Emperor's Reckoning

She picked up his unconscious body by her slender arms as a different type of tears coming out of her eyes. She looked at his fluttering hair who was at the mercy of the wind. Her fingers combed it through as they descended down, adjusted by her silvery draconic wings.

Like a painting of a masterpiece, the both of them were blessed by the lunar herself. The gleaming light was reflected by thousands of broken gemstones on the ground. She touched his forehead with hers before with a flap of a wing, only the slap of the wind was heard.

Nature was stilled as they were left awake at the two disappearances.

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Under the night of a certain island was an empire that stretched far and wide. Most people living inside were already sleeping on their comfy beds while the rest enjoyed the nighttime inside a bar. The tired guards were looking at the empty road ahead with their eyebags drowning their cheeks as they both hated and loved the peace at the same time. However, for them, this job was the best job there was since no enemy would have dared to attack the empire, even if they did, they wouldn't be responsible because of the large scale they would have attacked the empire with.

"Hey, have you heard that something wild is going on on the human side of the world," said one of the guards who was a giant.

"The humans are always wild, what are you talking about?" said the one that was from a bloodline of the dwarves.

"I heard that the central empire, their very foundation was attacked yesterday, however, the details were unknown," muttered the giant.

"Hmm, isn't that kinda like huge news?"

The giant furrowed his eyebrows, "Yeah, now that I think about it, won't this be the best time to launch an attack?"

"Oh man, I'm not prepared for a large-scale war."

"What are you talking about? We won't be doing anything in the war."

"Please stop reminding me that my job is to guard the empire that has never been attacked in the last, like, I don't know, a thousand years? I really should have learned to smith instead."

"Hah, you don't even know what an anvil is."

"Shut up, you don't even kno—"

The dwarve halted his word as he looked up against the moon. A silvery draconic wing was visible to his big rounded eyes as his mouth was left in awe. Not even the long beard that covered half of his body was as magnificent as that.

The giant furrowed his eyebrows before he followed his glance to the sky. His eyes immediately opened wide in surprise as he recognized those wings.

"A silver draconic wings," his lips quivered when he described what he saw.

"Only two of the royalties have silvery draconic wings, the great queen and..."

"The princess," muttered both of them before they looked at one another.

"That's gotta be her, legend said that her wings were far more bright than her mother."

"But wait, I think, she is carrying someone?"

"I don't know giant, you are the one that is way taller than me, if you can't see it do you think a dwarf like me could see better?!"

"What? So that big eyes of yours are only for show?"

"These eyes only got so big because of you!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean your mama was so big, I need to stretch my eyes open to not disrespect her!"

"That's... my mama is a giant though."

"...ok."

"You suck at this man."

"Shut up."

The dragon lady drove the air with her silvery draconic wings before she found herself above a balcony. Though her naked body was at the mercy of nature's cold chilling night, she felt nothing but warmth in her heart. When her bare foot touched the floor her wings evaporated into bits of light, leaving her shoulder.

Her beautiful heart-shaped butt crisscrossed as she put her legs forward and began walking toward her room. Her beautiful jade hair gradually draped around her shoulder the moment both of her feet touched the carpet inside the room.

With only the moon and the stars as the natural light to illuminate the room, one could see a big bedroom befitting of a princess right in the middle facing both of them. She casually approached the sheets before placing the young man on top of the bed gently.

She looked at his innocent face as she put her hand on his cheek. She closed her eyes before putting her forehead against his once more. Savoring the moment of peace that her heart had so long lost its feeling of.

"Unbelievable until the end... what happened to you... I have so many questions... But I know it's you..."

She shook her head with a smile on her face, "You look younger than me now."

"How can you forget about me... stupid, but it's fair trade right, I even forgot about your face hehe." pouted the dragon lady before she snuggled on his chest.

She could feel his heartbeat, the rhythm of thumping that calmed her soul. She put her arm across his chest, "I'm not letting you go now, not ever. I don't believe in next time anymore."

The two of them fell into a slumber, one was recuperating from pain unaware of what's happening while the other was hugging the former as if their life attached to one another. Their fate finally intertwined once again. The woman kept on waiting till she forgot the face who she waited for, while the young man only followed his instinct.

Never did Lyon thought that the dragon lady he wanted to meet based on the old story would end up with him being on her bed. If he were to wake up now, surely he would be surprised, but a welcome one for sure. However, unbeknownst to both of them, the door of her room crept open before revealing a shadow and a gritted teeth.

Soon the peaceful night went by in a flash before the sun started to rise and illuminate the empire. The people of the demi-humans started to wake one by one as they started their daily activities. Some were stretching while the others immediately rushed into the market to buy groceries and food.

"Good morning!"

"Hello!"

"What a fine day today to go fishing!"

"You fish all night yesterday!"

The chattering of the people was heard loud and clear. Their happy mood was apparent on their faces. The demi-humans were living at probably the peaceful moment before an anomaly was heard.

"Hey check out the square! Hurry!" a little kid with horns on his head was shouting and caught the adults' attention.

"What, what's wrong little one?" said one of the adults.

"A human, a human is being crucified in the middle of the square!"

"What!"

The demi-humans immediately rushed to the square that was a big as a football field. The moment they entered the vicinity, their mouths went agape with disbelieving eyes. A very tall pole stood high that even the giants need to lookup. A human was being crucified on it. His arms were stretched open and tied to the cross while his legs were also bound.

He wore nothing but a ragged swordsman robe that had few cuts here and there with ripped sleeves that had a burn mark to boot. His head was facing down with his hair covered in his expression. However, unbeknownst to them, the red bandage was the result of dried-up blood. The bruises on his body were no more there but his consciousness was still out of him.

The lady dragon twitched her eyebrows before she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils were immediately shrunken as she didn't see the face she was waiting to wake up to. She panicked and looked around the room. She checked under the bed, inside the wardrobe and he was not there. Her heart couldn't be calmed anymore as she wore another swordsman robe and prepared to take flight before stopping on the balcony. Her eyes opened wide as she took a glimpse at the square.

"A disgusting human has infiltrated the castle and he dared to leer his eyes on the princess!"

Shouted a man who wore nothing but fancy clothes before he continued, "Thank the lord that His Majesty had caught the man red-handed and brought him here. A public execution! His corpse will be sent to his empire as a lesson not to mess with us!"

"Oh, what a tragic fate our princess had to face, we will not let that happen to her ever again! She is our pride, our joy! Our future depends on her! Begone with this human!"

The lady dragon gaped mouth slowly formed a grit as her fingers buried deep inside her palms. Her eyebrows furrowed like a sword as her beautiful silvery pupils permeated out killing intent.