My family, Donte, and the mercenaries all gathered around in the central hall of the mansion after having some time to adjust to the miraculous ruin that was Dragon’s Nest. They each looked at each other with grim expressions after hearing the news that Irene had found us again.
Esben was the first to speak. “Based on my experience, with our current lack of food, we can remain at our peak strength for less than a week. We need to either find a way to safely obtain more food or confront the undead before the week ends.”
My dad nodded as he rubbed his chin. “We are safe up here for now, but we are effectively in a state of being sieged. If any of us go down there to hunt or gather supplies, the undead will jump on us. One or two undead would not be a problem, but their numbers are increasing with every minute that passes. The entire hoard will probably be here within the hour.”
“We need a proper plan. I do not want to risk any more of my men in a half-baked ambush like last time,” Esben replied gruffly, “If even half those creatures can self-destruct like the ones that took me out of commission, we will not stand a chance in a direct fight.”
My dad mused quietly for a moment before his shoulders slumped with a sigh. “So long as the one controlling them remains, these undead will never stop being a threat. We need to deal with Irene herself if we want to end this.”
At this, everyone in the room turned to look at me expectantly. I bit my lip as I thought about everything I knew about Irene. Her hatred of me rivaled the hatred I felt for her father. It should not be hard to draw her out… if she felt she had won.
“If I fake a surrender, we could draw her into a trap,” I said slowly.
“No,” my mom replied firmly.
“But-”
““No!”” both my mom and dad both shouted simultaneously.
My dad spoke with a growl as he glared at me. “Even flying directly to Kala is a better plan than that. Even if we are nothing more than half-starved beggars by the time we get there, at least that makes more sense than giving yourself over to an enemy that hates you with such a passion.”
“Exactly how far is it until we reach Kala?” Charly asked curiously.
Esben scratched his head for a second as he counted on his other hand. “I have never flown like this before so it is hard to tell exactly, but my guess is at least two weeks to reach the border, maybe a bit more. Then, another five days would be needed to reach the capital.”
My dad nodded solemnly. “That is a long time to go without food, but it is not impossible.”
Esben sighed. “I hate the idea of running back home with our tales between our legs, but it might be our best plan. We still have one stallion left. It would be a shame to slaughter such a valiant steed after he survived so much, but we cannot afford to feed him either. His meat should buy us a couple extra days if we ration it properly. We might also be able to catch any birds that decide to roost on the island.”
“You can’t kill the horse for food!” Charly shouted in protest.
Esben met Charly’s furious glare without batting an eye. “You are too naive, kid. If it comes down to me or the horse, I am going to eat the horse.”
For a moment, Charly looked like he wanted to attack Esben, but he was stopped by my dad placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “We will worry about that in a week. If you want to save the horse, you need to catch enough birds to take its place. This will be an excellent opportunity to work on your target practice.”
Charly nodded silently while still staring at Esben. Without saying a word, he pulled his shoulder free of my dad’s grasp and marched outside with his crossbow in hand.
Donte starred after Charly with confusion. “I don’t understand. Horse is a delicacy in the slums of Aktaio. Why does he not want to eat it? How is killing a horse any different than killing a bunch of birds?”
My dad shook his head. “Chaly still has a lot to learn about the world. Do not hold it against him.”
Donte nodded. “Alright, so do I just keep Dragon’s Nest going north until we reach Kala, or do we continue trying to come up with some other plan?”
“Just keep us going north for now.”
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“Actually, I would rather not take the direct route,” I said, interrupting my dad, “There is a chance Irene does not yet know we are going to Kala’s capital specifically, only that we are traveling north. According to our maps, we still have two kingdoms to pass through. I think if we cross over a few major towns and cities along the way, it would give our followers no end of trouble. More than half of the undead following us are Demonkin. If those two kingdoms spot a small army of Demonkin passing through their territory, they might send out an army to suppress it. The chaos of a floating mansion passing over a city might also create an opportunity for us to get some food without Irene being able to attack us.”
“You want to cause a mass panic?” my mom asked, crossing her arms.
“Absolutely!” I replied with a big grin.
My mom glanced at my dad for a moment, but he just shrugged. My mom stared at me for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.
“I guess it is not the worst thing we have done these past few months. Just so long as we are only flying over, and not starting a war just to inconvenience Irene.”
I paused for a moment, intrigued by the idea of framing Irene for a floating mansion slamming into a royal palace, but the look in my mom’s eyes at that moment made me reconsider. I think I would rather be captured by Irene than have to face my mom’s wrath.
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I stood alone in a small room staring at the broken piece of stone floating above a pillar covered in pulsing veins of energy. Everyone else had gone their separate ways after our discussion about what we should do and despite trying to avoid it, I still found myself standing here.
Images of my teacher’s power flashed through my mind as I stood, transfixed by the core of Preateritum ruin. For centuries I had followed him, and I knew what these ruins were really capable of. Donte was not even scratching the surface of the power this building held.
Flooded by ambitions of what I would be capable of if I held power like that, I slowly reached out my hand towards the floating shard of rock. The broken shard felt warm to my touch. Through my fingertips, I could feel it beating with a steady rhythm. I waited, hoping for something to happen, but nothing did.
The core did not even react to my touch. There was only the heartbeat that continuously spread through the building.
“Only one person can be the master of Dragon’s Nest,” echoed a voice behind me. I turned to see Donte standing there with downturned eyes as he continued to speak. “I would share it if I could, but the only way for another person to become master of this place is if I die.”
“I know,” I mumbled as I let my arm fall limply to my side, “Still, I had to try.”
“If I could hand over command to you I would,” Donte said as he walked next to me, “There is so much I do not understand. I know that you would have been able to figure it out instantly. This legacy was supposed to be yours.”
I shook my head and smiled at Donte. “Nobody can know what the future may hold. I admit I am jealous, but that does not mean I am not happy for you. There is no reason you should not be happy as well. I will find my own path forward. I do not need to copy my teacher.”
Donte smiled back at me and before I could react, he hugged me tightly. “When I saw you staring at the core, I was so worried you would hate me for stealing Dragon’s Nest. You have no idea how much of a relief it is for me to hear you say that.”
Blushing slightly, I pulled myself free of Donte’s hug. “I am not going to hate you for something so stupid,” I mumbled softly before straitening up. “However, if you want to keep a Preateritum ruin you need the strength to protect it.
We have a lot of free time for the next couple of weeks. Starting today, I am going to push you to your limit. By the time we reach Kala, you will be begging for the days when you got to relax traveling by wagon.”
Donte gulped nervously as I pulled him out of the core room and down towards the various training rooms below.
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Donte and I stood in the center of a room with two bouncing orbs of light. Touching either of the orbs did not cause injuries, but it hurt… a lot. The bouncing was completely sporadic, and even as the master of the ruin, Donte could not predict where they would bounce. Technically, Donte could fill this room with hundreds of these bouncing orbs, but I decided to start with two and see how he fared before slowly adding more.
I held a wooden sword in a loose grip as I faced Donte with a grin. One of the bouncing orbs whizzed past my head, barely missing it by a hair. “When fighting, you will not always have the luxury of only fighting one opponent. When you were captured is a perfect example. Sometimes, you might find yourself surrounded, or maybe there might be an archer on a distant ridge. The battlefield is full of unpredictability. So, for the next two weeks, the two of us will spar here. Try not to get hit by the orbs.”
Without giving him any warning, I leapt at Donte and struck at his chest with my wooden sword. Donte Easily blocked such a straightforward attack as he stepped backwards. For a fraction of a second, he looked confused at how easy it was to block my attack before one of the orbs slammed into his side.
“That’s not fair, you made me run into that!” Donte complained.
I just grinned at Donte as my sword stuck out again. This time I stuck at three times before I was interrupted by an orb nearly hitting my head. My startled reaction reminded me that as much as this was training for Donte, this was also good training for me as well. Donte did not miss the break in my attack caused by nearly getting hit by the orb and nearly knocked my sword out of my hand as he attacked with full force.
I barely managed to sidestep his next blow when an orb once again interrupted us. It did not hit either of us, but it flew directly between us, forcing Donte to stop his charge.
Donte looked at me and smiled. “This is a lot more fun than I expected. Want to make a bet on who gets hit by the most orbs?”
“Sounds fun, what are the stakes?”
“There is a lot of rotten wood and rusted junk in Dragon’s nest. It is really annoying to look at so, the loser has to clean three rooms of the others choice.”
“Deal,” said as I lunged at Donte in another attempt to push him into the path of an orb.