“I wouldn’t believe it if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes. Not only are you still alive, much like a bug, but you are even standing side by side with those disgusting Demihumans!”

Shar grimaced hearing those words. He recognized the voice well. It was someone he despised, one of the reasons why his country had begun to fall into decadence and corruption.

“Lord Burlberg…”

It was difficult to hide the disdain in his voice. Seeing that fop of a lord standing on top of the walls looking down at him brought back unwanted memories. He was the leader of the faction that had done everything within their power to destroy the great nation his father and his former king had built.

“Truly I am not surprised. You always did have a thing for those.. Animals. Just look at you now… you traitor.”

Lord Burlberg’s words oozed with contempt as he stood upon the castle walls sneering at Shar below.

Shar ignored his words with some difficulty and shouted clearly the words he came to say, “You are surrounded and your soldiers have been defeated. No reinforcements will be coming and you have no means of victory. I ask that you seriously consider surrendering. Your lives will be spared and you will be treated fairly as prisoners of war.”

Lord Burlberg scoffed and shouted angrily, “Hmph. The words of a traitor. We will never surrender! You think that a bunch of scavengers and scum will ever be able to defeat all the kingdoms of the North? You may have won this battle, but if you think the other kingdoms will just sit by while disgusting beasts rampage through Human lands you are deluding yourself! Every kingdom of the North has signed a treaty to respond to any external threats whether they be from the Empire or the Demihumans of the Plains! We have food aplenty and enough soldiers to hold this castle for a long time. You won’t be able to defeat us that easily! Go back to your beast overlords and tell them that we will never surrender!”

Shar listened without interruption until Lord Burlberg finished his tirade. Even after he was done shouting, Shar remained standing in silence. Those on the wall couldn’t see his expression or hear his mumbling and Lord Burlberg was certain his words had some effect on Shar. He gave a satisfied and smug smile while lauding himself in his mind.

The words he said did have an effect on Shar, but it wasn’t the effect that Burlberg was thinking. Instead, he was lamenting the stupidity of the nobles and felt shame and disappointment towards the king. However, he needed to be certain of something.

“Are these the words of the king?” He asked with a bit of hesitation.

“What was that? Did my words scare you senseless? Ha!”

Burlberry couldn’t hear Shar due to his unsettled voice which lacked force when he asked his question. He mistook his actions for fear, thinking his words had the desired effect he hoped for.

With more conviction, Shar repeated the question.

“Are those the words of his majesty?”

Thinking Shar had lost it, he replied, “Tch, my words are his! His majesty will never allow foreign invaders who aren’t even Human to have their way in his kingdom! Kill this traitor!”

The soldiers upon the wall were all members of the royal guard, the most elite of the kingdom’s soldiers. They all knew Shar well and there were certain rules in war that should not be ignored. One of those were that messengers should not be killed. Shar had come as a messenger of the Demihumans to ask for terms of surrender, naturally they had no intention to shoot arrows at him and when they heard the order given, they hesitated. There was uncertainty written on their faces as they looked at their captain.

“Did you hear what I said!? Shoot him! Or are you all traitors too!?”

“But Lord Burlberg… he’s a messenger..”

The captain of the royal guard was shocked at the request, especially so since Shar was someone he himself greatly respected. He didn’t know what the exact circumstances were regarding Shar and in his mind he could never imagine that Shar was truly a traitor. Regardless, it was wrong to kill a messenger and so he questioned Lord Burlberg much to the lord’s chagrin.

“You fool! Give me that bow, I will kill him myself!”

Burlberg snatched a bow from a nearby soldier and knocked an arrow he had forcefully taken as well. Shar was uncertain of what exactly was going on and when he saw Burlberg take aim at him with the bow, he was surprised and failed to react. Perhaps a part of him even accepted the fact that he would die.

Lord Burlberg fired the arrow without hesitation and the arrow sped straight towards Shar. There was no question that the arrow was well aimed and was on a direct course. Shar could only grimace, his thoughts and memories quickly flashing as visions in his mind.

‘Perhaps this is what I deserve’ He thought with little reluctance in his heart.

Shar closed his eyes in that moment and awaited his death. However, a strong gale suddenly blew past him deflecting the arrow away from its course. He couldn’t see what happened, but he felt the strong gale and the arrow he thought would soon arrive did not come.

“You can open your eyes now Shar.”

It was a voice he recognized.

“Reia? Was it you that saved me?”

“Yeah, it isn’t your time to die Shar. Fayde sees a lot of promise in you. I know there is some doubt in your mind about the future and some regret about your past. Don’t throw away the hope of a brighter future because of pity or misplaced pride.”

For a moment, Shar forgot where he was. Those words reminded him of something he heard a long time ago from his father. He wasn’t even aware that another arrow was fired at him. Thankfully, the other soldiers were still hesitant and only Lord Burlberg was still attempting to kill him. The arrow didn’t escape Reia’s eyes and she quickly grabbed Shar and pulled him out of the way of the arrow’s path.

“For now, let’s move out of range of their arrows.”

Shar nodded and allowed himself to be pulled away. Lord Burlberg cursed angrily and shouted for the soldiers to quickly fire their arrows. They finally responded once they saw Reia and the warriors that had followed behind her, but by that time it was already too late.

A group of Demihumans with thick shields blocked the volley of arrows allowing Reia and Shar to pull back to safety. The warriors soon followed without any casualties leaving Lord Burlberg fuming with rage. He took it out on the captain of the royal guard, promising to see him dismissed from his duties for disobeying his orders.

“Thank you Reia. I almost made a huge mistake.” Shar said with gratitude after fleeing to safety.

Reia smiled a brilliant smile. She wasn’t upset in the least at his actions. She understood the turmoil he must be going through and she knew him to be a man of great loyalty and honor.

“As long as you understand.”

“Well, I failed in the negotiations.”

“It was to be expected.”

“What now?”

Reia turned and looked at Allein who was standing nearby. She had yet to fully recover from what happened to Fayde and was staring at the floor with a sluggish expression.

“Allein.”

Reia was forced to call out a second time before she finally responded by lifting her head and meeting Reia’s eyes.

“If you have time to waste standing there feeling guilty, then make yourself useful.”

“But sister Reia…”

“Enough. What happened to Fayde wasn’t your fault and I don’t have the time to waste arguing with you about it. If you hate the fact that you couldn’t save Fayde.. If you feel you are responsible.. Then do something about it. Do what you can here and now. We do not need a pathetic little princess who collapses every time things don’t go her way. What we need right now is your strength and your conviction. Wake up! Use your dragon form and attack the soldiers on the castle walls so that when Fayde does return we can deliver him this castle as a gift. Do you understand?”

Reia didn’t intend for her words to be harsh, but she felt it was the only way to get through to Allein even if it was only a temporary solution.

Allein was angered by Reia’s words and her eyes burned once more with life but she soon realized that there was nothing she could say in response. Reia was right but this only made her more angry and upset at her own uselessness. She was the daughter of the black dragon king, and she herself was a powerful dragon. Yet despite all of this, she had committed one blunder after another and even lost what was most important to her.

The anger and pride of a dragon filled her once more and she replied through gritted teeth, “Fine.”

Just one word, that was all that needed to be said.

Her eyes began to glow bright crimson and she raised her head and roared a mighty dragon’s roar. It was strange hearing such a sound coming from her somewhat tiny form. It wasn’t that she was especially short for a woman, it was just that the sound was one you would imagine from a mighty beast and not a beautiful and graceful woman.

She leaped straight up on to the roof of a nearby building and her form began to shift and grow. As her body enlarged and grew monstrous taking the shape of a dragon, she continued to roar mightily. The sound of her roars filled the city streets sending those civilians hiding in their homes cowering in fear.

The sound soon reached the soldiers upon the castle walls and silenced Lord Burlberg’s ravings. He jumped in shock and fear, remembering the reports he heard previously about the dragon that had been sighted outside the city walls when they were still under siege by the kingdom of Jaspel.

At that time, the nobles and the king had been meeting within the walls of the castle and had not seen the dragon attack themselves. They had heard the reports from the soldiers and despite the fact that there were many witnesses to the spectacle, they were skeptical of the reports thinking it was mere hallucination or some time of illusion magic. By the time they had witnessed the battle between the Demihumans and the soldiers of Jaspel, the dragon was no longer present.

Imagine Lord Burlberg’s surprise when the blaring roar of a dragon reached his ears. He almost jumped off the walls in fright and his body began to quiver in fear. He had never been a brave man. He was quite the pretentious person, often feigning bravery but never truly having any.

“W..h...a...t ?”

The words barely left his mouth before he pulled back and rushed towards the entrance to the inner castle. The soldiers on the wall were also filled with fear but they were well trained and shook off their initial fear. Some watched Lord Burlberg leave in fear with disdain. The captain of the royal guard gathered his nerves and rapidly gave orders to his men.

The city suddenly became quiet. This only served to unnerve the men on the wall even more. It didn’t help settle their nerves at all, instead filling them with a sense of imminent danger. They looked to the skies hoping to catch a glimpse of the enemy they knew was out there. Their eyes and ears were filled with rapt attention and strained to see or hear something. They would be satisfied with anything except for the eerie quiet and calm that had fallen upon the city unsuspectingly.

After several moments of calm, they could hear a gentle beat. Much like a heartbeat which had just begun to pick up speed diligently and with a steady pace. It became a rich cadence of rippling wind that continued its climb ever forward. The sound was all around them and they looked up into the sky, each holding their hand to provide comfort to their squinting eyes only to catch a glimpse of a shadowy form laying majestically against the sun’s glare.

In that moment, they saw their doom as the sky lit up brightly in a fiery embrace of falling flames and bitter ashes.

Unfortunately for them, they had no long range weapons which could harm a dragon. Even the sturdy walls of whitened stone provided no protection from the blazing flames.