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The last warning

Rino, the renowned emissary from Trongladia, had just arrived from a long journey to the centre of the continent. He was a grey-skinned middle-sized minotaur with short brown hair, whose job was keeping Daikron informed of the current state in Mitriaria. Quite worried he was since he had to break the news to the king. The situation was in a shambles. The rebellious species, working in large groups, had defeated most of the merciless northern hordes. The gryphons, along with their allies, had killed thousands of black dragons in a couple of years. The powerful legions from the north had fallen in battle, showing weakness and inferiority before their rivals. For the king of Korozina that was unacceptable.

Daikron, known to be one of the cruellest and bloodthirsty creatures in the world, was a huge anthropomorphic black dragon with red eyes and long horns. His gigantic bat wings had dark grey membranes, his claws looked like hooks, his hair was dark grey, the rings that covered the front part of his neck to his tail were ashen and his cold gaze intimidated anyone. He always wore a long black tunic embroidered with different symbols and a violet toga. Everyone in Mitriaria considered him a heinous sovereign.

Korozina was a vast realm that abutted on Lesentia, Tranquetobia, Exklavitiamia and Trongladia. Its sky, always dark, was covered with formless reddish clouds. Its extensive ground was rocky and dry. A mountain range surrounded the edges. There were monsters of different kind that roamed to and fro, day and night. The pathway that led to the enormous black castle was marked with pointed stones. Forty-nine towers with long bridges that connected one other made up the castle. The throne was on the tallest tower at the back. Monstrous gigantic horned crows, known as riphonts, guarded the towers.

Rino took off his suit of silver armour, wearing only a dirty beige tunic, and went straight to the last tower. He almost vomited when he witnessed a horrific scene of sacrifice. A dark-skinned little dragon called Dimus, one of Lord Degmon's descendants, was slicing a young feline who had been abducted, with a huge sharp serrated sword, shedding his blood all over the floor. It was a gory ritual the king loved undertaking. Once the creature bled to death, a group of priests, anthropomorphic grey-skinned dragons dressed in white, burnt incense and filled the room with its pong. The emissary approached his master and genuflected, he told him that he was pleased to see him again.

'My Lord, I'm afraid I have bad news for you.'

He told him everything that had befallen, emphasising the strategies used by the gryphons. The king realised that he had to take draconian measures if he wanted the whole continent to be under his dominion.

'Those bloody gryphons are always ruining everything. My legions were supposed to kill them all,' the king said a bit irritated with his hoarse voice.

'There's something more I have to tell you, sire...' Rino added.

He told him about Oncina, the rebellious red dragon who defended the enemies. He lived in the southern ghetto, protecting the infidels from the invaders. However, nobody knew what had happened previously. Oncina had lost his memory after a brutal clash with an unsung powerful upper-class gryphon called Deimarus. A group of travellers found him and took him to the south where natives treated him as one of their neighbours. He was convinced that he had to defend the creatures from the invaders, when in reality he was a member of the Red Army, another sanguinary slayer that obeyed Degmon's orders.

'Interesting!' the king pronounced. 'I want to meet him in person.'

'He's on the other side of the continent, he won't come here.'

'I shall let the rebels come to my realm. I would like to meet them before I kill them.'

'We can't take that risk, my Lord,' Rino insisted.

'My dear emissary, do not hesitate,' he stood up and spread his wings. 'My reign is eternal, but shan't my life be. If they are strong enough to kill my legions, they shall be worthy opponents.'

'Will you really let them come?'

'It shall be funny to see how they manage to come. However, I can't wait forever. I shall give them ten months to come here, starting from tomorrow. If by that time they don't come, I shall release the bakuras so that they clean the whole continent.'

The bakuras were enormous silvery fierce dragons that carried gigantic toxic bombs able to decimate Mitriaria, leaving all the villages uninhabited. As they were extremely tough, normal creatures were not able to rout them.

'What do I have to do, my Lord?'

'I'm going to write a letter you shall give them. I want them to know this is the last warning. If they want their freedom, they shall have to come for me. I can't permit the rebels keep hindering our mission.'

Daikron wrote a letter using the blood from the last sacrifice ritual and enjoined his emissary to return to the south. Rino, cagey about his feelings, left the room and hastened to take a riphont to travel by air. He had to travel throughout the continent to inform everyone about the warning.

Subsequent to that, the king asked Dimus to take charge of guiding the legions to the south. He needed to have the gryphons killed before they reached Zastria. They were strong enemies he could not underestimate.

'It'll be my pleasure slaughtering those gryphons with my own hands, your majesty,' the red-eyed little dragon said. 'But I think I'll need extra help.'

'Talk to Deyevoh, he shall be willing to go with you.'

'Okay then,' he said and went out.

Deyevoh was an anthropomorphic hybrid: half gryphon and half dragon. He was three-metre ninety-three tall. The feathers of his body were black, his eyes were red, his ears were as long as his horns, his claws were sharp, his beak was hooked, his arms were greyish, his wings had violet feathers and his scaly legs were black. He was one of the most powerful and unflappable warriors that spent most of the day alone. Besotted he was with corpses to the extent of feeling sexually attracted to them. In a distant small tower he lived, surrounded by a dark lake infested with piranhas and poisonous fish.