The Last Human

The kingdom of man has fallen. The Dragons, seeing the threat that the humans posed, manipulated and coerced the races of the land to turn on the usually peaceful and neutral humans. The Elves saw a weaker version of themselves and sought to eliminate such imperfections. The Orcs saw a foe that could match their tenacity, and for a time fought the humans on their own. The Dwarves found a match in their ingenuity, so they sought to eliminate the competition. But time soon found the races of the land finding something they did not expect. The Elves saw a species that did not aim to be them, but instead live on their own terms regardless of imperfections. The Orcs found a foe that was not only as tenacious as them, but far more spirited and unified than their scattered tribes could match. The Dwarves found themselves outsmarted by humans at nearly every turn. Individually, the races of the land slowly realized that they could not defeat the humans alone, so they did the one thing that was unheard of in such times. They united, forming pacts and promising concessions among each other in their battle against such a foe. In their haste to defeat the humans, however, they never noticed that the humans did not attack, and only defended themselves. It was not the humans that attacked and slaughtered without thought, it was the Orcs. It was not the humans that saw the others as below them and therefore cared not for their turmoil, it was the Elves. It was not humans that looked at others only as numbers on a sheet, it was the Dwarves. And that is why, despite the unity of the races, that the humans would not fall. No, the fall of man came when the Dragons themselves intervened. They saw a race that basked in their own imperfections, using them to progress and drive themselves forward at rates that were unprecedented. They strived to fix what they thought was wrong, even if such problems proved to be impossible tasks. They saw fearlessness, humility, and compassion all tied up in one single race, and though the Dragons did not want to admit it, they were envious. The combined might of the Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, and Dragons drove the humans back to the capital city of Avion, and it is there that the humans made their final stand. The met the Elves in the surrounding forests, clashed with the Orcs in the open plains, and skirmished with the Dwarves in the caves. The Dragons took to the skies, and in their arrogance they thought themselves invincible to the humans weapons. Then the first dragon fell, then the next, and the next, till all but one stood upon the ruined capital. One human stood before the beast, blood drenched, exhausted, and sword shaking in his hands. It was a pitiful sight, but the Dragon knew that the shaking of the man was not from his fear, but from the tides of battle that saw the Elves flee from the forest, the Orcs crawl from the plains, and the Dwarves sink into the caves. No, it was only the Dragon that was left, the Dragon and the human. In its rage the Dragon leapt at the human, and by all the rules of nature it should have the been the Dragon that slayed the human, but in his disbelief the Dragon found itself on its back, looking up to the human, his blade at the beast’s throat. There was no anger in his eyes, only sorrow. “Tell me, why?” The human asked. The Dragon at first did not answer, for in the midst of the burning city it could not find the answer, no… it could not accept the answer it found, but the truth was too heavy to hold. “...because we were scared,” The Dragon said. The human stayed silent, looking at the crumbled remains of his home, a shadow coming over his face. He looked back down at the dragon. “Perhaps, in the times before this war, I would have said that your concerns were unfounded. But as I look upon my home… upon the cities that my people built shattered and turned to ash… you were right to feel such emotions.” The Human’s blade flashed, and the last Dragon fell. Wrecked by exhaustion and losing blood from his wounds, the Human could only look at the sky as the corners of his vision grew dim. His last thoughts were of better times, of simpler times. But this was not the last of the humans. The Human, who is only now known as the Dragon Slayer, had a son, Gaius Caelius. He was merely a teenager when Avion fell, and his father had sent him into the woods as the walls of the capital city crumbled. For a time Gaius kept to the forests, living off the land until he was a young man. In that time, the races of the land found themselves in turmoil. Alliances failed as the races could not deliver on their promises to one another, for their conflict with the Humans left them penniless. The Elves, already a scarcely populous race, had retreated into obscurity so they may bolster their thinning numbers. The Orcs, living only through pillaging and battle, had lost too many men to and warred amongst themselves too much to move beyond their barren plains, and the Dwarves, having spent most of their money and resources in the battle with the Humans, sealed off their caves to avoid paying their debts. The last of the Dragons fell in battle with what everyone thought was the last of the Humans, all until Gaius was found. It is not known if Gaius’s initial contact with the Elves was one of peace or one of conflict, but it is recorded that for a time Gaius spent his time among them, learning their magic, their arts, and their crafts. Eventually he left, and found himself wandering the plains inhabited by the Orcs. How a lone human survived in such a climate is not known, but Gaius studied from the Orcs as he did the Elves, learning their ways of battle and combat. Perhaps from guilt or fear, the Dwarves let Gaius into their caves, where he learned of their technologies and even a bit of merchanting. But despite his travels, Gaius could not find a place among any of the races. He rejected the false sense of perfection from the Elves, he rejected the nonsensical brutality of the orcs, and he rejected the cold, number-driven logic of the Dwarves. No, Gaius had not found a home, and for a time he returned to his old home in the forests. Years later, Gaius returned to the plains. Before the Orcs was a different man, a stronger man. He united the scattered tribes, quelling their savagery by refining it into competition. He brought the Dwarves from their caves, making them see beyond the gemstones and gold that lay in the shadows. He coerced the Elves from the forest, making them see that their perceived perfections and isolation in fact, only prevented their progress. It is not known what caused this change in Gaius. Some suspected he stumbled across an old archive of Human teachings, learning the best from his fallen people. Others suspected that he meditated in the forests, bringing together knowledge of each race and rejecting the ideals that he found to be harmful rather than helpful. Regardless, Gaius Caelius brought peace not by unifying the races of the land under one kingdom or one flag, but by teaching the races the good and bad of each of their cultures. He eliminated the arrogance of the Elves by making them see that their self perceived superiority was only holding them back. He quelled the savagery of the Orcs not by pacifying them but by directing their aggressiveness into more practical pursuits. He warmed the cold logic of the Dwarves by making them embrace the life that lay outside the caves. Gaius may have not fought Dragons and felled warriors in the fields of war, but he eliminated the one true enemy of them all, stagnation. The last Human did not conquer the lands, but instead brought the races of the land to encompass what Humans themselves had once possessed. As he lay on his deathbed, he was looking at the sky as his father had done years ago, but instead of reminiscing of times long passed, he found himself looking towards the future. What had brought balance to the world was not the perfection of the Elves, the tenacity of the Orcs, or the logic of the Dwarves. No, what had driven civilization forward was the heart of the humans, the heart of the Last Human. Indeed, when Gaius Caelius passed, he was smiling.