Dawn- An age of Darkness

We reached the castle-manor whatever thingy a bit later than I thought. 

The hall was mostly empty. And when we entered the throne room, all I saw was the earl going left to right, panicking. 

There weren't many in here and the few that were were following him around like sheep and doing the same. 

"What happened?"

Even the smell of the air was different. This morning, there was a fragment scent here, now, nothing. 

The moment he heard my voice, he jumped. "My lord, you're back!" 

'Please tell me you're not jumping around because of me.' I really hoped that wasn't the case. "Did something happen?"

"No, it's just… I thought you weren't coming back. May-maybe we weren't good enough for your lordship-"

Was this guy serious?

Yes!

"Look here pal, I already took this job and I'm going to finish it. I don't plan to run before finishing what I started." I really didn't want to. 

His face lit up a little. Interesting performance. "Oh my lord!" he almost cried. Very interesting performance indeed. "Shall we have breakfast now?"

This guy still hadn't forgotten that?

"Would you like to indulge your time on food while your country risks of being trampled over?" Alisa said. Her tone, very threatening. 

I guess she already knew how to handle this thing. 

"Very, well." The earl looked ahead. "How can I have food while you are risking your lives on an empty stomach?"  I had no idea what the hell he was staring at. "Let us traverse to the capital."

Did-did we break him?

It sure felt that way. 

And we kind of already had breakfast though. I almost felt bad. 

***

We climbed the stairs and it took roughly ten minutes to climb this whole thing. I really hoped the dwarves would invent an escalator like the elves or something, but oh well. 

My legs still hated me though. 

Once at the top of the building, aka, the mountain, I was lost. What were we supposed to do now and where were we even supposed to go?

I had no idea. 

And it was pretty windy too. 

The earl brought two soldiers with him, one being the decorated one, and the other, a girl who looked like a scholar but wore armor. I didn't know if just bringing two with him was a good idea on his part. After all, wasn't he trusting me too much?

But then again, he didn't know how big Ve could get. Actually, I didn't either. 

Just how big could Ve get anyway?

"I'll transform." As if to answer my question, Ve started to transform. 

Her proportions started to change and her height, weight everything changed. From just roughly six feet, she grew taller and taller, fatter and fatter until she finally settled around twenty-six in length and maybe eight in width. 

"Wait, weren't you supposed to look like Xerphas? I mean he looked like a snake you know." A snake with wings to be more precise. 

But this guy, Ve looked more or less like the large dragon I fought outside the city walls.  Just about two or three times smaller. Kind of like those small dragons I fought inside the city of Tehram.

Ve didn't even acknowledge my question. "Climb on."

I might or might not have offended her with that remark. 

I sighed. "Do you even know where to go?"

I climbed first, followed by Alisa and then the Earl and his attendants. We were pretty high up in the mountain, but even from here, I could see loads and loads of people staring at us. And yet, no one was panicking. 

Did word travel that fast?

"By the way, what is that thing?" The earl asked, pointing at my neck.

"Trust me, I wanna know that too." I sighed. I sighed hard. 

"I've already given heads-up throughout the kingdom." 

"How?"

"Wireless transmission." He grinned. 

These guys had already invented the radio!?

Holy, mother of god. Oh wait, there were no gods left. Let alone their mothers. 

But still, this was a pretty good discovery. And if they had technology like this, they literally had a lot of advantage in the coming war. 

'I've to stop this before all of this gets ugly.'

Ve's neck was pretty wide, so I couldn't grab properly. And then there were the sharp scales. "Can't you do anything about these?"

Again, she didn't acknowledge my presence. "Hold on tight."

She flapped hard and I was already about to fall. Biteria was strangling me while Alisa was literally hugging me so tight, I felt like my lungs would burst. But they didn't. 

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

Ve slowly lifted off and within a minute picked up speed and altitude. Both my neck and my lungs were kind of safe now. I could breathe. 

I looked back and the earl was still here. He actually didn't have a problem and nor did his attendants. 

Why the hell was I being squeezed alive then?

All this ease up as Ve speed up some more and everything stabilized, but still!

***

"That's the capital!" The earl screamed. 

The wind was pretty high up here. I could barely keep my eyes open. 

"UH-HUH!"

I nodded. There was nothing I could do but that. I could barely see the city and the thing in the middle of the city. A large castle with a garden of sorts in front of it. 

The city was bigger than Saram and probably more prosperous. Well, it was the capital after all. And it was surrounded by mountains on all sides except the front. 

I guess this was a recurring thing with the dwarves. They favored defense over everything else. 

I didn't care though. Just looking down, was making the winds screw my eyes. I really wanted some goggles right about now. 

Ve, smoothly took us down- at least that's what I wanted to say, but she didn't. 

She blitzed, rolled, and descended super-fast, almost as if, she really, really wanted to kill us. 

Me to be more specific!

"AHHHH!"

***

When I finally touched the ground, I started to kiss the grass, literally. "I'll never fly with you again! Ever!"

I glared Ve but she just looked sideways and pouted. 

What the hell was she getting mad for? I was the victim here!

But she was true to her word, she had gotten us here in less than half an hour. 

The earl had actually brought an hourglass to confirm all this, and sure enough, it was still ticking. The sand was still about one-tenth remaining, meaning we were at least three mins early. 

I took deep breaths and stood tall as a group of men headed towards us. 

I looked around and there were soldiers in all sides but they weren't making any attempts in coming towards us like the ones in front. 

Roughly ten meters away from us, they all bowed. Every soldier in the vicinity followed suit. Even the ones far away. 

Honestly, I did not understand royalty. 

"Lord Daarc Green, it is a pleasure to meet you in a flesh." All of them were suit-wearing people, so I guess they were just high-class soldiers. Some actually looked like nobles. 

One of them was the leader who, if I was being frank, looked pretty strong. Like seriously, strong. I didn't know if he was or not, but he sure looked the part. And his armor was black, like literally. Was he a dark knight or something?

"The pleasure is all mine, please raise your heads."

I was really envious of that color for some reason. It was definitely not because of my name, okay!?

They promptly stood up and again bowed in a courtly manner. "You're far too kind. Please follow us, my lord."

Well, wasn't this guy humble!

I gave a side glance to my companions and they all nodded. 

Strangely, no one even acknowledged the presence of the earl. 

I guess he wasn't as important as I thought him to be. But wasn't the Earl a prince?

***

The castle from the outside looked a bit better than the Earl's home but overall, the same design, just enlarged a little. 

I did like this green garden though. It didn't have much but the grass was soft and there were flowers scattered here and there. The smell was nostalgic. 

Once in, things were a bit different. First of all, there were a lot more soldiers in here, maids and even butlers. And instead of being a long linear hallway, this place was like a maze. Plus there were more colors. This really was a castle fit for royalty. And everything was scented with tuberose essence. 

My initial impression definitely did not do this place justice. 

"Please wait a moment here, my lord." The soldier again bowed. "I'll inform my lord beforehand."

Wait, hadn't the earl done that?

I nodded. The soldier went in. 

Something seemed fishy. I was sure they wouldn't pull something stupid but I couldn't be too sure. So I kept my guard up and also kept my eyes on my surroundings. 

I glanced back at the earl and he came close. "You'll understand soon enough, why I was against this," he whispered. 

Wait, you were against this? Hey, no one told me!

Sigh. 

"Now, entering, the lord of Helsing, the Archduke of Alfeim, Lord Daarc Green!" A herald declared the large double door started to open. 

"By the way, are lord and duke the same?" I whispered to Alisa.

"No, and that's a major offense. Don't let this pass." She hissed back. 

"Roger."

We went in.