The Dragon King's Servant: Rise of the Daemon King

Chapter Seventeen: Inevitable tidal wave

The pits of lava darkened, as though they were burning from within. As if some heat, twice as hot and fierce, boiled deeper. The bright orange and red light of the pits deep within the land darkened. All around the cavernous pit, the dark skinned Dwarven miners that had been mining the rock for its pure source of magmatic metals and stones, paused. They all took notice of the darkening light. While they were creatures of the darker corridors, used to little or even no light, they still noticed the fading of tones and colors.

Their orange and yellow eyes looked from the pit to one another. Speaking a rough garbled language, the stone warden sent them back to work. Time was of the essence. They kept a close eye on the pit as it started to darken further.

*****

Shauna slept hard until the morning. Her dreams had been filled with memories of the palace and the city. Walking along the streets with friends. Running around with her mother. It had been some time since she had last seen them. Though that was true for everyone. A part of her was glad that General Loraine had told her to leave ahead of the rest. It would take a good two days to pack up, organize and move out.

On the other hand, these people that she had been eating, drinking, fighting and shitting next to, had become something a kin to her. Leaving ahead of them tugged at her ethics. Though, her commander officer had given her an order. She wasn't about to get reprimanded for not following orders. Shauna stepped away from the camp. Once she was a good few hundred paces away, she reached down into herself and pulled at her essence.

Draconic essence flowed through her like warm water. Her tan skin shifted pigment, from a caramel tan to a deep blood orange. Her hair bonded together forming into two long curved horns. The shift had gotten easier over the years, however, the feeling of her spine and all the disks dislocating had remained uncomfortable. From the pores of her skin, yellow, orange and black scales grew out. Each overlapping the other.

Her body grew slender and long, like a serpent. Her skull extended into the head of a viper, eyes growing more reptilian and angular. From her spine, two long rows of webbed wings sprouted. Her limbs grew shorter but remained muscular and thick. Fifty feet long from snout to tail, she launched into the air, slithering through the sky.

*****

Lucian had gotten up early. Not wanting to wake his queen who was severely deep in sleep. Something which was evident by the puddle of drool that her cheek laid in. Moving out of the room, he made his way down the black marble hallway, down the stairs and out to the courtyard. Much had changed since he had died. The city had completely changed, as had the people living in it. The system of ruling had been altered but that wasn't a bad thing.

Embracing the people of Vervania felt better than making them all bow. Respect was given freely. Having to show through bowing and such similar acts, seemed demeaning to Lucian. It was the trust that had to be earned and no amount of bowing could show or endow trust. As Lucian stared up at the sky, he felt a glimmer of joy. Watching the sun rise up over the horizon. Clouds were rolling in and rain would most likely arrive by mid morning, if not earlier.

In the early morning light, the clouds glowed with the rising light, causing the clouds to shimmer a deep red and purple. It was in those clouds that he saw a shape. It was dark against the glowing light of the coming storm. Long wings flapped every few seconds, keeping it soaring up high. After only a few minutes, the shape became a very clear dragon. Lucian watched the dragon hover at the edge of the courtyard.

It was a dark crimson red with bright eyes. Lucian had seen many a dragon. Every one of them was differed in shape, size and color. Roughly twenty or thirty feet long, the crimson scaled dragon was majestic and prideful. The guards fell to a knee, bowing to it as it landed. As Lucian looked at the dragon and as he did, the dragon king, lord of Vervania, reborn by the lady of the land herself; felt a shift. As though seeing the person within the dragon, he saw a man. Slender and of similar appearance to Maalceus.

Short black hair with blonde tips. Wearing a black robe with a fade of dark colors. Lucian drew in a deep breath, blinked and then the vision was gone. He saw only the dragon. No longer the person inside. Lucian watched the dragon shift from large winged creature to a slender man. The same that he had seen in the vision. Which he still wasn't sure if that was what it had actually been. At appearances alone, it was easy to tell that the man in front of him was without a doubt, his brother's son.

His face resembled Maalceus though his body looked more effeminate than Maalceus who was thick and bulky.
Maaltaire walked forward and took stock of the world around him. It was always disorienting when shifting forms. For a few moments he had to re-engage his human eyes rather than his draconic gaze which saw things in a different spectrum. Colors were more muted. Smells were a bit less harsh and things did not have the same depth.

As he oriented himself, he saw the man across the courtyard. Dressed in a long black robe with black pants, he looked unrecognizable. Though that had been because Maaltaire had only ever seen the hazy version of him through inches of thick crystallized ice. His father had told him many stories of his uncle and described him enough times that Maaltaire could have picked out his uncle in a crowded room. Lucian was a tall broad shouldered man. Squared jaw, short black hair and towering presence.

For Maaltaire, it was the eyes. The garnet eyes that blazed like dark stars.

"Uncle...Lucian?" Maaltaire asked, walking closer.