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ANY BEING ACROSS THIS WORLD WOULD FEAR, would believe, would sing the songs of the prophets … but The Oracle had been glorified on a far different scope since the beginning.
As the only living being who had witnessed the Age of the Empyreal Gods, The Oracle could speak for the future … He could speak for the deities … He could speak for the inevitable truth …
Everyone feared him … and only a fool would not.
Emperor Sargan the Sunborne had claimed himself as no fool.
At last, the future of his empire would unfold after all the years of searching for the ancient speaker, the guardian, the divine messenger.
He had ordered his men to escort The Oracle into his palace … and there, he saw the revelation …
“Behold, Great Emperor …” The Oracle raised his dark staff, a ruby gem gleaming brightly at its end. The darkness of the throne room flashed, painting the walls, floor, and ceilings with blood-red illumination. “Set upon the Red Empire is the unstoppable destiny of the two demigods … two children … two hearts.”
The Emperor stormed his eyebrows as he tried to understand what it meant. He was only waiting for a name … the name of someone he feared … the person from his dreams every night who repeatedly took all away from him his power … his empire … and his life.
“The forbidden love between the Sun God and the Ice Goddess continues … the Son of the Fire is gold, and the Daughter of the Frost is born … On the coming of the Red Dawn, ice will unite with fire … Frost will symphonize with Flame … And a new empire shall rise.”
Emperor Sargan felt a twitch in his muscles.
‘The daughter of the frost is born …’
If there was truly someone destined to end him and his empire … he would use everything in his power to go against this destiny … and kill that person beforehand … even if that person was yet to be born … he would kill the mother with this … ‘Chosen One’ in her womb …
The Oracle pointed his red-shining staff at the Emperor and shouted, “Mark my words, Great One … Hear the screech of the dragons … Listen to the war song of finality … Believe what you see, I warn you … For you cannot prevent their claim … you cannot stop the symphony of frost and flame …”
***
MAP OF DRAVA
A DRAGON HUNTER SHE WAS, but dragons were the very last thing she would want to face in this world. The irony spoke itself. Larice Whitewind had long wondered until now if joining the dragon hunters in Shavath was but a mistake—the same thought that bothered her, again and again, every single day when she had her early morning hunt. She thought she had an answer … but the answer was nothing more than another question.Larice sheathed back her rapier, grabbed the leg of the deer, and dragged it through the ancient woods of Shajara Forest. Dark and old elm trees rose high with their thick branches widely spread out, and their rustling oval-shaped leaves blocking the light from the morning skies. She trailed over the soft, mossy soil while avoiding the root lumps—ferns and wildflowers brushing on her legs. The air smelled of a fresh, pungent, stark scent. If only she could spend in this pea
RAEHERYS ALAGOR TOOK A PAUSE FROM HIS ASCENT, standing at the stone-carved steps upon the flank of Volcron. The stairs led straight up towards the peak of the volcano where the vast crater grew all the greenery of shrubs and Lilium flowers and Persea trees, gleaming under the sunlight of noon. A moment after and Raeherys turned his head to gaze worriedly at the islands in his view, spread out amidst the crystal ocean blue.The comet, he thought—was approaching day after day to bring destruction upon their realm … the Draconian Realm. All those tropical green forests where they harvest their food, those young dragons flying and playing around the isles, those of his brethren who survived the Red Century War, and most importantly, those dragon eggs, thousands of them, waiting to hatch in the volcano of Aggronar—everything, every dragon in his realm would fall if they would not act now.Raeherys needed it … th
“ONE HOUR, ONE HUNT!” The voice of Grand Hunter Arien thundered across the iron gates of Shavath Fortress. “Starting today, those who’ll come back empty-handed will take a sprint around the entire walls a hundred set!”At the sound of the Fort Bell, the dragon hunters hasted like a wild stream of current, rushing and spreading out of the fortress gates while heading towards the vast forest of Shajara.All of them dispersed—all but Larice Whitewind. She would never go where people would go. Instead, she sneaked her way inside the gatehouse after she spied Grand Hunter Arien, leaving the path empty for her. The cool morning wind brushed cold on her skin and garments, all soaked up in her sweat. Larice had to avoid the sandstone road as the patrolling guards might take notice of her skipping the dawn hunting routine. So she took the column of Foxglove Trees to hide and move and get past through
THE RICH AND RADIATING HEAT INSIDE AGGRONAR VOLCANO had kept thousands of dragon eggs alive despite the absence of their mothers’ warmth. Raeherys Alagor stood at the wide vent of the volcano, gazing down at the small pool of boiling lava far below. Around it settled all the hard-scaled eggs over the rocks and stones and tiny caves, with the sustainable heat supplying them with enough energy and strength.Some eggs had hatched, some glowed like active embers in coal, and some remained stone-hard. Tiny screeches of newly born dragons made up the noise inside the volcano. With pink skin and bones of sticks, they crawled on the rock surface, careful of not touching the lava as they had yet grown any scales.These hatchlings were the future of the Draconian Realm—and Raeherys Alagor would no chance let the human empire destroy it.Seconds after, a mondra appeared from the thick smoke above, flying down for Raeherys.When the
HAVING TO ATTEND THE ENTIRE MORNING SESSION AGAIN, her most hated time of the day, Larice Whitewind had to sit along with these people—people who either secretly or obviously despised her. She might’ve not seen it or heard it too often, but she could feel it all the same. Their disgusted stares every time she passed by them had said it all. She wanted to walk out already, return to Librad, and sneak inside the red door. She could’ve even skipped today’s session, but she chose not to as the old hag would get into her nerves again. So she had to wait until sunset, when Erlind’s shift would end.Larice had taken the seat at the back row of over fifty hunter trainees. Each student had to sit on a square-shaped cotton mat down on the waxed red floor, while they listened to Grand Hunter Arien Homeli in front of them.All of them paid attention—except Larice Whitewind. She kept her eyes on the sunlit windows, madly wa
THE HYBORN THRONE SOARED HIGH IN HIS SIGHT. The seat of volcanic glass, as dark as the burnt, reflected the sunlight under the morning skies. Raeherys Alagor walked on granite slabs that floored the wide, elevated temple at the center of Volcron’s peak. Wild trees and ferns and meadow-grasses all surrounded the Temple of Hylos, waving and rustling with the fresh sea breeze.Behind the black throne towered the Great Statue of Lord Hylos. Its magnificent structure, made of diorite stone and carved into his Primal Form, had stood as the highest above all peaks of the volcanoes and islands in Draconos. The eyes glinted pure gold, symbolizing the elitism of all his descendants who had continuously ruled the realm until now.As the first Hyborn ever existed during the Age of the Empyreal Gods, the dragons soon worshipped Lord Hylos, proclaiming him as the Volcanic Deity and God of Dragons. It had been known that Hylos had a thousand heads—a
HEAVY RAINFALL BROUGHT NOTHING BUT MISERY for Larice Whitewind ever since. She had gotten herself into the same situation before, causing the biggest trouble she had made in her entire life, where she lost control of her curse and accidentally killed those people—five people, actually, in the past. She tried not to remember any more of it, as it would only worsen her mental condition now.“Move.” Arien Homeli pushed Larice at her back to climb up on the wide stairs.Larice glared back at the middle-aged Grand Hunter before heading on. She held the pearls from her broken necklace close to her chest; her hair, skin, and garments all soaking wet from the rain.In front of them stood the main fort of Shavath—the Fortresi. It sheltered the upper ranks of dragon hunters in the positions of administering the whole fortress.At the top of the three-story building hung two different banners; dark and thick and wet fro
THE CLOUDLESS SKIES BEAMED TOO BRIGHT FOR HIS EYES … that Raeherys almost forgot to focus on the gathering of the Lawdras, led by his father at the Temple of Hylos.“They did it all wrong …” said King Sevyrion, looking at the Lawdras. “My father … my grandfather … all of my ancestors made a mistake. War and bloodshed will never end our conflict. It can only be resolved by peace.”“We Lawdras are strongly against it, Your Grace,” replied Fetyr. “It will mean your death if you fly south over the lands of the human empire.”“No …” Sevyrion touched his chest. “I am the only one who can make a bargain with the human emperor. We have the gold, diamonds … anything they would want in exchange for the orb.”“The humans could never be trusted!” argued Mydrad. “We are uncertain if they plan to return the orb to us