1 EMPEROR GERALD THE SECOND

Gerald soared through the skies hidden from view below by thick white clouds. Gerald was human and he was a dragon. Right now, as he flew, he was in his dragon form. His skin was an advantage to him; it was a thick virtually impenetrable epidermal layer. The scales on his skin were red colored metal like plates and they were arranged in an overlapping pattern that made it a beautiful wonder to behold. But where was Gerald heading? He was heading to aid his soldiers. His soldiers were fighting invaders who had camped fourteen kilometers to Gerald's kingdom. Gerald was the Emperor of the Camelot Empire. Gerald was currently living in 48 BC.

At the battle ground, the invaders, the Scandinavian Vikings were on a brutal rampage on their attackers, the Camelot army. The Camelot army brought the war to the Vikings' camp. The Camelot army was no match for the Vikings although they (the Camelot army) had advanced military technology. The Vikings were tall athletic brutes who had good combat body skills and great swordsmanship. The Vikings chased the Camelot soldiers and slaughtered any Camelot soldier who was unfortunate not to out run them. The Camelot soldiers fled for their lives as they lost confidence to come face to face with their foes. The Camelot soldiers fled from the grassy hills where the Vikings had camped to the valley beside the hill. As the Camelot soldiers descended from the hills they yelled "Where is the king?!" The Vikings had a flock of archers and they were employed. The Vikings' archers shot dead some of the Camelot soldiers as they fled down the hill. The Vikings were still in pursuit of the Camelot soldiers.

The hill where the Vikings camped had only one valley because the hill stretched for miles. At the valley, there was a river and a waterfall. The Camelot soldiers had gotten to the foot of the waterfall at the valley. The Camelot soldiers were out of range for the Viking's archers. The water current at the river was dangerous for anything to attempt crossing it. The Camelot soldiers had hit a dead end. The soldiers turned to look at the hill behind them. The Camelot soldiers saw a flock Vikings sprinting down from the hill to them.

"Brace yourselves men! Gather your might and your confidence! It looks we may end our lives in this situation! But I also want you all to know that the universe may be with us and we may win this battle although our confidence has been greatly diminished! Remember your loved ones back at the empire! If these brutes destroy us here they may end up conquering our empire and ruining our loved ones! Have this in your mind, let it be your motivation!" yelled Captain Rogers who was assigned the commander of thus Camelot battalion.

Captain Rogers yelled, "They will not get to Camelot! Never! Grip your sides! Gather your might! Charge!" He rallied his men and they went to challenge incoming Vikings.

The two sides were about to clash into each other. Few soldiers on the Camelot side stopped following the charge to visually witness what was happening in the sky. The sky had changed to radiant orange and then the Soldiers saw huge boulders of fire descending to land.

"It's the king!" yelled one of the Camelot soldiers who saw the incoming fire boulders.

The fire boulders descended on the incoming Vikings, It blew the Vikings to pieces.

A great shadow covered the slope toward the valley. It was the shadow of a dragon. It was the shadow of Emperor Gerald. The dragon continuously flapped its enormous wings to help it keep steady over the hill's slope. The dragon hovered for some seconds to settle the nerves of his men. The Camelot soldiers cheered on seeing the dragon in the sky. Gerald flew to the top of the hill. The Vikings' archers shot at Gerald but the arrows couldn't penetrate his skin. Instead, the arrows bounced off his scaly skin. Gerald used his fire breathe to lay waste to the Vikings camp and survivors left in the camp.

At the foot of the hill, the Camelot soldiers saw the huge thick black smoke which resulted from Gerald's adventure.

"That serves them right!" Captain Rogers thought out loud with a grin on his face. "You see men, I told you the universe was with us and it was indeed with us. Our enemies have been vanquished from our land!" Said Captain Rogers to his men and they cheered. "Let's go plunder!" Screamed Captain Rogers.

The Camelot soldiers excitedly ran up the hill. Some of them snatched up rings from severed Vikings hands which lay across the slope of the hill.

Emperor Gerald's full name was Lucas Gerald Anthony. He was Emperor Gerald the second of the Camelot empire. His father was Gerald the first. Gerald wasn't always a dragon. He could revert to his human form whenever he wanted. The dragon alter ego was inherited from his father after he (the father) died. Gerald went to cave where the dragon soul had escaped to after it left his late father's body. The dragon soul was a spirit but yet, it existed in the real physical word. Gerald managed to tame the dragon spirit before four days could go. If he hadn't, the dragon soul would have recovered to its fullest strength and go on a rampage on any settlement in Camelot. The dragon spirit would destroy one settlement daily until Camelot was destroyed.

The Dragon soul was a curse put on the people of Camelot by a witch for innocently hanging a prophet who had prophesized about the colonization of Camelot by the Land of Angles three thousand years ago. The prophecy came to pass. Since then Camelot had been ruled by the ancestors of Gerald and will now be ruled by the lineage of Gerald who were from the land of Angles.