When Karel was moving away from the cave, he sensed something close to him, so he looked in the direction from which he felt that sensation, and said to himself: They have come too close to me, I must lead them away from the cave.
When he thought about that, he continued to pump his aura into his legs and dashed quickly in the opposite direction from them so that they would be obstructed and move away from the cave.
And while he was doing that, he remembered the reason that led him to that disaster, he remembered the reason for the destruction of his own mercenaries and being considered a traitor to humanity and all the races of Mira continent.
He remembered the small mistake that led him to that months ago.
He and his mercenary team were camping on one of the fallen islands because it had been said that a massive battle had occurred there, so the emperor sent him to support the human squad on the island.
But when they arrived, they realized that the demon attack had stopped, and that they had come here without any benefit, but they could not return until the emperor ordered them to.
So they camped in a camp outside the fortress on the island, as the fortress had many injured.
And when night fell, the mercenaries were drinking wine and talking about their adventures and each member's stories.
And Archduke Karel was with them as well, for he always joined them in drinking, spending time, and staying up with them to strengthen the bonds of friendship between him and them.
And while they were having fun and telling their adventures, his deputy was beside him, who was one of the elves, and he got drunk and enjoyed himself with the rest of the team.
He suddenly looked at his leader and said secretly:
"My lord, do you know how Zeus escaped from the team that wanted to capture him?"
When he said that, Karel looked at him briefly and then drank a little wine, and said to him:
"No, I don't know, he escaped from Forn, who has never failed at anything."
When he said that, he laughed a lot and said:
"She must have received a lot of blame for failing to catch him."
And when he said that, his deputy and those close to him laughed along, and they took a few more cups of wine.
And while they were doing that, his deputy said to him:
"My lord, do you know the rumor spreading in the camp?"
Karel was astonished when he heard that, and when his deputy saw that he did not know, he said to him:
"There is a rumor that during the previous demon attack, one of the dragons responsible for protecting the fallen islands was injured."
Karel was even more surprised by what he heard and quickly said in a low voice:
"Are you sure that one of the dragons was injured?"
His deputy nodded and said:
"Yes, many have seen it, and the rumors say he is resting in the western mountain of the island."
When he said that, he pointed in the direction he had heard from the rumors.
Karel thought about the information he heard, and about the dream he had abandoned long ago, a dream of obtaining the legendary heart, the Dark Heart.
In his youth, he had read a book in the imperial treasury that spoke about a heart that allows its owner to surpass his limits, but the components of that heart were difficult, and one of them was impossible for him, so he had indeed abandoned his dream.
But the information his deputy mentioned reminded him of the only component he had failed to find: the blood of a living dragon. It had been impossible for him to obtain it in his youth.
He had strived to get the components and had formed a mercenary team to obtain them, but over time he discovered how difficult the last component was.
Therefore, when he heard what his deputy said, a little hope returned to him, and he said: "Was the dragon seriously injured?"
He saw that his deputy noticed his interest in the matter and spoke about everything he knew, and said: "Yes, they say he was severely injured, so he settled on the western side of the island to recover."
When Karel heard that, the desire to find out if he could get the last component of the Dark Heart arose, but he restrained his desire to obtain it until he finished staying up with the mercenaries.
So he sat among them, drank, laughed, and shared stories and adventures until everyone dispersed to sleep.
When Karel got up to go to his room to pretend to sleep until everyone else had gone to bed, after several hours had passed, he left his tent stealthily so that no one would see him. He was afraid that the mercenaries might reveal his secrets if he failed in what he was doing.
Therefore, he moved stealthily so that no one would see him.
He went west across the island, just as his deputy had said. On his way there, he thought to himself: If he succeeds in creating the heart, he must give it to his son, for he had become old and might not benefit from the Dark Heart.
While he was thinking, he suddenly sensed danger around the area he was heading toward. When he felt that, he knew the rumors were true. He took a deep breath and moved forward cautiously.
With every step he took toward the area, he looked ahead and saw a mountain, and he knew that the dragon was there recovering from its injury. He quickened his pace, ignoring the danger surrounding him from all directions, and climbed the mountain.
He used very little of his aura so as not to alert the dragon, and took some time to find a huge cave in the mountain.
When he saw the cave, he knew it had been made by the dragon to recover in, so he advanced carefully so as not to alert it.
He walked into the cave, observing everything around him cautiously. As he walked and went deeper into the cave, he sensed deep and powerful breathing. He swallowed and advanced a little, hiding behind a large rock inside the cave.
He saw a very large dragon in front of him. When he saw it, he immediately knew that if he made any mistake, it would be the end of him, even if he were the emperor's brother.
He took a deep breath and advanced a few steps. Then, he saw a large wound on the dragon's chest healing rapidly, visible to the naked eye.
He knew he didn't have much time, as the dragon was indeed recovering. So he approached cautiously after making sure it was in a deep sleep, took a vial from behind him, and brought it close to the wound without touching it.
Then, the blood slowly dripped into the vial, and each drop took away some of his calm. When the last drop fell into the vial, he exhaled in relief, quickly took it, closed it, and hid it in his clothes to keep it safe.
And he slowly withdrew away from the dragon so as not to wake it, and when he had moved a little, he turned to leave.
He heard a sound behind him, so he looked back to see what it was, and then he saw a large eye staring at him.
At that moment, he knew that if he did not escape, he would die, and realized that if he could not run, it would catch him in seconds.
The only hope was in the teleportation gem. That gem was something he had previously spent most of the money he had taken from Zeus on.
He quickly took the gem from his clothes and smashed it, thinking of the place he wanted to go to, and teleported.
All of that happened in a few seconds.
When the dragon saw what had happened, it was astonished, for it had felt the presence of someone near it. It opened its eyes and saw a human a few steps away.
Before it could do anything, the human disappeared. When it saw that, it became extremely angry, thinking to itself that its injury had been so severe that a contemptible human dared to approach it and escape.
When it thought about that again, its anger erupted, and it rose, using its hands and feet to run out of the cave, even though its injury had not yet fully healed.
And when it reached the edge, it leapt from the cave, spread its wings, and flew high, roaring at the top of its voice: "Who dared approach my cave?"
Everyone on the island heard what it said, and all the inhabitants of the island were frightened by the sound.
When the deputy of Karel's mercenary squad heard the voice, he ran out of his tent to see everyone. There was a lot of chaos; he didn't know what to do, so he shouted loudly: "Calm down! I will go to the commander to find out what happened."
When he walked to the commander's tent and called for him, no one answered. He was not surprised that the loud sound earlier had not awakened him, and even his call was not heard.
So he lowered his voice a little and entered the tent to see if the commander was okay. Then he saw the tent was empty of anyone.
He came out of his tent and ordered everyone to search for the commander immediately in the camp to see what was happening on the island.
Far away, on the continent of Mira, inside the Miran Empire, north of the empire near the lands of the Duchy of Krivon, inside Archduke Karel's palace, in the backyard, a strong light shone from the courtyard, frightening the servants and guards.
After the light dimmed, Archduke Karel appeared before them. When they saw him, the guards knelt and the servants bowed in respect, even though they did not know how he had come here, but they did not dare to question him.
When Karel arrived at his palace wing and saw the servants and guards kneeling and bowing, he knew that he had succeeded in escaping from the dragon, but he also knew that he could not escape the disaster.
He looked at one of the servants and said: "Where is my son?"
The maid answered respectfully: "Your son is in the study room, my lord."
When he heard that, he rushed to his son's place, knowing that he did not have much time before they discovered that he was the one who had done it, and when they found out, the emperor would order his death to appease the dragons.