An audience was gathered in the throne room, persons of importance from around the kingdom were present to witness the ceremony before them.
"On this day, we honor Prince Ludwig of Dracor, by bestowing on him the title of General," Kiku, the King's Advisor, did his best to annunciate, "He has proven himself over the years to be a powerful warrior and thoughtful leader."
Ludwig himself kneeled at Kiku's feet with his head bowed, though he was still almost Kiku's height.
Ludwig was a hulk of a man, with bulging muscles and long legs and arms, and he had a head of lengthily golden hair, pulled back behind him in a braid.
After Kiku touched the sword he held to both of Ludwig's shoulders, Ludwig stood.
He was by far the tallest man in the room, and by far the most imposing.
The watching audience began a polite applause, and so Ludwig nodded gratefully and went to sit at the right side of the King, his father.
Lovino leaned over to him with a smirk, "How does it feel to command the fuckin' army of Dracor, hmm?"
Ludwig chuckled and glanced at him, "We'll have to see, father."
Lovino laughed, "Then I guess we'll be waiting for a bit. So, General Ludwig, before you start whipping your soldiers into shape, I've got a special task for you."
At the word task, one could swear Ludwig's ears perked up, "A task? What is it?"
Lovino stood once the crowd was dismissed, and went down the stairs to the right of his throne, beckoning for his son to follow.
They took the short way down to the dungeon, and Ludwig became more and more curious.
Lovino kicked the door of the dungeon open with a flourish and then gestured to the largest cell.
In the back, chained to the wall, was a large cobalt blue dragon.
The fur along his spine and at his heels was golden, and his horns and claws were gleaming white.
The most notable thing Ludwig saw, however, were his electric blue eyes that were eerily human.
"We bought this dragon from a couple Hunters recently, and we think that you might able able to train this angry fucker to fight for us."
Ludwig glanced at the dragon, who seemed to be listening intently, and then looked at his father and smiled, "I'll try, I think it'll be somewhat fun."
Lovino laughed and waved to him as he left, "You're gonna need a lot of luck to pull this one off, kid!"
Ludwig shook his head with a chuckle and looked back to the dragon.
He hummed and murmured to himself, "I wonder if you can understand me..? If you have a name..?"
The blue dragon let out a puff of smoke and growled, nodding to the desk behind Ludwig.
Ludwig turned around in confusion and looked over the articles scattered about it.
A couple knives, a few keys, some papers, some pencils, and a necklace.
Ludwig picked up a key and gestured to it, and the dragon shook his head.
Ludwig was shocked at the human-like reaction, but obliged and put down the key. He tried the knife then, and the dragon once again shook his head.
However, when he held up the necklace, the dragon nodded enthusiastically.
He hesitantly brought the necklace to the bars and held it between them for the dragon.
Immediately, the dragon snatched it from his fingers and gave an exaggerated sigh.
Then Ludwig jumped as he heard a sharp snap.
He watched, horrified, as the dragon began to change.
He could hear the bones scraping and snapping against each other as they shifted and moved inside his body, he shrank and hissed until sitting in his place was a young man, with the necklace around his throat. The man was stark naked, with golden hair and bright blue eyes, and he grinned at the awestruck man before him.
"So, you're supposed to "train" me? Good fuckin' luck, dude, because I'm not having it." He slipped his head out of the chains and lifted his feet to step out of his shackles. Ludwig reached for his sword then, poised to strike.
The dragon man laughed and raised his clawed hands, "Ooh, feisty! What're ya gonna do to me- huh? Wait."
He rushed towards the bars and reached out, grabbing Ludwig's wrists and making him drop his sword.
He leaned forward and sniffed at Ludwig's neck and murmured, "A male of the Vyn family? Holy shit, I thought they were all dead."
