Chapter 1: The Wandering Dragon
The huge red truck that cruised loudly and nosily through the quiet forest had no idea that it was being intercepted. The lone driver sitting up in the huge cab section of the enormous vehicle couldn't possibly have guessed for a minute that he was going to receive a visitor. He was now and it wasn't the kind of visitor he'd be happy to receive. It was more of the unwelcome guest variety of visitor. That visitor was following the truck right now, moving at speeds that defied all belief. The truck wasn't moving slowly in the slightest and yet the purple-skinned dragon girl that was following it was keeping up with very little effort as if the huge, heavy, six-wheeled vehicle was barely moving. The truck had a large cab section with a bed built behind the seats for the driver to rest on long journeys. It also had a nose section and a bumper with spikes on for no real reason other than to give the vehicle a slightly menacing appearance. The truck was also heavily armoured but that didn't seem to bother its pursuer. The little dragon girl kept chasing after it as if uncaring about the kind of thing it was up against.
The dragon girl was no ordinary dragon though. She was a very special kind of dragon, a water dragon with great martial arts skills and abilities and a fierce determination. She had saved the world from an alien world conqueror twice and had lived to tell about it. The dragon…was Sash Lilac.
It had been a whole, long, agonizing week since the poor heroine had been wrongfully exiled for things that were not her fault. It still burned in the back of Lilac's mind like a fire wanting to consume her very soul piece by piece. She wondered if the fire would still burn after her soul had been destroyed. Three weeks ago, she had fallen victim to a terrible plan executed by her two worst enemies, Lord Arktivus Brevon and Natalya the Lead Scarf. They had teamed up to traumatize her and make her snap so that the evil ancient relic, the Dark Stone, would corrupt her and make her a monster. It had worked too and although Lilac had been stopped by her friends, the damage had already been done. She had destroyed part of Shang Mu in her destructive rage as a Dark Stone Dragon but more than just Shang Mu had been damaged that day. Her reputation had too. People had started becoming afraid of her and wondering if she would attack them again. It wasn't helping how an old man named Timothy James Junipero Hamilton Franklin Turtle had started accusing her of being evil and plotting something. Two weeks she had suffered from this case of paranoia and distrust. Then the axe had finally fallen when some mysterious person had sprayed her with energy from the Dark Stone itself. She had turned evil, taken over Shang Tu and made horrific demands and made horrible threats. Her reputation was gone forever, never to be repaired by the damages that had been done. Although The Royal Magister of Shang Tu had rightfully believed Lilac was innocent, he had had no choice but to punish Lilac for the crimes she had unwillingly committed. And now here she was, living a life in exile and never to be in civilization again.
It had been a horrible experience for Lilac. Every day she felt an overwhelming sense of despair and loneliness that would drive anybody insane. But not her. She was too upset and depressed to even go mad from the loneliness. Every day of the week she had spent traversing the world like a leaf on a breeze. She had nowhere to go and nowhere to live. She was a vagabond, walking wherever the wind had taken her. She deeply missed her best friends Carol the Wildcat and Milla the Hound. Thinking about the two made her want to cry. How upset must they be feeling without her in their lives? They would hardly be their usual cheerful selves that much was certain. Lilac herself hadn't smiled since her time in exile. She'd constantly roamed around with a straight, grim or sullen face. Anybody who saw her would just assume she was some miserable, homeless kid who thought life wasn't far. In a way, that was what Lilac was. She spent most of the past week loathing the people of Avalice, angered at them for not believing her despite the good she had done for the world. She was sure that she now hated them. How could they have been so ungrateful?! She was the reason that the world wasn't wasting away from no energy and the reason Lord Brevon hadn't torn the world apart with the Dark Stone! She had even saved Christmas for heaven's sake! And she was repaid by people believing the obviously staged evidence and fake claims made against her and thinking she was evil? To hell with them! Those wretched people deserved to burn in hell for their ingratitude! If they ever wanted their lives saving again, they could forget it. She wasn't going to risk her life for them again.
It was precisely this mind-set as to why Lilac was now chasing the red truck that was carrying supplies to Shang Mu. The dragon would have recognized Shang Mu's delivery trucks from a mile away thanks to their heavily armoured design and red colours. Lilac had decided to make a living off of any supplies that the three kingdoms of Avalice required. They deserved to have their supplies stolen away for daring to believe she was a traitor and unfairly exiling her. She'd spent the worst week of her life in the wilderness because of them and they deserved to be punished for it. The truck Lilac was chasing was carrying food supplies for the Shang Mu shopping mall. Zao's Shopping Paradise was the biggest shopping mall in the red-coloured kingdom and Lilac felt happy to be robbing it. Zao had dared to think she used the Dark Stone on purpose and in a way, had been the cause of the seeds of doubt being sown in the kingdoms. If anybody deserved to lose their supplies, it was him. Lilac had known it was carrying food from the smell that had drifted into her nostrils as the truck had cruised by. And now she was after it. She'd raided a truck heading for Shang Tu on her first day in exile and had gotten through the supply of food that the crate had contained. Now she needed more food and it was there for her in the back of the red truck's enormous trailer. Lilac had promised herself to only steal ONE crate each time a truck went by. Stealing too many would arouse suspicions and Lilac would rather not get into more trouble than what she was already in.
The dragon ran on until finally grabbing hold of the handle that sealed the truck's trailer shut. Lilac hauled herself onto the trailer's bumper and pulled the lever up. The lever made a loud creaking noise as it was pulled up. The trailer door shut up, whisking Lilac up off her feet as she held on. The driver didn't stop or slow down, clearly not knowing what was going on in the back of the trailer. The dragon dropped down into the trailer, seeing a huge supply of steel crates all neatly stacked up. There were hundreds of them, enough to keep the shopping mall well supplied for weeks on end. The lovely smell of frozen food tickled her nose. There were many different foods in here from fish to burgers and even pizza and lots of Chinese and Japanese food. She even smelt sushi in one of the boxes. Lilac reached for the crate that smelt of sushi and vegetables and grabbed it. She hauled it towards the edge of the speeding truck, ready to throw it off and onto the grass. She then had a devious thought in her mind. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she stole TWO crates instead of one in this case? Zao deserved to lose more than one crate after all. It was the perfect way to spite the egotistical panda for doubting her. Lilac decided that she would indeed do it. Zao wouldn't miss two crates surely. Lilac grabbed another crate that had the smell of meat and fish inside and she pushed it towards the first crate. Lilac kicked both crates off, the heavy metal crashing down onto the soft soil and grass of the forest floor that stretched for miles around. The sound was muffled by the soft ground and the driver still didn't stop or slow down. He clearly hadn't seen or heard what had happened. He obviously wasn't looking at his rear view mirrors. Lilac smiled grimly, the first time in a week she had ever smiled. Mission accomplished. Now she had a bigger supply of food to live off of for the time being. She jumped out of the truck, leaving it thundering through the forest as it headed to its destination. The deposed heroine would let the driver come up with some half-baked excuse for the open hatch in the back of the trailer. Nobody would suspect it was her after all, which was why these missions were so successful. Being in exile, nobody would ever think she'd be responsible for the theft of several food crates.
Lilac ran over to the crates and carried them away, tugging both of them by their handles. They had handles so they could be easily carried. Their heavy steel build had easily survived the impact of their crash onto the grass and would have protected the food inside. Lilac could hardly wait for today's dinner when she got back to the closest thing she could call a home in this place. She was still living her life in exile in the Forest of Shards. To her, it was the closest thing to home as she lived out this horrible sentence. It was close enough to the forests in Dragon Valley for her to be satisfied although she had wandered outside the forest just to get a glimpse of the world beyond and to see what else she could find and explore. She hadn't seen much in a week and thus, she had decided to make her "home" camp in the forest. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing at least...
Dusk was beginning to spread its blanket of darkness over the Forest of Shards. Lilac had been quite far away from her camp as she'd been chasing the truck and it had taken her a long time to talk back. The heavy crates with their precious cargo were hardly helping matters, slowing her down due to the great weight of them. Lilac had finally arrived back at her camp and she positioned the two crates together. Her camp consisted of a shelter made of leaves and fallen twigs and a ring of stones with ashes in the centre. She had learnt how to build shelters with her late parents a long time ago. Before her treehouse in Dragon Valley, she'd build a shelter and lived in it. Then Carol had come into her life and she and the wildcat had decided to build something more homey. Lilac couldn't build a treehouse now without the right tools so the meagre shelter that passed as a house for her would have to do. It was very sturdy and kept her dry at night due to the mass amounts of leaves she'd put on top. The shelter was quite big too, roomy enough for her to stand up inside. It had taken her all day to build and she had built it on her first night in exile once she'd finally stopped crying about her sentence.
Lilac threw some twigs in-between the ring of stones and set to starting a fire so she could cook her evening meal. She rubbed two sticks together until they sparked and a lovely, warm fire started as the dry twigs were set alight by the sparks. The fire was warm and comforting to the dragon. It was as if it had become her only companion in some way, a companion that was always happy to make her feel better when the time came to see her again. Lilac allowed a moment to let the fire's warmth sooth her body before she opened the first crate. The crates were opened by turning a wheel on the back. The wheel pulled back a slot that firmly fastened the lid down as Lilac turned it. The lid was now free and Lilac opened it. There were packets of sushi and bags of garden peas in the crate. There was even more food underneath the sushi and peas and cubes of ice keeping them fresh and cool. Lilac took out two packets of sushi and one bag of peas. It was all she needed for the evening. Lilac decided to have her sushi cooked rather than raw for tonight. She crawled into her shelter and pulled out another crate she'd stolen from a truck before. The truck had been carrying furniture and supplies for rooms in a house such as a kitchen and had been heading for Shuigang. Lilac had stolen a crate containing pots and pans, things she really needed for her life in the forest. She got out a frying pan and opened up a packet of sushi. There were three rolls of sushi in the one packet and she put them into the pan. She held the pan over the fire and waited for it to cook. Lilac was hopeless at cooking, something she'd made clear to Milla's parents last week, but she knew that cooking on a campfire was not the same as cooking in a house. It was easier to use a campfire than an oven. All she had to do was let the fire heat up her food and that was it, plain and simple. She could also see and smell the food as it cooked, making it less likely for her to burn it. The dragon wouldn't have any problems as she cooked her dinner.
Lilac's nose twitched gleefully as the sweet, fishy smell of sushi trickled into her nostrils. Sushi not only tasted nice, it smelt very nice too, especially when it was cooking. She waited until she was certain that the sushi was fully cooked before bringing the pan away from the fire and setting it down onto the grass to cool. She waited a few seconds before picking up one roll of sushi and biting into it. She had no cutlery or chopsticks so she ate with her hands. She'd been eating this way for a whole week and although the food was nice, Lilac would much rather be sitting at a table and eating off of a plate with a knife and fork or a pair of chopsticks in hand than sitting on the grass in front of a campfire and eating with her fingers. Lilac finished her first roll of sushi and picked up another one. She paused for a moment, staring at the food in her hand as if it could somehow solve all her problems. She sighed. The sushi was making her think about Carol and Milla. They loved sushi too. Would they be eating some themselves back at home? Would they even have the stomach to eat anything or would they be too depressed to feel hungry? It made Lilac worry if the two would be so depressed over her exile that they'd end up starving themselves to death. If that happened then she knew who to blame for it.
"Oh Carol…oh Milla…I miss you both so much…" the dragon mumbled, "I wish I could see you both again…and I wish I could see Mr. and Mrs. Basset and Natalya again. Why did I have to be exiled? Why?!"
She sighed again, trying to hold back tears. She'd cried enough, she couldn't bear to do it again. Crying wasn't going to solve her problems so there was no point to it. Once Lilac had composed herself again, she continued eating. If she was going to survive her life in exile, she wasn't going to starve. Plus, there was always a chance that somebody would discover she was innocent and the leaders of the three kingdoms would overturn her sentence. What good would that do if she was dead? Lilac wasn't sure if she'd forgive everybody so quickly though. Maybe she never would. Maybe they didn't deserve forgiveness. Either way if her sentence was overturned, she'd be happy to return and be back in her friend's lives. To hell with the people of Avalice, her friends were the only ones who deserved her kindness and generosity at this point. She'd cater to their needs and nobody else.
Very soon, Lilac had finished her first batch of sushi and before going to cook her second batch, she picked up a second pan, this one larger and denser than the frying pan, from the crate of supplies and walked off to a nearby stream. The stream was three minutes away from the campsite and was very fresh and clean. The water was perfect for drinking or bathing in and Lilac had used it for precisely those reasons. The dragon knelt down by the stream and she filled the pan with water. She had more than she needed but that was the idea. Some of it would be used for drinking and the rest would be use for boiling the peas. She remembered seeing on the bags that peas have to be boiled in water and despite her bad cooking skills, it was one of the few things she didn't have a problem with. Peas weren't exactly hard to cook. Lilac raised the pan to her lips and gulped down a few swallows of water. She felt better after that. Then she returned to the camp and set the pan down beside her while she opened her second packet of sushi. She'd eat the peas after the sushi. As Lilac sat there with the fire blazing under her frying pan again, she allowed herself to think aloud about the recent events that had led to this new life.
"It's amazing to think that the Dark Stone led to all of this…" she muttered, "How I wish I'd never heard of that death gem! But who managed to get its energy after it was destroyed? And why would somebody use it on me to turn me evil and get me exiled?"
She sighed uneasily as bad vibes began to tingle inside her.
"I have a bad feeling about all this…I'm dead certain that there's something more sinister behind what's happened." Lilac said, "But what is it? And who's responsible? And what are they hoping to achieve with me gone?"
Her brain whirled as she tried to find the answer but to her annoyance, she came up empty. She couldn't quite work out what was behind her getting exiled. She was sure that she should know but try as she might, she couldn't work it out. Lilac decided to give up and looked back over at her sushi. It was done and she took the pan away from the fire again to let it cool. Once it was cool enough, she tucked into the sushi. She savoured the sweet taste of rice and fish as if every mouthful she took was precious to her. Once she'd finished the sushi, she opened up the bag of peas and poured a portion of them into the pan full of water. She had plenty of peas left for next time. She put the pea bag back into the crate so it could stay cool for next time she needed it and she held the pan over the fire to let the peas boil.
"I sure hope my friends are OK…and I wonder if they're looking for evidence to prove my innocence." the dragon mused, "If they can get my exile sentence overturned, I will be the happiest girl in the world."
She smiled weakly at the pleasant thought. But would it come true? Would her friends actually succeed in proving her innocence? Would anybody believe them if they did try to prove it? Lilac hoped that the answer to all of those questions was "yes". She focused back onto her pan of peas, watching as the water began to bubble as the campfire heated the pan. With any luck, this life wouldn't last any longer. She'd be back home in civilization and could forget that this had ever happened. And yet that day seemed very, very far away…and Lilac couldn't see it coming any time soon…
The atmosphere in Lilac's treehouse was the same as it had been for a whole week: morbid and depressed. There was no real reason for its occupants to feel happy at all. How could they when the owner of the house was no longer living with them? The treehouse wasn't quite the same without Lilac in it. It was if the house had lost some of its identity when the dragon had been sentenced to exile. It was no longer Lilac's treehouse. Just a treehouse with nothing special about it.
There were five people in the treehouse and all of them were pretty gloomy just as they had been all week. There was Milla the Hound and her parents Miguel and Lela, Natalya the Dragon and Lilac's very best friend and the one effected the most deeply by Lilac's exile, Carol the Wildcat. Carol had been by Lilac's side since the dragon had saved her from a bunch of thugs that were trashing her motorbike. Carol considered Lilac the closest thing to a sister she'd ever had and loved her deeply. She'd never been so close to anybody in her life. And now her best friend was gone, never to be seen again. Carol felt that not only had she lost her best friend, she had lost a very valuable part of her life. A very valuable part of her life that she likely wouldn't get back or ever be able to replace. The wildcat had suffered the most from Lilac's exile this past week. She'd barely eaten or slept and looked pretty dreadful right now. She had dark rings under her eyes and she looked as if she was beginning to get thinner. It was unusual given how she was usually the biggest eater in the house. Now the hounds and dragon were lucky if Carol even ate a small portion of food. She was too depressed to bother about her stomach and Miguel and Lela began wondering if they'd have to force feed her just to make sure she didn't starve herself to death. If Lilac's sentence was ever over-turned, she wouldn't be happy to come home and find her best friend wasting away.
Right about now it was dinner time and the Basset family laid the table with plates full of barbecue pork and rice, one of Miguel and Lela's favourite meals. Their dinners came with a side of poppadums, something Milla loved to have on the side whenever they had this meal. Everybody had sat down to the table to eat. Even Carol had. The wildcat wasn't feeling any better but her lack of eating lately had begun to catch up to her. Her stomach ached and she couldn't bear it so she decided that although she barely had any appetite, she may as well eat a proper meal to settle her craving stomach. The five Avalicians ate their meals in total silence, not really sure what to talk about. Anytime they started up a conversation it ended up being about Lilac and that just ended up making everybody upset. Once the food had all been eaten and the empty plates pushed aside, Natalya decided to speak. It was more to kill the uncomfortable, morbid silence than anything.
"That was quite nice thank you." she said politely, "You two are very good cooks."
"Thanks." said Lela, a weak smile on her face, "I'm glad everybody enjoyed it. Even you Carol." she added, looking over at the wildcat.
"Yeah. It was great. Thanks." Carol muttered.
"I'm just glad you ate the whole lot for once Carol." Miguel said sternly, "You keep eating like that from now on, we don't want you wasting away after all."
"Yeah. Whatever." the tomboy feline said glumly.
Milla stared at her friend with sympathy and despair. She didn't like seeing Carol in this terrible state. It made her feel sad and with no Lilac to make her feel any better, she felt even worse.
"Please cheer up Carol. We don't like seeing you like this." the kind-hearted hound said softly.
"Why? What good will cheering up do?!" Carol snapped angrily, "My best friend's probably wasting away in some wilderness due to the stupidity of our kingdom's leaders and you expect me to cheer up?!"
"The wilds will have food for her…" Milla protested, "I should know, I was living alone in the wilds myself and I turned out OK."
"Good point…if you can survive in the wilderness then so can Lilac and she's older than you are…" the wildcat murmured, "But still, what is there to be happy about? Lilac's gone forever, I'm never gonna see her again and neither are you! Natalya even became Lilac's adopted mom after she said yes to her offer! Lilac's mom was Natalya's best friend and Lilac's the next best thing in her eyes! How do you think she feels right now?"
"For your information Carol, I've actually been keeping my emotions under control as it isn't healthy to let them tear you apart." the dragon said firmly, "I miss my beloved little dragon but unlike you, I know that constantly crying about it isn't going to solve anything. We should remain optimistic and hope that things turn out better for us. After all, I have spent the last week investigating on the matter."
"And how well is that turning out Little Miss No-Longer-A-Criminal?" Carol retorted, "Oh yeah, it's going horribly because you haven't found anything yet! I see we go find Lilac and bring her back here so that she doesn't have to be alone anymore!"
"And what good will that do?" Natalya snapped, "You'll just make things worse for her! If anybody finds out she's violating her sentence, she could be thrown in jail for life! It's high treason to violate your sentence!"
"So you'd rather Lilac be alone and miserable for the rest of her life?!"
"How dare you! I don't want that at all! I want Lilac back as badly as you do! But we have to do it legally so she won't get into more trouble!"
"Please stop fighting you two! You're making me upset!" whimpered Milla, "I don't like it when friends argue!"
"We're very sorry Milla." Natalya said softly, reaching over to pat the distressed dog on the back, "It's just…you know how badly Lilac's absence is effecting all of us. It's hard to keep our emotions in check at this point."
"I agree." Lela sighed, "I've found it very hard to keep my spirits up this very week. I constantly feel like the slightest mention of Lilac's name will make me break down."
"I share those feelings darling." Miguel said sadly, "I really miss that wonderful dragon. She was an amazing girl and thanks to her, we were reunited with our little Milla. I'm very grateful to her for that. I want her back…"
"Me too daddy." said Milla, looking as if ready to cry again, "I miss her so much!"
"You and me both sister." said Carol gloomily, "I want nothing more than my best friend back. Lilac was my whole world. She made my life wonderful and I enjoyed being with her. I…I want her back…I want her back so badly!"
Unable to contain herself anymore, Carol got up from her chair and ran out of the room, sobbing her broken heart out once again. The sobs grew fainted as she ran up into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She now had the bunk bed to herself but in the week she'd spent in exile, she hadn't once slept in the top bunk as if afraid she was dishonouring her best friend by taking her bed. Natalya shook her head sadly, feeling deeply sorry for the cat that had once been one of her disciples.
"That poor, poor girl…" she said, "Carol's never going to make it with Lilac's absence clawing away at her. We have to help her."
"But what can we do?" asked Miguel curiously, "We can't just bring Lilac back or she'll be arrested for treason."
"We don't have to bring her back…we have to make the royals bring her back." Natalya announced, "We have to find evidence that will prove she's innocent and then the royals will have no choice but to overturn her exile. I know I've looked for evidence all week and turned up empty handed but just because you don't find something now, it doesn't mean you won't find it later. Also…maybe all of you can help me. Hounds have good noses, you'll probably be able to sniff something out."
"That's a great idea!" Milla exclaimed excitedly, "Tomorrow, all five of us can search for clues that'll prove Lilac's a good dragon and get her back!"
"Carol would love that." Lela said brightly, "We'll do just that, search the kingdoms for proof of innocence so we can get Lilac back."
"We'll have to wait until the elections tomorrow have concluded." Natalya noted, "Last thing we want is any of the kingdoms thinking we're up to no good on a day as important as that. We can't attract attention to ourselves."
"I agree." the female hound nodded, "We'll wait until the elections are over and then begin the search. We can watch the elections on TV so we now when they're over."
"Sounds a plan to me." the former villainess said with a smile, "Tomorrow, we will begin our quest to prove my adopted daughter's innocence. And then we can all finally have her back home where she belongs."
The hounds all smiled gleefully at this idea. It was a very lovely thought and they couldn't wait to begin. They could imagine how happy Carol would be to hear their plan too. She'd be the happiest she had been all week and with any luck, her happiness would be here to stay at long last…
Not all of Avalice was in a grim mood right about now. There was at least one place in the world that was happy and cheerful. However, this person was not happy and cheerful for the right reasons at all. He was happy and cheerful because tomorrow was going to mark the day that he became ruler of at least one of Avalice's three kingdoms. That kingdom was Shang Mu, the only kingdom that was up for new elections tomorrow. Shang Tu and Shuigang held theirs at different times so they wouldn't be seeking new leaders for a while now. Shang Mu would see a new leader or Mayor Zao be re-elected and continue his reign as Mayor of Shang Mu. Either way, it was a day that was going to end well for the red-skinned dragon that was smiling at himself in a mirror but not for anybody else.
Memphis was feeling all a tingle over tomorrow. He had been the one responsible for getting Lilac exiled, hiring Timothy Turtle to act like he hated dragons so that he could get people to doubt Lilac and then carried out a few other clever tricks to fool the populace into thinking the dragon was a vile villainess. He had even been the one to spray her full of Dark Stone Energy and hammer the final nail into Lilac's coffin. And he'd done all of this without being suspected. How stupid could the people of Avalice be? Memphis had almost been insulted that they were so easily manipulated. But it had been worth it, every minute of it. He was going to get what he wanted, power and the honour of being a dragon on the throne. What bliss! He could practically see himself sleeping in Mayor Zao's chambers right now.
Timothy was still an important part in his deadly game. He had signed up for the elections and as the week had gone by, he'd gained a lot of support for his declarations that the world would be free from the evils that the dragon race threatened them with. Mayor Zao had tried to gain some support himself but he didn't seem to be getting as much as he'd hoped. Not a lot of people liked him due to his arrogant attitude and Timothy sounded a lot more genuine and pleasant when he had made his speeches. He'd promised Shang Mu that they would be protected and safe from dragons and the kingdom would be more powerful than it had ever been before. Memphis had watched the whole thing in his usual disguise of course, not trusting Timothy to do it unobserved since he expected the old turtle to try and double cross him. Timothy had seen him in the audience and of course, did what he was told. Memphis had even voted for Timothy himself, but he'd cheated by slipping in more than one vote into the box when no one was looking. His reptilian comrade would have more votes than he should have when the votes were counted.
Memphis was in Timothy's home right about now, admiring himself in the antique mirror that he liked so much in the turtle's old fashioned house. Timothy himself was asleep. He was old and needed a long hours' worth of sleep every night. So he left Memphis alone to admire himself in his mirror. Maybe he'd swipe the mirror from Timothy and hang it on the wall in his new room when he got his rightful place tomorrow. He did plan to dispose of the turtle when he was no longer useful so he would hardly miss it. Memphis smiled a charming smile as if he was trying to seduce his own reflection.
"You look perfect Memphis…" he crooned smoothly to himself, his deep voice and British accent making his words sound a mixture of posh and sinister, "Just perfect for your upcoming role as Mayor of Shang Mu. Soon to be ruler of all three kingdoms…"
He chuckled softly at the mirror. The reflection chuckled back, clearly delighted with the dragon that was looking at it.
"Too long has the dragon race been denied its rightful place…" he muttered, his expression becoming darker and more serious, "Why are there pandas on the thrones of Shang Mu and Shuigang? I have no idea what The Magister is but I bet like the previous ones, he's some mangy old bird who doesn't deserve his power. All Avalicians are below us. The dragons inspired the three kingdoms so a dragon should be the one to rule them."
His expression lightened up, his evil smile spreading back across his face.
"And now tomorrow, that day will come." the red-skinned dragon gloated, "Timothy will easily win the elections tomorrow and then he'll give me his position…and my reign will begin."
Memphis laughed again, feeling very pleased with himself for what he'd done to get this far.
"The most wonderful thing about all of this is that my brat of a niece won't be able to interfere." he crowed, "That poor, stupid child…I hope she's suffering horribly in her life in exile. Ha, ha, ha…I'm amazed the people of Avalice quickly turned against her after that incident with the Dark Stone three weeks ago. I must thank Natalya and this…Lord Brevon person for presenting me with such an opportunity. They gave me the chance I had to demonize my niece's image and get her exiled. Now Dawn and Stephen's child will join them in the afterlife after she inevitably wastes away out in the wilds. Pity I couldn't have used her though…"
He looked away from the mirror and down at his trademark walking stick, which was really an energy conductor in disguise and housed the Dark Stone's energy.
"Yes…such a pity…after I'd killed Dawn and Stephen, I could have told the child that they'd been murdered by somebody and that I would look after her." Memphis sighed as he thought of what could have been, "I could have corrupted her and made her my perfect little pet assassin. Lilac was a gifted child and her talents would have benefited me greatly. But she just had to ruin all that by witnessing the murder and running away! No matter, she's gone forever so I don't have to worry about her. She can't get in my way and that's the end of it. I wonder how long she'll last before she wastes away into nothing out there in the wilds?"
He cackled menacingly as he pictured Lilac lying on the ground, weak from hunger and begging for somebody to help her. Help wouldn't come for her though. There wasn't a civilization for miles around outside of the three kingdoms. She'd be dead before she ever reached any of the outer territories. If she lived in the forest then she probably wouldn't last very long. Although Memphis didn't like killing children, he'd be happy to hear if Lilac did die during her life in exile. Very few people who were sentenced to exile ever did survive after all. With nothing else to stay up for, Memphis turned on his heels and walked towards the spare bedroom that Timothy had. He wondered why his old apprentice even had a spare room since he lived alone. Had he been married once? Was his wife dead if that was the case? Memphis didn't care. It was none of his business. He walked into the bedroom and prepared to change into his night clothes for bed. The bedroom was, of course, very old fashioned looking with an antique bed and pillow and sheets. Even the bedside light looked outdated. It annoyed Memphis. Why did Timothy feel the need to surround himself in nostalgia? Was he really so sickeningly sentimental about the past that he felt the need to gather it all up into one house and live in it? It didn't matter anymore. Soon he'd be living in a luxurious palace and he'd be surrounded by something more suited to his tastes. It was a lovely image and tomorrow, it would come true.
"I wonder what the palace life will be like…?" Memphis crooned softly, imagining himself endorsing himself in endless luxury and being spoilt like there was no tomorrow.
It was a life he'd always dreamed of and his dream was soon going to become very real. Tomorrow was going to be a very, very good day for him…
Yeah, what a lovely start I know. (sarcasm) Lilac's very lonely and isolated, her friends are in a morbid state though it looks as if things are looking up for them as they now have a plan and it seems that Memphis is about to get what he's after. What will happen next? Tune in next time as we gather around for "Election Day"...