I accidentally stepped on a branch which snapped as I was starting. "Who is there!?!" The Mezu turned around quickly. On guard.

If I said nothing and he discovered me, he would think I was waiting to ambush him. Furthermore, if it came down to combat, I was sure I would prevail, so I decided to reveal myself but avoid conflict if possible.

"Easy there. I didn't come here to fight." I said, talking out of the treeline with my arms out in a placating fashion.

"A Gozu!?!" he said, clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes at me as he lowered his stance, ready to charge.

This was bad. Mezu were generally much faster than we Gozu, however, we Gozu were stronger by far. If I allowed him to pick up speed, he could escape and bring back reinforcements to hunt me down before I could ake it back to the village and while I could probably take him and maybe one more, I couldn't defeat an entire kill team. I needed to keep this situation from escalating.

"I may be a Gozu, but I am not here to harm or attack you," I stated. "If I was, I would have attacked the moment I revealed myself, right?" I tried to reason with him.

The Mezu narrowed his eyes and watched me for a moment before sighing and lowering his guard a bit. He still seemed ready to dash off, but now he was at least ready to talk.

"Fine then... Say I believe you. What are you doing here?" He asked.

I lowered my arms and cautiously approached, being careful not to approach too close and leave him enough distance that he still felt comfortable. "I was here simply to enjoy the view." I admitted. "And think."

The Mezu lowered his guard some more and stepped aside with a polite wave as if to say, 'Well come enjoy the view beside me, then'. To which I smiled lightly and paced over slowly, still maintaining a fair bit of distance between us.

The silence was... strange. It wasn't quite comfortable, but it wasn't awkward either. The two of us just continued to stare out into the forest in the distance. At the very edge of the horizon, barely sticking above it, we could see the cliffside where the sealing cave was located.

"Are the Gozu sending someone?" He asked.

"Probably not. The Mezu?" I asked.

"Not if my father gets his way, and he is the Chief," he responded.

I shook my head. "This is stupid. We should both be sending representatives. I'm sure one of us would win." I complained.

"It would be nice if the war ended. Even if it ended due to the interference of Lord Veldora." He mentioned.

I turned to look at him. "You hate this war too?" I asked.

He nodded. "I do. I will defend my tribe to the death, but that doesn't mean I want to continue to kill and have my friends killed." He said.

I nodded my head. "I agree. I wish this war would just end already! I'd do whatever it takes!"

he looked at me. "Whatever it takes?" he asked again.

"Yes," I replied without hesitation.

He turned his head forward. "Then let us, the two of us, go. If one of us wins, we shall bring the war to an end!" He proposed.

"Oh? And how, pray tell, do we do that?" I asked.

"Let's team up!" He said.

"A Mezu and Gozu teaming up?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

He nodded. "If one of us wins, we can use Lord Veldora's influence to end the war! If it's one of us, I'm sure the peace terms won't be too harsh." He stated.

"Hmm?" I hummed and thought about it. "And how can we trust each other then?" I asked.

He shook his head. "We probably really can't, however, aren't you the daughter of the Gozu Chieftain?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, the same way you are the son of the Mezu Chieftain," I stated, acknowledging that we were both prominent and powerful members of our respective tribes.

A small blush crept onto his face. "If one of us wins and becomes Administrator... Then let's get married!" He declared.

"What!?!" I shouted in embarrassment, blushing hard.

"That way both Tribes can come together under the administrator without either one losing anything!" He explained.

"B-but!" I tried to refute it.

"It's the only way to make peace, and even if we don't win, as long as we both survive, then we can at least stop this war!" He said with conviction.

My eyes went wide as I looked upon the Mezu in front of me. The wind picked up and his golden mane fluttered in the breeze. He was awfully handsome for a Mezu...

"Alright. Let's do it!" I declared.

He looked at me and smiled. "Then let's meet here again, the night before the competition. We will leave together in the middle of the night and protect each other during the competition!" he declared.

I nodded. "Bring your clan's strongest weapon, the Starshot Bow. I will bring the Earthquake Hammer." I declared.

The Mezu nodded, determination etched onto his face. "I will. We must bring our best if we hope to succeed."

I nodded as the two of us turned back, looking toward the cave in the distance, determination to win and end the war on both of our faces. 'I will do it! I will win this competition, gain the favor of Lord Veldora, and return to end this war!' I thought, fire in my eyes.

...

(Elf Warrior POV)

"I say we take the chance." The elder spoke. "If we do not, then the MEzu, Gozu, or the Ogres are likely to win and then we will be under the subjugation of monsters!"

"But if we do, then we open ourselves up to raids by human slavers!" Another declared.

"The Drayds agreed to deal with any humans during the competition, though!" I explained.

"Still, even if they do so, there is no telling what could happen. Humans have gotten past them before! They have a whole forest to watch, after all. Not to mention we'd need to send Karna if we want to have any chance of winning this competition, but if he is killed then we lose our strongest warrior!" The Elf next to me declared.

"Yes there are risks, but with the Favor of Lord Veldora, surely we will have enough power and protection for the Human Slavers to think twice about raiding us!" I explained. "We could even have Lord Veldora destroy the countries of those who buy slaves! That way we need to do this!"

"The barrier is also failing." Pointed out one of the Elf Elders.

"Exactly! We were waiting for an opportunity to fix it or maybe just survive the coming failure of the barrier and move away from the Mezu and Gozu anyway! This must be a message from the Spirit Queen that the time for action is now!" I explained.

The others murmured among themselves as they took in what I had to say. Most concluded that I was probably right, but many still held doubts. It frustrated me to no end that these people were so hesitant when the first and likely only opportunity to solve all of our problems presented itself but no one would act. Thus my decision was made.

I stood from the assembly. "I resign from my post as Guardian of the VIllage!" I declared, shocking everyone into silence. "In one week, I shall take the trials of Veldora. Whether win or lose, I shall not disgrace the Elves!"

There was silence for a moment before a loud sigh came from the village chief. "very well then, young Karna. We shall permit this, however, before you go, you shall bath in the pool of magic!" he declared.

*Gasp*!!!

The whole room gasped, and for good reason. The Pool of Magic was a sacred place within the village. It was filled with water saturated with the magic power of the Elementals. It was originally supposed to be used to help elven mothers recover their magicules after giving birth to a child, but if one were to bathe in it when they were healthy, the magic power of the elementals would flow into their body and temporarily increase the power of the user, however, at the cost of one's lifespan. This was an unprecedented decision, as the strain on the body would be immense, however, the power boost would be worth it.

I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply, steadying myself before I opened my eyes, looking the Chief directly in the eyes. "Very well. I shall bathe in the pool every day from now until it is time for me to leave for the competition!"

The Chief nodded as I looked out the nearby window and towards the Sealing Cave in the distance through the trees. My eyes blazed with determination, ready for whatever challenges may come.