Hakumen saw his troops dropping like flies.

He was losing the West Coast and they were being pushed back.

to the south.

Technology combined with the magic of the dragons that

healed the wounded, strengthened the shields and

armouring and others on the way brought and especially

were gathering the dispersed troops guided by Sinistrar.

Actually, I, being too young and not enough

strategist, I let myself be led and guided by

Sinistrar telling me what to do, or how to do it.

With his orbs he followed the battlefield and

as well as our satellites and means of communication

were destroyed, sabotaged and hacked, we were left

organized.

The troops were motivated and the turn of the

war was in our favor.

On the other hand, it was the carnage in the world of Magestia.

The Japanese did not abide by any agreements and the

Hakumen's avatars were managing the new lands acquired.

They had their own portal and didn't have

need the little corner left to the Americans.

Of course, the orcs and evil creatures

joined the demon fox demon.

He was taller than me and was a creature

ferocious too at first, but the years of sleep and the

the wear and tear of magic and curses

weakened him to the level of a dragon.

Washington was close, but the fighting

were raging and we paused at the counter-

attack. We had to gather the human troops

and regroup the armies.

By the same token, the closed gates will make us

gave a lot of time and the equipment

traditional magic-soaked people were catching up.

technology.

What was worse was that Hakumen had breathed in

evil and madness in his servants, the

leaders of many countries, forming an alliance

against the free world.

In a respite, I went to join my girl, and we...

withdrew

She made me put my paw on her belly.

"You're gonna be a daddy!"

I was in shock.

"YOU'RE GONNA BE A DADDY! DADDY! STRAPS!"

I held her tight and cried with joy.

I broke the news to everyone and everyone in the world...

Soldiers, troops, family exploded with joy.

The people were our admirers and patriots.

Everyone loved the dragons now. But one

shadow didn't agree at all. Auronne kissed

his daughter and personally gave him the necklace

family.

"You're going to be a mommy now, and now it's your turn...

you to keep and maintain our traditions."

Emerald gave a draconian grimoire as a present to

Argentrix."

Sinistrar hugged him and his great-granddaughter

made a blessing. Her scales turned golden.

"You are now a golden dragon."

All the dragons present whistled and applauded...

the happy event.

Then Fomalhaut was called by Sinistrar who put him

a paw on the head.

You made me laugh a lot! And you were funny.

When he got up, he too had become a dragon...

of gold.

Then Sinistrar called me.

But I told him that I was proud to wear my

color.

He smiles but tells me. "I'm not doing anything, I

only signals when you're ready."

He took a stylus.

Look at your blood, Ivan!

I cut myself at the base of my thumb and a thin stream of...

red and golden blood ran down the floor.

Sinistrar "You're black and proud of it but your blood

is noble. You're inside a golden dragon too.

You became one through your courage and resistance to the

corruption of the demon Lord.

No one made any more remarks because I had

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

black scales, that I was a dragon of the

darkness. I've kept my heart and soul.

The next day, operations resumed and our

information network warned us that Hakumen in

no one would be on the territory, in Texas.

We rushed in with our troops and the destroyers...

to do a bloodletting, a breakthrough to Houston.

The storm was raging and the skies were abnormally high

dark.

Tornadoes wreaked havoc on the landscape.

So we rushed to the base of the tornadoes to crush

the enemy troops who controlled them.

BUT a mental message warned me that it was a

getapens. Goldur also warned me.

But it was too late.

Hakumen was in Alaska, at the ranch, attacking...

Argentrix who mentally called me for help.

"IVAN, TO ME! He wants my soul!"

I plunged into darkness and the demon smiled.

I had fallen into his trap.

"HAHAHAH" laughed the monster, diverting his attention

argentrix.

The other dragons lay there, stunned, unconscious.

From its shadow I emerged, but I was half trapped.

"I, too, swim in the shadows. After all, I...

is also part of the realm of shadows, a demon.

You, you're just an animal... a dragon..."

I was struggling, stuck and he approached argentrix.

"A colossus with feet of clay... You're like the

samurai who almost defeated me. He too has lost

a loved one. Oh... but... I sense life in...

his belly.

You offer me a delicacy: Young souls...

unborn, innocent, pure... A young dragonlet!

The Tiamat Lineage! Great-great-great grandson of

Sinistrar."

The fox was moving around Argentrix

that protected his belly with its wings...

bloody.

The fight must have been terrible.

The ranch was torn apart, the tribe massacred and the...

portal and the military-- only one was left.

smoking hole. Even the cave was gone.

It's as if an atomic bomb had lifted the...

land.

The dragons were scattered with the debris from

rock.

I began to face my darkness and I came through...

rage to come out of his embrace, but they were my

legions who helped me. They strengthened my soul

and so I could face this age-old demon.

I said, "Why do you afflict us?"

Hakumen: "But I am shedding fear underneath all the...

its forms. You can't escape it!"

"I am not afraid of you!"

Hakumen: "And so you are afraid for your little one? for your

straps?"

"For Hissa??"

Don't touch them, otherwise..."

"Or else what?"

"I'm part you! I'm your shadow, your alterego, your evil self."

"Leave us and go back to hell!"

"You could have it all! Eliminate mankind, this...

a scourge for this poor planet that's dying because of

of them."

Me: "You're a monster because you also torment the dragons in addition to humans. This proves it enough."

Hakumen: "Yet I give you a gift. You know that...

I'm not, however, absolute evil. You are.

is the descendant! You could become a true god

of darkness."

I said, "And if there's no one left, what's the point?

to be a god?'

Annoyed Hakumen lifted his paw to disembowel Argentrix.

His speed was beyond comprehension, only my transfer...

in the darkness could stop the blow.

His paw went into my belly instead...

of Argentrix.

In the process, he ripped out half my liver...

and my golden blood exploded all around me.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry. I'll let her live to...

that your little one can get revenge for the death of his

dad.

.

My strength was rapidly leaving me and, his paw...

still in my gut, I grab it, provoke

an ever-increasing hemorrhage.

Argentrix screamed.

IVAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN Not that!!!!!

I took his head in my head and I could feel the

corruption win my belly.

That's when ZAAAR appeared next to me and bit my belly.

Hakumen's turn.

The demon was trying to suck out my soul but my 8

legions resisted and it was the other way around. The souls

prisoners of Hakumen, who were only asking to escape

and freeing himself didn't lend him any strength and I

me to swallow them, thus increasing the number of

soldiers from my legions.

The Demon deflated as he went along and wanted to.

physically break free from my grip.

I blew out Lightning, Fire and Ice and

darkness and I tore his head off, and it fell off in

dust.

The rest also fell to soot dust.

I held my belly, mortally wounded.

Argentrix grabbed a blanket and tried to stop

the bleeding, but I had lost too much

blood.

Besides, my blood on the ground evaporated into a mist

starry, like a fireworks fountain.

I bent my legs, drained of my strength and fell...

on my knees, one paw holding my guts and the other holding me...

off the ground.

Auronne woke up and the dragons were knocked out.

She saw my condition and screamed "OH NO!!!"

Argentrix cried, screamed for help! Panicked.

"Quickly, help!"

She laid her hands on me and transferred her

mana.

Sparks partially closed my wound, but the

blood flowed like a river.

The wound was corrupt, evil, untreatable.

Aurona leaned down and did a restoration, then a

second and a third before falling to the ground,

exhausted.

She cried when she saw me leave like that.

I motioned to Argentrix to come closer.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, my love. Don't speak! We're going to

Save! We'll find a solution."

But I knew I was lost. I was saving my last strength to say goodbye. I was already dead, well, almost dead. I could hear the 737 plane landing very close to me, to come and get me this time.

"Argentrix...(BLOOD gushing out)..."

I stroked her head and kissed her goodbye one last time.

"You taste like honey, yet I've never seen you eat it..."

Argentrix: "I love mead..."

Me: "You're beautiful, always more beautiful..."

Cough...

"Be happy and keep smiling. You have a little bit of me in you and don't cry.

He too will be happy to have a smiling mother.

Sinistrar came and crashed behind me but he put his paw on my back and caressed my head.

He shed a tear that partially closed my wound and stopped the corruption but argentrix looked at him over my head.

He nodded negatively.

I gave him a smile.

"I've been happy with you..."

The light went out from my eyes and I couldn't hold on. My muscles relaxed.

I slipped my head on Argentrix's belly.

Many tears were falling on my cheek.

In a last effort I roared against the sun that I could no longer see and I felt my wife's snout against mine, saying "I love you, please hold on!"

I kissed her one last time and died.

The dragons screamed and then fell silent. Only sobs could be heard.

Argentrix was now alone, but with his parents, his whole family...

Zaaar watched the sun set and roared.

His voice, like thunder, echoed around the world.

He turned to Sinistrar: "Ivan asked me to be under your command until peace is restored and then we will return this time not to the abyss but to the stars...".

Ivan is with his parents now. He, too, will return to his star."

Argentrix fell into a state of grief.

His mother and grandmother carried her to the yurt that had been spared."

Two days later,

The dragons were covered with a black veil, in memory of my color and black flags, symbolizing me.

My body was carried on a cannon carriage with the American and Belgian flags.

At the top of a hill, a pyre, a mountain of wood and logs were assembled into a pyre the size of a dragon.

Thousands of soldiers, and all the people I had saved in the gate and all my friends were there to see me being carried on the mortuary vehicle.

Many cried, others greeted me and the bikers were part of the parade.

Then, to my great surprise, the legions marched like shadows and gave me the military salute.

Followed by Zaaar.

I had a parade worthy of a president.

Then, each in turn, Argentrix, followed by his family, spat out their finest flames to light my pyre.

Argentrix turned to the soldiers: "I want revenge for my husband!"

The dragons roared but Fomalhaut caressed his daughter "Later... later... let's honour him"

She leaned between her mom and dad, inconsolable.

When the flames reached my body, they almost began to roar with intensity.

Then, suddenly, the fire turned black.

A black fire!

Then cracks and golden lines appeared on my body and light, stardust...

and I vanished into a golden smoke that dispersed with the wind.

The pyre lasted two days but there was nothing left.

To stop the grief, everyone went back to work so that life could continue.

Sinistrar took the small community under his wing and repaired the gate. The war was not over with the death of Hakumen.

The leaders who had come to their senses in Russia, Japan and England kept their corrupt hearts and Hakumen's "Tails", even if the body was dead, remained alive and kept their corruptive power. Lesser but still a threat.

Me?

I was in a huge plain, made of a tarmac extending to infinity.

There was nothing there. An endless blue sky and an infinite tarmac.

The turbines had stopped and the stairs had spread out.

I shouted at my family, but there was nothing coming out the way it did. Nothing.

I blinked between a human child and a black dragon.

I couldn't figure out who I was anymore. What I was.

I took the shape of the boy to get into the plane door.

I cried as I looked into infinity.

There was nothing left for me there.

But I was unhappy. I wanted to stay with Argentrix.

I wanted to see my eggs.

I wanted to see my family, whom I loved so much.

I still knew how to cry.

I wanted to scream that it wasn't fair. That I wanted a second chance and that I didn't care about heaven.

With nowhere else to go, I was shooting on the stairs.

I had heavy footsteps, lying around.

And as I climbed, I hoped to see something or someone, but it was this endless black slab.

I wanted to go deeper into the darkness, but nothing worked.

No powers.

I no longer existed and I had to face the fact that I was dead.

Afraid that the plane would leave without me and stay for eternity on this empty and infinite tarmac, I climbed on the plane and looked for familiar faces.

Mom and Godmother were there! Dad was there too!

They got up and welcomed me.

They too wept to see me so unhappy.

I said: "Can't we wait until the end of their lives to go away with them?"

Dad: "It doesn't work like that. We already left but we came back to look for you. You'll be a little less unhappy with us this way!

When it's their turn, you'll go looking for them too...but they have a very, very long life and the time flows differently here."

"Mom, what should I do? I don't feel like leaving..."

She held me to her chest.

A tear also fell on me. It smelled like argentrix.

The plane picked up speed and took off.

Through the window, the tarmac disappeared and I could see my loved ones crying and greeting me one last time.

"Mommy, I'm a dragon! Look down!"

Mommy: "My poor kid" stroking my hair"

Godmother held my hand, her usual smile.

Then, in the hallway, I saw my aunts, my uncle, my dog and my missing friends.

Me: "Where are you going?"

Godmother: "But to Lourdes! We're going to finish our holidays that we missed but all together".