The hiatus will be extending into April because my laptop has broken and I have to order the parts to fix it and hope it works. As an apology and something to carry you over, I commandeered a computer from a friend and wrote a chapter... Point out any mistakes, as always. Enjoy!

“I don’t understand the point of this,” Azure stated astutely as they sat in a tavern. Fate had taken them to this place bustling with rowdy humans; they all made far too much noise, in Azure's opinion.

Fate smiled kindly at Azure. “Don’t you want to learn about the world you’re protecting? Including its inhabitants?”

Azure scoffed. “I already know plenty. I’ve been here for some time.”

Fate’s smile shifted into a frown. It just didn’t make any sense to her. None at all. Were all the dragons like this? Did they all not appreciate life the way that she did? She had heard of one of the original dragons was very in tune with nature. Perhaps she understood... Nonetheless. Fate had to ask them, “Then why is it that you don’t care for the other races?”

“They’re nuisances,” Azure remarked as she lazily twirled her hair around her finger. “As long as they don’t do anything that annoys me, I’m fine with them.”

“You don’t know them!” Fate protested, tightening her hand into a fist. “How can you call them nuisances when you don’t know a single thing about this world other than you have to protect it!”

“And you do?” Azure laughed. “People are more selfish than you would think. You’re just going to have to learn that.”

Fate scoffed, writing off Azure. In her opinion, Azure was the one who needed to learn. How could they not see the wonderfulness of it all? How could they not see how amazing life was! There were so many different people that roamed this planet. So many lives that were all intertwined. It was magnificent! She just had to get them to see that. To understand how glorious that was.

“Shut up,” Erebus told the both of them, he was tired of hearing their mouths already. He stared down at the murky liquid in his mug and then pushed it away. “Fate, explain your reasoning for all of this. It seems pointless and like a waste of time. If you don’t have any valid reason for us to stay here, then we will be leaving.”

She leaned back, blinking wildly for a moment before regaining her bearings. “I just thought that you should immerse yourself in this world's culture.” Fate smiled broadly at them, her beauty radiating from it having no effect on Erebus, Massath, and Azure.

He cast a look full of nothing but distaste around at their surroundings. The humans that surrounded them were painfully loud and boisterous. He didn’t see any culture that he wanted to “immerse” himself in.

“Anything else?” Azure asked snarkily. She felt satisfied that Erebus was on her side of this. It was pointless. Who cared about some damned humans drinking their subpar alcohol? She certainly didn’t.

Fate didn’t respond fast enough so the three dragons stood up in unison, turning and heading towards the exit.

Fate jumped up to her feet once more, she almost reached out an arm to grab Erebus’ but the sleeve of her shirt caught on the jagged wood of her chair.

Thus, she was a second too late to prevent the next event.

A bald man collided into Erebus and was knocked to the ground by the impact while Erebus remained standing.

Erebus’ eyebrow raised at the fall. Still, he only casually stepped over the man and continued his exit.

“Wait, you bastard!” the man shouted from his position, his hand shooting out and wrapping around Erebus’ ankle. “Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“Why should I?” Erebus responded, genuinely confused. He looked down at the man, a frown etching itself on his face.

Azure opened her mouth to say something, but Fate was quick to tear herself free and rush over.

“Sorry, he must not have had seen you coming,” Fate said, trying to avoid conflict. She had learned that humans, with alcohol in their bellies, were quick to anger.

“No, I did,” Erebus refuted. “I was just under the impression that he would stop.” In his lifetime, Erebus had always been the superior--the others stopped and allowed his passage before they would continue on. Since the human wasn’t aware of Erebus’ status, he assumed it would be fine if he just let him slide.

Fate sighed heavily, glancing down at the man’s flushed face and red eyes. “I’m sure if you both just apologize to each other...”

Erebus, who had not apologized a day in his life (especially not to someone inferior), instantly refused.

“Erebus!” Fate said sharply.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This child was scolding him like he was the child? It was almost laughable. Erebus had no reason to listen to her or to the human, so he wrote them both off.

“That hurt,” the man complained as he began to push himself up. “What if I had hit my head?” He had hit the ground pretty hard--Erebus was more solid than he looked. Erebus hadn’t even budged when he hit him! And now his butt was hurt!

“Well, it’s not my fault that you humans are so prone to injury,” Erebus answered blandly. “Massath, Azure, we’re leaving now. We’ve already wasted enough time dealing with,” he gestured lazily at Fate, “her.”

Of course, the man Erebus had ran into took offense to his words. “What are you tryna say!” he asked brusquely, jamming his finger into Erebus’ shoulder. “You think you’re better than me? Because you got these fancy clothes and nice face, huh?” He patted Erebus on the cheek mockingly--he thought nothing of Erebus. A rich boy. He never had to fight a day in his life; Erebus didn’t know the meaning of a struggle! The man hated men like this.

Men who had everything handed to them. But he wouldn’t allow their tyranny to continue. Not when he had enough liquid courage flowing through his veins that overcame his usual cowardice.

They were beginning to draw attention now, the audience growing excited at the possibility of a fight. It happened frequently here--someone did something another didn’t like and they instantly resorted to their fists to settle the matter.

“Nothing else to say?” The man’s rancid breath washed over his face. “Huh, pretty boy?”

Erebus’ eye twitched, irritation materialized in the crimson orb. Humans, he was discovering, were even more disgusting than he had previously thought them to be.

“Oh boy,” Massath sighed the words. Erebus was no longer in mildly good humor, it had rapidly evaporated.

Massath knew what came next:

The bald man fell to the ground, lifeless. The stump of his neck gushed blood and his head rolled off and bumped into a chair, his eyes wide and unseeing. The smell of blood instantly assaulted the air, ballooning up and dispersing its distinctive scent all around.

A feminine shriek pierced at the air and chaos ensued, mostly in the form of people stampeding out of the building.

Erebus wiped the blood off of his hands nonchalantly with a handkerchief. “What a disgusting smell,” he said in reference to the man’s blood. “Human blood is quite unpleasant...” Erebus decided that he hated the scent of their blood.

“What do you expect from vermin?” Azure questioned with a scratch of her head. “Can we leave now?” She was bored. They had completed their task. She hadn’t even wanted to come to this place anyway! Azure tossed a glance over at Massath, he didn’t seem to care either--probably thinking about his next nap, Azure surmised.

Fate stared down at the man’s corpse in horror. “Why did you just kill him?” she yelled at Erebus. She couldn’t understand... She just couldn’t understand! Why had he taken a life? How could he kill with not even a second thought? She stared into his eyes with her horror filled ones and found nothing there.

Apathy. Emptiness. The man had the same value as a blade of grass in Erebus’ eye, she could see that so very clearly.

Erebus had just killed a man who could’ve had been someone’s husband! Someone’s father! She didn’t want to look and see if there was a ring on his finger.

Now he was just a corpse. Fate felt bile rising up in her throat, she could taste the metallic blood that was still spilling out. And Erebus, quite obviously, wasn’t at all bothered by this fact.

“He got on my nerves,” Erebus offered up his answer easily, unaware of Fate’s inner turmoil. He flicked the now tainted handkerchief on top of the man’s body. “If you don’t like it--” Erebus paused in realization. “I don’t actually care if you don’t like it.” With no guilt in his heart, he walked out of the door with Massath and Azure close behind.

Fate stood there numbly, unsure if she should chase after them or... What could she do? Should she rewrite what happened? But the requirements for the usage of her power were great. Was this one human worth changing time?

She swallowed thickly. He wasn’t. She knew that much. Just changing a singular event affected everything in this world. It wasn’t that she rewrote time exactly, but rather, she went back and changed it. It was far easier for her to change the future and present than it was the past.

Fate exhaled and turned her gaze back to the door, rushing to catch up to the three dragons who were quickly making their way out of town so that they could just leave already.

Unlike her, they didn’t exactly like it here. An idea then occurred to her; something they wouldn’t be able to refuse if she worded it correctly. A smirk appeared on her face--she knew what to do.

Fate pushed against the ground and shot forward so that she could catch up to them in a matter of seconds.

“Dammit!”Azure whined when Fate appeared. “What is it now, wretch?”

Fate stood up tall with her back ramrod straight and chin tilted upwards. “As the First Guardian, I have a formal request.”

“What is it?” Azure snapped.

“I require at least one of you to keep me company. I am sure that the First Dragon Rolut will understand my selfish request. It’s quite lonely on my own.”

Azure stepped back, her eyes growing wide. No, no, no. This wasn’t happening. That... that snake!

Rolut wanted them to form a pleasant relationship with the Guardian. If they didn’t... Erebus may be excluded from punishment, but she and Massath certainly wouldn’t! Unlike him, they weren’t an exception. Rolut had an absolute authority in their eyes and everyone else's--they couldn't defy him as easily as Erebus could.

Massath also realized this and the two younger dragons stared at Erebus desperately. Fix it, their gazes seemed to say.

Erebus hummed in thought, scratching his chin. Certainly, this was complicated. If she hadn’t formally requested it, they would be able to ignore it and move on. But if Rolut found out they refused an official request... Ah, that would be a headache. But staying here was also a headache.

He could easily command either Massath or Azure to stay behind, but then he would hear it from everyone else on how he always shoved off his responsibility onto someone else. That would be even more of a headache! He was getting one by just thinking about it.

Erebus looked at Fate evenly, at the smile that she was clearly trying to repress. She may not know all of the details but... but still, she knew for a fact that she had put them in a bind by just adding in a few words. If she had told all of them to stay, they would have had a plausible reason to say no. But if they declined a single one staying behind, Rolut wouldn’t be amused.

He sighed heavily and dragged a hand through his hair. “I’ll stay, you two go on ahead and inform Rolut.”

Fate finally allowed the smile to spread across her face in its full glory. “Wonderful.”

Erebus shook his head in annoyance. “You’re sly.”

She didn’t respond, but pride flared up in her eyes. “I look forward to being your teacher, Erebus.”