Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

As soon as the first light of the morrow broke through the horizon, Henry and his companions resumed their journey. They had made camp on a hillock amidst a plain the night before. There were no other hillocks around them or any rock formation to conceal their presence as they rested but Henry wasn’t worried. His presence alone was enough to deter any likely threats.

They were now flying into an area where there were many floating isles and islets around them and each of these hovering lands was at least around a mile away from the ground. Some were inhabited by creatures and animals, some had nothing but an abundance of plants, and some were just plain barren rocky lands.

Now that Henry was flying close to these floating islands, he could see each of these levitating lands was supported by an immense amount of magic on the underside. He thought getting a closer look but he decided against it when he saw one isle was practically home to nothing but carnivorous plants with feelers and tendrils sticking out, catching any nearby flying creatures who flew too close.

“How much further?” Iluna asked as she stared into the horizon.

“We’ll reach our destination before nightfall, maybe,” Henry answered.

“You are not sure?”

“It’s just… I may be mistaken but… it would appear that our destination is constantly shifting.”

“It’s moving? Is our destination an animal or creature of some sort?”

“I don’t know but we’ll find out when we reach it.”

While Iluna was happily and leisurely chatting away with Henry, Vishara was sitting at the back, constantly surveying their rear and surroundings with her shadow as her sole company. She and Henry had not exchanged a word since last evening. They were both stubborn in their own right and both of them refused to budge, which led to their current stalemate, a mutual silent treatment.

As she continued surveying their surroundings, she also began to lament about her old life. Her parents died when she was barely an adult. The circumstances of their deaths were a mystery but Vishara was sure they had been assassinated. The cause of their deaths was never disclosed, not even to the then-young Vishara. By the time she was old enough to take the throne and matters into her own hands, the clues of her parents’ death had all wilted to the flow of time.

Vishara didn’t have a replacement parental figure as she grew up. She taught herself all she knew and after she forcibly took the throne from her uncle, she hired the best tutors from all regions to supplement the knowledge she couldn’t have obtained through her self-improvement.

Everything that she was or would be, was a result of her own efforts. Her strength and skills were all the result of her own hardships. It was her unyielding and headstrong attitude that allowed her to thrive for so long as the sovereign of all vampires. She ruled her domain with an iron fist. Her mistakes and blunders were all transformed into opportunities and merits.

Due to how she was raised, she found it hard to apologise sincerely to Henry since it was something she had never done so. In her head, apologising would mean accepting she was no longer who she could have been and that was a pill she could not swallow, not after all the hardships she had endured.

Her hate was still burning strong towards those who wronged her. It was a sad thing that she could only take revenge on the humans as her own kind had long suffered worse than her. Punishing the Zevas now as they were would bring her no satisfaction or joy. However, in contrast, the humans were thriving. Their livelihood was greater than ever before and it was only possible because of her downfall. If she had continued her reign, she would never let the humans thrive to this extent.

Her reminiscence was crudely interrupted by her hunger as her throat began to feel warm and dry. Her vampiric nature was crying for sustenance. She needed to feed on fresh blood. Just as she stood up to her feet, she noticed strange movements in the distance behind Henry. She peered at the movement and faintly made out a familiar contour. Before she could alert Henry, he discovered the imminent threat at the same time.

“They’re back,” Henry muttered.

“The savages?” Iluna asked.

Henry nodded. “Looks like they don’t intend to let bygones be bygones.”

“You did massacre a large group of them, Lord Henry. I can’t imagine anyone who would just forgive and forget this sort of matter.”

“They started it first, Iluna. I don’t intend to be lenient on them. If it’s a war they want, it’s a war they shall get. Now, how should we go about this? There’s no good place to land nearby and I can’t exactly fight with the two of you on my back.”

“You won’t need to fight,” Vishara said, breaking the silence between them first. “I’ll take care of them as I need to feed. Just let me down here.”

“But you slaughtered them just yesterday,” Iluna pointed out.

“Yes, but I didn’t directly feed on their blood.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“...They don’t taste good. But now, I have no other choice. It’s either them or you, priestess.”

Iluna flinched at Vishara’s words.

Vishara smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to drink your blood. Even if I wanted to, I won’t be able to with this flying lizard around.”

Iluna sighed. “When will you two stop this petty squabble…?”

“When she learns to apologise,” Henry answered dryly.

Iluna sighed again and rubbed her temple.

“Don’t wait for me. I’ll find the two of you once I’m done with these savages.”

“Are you sure?” Iluna asked. “Can you find us if we keep moving without waiting for you?”

“I have familiarised myself with yours and the Dragon’s scent. He’ll bound to stop at some point to let you rest and eat. I’m sure we’ll meet again by then.”

Iluna nodded. “Be safe, Vishara.”

“Oh, are you worried about me? Even though I’m unsavoury?”

“I don’t believe you’re a terrible person, Vishara. You’re just misguided by your anguish of the past. I pray that you don’t let your vengeance consume you.”

“Too late. Vengeance has already consumed me when the ones I cared about stabbed a blade through my heart from behind,” Vishara said and hopped off of Henry’s back.

****

The savages this time arrived in another breed of mount which was a giant catfish that was twice the size of the whale shark with rows of razor fangs sticking out of its lips. It was just a single mount that came after them but Vishara could tell the ones aboard were a lot stronger than the ones before.

Vishara wasn’t perturbed. Instead, she smirked in anticipation at the fact that her foes would provide her with some challenges unlike the ones before who couldn’t even put a scratch on her. Her clash and quarrel with Henry had left her very pent-up. In addition, she was also starving. All of these factors combined had made her to be very volatile at present.

She was currently standing atop a floating islet, which was what she landed on after jumping off from Henry. She waited patiently for the savages to draw near but her patience was not everlasting due to her growing hunger. Once the savages were barely a mile away from her, she leapt straight at them using nothing but her immense physical strength.

The savages had long spotted her from afar but only after she disembarked from Henry and they didn’t think much of her as they had a bigger prey to catch. And so, Vishara’s sudden assault took the savages entirely by surprise. They saw her flying at them like an arrow. They tried to steer their mount away but Vishara made her landing before they could manoeuvre out of the way.

Vishara’s pale skin and protruding fangs immediately raised the savages’ guard beyond their maximum vigilance. Their weapons were drawn and trained on her but none dared to make a move. No one was willing to test out the strength of a woman who just made a mile’s leap and came out unscathed. The only one who dared to step forward was a man of colossal height, twice the height of his peers. He wore only a loincloth and his upper body was bare. His brawny torso was displayed in full but Vishara did not bat an eyelid at that man.

The colossal man was wielding an axe with its head made of stone and the axe was two-thirds of his height. Though the man had an imposing presence, even he was having doubts about his ability to triumph over the woman half his height in front of him. After all, not even he could make a mile’s leap without seriously injuring himself in the process.

However, left with no other options, the savages could only fight the sinister woman in front of them. Had it not been for the prowess she just displayed to them, they would be drooling over her fashion as she was wearing scanty garments, a pair of black tights and a black crop top that gave emphasis to her midriff and her impressive valley.

The colossal man made the move first by charging at Vishara with his axe raised. Vishara easily caught the axe that was swung at her and crushed the axehead with her bare hands. A flood of gasps emanated from the onlooking savages. The colossal man was not deterred and tossed himself at Vishara but she caught by his head and tore it from his neck along with its spine and a few of its innards.

With the blood still dripping fresh off the severed head, she dangled it over her face, letting the blood drip into her open mouth. Once she swallowed the small dribble of blood, she let out a gasp.

“Tasteless and a tad acrid but it’s filling at least,” Vishara muttered to herself.  She then looked at the rest of the savages once the small streams became mere droplets. She tossed the head aside and strode towards them.

Some of the savages backed away from her while some charged at her in retaliation after mustering their courage through a battle cry. Vishara pushed at the air and sent all but one savage flying backwards. The lone standing savage lost his courage right then and there and tried to run but Vishara caught him and sank her teeth into his neck. The savage turned into a dry husk instantly and once she was done, she let the opposing breeze carry the husk away.

“Not enough… This is not even close… Who’s next…?”

The savages looked at one another but none of them had any solution.

“Really? No volunteers?” Vishara scoffed. “Then allow me to choose,” she said and pulled the savage with the most meat to her using telekinesis. The savage struggled and flailed around but it was all in vain. Left with no other choice, the savage decided to commit suicide by slitting his own throat with a stone dagger. But Vishara didn’t care. She used his very own dagger and made a large wound in his throat. The blood spurted out like a broken pipe, spraying Vishara’s face with an open mouth all over.

The savages were not unfamiliar with maiming and various acts of atrocities but having the same thing done to them was a whole other experience. They couldn’t help but be horrified. They were scared stiff by Vishara. Those that could still move opted to jump off the catfish. It was better than falling prey to Vishara. There were three savages who did not give up and they challenged Vishara to a fight but the vampire did not adhere to their invitation and easily killed them using her Blood Javelins.

Once the savages were all taken care of, Vishara took over the reins of the catfish. Surprisingly, the catfish accepted Vishara’s takeover and obeyed her instructions willingly.