《Metis》


 A Really Long Prologue

    [AN]WARNING: Lots and lots of world building in this chapter! And from the ground up too. If you wanna skip it, go ahead, it follows Judeo-Christian style concepts, but with some differences here and there.[/AN]


    "It all started with one simple thought from an almighty being.


    ''Here I am, a being that wields limitless power in my hands, yet, there is nothing for me to watch over and observe.I am a man, I know it to be so, for I say it is. There is little point to such an existence. There is naught but void surrounding me. Let us make something of this existence.''


    Thus, this being decided to create his first children. By gathering the void surrounding him, and shaping it into a form similar to its own, the first intelligent life forms since him were created.He decided to even add variations to these creations, making some similar to him, and others, slightly varied, naming them females. However, though they had intelligence, they had no means to communicate, not one to another, nor to their creator. And so, he created language. Thus, the creations were then able to communicate with their creator.


    "Creator," they all began. "What do we call you?"


    It thought about this for a while. It never had a need for a title, and so it pondered on this for a time.


    "Call me Father," the being finally answered.


    "Yes, Father. Then, what are we?" asked one of the creations, stepping forward from the group.


    The being now known as father was stumped yet again! And so then he sat and pondered for some time, yet again!


    "You may name one another, but as a whole, you will be called... Angels."


    They heard this and were pleased. They began naming one another, and the Father looked on in pride. And for some time, the Father was satisfied with this kind of existence.


    Eventually, the Angels came to ask the Father a question.


    "What do we do now, oh Father?" The one speaking for the angels was the same one that had stepped forward previously. It had become a sort of leader for the Angels, and was the one closest among the Angels to what can be considered sentient thought. It had taken on the name of Michael.


    And so, the father thought for a while. ''Yes, I was satisfied for some time, giving them orders constantly on what to do. But it has become somewhat of a bore at this point. I shall create something else for them to watch over, then I shall leave them be for a time, and watch over how things progress,'' he mused.


    And so, the Father created an enormous mass in the void, although for the Father, it was only as large as his torso. Then, he shrunk both himself and his Angels down, and walked upon the mass.


    ''It is dark,'' he mused.


    "Let there be light!" He declared, and it was so.


    ''It is far too bright now. How to fix it?'' He again began to ponder.


    And he decided to fix it by bringing back the darkness he had chased out. He decided to create a balance between them.


    "There will be equilibrium between light and dark, 24 hours of varying levels of intensity of light, followed by 24 hours of varying intensity of dark."


    He fashioned 2 smaller masses and threw them out into the void, both giving off light, but one was far brighter than the other.


    "The brighter will be the Sun, the brighter one, the Moon."


    And it was so.


    ''This place is far too dull. There is no variations in the levels of elevation, nor in the state of matter.''


    And so, he and the Angels walked about the mass, digging massive pits, piling up massive mounds, and the Father doing a far more arduous task, making far deeper pits, and filling them with liquids he dubbed ''Water''.


    "The dry parts will be called land, the wet areas will be called the seas!"


    And for a time, he was satisfied with this. But, he eventually came to realize, such a large mass has no sentient life besides himself. There were his Angels, but they were unable to think for themselves. And he was saddened for it to be so.


    So, he created a wide variety of plants, having them use the sun and water to grow and reproduce, something the Angels were incapable of.


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    But, after leaving them alone for a time, they began to kill one another off, since they had grown far too numerous. The Father was saddened by this, and so he created his first new species made to eat another, and called them animals. And for a time, all was well.


    Until, the same problem once again repeated itself, this time with the animals. They had grown too numerous, and their food source couldn''t keep up.


    And so, the Father created more animals, these made to prey on other animals. Having learned his lesson, he created more beings, similar to himself and his Angels, to act as custodians of all these lifeforms. He called them Humans. He also created within them something the Angels did not have.


    Free will. They were beings truly capable of thinking on their own. The animals had a similar capability, but were governed instead by instincts, or a base knowledge of how to react in a given situation.


    However, these new beings were far too weak to be able to watch over the creations on this mass. The Angels had but the tiniest fraction of the Father''s strength, yet the Humans were but a fraction of that. And so, he created within these humans a special ability, in order to give them strength.


    Some could control fire.


    Others could control water.


    These, and similar elemental abilities were the most common, and had varying levels of strength.


    Other, slightly more abstract abilities were also made.


    The ability to hit any target.


    Massive strength.


    Even flight, and peerless handling of a given tool.


    But, the most powerful of all abilities?


    Those belonged to the class of what the Father called "The Manipulators of the Principles of reality."


    Space. Time. Gravity. Energy. Matter. These abilities would be without peer if their wielders could but understand how to use them.


    As one final parting gift, since the humans lived in different areas and environments, he created within them the ability to evolve and adapt to the various areas.


    After, he fell into a deep sleep due to using too much of his strength, leaving the Angels to preside over all his creations.


    And so the Angels watched, happy that their Father left them in charge of such a beautiful creation, that which they came to call Earth.


    They watched as those Humans in the hotter areas evolved and adapted, growing wings, scales, and horns, adopting the name of Dragons.


    They watched as those humans living in the sea areas evolved and adapted, growing gills, fish scales, and the ability to breathe underwater, adopting the names of merfolk.


    They watched again as those humans that lived in the forest areas evolved and adapted, growing longer ears, and adopting the names of elves.


    They watched once more as those humans that lived in the mountain areas evolved and adapted, growing more robust, thicker limbs, yet becoming shorter and stumpier, adopting the names of dwarves.


    They watched one last time as those humans residing in closely with the animals evolved and adapted, taking on some of the animal traits of those they watched over, adopting the names of beastmen.


    This, however, did not mean that all evolved and adapted, some felt satisfied just the way they were, and stayed as naught but humans.


    They saw all this, and were proud of the Father''s creations. As per his orders, they gave each one of the species an ability upon their birth, that would not manifest itself until such a time as they were ready.


    ...And that, son, is the story of all creation.


    ...


    ....


    ......Oy. Did you fall asleep?"


    [AN] Hello! Finally done with school for the moment, and since I felt a bit stumped about how I wanted to proceed on my next story, I decided to make this one. Alright, since I know everyone is probably wondering,


    1. No, I will not be dropping my other story.


    2. Yes this MC will be OP, but not in the traditional sense.


    3. Yes, a harem is possible, but no, it is not set in stone. Okay, that''s all. Next time, we get into the actually story.[/AN]

 Chapter 1

    "On the continent where most of the Dragons resided, they decided to create a ruling class amongst them that was dictated by power.


    At the very top is the king or queen, the strongest of the entire race, along with their chosen mate.


    Directly below them in power is the Nobles, generally composed of those who competed for King or Queen, but did not make it and were instead spared from dying during the trial by combat that determined the leader.


    Finally, the 3rd class was made up of commoners, which are the weakest group.


    Within this society, the king or queen hold absolute power, the nobles are able to lord over the commoners, and the commoners? Well, they are are just commoners.


    Absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, in our society, this is not an issue, since if you feel like the one above you in status has no right to lead you, you are allowed to challenge them to trial by combat, something that is not declinable, given that you are in a position of higher power. For example, if a commoner feels they were treated unjustly by a noble, they can challenge the noble. After this, it can follow one of four paths:


    1. They win the match, and kill their oppressor, joining the ranks of the nobility, tearing down that nobles family to their previous rank.


    2. They win, and spare the noble, allowing the nobility to maintain their rank, while elevating their own.


    3. They lose and are killed.


    4. They lose and are spared, going back to the previous routine.


    The only exception to this is that only the King or Prince cannot be challenged by a commoner. If you are a commoner, and seek to challenge the king or prince, you must first become a noble!


    You''d think this would lead to endless fighting and killing, but actually, this made things rather peaceful, since everyone realized, if you stepped too far out of line, the one above you can kill you just as easily as the one below you.


    The current King and Queen are the two strongest dragons currently known to exist. They actually both fought each other for the throne, where the Queen came out on top. The King to this day still insists he threw the fight due to the queen''s beauty and a desire to marry her. He obviously got his wish. The Queen says he was simply weaker than her.


    The Queen controls space, and the King manipulates time."


    -On the Current State of the Dragon Empire


    I close the book in front of me.


    "Wow, the King and Queen are amazing!" I exclaim.


    "You, as our child, shall be just as amazing. Come, it is time for your awakening ceremony. Let us find out what kind of ability you have," my mother replies.


    "But Mother," I begin anxiously, "What if I''m not as strong as you and Father?"


    "Then I will simply have to protect you all your life! No one is stronger than me!" My mother declares.


    "But what about father?" I ask, "He insists that he is stronger."


    "Hah! No, if that was the case, I would be his Queen, not him being my King! The woman is always stronger than the man in this house!"


    "Eh? But how come everytime I see you two play wrestle, Father is always on top, and has you pinned under im and screaming?" I ask, at this point thoroughly confused.


    "...That, um... that is... A four year old should not be concerned about things like that! Come along now!" My mother replies brusquely, quickly turning away from me.


    I saw that she was blushing, but considering what happened to Father last time he pointed a mistake or shortcoming of hers out to her... *shudders* They still haven''t finished fixing all the walls Mother knocked him through. I decide it would be a good idea to keep quiet.


    I am the son of the King and Queen of the Dragonic Continent. A great many things are expected of me, one of which is being strong enough to at least become a Noble by my own power.


    Appearance-wise, I take more after my father than mother. I have the same golden eyes as my mother, but the silver hair of my father. My skin is the same color as freshly squeezed milk, and my height is similar to that of the average dragon at age 4. Although we say dragon, most of the time, we closely resemble the appearance of our base species, Humans, but with horns, a tail, and retractable wings. My horns, tail, and wings are all black like my father, instead of the gold of my mother.


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    As I walked quietly behind Mother, we were fast approaching the throne room, where my Father, the King currently was, along with a high ranking priest of one of our temples to the Father.


    Upon entering, my Father and the priest both stood and bowed.


    "Good morning, my Queen." They both intoned.


    "Rise," the Queen replied.


    "My, were you blushing dear? Has something got you bothered?" Father asked, joking. Standing behind Mother, I quickly shook my head, indicating that he should stop, but it was too late.


    My Mother''s tail whipped out faster than my eye could follow, slamming into my Father''s chest, knocking him through the back of the throne room wall, out of several exterior walls, and leaving him to fall into the moat surrounding the castle. All of this occurred in the timespan of but an eyeblink.


    My mother walked over to her throne, sat upon it, and motioned me closer to her. I hastened to obey, not wanting to further rouse her ire.


    "Now, once that idiot gets himself back up here, we can go ahead and begin discovering my son''s ability."


    At that point, my father walks in, soaked from head to foot, with a fish laying flopping on top of his head.


    "Dear, your hair smells a bit fishy," my mother says, looking amused.


    "Oh, I wonder why? It couldn''t be because someone just so happened to put me through several walls, knocking me into a moat that just so happens to surround our castle now could it?" He replies, walking over to sit down next to her.


    "Hmm, who could do such a thing to you?" She says, looking away.


    "Oh, I don''t know, but I do know that I will enjoy having such a person pinned under me, screaming their head off as I slowly torture them out of their mind," he replies, with a mischievous glint his eyes.


    "Oh really?" My mother replies in kind, getting the same glint in her eyes.


    "*Ahem*" the priest interrupts. "Can we go ahead and do the ceremony, your majesties, so that I may leave you to find the offending party aforementioned," he says dryly.


    "Right, go ahead," my father says, looking on with a touch of amusement.


    The priest walks up to me, placing his hands on the side of my head.


    "Relax child, this will only take a moment, and after, we will know how strong you can become."


    I look up and ask, "Can I become as strong as Mother and Father?"


    He looks behind him to my Mother and Father, and seeing them nod, he turns back to me.


    "That is a definite possibility. Now come, hold still, I need to finish using my ability to commune with the Angels so that they can tell me what ability you have," the priest answers, closing his eyes.


    All those that become priests are required to have the ability to communicate with Angels for this reason, so that they can inform others of their abilities that they have been granted upon reaching the age of 4.


    The priest''s eyes suddenly snap open, and he examines me as if I am some kind of oddity.


    "Well, this is a first. I have heard of abstract abilities before... but this? This is one of the most yet," he states, seeming very confused.


    "Well, what is his ability?" My mother finally asks after moments of silence. They seem to be worried about what kind of ability I will end up with.


    "His is... Truth. They did not specify what this meant, they just said, he controls the Truth."


    Oh, did I also mention my name was Veritas? Ohhhh the irony.


    [AN] Yeaaahhhhhh! Bet you none of you guessed that THAT was the ability he''d get. You prolly thought I''d go one extreme or another, give him some completely broken ability, or some totally weak sauce ability but nawp, it is Truth! Veritas. Yep. Latin if you are wondering. Cuz I like Latin. It''s cool. Yep. [/AN]