"Are you sure you can walk around?"

Jet grunted at Hunter's constant questioning, his hands sliding into the pockets of his coat as he traced his lip piercing with his tongue. "I feel fine, blondie. Besides, I need a change of scenery, I've been cooped up in that infirmary too long."

"How long?"

"Couple of days."

Hunter scoffed "Seriously?"

"Hey Dragnians get restless, we hate being in one spot for too long!" The ravenette growled "Our energy levels are higher than humans--"

"Jet."

"What?"

"I didn't ask for a biology lesson."

Jet growled and picked up his pace, leaving the blonde behind "Whatever, I don't have time for this bullshi--"

He bumped right into someone's broad chest, causing him to land flat on his ass "Ouch..."

"Watch where you're going next time, cadet."

"Oh, sorry..."

that voice sounded familiar...

Jet slowly lifted his head to stare at whoever he bumped into, only to meet a pair of cold grey eyes. And instantly, the rest of his apology only came out as angry beastly growls. The man stared down at him, his lips curling in disgust as they had begun a hardcore glaring contest.

"Arvrok."

"Jetrosiq."

Jet slowly stood, not averting his gaze from the older Dragnian as he continued to snarl at his presence. Hunter had caught up to him in that time, and was highly confused at the two raven haired boys' behaviour. It seemed like the male accompanying Arvrok felt the same way.

She nodded to him "General Rhoe."

He nodded back "Cadet Hunter."

A pink light flew out from behind him, doing a quick flip before revealing herself as the General of Irance "And me~!" She sang.

Hunter smiled at the creature, giving her a small wave before focussing back to the situation at hand "Do you two know each other?"

Jet scoffed "You could say that."

"Though to be honest, it depends what you mean by 'know'." Arvrok added.

Okay, that ain't helpful at all.

"They're brothers," Rhoe said, moving to stand next to the blonde. Lilya hovered between them with her arms crossed, watching the dragons growl at one another. She sighed, exasperated, before adding to the dark haired General's vague explanation.

"Arvrok's the oldest child of the Rader family, which should make him next in line for the crown. However, as he was chosen to take on the position as General, his younger brother, Jetrosiq was chosen to be the king's successor." She explained "But the thing is... Arvrok wanted to be king, and Jetrosiq wanted to be General, so it started a known conflict between them."

"So... They're jealous of each others' positions?" Hunter held back a snort.

"Basically, yeah." Rhoe nodded with a smirk.

"That makes sense. Jet's not much of a princey guy, anyway."

"Hey! I'm right here!" The ravenette barked, looking away from his brother to glare at the blonde. She smirked, waving a hand in dismissal before turning to the Generals next to her.

"So, how'd the meeting go?"

"Oh... That..." Rhoe rubbed the back of his neck, his lips curling in an awkward manner "Well..."

---

"I got it!" Alexa squealed, running towards her accomplices with a mischievous grin. Nathan and Raven paused their conversation, both raising an eyebrow at the curly haired blonde.

"Got what?" Nathan asked suspiciously.

Her grin widened "Okay so, you know how Alzdrak is on their toes now from all our attacks?"

"Yes?"

"And you know how they've called all the other kingdoms' Generals, minus Oceal, to help them get to the bottom of it?"

"Uh-huh...?"

"So that means they've left the other kingdoms unattended, right?"

"Well not exactly," The purple eyed male sighed "They've most likely left their respective lieutenants in charge."

Alexa pouted "Yeah, but they aren't the Generals."

"Their capability still isn't something to scoff at--"

"Do you want to hear my plan or not!"

Nathan's eyebrows shot up, his mouth shutting instantly and holding his hands up in surrender. Alexa glanced around the room, only to see everyone else giving her a 'we're-value-our-lives-too-much-to-argue' expressions. She smirked and cleared her throat.

"Anyway, I was thinking with the defense forces down we can set another attack on one of the kingdoms. Of course, Alzdrak is a no go since all the big shots are there. But I was thinking we'd send an attack to the closest kingdom, so word gets to our 'friends' faster."

"Wouldn't that be Irance?" Delta spoke up, looking up from the potted plant he was attempting to control with his magic. Alexa snapped her fingers and pointed to him.

"Bingo."

"So..." Thorn crossed her arms "whadda you suggest?"

Alexa smirked and turned to Dexy, who slowly looked up from her book as soon as she felt eyes on her. She knew the look in the blonde's eyes, and proceeded to faceplant into the pages of her book "Oh no..."

"Get your crystal ball, we're summoning Oblivion Grace."

"But... it's day time, and she's made out of shadows."

"Then find a host."

"There aren't many humans in--"

"Are you talking back to me?"

Dexy squeaked at the woman's dangerous tone and rushed out of the room, coming back a minute later with the requested item. She swept the scattered books off a nearby table with her elbow and placed the orb down, pressing her palms either side of it and beginning the spell.

Alexa tapped her foot impatiently "Well?"

"Just give me a-- Ah-hah!" The redhead opened her now red eyes "Found one!"

Instantly a familiar cloud swirled around the room before turning into what looked like a sillouette of a woman. She gave Dexy the kind of bow a maid gives their master, before sinking into the floor and out of sight.

Alexa turned to Dexy "This time keep an eye on her. We don't need her disappearing like the Three Beasts."

"I was planning on it anyway."

---

Irance was peaceful as usual. Shops and cafes buzzing with civilians, and different species living in harmony around one another. One of these shops, Edana Herbals was particularly popular with selling medicinal herbs for all species big and small.

Erika, a kindhearted and undoubtedly beautiful young woman, had just finished wrapping up the necessary herbs for a traveling merchant. She turned to the middle aged Foxeen with a smile and handed her the envelope.

"Thank you, dear." The woman smiled, her black tail relaxing in relief "And you say these herbs will help with sore feet?"

"Yup. All you need to do is put them in hot water, and they'll work like a charm."

"I'll take your word for it, then," she handed Erika the necessary payment and turned on her heel, heading for the door while waving goodbye "Take care, sweetheart."

"You too. And be safe on your travels, ma'am." Erika replied happily, waving the kind woman out the door. Once she was alone in her shop she sighed, rolling her shoulders back and cracking her knuckles "Alright, now for that cough medicine for the--"

She didn't have time to finish as something shot out of the ground, causing her to stumble back against the cabinet behind her. A glass bottle fell to the ground from the impact.

"Erika? What was that?" Scott yelled from upstairs. The woman's eyes were fixed on the shadow creature, her breathing becoming uneven from fear.

"S-Scott--!"

Instantly the creature shot forward and grabbed her throat, causing her to scream and gasp from the sudden contact. It stared at her with hazy yellow eyes, before proceeding to shoot down her throat.

Scott bolted down the stairs after hearing his girlfriend scream, teeth and claws bared ready to rip apart whatever fucker lay as much as a fingernail on her. He jumped the final three steps and let out a beastly growl, only for them to be cut off with a horrified gasp. His pupils shrunk at the sight of Erika lying on the floor, coughing and gripping her throat with bloodshot eyes.

"Shit, Erika!" He yelled, skidding to his knees beside the woman and scooping her up into his arms "What happened?! Come on talk to me!"

She tried. She tried to speak to him. But all that came out of her mouth was strangled breaths and a sort of dark mist. Scott swore under his breath, not knowing what to do or why Erika was even like this. All he could think of doing was moving her upstairs so no customers walked in on her like this. However when he attempted lift her off the ground she shrieked out in agony, her eyes squeezing shut as she reached up to grip his shirt.

"...Sc...o...tt..."

Scott's eyebrows pulled downwards as one hand reached up to her face, resting on top of her forehead to check her temperature. She was cold as ice. She winced at his touch and grabbed his wrist.

"...Sc...o...tt..."

"Yes, I'm here." He responded, voice cracking. She slowly opened her eyes but, they weren't the same. They were yellow and hazy, and the one visible seemed to have a dark crack marking forming over it.

"I'm... sorry..."

And then everything went black.

---

A chill went up Ross's spine, causing him to squeak in surprise. He expected his brothers to comment on it but when he glanced in their direction, they were both glaring at the door.

"Did... you guys feel that?"

Hugo nodded "I'm sure of it. It's Dexy."

Drew growled and stormed towards the door. They had been moved out of their cell, as they technically weren't prisoners, and now stayed in a large room under close watch of the academy. The large male began banging on the door.

"Oi, douchebags! We wanna speak to the General!"

The door opened, revealing an irritated guard.

"I told you a million times, you cannot leave this room under strict orders of--"

"No no, it's not that!" Ross rushed over to him "We think Dexy's done something terrible!"