Tales of Azoria - Chapter 6

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#7 of Tales of Azoria

Azuri wakes up to the house on fire. In a huge panic, he attempts to figure out what is going on. He discovers that an intruder has barged in, leaving a note for them to read. This would be the thing that sets him off to a new adventure.


Azuri was dreaming about exploring the Fuegolis palace yesterday. For the longest time Azuri was dreaming, he thought it was real. Sure, he has never been inside of the palace, especially when the royal literally picked a dragon right beside him. His heart was pumping fast the entire time as he saw the beauty of the palace's interior. His dream made it out to be this extremely clean and fancy place, with tall pillars that had small jewelry all around it. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Unfortunately the dream was cut off by the smell of smoke, a loud explosion, and sizzling. Azuri shot up on all fours as he looked around his room with a very worried expression. He saw a glimpse of Uhrwerk still under the sheets with a terrified expression. Azuri couldn't think, he needed to check what happened. He rushed toward his bedroom door and opened it wide. That's when he was met with fire littering the floor and spreading all over the walls and ceiling. It was even covering the front door as well, with smoke starting to cover the ceiling in thick black clouds.

The thick clouds of smoke began to fill Azuri's lungs, choking him as his vision grew blurry. He slowly made his way to the kitchen in search of an escape route. That's when he noticed an unfamiliar black silhouette in front of him. It appeared to be of a Stellarian, its wings spread menacingly. Azuri stared at the dragon as it turned its head toward him, but didn't seem to care about his presence. Instead, it grew a slightly annoyed look before using its wings to fly through the roof with intense speed and force. This gave the roof a large hole, which the smoke began to billow out of.

Azuri was coughing harder as he turned around and started to head back to his bedroom. Who was that? Why were they in our house? Did they do this? He quickly glanced into his mothers bedroom and noticed that she wasn't in there. "Mom?!" When no sign of her was anywhere, he decided to check on Uhrwerk. He was coughing still, his eyes beginning to water as his vision was still a little blurry from the smoke. "Uhrwerk, are you-." He paused for a second as he coughed again, feeling his lungs cave in on themselves. Trying desperately to breathe as he grabbed the sheets of his bed. "Are you okay?" Azuri felt himself about to pass out as he looked down at the floor.

That's when he heard Uhrwerk come over beside Azuri and wrap him in his wings. Uhrwerk held him close as he went over to Azuri's window and opened it. However, Uhrwerk realized how tiny the window was for two dragons at once. Uhrwerk stopped himself, then decided to use his wings, size, and strength to smash through the wall with intense speed. Using his wings to lift him off the ground and smash through it. Uhrwerk had his paw over Azuri's back as he landed on top of him slightly. Azuri was beginning to gasp for air as he buckled in on himself, coughing into the grass below him. Uhrwerk started panting as he looked over to Azuri with worry.

It took Azuri several minutes to recover from the terrible condition inside his house. Breathing in the clean air into his lungs and wiping the tears from his eyes. Uhrwerk patted his back a couple times with his paw, but kept his distance to let Azuri have personal space. He didn't want to make Azuri uncomfortable as he was searching his surroundings panic stricken. Azuri was trying to find his mom, but he believed she was out front. He couldn't go over there without Uhrwerk being spotted. So, he couldn't tell her that he was perfectly safe now.

As the scene and tension started to die down, Azuri felt himself starting to grow back his strength and his breathing returning back to normal. It took Azuri a few minutes to come to reality as he turned toward Uhrwerk. He wanted to make sure that his new friend wasn't harmed. "You okay, Uhrwerk? Didn't get hurt at all?" He shook his head in response. "That's good. . ." Azuri looked out toward the street that led up to his house and into the forest. He didn't see any other dragons around, at least not along this side of the house. Azuri turned toward Uhrwerk again and got up to his claws. "Hey, I'm going to check on mom. Is it okay if you can hide for me real quick until I get back?" Uhrwerk nodded and got up to his paws before jumping behind some thick leaves and bushes nearby.

Azuri slowly started to go over to the front of the house. His lungs felt much cleaner now, but he still felt the urge to cough. Once he got up to the front of the house, he noticed his mom standing by multiple Florian guards. Two other Florian dragons in breathing masks and protective gear were gathering nearby buckets of water and beginning to enter the house. Azuri's mother noticed him approaching them and instantly rushed over to hug him tightly. "Oh my goodness! I was so worried!" She held him extremely tightly, before releasing him and beginning to check him for any wounds. "You're not hurt are you?!"

"No mom, I'm fine." She still checked on other parts of his body, before facing him in the eyes. "See? I'm okay." She gave out a half smile, before giving him a kiss on the forehead to comfort Azuri. She sighed with relief as she pulled him over to the other guards. Two of the Florian guards were talking to each other, trying to figure out the situation. One of them decided to start mentioning the dragon that just flew out from on top of the house. When Azuri's mother walked up beside them, she joined their conversation.

"I don't know who that was. He broke in and started the fire before I could do anything." Azuri's mother told the guards, which gave puzzled expressions. "I don't know why he came in, but he didn't take anything. It was like he did it on purpose."

"Attempted murder?" One of the guards asked, giving a concerned expression at her. "Do you have any supposed enemies that might be after you?"

"Absolutely not! I stick to myself and do not bother anybody, I swear!" The guards gave a hmph, before looking at each other. Then, another guard walked up from behind them.

"Hey, do you still talk to your husband?" They asked her.

"Um, no. I haven't heard from him since he left."

"So, you two are separated... Okay, and Aphure is still working for the queen, correct?"

"I think so." She says with complete honesty, before glancing to each of the guards. "Why? What does he have to do with this?" The third guard sighed to himself, before continuing.

"Well, if I recall correctly. The amount of missions that Aphure has done, might've given himself some unfriendly faces to start going after him and his family. I think the dragon that has just attacked you and your son was one of those dragons who wanted to kill Aphure. Because Aphure is heavily guarded, they decided to target you instead to attract his attention." Azuri's expression was conflicted and shocked, she couldn't comprehend what the guard had just told her.

"Wh-What are you saying?" Azuri didn't know what was going on, but based on what he could understand from what the guard said. The night dragon wanted to kill them both to get Aphure to come out. Maybe as a way of bait. Was that true? Was Azuri and his mother not safe anymore? If they could do this to them, who knows what they can do next.

"I'm saying that you're a likely target, and that it might be a better decision to take you and your son to a safer spot in the meantime." Azuri couldn't describe his mother's face anymore, she was too confused and stuck to understand the situation in front of her. Azuri on the other hand, felt terrified now. That dragon wanted to kill him. That's why he didn't care about saving him from the fire. Azuri was only eight, and barely saw anything that this world had to offer. Was he really going to die at a young age? Before he could ever find someone to love? Before he can live a peaceful life to himself? No, he didn't want to think about that. Just thinking about that made Azuri terrified and worried for his own safety.

"We are going to clean up the scene, then we are going to escort you both somewhere safer." The guard informed Azuri's mother, before gesturing the other two guards to the side. Azuri didn't know what to feel now. They were moving to somewhere new, even though this house had so many memories. They had a fight yesterday, and now they were being hunted. What else could go wrong for them in such a short span? Well, maybe besides yesterday being primarily Azuri's fault. Though, he did feel bad for the guards having to deal with them both for two days in a row now. Which wasn't exactly normal for them. They usually didn't have to deal with any of this. They were happy yesterday, and now it was all going down in flames.

Damnit dad, you say you want to keep us safe, but you're only putting us in danger. If I ever see you again, I'm going to beat you up and show the queen how pathetic you were. Azuri thought to himself with a little bit of anger. This had to be his dad's fault for ruining their lives. Whether he meant it or not, is still pretty jerkish.

Azuri's mother finally turned and looked down at him. "I'm sorry honey, it looks like we are going to live somewhere else right now." Her tone was filled with sadness, which in turn made Azuri sigh sadly. Only about thirty minutes passed before the fire was completely out and the house was safe to go inside of. They allowed them to go inside and gather any valuables that were still recoverable. Luckily, only the kitchen and a little bit of the dining room was set ablaze. Thankfully, this meant that most of their valuables were safe and sound. Azuri's mother rushed into her bedroom to gather anything she might need. Azuri was stumbling through the kitchen when he spotted something on the dining room table. It appeared to be a note, written in the Old Drakith language. Azuri picked up the letter and started to read it to himself, thanking his mother for teaching him history.

Stars and behold, the first king emerges,

Welcome the king of Stellarians.

He sees you everywhere,

He knows where you are,

You can't hide anywhere.

Welcome the king of Stellarians,

His name is Boss Biss,

He will meet you very soon.

Azuri felt his entire body shudder at the note. Stellarians were getting a new king? That didn't sound right, it's pretty rare for a tribe to get a king. The only tribe that has ever had one, was the Fuegans. Wasn't that dragon a king? Or was he just a prince that had the power to do whatever he wanted? He had never asked his mother about this idea of queens and kings before, nor did he know what his mother would say about that. It did, however, spark Azuri's curiosity. He looked down the hallway for his mother before folding the note and hiding it. Now that he was eight years old and could leave, he wanted to see this king for himself. This time, he wanted to bring Uhrwerk with him... he just needed to find a way past his mother.

He slowly, cautiously walked down the hallway and past her bedroom. He glanced inside to see his mother crying as she picked up a family photo. He knew that photo from anywhere - It was Azuri, his mom, and dad standing together. The photo was taken when Azuri was still two years old. Not only that, but it was taken the month before Aphure left. Azuri knew how much that photo meant to her. It represented the times when it was a lot simpler for the three of them. Azuri knew that his mom knew that they deeply miss Aphure being around. The freaking queen had ruined their lives. Well, technically both her and my father did. Azuri couldn't find who was truly the one responsible for messing up his and his mom's life. Once he found them, Azuri was going to beat them up. He will stand up for his mother and fight them for messing everything up.

Azuri sighed sadly as he walked into his bedroom where the giant hole in the shape of Uhrwerk was marked into. Azuri feared that his mother was going to find it out, which meant he needed to go now before she caught him. He closed the door behind him and locked it before rushing out to the grass. He looked around desperately for Uhrwerk, but couldn't find any sign of him. "Uhrwerk? Where are you?" Suddenly, Uhrwerk emerged from behind the bushes with a few thorns in his fur. Azuri winced when he first noticed the thorns, but was relieved when he realized that they were harmless thorns. Uhrwerk walked over to him, looking around them for any sign of other dragons nearby. "Hey, I think we should go."

His expression turned to confusion and slight worry. He didn't say anything still, but Azuri could tell that he wanted to. He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it when he couldn't muster the strength to say the words. Azuri lifted out the note that he found and handed it over to Uhrwerk. "The guards said that somebody is trying to kill me and mom." When Uhrwerk took the note and read it, his face's expression shifted more and more worriedly. "However, I think this is because of something completely different. Possibly a message." Uhrwerk handed the note back, which Azuri hid beneath his wing. "I want to go see what it means, but I want you to come with me. Will you be okay with that?" Uhrwerk took a second to think, before finally nodding a little hesitantly, though his expression showed curiosity as well. "Alright, then let's sneak away from here and start heading to the Stellaris palace. If this note is serious, Boss Biss should be there.

Uhrwerk nodded as Azuri led the way away from the scene. When Azuri and Uhrwerk got to a good place to fly away without being seen, Azuri was the first one off the ground, flying upwards as high as he possibly could. Uhrwerk followed closely behind him, making Azuri feel comfort now that he had a new friend. He knew he was going to be in deep trouble when he came back, but this attack didn't appear to be related to Aphure. It seemed to be a message, possibly a calling to him personally. Azuri wanted to explore and find out what it meant. Whether it was a good idea or not was up to him to discover on his own. Or at least, not alone now. He glanced back at Uhrwerk and gave him a half smile. They continued to fly toward the north-east, toward the Stellaris palace. Where they will meet this Boss Biss, and see why he was targeting them, and if he really was a king.