A few hours before... in the Village.

"BAM BAM BAM" Kate tapped her paw on the floor in front of the council chamber.

Sarah came out, in a hurry because of the ruckus the dragoness was causing.

"Kate??? this is not the time... my kids crashed on a mission!!!"

"Let me go get them... two or three of us will go faster... by the time I get a shuttle ready, they'll be long gone and I'll fly fast..."

Sarah "you can talk... try to run the Ummite shuttles... at least it pays off.!"

"Oh.. Sarah... try to understand me... I have nothing left...I'm all alone...and look at me with these 25 meters... by putting me in a ball I have the size of an English bus... Don't you think I would like to be like you too? "

Sarah: "Stop your whining... you are a beautiful dragoness. Everybody loves you here. And we beg every day that they give you back the little ones... We're in this together..."

Kate: "Sniff.."

Bello: "Kate...you're stronger than you think...don't let it get you down.. And don't forget that you have time for yourself...and you will have opportunities...Come on...courage!"

With these words, the dragoness pulled herself together and raised her head... "Yes... I have to fight...!"

Sara: "That's the spirit!!!"

They loaded some bags and weapons on Kate's back and installed 2 saddles which they adjusted and then climbed on the dragoness.

Immediately she took off with all the grace of her species and they raced to the crash site without missing a beat.

Sarah asked Kate, "Do you even know any magic spells?"

"Yes, shield, favorable winds and minor and major healing, poison and blindness cure... some spells like fireball and magic missile but I only used them when I attacked the fortress. I also have strength and feather fall. And I blow cold, and my claws...That's about it and a few convenience spells for cleaning, cooking and freezing in everyday life...Hans taught me everything but he was out of hibernation for a very long time "

Sarah "Well...we are approaching the site.... Oh my god...the shuttle, its reactor melted and part of the cockpit.."

Kate landed and began to smell a trail...

"It smells like wasp venom!! the trail leads to the East..."

Bello: "you can clearly see the tracks of a caterpillar, here and there and here tracks of a truck... The Vespalians did not drive tanks, did they?

Sarah looked at Kate... "Kate is intelligent like us and she is a talking, reasoning dragon...the Kobolds; the Carno Kobolds...they talk like us and are intelligent species... That's why we have to consider the Vespalians as intelligent as us. It's not the same land anymore, it's like another world..."

Bello followed the trail. "Kate, stay in the air and use the radio to warn us if you see something before us!"

Meanwhile... at the dwarf mines...

A tremor shook the entire dwarf fortress.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Dwarves in front of the ancestral forges evacuated the area, then a huge white flash...

The rubble rose up and resolidified where it had collapsed, and the cooled lava began to redden rapidly again, and suddenly, as if caught by a flush or a whirlwind, the stone and lava were evacuated. The unremovable plug had vaporized, revealing the rails of the underground train.

They were as good as new, filled with magic.

And... a few moments later, a train arrived at the terminus.

Cognedur ran to tell his king that a miracle had occurred and that the lava lines to heat the forges and giant crucibles had somehow been reactivated and that a train had arrived... A Hydra train!

Cranedur smiled...

"Our lord has returned!"

He put on his ceremonial armor in a hurry and took his beautiful cloak and his dwarf mace.

"Quick, tell the others. Let's prepare a party!"

The train stopped on a promontory and I cast a few spells from Reparo, but this time it was easier. The dwarves were about to take over with the maintenance golems.

They disembarked from the wagon by the dozen and began the work of clearing away the dirt and rubble in the lava... recycling!

Darkia came out of the wagon after me and I held her paw as an important guest so she wouldn't slip on the smooth platform.

This made her smile at my gentlemanly gesture.

We were going to have fun, I could feel it.

The dwarf king came running and stumbled into his long beard, shouting "Lord Carnage!" but it was Darkia in front of him and she was smiling, but the problem was her sharp crystal teeth. The king paled immediately and, still on his back on the ground, he backpedaled, holding out his hand between Darkia and himself... He was terrified.

The Queen of Nightmares stood before him and his subconscious recognized her.

"PPP PP itié..!!"

But I was standing behind Darkia and I bent my head and my long neck and said: "Hello your majesty..." and I waved my paw at her... smiling, joking...

"I present to you her majesty, Queen Darkia!"

He straightened up, and ran his hand over his beard, his belly and his legs to chase away the dust and almost sneezed.

He got down on one knee.

"Welcome Lord Darkia, and Lord Carnage... we have missed you terribly..."

Then he began to cry and reached over and touched my claw...

"You are real, sire. Ah where are my manners...Come to the throne room,

then a roar... and hundreds of Kobolds, most of them evolved, rushed towards us.

The female dragon Kobolds literally threw themselves at my feet and all hugged me. But there wasn't enough room for everyone and I petted every one I could. I was their star and they only dreamed of one thing... to have babies from me...

Darkia: "Seeing this show, I'm starting to get jealous..."

I was smiling to see the little dragons crazy about me. Many were crying and some were angry that I had abandoned them.

It was turning into chaos...

Darkia intervened, "ROARRRR" and then there was silence and everyone hid behind me. "Please Lord Carnage... protect us..."

If the biggest Kobolds were 5 meters tall, some of them could reach 10 meters, but that was ridiculous with our 25 meters...

Darkia: "I'm glad to see that Lord Carnage is so desired..but he never gave up on you. He was badly burned and maimed in the assassination attempt and it took several months for him to recover from his coma. I was the one who took care of him...and, as a servant, and daughter of our Goddess Enka, I am happy to see that Lord Carnage always worked in the interest of our Goddess.

Everyone shouted "HOURRA" and the mountain began to tremble..."

As soon as Darkia had finished speaking I went ahead and pulled down a lever...

"THE FORGES ARE OPERATIONAL AGAIN!"

There followed a cheer and clamor of joy...

The music and drums beat as we climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the mountain and I passed another tunnel leading to the south. But questions for later.

A party was waiting for us.

Fatigue was a distant memory and my giant throne next to Cranedur's was waiting for me.

With a stroke of magic, another throne to my right was carved in stone.

"Your place awaits you, my queen!!!"

Darkia was surprised at my words.

"Hans... you amuse me... but that won't stop me from devouring you one day..."

I slumped down in my usual place. Yes. but it's not today, the amused look..

The crowd whispered Darkia's name and many thought she reminded them of something, or someone they have seen somewhere before.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Darkia smiled appetizingly and looked at the crowd like a cold buffet...

Me: "Her Highness, Queen Darkia has come to assist me in our final work. She is also my sister, created like me by our goddess the Destroyer and I will ask you to treat her with the utmost respect. Do not trust her. She knows each of you, each of your desires and each of your secrets... "

Then King Cranedur asked me... via a message spell, so as not to be heard by the others: "Your Highness Carnage... would it be impolite to ask you which kingdom or empire Queen Darkia is from...?"

By telepathy.

"Dear King...even I am powerless against her and her powers..."

He turned around...and saw that Darkia was staring at him...and spoke into his head...

"My sweet dreamer... Dear Cranedur...we met again last week from afar, remember?...the gems and crystals that disappeared from your personal stash? They were delicious! I'd love to try some for real here, to see if they taste as sweet??"

Cranedur turned pale...

Darkia...

The queen of nightmares...

here.

in real life!!!!

I sleep... I dream awake...

Darkia, by telepathy... "No, you are not dreaming my good king...I am your worst nightmare...and alive!!! A nightmare in the flesh..."

Cranedur then realized the monstrous scope of the kingdom of dreams...It extended to any living creature...alien or terrestrial...And she was indeed the queen...but the queen of nightmares...

The dwarf then managed to weigh every word I had said.

He fell silent, terrified, and his men understood that their king was not well... He was afraid, and that made the terrible black dragoness next to him even more terrifying, stronger, and bigger than she actually looked.

But Darkia also realized at that moment that her nature was hurting and that it was also up to her to temper her aura and her appearance.

This was not lost on me.

"Darkia...I know we have a disagreement, but I also see that you have a good heart side, that you also have human but noble feelings... Don't worry...I can understand you and it's not easy to make friends while being a nightmare too...well, I'm not saying this to hurt you, but to support you. Thank you again for saving me and sorry again for hitting you...I promise never again..Never again.."

Darkia let out a tear and unconsciously laid her head against my neck and licked me then she opened her eyes and sat up, shocked..pale from having had a familiarity between us.

I smiled. "You know how to be beautiful when you want to..and...I appreciate it..."

Her paw landed on mine..of her own accord.

Darkia had a completely different charisma than Kate. She was a dragoness, a real one, all proud and powerful. Everything about her emanated strength, charisma and power.

Just as a dragon should be: a steel glove in a velvet glove, a force of nature and aware of her place in the universe. Such was Darkia.

I myself had just fallen under her spell and the more I looked at her, the more I wanted her... as a new companion... as a queen with the title she deserved.

She wanted to withdraw her paw but my fingers/claws expanded between hers, blocking the retreat: "Darkia... if I succeed, you will be queen here as you are already queen in the kingdom of dreams.."

Then she turned her long neck to face me and brought her muzzle closer. so that her eyes were at the same level as mine..

The next moment, our muzzles were against each other and our tongues were intertwined.

Darkia: "I said I would devour you..."

We stayed like that for a long time and she hugged me, heart to heart...

"Hans...don't disappoint me...promise me you'll never betray me...You don't know how much I suffered before coming here...You...you only had one assassination attempt...But you have no idea..what I've endured...and then the trials.."

I stroked his crest and tried to soothe that battered soul as well...

Then we got up and the buffet was opened. It was an orgy of food and under the music, I resumed my appearance of Hans Reinhardt and Darkia, her appearance of human with horns of gazelle.

And we danced to the applause of our friends and allies.

An hour before, Waspy was notified on screen and jumped for joy.

She ran to the flight deck and took with her close rebel fairies, rocket fighters and ran to be in a few minutes at the party, leaving the 2 humans, alone...

Monty : "Hans!!! he is alive !!!! and he is not alone!! another dragoness would be with him??"

Raven: "This is a disaster.. We had one problem... now we have three. Waspy, Carnage and an unknown black dragon!

We need to warn our people! They're going to get slaughtered!!!"

Monty "But the Ummites. their armada is almost here.. and those monsters are going to screw it up.."

Raven: "But mom, which side is she going to take? Yuri or Hans? Waspy has reached out to us...to be part of the horde.."

Monty : "Yes, but it's monstrous...It's against nature..."

They were lost.

Raven: "And how are we going to blow this up???"

"I don't know, Raven...what if there's more than one??? There are thousands of fighters loaded... Have you seen how fast they are? Faster than the Ummite saucers..."

In the meantime, Kate narrowly avoided 6 fighters that made a BANG, breaking the sound barrier.

Kate, on the radio: "What was that? I'm afraid, John...Sarah..."

The hunters did not escape the gaze of Bello who had never seen this model.

"Kate, they're heading for the dwarf fortress...Be careful, they're dangerous." But the next moment, all communication was cut off.

Sarah looked at Bello. "What's wrong?"

"The radio! We are cut off! Yet this is a military radio!"

Unfortunately, Kate was not a gifted student. She was better at knitting than at magic...She didn't know the "Message" spell... And she was straining at the radio and did not see behind her six giant Vespalian elites coming out and holding a net.

In the blink of an eye, the flying mantises had neutralized the incapacitated white dragon.

One of them planted its sting in the neck of the dragoness who fell like a duck that was shot.

By the time the venom kicked in, she was limp and drooling from her mouth, curarized.

She wanted to cast an anti-poison spell but the net had rune stones between some of the meshes and any magic or spell was cancelled. They were interruption stones. And others were anti-breathing stones. A technique developed especially for Kate. The ancestor of the anti-dragon weapons.

She tried to scream but only a complaint came out of her mouth and what she knew how to do the most... beg... "Please..."

The Vespalians looked like they were smiling with their huge, sharp-toothed jaws, but a keen observer would have said they were laughing at the supplicant dragon.

Of course, with their strength and gravity-altering spell, they could run around lifting the dragoness like ants of the same size.

The humans couldn't keep up, but Bello flattened himself, throwing Sarah to the ground.

They saw the well-guarded rocks but also Vespalian guards armed and equipped like modern soldiers.

"Shh, Sarah...they have Kate... They're taking her away...and she's like paralyzed.

We have to go back and warn Mondeville and the elves... The situation is more worrying. It's not vermin or predators we're dealing with, but a modern army! The Vespalians have tanks and defense turrets... Hey... look! Drago Kobolds, they are all heading north... Something happened at the dwarf fortress."

Sarah: "Our children!!! they have Raven and Monty!!"

Bello: "I didn't tell you yet but I got a message from Waspy..."

Sarah: "Waspy?? what does she have to do with this?"

Bello: "Shh no noise... stay hidden..! Waspy told us they were safe... but .... they were "guests forced to stay..."

Sarah: "They are prisoners...!"

Bello: "Yes... but well treated..."

Sarah: "But why?"

Bello: "That's simple...Waspy is the queen of the Vespalians...!!!! She is a general in Hans' army... . Listen, you are the chancellor..we need you and I don't want Mondeville to take your place... I'll try to free them, maybe even negotiate..."

Sarah embraced John Bello: "Come back alive...please come back with the children if you can.."

"I promise to be careful..."

Sarah cried and Bello took his deepest breath and walked with his hands in the air to the entrance of the beehive, Wapsy's hive.

Immediately, he was pointed at by two huge Vespalians who were guarding the entrance.

It was not a joke.

"I am Bello. A friend of Waspy."

Sentinel: "We all know you..!" are you here for the kids or for Kate?

The 2 monsters looked at each other laughing but Bello could have disarmed one of the monsters but the mass, the size... he would have been torn to pieces..

"I want to see Raven and Monty.."

The second sentry nodded and made a buzzing radio call (insect noise..)

A fairy arrived, unarmed.

"I am the black fairy! Don't get me wrong... I am also a Vespalian, a princess of the hive."

Indeed her abdomen was like a wasp, even more pronounced than Waspy.

"The queen is busy..so I'm watching in her place. Follow me without making a fuss.."

Bello saw hangars, technical areas and metal parts of unusual dimensions and recognized some technical components such as airlock doors for ships and endless warehouses to contain combustive.

The writing was strange, but it was still English with typical Vespalian symbols.

He could only notice that the Vespalian base was much bigger than anything they could imagine.

There were also dwarfs and Kobolds technicians... but also black kobolds... it was the first time he saw them...

Bello addressed the black fairy..

"You are preparing for a war? it is over ...."

Black Fairy :" You are poor spies... and a naive species, Like Kate... the queen of the naive.."

Bello: "Kate, you didn't kill her???"

Fairy: "Her fate is no longer up to you or me... She will have to be judged and take responsibility for her actions."

"She has no end of regrets. Believe me... let her go back."

"Human...this is not your problem now and focus instead on what you will have to say when her majesty the Queen returns. our patience has limits and your choices will have consequences."

They arrived at an enclosed complex with a tree-lined park in a cavern with chitinous but also bioluminescent walls.

Young Vespalians were also taking advantage of the place to relax and play a little, their game being a kind of soccer where the ball was a goat that was bloodied and then eaten. It was pure violence, extreme but also refined.

More in the center, there was an arena where Vespalians made bets...in kg of meat...or elves were given weapons of their choice and they had to face a Vespalian brute.

There was nothing human on either side.

Monty sometimes looked at them with a disgusted but mostly terrified look.

They were monstrous and cruel but very disciplined.

A group of elves was brought to the center of the arena and were wondering.

They were all bare-chested

The Vespalians, by the hundreds were buzzing and snapping their paws, and some of them did not hesitate to fight each other and ended up in the arena, often with the vanquished on their backs or with a paw torn off.

Then Raven looked for a brief moment and suddenly had a gagging heart...

One of the elves writhed in pain, then the second one, then the fifth.

The first one started to spit blood and then let out a demented scream of pain.

His belly exploded, releasing a larva that had just eaten his digestive organs.

The Vespalians congratulated each other, and from time to time, one of them looked at the humans and signaled them to go to the arena, then they turned to their 6-legged friends and looked amused.

One of them even imitated the exploding belly to Raven, to taunt her but the result was that she was disgusted.

Monty put his hands over Raven's eyes so she couldn't look anymore... but their eyes sparkled when they saw Bello coming.

"John!!!! have you come to save us???"

The black fairy interrupted their reunion: "No adventures in the absence of his majesty... just stay in the section... otherwise... the chains...!"

Then she left

Bello: "Children... are you okay??? we didn't hurt you???

Raven started to cry... "I want to go home... I'm afraid... they are horrible... the Vespalians are cruel and vicious, the dwarves are dark and terrified, fanatics of the hydra and the Kobolds... they are everywhere and have big teeth..."

Monty also squeezed Bello.

Raven: "Mom?"

"She is safe but they captured Kate...they are mad at her...I fear for the dragoness.."

Bello: "And Waspy...where is she???"

Monty fell on his knees, head down...

Bello: "I know that Waspy is the queen..and she told me that you are fine, that's all I know..."

Monty: "You don't understand... Here, under the hive... there are thousands of them!!! they have a spaceship! It's huge...bigger than all the arks together..and cannons...lots of cannons..and fighters.... They are going to attack the Ummites! It will be a carnage!"

Bello: "What are you talking about?"

Raven: "Hans is alive...and he is with another dragon even more powerful..I heard about a queen with a huge territory. Waspy also said that it's not too late... that if we abandon the Ummites, we'll be part of the Horde, the Swarm... and they resent us and call us ingrates in Yuri's pay".

Bello: "And what about the elves? We've been living together for months..."

Raven:" Waspy doesn't care... it's food for them and we would be the same if Hans hadn't decreed that we were protected..."

Monty: "We have to blow up the ship!! they will attack the Ummite empire and get slaughtered and then we will be next.."

Bello: "We have to wait... imagine that we destroy their ship..and then??? You think the ummites will defend us from retaliation??? They don't give a damn about us... And you think they will let us go unpunished? Have you seen the fighters? the tanks... I'm sure they have one or more nuclear charges and they will raze our city and we will all perish..."

Then he slammed his fist into the wall... "Damn... everything is so complicated!!!"

Raven: "Ah, yes, they have a technology that makes them undetectable... the radios don't work anymore!"

Monty: "We have to blow it up... the Vespalians intend to swarm and destroy the Ummite worlds. we have to kill them all... they are monsters..."