The Dragon Lord (2)

"Enter," a raspy, serpentine voice said. Desmonde threw another wink towards Fiona before walking into the dark cave. Fiona, her face was stern as she gazed ahead of the cave. I didn't know what she was thinking about or if she was scared. I stood behind her protectively, waiting for her move.

Beast-men of all creatures, elves, dwarves and probably more that out of my sight scampered around the village near the cave. Their houses were no different from the human villages we settled in. A campfire in the centre, surrounded by wooden lodges. I could hear Lura recounting the previous events to another elf who poured some green liquid over her sister's body. Residing next was a forge for the dwarves. After spending a few days at Burkan's, I recognize that cackle of the fire and the pounding of the hammer anyway.

The curious gaze of two beast-child and their pointing were quickly hushed by their parents. I could see the dislike in their eyes, but there was no real hate. Everyone down her seems pretty happy with how their lives are doing. So what exactly happened?

Feeling curious, confused and confounded, I nudged Fiona gently. "Are you ready, Fiona?" She gave a grunt of acknowledgement and grabbed my hands much to my pleasant surprise. And like that, we headed into the cave.

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The size of the cave was daunting, fitting for a dragon. The air was dark, arid and stale. The cave was rocks, rocks and only rocks that filled the walls, roof, floor, everything, along with the never-ending darkness at the end of the tunnel. It reminded me of the caves back at Windholt Mountain, where we found that treasure. Fiona called it stalagmite milk... if I remember correctly.

Well, there ain't no treasure this time. I just hope we don't get eaten by the dragon out of a burst of fury.

"Don't be scared, Fiona," I consoled, seeing her clenching my hands so tightly. Her body was uptight as she jumped backwards. There was a definitely a grip of fear and desperation that flicked by before she calmed down. She turned away from me and exhaled deep, long breath.

I had no time to be confused on why did she get so defensive as we reached the end of the tunnel. Our fingers intertwined tightly, we took one step and entered.

It was huge. No, huge could've even describe the size of the dragon in front of us, shrouded in darkness. Behind it were giant chains that tied him to the walls of the cave. It must've been some hundreds of meters tall and wide, with crystals jutting out providing some form of light and black mist that messed with our senses.

The dragon itself was a terrible, colossal beasts. It's individual scales were larger than my head with, its teeth longer than my body and claws bared out that gleamed time to time. Dark spikes perturbed off its limbs, its wings folded against himself. A pair of jewel, blood red eyes glinted in the darkness as it crooked its head towards me.

I stifled a gulp of air down my throat. With this kind of presence and the threatening aura it gave off, maybe it was for the best that the dragon was chained.

Fiona, however was fearless. After a stare down between her and the dragon, she murmured in a low voice. "It was you, then."

To my surprise, the dragon nodded in agreement, the movement and his breath sending some pebbles tumbling my way. "It was me, princess Fiona Idaroth Anslein. Your father promised me that we wouldn't meet under these conditions."

I gripped her shoulders tightly. His words sounded like a threat. And while it was chained to the cave, I was still certain that there was no way we could challenge and defeat it. The feeling was indescribable... the dragon really lives up to his name of The Dragon Lord, where this supernatural force oppresses everything in his domain, a pitfall chasm in your stomach.

His eyes slowly narrowed towards me as the fears in my stomach grew more pronounced. Another force, this time pushing against my back and neck almost made me grovel. My senses screamed like blisters popping as my instincts as an assassin felt as if it was a mission gone wrong.

To get the f*ck out.

In the corner, Desmonde snickered, much unlike him. "Some assassin you are. I can't believe the Princess choose some weakling like you after her late father, ahahahaha!" His half-maniacal laughter echoed around the cave, gathering all of our gazes.

Fiona threw a nasty glare at his direction, her eyes clouded with mist. My teeth grinded against each other. I really wanted to kill this bastard. To insult my cultivation is one thing that I could brush off, but to make Fiona cry when she's not in the right mind?

The pressure suddenly alleviated off my body as the Dragon Lord watched with interest. He must've sensed my bloodshed. I threw a quick glance at Fiona, before asking the dragon: "Permission to kill?"

"Granted."

And I dashed, drawing Heartbreak as I aimed for the side of Desmonde's neck. He was still unarmed after the encounter with Lura and Rajah. However, even thought I didn't let my guard down, he sneered and as his shadows whipped around, stunning me temporally. The mist in the cave already messed with my senses, but his strange technique sent a black horror that bought him enough time to grab my neck.

I gagged.

"You're speed is truly quite shocking for a Foundation Stage cultivator. What a strange techinquee you have, but..." his lips smacked together, reminding me of a disgusting snake. he scorned."But your assassination is naive, charging head-on like that. Has being aquinted with the princess made your confidence burst? You're full of openings!"

"Gah...," I coughed, as his grip tightened. My mind slowly trickled to things that would send me to a killing state, to get that adrenaline of blood gushing again.

That's right. This bastard. He betrayed Fiona.

My eyes narrowed as icy killing intent erupted from within me. Desmonde froze as he flinched backwards. The split moment he loosened his grip, I threw my legs behind him and pulled him to knife point.

"This isn't an assassination. This is.... revenge." And Fiona launched her barrage of ice needles and a blue coldness travelled throughout my body once more.