Children of the dragon 1: The crimson knight

Fear and magic

After his remarkable performance, the best soldiers and knights work even harder so they could be part of the unit of the holy knight of the rose. His unit.

He stands up and goes straight to the toilet. His reflection receives him, and again he perceives the change. He has become stronger.

Four months have passed.

"Hello, handsome," says a little, sleepy, voice behind him. He sees Maria in the mirror. "You forgot something vital again…"

He didn't. The first thing he did after waking up was kissing her, and that is the reason why she woke up.

He turns around and opens his arms.

"Come here, babe," he lets out and she literally jumps and he pets her while she smiles pushing him against the sink. It happens nearly every day.

"From this day, until the day of your death, you are a knight of Titania," king Rodrigo the Eight proclaims with a proud and gentle smile on his red-bearded face. He is a big warrior, and Leon has become his fencing rival. Both are powerful men.

The crowd is clapping their hands, excited and proud, but Leon doesn't care. During the ceremony, he has been taking peeks, over and over, at the woman next to princess Sophia and the queen, the woman who smiles at him even more proud than anyone else and tells him with gestures to pay attention to the king. One of the most beautiful women in the country. Maria Mallorem.

She is smiling because after the ceremony he receives a big bag of coins. His salary plus the bounties for keeping the roads to the capital safe. Seventy coins of gold. She burns another letter from the guild master. He and two men more have been sending her letters since they met again. They all want the same thing, and they are offering big bags of gold.

"I guess we'll be visiting that spa today," he comments, smiling at her. Her smile turns even wider. She has told him about it and he dodged the question before because he didn't have money. But now…

Delicious. She takes a massage, the skin treatment, the hairdresser, and gets her nails done. She ends all shiny and smooth, even more beautiful than before, and leaves Leon with his jaw way open. He is who enjoys her the most. They make love all night.

The celebration of his ascension lasts four days. He has to show his fighting skills many times and has to tell them about how he defeated the giant. They end up losing the notion of time and leave the celebration as soon as they can, nearly at the beginning of the last act. The king is looking after them until someone reminds him that they are a young couple. The party continues. They have their own celebration at home.

In their house, their moans and groans are a violent and mindless symphony of lust and pleasure that lasts all night. Like a spark and the most volatile fuel, their love is the purest fire. Both are fire. They only stop when their bodies can't keep going anymore. The bedroom is a mess.

"My hyper fertile girl," he says, grinning. "I expect three babies…"

"Noup!" she refuses, hitting him in his ribs.

"Ouch!" he fakes pain, then laughs. "Just kidding, you know very well that I want you all only for myself…"

"Yeah…" she says, rolling her eyes. "And yet you…"

He chuckles.

"I couldn't help it," he says. She bites her lip and smiles as he squeezes her between his arms, kissing her non-stopping. Both fall asleep without noticing and have peaceful dreams.

Leon wakes up three hours later, completely recovered. He doesn't need more than three hours of sleeping nowadays. It's four in the morning so he sleeps more for the pleasure of sleeping and wakes up at the same time she does.

"Goblins aren't something you should underestimate, lord Leon," says a strong voice. Ron. He is as tall and strong as Leon, has brown hair and eyes. Copper complexion.

"We are sixteen men," Leon replies. "As long as we keep working as a team there won't be any problem. We will use the tower shields, arming swords and spears."

Ron sighs. "But…"

"Have you ever fought a group of goblins, Ron?" Leon asks.

"No, but-"

"Neither I have," Leon continues. "But they are not that strong. You can easily stab them with a spear. The trick is doing it fast and efficiently with the shield holding the others. Yes, others. They operate in large groups of no less than fifty."

"And it will be like water against sharp rocks," says another powerful voice. Sam, the curly black-haired man, tall and big as Paul, but more muscular. He has a scar between his brown eyes.

"Sire, I've heard tales," John, a gorgeous black man, adds. His voice reminds of the thunder and gives chills. His eyes are blue as sapphire and his smile is the incarnation of charm. He's the tallest and the strongest man in the group and is bald.

"That's why you have trained to die if it's needed," Leon replies. "Why? Because of our women, our children, our families, and our friends."

"I don't want to die, sire," John says.

"Nobody wants to die, John," Leon agrees.

"John doesn't want to die because there is a nice pretty little girl waiting for him at home… to marry him… haha! And her father made him enter the army," Paul says. Leon lifts his eyebrows and smirks.

"Yeah... that's the reason, sire," the brunette, green-eyed man shorter than Paul says with a melodious voice. He's Luke. The other men in the center of the camp laugh at his comment. Leon smiles too.

Then, his eyes find the silent and serious wizard next to the fire, hypnotized by the flickering figures that always dance in the flames.

"Is everything going well, sir Dominic?" Leon asks, wondering if the wizard can sense anything. The wizard looks at him abruptly, his green eyes are wide open on Leon, but he's somewhere else. Leon interrupted something.

"There is something in the air," Dominic responds. The wizard can perceive it very well. "My powers have been increasing for no apparent reason these last few days."

He casts a small spark of fire on the palm of his hand. It lasts five seconds. The men get silent.

The wind is howling, but for one second it gets silent too. "This should cost me a lot of effort, but now it's like breathing. The magic in the air is… increasing, my lord Leon. Maybe our gods are coming back after all these centuries to finally judge us."

Leon smiles. The grumpy ginger is in a good mood. But Leon knows that if the gods ever come back they will come to conquer and control. They won't waste their precious time judging worthless mortals that they can remake perfect if they want whenever they want. However, the wizard is right about magic increasing, and Leon knows that it's because something or someone is increasing its level in the atmosphere. But the worst thing is that it's affecting him and the world he lives in is affected too.

When his unit encounters the first group of goblins, he solo defeats the fifty of them without any problem, leaving the jaws of his men buried on the ground. He feels amazing. That power feels so familiar.

"T-that was amazing, my lord!" Ron is the first speaking.

"We can never lose with you on our side, sire!" Sam says.

"You are the best swordsman in the country!" John adds.

"Quite impressive, my lord," even Dominic joins the flattering, which is not flattering because even Leon is impressed he did it that easy and that fast.

"I hope you are not wasting time with this... babbling," Leon says, cleaning his blade.

"We wouldn't dare, my lord. Luke is tracking their footprints right now, he's our hunter after all," Sam says and adds. "Remarkable performance, sire."

Leon smiles, very proud.

Then, they track the goblin footprints and follow them to a huge tunnel. They get to the tunnel when the sun is about to hide on the horizon so they have to wait until the next day to make their move.

Their camp is set two kilometers from the entrance to the tunnel, and there they spend the night, a silent and cold night because they can't afford to be discovered.

"Good night, gentlemen," Leon says, finishing his dried meat.

"Good night, lord Drako," they answer.

Leon enters his tent with a smile on his face, but as soon as he's alone his face contorts in agony.

His muscular fibers are readapting, slowly becoming stronger and denser. His tendons are getting separated from his bones.

"Demons are the breath of magic… demons are magic," he recalls someone saying as he falls on the bed.

He tries to scream, but his vocal cords don't work anymore and the agony just increases as his tendons get attached to their place while his bones are improved; his brain sees its neurons modified, changed into more efficient ones with three nucleus and more axons. The pain is unbearable, but it's nothing compared with the horror in his chest. The horror of knowing that all his dreams and nightmares have been real all this time and that this is not the first time he goes through something like this. He has evolved before, many times, and now is returning to his real self, evolving into something akin to the dwellers of the nine circles. An apex predator.

I was a fool thinking it all was a dream, he thinks and returns to his silent suffering.

After several hours of despair, his voice returns, and he has to bite something no to scream, but the pain ends abruptly when the first rays of light slowly banish the night. The powers of the darkness don't like the light.

Sweating, hurt, he sits on the border of the bed, thinking, focused on his body. His left arm is wounded and will take another painful night to end the evolution. He won't be able to hold his shield as he normally does, but his strength on the right arm is superior now although he has no idea how strong he is.

He curses his fate and stands up.

Another night to end the evolution, he thinks.

"Ron, Paul," he calls them.

"Sire?" answer the two men, coming in immediately. They are ready. They have been waiting for his call.

"I need help with my armor," Leon says.

Both men, surprised he is not ready, help him to get in the armor the king gifted him. Full plate steel armor. Leon is the only one who has full plate armor in his unit. It's a useful luxury that only the holy knights and some knights can afford.

"The men are ready, sire," Ron informs, his brown eyes shining with determination. "We know that the tunnels are big, we explored them one kilometer and we found a goblin post there."

"You were right, sire," Ron adds, regretful. He had suggested they go to the East, to the abandoned castle. It cost them one day, and when they arrived there was nothing but the ancient ruins. Two days lost.

"Any damage to the village of Lowry?" Leon asks, thinking of the small town he had seen on the map the day before, trying to forget the pain he feels when they touch his left arm.

Ron doubts, but he answers. Taking the East also meant leaving Lowry behind, exposed.

"Luke says that the goblins took nine young men," he says, swallowing.

The fate of those men is very bad.

The bite of the goblins is narcotic. The victims suffer from hallucinations, tending to see what they desire most while goblins drain their seed so they could breed more goblins. They are drained until they die. The dark humorists call it 'the sweetest dead'.

"They..." Ron begins, uncomfortable. The idea of what those young men will have to go through would make anyone throw up.

"Any injured women?" Leon continues and Paul smiles, very proud.

"The men fought to the death to protect their women. Five of them died, but none of their women was injured or kidn*pped. They did their job as good men," he says. Leon nods. They acted as true men.

"You see, John?" Leon adds. "It's not just dying. It's protecting your woman no matter the cost."

"I understand now, sire," John says with determination in his voice.

Leon is ready.

"Let's move then. We need to clean this place and figure out what happened to the soldiers of the tower," Leon commands and they start moving.

Four days ago they arrived at the tower, a small frontier post of the army meant to protect the frontier and the seven villages. They had instructions to get there and receive information of the territory, an updated map, and the location of the goblin tribe. However, Leon didn't find anybody there, just blood, shattered shields, spears, and broken swords. It was a small big battle.

There were fifty footmen and their captain in the tower and they all are gone, no bodies remain. They just disappeared.

"Just eradicate this annoying group of goblins, and come back," Davis had said seven days ago and it was supposed to be a big and easy mission, a victory to improve even more his popularity and that of the holy knights. But things have become more problematic now.

"Move," Leon commands. He will retreat if things are beyond his hands. He doesn't want to lose anyone in his first official mission, and neither the bounty he was promised in the guild "Let's see what we can do."

It takes them one hour and a half to reach the cave. They go slow just in case.

"We're going in. Four lines of four," Leon orders. "John, Ron, Paul, Romulus, be my first line."

"Yes, sire," they respond.

"Alex, Nicolas, Jack, join me in the second, we must protect our first line and our wizard," he adds.

"Yes, sire," they answer.

"Brandon, James, Robert, third line, support Dominic if he needs to cast his fireball. Three shots will be enough, Dominic," he continues.

"Understood, sir," Dominic replies.

"Sam, Luke. Arrows; and Axel and Rick shields and spears. Protect our backs. Eyes open all the time," he ends.

"Yes, sire," they obey and the formation is ready.

"What if the tunnel becomes narrow?" Sam asks, his brown eyes focused on the darkness inside of the cave.

"It won't," Dominic answers. "It's the opposite. It becomes wider one kilometer ahead of us. Two ahead is their lair and the men they kidn*pped too."

"Have you sent a familiar?" Leon asks.

"I did," Dominic answers.

"Anything else we need to know?"

"That's just a post, not their lair, and the principal tunnel ends in the valley, on the other side of the mountain," he says. "That's all that I know."

"You've heard it, guys, let's clean this place, and let's find where they come from," Leon declares and grabs his shield with the remains of strength in his left arm. It's enough to hold the piece of wood covered by a plate of steel.

"Dominic, do you have any familiar left?" Leon asks in a whisper as they advance. "We will need eyes in the dark very soon. We can't keep these torches lit."

"Yes, understood," Dominic says. "I've set my three observers in place when you were giving orders in the entrance. We have eyes in the right places. Nothing will take us with the guard down."

Leon nods. He trusts the wizard and for one second he is reminded of the wasted lands where he was born. Hell, the circle of the Wrath where the most prominent users of magic are extremely powerful and they always fight in the first line because they love to use their power to destroy their enemies. He acknowledges that Dominic is powerful, or would be powerful if there was more magic. Talent without the fuel to be used. There was barely a drop of the light of the gods in those forgotten lands, at least until now because Magic was increasing.

"If you cast your fireball…" Leon begins.

"I know, my lord," the wizard replies, condescending. As if he is saying: I know how to control my own power.

Do you? Leon thinks and keeps walking in silence, trying to spot anything suspicious. Nothing happens.

"It's time to turn off the torches, gentlemen," Dominic says. "I will cast my first spell."

They get closer to him, in testudo formation, covering all sides.

"Lady Tia, goddess of light, grant us vision in the dark," the wizard says, taking the energy of Robert's body and turning it into fuel for his spell. Leon feels how the magic flows towards his eyes, he doesn't need it, but Dominic doesn't know. And suddenly, thanks to the spell, his men can see in the dark.

"Can we afford this?" Leon asks.

"Forty minutes," the wizard answers.

Robert is pale.

"Are you feeling well, Robert?" he fears he would faint.

"I'm not, sir, he acknowledges. "But I still can fight. For our people."

"Reduce your spells to just one fireball, Dominic, and take that energy from three of us," Leon is preoccupied, but he doesn't complain because the dark vision was a must there.

"As you wish, my lord," the wizard answers. They keep moving for ten minutes more.

"My lord, they have detected us," Dominic announces. Leon looks at his men.

"You know what to do, men," he asserts.