My eyes fluttered open, staring at the dark marble columns of the castle’s private hospital. I jolted up, flinching as my back flashed a searing pain. My body collapsed back onto the sheets of the bed, a pounding headache now starting to make itself known. I clenched my jaw, gripping the handles on the side of the bed to pull myself up slowly. The pain was less intense, as I finally positioned myself in an upward position. While struggling to get up, I couldn’t help but notice that I was still in the human form that I was reverted to in the battle.

Though, this time it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It was easier to heal if the self-healing abilities were limited to a smaller body, even if my natural form was a dragon. Short periods of taking this form weren’t too harmful, especially in this situation.

No matter.

Scanning the room, I peered out at the dark windows that viewed the upper court of the castle. The only lights that shone were the twinkling of starlight in the constellation sky.

“How long have I been out?” I groaned, holding myself up with my left hand with the bed handle.

The last thing that I could remember was the cries of my dying soldiers after the powerful attack of the humans at the last minute. Then, I was blinded by the searing pain of what Adbeel described as light magic. That was impossible, right? The only creatures that were able to use that were the angelic species that declared neutrality a thousand years ago.

I would have been informed if they had gone against the treaty. The royal family would have known if they were weary of the neutrality, and we never bothered them. Morally, maybe?

“How did the humans… “I corrected myself, remembering the cautions of the human general, “How did ARC manage to wield such power? Where did they come from?”

Everything happened so fast.

This would be something I would have to present to my father, once he was in the throne room. The use of light magic could spell the downfall of the troops mobilized.

My headache only grew from worrying. I sighed, inching myself back into a laying position and resting my head against the pillow.

“There was no point in worrying about this if I needed to focus on healing to head back out,” I concluded, closing my eyes to try to sleep before the nurses would be in.

It would be nice to sleep.

A click at the door ruined this prospect, as the lights in the room were flicked back on. My eyes struggled to adjust to the brightness, especially because dragons tended to be more sensitive to everything.

It was a blessing and a curse.

Adbeel strolled in, followed by Dagon who both rushed over as I was trying to sit upright again.

“Be careful!” Adbeel got to my side first, gripping my arm too hard, causing a ripple of pain to course through my body like a sharp blade.

A series of curses escaped my pained moaning, as I swiped at Adbeel’s grip, and glared.

He understood his mistake. Adbeel lurched forward into a deep bow, nearly hitting his horned head off the side of the bed.

“Apologies, young prince!”

Dagon sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose under his glasses, “You’ll have to excuse him, sire. You’ve been unconscious for about a week now. We only figured out that you woke up because Adbeel forced me to cast a spell that would alert us to your awakening.”

Why did this not surprise me?

I nodded, sending a weary glance over to Adbeel, who was profusely bowing in apology.

“.... Ah, it’s okay. Really.” I was relieved to see that this ended the series of bows, but I was less ready to meet with the bawling eyes of my second in command.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! You worried me out there, Young Prince. Especially with how you would react after seeing your wings. “Adbeel hushed after this comment by a loud shushing from Dagon, who sent a telling look.

My wings?

I froze, rolling my shoulders and moving my back to feel any difference. Since waking up, I hadn’t yet looked at them.

I relaxed the human form slightly, lifting off the transmutation magic that I kept in my injured state. My nail beds relaxed into long black talons, my eyes sharped, and I leaned forward slightly to spread out my wings.

Folded up, they seemed fine. I spared a glance at Dagon in slight confusion, who only returned it with a grim expression. I gulped, spreading open my wings.

The right one opened with no discomfort, spanning its length, and nearly reaching the entrance of the medical center. My stomach grew nauseous, as a burning filled my senses. I lurched forward in curses, feeling the ripping sensation that came from opening my left wing.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

My body continued to shake for a few minutes as Dagon cast pain-numbing spells and Adbeel did his best to comfort my shaking body.

The tremors ceased, my breathing returning to normal after the initial ripping sensation from my wing stopped. I shuttered, forcing myself to look over at my left wing. I knew it wasn’t going to be good.

I was right. An audible gasp left my mouth, as I stared at the ruins that my left wing was in. Panic coursed through my system, as I processed the corroded state of it. Half of the bottom leather skin was missing, with huge rips from where I had tried to open it seconds before. Small holes littered the thick leather-like skin of my wing, surrounding a huge chuck of the wing missing from the middle. The worst part was that it was this bad in a mostly human form. This meant that it was worse in my normal dragon state. There was no way I could fly on this. That thought was terrifying enough.

“It looks a lot better than it did when I found you on the battlefield,” Adbeel admitted.

I slowly nodded, unable to look at it anymore, and buried my face in my knees.

Dagon ceased the pain-numbing spells after I placed the transmutation magic back on myself. The talons, wings, and eyes returned to a human state.

“The nurses and doctors tried everything they could to fix your wing.” Dagon tried to comfort me but hesitated at my next question.

“Did my father visit?” I asked both, who grew silent. A passing glance from Adbeel to Dagon told me all I needed to know, but I still wanted to hear it.

“I’ll ask one more time. Did my father visit?” I asked, this time projecting the royal family’s authoritative power into it.

Dagon shivered amid the command, he hesitated once more, finally choking out the answer I was waiting for, “No sire, he did not…”

Did I even need to ask at this point?

The mood in the room grew tense from the use of authority. It wasn’t their fault, still, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the lack of a visit. I brushed this off as best as I could and exhaled loudly.

“I’m sorry. Thanks for worrying about me. It was comforting to be able to talk to someone after waking up in the dead of night.” I noticed that the tension dissipated. Lighter expressions of my generals replaced the tense ones from earlier.

Adbeel heartily chuckled and scratched his head. He felt flustered by the comment, as it was not part of demon tradition to get praised for anything.

“It’s early morning. The sun hasn’t risen yet.” Dagon corrected, casting a spell that made the end of the bed light up with a projection of the sun’s position.

“I see. Thank you, Dagon.” I thanked him, grateful for now having a bit more sense of what was going on.

Adbeel seemed to dote on this spell, “Wait, that’s so cool! When did you learn that?” He raved, exposing his lack of magic usage.

This was a simple triple-layer spell combining projection magic, scanning magic, and earth magic together. Dagon sighed, rolling his eyes at the comment of the demon a rank ahead of him.

I decided to answer it in Dagon’s place, “He’s known it for a while. Since we’re in combat these types of spells aren’t performed daily. That’s why you haven’t seen it before.”

That was a lie. This muscle head has seen it millions of times but can’t remember it.

“Oh! That makes sense!” He snorted, clapping his hands together loudly, which made me flinch from the noise.

It kills to have hypersensitive senses. It drives you to want to murder anyone who is loud, smelly, or too vibrant. Adbeel pushed that button occasionally.

Like the sadist he was, Dagon got a small chuckle from my pain before adopting a knowing smile.

This light mood had shifted into a more serious one, I noticed this change instantly.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” I questioned Dagon, who gave a more apparent indication that there was something important needing to be discussed. Well, either that or Adbeel just wasn’t informed of it. To be honest, the latter was true.

My third in command nodded, dawning the same matter that he took in battle, “Your second brother stopped by to inform you that your father has requested your presence in the throne room.”

“My father wants to see me?” I asked, shockingly.

“That is correct, sire.”

I pondered this. Could it be about my injury? Did Father find out about their use of light magic and wanted to consult about it? Whatever it was, I doubted it would end well. There was a reason all the princes strayed from the main castle as soon as they were assigned their posts to live and maintain. I was no exception to this way of living. The Demon King may value his dragon, but it was in a way of cherishing a tool. It extended no further than that, nor could it ever.

An equally horrific realization dawned on me.

“Wait.” I paused, “Are you saying my second brother came to visit?” My mouth gaped, horrified at the thought.

A sweat bead formed on the corner of Dagon’s face, he sorrowed, “Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to stop him, sire.” He visibly cringed, thinking back to terrible memories.

“Actually, thank god I was unconscious.” I sighed in defeat and slight disgust at the thought of my second brother. That doting lunatic.

“What do you plan on doing about your father?” Adbeel voiced.

There was no point in delaying it, as much as I didn’t want to go.

“Is my father in the throne room now?” I asked, throwing off my sheets and wincing slightly as I moved to stand up.

The effects of Dagon’s pain-numbing magic made the pain more manageable.

“Yes, but sire. You should rest for now.” Dagon advised; Adbeel nodded in agreement.

I shook my head, “If there’s one known fact about the Demon King, it’s that he hates waiting. I’ll go. You two go back to the post and keep my duties over the territory safe, understand?”

They both bowed, realizing this was a command, not a request, “Understood, your royal highness Arslym Morningstar.”

I nodded, hobbling towards the door and opening it. It closed behind me, as I made my way down the west wing of the castle.

The throne room was in the center of the castle, which meant that it wasn’t that far from where I was. Compared to my original housing, princes claimed their own posts on the borders of the Kingdom. This ensured that the kingdom’s protection was in royal arms instead of assigning lords to keep command of territories within the kingdom. It also gave the king absolute authority within the Helion Kingdom from his sons.

Turning a corner, I saw the grand doors of the throne room, walking closer to them. The guard eyed my approach, recognizing me instantly and bowing down.

“Third Prince Arsylm Morningstar, how may I be of service to his royal highness today?” The guard declared while guarding the throne room doors.

“I’ve come to fulfill the summoning of my father,” I replied.

The guard stood back up and nodded. Grabbing the handles of the doors and prying them open.

“Third Prince Arsylm Morningstar!” The guard announced into the chambers when I entered and closed the doors.

I walked further into the room and got on my knee, trying to ignore the pain that came from doing so.

“Your son, Arsylm Morningstar has come to meet your summoning as gathered from the second prince, Father.”

I made no move to raise my head till I heard the voice of my father, the King of Demons.

“Raise your head, son.” My father commanded. I followed but kept kneeling on the ground, not daring to defy that gesture.

Father cleared his throat, his eyes felt as if they were dissecting me entirely.

A small chuckle echoed in the throne room, “I haven’t seen that form in a while. It’s quite peculiar to not have to look at your massive dragon figure. If I remember correctly, you had to crawl to fit in here last time. I quite like your dragon form better.”

“Apologies Father. It’s easier to heal in this smaller form.” I bowed my head and explained.

“Is that so? Then I assume you do this through transmutation magic?” He asked.

“That is correct, Father,” I replied.

“I see. I assume that you’re wondering why I’ve called you here, then.” He went on.

I had no time to respond because he was already onto the reason.

“I heard from the doctor’s report that you will be unable to use your wing for an extended period. Never? At least properly.” The king asked again, but it gave off obvious pressure. He already knew the answer.

The mana density increased in the room; I would be a fool to not notice the fury of my father.

“Well?”

I gulped harshly, “That’s correct, Father…”

There was a curse that escaped from his tongue, “If that’s the case then…”

His next sentence made my heart(s) drop.

“You are no longer welcome in the Helion kingdom. Arslym Morningstar, you are hereby banished from my sight. Come high noon I will send for your death if you are sighted within kingdom territory.” His voice bellowed in a venom.

“But father, I…” It was a mistake to try to defend myself, it only caused more of my father's wrath.

Father’s pressure increased, causing me to choke from the intensity of the throne room. I doubted that my full dragon form could manage it.

“Be gone! Useless reptile! Let me remind you, son. A dragon that can’t fly is a dead dragon. If you cannot be of use to my reign, then you do not deserve to live here.”

It was impossible to hide my shaking body, as I nodded, keeping my head bowed.

“Understood, Father. I’ll go to the portal room immediately.”

The pressure increased.

“Father?” He scoffed, “I don’t have any useless sons.”