全城危机

It was already dark, but both Alexander and Aleyria could still see very clearly. Alexander's senses were strengthened by the Silver Warlord power, while Aleyria had simply casted a light spell on her own eyes which enhanced her sense of sight.

Both saw Dubaza's return and took in sharp breaths at the same time.

Five hundred monstrously large Wyverns were flying silently in formation with an extraordinarily large, bright-red Wyvern in the lead. Giant wings were spread out and flapped lazily in tandem, blotting out the moon and stars from view. It was a fearsome yet awe-inspiring sight, to say the least.

Alexander's lips curled into a wide smile. The old fart had succeeded!

The five hundred Wyverns landed in the grasslands not far from the Royal Palace where they obediently waited. Two Wyverns, one red and one white, peeled away from the crowd and landed in the courtyard where Alexander and Aleyria were.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Dubaza and his squad bowed deeply.

"Well done old man! You actually did it, and in such a short time too! I am extremely impressed." Alexander nodded approvingly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Liz'An and her Wyvern rendered the most merits for this mission. I was just lucky enough to be able to tame this Wyvern and get him to sign a Subordinate Beast Contract with me." Dubaza replied smoothly.

"Both of you will be duly rewarded for a job well done." Alexander promised.

"Where is Liz'An, and the two other girls for that matter?" Aleyria asked.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Liz'An, the two girls and the rest of the King's Guard stayed back to oversee the bullyi-, ah, taming of the other Wyverns. These five hundred 4th Generation Wyverns were the strongest of the whole bunch which I had bu- ah, trained, and I've brought them back to create and begin the training of our first Wyvern Battalion."

"Excellent. Very well done indeed!" Alexander was in great spirits at the thought of having his first Wyvern Battalion soon, and he unloaded praise generously on Dubaza.

Dubaza made a small motion with his hand and a beautiful, glistening white Wyvern stepped forward. "This is the only Ice-type 4th Generation Wyvern in the entire Forest of Elgar, and I've brought her here as a gift to you, Your Majesty."

Alexander stared at the Wyvern as his heart gave a tiny jolt.

"Just a tiny bit." Flamewing announced firmly. "Very tiny, mostly because of the colour."

"You feel it too?" Alexander asked internally with a smile.

"Less than tiny. Definitely just because of the colour." Flamewing repeated sulkily.

"Definitely not a tiny bit. She resembles you, a lot!" Alexander replied just as firmly. "Do you have a…"

"NO! I DO NOT!" Flamewing roared very hotly. "I AM TOO YOUNG FOR MARRIAGE!"

"Sister? I meant to say sister. Hey, why are you so touchy regarding this?" Alexander laughed.

Flamewing snorted and remained silent.

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you. Take it easy. I do not want to sign a Beast Contract with this Wyvern, so show your aura a little bit and make this Wyvern obey me."

"Why won't you sign a Beast Contract with her?" Flamewing couldn't help but ask even though she was still sulking slightly.

"Of course I won't. I'll only sign one contract in this life and that's with you." Alexander replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact way.

"Who-who said I want to sign a contract with you?? Stop making assumptions!" Flamewing stuttered slightly as she quickly replied. But she did unleash her aura as Alexander had requested.

"Thank you, Dubaza. She's a beautiful gift." Alexander smiled appreciatively. He stretched out his hand and beckoned the Wyvern to approach. It obeyed instantly.

Dubaza raised his eyebrows slightly at that, but remained silent. That, and the fact that his own Wyvern was quaking in fear and absolute reverence towards Alexander at this very moment, had shaken him a little. Just a little, though. Nothing his seasoned and veteran mind couldn't process and accept almost instantly.

Very mysterious indeed. Dubaza's brain whirred at high speed, going through many different types of animals as he began to reclassify Alexander once more. He realized that he had been doing this a lot these past few days.

After waking up from his coma, his King had never failed to surprise him again and again, causing him much angst as he had to revise his opinion of his King again and again as well.

Dubaza pondered upon the power that this young man was currently exuding, including the power that somehow made the Wyverns fear and obey him so much. He realized that needed something exotic, full of mystery and brimming with power, but also cunning and sneaky. Serpentine and sneaky like a snake, but much more powerful.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he observed Alexander leap atop the almost-twenty meter tall Wyvern without effort. His mind shook a little bit more, but it was still not something that would cause him to be overly surprised. Surprising, definitely so. Shocking? No. But it was very mysterious indeed.

However, in the next moment, Dubaza almost lost all control. He viciously fought down a startled gasp when he saw Alexander point at Aleyria and forcefully teleported her to sit in front of him.

"Hey wha- Ahhh!!" Aleyria squealed as the Wyvern burst out with great strength and took to the skies.

Dubaza gazed dumbfoundedly as Alexander brought Aleyria to the skies and began to fly around the city. Since when could King Aloxandros cast Space Magic? And one that could be targeted at another person? And for it to be cast so casually and almost instantly… How high was his affinity with Space? And how high was his arcane power? Wasn't he a black robe? What happened??

The deluge of questions came instantly and shook him up pretty badly. He held on, barely, but he did hold on. Only a slight twitch of his facial muscle escaped his control. Dubaza breathed in deeply. His mind calmed down and finally accepted the fact that his King had powered up dramatically. How he did that was of no consequence.

Dubaza nodded in approval. His King had done very well indeed. Very competent, very efficient and very powerful. He briefly considered reassigning the Demon Tiger back to him. But he quickly discarded the thought.

His King was way above the class of a Demon Tiger now. He needed something more powerful, more… Majestic.

He squinted his eyes and looked at Alexander and Aleyria who seemed to be having a lot of fun up in the air.

They flew slowly at first, as if getting used to the sensation of being in the air, before rapidly picking up speed and finally doing wild acrobatics in the air with the occasional scream and burst of laughter from Aleyria.

The final blow of the night to his psyche came from a very unexpected angle.

But it was hardly a blow.. A great shocker, yes, but one that brought waves of warmth and joy to his old, grizzled, veteran heart.

"Well done, Your Majesty." Dubaza whispered as he let go of all control and allowed his face to burst into a wide smile.

*-*-*-*-*

Alexander screamed out alongside Aleyria in exhilaration as he sent the Wyvern into a vertical dive from way above the clouds. Their eyes were open wide and their hearts were thumping madly as they beheld the ground coming up much, much faster than they would have liked.

In their excitement, they didn't notice that Alexander was hugging Aleyria really tightly from the back.

"KYAAAAA!!" Screamed Aleyria in her girlish voice.

"GYAAAAA!!" Screamed Alexander in a slightly manlier voice.

Their screams quickly turned into laughter as the Wyvern pulled up from its dive mere meters from the ground.

"That was crazy! Let's do it again!" Alexander shouted with a laugh.

Aleyria was about to agree when she finally awoke to the fact that she was very comfortably leaning back in Alexander's embrace. No wonder everything felt so right. She blushed deeply and remained silent even as Alexander led the Wyvern to fly higher, much higher than their previous dive.

After overcoming his fear of flying (mostly due to the fact that he could easily save himself anytime), Alexander had become rather addicted to the feeling.

"KYAAAAA!!"

"GYAAAAA!!"

They screamed wildly in unison as the Wyvern pushed itself into a high-speed vertical dive. Once again, their screams turned into laughter as the Wyvern pulled up mere centimeters above the ground this time.

Their faces were full of smiles as they breathed in deeply to catch their breaths.

"That was fun." Alexander grinned.

"Hmmm." Aleyria responded with a smile.

After a few moments in comfortable silence, Alexander suddenly realized that he had Aleyria in his embrace. She was leaning back fully against him. His left arm was hugging her tightly and his right arm was grabbing onto one of the sharp spikes that jutted out from the Wyvern's back.

With a start, Alexander found that he could smell Aleyria's alluring fragrance. Her body was warm, yet she was trembling slightly.

"Aleyria…" Alexander shifted his body slightly, allowing Aleyria to lean back on his left arm. He leaned to his right and created some space between them so he could look at her.

But before he could say anything more, Aleyria suddenly turned around.

In one fluid motion, she lifted both hands to hold his cheeks and leaned forward. Then she closed her eyes and kissed him deeply.