Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Down on the ground, the Royal Troops were starting to falter. The Duke's men were pouring in from everywhere! North, south, east, west, they were flying in, thick as thieves.

They could not just sit there and wait to be slaughtered. They had to fly up and meet with the enemies, head-on.

From above, a multitude of flash-bang colors of light began to explode, ripping apart the darkness, as ground troops began to take to the skies, meeting the incoming invaders and going head-to-head in the air.

Yells and screams, both aerial and on the ground raged on as the fighting intensified. Bodies of fallen warriors thudded to the ground as they were slain from above.

Suddenly, from the northwest horizon, more flying warriors began to descend.

The Royal Guards looked on with helpless eyes. There were thousands more, pouring in from the side that they thought had been secured by their own people.

With desperate yells, they held their ground and continued to do battle with those already on the ground.

As the fliers streamed towards the smoking palace grounds, the warriors suddenly realized something tremendous.

The fliers from the northwest were of a different breed of warrior! They wore solid black and had leather bat wings!

A cheer rose up from the ranks of the royal guards. Their new king had powerful allies! They were not going to be beaten!

This was reinforcement sent from the Erenveil Prime Warrior! With Erenveil on their side, there was no way they could lose!

They began chanting Süren's name as their battle cry.

Süren! Süren! Süren!

Someone began crying out another name.

Lyra! Lyra! Lyra!

Everyone knew who Princess Lyra was—the Erenveil Prime Warrior's little sister, and King Süren's betrothed.

Their future Queen!

In no time flat, a horde of bats began to descend into the chaos that was raging below.

Going straight for the black-green dragons, they fought side-by-side with the palace defenders, easily dealing death blows with their weapons.

Duke Abberbie knew the jig was up as soon as he saw Erenveil's warships dot the space around Avalia.

Their physical presence high above the capital alone was enough to win the battle, but they had actually landed their troops and flown in to assist the Royal Guards.

"Call the troops back. Fly the white flag." Duke Abberbie gave the unflinching command.

And just like that, within the early hours of the new day, Duke Abberbie's forces surrendered.

As powerful as they were, with as many numbers of troops as Duke Abberbie had, they could not rise up against the Imperial forces that were backing up King Süren.

Hundreds of Erenveil warships converged onto dragon space for that single fight, joining the ranks of King Süren's own warships. With Slate's reinforcement, their numbers swelled to triple that of the Duke's warships.

No shot was fired from the warships. All it took was their overwhelming presence in the sky for the Duke's men to quail in fright and surrender.

The Grand Duke Erden was seated at the Command Console staring out over an ocean of deep space, dotted with warships.

There were hundreds and hundreds of star-class Raptors that were under the control of the Prime Warrior. Hovering alongside them were hundreds and hundreds more of the dragon warships, Draken Claws.

Once the surrender order had been given, the remaining Draken Claws which once were under Duke Abberbie's control were suddenly transferred over to the Dragon Prime Warrior, the Grand Duke Erden.

"Which warship is Duke Abberbie on?" Erden asked his attendant.

"Sir, Duke Abberbie is on the Draken Claw 328."

"Land the Draken Claw 328. Take the Duke and his retinue into custody."

"Yes Sir."

The Royal Guards took no time in arresting all of the Duke's attendants and advisors as well as his entire family.

At dawn that morning, the entirety of Duke Abberbie's family, including Sharina, the girl who had started the entire war, were summarily executed.

It was a hard and sad day, but justice was swift. As always, attempted uprisings against the reigning monarch always ended in death.

A single pulse beam to the head for each member ended Duke Abberbie's entire lineage, along with the heads of states who had followed him and led the insurrection and uprising.

============

That night, Süren made his way to the dungeon, deep in the bowels of Avalia castle.

Four of his men followed him, marching through several sets of locked doors with heavy thudding footsteps until they reached the final keep.

"Altan. Father." He called out.

The old King Batsaikhan was too far gone to even notice his oldest son was standing outside the iron gates. He had gone partially mad from all the drugs that his wife had shot into him.

The Second Prince Altan glared at him with eyes full of hatred.

"Just so you know, we quelled the uprising with minimal damage and low casualty." Süren gave him a quiet look.

"You sicken me. All those deaths are on your bloody hands!" Altan snarled.

"Those people didn't have to die, Altan." Süren sighed. "We all failed them by starting a war that should have never been started. Dragon fighting against dragon. We're all brothers and we kill each other as if we're enemies."

"Do you not understand that brothers vying for the throne become natural enemies?" Altan spat.

"Fool." Süren glared at Altan. "The Erenveil Empire has SEVEN brothers, three of them are Crown Princes and share duties. They all work together, and because they are united, nobody can break them. That's how they remain on top and rule over our entire galaxy."

"Pshah. They are bats, not dragons. We dragons are a strong race of warriors. The bats are morons."

Süren narrowed his eyes. He wished he had brothers like the Erenveil princes, who had each other's backs. It was such a lonely existence when his own brothers hated him for being a Crown Prince.

"And yet you were the one who wanted to marry Lyra. She is a bat, you know."

"Females are different. As long as they are compliant, nobody cares about how smart or dumb they are."

Süren suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He was standing too close to the source that was making him sick, namely his brother with the putrid attitude towards the precious woman he loved.

"I don't care to argue with you about your prejudices. I could care less what your opinion is of my bride's family."

He took a shuddering breath to quell his sudden queasiness.

"I came to tell you that Duke Abberbie' entire family has been executed. Your good friend Baron Hughbert is also done for."

He pointed at Altan with the force of command.

"Your hopes to use them to destroy the throne has been completely snuffed out. Since you are my brother, I won't kill you. However, you have proven to be too dangerous to be set free. Your crimes are too heinous. You will be staying here for awhile."

Altan began laughing. It was a wild maniacal laughter that sent chills down the spines of all those standing around. The man truly had gone mad.

Süren turned away and left the crazy sounds of his brother's laughter behind. He didn't have time to deal with this one brother who had caused so much grief.

As he walked away, his mind wandered to his other brothers of the same father.

King Batsaikhan was a prolific breeder. Süren had two-dozen other brothers to have to contend with.

Half of them were under the age of consent. The other half were in various paper-pushing positions, with multiple wives and multiple children to have to take care of.

None of them had much power and would never be a threat to him. He would order their mothers to be freed of their marriage to the former King Batsaikhan.

He had seen how his mother had been treated by his father.

His beautiful mother who was the precious pride and joy of her family had turned into an embittered woman, dried to the husk from a man who cared nothing for her.

Süren took a deep breath as he exited the dungeon keep.

His mother was finally free.