Chapter 8

Black and White

Zero felt himself being forced out of his body. He felt a claw impaled into his back, pulling him out with a jolt. With a harsh pull, he was thrown out and flew through a solid tree. A large demon that looked like a humanoid goat with fish scales ran towards him with razor sharp claws. The demon punched towards in attempt to spear him alive.

Dodging sideways in a roll, Zero rolled out of harm’s way. The tree splintered and broke in half. It fell forward and came crashing down.

“What the hell!” Zero cursed. He was busily dodging from left-to-right of the demon’s attack. A claw barely grazed him, giving him a sharp stinging pain that could be felt running up his whole arm.

His instinct took over and he willed Kamori, his black sword, to form in his hand. A black energy sword appeared over his head, blocking an attack. Black sparks erupted from both the the sword and the demon’s claw. An adrenaline like high was pumping throughout his body, causing him to be calm.

Zero pushed with all his might till Kamori overpowered finally it cut through the demon’s fingers. With a yell of pain, the demon pulled back with its hands clutched to its side.

“It’s not over!” The demon chortled with anger. “We will have your soul, just as our lord has promised.”

“What are you talking about?” Zero rushed forward with his Kamori in hand. “You take my soul? Do you think I will let you?” He was fuming in anger.

“Kuhuhuhu.” The demon laughed. “Our lord has made a contract with a lowly human.” Jumping to the side, the demon dodged Zero’s swing. “Puny dragon, do you think you can harm me?”

A wave of malice energy erupted outwards from its body. Zero felt the overbearing energy coming down on him on all side. His instinct screamed to run away, but his mind told him to fight or his existence would be in jeopardy.

“A dragon’s soul. How nostalgic.” The demon clawed his hands towards Zero’s body.

Zero swung his sword cutting the whole hand off. “You don’t learn, do you stupid Demon.”

“Gahhhhhhh! You Dare?”

“Yes.” Zero glared back but his soul was shaking in fear. At the same time, he could feel his confidence coming back to him. The second cut reassured him that he was able to fight on par with the demon before him.

“I’ll torture you first before I hand your soul to the Lord!” The demon screamed in fury. Black globe like energy formed around him, destroying the vegetation in matter of minuets.

Like a laser beam, the energy balls shot towards Kiyro in rapid succession. Three-fourth of the attacks Zero was able to run around dodging the attacks, while the rest he used his sword to fend off. Luckily for him, his sword clashed against the energy ball and split in half.

“How?” The demon stared dumbstruck. “How is this possible? A newborn dragon should not have such power in this level.”

“I’m not just born you idiot!” Zero ran forward and cut the other arm off the demon in one clean cut.

“You’re already passed such stage?” The demon stepped backwards barely missing the sword. Instead, he focused all his energy into his horn and stopped Zero’s attack from slicing him. “If its matching energy, even I can do it.” With a hiss, the demon stood his ground, unwavering.

“Why does your Lord need my soul? Who do you work for?”

“Don’t you know? Since the awakening of your existence our Lord has awakened as well.” The demon chuckled in happiness. “You do not understand the value of the dragon’s soul.”

“Speak demon! Before I slice your life in half!”

“Kahahahah! I will gladly tell you that your life is now forfeited since the awakening!”

“My life is my own to bare!” Zero pushed downwards will all his might, his energy amplified and transferred into his blade. Kamori glowed dangerously black and in one clean swipe, the demon was cut in half.

“Noooooooo! This is not over dragon!”

Like smoke, the demon disappeared before him.

Zero sighed with relief and stumbled backwards onto the tree. He leaned back, barely holding up. Examining around, he remembered exactly where he was, he was still in the forest where he was running away from Russ and his army.

Was he truly dead? Zero was confused at such thought. The world around him was devoid of colors, barely holding on to what little colored it had. The only thing that he noticed was that he still had color himself.

Looking down, he noticed that a long transparent line could be see attached to his belly button. Then it dawned on him, it was exactly like the time when he was sent to Atlanta when he was spying on Angel. The same lifeline that he had then were present now.

Gently picking it up, he felt a warm pulse coming from the line that disappear off into the distance. A jolt of energy went throughout his body, and it finally dawned on him. He was not dead. Quickly imagining the life line to fade away, he protected his one way ticket back to his body.

“Stop the Swamp Fairy!” Voices of soldiers could be heard behind him.

“Is it still not dead? How is this possible?

“Get back! We got to stop it before it kill us all!”

“Where is Commander Russ? Are we left alone to battle by ourselves?”

“Damn it! We thrown away like trash! I knew we shouldn’t have followed him!”

“Gahhhhh!”

“Help!”

“Nooooooo!”

Angry words and panic erupted around him. Soldiers were running left and right trying to pin down the Swamp Fairy from killing them. It was a harsh battle between the two ending up in a stalemate.

“What’s going on?” Zero was confused. “I thought Russ and his companions killed it?”

The Swamp Fairy ran around in rage as it continually swung its scythe like a maniac. With every swing, it killed dozens of soldiers around it, causing them to disappears like smoke. A harsh reality played before him, the dead soldiers were dying once again, this time with their existence in jeopardy.

“Kill it! Kill it!”

“Please someone save me!”

The Swamp Fairy stomped hard onto the back of the soldier causing the soldier to dissipate like smoke.

“We’re all going to die!”

The soldiers all move backward in fright and headed towards Zero.

Alarmed Zero followed and ran away. He was not sure how to kill the Swamp Fairy in the after life, especially if he couldn’t tell how much health the Swamp Fairy life had left. All he knew was that he was like every soldier here, with no way of killing it. The Swamp Fairy overpowered them so easily and swatted them away like flies.

Dull green vines snapped towards the soldiers and Zero. One of the vines wrapped around his foot causing him to trip forward. In midair, Zero used Kamori to cut away the vines. The moment of contact the vines bubbled and burst leaving nothing behind.

Zero was baffled that Kamori could damage the vines in one slice. He wondered if it was because it was a materialistic form made by energy or if he was just lucky. Without thinking, Zero twirled his sword over his head and slashed through many other vines that came at him in great numbers. Each of his attacks caused the vines to focus more and more towards him, giving the other soldiers relief.

“I can’t die here.” Zero gritted his teeth. “I’m going to survive if its the last thing I do!”

Bright golden light erupted around him creating a small halo like barrier. Every time the vines attacked towards Zero, the golden barrier dissipated the vines into black bubbles and smoke. He knew in his gut feeling what had just activated, it was the skill Last Stand.

The soldiers that were running away saw what Zero was doing. One-by-one they all headed towards him in the hopes to stay alive.

“Please! Help me!” The soldier ran to him for the hope to stay alive just a moment longer. The moment the soldier stepped into the golden barrier, the barrier expanded larger. “Thank you.” Dropping on his knees he let out a sigh of relief.

Zero felt a sudden surge of energy from the soldier that came running into his golden barrier. It was as if the soldier was also feeding the golden barrier as well causing it to expand to encompasses two people.

More and more soldiers ran towards Zero and the golden barrier grew and grew. The words of praise and relief could be seen on their faces as they thanked Zero over and over again. Over a thousand entered into the golden barrier and the light dazzled to the point where they were a bright beacon.

The soldiers weary souls were rejuvenated and they all took a stand beside Zero. Hope filled their eyes at the prospect before them. The Swamp Fairy could not get through the bright golden dome of light and instead shied away from it for the fear of being demolished.

Zero ran towards the Swamp Fairy with Kamori. He raised up the Katana and chucked it towards the Swamp Fairy’s chest. “Come on! Reach!”

The soldiers all stopped and grabbed at the flying sword. Their voices shouted out with pure feelings of motivation to defeat the monster before them. In that moment, when the voices of the soldiers and Zero merged together, something unexpected happened.

Swirls of golden light from the barrier reached out towards the sword and wrapped itself tightly like woven thread. A pair of golden wings sprouted from the hilt and decorated the sword. Bright golden light streaked through the sky and impaled itself perfectly into the Swamp Fairy’s heart.

A burst of bright light erupted from the tip of the sword and out from the wings, creating a large halo effect. Large spider cracks were formed around the Swamp Fairy’s skin as light escaped from it.

Boom!

Small pieces of the Swamp Fairy erupted outwards and dissipated like smoke. Cheers of the soldiers could be heard resounding around Zero.

He could feel the surrounding areas of the room becoming purified of the malice energy. The air became pure, making it easier to breathe. Even his body started to glow white initiating his leveling up, but no messages appeared before him.

“Hell yes!”

“We’re alive! Thank you lord!”

“I can’t believe this. He did it!”

“Did you see that? In one throw?”

The soldiers swarmed around him like a locust patting his back with glee.

“Thank you!”

“You’re our life savior you know that?”

“That was so cool how were you able to do that?”

“You must be very powerful to summon such a large barrier.”

The other soldiers nodded in agreement. “I’m glad that we came to you. We made the right decision.”

Zero couldn’t help but smile. The thanks he was getting from them was unexpected but refreshing. Even though they were his enemies at the moment they were allies.

“I’m glad that you are here. If I ever see Russ I’m going to kill him.” An elderly man with bushy beard stepped forward. “I can’t believe he threw us under the bus like that.”

“Yea, that rat had the nerves to treat us like dung. Who the hell does he think he is? God?”

“Better that he falls into the depths of hell and be burned alive for it.”

“Burned alive? That’s too nice. Torture him till he screams out in pain. That rat thinks we are dispensable.”

The other soldiers nodded in unison, Zero could feel the hatred from the elderly man’s voice. “Now our mission is over. We can’t go back to what we once were.”

“What do you mean Dave?” One of the younger man came forward confused. “Isn’t hunting down the dragon our priority?”

“No.”

Zero felt relief from hearing Dave’s words. He could not thank the man enough.

“We’re dead.”

“What are you talking about? Stop joking around.”

“I’m not. We all died and this is the after life.”

“What!” The voices of the soldiers shouted in distraught.

“You’re kidding right?”

“Come on Dave, this is not a time to joke. We just killed a monster.”

Dave sighed. “Most of you know my words are true, and the rest just want to believe that everything is still the same. But it is not. You should know better than I that we left the physical life and casted our shells behind. Wake up! We need to move forward to what is happening now.”

“But my wife!”

“No this can’t be. I’m leaving behind my girlfriend. I can’t do this.”

“So there is no heaven?”

“Was everything a lie?”

“Are we in hell?”

The confusion between the soldiers were high.

“Where is Valhalla?”

“Where is paradise that we were promised?”

“Dave, how can you do this to us? You are breaking all of our beliefs.”

“I did nothing!” Dave roared. “We fought and we died. Russ abandoned us all out to die under the hands of the monster. Not once did he fight. There is no grand paradise, if there were, we should’ve been taken to such a place.”

“B-b-but this can’t be.”

“Accept it.”

Many soldiers gasped in shock. They were all having a hard time believing what was happening.

“Our real mission has just begun.”

The soldiers turned towards Dave confused.

“That would be?”

“To make Russ pay.” Dave’s voice was harsh with anger and venomous. The aura around the soldiers were becoming thick and dark.

Zero could feel the unsettling energy coming from everyone. Something was screaming in his soul telling him this was not the way to go. He had a gut feeling that all one thousand soldiers would turn into something worse if he let them continued on this path of anger and vengeance.

“Stop!”

All the soldiers faced towards him confused. The thick air was still heavy around them but lessened when they heard Zero’s voice.

“Is this how you want your loved ones to see you when they pass on? Do you want them to see you twisted into a monster?”

Everyone cast their eyes downwards in shame. Zero’s word struck home, but some still felt a burning anger for vengeance.

“Then what do you want us to do?” Dave was slowly morphing into a monster. His hands were becoming claw like and his half of his face was contorting.

Zero felt the root cause of all the sudden change was Dave himself. He knew that he had to help change the way of Dave’s thinking quickly.

“Do you want to take away our vengeance from us?”

“No. It’s not like that at all.”

“Then what is it.”

Zero thought it over. “The path that you are going will turn you all into monsters. Look around you, see how you are changing by the second?” In all honesty, if everyone changed into a dark spirit he would be in the middle of them. Then he would not be in a good position. He was not even sure if dark spirits were even reasonable to talk with.

Dave examined his surrounding and was shocked to see that people were slowly morphing into hideous demonic looking shades. “How?”

“Let the darkness go and instead remember the time when you were all fighting for a just cause. Like how we all destroyed the Swamp Fairy.”

“We? Wasn’t that you?”

Zero gently smiled. “My friend, it was not just me. I had all of you backing me up.” He reached out his hands towards Dave.

Dave look down and backed at Zero. His hands slowly reached up towards Zero and grasped onto it firmly.

“Instead, think of it like this. Russ is the type to use the people around him like dirt. That means the people of City of Diadem is in trouble. You know that Russ has his fingers wrapped around the king. Eventually, he will possibly rule from the shadows.”

“That’s true. Then this gives us a more of a reason to kill him now.”

Zero shook his head. “Leave the vengeance for now. What you need to worry about is taking your family out of the city and into a safe haven.”

“Where would we go?”

“How are we supposed to even do that? We’re dead for crying out loud.”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible to talk to the living.”

“How pray tell?”

Zero thought it over. Was there really a way or was he making this all up as he was going? Then it hit him. He remember the time when his deceased mother came to him in his dreams just to tell him that he loved him. When he woke up, he was crying. He still remembered that dream even to this day.

“Dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Yes, why not. It’s worth a shot.”

“So where shall we go? How are we supposed to know what where safety is?”

“The Elven City of Elements. Look for the light that burns the brightest in the city. It is best that you start now then later. The more you push it back, the more it becomes a problem. Russ could go back and conscript your sons or daughters if they fail.”

“It seems you know more than we know.” Dave’s body was reverting back to his human self. The dull color around the soldiers were turning more vibrant in color giving them a new life and purpose.

“Did you hear this men!” Dave shouted. “Our priority is to our love ones and our family! We can not have them suffer. Till they are safe our revenge will hold for now. This young man still has his sanity in place. Move out. Let’s go home!”

The soldiers nodded agreeing with Dave, but not everyone converted over to Dave’s words. Dave turned around and headed towards the direction of their home.

“We’ll see you again.”

“Yes, I wish you luck.” Zero waved goodbye. He wondered why he had not seen any angelic beings or white spirits to down from heaven to pick up the dead. Was the reason because they were almost turned into a demon or was there something more going on that he didn’t understand.

“Don’t worry young dragon, the next time we meet you might need our help.” Dave chuckled.

Zero was staring at Dave in surprised. He did not expect Dave to find out that he was a dragon in the first place. When did he notice? Thinking over such thought, Zero wondered how much did Dave really know and understand about this world but instead he kept silent.

As Dave and the thousand group of soldiers headed back towards home, Zero saw a few people that were left behind. These few people was having a hard time reverting back to their human form and instead darkness was eating away at their soul.

Zero soul shook. He felt a horrible feeling of despair, hatred and anger emerging out from a few soldiers. His mind were in overdrive and his instinct screamed. Something was wrong and he did not know what. Looking around, he felt the pull of dark energy pooling around a soldier.

Unconsciously a word erupted from his mouth. “A shade.” He whispered. How did he know this? He did not know, but he just did.

All the essence of ‘life’ energy started to pull around him as the trees, and plants started to wilt and die. Any longer, Zero could tell that the energy would destroy a large part of the environment.

“Ugh,” A young soldier held his claw hands to his face. “I-I can’t. I want to k-k-kill.”

“Russ, How dare you abandon us.”

Zero could see the rapid transformation of the three soldiers that were left behind, it was a struggle between good and darkness all happening at once. It was apparent in all of their body making Zero uncomfortable. He thought that he had helped turn the mind of the soldiers, but he was too naive.

“Calm down. You guys, don’t let it get to you.” Zero called out to the three, hoping it would reach them. “Don’t you have love ones?”

“Love ones?” One of the three responded a hint of madness was clear in his eyes. “No. No. No.”

“Russ! You will pay!” One of them roared with anger and a blast of black energy erupted outwards from his body. Like a torrent of black emotions, the human turned into a shades with gleaming red eyes. Their power were brimming with hatred and anger. Zero’s words couldn’t get through the surge of malice that swirl around the first of the three.

Like a chain reaction, the second one morphed into a shade as well. Their energy spread outwards and dampened any other remaining colors that were left. Zero felt a sudden chill down his back, these two out of three humans that turned into a malicious being were powerful. He could feel the surge of energy that they were outputting. His instincts told him to run, but his mind told him to get ready to fight.

A foul dark order seep out of their bodies. Everything that they touched, a heavy curse was set on the field. Zero could tell that these curses were not normal, not a single plant bloomed and instead shriveled up and died.

Zero did not know what the two would do to him and instead his hands summoned Kamori. He was glad that Kamori can be summoned over and over again. The two full converted shades bolted off into the darkness with the bent to take their revenge, while the last one was hunched over into a ball.

“L-love ones. Love ones.” The young man continually speak over and over again in a whisper. He was shaking hard as the darkness around him began to slowly swallow him up.

“Don’t let it take over your soul!” Zero yelled his hand reached over towards the young man that teeter on the edge. “Fight!”

Reaching out his hands, he clasped onto the shoulder of the young man. In that instant, Zero could feel a swarm of darkness, anger, and revenge swirling around him like a tornado. The chaotic darkness swirled upwards into his hands contaminating him as well.

Zero closed his eyes as sweat began to emerge. He felt his body becoming hot from the abundant energy that was spewing out of the young soldier.

What’s going on? Why is his anger so much stronger than Dave’s? How am I supposed to stop this? Zero thoughts were running away like the train. He did not have a single solution or an answer to the predicament that he was in.

“I won’t let it take me.” Zero muttered under his breathe. He could feel the immense pain of the the invading energy that meant him more harm.

His eyes opened and glowed golden. “I said let him go!” A burst of energy flowed outwards from his body pushing back the darkness.

Zero felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see a beautiful female with wings floating beside him. Her warm smile and stern eyes gave him even more power that was pure. It was a complete contrast of energy that he felt from the collective force of people to the angel. The energy was clean and pure with no hint of contamination.

“Sarah?” The young man glanced up towards Zero and looked over towards the angel that was floating beside him. “Is that you?”

The angel reached out her hands towards him, telling him everything is going to be alright. With shaking hands, the young man reached out towards her.

“Sarah! It’s you.” The young man grabs onto her hand with tears in his eyes. “I knew you would come for me.”

Sarah didn’t say a single word and instead gently smiled. Zero pulled back his hand and fell onto his butt exhausted. This was the first time that he felt his life was threatened to the point of exhaustion.

“Jon.” Sarah spoke just one word and the young man face’s blossomed into joy.

If Zero could ever describe such meeting, the only word that came to mind was pure bliss, happiness, and love. Nothing else could describe the two.

“Let’s go home Jon.” Sarah’s word even struck Zero’s heart.

Home. A familiar word that can not help but describe the aching pain of belonging. It was a place of rest and a place where one would be welcomed. The memories of his family shot through his mind as he stifled a sniffle. A sharp pain of loneliness hit him hard in his chest and all he could do was look at the angel and the young man with jealousy, but it was quickly washed away. Instead, it was replaced with happiness.

“Thank you.” The angel gave him a soft nodded. “You have helped changed the destiny of this man’s life. That is why I am here. For your help, the Seed that is in your possession have received new abilities, though I recommend that you should reach your physical body first to activate it.” She spoke and smiled.

He was to shocked to even ask her any other question and stare at the mesmerizing beauty before him.

Her wings extended outwards and wrapped both Jon and her into a tight cocoon. All the darkness that was willed up in Jon’s body crumbled away like dust and in its place was a happy man full of love. In the blink of an eye, a bright blinding light erupted from both of them as they disappeared into the light.

Zero felt pleased that his Seed’s power was unlocking. The telepathy skill that he had gained had been both a pain in the ass at the same time useful. At first, it was very strange that he was able to hear the thoughts of other people unwillingly, but at the same time it gave him an edge in many things, especially in fighting. Though at the same time, he had not been using it too much because he was not even able to control it.

His Telepathy skill was still at the stage where it would come and go without a second thought. Sometimes, it was even so jumbled up with his own thoughts that it even confused him. It took awhile for him to get used to which thoughts were his and which were not.

He had no time to waste, he needed to find his body. Who knew how far the distance Russ was to the Draconis Village. His feet was moving towards where he needed to go. It was a unconscious pull that told him the direction of the ‘Dragon’s Home’ that kept him moving.

Even in the gloomy atmosphere of the world, Zero pushed forward. The forest was different than the city. They were no deceased people, but instead animals and monsters. Animals as usual flee from the sight of him, while the monsters looked twice as more intimidating than when they were in the physical plane.

He could tell that by casting off their shell, the limit that one had on their body multiplied giving a full reign of their powers. Luckily for him, the amount of deceased monsters were lower in number at the moment, though at times he would cross paths with a large herd of them moving in one direction.

Zero did not take unnecessary battles and instead tried his best to avoid as many fights as possible. His goal was not to kill as many monsters on his way towards Draconis Village but get there as fast as possible. He was not sure how much time had passed since his soul was pulled out of his body. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure how fast or slow the time between the living and the dead flowed. This was his second time he had run around the world of the dead.

The other times that he had died, he would just wait for the twenty-four hours to be over. This world was not something that he enjoyed being in. In all honesty, it reminded him too much of the real world that it gave him shivers.

“I seriously need to get out of this plane.” Zero mumbled under his breath. Staying any longer made even his bones feel the cold chill of the world.

Continuing forward, he felt a sudden warmth in his body. The winds blew a hotter breeze as the plants around him had more vibrant in color. He did not expect the sudden change until he walked deeper into the forest.

“Why is there color here?” Zero ex aimed around curiously. He was not sure what was going on. Was this another sacred space? That was the only thought that came to his mind.

The longer he walked, the more sounds and color washed around him, making it feel like he was back at the physical realm. Out in the distance, Zero saw what he was looking for. Draconis Village was fully lit up in multiple lights, allowing him to see something he would not normally see in the physical world.

Aurora lights swirled above Draconis Village, creating a serene and magical feeling. A light made of gold and black energy shimmered and encompassed the village, creating a barrier. There were a large numbers of dark spirits on the edge of the barrier, prowling around as they tried to make their way in.

Zero was astounded by the high density of dark spirits that had been waiting outside the barrier. This was something that he had never noticed till now.

“How am I supposed to get through now?” Zero mumbled. He searched around him, looking for any possible way in.

Then he saw what he was looking for: Russ’ army was bypassing the gold and black barrier, heading towards the Draconis Village. Due to all of the shadows surrounding the barrier, Russ’ army was impossible to see but whenever they finished passing the barrier, it was clear as day. It was strange sight to see, it was as if the interior of the barrier was temporarily merging the two planes.

Zero watched, trying to find a way to avoid the cluster of dark spirits. Time was running out and he did not have a moment to spare. He noticed that the dark spirits parted ways where Russ’ army started appearing.

Taking the initiative, Zero jumped down onto the ground and ran towards the opening. All the dark spirits that were nearby stared at Zero with interest at his unusual behavior. They started to crowd behind him following him in the hopes that he would able to penetrate the barrier.

Zero ran till he took his first step. The moment when he stepped through the barrier of the Draconis Village proximity, the dimension between life and death became clearer. Everything that was happening before him was not a blur anymore and instead was flesh and bone with multi-color scenario. No more was the dreary world of the dead, but instead a pure energy spilled outwards surrounding the Draconis Village.

Pure sounds of the bell could be heard from the Church of Infinity as it kept the evil spirits at bay. Even the dead soldiers stopped at the edge, unable to come in closer, but instead prowled like hungry wolves.

Zero turned a sharp right bypassing the living soldiers like if they were nothing.

“Gah! A ghost!”

“What?”

“Where?”

“Something cold just bypassed me.”

The soldiers were moving around unsettled at the strange occurrence. Every time a new voice would be squealing out in fright as Zero passed through them and headed towards Draconis Village.

“What’s going on?” One of the commander shouted. “Why are you men acting like pussies at this time. Ghost you say? Where?” The commander glared down the unsettled Soldiers in front of him.

“Here!”

“No, here!”

“It just past through my body now!”

“Gahhhh!”

“This place is haunted!”

“We’re going to be cursed!”

Zero jumped out from the crowd and ran towards the commander. Without a second thought, he passed through the commander as if he was not there.

The commander turned ghostly white and gulped. “M-Men. B-b-be b-b-brave.” He stuttered. The Morale of the soldiers were rapidly declining as Zero made his way through, and he was finally able to break away from the army and slip into the trees. He was now too far away from the Draconis Village and instead climbed up to see where he could go to enter.

“This is war!” Russ shouted at the top of his lungs. “You and your filthy lizards don’t deserve that library!”

Russ brought forth the four thousand soldiers that was left. They tracked through the forest and were finally able to catch up to the Draconis Village. Moving into position, they waited for Russ’ signal.

Agnis stared coldly down at Russ from the cliff. Her white hair fluttered behind her, showing off her slim neck. Even under the bright moonlight, everything about her glowed magically as if the goddess herself bless her even more.

Hundreds of dragons that were the size of horses lined up bearing their teeth at Russ and his soldiers. They growled and smoke escaped their lips and nose. Each and everyone of them were staring down at Russ with the intent to kill. Even though they were up against many, they did not waver and instead stare dead in the face of danger.

“You’re not welcome here, you filth.” Valiant, the black dragon, roared. He spewed out black flames towards the soldiers. Every single one of the soldiers scuttled away like bugs, trying not to get burned. The black fire continually burned without stopping, making it very difficult for the soldiers to pass through.

“Disgusting lizards, do you know who I am? I am Russ from the WaterRose Guild and the messenger from the direct King himself. Hand over the Library or your life will be forfeit. We will continually hunt down your kind till extinction!”

“You think you that will intimidate us?” Valiant spat. “You are probably a measly fool who is just throwing around the name of WaterRose guild with dirt. Does Liliac know what you are even doing?”

“She does.”

“Lies. I personally know her and spoke with her an hour ago. She stated that what you are doing is wrong!”

“Shut up lizard. You don’t know anything about Liliac. She is my goddess. The words that you spout are all lies.” Russ hissed.

“This fool thinks that he knows Liliac like the back of his hands.” Valiant spat in rage. “Do you see that guys? He really thinks he knows Liliac just because he’s in her guild.”

“Damn psychopath.” Seka growled. “I should’ve known when we saw his face it was bad news.”

“Let’s make sure we keep this guy away from Lilac.” Reed spoke gently patting Valiant on the neck. She was sitting on Valiant back.

“I’m completely in with that.”

“Plus, he needs a good beating to open his eyes to his delusions.”

The majority of the dragons were the size of a horse, and no baby dragons were present anywhere.

“Is the baby dragon’s and their companion safe?” Agnis asked Garrett.

Garrett and hundreds of Lunar Rabbits stood on the edge with her bearing arms. They looked like warriors ready to slaughter at any moment now.

“They are being protected at the heart, my lady.” Garrett spoke. “It would be impossible to get to them.” With an evil smile, he gave her a reassuring look.

“How many do we have ready to fight?”

“189 Lunar Rabbits, 259 young dragons and their companion, 743 cat people, and 590 residents. We can not count too much on the Leprechauns, they do not specialize in fighting. Though we have another thousand of our residents and dragons deep underground being kept safe.”

“I understand. It’s more than I thought. It will do for now.”

“Do you have any plans to counter this?”

“No.”

Garrett went silent. “I understand, we will fight with our life on the line.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be alright.” Agnis voice was filled with hope.

“You are right. These damn brats came to take our homes. Let’s make them pay for what they’re trying to do and beat them black and blue!”

“Yea!” Everyone heard him and shouted in unison.

“Drezo Regalia. Drezo Regalia.” Like a constant chant, the dragons pounded their feet in rhythm. The ground shook causing rocks to tumble off the cliff.

Their pounding feet and chanting gave off an eerie feeling. The soldiers nervously watched as the dragons continued to chant louder and louder. Their voices continued to speak out in unison with vigor.

“Drezo Regalia! Drezo Regalia! Drezo Regalia!”

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