As time passed, two things happened. One was how Damon, Alice, Eve, and Azanor continued to train. They appeared to be pushing themselves quite far. They were content with the progress they were making, this progress being mostly due to their extraordinary additional effort.

Two was how much worse things got in Blossom. The prosperous city seemed to be falling apart at the seams. It didn’t look as unified. Not only did people fight in the streets, but riots happened at the drop of a hat. The worse things got, the more the reverence that Lady Sakura got would diminish. Many citizens turned their backs on the Lady they once admired. Incompetent, unworthy of praise, and worse were some of the many words that were used to describe her by her people. This coming from her own people who once sung such high praises.

Many people turned to alcohol among other things to forget their worries. Due to this Rowan was quite busy, but this also helped in the gathering of information. The perpetrator was getting cocky, sloppy…Customers and people Rowan interacted with while under cover seemed to know more than just rumors. Due to this, the Shapeshifter was able to find more clues behind who was the true perpetrator.

All of this would happen while he was oblivious to Vidir’s and Kazius’ actions.

Using the tips from Rowan, Kazius would send information to Vidir. In turn, Vidir would send the undead puppets accordingly. They would take up roles that would bring them closer to the master mind…

It had been a few months since they had come to Blossom. There was thankfully no sign of Elande or his cronies, but Kazius knew that would not last… No… It was about time he put things into motion and consolidate his hold over Blossom.

Today the undead puppets would set ablaze the rice fields right at the peak of harvest when the rice was being dried before storage. In other words Blossom would have no food… What would be the final straw for the people would arrive… And they would be there to save the day. After all, he had already sent a Shadow Fiend to Vargstam to get excess food in anticipation.

Now that the Lady of Blossom was properly antagonized… It was easy to rile people up into storming to the doors of her palace with the fear of starvation looming over them. They were out for blood and The Lady was cornered… Most of her guards would abandon her and those that did stay were quite outnumbered. She was strong, but Kazius knew she was also weak of heart… She may be a Nine Tailed Kitsune… But would she raise her hand against her people? Would she be able to tell the angry and desperate citizens apart from the rebels?

Kazius knew well what was happening thanks to the shadows, but even if he didn’t have his eye on things, the city burning in the distance was hard to ignore. He watched the situation from a window in Rowan’s brothel. It was a beautiful sight to see your handy work… Like a work of art.

“Kazius! I know who is behind all this! She is leading the crowd from the back! Sakura… She is just defending herself! She won’t hold out at this rate! We have to do something!” Rowan exclaimed in panic. The shapeshifter was usually composed and playful, but he was quite the mess. He truly did see Sakura as his niece.

Kazius would smile warmly at Rowan, “It is okay, we will save her… I promise.” He assured, his smile only widening. Though it was not to reassure him, to be honest, it was very difficult for him to contain his laughter.

“Come on, we need to stop this rebellion.” Kazius stated, “Damon… I want you to rush in as fast as your can, you need to go protect the Lady. We will subdue the ones attacking… They are Blossom’s citizens… We can’t simply kill them because they were misled.” He stated, putting on quite the play… A play only Alice knew the truth of.

Damon looked determined at the task, beaming at the idea of helping The Lady. “You can count on me, Kazius.” He assured with a wide grin, rushing off ahead with quite the speed thanks to his blessing from Vind… Though Kazius could swear he moved with much more speed and agility than before, even with his one eye.

“Come on, we need to catch up!” Kazius exclaimed for the others. They followed not far behind. Blossom really looked like it had fallen. Half the city was on fire, there was rubble everywhere. The windows in the palace were smashed by thrown pieces of said rubble, it was a war zone.

By the time they arrived, they could see Damon had indeed gotten to Sakura. The once posh woman with an air of respectability looked like she was a mess. Her eyes were red from tears, her clothes singed and covered in blood. It was clear even in this situation, she loved her people so much that she had not bothered to fight back. She looked quite relieved as Damon held her with one arm, his wind abilities able to push the rebels back.

“You’re no goddess! You have brought nothing but misery to our people!” the angry civilians would shout. Common was spoken in Blossom, but it was interesting that out of all languages the rebels tended to speak it… But considering who was behind this… It was understandable.

“You witch! How dare you destroy your father’s legacy! You ruined everything we all have worked for!”

“We know all about you being the one actually working with the dragon! We will slay you and your evil pawn! We will get you back for all the grief you caused!”

“I never claimed to be any of those things! It was all of you who insisted on worshipping me! I never would mean you any harm! I never wanted to be put on such a pedestal!” Lady Sakura exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes. It was clear the woman was heartbroken. Going from being worshipped by your people to being deeply despised had to be quite the shock to her.

“You’re not fit to rule a city… Look at her clinging to a foreigner!” Exclaimed a golden eyes blue haired woman that was oh too familiar to most of the group… First in Vargstam and now here in Blossom… Luna truly did enjoy trying to usurp those in charge and sow chaos wherever she went.

Damon looked shocked at the sight of her, “Sister… So it was you! You… You are a foreigner yourself! You… You have gone too far with this… I won’t show you any mercy this time. Enough is enough!” he growled, infuriated, but did look torn.

Kazius would show up at this point, able to approach the area with the others.

“I am no sister of yours… You are just plotting with the lady to make me look bad. I am a resident of this place… And care about our people enough to bring a stop to this witch.” Luna would state. It seemed she had blended in with the locals somehow and was now pretending to be one of them.

Of course, her statement was flawed, but angry people weren’t the best thinkers. The mob would hear none of it. Instead, they would only keep attacking. Shouting angrily in agreement.

There were too many people, and it was hard to get close to the source of the commotion. He would use shadows to surround Damon and Sakura to push the rebels back, “Lady Sakura! Are you two okay!?” Kazius exclaimed, feigning concern and surprise. After all, he knew who the culprit was for some time now.

“Luna… So it was you! She is the one who almost destroyed Vargstam, Lady Sakura… Don’t let any of her lies fool you! She almost brought down Vargstam and got the prince of the Frost Giants killed!” Kazius exclaimed, Luna looking at him in shock and anger. After all, Kazius was the reason her previous plans had failed.

“You… Don’t listen to them! They’re the reason why you won’t have food! She is the one with The Dragon!” Luna exclaimed, keeping up her act. The angry citizens were still not listening to reason, so they would continue to try and get past the shadows, indeed, out to kill Lady Sakura.

Lady Sakura was too confused and heartbroken to respond to the constant yelling. She looked like she would break down and instead would just cling to Damon, looking down in dismay at every curse and failed attack sent her way. It was clear she did not know what to think of anything at this point.

No one would listen to anything at this rate… That was until everyone but Alice and Kazius got quite the shock. Everyone would grow silent at the sound of quite the angry draconic roar. It was coming from the sky and fast approaching. Stopping what they were all doing, the citizens would stare in shock and horror as The Green Dragon would come.

It was easy to understand why they were so intimidated. Vidir was an Ancient Dragon. While Green Dragons were smaller than most, an Ancient Dragon was an Ancient Dragon. Standing at 20 ft (6.10 meters) with a wingspan of 80 ft (24.38 meters). It looked like Vidir was having fun with the whole show, roaring and screeching fiercely in a matter that was frightening enough to likely get some of the rebels to soil themselves.

Of course, this whole thing seemed to shock Luna. Using the Dragon was one thing, but she likely did not anticipate the Dragon to show up. Sure she sent some gullible people to it’s lair to prove a point… But at most she likely thought they’d be killed and that would be the end of that. Unlucky for her, Kazius had already made a deal with him. “Foolish mortals… You come to my lair… Accuse me of burning your food… I think I should simply kill you all and not allow anymore insignificant creatures to establish a home near mine.”

Too scared to fight and frozen, the people were forced to listen to the Dragon’s words. Of course, this meant they would now know that Luna had lied to them. Instead of looking at Lady Sakura, many looks would turn to Luna. Damon’s expression growing concerned over the Dragon’s presence, but with how he glared at Luna… It was clear the Werewolf was determined to be rid of her once and or all.