Damien hated oceans and it wasn't without reason.

  More than one unfortunate experience had built in a deep reservoir of caution when it came to extremely large bodies of water. Putting aside the fact that he was close to powerless if he was taken into the ocean, the mere existence of creatures— horrors, beneath the oceans, monsters and beasts so strange and unfamiliar that the last time some of them had been seen before any recorded history, made his caution turn into growing fear.

  Today, however, cold blue waters were calm and peaceful, and so Damien took the time to bask in the smooth cool wind that caressed his skin and the ocean smell that snuck through his nostrils as he flew above it.

  His brother flew beside him, smoothing out the wind further to hasten their passage. To be honest, Damien didn't want to move any faster, he wanted to smell the sea and feel this sort of calm wind some more, but business called.

  It had been a few days after his meeting with his allies—Emissaries, but he hated using that word—and Damien had spent the following days watching and preparing as tension born from the likely possibility of the Empire's response spread across the continent.

  Admittedly, it had been partially his fault, as he'd been the one who'd engaged and drawn their ire—the Empire had even taken advantage of this by spreading rumors and smear campaigns against him, calling him a bully and all other names that he hadn't bothered to keep track of—but the ones who were actually afraid were those who hadn't been involved at all in what that had taken place.

  In response to the smear campaigns and lies against him, Damien had brought forth the survivors of the desert city; the men, women, and children who had lost family members to an unprovoked attack from the Empire.

  They had gone quiet ever since.

  He and Keilan had departed from Cirin a few hours ago, having finished another round of meetings and strategy planning against the Empire's coming retaliation. And Damien was trying not to boast, but it wasn't hard to predict what their response would be; a single act of aggression that would preserve their dominance by reaping an unforgettable heavy toll on the guilty offenders. It was also another way to send a warning to the other Kingdoms who were beginning to see the Empire's long hibernation as a sign of weakness.

  For unspecified reasons only known to him and Keilan, he had left further preparations to his ruler allies and began his journey to the Winterlands.

  They couldn't teleport the whole distance in a single go, but a series of jumps could have had them on the continent within a few hours. Damien had instead elected to fly the whole way to their destination.

  Sure, it was time wasting and unsafe, given the type of creatures this ocean was known for, but it was more safer than draining themselves of essence by teleporting over an entire ocean, leaving themselves dried and open to an ambush that was most likely going to happen.

  Extending north of the coast of Greensend was the vast body of water known as the Dragon Ocean. Now, hearing its name, one would have expected it to be filled with actual dragons—Damien had fallen for the same misconception during his first travel—but no, the reason for the name, as he'd learned, was because it had been named by its inhabitants, which would have brought no judgment from him.

  But given that those inhabitants weren't dragons at all—a far cry, in fact—Damien decided he was in the right to judge.

  As they flew, he caught sight of many creatures coasting on their merry way beneath the ocean's surface—from edible fishes captured and sold by some of the daring fishermen the world had ever known—in his opinion— to predators that lay and waited in ambush for their prey to swim by them.

  Ironically, he, more than once, came across the corpses of a large predator, many of whom had a huge chunk of their mass missing—Damien knew what hunted them—while swarms of tiny fishes, the same ones that those predators would have hunted had they been alive, feasted their merry way into their meaty insides.

  The cycle continues.

  Ra was not only a world ruled by humanoid creatures—other creatures also had their own territories, which was why he wasn't surprised at all to come across one of those species.

  What actually surprised him, however, was the mode of encounter.

  The ocean darkened, darkness growing from a small circle to a hole that could swallow them whole, and then a great large maw burst out of the water beneath them, intent clearly on shoving them both into it in one single gulp.

  Greedy bastard.

  He and Keilan swerved aside, dodging the widening bowl with ease. They came to a stop a short distance away and turned to face the predator that was foolish enough to consider them prey.

  Blue-white pearlescent scales adorned a long, sinuous body that stretched more than a hundred feet in length. The creature had a long line of spiked leathery fins that ran down its entire back, ending at a short junction just before the tail flapper that looked more like a tool for leveling things than for propelling.

  The creature also had fins underneath its belly, but those were unremarkable compared to the ones over its spine.

  Its facial features, contrary to its origin, looked more serpentine than fishy. It had a snake face, with two spiky curved horns jutting just above its mouth, a few inches before its menacing slitted eyes that gaze down on them.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  What made the whole thing overly weird were the two pairs of feet—more like flippers with extending, wicked, sharp claws—that protruded from its upper and lower body.

  "I would think, given your potential for sapience, that a Sea Serpent would be wise enough not to attack two Spirit lords," Keilan said, leaning forward and squinting his eyes. "It's not even a Spirit lord, Dame."

  The creature observed them as they did to it, slitted eyes moving from Damien to Keilan.

  "What's a whelp doing this far out of its nest?" Damien said at last.

  The serpent raised its head, seemingly so it could look down at them domineeringly. And despite its serpentine features, it still managed to convey the very same sense of superiority it was aiming for.

  "You are in the presence of Prince Renothot, third son of Regonoth, King of Dragon Nest Ren, and I demand your reason for running away from my mouth," It said, voice echoing out in a slithering whisper. Damien felt an irritable shiver run down his spine from hearing that voice.

  Sea serpents were the uncontested rulers of the Dragon Ocean, self-proclaimed dragons, and masters of the ocean.

  Honestly, the only reason Damien thought they hadn't been wiped out yet was because of how numerous they were. Their society was formed around nests, with each nest ruled by a sole ruler—a King.

  The Dragon Ocean was filled with possibly hundreds of those nests.

  Moreso, of all the races on the planet, the Sea Serpents were the ones with the largest number of Spirit lords, a claim that was undisputed even to this day.

  ... That was probably the reason they hadn't been wiped out yet.

  They claimed Dragon blood— a claim Damien highly disagreed with. Diluted, if he was going to be generous—and through that declared Dominion over the ocean by right of their lineage.

  In order to avoid a one-sided conflict, considering they had the powers to drown entire cities in water if riled up, land nations had proffered non-aggression pacts with them, and a tribute that allowed sea ships to cross safely.

  Those who couldn't pay up either had to take an extra one-month journey, going over a different ocean, if they wanted to cross over to Winterland or the Redlands, but no one ever went to the latter.

  Damien had only come across a sea serpent once, and that had been a Spirit lord that had been banished from her nest for reasons he didn't bother to learn.

  Her scales had made for a great armor, though, he smiled wistfully.

  "I'm pretty sure you're a serpent. You don't look like a dragon to me," Keilan commented dryly.

  Damien regarded the creature, more like a child, seeing as Sea Serpents weren't considered mature until Spirit lord.

  "Go back to your nest, young one, you're no match for us," he said calmly.

  It wasn't that he was scared of the little creature—far from it. Damien simply didn't want an army chasing after him simply for killing their prince, that's if it was telling the truth.

  The beast did not take his de-escalation calmly, and Damien was reminded once again why he was terrible at diplomacy.

  "You dare tell me what to do?!" It hissed, bearing great, fangs at him. And seemingly as an added tactic or whatever, it let loose its aura, a futile attempt at intimidation.

  Keilan burst out into laughter, one hand holding his belly while the other pointed shaking fingers at the stunned beast.

  Damien waited calmly, forcing a stoic expression, while Keilan laughed his guts out. When he was done, his brother's expression changed, mirth shifting instantly into amused ridicule.

  His aura burst out a moment later, thankfully not spread wide as they normally did. His brother understood that they didn't want to kill the creature, so his aura was toned down, yet pinpointed so directly that Damien imagined it must have struck the creature like a sharp blade.

  Instantly, it retracted its aura, like a little bird fleeing a brewing thunderstorm. Its eyes widened and without wasting time, it dived back into the ocean, likely returning to where it had come from.

  "You think it's gonna stay away?" Keilan asked.

  "Nope," he replied.

  Sea Serpents were proud and were also known for protecting that pride with violence if need be, just like everybody else. This creature was just like those on the surface, and it would return to demand recompense.

  Damien hoped he wasn't around when it did.

  They continued on their journey. Damien went back to admiring the sea and feeling the winds, while Keilan laughed and giggled with childlike wonder as he was finally allowed to play with the wind.

  Their moment of peace lasted all of an hour and a half before they suddenly sensed it.

  An aura blasted out of the ocean, spreading out for likely more than a mile. Every aura had a unique taste, and this one felt truly domineering, like they were meeting an actual superior creature. It urged them to debase themselves, to kneel and plead for forgiveness.

  Damien ruthlessly crushed that feeling as soon as he sensed it. Now he was greatly annoyed.

  He and Keilan came to a stop, waiting patiently as a group of smaller auras also accompanied what was most likely a Spirit lord—Monarch realms.

  They came to a stop a mile away, and the leading creature, which was more than twice the size of its cronies, slithered forward, somehow managing to slither in the air.

  Its scales were just like those of Renothot, pearlescent, except these were larger and had a deeper shade than the prince's.

  It had four horns, rather than two, and its head was more blocky than the others.

  Preceding it was the unmistakable aura of a Spirit King, a mid-tier in fact, that sought to subjugate them, pressing down on them like a thick blanket.

  "Keep doing that and I assure you that you won't be leaving here in one piece," Damien said irritably.

  Its aura reduced and one of the Monarch realm serpents slithered forth. "You are in the presence of Prince Renogoth, Second son of Regonoth, King of the dragon nest Ren," it looked at them with a gleam in its slitted eyes. "And brother to Prince Renothot," it gestured with its snout at the little dragon hovering beside its larger sibling.

  It raised its head as Damien turned to it. He turned back to the Spirit lord.

  "Why have you barred our passage? We have no quarrel with you."

  He expected it to use its spokesperson, but thankfully that was not so. "My sibling has informed me of a pair of aggressive humans, Spirit lords, I see now. He approached you peacefully and you were rude and threatening."

  "If by peaceful, do you mean ambushing and trying to eat us?" Keilan said. "Or did your brother fail to mention that?"

  The dragon did not respond immediately. It glanced at its little sibling before turning back to them. "Nevertheless, that does not excuse your rudeness. You are food, and if Renothot here wants to eat you, then it is only to your fulfillment that you satisfy his wishes, as is your role."

  "Excuse me," Keilan said, a dangerous tone creeping into his voice. "Please tell me I'm hearing wrong. Dame, look into my ear and pull out the earwax that must be blocking my hearing."

  Damien pushed aside his brother's face as he narrowed his eyes at the creature. "You must be joking. This is ridiculous, more so coming from me."

  "You heard me correctly. Do not let me repeat myself. You will submit yourselves as food to my sibling."

  Welp, Damien sighed. Never let it be said that he didn't try.

  ?COMMENT?

  REVIEW?

  ?FOLLOW?