An hour before Erebus’ castle would be attacked by the human forces, across the world on the Dragon Continent, Erebus watched the winners of the Dragon Tournament be crowned.

First Place: Fia

Second Place: Jura

Third Place: Lang, a dragon with the appearance of an elderly man.

As soon as the drawn-out ceremony was over, Erebus high-tailed out of there. No way was he staying any longer than he needed to. Absolutely no way!

Weryn quickly followed his teacher, if he fell behind now, Erebus would leave him without batting a single eyelash.

“W-where are we going!” Weryn gasped, his tiny legs struggling to keep up with Erebus’ long-legged gait.

“Home,” was his curt response.

The other members of the Dragon Council watched the two rapidly exiting the vicinity.

Rolut laughed a little and shook his head. Always so eager to leave, it was almost as if Erebus hated being here.

“Weryn, how fast can you fly?” Erebus asked after they had practically sprinted/walked away, the caldera far in the distance.

“M-me? I don’t know. I’ve never flown very far and I’ve never needed to fly very fast either...”

Erebus sighed heavily. “When I transform, climb onto my head and hold on for dear life. If you fall, I’m not catching you.”

W-wait, isn’t that a little dangerous? Weryn cried out in his mind but dared not to speak it out loud.

“Then, here we go!”

His body went through the transformation until a dragon with a muscular body and thick, black scales that absorbed the light. A single streak of crimson trailed from the tip of its mouth to the end of its wide tail. Its long, elegant neck bent down so that the top of its crested head would be possible to reach if one climbed on top of its nose and to the crown of his head.

Weryn couldn’t help but let out a gasp of amazement. Erebus’ dragon form was truly beautiful, it exuded an air of superiority.

Erebus mismatched eyes glared at Weryn. “Hurry up,” he hissed, he would fly away if the brat didn’t climb on faster.

“S-sorry!” Weryn stammered before scrambling up onto Erebus’ head. He had absolutely no idea what to hold onto, as Erebus didn’t even have horns.

Maybe the bony ridge that surrounded his head... Ah, that looked so very uncomfortable.

“We’re leaving,” Erebus said without checking, or caring if Weryn had secured a position and lifted off into the sky and flew off.

“Woah!” Weryn shrieked in terror, his body whipped backward, but in a desperate move he grabbed the small space underneath Erebus’ scales.

Erebus made an uncomfortable sound. “Watch where you grab.”

Tsk, like you have any right to complain, Weryn thought as the wind blasted his face.

He was holding on for dear life. He tried to pull himself forward, but with his minimal body strength and the power of the wind, it was an unsuccessful attempt. Weryn could feel the sharp scale cutting into his skin, it would pierce the layers soon and he would begin to bleed.

That didn’t daunt the young dragon, though. He’d rather have minor bleeding than to be dead.

Weryn couldn’t handle it anymore. He let out a scream of pure terror, he continued to scream until his throat became dry and raspy, incapable of producing any substantial noise.

Everything was appearing and disappearing fast. The clouds would blur his vision and dampen his skin for a millisecond. The air whipped past his face, causing his eyes to sting and tear up.

Terrible. This was terrible.

And Erebus was completely ignoring him!

He wanted to go home. He wanted to cuddle up under his mother’s warm wing and have her sing a lullaby to him.

“We’ll be there soon,” Erebus explained to the frightened Weryn.

Weryn made a pitiful sound, “Uu~”

Erebus sighed in annoyance, but he slowed down enough so that Weryn would not continue the traumatizing experience. Erebus moved at a leisurely pace, gliding through the skies. His castle was visible far in the horizon.

He cast his gaze downwards. “What in the world is that?” he questioned, a large army was moving through the trees.

If it wasn’t for his amazing vision, he wouldn’t be able to see it through the tree’s foliage.

Well, not that he cared about the affairs of humans very much. Still... it was a pretty large amount.

And it was rather close to his castle.

Erebus laughed silently to himself. What was he fretting for? Lilian had dealt with the situation of the humans attacking his castle.

He continue to glide on leisurely.

Wow... they really seemed to be heading in the direction of his castle, Erebus thought with a sinking feeling.

“What’s wrong?” Weryn asked he was now sitting upright. At the speed Erebus was moving, he could stand if he wanted to and still be okay.

“Bad premonition,” Erebus groaned.

Weryn tilted his tiny head, the magenta hair fell into his adorable face. What was Erebus talking about? Better yet, where were they headed?

What was that green stuff, was that grass? Were those tall things trees? Water? Why, that looks just like a river of lava.

They didn’t have this type of stuff in the Dragon Continent!

Now that Erebus had slowed down he could clearly see the surroundings. This was amazing!

“Ugh... nuisances,” Erebus muttered.

He stopped flying and kept himself afloat in the air, watching the movements of the army.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re going to find something out,” Erebus said. He watched as the army exited the forest and began to cross the grassland that would lead to his castle.

He moved forward so that he could still see.

And what he saw wasn’t pretty. Another army, though it was extremely paltry compared to the white knights, began to attack.

Erebus watched the battle unfold... He knew exactly whose army it was. It was Lilian’s undead and Stone and Magnus’ minions.

He groaned. “We’re going to deal with this,” Erebus said, shooting forward suddenly.

Weryn shrieked and once more grabbed onto the scales of Erebus.

Erebus transformed into a human while in the middle of the air, and the two shot down to the ground at an alarming rate.

Weryn groaned and buried his face into Erebus’ jacket. He was ready to puke... ugh, this was terrible.

The ancient dragon fell down a few yards away from Lilian, who had been too focused on her battle to notice Erebus flying in the sky.

She hadn’t even seen him coming with her magic because he was moving too fast at the time.

Erebus straightened out and said in a cold voice, “What in Eirlok is this?”

Lilian’s face paled and she tightened her grip on her staff. “T-that is, uh, the humans tricked us, Lord Erebus.” She fell onto one knee and bowed her head. “I apologize, I didn’t foresee this occurring.”

Erebus narrowed his eyes at her, while Weryn stared at her in wonder. Who was this pretty girl with strange things sticking out of her head. Rabbit ears? He had only heard about those in legends.

Was she a member of the beastman race his mother had told him about?

“I’m truly apologetic,” Lilian said, her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

The battle continued on, the humans were slowly pushing the undead back, as Stone and Magnus’ minions had all been killed now. The human mages had released Myth ranked magic multiple times, but luckily the undead had high magical resistance, so it wasn’t enough to kill them.

Erebus sighed heavily.

“Weryn, time for a test on what you learned.”

The young dragon’s head snapped up. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. “Master Erebus, you don’t mean...”

Erebus snorted. “Just cast a couple spells on the humans, I want to see how effective your magic is. It’s not like you have to kill them all, I will deal with that.”

Weryn tightened his fist.

Using his magic to kill? To harm others?

He had always wanted to fight in glory, but now when placed in the situation, he was afraid.

Weryn was afraid of taking a life. In human measurement, the boy was only six or seven. He wasn’t mentally capable of doing such a thing yet.

Erebus gazed at the child coolly, perhaps he was asking too much of the child at the moment. He could tell by the look of terror that had filled Weryn’s eyes.

He sighed and shook his head. “Nevermind, I will deal with it.”

It wasn’t Weryn’s time, at least, not yet.

“T-thank you, Master Erebus.”

Erebus waved his hand as if shooing the gratitude away. “Lilian, protect him. If he is so much as scratched by a stray rock, I’ll kill you.”

Lilian bowed quickly and muttered her acceptance.

It wasn’t like Erebus was so protective over Weryn, it was just that he didn’t want to be scolded by the motherly Ayirn.

Without a doubt, that woman would know.

Erebus let out a breath and continued, “Send your undead back for now, Lilian. Frankly, they’re in the way.”

“Yes, Lord Erebus,” Lilian said. She outstretched her staff and magic circles appeared beneath the undead and the creatures sunk back into the ground.

Erebus turned towards the very confused army of humans, his face donning its frightful blankness. “Let’s begin then, shall we?”