Chapter 7 – Devastation

The guard getting a little startled from my vagueness wants to investigate but before he gets to the door, I can't help but speak.

"It's too late"

"What do you mean it's too late?"

"What I mean is, if you go outside now, you will die"

"J-Just what's happening out there?"

I almost feel sorry for him, only time I got this fearful was with heights. This is a much, much worse.

"Dragons"

"Y-You weren't lying?"

Oh, this guard must have been listening to my conversation with the pervert guy, whatever his name was again.

Why am I telling him this? Unlike that lord, he seems like an alright guy. He doesn't deserve what's happening right now.

The world around us shakes massively again throwing the guard to the ground again, I didn't get up last time because I knew this would happen again. Then, the faint sound of a voice can be heard.

"Where --- heck -- my --------?"

Then without warning, the voice gets much clearer and louder.

"BASTARRDDDSSSS!!!"

The entire dungeon shook even more than before with large parts of the walls and ceiling crumbling around me and the guard. He now looks terrified and shell shocked as well.

'I appreciate the rescue but I'd rather not be crus-'

<LITTLE ONE!!>

Father cut off my thoughts with his voice being the loudest I've ever heard inside my head.

'Damn, that's loud fath-'

<Little one, I need to find you, NOW! Your mother is wreaking havoc>

He cut me off again, what the hell is going on up here? Fathers voice inside my head even sounds fearful as well. Was that mothers voice cursing earlier?

And how can he even communicate with me? Oh, the ceiling of the dungeon has collapsed. I can even see the rubble of the manor I was in before. I need to get out as soon as possible.

"Guard! You need to let me out now otherwise every person in the city is screwed"

The guard who was out of it quickly realizes he needs to do something.

"U-Uhh… O-Okay!"

He rapidly gets out his keys and unlocks the jail cell. I get up off the floor and leave the cell with him.

"Lead the way, now!"

"O-Okay"

I start following him out of the prison and we quickly end up back at that fancy manor. Instantly, I notice the destruction around me. The entire fancy manor is practically rubble with destruction everywhere.

And that's not the only thing, bodies. I can see limbs sticking out of rubble piles obviously being crushed by the roof coming down.

'Haven't got the time for this'

I quickly go to one of the collapsed walls and try to see what's going on. The guard is also following me.

Once I get to where I need to, what I can see from here is terrifying.

From this manor which is upon a hill, the sight of an entire city, burned, crushed, blackened and devastated. It almost looks like aftermath of a nuclear bomb. Flying above the ruins is a red creature that appears so large and so evil, anyone would think it's the end of the world.

'I am become death, the destroyer of worlds'

"Oh, dear god, please have mercy on our sins"

The guard falls to his knees and starts praying after seeing the destruction which has fallen upon the city.

"BURN YOU INSIGNIFICANT RATS!!!"

The dragon spews fire like a volcano smearing even more of the collapsed city black. Once again, another rumble shakes the ground but thankfully, I can still stand this time.

'Okay, need to do this before anything else happens!'

"MOTHER… CALM, THE FUCK, DOWN!!"

I shout this as loud as I possibly can hoping I can get her attention. My swearing seems to normally reach her ears.

"IKARUS!!!"

<Little one!>

While the gigantic red dragon turns her head towards my direction and a black dragon appears from above me, I fall to the ground due to the dragon language shaking the area.

The black one quickly lands next to me while I'm still staggering to get myself back up. The red one is also rapidly flying over.

<Little one, thank the gods you're okay. Your mother couldn't be contained>

Was he trying to stop her from doing this? I thought he hated humans.

Mother then lands crashing into the remaining standing parts of manor flattening even more of it. She then run towards me and once she's here, she hugs the life out of me.

<I lost your scent Ikarus, I thought you were gone>

'Is it raini- No, it's not'

Tears flow from mother's eyes while she's clutching me, even I'm trying to hold it in. She really is a little too much.

"Mother, I can't breathe"

<Ah, sorry>

I could but being in this form next to mother was becoming a little intimidating. Imagine the biggest ever dinosaur to ever exist and then imagine a human standing next to it, that was mother's actual size, just wasn't as noticeable in phoenix form. I actually have no idea how she hugged without crushing me as well.

"I appreciate the rescue but… wasn't that a little much?"

I feel like I need to tell her off for all this but have no right to. This is all my fault to begin with. If I had just not investigated that corpse in the forest, none of this would have happened.

<We couldn't keep following your scent, little one. Me and your mother both thought something bad had happened>

"Why couldn't you keep following it?"

<We didn't know either but looking at you now, it's probably because your scent has changed slightly due the that thing upon your neck>

Ah, yeah. the human form due to the choker. Mother has just about stopped crying and calmed down as well now.

<Ikarus, who took you and where are they? Was it that human over there?>

She's clearly talking about the guard who's on he's knees off in the corner clearly trying not to pass out from what he's witnessing.

"No, he's just someone who helped. Mother, I think you have already done enough"

<She's right darling. We should probably go home>

Then I start panicking about something.

"Wait a second, where's Minos?"

<Littlest one is in the cave. If he's stepped a single paw outside, he'll be grounded for a decade>

Ah, good. That's a massive sigh of relief seeing that he doesn't have to witness this.

"Another thing, I don't know how to take off this choker. Can you get it off without breaking it?"

Despite all that's gone on, I still want to keep this. Having a human form with teeth and arms is a real blessing. And I like my appearance too much to throw it away.

<We'll sort that out once we get back Ikarus, your fathers right about leaving. We sho-, Dermak?>

Father has left our conversation and has gone over to the human. Fear takes over the guard and now he's physically shaking.

<You helped our daughter, correct?>

"E-Ermmmm"

<Is that a yes or no, little mortal?>

"Y-Y-Yes?"

Then father puts one of his arms on his own shoulder, grabs a scale and rips it cleanly off. Blood gushes from the wound he just made upon himself.

<Dermak! You know you can't d->

Before she gets a chance to finish, father cuts mother off.

<Darling, this is only fair compensation… Human! This isn't an ordinary dragon scale. Use it, sell it, eat it, do whatever your kind does with these. This is compensation>

"…"

The anxious guard has no clue what to do or say when a large scale is dropped in front of him.

<Take that and leave. You're ruining my family's reunion>

"O-O-Okay"

The guard picks up the scale roughly the same size of his entire body and runs out of the building away from sight of us. The dragon scale must have been really light since he was easily able to carry it with him.

I look over to where he was sitting and can see a small puddle.

'Poor guy, think he wet himself'

It's pretty understandable. If I was in his position, probably would have done the same. These two dragons did just wipe out his city.

As we we're leaving, a small thought enters my mind.

'I'm never gonna be allowed out again, am I?'

[<Affirmative>]

'Shut it, system'

__________

It's been several days since the incident that happened and not much has gone on. My parents helped me take the choker off by forcing magic into it and once it opened up, a cloud of smoke appeared around me and I instantly turned back into bird form. Strange feeling but wasn't terrible.

After I could actually examine what was on my neck, I instantly noticed a design flaw.

There's no way I can put this back on without arms, damn these wings. You might think why not use my legs and claws to do it? Already tried for close to a day, I'm not even close to being flexible enough. Just means I have to ask for help if I want change form, that doesn't suck at all.

As for what's going on currently, I'm back in the cave on the lovely nest and don't dare to step foot outside right now after what happened. There is the slight issue that no-one seems to be able to acknowledge what just occurred.

"Are we ever going to speak about what just happened in the city?"

<Drop it, little one>

Father gives me a stern look while mother has a sad look to her.

"I can't, an entire city just got massacred because of me"

<IKARUS! I told you to drop it>

Damn it, I've never heard father use my name like that. I should shut up.

<It's fine Dermak. You don't need to do that, I'm the one that's at fault>

<That's not the point, you weren't the only dragon who went mad. This is one of the times where talking about it will not solve or help anything>

I'm not sure if I agree with him or not but I'll let it go, I think even he feels a little guilty for what's happened. It seems all three us feel responsible for what's happened.

…

The atmosphere in the cave is really tense, I should probably try and ease the tension but I'm not sure how to do it this time.

"Cu!"

Thank God for my little adorable brother, he knows when he's needed. He comes along looking happy and upbeat when the world needed him most.

<What is it littlest one?>

<What is it Minos?>

"Cu, cu cu… Cu!"

<Really? How interesting>

<Minos, that's quite a story>

Okay, I'm calling these two out now, how the hell can they understand him? This isn't like a parent pretending to understand their blabbering child, they know what he's saying.

"I'm don't get how you two know what he's saying, I can only ever make out when he's happy, sad or questioning something"

<Telekinesis, little one>

"It's telepathy! Not- ah, forget it. Why is he able to use it with you but not me?"

[Just because you're impatient doesn't mean your brother has to be. He can't use it with you yet]

"I'm not impa- forget it again. What was he talking about anyway?"

Conversing with these dragons can really get annoying at times, there is no point in arguing with them since father in particular is as stubborn as a mule.

<Minos was telling us how his heroic sister saved him from the pink people>

<Littlest one was very convinced by his sister's ability to kick and slash the rope>

"Cu!"

I swear my face is turning red from embarrassment hearing that. I don't know how since I'm in bird form and I'm more orange but still, I must be.

"Damn it Minos, don't be saying stuff like that, I might puke"

"CU!!"

He then jumps at me doing that horrible cute rubbing thing he did back when he first hatched. Why the hell is he so adorable, it's disgusting.

"Ah- get off… you little-"

__________

(Temporary Perspective Change)

'What to do, what to do?'

"You still haven't entered yet, captain?"

"Ah, Janine. It's good to see you again. I've been standing here for the last hour trying to figure out what to say"

Two knights can be seen outside a set of double doors in a hallway of a palace. The male captain is looking extremely stressed holding a paper report while the female knight is looking slightly curious.

"I thought you only need to report what happened. Wasn't that right, captain?"

"That's not the issue. Depending on how the chancellor reacts, the entire fate of the empire rests on his reaction"

"It can't be that bad"

"You really have no idea the weight of the information I have to give him, Janine"

The female knight tries to reassure her senior with her persona going slightly upbeat.

"I think he's in a good mood today so you should be okay. I've got to get going for practice so I'll see you later captain"

"Yeah yeah"

She then gets going leaving the captain alone.

…

'Damn it, I can't keep delaying'

The captain then enters through the double doors.

Inside the room, a large meeting room with a long gigantic table and a dozen or so chairs can be seen around it. A huge glass window sits on one side of the room and several royal paintings can be seen on the other side.

There is only one person sitting at the conference table, he happens to be at the head of the table.

"Ah, captain Jekyll, you're finally back. Come take a seat over here"

"Chancellor Marcello, I would rather stand if that's alright"

The chancellor has a very happy look to him while the captain is still looking stressed

"That's fine, what do you have to report then?"

"Chancellor, it might be better if you read the report for yourself"

The captain walks over to the chancellor and passes him the report. The chancellor only quickly takes a quick glance at it before his reaction overtakes his composure.

"IT'S DESTROYED!!? How the fuck has it been completely obliterated!? Have the elves caused another uprising?"

"Sir, elves had nothing to do with this"

The chancellor looks extremely furious and a vein can be seen bulging on his forehead.

"Then what the hell caused an entire city to be wiped off the map?"

"Dragons, sir"

"Dragons!? Multiple of them? Why did they come out of the mountains to attack a human settlement? They've been silent for so long; rumour was they've become extinct"

The chancellor calms a little but is still visibly angry, the captain's look of stress still hasn't changed.

"Sir, that's not the worst part"

"There's worse news?"

"One of the dragons, chancellor, was more than double the size of an average one, maybe even triple"

"DOUBLE!?... TRIPLE!!? That can't be true, we've never heard of one being that size. Who made up such a thing?"

Visible sweat is now dripping from the chancellor's head onto the table, any anger he had has turned to stress now.

"Sir, I've spoken to multiple survivors and even confirmed the report from a surviving guard on duty. The smaller dragon even gave the guard a dragon scale"

"A dragon scale? Damn it, that doesn't matter. What are our options captain Jekyll? Are there any heroes who can handle such a beast?"

"No, none of them would even come close to that creature. We only have one option chancellor… peace"

The chancellor now puts his head in his arms flat lying on the table, almost like a sulking child.

"You want to make peace with a couple of dragons that just destroyed an entire city?"

"What I want is of no concern, sir. The empire has no choice, otherwise, it will end up obliterated. That large dragon might be as old as the Gods themselves"

"I understand what you mean captain but asking the royal family to forgive such an act will prove difficult"

"This isn't a matter of forgiveness sir; this is a matter of survival"

Both men understand the severity of the situation at hand and are both acting as such. Since human beliefs are that dragon size compares to age, going to war with a dragon that size would be like going up against a god, it's not a battle that can be won by mortal hands.

"Yes, I know but with the royals and forgiveness, it's basically the same thing as them begging for mercy"

"Actually sir, asking them to beg to the dragon might help"

"Damn it Jekyll, this isn't the time for jokes!... Do we at least know why the dragons attacked in the first place?"

"Sir, it wasn't a joke. Apparently, the ruling lord kidnapped their adopted daughter. The guard himself confirmed as such"

The chancellor's raises his head back up and looks slightly less stressed after hearing that.

"Adopted daughter? Damn that lord Blake, they found his body, correct? He really has put us between a rock and a hard place. If he did such a thing, then maybe the royals might listen to reaso-"