I Received System to Become Dragonborn

Aurdis returned Erend's gaze with her eyes that were no less anxious. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent them off."

"Where are they now?" Erend asked. His voice began to tremble.

"The elves driving the carriage said they were ambushed in the Three Paths," Aurdis replied.

"Where's that?" Erend demanded.

Aurdis bit her lip. Her face was nervous and scared. "You should rest first. You've fought hard enough."

"Aurdis," Erend said. His voice was flat but Aurdis can feel his anger boiling. "Tell me where it is now. I don't have time to rest. You know that."

Aurdis saw Erend's cold eyes. Then at a glance, his eyes changed. His pupils were vertical-like beast eyes with a striking red and orange color.

Aurdis didn't know if Erend did that on purpose or if his feelings now made the Dragon's power come out just like that. But Aurdis felt the pressure for real. She couldn't refuse Erend's request.

"F-Follow me." With a trembling voice, Aurdis led Erend to a room.

The two of them seemed to agree to forget the existence of Saeldir who was sitting not far from them. Saeldir himself was shocked to hear what had happened.

'The humans were kidnapped?' Saeldir immediately thought about it. Why did it happen? Everything can't be a coincidence.

Because, how did the Daemon of Calamity know that the carriage carrying the humans would pass through the Three Paths?

The Three Paths were still within reach of the Elf Palace. That way the Daemons of Calamity wouldn't dare to be around that path. They most likely knew that the humans would pass there and prepare for the ambush.

But how can they know? That was the question that made Saeldir frown so deeply. Right now there was only one possibility that crossed his tired brain.

"(There is a traitor in the palace.)" Saeldir mumbled.

If that were true then it would be very dangerous.

Saeldir sighed wearily. Why have so many big problems just popped up lately? What would happen in the future was too scary to think about.

Saeldir turned to Erend and Aurdis disappeared. Up ahead there was a room for teleportation. They would go to the Three Paths.

~~~

Aurdis brought Erend into a room. The room was almost empty. Unless there's a platform in the middle of the room.

The platform was circular with a diameter of about five meters. Made of stone that seemed to protrude itself from the floor.

There was a symbol circling the platform. The symbols can be seen carved around the stone. As Aurdis and Erend approached, the Symbols gave off a bluish glow.

Auridis pulled Erend's hand up to the platform. As they climbed above it the blue light grew brighter. Aurdis closed his eyes while Erend waited beside her with a stern face.

The blue light enveloped them. A second later Erend and Aurdis had disappeared from the room.

~~~

They appeared with the same blue light. Erend looked around and saw forests and hills. Below them was a path that split into three sections ahead.

The path on the left leads to the depths of the rainforest which looks dark. The path in the middle continued straight until it descended to a part he couldn't see. While the path on the right leads to a high steep hill and covers what is behind it.

But that wasn't what Erend was paying attention to. His eyes stared at the carriage that had rolled over in front of him.

Erend immediately ran towards the carriage. Aurdis chased him from behind.

Erend looked at the condition of the carriage. The carriage had been badly damaged. Or rather almost destroyed.

The horses that pulled it were also dead in horrific conditions. The carriage driver lay not far from the corpses of the horses.

There was a large slash that seemed to almost cut his body in half. Aurdis immediately ran to check on the Elf's condition. But she only found the obvious. The Elf is dead.

Erend checked the carriage but he couldn't find anyone. What Aurdis said was real. Billy, Lt. Boartusk, and Elis have been kidnapped.

'BRAAAKKK!'

Erend kicked the carriage. Erend's kick sent the carriage flying and crashing down a few meters in front of him.

Erend's body started to emit hot steam again. Erend turned to Aurdis, then asked. "Where are the Daemons of Calamity located?"

Aurdis looked at Erend. "You won't be able to save them now."

Erend ran to Aurdis and grabbed both of her. shoulders, Aurdis felt the heat from his palm when Erend touched her. She also felt the heat coming from Erend's body.

"Tell me!" Erend demanded. His voice almost came out as a growl. He ground his teeth while saying that.

Aurdis swallowed her saliva. This Erend she saw in front of him looked different from the one she was used to seeing.

"They--'"

Before Aurdis could finish saying that, Erend fell and lost consciousness.

The white steam all over his body instantly disappeared.

Aurdis also fell to the ground. Her chest was pounding violently from the fear of what she saw in Erend earlier. But now she could breathe a sigh of relief that Erend had collapsed.

After being in that position for a while, Aurdis brought Erend back to the Elf palace.

~~~

Billy was the first to open his eyes. He spread his gaze in all directions and thought that he was now in a cave.

This place was dim because it was lit only by a few torches attached to the stone wall. The torches created a yellowish glow that allowed him to see a little of what was around him.

Lt. Boartusk and Elis lay not far from him. Billy saw that there were shackles around their necks, legs, and wrist. Just like what was on his own wrist, feet, and neck.

The shackles felt heavy and rusty. Billy also sensed that the shackles were wet and smelled bad. A mixture of rotting flesh and blood. Whoever has been tied to those shackles before, doesn't have a pretty ending.

"Hey, get up," Billy said to Elis, shrugging her shoulders.

The woman sighed and slowly opened her eyes.

"Lieutenant," then Billy turned to wake Lt. Boartusk. "Wake up, lieutenant."

Unlike Elis. Lt. Boartusk immediately opened his eyes and looked around.

"Where are we?" Lt. Boartusk asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the underground cavern belongs to the horned creatures," Billy said.

Hearing this, Elis immediately sit and looked at Billy with a frightened face.

"What will they do to us?" Elis asked in a trembling voice.

"How would I know?" Billy replied. "But the fact that we're still alive shows that they want something from us."

The three of them clearly remembered how the carriage that brought them was suddenly ambushed in the middle of the journey.

Brown-bodied creatures with horns of various shapes emerged from the bushes and trees. They couldn't even digest what was happening, let alone fight to defend themselves.

Suddenly they were unconscious. Then as soon as they realized, they were already in this dark cave.

"You're right. They must want something from us. Otherwise, we would be dead by now," Lt. Boartusk said.

Elis didn't hear it because she was already crying. Her tears flowed non-stop as she thought about it all.

She should not follow them and stay in her world. That way she wouldn't be involved in this mess.

Before this, the Elf Palace was attacked, and now she was kidnapped by monsters without knowing what would happen to her next.

Elis cried with her head down and without a sound. Her shoulders shook. She didn't even have the energy to vent her anger and frustration on them.

Billy and Lt. Boartusk of course felt bad for Elis. She was in this state because of them.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Billy said. "We'll get you out of here."

Elis didn't answer. She didn't even lift her head to look at Billy.

Lt. Boartusk looked at Billy and shook his head. Right now they wouldn't be able to do anything.

Billy sighed and looked down at the shackles that had caught his hand. Then he looked around. But Billy saw nothing he could see as a way out.

Suddenly the cave wall in front of them opened. The sudden light from outside made Billy and Lt. Boartusk narrow their eyes.

The shadows of two large, tall, horned creatures turned their backs on the light at the entrance. Then they stepped in.

Billy and Lt. Boartusk believed they were a creature called the Daemon of Calamity that they had heard of from Erend.

One of the slightly smaller Daemons of Calamity waved his hand at the larger Daemons. Then a dark blue light enveloped his body for a while.

"We'll talk for a bit, human," Baldeem said.

~~~