My name is Sari, one of the few survivors of the southern sea tragedy five years ago when the dragons reappeared in the world, destroying the fleets of the academy, and the current youngest female commander of the royal knights of Piya. At that time, I was nothing but a knight apprentice of the Academy when tragedy befell us. I lost my friend, and my companion Ari lost his lover.
All by the hands of a blue dragon, I would never forget his figure, for the nightmares of that dreaded day still haunted me. I hated him with every fiber of my being, everything after that day changed. I and Ari barely survived and were saved from the wreckage by another academy ship that was lucky enough to not get attacked by the dragon.
With the news of more than a dragon emerging to attack our fleets, the survivors hurried back, setting sail towards the Academy. I felt lost when I went back to my empty dorm room. That night, I quietly sobbed in my friend's bed, while clutching her pillow.
I was scared, I did not want to face that monstrosity ever again. That scene of destruction, It was not a fight, It was a massacre. We had been utterly hopeless against that Dragon. The next morning, Ari was missing. He had left the Academy without saying goodbye.
I could not blame him, his lover had passed away in his arms, he was more broken than I was. That day, the Academy announced that It was going to be closing Its doors and that no students, teachers, or servants were allowed in or outside.
Those that wanted to leave would never be able to come back again. Ari was one of those people, the news of the dragons attacking had caused waves of panic admits the higher ranks of the Academy. The leaders were divided into two factions, the ones that wanted to flee and disband It, and the faction that wanted to stay and fight.
Eventually, they came into an agreement to hole themselves inside and raise their magic shields in preparation. Although the Academy was considered to be the largest training ground for Knights all across the continent, they were still no match when It came to a flock of creatures from the legends, the Dragons.
And so the next day, the skull heads of the previously slain dragons that decorated the walls of the academy for more than a century were brought down. None of us students knew what they intended to do with them, but still, we all had an inkling of what was their aim.
After all, was done, they were still afraid of further offending the dragons. We were been slaughtered like pigs, countless brave men losing their lives, my friend included, but still, they were still hoping to salvage the situation? This enraged me, I remember being so disappointed. I once held immense pride in joining the Academy, It was the dream of countless youths since graduating from It guaranteed you a high rank in the military of any country.
Still that Academy I was so proud of was acting helplessly in front of the threat of Dragons. The following three years were spent in complete isolation from the outer world, we remained inside the Academy walls, never quite leaving the island before finally, they seemed to have had enough.
I was supposed to have graduated on that accursed day, that sea expedition was supposed to have been our graduation ceremony, yet It ended in tragedy. Still, I didn't leave the Academy with Ari, I did not want to admit It but I was afraid...
Though I may have silently cursed at the higher-ups for their inactivity, and how they stayed their hands even when countless people died, In reality, I was no different from them...a coward. Still, by the end of the third year, the Academy opened back its gates and I was free to leave or stay behind as an instructor.
Gathering whatever courage I had, I left and made my way to the Piya kingdom, my birthplace. As an orphan, I had no family to go back to, no friends, nothing, and so I devoted myself to the kingdom and joined the army. Being a graduate of the Academy, getting In was easy, still, I dared not slack off in my training for I knew that one day, those dreaded blue scales and golden eyes will come back, and I had to be ready for It.
And that day, was today. As I stood atop my Ashving, blade drawn in my hand. I was once again standing face to face with those cursed golden reptile eyes. The royal knight's vice-captain Krex was by my side, his bloodlust towering into the sky as we faced off against our mortal enemy.
All of the other commanders had already died, the captain was no exception, the mages were useless. The King has no one left to protect him, but that did not matter anymore. I glanced at Krex who gave me a solemn nod, we did not need to say anything yet already understood each other.
The kingdom was doomed, the nobles, merchants, and commoners who could get their hands on an Ashving were already fleeing the city. Yet countless despairing people remained, the once glorious capital was ruined with collapsed buildings, the roads were dyed red, countless corpses littered all over the place.
Seeing all that, was as If I was reliving the nightmare five years ago. Though this time It was my home the dragon came after. I was strangely calm now that It finally came to this, all these years I had lived in constant fear, my eyes scanning the sky every day thinking It would be my last.
But now, I was relieved, It was finally going to be over. Taking a deep breath, I willed my energy to cover my long sword causing It to glow brightly. Krex suddenly spoke by my side, "Sari! I'll give you one chance, be sure to take It!" He said to which I resolutely nodded.
There was no use In stopping him, I already knew that he was planning to sacrifice himself to create an opportunity for me, yet that was our only choice. I did not hold any hope in me surviving past this day, the only thing I wished for was my blade to reach those blue scales.
Lunging forward, Krex led the way, his sword glowing like a miniature sun as he rushed towards the blue dragon. He narrowly avoided a claw strike that almost decapitated him and parried another causing him to cough blood staining his armor red, yet with no regard to his safety, Krex continued trying to close the distance.
The Dragon seemed to have had enough, seeing how two of his strikes were avoided, his arm moved with an abnormal speed, faster than It had before, and tightly grasped Krex in It. The Ashving falling to the ground below, dead. The blue dragon glared at Krex who still defiantly held into his glowing swords.
I watched on with tears in my eyes as I realized what he was trying to do, the sword continued glowing brighter and brighter, the dragon must have sensed that something was wrong yet It was already too late. Krex alongside his sword exploded with a bang in the Dragon's causing a large dust cloud to rise.
I was especially waiting for that moment and immediately made my move breaking through the cloud, I hastily jumped off my Ashving my sword glowing as I hacked at the giant Dragon head that suddenly appeared before me.
"DIE!" I yelled, the dragon's eyes momentarily widened as he tilted his head to the side narrowly avoiding a fatal blow, yet my sword still managed to slash at the side of his chin drawing blood, though that was It.
'Heh, so you do bleed like the rest of us you damn monster!' I bitterly chucked as I crashed into the collapsed buildings below, the world quickly turned dark.
well, for him it is already an achievement to die wounding a dragon ... for Aether it is a shame that an "inferior creature" manages to injure him through carelessness (I suppose for the mentality of a dragon).
But after this aether will only get even stronger. Of course, I can't stop laughing every time I think that Aether is only a little over 6-7 years old (I think he have).
If humans found out about that detail, I think they would cry in terror. Because they only faced nothing but a baby/juvenile dragon child.
Well he will be recognized as an adult after this mission is done (even if it’s a young adult).
@Ediav42 he will be considered a full fledged dragon, not a adult or ancient one
I’m kinda drawing parallels with pollution in the real world and with what humans are doing. Of course what they are doing is more directly destructive to the balance of the world (also this planet has giant flying magic dragons as protectors as well as Shades as external threats). I wonder if knights are using power of shades somehow? Well regardless of morality of it, dragons are in the right as they are protecting the world (humans live on the world so they are protecting humans from themselves). Granted it wouldn’t kill dragons to actually inform the races about “the rules” and consequences of what they do and how they will mess up anyone who threatens the balance.
Dude i think you just reading to deep in this
This is complicated, from what I understand there is no clear cut right or wrong. Maybe the means to the end were wrong but what's being done is good (Aether stopping the humans from disrupting the mana flow even more).
Well that seems to be one of the themes of the story and this arc in particular, there is no clear right or wrong. The dragons try to protect the world and kill those who threaten it but don't explain anything to anyone else. The humans (and maybe other races?) disrupt the mana flow with their magic because they physically cannot use mana like dragons and probably don't even know that it's a problem.
@Movedxylophone Exactly. Dragons (Aether in particular though (or his father), since people didn't see dragons for hundreds of years) use most extreme means to stop mana flow disruption, by slaughtering everyone else. Doing extreme evil (subjective) for greater good isn't good thing. There's always better means to stop it. I wonder what Aether will make out of all this endeavor.
In this case, he is not attacking the kingdom because humans disrupt the flow of mana, but because they killed two dragons a century ago. Which I find hypocritical, as they were deliberately endangered by their parents to test them. It is as if you reproached a bull obliged to participate in a bullfight for succeeding in killing the toreador.
The dragons and the MC are bastards. From a storyline perspective, that's not a bad thing, as it does create some stakes, and hopefully the dragons' past actions will take some toll on them.
You are seeing things as black and white, there is other colors here too, specially grey, the humans are wrong but not at fault, the dragons are also wrong in a lesser way but it's their culture, trial and it's they right to do that since they protect the planet, the lives there is theirs to do what they want.