Page 282 of The War God’s Favorite

Cassandra had no idea how long she had stayed unconscious when she was with the Water God, but she felt like it had been a few hours at least. She hoped things had progressed up there, and in a good way at that. She was silently dying to see Kairen again. Cassandra didn’t want to get her hopes up too soon, but she hoped he was somewhere near. She had that strange conviction in her heart that the War God had returned to the Capital.

“Kyun!”

“I’m coming,” she sighed, trying to pull herself up and catch up with the excited Baby Dragon.

She had no idea what to expect once she had climbed out of that breach, but anyway, she wouldn’t have been able to imagine it. This looked like another cave, only much, much bigger. It was actually carved to have a roughly square shape. The walls were definitely made of the same material as the one below, though, that shining grey stone. Cassandra had no idea what it was, and she couldn’t remember having seen anything similar within the Palace’s walls. So, where in the world were they?

She felt a bit too tired to stand, and remained seated to look at her surroundings. Kian was already happily running around and sniffing everything with curious eyes. The much bigger cave continued past her line of sight, as if she had emerged at one end of it. More curiously, she noticed some strange, black spherical shapes. A lot of them were broken open, and looked as if they could crumble and fall into dust at any second. Stones? Their shape was a bit intriguing, and Kian too kept sniffing them with curious eyes.

Everything there was really quiet, but Cassandra could hear some sort of faint wind coming from the other side. The light was coming from a little hole in the ceiling, too. This was definitely sunlight, and this opening was too round to be a natural one. Who would have carved a window in a cave, and why? In any case, it was too high for Kian to carry her up there, and actually, she wasn’t even sure it would be wide enough for her to get through. The distance was blurred with all her surroundings looking like the same rocky walls.

She finally stood up, and the Baby Dragon immediately ran back to her to rub its body against her leg, almost like a cat. Kian was apparently determined to stay around her, and though the dragon kept venturing everywhere to have a look, it was coming back to her every ten seconds or so. Since the young dragon looked so fearless and enthusiastic, Cassandra walked further into the cave, intrigued. There was nothing but those countless, countless broken spheres. She couldn’t understand what they were. They were not made of the same material as the stones, they were darker, but gave off a similar feeling to the Onyx Castle.

As she kept walking, the echo of her own steps made her slowly realize how big this new cave actually was. Unlike the one from before, this one seemed to continue for miles, like some tube just getting wider and wider. The breach she had come out of was already far behind her when she found another window above her, throwing light on more bigger, broken spheres. She suddenly realized she had been wrong. Those things weren’t spheres. They were empty shells.

Now that she could see some more complete ones, the shape wasn’t so round and was similar to Kian’s dragon egg. She hadn’t noticed before because even the material looked different, and none looked alive or illuminated like Krai’s egg once was. She was baffled. What were those dragon eggs doing here? There were hundreds of them! Some looked so old they were almost turning into stones.

The Baby Dragon squealed, sniffing one of the eggs and putting its little front paws on it to look inside, but Cassandra grabbed the dragon and carried it instead. Somehow, she didn’t like the idea of Kian playing with empty dragon shells. This whole place felt like... some kind of cemetery. There was a really uneasy feeling growing in her heart from seeing those empty shells. From the looks of those, they must have belonged to dragons that lived years and years ago, maybe centuries.

Cassandra kept walking, and as her arms got tired, Kian jumped out of them to walk ahead. However, this time the Baby Dragon didn’t look as curious anymore. It actually had its wings close to its body, and looked more cautious than before. Was Kian feeling something she didn’t? Cassandra hoped they wouldn’t encounter anything too dangerous in here. She kept trying to understand the Emperor’s purpose. Did he know she would find the Water God in the lake and understand what the Creature was? Did he even know about it? Or was he hoping she’d find that breach and get here? She hoped the old man was alright.

“Kyuuu?”

Kian had stopped, looking a bit wary of whatever was ahead. Cassandra caught up to the baby dragon with a frown, and indeed, there was a noticeable change in their surroundings. The eggs around them were considerably bigger, and unlike the previous ones, they still had some color on them. They were getting closer to the end of the strange tunnel, she could feel it.

Cassandra was starting to realize where they were standing. She had forgotten about this place, actually. Suddenly, Kian froze, before running back towards her and hiding behind her leg. Something was scaring the baby dragon? It wasn’t growling, but the emerald eyes were focused on something right after the next turn. Cassandra walked towards it. The wind she had heard before was getting louder, and coming in little waves. It wasn’t wind, but breathing.

They were finally met with an impressive mountain of golden scales.

“Glahad!” she exclaimed.

What was the Emperor’s dragon doing there? Recognizing the magnificent creature, Cassandra ran to it, but the gigantic dragon looked uninterested. The dragon was curled upon itself, its ruby eyes half-open, looking incredibly passive. It didn’t even seem to care about them, and barely reacted. Seeing that Cassandra wasn’t scared, Kian came out and carefully scurried over to look. The difference in size between the two was impressive. Kian was like a big cat, while Glahad was like a little mountain by itself.

The Baby Dragon kept looking around the giant dragon and poking at it curiously. However, the older one didn’t seem to care. Cassandra realized Glahad was in some way Kian’s grandfather, but the Golden Dragon looked completely disinterested in anything. It was so calm that Cassandra had no fear approaching it.

“Glahad, what is it?” she asked.

Giving no answer, its ruby eyes shifted to her, without any other kind of reaction. It looked like the Golden Dragon was...depressed. That realization carved a hole in Cassandra’s heart, as a scary thought sprouted in her mind. She shook her head, choking up a little, and tried to look around. There was nothing else but empty dragon shells here. This was definitely the Emperor’s Dragon Vault, but what was Glahad doing there?

Abandoning the old dragon for a few seconds, Cassandra made the detour around its body, which occupied half of the way, to check what was around the other side. She gasped.

A gigantic door. It was made with the same stones as all the walls there, but the square shape and the gigantic handle on it couldn’t be mistaken. Cassandra was amazed. So they really were in the dragon’s vault! Didn’t Shareen say before that this place was right behind the Throne room? Meaning they were just a few steps away from getting back inside the Imperial Palace! Cassandra hurried over, but she couldn’t even understand how to open the door. The handle was way too heavy! She couldn’t even move it at all, how was she supposed to pull on it? She suddenly realized this was how the Imperial Family members were the only ones who could get in. It took superhuman strength to get that lock open... or a dragon’s help. Lady Kareen was human, yet she had been in here before to retrieve Kian’s egg. She couldn’t have done it by herself. However, with the help of a dragon, she could have.

Cassandra turned back to the Emperor’s dragon. Would Glahad help her? Opening that door would be a matter of seconds for a dragon, but how to convince it to help?

She walked over. Kian, a bit lost by her back-and-forth, decided to sit down and tilt its head, observing her movements. Cassandra didn’t have time to worry about what Kian was doing, she just went back to face the Golden Dragon’s head. She knew Glahad wasn’t going to hurt her, as the Emperor did like her. Would the dragon help her? She wasn’t sure of the situation outside, but it was very probable Glahad had somehow been forced in here. This was the Emperor’s dragon, though. Even if the dragon was locked in here, it was the only one strong enough to break out. Glahad just needed the will to do so.

“Glahad, please, you have to help me get out of here,” she said.

This time, there was no movement. The Golden Dragon looked like it had absolutely no intention of doing anything. Even if it was depressed, Glahad couldn’t simply stay here! Cassandra walked closer, desperate.

“Glahad! I don’t know what happened to His Highness, but...”

This time, the Golden Dragon growled as a warning, its ruby eyes opening wide. Cassandra jumped back in surprise. She wasn’t prepared for the Emperor’s dragon to actually get mad at her once she’d mention The Emperor. Kian, upset at Glahad’s growling, jumped between her and its dragon ancestor and growled back. Its attempts to growl were once again no more than a kitten’s meow compared to the fierce growl of a proper adult dragon. Still, it at least got Glahad’s attention.

“But you can’t abandon Kairen,” continued Cassandra, careful with her words. “You know he is the... the favorite son, the one that should take the Golden Throne. He and Shareen ought to be out there. You can’t let Vrehan and Lephys do this!”

Despite her plea, the Golden Dragon didn’t move much. At least, Glahad kept both scarlet eyes on her, looking like it was listening, but not reacting much. Cassandra was desperate. She wasn’t even sure how much Glahad understood her words. Krai had always seemed able to understand her, but maybe the Black Dragon was just imitating its Master and reacting to her words. Cassandra wasn’t sure of anything anymore, but she glanced down at Kian. Kassian was in danger out there, and so was his father. Maybe convincing the Golden Dragon was the last chance to save them.

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