“Very well.”
***
After dropping the Spider Queen off on the new spider home world, the command ship continues on to Dragon World, where the Dragon Empress lays in her palace. She remains in Dragon Sleep, regenerating the life force that drained because of the resurrection spell she cast. The empress's popularity has risen so high in the Empire that it has also impacted the other surrounding empires, both ally and enemy alike. Eve has been in Dragon Sleep for almost a year while the Empire continues rebuilding the civilian and military projects.
During this time, the Dragonlich was also rebuilding the Undead military. This was especially challenging, as he also had to combat the Undead plague that was ravaging and depleting their population. War between the Reptilian Empire and Katin Empire has escalated out of control to the point where they have closed their borders to anyone that was not one of their own. The Ludi are preparing to launch a surprise invasion on the Katin in order to conquer them and the Reptilian Empire.
***
On the border of the Undead Empire and the Dragon Empire, Helcar's command ship patrols; the 7th and 10th fleets are monitoring closely for any incursions.
“Commander, your special guest has landed in Bay 12 and is coming up to the bridge as per your orders,” Lt. Fang reports as the vampire continues monitoring communications at his station.
Helcar says, “Fine. Send her next door to my office.” Helcar exits into a small office that connects to the bridge. Five minutes later, a knock on the door accompanies the chiming of the door.
“Come in,” Helcar instructs.
A thin figure wearing a red hooded cloak and a high tech bow strapped to her back comes in the door. She appears to be human, but with her glowing red eyes, she is most likely a cyborg or an android of some kind.
“Have you completed your mission?” Helcar questions.
“Yes, I have located the planet. I also retrieved the schematics of the layout of the complex. I noted the locations of Target One and Target Two,” Cadi responds as the android inserts an information crystal into the desk computer. A 3D imaging of the complex appears.
“Impressive. The Silent Crimson agents truly deserve their reputation. For the prices your organization charges, you certainly don't disappoint. Did you plant the teleport orb as well?”
“Yes, right here.” Cadi points at a spot on the 3D map.
“Excellent.”
“I could have eliminated your targets while I was there, but my orders were strictly to gather information,” Cadi adds.
“Those two targets are above even your pay grade, I am afraid. Thank you for your service. Your payment has been transferred. If I need your services in the future, I will contact you.”
“Very well. Good luck,” Cadi says, entirely unconcerned with the Fire Demon's success or failure. She exits the office, heading toward her stealth ship.
Helcar says, “So that is why we could not find the Dragon's military production machine! It is located on this Dark World in a nebula that conceals it. Very clever. Luckily, so am I.” She opens the office door and calls out, “Lieutenant Fang! Contact Commander Voss and tell him he has control of the fleets until I return. I am going on a little trip.”
“Yes, Commander.”
The Dragon Fire demon opens a magical portal and disappears through it.
***
Meanwhile on Dark World, the main manufacturing facility for warships and weapons, two female humans, Xaqu and Chaca Noctu, are working in the design center where they spend of most their time. Chaca leaves the center to inspect some of the new ships that had been completed this week, while Xaqu continues to work on designs for new battlebots. It is lunch hour, so most of the building is empty. It was not unusual for Xaqu to work through lunch, though; she has always been very involved with her work.
Xaqu hears the door open behind her and glances back to see who has returned from lunch. She gazes in fear at a tall female wrapped in flames. The creature has a bony spiked exterior and tail, and is carrying a fire whip in one hand. Before Xaqu can react, the fire whip snaps through the air and wraps around Xaqu's neck. Helcar yanks on the whip, knocking Xaqu out of the chair and onto the floor. Xaqu pulls at the fire whip, struggling to get free as it burns through her neck. She fruitlessly attempts to mind control her attacker.
“Your mind powers have no effect on me, young one. I was expecting more of a challenge from the daughter of the Dragon Empress. Oh, well. There is always the other one. Maybe she will be more fun to kill.” Helcar continues her taunting diatribe as she once again yanks ferociously on the whip and dismembers Xaqu's head from her body.
“Can't have your mother raise you from the dead now can we?” Helcar tosses a fireball onto the body as it burns to ashes. “One down, one to go.” The door opens behind Helcar and she turns to see a familiar person standing in front of her.
“What have you done, demon?” Gothica demands in a harsh tone as she draws her four magical frost blades into a whirlwind display, slicing through the air.
Helcar backs up whips her boney tail at Gothica, releasing a hail of flying bone spikes. The arachnid warrior deflects most of the assault with her blades, then dodges to the left as the rest of the spikes hit the wall.
“Destroyed Eve's daughter, of course. I was waiting for the second one to come through the door, but her adopted daughter will have to do,” Helcar chides.
“I thought you might want me to remove your other eye, since I didn't get to finish our fight from our last encounter, bitch,” Gothica says as she opens her eye visor and releases a large green energy blast. The blast hits Helcar, knocking her through the wall and into the courtyard outside along with scattered debris. Gothica vanishes. Helcar is stunned but gets up slowly; her fire shield absorbed most of damage but not the shock.
“I plan on taking your limbs off one at a time, spider. You will beg me to end you.” Helcar taunts Gothica, but her bravado is obviously a bluff. She is actually uncertain of the outcome. Helcar begins scanning the room with her detection magic.
“What is the matter, demon? Lose something? Your magic will not detect me!” Gothica continues her taunting as she suddenly appears on Helcar's right side and plows ice blades into the demon’s bony exterior. Helcar screeches in pain and whips her dangerously spiked tail at Gothica, stabbing her in the chest. The bony barb sinks into Gothic's ice armor and tastes her flesh. Gothica staggers backwards trying to regain her balance, Helcar slashes her fire whip, catching the arachnid’s legs and causing her to fall on the ground.
General Scales, returning from an inspection, notices the commotion in the courtyard as he is walking down the path to the design center. The hefty 50' foot tall gold dragon leaps up and flies over to investigate.
Helcar looks up and sees the massive gold dragon heading in her direction; she hastily decides it’s time to leave.
“We will have to continue this at another time, spider,” Helcar says as she opens up a portal and steps through it. Gothica gets up off the ground as the portal closes. General Scales lands in front of Gothica.
“What is going on? Are you okay?” General Scales asks.
Gothica has noticeable bleeding coming out of her armor and one of her legs. “We have an intruder...” She stops to catch her breath before she can finish her warning.
General Scales presses a button on a bracer he is wearing, causing the general alarm to sound. Alarms are screeching and blaring loudly. Space Marines flood the area, and some dragons take to the sky searching for enemies. Chaca comes running over to Gothica.
Chaka’s eyes are wild and her breathing is frantic as she approaches. “What is going on? Are we under attack?”
“No, the intruder has left. It was Helcar,” Gothica replies.
“I wonder how she found our location. This is not good at all,” Scales replies.
“I will get medical to come, sister. I will be back,” Chaca says in a rushed voice.
Gothica says with labored breath
ing, “I will heal... There is more... It’s Xaqu. I am sorry, sister. Helcar has slain her and destroyed her body. She is lost to us forever.”
“What? No ... no!” Chaca bursts into tears as she falls to her knees, her face in her palms. Gothica goes and puts her arms around Chaca as they both grieve for their fallen sister. The general orders the Space Marines to secure the area and take the two girls back to Dragon World via the portal.
***
Zaqusuiga, a huge purple Serpent Dragon, is visiting Xoth the Dragonlich in one of her palaces. Also known as Zaqu, the strange dragon is a very powerful user of many different types of magic. He is known to appear before powerful beings asking for items or favors in return for the same. No one knows his true agenda and he appears to be only self-serving, never taking sides.
Xoth turns around after pacing for about 30 minutes to see Zaqu standing there.
“Would you stop popping in whenever you decide? I may be busy or not want to be bothered. Oh what is the point? You do whatever you want. Why are you here?” Xoth demands.
Zaqu says calmly, “I am here to offer you great information and assistance, of course.”
“Oh yeah? What is it going to cost me this time?” Xoth asks with her attitude on full display.
“Two life orbs.”
“Two life orbs! Do you know how hard it is for me to make even one of those? And you want two of them? I don't want to be dragon-sleeping for five years,” Xoth says.
“Okay, one life orb then. Don't you have one already made?”
“Yes, but that is for emergency purposes only,” Xoth grinds out.
“You will want this information,” Zaqu presses.
“I bet I already have this information... Is it that the Elemental Empire is now at civil war over the telepath issue?”
“Nope.”
A voice comes over the palace intercom, “Your Highness, you better turn on your intergalactic Vid. You will want to see this.”
“Thank you, LT.” Xoth walks over to a big screen and presses a button. The screen activates and the Dragon Empress is on it making a statement.
Eve’s voice and eyes are steely as she makes her speech. “The cease fire agreement with Xoth and the Undead Empire is no more. Xoth has brutally murdered my daughter and for that, I will erase the Undead from existence. Xoth, I am coming for you. I will kill you with my bare claws.” The Vid ends.
Xoth begins to panic. “What the hell is she talking about? I didn't kill her daughter! I am not stupid; I know we are in no position to take on Dragon Legions. I am being blamed for something I didn't do. I don't get it. Why would she think I killed her daughter?”
“Maybe you didn't, but someone did and you are getting blamed for it. Heard from your pet lately?”
“Helcar? Why would Helcar do that?”
Zaqu explains, “Actually, it makes perfect sense from her point of view. You summoned her from Firegate, a planet on another plane. Her main objective is to get back to Firegate. If she dies here on this plane, she will be reborn on Firegate just like a teleport. Her second objective is to screw over her summoner as best as she can to get revenge for summoning her. She has to do what you tell her to do here, but that does not stop her from doing things you don't tell her to do. If she dies trying to kill the Empress's daughters, she goes back to Firegate and starts a war against you at the same time. If she lives, she faces your wrath and hopes you will kill her or banish her back to Firegate. Either way, she completes both objectives at the same time. You didn't honestly think you could control such a chaotic creature did you?”
“URRRUGH...that witch! Killing is too good for her. I’m going to torture her instead,” Xoth yells out of frustration.
“But that is not going to solve your problem with the Dragon Empress. She is not a happy camper,” Zaqu reminds the Dragonlich.
“Do you have a solution?”
“Yes, but it will cost you a life orb.” Zaqu knows he has leverage.
Xoth breaks down and replies, “Okay, but this idea of yours better work.”
“I can take care of Helcar for you. Just put her in this planar cell where she can’t escape and I will take her with me to my lab for experiments,” Zaqu says.
“All right. I will summon her here and force her into the cell. What about the Dragons?” Xoth inquires.
“Get allies and attack the Dragons from several sides. On the other side of the Dragon Empire are two races called the Djinn and the Fire Imps. The Djinn would love to get their hands on Faerie World, and the Fire Imps would like to get the lava planet Ferna. Both are in the Dragon Empire. I can contact the leaders and make the proposal for you. The Ludi might also be interested. They are about to invade Katlin. I am sure they could keep going and attack the Wolfkins on one side and you can attack them from the other side.”
“Hmmm... worth a shot. Although they may not like working with the Undead.” Xoth ponders the situation more before coming to a decision. “Set it up.”
“Will do.”
***
After some talks over the next few days, the Undead, Djinn, Ludi, and the Fire Imps agree to form an alliance. Secretly, though, the Djinn, Ludi, and Fire Imps decide to have a separate Vid conference of their own.
General Scota of the Ludi says, “So, what do you think of this deal with the Undead? I don’t trust them to be honest.”
King Satch of the Djinn agrees. “We don't trust them either. What do you wanna do?”
Marshal Yuso of the Imps chimes in. “I think we should see if Xoth delivers. If it looks like she is going to be the victor, then we support them for now. But if the Dragons are winning, we change sides to support them.”
General Sota ponders this before offering his own solution. “Hmmm… Let’s just hang back and see what happens instead of attacking. This way we can see if the Undead can win without our support and without posing any risk to ourselves. If the dragons are winning, let’s ally with them and attack the Undead.”
They all say in unison, “Agreed.”
***
Eve sits in her throne room doing her daily routine, when Zaqu suddenly appears in the room. The dragon guards in the room move to attack. Eve waves the guards off.
“Oh, it’s you. What do you want Zaqu? Don't you have some other king, queen, or empress to bother? I am really not in the mood for your games,” Eve says with some irritation.
“I am just here to serve you, my empress.”
“Well since I can't read your mind for some reason, I wonder if that is the truth or just more of your blabbering.”
“But I am. I have something you want greatly,” Zaqu says.
Eve says sarcastically, “Your disappearance would be nice.”
“Touché. I have Helcar in my possession and I would be glad to give her to you for a favor in the future,” Zaqu says, “I also have some information that you would be interested in, but it will cost you two of your scales.”
Eve suddenly becomes interested when Helcar's name is mentioned. But she then becomes suspect of everything Zaqu said.
“How did you get Xoth's pet?”
“Apparently, Helcar became more trouble than she was worth to Xoth, so she gave the demon to me in a trade deal,” Zaqu explains.
“I wasn't aware you did deals with Xoth,” Eve says in a concerned manner.
“I will do deals with anyone. I don't judge people,” Zaqu says bluntly.
“I bet you’ll betray anyone too, if it benefits you. Why do you want my scales?”
“I am wounded. I keep strict confidential information for all my clients. Your scales have more magical properties than other dragons, therefore, they are more useful in my research,” Zaqu says with an honest used car salesman's attitude.
“Bah, I never believe anything you say for free. Instead of some unknown favor in the future, I will give you four of my scales now,” Eve states.
“Very well,” Zaqu says as he opens a portal and levitates a cage through it. He brings the cage to
rest on the floor. Helcar is shouting obscenities from within the cage. She sees the Dragon Empress and stops talking as fear sets in.
“What information do you have, Zaqu?”
“Helcar killed your daughter of her own accord. Xoth had nothing to do with it. Xoth has formed an alliance with the Ludi, Djinn, and Fire Imps in order to attack you.”
“Xoth must be truly desperate to seek out allies against me, but is probably because of Helcar's scheme.” Eve turns around and approaches the cage, looking at Helcar, “Yes, I can see into your mind, demon. You want to go home. Your punishment will be banishment from Firegate forever. You forget I am a master of teleportation magic. I can cut your link to other planes and you will be stuck on this plane forever.”
“No... Please don't do that!” Helcar whimpers.
Eve begins a long incantation as yellow light shoots forth and envelops Helcar. The demon begins screaming in unbearable pain as she feels herself being cut off from her home plane of existence. She collapses on the ground, dazed.
“Get her out of the cage and hold her up,” Eve commands.
“You have taken my daughter from me; henceforth you will serve me forever. Remember: You are part dragon and part demon. On this plane, I rule all dragons,” Eve says, touching Helcar's forehead just before a symbol of servitude appears on it. “From this day forward, I will know everything you think, everything you say, and everything you do. You will obey my commands without question and will not act without my permission.”
The palace intercom activates and General Scales’ voice rings out. “The Undead have invaded Wolfkin Space and captured their home world in a surprise attack. They now have fleets attacking Sections 9, 12, and 15 on our border. They are going to attempt to take Dark World with 50% of their attack force. The Djinn and Fire Imps are amassing for an attack on the other side of our space. The Ludi have also launched an invasion force to capture all of the Katin Empire and are advancing on the Reptilians.”
To be continued in Episode 2
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