Dragon Gods Reign

[Beast continent]

Leaving with the basilisk's body stored in a personal pocket dimension, Darganth, Jennia, and Allaire started traveling the continent without a set destination. Wandering about for weeks, they enjoyed their time together while following the tracks of the Red Lion Tribe.

Finally finding themselves atop a hill that overlooked the Crimson Scale's settlement, Allaire became excited by the sight. Even after all she had experienced, seeing what was essentially a place of legend for the beastmen on this continent was still something fascinating.

Stretching across the expansive grasslands before them stood the closest thing the beast continent had to a city. Branching off from a handful of main streets was a network of hundreds of smaller paths. Spread out spaciously along them were buildings that were rather luxurious while still not looking out of place on the beast continents.

Made mostly from wood, each one covered a couple dozen square meters and reached heights of two or three floors. Around them were a wide variety of differently styled gardens, with some areas even having miniature forests inside the city.

“I can barely believe that this exists on the same continent I grew up on.” Allaire said as they started walking towards the small city.

“That's the luxury of the strong. Had I not sensed the solar dragon living somewhere nearby, I would have been quite surprised by this sight.” Darganth said.

“Definitely. Even the top powerhouses among the beasts have too many competitors to be able to risk this.” Allaire said.

“I would imagine so. It generally seems that this continent is less fun for most beings than it is for us.” Jennia said.

Nodding in agreement, Allaire turned her attention to the city entrance they were approaching. Following Darganth as he walked past the guards without problem, she just took a look at the inside of the city from up close when Jennia's outcry made her spin around.

“Hey?!” The latter said, voicing her complaint as the two guards they passed blocked her path by crossing their spears in front of her.

“You aren't welcome here.” One of the guards growled in response.

Raising an eyebrow challengingly, Jennia stared the speaker down in an attempt to intimidate him.

“As I said, beasts aren't welcome here.”

Remaining steadfast as he said this, the guard moved his hand onto the hilt of the dagger he was carrying. His colleague did the same, with both also flaring their mana, intending to pressure Jennia into backing down.

This confrontation quickly escalated into a small commotion as the nearby civilians backed off from it. Forming a rather large circle around them, they nonetheless didn't seem too worried by the sight.

Speaking wildly amongst each other, they didn't seem all that unsettled by the situation and started betting amongst themselves as to how it would play out.

Noticing this, Darganth's caution rose as he guessed, correctly, that situations like the current one seemed to have happened multiple times in the past. But before he could act on this realization, Jennia drew upon her mana which prompted the two guards to move.

In the time that it took for flames to spring to life across Jennia's arms, the two guards had already activated their aura and were drawing their daggers. Slashing out with them as they brought their spears into a serious position, they tried to end the fight before she could transform.

However, as soon as Darganth saw their movements, his dragon's fear spread through the area, shortly followed by a wave of mana. As the dragon's fear temporarily distracted the two guards, the latter one created a distortion in the space between Jennia and her opponents.

Failing to react in time as their minds were overcome with fear, the two daggers harmlessly passed by in front of Jennia.

A fraction of a second later Darganth appeared at the spot where the weapons had just passed. Calmly looking at the two guards, he caused them to jump back in fright as soon as they saw his draconic eyes.

“We would like to be on our way, so no harm no foul?” He asked, though his tone made it sound more like a demand.

Nervously lowering their weapons, the two guards didn't hesitate for long before they stepped to the side and allowed them through.

“Gladly.”

Satisfied by this, Darganth gave a short nod before walking past them with Jennia in tow. Quickly vacating the area and making their way into the city, they ignored the stares of the surrounding civilians as they did so.

Disappearing as they passed through the crowd that had watched from inside the city and took a left turn away from the main route, Allaire let out a sigh of relief when she was sure that no one followed them.

“That could have gone better.” She said slightly annoyed.

“Definitely. It's not even that surprising that they would react like this, I just didn't think of it beforehand. But Jennia, you could also have handled it better.” Darganth said.

Avoiding eye contact as she smiled sheepishly, Jennia tried to change the subject with an awkward laugh.

“Hehe, what now?” She asked.

Rolling his eyes at her attempt, Darganth nonetheless continued on.

“I would say we'll take a look around, maybe try and find some faces I remember. If that doesn't work we'll go and find whoever is in charge. We know that Serania and her people went here, so that person should be able to tell us whether they are still here or where they went.” Darganth said.

Thinking about it for a moment, neither Allaire nor Jennia had anything to add.

As the three of them were consequently wandering the city, one of the two guards that had blocked Jennia had reached the building he was running to.

Coming to a stop at the same time as the light green energy around him dissipated, he took a moment to straighten out the uniform he wore beneath his metal breastplate before walking towards the building's entrance.

Once inside, he walked along the entire corridor that stretched out before him, passing multiple rooms before entering the one at its end. Closing the door behind him, he walked over to the only desk inside the room.

Coming to a stop before it, he stood straight and with his hands behind his back as he waited for the avian beastwoman sitting at said desk to notice him.

Seconds passed, during which the woman still kept on going through different papers that were sprawled across the desk before her. Continuing her work, seemingly without noticing the guard, she finally finished what she was doing, gathered a few papers before her and placed them atop a stack sitting to her right before looking up at the guard.

“What is it?” She asked in an annoyed tone.

“I have a report for the chief, there is a dragon that has entered the city.” He said.

At his words, the woman's annoyance over the interruption faded abruptly. Mustering the guard's face to discern whether he was lying, she pointed at the door near her with a sigh.

“Discuss it with the chief. I can already see that this will cause trouble I'll have to deal with but till then I can't be bothered dealing with this in addition to all of the rest.” She said in a frustrated tone.

Nodding, the guard quickly disappeared through said door. As soon as he closed it behind him his shoulders slumped in relief, glad how well it went.

Turning around to face towards the inside of the room, his eyes widened when he saw the expanse that stretched out before him. Multiple hundreds of meters of magically expanded space, filled with artificial terrain ranging from grasslands to some small mountains filled the room.

Ignoring this, the guard focused on the center of the room, more specifically the raging storm of mana that covered the area there. Blanketing a couple dozen meters, it was strong enough to affect the physical realm, with a hurricane of multiple elements raging there. Hesitating for a few moments, he gathered his resolve before approaching and ultimately entering it.

Staggering momentarily as he stepped into its radius, he grimaced at the sudden impact that started pushing him back out of the area. Gritting his teeth, he dug his feet into the ground before putting more strength into his steps.

Taking a first step towards the center despite the immense pressure, he forced himself further. Slowly approaching the center of the storm like this, he pushed on even as his mana sense became useless.

Blindly wandering through the chaotic storm of energy, he slowly managed to push through it. Already seeing the outline of a figure a couple of meters ahead of him, he was just about to push to the center with in one last effort when the mana storm suddenly stopped.

Catching himself just in time as the force pushing him back suddenly vanished, the guard threw his head back with a grateful sigh.

“Hm, Akira let someone in?” A confused voice suddenly said.

Recognizing it, the guard quickly regained his bearing and turned to face its source with a small bow.

Standing before him was the chief of the Crimson scale Clan, a towering draconian that stood at nearly two and a half meters tall. Covered head to toe in red scales, he looked very similar to a small dragon that stood on only its hind legs.

The main things separating him from dragons appearance-wise were his humanoid-like neck, instead of the serpentine one of dragons, and the fully opposable thumb. Contrary to most of his kind he even had two draconic wings sprouting from his back, though as it was general knowledge the guard wasn't surprised by this sight.

“Yes chief, there has been an important development.” The guard reported.

Seeing no visible reaction due to the chief's draconic face, the guard didn't know whether to continue until the latter spoke.

“Tell me.”

“Just now a group led by a transformed dragon had made its way into the city. I can't be sure, but I doubt it is one that is known to us.” He reported.

As soon as he heard this, the chief's eyes widened in shock and he tensed up. Though after thinking about it for a moment he visibly relaxed again as his lips curled into a slight smile.

“Tell me everything.” He ordered, prompting the guard to recount what had happened at the gate.

As he recounted the story, the chief started nodding as his thoughts were confirmed.

“Faster than he thought.” He murmured.

At this reaction, the guard furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Eh, chief, what is so special this time?” He asked, confusing the chief.

“Why do you think that anything is different than usual?”

“Well, you didn't start worrying as soon as you learned that a dragon stepped into the camp.” The guard answered.

Sighing at the accuracy of his observation, the chief thought for a moment before shrugging in resignation.

“Hard to explain, at least with my limits on what I can share. But it boils down to the fact that Bator shared some of what he knows about this one with me. Besides, it's an older dragon and they are generally less prone to extreme reactions, you've experienced it yourself. With a younger dragon, I doubt that you would still be able to stand here, they often take things personally far too fast.” The chief said.

“Then what now?” The guard asked.

“We wait till he inevitably comes here.” The chief said, making his way towards the door out of the room.