the princess & the beasts

disaster.

A few days passed - and life went on as normal. Almost too normal.

The captain was beginning to grow suspicious; no monsters had caused any issues in a while. The serpent that was messing with the sewers a week ago was now absent, and the enraged feline spirit that was guarding the churches on the other side of the city had left. 'How odd -' he thought, scratching at his neck, 'usually they have to be killed, or run off back to the woods by the militia. What has changed?'

Alas, the young man had no time to ponder the possibilities - a close friend was being knighted today, by none other than the Queen herself.

It had only taken a few hours for the ceremony to finally begin - and so, the squire, dressed in white, began to swear his oath before the Queen and her daughter. Then came the time for the older woman to wield the sword that would rest upon his shoulder, officially promoting him to knight.

Meanwhile, her daughter ignored the ceremony, instead staring blankly, bored, into the middle distance; daydreaming about what her life could have been, had she been born of peasant blood - or perhaps as a fox dashing through the forest -

CRASH.

The Queen froze, as did her daughter, who startled from her daydream.

"...Guards," the woman muttered. There was a brief, quiet cacophony of various knights drawing their weapons, brushing against dense armor.

crRACK.

The wooden doors strained heavily against the weight of something large, and more importantly, of something angry.

Faris rose from his place, drawing his sword and taking up a defensive stance. Vie began to slowly get up from her throne, eyes wide in anticipation.

All hell broke loose when that hideous, horned being burst through the palace doors, baring rows of shiny black teeth, reptilian scales rattling all at once - roaring straight in the face of the cavalry captain. And all at once, the knights rushed, chaos ensuing, all screaming various war cries - the drake essentially barreling through the military with an earth-rattling growl, with the captain and a few others barely dodging.

It only became clear that the draconic demon had brought reinforcements when windows began to shatter and beams began to crack and break under the weight of dozens of spirits hiding above.

'Now's my chance!'