The Crown's Entrapment

At Ebodia Encampment

Ezekiel’s hands trembled as he read through the secret messages inscribed within the letter sent to him by his father. One of Valcrez’s messengers had given it to him; a vulture that could somehow shift into a human form, to be precise.

Closing his eyes, a flurry of emotions filled his heart. The letter had given him instructions that he had to fulfill. Instructions that rocked him to his core. “I need Atlas here now!”

At his call, Atlas hurried inside his tent. “Your Highness, you called for me?” he said with a slight bow.

“Xenia is on her way with Jayra along with a few of the royal knights. The Werewolf King and two of his men are with her too,” Ezekiel relayed with gritted teeth.

He then instructed, “Make sure you bring my sister here without a single scratch on her. Helion’s armies are scattered everywhere, and their convoy will need reinforcements in case Helion decided to go for an ambush.”

“She’s back?” Atlas whispered out. “That means… she… But why is the Werewolf King with her?”

Ezekiel let out a loud sigh as he said, “Something happened. According to my father, the Werewolf King saved Xenia and helped her to return to the palace. In her stead, Mineah married the Vampire King.”

He then shook his head, “Look, there’s no time to waste. You must leave now, and bring enough men with you.”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Atlas dutifully replied.

Ezekiel then hastily discussed the route that Xenia’s group had taken as relayed by his father. Once that was over he could only watch as his subordinate took his leave.

“I hope it’s enough…”

With a whisper, he helplessly sat down on his chair as he relaxed inside his private tent. Atlas was like a brother to him. They grew up together. And even though the man didn’t tell him a thing about his own wants, Ezekiel still knew him enough to know how the man felt for his sister.

As he watched him leave, Ezekiel could only sigh in his own guilt. He didn’t have the heart to tell Atlas the rest of the details regarding Xenia’s current situation.

He could still remember how the man had his hopes up when he found out that Xenia had run away from her arranged marriage. That somehow, it was a sign that he still had a chance to win her heart from the Vampire King’s grasp. It was only too bad that the Werewolf King then decided that Xenia was his so-called mate.

It was right then that Ezekiel frowned at the thought of the foreign king that claimed her sister’s hand in marriage.

“Why did he decide to bring my sister out into the battlefield?!” he grunted with a clenched jaw.

He had yet to meet the Werewolf King of Cordon in person, and yet the king had already given him a bad impression before they even saw each other.

It was unfortunate. Every ounce of information relayed to him by the messenger on how things turned out back home swept through him like a whirlwind. Mineah married the Vampire King, and now his sister Xenia, whom he helped run away to get the freedom she wanted, ended up being promised to the Werewolf King upon her return.

Sighing, he sympathetically shook his head as he murmured, “Xenia… Just how complicated can your fate even get? First the Vampire King… and now the Werewolf King?”

Ezekiel didn’t know the exact details, but he was curious to find more, especially now with how his father specifically reiterated that they should honor the agreements made between kingdoms. The letter also told him to avoid any incident that might jeopardize the deal, as what Xenia did with her running away.

“Ahhh…” Ezekiel suddenly cringed, raising his hand to see that some scalds had formed on his skin.

“What is going on with me…” he murmured to himself, looking on curiously as the scalds slowly disappeared upon calming his nerves down. It had been a month since he started having weird symptoms, and he was still far from finding out what exactly was causing them in the first place.

But just before he could think further on his situation, another one of his men called for his attention. “Your Highness! It is I, Lurio. Can I come in?”

“Yes,” Ezekiel quickly answered as he composed himself.

Entering his tent with a bow, Lurio, the Head Wizard of their Kingdom slowly took a look at Ezekiel to speak. However, a frown formed on the man’s face as he noticed something alarming.

“You don’t look well, Your Highness,” Lurio commented. Beads of sweat had formed on their Prince’s forehead, and his paling lips clearly denoted that something was amiss.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Lurio,” Ezekiel reassured with a smile.

Doubtful of Ezekiel’s words, Lurio immediately enclosed the gap between them and held his hand up to feel the Prince’s pulse. Bringing it up to him, the wizard’s eyes rounded as he stared at Ezekiel’s hand.

“It’s… This… Your Highness…” Lurio stammered out. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing on his skin.

“It’s been a while, Lurio. Please don’t tell this to anyone,” Ezekiel commanded. “Not till we have an answer as to what’s wrong with my body.”

“Your Highness… That’s a dragon’s scale. You…” the old wizard trailed off, unable to continue on with his words.

Ezekiel kept his composure with a blank face. Pondering his words, he closed his eyes and said, “I suppose it is I, and not Mineah who is cursed.”

He blinked at the supposed dragon scale on his skin. He already had a hunch about his condition, but he wasn’t ready to give out a proper conclusion until he had the facts.

“Your Highness…” Lurio stammered, tears rolling down his eyes as he helplessly fell to his knees.

Seeing the old wizard on the ground, Ezekiel quickly pulled him up and said, “Didn’t you say that sometimes a curse could be turned into a gift, Lurio? I’m still confused with the changes happening to my body, but I will need you and Beirut’s help in figuring things out for me.”

“Ah, yes… Beirut predicted the rise of the dragons,” Lurio burst out, his eyes widening as he stared at him.

Ezekiel shook his head at Lurio as he humorously joked, “Ah… It would be nice if I can use this curse to wipe Helion out of this world. The dragons are extinct for a reason, and I must control this power. Or else… I will become an abomination to this world…”

Ezekiel knew full well the history of dragons and why they went extinct. None could control the dragons who brought nothing but death to any living being. However, what fascinated Ezekiel the most was the fact that he was having these kinds of symptoms in the first place.

“Your thirtieth birthday is coming up, Your Highness. It could be one of the factors contributing to these symptoms,” Lurio postulated.

“I had read a few ancient books about dragons, and it was said that once the dragons had died out… their souls began wandering around the world. Apparently, they would try to find a compatible medium of their choice that could handle their power, and would attempt to resurrect themselves through possession.”

He then added, “They mostly tried on humans, and they would often complete the transition upon a particular birthdate, but…”

Lurio trailed off, and Ezekiel knew why the wizard couldn’t bring himself to say it… After all, in history, there had been no successful attempt at performing alchemy on the soul of a dragon to any living being.

Ezekiel chuckled, “Though, I wonder who this dragon that is inside of me…”

It was a decent indicator of what he was about to go through. He needed to take over and overpower it if he wanted to live. He cannot fail, or else his mother would suffer thinking that everything was her fault again.