36Richard looked at her as he mentally organised his thought and memories of what happened since he got there. He took a deep breath and began, "To make it short, I woke up in the desert… not sure where. It's mostly desert out there. I was near an abandon building that seemed like it was a gas station. I wondered if it was the end of the world, but there were no towns around. I decided to wander around for a while. I was alone and I needed to find out if any of you were okay. For many days, I just wandered around and ate those strange fruits once a day."
Astral interjected, "Dragon fruits. That's what we call it…" he frowned a bit, "Did you see any dragons around?"
"None. I just heard a few strange things and I hid where I could, but I saw nothing standing out. I guess I ended up in a pretty isolate spot. However, I saw them when I reached a town with a weird name I never heard before…" he tried to say it, but it sounded weird, "Bou…chere…ville. No idea what town it is. Anyway, I saw those dragons in there who had skull heads like hers."
Kekika giggled, "But none of them had a pretty skull face like mine. Right Richard?" she pushed his back with her snout, only for it to be slapped by the man in annoyance, "You sure find mine pretty," she giggled once more.
The man sighed, "Thankfully, I didn't meet her until I was here. The problem is that I meet her here," he commented. He ignored the sad whine from the goopy dragon and went on, "That's where I got in trouble."
Chapter 30: Catching up part 2
A Few Days Ago
Richard looked at the city, passed the strange sign. He noticed the ruins of the city. He could see the cracks on the road that lead to it. What stood out the most was how the road just suddenly showed up when he got close to the city. It was as if a part of the world just left and went elsewhere. He couldn't believe it was buried under the sand, with just how it vanished. He dug into the sand a bit, but not concrete or anything of the sort. The road just didn't exist beyond the city.
He marched through it and looked at his surrounding. Almost nothing of the town remained. Everything was in pieces. He could see a window on the ground, but shattered near the remained of a store, or something like that. He saw some large mark on the ground. It looked like claws of a strange animal. He saw bloods on the walls of the buildings and the ground. The worse was the large pool of blood farther north.
He had no idea what caused this, but he didn't want to end up in their menu or part of whatever happened there. There were barely any those things they could eat. His thought stopped there. They things living here might be instinct. This made him feel worse in a way. Those carnivorous creatures died out of starvation. Still, the presence of so much blood made no sense.
He heard something behind him.
"Well, well well… What do we have here? Some fresh meat," the voice that didn't sound human at all. It was like one person spoke with two voices at the same time.
Richard turned around and faced with something he never expected to see. The two skull jaws of a dragon that fused together towards the middle of his face was uncanny. Blood dripped out of the dragon's fang while his claws were also covered with blood. The human frowned as he put his hand in his pocket, "What are you?"
"Me?" the dragon asked offended, "I'm Tenebrae. Ruler of the Underworld dragons. The strongest and sexiest being you will never see in your life," his left hand played with the bulge on his crutch. He chuckled a bit, "You are lucky that I find you. My servants would get a bit messy and the other dragons would straight up eat you. We are hunting the rest of those little bastard who dared to annoy me."
"Dragon…" the man had no idea what those creatures were. Still, everything about that thing just screamed 'don't trust me'. He noticed the monster take a step forward. He ordered, "Stay back!"
Tenebrae chuckled, "You rather have a nice view from far away," he turned around and showed his ass, "Nice and round, am I right?"
Richard never left the gaze from the face of the dragon, "You face isn't round."
"Hum… not the kind to get aroused. You sure you don't want a piece of it? There is enough fat down there you know," he grinned.
"Not interested," he glanced around.
"Not really scared, are you? That is kind of boring. A human who isn't afraid of me," the Monarch pouted for a few seconds, before his grin returned, "The kind of guy that is either an idiot or he doesn't know true fear yet. Hum...I'll put you on the latter," he took another step and saw a knife pointed at his face, "Think that 'claw' can pierce my scales," he charged forward and grabbed the knife. He checked at it, "Quite sharp your fake claw," he looked at it and pressed the blade on his finger.
"So?" the man was still ready to fight. Even if he knew well that his end was quite near.
Tenebrae put the knife on his own throat and slashed it. The blade broke off. It didn't pierce his scale, "So, it's quite weak. Still, I like your eyes," he put his hands on the shoulder of the man and felt the muscles under the fabric of the shirt. He tried to lick the human, but he moved his head away form the long serpentine tongues, "Resisting me. Even knowing how futile it is."
Richard didn't bother to reply.
The dragon released him and whispered in a horribly sensual way, "Looks like I found a nice toy I will enjoy to break," before he took a few steps back, "Anyway. That will have to wait for now. I need to invite the main guests before I will enjoy you," he chuckled a bit, "A lot to plan, but you and this couple will really empty by dragon balls," a large grin appeared on his face.
The man rolled his eyes, "I will find a way out of your grasp in the meantime."
"Oh please. Make this more enjoyable," he approached the man. He grabbed the human hand and forced Richard to feel the dragon's ass cheek, "A little touch of what you will play with. Be nice and it will be you who will get into me," he licked the cheek of the man, before released the boy from his grasp, "Big and soft," he joked, to the disgust of the man.
Richard considered burning his hand later. He had no idea if the scales felt like leather or something similar.
Tenebrae snapped his finger, "Okay everyone!" he ordered, his dragons quickly showed up, "I found a new toy for me. This one won't be in your menu for now. I will enjoy him to my heart content," he clasped his hands together, "Since we teach them a lesson, we should return home and-" he noticed something moving in the shadow. He sniffed the air, "Looks like a dragon think he can escape my wrath."
The other underworld dragons were nervous. They gulped and watched each other's.
"And a young one too. Never ate a human," he grabbed an orange humanoid dragon without a tail.
Present time
Richard stopped telling his story. That part was one he tried to forget. The cry of that dragon that begged for mercy, before his demise in such a way.
He snapped out of his thought. He told Alice and the others he was captured by the dragon, but stopped when it came to the young dragon.
The man took a deep breath, "The young dragon he... Did something really horrible-" he gaged a bit. Even if he heard it often, that one was too hard to just say it, "And he made sure I witness it."
The Celestial dragon growled, "Of course he would do that. Even we would consider to only give a quick death to a young underworld dragon. That Tenebrae is pure evil."
Isabelle commented, "The devil in the flesh."
Alice paled. She expected something like that, but she just didn't think it would be that horrible. That Tenebrae was, as the Celestial dragon said, pure evil.
Taichi paled a bit. He knew what the dragon planned for them, but that was worse than he ever imagined. He wasn't sure if he wished something like that to Isabelle. After everything she had done to him and his sister, he just had no idea. He looked at the man, "He is doing to do that to us?"
"Surely he is doing to," Kekika replied as she sighed. She sat behind her man and added, "You will die quickly thankfully. A dragon like her and me, we will survive."
"I survive because I am powerful. He just inflicted a minor injury," she replied to the dragon, "He wants to keep me alive too. Just to enrage my Monarch and the other Celestial dragons," she crossed her arms.
Astral frowned, "I cannot tell if I'm going to survive him or not. I can believe he did that to you Richard."
Richard asked, "How can you stay so calm after he did that to you?" he asked the golden dragon.
She answered, "For our kind…" she observed the humans as she went on, "It's not as mind shattering as the humans it seems. My Monarch said that such action on your kind destroyed you for the rest of your life."
"Yeah. We are quite different," Astral commented. He grabbed Alice hand, "I will protect you from him Alice. I promise you that."
"And how did you meet her?" Taichi asked as he pointed at the goopy dragon, just trying not to think about what Tenebrae.
"When he was thrown in this jail with me it was because they didn't want him to be with her. They thought she would eat him and get strong enough to escape. I can believe that," she pointed at the Celestial dragon who growled at those accusations, "We are in the jail where he waits for later. I saw him and his piercing gaze made me fall in love with him," she used her tail to pressed her human against her gut.
"Let me go," Richard grunted in annoyance.
"Come on now Richard. We are destined to be together," she giggled.
"And I'm stuck with her since then. You have no idea how many times she cuddles me against my will like that," he sighed, "Anyway, a few days later, Taichi and Isabelle were brought her and they just argue and tried to fight against each other's. At least one thing Kekika was useful for."
"I can be for other things if you want too," Kekika winked at her. She ignored the punch on her gut.
Richard commented, "And she is, somehow, not the most annoying here," he glanced at the Isabelle and Taichi who glared at each other's when he commented at that, "Constantly annoying, but not the most."
"It's not my fault she is here!" the man defensively yelled.
"And I'm tired of you telling me the same thing again and again! I know I fucked up and-" Isabelle was cut.
"Save it," he grunted. He sighed, "At least, my sister is alive."
The black dragon released her man rested her head besides him, "You love me," she whispered, before her muzzle was hit once more.
Richard concluded, "That's pretty much it. We will know what that dragon really has in mind tomorrow."
"I won't let him get you," Kekika declared with a reassuring smile.
"You think an idiot like you can protect him?" a dark voice came.
Tenebrae walked in the room. He was thirty feet now. He towered over almost everyone. Only the Celestial dragon was around the same size.
Her feather puffed as she hissed, "What do you want now?"
He glanced at her jail, "Nothing from you. I'm starting to feel the scars. It makes you less attractive and fun to mess with. Anyway," the Monarch turned towards the other jail. He kneeled down and pressed his pelvis against the bars, "I will wait for tomorrow, but I couldn't help but listen to your little chat. What I heard about? Now, on the important subject. Does one of you wants to lick me?"
"No," everyone collectively replied in disgust. The only one who sounded different was Kekika who wasn't impressed by the sight of that bulge passing between the bars of their jail.
"Really? You could get a little favor," he tried to tempt them.
"Shut up," Astral stood up and summoned his blade, "You are lying about those favors. You just want a little quick fun for tomorrow and you won't get it!"
Tenebrae chuckled, "Busted. Still, you can cut those and they will regrow. However, it would annoy me and I will definitely start with Alice."
The dragon paled and his blades were gone.
Alice wondered if the headache of the dragon would return if he tried that. She had no idea where the Cosmic Dragon was. She saw him nowhere. She didn't want to try their luck with the underworld Monarch.
Tenebrae raised his two hands and tapped his two chins, "I am wondering with which one I'll start tomorrow. Once you are dead, I will serve you to my sl- servants."
"He's really going to kill us," Taichi paled.
"Just went you found out your sister was alive," he looked at the man, "That is… if Alice and Astral are telling you the truth."
"W-what do you-"
"Lying is such and easy feat you know. You just pretend you know what you are saying and say what the other want to say," he snapped his finger, "I mean, you hate Isabelle. But the others, they are against you," he grinned as he saw the shock on the face of the man, "They all sided with the bully."
"You were listening for a while now and you prepared that lie," Richard calmly said while furiously glaring at the dragon.
Alice stood up, "I wouldn't lie about this!"
"You were quick to defend Isabelle before," Taichi glared at her. He clenched his hands and approached her, "And now you fucking lie about my sister being alive!"
"She is alive!" Astral growled as he stood in the way of the man, "You are believing the lies of the least trustworthy dragon in the world! He barely put doubts and you decide to trust him?" He put his finger on the forehead of Taichi, "And if you think about hurting my friend because you believe those lies-"
"It's easy to call me a liar. Still, it's easier to lie when you pretend not to be the liar. Lies are easier to make when you believe they are honest," Tenebrae chuckled. He tapped on the bars, "That makes it easier for you to lie all the time and manipulate Taichi," he then changed his voice in a mocking and childish voice, "You sister is alive. No need to take your revenge on the woman who hurt her! We just want her to get away with everything she has done to your sister," he laughed loudly. He gave one glance at the Celestial dragon who showed her fangs. He returned his attention to the humans, "She has no chance to reach that tree Monarch. More chance she ended up in the stomach of someone. Not mine. Never devoured a human with that kind of face…" he pointed at Taichi face, before he added with a large grin, "Yet."
"You liar," Alice whispered. She could tell he tried to turn Taichi against them. Maybe he wanted to encourage the two to fight.
Isabelle grunted, "You liar! You sound like a demon! I will not listen to any more of your lies! It's obvious you are lying and you are enjoying it. A monster like you wouldn't be honest about anything!"
"But it suits me to tell the truth. It will enrage the little boy," he laughed loudly. He raised his claw, "I'm sure your sister probably died in a pitiful way. Hunted by a dragon who was out of human flesh. Ended up into a bloody mess. I bet she was a nice little girl. She died pitifully."
"Shut up!" Taichi ran throw the bars and tried to attack the dragon at the other side.
"Want to fight me?" he laughed loudly as he got the human furious, "You are just a weak little human you know."
"Enough of your deception you vile creature! You are the bane of dragonkin and you are just spelling lies and lies! Tenebrae!" the fluffy dragon yelled in righteous fury.
The underworld dragon glanced at the Celestial dragon. He gave his full attention to her, "Want another round? You might die this time."
"At least, I won't have to watch your face. Alas, I won't see you get beheaded by Luminous when he will get you in the end. You coward."
Tenebrae punched the bars and left a large dent on it, "Coward? You mean like that sister of his? She was a coward and died."
"Shut up! She is not a coward!" Taichi yelled.
"But she is gone."
"Don't listen to his lies!" Richard and Astral yelled.
Alice approached Tachi, trying to say something, but she couldn't.
Taichi glared at her, "You and Astral are liars. No wonder you are friend with a dragon. Why should I listen to you? You let her die too!"
Isabelle yelled, "She didn't!"
"Shut up!" Kekika yelled in annoyance, "Why are you listening to someone who has a below average penis."
The Monarch slammed his face on the bars, looking straight at the female dragon who insulted him, "Do not repeat those words again! Because you will die first."
"The human has it bigger I bet. Even if he doesn't, he isn't telling the other dragons how big his is," the underworld dragon went on.
"Tomorrow, I will kill you. I will gut you out with my real body," he declared.
"Won't be impressive," she sounded unimpressed and a bit bored, "It won't get bigger in your real body. I saw Luminous genital once. It's bigger than yours."
"You are dead! Tomorrow! You are the first to die!" Tenebrae just left; his little fun ruined an underworld dragon who made fun of him.
Richard pat Kekika muzzle. Her stupidity was helpful and made the monster leave.
The tension was still high in the room.
Taichi just walked at the corner of their jail, far away from the others. He sat there and turned his back at them. He yelled, "You are liars! My sister is dead and you want to pretend she is alive! You want me to believe she is friends with one of those things named Aki? You are all with Isabelle! That fucking bully who killed my sister! You are with that fucking killer!"
Isabelle frowned as she sat down, "I- I am not," she weakly said. She looked at Alice, "Alice. Is she… really alive?"
"Yes. She is in the Eternal Forest," she replied.
"Stop lying!" the man yelled.
Astral growled, "He has so little faith in any of you. He rather believed Tenebrae. I can't believe this."
"He… He hates me that much," Isabelle walked away from the group and sat alone.
Richard sighed as he approached Alice, "I know that dragon is lying. How was she?"
Alice glanced at Minako's brother in the corner. She had no idea why he didn't believe them and just isolated himself like that, "He really doesn't trust us."
Astral grabbed her hand in reassurance.
"I guess not. He hates Isabelle and doesn't trust any of you. I have no idea why. Can't do anything for him," he sighed.
"Tenebrae as a certain way of talking. Not what his words said, but how he said it. My 'Monarch' can get into the mind of anyone he could have his grasp on."
The Celestial dragon nodded, "I agree with the abomination. He can say sweet words or cruel words, if he could get his claws around your throat like a little prey."
"I am a cute dragon. Don't you dare call me an abomination," Kekika replied before she puffed her cheeks a bit.
No one agreed with her. Her skull face made her looked like an undead monster and her goopy body made her feel otherworldly.
Richard asked, "Tell me about Minako. How is she?"
Alice and Astral explained everything that happened since they met her with more detail. After this, the rest of the day was spent talking a bit and ignoring the weird remarks from Kekika.
Meanwhile, Taichi remained at the corner and grabbed his chest. His emotions boiling inside.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Crashing The Party.
The day of the party came, but when there is a party, someone would always come to crash it.