"This is a dream..." Drake kept telling himself as the dragon was staring down at him. "This is just a dream!"
"Oh, really?!" the dragon's voice sounded amused, and with its tail, the creature lifted Drake right off the ground by his shirt, holding onto him like a kitten playing with a toy. Its other paw had Drake's ankle, keeping him dangling in the air.
With a mighty heave from its powerful hind legs, the monster flung itself into the sky, the wind screaming past Drake's ears while he screamed.
"Come on! Say this is a dream!" the monster roared, laughing gleefully. With every flip of the dragon's wings, they rose higher and higher until Drake saw the sun and stars glinting in the distance below before turning to see where the monster was taking them.
"Let go of me!" Drake shouted, but soon he regretted it as the dragon smirked and released Drake from its grip.
Drake fell for what seemed to be an eternity as he screamed for help. "HELP!" He was in dragon's claws the next thing he knew. He looked down, realising he could not even see the ground anymore and soon, they reached their destination. It was a vast castle in the middle of what seemed to be the clouds.
The dragon landed gracefully in front of the gate, metal against stone ringing throughout the empty courtyard. "Welcome, my lord," the beast spoke, grinning widely. "I am the queen of dragons, Lux." suddenly, her giant body turned to smoke, and she gained a human form. She was wearing a beautiful leather dress, with boots that seemed to be made of rubies, and around her neck was the same necklace he had seen in his dreams before. She curtsied low, showing off her perfectly manicured nails. However, despite having a human form, she still had two red horns, red wings and red glowing eyes.
Suddenly, Drake came to a realisation. Lux? Wasn't Lux the goddess that kidnapped us? "Wait... Lux? As in goddess of light?"
"Well, yes, humans titled me the goddess of light." Suddenly, Lux frowned. "And no, I'm not one of the gods! I am above them."
"Huh?" Drake was confused. This whole time he thought he'd been dreaming, but it seemed that this wasn't only a dream.
"You're probably wondering why I picked you out?" the dragon said, smiling again. Drake nodded, still shocked by this entire scenario. "You see, your kind has been causing quite a disturbance lately. Humans began to invade the demon territories and kill my people."
"But it wasn't you who gave humans the power to fight demons!" Drake asked, incredulous.
Lux sighed heavily. "True, I was the one who gave them the blessing of light. However," suddenly, she paused and walked up to Drake, grabbing his shoulders tightly. "I did it, so I could finally summon you!"
"M- me...?" Drake stuttered as she grinned more comprehensive, showing off her sharp teeth.
"Yes! After all these years, I finally found someone worthy enough to join me on the throne!"
she replied with a giggle. "Now, do you want to join me?"
"Join...?"
Before she could answer, however, something appeared in front of the throne, causing the queen and Drake to stop talking. Three men dressed in dark clothes covered their faces on top of a black marble platform. The first man had purple scales covering his body. The second man wore red armour, which was decorated with gold accents. Lastly was a third man whose scales were almost translucent, giving away the fact that he was dead or undead.
"Our queen," the three creatures bowed.
"Your majesty. We come as we are summoned." The purple dragon-human creature, now known as Arok, spoke in a deep voice. His tone was calm and collected, which contrasted sharply with the other two, one a loud voice and the other a monotone voice.
"Good job," Lux smiled. "tell me the report."
"The humans invaded our territories yesterday night and with the help of the elves, they managed to capture city of Light bringer. There have been several clashes in the demon lands over the course of the last week."
Lux nodded. "How many casualties?"
Arok shook his head slightly, looking sad. "We lost most of the warriors during the attack on the village. They couldn't kill the demons, so they were captured alive."
The queen frowned. "What about the beastmen?"
"Humans slaughtered them immediately, Your Majesty."
Lux frowned. "Very well. You may leave now, but if there's more news to share, please come back as soon as possible."
The three creatures bowed and left the castle immediately. Once they were gone, the queen collapsed onto the throne, looking exhausted.
"I can't take this anymore," she said after a moment. "If only I weren't sealed in this damned dimension."
She sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Drake," she said quietly. "Why don't you stay here? I'll give you a new life."
Drake felt uneasy at that suggestion. What would he do? He couldn't understand why she chose him. "But why me? Many classmates would have agreed to stay with you just because of your beauty." Mark's face appeared in his memories, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tsk."
"I chose you because you were born with a soul of a dark dragon." She raised her hand and snapped her fingers, causing golden doors to appear in front of Drake. "Only you have access to a forbidden library."
She walked toward the golden doors; however, when she tried reaching for them, her hand passed right through them as if it was an illusion. "Tsk." she clicked her tongue angrily and turned around. "Your turn."
"Huh?"Drake looked at Lux, startled. The queen took Drake's hand and pushed it toward the doors. However, unlike when the queen reached for them, Drake managed to touch them. He gasped in shock when they opened, revealing an endless corridor.
"This is it! Thank you!" Lux announced happily and tried walking through the doors. However, again, she passed through it as if it were an illusion. "Urgh!" she roared.
After her failure, Drake stepped through the door. As he passed through, it closed behind him, leaving Lux alone in the palace once more. She looked down at the floor and sat down on her throne.
Drake noticed books inside the library lining every wall except the windows. The room was very dimly lit with lanterns hanging down from the ceiling. On the desk was a pile of books. Most of them didn't look any different from those on the library shelf. Drake walked towards one of the windows and looked through it, noticing that below the building was a massive black hole sucking everything in it except for the installation.
"Where the hell did I get myself into?!" he whispered. He turned back around, looking for an exit, but none of the doors he had seen led anywhere other than to the library's entrance.
Drake walked closer to one of the bookcases, scanning the titles. "The Art of Magic... Dragonsbane..." his brow furrowed in confusion when he saw one title. "The power-up system."