Emperor Killian Luce Anagra, the youngest emperor in Anagra’s history that ascends on the throne, killed the dragon that was once a human, and his cousin, Herion Veles Delcour or known as Dragon King, the man who brought the mightiest empire into ruins.
Herion destroyed diplomatic relationships through sabotaging the international borders that caused territorial dispute with other kingdoms. Emperor Killian gives an Imperial Order to remove the Dukedom Title on Herion’s name and he was the only criminal ordered to be killed-on-the-spot, the only accused noble without a trial to be held. Herion became most wanted because of treason and other crimes he did. He sets the largest port of the Empire into fire, killing thousands of people and hundreds of businesses that fatally affect the Empire’s oversea commerce. Pirates began to rampage the port and the nearby cities.
Herion did not stop destroying the Empire. The Mana stone mine of the highest class, black diamond, owned by the royal family, and the primary source of Empire’s income, was also destroyed with the help of an Arch mages from Hakova Kingdom in western archipelago led by Raja Kal’el. His alliances with other monarch turn the eastern Anagra into ashes and land of fire.
Anagra Empire’s northern region is slowly being taken by the monsters from the Eversnow Region, territory of exiled of dark creatures and demonic prowess. The Southern, Serena Port and the whole province, has been taken by the pirates, and the Empire’s west was taken down by Raja Kal’el. The citizen who survive, take refugee on the late Empress’ land, the province of Nadia. Millions of Agran, Anagra’s citizen, died due to never ending war between three different forces. The Imperial Family, including the Empress Dowager, and the young Imperial Prince was sent further in Selmor province that is not completely taken by Raja Kal’el—the farthest coastal region from the capital— while Emperor Killian went in to Nadia Province where Herion become a dragon and completely lost his humanity. He’ll only go back to being human if he dies.
“Emperor succeeded on killing Herion but he was in utter disbelief when he heard what he says. Save my nephew… his voice was broken, and there’s a glimpse of tears on his blurring silver eyes. Killian, felt something welling up from his abdomen. The Dragon’s silver eyes become dull, just like the sky when it’s about to rain heavily. He did not expect that his cousin’s death would make him feel disheartening, like a rain pouring down on a small and thin paper boat”
A pair of reddish-brown eyes opened. Her black and wavy hair bounces as she sits up from lying on the floor. She has been listening to her sister that holds the red hard-cover book, with her lips parted and went speechless with confuse look on its hazelnut eyes. She giggled from her sister’s priceless reaction.
Her sister slowly looks at her baffled, “Saskia…”
Saskia’s giggles turn into a laugh. She does enjoy those kinds of expressions from her younger sister. She gave her sister a sly smile, “Did you enjoy, Rynelle?” it sounds more sarcastic
“Damn you, author!” Rynelle kept whining about the ending of the Saskia’s latest book. “Who’s the real enemy then?”
Saskia shrugged her shoulders, forcing her lips not to curved, “make a guess?”
“Hmm…. I don’t’ know!”
Saskia laughed, “wait for the third book then”
Rynelle pouts, and closed the book and put it on the picnic cloth. “Will it take a year? I should call Mrs. Hamilton!”
Saskia stood up and wiped her pants’ bottom, “that's cheating!” she walks toward the cliff.
Saskia stood next to the oldest tree, which was once her family’s bonding place. She felt nostalgic as she looked back at her sister. It has been three years since they made up. Rynelle blames her for their parents’ death because of a car accident. She was still young back then; they both became orphans at the age of 20 and 17. She still feels sorry, but happy. Her father might have opposed her being a writer instead being a lawyer, but her father was the first one to congratulate her for successfully being a published author at a very young age.
“Saskia, why are you smiling?”
Saskia flinched at her sister’s voice—stunned at her sister's cold expression. Her heart begun to beat horribly uneven, she can even feel her cold sweats. She gulped and tried to spek, “I... I was just rem...reminiscing...?” stuttering at her own words, she managed to crack a simple but futile joke. She went frozen still when she met Rynelle’s piercing gaze at her. “Ryn…?”
Rynelle’s blazing hazelnut eyes felt like a knife at Saskia’s chest, trying to recall what she had done, or if she had said something awful. "W-what's...the prob—?!"
“You’re happy?” her voice was as cold as ice, just like her looming gazes at her. it was sarcastic enough that Saskia almost choked from a distant memory. She instinctively walks backward from her sister’s ominous approach. Rynelle stopped two steps from her, “Ry…nelle?” she tried to talk to her sister, but her words could not reach Rynelle.
“Murderers can’t be happy, Saskia.” her voice was calm but it stings Saskia's heart. She tried to take two steps toward her sister, she wants to hug her, she wants to say sorry, she wanted to say a lot of things but words could not reach her throat as if she is being choked by her sister's resentful gazes.
Rynelle put her hands on Saskia's chest. "I hated you, I lived for this day to kill you"
“What—!” she couldn’t grab her sister's hand.
Rynelle looked down on her as she falls off from the cliff. Saskia could not see her sister clearly because of her thick hair, and the tears flowing from her eyes nonstop blurring her vision.
"Rynelle!"
The black horse—covered in thin snow—stopped as the man in his bloody armor pulled the rein. His silver-grey eyes gleams beneath the shadows of his messy hair with the darkest shade of blue. His chest tightens with an unknown reason. It wasn’t because of his unbearable dragon power, but more of pleasant, and inexplicable excitement he never felt before, like there was an invisible cord tugging his heart.
The man with ginger hair and green piercing eyes approached his lord from its back, with the same bloody armor and smoking mouths as he breathes “Your Grace…?” he asked warily.
Even the other knights halted as they saw their lord seems to be disturbed for the first time in that 3 hours trip back to their campsite.
He stared at his back farther, roaming and trying to get a glimpse behind the tall trees of the frozen forest they had left few hours ago. The knights looked at each other with their lord’s flustered expression. They were confused, and considered the cold weather was the reason of his red face.
“Does anybody hear the scream of a woman?”
