Chapter 11

Victor was sleeping soundly under a tree. No bad weather to rain on his parade, and no Frontsmen to bother him. Most knew better than to wake Lothar’s son up for no good reason. Nevertheless, he was guaranteed a good night’s sleep, except on those nights. When someone in his dreams came knocking.

And tonight was one of those nights. He ‘woke up’ on a giant altar. Exactly where he’d been turned into a dragon, in the ancient Draconist temple in the Occidentis Mountains. The marble walls shone bright from sunlight coming in high. Sunlight that wasn’t supposed to be there. The temple had been built inside of a mountain, hidden from the rest of the world.

Sighing, Victor got up, looked at his clearly human hand, then bit his lip. “Here we go again,” he grumbled under his breath, eyes searching for the stranger who’d always be here.

Sure enough, he was here. Right in front of Victor, as a matter of fact, wearing a smile that wasn’t his. Once again, he had adopted the short blond hair, young yet stern face, and armour that belonged to Eric, Victor’s best friend. The same friend he had to kill. Years had passed since that happened, and yet Victor flinched all the same when their eyes met.

The stranger just shook his head, a slight smile on his face. “Call it an ideal image,” he said as he walked up to Victor, then laid a hand on his shoulder. “You know what I’m here for, don’t you?”

Victor blinked a few times. “This is about the crown, isn’t it. And you’re going to tell me the exact same story as my dad. Go to a temple no one’s seen in centuries, get the crown And I’ll hold back my question of ‘What’s the point? That crown has collected dust for just as long as Lokahn’s existed’, except… actually no, I’m not even holding it back, am I? Answer.”

‘Eric’ had but a shrug to give. “I’m afraid that I do not have muchnew information to share, Victor. There is a tremendous power within that crown. One you must retrieve, lest it fall into evil hands. Should you fail in this… well. My lone comfort is that you will not be around to see the horrors said evil will inflict upon the world.”

Victor clicked his tongue in an obnoxious manner. “Sure, sure. And I was meant to be a giant red dragon all along. Sounds like more hogwash to me. We just pretend the world is going to end. Nonsense.”

The image shrugged. “Believe whatever you want to believe. I’m afraid you will be quite disappointed in your own predictions eventually, however.”

“Egh.” Victor folded his arms. “You know… every single time you have appeared in my life, disaster has struck. Without fail. You show up, all the abyss breaks loose.”

A deep sigh came from the image, while it nodded along to Victor’s every word. “That is most regrettable. But this is a coincidence. I have no control over how matters proceed in the real world. Not to that extent. I can influence. Insinuate. But there is no control on my part.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Then explain. Do you just enjoy bothering me before things go bad? Am I hallucinating? Do I have a sixth sense?”

The image raised its hand. “I will reveal this much: I may not be able to influence the world directly, but I can sense what is about to happen. And that, perhaps, is why my appearances before you come in those times.”

Their words reverberated from the temple’s walls. It made them sound more powerful, but Victor didn’t buy it. His words echoed much the same. The power was empty within… and it wasn’t the only thing Victor found empty about all of this.

“You’re not helping me. Do you think I’m stupid enough to see you as help? No. No you’re not.” Victor shook his head. “You’re malicious. That’s what this is, malicious. What else is it supposed to be-”

One more, the image raised his hand, this time in a far more regrettable manner.

“Please, Victor. My goal is not to hurt you. Not in any way, shape or form, no. I only wish to make sure you are prepared for the trials ahead, yes?”

“Really? Then what ‘trial’ is up next? You sure like giving me them,” Victor said while tapping his foot. The image nodded back.

“Let me show you…”

In the blink of an eye, the ethereal walls of the temple faded away into sunlight. A moment later, the cheers of a crowd filled his ears. A vast, beautiful city of marble materialised in front of him. He found himself in a crowded square, with humans as far as the eye could see gazing at him, studying his body from horns to talons. Victor shivered as he raised a claw up to eye height. The transformation back had occurred without him even realising it.

Would’ve been nice the first time…

A growl rumbled in the back of his throat, but wouldn’t come out. Victor sensed he wasn’t the only dragon nearby. Indeed, Celesta was on his left, and his father on the right, addressing the crowd. Lothar wore a massive crown on his head, one that accommodated his massive horns. Yet, it looked similar to the description of Reval’s crown. Reval was a human, however. Some sort of magic had to have been performed on it.

Nevertheless, Victor didn’t let that detail distract him. There were far greater things on the mind.

This is the Citadel, isn’t it? I’ve never seen it myself, only heard the stories… it’s beautiful. Does the actual Citadel get this amount of sunlight, too? No rain? Have all these beautiful marble buildings? Everyone’s celebrating, there’s no damage… is this the end of the war?

Victor looked on amazed as the cheers continued. Everything in sight was perfect. The buildings, the weather, all the people in front of him, too. Everyone was beautiful, no matter how pretty or ugly they were…

And yet, flowery as the world had become, there was something off. And it took a while before he settled on what. But even the blind would know something was amiss. Lothar was present, holding a speech that demanded everyone’s undivided attention, but no one could hear it. And no one in the crowd seemed to acknowledge the gold dragon’s presence, only Victor. Some took notice of Celesta, or the other dragons around, like Novekk and Raghes. But not Lothar.

Stolen story; please report.

In his puzzlement, Victor searched the crowd for answers… only to once again find the image there, smiling at him. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked, teeth bared. “What are you trying to tell me here?!”

But just as quick as he’d come, so too did the shade disappear, taking the crowd and city with him. Together, all faded back into the mists, with nary a word being spoken. Any answers and explanations Victor might’ve gotten had vanished, once again leaving him stranded in black emptiness for the night.

* * *

Morning arrived a few hours later. While Celesta, William and the others at camp were busy debating how to prepare breakfast, Victor wasn’t being particularly talkative. Too much stress and exhaustion from last night. Part of him hoped no one would notice, but given that he wasn’t eating much during breakfast either, that was a fool’s gambit.

Sure enough, William and Celesta both were sharper than that, the former especially.

“Hey Vic, got a moment to spare?”

Victor didn’t respond, but didn’t resist either when the captain dragged him away from the others by the foreleg. If anyone else tried to do the same, they’d get jumped by at least ten others. William, on the other hand? Just another day.

“What’s the matter with you today? You look like you’ve been attacked by a ghost,” William said, stroking the thin blond beard on his chin with one hand. Victor sighed.

“It’s a dream I’ve had, that’s all.”

William wasn’t satisfied with that answer, and he took a step closer. Despite the size difference, Victor felt somewhat intimidated by it.

“Just a dream? We both know that there’s more going on. Every ‘just a dream’ you’ve had ended up turning into something far bigger than that.”

Celesta stepped beside the captain, tail flicking back and forth behind her. “Yeah. Vic, I can feel you shift around while we sleep. Last night, too. I can tell it’s been keeping you anxious. You’ve been like that all morning,” she said, then sighed. “Please, just be honest. You know we trust you.”

The wind soaring into his face, and with one long glance at the trees around and the camp in the distance, Victor breathed in deep. “It’s that voice again. The one I’ve talked about several times now. This time he brought up Reval’s Crown, and that whole expedition we’re about to go on to get it.”

“What did it say?” William asked, tilting his head forward in an alerted manner. Victor sighed.

“Nothing more than the standard gibberish. I know, that’s not what you want to hear, but what he said wasn’t the important bit. What he showed me was.”

William and Celesta both nodded along. “Go on, go on,” they both said. “Don’t leave out anything,” William continued. Celesta disagreed with him given the sour face she pulled, but she didn’t have the heart to voice it.

Victor sat back on his haunches. “He showed me what I assumed was the Citadel… I don’t know for sure, I’ve never been there. But it was me, you two, my father, a whole bunch of other dragons and Homefront people, and huge crowds that went all the way back. As far as you could see. My father was giving a speech, he wore the crown… but I couldn’t hear any of it. Not because it was drowned out, you genuinely couldn’t hear him speak even though his mouth was moving.”

It was all quiet between the three of them for a good ten seconds, in which no one reacted with much more than awkward stares. Not a snort, a sigh, a grunt or anything else. Just pure nothingness until Victor clicked his tongue.

“So yeah… that was something.”

Celesta let out a soft harrumph. “What do you think it means?”

Victor sighed. “I’m not sure. That’s always been the problem with these uh, these dreams. It’s hard to tell what it’s even about, or if I’m hallucinating the whole time. Maybe my father did talk, and I just can’t remember any of it.”

William crossed his arms, the hand closest to his crossbow fidgeting around. “I don’t buy it. That’s awfully coincidental, don’t you think? Why would you just magically forget his voice? He’s your father. There’s bound to be more to it than that.”

Celesta nodded, her tail stirring the grass behind her. “I agree. That’s like being unable to remember where your house is,” she said, then pressed her tongue into her cheek in an odd manner. “Admittedly, that’s something that happened to me a lot when I was a little girl, so…”

“Guys, please,” Victor demanded. “Speculating like this isn’t going to help. We can be here for the rest of the year debating the what and the why, we simply don’t know. No, I don’t like what I saw. Or heard… egh, didn’t hear, rather. But the longer we dwell on it, the more of a headache you’re going to end up with.”

“A bigger one than dealing with a Dweller?” William asked. Victor winced in response.

“Yes.” ‘That was the worst pun I’ve ever heard.’

“Mhm. Right then, what do we do now? We still have that mission to worry about. That’s more than just a dream.”

Celesta aired her wings out, then wandered in between the two. “We’ve got a lot to worry about there. For starters… we’ve got to report to someplace up north, right? A farmstead that’s near the temple. It’s on the Steyer’s left bank, I believe.”

Victor nodded. “That sounds about right.” ‘My ears were working perfectly fine while we were being briefed on it… imagine that wasn’t the case, Victor. Then this whole dragon transformation would’ve been for nothing.’

“We have to prepare,” said Celesta as the wind picked up speed, stirring the leaves up above. “This is going to take time, and it can be very dangerous. We should stock up well before we head out.”

“Yeah, we should,” said Victor. Any preparation was positive in his book, especially now. He appreciated Celesta for suggesting it. She had this weird sense about her where she could state the obvious and make it sound incredibly intelligent. Or say simple things about the weather and make it sound charming. Victor didn’t know how she did it. He didn’t mind that lack of knowledge, though.

“Hang on a minute.”

William snapped Victor right out of the day dream he’d just started. “We’re going to an old temple. No one’s been there in a long time, and we’ve been told there’s extensive security there. Magic, if I had to guess. We should prepare for that. At least things like torches and anything that helps against magic… I’m not too familiar with it, but-”

“Oh yes,” Celesta said. “It’s not just food we need, but a whole assortment of supplies. Good thing we can carry a lot with us. We’re dragons, we can handle the load. But not too much, though. We might have to fight when we get there.”

“Right, right.” Victor breathed in deep. “We should try and get all the supplies we need by tomorrow, or the day after. Then we’ll set out. Do we all agree?”

William and Celesta both nodded. “Sounds fine to me,” they both said. Victor chuckled a little. Something about a small human and a large dragon saying the exact same thing at the same time felt really funny.

“Alright, well, shall we get going then?”

“Yes, but before that…”

In the blink of an eye, Celesta had gotten right up to Victor’s face. Before the red dragon even knew what was happening, she leaned in, planting a smooch right on the side of his snout. “Let’s go!” she said all nonchalant as she skipped off, leaving a bewildered William and an even redder Victor in her wake.

Sh-she’s not one for subtlety at all, the red dragon thought to himself. You know what… I’ll show her a kiss once I catch up.