• INDENTIONThe ruins long behind him, the young dragon looked about. The forests were far too dense to see beyond a few feet, but aside from that, things looked… well, just uninteresting. “Amrit. You said that there was an entrance to your little lair somewhere here… I expected something a little more impressive.”

    INDENTIONThe burned man just smirked, and turned to young woman, “Nami, are you ready?”

    INDENTIONShe simply nodded, and at that moment, her eyes began to shine white. Nami jerked up, floating as if suspended by a puppeteer. Light shone from her mouth in what seemed to be a silent scream. The young dragon almost questioned whether this was really necessary, when the world around them completely changed…

    INDENTIONOne of the most noticeable changes was that everything, including the three companions, had changed to grayscale. The sky, which in grayscale logic should have been gray or white, was pitch black… as was the ground. Closer inspection revealed that the blackness on the ground was snow.

    INDENTIONThe young dragon looked around, awestruck, “Wh-where are we?”

    INDENTIONAmrit did not answer until he’d made sure that Nami was alright, helping her to her feet. The dragon asked again, “Amrit. Where are we?”

    INDENTION“A surprisingly good question, Mysque. To be truthful, I’m not sure. Nami and myself stumble upon these lands once before, but you’ll never find them on a map.”

    INDENTIONNami wiped some blood, black in the grayscale world, from her lip, “Wherever this is, it doesn’t matter. Amrit, make sure you figure out a better way to get here than through my talents… if I could die, that probably would have killed me...”

    INDENTION“I’ll be sure to…” Amrit was cut off by a new voice…

    INDENTION“Hey, Amrit-sama, you’re back!” A young woman dressed in EMPIRE robes sporting a bowl-cut approached the group, and seemed as if she may have tackled Amrit, were it not for a glowering Nami. Mysque, as the young dragon was apparently named, looked over the unfamiliar woman… until…

    INDENTION“A fox? Really?” the dragon chuckled, “And here I was taking you people seriously… you have a fox in your little ‘empire?’”

    INDENTIONThe new woman looked to Mysque with a look of sheer rage, and Amrit said, “Try not to kill him. There may well not be any of his kind left…”

    INDENTIONThere was another new voice, “Not true at all, Amrit-sama. Didn’t I introduce you to Kirikabu?” Mysque looked to the new voice, and let out something between a growl and a roar… the newcomer had long white hair, which he flicked out of his eyes in a blatant attempt to seem pretty. But this didn’t matter to the young dragon: what mattered was that he was a white wolf.

    INDENTIONAmrit seemed oblivious to the tension, and cheerfully introduced Mysque to the wolf and the fox, named Ruiei and Ix respectively.

    INDENTIONMysque growl some more, “Amrit… if you expect me to work with a mutt…”

    INDENTIONNami glared at him, “Then you will. Once you’re in EMPIRE, race fails to matter beyond what it lets you do.”

    INDENTIONMysque said nothing, but stood defiant…

    INDENTIONIx smirked, “Hey, Amrit… if you’d like, I could just mind ******** him. Then we wouldn’t have to listen to his ‘Dragon Pride’ bull s**t.”

    INDENTIONThe burned man shook his head, “No… that won’t be necessary. Nami, take Ix and Ruiei back to the Temple… I’m going to speak to Mysque alone…”

    INDENTIONAs soon as the others were gone, Amrit spoke, “Were you surprised?”

    INDENTION“You should have known that I wouldn’t want to work with inferior races...” Mysque put an almost awkward emphasis on ‘inferior.’

    INDENTIONThe EMPEROR sighed, “Well, you’ll have to grin and bear it. In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the last of your race.”

    INDENTION“That mutt was talking about someone called Kiri-” Amrit cut him off…

    INDENTION“Kirikabu is a tree, and a loyal ally to the white wolves…”

    INDENTIONMysque’s eyes began to show the anger, that Amrit had first seen in them… in an effort to appease the boy, he said, “Mysque… I’m not asking that you enjoy working with your new comrades… but it won’t be too long.”

    INDENTION“It’ll be eternity. Once you’ve done your little spell, I’m going to live forever…”

    INDENTION“And you’re the only one I’m going to cast that spell on… you’re one of a kind, not nearly as dispensable as a wolf or a fox.”

    INDENTIONIt dawned on the young dragon, “… they’re just tools?” when Amrit nodded, Mysque gave it some more thought, ‘Heh… using one’s enemy to build their army… clever. But…’ “Wouldn’t it be easier to just rule them by fear? Why bother offering anything but the life they don’t deserve?”

    INDENTIONAmrit raised a scorched-off eyebrow, “An oddly malevolent statement from such a young boy. How would you suggest I convince them to join me, then?”

    INDENTIONMysque shrugged, “I don’t know… maybe a display of power… or something…”

    INDENTIONThe EMPEROR chuckled, “Youthful arrogance… how I miss it.” He turned, “Come, young tyrant, it’s time we trained your malice…” with that, he walked off.

    INDENTIONFor a moment, the young dragon stood there, weighing his options, until finally rushing after Amrit, “Old man, wait up!”