The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 113

MIDAS

The first time was a cold, moonless night.

The one night when restless and swatted in sweat he had been unable to fall asleep.

So bored and wide awake, he had wandered the castle grounds aimlessly, his small feet soundless against the cold stone.

Like a moth to the flame, a Midas that had been barely 10 years of age had found himself heading towards the burning torches of the guards who kept watch over the castle at night. And it was with his legs dangling over the precipice of the guards watch tower that the dragonkin Ryder who would be Leo's father, had first told him the story..

Once, upon a time so long ago it has almost since faded from living memory,

There was a war in the 7th realm.

But before the war even began,

Before the realms as they are now known were even divided.

There was order and there was chaos.

Light and dark existing side by side.

The Elders gods-no one can agree on who came first-did not care much that there were those among them who practiced magic of a much more selfish nature than was "normal" for the gods. Until the chaos began to plot to overthrow everything else.

That was when the war began.

A war between those who ruled the darkness and those who wished to remain in the light.

The Elder gods fought and order won.

But as is the manner of gods, they were satisfied with just the acknowledgement of defeat by the opposing side.

Or perhaps it was simply was not their way to crush their enemies as throughly as possible least they rise again.

So they split the fabrics of existence into 7 realms and those who worshipped chaos were stripped of their magic and flung down to the farthest of all the realms

As far away from the gods as possible.

Tossed aside and forgotten they became known as The Shades.

Their shadowed paths growing weeds and thorns until like a forest abandoned, they could barely even be reached, much less passed through.

And just like that, dark magic and those who praticed it were forgotten.

Almost like they ceased to exist.

Until one, consumed by greed and a desire to possess an entire race for himself, brought it back.

When Azarath, after seeing that the dragon realm would not be given to him began his rebellion, he decided to walk the abandoned paths of dark magic.

He reached out to the shades and asked for their help.

If they would help him learn to possess and use magic like they once did, he would return them to their former glory.

They agreed.

Patron god of magic and now of the shadows as well, Azarath found a way to open a portal to the shadow realm and bring them back.

And so, along with all the others he managed to convince to join his cause, they went to war.

Again.

And the battle for the ownership of the realm of dragons began.

Again they fought.

And again, they lost.

And once more, they were cast down. Azarath with them.

Except this time the gods were wiser.

They did not just cast them down.

They cast them down and then they locked the doors behind them.

All the portals opening into the shadow realm were sealed.

One could go in but none could come out.

Except they had the key.

A key that ironically the gods had hidden somewhere in the dragon realm.

When Midas had first heard the tale, eyes half closed with sleep and his hands sticky with the honey from the kitchen, he had thought the gods terribly brilliant.

And as the guards had carried his sleepy form into the castle he remembers the awe that had followed him even into his dreams.

But as he grew older, the dragon king began to realize the truth.

That the gods may be all powerful but they were not all knowing.

Perhaps they were not even as wise as they tried to make their creatures believe.

For not even they could predict the erratic ways of all the creatures they had created.

That curiosity and an obession with knowledge would expose the flaws in their plans to those who wished to use the knowledge for evil.

If they had known, perhaps they would not have given their creations the choice of free will.

Or perhaps they simply would not have created them at all.

Midas knows he personally, would not have.

A dragon, swoops low into the castle ground.

Nearly extinguishing the flaming torches and casting a shadow over an already darkened courtyard before landing somewhere towards the left.

Midas who is too busy barking orders left and right while knowing he cannot under any circumstances show the turmoil running through his mind, pays it no mind. Moments later a soldier comes running towards where the King's stands.

"Your grace!"

He answers without turning towards the panting, haunched over Ryder.

"Speak."

"A scout from Radarth and Adarin. They were the first of the clans to be attacked my king and they send word asking for reinforcement."

Midas' jaw ticks but he is not surprised.

The clans of Adarin and Radarth are the clans farthest from the castle.

If the dark elves meant to advance on his realm while ensuring that they did not get attacked from behind, that is where they would begin.

But he also knows that no portal had been opened there.

The danger the clans face while great, is not as dangerous as the others that lay ahead.

"Denied. They will have to fight as they are."

The Ryder nods his head, knowing better than to argue.

Adarin and Radarth are strong. They could hold their own a little longer.

Whatever it is that came in through those open portals needed to be stopped and stopped now.

He turns aside to another dragonkin warrior.

"Captain."

"Yes my king."

"Your troops?"

"We are ready my king."

"And the captains?"

"A top their horses and in front of their men. We only await your orders."

A brisk nod from the king is the only indication that he has heard the captain.

"We march out on my signal."

"Yes my king."

The Captain hesitates and Midas sees it out the corner of his eyes.

"Say it."

"It is about the Chief Ryder my Lord. We cannot seem to replace him."

Midas voice betrays nothing. "Does you ability to fight and defend your home lie in the chief Ryder's presence? Is it he who fuels the dragon in your veins or the fire that poisons your blade?" The captain bows his head. "No my king."

Midas turns away. "Go to your men. We ride out on my signal."

What the dragon king does not tell the cpatain is that he has been trying non-stop to mind link his right hand to no avail and that he himself is now beginning to get very worried.

He may not show it but he needs Leo by his side.

Both as his warrior and as his friend.

Could they have poisoned him as well?

Mead laced with magic...a platter of food coated with spells?

Was Leo right now lying down somewhere in the castle unaware of all that is going?

He is about to for the first time in a long long time, go into battle with neither his dragon nor his most trusted warrior by his side.

And the woman he loves.

"Captain!"

The dragonkin stops and turns back to the king.

"New orders. You and some of your men. Find the the queen and take her to her chambers. I want her tower surrounded and defended. Until this war is ended, one way or the other you are to guard her with your life. She must under no circumstance whatsoever be put in danger or I swear by all the gods not even Hades will be able to save any one of you from me."

The Captain nods once more and hurries on his way.

Midas strides towards his stead.

Even with Er'gan asleep he can still feel the familar buzz of energy he always feels before a fight.

The warmth wrapping itself around his bones... swelling... expanding.

"Er'gan?"

Silence.

As he mounts his horse, the dragon king looks up and towards her window knowing even as he does so that she would not appear.

One brisk whisk and a sharp command later, he turns his horse around.

"Open the gates!!"

The dragon king who does not fear war or death is afraid now.

Afraid not of the battle ahead but that he may have missed his chance to tell her the truth.

Afraid that he may never get it again.

She had been his healing and yet he had brought nothing but pain to her.

And when he died, the memory of him that would remain for her would be of the one who broke her trust and shattered an already fractured heart.

And as he rides out towards an enemy who's strength he does not yet know, it is that single thought that haunts him the most.