Dragonlord

Ep 106. As Long As They’re Dragonkin. (1)

Ep 106. As Long As They’re Dragonkin. (1)        

While the two dragons ascended towards the palace tops, Raizel maintained a curious expression on her face.

No matter where she looked, there was seemingly nothing of note inside the palace. Gold and silver décor, luxurious weaves, worn paintings of who-knows-what: none of them meant anything to the youngling following behind.

 A few soldiers were still trying to prevent the intruders from heading up here and there, but they were quickly snuffed of life before the merciless dragonlord. They weren’t even given a chance to speak – which was strange, considering what Raizel knew about Serenis’ usual character. Freaky, even.

Raizel’s curiosity peaked when they reached the top of the palace, entering the empty throne room.

“…Lord, where’re we going? Are you just checking if the emperor’s still here?”

“No. There’s more.”

“Huh?”

“There’s…more of us. Behind here…”

Serenis gave a curt look towards the jewel-encrusted throne. Considering its original purpose as a chair, its surface of carved gems seemed rather unfitting – the design only made sense if the throne’s purpose was an ostensive display of wealth.

But behind this eye-catching seat was a grandiose wall, covered by a velvet drape covering its surface. Though most would be too occupied by the throne to notice, the crimson wall behind the throne was rather plain compared to the intricate designs the other walls were inscribed with.

The dragonlord briskly made her way over to the drapes, tearing them off to reveal the naked surface beneath.

“…What a bold display.”

Normally, a person has little reason to look behind an emperor’s throne – much less examine what was behind it.

Hence, not many knew of the metal door that hid behind the drapes of the emperor’s throne chamber.

As Serenis lightly brushed her fingertips against the spell circle engraved upon the metal, Raizel likewise came to a stop behind her lord, peeking over their shoulder to see what was before them.

“…So you’re saying there’s more dragons behind this door? What’s that drawing?”

“A spell circle. Though you may not be familiar with them, they’re another form of magic humans have developed. Mana is stored within the inscription to prolong a spell’s effect in the caster’s absence. This one’s purpose seems to be to block the likes of sounds or physical impact…whatever’s happening inside, it’d be difficult to tell from the outside.”

“Huh…but you still figured out that there’s dragons in there?”

“Fortunately.”

Although Raizel was still curious how her lord had seen through the spell, the youngling remained silent. Probably some nonsensical magic that she wouldn’t understand anyways.

When the dragonlord lowered her gaze, she could see a small gap at the circle’s centre.

‘I suppose that’s where a key would go…’

Of course, there were other ways to subdue a spell like this. One could apply a reverse of the original formula; for spell circles like these, one could also overload the circuit with excessive amounts of mana.

But magic aside, there was, in fact, a much simpler way to open a locked door.

‘I’ve regained my form for the most part. This would be a fitting test.’

The easiest way to open a door was to simply open it by force.

Serenis gripped the iron handle of the sealed door, pulling it with every ounce of strength she had. With most of her form now returned, she expected it to rip open with sufficient effort.

Unfortunately, the door refused to even budge – much less open. When the door remained still after a minute of struggling, Serenis let go of the handle with ragged breaths.

“…A human’s spell is this strong? How-”

“Do I just have to open it? Here, let me try.”

Raizel soon placed herself in Serenis’ stead, fixing her hand over the iron door’s handle with a firm grip. But pull as she may, one hand or two, the door still refused to budge.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Boom!

In a burst of frustration, Raizel even punched at the sealed entrance. But their obstacle remained in place, taking the steel dragon’s strike with nary a scratch.

“Wow, what the hell…I haven’t seen anything like this since then.”

 “’Then,’ you say?”

“You know, when we went looking for your heart or whatever. It’s similar to the ice that was there…actually, feels almost the exact same.”

“…That’s right, the ice there was…”

At the centre of Vulka’s corpse, the dragons had encountered a strange barrier: one that increased the ice’s sturdiness to a ridiculous degree, while also suppressing their draconic features.

If that were the case here…

“…Child. Could you try hitting the wall beside the entrance?”

After a curt nod, Raziel smashed her fist into the crimson wall, even stronger than before. But as Serenis had expected, the youngling’s strike left nary a mark.

A deep frown crossed the dragonlord as she bit her lips. It wasn’t just the door; the inscribed spell was affecting the entire parameter.

If there were dragons behind this door, then no spell would be better suited to trap them than the one she’d seen at Vulka’s grave. It could strengthen the surrounding walls to deter physical escape attempts; with draconic features suppressed, they couldn’t even hope to fly out or break through in their proper form.

‘…But that barrier, that seal…it shouldn’t be something humans can erect.’

A human coming to a full understanding of a dragon’s anatomy – and suppressing certain features through magic – was a nigh impossible task. Even Aldrid had failed to recreate demonkind due to her lack of understanding as to how their bodies functioned.

Moreover, a human’s spell shouldn’t have been able to withstand Raizel’s strength in the first place. Even if it were possible, there shouldn’t have been enough mana for it to last longer than a few seconds.

‘Is it merely a coincidence? Or…’

While Serenis pondered over the oddity of their obstacle, Raizel was continuously trying to smash her way in. But when neither of them could see any progress whatsoever, Serenis calmly reared the youngling back.

“It’s alright, child. It doesn’t seem brute force will do us any good here. Step back and rest.”

“Tch. Fine…”

As Raizel reluctantly stepped away, Serenis placed her hand over the circle once more. If they couldn’t force their way through the seal, then she needed but overwhelm the seal with her own mana.

However, what the dragonlord had expected to be a meager human spell revealed its true essence as she laid her hand upon it.

“…This is…”

What Serenis felt through the spell circle wasn’t a meager storage of one mana type. Instead, she felt a surge of several different types forcibly being drained to power the spell, each one far too potent to be of human origin.

‘They’re…all…’

Beyond this wall were her kin. Of that, she had no doubt.

Hence, it didn’t take much to figure out whose mana the seal was draining from. Much like how Vulka’s barrier had been supplied with the dragonlord’s heart, this one too, was being supplied by other entities.

Serenis closed her eyes, her breathing growing long and sparse. The surrounding air weighed heavy upon her, and the hand that touched the inscribed spell began to glow.

“I’m sorry. Bear with me for just a moment…”

If Serenis were to overload this seal, then the aftershock of its collapse would inevitably go to its current suppliers.

But even so, she had little choice. Leaving things as is was not an option.

Crack!

“…?”

Raizel blinked in confusion, standing a few steps behind the dragonlord. Her gaze drifted upwards towards the source of the sudden noise.

“Uh…lord? You sure this is okay?”

Despite the youngling’s words, Serenis remained unresponsive with both her eyes closed. She was so focused on her current endeavor that she was failing to realize the entire wall was slowly beginning to fall apart.

Old memories began to haunt Raizel’s vision. Her crossed arms slowly unknotted themselves, her eyes fixed on the cracks streaking across the crimson surface before them.

With a brilliant flash of white, the dragonlord’s mana overwhelmed what the spell could store.

And simultaneously, the cracks stretched across every corner of the crimson wall, crumbling right on top of the oblivious dragonlord – a sight quite familiar for a certain youngling standing behind her.

“You didn’t have to recreate this too!!”

Raizel immediately leapt forward, snatching the dragonlord in her arm before rushing back away.

Moments after her retreat, the crumbling wall collapsed on top of where Serenis had been standing, burying the area in a pile of broken rubbles.

Serenis slowly opened her eyes to find herself being held by Raizel. The youngling was looking down at her with evident annoyance.

“Do you have a thing for dying under collapsing walls? You could at least keep your eyes open.”

“…Well…”

‘With the seal dispersed, those rubbles would barely scathe my skin, but…’

Instead of voicing her thoughts, Serenis only returned a gentle grin. She soon nodded back at the youngling, knowing their annoyance stemmed from pure concern.

“I will next time. Thank you, child.”

Once Serenis was back on her own feet, the two dragons shifted their attention to what lied ahead.

As the dust of the fallen wall began to settle, the scenery that was hidden behind revealed itself before the two dragons.

“Wait, what IS that…?”

“…”

Beyond the brilliance of the emperor’s golden throne room was a bleak, lightless dungeon. Only the lights seeping in from the throne room was illuminating the prison that lied beyond it; in the time that the wall had separated the two, there wouldn’t have been a single light source within.

And in it, were…

“…Rgh…urgh…”

“…Grrgh…”

Low, pained groans slithered through the unsettling silence of the dungeon walls.

Scattered about were numerous cages, each occupied by several individuals. Though their outward appearances seemed human, Serenis could also see that their draconic features were slowly returning – doubtlessly from the collapse of the seal that had caged them.

Serenis slowly walked into the dungeon, her eyes desperately looking for any hint of hope. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any here.

Embedded within each dragon’s chest was a nail – which, judging by the color, were fashioned from Kelador’s shell.

The velklord’s shell had a tendency to prevent mana from synthesizing. Should its influence somehow reach one’s internal organs, it effectively deterred the use of magic altogether; longer exposure warranted longer recovery periods, and often, a prolonged exposure caused irreversible damage.

To make matters worse, not a single dragon seemed to be in one piece. Some weren’t even alive. A lifeless color shadowed their skin, and many were missing a part of their body. Some were mutilated beyond recognition.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out why they were in such horrid conditions.

Cages were occupying most of the dungeon, but places that weren’t were instead occupied by crimson vials, mounds of colorful scales, and countless bones cleaned of flesh. Various instruments were scattered about around the spoils, all serving the same purpose of extracting resources from the imprisoned kin.

“…What the hell is all this.”

Raizel briskly passed by Serenis with a stern expression, making her way to the nearest cage. She tore the iron bars apart, shouting at the dragons within.

“Hey!...Hey, can any of you hear me?! Say something!”

“…”

A green-haired dragon powerlessly turned his head to face the steel dragon. He opened his mouth, as if he would say something.

But what came out instead of words were low, powerless groans. The tongue that should’ve been in his mouth was nowhere to be found; he didn’t have any teeth either, as if he’d been just born.

“…Why…are you…”

“…”

Before the horrifying scenery, the indifference Serenis had struggled to maintain was slowly falling apart.

A slaughter beyond torture, an environment lacking even the most basic of needs. Even a barn for animals was a luxury compared to this place.

What her kin lost here had likely become brews and tools for human use. The very reason the emperor had chosen to keep them alive was likely to continue extracting their scales and blood.

Everyone here were broken in body and soul. Considering their period of exposure to Kelador’s shell embedded within them, they would likely never be able to use magic again, either.

“…”

In her welling anger, even the dragonlord’s vision began to blur.

- ‘You hope to facilitate peace with man? A kind that would kill its own brothers and sisters? What you hope for is a fool’s dream, Serenis.’

Every other demonlord had opposed coexistence.

Only a single demonlord trusted in its possibility, struggling to facilitate peace between her kin and mankind. She’d truly believed that if her kin were to believe and nurture them – to treat them as equals – then someday, they too, would come to treat Serenis and her kin as family.

Or, at the very least…she’d hoped that they wouldn’t shed blood with one another.

‘After all those years…is this what it’s come to?’

Now, the faith that she’d held onto for so long was beginning to waver.