Dragon Emperor

by Eric Vall

  “I believe we’ve lost much during this war with the demons,” Olivier said passionately as we crossed through the broken wall. “If we forget who we are, will that make us any better than the asinine demons?”

  “Are the demons mindless?” A nagging thought filled my mind. I had heard a lot about what the miasma had done and where it had come from but very little about the demons. Why were they at war with the people of Inati?

  “Pardon?” Olivier looked puzzled by my words.

  “Can demons think for themselves?” I looked up at the sky and wondered what a demon looked like. “How can something mindless fight?”

  “Do tell us, kind scholar.” Julia spoke from behind her fan and stared at the destroyed palace that loomed in the distance. “I have never come across a demon and have wondered if there was a reason behind their attacks.”

  “Demons are savages.” Olivier shook his head and adjusted the satchel he carried. “They only care for the brutality of war. They destroyed this city and continue to wage war against us for no reason. They are brutes.”

  I didn’t believe him. There was no way the demons were mindless, otherwise how had the war against them not been won already? The demons were without a doubt an intelligent species with reason and logic behind their attacks. We’d figured that out after Alyona had been attacked by a controlled villager.

  “Well, you’re the scholar,” I replied cheerfully and smiled at Olivier. “You’ve probably read a thousand books on the subject.”

  “Yes, well, books can only teach so much.” Olivier stopped in front of a collapsed column and pointed at it. “Look at these carvings and the intricacy of the stonework. This is the mark of the old Hatra artisans. Post destruction, no one has ever been able to recreate the gem inlaying techniques of old Hatra.”

  I glanced at the column and stared at the sparkles within the stone. The fact that they were diamonds boggled my mind because I hadn’t imagined someone would have embedded gems into a column.

  “When we were young, we were told stories about Hatra’s grandeur.” Ruslan’s voice had a tinge of sorrow as he placed his hand on the column. “So much knowledge was lost that night.”

  “We promised you food, and here we are reminiscing.” Moskal shook his head and stepped away from the column as he motioned for us to follow him. “The communal kitchens are through this street.”

  “Communal?” Olivier’s attention shifted from the column to Moskal. “Is it a tradition from old Hatra or a matter of economy? I know that many sect residences have communal kitchens and dining halls, but I hadn’t assumed that Hatra would as well.”

  “It’s both, I would say.” Moskal slipped his hands into his sleeves and tilted his head in thought. “The sense of solidarity helped us in those early years as our resources were pooled together. We didn’t have as much back then, and we only survived because all of us worked together. Social status didn’t matter at that point, surviving mattered.”

  “One alone will die, but a pack will survive.” Ruslan strode forward with Julia on his arm and winked at me when he passed.

  I grinned back at the fox Elder and followed both of them down the street to where I could already smell freshly baked bread.

  Even though it was just after dawn, the communal kitchens were already busy, and the large clay ovens were fired up. Water simmered in large metal cauldrons as the villagers moved about with a practiced ease that came only from years of repetition. The villagers called out greetings to us as they looked up from their morning chores, and even the goats bleated loudly as they saw us.

  “There’s a scholar here,” Ruslan’s said to the small crowd, and his voice was calm and reassuring. “He wants to study Hatra and how we’ve survived.”

  “Now the scholars care about us?” scoffed one of the villagers chopping root vegetables. “What hypocrites.”

  “Now, now, we will all be hospitable,” Julia chided kindly as she patted one of the goats. “We won’t turn away anyone who comes to us.”

  “Lady Julia, no one comes to Hatra.” The same villager laughed and set down his knife. “This is the last place anyone in their right mind would come to.”

  “Then he isn’t in his right mind,” I joked as I leaned against one of the clay ovens and felt my body relax due to the heat. While I couldn’t breathe fire, I was drawn to it, and the warmth soothed me.

  “All the more reason for us to be polite.” Julia nodded, and the goat she petted nodded alongside her. “We don’t need any more insanity around here than we already have.”

  One of the bakers tossed me a chunk of bread, and I saluted them gratefully. The bread was still hot from the oven as I tore a smaller piece off it and bit into it. There was a sweetness to the bread, and I wondered how the bakers had managed it.

  “I’m going to head down into the library,” I murmured quietly as I glanced down the street where Olivier and Moskal slowly approached. “Check up on Alyona and Laika while I’m down there.” Then I turned to face Ruslan completely. “I don’t trust that man. Something feels … off about him.”

  “Off?” the Elder questioned with a frown. “What do you mean?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly. He just … sets my hair on end. I think we should make him leave.”

  Ruslan’s frown only deepened. “I haven’t sensed anything of the like from him. Besides, Hatra is not in the business of turning people away. We might not be the great city we once were, but we still have our honor.”

  “There’s a difference between protecting Hatra and everyone in the city and keeping threats out.” I clenched my jaw as anger began to seethe inside of me. “This isn’t about honor, this is about surviving.”

  “We have survived these past thousand years because of our honor!” Ruslan’s eyes hardened as the air around us grew heavy with his power. “I have protected my people for over seven hundred years, and with my leadership we’ve managed to survive the miasma all these long years. You may care about Hatra, but you’re just a child.”

  In my chest, my heart pounded like crazy because of the wave of power that seemed to be crushing me. I looked around, but no one else seemed to notice what was going on between the Elder and me.

  “This is still wrong,” I managed to get out from underneath the pressure of power. “Something isn’t right about that man, I can feel it. He shouldn’t be here.”

  Ruslan stared at me for one long moment and sighed. Then the pressure around me lifted, and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “You’re full of anxious energy, Evan.” Ruslan spoke with none of the anger from before, and he seemed almost fond. “You’ve been fighting for your life since you got to this world. This world isn’t just full of cruelty and malice. There’s still good people, at least, that’s what I believe.”

  I shook my head. There was a nagging sense of something familiar about the scholar, but I hadn’t been able to place it. If I had, we wouldn’t have been having this discussion about Olivier.

  “I don’t trust him,” I repeated as I stared resolutely at Ruslan and clenched my jaw.

  “You don’t have to trust him to trust my leadership.” The fox Elder let go of my shoulder and sat back down. “Trust in my decisions. If this goes badly as you believe it will, I will bear the guilt. That’s the duty of a leader. You have to learn how to make difficult decisions one day. Even if there are those around you who think you’re being a fool.”

  I frowned at his words as my shoulders slumped. All I wanted to do was to chase that scholar out of the city, but I wasn’t allowed to do that, and instead I was getting a lecture on how to be a leader.

  “Fine,” I conceded, even though I still didn’t like Olivier. “I apologize. I’ll just go check on Alyona now.”

  “Go, be free.” Ruslan waved me off as he eyed a wedge of cheese on one of the tables.

  I nodded as I parted ways with them and headed off in the direction of the underground library. I wanted to check in on Laika and Alyona to see
how they were doing down there, especially the priestess.

  She’d been tense throughout the entire time Olivier had been talking about the White Jade Sect heir. I wasn’t sure if it was the prickly presence of the man or if he had touched upon a sore subject for her. Either way, I needed to make sure she was all right.

  I practically flew down the stairs and came to a stop when I saw Alyona asleep on one of the chaise lounges in the atrium of the library. She was curled up with her sleeves trailing on the floor, and her hair pooled out behind her.

  Laika sat at the priestess’s feet with a book in her lap and her broadsword within easy reach. She waved me away with a shushing motion and fond smile.

  I nodded and walked down one of the hallways as I looked for something to do in the library. We hadn’t figured out the organization system of the place yet, and we still hadn’t found an archive catalogue that would let us know exactly what was in here.

  Might as well try to find that.

  I was searching in the bookshelves near the entrance when I heard small footsteps on the staircase. From the scent, I was able to tell that it was Ilya who had entered the underground library.

  “Master Dragon, what are you doing?” Ilya peered around one of the bookshelves and stared at me with wide eyes.

  The young Asura had been cleaned up nicely with the help of the women of Hatra. His hair was brushed back into a loose braid, and his clothes were freshly laundered.

  “I’m looking for the archive catalogue.” I set the book I had been thumbing through back in its place on the shelf. “I’m pretty sure that in a place this size, there has to be one.”

  “What’s an archive catalogue?” Ilya walked to where I stood and went on her tiptoes to try to glance at the spine of the book I had put down.

  “A really long list of all the books and things in here,” I answered as I tapped the books on the shelf and smiled. “That way we’ll know exactly what’s here and where to look for it. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “Well, Lady Alyona said you were over here, and she was just getting ready to meditate. Am I bothering you?” The boy jumped a few inches in the air as he continued to try in vain to reach the book.

  I stifled a laugh. He really wasn’t tall enough for that.

  Hearing that Alyona was awake made me relax though, and I wondered where Laika was. She probably had gone off to get some breakfast considering it had been dawn when we’d come back to Hatra, and I was pretty sure the two women hadn’t eaten.

  “No,” I chuckled. “You aren’t bothering me.”

  Ilya glanced down at his boots before he looked up at me seriously. “Then can I help you look for the catalogue thing?”

  “Of course, Ilya, I’d love your help.” I ruffled his hair and smiled. “Why don’t you check on the lower shelves, and I’ll check on the top ones.”

  “I’ll start looking now!” The Asura’s face completely lit up with happiness.

  Keeping him and his sister distracted was key after the trauma they had gone through. Kids rebounded quickly, and they hadn’t had a breakdown yet, but I knew that it was bound to happen soon. There wasn’t anything I could do to stop it, though. I just had to help them through it and show them that life could still continue even if things had become difficult and old friends weren’t there anymore.

  “Awesome.” I smirked mischievously. “You know what, first one to find it gets a prize.”

  “What kind of prize?” he asked with wide golden eyes. That had caught his curiosity. Any child would always, without fail, perk up at the idea of a present.

  “Hmm, how about a present from the loser?” I still hadn’t known Ilya for a long enough time to know what he would want as a present.

  “Like a boon?” Ilya asked excitedly.

  “Yeah, kind of like that.” I nodded with a smile on my face.

  We searched in silence through the shelves for the catalogue that I hoped existed. I hadn’t kept track of how much time had passed. It was a bit difficult to tell time down in the library because of the lack of natural light in the underground complex, but it was still one of the most beautiful constructions I had ever seen in any of the two worlds I’d been in.

  I only wished that there was some sort of clock. I wondered if there were even clocks in this world as I closed another book that wasn’t the catalogue.

  “I think I found it!” Ilya’s triumphant shout broke the silence.

  I jogged over to where the small Asura stood with a surprisingly thin book in his hands. Power emanated from the book, and I could sense the way it spread out to all of the objects that surrounded us.

  “Great job, buddy.” I knelt down to his height and smiled at him. “Do you know what you want from me?”

  “Do I have to tell you now?” Ilya’s brow furrowed in thought as he seriously considered what he wanted from me.

  I laughed. “Of course not, take some time to think about it, and then let me know.”

  “I’ll tell you as soon as I know!” Ilya’s voice was strong and sure as he spoke, and he made the perfect picture of a little prince. “I promise.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I ruffled the Asura’s hair playfully again.

  Ilya wrinkled his nose and tried to flatten the hair on his head using his hands.

  Suddenly, the smell of decay wafted in the air in front of us, and the hair on the back of my neck rose again. It was similar to the wretched stench of the miasma, but it wasn’t exactly the same, and I couldn’t pinpoint the difference in the scent or even why it was down here with us.

  I debated on taking Ilya with me or leaving him behind. I didn’t want him to get hurt by whatever caused the miasma-like stench, but I also didn’t want to make his trauma worse. Ilya had already been left behind once, and his parents didn’t come back.

  “Ilya, I need you to stick with me, but if I tell you to run or hide, I need you to do that without hesitating.” I held his gaze as I put my hands on his shoulders. “Got it?”

  “I can do that.” Ilya nodded as he straightened his shoulders and stiffened his back.

  We walked between the books as we followed the miasma-like smell until we came to the grand atrium.

  In the middle of the floor was Alyona, and my heart stopped at the sight of her. Miasma slithered over her body, and I saw no flashes of the power that I knew could purify the miasma from existence. It was like the miasma had somehow overpowered her and was trying to control her as it did the corrupted villagers.

  Immediately, words flashed before my eyes as I ran toward her.

  Classification: Unknown.

  Condition: Comatose due to miasma poisoning

  Priority: Immediate attention needed.

  Danger: Deviation phase detected.

  Status: Poisoned and unstable soul core.

  I skidded to a stop beside the priestess, but then my hands fluttered around her body uselessly. The miasma was focused only on Alyona, and it didn’t even try to poison me. It stuck to her like a second skin. I didn’t know what to do.

  Her hairpin was missing and because of that her hair was splayed out around her.

  But that wasn’t what confused me.

  Her hair had gone silver-white except for the braids she wore on either side of her face. Those remained raven black.

  Her hair was just like how Olivier had described the other Alyona’s to be.

  Before I could come to grips with this realization, a bell rang in the distance, and I could hear the faint sounds of battle.

  Then the woman’s purple eyes flew open, and she gasped.

  Chapter 10

  Alyona gasped as she struggled to draw air into her lungs, and her limbs twitched sporadically. I focused my senses on her heart, and I heard it beating rapidly, but there was something missing in the way her heart pumped blood throughout her body.

  “Lady Alyona?” Ilya gasped next to me, and I could hear the trickle of fear in his voice. “Master Dragon, is she…”

  “She’s
gonna be okay,” I reassured Ilya, even though I didn’t know if I was lying.

  Then I ignored the sounds of battle that trickled in from the opening and focused on the unconscious priestess as words hovered in front of her.

  Classification: Unknown.

  Condition: Comatose due to miasma poisoning and deviation. Ventricular fibrillation.

  Priority: Immediate attention needed.

  Danger: Deviation phase detected. Inadequate blood supply due to abnormal breathing pattern and spasming heart.

  Status: Poisoned and unstable soul core. Disorganized electrical activity in the heart.

  “Shit,” I breathed out as I knelt beside the priestess.

  Somehow, the miasma had caused her heart to start spasming so quickly that it no longer pumped blood. Or maybe it was her own purity attempting to fight off the corruption that forced her heart into cardiac arrest.

  I focused on shifting out of my human form into my dragon form so I could heal her. My muscles and bone grew as they changed shape, and I moved onto all fours as my wings formed. The change kept taking less and less time the more I shifted, but now it felt like it was too slow.

  The second I was fully in my dragon form, my power swelled inside of my chest, and I opened my mouth to let loose the cloud of healing power.

  The glitter settled slowly on Alyona like stardust, and the miasma began to dissipate. Her heart’s rapid beating slowed to a gentle tempo, and I let out a sigh of relief. Then I turned my attention back to the words that hovered over her.

  Classification: Unknown.

  Condition: Comatose due to deviation.

  Priority: Immediate attention needed.

  Danger: Deviation phase detected.

  Status: Unstable soul core.

  Well, her heart rate was under control, but I didn’t know how to heal an unstable soul core, whatever the hell that was, and Olivier’s words of insanity and calamity echoed in my head. If my Alyona and the White Jade Sect’s Alyona were one and the same, who could have done this and why? I hadn’t sensed any danger inside of the underground library or even smelled the miasma until it had latched onto her.