Yirk watched KMega6KMegacharacter while the latter trained the art of the bow. A relatively unused knight’s weapon, but one that had use in certain situations. He was proud that his once pupil continued to improve and expand his horizons. However, whenever KMega took a break, he and Astrid7Astridcharacter would vanish. These periods lasted on average from fifteen minutes to half-an-hour and regularly occurred. While no one had actually caught them in the act, it was widely rumored that the two would find a quiet corner in the fort and engage in conjugal acts. One time, their dragon4dragonspecies guest had amusedly stared into the sky at what appeared to be two fighting birds. Yirk had been polite enough to refrain from closely examining the occurrence. Still, with the commander and his spouse back in the fort, things returned to normalcy.
Two sessions of long sleeps passed before KMega wound up with a low-level dragon’s lair. Officially, it was an embassy between the Eastguard kingdom and the Dark Sky Brood, but in reality, it was more like a hollow mountain base with a few caverns on top for dragons to sleep. In that hollow chasm, Lazar set up the magic portal. For the safety of the dragons, the portal was separated from the dragon lair. While the Dark Sky Brood trusted in KMega and Astrid, they mistrusted humans in general.
The past few days while that was being prepared, KMega sent out correspondences to the senators, informing them of the potential trade agreement. Summed up, the deal was: give the dragons nice things to consume, and they would provide you riches. Eastguard was primarily a grain-producing country, so they could brew alcohols for the dragons, not even mentioning the skilled chefs that could feed the dragons’ voracious stomachs. It would take time for trade to become widely accepted, but at least the offer was now open.
Lazar enjoyed his new role and all the attention he received from humans. Although superficially timid and soft-spoken, if he had a little drink in him, he’d become bolder, naturally not to the point of standing up to Astrid, but he’d become friendlier with KMega. He had also been told about the demons; however, he had bluntly declared that he could not help them unless another dragon was involved in some way. Because Eastguard was technically not his home but rather KMega’s and Astrid’s, he could, at best, protect the already purchased product until something changed.
***
General Enel of the demon army surveyed the large human settlement. It worried him that his new pet was not ready, but the timetable had already been set. He was genuinely annoyed by this place. The land had been chosen due to its weak military power, but after the interference of the dragon that had injured him, nothing had gone right. The converted beasts were weak versus the humans and failed to open a smooth path for conquest. Enel decided that all this was about to change. He turned to his three officers. “Go!” (General Enel)
Three dissimilar looking figures simultaneously vanished after each of them shouted three words together. “Yes, General An*l!” (Subordinates)
“Enel, you F***ing p**sants!” (General Enel)
***
The first lieutenant of General Evel, Twi De, arrived at a small compound outside the fortress city. There were only about a hundred warriors here whom they had presumed to be low-ranking rapid-responders. However, when they arrived, a timely holy wave of energy blasted half of the fifty demon-soldier squad. This attack had been cast by the soldiers who had been practicing in the training courtyard under Xandor in using a large scale purification spell. Despite it being a mere practice spell, it permanently erased their existence from the mortal plain. “To arms! It’s a demon attack!” (Xandor)
