Dragon Game: All My Dragons Are Ranked 'SSS'
Chapter 39: Mages

Chapter 39: Mages

The mages arrived, but it was different from what Drahon had anticipated.

He had expected war, brutality, and him doing some berserk things, but what his eyes met was simply shocking.

The mages arrived tattered and burned, their robes scorched at the hems, some stained with dried blood. Their faces were hollow with exhaustion, eyes sunken from days of travel and battle. Most clutched their staves like lifelines, though some were too injured to even stand straight.

Their armor, once decorated with glowing arcane sigils, now flickered dimly, magic nearly drained. A few still carried the scent of ash and smoke, the remnants of the battlefield clinging to them like a curse. Despite their condition, something fierce lingered in their eyes, perhaps remnants of pride, of loyalty to a kingdom that no longer stood.

Drahon stood facing them, guards flanking him from both sides, holding swords and shields, ready to strike if they noticed foul play.

Galen, Liora, and the others stood, looking at the guards in surprise.

"You were right, m’lord," Marwen said. "There are mages but..., they do not come for war."

Drahon squinted his eyes as he looked at the mages, his demeanor carrying authority. Think of a seventeen-year-old acting like a grown man, that was what Drahon was doing.

He always knew he had it in him, to do some bit of acting.

"Since you do not come to fight," Drahon said. "What do you come for?"

A mage stepped forward from the others, staggering as he walked closer to Drahon. He bowed, looking at the ground, and began to speak:

"M’lord, we come to seek refuge."

Drahon almost grinned at that, but then he held it in. Such a pleasant surprise it was. The time they lacked mages was the time some just entered into the kingdom and told him they wanted refuge.

Liora, the head of mages, walked up to Drahon and whispered to him:

"Agree immediately, m’lord, we’re short on mages."

But then, Drahon wasn’t paying attention to her, and so he simply ignored the words, acting like he didn’t hear them in the first place.

If he was a villainous ruler, he would be angry with her for telling him what to do but..., he’d let it slide. By the way, he was living his dream here, ruling over a kingdom, something he did not expect he’d be doing so soon.

He looked at the mage and was silent for some seconds. In those very brief seconds, what he thought about was; of course he needed mages and should be letting these ones into his kingdom just like that.

But then, he thought of the possibilities.

What if these were killers in disguise, sent to kill him?

Since everyone was so infatuated with chopping his head off. He couldn’t just trust anyone he met?

These mages might want to chop his head off too.

"Why do you seek refuge?" Drahon asked.

The mage, still looking at the ground, spoke, his voice shaking a bit.

"We are...," he paused as if mustering enough courage to say the next words. "We ’were’ a kingdom once. Every single one of us were mages and our Lord was a mage too, a powerful one at that."

Drahon looked at him. In his mind, he was like: ’Go on’, ’Go on’.

"Until yesterday, we were invaded by a Lord with a group of his soldiers. He seemed to be half dragon, and only him solo’d us all."

Drahon furrowed a brow.

Half dragon? he thought.

"How was he half dragon?" he asked the mage.

"Well, he was clothed in dark armor, his face looking like someone that was a god of the underworld. He had a really large sword which was also a boomerang. He would swing it at us and then back to himself again. Each time he did so, a head would be chopped off."

Drahon was calculating the possibilities now. This had to be him, this definitely had to be him!

"There was once he unleashed his powers and a demonic dragon shot from his back, ravaging the kingdom."

Demon dragon shot out of his back?

The fuck?

And his fuckin’ system told him he wouldn’t be able to use any of his dragons so he wouldn’t be overpowered.

The fuck was overpowered to the system?

If his guess was true and this was Devon, then... why were they in the same place in the level, and why could he use his dragon when he was restricted by his goddamn system from using his?

I mean, that is the whole point of the game... Dragon game!

He had to use dragons!

"What did he want?" Drahon asked. "What was his main aim for destroying your kingdom?"

"He was after a mythical egg which he thought we had."

Drahon almost shut his eyes completely at this point as he tried to squint his eyes.

He was after a mythical egg?

A day in this level and the other player was being productive while he was here, acting all normal and performing kingdom duties.

To hell with kingdom duties, he had to be productive ASAP!

"Did he tell you people the main egg he was looking for?"

The mage nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes," he said. "He stated the egg he was looking for. First, he stormed the kingdom, killing off some guards at the gate and then, when he rampaged forward, he said he wanted to see our king."

"Since he had just killed some guards, most of us began conjuring fireballs and sending them towards him. But he was unfazed. He looked at us indifferently and just stood at the spot. The fireballs did him nothing, completely nothing. He was unaffected."

At this point, everyone was so much engrossed in the story they just stared at him in anticipation.

They were a few footsteps inside the gate and everyone just paused to look at the speaking mage, including Drahon, who was gaining enough information.

"He was literally a god at that point and all he kept saying was ’You all are not real! Just an illusion!’. I did not know what he meant by that though."

Well, Drahon did. The guy with the demon form was simply trying to tell them that they were just NPCs. They weren’t real.

But then, he realized that this might not be true. Them being non-playing entities doesn’t mean they are not real.

The dragon world isn’t actually a game place. Of course, this feels like a simulation more than real life, but Drahon decided that was due to the fact that they, players, came here to compete in levels and do those kinds of stuff.

That doesn’t mean the world isn’t real and the things inside of it. Just as he was a golden dragon and some people were legendary dragons and they had previously dominated the game world until whatever ended and created this game world did.

So the things inside of it, like the kingdoms, dragons, and people, were real.

"He killed all the mages and then stormed our Lord’s castle, asking him for the Golden Dragon egg."

Golden dragon egg.

"He said our Lord should give him the egg or he’ll kill him. We didn’t even know of any dragon egg, and as a result, he murdered him."

Drahon was speechless.

It seemed he wouldn’t be LORD DRAHON for long.