Chapter 2

My mouth opened widely as a foul stench of dragon’s breath escaped from yawning. Opening my eyes, I look around me. I was somehow inside a wooden cabin-like building. Looking at myself, I was still in my dragon form. It made me wonder how I was moved here in the first place. So many questions danced in my head, but so far, no answers were brought up.

The last thing I remember was the festival, drinking delicious gold, and then falling asleep after that nothing.

Inside the wide room, I saw a small firelight, slowly turning into embers. Sitting across from me in a chair was a Moca, dozing off into sleep.

I got up and stretched. My tails smacked the side of the building, causing Moca to wake startled.

“Young mistress?” Moca scrambled up, embarrassed that he fell asleep. He straightened himself as best as he could.

“Good morning Moca. Would you mind answering me why I’m in here?”

Moca cleared his throat. “Young mistress, it’s not completely morning yet. In a couple of hours, the sun will rise.”

“So, I didn’t sleep for long?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“No, young mistress. You have slept for over five years.”

I faltered, almost banging my knee into the dying ember. Did I just hear him correctly? Five years?

“Can you repeat that?” I said with disbelief.

“You have slept for five years, young mistress.”

“Five years?! Wait, are you serious?”

“Yes, young mistress. Since the day of the festival, you didn’t wake up once. You were too heavy to carry back up to the castle. So, we had to build a temporary building around you to keep you safe against the weather. Especially during the wintertime. We thought you might freeze to death.”

“Why did I fall asleep for so long? How come you guys didn’t try to wake me up?” I didn’t like this at all. I wasted my life away, sleeping for five years nonstop. I’m no sleeping beauty, but this is just ridiculous.

“We tried, but nothing could wake you up. We thought you were poisoned, but we found out you weren’t. We believe the massive amount of magic that you have cast has caused you to go into hibernation to recuperate. That is the best answer we could give you.”

“Massive amount of magic?”

“Yes, you blessed the whole city with good luck for five years.”

“I did?”

Moca nodded.“We have been having bountiful wealth and knowledge in the city for the five years that you have been sleeping. Our city has grown, new weapons and magic discovered.”

My mind was a bit foggy on what happened that night. Luckily I didn’t have a splitting headache from all that alcohol that I drank. Then I remember a snippet of what happened. I really did just bless the whole city. That would make sense why I still feel a bit tired.

What surprised me though, was that I wasn’t even hungry for gold. It was strange, it felt like I could go a couple more days without eating another gold piece at all, and I’ll still be fine. Was there some correlation between eating gold and blessing people? I’m not sure at all.

“Okay, so let’s say I slept for five years, what happened?”

Moca went silent for a moment. I could tell that something serious was on Moca’s mind. It took awhile for Moca to get his train of thought before he started. “In the past four years, we have had more immigration from the Beastkin and the humans. The Death God’s children have been ravaging havoc on the Beast-kin city, instead of the Black Gryphon himself. So far, we only heard the news that he had shown up once and destroyed the major city Toruga in a fortnight a year ago. Right now, the population has tripled in numbers to about 300,000 people from different species. Majority of them being Beast-kin. Don and Ginger have been busy these last year in keeping the Black Gryphon’s children at bay, but it seems that they have no luck in destroying them. We fear that they will wipe out another city soon.”

“Don knows how to fight?” My eyes became wide in surprise. This was big news.“Since when?”

“Both Ginger and Don have been practicing since you have fallen asleep. Don stated that while you slept, he would get stronger to protect you and this city from possible Black Gryphon’s attack.”

“I see.” This was quite a surprise to hear that Don had picked up on martial arts. “Where is Phil?”

“Well….” Moca seems to trail off, unable to answer.

I gazed towards him, wondering what was wrong. He sighed and straightened himself before he continued.

“Young Master Phil has disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” The words sounded a bit strange coming out from my mouth. For him to disappear was, in a nutshell, a bit out of place, something he wouldn’t usually do unless there was a reason. “Could you explain?”

“He has been missing for three years now, so far Don and Ginger have been searching for clues, but they are too busy in keeping back the Black Gryphon and his children that it has been on hold.”

“What about others? Did nobody think to send someone to look for him?”

“Yes, Tart has been coming and going, but nothing has shown itself.”

“Where exactly was he last seen?” I felt a strange nagging feeling in the back of my mind. Something was up, and Moca wasn’t telling me.

“That is…” Moca seemed distracted over something before he continued. “Young Mistress, it's best that you forget such a person.”

“Why are you suddenly saying that?” I couldn’t believe Moca would say such words; usually, he’s not the type to voice his opinions, and say something like this was very important. “Tell me you’re hiding something, aren’t you? I can smell it on you.”

Strangely enough, I could smell the scent on him when he’s lying or hiding something from me. It’s not just him; in this dragon form, emotions seem to have different flavors of smell that dance and tickle my nose. Lying was one of them where it smelled strongly of smelly old socks.

“I’m not lying, young mistress.” Moca stood up straight, trying not to show anything different.

There it is again—the horrible smell of dirty socks. With a loud sneeze, I blew back Moca, who was standing in front of me. He was covered in my spit and snot. I felt really embarrassed after seeing him covered in slime. “I’m sorry.” I coughed. “The smell of lying literally is disgusting. Now, are you going to tell me or not?”

Moca sighed. He wiped himself with a small hankey that he pulled out. His nice butler clothes definitely would need to be washed. I swear there was some snot on his bearded face that I couldn’t help but be ashamed. Getting used to the smelly sock smell when people are lying will take time to get used too, but I believe I rather not. It does come in handy, though I need to stop sneezing in their face.

“He went to the Orc kingdom, but after that, he disappeared. We haven't received any news from him for four years from now. At this rate, we believe he’s dead.”

“Why do you say that?” I was concerned. If he died early, my death was tied to his, meaning I had only a year left to live. “He could be alive, you know.”

“Young mistress, if you don’t mind. I would like to speak my own thoughts. I don’t mean any disrespect, but please hear me out.”

“Go ahead. No offense taken.” I waved my hand in front of me. Actually, I liked it when I spoke truthfully instead of lying, especially Moca, Tart, Don, and Coco. Their opinion mattered to me more than anyone else's. Plus, I would like to understand Moca more; he’s too quiet.

“Young Mistress, Phil is too dangerous to keep close at hand.”

I nodded, fully understanding what Moca meant. Phil was a Demon Lord, who would want a demon lord living right next to them.

“Even though Coco finds him tolerable, I believe he would become the death of your life.”

“Well, you pretty much hit it over the head,” I muttered, quite surprised that he understood how dangerous Phil was.

“There is something dangerous about him, young mistress. I don’t know what, but I fear for your life.” He gently bowed, clasping his hand in front of him. “I pray that nothing bad happens to you, young mistress. I only want the best for you.”

“Thank you, Moca. I really appreciate you telling me your thoughts.” I replied. “I agree Phil is someone to be watched out for, but at the same time, I can not just forget about him. He has one of the Legendary Weapons, meaning he is a Hero.” The word Hero got stuck in my throat; it tasted so weird saying that one word about a Demon Lord who was supposed to be my downfall.

“I believe you should keep a good distance away from him.”

“I would keep your thoughts in mind.”

“Thank you, young mistress,” said Moca. He then straightened up, clapped his hand in enthusiasm. “I’ll get something for you to eat. The others will be thrilled that you are awake.”

“Thanks.”

Moca quickly walked out, leaving me by myself. I was still sitting down, thinking about what Moca said. Staying away from Phil was a good idea, but I couldn’t let him die. He has been missing for four years because I was definitely worried about it. After all, it somehow connected to my life. I’m not sure how, but it seems the world would make it happen like that, and I didn’t want to give the world an incentive that Phil was dead.

Just thinking about Phil being dead or alive made my head hurt. With a defeated sigh, I rested my head on my hand. Throughout the whole time, I just waited. I couldn’t really move in this cramped building. I wasn’t sure if I should just bust out of here and explode outwards like a volcano, announcing that I was awake, but I didn’t. What the outside world was like right this moment was something I didn’t know; I would feel bad if I destroyed someone’s house or ruined their field that they worked hard on.

Now that I think about it, I wondered why I didn’t just change back into my human form. Willing the energy around me, I tried to feel the familiar energy of changing, but for some reason. I couldn’t feel anything.

I tried again. Still, nothing, making me really confused.

What’s going on? I thought. Am I stuck in this body?!

Once again, I searched for the energy inside my body, but so far. I couldn’t feel anything. It felt like I was completely exhausted, leaving me with an empty tank. The city's blessing must’ve really taken everything out of me, leaving me with barely anything. This was something to be concerned about, but there wasn’t much I could’ve thought of.

With a sigh, a puff of smoke erupted out of my nose and mouth. A loud squeak could be heard as the door opened, bringing in Moca and Tart. I had to wonder where Coco was because she was the first one usually to come greet me.

A delicious smell of cooked meat could be seen as Moca carried a massive plate of roasted cow. My lips watered, my tails wagged, thrashing against the wall, making it shake.

“Young mistress!” Tart called out, excited to see me. He was carrying in a large bowl of salad over his head and dragging behind a dead bird that was five times his size. “I’m so glad that you are awake.”

“Tart, it’s good to see you.” My mouth watered, Moca dropped the plate down for me to eat. My hand reached forward without realizing it, taking a large chunk, I devoured it in one gulp. Quickly, I ate the rest.

“Young mistress. You must’ve been hungry.” Tart chuckled. “Don’t worry. I have enough food ready for you to fill up five years that you missed.”

The thought of eating five years of food all in one day sounded a bit too much. Maybe enough to fill me up was enough, but I didn’t say anything yet. I was too busy eating the food that was brought to me.

From beef, pork, chicken, soup, and even hot, steaming rice was brought towards me. It wasn’t just Moca and Tart, but other maids brought in a large amount of food through the door. I felt like my stomach was an endless void as it devoured more and more, taking in everything it could get my hands on.

The others weren’t even phased by how messily I was eating, and instead, they seemed extremely pleased that I was awake and eating healthily. Another thirty minutes went by until I felt full. I finished on the fortieth plate, making this a world record. Everything tasted amazing, not only that I thought my magic was quickly coming back to me naturally.

Happy that my belly was full, I let out a small burp. I look around ashamed at my unladylike appearance, but I couldn’t help it. All the plates were quickly taken away, and even the place was swept clean. Only Moca and Tart remained, waiting for me to speak.

“Um, I was wondering,” I replied, feeling bloated. “Where is Coco? I haven’t seen her around here.”

“She left with Don to help negotiate with the Beast-kin.”

“I see. When will she be back?”

“She’ll be back next month, young mistress.”

“Next month? It takes that long to negotiate?”

“Yes, Ginger is a spokesman for their tribe, and she must go around bringing her kind together to fight against the Black Gryphon. Because Don doesn’t know much about the culture, Coco stated she would go and help, even though she didn’t want to at first. It wasn’t until Ginger stated she needed someone to represent you to the king did she eventually fully agree. We were left to wait for you to awaken.”

“Ah, okay.”

This time I got up, shook myself, and attempted to try to change again. Still, even with a third of my magic-filled, I couldn’t change. I didn’t know why.

“Where would you be heading next, young mistress?” Moca asked he stepped back so he wouldn’t get trampled under my feet. “Would you like to go back to the castle?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I think I’ll go search for Phil.”

“But, young mistre-”

I held up my claw to stop him. “It’s best to keep your friends close, but it's more imperative that you know what the dangerous ones are doing. I don’t want to find myself in an unexpected situation.”

“Yes, young mistress.” Moca didn’t refute but bowed instead. “Though if you are going to the Orc Village to find clues of his whereabouts, I would like to come with you.”

“Sure. The more, the merrier.”

Tart waved his hand over his head, jumping up and down. “Oh. Oh. Oh. Me too!”

Moca shot Tart a deadly glare that froze Tart. He shuddered as he calmed himself down, and with the best gentleman’s voice, Tart spoke.

“Young mistress.” Tart seemed to bring out his unique sex appeal without even trying. The deep voice, the slight bat of his eyes, and how he carried himself made him look like a first-class butler king. If any females were here watching this, they would’ve been drooling over his sexiness and squealing. Maybe some might be fainting from how mature and hot, he looked. “I would like to go with you.”

I couldn’t help but stare at both of them in amusement. For Moca to shoot Tart down without a single hit was something that I have never seen. It was always Coco would’ve been the one to punch first and ask the later type of girl.

Moca gave Tart a slight nod, telling him he did well. Tart winked at me, in which case Moca caught and clucked his teeth in disapproval.

“Sure, Tart.” I replied by getting up. “Let’s get out of here.”

Moca was already a step ahead of me as he walked towards the door. He reached up, pushing a lock that I haven’t noticed, and with a push, a loud groaning sound of the door opening wrung clearly. No more was the small door that let humans sized beings walkthrough, but a door for a dragon was opened.

A gust of spring wind blew entered, I couldn’t help but anxiously wait to step out from this confined space. The moment when the door completely opened, I stepped out and stretched. Bones popped into place, muscles were tight, and I even opened my jaws as wide as possible.

Unfurling my white wings, I shook it a couple of times, letting it open up into its full potential. The wind buffet against it, lifting me slightly up in the air. I quickly tucked it back so I wouldn’t be suddenly thrown backward.

“Come on.” I glanced over my shoulders, telling them to hop on.

Tart didn’t need me to say it twice; he jumped up effortlessly and made himself comfortable. While Moca carefully scaled up my back, he grabbed my spikes to hoist himself up.

“You guys ready?”

“Yes!” Tart shouted, excited to go flying. For a wolf type of beast, for some reason, he’s unusually excited. While Moca just nodded without saying anything else.

Taking a good look around me, I noticed that I did well not to break my way out of this wooden building. Not even a few feet away from me on both sides were buildings that seem to line up towards the city. The once open plain was gone, and quite a bit of five-story buildings took its place. I had to wonder how much the city expanded.

Searching for an ideal open space, I found a good strip of barren land that was open for me to take a good running leap. Excited, I first went into a light jog, then I pushed more power into my legs and arms, going into a full out sprint.

With a snap of my wings, I unfurled them. Catching myself into the air as I pumped them into the air. I lifted off the ground and shot up into the sky, blowing heavy wind underneath me. I could feel the updraft of wind as I soar upwards excitedly. It didn’t take long for me to climb up into the sky as I banked left, swirling with the wind itself.

In five years, the city had grown even more extensive. The four districts were still the same, but there seemed to be an inner wall circled around the first settlement, bringing up the second line of defense. New watchtowers were built, completely made out of stone. Large numbers of light decorated the city ground as streetlights were installed, making the inner city more modern.

Right outside the inner walls were a new set of houses and modern skyscrapers being built along the walls. Compared to the buildings inside the inner walls, they were more modernized, fitting in with Earth’s homes and buildings. I thought I saw some convenience stores and even horse stopping stations for the floating coaches.

The city wasn't completely sleeping; they were guards roaming around the top of the city walls and walking through the city itself in pairs of two. Compared to the city guards that were stationed against the wall, the ones walking on the ground had on a different uniform. They reminded me of a police uniform with their canine walking next to them.

My guess was that was possibly Don’s idea, bringing over a bit more of Earth’s style and ideas with him. Honestly, the whole city was slowly becoming something of Don’s ideal city, because he’s the one who’s directing it from the ground up. I didn’t do much but create magic stones and taught magic. Without him, the whole place probably wouldn’t have come this far, and for once, I was glad that he was here with me.

When I circled around a good third of the city, I saw a waterpark and a zoo. I was a bit surprised that there was something like that here in this city. The waterpark was something I would definitely visit when I come back.

“Young Mistress,” Tart called out excitedly from my back. “That’s a waterpark that Don had just recently created. There are fun activities that you can do in the water park!” He stated proudly as if he was the one who made it.

“Yes, I know.”

“You do?” His voice drowned out, a bit taken aback that I already knew what a waterpark was.

“We’ll go visit it later when we come back,” I replied, taking one good lap around the city itself. There wasn’t anything I needed to get from the castle, so I didn’t land.

“Which way, Moca?” I asked, trying to figure out which way we needed to go.

“We must go past the Kingdom of Dragon on the east.” Moca pointed to the directions that we needed to go. “It should take us three days to reach the end of the Dragon Kingdom.”

Taking a sharp right, I flew towards where Moca pointed.

“It would best that we veer away from human civilization.”

“Okay!” I knew well that having a dragon flying over the human city was a terrible idea. Mainly because of the history behind dragons with the humans. They were the ones who sent out their human heroes to slay the black dragon in the first place, and I didn’t want to start another war. I believe two wars is enough for me, especially on such a large scale like that one.

I flew through the night, flying high up in the sky through the clouds. It was a pleasant experience and something I would never get bored of. The freedom to go anywhere I want, how I loved it. There was no waiting time to get on an airplane, boat, or a carriage. All I needed to do was flap my wings, and I was off into the sky.

We continued our journey east, enjoying the scenery at the same time. Dragon Kingdom was made up mainly of flat plains and gently rolling hills. There were barely any mountains or even large obstruction of infertile lands at all. It had a fertile soil that was considered the best out of the twelve continents, making it an ideal location.

Compared to the Gryphon Kingdom, where the Beastkin lives, it's not as fertile; it was known for its rich forest. Beast-kin and humans had a long history of war, but that didn’t compare to the Orcs.

The Orcs that lived on the east side of the Dragon Kingdom in the Titan Kingdom. They had constant squabbles every five years. They never saw eye-to-eye or found each other likable. One thing that stopped large scale invasion from the Orc was the Sandharva Dessert that encompasses one-third of the Titan Kingdom that created a natural barrier for both sides.

Near spring, the wild Fire Gazelle crosses over the dessert into the Dragon Kingdom for breeding. The Fire Gazel is one of the Orcs' main staple foods, so they follow their food source. This is when the fights begin and become the most intense, and from my understanding, it was spring. Until mid-summer, the Fire Gazelle will cross back over into their territory, bringing bountiful meat.

The tension was high; even though both kingdoms had created a non-aggression pact between the two kingdoms for the past twenty years, there still has been squabbles here and there. The reason is mostly because the non-aggression pact is made by the largest tribe members of the Orcs.

So far, their tribe isn’t under one banner and instead are in smaller groups that move along with the Fire Gazelle. The three largest tribes in the Titan Kingdom are the Fire Hammer, Ice Arrows, and Earth Scythe. In which case, I find their tribe name weird.

The only reason the Titan Kingdom is even named in such a way is because for reference sake. Plus, the Titan has always repetitively been born in that vast land area, never stepping outside its own kingdom.

I sighed inwardly, the thought of a possible fight occurring was possibly high, mostly because of it being that time of the year. If I could, I would love to stay away from it, but I wanted to know what Phil was doing or why he went missing. Was this stupid of me? Probably, but my curiosity and my anxiety of him doing something foolish and possibly blowing up something was high. If I wasn’t there to stop it, who would?

Flying for the whole day straight without stopping wasn’t as tiring as I thought; the food that I ate like crazy kept me going. Though Moca and Tart somehow found a way to have tea, breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the day on my back. We only stopped to have bathroom breaks, and I just continued forward.

I wasn’t even hungry the whole day, making this trip a lot faster. There was just too much energy inside of me that I didn’t really want to land. Flying didn’t take much energy because it was more gliding than constant flapping, saving a lot of energy from being wasted.

Eventually, I stopped and found a nice cave to take a rest. We didn’t stay very long and left the moment I woke up. Tart and Moca caught a couple of small deer, cooked it, and packed it on my back for later. I didn’t even eat breakfast because I still felt bloated, and eating any more made my stomach queasy.

On the second day of traveling, I saw the famous capital, Starlight City, where hundreds of thousands of humans tended to flock. Beautiful buildings were built on flat land; I saw five different circular walls, one larger than the next. It wasn’t anything like my city but made out of stone. This was the normal civilization that this world had, while my city was considered an oddity.

Small brick houses to wooden houses littered the streets, carts being pulled by horses on wheels, and the stale air of horse manure could be strongly smelled even high up in the air. Especially when the wind was blowing across my face, making me want to hurl. I had to climb up higher, so I didn’t smell the typical smelly streets.

I was glad that there was a sewer system back in my city because the stench was awful. In the olden time, I heard how people threw out dirty water, piss, and their feces out the window. Just thinking about it made my stomach twirl.

Anyways, there were some beautiful spots inside the castle walls. The castle that was in the middle of the city was beautiful. Overarching arches, the brown and white bricks that seem to sparkle underneath the sunlight, and even the nicely arranged plants and trees decorated around it. It looks like a fantasy castle straight out from the picture book.

Even still, I didn’t go any closer to inspect the beauty of the human city. I had to stay up high in the sky, out of human sight as much as possible. It didn’t take long to pass their vast land and eventually fly towards the land's swampy area.

More trees and large forming lakes took up half a day worth of trip until I found a ledge to sit down and rest on. No wild animals or beast came storming in to kill us, especially because of the silent intensity the Moca and Tart gave off that kept them back. At first, I had to wonder why we weren’t attacked, until Tart told me it's because they were giving off bloodlust to the surrounding area to keep me safe. Having two S class monsters as butlers were truly useful at times like this.

On the third day, we came out from the swamp and back to the open plain. I haven’t even seen many trees here than the past two days, though, by mid-afternoon, I saw large numbers of wild herd of Wild the Fire Gazelle grazing on the fertile ground. Just as far as my eye could see, I saw an endless amount of Gazelle.

They weren’t the typical Gazelles back at Earth. Their body was three times larger than a normal gazelle with impressive horns. It curled into different weird shapes that remind me of an elk’s horn, but with more off shots of its horn sticking every which way like a king’s crown. Only the males had these impressive horns, while the females were simple and straight.

Their coat glistened red like fire underneath the sun, making me realize now why they were given such a name. Even their legs were bulky with power, allowing them to spring up into a full outburst of speed if needed too.

Everywhere, I could see new calves, following their mother. When my shadows passed through the herd, the Gazelle momentarily scattered but quickly settled down, when there was no apparent danger.

“How much further do we need to go, Moca?” I asked.

“We should arrive on the first set of tribes. If we see one, we should land and see if we can converse with them,” said Moca. He was gazing out towards the distance, searching for any Orc Tribe members.”

Tart raised up his nose and took a quick whiff of the air, and he turned his head towards his right. “Over there. I smell an unusual odor coming from the right.” He pointed.

I followed his advice, slightly shifting my wings towards the area that he pointed towards. A few miles later, I saw a large group of Orcs clumped up together with their tent set up.

They were the typical Orcs that I have seen in games back at Earth. The greenish to gray colored skin, bulky muscles that screamed power, and ugly tusk jutted out from their mouth. There was even a nasty small horn twisting out of their forehead as the leathery skin glistened in sweat as they moved around in the heat. I noticed the closer we got towards the dessert, the hotter the temperature got.

The male Orcs had pulled their black hair into an oxtail, while the females had their hair braided into a ponytail. Every one of them wore plated armor and had a weapon on their shoulder, hip, or hand. Every single one of them looked like they were ready to go to war, any second now, and I wasn’t sure if I should even land anywhere near them.

“Land over there, young mistress.” Moca pointed towards a reasonable distance away behind a few thick trees that could hide me. “I’ll go in and negotiate with the Orcs.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go in by yourself?” I asked, I banked left and spiraled downwards.

“It will be a fine young mistress.” Moca chuckled. “I am the so-called Hundred Face Spider.”

“Ah.” realizing that what he said was true. I landed with a thump onto the ground as my wings tucked behind me. Everyone jolted, but no one fell off my back.

Both Moca and Tart slid off my back and landed lightly on their feet.

“Please wait here. I’ll be back quickly, young mistress.” Moca bowed and, in a blink of an eye, disappeared as if he teleported.

I searched around, wondering how he was able to disappear and reappear a good fifty yards away. He kept blinking in and out as he made his way quickly towards the Orc, making me quite surprised how nimble and fast he was for an old man.

“Don’t worry, young mistress. Moca can take care of himself well.” Tart gave me a friendly smile.” If he gets serious, he could wipe the whole tribe away without breaking a sweat.” He reassured me.

I gulped. For Moca to wipe out the small tribe that I just saw was shocking, mostly because I saw that over a hundred of them congregated together. Orc’s power didn’t compare to a human, they were considered three to five times stronger than humans in general, making them formidable.

With a weak laugh, I felt terrible for the Orcs. I really hope they didn’t piss off Moca and gave us the information that we needed. The thought of senseless slaughter didn’t sit too well with me.

“Young mistress, if Moca goes into battle, can I join too?” Tart stated a bit too excitedly, making me wonder if he was battle crazy. “I will make sure to bring that old fart back alive.”

“Didn’t you say that Moca can take care of himself?”

“Well, yes,….but.” His hand was behind him as his left foot was going in circles. “I want to protect you.” He sheepishly looked up at me, slightly blushing. For a man to blush so cutely, it was cute, but at the same time strange. Tart still had that cuteness of a young child, but his mature look was definitely overshadowing it.

“Thank you, Tart,” I replied. It was nice to know that they were people, I mean monsters, that still cared for me. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done in this world if I hadn't met Moca, Coco, or Tart. They were like family. Coco felt like my mother, Moca, was like my father, and Tart was a brother that I never had. It brought a warm feeling in my heart, and the thought of them being killed riled me up.

“You don’t have to go out alone to protect Moca.” I quickly replied sternly, “We’ll both back him up, especially if they do something to him, I’ll make sure they pay dearly.” My words became a deep growl as I lowered my head slowly in a threatening swivel. Even my claws dug into the ground, leaving behind a streak. A dark flow of anger laced my heart with a power that I didn’t know I had blew silently out from me, making Tart shiver as he stepped back at the sudden well of energy. He gulped as he tried his best not to flinch.

“Yes, young mistress.”

I sharpen my gaze, following Moca, who finally arrived at the foot of the Orc Village. A swarm of warrior Orcs with spears and shield surrounded him wearily. Some shouted incoherent words as they stared at Moca.

Moca entered with his hand up, showing that he was of no harm. A large Orc with an unusual feathered headdress pushed in between the crowd, joining the weary group. Compared to the other Orc, he had a large scar that spread from one shoulder down to his hip. Large bulking muscles decorated his arm, chest, and legs that reminded me of a steroid bodybuilder. He even had a few face paints with a handprint on his left cheek with three streak marks down the other eye. My guess was that he was the Chieftain of the tribe.

A couple of grunts and low, threatening shouts could be heard as the large Orc smacked his chest twice. This signaled the others to lower their weapons but still kept their distance from Moca. Moca stepped forward without a hint of fear and stood proudly surrounded by evil-looking Orc’s ready to jump him. They eyed him a couple of times, grunting and punching their chest like a gorilla, trying to scare Moca.

Moca just rolled his eyes and stood there, not even taking a single hint of their threat. He worded a few things towards the Chieftain. The Chieftain scowled at what Moca said and rumbled deeply through his throat. He then nodded at something Moca said. With a curt nod, Moca snapped his head towards us.

Tart, who was watching just like me, stood up straight when he met Moca gazes. Without even forming words, he turned towards me. “Young mistress. We should go.”

“Go away?” I asked, not sure which direction he was telling me to go.

“No,” He shook his head. “Moca said it’s okay to come out.”

“He did?” I was sure I didn’t even catch a single hand gesture or body motion that said, yes, we can.

“Yes, let’s go, young mistress. I’ll be sure to protect you.” His soft pale hand rested on my arm, warming me. Then he gave me a reassuring signature smile that he always does and steps out from the tree.

I was a bit nervous, but I shook my head and chastised myself to stop being a chicken. I knew I shouldn’t act so cowardly, mainly because I was a dragon. Standing up straight, with my head held up high, I puffed up my chest and stepped forward.

I stepped out of the trees, breaking the small bush underneath me from my own clumsy step. Quickly catching myself so I don’t stumble, I corrected myself as best as possible and acted like a regal dragon. Honestly, I felt like a bandit hiding in the shadows, ready to jump out of unexpected people to steal their things.

“Get on,” I replied. “We’re going to enter with style,” I replied.

Tart smugly glanced towards me; he climbed up on my back and made himself comfortable. I pumped my wings, hovering in the air with just a couple of wing beats. Then I pumped even harder, causing the wind to pick up heavily around me as I flew up a reasonable distance into the sky.

Like a hawk, I glided without having to flap my wings too hard as I made my way towards Moca. It didn’t take long until I was above them. Suddenly, the orcs shouted in fear as they started to huddle together, raising up their weapons.

I hovered in the air with a couple of wing beats, flapping hard as I descended downwards. Gust of heavy wind blew around me like a tornado, blowing the Orcs backward. Some couldn’t hold up their spears, swords, hammers, or shields. Others tumbled back, while many of them were able to withstand the gust of wind that berated them.

Moca was standing perfectly still without even flinching. Tart jumped off my back and landed on all four, an evil amused grin plastered on his face as he slowly got up. My hind leg and tail hit first on the ground with a thump, followed by my front arm. My neck bounced slightly as one last powerful gust of wind shot outwards, taking almost all the other Orcs into a rough tumble, except the Orc Chieftain who was battling against the wind to just stay up.

Tucking my wings into my back, I held myself up as proudly as I could. Black and grey smoke erupted out my nose. I blew out a large amount of smoke downwards with a puff, causing a good portion around me to be covered by it. The smoke traveled over towards the Orcs as they stumbled to get back up while choking on the thick smoke that I threw out.

“Oh, great dragon. What have you come here for!” The Chieftain was the first one to recover. “Have you come to destroy my clan?!”

I snorted. “No,” I replied with the best draconic voice I could muster. It was deep, with a threatening growl that made one heart shuddered. Even I was quite taken back at how powerful my voice sounded right this moment, wondering where all this dragon courage was coming from.

“I came to look for someone.” My voice resounded through the group. ‘I am looking for a half-elf with blue hair.”

The orcs that were tumbling on the ground were finally up, but they stared with awe when they saw me. Some actually kneeled on their knees. Even the Chieftain was taken back by the sheer pressure I gave off. Compared to them, it was my original size. The orcs dwarfed in comparison to me, making them seem so small from my sight. Just reaching up towards them with my hand, I could quickly wrap it around the biggest Orc and squish them without any problems.

“A half-elf?” The Chieftain thought over what I said in a gruff voice.

A smaller Orc scampered over, ducking his head low as he took a couple sneak peeks towards me. When our eyes met, he shuddered and squeaked in fear and ran towards the Chieftain in a hurry to hide behind his massive body. The Chieftain growled, baring his teeth at the cowardly Orc, causing the small Orc to drop to his knees.

“C-c-c-chief!”

“What is it?” His beady eyes stared towards him, annoyed that the runt came over, disturbing his thoughts.

“The half-elf with blue hair had appeared three years ago with a human girl back at our sacred ground.”

My eyes narrowed as it furrowed, thinking how that treacherous playboy was out frolicking around the field with a human girl as if it was some kind of picnic. I wouldn't even be surprised if he was hitting on her while I was sleeping. For some reason, I felt really annoyed. It was an annoying itch that I couldn’t get rid of. Without realizing it, I let out an angry growl, causing the small Orc to jump up in fright.

“Who's the girl?” I sharply asked. “Why did they come to meet you guys?”

The little Orc gulped, whimpering from my deadly gaze. “H-h-h-his wife.”

“What?!” I shouted, utterly dumbstruck. My mind was spinning in circles, thinking of many scenarios that I didn’t know was possible. I have been sleeping in the past five years; he truly moved so fast that I was shocked.

The little Orc scampered backward, falling onto his butt. Fear riddled his heart as he cowered.

My hand slammed right next to the little orcs with a loud bang, startling the Chieftain to take several steps back. My head snaked forward with a hiss. I lowered my head at eye level with the small Orc. “Did he really say they were husband and wife?”

“Yes?” He squeaked.

I growled, closing my eyes, I tried to calm my nerves. What did it matter to me? We weren’t even a girlfriend and boyfriend. He was just another Demon Lord that needed to be set on the right path of life. That’s what I thought to myself, trying to cover up the strange twist of emotions that swirled around the pit of my stomach.

“Young mistress,” Tart called out towards me, scared.

I didn’t hear him and turned him out. I didn’t know my tongue was clicking against my teeth, creating dangerous sparks as smoke rolled out my nose and mouth. The little Orc scrambled away from me before he could finish telling me anything more about why they came here.

“Young mistress.” A gentle but stern voice called out to me. Moca’s hand was on my arm, waking me up in my chaotic mind. His words broke me out of the swirling emotions, and I opened my eyes.

“Yes?” I spoke.

“Please calm yourself. You don’t want to blow up the only information source that we have right now.” He chuckled, making the others tremble in fear at what Moca said. “You can do that after you have all the information.”

Moca didn’t make the situation any better, all the orcs were tense as they had raised up their weapons to fight, but they were too scared to rush ahead and strike at me.

I sighed. “Sorry, Moca. I wasn’t thinking straight.” The smoke disappeared, my focus was back at the Chief Orc, who was frowning at the threat that Moca just issued, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes as he stared at me.

Sitting up straight, I stared down at the Chieftain. “Now tell me, why have the half-elf and the human come to meet you?”