Thanks to the hellish training with my beautiful redhead dragoness, I began to wonder if I was heads over heels in love with her or I was slowly starting to turn into a masochist. The latter possibility frightened me...

Still, I wasn’t visibly improving. Without the help of my Luck and constantly wishing in my mind so I wouldn’t get hit by Kataryna’s dangerous attacks, it was incredibly hard to control my enormous strength and speed. Fine-tuned control actions were out of the question. From one point of view, I was nothing more than a rampaging monster unable to stop himself, but if I were to be able to use martial arts at my full speed and strength, then the results could end up being amazing.

With Pertiko far behind us, we were once more on our way towards the capital of the Dragon Kingdom Albeyater, Drakaria. To reach it, we had to pass through the city of Marook and then reach Toros town, where we would cross the Great Chasm or whatever it was called.

To be fair, on the map, the city appeared to be at the distance of a stick throw, but things could be deceiving. It was more than a one Khosinni riding day away. When I heard this, I was thinking in Earth days, but on this planet, a day had 32 hours, meaning that we would arrive in Marook after two Earth days.

Confusing, I know...

We returned to the surface without any trouble. Both Iolaus and Kleo were safe, although, I found out that the big Paladin ended up fainting somewhere along the way. My guess was that he probably saw a spider, screamed like a little girl, then slammed into a wall and it was lights out for him!

While I traveled through those dark and damp corridors, the monsters here allowed us to pass through and none of the traps activated even when we accidentally triggered them. The dungeon was apparently keeping its word, but once we were out of this place, I was 100% sure we would return to being enemies.

“Please… please don’t hurt me, Iolaus…” I whimpered.

Just knowing and thinking that I was alone right now with this man brought shivers down my spine. Now of all times, I had no means of defending myself, no means of fighting back.

I was... helpless.

Iolaus was indeed a former lover of mine. I loved him and gave myself to him completely, but then he changed. From a kind and wonderful lover, he turned into a monster willing to hunt me down no matter what.

“Hm, it appears there are some strange individuals coming our way. One is a Paladin and the other an Unawakened dragon, but he is quite strong.” said the man as he looked at a crystal ball the size of a human head floating in front of him.

From where I was sitting, I couldn’t see clearly the image reflected inside it, but I had a good guess about who he was talking about. The only two individuals who were next to me when I got sent here were Alkelios and Iolaus. If it was my sister’s lover, then he would certainly come over to save me, but the Paladin was probably aiming at severing his ties with me… for good.

“Ugh… Heavy!” I groaned as I moved the metal plate off of my face.

“Ungh… Ow…” the Paladin groaned as he was pushed off.

Getting up, I looked around and massaged my shoulders a bit. My whole body was sore, I felt like that time when Seryanna slapped me into a tree. Of course, there was no sight of a tree anywhere around me. There was no sight of a field with angry undead or a village. I was in some sort of a tunnel, and the stench reminded me of old rotten food.

The enemy we were facing was the unstoppable horde of the undead. Rotting zombies, skeleton warriors, Dullahans, Liches, undead beasts and other monsters, the whole lot of them were pouring out of the dungeon and marching towards Pertiko village. It was a real army of the undead. The only thing missing from it was a general of sorts, but maybe that one was the Necromancer staying deep inside the dungeon.

The ones defending the village were the Paladins and my group of four, consisting of a human, a dragon knight, a dragon necromancer, and a dragon thief… well, former thief.

With the light of the sun grazing my skin, I opened my eyes and cast my gaze upon the sleeping human holding me in his arms. A smile appeared on my lips when I moved closer to him, and he tightened his embrace around me. If I had a tail, I would have wrapped it around him, but since I didn’t, I made do with playing with his hair.

Alkelios was sleeping peacefully, and I felt strangely relaxed and happy to wake up like this, in his arms. There was a small flutter in my heart, and I couldn’t stop smiling. This sort of feeling was a first for me, and I liked it! I wanted to wake up like this every day for the rest of my life!

The door behind me was slammed shut, the key turned, locking it, and I dropped on my knees on the floor. Tears welled up in my eyes, the result of my emotions spilling out.

I was angry, frustrated, and mad at that idiotic human! Of all the things he could have said, those were the only words I didn’t wish to hear!

Why couldn’t he have said that he came all this way for me?! I shouted in my mind as I clenched my fists, nearly poking holes in my palms with my nails.

Six days after I left Tomeron, I found myself sitting at a table at Turos’s Inn in Dertan. It was a town located to the far East in the Elmendyar Plains, right after crossing the Sparyx river.

Up until yesterday, the weather was on my side, but then it started to rain. It was a real downpour, and I even heard some people saying they barely managed to cross the river. Traveling through this sort of weather was still possible, but it would take longer, and most importantly, I would be forced to camp outside. Unfortunately, on the road from here to the village Pertiko there wasn’t even a traveler’s inn or cave where I could take shelter from the rain. I could run non-stop. I had the potions to help me do so, but I wasn’t in the mood to exert myself like this.

Two days after Brekkar consumed the strange potion I cooked up, he was up and full of energy like a child on a summer day. The potion worked perfectly and repaired his magic channels, eliminating those vortexes which gobbled up all of his Magic Energy and turned him into a walking time bomb.

“I feel great!” said the old man while sparring with Seryanna in the middle of the court.

“I can see that grandfather. Alkelios' potion did its job perfectly!” said the redhead with a smile before blocking one of his attacks.

It was getting really dark as we got close to the Draketerus mansion, but it didn't even take us more than thirty minutes to fly there thanks to the Kleo dragon express. She transformed into her big lizard self and then flew us all on her back. While Seryanna threw daggers at Kataryna, the latter barely showed a reaction to her. If I were to put my finger on it, I would say the dragoness found the young knight amusing in a way.

As for me… I was riding on the back of a black dragon, enough said.

“This is so awesome!” I said to myself as I looked around.

One might have found my sudden change of loyalty quite surprising, maybe unbelievable, but from my point of view, I only saw their lack of understanding in the way I thought and felt. To put it simply, I never was particularly attached to The Twin Daggers bandit group even if I was identified and recognized as their official leader. To me, they were just a bunch of youngsters unable to see even the tip of their tails. I could cast them aside like a broken nail or a ripped off scale and find myself another group anytime I wanted.

“The moment you go past the skies, you will find the world to be little and insignificant… while you are eternal like the gods above. Kataryna, please, never try to go past the skies…”

I remember well these words… They were offered to me when I was little and still unaware of what eternity meant. Like all the other dragons, I dreamed about one day making an Awakened Breakthrough and the temple stones to show I had a power over 1000. It was a dream that one day became a reality, but the price… maybe it was too much to bear.

Looking at the strange fire tornado in front of me, I felt an immense pressure emanating from it. The Phoenix was certainly not your typical rooster, but at the same time, I highly doubted it was a bird similar to what mankind imagined in its legends. It was placed right between me and the dragonesses, effectively blocking my sight. There was only me and the Great Phoenix there. The bugs and trees around me didn't count.

Still, something was way off.

Before us was a dragoness of incredible power, someone we couldn't even hope of winning against in a one on one battle. Actually, I doubted I could win even if I were to fight Kleo alone. The one thing I could be sort of grateful for was the fact that this Kataryna fellow had a nice body to look at, but ogling at the enemy's chest probably wasn't considered a priority right now.

With a gulp, I looked over at Seryanna. The dragoness took her stance, squinting her eyes at the enemy and had her sword ready to cut her down. The problem was that she was about five times lower in level than the others. Going by old RPG rules, there was absolutely no way in Hell or Heaven that we could defeat this sort of boss-type character.

“Damn, she's far!” I stopped to catch my breath.

Leaning with one hand on the trunk of a tree, I opened my skills menu and looked at [Speedy Rooster], but something told me it was better to put it off for now. With a sigh, I closed the window and looked ahead. The forest was thick, and I would have honestly ended up lost if not for my [Dragon Tamer] skill.

Fire engulfed the entire mansion while all the servants and some dragons from the town tried to put it out. Summoning spheres of water, they sent them over, letting them splash and pour over the flames.

Even from afar, I could see the effort they made trying to put out the fire. Those few who had no water spells used buckets of water from the local well or helped those touched by the burning flames. Normally, in this time and age, a fire could only be controlled by demolishing the nearby buildings and let it burn out, but with the help of those water magic spells, they had a chance at saving the mansion.

Of all the stunts Kleo had pulled, making me wake up in Alkelios' bed was by far the worst! I don't deny the fact that it felt good to be embraced by him, but why couldn't he just keep his hands to himself? Touching my back scales and grabbing my bottom was crossing the line! A respectable gentleman dragon would never dare to behave in such an inappropriate manner, especially towards an unmarried maiden like myself!

Oh yes! He's not a respectable gentleman, he's a human… How could I forget that small detail? I asked myself while walking down the street.