Dragon Above

Roland POV 

The drastic change from silence to noise was alarming, but Roland couldn't do anything about it. His entire body felt as heavy as iron, and a strange invisible force seemed to have him pinned down. 

'Where am I? And why...am I moving?' 

Very slowly, his eyelids flickered open to a hazy, smokey view. A plethora of sensory stimuli overloaded his brain. With the additional outside noise, Roland felt as though he was nursing a terrible hangover. 

'Why the hell is it so noi-' 

*Ching! Slash! Splshhh! Ching! * 

"Argh!" 

Despite the cloak of tiredness, near enough sat right on top of him. The noise was way too alarming for him to remain still. He fought against the heavy air and finally pulled himself into a seated position. Roland rubbed his eyes a few times and observed his surroundings with various complex expressions. The moment he found clarity in his view, he swallowed harshly and made a horrified expression. 

"Wh-wh-what is going on?" 

First, he found himself inside what looked like a large carriage fashioned with a large hood covering his ceiling. But the second and probably most crucial shock was the crouched blindfolded girl with silver hair, pulling a dagger out of the chest of a nameless-looking man clothed in familiar wears. She didn't waste time and swiftly tossed the corpse out of the carriage. It took Roland a second or two to catch on to the people he remembered dressed in this clothing. 

"Isn't that...T-the guards from-"

A loud bang from the outside rocked the carriage. Roland toppled to the side and slammed harshly against the ground. A whining noise filled his ears whilst his vision blurred again. Roland blinked intently a few more times before his gaze refocused. The side of his head was sore, but he quickly forgot about that the moment he locked eyes with the stiffened, bloody corpse lying a breath away from where he fell. Blood leaked out the side of the figure's mouth, and that glazed look against lifeless eyes triggered a distant memory. When he roamed the battlefield after an invasion on a nameless planet. Staring at the faces of the dead children.

Roland was too much in disarray to react; he pushed himself upright and nervily found the seated position again. While he rubbed the side of his face, he looked deeply at everything. The Swallow finished tightening a gauze around her thin arm. At the same time, she finally noticed he was awake. Her expression noticeably changed. 

"Oh, look who decided to wake up. About time sleeping beauty." 

Roland wasn't given a second to react when he heard a sudden movement behind him. The closed flap blocking the back of the open carriage to the driver's side was slung open. He felt his breathing relax upon seeing the familiar death knight gracefully making his way. 

'Ah, thank goodness you're alive.'

Roland was on the brink of relaxing when he quickly felt the hairs on his arm stand tall.

Omega's voice arrived dutifully.

{Danger! Unknown energy fast approaching} 

A second later, a large tear tore through the hood of the thick carriage cover. Roland instinctively swayed to the edge, narrowly avoiding the downward strike of a hulking figure landing in the centre of the carriage. A broad-shouldered knight clothed in black, wearing a crude dark iron visor, blinked once, and one of its arms attached to a medium-sized curved blade shot towards him. 

The Willow had already moved and struck the arm from its joint, narrowly derailing the trajectory of the curved sword's bite. Roland moved to the left side and heard a loud *Pluck* sound beside his ears. He didn't wait to see how close that was and rolled behind his death knight. 

The assailant tried to pull its sword free, but the Willow had its arm firmly locked with an inhuman show of strength clamped down against its forearm. At the same time, Roland noticed a second-bladed claw lashing out from the assailant's free hand. The Willow wouldn't be able to dodge that with a single hand. But Roland was proved wrong. Instead, his death knight's free hand shot forward like a snake, striking the fellow between the space beneath its visor. The thrust being so precise it staggered the figure. The Willow released its arm and grabbed the fellow by its breastplate. 

The knight recovered quickly and pulled its head back before slamming it forward. A terrible crunch echoed; Roland winced and felt the entire body of his death knight shiver. 

The Swallow moved into action; she gathered her two short daggers in a backwards grip as her blades danced like butterflies across the lower part of the gaunt standing knight. Ribbons of blood flayed wildly into the air. The knight swung a reckless fist back and slammed into the petite frame of the blindfolded girl. 

The Willow's hands blurred forward and wrapped around the neck of the knight; he pulled him towards him and slammed his rising knee directly into the iron helm. The iron bent inward, and a muffled cry broke away from the twisted helmet. Little Swallow tossed one of her daggers into a looping arc; the Willow caught the dagger and lunged forward. Burying its bite between the gap just beneath the knight's armpit.

It ripped the blade out and stabbed repeatedly until the knight rocked back and collapsed to one side. Swallow moved quickly and struggled to push the large brute to the side. She needed the help of the Willow before they managed to toss another body out of the carriage. With the weight briefly toppling to one side, the torn cover clung to the top of the hood of the vehicle was carried away by the wind.

The bright, spotless skies were practically empty, but Roland quickly snapped free from his daze. His gaze trailed towards his rear, where he saw the state of the near-distant castle fading away with each spot of dust road the carriage ate away. A large smog of darkness rose up from the castleway. Roland was stunned into disbelief and rubbed his eyes numerous times to help clear away the traces of fatigue. 

"What the hell is going on?" was his first thought. His second worry was why there was a litter of bodies along their trail. 

Roland massaged his nose bridge and took a few deep breaths to relax his racing heart. He was aware he was too overwhelmed to attempt to piece anything together. Still, as he twisted around to face the carriage driver, he noticed the very panic-stricken fellow dressed in boiled leather with a familiar sigil sewn into his breast pocket. 

A somewhat distant memory surfaced again. And he remembered which man wore that sigil proudly. 

"Uncle...Brutus?" 

"Young Master, how are you feeling?" The soothing voice startled him from the side. 

Roland turned to face his Death Knight. The Violet mask with golden gears mysteriously anchored in place glistened with dirt and traces of blood. His vibrant red hair looked wet; Roland imagined the sweat from fighting caused it. Raspy breaths escaped through the hollow mask as he stared at him in wait for his response. Roland felt a pang against his chest.

Sorrow, or was it relief mixed in with a feeling of deep anxiety. He couldn't quite say. But what he did know of was his relief to see his trusted death knight still standing. 

"I'm... I'm fine." He said with a broken smile. 

More importantly. 

'Omega, what's the status report on my body and my mental palace.' 

{Host vitals are all fine. Slightly raised blood pressure and fatigue in the muscles. Host recovery rate has accelerated the body's healing properties. The mental palace is undergoing maintenance. Omega is delighted to report that the host's mentality has dramatically increased.

Would Host like to review base stats?} 

'y-yes, please.' 

A host of numbers and text boxes materialized into existence. Roland poised himself to scan through the text. 

Strength: 0.9 

Speed: 1.7 

Vitality: 2.0 

Intelligence: 2.0 

Body Tier: 1.3 (Low Iron) 

Mentality: 3.9 

Mana Core (1): 12% Synchronization 

Mana Core (2): 0% 

Blood lust: 68% 

He felt torn between elation and slight concern just when poised to breathe a slightly more settled breath. 

*Rooouuuaaarh!* 

A rapturous roar whined and pierced the surroundings. All eyes shot towards the heavens. Roland felt his breath catch in his throat. Up above in the blanket of peaceful azure. He saw something that made his throat tighten. A tiny dot roamed in circles, but with each passing moment, that dot only grew larger and more frightening. He could still remember what he saw within that dungeon.

Roland gritted his teeth and turned towards the two associates for desperate answers. How in the world did his day end up turning into this, and why were they suddenly fleeing? 

"H-hey don't look at me like that. You're the one who went and fell into that deep sleep. Tell him big brother, tell him this is all his fault." The Swallow pointed at him admonishingly. He only now noticed one of her arms was severely wounded, but the girl seemed to care little. 

The death knight didn't say a word. Its face remained angled towards the descending dragon up above. Slowly, it raised its hand and pointed. 

"Young master. We have been forced to accelerate our plans. We have been declared enemies of the House of Cloud upon orders of the newly crowned patriarch ." 

Roland could hardly believe what he was hearing. How long was he supposedly incapacitated, leading to his becoming a fugitive? But that begged the next question—perhaps the one that stung him most. 

"Th-the new wh-what?" He breathed awkwardly. 

The Willow finally lowered his masked helm and beheld him with those hollow glassed eyes. 

"Your Grandfather. Lord Soma Cloud...is dead."