Arpious of the Planes

"We'll use the secret kingdom. It might be packed, but at least from there, we can gather our thoughts and manpower so we can fight back," The empress suggested.

Secret kingdom… interesting…

After waiting for about a day, we thought we had collected everybody that needed to be collected and then set off in the opposite direction of the entrance of the kingdom.

It was away from the dark forest… and away from the menacing presence approaching us from very far away.

After reaching a large mountain, we traveled up it and maneuvered through the towering trees that almost seemed to scrape the sky.

It was a long trek that made everybody moan and complain, but eventually, we were able to reach the top of the mountain after about a week.

As we stood on the flat peak, the strong winds howled at us as if they were trying to tell us to go back from where we came from.

"Alright, I'll be opening the seal," Ysal said before transforming her hand into a giant dragon claw and then sticking it into a wide hole in the very center of the mountain.

Once she turned her giant dragon claw ninety degrees to the right, the rocks began to shift, and something seemed to be turning underneath the surface of the mountain.

It was an interesting and intriguing process as the top of the mountain began to open up, revealing what seemed to be a massive vertical city that was already housing thousands upon thousands of sun drakes.

"Why are some people already here?" I asked the empress who stood beside me, but before she could respond, the cry of what seemed to be a dragon came from below.

As I stared down into the seemingly infinite city, a few silhouettes began to travel towards the opening in the mountain at high speed.

Another dragon cry came from below, and just as they were about to reach the top, I stood back, allowing five small dragons to fly out of the top of the mountain.

They were all made up of bright colors, and I couldn't help but gawk as the dragon riders were very handsome.

Like, very, very handsome.

"Why are you here?" One of the dragon riders asked the Empress, who had disappeared from my side and was now floating in the air by flapping large golden dragon wings behind her.

She slowly rose up with each flap, and once they were at eye level, the empress began to explain everything.

The dragon riders were very shocked at the news and, without hesitation, let everybody in… but there was one problem that pretty much everyone noticed.

"You've been followed," Another dragon rider sighs before shooting straight up into the air, scouting the area.

I also followed him up into the air by activating my ice dragon wings which I had lathered in illusion magic, turning a bright gold, just like the Empress'.

"They aren't that strong, but I don't think we'll be able to catch them," I muttered as I noticed they were highly trained assassins that specialized in only speed.

But, speed can also equal power with enough momentum, so it won't be good to let the small fry take care of them.

"No. They won't even feel it," The dragon rider beside me muttered before snapping his fingers, revealing seven beams of light around him.

The assassins had already begun to retreat, but in the blink of an eye, the beams disappeared and had killed the assassins straight from their shadows.

The fake shadows they had created slowly disappeared and sunk back into the ground… never to be seen again.

"I guess that would do it," I chuckled before landing back beside Ysal.

All of the citizens were entering the vertical, or I guess, kingdom, but besides that, I was wondering more why the dragon riders conversed with the empress so calmly.

It was as if they didn't have any respect for her, or they either known her for such a long time that they could speak nonchalantly.

Though, it seems Ysal noticed my confusion as she hugged me tightly before whispering,

"You're so cute… Thinking so much isn't the best for your mental health," Ysal said, but I wasn't satisfied with that.

After giving her a dissatisfied glare, she gave in and sighed before glancing at the dragon riders, who weren't paying much attention.

"The noble family that you see wasn't just selected from a handful of nobles but were actually the creators of the empire. And those creators are dragon riders, meaning they are her siblings, but they aren't on the best of terms," Ysal sighed as she glanced back at me.

"Why? Did something happen between them?" I asked.

"Yes… The dragon riders that split off from this kingdom did so in rebellion against the king of this underground kingdom… And we'll have to force an audience with him so we can settle things within this plane,"

After seeing me mulling over all the information, Ysal hugged me again before kissing me on the cheek and saying,

"You're just too cute! Let's quickly find a bedroom so we can cuddle!"

The rest of the dragon riders looked over at us, a bit stunned, though we just ignored them before watching the citizens all traverse their way down into the mountain.

It took about two days for the citizens to finally enter the kingdom, and it still wasn't full…

"Did you send some letters to the other cities as well?" One of the dragon riders asked as we all entered the city before closing the hatch above us.

Ysal and I quickly found a room, but we couldn't cuddle just yet as a few dragon riders who were not on their dragons as of now knocked on our front door.

"What is it?" I asked, and they just glared at me with intense eyes.

"You must come with us. The king would like to meet you both," One of them said, and as we already expected this, we just shrugged our shoulders before following them.

This is only getting more and more interesting.