How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Thirty-seven: The origin of the creatures

I carefully peeked over the small wall and looked down to the largest cave I have ever seen; it made the Dragon's Great Hall seem tiny in comparison. Hundreds of creatures roamed about, entering and leaving through the many tunnels which led here. 

I had followed the straight path which led me straight here.  Luckily, right before I reached the exit there was a smaller hidden entrance that allowed me to climb up into the walls which I was now hidden. 

I looked closer and saw large cages with the missing Dragons scattered around the ground of the cave, its bars shining darkly and sent shivers down my spine. I counted each of the Dragon's to make sure all of them were there- Falvin had informed us earlier that seven Dragons had been taken.

Each Dragon was confined to one cage but what was more disturbing was that there were more cages, which meant they were planning on taking more Dragons: but for what? 

My question was soon answered by a creature with spikes protruding from it's back and an unnaturally elongated face appeared and screeched; every creature going completely silent as the sound echoes in the large cave causing me to cover my ears. 

It moves aside from the tunnel it had arrived and bows, it's face scraping the floor as the rest of the creatures follow suit. A terrifyingly strong pressure slowly appears, with each of the creatures starting to tremble and even I was effected- I couldn't stop the shaking of my hands.

I clenched them tightly together as the owner of the pressure reveals himself. I couldn't help but gasp at the sight before quickly crouching down to hide: afraid that he would hear me. 

'There's no way!!!!!' I tried to calm myself down. 'How!?!??!?!?!?!?!!?!'

The owner of the pressure, the one who controls the creatures and sent them to attack not just the Dragons, but Alaric, his party, Suli and me. He was none other then the antagonist of my sister's novel 'The Road to Emperor' and the Demons of all demons: Demon King Radna.

'But he was supposed to be dead now since Alaric became Emperor!' I peeked over the wall again, hoping that my eyes were lying to me. 'Come on, how did he survive-'

I paused, in the novel- he had fallen into the Endless Sea at the edge of the world taking rocks with him that had tore though his wings, but if he had managed to swim and heal his serious injuries... Then that meant there was a chance that Radna could survive!

There was also the chance that Alaric never fought him in the first place...

I quickly shook my head of that thought as I watched Radna proceed towards a cage with a Dragon. 'There's no way that Alaric didn't fight him- that's how he became Emperor! Right?'

To be honest, my sister hadn't gone into details on how Alaric became the Emperor: or at least hadn't written it down all the way since what I had read was a draft at the time. 

'Does that mean she also gave the idea of those creatures to be here?' My head was starting to hurt from how hard I was thinking about this. I ended up pushing those thoughts to the side for the time being and decided to take care my current situation.

******

Radna stood before the cage as the Dragon weakly lifted it's head and growled at him. He seems smirks before lifting his hand which held a orb similar to the creature orbs inside their bodies and spoke in a strange language that turned the air freezing cold to the point that my breath turned into a small cloud.

Substance slowly released from the Dragon who roars in pain, trying to move away from the orb to no avail. A few minutes pass when Radna finally pulls away the orb, breaking the bond which causes the Dragon to slump onto the ground with a weak groan as blood poured from it's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

I released my clenched hands which my fingernails were filled with blood from how hard I dug them into my palms. I wanted to rush down there and help the Dragon, but I was way out numbered so I was forced to watch as Radna repeated the same thing to the other six Dragons; some who tried to escape, others tried to break the cage, and the rest did nothing but writhe in pain.

I recognized one Dragon that I had helped earlier today; it was the same pale blue Dragon with the injured wing and unfortunately we locked eyes as it tried to fight back. My heart skips a beat as I could read the indescribable pain it was in, but I was unable to do anything but watch with tears in my eyes. 

I choked back a sob as the Dragon's eyes start to pour out blood and knew that I would definitely be dreaming about that in the future. The pale blue Dragon was the last Dragons that Radna approached before stopping in the center of the room and held out the orb which oozed an intimidating and alarming energy that spread through out the entire cave floor.

It was extremely thick and even started to reach up the walls causing me to draw back; something telling me that it would be very bad if it touched me. My back hits the wall as I scrambled away from the energy but luckily it recedes back just before it touches my feet.

I inch back towards the wall as my heart pounded to see the energy gone but the aura around the creatures had changed- it was like they were stronger then just a few minutes ago.

'That solves one question.'  Somehow, that orb was amplifying the creatures with the energy that it stole from the Dragons: I need to separate the orb from Radna which wasn't going to easy even if I had my wand. I internally sighed at that pessimistic thought but froze as I realized I was looking to another pair of eyes.

"Found you." Radna grins with an evil smile as black chains suddenly bind me. With a crook of his finger, I was suddenly lifted into the air and pulled to him, falling into his grasp.