Mary’s face hardened. “We’re being invaded?”

“Yes, my liege,” the Shadows member said. “It seems as if the other empires have been plotting this for an extremely long time. Knowing that the nobles in charge of our lands have come to attend your banquet, leaving their territories without a true leader, they’ve concluded that it’s the perfect time to attack.”

Mary stood up and drew her sword. “Shall I personally pay a visit to their palaces? I’ve left them alone because Uncle told me they were vital for our empire’s survival, but this is how they treat my goodwill?”

“Is it just me, or does Mary have a problem?” Vur asked Alora before taking her cake.

“H-hey! I was in the middle of eating that!” Alora could only say a sentence in protest before the cake disappeared into Vur’s mouth. She sighed. “What do you mean by problem? If by problem you mean only giving a single slice of cake to dragons, then yes, she has a very big problem.”

“No, not that,” Vur said after swallowing. “But that is a problem too.” He nodded. “It’s weird. Sometimes, Mary acts like an adult.”

“I am an adult!” Mary said and slammed her hand against the table, breaking it in half. “This is the banquet for my twentieth birthday, you big dumb dumby.”

Vur stared at Mary with a blank expression. Then he turned towards Tafel. Tafel nodded. “We’re adults too, Vur.”

Vur furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes. Then he shrugged and pulled the plate that Tafel’s cake was on towards himself and out of Alora’s grip.

The Shadows member cleared his throat. “My liege,” he said. “What will you do?”

“I’ll go straight to their palaces and take those backstabbers’ heads,” Mary said and raised her sword towards the gap in her armor. But before she could, a deep voice echoed through the dining room.

“You’re not going to do that.”

The door swung open, revealing a bald man with green eyes. Mary froze. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and a shiver ran down her spine as she took a step back, stumbling against her chair and falling over onto her butt. “U-U-Un…cle.” Her sword fell out of her hand, and an audible gulp resounded through the room as her throat bobbed. “You….”

A wide smile bloomed on Zyocuh’s face. He stepped into the room and spread his arms out to the side as if he were waiting for a hug. “Did you miss me, my dear niece?”

The Shadows member disappeared and reappeared by Zyocuh’s feet. His clothed forehead touched the ground. “My liege.”

Zyocuh frowned and lowered his arms before sweeping his gaze over the room. “Where are the rest?”

“They … fled … after an … incident.”

“What—”

“Is this your dead uncle?” Vur asked, his voice echoing through the mostly silent room. He frowned at Mary, who was trembling and hugging her knees while staring at the ground. He turned back towards Zyocuh. “He looks very alive.” Vur waved towards the table that Alice and Mr. Skelly were sitting at. “You should ask him how he got his body back, Mr. Skelly.”

“And you must be the dragon boy,” Zyocuh said and narrowed his eyes at Vur. “I saw what you did to my niece earlier. The disgusting scent of a dragon is easy to smell from even miles away.”

Vur tilted his head. “I think your nose is broken. Dragons smell very nice.” He hesitated and snuck a glance at Alora before blinking at Zyocuh. “Unless they fart in their sleep.”

Alora looked around and pointed at herself. “Vur totally glanced at me just now when he said that, right? Am I the only one who saw that?”

“You’re imagining things,” Tafel said.

“That’s right,” Emile said and jumped onto the broken table. “Dragons always smell bad, dumb lizard.” He withered when Vur glared at him. “Except Vur since Tafel’s phoenixy scent rubs off of him when they sleep together.”

Emile squawked as Susan dragged him off the table and into a corner of the room.

Zyocuh cleared his throat and gave Vur a faint smile. “I don’t know why dragons chose to imprint you, but quite frankly, I loathe dragons. You can thank them for what’s going to happen.”

“What’s going to…?” Vur paused mid-question and lowered his head. A red line spiraled out of his bellybutton on his skin. A single red paw reached out of his stomach and extended its claws. The furry paw flattened and expanded, taking on the shape of a door connected to Vur’s bellybutton by a cord. The door swung open, revealing a green pasture with a sunny sky. A pink, egg-shaped object was hopping about amongst the flowers inside.

Tafel’s eyes widened. “What’s—“

Before Tafel could finish her sentence, Zyocuh burst out into laughter as hundreds of thousands of red lights flew out of his body and into the pasture through the red doorway. Everyone in the room shielded their eyes and retreated from the sudden wave of heat coming off of them. When the light stopped streaming from Zyocuh’s body, the door slammed shut and shrank back into the shape of a claw before sinking into Vur’s stomach, the red spiral on his belly disappearing. With a muffled groan, Vur collapsed onto his knees, then fell forward onto his face.

“Vur!” Tafel ran over to Vur’s collapsed body and lifted his face off the ground. She propped him up into a sitting position before shaking him, but there was no response. Her hands clenched into fists as she whirled her head around and glared at Zyocuh. “You, what did you do to him?”

A faint smile appeared on Zyocuh’s lips in reply. “Didn’t you see? It’s not my fault if you didn’t understand.”

A rune erupted on Tafel’s forehead as she rose to her feet. “If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine too.” She reached her arm out to the side and summoned a portal, retreiving her staff. “I’m a very reasonable ruler unlike some people I know. Before I resort to violence, I always try to negotiate with words.” Her eyes narrowed as blood-red flames materialized in the air around her. She pointed her staff at Zyocuh and spoke as if she were spitting out her words, “What did you do to my husband?”

Zyocuh snapped his fingers. “Mary.”

An audible clank resounded through the room as Mary flinched.

“Be a good child and subdue this horned wench for me, will you?”

Tafel frowned and turned her head towards Mary. The empress has stopped trembling and grabbed her sword. Like a puppet, she climbed to her feet with jerky motions, her head lowered, her gaze glued to the floor. Tafel clenched her staff as shivers ran down her spine. “Hey, Mary…?”

The empress raised her head, and the two’s gazes met. Mary’s eyes were dull as if she were staring at the wall behind the demon instead. With a metallic clink, the empress lifted her sword. There was a squelching sound as she stabbed it into the gap near her shoulder. Tafel gulped and jabbed Alora’s ribs with the butt of her staff, causing the polymorphed dragon to squeal. “How about you turn back into a dragon and take care of her?” Tafel said as her horns glowed silver.

“Not sure how, sorry,” Alora said while stuffing her face with cake that she found on a nearby table. She blinked as Tafel disappeared. An instant later, Mary was standing where Tafel had been, her sword thrusted into empty air. There was a cracking sound as the floor underneath Mary’s feet splintered into fragments, and she blurred as she leapt towards the ceiling where Tafel had teleported herself. “Whew. Tiny things always move so fast.”

Zyocuh raised an eyebrow and smiled at Alora. “You’re a dragon?”

“I thought you could smell dragons,” Emile said from the corner of the room, but Susan’s wings slapping his face cut him off before he could say anything else.

Alora choked on her cake and flailed her arms out. She grabbed a cup of water and drank it down before catching her breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. Like, really, do I look like a dragon?”

“No,” Zyocuh said and rubbed his chin. “You don’t talk like one either. If that’s the case, you won’t mind if I take away this freak here, will you?” He walked over to Vur and placed a hand on his unconscious shoulder.

“Uh…, that’s a bit…, you know,” Alora said and emptied her hands by dropping her food and drink onto the ground. “Unacceptable?” She took in a deep breath, her stomach expanding, and exhaled out a breath of … nothing. Her brow wrinkled as she raised a finger. “Um. Hold on a second.” She arched her back and pointed her face at the ceiling. Her stomach ballooned outwards as she inhaled through her nose. She held her breath and bent her back, aiming her face at Zyocuh. Then she exhaled out a breath of nothing.

Zyocuh stared at Alora. She stared back. Shouts filled the room as Tafel and Mary’s clash impacted the nearby nobles who hadn’t been able to flee the room. A sword made of red light formed in Zyocuh’s hand, which he pointed at Alora. She sighed. “Alright, yeah, you can have him.”