Valoon – The Dragon Palace - Princess Aiko’s Chambers

  Aiko sat before a grand, ornate mirror. The room was silent, save for the soft rustle of silk as the morning light filtered through the curtains. A servant brushed her long hair with delicate, rhythmic strokes.

  Aiko looked defeated. Her eyes were distant, staring at a reflection she barely recognized.

  “There, Princess… you look stunning,” the servant said softly.

  “Thank you…” Aiko whispered.

  “With all due respect, my lady…” the servant hesitated, sensing the heaviness in the air. “Are you alright? You seem a little… sad.”

  Aiko forced a small, brittle smile. “I’m fine… just tired. Don’t worry.”

  “Yes, Princess… forgive my boldness, but… is the wedding preparation going well? Prince Ryujiro seems to love you very much…”

  Aiko didn’t answer. She stared into her own eyes in the glass, and they began to shimmer with held-back tears. The silence stretched, uncomfortable and heavy.

  “Could you tell my mother I’m on my way?” Aiko asked, her voice calm but cold.

  “Of course, Princess… immediately.”

  “Thank you.”

  The servant bowed and left the room. As soon as the heavy door clicked shut, Aiko’s mask crumbled. A single tear traced a path down her cheek. She stood up slowly, her movements heavy, and walked to the balcony to stare at the horizon.

  I miss you so much… she whispered to the wind. But I can’t go on like this… I need to accept that you’re gone.

  She took a deep, painful breath.

  Forgive me, Isaac… I tried… Forgive me… my love. Goodbye.

  She turned to walk back inside, ready to accept her fate.

  BOOM.

  A thunderous sound echoed in the distance, shaking the stone floor beneath her feet.

  Aiko spun around, rushing back to the balcony railing. Below, guards were scrambling toward the castle gates. Above, the sky was torn asunder.

  Something surreal — a comet with a blazing blue tail — was cutting through the firmament. It was beautiful and terrifying.

  It crashed into a distant cliff. The impact was violent, sending a tremor through the earth that knocked Aiko to her knees. She grasped the railing, pulling herself up, eyes wide with shock.

  What was that…?

  The Impact Zone Location: The Whispering Peaks

  Smoke rose from the center of a smoldering crater. The ground was cracked, glowing with faint heat. In the center of the devastation lay a man.

  Isaac.

  Above, the last traces of the blue tail faded from the sky.

  Isaac’s fingers twitched. His eyes opened slowly, revealing confusion and panic.

  “What… is this?” he gasped, his throat dry.

  He sat up. He was covered in ash, his clothes reduced to rags. He touched his face — a thick beard and long hair matting his forehead. He looked wild, ancient.

  The wind howled at the top of the cliff. He stood up, stumbling, his legs weak. He looked around.

  This isn’t Earth… Where am I?

  He scrambled up the side of the crater, grabbing onto strange, glowing roots and sharp rocks. When he crested the ridge, the view took his breath away.

  A forest of colossal trees stretched to the horizon, their leaves shimmering with odd colors.

  “HELLOOOO! ANYONE THERE?!” he screamed.

  His voice echoed off the mountains, lonely and unanswered. He patted his pockets instinctively, looking for a phone… nothing. Just rags. He looked at his dirty hands, his bare, bleeding feet.

  Just a dream… he laughed nervously, a manic edge to his voice. Just a really crazy dream.

  In the distance, he saw a primitive city surrounded by stone walls, smoke rising from chimneys. Civilization.

  Clank. Clank. Clank.

  A rhythmic metallic sound cut through the wind. A march.

  Isaac turned. Shadows were emerging from the treeline. He dove into a patch of tall, alien bushes, heart pounding.

  Creatures in black armor with glowing eyes stepped into the clearing. They scanned the area, speaking in a guttural, incomprehensible language.

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  Damn it…

  He tried to crawl backward, but a twig snapped.

  One of the creatures snapped its head toward him. It smiled — a disturbing, jagged expression.

  Before Isaac could run, the creature lunged, tackling him to the ground.

  “Let me go! I didn’t do anything!” Isaac shouted, struggling against the supernatural strength.

  More creatures surrounded him, their weapons drawn. The circle parted, and a woman stepped forward.

  She was different. Elegant. Lethal. Pointed ears peaked through her hair. An Elf.

  She looked down at him with curiosity and an enigmatic smile.

  “????????…” she spoke, her voice melodic but commanding.

  Isaac stared at her, unable to understand. He tried to push himself up.

  WHACK.

  A soldier struck him across the face with the hilt of a weapon. Darkness claimed him instantly.

  The Elf knelt, touching his bruised face lightly, as if studying a rare specimen. She signaled to her troops.

  They threw Isaac’s unconscious body into a cage on the back of a metal and wood carriage. The caravan began to move, taking the Fallen Star toward the city.

  The Prisoner Transport Location: The Road to Grimoria

  Isaac woke up to the rhythmic creaking of wood and the smell of rust. He was sitting in a cramped cage, his hands shackled in heavy iron chains.

  Across from him, two humanoid creatures with animal ears — Demi-humans — were whispering in a strange, guttural language. They glanced at him fearfully, then looked away.

  Isaac leaned his head against the wooden bars, closing his eyes tight.

  This is madness… it has to be a dream… he whispered, his voice cracking. He slapped his own cheek. Hard. Wake up… wake up, damn it.

  “Hello… are you okay, sir?”

  The voice was soft, melodic. Isaac’s eyes snapped open. He looked at the younger girl. She had large, gentle eyes and twitching wolf-like ears.

  “You… you speak my language?” Isaac gasped, a wave of relief washing over him. “Finally! Where are we? Where are the others? Where is Kate?”

  “Kate…?” The girl tilted her head, confused. “I don’t know who that is. We are in Valoon territory.”

  “Valoon? Where is that? What part of Earth is that in?”

  The girl’s expression shifted from confusion to deep pity.

  “Earth…?” she repeated the word as if it were an ancient ghost story. “Earth was extinct many generations ago, sir.”

  Isaac froze. The blood drained from his face.

  “What?”

  “We are on the continent of Drakonia…” she continued softly. “Planet Mundus.”

  “The… Earth doesn’t exist anymore?”

  Isaac sat in stunned silence. The words didn’t make sense. Extinct? Generations?

  Suddenly, the carriage lurched to a violent stop. The iron gate swung open with a screech.

  Guards threw another body inside. A woman hit the floor hard, groaning in pain.

  “Samantha!”

  The girl, Elana, rushed to help the fallen woman. They embraced, speaking rapidly in their native tongue, tears streaming down their faces.

  “Kro’gath zaaa!”

  A guard, irritated by the noise, shouted something incomprehensible and reached through the bars, delivering a brutal kick to Elana’s ribs. She cried out, falling into the mud on the carriage floor.

  Something inside Isaac snapped.

  The confusion vanished. The fear vanished. Only pure, red-hot rage remained.

  His pupils dilated, glowing with an intense, crimson light.

  Ignoring the heavy chains, Isaac lunged. He moved faster than a human should. He grabbed the guard by the breastplate of his armor and slammed him against the iron bars.

  “You…” Isaac snarled, his voice dropping an octave. “You will not touch her… again!”

  With abnormal strength, Isaac began to lift the armored guard off the ground by his neck, choking him through the bars. The guard gagged, clawing at Isaac’s hands.

  “Vok tar! Vok tar!” other guards shouted in panic, rushing to beat Isaac’s hands with their clubs.

  Elana pulled Samantha into a corner, watching in terror and awe.

  Isaac took blow after blow, spitting blood, but he didn’t let go.

  Suddenly, the crowd of guards parted. The Elf woman from the forest — Alisha — stepped forward. She looked at Isaac — battered, bleeding, eyes glowing red — not with anger, but with fascination.

  “????… Ruk thal…” she murmured, her tone unreadable.

  Isaac released the gasping guard and glared at her, wiping blood from his mouth.

  “I don’t understand you…” he spat, a grin of defiance cutting through the grime on his face. “…you arrogant little bitch.”

  The Elf didn’t flinch. She simply tilted her head, smiling slightly at his defiance.

  She moved with a blur of speed. Her fist, reinforced with a metal gauntlet, shot through the bars and connected squarely with Isaac’s jaw.

  CRACK.

  (Some time later)

  Isaac opened his eyes. Pain radiated from his jaw.

  He tried to sit up and realized someone had placed a rough blanket over him. He looked across the cage. Elana was whispering to the woman who had been thrown in earlier.

  Elana noticed him stirring and crawled over.

  “Are you okay? Thank the gods…”

  “What happened?” Isaac groaned, touching his swollen face.

  “The guards beat you… thank you for protecting me. And for protecting Sam.”

  “Sam?”

  The other woman, who looked like an older, tougher version of Elana, nodded.

  “That’s me… Thank you for protecting my sister,” she said, her voice raspy. “I am Samantha Beast… and this is Elana Beast. We are of the Wolf Clan. What is your name?”

  Isaac shifted, wincing as his bruised ribs protested against the hard wood.

  “My name… is Isaac.”

  “Pleasure, Isaac,” Sam said. “Elana told me a little about you… A human… here in Mundus. It is the first time I have ever seen one.”

  Isaac looked at them, the reality of his situation sinking in.

  “What really happened to Earth?”

  Samantha looked away, staring through the bars at the passing landscape.

  “It is hard to say exactly… What we know is that it was destroyed several decades ago. The stories say no one survived… but those tales were lies. You are proof of that.”

  Isaac leaned his head back against the wall, tears silently tracking through the dirt on his face. Kate… Joe… Grandma Nita… gone. All gone.

  “Where are they taking us? What does that woman want with me?”

  “Probably to Grimoria,” Sam sighed. “To sell us as slaves. And that ‘bitch’ is Commander Alisha… head of the Armed Forces. It seems she took a liking to you.”

  Isaac wiped his eyes, his expression hardening.

  “We need to get out of here.”

  He stood up, swaying slightly, and went to the cage door. He rattled it. Solid iron.

  “There is no way,” Sam said defeatedly. “Not while we are wearing these.”

  She pointed to a metal collar locked tight around her neck.

  “Collar of Silence… it suppresses the user’s mana. Prevents me from using any of my abilities.”

  Isaac frowned. He moved closer to Sam.

  “May I?”

  She nodded hesitantly. Isaac reached out and ran his fingers over the cold metal of the collar. He felt the runes etched into the surface. A strange sensation sparked in his fingertips — a sense of déjà vu. He knew these grooves. He knew this design.

  “Wait…” he whispered. “I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before…”

  Sam smiled weakly, glancing at Elana.

  Suddenly, a guard appeared, unlocking the small feeding slot. Sam instinctively pulled Elana back. Isaac stood his ground.

  The guard laughed, threw a bucket onto the floor, and spat through the bars, muttering harsh, guttural words.

  “Grakt tu!”

  He locked the slot and walked away laughing.

  Isaac looked down. The bucket was filled with a gray, sludgy substance that smelled of rot. His stomach turned violently.

  Sam and Elana, however, didn’t hesitate. They scrambled to the bucket, scooping up the slop with their hands, eating ravenously.

  Isaac sat back down, nauseous.

  “Isaac… come…” Sam said, holding out a handful of the gray mush. “Food.”

  “No… thank you,” Isaac turned his head away.

  Elana looked at him with concern, then went back to eating. In this world, pride was a luxury they couldn’t afford.