POV Ariane:
Ariane slowly ascended up a tall black staircase cut into a mountain, rising higher and higher. Her heart beat louder and louder with each step she took, the temperature gradually rising.
The steps of her armed escort followed her from behind, their armoured boots landing upon the black volcanic stone.
She couldn’t help but think that their only job was to cut her down if she changed her mind, sending shivers of fear down her neck.
She felt it in the wind, in the stone, in everything around her that there was a terrifyingly powerful source of mana radiation.
She was limping, her feet hurting, and her breath was ragged as she kept slowly climbing up the long staircase of rough hard stone that looked like it would never end.
“So tell me now, what is so secretive that you only want to tell his Majesty? You can speak now; we have come here, and no one will discard you now.” the voice of the notorious insane baroness came from behind her, making her jump up at the unexpected sound, “I thought that you would trust me after our escape.”
Ariane stopped and sat on a nearby boulder, her breathing still rugged, the stabbing pain in her chest subsiding.
“No, it was about trust only at the beginning. But I couldn’t be sure that no one was listening. They have their ears everywhere.”
The black-haired, horned woman just raised her hand into the air, the armoured knights behind her stopping. She approached the same boulder slowly and sat beside her, the air turning hotter.
“Who are they? You must know that if you bother his Majesty with useless information, it will end badly for you.”
Ariane gulped down an image of a massive mouth filled with teeth swallowing her, flashing before her eyes.
“Vampires, the king is a vampire, an old and powerful one on top of that.” her voice turned much quieter, her whole body shuddering when she remembered the long fangs and the glowing red eyes that looked at her as if she was just a walking drink, the feeling of peeing in fear, the feeling of her throat closing in the fear.
The black-haired woman instantly erupted into laughter as if she could feel her fear, her laughter echoing between the rocks and cliffs.
“Haha, vampires… if you are so scared of some vampires, wait until you see his Majesty. He is much more majestic than some pale sun-phobic mosquitos.”
Her hands trembled and were covered in sweat, fear filling her whole mind. She took a deep breath to calm down her nerves.
She rose back on her feet and looked up, ‘I can’t let the dragon wait. That could end badly.’
Sometime later:
Ariane finally put her feet on the last step, her legs, lungs and heart hurting. An immediately immense wave of heat and magic hit her straight into her face, her sight immediately darkening, weakness spreading through her body.
She stood on top of a tall cliff, between black clouds, hot winds gushing around her.
There was no dragon, only thick clouds of impenetrable black smoke rising from down the cliff, with golden purple and blue lights flashing inside it.
‘What is this?’ she blinked in surprise with a cold feeling within her blood expanding and becoming stronger than ever before.
The next moment she fell on her knees, not daring to gaze into the black smoke on the peak before her as she knew that a terrifying monster was hiding in it
The air was uncomfortable, making her feel like she was gazing into an open oven. She felt a slight stabbing in her heart, making her flinch.
“Your Majesty, I am here to ask for your mercy in exchange for my information.”
The air turned even warmer, a mana wave passing through her, her cells inside vibrating under its force, her frosty white hair waving behind her.
“Speak!” a single word exploded through the surroundings, a shockwave passing through the land, raising clouds of dust and ash from the ground.
She cleared her throat and spoke the words she had planned for a long time, “The kingdom isn’t ruled by humans but by the nobles of the night from the shadows. Even the king himself is a powerful vampire.”
“Skip this. I already heard you when you were climbing up here!”
“Your majesty, please spare my family and me! My grandfather never intended to go against you. The vampires forced him. I have lots of information about them. I know where the king will meet with messengers from the neighbouring countries. I know the identities of lots of vampires!”
“No!” That simple word was too much for her. She erupted into tears, collapsing on the hard and hot stone, the pain in her heart worsening.
“I can spare you, but as for your family, there must be a punishment. Everyone must fear me so much that they would rather cross their current masters than even think about going against me using their masters as an excuse.”
Ariane felt pain with each of the words; the worst was that she knew they made sense and were the right decision for the dragon.
She squirmed on the ground in pain. Suddenly even worse, searing pain erupted from her chest, shooting through her whole arm, her vision turning black as she clenched her chest, her bladder releasing in pain and consciousness dissipating.
The dragon kept talking, but she could no longer hear the words, her mind in tatters.
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon stopped, his golden eyes slightly squirming, noticing that the girl before him was dying on the ground. He felt it as he heard that her heart had stopped.
“Wait, don’t die here!” the dragon’s voice boomed against the girl, but she just kept twitching on the ground.
‘Did I just kill someone with my words?!’
Vesuvius felt panic as he felt his cursed heart slightly twitch, a slight tingle of coldness spreading out into his blood before getting drowned in his boiling hot blood.
‘Yes, now I am sure of it. Her ancestor had to drink the blood of the winter dragon that lived here. But through generations of crossbreeding with humans, their bloodline weakened, causing them to lose most of its perks.’
“My minions, come here!” he couldn’t let her die. He felt he should save her as a courtesy to the dead dragon. He also still didn’ get the needed information from her.
In an instant, the kobolds and his baroness minions rushed in up the stairs, their eyes only briefly falling on the still twitching and dying girl before they fell on their knees, kneeling in the shadows of the massive dragon.
“Give her my blood!” Vesuvius bit into his tongue a few droplets of glowing red blood that radiated even more energy than ever before, the air around it burning and catching fire. He somehow felt a duty to resurrect the follower of the dead dragon.
The blood didn’t fall to the ground. It instead slowly floated towards the dying girl.
His minions immediately moved upon his orders, turning her face up and opening her mouth. Finally, the drops of burning blood fell into the depths of her mouth.
The dragon looked at her with interest in his eyes, ‘I wonder what will happen.’
Flames enveloped her body that spasmed, her eyes widely opening with fire surging out of them.
“Ahhh!” her painful cry, filled with magic, cracked the surrounding stone. The flames and ice in her pushing against each other, her mind and body cracking. The magic kept growing in her, the fire and ice fighting a deadly fight.
𝓞𝑣xt.𝐜𝒪𝐌
Waves of frost, flames and lightning were constantly erupting in novas from her body, the ground around her cracking and breaking apart, blinding flashes of light pulsing on top of the cliff.
‘No, this is not good. Her elements are fighting against each other. Her body will be destroyed this way.’
The dragon’s eyes and horns brightly shined, and the fire, lightning, water and wind calmed down in her body as his domain spread through her body. The ice in her blood immediately took the initiative devouring the power from the fire element, growing stronger and slowly transforming the cells.
Vesuvius breathed out in relief, seeing that her body stabilised and slowly started to transform into dragonkin.
Suddenly a cold feeling erupted out of his second heart, spreading and moving through his domain, the air turning slightly chilly.
Vesuvius immediately understood its intentions, ‘So you want to help? Huh, you are quite active for being dead, but I will take upon your offer and borrow your power.’
Vesuvius felt again through his domain. He felt both ice and fire. He felt like he could freely move and manipulate the temperature around him, but that wasn’t what he wanted.
His eyes flashed with mana as he looked at the still struggling girl and violently grabbed both the ice and fire, pushing and smashing them together against their will, forcing them to cooperate.
Bright white flames erupted out of her body, constantly oscillating between freezing and searing hot, the stone around her shattering and breaking under the constant cooling and reheating.
Both elements started to combine and form a new one, with him immediately recognising it, ‘Ohh, frost-fire, this one is toxic. Hated by the players without exception. Almost always dealing critical damage by the rapid temperature oscillation.’
The dragon grinned, his pupils slightly dilating, ‘This new minion will be interesting. Maybe I should start to collect them and make my own perfect set.’