After the long journey, the dragon's army finally reached the edges of Arad's territory. The ground itself signaled their arrival with a deep growl.
The ground started shaking and rumbling as the dirt cracked and the trees danced.
[I shall clap the mountains on, had you dare march further.]
A giant maw and empty eye sockets emerged from the mountains, glaring at them with burning eyes.
"Loci, it's me, Arad. Don't worry. They are with me." Arad transformed and flew to the sky where Loci could see him. They still had a short distance before they walks on loci.
The mountain returned to normal as Arad landed on the ground. A sunflower emerged with a mouth, "A whole army of dragons?"
"Alcott got injured, and they are escorting us," Arad replied, shifting back to his humanoid form. Thud! He could see the ghostly figure of loci flying around and landing on his shoulder, "It's been a while,"
Arad smiled, "I hope everyone is doing well," He looked at her smiling.
Thud! The gold dragon Kinryu approached Arad from the back, "I see, the land approved of you. That's rare." He smiled.
Arad turned his head and glared at Kinryu, "I just happened to help her. Now she let me rule over her back."
Kinryu nodded, "I can see that she isn't that healthy. Her earlier threat was a bluff as well." Kirnyu approached Arad, "I might not see you, but I know you're floating on his shoulder." He smiled.
Loci gasped, "Huh? He's kind of creepy," The sunflower said as Loci spoke.
"I'm only following his line of sight." Kinryu shook his shoulders. CLAP! Kinryu clapped his hands. "We should probably show respect for the land, letting us walk on its back."
Kinryu closed his eyes, "You have my gratitude, genius loci of Alina." All the metallic dragons in the back saw him and did the same, "We thank thee."
"Why?" Arad looked at him.
"We dragons see it as humiliating to have someone walk on our backs. For a genius loci, who lets people live on its back, brings them water from the depth of the ground, and opens its maw in the face of invading forces. We do give our respect." Kinryu smiled and looked back, "Unlike some dragons," He glared at the red dragon general.
"Land is land. It's made for us to live over, not to respect." The red dragon snorted, "I can blow it to ashes with a single breath,"
Kinryu sighed, "That's why we never see eye to eye." He then looked at Arad, "What do you say, void born."
"Sacred void peak, someone agreed to that, so respect the place." Arad glared at the red dragon.
The red dragon sighed, "Fine," He dove down, "Thanks for letting us pass on your back,"
All the chromatic dragons did the same, and Arad smiled, "Let's keep heading toward the city." He then stopped and looked at Kinryu and the red dragon. "It's a secret that I'm a dragon."
Kinryu nodded, "We won't mention that," He then looked at the red dragon.
"Anything for the sake of neutral meeting ground," The red dragon smiled as he took off to the sky, and they kept flying.
After a minute, they could see the city wall, with a single woman standing at the fort gate.
Nina stood at the front gate wearing leather armor and leaning on her battleaxe. War marks covered her skin as she glared forward at the sky.
"Hoho," Kinryu smiled, "That woman is something,"
"Hmm," The red dragon glared forward, "She might not beat me, but she sure could beat an ancient dragon."
Arad smiled, "You don't have to worry about her," He walked forward, "Nina! We're back!" He waved his arm.
As soon as Arad reached Nina, she smiled, "Loci just told us the dragons are with you. We had already evacuated the city in the morning, and people are just coming back." She looked behind Arad, seeing the golden carriage slowly approaching.
"Alcott is injured," She sighed.
"And badly, his condition being stable the last days, but he isn't improving at all." Arad looked back as the carriage stopped in front of the gate, and Nina rushed to look at Alcott.
"Too injured to heal with magic or potions," She sighed, "The idiot,"
"I might be able to help," A voice came from the back. As Kinryu and the red dragon turned, they saw a white-haired old man walking with a crooked back and leaning on his steel cane. A beautiful maid walking behind him.
CLACK! Thud! The red dragon wrapped his claw Around the old man, and Kinryu grabbed him by the shoulder. "Where do you think you're going, human." The red dragon growled.
"Even the best draconic doctors failed to wake him up. Your method will only worsen his condition." Kinryu said with a gentle smile, "Leave him to us,"
Cain stopped walking. He lifted his left hand and touched the red dragon claw, glaring at him in the eyes, "Care to move your paw away?"
"You little..." the dragon growled, but soon went silent, feeling tentacles wrapping around his body. His scales crawled as he could feel a burning sensation beneath them. He could feel Tiamat's rage swelling. Saying the wrong words could get him smitten immediately.
"Fine," He moved his claw away, confused.
Kinryu stared at Cain, slowly lifting his hand, "Do you know what you're doing?"
Cain looked at Kinryu, "That's a nice beard you have there," He smiled and headed toward Alcott.
"I see. Overused his vampiric and lycanthropic, and now they are fighting inside his body, and causing his flesh to necrose." Cain looked closer at Alcott, "Since those two are concentrated in his blood, the first organ to get his is his heart. It had stopped a day ago, and only the blood from her is keeping him alive."
Kinryu looked at Cain with a surprised face, "You can tell that? You're no ordinary human,"
Cain looked at the city, and then at the maid behind him, "Jemima, the red lily,"
The maid bowed, pulled a red flower from her pocket, and handed it to Cain.
Cain took the flower, shoved it in Alcott's mouth, and poured some water in forcing Alcott to swallow it with water magic.
"What was that flower you fed him?" Kinryu asked, and Cain smiled, lifting his cane up.
"A human body can't take the power he accumulated through the years, so I gave him a special thing that should give his heart the strength to beat again." Cain swung his cane at Alcott's chest, smacking him right above the heart.
BA-dump! Alcott's heart started beating, and he gasped awake, "GAH!" Alcott couldn't speak or move, but his eyes could move.
"Hey, you." Cain looked down at Alcott, "You're finally awake,"