‘I am NOT a beast of burden to be joyridden on!’ Azulthaël complained, his mandibles clicking loudly in anger. ‘I can still feel a part of us connected from the beast mastery spell I used earlier to subdue it, you could pull on that string to make him more…compliant’ Fafnir snarled, ‘He IS, after all, a servant.’ “Due to our time constraints, I am sorry Azulthaël, but you can either help willingly, or I will be forced to make you, which I would prefer not to do, I would rather be appreciating your help, rather than cause you more grief,” Rex said with a loud sigh, making everyone look at him confused. ‘You cannot make me do anything...’ “KNEEL!!” Rex boomed, copying what Fafnir did earlier by allowing magic to flow through his voice, projecting it onto Azulthaël, who grudgingly yielded and kneeled before Rex, “I said I would rather have you help willingly, you are a valuable member of this team, please do not force my hand.” ‘What has been done to me!? I am a slave once more!?’ Az

Once Fafnir had inspected the aftermath of Ipes escaping his prison, he returned to his place within Rex, ‘If we are heading into battle, rest must be taken.’ ‘I was already planning on resting up, at this pace we will be back in Dracones just after mid-morning if we leave before daybreak’ Rex surmised. ‘I have a feeling the moment you are alone, you will be ambushed once more, before that happens, I will be shutting myself out, I find your kind's mating rituals to be a disturbing sight’ Fafnir replied, a hint of disgust in his voice. ‘You don’t know that's what will happen for sure’ Rex replied, gazing over to where Lacey and Minet were helping Lizz pitch a tent, the moment they saw him looking, they both turned to each other, said something, laughed and turned away from him. ‘I have no desire to find out or see it, I will be resting and preparing myself for what is coming tomorrow’ Fafnir growled, going quiet a short time after speaking. ‘Getting ahead of yourself I think’ Rex s

“So, you’re saying we can be released from the deal to suicide, to serve under you instead?” one of the soldiers asked. “Correct” Rex replied, “Instead of your life being a waste, why not use it for something better?” “We cannot accept that” the soldier replied, saddened, “When we swore our oath to serve, we were branded, if we break our deal, the brand kills us, so either way, we are doomed.” “Who would make you do such a thing?” Lacey asked, she was not the only one who was shocked, the entire group was as well. “Our new leader ensured our allegiance with spells” the soldier replied, lining up his sword, ready to pierce the heart, the rest of the group following suit, “We thank you for the offer, you are not like they say you are,” he took one last deep breath to ready himself, closed his eyes and slid the sword into his chest with a groan, after a few gasps he fell lifeless to the ground, followed shortly after by the remainder of the soldiers. “I did not think they would have

Rex, Minet, and Lacey followed Rector into the palace, turning away from the throne room and traveling down a hallway Rex had never been before, “I don’t remember seeing this here” he stated, looking back, then back toward a large wooden door at the end. “That is because I do not allow this area to be accessed unless necessary, the war room has not been used since the Blood War, it saddens me to even have to use it again,” Rector sighed, walking toward the door, it opening as he approached. As they all entered the room, there was already a handful of older men present in the room who were pointing to places on a table that was in the center of the room, it showed the walls of the city and the fields beyond, many black figures stood in the southern fields showing the invading troops and their positioning, the old men were all yelling at each other for what plan they thought would be best, Marcia, Ley, and Markus were all at one end, Marcia was scowling at the men yelling, Ley was smil

“Did you end up killing it? Surely not even you could kill something THAT big” Lacey added in. “Hang on…so you like for real saw and fought a tentaculum? A fabled flesh-eating tentacled monster from the books of legend?” Marcia asked, still visibly skeptical. “No word of a lie,” Minet said, “Rex and Raz stayed behind to let us escape, next we saw them, Rex was covered in shit and Raz’s head was split open.” “Well yes, I didn’t end up killing it, but we injured it enough it must have thought us too painful to continue fighting, it ended up losing 3 tentacles and 1 eye, Raz was hurt after it ejected some black shit that shot us into the trees, Raz hit some rocks, I patched him up best I could and carried him to the shack,” Rex said, recounting the events, leaving out some in-depth gruesome parts he wished he could forget, “So why was that muscle-bound axe man chasing you into the shack?” “Wow this is so much drama in a short time, how you even got anything done, I’ll never know,” Mar