The Withergate Empire's Trio

After Aurona realized what was wrong with me, she shook her head in defeat and got dressed in my bathroom while I got dressed in my bedroom.

Once we were ready, Ivan came knocking. When he and two maids entered, they were surprised to see Aurona in my room, but they didn't dare say anything. One maid cleaned and made the bed while the other asked Aurona to help her fix her hair and other stuff. I sat n my chair, and Ivan went over the details of today while I read the paper.

As I read, I smirked at the front page.

'PRINCE ARTHUR AND PRINCE LEON STRIPED OF THEIR TITLES?!' 'HIS HIGHNESS PRINCE DARIEN HAD BANISHED ALL CONTACT WITH THEM?!' The header read, showing a picture of me chucking the princes out the Empire castle doors full force.

**That's a good shot.** I thought to myself.

"Whatcha looking at?" Aurona asked her, face appearing next to mine suddenly.

I tried not to jump and showed her. She smirked and then offered to go down together to the West Wing for breakfast.

Once we got there, my mother was 'awwing' and teasing us. Still, Aurona seemed to know how to take it and even would tease my mother back, causing my mother to calm down and eat peacefully. Father would try to intimate Aurona and try to pick a fight with her every once in a while like he does when he wants to see how strong someone is. Yet, Aurona would brush it off and just answer him, showing that what he said did not affect her. That seemed to please my Father. He even smiled happily!

Soon we were done eating, and Samuel barged into the dining room with his tail wiggling around excitedly.

Aurona and I excused ourselves, and the three of us headed out of the castle.

As we walked down Winchester Empire's streets, mainly because Aurona said taking a carriage wouldn't show people our connections, citizens would stop and get on one knee, bowing as we walked by. Once we passed, they would whisper about us, saying things like how Samuel was such a good friend and ally or how Aurona was too perfect for me.

Mind you, the chick was still in her new form!!

"Why are you still in this form, by the way?" I asked Aurona softly so others wouldn't hear.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at me through the corner of them.

"Are you saying you prefer my other form?" she asked coldly.

I shook my head quickly.

"Not at all! I prefer this one, trust me! Just didn't know why you would use the other one at Winchester Academy." I say quickly and look at Samuel for help, who's giving me the 'this is our fight, not mine' look in his eyes.

Aurona relaxes her gaze.

"I use that form at the Academy because they don't need to know the Elemental Dragon Goddess goes there. If they did, everyone would be on edge and act differently." She explains.

We keep talking until we reach our destination: The Withergate Empire's Battle Coliseum.

"Ah, I miss this place!" Samuel breathed out, having a dreamy expression on his face.

Aurona and I snorted.

Not too long ago, there was a tournament, and Samuel was participating.

Let's just say he went overboard, and in the first twenty seconds of a free-for-all swords fight of eighty people, Samuel had kicked the crap out of thirty of them with his bare hands. In the end, he got knocked out by his father because Samuel was on an adrenaline high.

"Yeah, how about we keep to the mission today? Sound good, you two?" Aurona said, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, you 'two?' what did Darien do?" Samuel asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"Why don't you ask him about his 'little secret' he's been hiding?" She said before walking off into the Coliseum.

Samuel raised an eyebrow and looked at me in blank confusion.

"You'll see," I assure him as we both catch up to Aurona.

Once inside the Coliseum, Aurona stood in the middle of the fighting grounds, which surprisingly were empty. Not a soul was present, even in the stands. Seeing this atmosphere was highly unusual; usually, knights and soldiers would come to train, and civilians would either watch them or just hang around in the seats, talking and drinking.

It felt dead here, dead and cold like the wind feels before a war breaks out.

Samuel and I walked up to Aurona, and she turned around with a grin.

"Pretty cool, huh? If I say I want this place empty l, it's cleaned out instantly." She said proudly.

**I get why she uses that other form at the Academy now.** I thought to myself.

"So," Samuel says, picking up a small pebble with his tail. "How are we going to do this?"

"Simple. We're going to have a contest~; the loser cleans the place. And if Darien loses, we train harder next time." Aurona answers with a mischievous smirk.

Samuel smiles like a sinner in Heaven and flicks the pebble he had been balancing on the flat of his tail towards a wall. Once it made contact with the wall's flat stone face, it caused a crater and a dust cloud.

"Then let's start; I'm bored just standing here!!" Samuel says before putting distance between me, Aurona did the same in the opposite direction, and I stood between them, not knowing what was going on.

"What are you two doing?" I asked as they stopped walking, both now standing ten feet away from me on my left and right sides.

I started to sweat a bit, not liking this new feeling I saw in their eyes.

"We're about to beat the shit out of you and each other, duh," Samuel laughs.

Then Aurona And Samuel pounced at me, leaving two sentences in my mind, both for different reasons.

One sentence was, 'fuck, imma die.'

And the other?

...

'Imma have so much fun right now...'