Where Are You?

Dragon Lord Alder eyed the Suugon ambassador warily as he rolled his impressive bulk over. He knew the Suugon ambassador was a snake, in fact, all the Suugons were snakes to his reckoning. The fact that the ambassador came over and disclosed such news meant that the Suugons were up to something again.

"Why does it even matter to me?" Dragon Lord Alder replied lazily as he picked up another piece of sweet meat. "The Iron Kingdom's succession will not affect the Dragon Domain."

"It might not now," Lord Lei replied with a smile. "But it might change when they announced the next successor to the Crown Prince's position..."

Dragon Lord Alder paused in his action and narrowed his eyes at the Suugon Ambassador and growled, "Do not speak in riddles! Speak to the point!"

"Of course, great one!" Lord Lei gave a bow of apology before he continued. "The Third Prince seemed most promising to be the next in line of the succession."

"The Third Prince?" Dragon Lord Alder frowned as he scoured his memories of the Iron Kingdom Prince.

"The Prince of Fire," Lord Lei helpfully added. "The Prince who supports the Industrialists and thinks that... dragons and magic are relics of the past... Only worthy to be adorned as trophies on his wa-"

"Enough!" Dragon Lord Alder reared up to his full height in anger as he recalled the person. The Suugon delegates stepped back in fright at the sight of his oversized bulk towering over them. "That... That... beast!"

"That... beast killed so many of my peers!" Dragon Lord Alder growled angrily. "He is the enemy of all dragons!"

"And we the people and the Emperor of the Suugon Dynasty agrees with you," Lord Lei bowed deeply.

The Iron Kingdom Third Prince born from the second Queen of the Iron Kingdom was a person who greatly embraced the modern ideas of steamworks and clockworks. He had pushed for many reforms within the Iron Kingdom, changing old and obsolete customs to a new age of radical ideas and thinking.

His modernization and industrialization reforms earned him the moniker The Prince of Fire among the people and he was also a vivid hunter. In his palace, he had a museum filled to the brim with stuffed carcasses of every known monster or creature. But his prized collections were dragons.

This earned him both the enmity of the Dragon Domain and the Suugon Dynasty. It was only after a few years of conflict between the Dragon Domain and the Iron Kingdom did the Iron King of the Iron Kingdom ceded an apology and agreement that the Third Prince shall never hunt a dragon ever again. Despite that promise, the hatred of the Dragons did not vanish.

"That beast must never become the next Iron King!" Dragon Lord Alder snapped. "If it happened... that beast will declare war on the Dragons!"

"The Eternal Emperor is worried about this too," Lord Lei said and bowed. "The Eternal Emperor sent word to me to assist you and the Dragon Matriarch against the Iron Kingdom to prevent the Third Prince from becoming the Crown Prince!"

Dragon Lord Alder took a deep breath as he stared at the bowing Suugon Ambassador. He do not believe that the Suugons were so kind to willingly offer their help. There must be a catch to all these but now it was not the time to find out for this news must be sent to the Matriarch immediately!

"I shall call upon you once I informed the Matriarch of this!" Dragon Lord Alder said and he rang a bell. A small troop of maids entered and they bowed to Alder. One of the maids held a tray with a pure white jade phial. Dragon Lord Alder impatiently gestured the maid to bring the jade phial over and he used his sharp claws to pierce the underside of his wrist and allowed the thick ruby red blood to drip into the phial until it was full.

The rest of the maids quickly came over and wrapped the puncture wound on his wrist while the jade phial was sealed and the maid carried the tray over to Lord Lei who was staring greedily at the jade phial filled with dragon's blood.

"Take it!" Dragon Lord Alder growled. "We shall speak again!"

-----

The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh, Capital of Ramuh

The chorus of bells and hymns woke the sleeping child and it let out a cry of hunger. The woman paused in her farm work and quickly hushed the child that was wrapped in a piece of cloth around her scrawny body. She mumbled to the hungry child in her arms and gave an apologetic bow to the Overseer who was frowning at the sudden halt of work.

She lowered her robe and allowed the child to suckle on her nipple and the baby finally calmed down and happily fed away. The Overseer walked over, a sneer on his scarred face and he leered lechery at her exposed body. The woman cast her eyes down and turned away from the Overseer and allowed the baby to have its filled before she covered herself up and returned to work.

"Back to work you lawless!" The Overseer cracked his cruel whip. "Bast in the glory that your deeds here today shall restore the order that you have lost!"

The Overseer cast one last lecherous look at the woman before he walked off to another area of the farm. Hundreds of repentanters toiled the fields around the farm, all seeking penance from their crimes and seeking redemption from their sins. For their dutiful labours and penance, the toils of their efforts will be used to pay off their sins.

As they work, the church bells and hymns song could be constantly heard. Finally, the sun dipped down below the mountains and soon it was too dark to work, only then the Overseers reluctantly released the repentanters back to the communal shacks.

The woman carrying the baby quickly slipped off into the darkness doing her best to avoid the Overseer who had his eye on her. She merged with the others heading back and hunched her body down to avoid being recognized and soon under the light of a single torch, made her way back to the communal shack that she and fifteen other women shared.

The uneven boards creaked loudly as she stepped into the shack and she gently placed the child down on the straw cot. Her baby giggled and grabbed her hand as she unwrapped the cloth and she smiled warmly at her two year old son. "Ma- ma!"

"Here, you need to eat something," A bowl of gruel was handed over to her by one of the women in the shack and Sherene thanked her for her kindness. "Hello, little one!"

"Ah lo!" The child giggled as the woman played with him. Sherene smiled and took a few bites of the gruel before she spooned some to fed her son.

"Here, have some more," The woman handed half her share of the gruel over to Sherene. "You need more food!"

"Thank you, Sister Oriana," Sherene pushed away the offered bowl. "This is enough for me, you need to eat to keep your strength too!"

"I am not the one having to look after a child!' Oriana waved away Sherene's protests and dumped the rest of the gruel into her bowl. "Eat! I am going to draw some water to wash up!"

"Thank you!" Sherene gave her thanks again and she fed more to her son. Ever since she was moved out of that cathedral, she was sent to this farm, known as the Redemption Farm. Shortly after, she gave birth to her son and since then, two years had passed.

Every day, before the sun came out, they woke up and gathered together and headed towards the church on the other side of the farm which took over an hour to walk to. The Priests would ensure all were present before they started preaching. There, they listened to the Priests speak of the Laws of Ramuh and prayed to Ramuh before they had to walk back to the farm.

Once they returned, the Overseers will arrive and the work on the farm started. The land had to be tilted, crops watered and weeds removed. When the sun was overhead, those in charge of cooking meals would carry buckets of gruel over and more Priests would arrive. Food would be doled out with the Priests' blessings and more preaching.

Work would then continued after they had eaten, all the way until the sun went down when it was too dark to see anything. After they returned to the communal shacks, there they will have their final meal of the day and they were free to do what they wanted.

The people here were mostly captives taken from raids or were guilty of some sort of sins. Like Oriana, who Sherene knew was taken captive from a crashed Iron Kingdom airship. The large framed woman had befriended Sherene when she first came here a year ago. The two quickly became friends and helped and supported each other through the tough times.

Some had attempted to escape the farm but in the end, they were always caught. The farm was in the middle of Protectorate territory and surrounded by overly zealous believers of Ramuh. The believers of Ramuh would not hesitate to turn in any escapee or suspicious person and at times even participate in manhunts if news of someone had committed a sin without even the thought of a reward. Those caught and taken back were crucified to crosses and whipped until they died while a Priest preached non stop of Ramuh's sins and laws. The bodies were then left to rot on the crosses as a warning to the rest which many took the warning to heart.

"I'm back," Oriana walked to her cot that was next to Sherene's. She wiped her face dry with a towel and said. "I left a bucket of water for you outside. You can go take a wash too, I help look after the little boy!"

Sherene nodded and she picked up the bowls before she said to her son. "You be a good boy, Mommy will be right back! Big Sister Oriana will be here with you."

"Ba Si taaa!" The boy giggled as Oriana tickled him.

Sherene went out of the shack and picked up the bucket of water. She carried it to a bathing area which was just a few pieces of wood and cloth to provide some basic form of cover and starting cleaning the sweat and dirt off her body when a shadow suddenly loomed up behind her.

She let out a startled cry but a hand covered her mouth, stiffing her voice. Her eyes went wide as she recognized the Overseer that had leered at her in the day earlier. "Hello, beautiful!"

"Shhhh!" The Overseer smiled as he pressed against her body. "Let's not make too much noise!"

Sherene felt a chill down her spine as she stared at the lecherous glint in the Overseer's eyes and she snapped her knee up directly between his legs. Despite the lack of proper meals, two years of toiling in the farms and the bony portion of her knee was more than enough to bring pain and suffering to the Overseer.

He let out a cry of pain which caught the attention of the others. Many wandered over to see what was happening and saw Sherene running out of the shower area with an Overseer moaning on the floor. A Priest came up to the Overseer and started to berate him and even began to preach about sins and laws.

Sherene returned to the shack, her body trembling in shock and fear. Oriana seeing her state was not right, quickly came over and asked, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Tears spilled down her face as she hugged her son tightly to her chest. "Blake... where are you..."