King Of Limbo

"Invoke!"

As soon as Aron uttered those words, the valley trembled furiously and a chain of explosions erupted at certain parts of the cliff faces on either side of the narrow path. This caused many large rocks of varying sizes to start raining down on the valley.

"!!"

Confusion, fear and panic could now be seen on the faces of the many Drakar that were in pursuit of Aron.

Many tried to react to the sudden event but it was no use. The path was narrow and they too many enclosed within it.

Those who tried to turn and flee ended up colliding other panicking Drakar who wanted to flee in the opposite direction. Because of that, a state of chaos erupted.

Aron had come to a stop at one of the few safe zones he had prepared beforehand that was free from any falling debris. He only watched with his camouflage aspect active and an unemotional gaze as screams of panic and the sound tumbling rocks filled the air.

Bam! ~

It began. In a mere instance, many lives were lost as heaps of rocks crushed everything in their path.

Any attempts at dodging were pointless, because as soon they dodged one, another was already upon them.

Greile, who was suspicious of Aron from the start didn't follow him along the path like the others. She had instead gone far above the valley itself and hoped to cut him off on the side using her superior speed.

As dangerous as she thought he was, she still believed he couldn't do anything against their many numbers. How wrong she was.

And now the price to pay for that was right before her eyes.

She watched the massacre occurring beneath her like a trembling statue. Her limbs remained stationary, only her wings remained working to keep her airborne.

"Greile!!"

"Help u-!!"

"No, I don't want die, ple-!!"

Numerous cries echoed through the air and reached Greile, but she still couldn't move.

She knew she could do nothing for them, any attempts to rush down would kill her. Remaining above was the only logical option, at least by doing so she could provide support to the survivors.

That hope dwindled with every passing moment as the number of screams reduced over and over again, until finally no more could be heard.

Greile waited much longer before acting, she needed to be sure the rocks would no longer fall.

Upon descending, her sharp senses could hear faint breathing, some groans and even heart beats. That told her some of the Drakar survived, yet she didn't look relieved, after all they were now buried under numerous heavy debris.

She couldn't save them all…

"I will find that Tulsa and make it make it pay, even if I have to dig through this entire valley to find it's corpse!"

In a fit of helpless rage, Greile made this declaration. Luckily for her, she didn't need to look, since the culprit never left.

"Is that so?"

"!!"

Upon hearing the voice that was etched into her mind, Greile quickly turned her head and looked behind. And there he was, Aron.

No longer masking himself in camouflage, Aron stood above the debris just like her.

Greile, no longer thinking logically didn't even care about how dangerous he was and just attacked!

"You!!"

Her bloodshot eyes were fixated on Aron. Because face remained hidden under her helm, she couldn't read his facial expression, but from his tone alone she knew, she was being mocked.

The large wings mounted on her back flapped furiously and propelled her figure forward at an alarming speed, causing her to reach Aron in what felt like an instant.

However…

"Ack!!"

Suddenly she felt a sharp pain on her neck and her vision grew blurry. Wasn't she just moving? Why had she stopped suddenly?

Those questions lingered in her hazy mind, but the answer soon came when her vision cleared. In front her she saw Aron, mere inches away from her.

She then lowered her head slightly and saw that his hand was on her neck. He had reacted to her attack and stopped her even before she could fully unleash it.

"Like I thought, you gray scaled Drakar rely too much on agility, thus you are far too lacking physically to be of any threat to me."

His words revealed a harsh reality to Greile, one she didn't want to accept… not without a fight.

"Release me! Release me now! You damned Tulsa!"

Since only her neck was being held, Greile struggled within Aron's hold. She tried flapping her wings vigorously to try and fly up but it was hopeless. Then she attacked using the sharp spiky scales under her forearm, but that to presented no results.

The collision between her spikes and his armor simply caused sparks to fly but no penetration was made.

"How long do you plan to struggle? I can't imagine it's a good idea to leave all those eggs unattended to, after all, they might be your only hope at avoiding extinction."

Aron's calm words caused her to stop struggling, a look of horror now plastered across her face as she now realized the bigger picture.

She was now the last fully healthy female Drakar of her kind. The only way the gray scaled Drakar could avoid extinction was by relying on the unhatched young.

Out of the thousands present, a good number would be female after all. For that to happen though they needed to be protected even more fiercely, which meant as much she hated Aron, the fate of her people was his to decide.

"At first, I pitied the Tulsa and treated them well, despite how other Drakar only saw you as livestock. I will forever regret not killing every single Tulsa I have seen. I will tell you where your people are being kept, just spare our young… they will never know it was you did or seek vengeance."

Greile didn't plead for her life but instead for the unhatched eggs. She felt this was the most beneficial deal Aron could take.

He would kill her now and not have to worry about his actions being revealed along with getting the location of his fellow people she thought.

On her end, she was sure the dens would be safe until the males returned.

"You seem to misunderstand; I am not a Tulsa as you call it. I am Koliean. My interest lies in whether you or your people can be of use, if not then you have no business remaining alive considering your hostility towards others."

Greile's eyes widened at the reveal of Aron's true race.

"You lie… the Kolieans stay in the land across the waters, they have no reason to harm us! You don't even possess wings! Not matter how powerful the race, a Koliean child cannot be as strong as you!"

Aron bore a smile under his helm as he heard those words.

"Then I'm either an anomaly or the Kolieans of this region are just weak. It doesn't matter, you seem knowledgeable enough though so tell me everything you know about them and these so-called olden ones you revere so much."

Greile began to tremble even more. 'He's not from this region? Then is he from a stronger Koliean group? But…'

Many thoughts raced through her mind but she couldn't find clear answers to her own questions. For now all that mattered was securing the existence of her kind.

"Alright, I will tell you everything I know."

With practically no way out of way her predicament, Greile began to reveal everything she felt Aron would find useful. A part of her wanted to lie to him but the fear he imprinted upon her prevented her from doing so, scared that it could bring ruin upon her southern Drakar.

The first piece of information she told him was regarding the Kolieans of that particular region of limbo, thinking Aron came from another.

Unfortunately, she too couldn't tell him much about them because she herself had only ever encountered a few once, and it was on the very land they were on. The only thing she could tell him was in regards to their appearances, habits and strength.

It wasn't much but any information was better than none at all, so Aron was content and continued to listen.

"Go on."

Greile still looked incredibly nervous while in Aron's presence but tried her best to hide it as she proceeded to reveal the next piece of information, the one regarding her own kind.

It was only natural that she was knowledgeable about her own kind but even Aron wasn't surprised by just how much she revealed.

She summarized topics of little interest and instead talked in depth about the weaknesses and strengths of the other Drakar groups, of course not leaving out even her own.

Then lastly the final piece of information came, the one Aron was most curious about. Greile looked especially uncomfortable speaking about it.

"As for the olden ones, none of us outer Drakar know anything. They appeared long before I had hatched into the world, they are a superior Drakar. Their strength and wisdom are the reason we Drakar rule the land."

Greile watched Aron closely to see if he would give away any reaction, sadly that didn't happen.

"In other words, Drakar that have evolved to another stage. Hmm, describe to me their looks. What sets them apart from the other Drakar like yourself?"

After Aron replied  nonchalantly, Greile showed visible disappointment at his lack of fear. It made her wonder, was he maybe as strong as their olden ones?

"Their bodies are slightly larger and so are their wings. However, their biggest difference is that they lack scales in many places and instead have a soft smooth texture like the Tulsa. They are very secretive so I do not know much, is there anything else you want to ask me?"

"No, that will do. Take me to where you kept the Tulsa."