The End of Solitude_I, the dragon. I still don't know what to do! (tome 2 of I, dragon, what to do?)

General Sauzer was with his aides-de-camp in one of the rooms of the Château de Solitude, a kind of dungeon with a vaulted ceiling and an old antique throne, a huge wooden table and walls decorated with large tapestries, which served both as decoration and as thermal insulation.

The room was high enough for Gorki to silk to a more or less human size and he was 'invited' to watch the strategic debate between General Talmor and Arcadia, General Norman, a vassal of the Talmor empire.

A human visitor would think they were in the Dark Ages of the 5th century, in the middle of the Gallic War under the Roman Empire, but the comparison ended there.

Lots of blue and red flags adorned the table, informers came and went and a cartographer arranged in real time the position of each troop of the empire and the factions rebelling against the empire. Different factions from the army of Chaos defeated a century ago.

For a soldier of today, it's like talking about the Prussian wars well before 1914 and for a Talmor who had a life expectancy of 200 to 250 years, it's like talking about the 14-18 war, which has nothing to do with today.

The Monstrotanks had been exterminated, the wyverns mostly massacred and the others had perished in the salt mines. There were only one or two living wyverns left from that time, including Blue, a prisoner who was almost dead.

Sauzer looked at Gorki: "The future of your species will depend on your attitude. Either you behave like good Talmor soldiers and rise in rank, or we'll have to subjugate you like the wild wyverns and turn you into simple mounts. It's up to you to prove your usefulness within the army.

To become a citizen, and free, you will have to do your military service like all Talmor and follow our example and pursue excellence, our motorbike. There's no room in our ranks for the lazy, the whiny or the cowardly. What's more, we don't tolerate any deviation from discipline. You are elite creatures and we recognise your courage. It's up to you to identify with the Talmors and not the slaves."

Gorky said nothing, petrified, following orders...

Then a group came running up and one of the masked officers whispered to the General.

He then picked up a human skull and placed it on the map, as if it were a large paperweight.

Arcadia looked at the General, still wearing his "Roman" helmet.

"What does this object mean?

He moved closer to look her in the eye.

"It means death!

Gorky noticed that it was near Rivebois, and he began to swallow.

The two generals stared at him.

"Gorky, you must have some idea who we're talking about..."

He didn't dare speak, petrified.

Sauzer: "We'll refresh your memory..." A round shape, like a skull... that appears and disappears..."

Gorky: "Mother's lair? She'd be alive????"

Sauzer: "At least he's got brains!!!"

Then he nodded with Arcadia: "Now you have to make a choice, in fact you don't really have one... Darann, Daathr if you like... would have reappeared with a group of wyverns near the forbidden territory of the Demon Lord. And the lair sealed beneath the mountain exploded and took on abnormal dimensions. Much, much bigger. The Blancherive garrison is on the alert."

Arcadia: "You should know, my little Wyverne, that if Mother learns of your collaboration with us and that you have joined the Talmors, do you think she will welcome you with open arms? "My children, you're on the wrong side, come back, there'll be a feast for the reunion..."

Gorki shook with terror.

"She... she... she will tear me apart!!! she will tear us to pieces..." "You think so, General?"

Sauzer took another drink of mead, followed by a grin.

"War turns lambs into wolves and children betray their parents. It's not your fault, nor ours. That's the way it is, but you've got your Teth, so you can protect us from the darkness, can't you? If you lose, you can claim self-defence. She abandoned you and is therefore unworthy. She left you to die, bereft of ammunition. Even though you fought with dignity, she used cowardly and scientific means, unworthy of a warrior. Darann has no honour. She is a dangerous beast, a monster of chaos. You have the protection of the gods and their care, powers and magic. So think!"

Gorki knelt before the general.

"I confirm our commitment to defend our nation, the Talmor! Long live Talmor!"

The generals looked at each other and then invited Gorki to the strategic table.

Meanwhile, a flurry of letters, pages and missives were arriving.

Then he turned to Gorki: "We need to know what the situation is between the Demon Lord and Darkstar. The Demon Lord Blackthorne," said the Emperor, "is a little inconvenient but your Mother is an eel and full of resources that never cease to amaze us. Arrange for some wyverns to get close enough to find out what's going on.

In the meantime, Gorky had transformed some powerful but beaten slaves and gladiators into Wyverns, under the supervision of General Talmor.

White and Red had followed him but they were outnumbered by those who remained loyal.

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For my part, I had assembled Skylar, the Monstro destroyer, who remained in wyvern form to stay on the surface, as his body, designed for space, would be damaged on the ground.

Diskor and Drakor hugged each other, but Diskor refused to talk to Predator.

Skylar 2 and Skylar 3, the triplets, had stayed with Gorky, tired and worn out by the war.

In my head, I wanted to rush in and save Blue, but I had to be even stronger. Breaking everything up would mean depriving us of a world in which to be happy and I had to have more leverage and more terror to negotiate with.

So I went into the recesses of Tiamat's lair to help him rebuild a truly operational ship.

The first thing we transported were the rail guns and the unknown anti-matter weapons on his ship. Too energy- and mana-hungry, they had been preserved by not being used.

It was easy to integrate them into the lab.

Next came the dimensional engines.

Then the anti-matter and dimensional shields.

The torture instruments and equipment for decapitating dragons and forcibly fusing them into Tiamat were destroyed and recycled.

I refused to accept such horror. It was what had led to his ruin and his madness.

His quarters were set up in the lab and his command post linked to mine for emergency use if I wasn't available.

Let's just say there was a mutual trust.

My children helped us as best they could while I gave Blackthorne a few licks on the way. He was also a bit of an engineer in the sense that he maintained and repaired his den, but there were no spare parts here, and even less plutonium for fuel.

In just a few days, everything was in place and because of my nature as a devourer, I was able to bring out the elements captured by my singularity, in particular the necessary elements taken from the suns.

Enemy scouts and spies had appeared from a distance, discreetly, but I could sense their presence, aura Talmor, but that wasn't my priority. They were going to be crushed one way or another. It was only a matter of time.

Then when it was all over

Tiamat: "Shall we do a test?"

Me: "Yes, we're testing the railgun?

Tiamat: "Ah, but it's very energy consuming!

I smile.

"Blackthorne, point to the temple of amaterasu in Solitude!

He saw a recent map of the whole continent in front of him and zoomed in on the main temple of the walled city

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I smelled injustice and corrupt power.

Innocent people unjustly condemned to death...

A Norman rebel, who was not loyal to the Talmors, was about to have his head chopped off and his prayers guided me towards Solitude.

After a few calculations, I confirmed the direction to the Emperor (Blackthorne) and the upper turret of the mobile lair pointed north-west and all the wyverns covered their ears.

A hole lit up, revealing a build-up of energy, and stabilising feet came out to prevent the sphere from tipping over.

Then suddenly there was silence and a flash of light.

This was followed by a powerful thunderclap, and the vibrations sent rocks tumbling down some of the cliffs.

Priests of Amaterasu and other local divinities were interrupted in their meditation, a feeling of imminent danger.

"RUN!! "The goddess fled the place

But immediately a flash of light illuminated the magnificent stained glass windows for a fraction of a second, making the place magical, but a second later, the walls were pulverised into flaming powder, the rock sublimated and the arrow of fire and light illuminated and like a weapon made of depleted uranium, the metal crashed and burst into incandescence, penetrating the catacombs and the rock supporting the entire temple and part of the city.

The rock gave way to the vacuum and the immense boulder holding the city aloft collapsed into the delta in a spray of light and fire.

The shockwave tore through the city and anything taller than 2 metres was cut down and thrown into the surrounding area, leaving only a huge crater of the city.

The city was razed to the ground and 90% of it destroyed. And the poor condemned man was slammed to the ground, the executioner and the Talmors carried off with axe, armour and straw, falling a hundred metres or so into the delta below.

The blast set fire to the remains of the dwellings and the carnage was total.

Sauzer's HQ held out, as it was underground, but the structures above were a smoking ruin.

Immediately, the remaining troops reorganised, not giving in to panic, and cleared the HQ.

Sauzer turned to Gorki. "Let's go and see what's happened!"

Ahead of them, the road was cut off, showing the severed arch of rock and the whole half of the town collapsed a hundred metres below, a hole could be seen in the rock below with lava coming out of it and a bright spot.

Gorky : "I've never seen anything like it... As far as I know, we've got explosives and artillery but nothing on this scale, not even the anti-collision weapons for meteorites are this powerful. I've got nothing against that, but it looks like a giant armour-piercing weapon. It's not terrestrial! Or from our universe. Not this big! Not this powerful.

Gorky clenched his jaws, "He's got what it takes to take on the gods, but he doesn't have the precision. It's either destroying the whole planet, or it's the weapons from a hundred years ago..."

He turned and saw the first and second floors blown away and the blocks ejected far away, beyond the city, as if a huge scythe had severed everything that stuck out.

Very few people were injured, but most of them were missing and dead. Most were unrecognisable, crushed or pulverised into a shapeless, burnt juice.

Some of the soldiers wanted to vomit when they saw teeth and pieces of bone embedded in the walls that were still standing.

The general gave the order to assemble in the city's catacombs under Gorky's guidance.

"They can aim at us from space! if it's them, but we can't take any chances".

A wild wyvern, made more or less sentient by Gorky's werewolf venom, approached the territory of the Dragon Lord Blackthorne.

It was a young male and it landed innocently on the crest of the cliff, after a day's flight. He had a communication crystal on his head which enabled the Talmors to see him from a distance and also to give him orders.

So the Talmors were able to see the immense black, spherical structure and the hydra that emerged from it, paw in paw with Daathr, the Devouring Leviathan.

Sauzer "So Darkstar wouldn't have that kind of power?"