Volume 3, Chapter 4: Days Before the War (Part One)

{13 Days Remaining}

My eyes instantly opened as I heard the rustling sounds of someone entering my tent. From the hastily-made cot I was lying on, I stood up halfway and turned my head.

“Efari,” I said, seeing the form of a tall woman with straw-colored hair and jet-black eyes being somewhat illuminated by the light of the lantern. It was her eyes that had told me who she was. It was unmistakable. They were a pair of dark eyes which could make you feel as if you were suffocating, as if you were smothered gently by the grasping darkness.

Her lips formed a small upward curve, a slight grin, which was seen even though half of her face was hidden by shadows—my tent was barely illuminated due to the dying glow of the lantern. That, and my human eyes were somewhat limited by the night. It was probably somewhat before dawn.

“Zakir,” she said in a voice that could make one feel as if only two lovers were alone in a crowded room. It was a seductive voice cloaked by the silk of sin, made ever the more tenuous by the dim glow of the lantern.

I merely looked at Efari, waiting for her words.

“Will you spend the night with me?” she asked in a tone I could not make out, even with my perceptiveness, if I may be so haughty as to call myself perceptive. It was somewhat strange. Efari was not usually so meek. Rather, she had a possessive and somewhat demanding quality.

I showed an indifferent smile toward this Efari. “Hungry for life essence?”

“No need,” she said with a grin that showed off the small points of her incisors. “I already ate a while ago.”

I didn't bother asking Efari who she had drained. It didn't matter much since it was not one of my soldiers. That, and I had not heard of any news of death, so Efari had most likely only somewhat drained the life essences of multiple people, not enough to kill them. I did, however, wondered how she drained her victims. Perhaps she had some way of draining them from afar or perhaps methods to make her victims forget.

I stopped wondering as Efari kept staring at me with her dark eyes. She was still waiting for my answer.

“Sure, why not. It isn't as if I need the sleep anyway.”

“Good, follow me outside then.” Efari abruptly turned around, not even looking back once as she exited the tent. Her words were a little surprising. I had thought we were going to exchange. It seems I was wrong. Her sly words and tone had led me to believe that.

I let out a small mental sigh. It was a good thing that there were no guards posted outside my tent. The central camp where I was straying at also did not have too many soldiers, most of them choosing to stay further away from the White Demon. Furthermore, the war meetings we had did not take place inside my tent. It took place inside a larger tent to encompass all the commanders, advisers, messengers, and mage captains.

I lifted the bed cover and silently got off my cot. The cot was not a luxurious one. It was plain, simple, and sturdy. It was a step above from the common soldiers who slept on the grounds of their tents with only some covering. Though I called it a step above, it was still not much of a step above.

I was half-naked but that state did not last for long after I dressed myself in a simple, black tunic, which hung on a wooden rack along with my enchanted black armor and winged helmet.

Usually, I would have slept fully-naked, but that would have been somewhat awkward for the people who frequently came into my tent to report to me in the middle of the nights and in the early mornings.

These days, however, there weren't many reports coming in since we had finished setting up all of our defenses. And though I say that, there were still a few riders, Air mages, and the very few mages that could teleport, delivering messages between the seven northern fronts.

I suppose it was the calm before the storm, or rather the war, in this case.

Outside my tent, Efari was waiting for me. She stood as still as a statue, which only made me think of a predator lying in wait for its prey.

“I much prefer you half-naked rather than fully dressed. But I suppose I can settle for this,” Efari commented casually.

She walked closer toward me, putting her bare arms around my neck. She was a tall woman, almost coming up to my height. And in that slim, black dress of hers, I could feel her body intimately pressed against mine, her curves blatantly touching my chest.

I could also smell something intoxicating with her body so close to my proximity. The smell was somewhat effective and sweet. Most likely a mating scent—this had become more apparent when the bond between Efari and I grew stronger. I could feel myself becoming a little dazed by the smell, though I did not show it and quickly suppressed that feeling.

“So,” I said, somewhat breaking our intimate silence. “Are we going to stay like this for the whole night?”

“Hah.” Efari looked up, letting out a small sigh. In a slightly bitter voice, the bitterness almost missed by me, she said, “How I wish we could stay like this forever, Zakir...” The small breath of her words touched my face.

The night was turning out to be an unusual one. Efari was staying from the confines of her usual personality. It bewildered me a little, seeing her so amiable and meek. She was almost like a true lover, rather than one who believed in the notion of me being the Deathwalker to her Goddess.

“Can you fly the both of us up into this night sky?” asked Efari.

I thought a little at that. It was not wise to show my dragon-form in the middle of a population of soldiers. That went against the dictations of logic.

Almost as if she knew what I was thinking of, Efari cut into my thoughts. “There is no need to worry, Zakir. I can mask your magic and our presences from all seeing eyes. Even those two dragons of yours.” Efari said those last four words in a somewhat emphasizing tone, her possessiveness coming out.

A white mist started coming out of Efari, and the small fog soon surrounded the both of us. Efari whispered softly, “only you can see this through our bond, dear Verath.”

Her ability and words surprised me. The fact that she was confident that none—not even the battalions of human mages and the two dragons—could see through this fog of her, led me to believe that Efari was truly powerful. A Matriarch Devourer she had called herself, though the devourers that had been with her when I had first met her had been weak.

I decided to play along with this monstrous female whose bared and soft arms were embraced around my neck.

Threads of magic formed near the back of my shoulders with a simple will as I drew upon my pool of magic. The magic lasted only an instant—a bare second—before two enormous wings sprouted out from behind my back. These black, leathery wings spanned more than eleven feet and if I chose to, the pair of wings could have entirely envelop a human, squeezing the life out of the person. Death would have come in a mere half a step for my chosen victim.

I put an arm around Efari's waist, and jumped upward from the ground. With my strength, her weight only felt like a pebble in my palm. And even as I flew with an unmatched speed compared to the Air mages, the white fog Efari surrounded us with followed easily, always surrounding the two of us.

As we shot upward toward the sky with the wind rushing around our ears, the night clouds become closer, and the air became a little colder. Both of us were not bothered by such things. We were monsters in our own rights, different from the humans below us.

Efari let out a crystal clear laugh, which resounded in the air around us. It was the first time I ever heard her laugh so clearly. It made her seem as if she was a normal woman.

The forms of the twin moons were clear and sharp above us, their moonlights shining upon us, and everywhere else. The light did not discriminate, merely shining wherever it could reach with an almost omnipresence reach.

“This makes me feel like a young and naive fool again,” Efari said with a laugh.

“How old are you now, then?” I said, making my voice sound amused. I knew she was three hundred and twenty seven years old since Efari herself had told me, but I decided to ask again anyway.

“You should never ask for a woman's age, Zakir. We do not like to be reminded of it,”—Efari formed a sly grin—“especially a Matriarch Devourer such as I.”

With her dusky eyes, which somehow seemed lighter at this moment, or perhaps it was just the light from the night sky, or perhaps it was just my imagination, Efari said, “You are much older than me though, Zakir.”

What exactly did she mean by that? I was surprised, almost enough to have dropped her. I wouldn't have been surprised if Efari survived, though. She was a mysterious creature.

“What exactly do you mean by that, Efari?” I asked.

She let go of an arm which had been embracing my neck, and put a finger to her lips. “It's a secret, Zakir.”

At that, I merely replied with an “I see,” while Efari nestled herself closer into my embrace.

<><><><><>

{13 Days Remaining}

The morning consisted of brief short meetings with messengers and a longer meeting as to what our future plans would be. It was simply an uneventful one, especially since we had already somewhat decided on how we would attack the enemy forces.

Afternoon came and I got atop my horse, deciding to greet the Mage Captains. All of the battalions of mages that had been assigned to me were together in a smaller section of the camp. In total, there had been about 400 mages assigned to me in addition to the healer mages and other miscellaneous mages.

In other words, King Balan had assigned twenty battalions to the army I led. The other eighty battalions, however, were spread out in the other six fronts.

Each battalion consisted of twenty mages, including a Mage Captain and all of them were powerful in their own rights, each having graduated from the Mage Academy and each having been trained extensively.

They wielded staffs and shortswords made from the same material that had gone into my enchanted black longsword. It was a material newly discovered that slightly improved the effectiveness of your magic.

The twenty battalions I had were—

Six Earth Mage Battalions, Eight Fire Mage Battalions, Two Air Mage Battalions, and Two Water Mage Battalions.

To get a sense of the scale, there were a little over 400 mages in my army while there were over 1600 mages, including the overall leaders of the Mage Battalions, that were with King Balan and spread out over the other six fronts. But that was just the mages that were controlled directly by the king. It was still not counting the mages each Baron and a few major nobles had under their control.

The damage done to the land with the presence of that many mages would be unimaginable. They would wreak havoc from the heavens. Huge rains of fireball would fall onto the land, burning everything into ashes. And that was just the mages that had better affinities with fire magic. There could also be the mages that could control derivatives of the four common magic affinities and the mages born with unique talents.

Lightning mages, wood mages, ice mages (a derivative of water magic affinity,) and all types of other mages could be seen among the armies also.

This was the reason why mages were precious and coveted by every kingdom—the scale of damage a mage could carry out on a battlefield was simply awe-inspiring. Though that awe-inspiring, for the victims, it would only be as if Lady Death had reaped them with a swift slash of her scythe, returning the victims back into her embrace.

With the twenty Mage Captains of various magic affinities lined up before me, I gave them a salute, to which they return even more steadfastly.

“I shall be relying upon all of you in the upcoming battle,” I said.

“We shall serve our utmost best for the glorious Shail Kingdom and its ruler, King Balan the Prosperous. The Falinor invaders shall know true fear!” the most senior Mage Captain, a fire mage, shouted with a crisp and clear voice.

“Hail to King Balan vis Shail the Prosperous, Protectorate of All Five Regions,” the other Mage Captains shouted, taking up the call.

I only nodded at that. Their devotion to the king was to be expected. They were, after all, retained personally by King Balan and served directly in the central region, unless called to quell troubles in the other four regions.

Within these twenty battalions of mages in my army, there were a few derivative mages mixed among them. For example, there was a lightning mage known as Blue Fire serving under one of the Fire Mage Battalion. He would be considered a Fire Mage, for all extents and purposes, even though he specialized in lightning.

I left the mage section of the camp after the simple greeting then. I had only visited to promote a sense of camaraderie and unity. The visit was merely that. It wasn't as if I felt a kinship or a desire to make friends with these mages. I was only carrying out my duty as the general to the best of my ability.

This was how I would continue holding my lie as the abnormal young general known as the White Demon. It was a facade I would continue until I returned back to the dragon lands.

<><><><>

“I am extremely bored, clown,” Eden said in a lazy, but arrogant tone. “Entertain me.”

Beside Eden, Kiara was simply resting against the back of a chair with her eyes closed, her long black hair, as usual, always in neat form.

“With what?” I asked, trying to humor the troublesome green dragon.

“Strip for me, and dance like a clown,” Eden bluntly said.

“I fear I shall have to pass on that. I do have a reputation to hold among these humans,” I replied indifferently.

We were inside my tent, and there were no soldiers outside in a close vicinity, so I could easily refer to the soldiers as humans.

Eden let out a long sigh. “How can you even survive like this, eating these disgusting human food. I have to also wear this restricting dress and control my battle tendencies. Furthermore, to speak this distasteful human language leaves a feeling of bitterness on my tongue.”

“I wish these human enemies of yours would arrive already. That way, I can have some fun,” Eden said, showing off her sharp fangs. There was a glint of battlelust in her dark green eyes. “Some of the human mages here seem formidable.”

“And though that king of ours sent us here to check up on you, he is still busy to call us back. I have to waste away my time here with you for a month more in these human lands.”

“What magic affinities do you specialize in, anyway, Eden?” I asked, trying to change the subject. It was becoming uncomfortably close to the topic I did not wish to talk about—my reason for being in these human lands.

Eden let out a small laugh. “Even if I tell you, you shall not gain one ounce of advantage over me.” Then she declared in a haughty voice, “I specialize in fire magic, lightning magic, and some air magic. Plus my innate ability Draconic Shielding as a green dragon.”

Air magic and lightning magic. I had not expected Eden to have been born with that. I had only figured her to be able to use fire magic, since I had mostly been seeing her throw flames around.

Eden being a green dragon, she could use her natural innate ability that was known as Draconic Shielding. There were, of course, other abilities a dragon would come into as they grew older, but Draconic Shielding was the earliest one.

Navra Bloodseeker, the eldest of my clan and my brood-keeper, had given me a basic run-down of the abilities of each colored dragon. He had also given me a basic rundown of the hierarchy of dragon clans.

That said, Draconic Shielding was an ability a green dragon could utilize to harden the scales, increase physical defense, and increase magic resistance. The only small side-effect of that ability, however, was that you lost some speed.

“That definitely suits your personality,” I commented with an amused smile.

“Hah. Are you trying to pick a fight with me right now?” Eden said, excitement clearly seen on her face. “I will forgive you for now since our Dragon's Duel of Dominance needs to be overseen by an elder or the eldest of our clan. It would be futile to duel with you now, even though it should be quite fun.”

There was a sharpness in Eden's eyes. “What are your abilities, oh great and mighty black dragon?”

“Earth, fire, and blood magic,” I quickly said.

“Hmm...that last one seems interesting. What does it do?”

I showed off my own sharp fangs to Eden. “It means I am a predator of dragons.”

At those words, Kiara, who had most likely been listening from the sideline, opened her eyes. She looked at me, as if measuring the veracity of my words.

“That just means I need to be a predator of the predator of dragons,” Eden boldly said.

Being the mature and patient dragon that I was, I didn't take Eden's bait. It would be tedious of me to get into an argument with her. She was most likely waiting for me to reply with the words, “Then I will be a predator of the predator of the predator of dragons.”

Rinse and repeat, I would say.

“How about you, Kiara?” I asked with unfeigned interest.

“What about me?” Kiara said questioningly as if she didn't know what I was referring to. She let out a shy smile. “Intimacy should be reserved for when we are married, dear Verath.”

“Your abilities,” I said, not caught off-guard by her.

“Oh. How disappointing. And here I thought you were going to ask about my body.” Kiara showed a disappointed expression, that somewhat gave off the feeling of a rabbit cowering in a corner, if such an image was even possible. “My abilities are fire and water, though I specialize more in ice rather than water. It just comes easier to me.”

Kiara had left out her innate dragon ability as a rare white dragon, but I didn't bother to ask even though I was intrigued. In the end, I would eventually find out anyway. It wasn't as if Kiara was going to die, was she?

“Since you are so bored, Eden. Would you care for a drink with me?”

“You are quite funny, fool. Why should I ingest more of these human food?”

“Then as a incentive, how about we have a contest?” I said, showing a competitive smile. I knew that it was just the thing that would make Eden interested. I didn't exactly knew where her competitiveness with me stems from, but a likely reason was that I was the first black dragon. Or perhaps she was just acting out of pride, or perhaps even jealousy.

Oh well, it wasn't as if I wanted to spend that much time analyzing her mental state. Time would tell.

“Want to come along also, Kiara?” I asked in the hopes that she would come along so that Eden could be better controlled.

“I shall have to pass on that, Verath.” Kiara smiled coyly. A smile that suggested that she knew it was going to be a troublesome thing.

She is a sneaky dragon, I could only think to myself.

“So be it.”

<><><><><>

At the closest campsite in the central camp, Eden and I were sitting together near a bonfire. Night was beginning to rear its dark head, which made the light from the warm flames lit up her blonde hair into an array of various colors. Her lightly tanned skin also seemed darker beside the fire.

Around us were various soldiers and knights, though most of them stayed a comfortable distance away from the both of us. They could sense the trouble Eden would cause like bloodhounds. All of them had seen her throw sudden fireballs out of nowhere. A few soldiers had even been caught in the crossfire, which warranted a visit to a mage healer.

Nothing too serious happened, so all of the incidents could be easily swept under the proverbial rug, so to speak.

“I must admit, this human made liquid actually tastes good. It feels to when I am breathing fire,” Eden said in a somewhat relaxed voice.

At that, some fierce whispering broke out among the nearer soldiers, who were mostly males that had been somewhat sneaking glances at Eden. I only heard those whispers because I had somewhat enhanced my hearing. It was quite amusing to see the reactions of the soldiers.

“Breathe fire!”

“Horse shit. I can actually imagine her doing that.”

“Imagine her fiery passion in the night,” a soldier with a sparse beard commented.

“Man. You are crazy to go near a crazy bitch like her. I make it a personal rule to never touch crazies.”

Had I not been sure Eden was fully in her human form, there would have been bloodshed there. Still, even if she had heard the humans whispering about her, she would have most likely done nothing. Most likely—I wasn't too sure. She, and most other dragons, could be somewhat unpredictable.

To Eden, humans were beneath her. They were not even worthy of her contempt, though she liked to often show her contempt. Their words meant nothing to her. The only thing she truly reveled in was a good battle. Or at least that was how Eden seemed to me. That was my insight upon her personality.

Eden was truly a dragon up and beyond.

Perhaps she would have respected some of the more formidable human mages in the camp, but I wasn't too sure of that. Dragons were too powerful for just one human mage to take on. It would have been like bringing a wooden branch into a fight with steel.

Some time passed and beside Eden, there were now ten empty bottles of cheap watered down wine.

The whispering of the soldiers became even more contested.

“Where is she putting all of that away?”

“I think she is feeding liquor to her flames...” a soldier shivered noticeably. I somewhat recognized that soldier. He was a soldier who had been involved in an incident with Eden some time ago and was sent to a mage healer. I noticed the soldier unconsciously touching his right arm—that body part had been the victim of Eden's flames.

“Women should not be sloppy like that.”

“Hmm...I think a messy and violent woman like her is beautiful.”

Hearing that, all of the male soldiers in that group turned to the brown-haired soldier who had made that comment.

“You are one crazy bastard, you know.”

“Let me introduce you to my mother,” a young soldier said, patting the shoulders of that brown-haired soldier.

“Are you kidding me? Let me introduce you to my sister. You can have her. I will even pay you a dowry out of my own pockets,” he said, shivering.

I looked toward Eden. As expected, she had forgotten about the contest I was supposedly having with her. She was too caught up in her drinking.

I wasn't surprised of her tolerance either. A dragon's countenance was unmatched compared to humans. Perhaps poison could work on dragons, but I doubted it. It would most likely only have a weaker effect or no effect at all.

“Now, clown. Go and get me one more bottle of this vile human liquid you call alcohol,” Eden ordered.

None of the soldiers were surprised at her using the word human. They only attributed her way of speaking to her eccentricity. And they did not try to bring the matter up either, knowing that Eden was somehow related to me.

“You should just leave her be. I wouldn't go near her even if you give me a pole that was a thousand feet long. See how she orders the general like a dog?”

Hearing those words, I was somewhat amused as I brought Eden another bottle of wine.

“This will be your last bottle, Eden,” I said. “You should not deprive these soldiers and knights of their stocks.”

“Foolish humans. They should be thankful that I am helping them finish this disgusting liquor.”

I had been somewhat serious in saying that Eden should not drink anymore. It was beginning to become suspicious. But I knew just the words that could change her mind once more. I would play to her belligerent nature.

“Shall we trade fire magic after this bottle then? I believe I can beat you easily.”

“You wish to challenge me?” Eden said, a distinct, competitive edge in her voice. “Then you shall get your challenge. Do not regret it.”

Conversation broke out among the soldiers. Some of them even stood up to inform the further groups, who were out of hearing distance.

“You guys have to come see this. General Verath just asked for a contest of fire magic with that fire woman!”

“I definitely have to see this now!”

<><><><><>

As Eden and I moved toward an open field, there was a trail of soldiers following like excited, yet docile lambs to the slaughter. Among these soldiers, there were even some knights, knight captains, and even a few closer Knight Commanders. I could even spot Gold Knight Commander Lana who had an expression that was saying, “This should be fun.”

In hindsight, I should have known this small fire magic contest between Eden and I would have become a large spectacle. But then again, I was somewhat curious to see how my fire magic would do against hers.

I knew that my magic had grown stronger over the past few months, especially after my other self had come out. But there hadn't exactly been a scale to test my magic against. Eden, however, would serve as a suitable scale.

It took a few more minutes of walking—there were many camps we had to pass—before we arrived onto an open field where there would be no casualties. I even saw a few interested fire mages come along to watch the contest between Eden and I. They were most likely trying to verify the rumors of me being a mage that could use fire with their own eyes.

Seeing was believing, so they say.

“Try to control your physical prowess so that these humans will not expect anything out of the ordinary,” I whispered toward Eden.

“You need not tell me that,” Eden replied with an excited light in her eyes and a grin on her face.

We separated then, each of us only stopping until we formed a fifteen feet distance between us.

Surrounding the two of us were a few hundred people in a circle, all of them keeping a very far distance. They were cautious, not wanting to be caught up between mages trading blows of fire magic.

“Do we have any water mages here?” I asked, loud enough to reach the crowd of spectators.

“No need to worry, General Verath!” a male shouted back. “There are enough water mages here to control any wild fire!”

I recognized the male's face, though I did not know his name. He was a water mage belonging to the battalion under Mage Captain Feline, a female water mage.

“So, shall we begin,” I said toward Eden, who had an excited look on her face. She had been ceaselessly looking for opportunities to battle with me.

“Of course, clown.”

I smiled. It was an arrogant smile designed to anger Eden. It would give her just enough motivation to attack first.

“Ladies first.”

Volume 3 (Chapter 5)