The Dragon King's Heart

After defeating the colossal water salamander, Dante made his way to Kinshearth as quickly as he could. Upon arriving, he headed straight for the palace, only to be stopped by Marius.

He pulled Dante into an alleyway.

"Your Majesty, there's something you should know," Marius said as he stopped Dante in his tracks.

"There's nothing more important than seeing Laina now. Everything else can wait," he swiftly replied before attempting to take another step further.

Marius grabbed him by the arm. Dante shot him a cold hard glare, one that would easily send chills down the spine of the most fearless warrior. But Marius was insistent.

He had received intel about what happened in Kinshearth during their absence. As his second in command, he did not want Dante going in blind.

"This is regarding the Crown Princess, your Majesty. I think you would want to know," Marius insisted.

Upon hearing that it was about Laina, Dante's expression softened a little. He removed his arm from Marius and folded them.

"Well, spit it out then. I don't have all day," Dante declared impatiently.

Marius knew he had to be ready for whatever Dante was about to do or say. He took in a deep breath and began to recount the intel he had received. He told Dante about the arrival of the King of Wolfenheim, and how he claimed Laina to be his mate.

Upon hearing that, Dante tightened his jaw and gripped his fists tightly. His knuckles turned white from the amount of strength he was exerting.

"He what?" He asked through gritted teeth.

From his gaze, Marius knew Dante was on the warpath. He was not about to let anyone take Laina from her. Remembering how he had missed Laina's calls, Dante's heart grew cold.

What if those were calls of help?

Dante punched the wall closest to him, he should not have left. He should not have gone away. How could he have made such a mistake? Seeing how agitated Dante was getting, Marius grew a little worried.

He could sense Dante's rising anger and the fury that came along with it. Marius quickly continued with the intel he had received. The intel they had was through word of mouth so it came with a few discrepancies.

But one thing was for certain, King Kragen presented 'concrete' evidence that Laina was his destined mate.

"What was Laina's response?"

Marius bit his lip, "The reports showed that she was mesmerized-"

Dante clenched his jaw as he punched the wall again as he spat, "I don't care about that. What was Laina's response? What did she say in response to the werewolf king?"

"She told him that she needed time to consider."

Dante nodded, heaving a sigh of relief. There were still many things that were unclear, but as long as Laina had not agreed to anything, Dante knew things were still alright.

But this was where things got interesting. Their intel showed that after Laina had sent off the werewolf King, she was hardly seen in court the next week. Based on their speculation, she might have gone out of Kinshearth.

-Where could she have gone?- Dante wondered.

"I want you to find out more information on where she could have gone," he ordered Marius.

Marius bowed, "As you wish, your Majesty."

Deep down in Dante's heart, he wanted nothing more than to embrace Laina in his arms. But with the new development that had just occurred, he wanted to play his cards right.

Turning up right now potentially would cause Laina more trouble. That could result in her rejecting him outright. Needless to say, that was something he wanted to avoid. Remembering their last conversation together, Dante hesitated.

The worry he heard in Laina's voice could not have been fabricated. She cared about him. For him, that was more than enough to prove that she loved him.

"What are you going to do now, Your Majesty?" Marius could not help but ask.

Dante remained silent for a while, before answering, "I'm going to watch her from the sidelines."

That night, Dante sneaked into Laina's balcony. He did not dare to get too close, sensing that she had difficulty sleeping. He stood behind the wall of the balcony, occasionally peering into the room to take a peek at her.

He was careful to use a cloaking spell, so even Kol could not detect him. Dante let out a sigh as he looked up at the night sky. The stars were twinkling, just like how they looked the night, they watched the fireworks together. Laina walked out into the balcony, startling Dante.

He remained as silent and as still as he could. When he realized Laina had not spotted him, he let out a sigh. He walked over and stood by Laina's side. He looked over to her.

He wanted to place his hand over hers. But he hesitated. Dante did not want to scare her.

"All I can think of is you."

Dante looked over to Laina. If he was questioning just how much Laina loved him before, he just got his answer.

-Same here, my love.-

Laina turned around and walked back into the room. He followed closely behind her, even as she walked out of the room. He was curious to see where she was going. Dante followed Laina as she walked into the garden and sat down in the pavilion.

He took a seat opposite her, watching her with a smile. Just then, a voice rang in his head.

-Your Majesty, I have gathered the information you required.- it was Marius.

Dante got up from his seat and walked out into the garden. Through telepathy, Marius informed Dante where Laina had gone in the past week. She had gone to Wolfenheim and visited the Temple of the Moon.

After that, she went to Adolfa, the capital city of Wolfenheim, and rescued an unknown woman.

"Laina, just what have you been doing?" Dante muttered to himself.

But it was at this point that it dawned on him. He had always wanted to be the one to protect Laina. He had forgotten something important. Laina was not weak, she can take care of herself.

When he turned back to look at the pavilion, he realized she was not there anymore. The smell of blood hit him. Dante followed his senses through the walkway. He came upon the room and noticed Laina was fighting off shadow wolves.

He wanted to step in to help. But he soon realized there was no need for him to do so. Laina already had everything under control. Seeing the shadow wolves helped Dante to piece the details together.

The royal members of each Kingdom and Nation often kept tabs on one another. Rumors, be it with evidence or not, often spread far and wide in their circles. He had heard that King Kragen kept his mate locked up in the dungeons.

Simply because she was human. Werewolves sometimes saw humans as weaker beings.

-Seems like this time around, the rumors are true.-

But when he looked over to the young woman who was about to be taken by the shadow wolves, he noticed something.

The young woman might not be human.

The next day, Dante followed Laina as she made her way to the Throne Room. He was beaming with pride, having seen how she dealt with everything so far. It had been difficult for him to choose to stand back and observe.

But he was happy to have made that decision. Dante took the form of a small dragon. He perched himself on one of the high beams near the ceiling in the throne room. Upon seeing the werewolf king, Dante remained as calm as he could be.

In his mind, he already imagined the three hundred ways he wanted to tear him apart. Seeing Laina's expressions, a smile appeared on his face. He knew deep down, Laina was having the same thoughts as he did.

Dante continued to listen in on the conversation they were having down below.

<Writing Prompt #13 - The ruler of the world is chosen by lottery>

[Are you ready?]

Those were the words that appeared on everyone's screen before them. On a regular Wednesday, the humans of Earth gasped in shock as a semi-transparent screen appeared before them.

Everyone had their own. It started off by stating that Earth has come under new management. In order for Earth to run more efficiently, a human will be selected to become its new ruler.

The newly appointed ruler would rule for 50 years. In those 50 years, their word will be law. They could implement any change they desired. They could rebuild all of civilization in their image.

[The selection will begin in 5 minutes]

Some people ignored this, thinking it could not be true. Others panicked thinking their brains had been hacked. Then there were those who simply went about their daily lives as per normal.

"Selene! The internet is blowing up! Everyone is wondering who could be chosen," Torin said to his friend.

He shoved his phone in her face. The brightly lit screen almost blinded her.

"How do you expect me to see anything when you brought it up so close?!" She exclaimed in annoyance.

Selene looked at the screen she could see through her eyes. It was a countdown timer. There was only 4 minutes left on the clock. As she looked around, she could see everyone else excitedly looking at their phones.

Was this just a prank? She wondered.

Letting any random person become the ruler of Earth's fate sounded like an apocalypse waiting to happen. What if the person selected became a dictator? What if the Earth plunged into chaos?

Selene shrugged, could it truly be that simple?

"I wonder if they are going to announce who won," Torin added as he scrolled through his phone looking at the posts people have been posting about it.

There were even people live-streaming their upcoming reaction to the situation. Some social media influencers even listed down what they would do if they were selected. Selene looked all around her.

[The selection begins in 1 minute]

"Hey," Torin nudged Selene's arm and asked, "What would you do if you were chosen?"

"What would I do?"

"Yeah!"

[The selection begins in 30 seconds]

"I guess I would… wish for all diseases to be cured."

Selene realised she could not hear Torin's reply. She could clearly see him mouthing the words he was trying to say, but he could not hear him. Just then, she realised the change in his expression.

He was shouting something at her. Why could she not hear him? Then it dawned on her. Selene turned back, her eyes widened in shock. Her feet were frozen to the ground. A car was speeding towards them.

Time seemingly slowed down.

Selene could not see the driver's face. She could only see the top of his head. His face pressed down on the steering wheel, the loud car horn blared. That was why she could not hear what Torin was saying.

As the car got closer, Selene felt a force pushing her away. Before she could react, she fell to the ground scraping her elbow. She winced in pain. But where was Torin. When Selene looked up, all that she could see was a blur.

[Congratulations! You are the lucky winner!]

The sound of a ping popped up in her head, followed by confetti. Selene did not care about what was happening.

"Torin… Torin!" she yelled as she crawled over to the site of the wreckage.

Selene did not feel lucky at all.