I slash the throat of the giant troll with the claws of my front paws. I am in my quadruped form, with heavy-armored scales and claws the size of swords.

The creature's wound begins to heal. He strikes me with his massive club, the size of a small tree. If I weren't raging, that would have hurt quite a bit.

Now that I have become a young dragon, I stand almost four meters (13’) tall, five when I rear up on my front legs. My wings have exceeded ten meters (32’) in wingspan. The quadruped form I’m using now is slightly taller than me, reaching over four meters in height and nearly six meters (20’) when standing on my hind legs.

Giant trolls stand five meters (17’) tall. They move awkwardly. Certainly not natural creatures, but rather a race created by the trows. But the lack of grace in these war machines is compensated by raw power. I would probably be dead if I were still a wyrmling facing these beasts.

I tear open the chest of the giant troll. He swings his club, but this time I manage to dodge. The wound begins to close again, but a bit more slowly. Despite their incredible ability, trolls' regenerative capacity is not infinite.

The big question is that I am at my limit. The best way to deal with them would be with fire, as burnt flesh doesn't regenerate. However, these creatures are under the effect of fire protections cast by trow mages.

I disengage from close combat and transform back into my original form to take flight.

I soar over the battlefield. We've been besieging Stroi for almost a week, but with no progress. Knowing the resilience of trolls and their trow overlords, it will take weeks or even months before they start feeling the effects of the siege.

A more aggressive strategy would yield quicker results, but it would bring heavy damage to both sides. Conquering a city is much harder than destroying it.

It would be so much easier to rain fire upon Stroi and these accursed woods. And then to cut the heads off those who survive the flames.

I can't believe I ended up agreeing to this stupid siege...

§ § § § § §

Gorkaki, one month before the start of the siege on Stroi, and two days after Akalani's awakening.

I'm on my way to the meeting with the Council of Folks to tell them about the new war I want to start against the trows. The death of Farat and the encounter with Camilo were too much for me to process. I need to burn something urgently.

The meeting will take place in one of the castle towers, and no longer in a dark cave beneath the ground. So much has changed in these past decades.

The Council has aged considerably. I see familiar faces, weathered by time, and also new faces.

"But what an omen of change to have you among us again, Your Majesty." Bubali Umara speaks. Her once glossy black fur has lost some of its shine. She is quite old now, and seemingly even wiser.

"Good to see you awake again, Emperor Akalani." A skeleton greets me, to my surprise. He wears a dark gray mage's robe with golden details. I can feel a foul energy emanating from him.

"It's me, Your Majesty. The mage Vadod." The undead identifies himself after realizing I didn't recognize him. His voice sounds ethereal and unnatural.

"What twisted fate has befallen you?" I speak with a hint of disgust.

"The same fate that befalls most humanoids. The roar of time. But I chose to embrace the gifts of the god Delos and become a demilich." His skeletal face seems to smile as he speaks the name of the god of undead and constructs.

"For a while, we discussed without reaching a consensus on the use of necromancy in the Empire and the presence of undead." Umara begins to explain the subject in more detail. "So we decided to wait for Your Majesty to have the final say on the matter."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Undead can be servants and allies for a long period of time. Camilo mentioned something about it, but I will think more about the matter later.

"Very well. Dead or alive, I don't care as long as they are under my rule." I declare my final opinion, concluding the discussion on the controversial topic.

In addition to Kheldash, Vadod, and Umara, the council still includes the unicorn Oberyl, the troll Dorgun, the goblin Omad, and the gremlin researcher Diluk. The orc Sarak took her father's seat, just as Latharon Junior and the son of the wolfling Sodin did. Two new faces are a female kobold named Evira and the bugbear named Marob. Evira wears priestly robes similar to Latharon Junior, while Marob is dressed like a wealthy merchant.

However, another familiar face caught my attention occupying the last seat of the Council. The trow Ferin from Ialdai.

Perhaps because trows are a cross between trolls and elves, time has been kinder to her. She looks like she hasn't aged a single day.

And it seems she left the Council of Lords of Ialdai to aid in our military campaigns against the trows of Ul-Gak. Today, Ferin is part of the Council of Folks and controls the territories we've conquered from the trows.

After all council members rise to greet me, they sit back down. They must be so stirred up by my awakening that they seem not to care about my elven appearance.

Well, Vadod is now a skeleton, so he probably doesn't care about this kind of thing anymore, and the other goblinoids must have more important concerns, including the bugbear who looks like a mafia member.

"It's good!" I exclaim as I sit in a prominent position, at the end of the table. This place was vacant during my absence. On my left side, Kheldash sits. On my right side, the orc Sarak sits.

"It's good to see you alive after so long." I keep going. "At least most of you." Vadod chuckles while Sarak shrugs her shoulders. But before I can continue, a neigh interrupts me. The unicorn Oberyl, quite irritated, magically projects his voice.

"Akalani! Are you really going to allow..." But before he can keep going, he's interrupted by Kheldash.

"Oberyl!" The cambion gives a punitive look to the magical beast, who quickly corrects his manners.

"Your Majesty... You don't intend to let this kind of cursed magic spread all over Darog?" The unicorn points his horn at Vadod.

"I don't want to discuss that now. I have something more urgent to talk to you all about." I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"But with each passing year, the number of undead grows. Soon all this land will be tainted." The unicorn protests.

"The amount of negative energy from the undead affects the land the same way the positive energy from the living does." Vadod tries to defend himself. "We have just as much right to be here as you do."

"The world belongs to the living. That's the order maintained by Jahaya."

"Jahaya once let the world perish in an eternal winter where almost all life died. If that happens again, only the undead will survive."

"That's enough!" I interrupt the argument. "The undead can live under my rule." Vadod nods I while I speak, as if he's won. "However, their number can't exceed one-tenth of the population." Both now seem discontent with my decision.

"This is my law." I conclude the discussion for good.

"Now, onto what's important. I know you all failed to conquer the Ul-Gak woods during my absence, but now that I've returned, we will take those lands even if it means burning down every tree in that cursed forest."

Quickly, Sarak and Ferin prostrate themselves to protest. The other council members already anticipated this to some extent.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect..." The trow begins to speak. "Decades ago, you promised me that you would conquer Ul-Gak and I would rule it in your name. But how am I supposed to rule over a pile of ashes?" The trow seems visibly frustrated. Not only did I delay her playground delivery by 30 years, now I threaten to set it on fire.

"Your Majesty, it's not wise to exterminate an entire people. Moreover, the war with the trows has already brought us too many losses." Sarak speaks with concern.

"That's exactly why we should exterminate them. So that the losses won't be in vain." I speak resolutely.

"Your Majesty, please. I know I'm not my father, but if he were here, he would ask you to make a wise decision. I can't oppose your will for war against Stroi, but I only ask that you don't wage a war of extermination." She falls silent for a moment, clutching her own fingers.

"My father's dream was to unite this continent, not burn it to ashes…"

She doesn't have the grace, humor, or confidence he had. But for a moment, just a brief moment, she reminded me so much of him.

"For Ralkor Sake..." I say as I pinch the bridge of my nose again and then look at Kheldash. For some reason, she didn't intervene in the matter. I guess she might be testing how Sarak handles me or just doesn't want to intervene too much, knowing that I'm now paying more attention to her actions.

I no longer know how much I can trust the cambion, now that I know she was a servant of Camilo all this time.

"Well then... We will go to war against the trows, but to conquer them, not exterminate them. I hope someone comes up with a brilliant strategy for that." I speak, aware that Kheldash probably won't intervene as long as she thinks I see her as a potential threat.

And then I hear someone from the council suggesting the brilliant idea.

"Perhaps we should besiege Stroi..."