The moment when I found myself walking around Toros with my sick girlfriend in search of a room to let her get some rest, my brain pressed ALL the panic buttons! It couldn’t have been just one or two... it had to be all of them!

Therefore, I was just walking like a robot with spinning eyes and trying my best to remain calm, but this in itself was nothing but a fleeting dream. Seryanna sneezed from time to time, but I could tell that many of the dragons here were afflicted with this condition. So far, no deaths occurred, or maybe it wasn’t something fatal to begin with.

Reaching Toros would take us almost an entire day from dusk till dawn, with training time included when we stopped for a break. We encountered a few monsters such as a walking tree and a small pack of Dayuks, but we made quick work of them. There were no serious threats because I also wished for it. I mean, the training was killing me enough, I didn’t want to face a dangerous monster while I could barely hold a sword with both hands.

Once the big town was in sight, my first reaction to it was one of amazement. Forty or so dragons were patrolling the skies in their full dragon form. The outer walls were made out of a black stone and double the size of those in Andromeda, with countless soldiers patrolling them.

Marook was an interesting city filled with all sorts of people and even a small lake within its enclosed walls. When we first arrived here, I had no idea something like this even existed. I got to find out about it the other day when we were out shopping for supplies. My brain thought it would be a good idea to slap Seryanna’s behind. Her punch to my face begged to differ... The view from the sky was quite nice though, and I learned that I could withstand superhuman level damage. I landed right in the middle of the lake, scaring a couple of birds and two lovers who were kissing in a boat.

Today, we decided to accept a request from the Adventurers Guild. It was a simple one which required us to do a little bit of gathering of special flowers in the nearby forest. If by chance we encountered some monsters along the way, we were free to subjugate them and collect any of the parts that could be sold at the guild or which we believed we could use. Disposing of the remains was usually done by either our party’s mage or by piling up the bodies and then submitting a report to the guild on their location. Afterwards, a new request would appear on the board available to all adventurers with the required skill. Being on the Dragon Continent didn’t automatically mean that everyone here could breathe fire. It all depended on their respective element, although, when it came to spells, everyone could cast at least Beginner Rank ones.

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.