Dark clouds were rolling over the city. It wasn't a storm, but something more concrete, heavier, and more oppressive than the storm - the shadow of a dragon.
The dragon flew very high, but it was so big that even if it flew above the clouds, its shadow would still be like a black curtain, spreading all the way from the western skyline, over the city walls, across the streets, and over people's heads.
The sunlight was swallowed up entirely, and the world fell from day to dusk in an instant, and then from dusk to an ominous, dark red twilight that looked like it was soaked in blood.
That's... a dragon?
Someone was shouting in the square, but Lufuna couldn't hear what they were shouting. Her ears were buzzing, as if ten thousand bees were building a nest in her head.
She raised her head, her eyes narrowed by the shadows, but the scene in the crack was enough for her to see clearly - that was not Red Dragon Emperor.
Red Dragon Emperor is red, like burning charcoal, like flowing magma, like the last ray of light before the setting sun sinks into the sea. She has seen Red Dragon Emperor, although she only glimpsed it once from a distance, in the gap between the crowd, but she will not mistake that color.
The dragon in the sky is black. It is as black as the thick ink that cannot be melted out of an ink bottle. Every time its wings flap, it will set off a strong wind. The strong wind will press down from the sky, blowing the flags in the square and making leaves and dust fly all over the sky.
"It's His Majesty the Emperor!" someone shouted in the crowd, "It's His Majesty the Emperor who is making such a fuss!"
"No... that's not right!" Another voice covered him, "That's not His Majesty!"
Lufuna's back was pressed against the stone wall of the library. The stone wall was cold, and the cold touch spread to her skin through the thin scholar's robe, making her wake up a little from that "brain blank" state.
She didn't need anyone to tell her that it wasn't Red Dragon Emperor - she could see that the black dragon drew an arc in the air and flew towards the palace in the city center. Its flying attitude was completely different from Red Dragon Emperor.
Lufuna suddenly felt that she could not understand this continent more and more. She couldn't understand it before because she knew too little - so little that she didn't even know what she didn't know. Now that she understands it better, she can't understand it even more.
Because every time she understood something, three new things that she couldn't understand would appear. It was like someone opened an endless book in front of her, with "There are more things you don't know" written on every page.
This feeling made her very uneasy. It wasn't because she was afraid of the unknown - as a scholar of ancient history and legends, the unknown was her staple food and something she had to face every day.
It was because she began to wonder whether the things she thought she had understood were wrong from the beginning.
A roar that echoed throughout the world came from the direction of the palace.
The first sound was short and sharp, like some kind of alarm; the second sound was low and long, like the muffled groan of dissatisfaction and resistance made by a giant dragon when it woke up from a long sleep; the third sound - not a roar, but a scream.
Lufuna's eyelids twitched. She saw a huge red figure rising from the palace and hovering in the sky. The figure was smaller than the black dragon.
The red scales are still dazzling under the dim light, like ignited coals, burning and beating. That is Red Dragon Emperor--Valerirus.
Lufuna had never seen his whole face. She had only seen his profile when he was lying on the top of the palace basking in the sun, like a red, sleeping mountain. But at this moment, the mountain was awake, roaring, angry, and - like a chicken, it was thrown away with a raised hand.
The huge black claws grabbed the neck and shoulders of the red dragon, exerting force, twisting, and swinging its arms. The movements were coherent and smooth, like a farmer picking up a field mouse from the ground and throwing it to the distant fields.
The red figure drew a parabola in the air. The parabola started from the sky above the palace, crossed the city wall, crossed the square, and passed over the head of Lufuna.
She could even clearly see the red dragon's posture in the air, with its wings spread out, its limbs kicking wildly, and its tail swinging wildly in the air, like a panicked cat that was thrown out. Then it crashed into the mountains to the east of the city.
A mountain more than ten kilometers away. Lufuna didn't know the name of that mountain. She only knew that it was the highest mountain in the east of Vagrian City. The top of the mountain was covered with snow all year round, and there was no grass growing above the mountainside. That mountain exploded.
It's not a metaphor, it's not an exaggeration, it's a literal meaning - the mountain exploded. The moment the red dragon smashed into the mountain, it shattered like a piece of tofu hit by a hammer.
Rubbles flew in all directions, ranging from big ones like houses to small ones like human heads. They filled the sky densely, like a torrential rain falling backwards from the ground to the sky.
"Get down!" Lufuna threw the little girl next to her and used his body to protect her. Her knees and palms hit the stone floor, causing her to gasp in pain.
A piece of gravel flew over her head, with a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and hit the stone wall of the library, making a dull and deafening impact. A fist-sized hole appeared on the stone wall, the gravel shattered, and powder flew into the air.
Several more pieces of gravel hit the square, some hit the stone floor, creating a shallow crater; some hit the parked carriage, causing the boards to shatter and wood chips flying.
Some of them hit the crowd, hitting a running man on the back. The man groaned, fell to the ground, and never got up again.
Lufuna raised his head and saw several collapsed buildings in the distance. The roofs were broken, the walls were cracked, and the glass of the windows was broken all over the ground. Some people were shouting in the ruins, some were struggling in a pool of blood, some children were crying, and some mothers were calling their names.
The crowd was like a colony of ants dispersed by the flood, fleeing in all directions from the center of the square. Some people ran towards the city gate, some ran towards the alleys, and some ran away from the palace.
No one knew where to run, and no one had time to think about where to run, they just ran.
Vagrian, it's going to be over.
Lufuna was lying on the ground, his back was covered with gravel dust, and a piece of skin was scratched on his left cheek, which was burning.
The little girl was pinned under her. She didn't speak or struggle. Her body was shaking violently, like a leaf blown down by the wind.
Lufuna had a very short, quick, and very untimely dream. She dreamed that she was sitting at a desk in the library, and the sun shone in from the window and shone on the cover of the diary. The curator came over with a bottle of water and said, "Let's take a rest."
She said thank you, took the water, and took a sip. The water was very cold and delicious. Then she woke up. The gravel was still flying, the crowd was still running, and the black dragon in the sky was still circling.
She hasn't finished her research, she hasn't finished writing her thesis, she hasn't gotten the qualification as a scholar, she hasn't dug Red Dragon Emperor out of the ruins of the mountain to see what he looks like. She still has so many things to do, Vagrian can't be finished.
Roar--
A huge roar came from the black dragon, so loud that even the ground shook. Lufuna's ears instantly lost hearing, and the world turned into a movie with the mute button pressed - she saw the crowd running, their mouths opening, and tears flowing, but she couldn't hear anything.
She stood up unsteadily, supported the little girl, and pushed her towards the library door. Enter the door and don't look back. She thought she said this, but she wasn't sure because she couldn't hear her own voice.
Palace.
King Ghidorah stood outside the palace gate, with three heads raised, looking at the building in front of them. The red granite walls were pulled up from the ground and reached into the sky.
He couldn't tell the thickness of the city wall, but judging from the depth of the door opening, it was at least dozens of meters. There were no windows, no decorations, no extra lines on the wall, just a huge, smooth stone surface that glowed with a dark red luster in the sunlight.
There are traces of erosion by time on the stone surface - small cracks, color spots of varying shades, and some pits left by unknown objects. The main door is two opposite stone doors, each of which is close to three hundred meters in height. The combined width is enough for King Ghidorah to pass sideways.
The surface of the door is carved with huge reliefs. The door on the left is carved with a giant dragon spreading its wings, and the door on the right is carved with a mountain peak.
The lines of the carvings are rough and powerful, not the kind of fine brushwork that is so fine that every scale can be counted, but the kind of bold, freehand style like splashing ink on rice paper, which only pursues spiritual resemblance but not physical resemblance.
"This is my palace?" King Ghidorah's head in the middle was slightly lowered, and his golden vertical pupils swept from the door lintel to the door frame, and then from the door frame to the door lintel.
Voraksa stood behind King Ghidorah - to be precise, huddled behind. Only a small section of his left wing grew out, and it looked like a new sprout that had just emerged from a broken branch. It was thin, tender, and trembled slightly in the wind.
The right wing was intact, but it was tucked away at the side of the body and did not dare to unfold. His four dark red eyes were lowered, staring at the ground, not daring to look at King Ghidorah or the palace in front of him.
His voice was respectful and humble, with a sense of "I spent a lot of effort to find this place" and a sense of apprehension.
"Yes, the great Lord of Destruction. This is the palace I found for you. It has a long history, rich wealth, and--"