POV Vesuvius:
The whole sky was black, the moon hidden under the pitch-black clouds. Red fire was burning within these clouds, the flickering red light illuminating the vast fields. Occasional lightning struck across the sky, its bright flash temporarily turning everything purple as its blue light mixed with the red light of flames.
The dragon quietly watched as his army marched into the town, carrying black and red banners. The streets were still quiet and abandoned, no one daring to leave their house. The scarred, bald baron stood on his tower, observing it too.
‘Now is it done; the town is officially under my rule!’ Vesuvius wasn’t a fool and didn’t consider the town as his until his army finally entered it, so he spent hours waiting to keep the town from trying to do something stupid, like changing their mind and ambushing his army.
“Remember, baron, for now, you will temporarily keep your position, but if you want to keep it permanently, make sure there will be no mishaps. I expect you to supplement the town’s garrison and my army with your soldiers.”
Suddenly Vesuvius caught something fast pass around the edge of his domain.
His senses immediately tuned to maximum, the world around him slowing down. His hearing turned even stronger, catching even the breathing of humans hiding in their houses.
Something moved again. It was fast, Vesuvius only catching it occasionally struck by the edge of the range of his perception.
‘What is this?’ he could feel through his domain as it struck its edge, but the only thing he felt was a small spot with an ambient temperature of surrounding, it carried no smell, nor it had any aura.
He remained hovered in the sky, his golden eyes brightly glowing as they scanned his surroundings, expecting an attack to come at any second. He was quietly flapping his wings, sending ripples through the sky, his tension growing, but he couldn’t find anything unusual.
‘No, I can’t drop my alertness.’
He listened carefully to his surroundings, his eyes looking around and his domain feeling around as if it had become an extension of his nerves.
He felt every single stone, every single tree and every single human hiding in the town. But there were no signs of the fast thing.
There was nothing. The unusual thing vanished, nothing entered his domain, and his senses caught nothing but the ash smell of his domain and the sweet smell of flowers from the fields under him.
‘Was it just probing me?’
Vesuvius immediately turned even more worried as he knew that careful and planning enemies were the worst. Now he felt like it could just wait, maybe for even a week and then ambush him at the worst possible time.
‘Maybe this was its goal, to unsettle me. Or maybe I am overthinking it, and whatever it was, it was just passing by.’
The dragon got out of his daze, the world around him speeding up again as the bald baron fell on his knees again, pushing his scarred face against the stone.
Vesuvius felt his pride flare up, his doubts quickly subsiding, ‘Whatever it was, it was probably scared by my magnificence. How could anyone resist the might of a dragon like me? No, I can’t drop my guard. I need to be more careful just in case.’
POV The Knight:
The tall black silhouette stood under a roof of a house. The rain fell from the sky in rivers, the water flowing through the dirty stone ground. The raindrops constantly drummed on the roofs and road tiles.
‘Nice, this weather is perfect. It will make it look even better. It gives the right atmosphere to me being a villain’s henchman.’
Three sets of steps came from the other end of the dark street. They were quickly moving towards him. He straightened his back, his hands instinctively moving to a better fighting position, ensuring he looked as intimidatingly as possible.
‘Alright, time to impress.’
Three figures appeared from behind the corner, all hidden under cloaks.
POV The Cold Girl:
Ariana solemnly walked through the night, her whole cloak wet from the constant rain. Two figures flanked her, one from each side. They were fully covered in black, their faces hidden under their hoods.
“So you are the one that wants to help us?” suddenly, a voice spoke to her, making her heart slightly jump up. She turned and spotted a tall black figure that looked like he could crash walls with his fists.
There was unexplainable heat searing out. She could even swear that the droplets of rain were evaporating before even hitting the man.
She felt like staring into a volcano.
‘Is he the perpetrator of the prison massacre?’
“Speak, where is the woman that I am looking for? And how did you know where to send the magical message?”
‘The first question makes sense, but the second one… Isn’t it a kinda stupid question? Isn’t it obvious that I knew it from her…’
She kept her thoughts to herself, not daring to provoke the man before, “She is being held in my family mansion…”
The atmosphere immediately changed, the air turning hot with steam hissing through the dark alley. The man moved, and the next moment, he stood right before her, his glowing golden eyes looking straight into hers.
Ariana felt hot, as if he was standing in the middle of a desert, the cold frosty air always lingering around her, vanishing and melting.
“Wait, I have nothing to do with that! I want to help. That is why I am here.” she waved her hands in panic, a fear like she had never before felt surging through her whole body and stabbing to her heart like a hot needle.𝗈𝗏𝗅xt.𝗇t
She kept hurriedly speaking, ignoring the stabbing pain in her chest, “I can get her out of the palace, but you must be ready to get us both from there before the guards notice that she is gone.”