Dragon King's Harem Chapter 4. Argod Escavia de Emperor XIII of Draconis Empire
"James ..." A foreign male voice came. The voice sounded gentle but full of dignity.
'Who ...'
The voice came again.
"James ... James ..."
'Who's calling me ...'
I opened my eyes slowly. The first sight I saw was a beautiful night sky.
'It's so beautiful ...'
I turned my head from side to side and realized that I was lying in the middle of a dark meadow. I frowned in confusion.
"Where am I?" I whispered. I tried to remember what had happened to me before I arrived at this strange place and remember how I died on my way to the hospital. My hand touched my body to examine it and realized all the wounds on my body had disappeared without leaving any scar, as well as my clothes. There wasn't a single cloth on my body but strangely I didn't feel cold at all. I exhaled a long breath.
'Of course, I'm dead now ...'
I stood up and looked around me in amazement, thousands of colourful small lights scattered like fireflies.
'Is this afterlife?' My hand stretched out slowly, trying to catch one of them and the small light landed on my hand easily. My smile began to develop on my lips as I looked at them.
The voice that called out my name came back.
"James ..."
I looked around once again, trying to find the origin of the voice and did not find anyone.
"Hey, show yourself!"
"Promise me you won't run," the voice answered me.
"I won't," I replied.
A hard wind blew violently, messing up my hair and the meadow. The small lights around me disappeared from my sight.
"Roaaaarrrr!" A loud majestic roar sounded from the sky.
I raised my head, my eyes widened in shock mixed with disbelief. My jaw dropped in amazement. A huge black dragon flew above me. Reflexively, I prepared to run or retaliate for whatever the dragon would do to me.
'I thought dragons were just imaginary beasts in the game.' I remembered last week, I played a game with Larry and our last mission was to defeat a black dragon. But the black dragon in that game was nothing compared to the huge black dragon that was flying around above me. That dragon was bigger than 2 large commercial planes. Rather than 'scales', the dragon's body was covered in strong black armour. His sharp and strong looking claws made me sure that he could split me in half in just one move. The tail looked like a neatly arranged collection of sharp thorns. His huge wings with sharp thorns at the tips of the bones spread out majestically. His blue eyes glinted among the stars in the sky, two black horns on top of his head and between them were sharp spikes that formed like a crown as if to signifying that he was not an ordinary dragon.
- Whooosssh!
The dragon waved his huge wings and slowly descended near me. I raised my hand to protect my eyes from the strong winds that hit me and staggered backwards a few steps due to that gust of wind. But as the dragon landed, his feet were replaced by a pair of human legs, his huge 'dragon's body was replaced by a man's well-built body with eight packs abs. That dragon had a muscular body but not over, but one for sure, just from his aura alone, I knew that dragon was a very strong fighter. The dragon head was replaced by a man's handsome cold face in his 20s. His black hair covered his neck, a pair of elf-like ears appeared between them and two black horns above his head. His blue pupils formed vertical slits just like a feline glinted in the dark. His two black wings shrank to his size and disappeared when he folded them. Instead, a pair of dragon wing tattoos appeared on his back. Another tattoo in the shape of a king's crown was on the side of his neck. His tail was replaced by a black tail which looked less terrifying than before. And just like me, not a single piece of clothing covered him.
The dragon walked towards me. While I stared at him with caution.
"Who are you?" I asked suspiciously.
He stopped two meters in front of me.
"I've been waiting for you, James Frozenlight."
"Answer me! Who are you? How do you know my name?" I asked once again.
He politely nodded his head.
"I am Argod Escavia de Emperor XIII. The king of the Draconis Empire." Then he looked at me.
"As I said before, I've been waiting for you, because you are the only person who has the same soul resonance as me."
"Draconis Empire? Soul resonance? What's nonsense is that?" I frowned and stared at him in suspicion mixed with disbelief since I had never heard anything he said before.
He smiled.
" I know you're confused. But I need your help to take over my position as king in the Draconis Empire."
I chuckled in disbelief.
"Are you crazy or something? I'm dead! How can I be king?" Then I realized Argod's condition should be the same as mine since we were in the afterlife place.
"Wait --- we are both dead. Is Draconis the empire in this afterlife world?" I made a wild guess.
"No, Draconis is the strongest empire in Igixar with the royal dragon lineage as its king. It is in a world that is different from your world, and this world," Argod explained.
"Wait, wait, wait." Argod's explanation made me even more confused.
"We're dead. Are you trying to say I can live again?" I asked in confusion.
"You are dead, but I am not. My current state is worse than death." Argod lifted his head to the sky, feeling a gentle breeze on his face. His sadness was clearly visible on his face.
"This place isn't an afterlife. This is a place between life and death. And I'm trapped here ..."
An awkward chuckle coming out of my mouth
"Are you kidding me? If you are trapped here doesn't that mean I'm the same as you?"
Argod returned his gaze to me. This time he looked at me with a serious gaze.
"I was trapped but you weren't. That's why I asked you to replace me to lead Draconis. After all, this place will be my last battlefield."
"Last battlefield?" I said in confusion. I swept my gaze around me, trying to find out who he was fighting with but there was nothing there except the two of us. It was so quiet, there weren't any sounds of animals or insects here.
"There's no one here."
Argod raised his hand and pointed at the black clouds mixed with fiery red flare in the sky as if it were a large volcano floating in the air.
"I fought with that thing."
I turned around and stared at the terrifying clouds heading toward us. Everything under the cloud suddenly turned black and died.
"What's that?" My eyes locked on that strange cloud. The cloud was still far from us, but I knew it was dangerous.
Argod walked over to me and stopped beside me. His eyes fixed on the cloud were filled with anger
"It's the curse that the Dark Lord gave to the royal dragon lineage." He turned his gaze on me.
"That curse will eat up a royal dragon's body and consciousness slowly. If it does not succeed in taking over its host's body, it will move to our offspring and every time it moves, the curse will become stronger. Sooner or later it will turn us into a new Dark Lord. "
I frowned as I turned to Argod. Even though I was still confused, I started to understand.
"Then, does it mean I am in you?" I guessed.
"Yes. This place is inside my body, my consciousness. I've been fighting that curse for my whole life and I'm within my limits. Even if I can endure this, my future son won't be able to withstand this curse. That's why I decided to finish everything and destroy that curse forever, "said Argod.
"You mean ..." I stopped my words since I didn't want to say my bad guess. But from Argod's words, I knew what would happen next and the reason why Argod summoned me here. Argod was intending to sacrifice himself to destroy the curse and entrust his unfinished duty to me. That's why Argod asked me to replace him as king.
Argod confirmed my unspeakable words with a bitter smile.
"James Frozenlight, I know you don't know me. But I've been watching you for a long time." He held out his hand to me.
"Help me. Replace me to finish my duty as a king."
I glanced at the hand in front of me briefly before returning my gaze to Argod.
"Are you sure to entrust this to me? You already know my profession, right?" I didn't mind this, since I knew Argod had no other choice. But being a king was a big responsibility for a prostitute like me. Moreover, I didn't know anything about Igixar.
Argod smiled.
"Trust me, I will not entrust my empire carelessly. Besides, I know you are suitable for this duty."
I sighed and nodded my head repeatedly.
"Fine. Just don't blame me if I made some mistakes." I took Argod's hand, indicating I agreed.
"I know you can do it," said Argod with a gentle smile. In an instant, our hands shone brightly as Argod's memories poured into my head and made my head feel full and heavy!
"Ghhhh!" I gritted my teeth out of pain. My eyes closed tightly and my sweat was dripping.
As the seconds passed, the pain was getting worse. I felt my head about to explode! Then Argod spoke.
"From now on, you are not James Frozenlight, but Argod Escavia de Emperor XIII. The king of Draconis Empire."
Argod stretched out his other hand and a black portal formed behind me. Then he released my hand.
"Wait! How can I control my power?!" I shouted, but the portal sucked me in like a vacuum cleaner.
"Do you remember the game you played last time? You can control it the same way, with your mind. Good luck, James Frozenlight ..." he said. After those words, my consciousness disappeared.
Argod turned around, his gaze fixed on the dark cloud as the portal behind him closed.
"Now, we will end our long fight."
The tattoo on his back disappeared as his wings spread out. Likewise with the tattoo on his neck which began to fade as his form turned into a black dragon.
"Roaaarrrr!" He flicked his wings, creating a huge wind beneath him. There was only one thing he could do to end the curse that had made his family suffer. He had to destroy it with his life essence. In other words, his soul would be destroyed along with that curse.
Although he had wanted to do this a long time ago, he realized that his status as a royal dragon was important. He was Igixar's protector and his lineage must not be broken! If Igixar's protector disappeared then the war between tribes would occur again, just like what happened tens of thousands of years ago. The great war destroyed so many tribes and almost made some of them extinct. Even though many of the tribes forgot about this, he, as a dragon king, didn't. That memory would be passed down to every royal dragon to remind them of their duties.
Meanwhile, with the curse getting worse, he knew that sooner or later the royal dragon lineage would become a new vessel for the Dark Lord that his family had defeated tens of thousands of years ago. That's why he decided to sacrifice his life to end the curse and summon another soul to take over his body to continue all his duties and especially continue his lineage.
Bravely, Argod lunged into the black cloud as he mustered all of his power. A huge explosion shook the sky and ground in that unfamiliar place. Slowly, the black clouds disappeared and the darkness turned bright, like the morning sunlight replacing the dark night. Argod flicked his wings in the mid-air as the light shone on his body which slowly turned into shards of dust. This was the first time he could feel warmth in this place.
'James ... I'll leave everything to you...' Then his body disappeared.