We crossed the gate and arrived in the courtyard of Britannia Castle.

Bleachers were being set up, obviously a mock justice show.

We were manhandled and Ravenar personally held the chain of Rubix. We followed.

Our only hope was Henry, who had not been captured. His thieving skills would be put to the test this time.

We were thrown into a dark dungeon with just a pitcher of water and straw.

At the bottom, a skeleton... no... It was a starving old man He was in irons, chained.

"Ah... A dragon... Please kill me quickly! A short death..."

Then he saw me... "Ah. Children! Bastards! .... Putting children here...monsters...."

It was old Saul

When there was no one left in the corridors, it was decided to give the poor man first aid.

Me: "Saul... do you know what is going to happen? They come up from the bleachers..."

They bring out the Widow... They are going to execute terrorists but in fact resistants faithful to Lord British against this imposter and his clique.

Lord British wanted to abolish the powers of the nobles following the events and the Codex avenue and they betrayed him

"Do you know if there is a way to escape?

"Yes, but I'm too weak now and I'm tied up..."

"We promise to come and free you. We want to overthrow Blackthorne..."

"Who are you and what is a dragon doing here?"

"I am Torin, son of Ragul and we came to free Shamino, Iolo and the others but we got captured in the castle!"

"I am Rubix and these are my companions..my family."

Saul : "A talking dragon...I thought they were all extinct but I'm glad I'm still alive to see one, a beautiful one at that.."

He pointed to the brazier, "Into the embers, the mantra "AUM" and push on the inverted brick!"

But we were interrupted by Lord Blackthorne who came to visit us in the dungeon, well, on the right side of the bars.

"Terrorists give terrorist seed..."

Rubix "We know about Lord British..."

Me : "We don't need your morals..."

Lord : "You will tell me the mantras for the sanctuaries and your parents will be spared..."

Saul: "No! Nothing will stop them! Don't say it..."

The regent grinned.

"Children, you have a choice! "Then he made a sign to the guard who opened the door, others pointed their spears and he took old Saul away. Then we were also chained and followed the guards and the regent until our eyes were dazzled by the light.

The nobles were on the steps and everyone took their seats.

In the center, a structure hidden under a veil.

Musicians sounded their trumpets and a cart with a cage on it, pulled by a mule, appeared. Inside, Shamino, Iolo and Dupre were pulled out of the cage and tied to a post with a whip attached.

The people applauded and Ravenar took his place next to Amon on the stage of the officials and Lord Blackthorne's throne.

The sky was cloudy, on the verge of rain, but the place was crowded, the performances were as rare as they were cruel, and that did not inspire anything good.

We looked around after Henry but we saw him with several people covered with a hood and one of them met our gaze and signaled no...

I sighed, defeated... Now we would have to survive and be careful what we say.

Saul shouted, dragged by a soldier: "No!!! noooo! I confessed everything... you promised... you promised !!!!!!"

Another soldier pulled on a rope, and, like a gift-wrapping, the sail fell away, revealing a monstrous machine: a guillotine with a horrible blade.

The soldier threw the end of the chain to his fellow soldier, who caught it and attached it to a pulley below the guillotine's frame, and he began to turn the crank, and the blade began to rise and mechanically drew poor Saul to the rocking board, and once the blade was up, he was against the board, his neck in the notch.

He screamed and screamed but his cries were muffled by the cheers of the audience.

Suddenly, he tipped forward and when the board came to rest horizontally, his head was stuck and the blade came down with a terrifying thud.

The blinking-eyed, tear-filled head rolled into the basket below. Before he died, he saw his body separated from his head before sinking into eternal darkness.

The bloody neck made us vomit. Rubix let go and shook, thinking of the sawed-off wings.

Then, next to the guillotine, there was a horrible saw...

Ravenar stared at her and she lowered her head in terror... It was more than she could bear...

Then Lord Blackthorne stood up and gestured for the people to calm down and for silence to return.

"Dear Sosarans, you have seen a sample of what awaits terrorists, spies and assassins. No one escapes the justice of this country... Whether he is a noble, a commoner or even a former hero. No one is above the law."

Today, we are dealing with terrorists who have come to destroy our homeland, in the name of a sham.

But let's make a little reminder of the law.

The regent or king owes his position only to the council that represents the towns and villages of all Britannia.

The parents, fomented a coup and their children were caught red-handed.

A guard grabbed Rubix's paw "She still has in her paw the proof of their crime: the crown of Lord British!" And he showed everyone the sovereign's crown.

Then returned it to the dragoness.

"It's not the object that's in question... let them play Lord British if they like. They can keep it, but it is the symbol of royalty that they have defiled! They question my authority!"

The council members all stood up and insulted us.

Then after a gesture, everyone fell silent and he resumed:

"They argue that Lord British is the only sovereign.

But he is sick and old, and unable to rule. This is also an attack on him.

Then the council rose and shouted in unison: "Lord Blackthorne! Lord Blackthorne...!"

He then looked at us defiantly and the imprisoned parents.

The young criminals are here to see what awaits the traitors and let this be a lesson to them. They will go through the whipping to remember the order of things. They are only guilty of theft, but also of stealing dragons that belong to the state and the academy.

They have dishonored the profession of knighthood that was offered to them on a silver platter but they have lied, colluded and betrayed the trust of their mentors.

But the most disappointing is the dragoness who was emancipated and betrayed all those who had placed their hopes in her.

She will receive the red-hot iron to teach her that she is the property of the academy.

This punishment is also the consequence of an extremely serious fact.

You see, she speaks... and it is not innocently."

Lord Blackthorne turned to Ravenar who turned his head in the direction of the dragoness, expecting a confession from her...

Rubix... "Forgivenn...Please......I will do anything you wish..."

Blackthorne: "At least one who regrets!"

Gamblin was present and noticed Ravenar's ploy.

"It can't be! "he thought.

He got up and walked out of the square, not wanting to be involved in this farce of justice anymore...

He detected with the ankh that the members of the council were not human, but IMPs... demons in human form and that Lord Blackthorne was only human in appearance.

He spoke to Ravenar: "You have just made a grave mistake, dragon...If I were you, I would run away or try to fix it but your soul is already lost..."

Ravenar: "Hmph... old nail..."

Lord Blackthorne waited for the crowd to ask questions and get the idea.

"Yes... Yes, they are ancient heroes but... See... there was crime.

Not to mention guards killed, nobles bruised, here is the object that almost took all your lives.

Do you remember the dark ages well? Your parents and great-grandparents remember the beautiful Sosaria before the cataclysm, the destruction, the volcanoes and the lands flooded by the ocean with no hope of escape. The hundreds of thousands of deaths???"

The crowd was silent and there was a long silence.

Then Amon held up a dagger.

"This is the famous Blade of Brilliance!"

It was placed on a base covered with a glass bell.

Mages and scholars, you may approach and admire the authenticity of this sacrificial weapon!"

There was then a movement of crowds and many nobles and scholars paraded before the recovered dagger.

Then Lord Blackthorne motioned for them to sit back down.

"As you could see, this weapon was found in possession ." then he looked at Ravenar who approved "Yes, in possession of the rebels and terrorists IO, Dupre and Shamino as well as a list of accomplices, with the help of the tamed dragoness, who only followed orders.." "

And I saw Dad and Mom also captured, tied up at the last minute. Ragul and Esme!!!.

At that moment, Rubix cried, knowing her fate was sealed with Ravenar... her friends as hostages...

"Yes, this dagger is not only decorative and symbolic, but it contains a terrible power"

In the paws of the dragoness, the dagger would have awakened Thor, the destructive dragon and thus recreated the abominable Exodus, whose blood has a tiny part of it. And you know what would have happened? It would have turned into a vessel for the abomination and ravaged all of Britannia, burying houses, town and village under volcanic lava and great waters before sinking the country into the ocean or hurling us into the infernal inner world."

Everyone began to boo the defendants, tied to the post.

Rubix was also booed and stones, rotten vegetables, eggs were thrown in our direction.

Then there was the cry "DEATH!!!! DEATH!!!!

Cut off their heads!"

It was an orgy of violence and insults.

Then a puppet judge stood up and spoke.

"The verdict of the people is final. The defendants will be executed here and their children will be whipped and exiled to the underworld where their fate is of no interest to anyone. In his infinite goodness, Lord Blackthorne will let the dragoness live as a female for Amon's dragon, as a reward for good done to society. "

He tapped his hammer on a desk "Justice has been done...let the execution begin!"

Rubix's chain was tugged and she was led away to the black dragon lying next to Amon, a fake collar of submission around his neck to reassure the audience...

Rubix was crying but kept her dignity and tried to hide her despair.

The executioner approached us and Manu flinched but was pulled by the ropes while screaming.

The parents screamed to leave their children and spare them, but no one listened to their pleas.

But I recognized the executioner, well, his apprentice... it was Henri, disguised but he took the whip and turned the key discreetly on my wrists.

But the executioner pushed him and made him fall out of the platform and he ran away.

Then he took the whip and the pain was scathing.

SLASH

Judge:" 100 lashes... if he survives he will be free in the underworld.

I gritted my teeth

SLASH

There was a commotion and some of the elders tried to intervene, but the guard pushed the troublemakers back.

Lord Blackthorne saw that they did not relent and asked them to stop.

"Proceed with the execution".

Then he stood up and went directly to the platform near the killing lever.

"Shamino...one last time. What is the Mantra of Justice?"

He spat in the regent's face.

He wiped his face and began to smile.

But with a jerk I freed my hands from the unlocked shackles and grabbed the dagger of brilliance from the rack, spraying with the chain wrapped around my wrists.

I charged at Lord Blackthorne sending the guards over my shoulders and breaking the swords with my chain used as leverage and armor.

He drew his scepter instead of his sword and received a right on his hand that broke the lever of the guillotine with the impact.

I put the dagger to his throat

"Release them... you are not the fool this time"

"You have signed your death warrant, Torin!" spat the regent.

With a backhand stroke, he smashed my skull with the pommel of the magic gem on his scepter and I felt his superhuman strength.

His eyes were shot red. He was a demon! He was stronger than me!

In the distance I heard an exhausted Valtrax running to help us.

But Lord Blackthorne called out a word of power and Valtrax went down, unable to come any closer.

Rubix clutched her head, as if she was in a vice, and I felt nauseous...

Then I felt like a breath and Ravenar was behind me.

With his paw, he crushed me at the feet of the false king, Rubix chained and unable to do anything, especially since she had a bit in her mouth preventing her from casting a spell.

Saphie and Marc were gagged.

But I'd done my best. I still held the dagger and wanted to stab it into the dragon's or Impostor's paw, but he increased the pressure, causing me to let out a cry of pain.

My whipped skin burned. But I drew on my rage and...Ravenar snatched the dagger from my hands with his other paw, lacerating me, and, holding it firmly, stabbed it into my heart!

"UHHHHHHHHHH!"

The pain was indescribable.

Everything was in slow motion.

The crowd was bellowing and everything was spinning around me.

I saw in slow motion, as if he was getting up with the bloody dagger.

A spray of blood invaded my mouth and I spat as if under pressure and I felt as if my whole interior was turning inside out, that with the dagger, in addition, an arrow had come out. And, indeed, an arrow fell to the ground and disappeared in smoke...

and everything was like a flash

The crowd was screaming but with terror. But I could not hear anymore.

Time seemed to slow down.

I could see my father holding out his arm in chains.

My mom holding her hands to her mouth, my friends, my family looking at me. In fact, everyone was watching me.

And I fell into a hole, huge,

It was death... destruction....

Then I felt a pressure inside me, like an explosion.

All my cells were burning. I had the rage, the feeling of injustice. And this hatred. I hated all those people, those horrible people, those monkeys.

I wanted to trample them, to crush them and make them pay for their wickedness.

I saw my poor Rubix sacrificed, sold, and all those bastards.

Rage.

RAGE

MEGA RAGE

GROOOAAAAAARRRRR

Everything was white and the next moment, the cold

A cold like death

Like emptiness, like nothingness.

Then the light dazzled me

Then the heat... the furnace. The underworld....

And then, the silence. A silence of death, of terror.

People looked at me like... frogs???

The crowd was small, silent, white and green with terror....

Then... I saw Lord Blackthorne kneeling before me and the whole crowd...

GRRRRRR

I looked at my hands... but they were paws...

I felt my head...

My neck, my wings and my tail...

I was a DRAGON!!!

RAGE!

"One of the nobles shouted, followed by the others: it's EXODUS!!! It's him AAAAARGGHHH"

Without warning, I spat all my rage at Blackthorne and the stage in front of me and the carnage began!

CRASH!

SCREAM! MAGMA BLOW

Everything was engulfed in flames and the next thing I knew, the castle and the courtyard were one huge inferno.

They were like ants after a heat gun.

At my feet, there was the pole and my friends and family still tied up.

They were screaming.

"This is Exodus, we're lost!... Please...."

Resigned to die, they closed their eyes.

I said, "Daddy?"

They began to hope.

I held out the wing

"Climb" but no one understood the draconic. I was 25 meters...but my breath was monstrous...devastating and cataclysmic.

Blackthorne's crown had melted over his charred remains.

Demons appeared and monsters and they knelt before me.

Rubix was unconscious and Ravenar was holding the dagger and trying to control me with it.

Being three times his size, with a flick of my tail, he crashed into the castle wall and passed out.

I gently picked up Rubix and broke the post with a clamp, freeing the prisoners.

I was staggering around, not used to my new appearance but I was lost, disoriented and in a state of major psychological shock.

I started to cry and I ransacked everything in my path, fleeing towards the hill and the woods, where Valtrax had fallen.

The prisoners took advantage of the carnage to flee like the rest of the population.

A new dark age was coming for Britannia, well...maybe or not...

It was a carnage, a nameless massacre, but they deserved it to a greater or lesser degree, but innocent people also paid with their lives that day.

But... I was lost, confused and I didn't know who I was, what I was and what I was going to become...

No one understood what I was saying... it was all grunts, snaps and roars.