A week passed and I was still in a coma, but you could tell I was dreaming.

Xayda noticed that I was on an astral plane, my body regenerating and recovering from all the stress and forced evolution.

She checked my mana veins and explained to Chloro that I was fine, that I was getting better but that I was about to undergo some changes and evolutions. What's more, an ectoplasmic egg was surrounding me, becoming more and more tangible as time went on.

But Chloro and Sacha were very busy.

According to the news, the situation was getting out of hand with the countries of the Ring of Fire and southern Europe.

Customs was causing disputes, strikes and scandal after scandal as goods were taxed or simply returned if not confiscated until customs duties were paid.

The military bases ejected NATO members and all the southern armies became confederates opposed to those of the Union (Nato).

The ICC (International Criminal Court) judged the presidents of the various states to be secessionists and subject to arrest warrants.

The courts of justice came into conflict with their states and after heated debates in the various constitutional courts, the confederates officially left the ICC, which took note, but because of the extraterritoriality they had proclaimed for themselves, the warrants persisted and commandos were sent to seize the presidents and their ministers involved.

The dragons were forgotten for a while as they made themselves "very small".

Obviously, the security forces came into conflict with the commandos of the CPI, sponsored by NATO, and blood was shed, which provoked the ire of the Unionists, who sent troops to punish the secessionists, who in turn sent their tanks.

The situation degenerated and a carrier, a kind of flying fortress or military base mounted on giant drone propellers, arrived to sweep up the French tanks and drop thousands of paratroopers to storm the French defence bases.

The carrier was caught unawares by hidden cannons and the fortress fell on a village, causing carnage in which thousands of soldiers perished in the crash and on-board explosions when the ammunition bay exploded.

France organised general mobilisation and led the Confederates, who provided support and kept at bay any Unionists who might attack from the South.

Sirens wailed everywhere and Paris behaved like a city under siege.

As in 1414, millions of sandbags were deployed by drones to protect all the infrastructure and sculpted historic facades. Like Paris Cathedral under a pyramid of sandbags. All in just a few hours. The drones accelerated the whole thing a thousand times. Unheard of.

General Leclerc, a direct descendant of the family that bears his name and a hero of other conflicts in his time, was in charge of the defence and turned to President Truck.

"We're going to be crushed and tried as criminals. The ICC does not recognise our secession and does not recognise our right to self-determination.

The orbital cruisers are taking over and will destroy our bases.

They meet in an extraordinary council and then give us an ultimatum with the threat of doubling or tripling our sentences. They've started to freeze our assets and we're deprived of the Swift global payment system. I see very difficult negotiations ahead, my president."

"And the Charles de Gaule III?"

"My president, our super carrier is near D'IO to defend our colonies...That's all they have.."

Truk : "I see..."

Leclerc : "I know you have plenty of resources, but this time I don't see how we can resist..."

Truk: "Not only are we going to resist, but we're going to win this war and break the Union and all those imperialists... A good dose of communism would do this planet a world of good."

Leclerc: "My President, you have ambition, but do you have the means or a means to back up your claims? With our combined forces here, and being optimistic, it's a ratio of 1:50 and, economically, it will be untenable. And I think they'll opt for a total blockade".

Truk: "What about the Russians and the Chinese?

"True to form. They watch their old enemies tear each other apart. What's more, Russia has never forgotten the humiliation it suffered at the hands of France a century and a half ago. It's only your very left-wing government that has warmed our relations, but not to the point of Russia becoming our ally. At best, we won't have to fear their intervention against us.

As for China, as long as we're paying them, they don't give a damn.

Then the President looked out of the window.

"Send in the Draconian ambassador!"

The general was astonished and had completely forgotten about the dragons.

He stepped aside but wanted to learn from his president who had arrived here not by chance but by facing many political trials. You don't become president just like that.

"Ms Goldberg! Please come in! Come in and make yourself comfortable. Mr Kroa from Alpha It gives me great pleasure to see you in these dark days. Then, from behind, Chlorophylle stepped forward.

"Ah Madam Empress!"

The president was all excited and before long, the huge table was filled with chicken and meat dishes and the best that the land had to offer...

The president knew what the dragons loved most of all... Cervoise, but also a whole panoply of spirits typical of French culture. There was even absinthe, which was forbidden.

Kroa listened only to her stomach and waited for Chloro to make a gesture before cutting into the roast chickens like ordinary nuggets.

A smile was all it took for the cracking of the bones to be heard.

Sacha started too and Chlorophylle, spurred on by her new instincts, bit into her first chicken.

The President simply took a few sweets to accompany the concert of teeth.

The General was stunned by such barbarity. Indeed, they had before them so-called civilised alien monsters that were closer to Genghis Khan than to the mannered Queen of England.

After 10 minutes of the sounds of a draconic meal, the Empress wiped her mouth and Sacha did the same, and she wiped her male, who had a harder time of it, in quadruped form.

"Mr President, we've enjoyed this simple meal with no boring speeches... let's get down to business..."

Then he turned his back and looked out over the presidential gardens.

"My friends from Alpha... these are grave times and your coming here has nothing to do with the current situation. Rest assured. Your arrival was only the trigger for a situation that has degenerated over the years... We wanted to keep our French way of life as it was when Sacha left his world for Alpha 80 years ago.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

A lot has changed in 80 years, and not for the better.

The imperialists of the Nato and the USA have imposed their unilateral vision of the world and, with artificial intelligence, have imposed a new form of digital slavery.

You may or may not know this, but in other countries, citizens are classified by social networks. Like 0, a criminal who has served his sentence and is excluded from all public services, exluded from restaurants and shops. Category 1s only have access to supermarkets, category 3s are bourgeois equivalents and categories 4 and 5 are part of the elite.

It's completely ridiculous, senseless and profoundly unfair. We've been fighting for decades to abolish this scourge and ban it from our territories. But social networks have a hard life... and they're everywhere.

This is just one example, not to mention the justice system, which never punishes Americans or Israelis, even in the case of flagrant murder or massacre in the name of freedom.

The individual doesn't count - only the money.

Our government is socialist, even communist, and we protect the citizen against these tentacular monsters... I hope you follow me.

Chloro: "Yes, Mr President. Our draconic empire went through a bit of this kind of inequality where members of my family and those of the other royal families imposed their yoke on the starving people. The dragons restored order and the empire finally made peace with the Republic of Magestia. We understand your situation and sympathise with your ordeal."

Truk: "We welcomed you with open arms, but the situation is against us. We have many enemies and, to put it bluntly, the Unionists see you as invaders who should be packed off into space. They're not interested in your world because it's not economically viable. They have calculated a military campaign and the gains obtained. They've measured, calculated and evaluated everything and the stupid AIs have decided that you're just as much of a threat as we are."

Chloro :" I see..."

Truk "In the event of a military defeat, we request asylum on Alpha and citizenship of the Empire. Would that be possible?"

Sacha turned to Chloro "Mir is exhausted... If he gets involved, he could die..."

But Chloro could see all around her the beauty of the city but also the horrors of an atomic explosion like on Alpha...

She took a deep breath and looked out of the window like the President.

There was silence.

"Mr President... you granted us French citizenship. We are French by default and we share your point of view.

Alpha will not only grant you political asylum but will ensure your victory against the Union.

Then, against all expectations, Chloro licked the President to his surprise.

"Dragons lick those they love. That's how we greet them. We also recognise intentions by taste and smell. We're like you, but we're proud to be animals too."

The president then hugged the dragoness with both arms.

"Thank you, thank you Empress Chlorophylle. I, and the French people and those of the Ring of Fire are eternally grateful to you."

General Leclerc couldn't believe the turnaround in the situation.

Then, a few cups of coffee later and a few dozen cakes and tarts...

The President invited his General-in-Chief to have a chat with the ambassador.

Leclerc: What next?

Sacha: "We still have our fortress, capable of standing up to a Colossus-class destroyer. Normally, our enemies' fire and weapons should get through.

Let's just say we know how to protect ourselves from physical attacks.

The general opened his eyes.

"But... your destroyer... where is it?"

Sacha "Right here..."

With a snap of his claw, a pink door appeared from nowhere at the back of the palace room.

"This door leads inside..." He's somehow in another reality... A change of "phase"...

We can come and go as we please and sow chaos and destruction.

Each of the corner towers is a thruster but also a disintegrator cannon.

But we keep the fortress as our ultimate refuge... The enemy is clever, intelligent and capable of vicious feats such as blowing up structures with tactical baits and traps.

So we're going to use a different technology: short-range teleportation portals!

Leclerc: "Teleportation has been studied and turned upside down... it's impossible, impractical."

Sacha : "For science, yes... not for hyper science!"

"And how are you going to proceed?

Very simply: "You give us the targets, the coordinates and we place the explosives on the triangle, the next moment they're at the coordinates then boom... even through rock, under a mountain or in orbital space."

The general took fright. The Empire was far more powerful than it appeared, and coming to Earth was proof of that. They were the modern conquistadores, not to mention their strength and their race of giant monsters.

Then Chloro suggested: "We'll also teleport the enemy think tanks back, that'll cool them down and limit the bloodshed.

The general swooned.

"Your Highness, even if it works as you say, they'll disperse and we'll have no way of finding them.

Chloro: "In a war, the first to strike often wins and whoever has the element of surprise is often the winner. We're in danger right now and destroyers are over our heads. We have to show that we are capable of resisting by breaking their momentum and arrogance. The aim is to knock heads and show that the AI are not as reliable but are, on the contrary, a weakness. AIs are always predictable and easy to hack!"

Leclerc: "That's impossible!

Chloro invited the general to follow her inside the fortress.

They entered corridors of light and crystal, everything smooth and perfect.

Then a huge room with a giant screen and an inverted pyramid with laser beams pointing downwards as a kind of keyboard.

A triangle shape with an eye appeared on the screen

"OGRE at your service, Majesty.

Leclerc saw an alien AI, very different from an Earth AI.

Chloro: "It's a runic AI, designed and developed by Mir on the basis of the ARK system, but without electronics. It's a computer Golem. Impossible to corrupt or hack".

For Leclerc, the barbarian dragons were capable of turning science and their knowledge on its head.

Sacha then brought a French military grenade and placed it on a triangle in the room.

Chloro: Zoom in on the ship orbiting above us...

The President, who had finally entered, exclaimed: "It's the TIGER, the flagship of British technology. They have economically destroyed our military industries with this monster and they want to use it as a threat".

Then a holographic message appeared in front of the general and the president.

"That was Chancellor Paladin."

Dressed in a slightly Indian-style suit, he smiled at the President.

"President Truk... the international community no longer recognises you as the leader of France but as a mere war criminal. We demand your immediate surrender. As you know, the Tiger is above you and, as far as we know, no current weapon is capable of piercing its shields. However, it would be unfortunate if it had to fire on you if you did not cooperate. Of course, we guarantee your physical integrity and that of your colleagues if you comply with our orders. We also guarantee that you will be covered by the best AI lawyers to ensure your defence and put forward your reasons and arguments, which will have to be analysed."

The President turned his head towards Sacha and nodded.

General Leclerc was terrified.

He knew that the Tiger was going to fire and destroy the palace and its basements. They wouldn't be able to get to safety. The guns were too powerful.

Smelling fear... Kroa intervened: "General, President. Here safely...watch fireworks with us and watch paladin clown head."

The Chancellor's hologram looked around.

"I don't recognise this room, yet I know the elise by heart with the virtual tours... Are you in a bunker?"

The next moment, the grenade had disappeared and we could see the inside of the TIGER's engine room, and the cooling circuits.

Then the grenade exploded, destroying the main reactor pipe and damaging the automatic control module. It was as if we were on board and the flames grew rapidly, igniting the whole area. You could hear the alarm sirens and the lights turning red.

Then the next instant, a much louder explosion. The firing module of the charged ion cannon exploded, unable to retain the accumulated energy and relying on the cooling circuit.

On board, Admiral Danford was receiving damage notifications.

The Ai mentioned a critical accident and a rupture in an important circuit.

"Discharge the ion cannon and drain the capacitors".

AI: "The cannon control is damaged and the energy is leaking out in the form of fire in one of the cells. We have to jettison the cannon otherwise the Tiger is lost. We're doing an evasive manoeuvre to avoid crashing into populated areas".

Leclerc: "They're going to jettison the cannon, you've damaged one of the cannon's energy cells and the fire will spread if they don't jettison the cannon... but they can put another one in."

Then he stood up and asked OGRE to move the teleportation ring to a highly protected computer area.

"We need to blow up this module... they won't be able to drop the cannon and the Tiger will be destroyed."

Then he took his revolver and stood in front of the circle showing the area.

"Ambassador, if I fire from here, the bullet will go into the Tiger, not here?

Sacha: "Yes, I assure you!"

Then he aimed and fired into the computer, which caught fire and caused a whole area of the ship to go dark".

Then the circle disappeared, leaving only a zoom on the Tiger.

Paladin had not been able to witness the scene and lost patience.

"President, Truck, no. Mr Truck... my patience is wearing thin and unfortunately we have to assume that you will not cooperate. Which leaves me with the sad choice of asking the tiger to fire".

Truk "Yes, indeed, The tiger will not fire... It's on fire. Don't underestimate us... on the other hand our breakaway states have decided to become part of the Draconian Empire of Alpha. So I suggest you reconsider your position..."

The Chancellor laughed, but his laughter was short-lived as he learned that the Tiger was in distress, with major damage...

Truk: "I can see that low-cost is very expensive. Our French industries could have foreseen this kind of problem. With low-cost over our heads, it's not very reassuring, Mr Chancellor."

Communication was cut off.

Then we saw an explosion at the base of the cannon, which spread like wildfire and the compartments jumped one after the other.

The cannon finally separated from the Tiger in an explosion that ripped the hull from the ship's belly.

The engines stopped and the Tiger pivoted towards the atmosphere, its shields extinguished, and began its terrifying fall.

10 minutes later, the Tiger could be seen melting in the atmosphere, consumed like a cigarette, surrounded by thousands of evacuation balls which also began to melt in the atmosphere.

A large block of metal crashed into the North Atlantic, followed by a huge spray of steam.

The general couldn't believe it... he had destroyed a destroyer with a bullet from a revolver... then he started laughing...

the president laughed too and shouted... "CHAMPAGNE!"