Fifty years the dragon who declared himself the Emissary of the Gods waited, with patience. Then, he emerged from his resting place to observe the results of his experiment.
He flew to the Elves' lands in secrecy, unseen by them. The Elves had fled far from the human territories. Yet, among them were still those who believed they could negotiate with the other races, those who claimed all that had transpired was the fault of the envoys sent by their own kind.
"It seems it's true that the bigots are blind and foolish," he murmured to himself. "So blind they cannot see the suffering of their own folks, and so foolish they cannot grasp that the others bear them no love."
He flew to the lizard-folk's lands in secrecy, unseen by them. The lizard-folk had begun to fortify their small villages with stone for better defense. They attacked anyone who set foot on the continent. The tribes on the continent moved as if they were a single, united nation.
"It appears that under a shared principle, masses are easily gathered," he mused to himself. "All I had to do was proclaim this land sacred. They have seemingly abandoned all their previous disputes."
He flew to the humans' lands in secrecy, unseen by them. The humans had gathered in seven large cities, living as seven city-states, not warring with one another. The cities were encircled by fields. The cities were so populous that, seen from the sky, their centers resembled the nests within an ant colony. In every city, there was a temple so vast it could be seen from every corner of the settlement. This prosperous civilization piqued the dragon's curiosity. He had expected the humans to turn into a civilization consumed by war. How had matters developed in this way?
He abandoned his unseen observation and decided to approach. He went to the largest city among them, Tlacoyan. The city was built upon a river. The humans had opened water canals within the city, allowing water to reach the entire settlement and the fields surrounding it. The canals seemed like the very veins of the city. The city was entirely surrounded by fields. These fields connected the towns dependent on the city, making the city, when viewed from the outside, look like a single, massive organism. The houses were made of white stone and plastered with red earth. On a dominating hill, there stood a colossal temple visible from every point of the city. The streets were aligned with the sun—thus, every morning, light stretched in a straight line to the temple, and at sunset, the entire city fell under the temple's shadow.
The temple captured the dragon's interest. As he descended to inspect the temple and the city more closely, he noticed something. The temple had not been built upon a hill. The temple had been carved out of the mountain that had previously stood there. The dragon could scarcely believe his eyes; how had these humans built such a thing on their own, and how were their fields so fertile? He reasoned he could not simply go and ask the humans his questions. After all, he had come to them in the capacity of the Emissary of the Gods. Such inquiries might shatter the folks' faith.
His curiosity steadily grew, and he received the answer to one of his questions when he looked closely at the temple. At the peak of the temple, sacrifices—from the Elves and the lizard-folk—were being offered almost without cease. Their blood flowed down the channels of the temple. It was like a fountain made of blood. There was a moat-like trench surrounding the temple. The blood collected here made the temple appear to stand upon a colossal lake of gore. The humans were meticulous not to damage the bodies of their sacrifices, carefully cutting their throats to ensure all their blood drained out. Afterward, they carried the corpses outside the city and buried them.
"I suppose the corpses can also be used as fertilizer," he remarked to himself.
He was astonished by how effective a tool belief proved to be. What he had told the Elves had blinded them to the truth. What he had told the lizard-folk had united them against the others. What he had told the humans had brought them abundance and prosperity.
After witnessing all this, the dragon took flight and left the continent of Cualareth. All the folks saw his departure.
"The gods sent their emissary to control us," said the humans and the lizard-folk. But the Elves did not think this way.
"The Gods have forsaken us," they said.
"Despite seeing our suffering, the emissary merely looked down upon us from above and departed," they said.
"They sent their emissary to mock our pain," they declared.
But it was too late for the Elves; even if they understood the truth, the humans outnumbered them. The lizard-folk, meanwhile, cared only for the defense of their own lands.
The dragon had left behind a continent that was seemingly irrevocably changed.
In the North, the Elves were struggling for survival, fleeing from the humans. Most tribes had scattered to the far edges of the continent.
The humans were constantly organizing expeditions to the North and South to capture new sacrifices, while their cities enjoyed great abundance.
The lizard-folk, for their part, were doing everything to protect their continent. The North of the continent had become a shared battlefront for the tribes. Every tribe sent its best warriors, knowing they would die, to halt the human incursions.