Prologue

“Sh-shouldn’t we stop her?” asked a red dragon.

“No… It should be fine. Probably.” A puff of smoke flew out of a gold dragon’s nostrils as he sighed.

“But what if the humans come?” The red dragon’s wings flapped twice.

A black dragon snorted. “Then let them come.”

“Grimmy! You can’t solve everything with violence!” said the silver dragon next to him.

“Of course not, my love,” Grimmy said as he nuzzled her neck with his dark snout.

“Oh, get a room you two. Are you sure we shouldn’t do anything, Vernon?” the red dragon asked.

“If you can stop her, be my guest,” the gold dragon replied. “The only thing I’ll be doing is praying I don’t die when she returns.” The gold dragon shuddered and closed his eyes. The surrounding dragons stared at him.

“He’s whipped.”

“Definitely whipped.”

A chorus of agreement resounded throughout the valley.

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“Your Majesty, the Red Blade Adventurers have returned and wish to seek an audience,” a guard said with his head lowered and right arm across his chest.

“They may enter,” the king said. A group of six people, four male and two female, walked through the metal doors towards the king. They stopped twenty steps away with one man ahead of the others and knelt while staring at the floor.

“Your Majesty,” the man in front said. He had a blue chain mail and a red zweihander was strapped to his back.

“You may rise.”

The man in front stood up and crossed one arm over his chest. “We have accomplished your request. After stealing the dragon’s egg, we split up and entered six different towns before teleporting back to the capital. Sophie,” he said. One of the females wearing a red robe stood up and retrieved an egg the size of a watermelon from her bag.

“Excellent. You have done very well. As promised, I’ll send a word in to the adventurer’s guild to increase your ranking. Each of you may also select a weapon from the royal armory. You are dismissed,” the king said after taking the egg. The Red Blades stood up and bowed before turning around to leave.

“Won’t the dragons retaliate, Your Majesty?” a man standing next to the king asked. He had a white robe and a silver cross necklace barely showing under his beard.

“They will, but we’ll only lose a few frontier towns at most. They wouldn’t dare to attack the bigger cities. What is worth more, Gale? A town or a dragon?” the king asked before bursting out into laughter.

“Forgive me, I misspoke,” Gale said while looking at the floor. He clenched his necklace until it drew blood. I’m sorry, he thought.

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Shrieks and screams resounded through the air. A man wearing worn-out clothing ran out the town gates with his wife. Tears streamed down the woman’s eyes as she clutched the infant in her hands to her chest. Behind them was a sea of flames. The air smelled of burning wood and meat.

“Head towards the forest.” The man had to shout over the roaring of the flames. The woman nodded and ran towards the woods. Before they even took ten steps, a shadow blotted out the sun and the earth shook as a sky blue dragon landed in front of them. Its golden slit pupils stared at the two who had fallen over on their butts and bared its fangs. Each tooth was the length of a man’s forearm with drops of blood and flecks of flesh speckled throughout its mouth. The man felt his pants get warm, but he couldn’t move. He tried to scream, but nothing came out of his open mouth. The dragon arched its head up towards the sky and roared.

“Wh-why?” the woman asked. She could feel her baby stirring in her arms and felt a pang in her chest.

The dragon turned its head to look at her.

“Vengeance,” it said as it raised its leg into the air. The woman closed her eyes and hugged her baby tight.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR.

The woman screamed and dropped her baby. The roar hadn’t come from the dragon, but from the infant in her hands. The dragon’s claw stopped a foot above the woman’s head and it blinked its eyes. A rumbling sound caused the earth beneath the woman to tremble before she realized the dragon was laughing. A blue mage? Interesting. If they take one of mine, then I’ll take one of theirs, the dragon thought with a smile. She gently scooped up the infant with her claws and her golden eyes stared at the woman who trembled beneath.

“What is his name?”