Empire of Blood

Chapter 1: Dragonfire and Steel

Seventeen-year-old Selena Liongod and Rahim Branwen were intensely locked in a life or death struggle. The two glared at each other through the blazing sun, ignoring Dragonstone Estate's trickling water fountain beside them, occasionally splashing on their cheeks; she feared Rahim would make his move that may end it all.

He squinted at the sun and closed his eyes. "This will be your end."

A sneer played upon Selena's lips as she did her best to anticipate what her opponent would do next. "We will see about that."

Rahim breathed deeply, and his eyes fluttered open. He raised a hand and, with great care, picked up his piece on the chessboard sitting neatly on the ground between them. The two had been locked in a timeless battle over strategy; it was the third round, with Selena winning every game. However, Rahim was not giving up; it would be different this time.

Through his smug grin, he slowly set his bishop down on the square that would take Selena's king. "Check."

Selena stretched, feeling more relaxed. She reached for her queen, ticking off all the ways she could win in the best way possible. As she was about to make her move, Rahim pointed above her head. "Look over there."

Selena huffed, as she had come to suspect and expect he would try to manipulate their game. "Why?"

"Just because—look over there."

"Rahim, if I do, you're either going to switch the pieces, or you're going to flip the board over and blame either Thor or Silver when they're not even here."

"No, I won't. I promise, now look over there." Rahim stretched his arm further, shaking his finger. Giving up, Selena sighed and ruefully looked in the direction he mentioned. Rahim then grabbed the chessboard set and tossed it over, scattering the pieces and ruining their game.

Selena groaned and dropped her queen when Rahim pretended to act shocked and surprised. "Oh no, look at what Thor did: he must have knocked it over with his tail. Oh, well." Rahim casually stood up and dusted off his wrinkled light amber shirt and black trousers.

"Thor isn't even here," Selena repeated, although it was her fault for letting Rahim distract her.

He looked up at the sky, thinking of another excuse. "Hmm. Well, it must have been an earthquake—a huge one."

"You don't take losing very well."

"Not true; I let you win the first two games."

She nudged his shoulder. "Admit it."

"You're supposed to let me win. It was my sixteenth birthday, remember?" Rahim made a disgusted face, and the two picked up their mess. His birthday was about two months after the Battle of Alfheim—and two months following Selena's birthdate—on the sixteenth of Arelion, but it was now the eighteenth; Rahim groaned when Selena reminded him that it had already passed.

Selena said, "I also seem to recall that Silver threw you a party as he did for me. Cakes are expensive and are served only to royalty." Silver was a famous scholar known as Genesis Altessa, a sixteen-thousand-year-old shapeshifting demigod who served the imperial family and was a captain in Her Imperial Majesty's Air Force. Upon their initial meeting, he helped Selena and her friends arrive safely in Alfheim.

"But as the Divine Crown Princess, I'm sure you can pull some strings." The two laughed at Selena's recently discovered identity. The strange mark etched into her left palm was the imperial family insignia, which wasn't well known outside Alfheim, marking her Silver's first and only success to resurrect the dead without necromancy.

Selena was originally the stillborn child of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Aryl Aurora, but was revived through Silver's project: the Well of Souls. Considered dragon-born, the only way for this design to work was for her to be re-born from a Divinity Dragon: a species that could wield many abilities others could not. As elemental masters, Divinity Dragons were created by the Divines to maintain peace and banish evil from their realm; even the old guardians from the Mythic Flight feared and respected their power.