Chapter 3; The Origin of the Dragon

A fragment from the third chapter from the unfinished book, The Life Chronicle of Abedi Terik, the Dragon Emperor by Emil Tark, the head librarian of The Imperial Archive.

The origin of the Emperor is, at the same time, both widely known and also shrouded in mystery. The story he tells and has written, sent around the empire and told to the people is, at best, an embellishment of the truth and, at worst, a complete lie.
He maintains that his father was Emandi Terik, High King of Atral. A collection of minor kingdoms that comprised the area we now consider the Heartland of the Atralum Empire. This is considered fact as we know that Atral and Emandi Terik both existed hundreds of years ago.
From there, the story goes that Emandi was a good king and beloved of his people. He was aging and had no heir, and this worried him. His wife, while the love of his life, was unable to conceive, and this put a strain on his rule. Upon his death, the collected kingdoms over which he held dominion would fracture and war would rage again. He prayed every day for an answer, for deliverance from this problem. A solution that would save his kingdom and people from this terrible fate.
It is said on the 28th day of prayer he was visited by Caminus of Creation, who had looked down from the Celestial Void and seen how good and just a ruler he was and taken pity upon him. She took it upon herself to lie with him and from this union; they conceived a son to continue his rule.
It is this half divine miracle child that grew into our Emperor who was named Abedi, which means unexpected in the Old Atralic tongue.
The Emperor maintains that this divine blood is what gives him his exceptionally long life and magical prowess and also his divine mandate to rule the world.
I will say right now that I do not believe this tale. I have hunted for any information dating back to the time of Emandi concerning this miracle birth, but cannot find anything. Having trawled through many, many records, none mention any trouble his wife was said to have had with birthing.
However, I did find a record of a village on the edge of the Atral Kingdoms that was linked to the name Abedi. It was in a lesser known and forgotten volume written about common names in outlaying towns and villages of the region. It said that they gave the name Abedi to a male child born out of wedlock, a way to try to keep track of these unexpected children.
I discovered that the town that this practice was linked to no longer exists. I journeyed for many weeks to try to find it, and all that remains is a large patch of land that is barren of life. The soil dry and lifeless. No plants grow there, no animals hunt there. There was some sign that once there might have been buildings or settlements, but something or someone had razed them to the ground.
What this means, I can only guess at. It would all be conjecture and speculation. I do have my theories, however, but to voice them without proof would be useless and bordering on treason, I suspect.