Valuable Asset part II

Demulaer explained things for all the present.

'Forty cycles of the moon, something happened in our world. The sky turned white for a moment, then broke down and returned to normal. However, in the area of the great desert and the changing jungle, another world appeared in the distance, this world, the world of men. At the other end, in the land of eternal night, something happened too. The eternal night began to advance over our world, destroying, killing, and consuming everything in its course. Our race is fighting the chaos, but the creatures that inhabit the eternal night are increasing in number and strength. In the previous lunar cycle, we suffered a great defeat. Chaos has advanced, and now segments of chaos appear in our world at random and also in yours.'

The captain knew what he was talking about. After the light beam two weeks before, the miasma nucleus started reappearing with a lot more frequency and had become more active than ever.

'What do the dragons expect us to do?' asked the captain.

'Prepared for war. The chaos and the eternal night do not stop; their hunger can not be satiated, the creatures that dwell there do not fear, they do not get tired, the fallen in the eternal night are invaded by chaos, and they rise to devour the living in an endless cycle. If my world dies, yours will follow.'

'This is too much for me. I must consult with my superiors,' confessed the captain. If what the dragon said was true, it was a very large-scale war between worlds, not just about an army or a city.

The dragons had also sent an envoy to the Kingdom of Orphen and Veldat. The kingdoms on the other side of the sea also received emissaries, but they were not much interested in what happened so far from their territory. The kingdom at the southern end was poor, full of volcanoes and arid lands; the other kingdoms left them alone because they had nothing of value and the population was scarce. Still, the dragons sent an envoy.

'I'll ask you to wait for a moment.' The dragon confirmed with his enormous head, after which the captain entered the city again. 'Keep De Ramgo safe and accompany the messenger,' the captain commanded one of his subordinates.

All this talk just meant that they should keep Milton under surveillance and be on alert and ready to respond to an attack. Bulcho hurried to find someone of higher rank. In this case, the court magicians were his best choice. The generals were not very good at diplomacy.

'Greetings, your eminence. Lidia van Flunken' greeted the captain, making a reverence to her and all those present. Members of the royal mage court gathered in the room. Lydia doubled as the leader of the royal court of magicians and of the segment that studied arcane magic, the so-called "dark court." Some other members of the court had secretly descended near the North Gate and kept watch over the dragon. Their main objective was to observe and, if a conflict occurred, to evaluate the power of the enemy and to assess the benefits of using conventional or arcane magic, if necessary. Lydia was already aware of most of the details Bulcho would give them.

'Captain Bulcho, you have done an excellent job assessing and managing the current situation, despite the unexpected nature of it. The court is pleasantly surprised,' acknowledged Lydia.

The words of praise from someone so important and powerful were very pleasant to the captain; there was even the possibility of reaching general if he played his cards properly.

'Thanks to your eminence for the kind words, the dragon who visits us says he is an envoy of his world in order to warn us of a common threat. I have come to ask for your wisdom and advice,' said the captain with a new reverence, and then he told all that had happened at the North Gate.

'I see,' said Lydia. 'This could be very serious, but we do not know the reality of the facts; we only know what a possible enemy tells us.' Lydia remained thoughtful for a moment. In fact, the spies of the Dynasty had already entered the new world and were aware of the battle of the dragons; they had kept the distance so as not to provoke the powerful-looking creatures. Bulcho knew nothing about it; he didn't have enough rank to get that information. 'Captain Bulcho, we believe that your ability to handle the situation is exemplary. For this reason, we have decided to assign you the task of maintaining relationships and contact with the envoy of the dragon world. Likewise, we want you to take a small group of trusted and chosen knights into their world and observe for yourself this threat the envoy is talking about. The discretion and absolute secrecy of this mission are priorities. We trust in your ability to protect the future of the dynasty. Don't fail us.'

While Bulcho was in the fifth cloud, dreaming of promotion to the rank of general and earning enough merits to be able to link some of his descendants with the royal family, the magicians of the court smiled. Before their meeting with Bulcho, they had come to the conclusion that the poor captain was not very important and that he could be easily replaced. If any dangerous situation arose or required a sacrifice, they would use him as a disposable pawn.

'I will do my duty, Eminence,' replied the joyful Bulcho with his chest raised and his back straight. He turned around in a somewhat exaggerated military style and left the room.

The captain presented himself again to the dragon.

'Envoy Demulaer, my superiors have given me the freedom to assess the danger to which you refer. If we are permitted, I would like to form an exploration team and accompany you to the dragon world and observe the chaos and the eternal night that you mention for ourselves,' Bulcho proposed.

'It's understandable, captain Bulcho.'

'I will need a day to form my team; I must choose men of trust and proven skills. How can I contact you, Envoy Demulaer?'

'Milton of Ramgo hosts me in his fields. You may find me there,' replied the dragon.

This wasn't good news for Bulcho. He was thinking of holding Milton in custody to interrogate him after the dragon's departure. However, it was not a good idea to irritate the huge creature.

'I live in the village of Mejulas, on the outskirts of the citadel of Duero, half way to the tower of Liev and near the Morr jungle,' explained Milton to the captain's interrogative gaze.

'Well, we will be there tomorrow, before noon. Mr. Milton de Ramgo, if we confirm the situation, we will not forget your courage and contribution to the Dynasty,' said the captain, turning around and making Milton smile.

Once the captain had entered the city, most of the knights went after him. Nevertheless, a large number of them remained watching the dragon. Demulaer used his front paws to hold Milton and lift the flight to Mejulas. Milton showed a certain face of panic as he lifted up, but it was already the second time, so it wasn't so bad. Mejulas was far from Telasa, so Demulaer had brought him. Meanwhile, in Telasa, for the inhabitants, it was relaxing to see the huge winged reptile depart. Bulcho went to his office to select his companions. He chose skilled soldiers, veterans, and, above all, discreet men.

Demulaer and Milton returned to Mejulas. Milton had become famous; the leader of the village and the inhabitants respected him; no one wanted to provoke the "friend" of a dragon.

Early in the morning, two carriages of tomulos departed from Telasa to Mejulas. At sunrise, they were already in the village, it was easy for them to find the dragon. He was sleeping in the open field, near the pumpkin crops.

After greeting each other, the dragon flew as the Tumulos carriages followed him from the ground. Milton saw the dragon and the knights leave. Under his clothes, as if wearing armor, a dragon scale covered his chest. A farewell gift from Demulaer.

It took Demulaer and his companions one day to get to the world of dragons through the desert. It was a beautiful place; there were open fields and rivers for kilometers; the land looked green and fertile; far away, a huge volcano marked the center of this world; mountain ranges derived from it; but there was no time to enjoy the landscape; assessing the danger was the most important priority. It took them another day to get to the battle front, and what they saw there left Bulcho and his men with their eyes and mouths open.

Delegations from other kingdoms were also present, all in the same shock situation. In front of them spread a tide of miasma that progressed slowly. Gólems, mugrirers, and other creatures that they had never seen advanced over the earth. The miasma was so dense that, by having brief contact with the rocks and the earth's moss, new creatures arose. Hundreds of dragons descended from the sky without rest, throwing flames through their fauces, which incinerated the monsters in the miasma. A cold sweat ran down the backs of the knights. A single dragon could drown a city in a sea of flames in seconds; the destructive power was astonishing.

'How long has this battle been going on?' asked Bulcho.

'The conflict began immediately after the breaking of the sky. One of us saw the chaos advance and warned the leader. By the time we came to see what was happening, chaos had already claimed a lot of our world. From time to time, areas of chaos have appeared in our world, but this has never happened; we have not stopped fighting since then,' Demulaer replied.

'What is that?' asked one knight.

A black ball had been launched out of the miasma and swept over the sky. As it fell to the ground, a black, muddy substance scattered. One of the dragons used his breath to burn the black mud immediately.

'Chaos seeds. If they fall to the ground and are not removed, they spread the chaos,' Demulaer replied.

'That chaos, we call it miasma' said Bulcho, 'is a problem in our world too'

'Demulaer, these are the messengers from other kingdoms,' said a black dragon who approached in the company of several people of different sexes.

There were knights and magicians from Orphen, Veldat, and even the Kingdom of the South. Immediately, both the knights of the kingdom of Veldat and those of the dynasty of Poem grasped their weapons with force, but no one unsheathed. The dragons had a great deterrent effect. The war between Veldat and the Dynasty had cooled down after the advent of the Dragon World, but it had not stopped yet.

'Captain Bulcho, this is Vrain. He will explain the situation and the plans we have. I will return to the battlefield,' said Demulaer, walking several meters, and then opening his wings and rising up, joining the fight.

'As you can see, even our flames are not enough to overcome the eternal night. The enemy does not feel fear, does not fear death, and simply advances. Our leader, Meneol, met with the elders and decided that it would be best to ask for your help. Don't take it as an insult; we think you're weak, but you manage the world's energy in a different way than ours. Your help could break this stalemate we have against the chaos and turn the battle in our favor,' explained Vrain.

'Why should we help you?' asked one knight.

The dragon stared at him. Even without knowing how a dragon's factions worked, it was obvious that his face was one of astonishment. Vrain recalled what Reivax, the eldest of the dragons, said as they discussed joining forces with the humans to regain the advantage in battle. 'These creatures, apparently, have short lives and are weak; probably their way of thinking resembles that of the younger larvae in our nest. Expect ignorant, egocentric, and opportunistic creatures.'

'For the Grand Father's sake, they are fools!' thought Vrain.

'Look at the battle before you. Do you think you can defeat the chaos on your own? If our world falls, yours will be next.'

The knights and the messengers looked at each other, then looked at the dragons fighting against the tide of darkness advancing over their lands.

'He's right,' they all thought at once.

A tree-like creature advanced from the densest part of the miasma. Their black and dry branches spread, wrapping up a red dragon that had flown very low. The dragon was dragged into the miasma. The branches of the tree grew, and the thorns clawed into the hard skin of the dragon. In turn, the dragon's limbs broke the branches. Two more dragons descended from the sky; their fire attacked the tree, whose branches burned, and the captured dragon fell to the ground.

One of the dragons continued to spit fire on the tree while the other used his legs to hold his wounded companion and flew with him out of the reach of the miasma. Once the rescue operation was completed, several dragons joined their fire and burned the tree to ashes.

'What was that?' asked a knight from the kingdom of Orphen.

'An Ent. Its branches are very dangerous; they create and cast the miasma seeds. We were lucky; eliminating an Ent is an achievement,' Vrain explained.

'Yes, but you have lost a dragon,' noted Bulcho.

'Nah, Floo will be fine. In two cycles of the moon, what you call day and night, he will be like new; the great father will heal his wounds.'

'The great father?' asked a magician from Veldat.

'The great father is the life of our whole world; his warmth makes us grow and protects us. The closer to the grandfather, the stronger our body is and the hotter our flame.' Vrain looked at the great mountain in the distance, the top of the volcano releasing white smoke continuously.

The envoys stayed for several days, gathering information. As Vrain had said, Floo had returned to the battlefield two days later. His carbonized skin had recovered. However, not all were victories; sometimes some dragons fell before the enemy and died before being rescued. The worst of all was when they failed to remove the body from the miasma, and the dragon returned like an undead. When that happened, the dragons lost a lot of ground in a single day. Dragons were strong and majestic by nature, and an undead dragon was almost unstoppable. Instead of fire, their fauces emitted concentrated miasma, which contaminated everything around them.

The envoys of the different kingdoms came to an agreement. A peace treaty would be promoted between the Kingdom of Veldat and the Poem Dynasty. They would inform their different monarchs of the situation, and it would be worth creating a coalition in alliance with the dragons.

'Welcome back, Captain Bulcho.' Lydia presided over the meeting at which Bulcho would give his report.

The captain was in a spacious lounge of the royal castle; in front of him and around him, a large U-shaped table was spread. Seated on the chairs were several members of the court of magicians, generals of the army, and a group of disguised people wearing masks.

'This is very serious,' thought the nervous Bulcho. 'These disguised people might be members of the royalty, titled magicians, secret magicians of the court, even His Majesty could be in front of me. This is my great opportunity.' Without knowing it, he guessed correctly; everyone was present.

'We've already read your report, Captain. What you describe is incredible, and we would like you to tell us in your own words what your experience has been.'

'It will be my pleasure, Your Excellency.'

Bulcho described in great detail what he had observed, the battle, the lessons he had learned from the dragons and the common enemy, and even offered some of his personal observations.

'Then, Captain Bulcho, is it your personal assessment, after what has been observed, that if we do not cooperate with the dragons and they lose the war, our world could be destroyed?' asked a tall man wearing a mask.

'Yes, your Excellency, I have no doubt.'

'Thank you very much for your hard work, Captain Bulcho; we will consider your performance for future promotions. Of course, this will depend on your performance and your ability to keep this information under control. I advise you to be disciplined with your men; we don't want the people to panic. You can retire now,' Lydia dismised him.

'I understand your Excellency; I will not disappoint you.' Bulcho walked out of the room in a hurry, rejoicing that he had chosen men of trust.

'That little, mediocre attempt at a warlock has condemned us all,' said the tall man, taking off his mask. He was about fifty years old; his eyes were bright green; and his hair and his blonde moustache were very well-kept.

'If the other kingdoms find out that all this happened because of one of our magicians, a regulator to make it worse, we will have all kinds of rouble between our hands. All kingdoms could unite against us.

'Too late, Your Majesty. We've issued a silence warrant to all those involved, but the spies still managed to gather some information. It is known that this was the product of arcane magic and that the perpetrator was a warlock from our kingdom. Fortunately, they do not know that he was a regulator, much less that we still have him under arrest. Our own spies inform us that the other kingdoms are considering trying to make us pay compensation for the possible costs and damage that their armies suffer in this war,' commented Lydia.

'I want that dick head dead as soon as possible. Torture him and get the information we need out of him quickly,' said the king.

'Father, I think that's not the most appropriate approach,' replied a girl with factions similar to those of the king. Her thin appearance, young face, pale skin, and clear eyes gave her a certain morbid beauty. She had long blonde hair embroidered in a bun.

'Mable, what are you planning now?' asked the king.

He knew his daughter; she was a clever and calculating woman, and sometimes he feared having her against him one day. The schemes she had plotted to destroy some noble families were dreadful; no one would expect so much cunning and malice from such a young girl.

'The cause was arcane magic; we should use arcane magic to solve it too,' commented Mable, looking at Lydia.

'That is logical, but it is not possible, Your Majesty. We actually already have all the information about the curse that Clinton van Ferra used, but there is a problem: even if we found a curse that did the opposite, it would be impossible for us to carry it out.'

Both the king and his daughter, Mabel, looked at Lydia, raising one of their eyebrows as a sign that they wanted more details.

'Van Ferra had an impossible ingredient. A penta-elemental magician had never been seen in history. It caught much attention as study material, but it had nothing special. We studied him during the two years of his stay at Liev's Tower. We have never thought of doing anything so ridiculous as this Van Vatnik curse,' explained master Emeral.

Among the disguised were four of the five masters of the tower; only Delfin was absent at the meeting. He was not aware of the existence of the dark court or of many things; after all, he was only a dual shadow magician with an acceptable range of affinity for fire, but he was not a magician at the height of the court.

'He had something special, don't you think? It seems clear to me, given the problem we are facing right now,' Mable rejected. 'I've spoken to Lidia before. As far as I've understood, almost everything is possible with arcane magic... as long as you pay the price.'

'Your Majesty, it is not possible; the number of lives that we would have to sacrifice is astronomical. We can't...' The princess raised her hand and stopped Lydia's speech.

'The dragons know nothing about magic. According to reports from our spies, the knights of the reconnaissance expedition, and Captain Bulcho, the dragons rely on their natural abilities to use fire and their physical strength to fight. They look majestic, but they're just super-developed lizards. To me, they're just animals that can think; we just have to be smarter than them; we'll use them as a sacrifice,' Mable proposed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. A cold sweat passed through the backs of all those present.

'That could work,' accepted Lydia after thinking for a while.

'There is a possibility,' said Emeral. She and Robalt had discreetly explored the world of dragons since the emissaries were sent.

'The entire dragon world is connected to one volcano, the Great Father, as the dragons call it. It is not only an active volcano; it is also the dragon's home and a vital part of their ecosystem. The most interesting thing is that the volcano itself radiates elemental fire energy. The other elements are weak in comparison, but they are present. That pulse of energy is identical to the magical elemental energy of a young magician,' said Emeral.

'What do you mean?' asked Lydia.

'That the world of dragons is kind of alive; the great father is not just a volcano, but rather a mass of life and unconscious magical energy,' replied Robalt.

A smile was drawn on Mable's face. 'A giant penta elemental magician.'

All those present understood the implications of this information.

'This strategy is possible, but to use an entire volcano in an arcane magic curse... it will be complicated and will take a long time; the number of diagrams alone needed to create the spell will take months,' commented Lidia.

'In addition, we must take care of the dragons; they will not allow us to sacrifice their world without a fight,' commented Robalt.

'Im sure we can trick them' said Mable.

'If we are to do this, we must be discreet. Only those present will know of our plans; the dark court magicians will take charge of planting the diagrams around the volcano. It will be slow, but it is the safest thing,' added Lydia after thinking for a while and discussing it with the other magicians in the court.

The ambitions grew as the plan came together. If everything went according to strategy, they would not only strike the Chaos, but they would also raise a new barrier and eliminate the dragons and their world in a single blow; after all, nothing guarantees that they'll not have to fight them later. Dragons had no reason not to try to conquer the human world once the common enemy was neutralized. In addition, Mable proposed using the situation to weaken the other kingdoms. The Dynasty could withdraw the high-ranking magicians and most prominent knights from the battlefield just before carrying out its plan; in this way, the armies of other kingdoms would be trapped in the surprise attack, destroying their military potential. The Poem Dynasty would be the dominant force on the continent for the next hundred years. Several birds with one stone.