You decide to carry out Tserali's order...

You peer at the first sheet of parchment. There are few symbols on it. You understand that just recently, these mysterious symbols were absolutely incomprehensible to you. But now something has changed in your mind.

What did the mistress of the mansion call this item? "Book"?

You look at the symbols and you understand their meaning...

You are afraid of the wrath of the cruel mistress of the mansion, so you say out loud the words that reflect the meaning of these symbols: "Research on the Ancient Dragon Civilization and the Genesis of the Draconian Creatures" by Long Bao, magister of the Imperial Academy of Heavenly Harmony and a well-meaning and obedient subject of the Blessed Overlord of the United Provinces Coast of Eternal Rains His Majesty the Emperor Empire of the Golden Serpent."

You understood very little of the essence of the words spoken.

But, probably, the owner of the mansion is satisfied because she makes gestures with her hands and causes the effect of turning pages.

She says: “Read on, ****!”

So, the sheets of parchment turned over. The new sheets have many more symbols. And these symbols are much smaller in size.

You look closely and the effect repeats itself...

Unfamiliar small symbols take on meaning in some way incomprehensible to you.... You realize something that was previously unclear to you. Symbols are a way of representing words. You don't understand how this is possible. But now you can discern the words that are depicted on this thin parchment using these strange symbols.

You look at one of the pages of this book and you slowly realize the meaning of the words and phrases that are written on this page. Your brain is filled with a lot of new information...

You slowly read out loud what is written on two pages of parchment.

The author of this book, unknown to you, stated the following: “I, as a loyal subject of the Empire of the Golden Serpent, recognize the importance of age-old traditions and the significance of the religious cult of the Goldenshining Heavenly Overlord, who, according to dogma, has a golden dragon as his avatar. I respect these religious beliefs, which are common among many people in our state. However, I am also a master of the Imperial Academy of Heavenly Harmony. My duty is to use my mind for the benefit of the emperor and the benefit of the empire. I am obliged to explore various aspects of the world around me and obtain true information about the state of affairs in reality. If I or the other masters of the Academy began to embellish the reality and provide the Emperor with false information, then such actions on our part would be grounds for the most cruel execution against us.

Therefore, it is my duty to present to the venerable Council of Magisters of the Academy current information, which is based on large-scale research of the ancient ruins of the cities of the Jade Mantis Dynasty and on a careful study of many historical sources. Among the sources used in my work, in particular, particularly important ones should be mentioned: The Chronicle of Sorrows, written by the monk Un Tan about a thousand years ago during the collapse of the Obsidian Jaguar Dynasty; the memoirs of Princess Ming Fai, written during the reign of the last emperors of the Jade Mantis Dynasty (about two thousand years ago); diary of the court magician Tzao Shu, which was written around the reign of the third emperor of the Jade Mantis dynasty (about 2600 years ago).

The relevance of my research is based on the obvious fact: despite the predominance of the human population, there are now many residents of non-human origin living in the Empire of the Golden Serpent. The main number of such residents of non-human origin belong to the so-called “lizardmans”. I substantiate the thesis that the term “lizardmans” is not correct from an objective point of view since there is no monolithic community of “lizardmans”. There are several subspecies varied in secondary physiological characteristics. The data from the historical sources I have researched allow me to put forward a substantiated theory that these creatures should be called the term “draconids”. The origin of these creatures is based on the powerful alchemical and magical effects on dragon embryos. Cross-analysis of historical sources proves that this large-scale impact on the breeding of new subspecies of living beings occurred in the period about 5000-4000 years ago. I will not be surprised if you, dear colleagues, ask me a logical question about who exactly could have carried out such a tremendous impact, which actually made it possible to create entire new subspecies of living beings. My answer will be both simple and stunning! The subject that was able to create the draconians was the dragon civilization itself! During the ancient history of the continent, about 5,000 years ago, no one except dragons had such powerful abilities in magic and alchemy; no one except them could concentrate the necessary mass of resources. The conclusion is undeniable: the draconids were created by dragons using magical and alchemical influence on dragon embryos. Perhaps representatives of other subspecies of living beings were also used in this process. But this is not so significant.

The main question: for what purpose did the powerful dragon civilization, which dominated the continent for many millennia, actually begin to sacrifice its own population to create the draconians? The entire array of historical sources that I used allows me to give the following answer: the dragon civilization was not some kind of monolithic state formation; these were numerous ****-holding city-states in which intraspecific competition reached **** levels. Think about the essence of the problem, colleagues: with the extremely long life expectancy of an ordinary dragon and with an extremely long period of maturation (from embryo to newborn and then to adult), what was the main goal of the ruling elite in ancient dragon societies? It is not difficult to guess that creatures who could live for millennia and who dominated other types of intelligent living beings began to frantically crave immortality. The main obstacle to this was the young individuals, who could take the necessary resources. Therefore, the elites of ancient dragon societies practiced methods of weakening young individuals and methods of increasing control over them. Thus, numerous subspecies of draconians were created: nagesars, wyverns, wyrms, algadors, reptelons and many others. These subspecies of draconians differ in secondary physiological characteristics and in the degree of intelligence. But, as my research shows, they are a communities of living beings that were created by the ancient civilization of dragons many thousands of years ago.

Now let's move on to the question of the collapse of the ancient civilization of dragons. I can say that the struggle within the elites of dragon societies has led to the fact that the number of dragon populations has decreased extremely. But this did not stop the bloody wars. During these wars, all possible means of achieving victory were used: huge armies of enslaved creatures of other species, types of weapons unprecedented in scale, the most sophisticated types of magic. Without going into details, I can conclude: the ancient civilization of dragons died about 3000 years ago due to internal contradictions and devastating internecine wars.

But in the chronicles and tales of other intelligent living beings there are numerous references to the ancient era, when the distant ancestors of humans, elves, dwarves and many other creatures were only slaves in huge armies led by opposing dragons. Also, the memory of this ancient era is contained in some religious teachings. In particular, this can be asserted with a high degree of probability regarding the religious cult of the Goldenshining Heavenly Overlord. There are many signs that the deity of this cult is a dragon who managed to achieve immortality. This thesis may seem shocking to you, dear colleagues, but I am ready to present evidence that the golden dragon is not just one of the avatars of a deity - the golden dragon is the original mortal form of a powerful ancient being who managed to achieve divinity.

However, the topic of theogonic genesis does not relate to the topic of this research of mine...”

The mistress of the mansion says: “That’s enough!”

The book slams shut in your face. You cough slightly from the dust. The book flies back onto the closet shelf and takes its original place.

The owner of the mansion makes several hand gestures and casts a spell. Golden sparks separate from her fingertips and rush towards your head. You try to shake your head from side to side, but the sparks reach your eyes and your mouth.

You are about to scream, but you don't have time. You fall asleep.

Ten minutes later, Atsatro and Xaeji enter the room. They bow low to mistress Tserali.

Tserali says: “Well, this experimental specimen is much tougher than the previous ten... This **** is an acquisition that is clearly worth the money spent... The result of today's experiment is successful... Take the body of the **** to his cell. And in the following days, feed him more nutritiously.”

Atsatro and Xaeji approach the chair in which your body is located. They disable the mechanisms in the back of the chair. The shackles on your hands, on your feet and on your neck are opening.

Atsatro and Xaeji grab your **** body and leave the room, closing the metal door behind them.

Your body is carried to your small cell and placed on a creaky wooden bed. Atsatro and Xaeji then leave your cell and close the cell door from the outside.

Your body is lying on the bed. Are you sleeping now. And in your dream you see very unpleasant images...