The black entity was looking at her divination crystal, from which she could see the past, the present and the different paths to the future, the different possibilities, but an impurity in the crystal had been bothering her for some time and she wanted to see the possible consequences of a disturbance in the established order. It was all relative. The order seen by a deity is seen differently by a creature.

She snapped her fingers and a black envelope with golden edges appeared before her. Inside, black paper and she spoke in a language forgotten by all and the text printed on it as it folded and the envelope closed.

It was suspended and the creature blew on it: "The black queen".

And the envelope dematerialized to appear on a desk in a... vessel of monstrous size.

The sleeping girl got up and instinctively knew that a letter would appear sooner or later.

She knew what she had to do

She took her letter and it opened in front of her and also in front of a scientist and friend who shared her adventures, a good advisor very useful and also necessary to maintain the space behemoth.

Dubuisson: "Mistress!!! every day I marvel at the technology of this ship."

"Don't get attached to it...mother gives as she takes away...so for your sake put away your toys and don't get her attention. She knows the future and all the consequences that involve it. Consider the Bucéphalus as a base, a logistical means and ... above all do not make us spot. A mistake, a tiny one, and it's gone."

The professor nodded, he loved the ship as his baby but his mistress was right.

He feared his mistress but loved her just as much as a friend and he preferred to see her in human form.. than her other, terrible form..

"Let's get down to business!" she said.

A 3D image of the city and magical plans showed an aberration, well, a remnant in the center of the city, in the convention center.

"It's a system violation but not reversible..."!

"Majesty, indeed, it was like a natural mana explosion. It is rare but possible."

"Yet this world is devoid of magic..!"

"Hmm. Maybe it wasn't always!"

Then she scrolled the world in 3D and found nothing.

"Let's change the plan.."

A similar world appeared with almost the same constructions...

Another system violation... a hybrid TIAMAT....a dimensional ship like the one destroyed by the Winged Lion..."

"Mistress, I believe this is your mother's responsibility..."

Then, below, everything was unraveling...

"The plans above are no longer held not those below....a collapse is possible!"

Then she returned to her mission order: "Eliminate the disturbance..."

But she had stopped by herself, without mana..

Dubuisson: "I know the area by heart... I lived there for years! but is it necessary?"

The girl turned her head with long blonde hair and stared at the teacher.

"We'll investigate...besides, I'm curious and mother always gives a hidden meaning in her letters...it's up to us to make the right choice."

"But..."

"Her orders are absolute...even I fear her...!"

Dubuisson : "I thought you were closer..."

"Mother is very far from being human and her "kindness" is always full of warnings.

When I visited her palace...I saw her collection and the pedestals... There was one with my name on it..."

Dubuisson, partly already knowing the answer "What was there? "

"Other dragons caught in the eternal ice...frozen in time...and there were hundreds of them!!!"

Dubuisson:" But with your dual nature, you could escape it..."

She shook her head down, her hair sweeping across the hologram.

"Sorry to have offended you, majesty.."

"Stop it with that...it's getting on my nerves...we're friends, right?"

"Yes, Claudia...uh...D."

She opened her eyes expressing her disagreement and the teacher repeated "Claudia... yes... Claudia..."

Then she looked at the main deck screen

"AI, our position?"

AI "Behind the dark side of the moon."

We have spotted Chinese, Russian and American facilities.

"Zoom in a little on the lunar surface..."

Our alien detector reacts!.

The surface is covered with stones. Like eggs designed for infinite hibernation.

This could cause serious damage if the samples are brought back to earth.

"Make sure with our friends that this does not happen... Destroy the base or bases if necessary!"

Dubuisson: "And the life of the astronauts?"

"Up to you, I have some dreams to rot"

And the next moment, Claudia disappeared in a ball of black smoke made of shadows.

With each manifestation, the professor and his friends remembered how far from human Claudia was. They shuddered each time, feeling the strength and crushing aura of the predatory creature.

The Alien Queen in the old movie was a joke next to her. The worst part was that she could be very kind to her loved ones but ruthless to her enemies. Whether they were old or young, but she had one absolute rule...she never messed with children..ever.

And her crew... consisted of children, the old teacher and a couple of bruised teenagers with a secret hidden in their flesh. Martyrs...

They were recuperating in the leisure and medical wing of the ship. They were tormented when they woke up and only sleep was their "sanctuary", protected by Claudia.

She also had another name, which few used and only in her other form: Darkia. Queen Darkia.

.

.

.

Within the bases, the tension was at its maximum. Accidents happened when astronauts stabbed into round "rocks" and fangs came out and pierced the suit. The space cold freezing the fingers into icicles, the contamination did not occur more by chance than by logic.

The severed fingers placed in insulators thawed and quickly turned into a kind of crab claw and a laser had to burn the whole thing in the hood to avoid any propagation.

Scientists screamed against any protocol and a mutiny ensued on the Chinese base.

There were threats of reprisals against the family, with videos of their wives begging for sanity.

No... the astronauts wanted to scuttle the mission and, to their great displeasure, sent videos which were blocked by the retransmission satellite, but this did not escape the Russians who took additional precautions.

Judging the mission too dangerous, they cancelled the mission and left on the spot that which was to remain there.

But against all odds, 6 Chinese had come by jeep to the Russian base to ask for asylum.

They had with them the necessary oxygen and they were repatriated with the Russians.

The Chinese base self-destructed and the Americans were disconcerted by this reversal.

The mission being joint for the Russians as for the Americans, they were all put in quarantine in the international base.

The information was passed on to the scientific members of NATO and it arrived on General Lucien's desk.

He got up from his desk and went to the large classroom in the Saive barracks.

It was morning, a wintry morning and the day was sad, cold and a fine rain was gnawing at your bones. Moreover, it was dark as if it was a polar night, neither night nor day, and he entered the room where a "human" warmth struck him. It was pleasant but as students there were Exodus, Frizor and another red dragon, a dragoness of course, the ex-generals of Exodus.

They looked up and nodded as General Lucien entered.

The dragons were taking courses for officer candidates who wanted to make a career in the army.

The general didn't ask for much, but having Exodus as an ally was the best thing that could happen to his career, although he was very close to retirement. But a general is never really retired. Especially in intelligence. Retirement is just a cover, a joke.

He turned to the instructor Hook.

"Well?"

Hook: "I have no problem with the math. They are learning at a high speed, faster than I can instruct... They are ready for their certificate...They are already officers!"

Lucien: "What rank?"

Hook: "Captains, the rest is on merit, not on exams.

Lucien turned to Exodus: "You have been on your best behavior. The following ranks are given by his Majesty the King. It is up to you to prove that you are trustworthy and protect your country."

Exodus: "Thank you, General!

Lucien : "Good! Tomorrow, you can invite your friends and companions, it will be the presentation of medals and your nominations as officers of the Royal Belgian Army. Many students of the military academy will be present and some Dutch speaking ones will want to be more zealous. So, do not fall into their trap or provocation. Don't give them that pleasure.."

Exodus made no comment and kept his head straight.

When the general came out, the instructor huffed and looked at the 3 dragons and a few diligent students and applauded the class.

"I am proud of you! And it is I who thank you for having the honor of being your instructor and having such brilliant students!"

By the end of class, Exodus was in the main courtyard, walking at his teacher's pace and many questions were exchanged. For months, Hook had not been paying attention, he was a student, not a dragon.

Then he dared to ask: "If you don't mind. What was it like to rule a world?"

Exodus stopped and the other two dracosires did the same, listening eagerly to the answer of their former master and lord.

Exodus: "Never again!!!! never again!!! It was like an arms race. Enemies were arming themselves in response to military improvements and there was no end to it.

By the end, I was exhausted and exhausted...and almost relieved to die.... I had a hero tormenting me and persecuting my mind. And every second I had to calculate a thousand and one plans to save my wives and get them away from me. It was a nightmare and I needed more mana, more powers, more gems and finally, I didn't know what to do without counting all the logistics that had to follow, the monsters, placing them, estimating the passage of the heroes, putting rewards to motivate them to fall into traps. I was going crazy. I was really going crazy! And every night I was crying, begging for this nightmare to end. I wanted to go home and wall myself up alive in a lake of lava.

That's what I did in the end but the heroes still managed to find a forgotten passage. And I died...unable to defend myself, I was so exhausted..."

Hook saw the dragon breathless, bruised and full of tears... It was a real trauma.

But the two dragons rubbed their necks against his to cuddle him, to reassure him.

Hook: "I'm sorry I brought up so much pain. I can understand now and I will do everything I can to make the army a second mother for you.

And he patted the shoulder of the panting dragon.

Exodus: "Thank you, Captain!

Then they resumed their walk.

Exodus: "Now that you have completed your mission, what are you going to do?"

Hook: "I'm a reservist but my contract is over and I'm going back to my job as a researcher at the nuclear power plant..."

Exodus: "Weapons, I guess..."

"Sort of, let's say it's hot and confidential"

Exodus: "I felt a wave of energy a few months ago... Behind the star you call 'Moon'"

Hook stopped.

"You interest me! And how do you feel things?

Exodus: "You're an engineer Physicist and Doctor of Physics, right?"

The captain turned to stare the dragon in the eye..

Exodus: "I have skimmed your courses and books and those you have published but there is a huge hole in your knowledge. An energy that you sense, but cannot measure, except for its effects... dark matter... but we dragons know this energy that is not matter but can condense into Mana crystals!!!"

Hook: "We're getting to the fairy tales but since I have a dragon in front of me. I will keep my seriousness and listen to you..."

Exodus: "I see through your research and publications, holes revealing a project of interdimensional probe using basically a neutron detector.

Your military publications indicate a neutron cannon with lead prisms to focus the flux, like in an atomic bomb...

But the beam is directed by electromagnets like in a cathode ray tube. So you try to make a radar or camera with charged and discharged neutrons hoping to see an image but it is blurry and only gives random shapes and at best, like a system for seeing auras.."

Exodus, seeing the Captain's face knew he had hit the nail on the head.

He no longer used magic or charms because he had taken an oath and sooner or later it would come out and he cherished his position. He didn't say it, but he held on to his position with all his claws.

It was his lifeline and a guarantee for a new life. He was looking for allies, friends and above all the army as an ally and new home.

Exodus was far from being stupid or enslaved, but he knew that with this position, he was untouchable even by another state or empire. He would even be rescued in case of a hard blow.

Hook: "And if you were right, what difference does it make?"

Exodus: "I could make such a crystal for you and thus boost your project... And... I still have some secrets for you. You're my only friend here and I don't want to disappoint General Lucien, but this is as confidential as your project..."

They continued walking and exited the barracks, the guards saluting them as they passed.

The outside of the barracks was surrounded by fields as far as the eye could see, and no drones or cars or pedestrians could hide.

The dragonesses followed far behind, taking advantage of the ride to take flight and swirl around the barracks.

"Captain, I brought with me an ark of Dwarven technology. They are out of commission, but you and I could refurbish this ship. I'm sure it will be able to save lives and, with this gift, prove our loyalty to this country that has given us sanctuary, a new life and the chance to exist."

Hook paused. He was also a "general" but his rank was hidden for reasons of state and also as an observer of the dragons. His opinion mattered as much as Lucien's and, no one knew, but he was one of the seven wise men who actually ran the country. He represented the scientific branch. Very few people knew of their existence except the king who presided over the council.

Democracy, the senate, was a political spectacle, but in the end, the Wise Men often acted through judgments. They were judges too, in the end.

The Elders knew that there were seven in total, but none of them knew the true identity of the other six. This went back to the creation of the country. They were the ultimate barrier.