Maxwell walked down the hall after his meeting with his parents, his mind fully ready to start training for his proper fight with Drazernon. He wanted to be ready this time after the amount of cheap shots he was given by Drazernon during their battle during the peace council. He was thinking of some fighting styles he could implement into using a rifle, since he didn’t have any melee weapons other than the sword and he didn't really use that often. He was debating if he should even take the rifle and train properly with the sword, since there was a few fighters in the castle that could teach him. His thoughts were cut short when he approached the training arena, and he heard grunts and hits being thrown in the form of a sparring match, which made him wonder who was training. He quietly opened the door and looked into the arena to see a familiar silver and black jackal fighting in a hand to hand sparring match against Draga, both seemingly on even grounds as they sparred, which was impressing Maxwell, as he knew that Draga was quite the skilled fighter. The jackal was quick in his movements and was looking like he could read what Draga was going to do. Like he had told Drax, he used the aura around the room as well as the aura emanating off of Draga to see what he was doing and was using it to his advantage, but Draga made up for it really well with his speed.
“That's the same jackal that took me down in that little village when it was destroyed. Why is he here suddenly?” Maxwell said to himself as he watched, recognizing the jackal from the time he got beaten to a pulp, but the feeling in the room wasn’t the same as it used to be, the jackal didn’t seem as deadly or violent as he was when they first fought, it was like it was an entirely different person compared to the one that he had fought before. It was only a few days before he had entered the kingdom, and he was trying to save a village nearby with Saria, unfortunately he had met his match and nearly died to this jackal, but it was still a mystery why it felt like an entirely different person was in control as the young dragon sparred with him.
The two young fighters soon stopped sparring and bowed to one another before both looking over at Maxwell, Draga smiling and waving, all the while Mar looking away in concern. Despite not being under the control of Marie anymore, he still remembered what had happened and felt a lot of pain emotionally from having fought the prince and nearly taking his life. If it wasn’t for being able to take a small amount of control back, he might have ended up killing Maxwell because Marie wanted him to. Maxwell noticed that and walked over, he stood quite a few inches taller than the jackal, his height a very intimidating factor in his presence as he knelt and looked at the jackal. “You’re the Jackal from that village aren’t you?” He asked, his voice not angry nor was it unhappy, it was more compassionate, which took Mar by surprised as he looked the wolf in the eyes.
It took a while got Mar to actually muster up the courage to respond to the man as he nodded softly, sighing. “I apologize for that. I wasn’t myself, I was being controlled by some other being and I couldn’t control my actions. I was barely lucky enough to take control long enough to get away before that other being forced me to kill you. I’m so sorry for what had happened.” He said and bowed gently, showing respect to the prince to show that he wasn’t the same as what he had witnessed back at that village.
“Don’t apologize, I had a feeling the moment I walked into this room that you weren’t exactly the one that had fought me. I knew you were under control the moment I stepped into this room because you were giving off a more pure energy than the one that you were giving off when we fought. There is no need for apologies, but I do have something I would like you to do if you really want to make up for it.” Maxwell told the Jackal and stood up, a soft smile on his face as he was ready to offer Mar something.
“What is it you want of me your highness?” he asked softly, worried on what the prince could ask of him as he watched him. He could sense the kindness that Maxwell was giving off, but he was still feeling worry that the prince might’ve resented him for what had happened and it was filling his head with worrying thoughts as Maxwell walked over to Draga just to examine him and see how he was doing performance wise with his training.
“I am gathering a small army of allies to go and defeat Drazernon, as well as the witch that had been using you. Myself at the lead and my siblings and friends by my side, we plan to go and raid the shadow kingdom and kill Drazernon, as well as save the prince that is being held there, his son, my brother Inferno.” Maxwell gave him the quick and simple of what the plan was for their goal, and he looked over at the jackal who was surprised to hear that he planned to fight the shadow kingdom with a small army. “We could use someone who fights as well as you, and honestly I would love to see what you’re capable of on my side, if you’ll accept, i'll help you train more and expand on the power you had shown me.” Maxwell smiled showing that he was definitely much more forgiving than most people he had seen in his life, and was relieved that Maxwell was more eager to forgive him instead of make him pay for what had happened.
“If you’ll have me, than I will gladly fight beside you my prince. I want to make it up to you for what had happened, even if it wasn’t of my own accord, I still want to show I am apologetic for what had happened to you.” Mar said showing he was genuine about wanting to make it up, and Maxwell smiled seeing that he was quick to join his ranks and looked at the two. “Well, then if you two are ready, let's start training. I want you two to face off against me, because Drazernon will be twice as strong as I am.” Maxwell told the two and grabbed one of the practice swords and motioned for them to get ready, Draga grabbing another training sword and Mar forming a sword from his control of aura, making it a pseudo physical weapon.
-
Back in the shadow kingdom, Inferno was brought back to the castle by a stranger who had found him unconscious near the same waterfall and made sure he was back with his family. Drazernon was watching the doctors work on him as they tried to figure out why he had blacked out and growled a bit as he wondered what his son was doing so far away from the kingdom. Marie was there with the doctor helping out to make sure he was okay, a bit of worry on her face as she watched the unconscious prince, this was one of the only people she ever showed emotions for, and was the only one to make her understand what love felt like, and she didn’t want him to get hurt. While she watched the prince, the doctor looked at the results and was surprised at what he had seen and looked at Marie. “Lady Marie, have you and his majesty here been caught in the act of… Sexual Intercourse?” He asked, finding it a bit awkward to ask, not sure if he wanted to know.
“Just a little, why do you ask?” Marie asked, a bit hostile as she stepped back and put her claws out as she watched him, her human hand holding her wolf arm as she was trying to make sure she didn’t attack him depending on what he asked her next.”
“I only ask because of some of my results I have found. Before I explain what I had found, I want to explain to you what this means. Inferno is of a species of dragons that come from a land no longer existing in today's day and age, a place ravaged by humans and anthros alike. This kingdom was the home of feral dragons that had different rules of nature than we do now, and because of that, Inferno is experiencing something that isn’t so natural in today’s world. Because of the late lady Sierra, Drazernon’s mother, there is a small amount of blood from that specific line of dragons still in Drazernon and Inferno, and because of that, Inferno has the potential to do what isn’t normal to us.” The doctor kinda rambled in small circles as he spoke, trying to think of a good and easy way to say this without making Marie fly into a rage, if this might upset her.
“What are you getting at doctor?” She asked a bit annoyed as she watched him, looking at Inferno as she was told about his bloodline, wondering what this was all having to do with his suffering.
“This is really awkward for me to really explain, but because of his ancient dragon blood, Inferno is capable of bearing an egg of a child. And since you’re a chimera, you are not able to do such. Why I asked about your actions with the prince is because… Inferno is currently producing an egg inside of him, it’s not ready to come out yet, and I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to be fully ready, but Inferno was only knocked out because the pain of the egg developing might be to much as he is still a young teenager, so for the next few weeks he might be too weak to move much. The issue is, we will need to keep this a secret from lord Drazernon, because there is no telling what he will do if he finds out his heir is currently with a child.” The doctor explained, looking at Marie who was in utter shock at what she was just told, and suddenly felt really bad hearing that knowing it was partially her fault this was happening to Inferno.
“You’re telling me… That because of who his ancestors are, he is able to become a parent even without a female host to have the child? What the hell are you getting at doctor?” She asked in shock as she looked around, glad Drazernon was currently outside of the medical ward so he didn’t hear any of this, wondering what she needed to do to keep this a secret and protect the person she loved dearly. “I’ll make an excuse to why Inferno was knocked out cold, because conveniently enough, dragons never show that they have a child with them until the egg is laid, so he won’t ever figure it out if we keep this a secret.” She said and looked at Inferno, gently stroking her hand across his face softly, and kissing his cheek lovingly as she watched him, her eyes gentle and compassionate on the prince, compared to the usual cold blooded killer look she usually sported. Inferno had definitely changed the woman's heart and turned a once cold killer into a gentle woman.
Alucard was listening from outside the door and smirked a bit as he wrote that down, needing to remember this for later. “So, that little shit has a child coming soon? Well, this’ll be some useful information that can really make my plans come to fruition. I wonder how long it’ll take before Maxwell decides to come and attack the kingdom. A war is starting soon, and when it does I will truly be ready to take my rightful place as leader. My plans are slowly falling into place, and once Bael kills Saria and Marie, I won’t have any magical powerhouses blocking me from my rightful place. But I wonder… Should I have left that jackal alive after having Marie let him go? He might be a problem. Who cares honestly, they’ll all die soon enough.” He said and laughed as he walked away from the medical ward, going to get a little rest before setting his plan in motion.
There was a few things that might put a wrench in his plan though, and it wasn’t clear to him yet. Unbeknownst to him, there was still a couple unknown factors that he wasn’t able to predict, and one was about to be taken in by the royal family, he had a weird feeling something was happening there, but his omnipresence wasn’t cooperating well. While he rested, someone was rushing to the castle, a dragon woman with light green scales and gentle blue eyes. She was rushing to a secret place near the castle that only two royals knew about, and she gently lied a bundled up blanket down on the floor and kissed it softly. Inside was a young toddler dragon, similar to her, asleep and curled up in the blankets. She wiped her eyes and silently sobbed as she stood up and place a note on the child. “I’m sorry… Marik.” She said and quickly ran off, jumping through a window and leaving with little sound, but was still enough to catch the attention of Marz, who rushed in to see what was going on.
Marz saw the blanket and walked over and grabbed the note, reading it to himself. “I am sorry for the intrusion, but I need to protect my child from Drazernon and Alucard, after what they did to my husband. I can’t risk losing him to, but I also can’t keep him. Whoever finds him here, please take care of my precious little Marik. He means the world to me and he’s the sweetest thing ever, and deserves to have someone loving take care of him. I am sorry.” Marz gasped gently and dropped the note, gently lifting the blanket as he looked at the toddler with a gentle sad look.
“You poor thing. Another family torn about by Drazernon.” He gently cradled the boy and walked out of the room and headed to his bedroom to give the toddler a place to sleep. “I will take care of you. I’ll be a loving caretaker to you Marik. That’s honestly a cute name.” Marz smiled as he thought about what being a father might be like. He might need to ask Drax how to take care of a son, but for now he will do his best and just make sure the boy is okay, that’s what mattered most. He entered his room and carefully tucked the toddler dragon into bed and sat beside the bed and watched him, sighing softly as he felt sorry for the boy, having to lose his father and having his mother unwillingly abandon him, he vowed to raise this boy as his own to make up for what the boy was suffering through.
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