The trip the to the oracle’s beacon was even more intense than the oracle had said it would be, though Marina supposed that made sense, as she was traversing through space.

Her head spun as dark light swirled around her everywhere, everything moving so quickly she couldn’t even comprehend it. She felt she was moving a million miles an hour, going past stars and planets that looked like little dots in her periphery.

Then, as suddenly as she’d felt thrown into space when she’d stepped into the portal the oracle had summoned, she felt solid earth beneath her feet once more.

She stumbled forward, everything lurching inside her as she tried to merely stand. Her head was spinning like the ocean in the middle of a storm, everything upside down, as if she’d been tumbling in the eye of a waterspout tornado.

Once she felt she finally would be able to stand without falling over, Marina stood up straight and tried to get her bearing.

What she saw was unlike any earthly place she’d ever witnessed.

She was in the middle of a city, streets and lanes stretching out around her in every direction. Above her, buildings rose to every height, some short and blocky, others tall, piercing the sky with pointed towers.

Everything glimmered in metallic colors, some familiar, others strange to her. She recognized gold, silver, bronze, brass, everything one could imagine. Even the street itself was paved with a light aluminum color, and she noted it was warm beneath her feet, not scalding like hot sand.

From the slope of the street, the city seemed to be on a hill, and as she looked down the street past the edges of the city, she could see lower down to what lay beyond. A sweeping landscape of multicolored foliage in green and purple and blue filled her vision, all the way to the horizon. Amongst the thick forests were lakes and rivers that dotted it. And beyond, an ocean spread past her vision, a light bluish-purple hue that was different from Earth’s oceans.

At least there was water on Drakkaris. She could work with that.

But as much as she wanted to just take in everything around her, she was on a mission.

Lead’s words before they’d taken Mercury came to her mind. Trial. Crimes. Things that didn’t bode well for the man to which she still had a promise to keep.

Several men were walking in different directions along the thoroughfare, all going somewhere different, and Marina turned to the closest one in the hopes of getting some answers.

But as she came up, she noted that he didn’t look like typical humans. Aside from the fact that he was tall, tanned, and incredibly well-built, he was wearing pants that seemed to be made of some sort of linen. He was shirtless, which only showed off his muscles, with a single leather strap he wore diagonally across his chest.

And then she scented it. Dragon.

“Where’s Mercury?” she asked, approaching the man boldly and catching him slightly by surprise.

“Wha—who?” he responded, shaking his head in bewilderment.

“The mercury dragon, where are you keeping him?” she asked more firmly. He was a dragon, so he surely knew of Lead and the others.

“There haven’t been any mercury dragons here in a very long time,” he said, scratching the back of his head. Then his eyes lit in recognition, and Marina felt his gaze scan over her before he raised an eyebrow. “Wait, who are you? Where did you come from?”

She could tell the conversation was quickly going in a direction she didn’t have time to deal with. That, and there was something very odd about the way he looked at her, something that worried her. So she abruptly left, jogging off down the street and ignoring him when he called after her.

She couldn’t help but admire the city all around her, tall spires reaching to the heavens in coppers and golds.

Hoping to stay off the major lanes, she turned onto a small cul-de-sac lined with similarly shaped buildings that would have looked like houses if not for the ruddy metallic color they all shared. Several men stood at the end of the cul-de-sac, milling about and chatting amongst themselves.

She could scent they were all dragons, too, and she hoped at least one of them had some answers.

They didn’t seem to notice her as she approached and stood in front of them. “Where can I find Mercury?” she asked.

One man turned to her, a surprised expression on his face. “Er, at the palace. This afternoon, he’s going to be… Wait, a female dragon?” he said, stuttering at the end.

“Where’s the palace?” she asked. At least someone knew where he was. There was a glimmer of hope.

“Just up that way. You’re not from around here, are you?” another said, stepping forward and pointing up the hill at a gleaming, metallic-white spire that rose above all the others.

For an instant, she saw Mercury’s face flash through her mind. She was close. She could feel it now.

To her shock, while she’d been looking in the direction of the palace, one of the men had stepped closer to her and, without invitation, had begun stroking her hair.

“So soft. So clean. So pretty,” he was muttering to himself.

Marina snatched the man’s wrist and twisted it backward, making him grunt.

“Keep your hands off me,” she demanded. But around her, the men’s eyes had turned a dull grayish-green, their faces vacant as they watched her with rapt, hungry attention.

Then suddenly, the man’s other hand grabbed at her wrist, pulling her closer to him as she felt rage and desire in his gaze.

“Make me,” he growled.

* * *

As he knelt on the cold, metal floor, awaiting his presumable execution, Mercury felt an odd sensation tightening inside his chest that was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. Not surprising since he might be about to die.

A great hall rose far above the ground where he was chained, this time in a kneeling position, with his hands drawn behind him and locked into thick plates on the floor.

The furnishings in the hall were fit for a king, with tinted windows casting unearthly colors all around him, the walls and ceilings shining in bright metallic colors of bronze, silver, gold. With a glance, he could note the ornate workmanship of every fixture, every inch of surface inscribed with decorative pictures, scrawls, and letters in a language foreign to him.

Above him, perched at the top of a high flight of golden stairs, stood a towering throne, upon which was seated a regal-looking monarch. Next to him, on a similarly ornate throne, was a woman, presumably his queen. Both of them looked down at him, faces aged and drawn with lines.

He couldn’t possibly imagine how old they were.

Standing next to Mercury was a man holding a long metallic scroll, which he was in the act of reading aloud. Something about “crimes” and “punishment” and “dishonor.”

Things that Mercury frankly didn’t give a damn about.

At this point, he was just tired of chains and prisons. So very tired.

Why couldn’t they just skip to the good part and end it all?

But as the thought skipped through his mind, Marina’s face flashed before him, almost as if he could see her right there before him.

She would be sad, and he didn’t like that.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of her countenance, but it was no use. It was still there, stuck like an image etched in the back of his mind.

Why was she haunting him even now? She was impossibly far away, separated from him by untold space. She was an angel of light, an angel with a bright future ahead of her. A future that was better without Mercury in it.

Why couldn’t he have just faded away into nothingness? Why was her kiss still burned into his soul, her smile, the pleading tone of her voice when she’d asked him for help?

“And thus, the line of Mercury must end, never to be spoken of again,” the man standing next to Mercury said, finishing his droning and wrapping up the oversized scroll. All around him, men with spears lined the walls, presumably guards, all standing motionless and at attention.

“Thus, it is the king’s will,” announced a man standing beside the overcompensating, large throne, this one in glittering green robes that reflected light coming through the windows.

His bearing screamed “stooge.” Every ruler had one.

A small group of men approached Mercury’s side, and Lead was at the front of them. Behind him was the guy with dark-silver hair and eyes who had come to visit him last night, and despite the frown on his face, he could still sense a resigned sadness in his expression.

Lead came closer and kneeled in front of Mercury. Mercury wished he’d get closer so he could head-butt the idiot.

Wouldn’t that make a good last hurrah?

“Your ancestors weep with shame for what you’ve done,” Lead said darkly.

Mercury couldn’t keep from grinning. “I never knew them, so I don’t owe them anything,” he said spitefully.

Lead scoffed, then stood, addressing one of the men at his side. “Bring the Dragonslayer.”

Oh, this was going to be good.

He disappeared for a second behind a door at the end of the hall, then reappeared, a thick, metallic-looking cloth draped in his arms. In the middle of it was a thin blade, impossibly ornate, sheathed in a brightly colored scabbard.

That looked nasty.

Mercury was practically counting the seconds until his demise. He was so done with these dragons and their honor.

His heart couldn’t take another second of wishing he could see Marina one more time. Feel her hair, her skin. Kiss her.

This was better for everyone.

“I’ll make this quick,” Lead said coldly down to Mercury as he pulled the sword from the cloth, then withdrew the blade from its sheath. The blade glowed with an alien red hue, the air humming in Mercury’s ears as Lead came up to him.

But instead of terror at the thought of losing everything, Mercury felt a strange calm wash over him, as if fate herself were nodding in agreement with this.

Lead raised the blade, pointing it straight at Mercury’s heart.

Too bad Mercury knew there was nothing but a gaping hole where his heart should have been.

He looked down at the ground, taking one last breath, when he heard an incredibly loud crash behind him. He looked over his shoulder, unable to fight his curiosity even in his last moments, and saw the impossible.

Running through the humongous brass doors was Marina, golden hair flowing behind her like a roman goddess as she rushed into the great hall. Behind her, Mercury could make out the shapes of men chasing her at top speed, and for a moment, he could feel his fingers twitch with rage.

Marina, acting fast, grabbed the doors and slammed them shut just in time. The sounds of fruitless pounding sounded for a moment, then stopped as Marina turned her back to the door, facing the rest of the room.

Though Mercury couldn’t see them, he could feel the uncanny stillness in the room as all eyes were on Marina. Beside him, the courtier stood agape, stock still, and Mercury wished he had eyes in the back of his head so he could see Lead’s dumb silence as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

Mercury couldn’t help stifling a laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Truly, the universe had an interesting sense of humor.