(Sorry for not updating in a while. Chapter 10 is already being worked on, enjoy this chapter at least :)! )

Solias paced through her abode. With fury in her steps she walked back and forth, wrecking her mind over a solution to her problems.

Three days passed since she reached her capital, her empire, her safe haven. Yet her heart was drowned in a thick sludge of horror and loss of honor.

She was thoroughly beaten, beaten bloody by simply strikes. As a proud draconian, a royal princess allthemore, she could not bear with the shame of defeat and what an utterly miserable defeat it was. It nagged at her, kept sleep at bay and a steady tremble in her steps.

What could she do?

Nothing.

She felt it. She felt the might of what she tried to oppose. The split second encounter with the demon was enough to make her understand the discrepancy in strength, a chasm clefting evermore apart for each day that she waited.

She couldn't bear it anymore, the suspense, the unknown!

For the past days she called for her companions, greeted by their expected answer. They should hide for now. Understandable.

After all the demon knew of their exact location, appeared in a display of impossible might that even this world's peaks couldn't hope to scale ever in their immortal lifetime and crushed them all with ease. If it were only that then Solias could let herself succumb in an illusion of safety, that she was now far away from the demon, but there was the smallest nub of doubt inside her, nestling in dark corners of her heart. It called out to her, silenced her false hopes. He would be here, he will come for her. Be it the haunting wraith in her dreams or the cold body of fiery might, he would come to hunt her down.

And she shuddered and feared in what was inevitably to come, for he would find her and paint her life a vibrant red.

No, no, no NO! She would not allow it, she would not lose all she has amassed through her lifetime. The empire was within her grasps and only a single millenia and she was sure to reach the apex of creation. She would not lose all this, even if she had to sell her soul to the devil.

At least her self-loathing and fury kept her with unsteady legs on the ledge towards madness, just one step and she would be consumed.

First feeling over her vanishing scars and then over the gilden pendant around her neck she promised. 'I will get stronger, I will consume, I will become a God! I WILL NOT LOSE!', and clenched her fists tight.

Promises aside -what did they count in the face of an undefeatable foe?- her adversary was not something mortal, not something from this realm of creation even. It was someting far more complex, far more primal, but she could not know; not even the demon in question knew!

But, let the mortals wish and dream as much as they want, abandoning themselves in their pitiable delusions for all eternity.

*Knock. Knock.*

The sudden noise jerked the ebullient princess from her fuddle.

“W-what is it?“, meekly she asked.

“A messenger of the demon empire has arrived. He asked for your presence, princess.“, the servant answered behind the closed door.

Solias ground her teeth, there wasn't even the slightest hint of respect in the voice of the servant. Everyone saw her as the empire's mascot, nothing more; a dumb puppet princess!

“Did you check the messenger for weapons and the like?“, Solias exhaled before asking back.

Slightly peeved the servant answered back with annoyance in his tone. “Of course we did, princess... We would not want anyone to harm you, no, we certainly wouldn't want that.“

'Tsk, you insolent bastard. Soon you will pay, all of you...', Solias cursed but kept her composure. She was the laughing stock of the empire yet she couldn't give in to the insults thrown at her. Firmly and with faked elation she gave her thanks. “Now then, I will prepare myself.“

“Of course princess“, and the servant's presence vanished from behind the door.

*BOOM. CRACK.*

“DAMN! THOSE FOOLS!“, the table shuddered before splitting atwain.

“They know nothing... Indulging in their sweet comfort, ignorant of the waging war outside! Stupid fools!“, Solias hissed and spit but her anger only kept surging. She was known for her strength but to keep her farce sound she had to play the ditz of her family. All brawns no brain in short. But after countless years of humilation, swaggering nobles and deriding parents her mental fortitude reached its limits, soon she would ascend to the throne, through bloody revolution if need be.

Though she was infuriated her thoughts wandered back to what the servant told her. This messenger of the demons could be from the alliance and she would surely not want to miss that.

Solias sluggishly whiped on a deep blue robe, contrasting with her ever red hair and brilliant crimson eyes.

“Let's go see that messenger.“, she grumbled and left through the marbled door.

With swift steps she passed by quaint paintings of long dead master artists and meticulously arranged sculptures, on top of a long velvet carpet that stretched as far as one could see.

As traditions commanded Solias snaked with her light steps towards the throne room, greeting her parents in a mutual play of obviously faked affection.

Bursting unrefined through the door, like it was expected from her character, she stopped with rough stutters in front of a currently well-attended throne room. Nobles in all kinds of pompous attire -a disgusting display of worldly wealth and arrogance- knitted their brows. With scrutinizing gaze they watched the shameful behaviour of the one they must call princess.

But none let their attention linger for to long on their disgraceful royalty, they had more important matters to attend to. Such as propounding the state of the nation's economy, foreign-policy affairs and the like. In a nutshell, a whole lot of lies and deceit.

With feigned -what else in such a false world- alert they listened to one another, proposing their ideas to their leaders.

On a small gilden throne sat Alexa Asterion, the matriarch of the succubi race. Seconds prior she was listening to the incoherent babble of her vassals but right now her attention shifted onto her useles spawn. Her violet hair cascaded over her delicate shoulders and rested on her suple bossom. Her dark purple lips -impossibly charming- twitched in accordance to her sharp and piercing black eyes. From above Alexa stared her imbecile of a daughter down with a deathglare and yet managed to crack a small smile.

“Oh! My wonderful daughter, I have not expected you.“, her soft voice carried through the room like a lithe fairy, dancing playfully in one's ears, but for Solias each word was spoken with contempt. “Would you like to tell your dear mother what you need?“

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Before the exasperated princess could retort, going against her previous plan of not ripping her mother to shreds, another voice interrupted; much in favor of the arrogant matriach that barely avoided her death through her daughter's claws.

“My, my, Alexa, let our dear daughter catch her breath first.“, a deep voice resounded through the hall.

On alexa's side stood another throne made entirely from Lucrid, a mineral closely ressembling marble if not for its unique feature of amplifying elemental light and storing it within.

Right now a beast of a man -or should one say, a dragon of a man?- was seated on the exceedingly white throne. Log thick arms rested at the side and a barrel wide chest tauted the golden robe the King of Dragons was tightly clothed in. Excorus Astarion, the current patriarch of the Heavenly Dragons and King of all Dragons. 'If he knew...', Solias mused in ridicule as she thought about Bahl Zebul, the true king of dragons in her eyes.

Excorus smiled 'warmly' at his 'beloved' daughter.

He gently held his wife's hands, his gaze not once breaking from Solias. With a small tilt he urged Solias to explain herself. At least he managed to keep his temper whilst disregarding the throng of nobles with red faces, chagrined by their superior selves being ignored.

“Huff... Huff... a-a servant t-o-told me that... hah... a messenger from the demon capital was here and... and he asked for my presence.“, Solias finished with hands stemming against her waist, breathign heavily.

One should now begin to ask himself. How come they are that stupid? The princess is millenia old yet she is being underestimated, how can such a thing be? It is simple. Hybris has no bounds. Let's leave it at that.

“A messenger? I know of no such thing.“, the king answered in bafflement.

As if on cue the crowd of nobles began to stir. A few shouts of surprise and bewilderment later a black shade stepped forth from the wall of pomp.

Hunched down a black robe swayed over the ground with soft rustles. The cowl hung deep into the face of the unknown figure, left much to the imagination about this person's appearance.

Everyone's focus now laid on the figure whose robe seemed to weigh more than the person in question, a losing battle against gravity was fought as the hump increased by the second.

Gaunt fingers latched from their sleeves onto the hood of the robe, clawing with their dead and dying flesh onto the fabric with an unnatural ferocity. The dark cowl was pulled back with a low grunt followed up by a wafting smell of decay filling the room.

The first few nobles rocked forward, their intestines revolting against the sight that claimed all their senses hostage. With tears in their eyes they averted their gaze only for them to be sucked back in by the alluring image of withering life.

Corpse colored flesh sprinkled graciously with yellow furuncles frantically clung onto a languid visage, glaring with beady eyes into the air.

Its face not directly settling on the ground and neither at the emperors the living floater gawked at the princess. With intense light in its eyes not yet taken by death the man continued gaping onward.

Derelict skin curtained from a slack jaw, the man tore his foul maw open. The few patches of hair on the old and raspy scalp swayed to and fro like small halms of sere grass.

A black tongue coiled through crimson flesh. “Pleasure meeting you.“, the man whailed with a racuous croak.

The fleshen patchwork cracked a most awful smirk. Its eyes, seamed by vermillion veins and a single pitch black fire ignited within, darted through the room. Giving a contemplative expression it spoke up.

“My master wishes to meet you.“, it rattled with an incongruent voice, mismatched between its agape maw and whistling rives along its palid throat.

“What are you?“, Excorus inquired with a sharp gaze. Whatever this creature was, its master should be no less than a greater devil. A living corpse? Only few were able to achieve such a feat.

“It does not matter.“, the corpse waved him off with its bony fingers. “The matter at hand has greater importance.“

“Why my... daughter?“, Alexa chimed in from the side. Her voice contained worry, curiosity and a touch of fear. It was not the being in itself that made her hold her breath, make her blood flow backwards, but rather the residue tinge of aura left on its decaying body.

After tweaking a bit with its askew robe the undead marveled at the cunningness of the empress. Its life could be considered a short one yet it clearly felt the teeming contempt for the princess its master took a fancy to. It surely would not let its master future slave be insulted like that! But it had no strength whatsoever to speak of. So what should it do? A flash of genius hit it. Two can play that role!

“Hehehe.“, the undead threw its head back, a hand stiffling the errupting laughter.

The audience watched on confused, confused about what would warrant such a response.

“You would not understand, you cretin.“, it spat the words out and smiled unabashed. “These matters only concern us.“, it stressed and pointed at Solias.

“What?!“, Alexa was baffled. Who would dare to speak like that to her, the queen, the empress! Unbelievable!

“You still don't understand? Ý̶̡̨̛o̶̴҉͏u̶̡͝ ̀͠f͏͏̷ò̴͡͞o͢͟͠l̶͢i̧̢҉s͘҉̧͝͏h̶̷̸̵͘l̂ͯͫ͋ͣ͆͞҉͉i̍͊͗̆̏͝͏̲̬͝z̡̝̳̦̖̹̭̗͚̣̽ͪ͗ͯͪ̌ͨ͋͘a̛͍̬̗̱̣͓̼̋̒̿̓̉̆͛̉̕r̛̤͚͉̟̼̹̦̿ͤ̂̽̊̋ͬḍ͇̯͓̥̱̻̱ͦ̏ ̺̱̘̦̩͎̓̉͝ŵ̛̘̗̗̗̫̾͝ͅõ̷̷̹̙̼̯͈̉ͪͦ͌ͨ̈͡ṁ͚̪̖̰̲̈̉̕a̸̵̫̖͕̣͕̤̖̰͖̎̆͂͐̇ṋ͔̞̫͇̭͑ͯ̋͐͌...-!“. 

“Hmph.“, Excorus coughed and the whole building began to tremble.“Get lost.“, as he swiped once the undead simply vanished, its existence errased from this realm with only black ash as a memorial. The quaking stopped shortly after, much to the relief of the panicking nobles which began indulging into frantic chatters thereafter, debatting who this master is that the undead spoke of.

“What an imbecile.“, he whispered while massaging his temples. “A mere undead mocking us, what has this world come to?“, Excorus slumped back into his throne, mentally exhausted.

Red faced Alexa glared at her daughter. “Do you have any idea who that was?“, the pressure she emitted stressed her spite laced words, made it not less obvious about her animosity towards her own daughter. Yet there was no response, not a muscle twitching or a change in demeanor. Solias was frozen on the spot for a good minute.

Time passed with a crawling pace while Alexa stared her daughter down with frothing hatred. “I am speaking with you!“, she shouted but Solias only gave a defeated smile in response and shifted her mocking face towards her parents.

“You should flee.“, she whispered loud enough for all to hear; with a heavy heart. “He is coming for me.“. Her words carried on through the throne hall until oblivion took them in its embrace.

Then... the world began trembling.