Tales of Azoria - Chapter 11

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#12 of Tales of Azoria

Azuri decides to distract BossBiss while his new friends help Oasis escape. Will he die or be captured again?


When Azuri arrived at the palace alone, he immediately started searching around for any sign of BossBiss. He ran throughout the palace, including the master bedroom and the study. When he couldn't find him in the obvious places, he decided to search through the cellar. Despite it being a heavily guarded area, he wasn't spotted by the guards. Still having no luck, he finally decided to head over to the throne room. He hadn't been there yet, but he knew it was located around the backend of the palace this time, which was very similar to the empty room connected to the cellar. As expected, it indeed did have the red carpet leading up to the throne at the end of the room.

Golden trophies were in glass casing and hung among each pillar. Azuri couldn't tell what any of these trophies were from, or what intended purpose they served. Unfortunately, BossBiss wasn't even in the throne room either. Where did he go? I could've sworn he was here earlier. He was about to leave the throne room when he saw three dragons enter. They appeared to also be searching for BossBiss as well, but shared confused looks when they realised he wasn't in the room. They approached the throne despite it being empty, looking for any signs of the king.

Azuri hid behind the throne, looking out toward the three dragons, who all appeared to be Stellarian dragons. Each of them were slightly different in appearance to each other, but they were definitely discernable from one another. One of them looked at the other two, "You should be the one to tell him."

The one on the right side looked slightly offended by this. "Not me! How about you?!"

"Pfft! He'd have my head if I said anything. Remember last time when I told him about the prisoner escaping? He got angry." The one in the middle laughed when he said this, causing him to retort. "If you think that's funny, then maybe you should do it!" The one on the left nudged the one that laughed.

"Hell no!" he protested.

Azuri then recognized BossBiss flying into the throne room. It was like he was coming from out of the kingdom. In fact, it appeared that he was wearing a hooded jacket. The hood was around his head with only his face being clearly seen. Azuri didn't know where he might've gone, but he saw small indications of sweat running down his neck and forehead. "Tell me what?" He asked the three Stellarian dragons, startling them. Neither of them could mutter the words now. BossBiss landed onto the red carpet near the end of the room and began approaching them.

The three dragons glanced at each other in slight fear. Finally, the one on the far right finally spoke up, sweating nervously.

"Y-your majesty, it appears that Uhrwerk is gone. The two dragons you sent to befriend him said that it was that kid Azuri." The dragon gulped as he continued, "And he was with someone else, a f-female Vaermesian." BossBiss looked down at them, sighing with disappointment.

BossBiss walked past them and approached the throne, before hopping onto it and sitting down in it. He faced the three dragons with a slightly unamused expression. "I'd figure he'd try to take him with him but I wasn't expecting another dragon to help him achieve this, particularly in such a short period of time." BossBiss seemed to be having a little bit of anger rising in his voice. He took a deep breath and started to try and calm himself down. "And no guards noticed them flying in?"

The three dragons shook their heads, which appeared to set off BossBiss, who clenched his claws into tight fists. "That little twat is beginning to tick me off." He begins rubbing his eyes with his claws in an annoyed fashion before looking down at the three of them.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Um, sir. If I may. . ." The one on the far left started speaking.

"We do know where they went off to. Thirty guards saw them flying out toward the Vaermia city, but unfortunately it was too heavily guarded. Though, we now know where they are and we can set up a large team to attack and retrieve them." BossBiss shook his head, Azuri could tell that his foot was tapping the floor in heavy beats. He knew it was the sign of him losing his patience and temper.

"No, I'm afraid it's too late. By now, he must be spreading the news about my interference on the throne. Instead, we must begin preparing our military in case outside forces decide to start attacking. I am especially worried about Florian forces as well, I don't want the little brat's father to get involved." My father? What about him? There's nothing he could do about this situation. Unless. . . There is something he could do? Clearly if he's referencing my father, then that means he must be secretly scared of him. Right? "Hurry now, there's not much time!" BossBiss gestured for them to leave with his claw. The three dragons bow their heads at him, before turning around and beginning to fly out of the room.

BossBiss remained on the throne for a while, lifting a claw up to his chin and beginning to think to himself. Azuri slowly and cautiously walked to the side of the throne and looked up to him. He saw BossBiss's expression showing concern and worry, then his facial expression changed to a grin as if he just came to an interesting discovery. Azuri couldn't tell what it was until another dragon flew into the doorway. "Your majesty! Queen Oasis has been taken by Uhrwerk and the sky dragon!" BossBiss's expression didn't change, only looking toward the dragon.

"I know, I sense the sky dragon's presence now. Capture them and bring them to me!" That is the signal to start distracting him, Azuri thought to himself. Azuri looked throughout the room for what he should do. Then, he got a brilliant idea. He uncloaked himself and jumped in front of the throne and BossBiss, to his utter shock and horror.

"You!" He spat, his expression shifting to pure hatred and vitriol.

"Catch me if you can! Otherwise, I'm going to burn down your study!" BossBiss roared in anger and annoyance.

"You wouldn't! You are only an infant!" Azuri didn't reply to him, using his wings to lift himself out of the air and fly out of the room. BossBiss roared at him as he flew away, eventually jumping upwards into the air and starting to use his wings to fly after Azuri. A sudden wave of fear rushed through him as he desperately flapped his wings harder. When he got inside the theater room with the balcony leading to the study. He landed onto the balcony and pushed a guard to the side. Azuri glanced behind him and didn't see BossBiss following him, but he suspected that he must be not far behind.

Azuri ran through the hallway with the Stellarian guards rushing after him with spears. To the confusion of Azuri, none of them appeared to be trying to kill him. Before he could get to the rooms, a large shadow filled the room as BossBiss smashed through the window and landed on all fours of his claws. His eyes met with Azuri with deep rage, "Don't you dare!" He screamed. Azuri just kept his momentum and slid his body underneath BossBiss's legs and to the other side of him. The guards stopped when they got close enough to BossBiss. "Leave him to me! Focus your attention on Queen Oasis!" He informs the guards, before turning around and chasing after Azuri.

When Azuri got into the study, he rushed over to the fireplace and yanked out the logs despite them being already on fire and burning his claws. The fire quickly spread onto the carpet and floor. Azuri lifted his claws and blew on thm to try and soothe them from the heat as the fire started spreading to the bookshelves and floor. He turned around and was about to head to the master bedroom when he was caught off guard by BossBiss standing at the doorway. "You stupid little runt! You're damaging my future legacy!" He rushed over to try and stop the fire that was now spreading to the books on the bookshelf. Azuri was about to start running out of the room when he tumbled over BossBiss's tail slamming in front of him. "Don't act like I couldn't see you leaving!"

He quickly turned his body and nearly grabbed Azuri. Azuri grabbed the unheated part of one of the logs and lifted it up in front of him. BossBiss retreated his claw and shook it from the sudden heat. So, he can still be hurt, it's just the scales that can't be damaged, Azuri thought to himself before throwing the log at BossBiss's face and flying over him. BossBiss yelled loudly from the sudden impact of the log. Azuri jumped through the shattered window and let his body fall several feet. Then, he caught himself with his wings and flew downwards to another part of the palace.

Glancing behind him, he saw BossBiss looking down at Azuri falling, before jumping through the window and starting to fall after him. Azuri still felt the fear rushing through him, noticing a window that led to an unfamiliar room. Azuri turned his wings toward the window and let himself smash through it and slid through the room on his back. It took him a second to realize that he was still alive. He noticed the shadow of BossBiss slipping through the now shattered window. Azuri couldn't guess what BossBiss was about to do next. He didn't know if he was going to smash through the walls to try and get him.

Azuri looked around the room and noticed that he was in a weaponry room. Axes, swords, shields and armor were littering the room. Azuri jumped up to an axe that was hanging up on a wall nearby. He ripped it off the wall and held it in his claw. The shadow soon faded away, and silence fell on the room. He heard the distant flapping of BossBiss's wings, which made Azuri grow a sigh of relief. Though, he still wondered where BossBiss was going now. Was he finding another way to get to him? Why not just smash through the wall? He had the size and strength to do it, unless perhaps he was trying to preserve the palace as much as possible and didn't want to do it.

Several minutes passed, and the silence started to make Azuri's ears ring. He lowered the axe in his claw, but still clenched it tightly before beginning to leave the room he was in. He found the door and opened it up, where he found himself in another hallway. He realised that he couldn't recognize what part of the palace he was in. He looked both ways before slowly walking into the hallway. He couldn't hear any trace of BossBiss approaching, which prompted Azuri to start walking left. He raised the axe up to his chest and kept it there as he slowly and cautiously made his way down the hallway.

To Azuri's horror, he realised he could hear the large thuds of BossBiss's heavy claw steps approaching closer and closer. Suddenly the stomping stopped before Azuri saw BossBiss fly past the hallway and glance down at Azuri. He did a double take, then realising that Azuri was standing right there, stopping himself and turning back toward the hallway. Azuri quickly vanished before BossBiss could turn down the hallway. He dropped the axe and stepped over to the wall and laid it against it. BossBiss rushed down the hallway until he got to the axe. He lowered his head down and started sniffing at it.

BossBiss then raised his head and started to slowly walk past the axe. Azuri slid past BossBiss along the side of him, and reached down at the axe. Once he picked it up, he swung it as hard and as silently as he could at BossBiss's leg. Once again, Azuri was thrown into a state of shock and horror as the axe made contact with BossBiss's tail - And shattered like glass. BossBiss turned his head around and noticed Azuri holding the handle of the axe. Uh oh, that wasn't supposed to happen. "There you are, you slippery little cunt!" He growled and hissed as he turned his body around again. Azuri dropped the stick and started to gallop down the hallway. "Oh no you don't!" He roared, using his wings to lift himself up in the air and pounce ahead toward Azuri.

His claws grab around Azuri's back legs and cause him to fall onto his stomach. BossBiss grinned widely as he slowly lifted Azuri into the air and in front of him. Azuri uncloaked himself and turned his head around back at BossBiss. "Aha, Finally! I got you!" He jeered, though his eyes still appeared to be filled with rage. Azuri tried to set himself free from his claws using his venom again but with no success. That's when Azuri looked to his side and noticed that the walls had hanging shields and swords for easy access for guards.

Azuri quickly grabbed one of the swords and thrust the blade straight into BossBiss's right eye. BossBiss stumbled back and roared loudly. His roar was so loud, it shook the entire building palace around him. Finally, BossBiss let go of Azuri and let him fall to the floor. BossBiss raised his right claw up to his eye, while the other grabbed the wrist. He roared and yelled loudly again. Stumbling several feet back again and struggling to keep himself balanced, Azuri took this as a chance to start running away from the scene. He recloaked himself as he left the hallway and ran into what appeared to be the throne room again, but from a different way than last time. Azuri didn't even know that there were other doors in the throne room, but at that moment it didn't matter.

Azuri hid behind the throne and started to catch his breath. He couldn't believe what he just did. He could tell that BossBiss was even more furious than he was before. It was clear by the angry, painful, wall-shaking roar that BossBiss wanted Azuri dead. Azuri realised that he probably won't get a chance like that again, even if he tried. He wanted to leave, but he also wanted to keep stalling for time. He didn't know if his friends left already or if they'd been captured. He didn't even know if Oasis successfully left or not. All he knew was that he wanted to see what BossBiss was going to do next.

It didn't take long for BossBiss to arrive at the throne room from the same doorway. Grabbing the walls nearby to keep himself from falling. Azuri could see the massive amount of blood beginning to pour from his eye. He was about two meters away from the throne when two Stellarian guards walked in at the entrance. "Sir! The perpetrators escaped with the queen! Two of the other guards were killed while trying to-" They stopped mid-sentence and gawked in shock when they noticed BossBiss's severe eye injury. "Sir? What happened?!"

BossBiss turned his attention to the guard, one claw around his eye with the sword still poking out. "What was that?" He asked the guards, Azuri feeling the rage emanating from his vocal tone. Both of the guards struggled to mutter the words as they stared up at BossBiss.

"Sir? Who did that to you?" One of the guards asked, but BossBiss ignored him.

"What did you just say? Tell me!" BossBiss demanded as the same guard gulped.

"T-They escaped sir, w-we couldn't get them in time."

I did it! I distracted him just long enough for them to escape. Azuri thought to himself, staying hidden behind the throne. He looked over to BossBiss and noticed the slowly developing rage form on his face. He was wincing in pain, but also his eyebrows clearly twitching in anger. BossBiss started to slowly approach the two guards. When he got close enough, he raised his claw up to the handle of the sword and began to slowly rip it out of his eye socket. The guard's both wince and look away from him. At the tip of the sword, Azuri noticed the eyeball completely destroyed and still stuck in it. Blood poured all over the floor and near the guards, his other eye still staring down at them. He roared again in pain, before looking around the room for something to use.

Azuri didn't like where this was going. The guards clearly looked terrified and didn't know what to do or say to him. Eventually, BossBiss reached over and grabbed something sharp from the floor. He handed it over to one of the guards, "I want you to take this and stab your right eye, then yank it out and hand it back." Azuri noticed that the guard he was talking to had whiteness fill his eyes for a second before fading back to normal. The guard took the sharp object from BossBiss's claw and without hesitation started doing as BossBiss said. Azuri looked away, feeling sick to his stomach. I. . . I can't believe it. What is he doing?!

He heard the guard scream out in pain. "What does that feel like?" BossBiss asked the guard with clear anger. "Doesn't that feel terrible?!" Azuri looked back over to them, noticing the guard nod. He was moaning and grunting from the pain, clenching his claw up to his right eye. Noticing the blood pour out of it and through his claws. "I'm keeping this eye and will feed it to whomever makes me ANGRIER!" The palace shook again from the loudness of his voice. The guards were both terrified, Azuri can tell that they were both shivering and collapsing in on themselves. "As for you, JUMP OUT OF THE WINDOW AND KILL YOURSELF!" The same guard had whiteness fill his eyes, before fading away to normal. Then, while still clenching his eye he used his wings to lift himself up into the air and fly away, presumably to fulfill what BossBiss told him.

The guard watched the other fly away before looking up to BossBiss, lowering his head like a scared puppy dog. "YOU!" BossBiss pointed at him, "GO JOIN the rest of the guards to prepare for a possible attack soon. I don't want to hear any more negative news." The other guard had the same thing happen to his eyes like the other one, then nodded to his head before leaving the room. BossBiss clenched his eye again, turning back around and collapsing onto the throne. Azuri slowly walked out toward the red carpet, staring up at BossBiss as he panted and moaned in pain. Then, he turned his body around and sat on it. Leaning his back against the wall and raising his head upwards into the air.

BossBiss started to talk out loud to himself as he closed his other eye. "Don't. . . Fall. . . Asleep. . ." His breathing was heavy and his claw fell to his side from his eye. "Must. . . Stay awake. Mustn't fall. . ." BossBiss's expression suddenly faded as his body relaxed. He muttered one last word before he fell asleep. "Sleeeep. . ." Is that it? Is he dead? Azuri saw that BossBiss was still breathing and his chest pumping, which meant that he wasn't dead, he just passed out. Did that chase exhaust him? Is that why he fell asleep? Azuri looked around his surroundings, before flying out of the room. He flapped his wings hard as he flew away from the Stellaris kingdom, heading straight toward Vaermia in the distance.

As soon as he was halfway back, he stopped himself when several Florian guards appeared in front of him. Flying around Azuri and surrounding him. "There you are," one of the Florian guards said, "we've been looking all over for you!" They wore exhausted and disappointed expressions, like they were deeply disappointed with the decisions that Azuri had made. "You're coming with us back to Floria, and you will speak to the queen about your recent decisions."