The Crown's Fire - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Your Wildest Dream
Inside Devon’s secret chambers where he hid all the magical books and artifacts he obtained, Tarah wasted no time in finding and reading the Ancient Book of the Dragons.

Based on what she read, a golden dragon had its own physical, soul, and spirit forms like humans did. In the occurrence of natural death, the soul and the spirit would vanish as well. However, if they were killed, the physical body would be the only thing that would die while their soul and spirit would remain wandering the earth.

Reading further, some of the text was written differently, but she was able to understand it with the help of the memories she had obtained from Priest Saul earlier.

“So when can we expect to finish this?”

Tarah froze when she felt Devon’s presence from behind. Somehow, she didn’t know how to respond to his question.

“Sibil received great damage from the bastard prince, but I was able to attach a new arm for him,” Devon grunted. “It will take time for him to get a hold of things, but it’s better than nothing. I need him to extract the dragon’s power…”

“I need to hurry back then, My Lord,” Tarah hurriedly said as she closed the book. She had gotten enough information for now, which meant she could leave him as soon as she could.

Turning to Devon, she touched his hand to show him a vision of how they would successfully catch Ezekiel for themselves. This time, she had given him a clearer vision of Sibil extracting Vulcan’s power from the prince’s body.

“Magnificent! The dragon’s power!” Devon exclaimed, his eyes sparkling in delight. “I will have all bowing down to me!”

Tarah removed her hold from him, and she gritted her teeth when Devon pulled her back in again to suck on her fingers.

“My Lord, time is running out. I need to go back,” she gritted her teeth. “Timing is very important, and a moment we waste now and we could miss an opportunity the longer we wait.”

Devon smirked at her, and right then, he created a portal leading back to where she was taken.

“Your brother will stay with Marla while you’re gone,” Devon taunted with a devious grin. “As such, I suggest you check on him from time to time.”

***********

Inside the cave of an inhospitable forest outside Ebodia’s Northeastern Borders, Ezekiel felt like his body was burning. He was shivering as he squirmed on the ground of the cave.

[Why are you still fighting me?! Didn’t you want to obtain great power? Don’t you remember how badly you want it?] Vulcan taunted inside his head. [It’s your will for more power that awakened me!]

Right then, the memory of when it all started flashed through his head. It was the time when his father had no choice but to offer his sister Xenia to an arranged marriage with the Vampire King.

It was then that Ezekiel felt so helpless that he couldn’t do a thing. Their kingdom wasn’t powerful enough to take down Helion who had just waged war against them. Yes, his mother was an angel and had divine power, but it had been slowly fading ever since the day she sealed the dragon souls.

They had mages to fight as well, but they weren’t enough against Devon’s monstrous armies. The only way for them to win this fight was to forge alliances with powerful kingdoms such as Valcrez.

[Don’t you remember how you cried before your sister Mineah when she offered herself up as a substitute bride since your sister Xenia ran away?]

Ezekiel remembered how he badly wanted to become powerful so that he could save everyone he loved and prevent any misfortunes from coming to his family and their kingdom. It was all that he could think of, something that would immediately solve all of his problems.

[I can make that happen, Ezekiel. Just let me out and show your enemies how powerful we are together,] Vulcan offered. [They will all crumble under your feet with fear. No one will be able to defeat you, so let me take control now. I can easily destroy the armies of Helion if you let me out!]

Ezekiel scoffed. He knew well what Vulcan was trying to do, and he wouldn’t fall for it.

[You’re going to kill her…] he spoke.

[Ah… I see… Do you fear for the life of your beautiful Seer? She has the dragonrider’s blood and will be able to manipulate us like the others of her kind. Do you want that then?] the dragon asked. [Besides, have you forgotten that you must kill her since she fits the description your former seer warned you about? She will be your doom!]

Ezekiel didn’t respond to that. He simply growled as another burst of pain struck him. Vulcan was stubborn, and it was trying its best to subdue his spirit. In response, he grunted as he continued to fight against the damn dragon soul inside of him.

“Urghhhh!”

“Your Highness!”

Ezekiel’s ears perked up. It was Tarah’s voice… and right then, he could smell her pleasing and soothing floral scent with a bright note of grapefruit that somehow helped him relax. Opening his eyes, he saw her hovering over him and checking on his condition.

“Both Vulcan’s soul and spirit are currently inside your body, Your Highness. Its soul is the one controlling its spirit, but right now, his spirit remains dormant inside your body,” Tarah informed him despite never asking for such information.

“It’s because the dragon spirit is slowly merging with your own divine spirit. Your spirit is the one holding off Vulcan’s soul from taking over because the spirit has a deeper connection to the heavens and your divine heritage. Vulcan’s soul will try to expel your spirit to take over and shift you into its dragon form.”

[This damn bjtch!] Vulcan cursed inside of him.

[You bastard!] Ezekiel fired back. [How dare you try to control my body when you’re nothing but a leech off my body!]

[We’ll see how long you can last!] Vulcan exclaimed.

Right then, Ezekiel screamed before being followed by his body suddenly convulsing due to everything that was happening to it.

“Your Highness, can you hear me? You must get a hold of the dragon spirit and pay no attention to Vulcan’s soul,” Tarah instructed. “You must get a hold of its power. Fully merge your spirit with it.”

[That’s why you were trying hard to expel my spirit!] Ezekiel grunted.

He stared at Tarah, and he could see how her eyes were already welling up with tears. She looked very concerned about him, and right then she hugged him. “You can do it, Your Highness,” she encouraged

‘She smells so nice,’ Ezekiel thought as he absorbed all of Tarah’s scent.

[This is interesting… There’s no doubt that our spirits are pure but the soul is quite different giving us the free will to follow our instincts and emotions. Why not indulge yourself in your wildest dream?!] Vulcan taunted. [She smells nice, right? And you’ve been stopping and controlling yourself for some time now whenever she’s near. How about I help you and give you the courage to lay your hands on her?]