After apologising to her godfather, the fire having caught her by the throat, as she put it, Emily was able to return to her classroom. She then asked to enter the study to speak to Blackthorne.

Chardon promised the dragonet that she had calmed down and that he was safe.

‘It's better to have a big blow-up than lingering resentment’.

Emily entered the study and, on all fours, lay down by the door and stared at Blackthorne and then at her godfather.

Thistle: ‘Would you like a coffee?’

Emilie liked coffee even if it was difficult for a dragon but it was human so she appreciated it. If she could put on a dress and heels, she'd do it without hesitation!

She laughed and told of her brother's latest antics at the scout camp. He had turned into a dragon and worn a Borat (thong) and had fallen asleep around the fire instead of in the dormitories on stilts. What's more, he froze the beers with his breath and all the lockers were emptied too quickly.

Although it was forbidden and he had to be discreet, Chardon laughed about it because it was good-natured and his friendships were the most important thing in life.

‘Ah. if I was his age... I'd want to have a beer iced by a dragon too...’

Then he turned to Blackthorne, who was trembling with fear.

"You can talk... no one will hurt you but we need to know what happened. Your testimony can save lives, so you can live free..."

Blackthorne, reduced to the state of a young child and his brains beaten to a pulp by Tiamat before his reincarnation, hiccupped.

Blackthorne ‘Ahh..PleaseEmilie...Please..’

The dragoness stopped looking at him and fixed her attention on Chardon, her godfather.

"I..I beg your pardon....I was forced... I'm afraid... I'm still afraid... It's here... it's everywhere... ....The darkness... The darkness devours... I don't want to stay in the dark any longer..."

Chardon wrinkled his forehead, he couldn't understand anything. Everything looked unravelled.

‘Kid. take your time and drink!’

He gave him a glass of water and the dragonet grabbed the glass with his paws and swallowed the liquid in a rush.

Then, with time to reconstruct his thoughts...

‘EMile... please don't kill Daathr...or my sisters...’

But he realised that he had just given too much information...

Then he continued...

"MaLL MAlekum.... it's him .. it's him who ate Einrich..and killed.. Luc...."

Emile spilt his cup, feeling faint, and she spat her coffee on the floor.

She wiped up the mess as best she could and then stared at the dragonet.

"I want to know EVERYTHING!

Then Chardon placed his hands on Emilie's front paw.

‘Give him time... he's innocent... he's a child...’

Then Emilie pulled herself together. ‘Yes, Godfather...’

Her look of hatred changed towards the dragonet.

Then Blackthorne raised his front legs and Chardon took him in his arms...

A shocked Emilie gave her godfather a smile: ‘Thank you... I'll come back when I've calmed down... I have to swallow all this...’

Blackthorn cried and said.

I was in the egg and I felt that we were going to get out but I was too weak. I didn't have the strength to break the shell...and I could hear Daathr reassuring me, talking to me and saying that he was going to save us all... But the Russians arrived with a submarine and Daathr fled with my sisters.

Daathr was always very strong but I think he's a he now..but I still love him like a brother...

Mother Tiamat.. was mad..She was looking for an imaginary daughter and couldn't see that Daathr was her!...

She wanted to start the ship, well it was me but that was impossible... She had taken all the powers of the dragons for her magic and merged her ship with Daathr's but magic and science don't go well together...since Ruidia had fled, and me too, the other heads of Tiamat had collapsed and she wanted to decapitate us... It was either us or Emile and his siblings. I only knew Emilie as an enemy who worked as a traitor for the dragon hunters and even Emilie was a victim of Tiamat.

I was sticking to Tiamat to keep her sane and not cause a disaster, but there were too many deaths, too much blood and she ended up being discovered by the army, the hunters and it all ended in a bloodbath. You could say we won, because they're all dead but Tiamat is dying..."

Thistle: ‘And the eggs, why?’

The explosion finished us off and Tiamat devoured our bodies in the hope of regenerating but she partially switched to Faerune to regenerate but the portal spell failed. She couldn't go to hell with innocent souls in her belly... And she laid our eggs.

Thistle: ‘Is she with the Russians?’

Blackthorne: ‘I don't know, all I know is that they got rid of me because I was of no use to Malekum. He didn't see any potential in me or my powers. And yet I'm an excellent technician. Daathr taught me everything. She used to be an engineer.

Thistle ‘So you're telling me Daathr was human? "

Blackthorne: ‘Are you going to throw me out too when I've said everything?’

"No, don't worry. You're going to stay here. Everything will calm down and...

"

He fell silent.

"Malekum is the left hand of the Kremlin... and he wants to become Tiamat himself. That's why they've been treating Tiamat but it's no use, she's going to die."

Thistle : ‘How can you be so sure?’

‘The Djizira! The tax on the right to live and on powers...’

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Chardon shook his head... something was incomprehensible.

"I'm afraid, Professor... the Destroyer of Worlds... the great Hydra... the mother of all Tiamats...Sometimes we see it in our dreams and hide... It's pure evil!!! "

Very tired, the dragonet quickly exhausted himself and fell asleep in the arms of the old professor who was also one of the last dragon hunters.

He exclaimed: ‘Oh my God... I'm just a pile of old bones...’.He looked at the dragonet.‘If only you could protect us for a day..and take a leaf out of your cousin's book...’

He went into another room with a table and photos, pins and woollen threads linking the pins and photos together.

He stepped back and said, ‘Something doesn't add up...’

"Spaceship... ship... 2 ships.... merged into one....

2 worlds? 3 worlds.??? Then he dropped his chalk.

"The devourer of worlds... not of the world... of worlds!! yes...My God... the Russians... the wreck... if they study it...."He realised that a war was taking place but on a different time scale and that we were only collateral victims.

He also realised how small human beings are and how short-lived they are, compared to dragons who don't suffer the wear and tear of time as we do.

That night, he had stayed in the office and contacted the officers of the Belgian royal palace to explain the situation.Blackthorne was half asleep, peering out from under a blanket and keeping as low a profile as possible.

Around 2 a.m. Emilie had also returned to check on the next steps. She was always ready for an expedition and her bag was always ready.

The general thanked Chardon for waking him, as this information was very important for monitoring operations.

But the Admiral had wrecked the island and all that remained was an active volcano cleaning the ground of nuclear radiation.

The drone's recordings were cross-checked with the information gathered on site and everything fell into place.Except that here, it wasn't an infernal dragon that had to be fought, but an atomic superpower.

The general suggested that Emilie and Chardon rest and regain their strength. They would be contacted if there was any news.Emilie returned to the office and looked briefly at Blackthorne.

‘You're pretending to be asleep..’

He curled up in a ball, hidden by the blanket, as if that would isolate him from the red dragoness.

"Blackthorne. You told the truth and saved millions of lives in the process...I won't do anything to you again...I can see why now. But it's a waste.. We could have been friends...’ but she still had her doubts.

The black dragonet was crying. He wanted his mummy but she was the cruel Tiamat...

‘I want Mummy but she's going to devour me... I want... I ...Yesss (childish cry)’.Chardon took him in his arms...

‘He's really unhappy...’ And he handed the dragonet to Emilie. Blackthorne was wrapped up in the blankets and thought it was Chardon who was holding it.

Emilie was shocked but her maternal instinct kicked in and she held the dragonet she had hated so much before.

She sighed a little, then cradled him a little and Blackthorne began to purr like a cat.

She turned to her godfather, tired. "Godfather, I've really lost it... thank you for stopping me.You've done so much for me."

Then he gritted his teeth and put his hand to his chest, grimacing.

"PArrain???? Godfather?""No...Emilie.. I have des.. "He gasped for a moment and then resumed, ’My heart feels like it's spasming.I'm old and tired... It's not my age any more... I'm sorry, but tomorrow I'm going to see my cardiologist."Emilie suddenly realised that her godfather's time was almost up.She realised that her time scale was as different as that of the humans she had shared for a short time before being reincarnated in Rudia's egg.

Chardon sat down and took a blanket and put on her slippers. "Tomorrow I'm retiring... Emilie, but don't worry. You have a family of dragons too and you'll never be alone again. He nodded towards Blackthorne. He'll be part of your family too, whether you like it or not. And I'm sure he'll be a good person with you.

Emilie realised that she might be holding her future companion in her paws, but she shook her head to get her thoughts out of her head.

Images of a nest and eggs and memories of her mum Rudia's second clutch in the Ardennes but also the horrible peck in the mountains of Nepal.

She felt that she too was part of an immense circle of life and the gift of life.

The old professor and his dragon apprentice were asleep in the study, temporarily transformed into a bedroom and nest.

The bells in the corridor woke them up and it was time for class, but not today.

She accompanied the professor and took the wheel of his car, with Blackthorne in the back seat. The driver's seatback was folded down to allow Emily's enormous red dragon tail to pass behind the seat.

She drove him to hospital and friends of the Order came looking for the car.Blackthorne was at Emilie's feet and didn't dare say anything, looking at the ground to avoid any provocation.Emile was standing bipedally in front of the hospital car park with the dragonet at his paws.

‘What am I going to do with you?’

Then she headed for the hospital helipad, phoned air traffic control, resumed her giant form and took the little dragon home in her front paw.

Blackthorne squeaked. Shall we go to your place? Ochria's going to eat me...Azur too and...Suzanne's going to make soup with me....

Emilie : ‘You keep quiet and above all, you don't talk!’

Blackthorne was even more frightened. Although Emilie knew how to reason like an adult, the other dragonets were not as tolerant. What's more, they were no longer dragonets but young teenage dragons. A thousand times, she could have let him go and let him die now that he was at her mercy, but Emilie had a good heart. With good reason, she was able to understand the Archdemon's horror and blackmail. She too was wounded in soul and flesh. And Blackthorne had never been lucky enough to have a loving family in his life. He had only known psychopathic demons who took their delusions for granted.

The village was in sight and its many sun-gilded fields were an unforgettable sight every time, especially as the rising sun broke through the clouds and gave them the same colour as the fields of wheat.Imaginary rivers were traced in the sky and the celestial fields bordered an ocean of infinite blue, while red stripes stretched from left to right.

Emilie narrowly avoided the church steeple, lost in contemplation, and the children near the square rushed by on their bikes to greet their dragon friend. Emile always had chewing gum for the little ones, as part of his tradition. His favourites were imitation cherries.

She landed in the meadow instead of her garden and let the dragonet stretch its legs. 3-4 bicycles with children aged between 6 and 10 arrived and the brakes squealed on the gravel road near the meadow.

They ran towards the dragonet and slowed down when they saw a little black man.

One of the children shouted ‘It's Black Smurf! Come and see!!!’

Emilie smiled and watched the dragonet's reaction to children barely taller than him.

He looked up at Emilie who was staring at him. The message was clear: beware of hurting children...

immediately, the dragonet became a doll in the hands of the girls.

Emilie: ‘Be careful, he's already got big teeth...’

Blackthorne calmed down and let himself be hurt. This led to that and he began to play too.Another dragoness came up the road (the village was on the side of a valley, with the church at the top and the square as well) and the children ran up to Ochria to play too.

Ochria looked at Blackthorne and then at Emilie. Emilie's eyes were fixed on the black dragonet and she wasn't looking at her sister.

Emilie: ‘It's... "she paused

"He's an orphan who escaped from the Russians. He's going to live with us".

The dragonet didn't move, frozen, as if petrified, and he had peed on the spot.

Ochria was devouring him with her eyes, her head full of mischief and guilty thoughts... A young male will one day become an adult...

Blackthorne shuddered.