Exception

The sovereign flew so quickly over the territory of Vaegos that he created extraordinary waves on his way, as well as glittering furrows. It didn't take him long to reach the creature from Paroxa and his unwanted guest.

He easily found what he was looking for thanks to the carnage the Gayouls caused in their path. Blood and fragments of fresh bone and flesh thrown carelessly along a long path brutally cut by beings clearly devoid of heart and conscience. The Gayouls, voracious and ruthless by nature, were the kind of completely idiotic and morally bankrupt beings that the ruler despised the most. Knowing that the prey being pursued could not be far away, the ruler looked past his loathsome enemies to see those who needed his help.

All he saw at first was a long, shiny beige coat and long, flaming hair that seemed to burn even hotter in the starry black night. He was oddly fascinated, which was very rare, so he didn't appreciate this brief moment of emotion at all, and made sure to block it out of his body and mind.

He saw the devastation that the band of stinking monsters had caused on their way, so he stopped for a moment to contemplate this desolate and unacceptable scene. A cold anger overcame him, though he already knew what he was going to do to those pitiful animals, just as he knew that the beast of Paroxa had sensed his presence and that had driven away his fear.

- Beigie!

He heard the girl encourage the creature with a rather irritating familiarity.

- As if she so easily considered this fabulous place her own, and all the magical beings that lived there.

He noticed that they were damaged and desperately at the mercy of her stinking hunters. Then the girl ran to the noble creature to try to help him. And even when she became aware of the presence of the monsters and the mortal danger she was in, she didn't give in and decided to fight bravely. She sent a rather intense magic punch at her enemy, but unfortunately for her, it was as ineffective as a draft.

- I sympathize, whispered the amused leader.

The monster mockingly responded to the girl's attack with a frightening brute force, which greatly devastated the place while throwing the stranger away. The sovereign thought it was time for him to intervene.

He very rarely used this kind of power, so rarely that only one person was aware of it. That's why it surprised him so much. However, he knew that he would do it without hesitation as a natural thing that had found its place at that time. And that it could not be otherwise.

He first deployed a very powerful magic on the whole environment to put them in an inextricable sleep. Then, deploying his deep magic, the transparent scales that covered his entire colossal body gave way to shiny black fur and black magic that enveloped him completely. Then he rushed towards the monsters, and stood up in their midst. He looked at them mockingly.

- You Gayouls are so ugly, you know that? Didn't I say not to hunt noble creatures?

- You didn't ask for it, you ordered it. This is different!

- I know, I know. I used another word out of courtesy, but I see you can't understand such delicate things.

- That's not true! You never ask. You don't know what it means and implies. So the only way to find out is to use force.

The prince shrugged, taking on the expression of someone prodigiously bored.

- Maybe I do. But I don't have to do it. I don't need to follow any rules. As long as you, inferior beings but useful I specify it well for my entertainments, you must obey me. But since you had the unforgivable audacity not to do it, I will reduce you to dust.

At these words, spoken in a calm but definitive voice, the monsters immediately trembled with fear.

- You allow yourselves such actions because you are the strongest. But you will not always rejoice with such pride when the day comes when another person succeeds in fighting you and hurting you even inside, so deep that your unbearable arrogance and your big heart will burst into pieces. At these words, the beast could not help but flinch, even without his lost enemies noticing, because it immediately made him think of the person for whom he had decided to show himself for a moment, as he really was.

- Who knows indeed if it will happen one day. Declared he with an indifference of the most deceptive. But what is sure is that you will not be there to see it.

Then just as easily, the beast locked the starving Gayouls in a huge dark sphere where, helplessly, they screamed in anger and agony before cracking and dissipating into ashes. This secret magic power was so terrible that the already dark night became even darker.

And thankfully, no one saw his expression or the state of his body after using this deeply hidden magic.

Then, taking deep breaths and making sure that his normal form had returned without showing the scratches, he approached the girl who had her eyes closed in fear, shaking from head to toe, and ineluctably expecting the end. Then after having contemplated it one long moment, returned to stand on rocky top where he had contemplated the unequal combat and took the decision to use his sealed powers.

The young woman opened the eyes with precaution. Then realizing none of this had so feared happened, she rose cautiously and looked carefully around her. Hearing the disturbing sound that the beast was making as it replaced its stellar scales on its body, she turned to see the source of the disturbing noise and saw him.

The beast closed his eyes for a moment, knowing that he would probably still have difficulty admitting that this moment, this meeting with this woman, which by the way should never have taken place if it only depended on his will, was an unalterable will of destiny, that it had to happen even if it took another hundred years. A moment when things were finally revealed in all their accuracy and grandeur, unforgettable. Continuing to contemplate her from the top of his defensive seat, he was struck by her eyes, two magnificent lakes of an incomparable green, even more for him, and whose depth touched him painfully. Her long hair, which had already attracted him so much, blew lightly in the breeze that dissipated the ashes of the monsters. But he had to break at a moment this wonderful and too dangerous enchantment, especially although she did not know it, for the young girl and asked her in an impenetrable tone.

- Who are you?