The blue dragon observed Sarvati for a moment before he looked around. His confusion was clear, especially when he stared at the sky. He was definitely thinking of a way to escape the prison, the way to escape Sarvati’s wrath.

But it was futile, as Sarvati was already dashing towards the blue convict.

A loud clang was heard as her strikes were blocked by the insolent dragon’s bindings. He stared deeply at Sarvati without even trying to counter or evade like he did before. It was a rather nice opportunity, Sarvati quickly prepared another slash.

“What happened to the world?” The blue dragon barked. “Tell me, in details!”

The question stunned Sarvati for a split moment. However, she regained her determination and spun above the cursed dragon. Without further hesitation she unleashed a fast slash and stab.

She stopped midway. So did the blue dragon. Aggni’s sharp blade almost impaled the blue dragon’s chest while Zhurron was a finger away from slicing his neck. On the other hand, the cursed lizard pulled his bow and aimed at Sarvati’s forehead. The slightest movement would cause them death.

But, it was a strong proof nonetheless. At least Sarvati had shown that she was capable of silencing the blue insolent lizard. Losing her life or not, was not the important part.

“Answer my question,” the cursed seal dragon groaned.

Sarvati snorted at the hypocrisy, “Why should I? You don’t even care about the world.”

A clapping sound echoed, startling the two dragons. “That was terrific, Sarvati,” said a rather authoritative voice. Sarvati knew exactly whose voice that was, but she never expected him to actually came to this place.

“And your muscles must have been stiff from all those sleeping, old friend,” continued Drakko, the owner of the voice, The Dragon Emperor. It was rather shocking. The leader of all dragons actually called such dragon ‘old friend’? Her ear must have been fooling her.

The blue insolent lizard drew a distance away from Sarvati and barked, “Drakko, explain!”

“Impudent fool!” Drakko’s personal guards shouted back and brandished their weapons. They were equipped with plate armors which were a mix of red and golden color.

It was rather expected, both how impolite the blue lizard called Emperor Drakko and how his guards reacted. Sarvati mused about how wonderful the world would be if the guards decided to cut the insolent dragon’s tongue.

If she decided to take the mission, which she started to doubt due to the shock she had because of the seal dragon’s attitude, that would be very helpful. No more insults, just peace and quiet. It’s definitely much easier to oversee a mute dragon compared to the one with unlimited branch on his tongue.

Emperor Drakko raised his hand as a sign for his guards to lower their weapons. His scales were radiant. It was similar to that of silver, but brighter. Sarvati recalled the color was similar to a silver like metal which humans named platinum.

He was at least as tall as General Kaisser, but bulkier. We wore a red plate armor and velvet robe featured with strands of similar color to his scales. His left hand was leaning on a halberd as tall as him.

Sarvati ignored the impudent lizard and dove towards The Emperor. “You Majesty,” said the amber scaled dragon as she kneeled. She felt a bit of heat rose on her facial scales. Emperor Drakko must have been here for quite some time and he might have seen how she lost her composure.

“Rise, Sarvati,” The Emperor patted her shoulder.

Sarvati nodded and stood. Now, they are standing on the prison ground at the top of the hole. Similar to the whole, the prison ground was circular with high cliffs serving as its walls.

Apparently, the blue bastard had descended as well. However, he was presumptuous enough to stand tall. Though, standing tall was not the exact way to explain how he actually stand, the blue dragon was somewhat slouching. At least he did show a bit of decency by bowing slightly for the shortest of moment.

“What’s with all of this madness, Drakk…” the outrageous lizard spoke, but he stopped midway when The Emperor’s guards showing a rather unfriendly gesture to his words. “... Your Highness?”

“I’ve told you, there was…”

“A more detailed information, please, Vaardict,” The convict snapped at General Kaisser who had just reached the top of the gigantic circular stairs. “I heard from you about Rahnuc and Rignil. But that doesn’t explain anything about the sky!”

The sky? What was the insolent lizard talking about? Sarvati glanced upwards. It was a bright sunny day, there was nothing wrong with it.

The Emperor cleared his throat, “It seems that you see something we cannot. I guess because you’ve undone your first seal?”

The question struck Sarvati quite hard. The reason that she didn’t feel any pressure right after the blue dragon was released, was because his powers are still sealed. The tattoos that disappeared from the seal dragon’s upper torso was the sign that one of his seal had been undone.

Her mind shivered. It was only the first one. What Sarvati had faced, was not the true strength of the infamous seal dragon. How many more seals are there?

The blue scaled dragon took a moment to stare at the blue sky. His eyes were fixated as if he saw something up there. Then, he spoke, “Threads… made of cursed energy. They kept spreading to every corner, as if trying to bind this world in a cage.”

The soon to be ex convict turn his head to his right. He continued, “And an eerie aura coming from far west.”

“It was the place where Rahnuc fell,” said The Emperor. “It was rumoured that Rahnuc’s darkened blood had cursed the place… as well as the world.”

The Fate Sealing Dragon glanced at General Kaisser, who only replied with a shrug and an evil grin.. He turned to The Emperor once more and asked, “I heard the foolish hero caused that.”

Emperor Drakko gaze turned sullen for a moment. “It was dire, and perhaps needed. I believe Kaisser has already told you that. But, that had passed, it had been done. The problem is just that now we have to deal with the consequences. There are unexplainable terrors and disturbances happening.”

“I could bet those problems happened at places where so many of those threads intersects each other,” said the blue dragon. “And those threads came from where the misbegotten fool had fallen.”

General Kaisser cackled, “I knew releasing your impudent tongue was worth the price to pay.”

“Shut it, Red Bastard,” the seal dragon growled. “You and your misbegotten troops could just take the mission to find that so called hero and tell him to finish his wrongdoing.”

“I thought you said he was a fool?”

“Tch,” the blue dragon snorted. “You are right, he might end up making a bigger mess. What did I expect? Humans never think about things thoroughly.”

Sarvati’s anger rose once more, but she held it back due to the presence of the Emperor and she could only grit her teeth. Deep inside, a part of her admitted that the blue dragon might be right.

The power Rahnuc gathered was claimed to be the remnants of Namsuh, an entity of collected negative consciousness. The Celestial of Sorrow was Namsuh’s other name. Legend said it was the combined effort of heroes from multitude of races that finally defeated The Celestial.

Namsuh’s power was far too strong, thus the negative consciousness was broken down into pieces and spread all over the world. This, in turn, forced every sentient beings to fight against dark emotions while the celestial’s power was sealed in artifacts.

It was reckless for them to think mere ‘chosen hero’ could defeat such power with force alone. Sarvati should have been aware of that fact. Many had lost their life because of it. Though they didn’t have another choice, Sarvati couldn’t stop her regret. If only she realized anout Aggni’s holy fire sooner and how it could have helped them.

Whatever happened after, might be the Celestial’s punishment for their sins, for her sins.

“So, after all that talk, Wissn, you figured out any way to deal with this?” General Kaisser asked. However, there was no doubt both in his voice and eyes

The blue one shook his head, snorted again, “Beats me. One thing I’m sure of is that if we cut the source then all the threads will fall. But that’s about it.” He scratched his head and glanced westwards, “Perhaps I need to go there first and see what I can do about it, perhaps cleanse or seal whatever the source is.”

“Very well,” Emperor Drakko nodded and turned to Sarvati. “Therefore, Sarvati we need you to…”

“No!” Vayyu interrupted The emperor and caused the guards to raised their weapon threateningly. “I don’t want this dwarven dracconid as my observer, overseer, or whatever you name it.”

Sarvati was not sure she should feel offended or delighted. If she was allowed to be honest, putting aside the urgency and her guilt, she felt reluctant to accompany such dragon.

Despite everyone else’s shock, General Kaisser was laughing, “You need a rematch, Wissn?”

“That’s not it,” The insolent blue stared at his own palm. “I need her as my partner, comrade, or whatever you call it. I don’t need an observer. Someone who knew when to fight with me or against me is what I need in such mission. We are dealing with remnants of Namsuh’s power here.”

Everyone, especially Sarvati, glared in surprise at the seal dragon. Definitely no one would ever dreamed for such words to come out of an unlimited branched tongue. It was General Kaisser who broke the silence with his cackle, followed by Emperor Drakko.

The Emperor turned to Sarvati and asked, “Do you agree, Sarvati Vermillion?”

Sarvati drew a deep breath. This might be the moment that she had been waiting for. She can put aside the insolence of the blue dragon, as well as her mistrust. Though strong, he might not be so dependable.

Alas, no matter how small the opportunity was, if there was a way to fulfill Rignil’s dream, she will take it. “It is my duty, Your Majesty,” she answered. Heat rose in her heart. It was not anger she felt, but another emotion, a blazing determination. Thus, the amber scaled dragon continued, “And it is also, my redemption.”