The Dark Dragon's Vessel: Throne of Ash and Shadow

'Im I going to get kidnapped?'

The air was cold, winter had almost passed and the snow was melting. The sadness of the children who had waited for it could be heard, in a cozy office wearing a brown coat there stood a blonde man sipping a cup of hot chocolate while having his eyes closed.

"Any progress on finding a new gem?"

With one of his female co-workers disturbing his calming state he opened his eyes, revealing a pair of silver eyes. He looked at his co-worker, a purple-haired woman with a big personality and green eyes.

'Sadly no, and we're running out of time.'

He said with an annoyed voice while putting his cup down after taking the last sip.

"Can you go and scout for one?"

The man frowned, he clearly didn't want to leave his cozy space, but he had to.

'Fine, I will.'

He grabbed a white scarf and went outside, the cold wind instantly blowing in his face. Did he really have to do this?

His mission was to find a promising boy for his company's new under-eighteen men's magazine. But he hadn't had any luck in ages, why was it so hard to find a promising young boy to boost their company to their might again?

As he was clearly bothered he noticed someone...

...

His plan had worked, he had successfully escaped with little to no damage, this was a big risk and it was all for nothing. Well, crying about it won't be of any help, now it was time for the main deal. His coming to the Alter kingdom. But first, he had to traverse the Forsaken Field again.

But that would be that hard, the real dangers of the Forsaken Field are deeper down. The only threats up here were carnivore plants, and since he knew this there was no way he could fall for any of their tricks.

And he indeed did not, he got through with little to no effort. The Forsaken Field is not hard to live in if you stay at the surface. The only thing was that there wasn't any food or water up, the only nutrition source was deeper down. So you either die by a monster in the deeper layers or die of hunger or thirst at the surface.

The Alter Kingdom, he had arrived, and just in time to see it covered in snow again, it was true that it was melting but there was still some. He had always liked winter when he was a child, a big part of it had to be because he was born in it, but he also thought it was the most beautiful out of any of the seasons.

His birthday was on December twenty-six, so it had passed as winter was already ending. He had two birthdays In the Enubis kingdom, he had to say that they were more enjoyable than all of his birthdays in the Alter Kingdom combined.

Looking around he noticed that the place had changed, there were more stores, bakeries, and office buildings. It was pleasing to see the place where he was born grow.

Where he was located was the capital of the Alter kingdom, Methis. The place where he was born and where he lived for thirteen years of his life. It was one of the most wealthy capitals, but that made the other cities around it poor. It was surrounded by dangerous places, so even with all its beauty a lot of people decide to not come because of the road to it being not very enjoyable.

As he was exploring the capital a man approached him.

"Hello there young man, I was wondering around when I was captivated by your potential for being a model for a men's magazine. And in such a coincidental manner, we lack someone for our magazine. You wouldn't mind coming to our place to take a few pictures right?"

Max didn't respond. Was this a new method for kidnapping? If it was he had to say... it was quite tempting even knowing about its true nature.

They give their target false hope so they willingly come with them before they chop them up and sell their bodies on the Dark Store.