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History, contrary to James' earlier assumptions, was not a boring subject. He shared the class with Algon and they regularly talked about the things they had gone over that day. Because the amount of history to learn was obscene, being that the universe was around 13 billion years old, students rarely had to take more than one class unless they wanted to be a historian. James' class, in particular, looked at the early formation of the universe and how it grew from nothing into a massive coalition of planets. And because several people, like Lord Eternius, were alive back then, the information they got was incredibly accurate.

Today, however, was a very special day. Since the beginning of the year, their class had had a substitute, but today was the day that they finally met their real teacher.

"What do you think that he looks like?"

"I don't know. We haven't found out anything about him. We don't even really know why he was gone."

Students were talked across the entire lecture hall as they eyed the clock. It got closer and closer to the start of the class.

"Do you think he's actually going to show up?"

The clock sounded, signaling the start of the lesson, and the entire class went quiet. Everyone was looking around at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. The door was then pulled open from the outside. The entire class instantly snapped their attention to see who it was, but no one came in.

Then they all heard a long sigh. The door slowly clicked shut and there was a moment of silence. Then, with a roar, the entire wall next to the door vaporized and a 20-foot dragon walked into the room. The mouths of every student dropped wide open.

"I swear, Sherru always forgets that on purpose. This must be the 5th year in a row," the dragon said. He walked around to the center of the room, considered the desk there for a minute, and then opened his mouth and breathed a gust of wind that disintegrated everything in a 5 ft radius, the desk and some of the floor included.

Jaws positively hit the floor.

The dragon curled up on the now empty floor and looked up at the students. "Good morning class. I am Dragon Scholar Quern, your history teacher. How are you this morning?"

The class managed a "good sir."

"Glad to hear that. I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't be here at the beginning of the year, but Zephyr had a bit of a job for me and I couldn't refuse. But, now that I'm here, we can get right back on track. Any questions?"

A couple of students got over their shock and raised their hands.

"Yes, the Sonreían in the front row."

Said student looked very surprised. "You know my species?"

Quern looked offended. "Of course I know your species. I am a Dragon Scholar, it's my job to know everything. But I assume that wasn't your question?"

"No, um, what did you have to do exactly? At the beginning of the year, I mean."

"I would love to tell you, but it's classified. Unless you happen to be Lord Eternius or a dragon in disguise, I can't tell you. Anyone else?"

"How long have you been a dragon?"

"Ah, the nice Illdeix in the back. I have been serving under Dragon General Zephyr for, let me think, about 2,000 years now. Although it took me about 500 of those years to become a Dragon Scholar."

"Does that mean you are a wind dragon?"

Quern smiles. "Good observation. Yes, I am indeed a dragon of the wind variety. Next!"

James took this time to lean over to Algon. "Everyone seems in a state of shock and awe. Are dragons rare or something?"

"You wouldn't know this, being from another world and all, but dragons are like celebrities here. They protect Reality and keep everything in the universe in working order. They also have incredibly long lives and are very smart and powerful."

"Thank you for your flattery," Quern said, mildly amused.

"Sorry for talking, sir."

"Not to sorry. Your knowledge was quite impressive for a child your age."

"Thank you, sir."

"As Mr. Reins said, for those of you they don't know, dragons are selected to protect the universe and keep everything in working order. Yes, Mr. Newman?"

"Dragons are selected?"

"Yes. Usually, mages with exceptional talent and achievements are evolved into dragons, gaining all the benefits in the process. The Dragon Generals are the ones that select new dragons, and I was picked by Dragon General Zephyr. Dragons can also, in very rare instances, be evolved by Reality itself in order to answer a dire threat, but that hasn't happened a very long time. Finally, dragons can directly be created from nothing, but it's almost impossible. The only dragons of that kind are the Generals themselves, and they were created by Dragon-God Alcyrion, about 12 billion years ago."

Blank stares came from almost every student. Quern raised his eyebrow, something that James didn't know dragons could do.

"This IS a class concerning the early history of the universe, right? How have you guys not covered the Birth of Creation yet?"

"The substitute told us that that particular story would be saved for when you came back."

Quern smiled. "Did he now? Well, I better fulfill my duty as a Dragon Scholar and tell you all the story of how this world, and all worlds, came to be. Get comfy, this could take a while." He lay down on the floor and curled his tail up next to him. He looked up at the class, breathed deeply to gather his thoughts, and then began:

In the beginning, some 13 million years ago, there was only darkness. A black void, no magic, no substance, no time, only endless potential. Then, for a reason we still haven't identified, Reality shuddered, inciting the dormant energies to explosive action. They swirled together in a violent storm and formed 3 beings: a human, a fox, and a pegasus. These were the Primes and they could use their powers to create whatever they wished, manipulating creation itself.

Acting on the idea of the human, each of the Primes split up and began to expand the roiling storm of energy. The human laid the foundations, creating patterns for stars, planets, and the fundamental forces of existence. The Primes named him Lord Eternius, the God of Space. The fox, being crafty, created time, which was simple from one angle, but deviously complex from every other. She was the Goddess of Time, Lady Eon. And the final Prime harnessed the energies themselves using his massive wingbeats and bound everything in creation together as one. For this act, the Primes declared him Master Dioul, God of Energy and Magic.

With the foundations set, the new Gods populated their universe with imperfect copies of themselves, mortals, and worked hard to guide them to greatness. The universe expanded slowly but steadily with the constant attention of the Gods, and peace flourished for many years.

Then, on the first day of the 6th month, 12 billion years ago exactly, disaster struck. A hole ripped open, a tear in the fabric of Reality, located in the far expanses of the universe. Through the hole came a monster, a massive creature of power and darkness, of anti-creation, of Void. Its thrashing tails tore apart stars and the white lightning it unleashed ripped apart the fabric of space itself. The Gods fought against it, using their powers to hold it at bay, but they were unable to completely halt its destruction. The monster attacked, again and again, unceasing, and the universe began to shrink and collapse, for, without the constant oversight of the Gods, it could not continue flourishing.

Eventually, it seemed as though the Void monster would completely wipe out what had taken years to construct and nurture. The Gods stood against him in one last stand, but he overwhelmed them all and destroyed the barriers shielding the mortal worlds from his powers. The Gods watched in horror as he prepared to unleash his wrath.

Then, Eternius heard a roar, echoing across the heavens and bouncing off the stars. Out of nowhere, a winged form shot down at near the speed of light, traveling so fast he appeared to materialize from space itself.

"COSMIC BUSTER!"

A fist, trailing sparks and looking like a comet, crashed into the monster. He was sent flying across the universe and slammed into an empty planet, cracking it in half. The magical energy cleared, revealing the winged form to be a gigantic dragon, with scales of gold and silver. The red and blue robe he wore hung down to his knees and opened in the back to let his tail swing freely. He was Lord Alcyrion, the Dragon-God of the Elements.

"Lord Iter," he roared. "You shall not be allowed to destroy this universe! Prepare to die, Lord of the Void!"

The monster, Lord Iter, tore himself free of the planet and rose to meet him. "I do not know who you are, but you cannot possibly stop me. You... ARE WEAK!" The other Gods looked on in shock. They had not known that he could speak; he had never bothered to.

The Gods watched in awe as Alcyrion clashed with Lord Iter and to their surprise, they both were on equal footing. Alcyrion used magic that transcended their knowledge, countering everything Iter threw at and responding with a force that shook the fabric of the universe. With every spell he cast, he invoked a new force, elements that combined to form a greater whole, resulting in huge swaths of lightning, radiant sun rays, and endless black holes that swallowed all that came near them, only to throw it back with twice the force. He was even harnessing the powers of the other Gods in his attacks, never faltering once as he drove Iter back again and again.

Eventually, Iter was unable to match Alcyrion's strength and was forced to flee from Reality back into his home plane. Alcyrion flew down to greet the other Gods, who had been watching their battle and was officially pronounced the God of the Elements. Together, the Gods closed the tear, and then returned to their home in the center of the universe.

The arrival of Alcyrion proved to be the tipping point for Reality. He unified the elements, his domain of mastery, and named each one, allowing them to form naturally and spread without the help of the Gods. With this gift, the universe expanded much more rapidly, growing almost 100 times faster than before. Before half a billion years had passed, it contained a multitude of stars, planets, and nebulas, and one million years later, the Gods discovered something magnificent. Life had formed of its own accord, without the need for a mold. This was an amazing thing, as it meant that more species would evolve to greatness and join each other in harmony among the stars.

However, the monster still was a severe threat to the safety of the universe. Alcyrion explained to the other Gods that it was named Lord Iter, a god from another plane, the Void, determined to destroy what they had created at all costs. Alcyrion never revealed how he was so wise, but his knowledge and power came in handy many times when battling the Lord of the Void. He taught the Gods how to make the first Legendary Weapons, pieces of art that were sentient and crafted with a piece of their wielder's power. Alcyrion himself possessed twin blades of amazing power, Genesis and Ruin, that are still the most powerful weapons ever seen in Reality to this day. He wielded them against Lord Iter's own great-sword with dazzling finesse and had skills that shocked the Gods just like his magic had. He was the most powerful God in creation, and the other Primes still consider him to be the most powerful God ever to exist.

A voice shook the class out of the dream-state it had fallen into. "If Highlord Alcyrion was so strong, then why isn't he one of the respected leaders of the universe today?" a student asked. The class all nodded their heads in agreement.

Quern sighed, saddened. "He was impossibly powerful, but he also understood well the role he had to play in defending the universe. You have to understand, Dragon-God Alcyrion was so wise, it was like he could see the future. And in order to save the universe, he sacrificed himself for the greater good. Let me finish my story, and you will see..."

As time progressed, Lord Iter became increasingly aggressive with his attacks, even going so far as the summon other beings from the Void to aid him with his destruction. The Gods fought as hard as they could, but even with the help of the first mages, mortals that had learned basic magic, they began to fall under the relentless assaults. And then, one fateful day, Lord Iter and his breached the God's defenses and attacked the Center of the Universe. Lord Alcyrion knew that if the Center was destroyed, the foundations of Reality would be shaken and it might never recover, so he knew what had to be done.

"Eternius, Eon," he said. "Handle the lesser Voidlings. Dioul, construct the most powerful sigil you can imagine. We're going to seal Lord Iter out of this universe for good."

"But that's impossible," Dioul protested. "He's simply too powerful. No seal I can make can fully get rid of him for good."

"Leave that to me," Alcyrion responded with a smile.

"You're going to fight him on your own?" Eon cried. "We can't even fight him when we work together!"

"You haven't seen my full strength yet."

"What...?"

"Here he comes!!!"

Alcyrion spread his wings and erupted off the ground with a blaze of light and magic.

Iter, hovering above his forces, laughed darkly. "You finally shall face your demise! There is no way you can destroy me, not when I am using my full might!"

"That's what you think!"

They collided in a whirl of power, blades ringing with bright and pure tones. Eternius and Eon, trusting Alcyrion's wisdom, went to do battle with the army of the Void, while Dioul began to channel enormous amounts of energy to begin creating the most powerful sealing spell that the universe had ever witnessed.

Alcyrion and the Gods fought with endless ferocity, defending the universe that they had created, but Iter advanced onwards an unstoppable force. Just as he reached the Center of the Universe, though, Dioul cried out.

"It's ready!"

A sigil, small in size, but shining a brilliant and vibrant cyan, hovered above him, infinitely dense and complex.

The other Gods stopped defending and came down to him.

"Will it work?" Eternius finally asked.

Dioul nodded. "We'll need to combine all of our power, but it will seal Iter away for the rest of time. He'll never harm anyone ever again."

The Gods flew up to where Alcyrion and Iter were battling, defending Dioul as they went, for he needed all of his concentration and energy to keep the sigil from shattering to pieces. They rallied a short way from the fight and called Alcyrion back. Together, the Gods combined their energy, which caused the sigil to expand into a massive sphere that would trap anything caught inside for all eternity. Slowly, the sphere began to activate, but it was too slow.

"He's going to escape!" Dioul said. "The sealing won't finish in time!"

Iter stood inside, unharmed and unworried. "You think THIS can contain me! I am a God; you are nothing more than tiny little insects when compared to me!"

If Iter escaped the seal now, he would destroy all of creation, and so, Alcyrion knew what he had to do.

"There is only one way we will win," he said with a smile. "Don't worry, I've been preparing for this moment for a VERY long time."

With those words, he rose and faced the Lord of the Void. "Here's the thing Iter," he said, gathering his power. "As small as those insects are, they sure as hell pack a nasty sting! Let's finish this!" With those words, he put his hands together and, with a massive wave of energy, cast the first ever, and most powerful, Ultimate.

"Ultimate Spell: DESCENT OF DRAGONS!!!"

Every star in the universe shone with a brilliant light and Reality crackled. From the heavens and the depths of space, balls of light formed and shot towards the Center of the Universe, being shaped by cosmic winds as they flew. One by one, 7 magnificent dragons flew beside Alcyrion, forming a circle around him. They were Ignatius the Fire Lord, Zephyr the Air Lord, Deluge the Water Lord, Globe the Earth Lord, Strike the Lightning Lord, Ghost the Shadow Lord, and Beacon the Light Lord. These were the Dragon Generals, the first ever dragons, created by the Dragon-God himself in a time of need. Using their powerful magic, cast from their mouths, they blasted Lord Iter with their respective elements, giving Alcyrion a few precious seconds.

He did several important things in these moments, all of which held great importance. He summoned both of his swords and with a massive throw sent them flying out into the cosmos. He then turned to Ignatius. "You are all my Generals, created to carry out my will after I am gone. You, Ignatius, will the first Dragonlord, tasked with protecting this universe and all the things living in it. Choose those who are worthy and accept them into your ranks, and guide Reality into a bright future."

Ignatius nodded and briefly stopped attacking. "Dragon-God, will you return to us one day?"

Alcyrion shook his head. "No, but one day I will have a successor. You will know when he arrives."

"I understand, Lord Alcyrion."

With a final look at the rest of the universe, Alcyrion turned back towards Iter, who was fighting back against the Dragon Generals. "Lord Iter!" he roared in a voice that shook the stars. "You have destroyed homes, killed millions, and committed countless other crime against the universe! For these, you shall face judgment!" And then he spoke the words that would live on into history, becoming the battle cry uncountable dragons would use in the future when going to fight in Alcyrion's name. "LORD ITER, STAND AND DELIVER!!!"

A massive surge of power erupted out of Alcyrion, shining bright and clear against the taint of the Void. The other Gods watched in astonishment, shocked by his overwhelming strength, his true might saved just for this moment and unleashed for a final burst of glory. With a roar, he flew forwards, towards the sigil and towards Iter. Slamming into the Lord of the Void, the Dragon-God fought with a ferocity that was unparalleled. Their fists collided and one roared in anger while the other sounded off in victory as the sigil fully collapsed and sealed Alcyrion and Iter away for all eternity.

With Iter gone, the remainder of the Void's forces quickly surrendered and were sent back in defeat to their own plane, while the rest of the Gods fixed the damage that had been done. The Dragon Generals helped as well, using their elements to reshape planets and stars. When the work was finally done, Eternius addressed the Generals.

"What will you do now?"

Ignatius looked at his fellow Generals and stepped forward, answering as the Dragonlord. "We will do exactly as our Lord had commanded. We will protect this universe at all costs and spread the arts of Elementalism across the worlds."

"A fine destiny. But you are only 7 in number. How will you accomplish your goals?"

"Those worthy of joining our ranks will appear in time. Until then, we will manage."

The dragons flew off, led by Ignatius, and the Gods returned to the home they had created. There, they found one last surprise from Alcyrion: a book, bound in silver dragon scales, titled "The Compendium". Inside was page after page detailing the magic of Elementalism, the way to construct new magical weapons, all the things that Alcyrion had needed to tell the Gods but had not had the time to explain. The remainder of the book was all blank pages, with the title of "Spoilers" written cheekily at the top. After recording what they could, the Gods unanimously agreed to preserve the book as an artifact of the great Dragon-God, and they laid it in a temple on a long-forgotten world, where it still remains to this day.

Quern shook his head. "And that's really the gist of it. It's one of the greatest stories about the universe too, especially because everything in it is true."

A student near the back raised his hand. "But what about the 2 swords, whatever their names were?"

"You mean Genesis and Ruin? No one knows, not even the Dragon Generals. The blades were sentient and incredibly powerful, meaning that if they don't want to be found, not a single person will be able to locate them. It's just another one of the mysteries tied to Alcyrion."

The bell rang, startling the class a bit.

"Would you look at that? Class is over. All right students," Quern said as the students left. "There is no homework tonight but expect that most days will be harder than this one. We can't have a story every day, you know. There's history to study."

"Hey James, do you realize the implications that the story has on your affinity?" Algon asked, excited.

"No, why?"

"Think about it. Alcyrion was the creator of Elementalism, obviously. The Dragon Generals were each based off a single element, meaning they were Composite Elementalists. But Alcyrion himself seemed to be able to use every element equally!"

"So?"

Algon sighed. "You really don't think sometimes, you know that? If Alcyrion could use every element, then he must have been a Pure Elementalist! Or at least an early version. That's why your affinity is so rare, because it's the original Elemental affinity passed down from Alcyrion himself!"

"Ok, stop there. Even if you're right, which I have significant doubts about, what does this have to do with me besides being cool and all?"

"Don't you see? Alcyrion was immensely strong, even for a God. There must be something we're missing about your affinity, something that he forgot to tell the Dragon Generals about before he was sealed away, something that no one has figured out yet!"

James bopped Algon on the side of the head. "I think you're overthinking things a bit much."

"Whatever. I'm still going to tell my theory to Delta and Lydia."

They parted ways, each heading to their next class, and agreed to meet up afterward at the Darkessia to train and, at the very least, chat a little about their day. James himself headed off to his Pure Elementalism class and continued thinking about Algon's theory.

"A Pure Elementalist. I wonder..."