Chapter 600: The trials of ego [Rise of the dragon king]

Time passed differently in the forest. No sun to track, just moonlight filtering through leaves and the endless sound of boots on dirt and leaves.

Eventually, Egor called another halt. A small clearing, this one with a stream running through it.

"We’ll rest here," Egor said. "Eat something, drink. We’ve got maybe thirty minutes before we need to reach the ridge."

The knights settled in an open space in the middle of nowhere . Clearly, they’d done this many times. Packs opened, rations distributed. Someone passed around dried meat that tasted like leather but provided energy. Waterskins made the rounds.

Noah sat slightly apart from the main group, not wanting to presume he was welcome in their circle.

Two of the knights were sitting together, a younger one amongst the group and another who looked maybe mid-thirties. They were talking about women, their voices carrying in the quiet night.

"—and I’m telling you, Lara’s girls are worth the extra coin," the younger one was saying. "The way they—"

"Marcus, we don’t need details," the older knight with the gray beard interrupted, though his tone suggested amusement rather than actual offense.

Marcus grinned. "You’re just jealous, Roland. When’s the last time your wife let you—"

"Finish that sentence and I’ll break your nose."

Laughter rippled through the group.

Noah watched, cataloging their relationships. Marcus was clearly the youngest, maybe twenty-five. Roland was the oldest, probably pushing fifty. Gareth the healer sat between them in age, maybe late thirties. Davos, who’d been injured, was recovered enough to sit up and eat.

The tank—the one who’d absorbed the serpent’s bite—was named Brom, based on someone calling his name. Big guy, muscles that suggested he could carry twice his own weight without strain.

Then there was Egor at the center of it all, quiet but clearly in command.

"I still say we deserve better pay," Marcus said, his voice carrying complaint despite the joking tone. "We risk our lives fighting dragons while regular knights sit on their asses guarding walls. And we make what, triple their salary? Should be five times. Ten times."

"You want to negotiate with the treasurer?" Roland asked. "Be my guest. Let me know how that works out."

"I’m serious though," Marcus insisted. "Dragon knights should be the highest paid soldiers in the kingdom. We do the hardest job."

Noah saw his opening and took it carefully.

"Why are dragon knights different?" he asked, his voice tentative. "From regular knights, I mean. I know you fight dragons, but... what makes that special?"

Several of them turned to look at him like they’d forgotten he was there.

"Your father didn’t teach you anything?" Roland said, his tone carrying disapproval. "Not even basic history?"

"He was always busy and never really home because he had to provide for us" Noah said, which was probably true for Burt. "Mother doesn’t talk about Knight’s."

Roland shook his head. "Typical. Coward in life, absent in death."

The others chuckled, but Egor raised a hand slightly and the laughter stopped.

"The boy asked a legitimate question," Egor said. "Someone answer it properly."

Roland sighed but straightened, apparently taking the captain’s words seriously.

"Alright, listen well, boy. I’m only explaining this once."

Noah leaned forward slightly, genuinely curious despite his act.

"Many years ago," Roland began, "this kingdom lived in peace. We had our problems—bandits, occasional beast attacks, normal things. But nothing we couldn’t handle with regular soldiers."

He paused, taking a drink from his waterskin.

"Then war came. A neighboring kingdom decided our land looked better than theirs. They invaded with an army that matched ours in size and strength. Neither side could gain advantage. The war dragged on for years, destroying both kingdoms slowly."

Marcus picked up the thread. "Thousands died. Villages burned. Farmland destroyed. Both kingdoms were bleeding out, and nobody could stop it. We were evenly matched, you see. Every advantage one side gained, the other countered. It was a stalemate that was going to end with both kingdoms collapsed."

"Until the third kingdom arrived," Gareth said quietly, his voice carrying weight that made everyone go still.

"Third kingdom?" Noah asked.

"Nobody knows where they came from," Roland said, his earlier joking tone completely gone. "Some say from across the sea. Others say from mountains so far north that no man had ever traveled there and returned. But they came, and they brought hell with them."

He leaned forward, his eyes distant like he was seeing something from long ago.

"They had dragons. Not as allies, not as partners. As weapons. Weapons of war that burned entire battalions to ash in seconds. Creatures so massive they could crush stone walls just by landing on them. And they were intelligent. That’s what made them truly terrifying. They weren’t mindless beasts. They coordinated attacks, set ambushes, used tactics."

Marcus shook his head. "Both our kingdom and the one we’d been fighting stopped the war immediately. Realized we’d been killing each other while a real threat was preparing to wipe us both out. We tried to unite our armies, combine our forces."

"It didn’t matter," Gareth said. "Regular soldiers, even our best knights, couldn’t fight dragons. Swords couldn’t pierce their scales. Arrows bounced off their hides. Fire burned hot enough to melt armor and the men inside it. Thousands died in the first week alone."

"Then came the awakening," Roland said, and his voice carried something that might have been awe or might have been fear.

He paused, seeming to consider his words carefully.

"Before that though, there was the messenger. Strange woman who appeared in the kingdom’s throne room one day. Nobody knows how she got past the guards, past the walls. She just... was there. Standing before the emperor like she’d always been there."

Marcus leaned forward. "My grandfather was a palace guard. Said she didn’t look like anything special. Just a woman in simple robes. But when she spoke, everyone listened. Couldn’t help it."

"What did she say?" Noah asked.

"Said she was a messenger from the gods," Roland continued. "That great chaos was coming to our lands. That humanity would face threats we couldn’t comprehend with sword and shield alone. But she could give us the means to fight."

Gareth’s expression was troubled. "The church still debates whether she was divine or demonic. Whether what she did was blessing or curse."

"What did she do?" Noah pressed.

"Blessed the land," Roland said. "The soil, the water, the air itself. Said those who were capable would awaken latent powers that had always been inside them, sleeping. That these powers would give humanity a chance against what was coming."

Marcus gestured broadly. "Then she disappeared. Just like she’d appeared. Gone without explanation, without asking for anything in return. And within a week, people started awakening. Soldiers discovered they could conjure fire from nothing. Healers found they could close wounds with a touch. Farmers realized they could make plants grow with just their will."

"Not everyone though," Gareth added. "Maybe one in a thousand. Maybe fewer. The blessing was selective, or the capability was rare. But those who did awaken found they could do impossible things."

Roland’s voice went hard. "And then the third kingdom arrived with their dragons. Like the messenger had known. Like she’d seen what was coming and tried to prepare us."

He shook his head. "Some soldiers—those who’d awakened—discovered they could fight dragons. Not easily, not without terrible losses, but they could fight."

Noah absorbed this, his mind making connections. ’A messenger who blessed the land. Who gave people the ability to awaken powers. Right before a kingdom with dragons attacked. That’s not coincidence.’

"So everyone here has...magic?" Noah said, the word coming out before he could stop it.

Roland nodded. "We don’t call it that openly. The church says magic is heresy, that only the divine should wield such power. But yes. Magic. The ability to channel something beyond normal human capability. And those who awakened found they could fight dragons. Not easily, not without terrible losses, but they could fight."

"The third kingdom had their own awakened," Marcus added. "That’s how they controlled the dragons. Not through kindness or partnership, but through power. Their awakened could force dragons to obey, could bind them with magic that made disobedience impossible. They’d created an army that couldn’t be stopped by conventional means."

Gareth’s hands clenched. "The war that followed made the previous conflict look like children playing with sticks. Both kingdoms threw every awakened they had against the third kingdom’s forces. The land itself was scarred. Entire forests burned. Rivers boiled. Mountains cracked."

"And then the Dragon King emerged," Roland said, his voice dropping. "Not from the third kingdom. From ours. A man who’d awakened with power that made other awakened look like children. He could do what the third kingdom’s awakened did, but better. Could force dragons to obey him through sheer will. Could kill them with techniques no one had seen before."

Noah leaned forward. "What happened?"

"He did what needed to be done," Egor spoke for the first time since the story started, his voice carrying finality. "He fought the third kingdom’s forces. Took their dragons from them, turned their own weapons against them. Killed their awakened, destroyed their army, drove the survivors back to whatever hole they’d crawled from."

Roland nodded. "The war ended because the Dragon King was more terrifying than anything the enemy had. He broke their invasion, shattered their forces, and sent a message that this land would never be conquered."

"But the dragons remained," Marcus said. "The ones the third kingdom had brought, the ones that had been freed when their controllers died. They scattered into the wilderness, into the mountains, into places where humans don’t go. And they’re still there. Breeding, hunting, surviving."

"That’s why dragon knights exist," Egor said, standing and walking to the edge of the clearing. "Because the Dragon King couldn’t kill them all. Because regular soldiers can’t fight them. Because the threat never went away, it just changed form. Instead of an organized army of dragons, we have wild ones. Isolated, territorial, but still capable of destroying entire villages if left unchecked."

He turned back, his eyes finding Noah’s.

"Only awakened can fight dragons effectively. Regular knights with swords and shields? They die. We’ve seen it happen. Good men, brave men, who thought courage and steel would be enough. But dragon scales don’t care about courage. Dragon fire doesn’t care about bravery. You need magic to fight magic."

"So dragon knights are all awakened?" Noah asked.

"Every single one," Roland confirmed. "You can’t join dragon knight ranks unless you’ve awakened. It’s not about skill or training or bloodline. It’s about having the power necessary to survive an encounter with something that can kill you in seconds."

Marcus gestured at the group. "All seven of us here are awakened. Different abilities, different specializations, but all of us can channel power that regular humans can’t. That’s what makes us valuable. That’s why we get paid more, why we get respect. Because we can do what others can’t."

"Your father," Roland said, his voice losing some of its earlier contempt, "was a regular knight. Never awakened. Good man at his job, from what I heard, before the dragon incident. But when that dragon attacked, he had nothing. No magic, no special abilities, just a sword that couldn’t pierce scales and armor that wouldn’t stop dragon fire. He knew he was going to die, so he ran. Didn’t make him a coward in my book. Made him human."

The admission surprised Noah, and apparently surprised the others too based on their expressions.

"Still left that woman to die though," Marcus muttered.

"He did," Roland agreed. "And that’s the shame his family carries. Not that he was afraid, but that he chose his own life over hers. That’s what the town won’t forgive."

Silence fell over the group.

Egor finally spoke again. "The Dragon King disappeared decades ago. Some say he died. Others say he’s still out there somewhere. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that the dragons he left behind are still our problem. And we’re the solution. Imperfect, expensive, but necessary."

He looked at Noah directly.

"That’s what makes dragon knights different. We’re not just soldiers. We’re the only thing standing between the kingdom and creatures that could burn it to the ground. Regular knights guard walls and keep order. We hunt monsters that regular knights can’t even see without dying."

"Where did the Dragon King go?" Noah asked.

"Nobody knows," Gareth said. "Some say the power drove him mad. Others say he just got tired of fighting and walked away. Personally, I think he realized that killing dragons was an endless task. You can’t win. You can only survive another day."

"The point," Egor said, his voice carrying finality, "is that dragon knights exist because dragons exist. We’re the kingdom’s answer to a threat that regular soldiers can’t handle. We’re elite because we have to be. Anything less means death."

He looked at Noah directly.

"Your father was a regular knight. Good at his job, supposedly, before he disgraced himself. But he never would have made dragon knight. Couldn’t have, even if he’d wanted to. Never awakened, which means he never had the power necessary to face a dragon and survive. That’s just reality."

The words were matter-of-fact rather than cruel, but they carried weight.

"Alright," Egor said, turning to the others. "Enough rest. We’ve got a red dragon to find."

The group began standing, gathering equipment, preparing for the final push.

Noah stood with them, his mind still processing everything he’d learned.

’Magic,’ he thought, watching Gareth’s hands glow faintly as he checked Davos one more time. ’Real magic. Not chi, not void energy, but actual awakened abilities. And dragons as weapons that became wild threats. A third kingdom that brought them here.’

The quest notification pulsed in his vision.

[EXTINGUISH THE FLAMES]

’What flame am I supposed to extinguish?’ Noah wondered, following the dragon knights as they left the clearing. ’A dragon’s fire? Or something else? Something connected to this war that happened decades ago?’

He looked at Egor walking at the front of the group, saw the confidence in his posture, the authority in his movements.

’And what happens to you?’ Noah thought. ’What turns you from this—a dragon knight captain with a team and respect—into the Last Dragon Knight standing alone in a dead kingdom?’

No answers came. Just the sound of boots on dirt and the knowledge that somewhere ahead, a red dragon was waiting.

"Dragon King," Noah murmured to himself, testing the words.

Marcus, walking nearby, heard him and laughed.

"Yeah, kid. The Dragon King. Most powerful awakened this world’s ever seen. Killed more dragons than anyone before or since. And we’re just the soldiers left behind, trying to keep the kingdom safe from the mess he couldn’t finish cleaning up."

They kept climbing toward the ridge, toward whatever waited in the darkness, and Noah followed with questions that multiplied faster than he could answer them.