After the human immortals began integrating with their descendants...
The movement of the ancient races did not stop.
On the contrary.
What had happened in the Human Central City was merely the beginning of a far greater phenomenon.
For the races that had awakened from their slumber gradually came to understand a truth no less important than their own return.
Their world was not devoid of their races.
Their bloodlines had not vanished.
Their peoples had not gone extinct.
They had survived.
They had endured throughout the millions of years that had passed since the war.
They had remained in places the people of the current era had never reached.
In regions the new civilizations had never dared to explore.
Within the depths of primordial forests.
Among mountains whose peaks were swallowed by the clouds.
Within deserts that concealed secrets older than recorded history.
In the Great Ocean.
And within forbidden lands where merely approaching them meant death.
There...
The ancient races had continued to live.
They had multiplied.
They had passed down the blood of their ancestors.
And, to varying degrees, preserved remnants of their ancient civilizations.
Thus...
When the immortals began searching for their descendants, they were not looking for traces of their blood among other races.
They were searching for something far more direct.
Their people.
Their true descendants.
The bodies that had carried the blood of their race throughout the ages.
And each race had its own way of finding them.
The Dragon Bloodline
Deep within a forbidden region of the Upper Continent...
There stood an immense mountain range.
These mountains were not merely tall.
They stretched across thousands of kilometers, covered by eternal storms of clouds and thunder.
Humans called this region:
The Heavenly Dragon Mountains.
But the name was merely an ancient designation preserved on a handful of maps.
No one knew why they had been given that name.
Nor did anyone of the current era know that the name was not a legend.
Deep within those mountains...
There existed a hidden valley.
A valley surrounded on every side by towering peaks, its entrance concealed beneath layers of dense mist.
The mist was not natural.
It was a barrier formed from the accumulated power of the dragon race over countless ages.
Even a human immortal attempting to penetrate it would be forced to exert considerable effort.
But on that day...
Something happened that had not occurred for millions of years.
A massive shadow appeared across the sky.
Enormous wings swept through the heavens.
The resulting surge of wind tore the clouds apart.
It was a dragon.
An ancient blue dragon.
One of those who had emerged from the Black Mountain not long ago.
It stopped above the valley.
It stared into the mist.
It did not know why its instincts had led it here.
But it could feel something.
Something familiar.
Something it had not felt for a period of time so distant that even its mind could no longer calculate it.
It lowered its head.
Then released a roar.
ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!
The mountains trembled.
Rocks tumbled from the peaks.
The roar reverberated throughout the valley.
For several moments...
Nothing happened.
Then came a response.
A roar.
From deep within the valley.
Then another.
Then dozens of roars.
The ancient dragon's expression changed.
"This..."
Massive shadows began appearing among the clouds.
One.
Then two.
Then ten.
Then dozens.
Dragons emerged from the depths of the valley.
Blue.
Red.
Black.
White.
And others bearing different colors and bloodlines.
Their bodies varied greatly in size.
Some were no more than several hundred meters long.
Others possessed immense bodies of staggering proportions.
But they were all one thing.
True dragons.
The ancient dragon momentarily forgot to breathe.
It stared at them.
It did not see humans carrying its blood.
It did not see hybrids.
It saw...
Its race.
Its descendants.
Its people.
A massive blue dragon approached.
It stared at the unfamiliar arrival.
Then asked:
"Who are you?"
The ancient blue dragon did not answer immediately.
It continued staring at him.
Then spoke in a low voice:
"I..."
Its words stopped.
As though even speaking its own name had become a distant memory.
Then it uttered its ancient name.
The expression of the other dragon changed.
It moved closer.
"That name..."
It spoke slowly.
"We know it."
The ancient dragon's eyes trembled.
"You know it?"
The dragon answered:
"We preserved your stories."
More dragons appeared behind him.
He continued:
"The stories of those who departed for the war."
A long silence followed.
Then the ancient dragon said:
"Then you..."
It raised its head.
"You are our descendants."
No one answered.
But one of the younger dragons approached him.
It stared at him curiously.
Then asked:
"Were you truly part of that era?"
The ancient dragon smiled.
There was something sorrowful yet proud within that smile.
"I once believed everything had ended."
He looked around.
"But it seems you preserved the flame."
It was not a meeting between strangers.
It was the reunion of two generations of the same race, separated by millions of years.
The Elven Kingdom
Elsewhere...
There existed a forest that appeared on no human map.
An enormous forest.
Its trees surpassed the boundaries of reason.
Their trunks were massive as mountains.
Their roots stretched beneath the earth for distances impossible to comprehend.
And at its center...
There was a city.
An entire city built within the trees.
Suspended wooden bridges.
Palaces carved directly into enormous trunks.
Clear rivers flowing between the homes.
And its inhabitants...
Were true elves.
Men and women.
Descendants of the elves who had lived before the war.
When the immortal elves reached the edge of the forest, they did not enter immediately.
Because they sensed something.
The wood was breathing.
The trees were watching them.
And the forest itself was aware of their presence.
One of the female immortal elves said:
"They are here."
Her companion asked:
"How do you know?"
She placed her hand upon an ancient tree.
She closed her eyes.
Then smiled.
"Because the forest recognizes our blood."
In the next moment...
The trees began to move.
Roots parted.
Branches separated.
A long green pathway appeared.
And through it emerged hundreds of elves.
They stopped before the newcomers.
Men and women.
Young and old.
They carried various weapons, but none of them attacked.
They simply watched.
Then an elderly elven man stepped forward.
He stared at the immortals for a long time.
Then said:
"We have awaited your return."
One of the immortals asked:
"How did you know we would return?"
The elder smiled.
"We did not."
He placed a hand against his chest.
"But our blood never forgot you."
A young elven woman stepped forward.
She looked at the immortal woman before her.
Then asked:
"Are you truly among those who lived before the war?"
The immortal answered:
"Yes."
The girl smiled.
"Then..."
She looked around.
"The past has returned to us."
But the immortal did not smile.
Instead, she said:
"No."
She raised her eyes toward the depths of the forest.
"It is not the past that has returned."
She paused.
"The world has begun reclaiming what it lost."
The Demons
As for the demons...
Finding them was not easy.
Their homeland lay in a land where sunlight never entered.
A vast valley surrounded by black mountains.
And deep within it stood an entire demonic city.
Its towers were black.
Its gates enormous.
Ancient inscriptions covered its walls.
When the returning demons reached the boundaries of the region, no one came to welcome them.
Only crimson eyes emerged from the darkness.
One.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
One of the returning demons said:
"It seems they have not changed."
His companion laughed.
"Perhaps they have simply become more cautious."
A young demon emerged from the darkness.
He raised his sword.
And said:
"Who are you?"
One of the ancient demons stepped forward.
He did not release his aura.
He had no need to.
He merely said:
"Those who left this land before you were born."
Silence descended.
Then the elder demons emerged from the city.
And when they saw the newcomers...
Their expressions changed.
One of them whispered:
"Impossible..."
He slowly approached.
Then bowed.
"The ancestors..."
One of the ancient demons raised his hand.
"Do not bow."
He looked around.
"We came to see what remains of our people."
The elder answered:
"Much remains."
Then he looked toward the city.
"But we have not forgotten what happened."
He paused.
"And we have not forgotten who we were."
The Divine Clan
High above the heavens...
There was a city suspended above the clouds.
A city invisible from the ground.
It was surrounded by halos of light.
And within it lived the descendants of the Divine Clan.
The angels.
When the white circle appeared in the sky once more, the immortals did not descend immediately.
Instead, they stood beyond the city's boundaries.
A group of angels emerged to receive them.
Among them were children.
Young adults.
And elders.
All members of the same clan.
One of the ancient female immortals stared at a young woman with white wings.
She asked:
"How many wings do you possess?"
The young woman answered:
"Six."
A trace of surprise appeared in the immortal's eyes.
"In our era..."
She stopped.
Then smiled.
"Six-winged ones were rare."
The young woman replied:
"They still are."
An elder of the clan stepped forward.
He said:
"We preserved much of your legacy."
Then he looked toward the heavens.
"But it seems the time has come for us to learn what happened beyond our world."
One of the immortals said:
"You do not merely need to learn what happened."
The elder asked:
"Then what do we need?"
The immortal answered:
"You need to prepare for what is coming."
The Qilin
In a land where storms raged throughout the year...
The immortals found the Qilin.
There were plains where the winds never ceased.
Lightning constantly struck the earth.
And the clouds never dispersed.
At the center of that region lay a vast valley.
When the returning Qilin entered it...
Lightning began gathering around them.
The creatures emerged from the heart of the storm.
True Qilin.
Their bodies were majestic, their horns carrying the power of lightning, while wind continuously flowed around their hooves.
One of them stepped forward.
He looked at the immortals.
Then said:
"We smelled you before we saw you."
One of the immortals laughed.
"Your senses remain sharp."
The Qilin replied:
"And your blood remains familiar."
Then he raised his head.
Lightning struck the heavens.
He said:
"Did you come to stay this time?"
Silence descended.
Then the immortal said:
"We came to prepare."
The Qilin asked:
"For war?"
The immortal stared at him for a long time.
"I do not know."
Then he said:
"But I know that something greater than war is approaching."
The Merfolk
Deep within the Great Ocean...
Another kingdom was awakening.
The merfolk had no need to search for their descendants upon the land.
Their civilization had remained hidden thousands of meters beneath the waters.
A city of blue pearls.
Palaces of coral.
Illuminated pathways filled with strange aquatic creatures.
And at its center...
Generations of true merfolk lived.
Women and men.
Though the majority of the kingdom's inhabitants were female.
When the ancient merfolk arrived, they did not need to announce their presence.
The entire kingdom felt them.
Merfolk emerged from the palaces.
Children approached.
Young ones watched the newcomers in astonishment.
Then the queen of the kingdom stepped forward.
She stared at the immortals.
"I know this feeling."
One of the immortal women asked:
"What feeling?"
The queen placed a hand over her heart.
"The feeling of the sea remembering those who belong to it."
Then she smiled.
"You have returned."
The Phoenixes
As for the phoenixes...
Their descendants lived in a land where only those of the fire could survive.
A colossal chain of volcanoes.
Rivers of molten lava.
A crimson sky.
And enormous nests covered the mountain peaks.
When the ancient phoenix arrived, it did not search for anyone.
It simply released a cry.
KRAAAAAAAAAAH!
The sound spread throughout the volcano.
Moments later...
Dozens of cries answered.
Phoenixes emerged from their nests.
Some mature.
Some young.
Some still at the beginning of their development.
The ancient phoenix stared at them.
Then closed its eyes.
"You remained..."
It spoke softly.
A young phoenix approached.
"Are you from the ancient era?"
It opened its eyes.
"Yes."
"Did you know our ancestors?"
It smiled.
"I knew them."
Then it looked toward the sky.
"I was one of them."
The Dwarves
Deep within the mountains...
The dwarven kingdom was far more active than one could imagine.
Entire cities beneath the earth.
Factories.
Mines.
Forges.
And enormous halls carved directly into the mountains.
When the ancient dwarves arrived, the first thing that caught their attention was not their people.
It was the sound.
The sound of hammers.
The sound of metal.
The sound of furnaces.
One of them smiled.
"They are still working."
The other said:
"And that is the best thing we could have seen."
Then they entered.
The hammers stopped.
The dwarves turned.
Whispers spread.
Until an elderly blacksmith stepped forward.
He stared at the immortals.
Then said:
"You..."
One of the immortals smiled.
"Yes."
The blacksmith lowered his head.
"Then the stories were not merely stories."
The immortal laughed.
"It seems we have become the stories now."
The Beasts
As for the beasts...
They had no need for a single kingdom.
Their bloodlines had spread throughout the wilderness.
But the strongest ancient beasts had made extremely dangerous regions their homes.
Forests humans never entered.
Mountains inhabited by Beast Kings.
Deserts that killed all who crossed them.
And deep valleys ruled by ancient beast bloodlines.
When the ancient beast immortals began their search...
They did not search with their eyes.
They searched through instinct.
Through blood.
Through scent.
Through the soul.
And the results were astonishing.
They found entire beast clans.
Heavenly tigers.
Ancient wolves.
Colossal serpents.
Giant eagles.
And beasts possessing rare bloodlines.
Some had preserved the abilities of their ancestors with astonishing fidelity.
One of the ancient Beast Kings stood atop a mountain.
Hundreds of beasts stood before him.
He looked at them for a long time.
Then said:
"The wilderness has not vanished."
A beast roared behind him.
He answered:
"It has not."
Then the king raised his head toward the heavens.
"But the world we knew..."
He paused.
"Has begun to change."
Preparing for the Coming Era
And so...
During the following months, a phenomenon unseen since the end of the war began to spread throughout Iberon.
The ancient races began communicating with their bloodlines.
Dragons with dragons.
Elves with elves.
Demons with demons.
The Divine Clan with the Divine Clan.
Qilin with Qilin.
Merfolk with merfolk.
Phoenixes with phoenixes.
Dwarves with dwarves.
And beasts with beasts.
It was not merely a family reunion.
Nor was their return simply a moment of nostalgia.
For those immortals understood that the era in which they had awakened was no ordinary era.
The world itself was moving.
And an invisible force was gathering within the depths of Iberon.
Something that made even beings who had lived for millions of years feel an unease they could not explain.
The ancient races began teaching their descendants what had been lost.
Ancient cultivation teachings.
Methods of using their racial abilities.
Traditions.
Languages.
History.
Knowledge that had vanished from the world.
Some bloodlines began restoring their ancient techniques.
The dragons began training their young in controlling their elemental powers.
The elves began reawakening their ancient wood techniques.
The demons resumed studying their ancient arts.
The Divine Clan began retraining its generations in the legacy of the angels.
The Qilin recovered their techniques of lightning and wind.
The merfolk revived their ancient arts of the sea.
The phoenixes began teaching their young the secrets of flame and rebirth.
As for the dwarves...
They returned to the depths of the mountains in search of manuscripts and techniques left behind by their ancestors.
And the beasts began restoring their ancient bloodlines.
None of them knew when what they awaited would arrive.
But they all felt it.
Something was approaching.
Something far greater than the return of the immortals.