(September 16th, 2017)

Justin

With the first dragon giving me its powers and a weapon to boot, we proceeded out of the area. We continued moving until we arrived at a small, peaceful, and quiet town where we decided to take a break and find a place to spend the night. I parked at a cafe that upon close inspection, was open much to our surprise. None of us was hesitant to enter the place and take an order, as we wanted to take a break and eat something that would not be cooked by any of us and sleep under a roof instead of under the stars. We exited the car and entered the building. It resembled a hunter's cabin on the inside with animal trophies and fake hunting equipment placed on display near the fireplace. The tables and chairs were made of wood. Where the tables looked like regular tables, the chairs were designed in a way that makes them feel that they were cut and stitched together neatly. There were more than enough seats for us to sit as the business was open despite the attack that happened, meaning the proprietors are not getting the business they need.

"May I take your orders?" A waiter said after we took our seats. We ordered hot drinks and waited for the waiter to come back with our order.

"Justin, so I did some research about the Astralis family, and here's what I found," Zack spoke. "They're one of the most ancient bloodlines ever to exist!"

"All bloodlines are technically ancient, if you think about it," Alex commented.

"Are any of them as old and unchanged as the Astralis bloodline?" Zack asked. "A bloodline that remained unchanged for centuries? Their bloodline is even older than mine, maybe."

"Oh, man..." Said Alex as he leaned back to think over what he just heard.

"They all seem to have possessed a feeling within them that links them to each other. They call it the 'Astral Link,' and it's a feeling they share that is said to make them stronger near each other's presence. For example, commander Astralis would become much stronger when fighting with her sister than when not. They're pretty powerful."

"But why would Justin feel that feeling?" Mia asked.

"I am not sure. It might be the same as you feeling a presence in him," Zack replied.

"And what about that guy that we met at the ruins?" I asked.

The waiter arrived with our order as I asked that question. Alex opened his phone to check social media and the news around the country while Mia took her camera out and reviewed the photos we took. I held the hot chocolate I ordered in my hands and waited for Zack to come up with an answer. The situation is very complicated and mysterious. I would not blame Zack for not understanding what was going on, as I was very puzzled as well. I took a sip from my drink and did not say another word until he spoke.

"I'm... I'm not sure." Said Zack after fifteen seconds of silence. "We have already met every member of the Astralis family, right? Also, we can't tell whether the feeling within you is the same thing that they have. It might be a totally different thing."

"But didn't commander Astralis tell you that she had a brother that died?" I asked. "Maybe that's him?"

"I doubt it. All records and clues I managed to collect, they prove that he died in a plane crash. We have photos of the crash and everything."

"Not a single body to be found?" I asked

"No. However, I doubt that any would have remained intact after all that time. It crashed in the pacific, and diver photos show no signs of any bodies. They say the plane exploded in the air before falling in the ocean." Zack informed.

"Hmm... But keep in mind that we have seen people coming back," I said, looking at Alex. Alex nodded at me.

"It's not that hard to imagine that he might have made it, but I highly doubt it. They say he was targeted by assassins before he died. It might have been their work. And who knows? Maybe they were with him on the plane and made sure to get rid of the body?"

"Who knows..." I said before taking a sip of my drink and sighing.

"One thing is for sure, they all wear special rings on their left middle finger," Zack stated.

"Oh yeah? I noticed it on commander Astralis's hand once but thought it was just some accessory. I did not want to ask her about it."

"A black ring with a crystal on it," Zack said.

Mia, looking through her photos, decided to enter the conversation by saying: "We did not see a ring on that man's finger, did we? Then again, he was covering them with black gloves."

"Guys!" Alex called. "Look at this!" He stood next to a bounty poster of a big wolf. I walked towards it and began examining it closer. It said that the bounty for the animal was five thousand dollars.

"Whoa! Five thousand?" I asked.

"Indeed," The waiter responded. "This wolf has been a danger for us and our livelihoods for quite some time. It took many lives and will continue to do so if someone does not do something about it."

"What do you say, guys?" I asked, receiving thumbs up from my friends.

"You four?" The waiter asked.

"Yeah!"

"Aren't you too young for this task?" He asked.

We paid and exited the cafe after I told him: "We might be young, but don't underestimate us. We'll take on this bounty!" After we exited, Alex looked up its location, and we drove towards it. The site was south towards the mountains that we just passed on our way to the cafe. Mia began licking her lips, ready to suck the wolf dry of blood.

The drove took us five minutes from the cafe to the last known location. With nighttime approaching, we needed to take down the animal quickly before it becomes too dark for us to see. I parked the car on the side of the road and proceeded with the gang to the location. As he looked through the photos, Zack was astonished by the size of the beast. What interested me was the fact that the monster was not an ordinary wolf, but a magical one. That may explain why no one dared to approach it until we took on the hunt. It is also said that it has a particularly big pack of wolves around it at all times, making it hard to attack without interruption.

"What do you think, Zack?" I asked. "How should we approach this?"

"Easy. We split the job between us and take down the pack and the big bad wolf at the same time, alright?" Zack proposed.

"Great idea. This time, Zack is with Alex while Mia and I take care of the other wolves."

When we arrived, we gazed upon the sleeping white wolf that had horns of magical ice and icy claws. It was big enough to swallow us whole and not bat an eye about it. Without us even making a sound, it opened its eyes and stared at us like it knew we were coming. We watched in bewilderment as it stood on its four legs and roared at us.

"Finally, you've decided to show up," A voice spoke from behind the wolf. We watched as a winged demon flew and landed on the wolf's head. The demon lady wore a demonic armor, with most of her skin being revealed seductively. She looked older and more experienced than Mia in combat. She had similar red eyes, but they were slightly darker, and her hair was black. She wore human clothes, indicating that she had been here for quite some time. Her hourglass figure and feminine feature took center stage as we stared at her with confusion rather than admiration and arousal. I'd say that this could be said of Mia and me alone, as Alex and Zack were already lost in her beauty.

"Oh, hello, little demon!" She addressed Mia. "It's been so long! We missed you! Look how you've grown!" Her voice spoke in a condescending and taunting manner rather than a familiar and friendly one, almost mocking my childhood friend.

"Do I know you?" Mia replied casually, much to the shock and dismay of the demon lady.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll get to know me so well when I drag you back home with me!" She laughed maniacally. "We succubi will work on you and turn you into a true demon once I'm finished with your friends. Now, let's get this over with!"

She snapped her fingers, making the ice wolf howl and call upon its pack. The pack that arrived appeared to be made of ordinary wolves. The key differences are the fact that the wolves seemed only slightly larger than regular wolves, and the pack was made of different breeds that all get along together surprisingly well.

"Zack? Was this mentioned anywhere in the bounty description?" Alex nervously asked.

"Nope. I don't think anyone survived to tell the tale."

"Is she... controlling the wolf?" I asked in complete perplexion when I noticed how the wolf moves in unison with her hand movements and obeys her commands in an instant and without questions.

"Telekinesis, pretty boy," She replied, making Mia even more enraged than she already was.

"Did you just flirt with my boyfriend, you slut?!" Mia exclaimed before summoning her wings and flying after the succubus, leaving me to deal with the wolf on my own, but before I attacked the big one, I watched as some of its pack began overwhelming Alex. I decided it was the best time to test my crossbow and fired a shot at one of the wolves, killing them instantly with the bolt that exploded in a blast of energy upon impact. I then targeted the main wolf and began dodging its attempts at biting me and freezing me with its ice attacks from its claws and horns.

I kept using the crossbow to destroy the ice projectiles the wolf fired towards me while dodging the ones that I was not able to destroy or did not have enough time to fire at. The wolf swung its hardened tail at me, hitting me in the chest and sent me flying to where I hit a tree. While recovering, I jumped down and sat on a branch to try to catch my breath. From there, I began watching Mia as she fought her demon peer, unable to match her speed. Mia could barely land any hit of her lance or claw despite the unbelievable speed at which she fought. The succubus outmatched Mia in her speed. It summoned a colony of bats that flew towards Mia and surrounded her from every direction and immobilized her in midair. Zack and Alex were barely managing to hold off the wolves that proved not to be ordinary animals, but powerful beasts that were only imperceptibly slowed down by the bullets and sword strikes that struck them.

A wolf latched onto Alex's cybernetic limb and began biting on it. The cyborg attempted to shake it off, but it too tenacious for him to shake off. He began punching it with his free hand, but that was also ineffective. With no other option, he conjured his gun and attempted to shoot it, but the succubus threw a tiny throwing knife at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and injuring him. She then kicked Mia so hard she landed on a rock. Zack got surrounded by a group of wolves and was left unable to attack. Every time a wolf attacked him, he summoned his shield and used it to push the attacking beast away.

Mia kept flying back towards the succubus and getting pulverized again and again. I realized that she planned to separate us and take us down one by one. Mia made her job easier by taking the bait and flying at her solo. It did not take her long to confirm what I thought when she said: "I love it when a plan comes together! I thought that I'd have to put some effort to separate you, but you did all the work for me, honey!"

"How did you arrive on earth?" Mia asked as she got back on her feet once again.

"The darkness crusader opened thousands of portals around the world for us to cross! It's only a matter of time before this world becomes ours!" Upon hearing that, Mia collapsed onto her knees with the expression of shock is the last thing I saw before her face stared at the ground. I began to hear her cry at the sound of that.

"No..." She said before she slammed her fist into the ground.

"The demon king is strategically sending demons, monsters, and other entities to earth at different intervals so that no one can find exactly where we come from, not that there's anyone who can stop us!" She informed before laughing.

The succubus then got down to Mia's level. Mia tried to attack her, but the demon lady kicked her with her shoes and began making fun of her while repeatedly stomping on her and kicking her even more. I watched in horror as my beloved screamed in pain and fear. She cried not because of her pain and torture, but because she realized that the world she loves is in danger from the demons.

"Once we take you back, we will beat the humanity out of you and bring you back to your senses. Then, you would be with your family again!" The succubus said before kicking Mia in the face and then proceeding to pummel her until she bled.

The sight of Mia bleeding in pain enraged me so much that I was able to power through the pain and shoot a bolt at the wolf that bit Alex's arm. Alex immediately used a healing potion on his wounded hand and then fired his assault rifle on the animals that surrounded Zack. I got back to my feet and leaped towards the giant wolf, punching him in the face.

"It's Justin!" Alex exclaimed.

"Good to have you back, buddy!" Zack stated before I joined them to fight the smaller wolves while the big wolf attacked us, mixing the two fronts and making us team up against the overwhelming odds.

"We have to finish these wolves and help Mia!" I exclaimed.

"Sure thing!" Alex shouted. "MACHINEGUN FIREPOWER!"

Alex summoned a machine gun and fired at the wolves, decimating them in large numbers. Zack used his tornado grenades and finished off dozens of them with only a handful of grenades. I unleashed upon them a flurry of bolts from my crossbow, imbuing them with a little mana to each arrow, allowing them to explode with a considerable area of effect. I then targeted the big wolf and its ice projectiles, making them explode when I unleashed my arrows on them. I then charged towards it and struck it with my sword, causing a big scar over its eye. The wolf howled in pain as I struck its eye, distracting the succubus enough to let Mia kick her in the face hard enough to knock a tooth out. Mia then got back to her feet.

"With them around, you'll never get to realize your plans. Earth is not yours for the taking!" Mia shouted.

"Who are they?!" The demon lady shouted upon realizing that we are not the usual hunters.

"They?" Mia asked. "We. We are the Dragon Crusaders!"

Mia then punched the succubus in the face. The she-devil then went flying away with Mia giving chase. She fired magical red orbs that Mia easily dodged and zoomed past. The balls exploded upon impact with the ground, killing off a few of the tiny wolves for us. I grabbed one wolf that attacked me and threw it at the leader of the pack, the giant ice wolf with horns. With Mia and her succubus peer fighting, I realized that Mia was injured and not capable of withstanding too many hits and will eventually get tired if not completely beaten in the fight. I decided to help her in the fight and fired a crossbow bolt at the succubus, hitting her in her left side wing that comes out of her back like Mia. My girl turned around and smiled at me when she realized I helped her. I thought that only firing a crossbow bolt is not enough to aid her and so I called upon the help of my fellow crusaders.

"Alex! Zack!" I shouted.

Alex crossed his hands together and watched as Zack jumped on them before propelling him upwards towards the evil succubus. Zack summoned his polearm and targeted the succubus.

"Royal Strike!" Zack shouted before hitting the succubus in her right side wing and making her fall from the sky. Mia dove after the succubus and began attacking her with her claw, slashing and cutting at the succubus' body and releasing as much blood as she possibly could.

"D-Damn... Damn you!" The succubus shouted as she fell.

"Say hi to your friends in hell!" Mia shouted before striking the succubus with her polearm while they both descended from the sky. Mia then managed to land her lance on the head of the ice wolf, killing two birds in one stone. The wolf in its agony began flailing its body around and jumping erratically while firing ice everywhere and howling in pain. The wolf then fell on the ground, succumbing to its wounds.

Mia then took the body of the demon lady and set it aside so that I can take a picture and send it to the Hunter's Guild and claim the bounty. As Zack commenced taking the photos, I went to check on Mia, giving her a couple of potions to help with her wounds. I sat her on my lap while sitting on a rock, tending to her injuries. The blush on her face was too evident for me not to smile, but her wounds were the most prominent thing. I began using the potions where her injuries occurred and helped ease her suffering.

"Y-You don't have to..." She muttered while looking away, her red hair covering her face.

"I don't, but I want to," I replied.

"T-They'll heal on their own."

"I know."

When Mia was fighting the demon, she accidentally dropped the camera she carried. Alex grabbed Mia's camera before it touched the ground. He took a photo of us without the two of us realizing, much to Mia's shock. "H-Hey!" She stuttered. "What are you doing?!" She asked her friend, who was the one who encouraged her to go and confess to me in the first place. Not that I needed her to confess, because my heart could tell.

"You two look so cute together!" Alex said before giving the camera back to Mia, who looked at the photos and blushed as they were indeed good photos. The shots were of her looking away while blushing as I tended to her wounds. "You're not the only one who can handle a camera, Mia!"

When I was done, she got up and placed the demon's body next to the wolf and began to chant a magic spell that I did not understand a single word of and so I asked: "What are you doing?"

"You'll see." The body of the succubus began gushing out blood that started floating in midair. The same happened to the wolf as its blood began floating and merged with that of the succubus. Then all the collected blood began to glow in bright red while morphing into the shape of a large scythe. The glowing weapon silhouette began floating towards Mia, who then grabbed it, making the weapon take its final form. The glow disappeared soon afterward, making the entire weapon visible. The weapon had a red blade with large and pointy edges all over it. It also had wings attached to the less sharp end of the blade as well as a tiny wolf face.

"Did you just make that?!" Alex asked in complete shock.

"Impressive!" Zack exclaimed.

Mia began testing the weapon around, swinging it around stylishly and elegantly while creating ice projectiles and freezing anything around her as she danced around with the scythe. Zack and Alex began clapping as they watched her elegant and sharp legwork and moves. When Mia finished, I noticed that the body of the she-devil started to disintegrate and vanish.

"I'm not sure whether she's dead or not, but I know for a fact that we won't be seeing her again anytime soon," Mia stated.

Zack sighed and said: "That's good to hear."

"Now, Justin. About where we'd stay the night?" Alex asked me while wrapping his arm around me.

"Back in town. Why?"

"Exactly."

"It has gone dark. We need to move," Zack stated.

Mia wrapped her arms around my right arm as we headed for the car, and then I drove the three of us to a motel in the town. But before we reached our destination, we stopped by the cafe and tore the bounty poster after showing the proprietor a wolf horn that we tore from the head of the beast.

"Thank you so much!" The proprietor exclaimed. "You don't know how much this means to us! This beast killed many of our townsfolk. I was a hunter back in the day and barely managed to survive. I've banned my children from ever undertaking that hunt, and they obliged, but to see that you four did this? Who... Who are you?"

"A bunch of drifters. No need to worry about us," I replied.

"Please! A photo!" The proprietor begged, to which we obliged.

After taking the photo, we went to the motel and got a room with four beds that I decided on and that we got for free for killing the wolf and its pack. Alex began looking through the photos that we took after defeating the beast and began admiring the way we posed in the shots, praising Mia's photography skills. I entered the shower and took my clothes off, planning to take a shower and cleanse myself from all the dirt and blood. As I was taking a shower, I felt arms wrap themselves around my body, and a kiss plant itself on my neck. I turned around to have Mia push me against the shower wall and press her lips against mine.

"You were trying to tease me back there, weren't you?" She asked before making out with me once again. The hot water was hitting against us and warming the bath, making it even more relaxing than it already was.

"No, I was not-" She cut me off by pressing her lips against me once more.

"Nope, I don't care. I haven't thanked you for helping me with that succubus back there. Right now, I'm gonna release all this built up emotions on you, and take care of you like you took care of me," She said before kissing me once again.

After the bath, I got out to see that the three have been sitting on their phones, watching videos, and playing mobile games. I sighed and turned on the tv to watch that they were broadcasting the city. It showed a helicopter view of what was once a vibrant city filled with millions, only to be destroyed and reduced to nothing but ash and ruins. I gripped the remote in my hands as I watched and tried hard not to break it. My mind immediately began flashing back to the moment his majesty passed away. I then began to think about all the fun times I spent with my family throughout the years, having fun and enjoying each other's company while preparing for this journey.

"Hey, Justin. Would you lower the-" Alex spoke, only to notice that I am watching the broadcast. He stopped whatever he was doing and joined me in staring silently at the tv. He shares my exact feelings towards what has happened and understands exactly what I must be thinking. The helicopter feed kept playing and showed all the havoc and destruction that resulted from the battle and even showed the wreck of the imperial mothership on the horizon and the royal forces who were salvaging everything from it at Zack's orders. The news of the king's death remains a secret as the questions of his whereabouts, and his silence begin to get asked.

"I ordered the salvaging of anything that the empire left behind. I want to gather as much information about them as possible. I also want to use whatever is salvageable to produce more tech and increase our security for the future. We can also recycle their materials and use them to help in the reconstruction of everything they destroyed." Zack arrived and sat next to us. "I also ordered a full-scale assault to take back the country from the hands of the empire. The kingdom will have its lands turned into battlegrounds for the first time in decades."

"I totally agree with what you're planning. We have to fight on multiple fronts, after all," I stated.

The news then began talking about how the dragon god has finally revealed himself and ended the invasion of the capital. They also showed a couple of blurry images of me and the mystical dragons flying over the city and the ocean. They said I moved too fast for them to have gathered images, and they claimed that I have disappeared over the ocean. Then they stated that the security forces kicked them out of the premises. I sighed in relief, knowing that my identity has not yet been revealed. Mia wrapped her arms around my neck and said: "They won't know who we are unless we want them to know. Ethan, Commander Astralis, and the others will make sure of it, Justin."

"Where will we travel next?" Alex asked.

"The closest dragons are up north. We can go there and unleash as many as we can," I replied.

"Justin, I've done some more research on the Astralis family, if you like to hear. I've got some info on Benjamin and his whole deal," Zack informed.

"Let's hear it."

"As you know, he has a private military that he helped found with Martin. He has his headquarters in space and other facilities in many places throughout the planet. He uses these facilities to send shipments to space and fabricate or perform maintenance on his units. It is said that every robot he creates costs twice as much as a modern fighter jet. We don't know the exact pricing, but since he gathers all the materials and gets paid by many countries and through many contracts, he is able to sustain his business and have a steady income. He has a daughter that goes by the name of Aurora." Zack showed photos of the PMC. The androids deployed by it looked human and not machines. I was genuinely taken aback by their looks.

"Although I have not gathered any photos of her as I did not find anything, I have found out that she is sixteen years of age. The empire's first attempts at launching stuff into space were to target the PMC because of their strong affiliation with us. I don't know for sure how they were able to attack them, but the main thing was that Aurora was severely injured. She was at a facility, being guided around by a crew member and was looking around when the empire attacked. She was inside a facility that was targeted, and debris hit her vital organs. To save her life, her father reluctantly did surgery on her and gave her cyborg parts that replaced her human ones. She lost most of her left leg, the right side of her torso, her left kidney among other organs, and in the end, most of her bones were shattered beyond repair."

"Oh my god..." Mia said, covering her mouth in shock, to which I silently replied with: "Yes?"

"Miraculously, she survived the surgery. I believe that happened due to her being an Astralis. Like I said before, they're pretty powerful," Zack stated. "However, she suffered severe memory loss and was not able to remember anything. Her brain had already gotten used to her cybernetic parts. So much so, in fact, that her brain began to think that she is an android. Every time they told her that she was a human, she began to experience severe illnesses that affected her and her body. Her father decided that it's best to treat her like an android and changed some of her looks to distance her from her previous self, should she ever learn about her true origins and malfunction. They lie to her all the time and treat her like a real android. She goes through regular maintenance checks like many androids and is given fake records about herself. She goes by the name of Alpha one, or A1 for short."

"This is... unbelievable!" Alex exclaimed.

"However, intel suggests that she is extremely attached to the Astralis ring on her finger. She does not want to remove it and keeps it on her finger at all times. It's the only thing that remained from her previous life. The only hope for her to remember her true self," Zack continued.

"Does she feel anything towards her father?" I asked.

"Nothing that I went through suggested any Astral link of any kind. However, it's not unlikely that she does feel something towards her father. What's even more interesting is the fact that Benjamin wears gloves at all times. Why do you think he does that?"

"Is he trying to hide his ring?" I asked.

"Correct. It's also said that Aurora rarely sees her father. And when she does, he treats her as if she's just a 'special soldier' and nothing more."

"That is very tragic..." I trailed off.

"Well, that's all I know. I'll keep digging stuff up if you want." Zack offered his services once more, to which I accepted.

The next day we went back to the cafe to find that they prepared us breakfast for free and have planned to print our photo and hang it as a memory. At least it was a relief that Alex removed his cybernetic arm when we went in both times yesterday. It's also good that he can materialize it and dematerialize it at will like conjuring a weapon. If he did not hide it, we would be caught in the future. We had a fantastic breakfast of pancakes before leaving after an hour, journeying north to unleash more dragons, fight the empire, destroy the bases, and save the world.