The Dark Castle

The dragonborn, Daghr, was the second son of the dragon king. He was simply known as the Secondborn.

Sitting with drooping heads were two men and one woman. 

One of the sturdy men looked around and said. "Secondborn, it's rare for you to visit our land all of a sudden."

The lady among them quipped in. "He's right, Secondborn, your arrival caught us by surprise. We could have made grand preparations to welcome you into our midst."

The third man nodded and said. "That's true, but we can still inform our clans to arrange the stored essence crystals which would be of help in the advancement of your power base, Secondborn."

"I'll be honored, Amru." Daghr nodded and smiled in return. "But as you know, I'm a dragonborn. When our powerbase reach the platinum level, it's extremely difficult to advance it further. Even if I use all the essence crystals you can find, it still won't make any difference. We dragons use old magic, so I need the dragon insight to increase the level of my powerbase."

"The power of the dragonkinds is truly incomparable. "I believe the chance you seek will come soon, Secondborn."

"Yes, you're right, Mardas." Daghr couldn't help laughing. "That's why I've been traveling all over the world which brought me here."

As they were discussing, a dark shadow leaped across the wall of the castle and landed on the roof. It hesitated for a while, as if thinking about whether to enter the hall or not. 

At this time, the four Athon leaders had sensed its presence and stopped talking.

Mardas asked. "Is that you, Phantom?"

Immediately, the massive wooden door of the hall was gently pushed open, and a figure with a human-shaped body but a rabbit head, suddenly appeared in the hall.

Judging from its appearance, it must have reached the electrum level, as long as it reached the platinum stage, it could completely transform into a human form and get rid of this nondescript appearance.

Seeing the dreadbeast walked in, Mardas gestured towards the dragonborn. "Phantom, come and pay your homage to the Secondborn."

Gryndal quickly stepped forward and knelt on the ground, and said respectfully to Daghr. "My greetings, Secondborn. May you live longer than your ancestors."

Mardas pointed to the phantom rabbit and said to Daghr. "Gryndal is a rising star among the dreadbeasts. That's why I'm nurturing him with my own hands. I strongly believe that he'll be able to reach the platinum level in the next hundred years."

"That's really impressive." Daghr glanced at the phantom rabbit, and nodded. "Get up."

"Thank you, Secondborn. I'm honored to meet you." Gryndal initially wanted to give Daghr a wink or something, but after thinking about it, he decided his bunny head was too important for him to lose. So he stood up and retreated to Mardas's side quietly.

Mardas looked at the dreadbeast, and asked curiously. "Gryndal, what brought you here?"

Gryndal immediately bowed to Mardas and said. "Master, I've done what you asked of me."

"And?" Mardas frowned, and said in a deep voice. "Speak up. There are no outsiders here."

"Okay, my lords." Gryndal once again gave Mardas slight bow before saying, "As you all know that recently, the number of animals in most areas outside the forest had decreased sharply, resulting in a shortage of food for us."

"Get to the point, Gryndal." Mardas interjected.

"Yes, my lord. After you sent me to investigate the cause of this matter, I visited the area where dozens of human tribes were located, but found nothing." Gryndal said and continued. "But two days ago, while I was checking the other side of the forest, I suddenly heard the sound of battle. At first, I thought it was two dreadbeast fighting each other, so I went there to check. But the closer I got to the fighting place, the more I noticed that the situation was completely different from what I anticipated. So I hid it on the periphery of the area and took a closer look."

"Then what did you see?" One of the sturdy men asked phantom impatiently. The phantom rabbit had been talking for a long time without getting to the main point.

Amru cast a blank look at him, and said, "Let him speak, Myrgath."

"I saw a group of human hunters battling a small colony of dire wolves. I was quite surprised to see the humans deep into the forest, since they rarely entered that area to hunt."

"Deep into the forest?"

"Yes, my lord." The phantom rabbit looked around, and then continued after a few seconds. "I also discovered that there are high level warriors among these human beings. While I was trying to figure out what was going on, I heard several explosive impacts. Upon a more closer look, I found out that they were caused by arrows shot from bows."

"From an arrow?" 

"Yes, my lord. A single one of those arrows can kill a bronze level beast."

Amru, who was listening, was surprised and said. "Oh, so the rumors are true."

"Are you sure of what you're saying?" After hearing their words, Daghr frowned slightly, and asked the phantom rabbit.

"Yes, my lord." Gryndal nodded in acknowledgement and answered.

"That's arcane magic, from the time of the forgotten realms." Daghr voiced. "Continue."

"But before I could intervene, I saw all the wolves at the front on the ground, dead. They were all killed in a blink of an eye. The remaining dozen wolves ran towards the inner part of the forest, thinking they could escape. I thought so too, but..."

"What?" Mardas couldn't help but interject.

"As the wolves were running, all of a sudden, earthen spears sprouted from the ground, nailing them to death."

"What, are you saying the humans brought a high-level mage to hunt?" Amru asked in astonishment. "That's not part of the agreement, is it?"

"It's not the humans, my lords." Gryndal shook his head and replied. "It came from a member of the bear clan."

"Curse on our enemies." Myrgath heard the words, and jumped up angrily. "What are you trying to say, Gryndal? Are you trying to frame my clan? We can never betray the beastkind in any way."

When Daghr saw Myrgath's expression, he knew the leader of the bear clan had nothing to do with what the phantom rabbit was saying. So, he over to him and. "Myrgath, why don't we hear him out first. I believe there must be a reason for what happened."

"Okay, Secondborn. I just find it difficult to understand."

"Forgive me, my lords." Gryndal quickly uttered, and glanced at the leader of the bear clan. "Lord Myrgath, you'll know the reason by the time I finished."

"Okay, I'm listening." Myrgath sat back heavily on his seat, staring at the phantom rabbit, anticipating the reason in his explanation.

"Although I did see a silver-level bear came out of the forest after killing the escaping wolves, it fought with a human mage."

"Is he the one that killed the wolves? Did the bear kill him?" Myrgath asked impatiently. In his mind, the powerbase of the bear should be more than enough to deal with an ordinary mage.

"I'm afraid you won't see the bear again, my lord." Gryndal said cautiously.

"And why is that?" Myrgath asked curiously.

"It was killed by the second mage." Gryndal answered with caution.

"What, two mages on a hunt?"

Apart from Daghr, the other three Athons glanced at each other in utter surprise.