Draconia Offline vol. 2

85.3. The Enemy at the Gates - Part 3

I see little stars when I regain consciousness again. I hate the sensory symptoms a migraine often brings, it's so disorienting. However, I find out that I feel a tiny bit better. Liana did limit the number of people in my immediate vicinity which is a huge relief.

"Love, please, just a few gulps," Erik puts a glass to my lips. "At least to wet your throat, okay?"

I try drinking the water and this time I manage to let it slip to my stomach. My throat is very dry and I'm not dehydrated only thanks to Noage's hard work.

"What happened after I fainted?" I whisper.

"If you worry about the monsters, they were eradicated quite easily," Gotrid assures me. "Three heligorrs and two tripoderras got out, but the Osaka battle unit arrived just in time to help us. Thanks to your early warning, there were no casualties."

"You collapsing with a nosebleed caused much greater panic, though," Erik caresses my face tenderly. "The Celestials know that you tried to explore the alien dimension telepathically, but the world is left second-guessing."

"Let them second-guess then," I murmur, but I don't have the energy to even wave my hand. Everything takes a lot of effort, even thinking. I feel so weird.

"Love, your mana is leaking!" Gotrid warns me.

"So...?" I say indifferently. I feel so sluggish. I can't focus properly on anything. I can't seem to keep my mana contained, I have so much of it.

"Not good!" Gotrid starts to panic at this point, but he has no idea what to do.

"Hon, you have to stop it!" Erik kisses me urgently.

The guards hurry inside, feeling my immense mana going berserk. The atmosphere gets heavy with my magical energy and lighter objects start levitating. I'm dizzy. So dizzy.

"Noage, do something!" Gotrid implores the Earthborn healer. "Put him to sleep!"

I feel a sting in my left arm and the world goes dark.

*****

"It's extremely dangerous for a Celestial to suffer from a concussion," I hear Noage explaining to Liana whose presence I feel right next to me.

"How so? I thought our main weak spot is wings," Liana is confused.

"That's true, a mana circuit is connected directly to your wings, but it's your brain that controls mana channelling," Noage says. "While injuring your wings is very painful and heals slowly, a concussion can drive a Celestial out of control."

"Our Emperor is waking up," Erik informs everybody because he can feel my mind coming out of haziness.

I slowly open my eyes and find myself on Erik's lap, leaning against his chest. This time connecting to him doesn't hurt my brain, my father was right. His presence is comforting again. Despite lingering nausea and pain, I relax and melt into his embrace.

"I think it will be okay now, Noage, he's calm," Erik says to the Earthborn healer who's ready to apply another dose of a sleeping substance should my mana go berserk again.

"Love, how do you feel?" Gotrid hurries to snuggle to me as well.

"A bit better," I say weakly. "Did I damage anything?"

"Well, you did, but don't worry about it," he caresses my wings. "Is your head still spinning?"

"Not if I don't turn my head too suddenly," I say. "I feel so weird, though."

"That's a concussion in a nutshell," Noage summarises and slowly lets go of my arm.

"Your Majesty, do you feel strong enough to tell us what happened?" Liana sits closer, tense. "According to Gotrid, you were attacked by some kind of alien telepathic force."

"That sounds about right," I confirm. "When my mind got into the other dimension, I encountered a powerful presence. It was telepathic like me, but, at the same time, not like me at all. It attacked me immediately, but I managed to defend myself against it. Then it got curious and we talked."

"You actually talked?!" Liana opens her mouth. "What about? It speaks our language?"

"It doesn't speak our language," I set the record straight. "We talked through images and symbols. It's hard to explain if you're not a telepath."

"What does it want?" Gotrid asks and his hands caressing my feathers tremble.

"I don't know, the world dominance?" I sigh tiredly. "It sounds cliché, but I'm afraid that's exactly what it wants. I suspect that it reached supremacy in its home world and now it wants to conquer ours. Luckily, I discovered that its consciousness can't pass through dimensions the way I could."

"Oof, that's a huge relief," Liana calms down a bit. "Still, you did something extremely dangerous, Your Majesty. I'm afraid we can't let you repeat it."

"Trust me, I don't want to," I whine because another wave of throbbing pain runs through my temples. "At least not before I learn how to defend myself properly."

Cien enters the bedroom, bringing me a glass of protein banana smoothie. Erik and Gotrid are very patient with me, but I have to empty it whole. It takes me a few minutes and exhausts me completely. I had no idea that everything is so difficult with a concussion.

"If our Emperor comes from that dimension, it must mean that the inhabitants of that place are telepaths," Liana is thinking aloud.

"I was born here," I remind her and yawn. Drowsiness is overcoming me and I can barely fight incoming sleep. "Besides, four Draconian species are not telepaths, only my race is. And also, apparently that... thing."

"What do you mean?" everybody looks at me, confused.

It's becoming really hard for me to think clearly. What do they not understand?

"Love, what do you mean exactly by 'your race'?" Erik clutches my hand.

I feel like I can't avoid sleep for much longer. My head hurts too much, I feel so weak and information becomes a bit jumbled in my concussed head.

"The Divementis," I whisper and my eyes close.