Sky Gardens

The morning sun rose, the rays barely peeking over the mountains. A dense mist hung in the air, leaving the edge of the crash site in a misty haze. Pine trees resembling tall, shadowy figures watched over yesterday's battlefield. The early morning rays barely made their way through the fog, leaving dark outlines of abyss-like craters and fallen trees. Swords and arrows stood in the spots their wielders had died, solemn grave markers to be collected later.

The light barely illuminated the trench carved out by the Heaven's Cloud, bits of planks lay scattered. Some were flat on the ground, while others were stuck up at an angle. The frigid morning wind blew between them, as well as over the knights and mages who walked about without energy, piercing their thick gear like knives. The vice-captain of the Royal Knights had died and with Captain in the Capital, the vice-captain's aide had been taken command in the dead of night. A defensive perimeter had been established around the downed vessel.

After the battle, word spread among the survivors. The dragon had been slain by the Primordial, Avery. However, no one was in the mood to celebrate as they quickly gathered the wounded and left the corpses. It was only after midnight were they able to collect the bodies of their comrades. It was also after midnight that Desmond and Avery arrived, both mentally exhausted. Even then, Avery had left them "Potions of Healing".

When they had used them in front of her, they didn't heal instantly like in-game, but slowly. With white steam sizzling from their wounds. Those with scrapes, cuts, and broken bones were healed visibly. Those with more critical wounds had the same effect, but they couldn't replace limbs or bring back the dead. It let a bittersweet victory, albeit small, in everyone's mind. Avery didn't bother to stay any longer. She didn't bring out her stronger potions, as she was scared they would have an extreme side effect. The regular ones had almost made the soldiers throw up from the potency.

The next morning, the cold air nipped at Avery's nose. Her body shuddered by the suddenness. A frown crept onto her face pretty sleeping face. Her hands fumbled under the blanket, searching out something warm to cling to, only to have them slip out the edges. Her eyes shot open in a panic. Her golden feline eyes vibrantly glowed in the low-light. The only light slipped through the sides of the door.

Desmond slept just a few feet away. He shot up, his eyes frantic and his heart racing. His eyes scanned the room looking for the source of the rustling, only to find a pair of glowing golden eyes staring narrowly at him like he was prey. For a split moment, he thought there was a monster. Then, he remembered that it was just Avery and that they shared a room last night in the overturned boat. He was just about to ask what happened before Avery slipped nimbly from under her blanket and into his.

He felt like a rabbit, staring into the open jaws of a wolf that was about to eat him. His body tensed up, and his mind screeched to a stop. Only after she nuzzled up to his side, half asleep, muttering "Warm.." did he come back to his senses." A-Avery! You can't do that-" Avery cut him off with a soft, sweet muddled voice that could melt the meanest man. "I don't care. It's cold." He thought about moving, but just as he was going to, a soft womanly arm slid over his lap and gripped his opposite side, leaving him unable to get up.

He looked at Avery in disbelief, only to see the side of a beautiful, fair-skinned face. For a moment, his young inexperienced mind wanted to kiss that cheek, like he'd read in the romance novel his older half-sister had shown him. He turned over and was about to slide his arm over her midsection before a pair of narrowed golden eyes peered at him threateningly. He could see a faint blush on her cheeks. She was embarrassed, but he could see her breath coming out as a white mist. She was doing it to warm herself, he reminded himself. "O-Okay..." He liked her, but it seemed she would become scary if you did something she didn't want...

In the end, both of them lay together, facing each other. They both no longer felt the morning cold, which was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius).

Both of them were embarrassed, but they were able to fall into a deeper sleep than they had the entire night...

It was a few hours later when the door-flap open inward with a maid appearing. "My lord, the Empress has sent us to wake-" Her expression froze and her words stopped. From her view, she could see the Third Prince's back. The creaking door and the sudden wave of light lit up the room. A pair of golden feline eyes sleepily peeked over Desmond's waking body. Avery's rustled hair was adorable. Her half-asleep look was quite seductive and also all the maid could see, so she thought they were naked under the blankets.

"I'm sorry to disturb you!" Desmond barely turned his head before the panicked maid let go of the door, swinging downward with a bang. He was confused before he looked at Avery who was in front of him and remembered her slipping into his blanket a few hours prior. He felt his reputation of being a pure, virgin prince slip away like a soul leaving. Avery ignored Desmond's blank look as she used the blanket to rub the sleep from her eyes.

It took a while, but Desmond was able to recover, accepting that he would probably be killed by his mother. Avery, on the other hand, changed without reservation in front of him. She still remembered how he walked in on her bathing and soaked her majestic body with all his might. At this point, sleeping with him was nothing as they were both clothed. She was probably just clutching at straws at that point.

After they had dressed in thick clothing and thick cloaks, provided by the maid who ran away, they exited the room into a broken hallway. It was the fourth level, turned the second story. Two maids had waited for them just outside. Behind the maids was the large opening where the dragon ripped apart the hull. There weren't any stairs to get up to their room, but with Avery there, she could leap up with Desmond. The maids had two knights below who helped them up.

The knights reach their arms and helped Desmond. When they were about to help Avery, she only disregarded them and jumped down. She landed nimbly. Barely a sound was made, making them feel awkward. Luckily for them, the normal maids needed their help, fixing their hurt egos.

The sun was high in the sky, the morning fog absent. The outside temperature was higher than in the rooms, so everyone was out and about. Some made defenses, others patrolled, and the rest scavenged useable goods from the vessel. The knights guided them through the chaos and makeshift tents to the edge of the camp.

"The Empire's forces should be here within a few hours, my lord. We found the Long-Bow transmitter and sent a distress signal." The Empress stood looking out over yesterday's battlefield solemnly. She no longer wore a tattered dress, but a simple one made of fine materials. Many magical artifacts were destroyed in the initial attack. They had to use whatever remained to steel themselves against whatever would attack them. The Valley wasn't known to be friendly. The Dragon had been there, so many monsters had been scared off, but who knew when they would come back. She kept watch thinking about the price of this.

She, of course, knew the number of casualties from the attack, but as a ruler, she also had to think of the cost. Lives and coin could be replaced, but money was harder than lives to keep in their world. It wasn't easily made. Unfortunately, it wasn't hard kept. All the artifacts aboard her ship were emergency measures they gathered among Primordial ruins, leaving them irreplaceable. Barriers, wards, instant magic scrolls, and other things. Of course, they were only to be used in life or death situations, but most of them had been destroyed, never seeing the light of day.

This left a sour feeling in her stomach.

"My lady, Prince Desmond, and Ms. Avery are here." Maria sighed, relief filling here. Finally, a distraction. The maid bowed away while the two approached Empress Maria. Desmond bowed while Avery only yawned. No one found it disrespectful. She was their sole savior. Even without that title, she was a "Primordial". She held great power, one that the Empire would have to gather every mage, every knight, and every scholar to hold a candle to. Instead, Empress Maria was the one to bow to her.

"Oooh? So you decided to take our baby boy as payment for saving us?" Maria cooed with a wolfish grin. Avery's head tilted with confusion. The surrounding guards gave approving thumbs up towards Desmond. The boy in question could only remain stunned by the sudden event. Seeing Avery's confusion, Maria clarified herself. " The maids tell me you were under the same blanket this morning." Like a lightning bolt, an "ahh" escaped her lips and returned the same wolfish grin. "Mhm, the little prince already baked my nude image into his mind. No way he's getting away now...". A dangerous glint appeared in Empress Maria's eyes as her head turned towards Desmond.

"Oh my... My little rabbit is nineteen already, I guess it's only natural." Though her lips smiled, her eyes conveyed a threat. You take responsibility! Desmond, having been his mother's only child, knew the threatening look very well. He could only silently receive his one-sided verbal slander.

The exchange went on for a few minutes. After Avery decided Desmond had enough payback for last night, she reminded Empress Maria that she had wanted to see them.

Empress Maria moved to the main subject." Unfortunately, we're unable to leave." She let out a tired sigh that seemed to age her ten years. "Too many wounded. Too many dead... That's not accounting that the Heaven's Cloud is the Dragon Empire's treasure..." With a ridiculing chuckle, she continued " It's ironic that it'd be a dragon that felled it." One of the maids by the Empress cleared her throat. This brought the Empress back to the present. "Back to the matter... With all this, we can't abandon the crash site. Good news, when we departed, we sent ahead a Wyvern messenger. Since we didn't arrive yesterday, there should be reinforcements already on the way."

Avery remembered Wyvern. They were considered 'pest dragons', nothing more than mounts used by some NPCs, or flocks of wild dragons that terrorized low-level areas. Sometimes they'd accompany boss dragons, but only to die as fodder or food. They were actually good material for low-level players.

"So the mages and Scholars will salvage what they can, while the knights keep a defensive perimeter. As for you two, come with me. We'll go deal with the dragon corpse before it turns into a Ghoul..." Empress Maria turned away and lead them both out away from the crash site and towards the treeline. In the direction the dead dragon was.

After weaving between the trees and thicket, the three, along with a small group of knights, arrived at the charred clearing. A thick scent of iron hung in the air, almost activating their gag reflexes. Avery felt a chill run up her spine, while the others shuddered.

Before them was a behemoth of an animal. White polished scales gleamed in the sunlight. The body was majestic but pitiful. The wings were sprawled out, covered in dirt and soot, while the hind legs were sprawled behind it. Most of its white body was in pristine condition, besides the neck. A gaping hole was visible, with a portion of the skull's rear and the neck's upper part missing. Dried blood stained the pure white scales around the wound. Bits of broken scales and muscle surrounded the edges.

Blood had pooled around its lifeless head, its clouded eyes reflected nothing. "Haa... Poor thing. Such a young Light Dragon. It's a shame you had to kill it..." It was an adolescent dragon, less than two hundred years. Avery didn't react to the Empress' comment as they approached it, stepping over broken trees and branches. Its head reminded Avery of a German Shepherd. She too felt it was a shame, but she didn't regret what she had done. By now they all had gotten used to the stench as the party examined it.

Avery kept looking into its eyes. Thinking how it looked so harmless and pitiful, she reckoned she could have reasoned with it. Avery felt herself shudder; it was her first kill. She felt her emotions mix in the pit of her stomach but forced herself to keep it together. There was a first for everything in the past few days. She told herself it was self-defence. She didn't know if she was right or wrong. She didn't want to know.

The others looked at her, worried. They watched as different emotions crossed her face. Whether she was aware of it or not, didn't matter. Desmond, who already liked her, worriedly walked up to her and put his hand on her left shoulder. "You okay...?" His eyes conveyed his concern along with his gentle tone. Avery only forced a smile and nodded. His gentleness didn't erase her thoughts, though he gave her a sense of peace, even if it was small.

Desmond, in his heart, feared Avery, but at the same time, had grown to like her over the two days they had spent together. She was a blunt girl from what little he'd seen. She didn't try to deceive him, nor did she try to flatter him. At least, not that he could tell. It still left a good impression on the two. It wasn't like that Desmond liked every girl that did such things. Of course, there were many that did, but Desmond had disliked such girls since the first one tried using him.

No, because Avery was such a powerful existence and treated them like human beings. That's what he liked. He also hoped that she liked him as well. Such a beautiful girl with such good manners, of course, he'd want to get close to her.

While the gears turned in Desmond's head, the poor boy's object of affection paid him no mind and had thoughts of her own. She pondered something for a moment, then walked forward. Placing her hand on the dragon's nose, trying to invoke her Item box.

[Bodies cannot be placed in the item box, please dismantle before trying again.]

Avery resolved herself. She was living in this world, thus, she would have to learn to live in it. The first order of business? Dismantling her kill. "Anyone know how to dismantle a dragon?" Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden question, Desmond took the initiative to look cool in front of her. "I haven't personally dismantled a dragon, but I've done it to other animals in school!" He puffed out his chest, proud of himself.

One of the guards whispered to the Empress, "Should we tell her that they only dismantled deer and pigs in cooking class?" Empress Maria shook her head and giggled before whispering back. "No, leave the young ones be... I can sense they kind of like each other. Let them bond over it. We can just rest while they do their thing." Empress Maria also had her agenda. To pull over such a powerful existence to their side, but she thought Avery to be a good girl.

If she wasn't, she would have tried to push one of the Emperor's other bastard children. The heavens knew how much she hated those twisted kids of his, but this was her only child. A sweet prince who she tried to shield him from the throne fighting. In the end, it only left her child meek and cowardly, but he had grown bolder within the last few years after going to school.

She thought of many things he had experienced. Like a doting mother, she wished for his happiness in the least. As an Empress, she hoped he could lure Avery to their empire. At this moment though, the mother in her won and she stepped away with her thoughts.

Desmond and Avery both held Mithril knives as they began to dismantle the dragon with untrained cuts. Both of them could tell they were amateurs, but neither cared as they enjoyed laughing and working together. A little joke here, and a prank here. Avery had slowly gotten over her misery, and Desmond felt happy. A few guards stood nearby. All of them had guarded Desmon since he was a babe, so they all felt like god-fathers watching him grow up in that moment.

After all that happened, the group, even if only for a few hours, managed to find some escape from yesterday's tragedy as they watched two younglings bond over a dead dragon before one guard asked "Hey... A-Aren't thought mm-mithril daggers...?"

A whole new situation had unfolded silently among the guards. Avery, who always used mithril equipment didn't care. Desmond, a scholar, was too preoccupied with trying to impress Avery to notice...