25 Good morning, Blaze

"What?! Blaze was taken by Winter?" the Chief of the Lunargard Council asked in anger. Bon Banson was a retired warrior of Lunargard, active back when dragons have yet to emerge. And when it was finally crucial time slayers were needed to fight dragons, he grew obese, using his reputation to climb the faction ranks, despite having never even tasted the horrors of an expedition, let alone face an actual dragon in battle himself. Yet, he always acted high and mighty due to his outdated accomplishments he had accumulated far in the past, boasting about the age when there were no dragon-slayers, but warriors fighting for their faction's sake. But could a person who knew nothing about expeditions know how to lead dragon-slayers?

"Yes," Kingsley answered, his head bowed, "that's what I said, Chief." His eyes shook imperceptibly in uncertainty, questioning if he was doing the right thing by reporting all this. He knew well that Chief Banson would react this way, for he personally hated Blaze. Still, he felt compelled to include detail, everything but one thing.

'Winter, my brother…am I doing this right? How could you trust with such valuable information?' Kingsley's chest felt tight, feeling burdened to carry such knowledge. But despite being branded as a traitor, Winter remained his true ally and trusted him to do the right thing. Now it was in his hands to play things in his favor. He must not let others know…

"Inconceivable! Then that's all we need to know! Blaze is affiliated with the only suspect that can solve the mystery of Ember Tribe's demise. We need to capture them both alive as soon as possible! You must find leads by all means, Kingsley!" Bon Banson shouted, raging as usual. Perhaps that was why there were only a few strands of wilted hair remaining on his head. But Kingsley simply couldn't get used to it. The chief may have been a good warrior back in his days, but the past was in the past. Right now, they were in the present, and Bon Banson's narrow-minded thinking led by hate only made things worse.

If only Winter and Blake were here… But that was only his wishful thinking.

Frustrated, Kingsley openly objected the Chief's orders for the first time. Before, he would never dare, thinking that everything he had done was for the good of his faction. But after all that had happened, something changed. What was right and what was wrong, who he needed to follow…he wasn't even sure of himself anymore. "Chief, I told you already, Blaze saved me. She saved all of us. You can ask everyone, and they will only speak of her heroism. How can you treat her as a criminal too? I just lost my sister. Investigating Blaze will be too tough for me."

"You think I'm asking too much from you?" The chief stood up from his seat, massaging his big belly as he approached the commander of the tragic expedition. "Hah! Imagine thinking that you're the only one having a hard time. Do you even know how much stress I am suffering to keep our faction together? Hm, Kingsley Hastamvidé? The strongest tribe in our faction has already been wiped out. If you truly have a brain, think what would happen if the other three factions realize how vulnerable we are now. I lost relatives in that expedition too, boy, but I am still doing my job. So bring your complaints elsewhere and quit questioning my reasonable orders. Do you understand?" He leaned forward and tapped his shoulder, gripping it hard as a reminder as to who was the superior between the two of them.

"But-"

"There are no buts!" The chief cut him off before he could continue, ready to explode seeing how he was still being talked back to. "Since when did you become like this, Kingsley? Don't tell me…you're affiliated with them too? Oh, now I remember. You and your sister were the ones to insist on council positions for Winter and Blake. You have a pretty close relationship with Winter Ashkin, right? I'm actually being generous by giving you a chance, Kingsley. If I were you, I'd take it, otherwise, I'll have you rot in prison for the rest of your life. Now, do you understand?"

Bon Banson peered threateningly into the failed commander's eyes, placing both hands on his shoulders to add weight to his yet-to-be-healed wounds.

Kingsley flinched. "Y- yes, Chief. I understand. I will… I will carry out the task and investigate Colleen Valanar, Blaze's best friend. Every suspect will remain in prison until we can guarantee they are not affiliated with the traitor," he answered listlessly.

"Good. You can leave."

Helpless, Kingsley left the Chief's office, cursing the chief to death in his head. Was this the reason why Winter left without a word? He felt guilty and useless for in the end, he could do nothing but reluctantly follow the chief's orders.

~

"Blaze, where are you? Help me, the frost dragon is coming!"

Blaze heard Lizzy Estereon call for her from their home's little kitchen, dressed in her usual clothes with an apron on top.

"Mom?!"

As she turned towards the direction of her mother's voice, a crystal blue flashed before her eyes with a terrifying boom, followed by a sickening crack. The next thing she knew, a giant icicle had pierced through her mother's skull, pinning her to the ground as the house came crashing down on her twisted body.

"NO!!!! MOM!!!???"

She broke into a run, but before she could even get close to the ruins of her home, the village around her flickered away, and her surroundings changed.

...what?

"My lovely daughter…" In front of her stood her father, the Patriarch Batarak, the rest of the Estereon Family flanking his both sides. No, all of Ember Tribe were standing with him, glaring down at her with accusing eyes.

"Father!" Blaze collapsed onto her knees, biting down on her quivering lip as tears rolled down her face. "I'm sorry… I couldn't save mother."

"You couldn't save anyone!" he thundered, berating her in the presence of all their tribesmen. "I wanted you to live an easy life, but you chose to run wild and kill dragons! You and your brother overexerted yourselves for nothing! I had high expectations for both of you, but you only let us down! Dragon-slayers who couldn't slay the frost dragon and killed everyone! How useless!"

Every word felt like a painful stab in her chest, words that she regretfully could not refute. But before she could open her mouth and speak, massive icicles fell from the sky, killing everyone in a heartbeat. All…but her.

"NO!!!!" Blaze jolted up on the bed, waking up from her nightmare covered in sweat. Her heavy, panicked breaths slowed down as she came to realize that it was all a dream, it was not real… It was not real, but it felt so real. She was there, she was-

She whirled around the moment she realized she was not alone, staring at the man with her eyes wide.

Alistein smiled.

"Good morning, Blaze."