“Just what the hell happened???” a draconic voice roared through the entire cave.

“The crown, it took control over miss Syralth when she touched it. Lucky that we got to her in time. Who knows what would happen if…..” Malick spoke.

After putting Syralth to bed in the next room under heavy guard, the trio Celdora, Kaiser and Malick were trying to figure out what just happened to the young miss.

“But how could a crown be capable of such a thing? It has been in my possession for the last ten years and no such thing happened.”

“The crown by itself, no. However, someone has put a curse on it. In addition, you as a dragon lord is very resistant to magic while miss Syralth is still young and only a draconian, which explains why it could affect her much easier. Also, it’s possible that the trigger has been activated.” Malick analyzed.

“Trigger?” Kaiser said.

“A curse doesn’t need to initiate the moment it has been cast. In many cases, curses remain dormant for weeks, years or for the entire lifetime with the bearer not even aware of it. However, the most important factor is called the trigger. Most curses follow a rule which will only activate after a distinct event. For example, a curse can activate if the cursed person tries to use their mana for spells or if that person performs a very specific action.

My guess is that something recently happened that activated the curse on the crown. It could have been anyone of us but miss Syralth, being the least resistant and untrained in countering mind control technic, was unfortunate to stumble across it during one of its awakening moment.” Malick explained. “But you should be at ease now. I have removed the curse from the crown so nothing like this will happen again.”

“Even if you say that, I will not let that crown be anywhere near my daughter again. This fucking shit!” Celdora smacked the table. It wasn’t like he wanted to hit it anyway. After what happened to his daughter, he tried to destroy that crown, to no avail. No matter what he did, no matter how powerful his attack was, it did nothing to the crown.

“This is due to my negligence. If only I have been more careful with this, Syra would not have to go through that experience. I have no words that could ease your anger, lord Celdora!” Kaiser bowed the dragon lord. For the most part, he was angry with himself. If he locked the door that day, none of this would have happened. While there was no consequence this time, it was by pure luck that Malick was nearby that day. What would happen if he wasn’t? Anyway, this was an important lesson for the True Monarch.

“I share a part of the blame too, Kaiser. I had it with me for the last ten years without even noticing something like this. On so many occasions I have let this thing be so close to Syra and Nina… Why the hell did I take this accursed object that day???”

“…I think this curse was designed for you, Celdora.” Kaiser spoke.

“What?”

“Think about it! You found the crown at the mansion of the Artificer. You said that you came there because you received a letter from him. Yet when you actually got there, the Artificer was already on the brink of dead and went completely mental. That doesn’t seem like someone who could write you a letter inviting you to his home for no reason, especially in his state.

I think it was a trap to lure you and the hero Arshe into taking these cursed objects in order to control you.” Kaiser explained his theory.

“A trap? By whom?”

“Given the timing, there could only be one person: the one who committed the massacre at the demon lord’s castle ten years ago. Killing Asgore and Lakyus was just the first step. This person was also aiming for the rest of the heroes.”

“Then…”

“You said that Arshe has taken the scepter. Unlike you he is not a dragon. If that scepter was somehow also a cursed object, it would take over him after a certain amount of time.”

“By the Gods…but if this person is aiming for me, why hasn’t he or she done it yet? If they were capable of killing both Asgore and Lakyus, the rest of the heroes would be an easy task, even with the demons on their sides. Why did they not wait for us and just kill us back then ten years ago?” Celdora asked. What he said was correct. If someone truly was capable of killing everyone at the demon lord’s castle, then even with Mephisto and the entire demon army, Celdora would have lost easily. And if they also aimed to Celdora and Arshe, they could just wait for their return instead of making this elaborate plan with curses objects.

“Perhaps it is not that they didn’t, but more like they couldn’t.” Kaiser thought.

“They couldn’t?”

“It’s possible that the fight with Lakyus and Asgore ended up with them being heavily injured, incapable of taking on you guys after. Therefore, they needed another plan to deal with you. Or something unexpected happened, something they did not expect.”

“Like what?”

“Like someone who was not supposed to be there was actually there.”

* * *

The last time a Beast King was elected was ten years ago when the demon lord made himself apparent to the world. At that time, the Champion was Arshe and his father, chief San of the Kom clan, was elected as the Beast King. But his reign was short lived as the demon lord Asgore defeated almost a year after. With the demon threat subdued, the tribes separated from each other and returned to their land. Now history was repeating itself. With Zen became the Beast King, all the tribes were once again united to solve the elf crisis.

The first clash took place in the western border of the Whispering Forest, where the army of Malatas has first invaded. Leading the army of the beastmans was of course the Champion Viviana. After a profound speech of encouragement of the Beast King, the horn of battle has been blown. War has begun.

“Release the beasts!” shouted the commander of the Beast battalion who was Garrick. For long, the beastmans have been friends with the monsters residing in the Whispering Forest. They even tamed them for ride and battle and in many case a life companion. Just now, Garrick has unleashed a horde of Storm wolves onto the enemies. These wolves were much stronger than their wild relatives, having been through special training capable of large onslaught in the battlefield.

“Archers! Fire at will!” the commander of the elves shouted.

A line of elves archers came forward and released their bows all at the same time, creating a rain of arrows. A few wolves, hit by the arrows, fell down while the rest bravely charged toward the elves with any hesitation. Crossing the arrow field, they lunged on the archers fiercely, creating chaos among the rank of the elves.

With the archers down, the beastmans warriors, with their axes and swords, rushed on, roaring their battle cries. The smell on blood filled the air. The clash between swords echoed in the battlefield. War may emanate from many reasons. Sometimes it was for expansion, other times for power struggle. Whatever the reason might be, war could be resumed in a single term: survival.

Someone who has never stepped onto a raging battlefield would never understand. Behind the scenes, each could have their own reason for going to war: to protect their country, to honor their king, to save their families or simply to kill. But when you were in the middle of this carnage, the only thing that kept you alive was the will to survive. Your ideas didn’t matter here. Whatever pushed you to go to war actually didn’t matter at all. Here at the place where only death could be found, you fought for yourself, to save your own skin.

Garrick charged through the enemy ranks like a storm, each swing of his sword took down an enemy. All his senses were heightened, his will to live, unquestionable.

Then he spotted the enemy commander. He too was chopping down the enemies like butter without a care. ‘He will be a magnificent foe’ thought Garrick. As if realizing his intention, the elf commander started to walk to Garrick.

It was a strange scene. While the battle was taking place around them, it seemed like all they could see was each other, as if time has slow down for them.

“ARRRRRRR!” roared Garrick as he sprinted toward the elf.

Their swords clashed. Sparks of fire emitted from the friction. When two veterans were exchanging blows, the best thing to do was to stay out of their way. As they moved across the war zone, so did those surrounding them fall one after another. But they didn’t care. Right now there was only one foe they needed to kill and he was in front of them.

In this heated exchange, one wrong move would mean the difference between life and death. And the elf has misjudged his opponent. Garrick has been tricking him into thinking that he was using his full speed and that was his downfall. In an instant, the beastman accelerated his stepping and impaled the elf with his sword.

“That…was…a nice fight!” the elf commander spoke softly with the sword in his chest.

“You aren’t too bad yourself. It’s a pity we are enemies.” The two may have been foes but he followed the warrior code of honor. War put them against each other. If only things were different, they might have even been friends. And as the code has dictated, Garrick would put him out of his misery.

“A….A…..ARGHHHHH” The elf suddenly vomited a black substance. His body began to change. His bones grew much larger, even poking out of his body through his skin. His skull was deformed, growing into an elongated shape one. The elf screamed in pain as his body became larger and larger. Now he has completely turned into a monstrosity with only bones and flesh. Two long bones stuck out from his protracted arms, sharp like two spears.

“What the fuck?” Garrick uttered shockingly.

The monster let out a high pitched scream, interrupting everyone around it from continuing the battle. Even the elves were left in awe when they saw the monster. Neither sides knew where this thing came from or to which side it belonged to. Suddenly the others elves started to feel strange. They held their neck to gasp for breath but a black sludge came out of their bodies, drowning them. And then they began to transform into hideous deformities that started to kill everyone around them without discrimination, even the elves who didn’t transform ended up being killed by their own former allies.

Within the first few hours, the casualties on both sides have amounted to ten thousand with very disproportionate losses. Eight thousands beastmans were dead or missing in action with only two thousand confirmed deaths for the elves. These two thousands were only accounting the elves who didn’t turn into monsters as it was unknown how many of these atrocities were actually out there, roaming the forest.

So many lives were lost in such a short time. The ground was soaked with blood of both sides. Bodies, numbered in thousands, lied in piles. It was a feast for the crows and other scavengers. It didn't matter who you were. Once you died, you became food for these animals all the same.

After every battle, each army would send a special squad to retrieve the bodies of the fallen so they may be buried back in their homeland. Under the code of war, no one was supposed to attack these units with a triangular white flags. However, this time, there was no such unit coming from the elves to take back the corpses. It was quite strange as the elves were the race who revered their deads the most. This led to thousands of corpses laying around in this bloody valley, making this battle later known as Battle of the Carrion Valley.

But those were only numbers found in the actually fields. Scouts said that many smaller tribes who didn’t have time to evacuate simply disappear without a trace. The villages were burned to the ground but there were no corpses to be found. It was as if they simply vanished into thin air.

Right now, Zen and the other three clan leaders were having a session to discuss their next plans. It appeared as clear as day that they were the losing side. Aside from the battlefield where Viviana successfully triumphed, all other frontiers were lost because of these monsters. Reports and witnesses suggested that they belonged indeed to the elves faction but would kill indiscriminately everything around them.

“Just what the hell are those things? It took fifty of our men to kill one of them and God knows how many are out there.” Chief Gon fumed.

“They seem to be some kind of super soldiers created by the court mage of Malatas. My birds told me that ever since she took power, strange things started to happen inside the palace. This must be one of that witch’s inventions.” Chief Loo reported. In order to investigate the army of Malatas, he has sent the best of his spies to the capital but only one returned, and with grave news. Whoever this Astrea was, she had the ears of the king and controlled the entire palace. Loo suspected that her ascension to power with her miraculous elixir to cure the plague was just too suspicious as the timing was perfect.

“Not only that, currently, aside from the known casualties, more than five thousands civilians and soldiers were unaccounted for. We have organized search parties but so far none has shown up yet.” Chief San said.

“Do you think the elves did it?” asked Sen.

“There is a high chance. But if it was them then this makes the situation even worse. Our armies are losing. Bizarre monsters are roaming and people are disappearing like air. This doesn’t look good for us….”

The room fell silent. By themselves, the beastmans had no chance of winning this war, not with their current state. They needed something else: a third party who would be willing to help them. However, everyone knew that at the moment, every country had their own problem and it would be a miracle for anyone to give them a hand.

“We need to get Zagon in joining us.” Zen proclaimed.

“What? Zagon? It’s true that we have never had any history with them but they have no reason nor incentive to help us.” Said Loo.

“We don’t have much choice. Ceadric has lost the capital. Caelum has fallen. The celestials are almost extinct. Dragons….when was the last time they did anything? Our only option left is to ally ourselves with Zagon.” Explained Zen.

“But what can we give them in return? Unless we have something they want, they wouldn’t help us for no reason.”

“We give them Malatas.”

“WHAT?”

“Last time I heard, the Zagon Empress is launching a world conquest to unify all nations under her rule. By giving them Malatas once victory is achieved, we can propose an alliance not just to win this war but to secure an alliance with her in the future.

We can no longer afford to just sit on our asses, ignoring the world outside. There will be times that we need to take a decision to pick a side and one of that times is now!” the Beast King conveyed.

“This….”

What Zen said made perfect sense to them. The only problem was their pride. The beastmans had never made an official alliance with anyone, except for when a demon lord appeared. They didn’t want to be dragged into the struggle of power between the other nations. They took pride in the fact that they were not putting themselves below personal and material gain. But now it seemed that that thinking was outdated. No longer could they have that luxury anymore.

“I agree with Lord Zen!” said San “War is coming and the conflict between us and the elves is just the start of a much bigger turmoil. We need to see the greater picture here.”

“Chief San….if you also think like that…then I too will follow lord Zen’s decision” Loo spoke.

“As much as I wanted to refuse this….we don’t have a choice. The decision is yours, Lord Zen!” Gon admitted.

“Thank you for putting your trust in me! I believe this is our best option right now. But no matter what will happen, our people is united and will persevere through this.” Claimed the Beast King.

“But who should we send to Zagon for negotiation? It can’t be anybody.”

“I think I know just the right persons for this job.” Said Zen.

“Who?”

“A cat, a priest and a brat.”