Lixue was leading the way to the western kingdom at tremendous speed. Flying next to her was Zack and behind them her guards. Once they were out of the jungle Lixue stopped above a walled city. Below them was a trade hub that welcomed all species, and had neutral standing.
"You two stay here," Lixue ordered.
"We can't let you go in there alone," Wei replied.
"No, what you can't do is disobey my orders." Lixue retorted.
"I'll bring her back safely I promise," Zack said with a serious look.
The two nodded at Zack before landing in the city. The princess shifted into her dragon form flying towards a large canyon by the ocean. Zack was excited to finally see the other coast. He heard stories of the ocean surrounding the continent, and the leviathan dwelling within. It was the reason most species choose to live in the inner sea. Some species would still return for rights of passage, or mating rituals, but none dare to dwell long. For if someone disturbed the beast from its slumber there would be no way to save them from its wrath, and all of creation would suffer.
As they neared the canyon a powerful shockwave was sweeping the area, and they quickly saw why. Fighting in the air was a red dragon locked together with an orange one spiraling towards the earth. A loud rumble echoed through the area as pillars of flames erupted at a distance.
"An internal debate?" Zack asked.
"More like siblings quarreling. Someone will be showing up shortly." Lixue replied.
As the princess said a large green dragon with spikes trailing down its spine began flying towards them with wyverns surrounding it. The wyverns had large-scaled wings for arms, armored talons capable of shredding steel, and a large serpent tail protruding from their waist. Their ears resembled fins, and they had short greenhorns. All of the wyverns were clad in armor and appeared ready for battle.
The western tribe was preparing to send out their vanguard when an argument broke out over who got to lead them. As they neared the green dragon reverted to human form, and was clad in knight armor with his wings beating rapidly in the wind. He had dark green hair, yellow eyes, and grey horns protruding from his head. Down his thick tail are vicious-looking spikes, and at the end was a three-prong spike that could puncture armor with ease. His hands began emitting a red glow as a sword appeared in his hand.
"You've come to the wrong place princess."
"Calm down Lincoln, and take us to the king. We have an urgent message to deliver." Lixue said while reverting to human form.
"Who's this?" Lincoln asked.
"Put the blade down. None of you are capable of touching a hair on my head anyway." She replied.
Lincoln laughed putting his weapon away. The wyverns were watching Zack closely, and a few whispers broke out between the women. They intended to capture him and have some fun before they disposed of him. Lincoln heard giggling turned their way and they all were flying in place pretending as if nothing happened.
"I can't harm you, but this human is a different matter," Lincoln smirked.
"You're welcome to try, but it didn't work out so well for Lei," Lixue replied with a shrug.
Lincoln heard this and began examining Zack closely. He felt nothing special about Zack, but the princess wasn't one to bluff. Lincoln turned around leading them up the canyon. Running through the canyon was a might river leading to the ocean, and on their flight, Zack saw several human cities protected by dragon warriors.
"So you do live among humans," Zack stated.
"We aren't savages. Besides, you don't provide much sustenance, and the taste is foul. You make up for it in your abilities to cultivate the fields and make good booze though." Lincoln replied with a smirk.
Zack smirked back speeding ahead past Lincoln baffling the wyvern. Lincoln seemed irritated at his arrogance to move about as he pleased and attempted to seize hold of Zack. Lincoln was surprised to see his efforts in vain cause he couldn't catch up. Zack looked back with his hands behind his head acting as if he was unimpressed. Lixue giggled along with wyvern women, and Lincoln became infuriated. Lincoln wanted to transform, but that would be admitting defeat to a human.
"You cocky little shit," Lincoln shouted.
Lincoln speed forward with more effort than he ever gave in his life. With this Zack had to take the race seriously, and wind swirled around him keeping them tied. While racing Zack noticed several dragons resting within the canyons, and a few woke to watch their display. They rapidly neared a large kingdom at the end of the canyon. It was surrounded by open plains and behind it was the coast.
The warriors along the wall saw Lincoln racing with a human watching in wonder. The two struggled to maintain the lead, but Lincoln was starting to pull ahead. Zack wasn't too proud to use his angelic power, and as his eyes flickered gold a burst of speed propelled him to the ground as a powerful shockwave was released.
"There's no way you're a human," Lincoln said as he landed next to Zack.
"Half of one at least, but maybe that's why I'm not that good at working the fields" Zack replied with a smirk.
"A race is one thing, but don't let it go to your head. You better not try to pull any stunts like that inside either. " Lincoln said as his wings disappeared, and he walked towards the gate.
"You seem to like pushing people's buttons," Lixue told Zack landing behind him.
"It's a bad habit that's been rubbing off on me lately," Zack replied.
They walked into the gate, and Zack was surprised to see how closely it resembled a human city. Looking around he noticed every citizen was a member of the dragon race. Yet their city and behavior resembled a human society. Those he saw at the eastern tribe wore minimal armor and had little human elements in their city. Zack never expected to witness something like this and was curious as to why they lived this way. As they neared the palace it was surrounded by a moat, and walking out was two dragons smirking at Lixue.
The one on the left was a woman with curly orange hair, emerald eyes, and black horns. The end of her slim orange tail was clad in armor with mithril blades along the sides. Her name was Elizabeth and has been Lixue's rival since childhood. Standing next to Elizabeth was her twin brother Declan. He had spiky red hair and a patchy beard.
"Did you wanna see me that badly?" Declan smirked.
"Who would waste their time with something like that," Lixue replied walking past them unbothered.
'You're lucky your cute or I would fuck you up for talking to me like that.' Declan crossed his arms glaring at Zack following closely beside her.