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

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Breakthrough

Maalceus stood before his daughter and son. His mighty presence was as majestic as a mountain, with all the explosive power of a volcano. They had seen their father fight in the skirmishes along the border and knew just how truly frightening he could be. However, the presence that stood before them now, was different. It was a tempered majesty. Like an active volcano but many years away from boiling over.

He sat down in front of them. The usually hard chiseled expression of discipline and lawful obedience was gone. Replaced by concern and worry. For the last several days, they had been coming together to do nothing more than to talk. While growing up it had been their mother who proposed the family get together. Their father, while loving as he was, had been very training oriented in his care. This had proved a good and useful tool, especially for Shauna who had been actively using the training on the field.

However, it wasn't training or discipline that Shauna required. What she needed, was open minds, open hearts and open ears. Maalceus and Lucian had leaned on one another growing up. When they fought in wars, they could come together and talk. When violence was necessary, they both knew that the other would understand. No judgment or close mindedness. Shauna had not had anyone. Her soldiers and warriors went to war with her but the bond they shared was not deep enough to talk so openly as that. They served together.

Sharing in pain and blood and death. That was usually as far as it went. They shared looks with one another, anticipating what was about to come. Over the last week, their every morning had started off with the same thing. A silent meditation in the comfort of darkness. After a twenty or even thirty minute meditation, setting their minds to the task of being open and honest, they came together. However, there was only one crucial piece missing.

Maalceus let out a long sigh and just as he was about to get up, the door opened and Lucian walked in.

*****

Melanie's icy blue eyes shot open and she sat up. A look of dread startlement on her pale face. Without a moment's hesitation she lurched out of bed and rushed across the room. The room that her and Lucian shared was the same size as any one or two bedroom apartments back on Terra. Seven to eight hundred square feet of obsidian flooring and walls, draped with red and purple decore. She had always enjoyed the space. Having grown up in a tiny attic, she was elated to have a space as large as they did.

However, at that moment in time, it felt far too large. As her stomach threatened to seize control and throw out everything within; the bathroom could not have been close enough. Melanie reached the toilet and fell to her knees just as her first dry heave seized her. Her insides ached and throat tensed. As quickly as the sensation came, it fled. She eased only to feel it strike twice as hard and everything spilled out.

Her throat and nostrils burned as the contents of her stomach made a mass exodus. With a wave of her hand, the magical enchantment on the toilet drained away and replenished itself. No sooner had the bowl refilled when another bout of vomit took hold, forcing her to hug the cold toilet once again. She eased back onto her feet and sagged, feeling tired and unnerved. In her mind she went through the list of what could be ailing her. Being an immortal dragon allowed her the ability to stave off any sickness.

Over the last fifty years she had not so much as caught a sniffle. Which only left two possibilities and one seemed far more likely than the other.

*****

"How can that be okay?" Shauna asked.

"Being okay, is a rather open and relative term to use." Lucian replied. "What is deemed good and bad, are based upon the current circumstances."

"So I should just be okay with the fact that I took lives?" She asked, feeling a little unsure of what her uncle was saying.

"I am not saying that." He replied, his voice a low and casual calm. "You need to look past the immediacy of the issue and see the long term."

"What is the long term?" Maaltaire asked.

"The lives you took, impacted the immediate present." Maalceus chimed in.
"The people you killed saved your life. The people you killed also saved the lives of those that they would've otherwise taken."

Shauna's frown softened and the furrowed lines of her face smoothed as something new came to light. Both Lucian and Maalceus noticed her understanding as it became clear to see on her face.

"The lives I take now, will irreparably change the lives that might have been taken." She echoed and then looked back at her father and uncle. "I am going to have to take more lives. Aren't I?"

Maalceus sighed and reached forward. For the first time in years, Shauna crawled into her father's embrace and cried. All the tears she had been holding back. The flood of anguish and fear, rushed out like a typhoon. Maaltaire and Lucian could only sit by and watch in silence. Shauna had needed the breakthrough. She needed to face the reality. The few lives she had taken, would be only grains of sand against the hundreds she'd most likely have to take in the future.

Maalceus held his daughter tight, tears trickled down his face as he embraced her, even as she sobbed. Seeing his daughter in such pain was not something he ever wanted. Both father and daughter cried together for a long while. As Lucian sat silently, he felt a sharp pain that was not his own. His insides twisted and ached and he reached out to the bond.

'My love! Are you hurt?' He asked.

'I...don't think so. I just vomited and I feel...' her words trailed off for a moment.

'Melanie?' He asked.

'I am heading for the medical offices. I need to check on something. Can you meet me there?'

'Of course, my Queen. I will see you soon.'

He looked to Maaltaire who looked back at him in confusion.

"Melanie is heading to the medics."