Children of the dragon 1: The crimson knight

Incubus

Leon throws his wooden sword and it gets in the way of the fire blast. The attack hits the weapon.

“Smart,” says Addler says as the explosion happens, shocking the audience.

“Leon! Oh, gods! Leon!” Maria screams from the balcony.

“That should be illegal! My son is not a magician!” Lucan protests.

“This is…” Sara is about to faint. In her eyes, Leon was knocked back by the explosion. “My child…”

Leon stands up. Another blast flies towards him. He dodges the attack in the last instant, and the audience cries in fear and surprise. The same happens again and again until the magician abruptly stops.

“Smart,” he acknowledges dissipating the fire in his hand. Leon is sweating, gasping for air, grinning, harmless, a wolf haunting around his prey, waiting for the right moment to attack.

"What is next, lord Addler?" Leon asks, his blue eyes burning with intensity, his grin replaced by absolute focus.

Good, Addler thinks breathing heavily. He has spent a lot of magic in those thirty attacks, enough to convince anyone that he has reached his limits. He steps backward and falls. Leon attacks.

He has to take the opportunity, he has to win. He closes the distance with Addler in a few steps and when his hands are about to grab the old man, Leon feels for one second that he is crossing a wall of something liquid. It’s a trap The world, everything, becomes black.

“What is this?” Leon lets out, but there is no sound. He is falling, everything is black and there is no up or down, right or left, front or back; Leon is still, and yet he knows he is falling.

“It’s a spell, an illusion… Have you forgotten?” a voice, a woman that he knows tells him on his mind.

“Titania…” he whispers, and the illusion ends, he falls no more.

"Oh, impressive!" the voice of Addler says. "Let's try something else then."

Everything turns white this time and Leon discovers himself with Maria, in the bed.

“Good morning,” she says.

“Good morning,” he replies, caressing her pretty face. She takes his hand and kisses him. “I dreamed of the day of the when I became a knight… Then I was falling into the dark and...”

“Just a dream, nothing more,” she interrupts. “All that matters is here and now…”

“Yes,” Leon agrees.

“A shame…” Addler lets out, disappointed, with a bittersweet and disgusting smile on his skull. It’s him who controls the dream and all that happens inside, it’s him who knows that Leon is not going to wake up ever again unless the spell ends. The mage looks at the leader of the knights and shrugs. Davis grins. But something happens and the illusion ends. “How? Very good!"

“Another illusion… another lie… Why do you keep allowing this to happen?” the voice of the woman says, and the bed disappears. Leon and Maria fall into the infinite darkness. “Say it… Say it and see the truth… say my name… if you still love me...”

“No…” Leon replies. “This is but another illusion, the sweet dream of a young man who thought he deserved heaven when he was blind to the beauty in this precious world…”

“You are wrong,” the voice says.

“I’m not dreaming anymore, I’m creating my own reality,” he opens his eyes and meets the magician looking at Davis, distracted.

Leon moves forward and grabs the magician from the neck, knocking him down without any problem.

Addler lifts his hands just in time. He is grinning. He knows Leon wouldn’t have stopped if this was a real fight.

"You win," he tells him. "You are a knight for me, no matter if you lose to the barbarian.”

Leon nods and helps him up.

“Leon wins!” Addler proclaims and the people acclaim Leon.

"Leon! Leon! Leon!"

“Leon! Leon, you are the best!”

“I love you, Leon!”

Leon has just become more than Leon. He has become the representation, the avatar of the town at this point.

"Did he defeat your spell?!" lord Davis asks when the magician returns to his seat next to him. "Did you go easy on him?"

"I would never. I don’t know how he managed to escape but he did it. As you said he is exceptional," Addler replies. "He's all yours now."

Davis groans, disgusted.

“And I have to mention that he is already a knight since he is the first one who has surpassed my spell,” Addler remarks. “Enjoy the fight. I’ll inform the others of our discovery.”

Davis gets frozen and stays just stays there, looking at the back of the magician.

“No, I won’t allow this,” he declares and takes a wooden rod.

The crowd starts to acclaim him when he enters the Arena. He is an experienced and talented soldier, master of sword and spear, and he pretends to leave the order without their next knight. He doesn’t care about the order, or the kingdom anymore, he only cares about her and he knows that no matter if she loves him, she will dump him if he ends injured forever in that battle. Davis knows that what Maria loves the most, what she can’t resist is a man with the power to give her all that she desires.

You will hate me first but not for too long, little witch. Davis thinks and moves forward with dark intentions. I won’t feel sorry for this, Leon.

Leon takes the wooden staff that one of the knights offers him as Davis charges. He can read the intentions of the knight on his face, and from their first encounter, he knows he must be very careful. The leader of the knights, Lord Davis, is a powerful opponent.

Their weapons clash. The exchange is fast, just a few hits to taste the terrain and then they step back and the world becomes silent.

"You should have taken the helmet, Leon," he says. Leon doesn't answer, he attacks.

His movements are fast and precise, but Davis is a master, he blocks and counters every single attack until Leon stops and steps back.

"Is that all?" the knight asks, grinning. "It's not enough!"

The knight attacks, he knows he can beat Leon from their first encounter. He measured his power, he knows he can win. He shows no mercy. The weapons clash with violence, the violence that only two men in love with the same woman could show.

Maria feels her heart about to stop, afraid of them hurting each other. She has learned to love Leon, somehow, but she can't deny what she had, and maybe still has on Davis. If only they could… if only the world was different the three of them would be happy. But she has chosen, she chose Leon, and while their weapons clash she feels the edge of a cold blade stabbing her heart and wishes that Leon wins. Her heart shrinks in surprise and fear. One staff lands several feet behind Leon.

"How?" Lord Davis asks, landing on the ground, the end of Leon's staff aiming at his neck. Leon has won.

How? Leon wonders. He doesn't know from where that new strength and speed had come. He was confident he could match Davis with his known skills and win after a long time, but at the end of the battle, he discovered he could move and hit slightly faster and harder than the knight. How?

He offers Davis a hand. Their eyes meet and Davis gets fascinated by Leon's.

"Would you condemn me?" he says with a bitter smile, lowering the stare.

"I would not," Leon replies, the knight lifts his stare again. "I'm not a hypocrite, my lord. I'd have done the same."

Davis grins.

"She is a witch," he says.

"I agree," Leon replies, and both look at the balcony where Maria is. She blushes.

What the hell are they saying? she wants to know.

The leader of the knights takes his hand and stands up. Then he lifts Leon's hand, pointing him as the winner.

"I have the honor to present to you. Your new holy knight!" Davis announces. "For the honor of lady Titania, welcome to the order, Leon Drako!"

"Leon! Leon! Leon!" the people acclaim his name, Maria leaves the balcony and instants later is between his arms, kissing him, all smiles. His parents stay on the balcony, his acquaintances congratulate him, and even those who hate him are there speaking of how incredible the fight was.

Leon sees them all, but he only cares about the woman between his arms. The little witch he loves. She kisses him again.

"What are you, little lamb?" the voice asks. He is at the top of a mountain, in a round building from where a giant city is seen in the endless valley.

"What?" Leon replies.

"Why are you here?" the woman insists. "This is not a place for you… heaven is no place for demons…"

"I'm whatever I want to be, I do what I want to do," he replies.

The vision changes. He is now in the bed, and the woman is on top of him, but he barely can see her infinite beauty because of her halo of light. He loves her, and he knows it's a memory.

It's a memory! It's a dream! It can't be anything else! He tells himself.

"Oh, my little wolf, why are you pretending to be a lamb?" she asks, moving her hips slowly, in complete control. "Don't deny your nature, my powerful… wolf, child of passion and fire…"

"No…" Leon lets out.

"What?" Maria says. "No?"

"I'm overwhelmed, I'm sorry I didn't listen," he quickly apologizes.

Maria grins.

"Home, you and me, tonight," she whispers in his ear.

"Yes," he answers. "Always a yes."

She grins. Leon grins while the flashes of the tantric arts of a woman he can't remember very well cross his mind.

Not the time and not the place for daydreaming, he thinks.

He gets focused on the celebration around him, in the woman that holds his hand. He enjoys the moment. He has won. He has become a holy knight just like that.

The night is as she said. Only she and he in her house.

He hears something, whispers in his head again, the voice of the other woman, the woman of his dreams again.

"Little wolf, my precious little wolf… you are a wolf, my wolf," she whispers. There is love and irony in her voice. "Why do you keep pretending you are a lamb in the world of lambs? My little wolf… something dark is coming…"

The wind howls, threatening to open the windows of her bedroom, and Leon Drako feels something sinister in the air, but Maria kisses him again bringing him back to the moment, while his hands just flow on her skin, while he keeps performing art, the arts of love that are so natural to him that he can't see when it's too much for her.

Maria trembles in delightful agony, trying to stay breathing, trying to devour him... Her moans are loud.

"You have to tell me," he repeats, is not the first time.

"Iii-... Ah… ah… I- I- know..." she says, trying to recover her breath. Leon kisses her. "For... Oh! The gods!" she lets out, all smiles. Leon kisses her more.

The night is young.