Rise of the Devourer
Book 4: Chapter 36 — The Fake King

The door behind them closed before disappearing, as if it had never existed in the first place. Noah would have been tempted to step backwards and see if he could open it again, if not for the fact that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the king.

His instincts were telling him there was something wrong about the king, even if he couldn’t spot what.

Draxius’ face twisted with rage as soon as he looked up at them. "You!" he snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Noah. "Murderers! Traitors! How dare you show your faces here!"

"Your Majesty, we—" Noah began, but the king's fury cut him off.

"Silence!" Draxius roared, rising from his throne with violent motion. "You killed her! You killed my daughter! Vion is dead because of you!"

"That's not true," Aurelia said, stepping forward with her hands raised. "We were in an entirely different place. Noah was battling Kaelan, Erwest was in his room, we had nothing to do with—"

"Lies!" The king's voice cracked with grief and rage. "I know what you did! The corruption, the chaos—all of it stems from your presence in my kingdom—”

"Where’s Zax?" Noah asked, breaking the king’s flow. "Where is he? Surely he should be able to help if not solve this whole ordeal, if he’s—”

"Zax is gone," Draxius said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "As is my daughter. As is everything I held dear. And you three are responsible for all of it."

Noah felt the time slow down around him as he analyzed and picked up on the king’s micro-expressions, subtle tells that something was fundamentally wrong with the king's responses. He might’ve thought the king was being genuine in his rage, that he was genuinely misled, if the wrongness did not press against his senses like a physical weight. "You're lying,” Noah breathed out—that was what his mind was practically screaming at him, that this king was acting, “The real question is why."

"Enough."

The single word carried such command authority that it seemed to reverberate through the chamber itself. Draxius raised his hand, and suddenly the peaceful room was filled with the sound of armored footsteps.

The door—the actual, proper door, not the hidden one they’d used—opened up, royal guards pouring through it. Elite B-rank warriors in pristine armor, their weapons gleaming and their formations perfect, surrounded them.

"Seize them," Draxius commanded. "The monster wearing Noah's face has deceived us all long enough."

"Monster?" Noah said, genuinely confused as the guards began to surround them. "What are you talking about?"

"I know what you are," Draxius said, his eyes suddenly blazing with an intensity that hadn't been there moments before. "A vessel containing the shard of a dead god. An evil presence masquerading as a hero. I made a grave error allowing you to exist when we first met, but that mistake ends now."

The guards moved with practiced efficiency, spears surrounding them in a circle. Any sudden movement, and they would be skewered.

Noah, teleport us out! Aurelia communicated to him in his mind urgently, We need to get out of here!

Wait, he replied, sending the message to both his companions, even as magical restraints began to form around their wrists. Let them take us.

Are you insane? Aurelia hissed, her flames beginning to flicker despite the suppression magic, showing just how unstable her emotions were currently.

Trust me, Noah said, his enhanced eyes tracking the guards' every movement. I can teleport us out when we need to. But first, I need to understand what's really happening here.

The magical restraints glowed with suppressive magic, reminding him momentarily of his short stint of imprisonment due to entering Avera’s Astral Rift without permission back then. Noah allowed himself to be shackled, his runic chains retreating into dormancy as the bindings took effect.

"Why are you doing this?" Noah asked as the guards forced them to their knees. "The kingdom is under attack. Your people are dying. And you're treating us like the enemy?"

Draxius stepped closer, his presence somehow seeming to fill the entire chamber. "Because you are the enemy. You think I don't know what you've been doing? Collecting shards, growing stronger, preparing for the moment when you can wreak havoc?"

"That's not—" Noah began, but the king cut him off.

"The lunar cultists, the dragon attack, even the corruption spreading through my castle—all of it is because of you, and pales in comparison to the threat you represent. Better to rule over ashes than to watch the world burn in the fires of a resurrected deity."

Something in the king's voice triggered a memory Noah couldn't quite place. The wrongness intensified, pressing against his consciousness like a physical force. That's when he felt it—the familiar warm presence of… Septah. Septah's blessing flowed through him like sunlight through stained glass, and suddenly his enhanced eyes were seeing far more than they ever had before.

His gaze swept the chamber, analyzing every detail instinctively, once more. The throne room was real, but isolated somehow. The guards were authentic. The king looked exactly as he should. But there—barely visible beneath the royal robes—a small locket hanging from a chain around the king's neck. Something that his enhanced eyes identified as both incredibly important and… strangely familiar.

Familiar because, within the locket, he could sense a presence. Warm. Ancient. Trapped. The sensation reminded him of Zax's draconic essence, but constrained, compressed into an impossibly small space.

And then he looked at the king, the way his expressions had felt just the slightest stilted, the way his accusations were almost theatrical, like he was… pretending.

"You're not the king at all," Noah said quietly, the realization sinking in.

Draxius's expression shifted instantly, the grief and rage melting away to reveal something else entirely. He smiled, and suddenly the expression was completely wrong for the face wearing it. "Very good. Though it took you longer to realize than I expected."

The false king's gaze fixed on Noah's eyes, and his smile turned predatory. "Ah, I see. The goddess's blessing and your eyes… The combo allowed you to see through dimensional barriers. How... inconvenient."

Noah felt the change before he saw it. The air around the false king began to shimmer with power that made reality itself seem fragile. "What are you?"

"I am something far older and more dangerous than you can comprehend," the entity said, his voice now carrying the full weight of true authority. "And you, vessel of the Devourer, do not need to know about it."

Even as the king was speaking, Noah was already moving. The restraints might try to suppress him, but all it took was for him to let go of any inhibitions, and they began crackling and snapping, malfunctioning, desperately trying to keep up with the sudden increase in power.

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When had shackles ever truly stopped him, after all?

Noah flexed his arms, channeling Metamorphosis and pushing, and that was all it took for the shackles to crack, then shattered completely as his runic chains erupted outward with explosive force.

The entity reacted instantly, raising his hand to launch a spell that Noah could tell from the depths of his soul would simply erase him from existence—not kill, but unmake entirely, giving him no chance of survival at all.

Noah triggered Arcane Step, his form blurring as he phased through space itself, reappearing just arm’s reach of the entity, time itself seemingly crawling to a stop as he could feel himself landing, slowly, excruciatingly slowly.

His eyes fixed on the locket. The small golden chain that held Zax's aura. Incredibly important, and breaking it would be the only thing that could potentially save them.

He could see the erasure spell already forming at point-blank range, coming right for him. There was no time to dodge, no time to defend, no time to do anything except trust in the instinct that had carried him through every impossible situation. Even as his mind processed what was happening, he knew his body would not be able to keep up.

So that was it, then. No dodging.

Time became real again, he felt tears of blood cloud his vision, the erasure spell practically touched him—

But his fingertip touched the locket.

The communication bracelet on Noah's wrist activated, channeling every ounce of power it contained into the small golden chain. The locket shattered like spun glass, its fragments scattering across the marble floor.

The effect was immediate and catastrophic. The king’s spell crumbled as his concentration shattered, the erasure magic dissipating harmlessly into the air. Both Noah and the king were blasted backward by the explosive release of contained energy, their forms skidding across the polished marble.

But where Noah crashed onto the wall and felt his back snap, the king landed on his feet smoothly. But the king’s expression wasn’t good, however—it was twisted with concern as he snarled.

For from the space where the locket’s fragments were hovering, another figure materialized.

Zax emerged from what Noah now realized had been a prison, his draconic power blazing as he took in the scene with knowing eyes. The old dragon looked tired but unbroken, his expression shifting from relief to grim determination as he focused on the king.

"Thank you, Noah," Zax said, his voice carrying a mix of emotions—gratefulness for Noah, but also the traces of ice cold rage. "I was beginning to think I would be trapped in that dimensional pocket forever."

"This changes nothing," the king snarled. "The dragon is still getting closer and closer to the kingdom. You can stop nothing. My plans will still achieve fruition."

Zax stepped between Noah and the king, his human form radiating power that made the air itself tremble. "Go," Zax said to Noah without turning around, his attention focused entirely on the king. "Find Vion. I can sense that she's in the undead dragon’s heart, and she doesn't have much time left."

"But—"

"Go!" Zax roared, his draconic nature blazing through his human disguise. "This is a battle you cannot help with, and she needs you more than I do!"

Noah hesitated for only a moment, then grabbed his companions and activated Arcane Step, teleporting them out of the chamber. As they materialized in the corridor outside, Noah immediately rushed to the nearest window, his eyes scanning the courtyard below and the city beyond, trying to find where they should teleport to next. Royal guards were gathering in confused clusters in the courtyard below, their movements lacking coordination as they fought the lunar cultists below amidst conflicting orders.

Noah’s confusion was solved, however, when he spotted a familiar figure directing a group of guards, Averos, with two men flanking him—Kaelan and Valros. The sight of allies in the midst of the chaos made Noah let out a sigh of relief, as he turned towards Aurelia and Erwest.

"There," Noah said, pointing down at the courtyard. "Kaelan." Noah activated Arcane Step once more, and they materialized in the main courtyard just a moment later. Kaelan immediately turned in their direction, sensing their presence, his face lighting up with relief.

"Noah!" Kaelan called out as he approached with his father and uncle in tow.

"The king," Noah said urgently as they reached the small group. "He's not really the king. Something was controlling him, and had trapped Zax. We somehow freed him, and Zax told us Vion’s trapped in the Dragon's heart."

Kaelan's face went pale. "What do you mean, controlling him?"

"Exactly that," Aurelia said, her flames flickering with agitation. "Some kind of entity is using his body as a puppet.”

Valros nodded grimly. "I suspected as much. The king’s actions were much too out of character.”

Averos stepped forward, "If Vion is alive, it is our duty to help her.” Saying so, he called out to the confused soldiers, “Guards! Form ranks! We move on the Dragon's heart immediately!"

Several guards snapped to attention, moving towards Averos. But as they began to assemble, it became clear how few they were. Most of the castle's forces were scattered throughout the castle or the city itself, dealing with the lunar cultists, and even amidst the ones who could be reached, there were not many who were willing to obey Averos’ commands over a royal one.

"Sir," one of the guards said, his voice tight with fear. "The dragon... it's getting far too close to the city. If it reaches the populated areas..."

"How much time do we have?" Averos demanded.

"At its current pace, perhaps an hour before it reaches the outer districts," the guard replied. "But sir, we don't have the manpower to stop something like that. Most of our forces are—"

The guard's words were cut off by a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the very sky. Everyone looked up to see dark shapes blotting out the sun, dozens of them descending from the clouds like a living storm.

Wyverns.

They poured through the air with predatory grace, their wings casting shadows across the courtyard as they dove toward the castle. But instead of attacking, they began circling in the sky, landing one by one.

"What in the name of—" Valros began, but his words died as the lead wyvern landed, only a step away from them.

Noah's heart leaped as he recognized the sleek black form of his nightshade wyvern. The creature landed with fluid grace, its dark scales shimmering in a way that seemed to drink in the surrounding shadows. Without hesitation, it lowered its great head and began licking Noah's face with a tongue the size of a sword blade.

"I missed you too," Noah said, laughing despite the dire circumstances as he pushed the massive head away. The wyvern huffed with what could only be described as arrogant satisfaction, as if to say ‘you’re so lucky you have me to help you.’

A rumbling growl announced the arrival of another wyvern, this one a massive rocky creature with scales that looked like molten stone. Vyxirax, Aurelia's bonded wyvern, lowered its great head to nuzzle against her shoulder with surprising gentleness for such a massive creature.

"Hey, beautiful," Aurelia whispered, running her hands along the wyvern's snout. "Ready for another fight?"

The creature's response was a pleased rumble that made the ground vibrate beneath their feet.

More wyverns began landing, following the lead of Noah and Aurelia's bonded partners. Thunder wyverns with wings that crackled with electricity, frost wyverns whose breath misted in the air, and earth wyverns whose very presence seemed to make the stones beneath them more solid.

"Incredible," Valros breathed, his eyes wide with wonder. "I've never seen anything like this. They… they seem to be offering themselves as mounts."

One of the royal guards stepped forward hesitantly. "Sir, I... I don't know how to ride a wyvern."

A smaller thunder wyvern, its scales a brilliant blue-white, approached the guard and lowered itself to the ground. It turned its head to regard the man with intelligent eyes, then gave what could only be described as an encouraging chirp.

"I think," Kaelan said with amazement, "they're going to help us whether we know how or not."

Erwest, who had been watching the proceedings with the wariness of someone who preferred to keep his feet on solid ground, found himself approached by a frost wyvern whose breath created small clouds of ice crystals in the air. The creature looked at him expectantly.

"I suppose," Erwest said with resignation, "this is what Hellion meant when she said her true believers would be tested in the most unexpected ways."

As the group began mounting their unlikely steeds, Noah felt the nightshade wyvern's muscles bunch beneath him. The creature was eager to fly, eager to fight, and its anticipation was infectious.

"The Dragon's heart," Noah called out to the others as they settled onto their wyverns. "We need to—"

His words were cut off by a shockwave that made everything else seem like a whisper by comparison. The entire castle shook as if struck by the fist of an angry god, and cracks spread through the stone walls of the castle and even the ground itself, tearing grass apart and spitting streaks of dirt upwards.

The battle between Zax and the entity had begun in earnest.

"Go!" Averos shouted over the thunderous roar that followed. "We need to evacuate the citizens and reach the dragon to help princess Vion!”

The wyverns launched themselves into the air as one, their wings beating in perfect synchronization as they carried their riders toward the dragon. For once, Nightshade didn’t choose to simply bullet ahead, but follow the other wyverns—clearly recognizing that the group needed to stay together.

The dragon they were heading to let out a wretched roar, one that seemed to make the very sky shake, almost as if it was acknowledging them.