She Belongs To The Devil

The chain that Adeline was wearing, the one with the dragon pendant, was in fact a magic object that Azriel had created around three hundred years ago. Its main purpose has always been to find the next ruler of Wyverndale.

During that time, humans were very much aware of the existence of Dragons. But there was enmity between the two races. Dragons would go to the nearby human settlements and soar down from the sky like rain. And they would wipe out the herd of domestic animals that the humans had raised with great care.

Likewise, the humans would often climb the hill and would enter the Dragon Crypts in order to kill the beasts. They would treat the Dragon Crypt as some kind of treasure hunting ground. And they would savagely kill the Dragons, Wyverns, and Wryms as though they were a part of an adventure quest.

Azriel, being the Dragon Immortal, had naturally taken all of those beasts under his wing. He hated it when the humans slaughtered his underlings like that. But he also could not go on a rampage against the humans because it was the one rule which none of the children of God could break. They couldn't afford to face the wrath of God by messing with his creations.

So Azriel came with an idea. He wanted to have a truce with the humans so that both the parties would not be harmed and that both of them could coexist peacefully.

He went to meet the leader of that nearby village. However, things didn't go as per his wish. The leader of the humans was one proud bastard and he insulted Azriel very badly.

"You are the guardian of those dragons? Pffftt… yeah then I am the guardian of the universe. Don't try to trick me, you brat. The women might fall for that sleek face of yours but I am not like those brainless women. Now scram before I scar that pretty face."

Azriel had never felt that insulted and that enraged in his life. He vowed to get revenge on that leader. "He dares to belittle me? The fallen angel? I will show him his place real soon. I would have loved to roast him and feed him to Mimi, but let's not go against the rules. I will make his future worse than dead meat."

During his visit to the village, he had seen how he treated his fellow villager, as though all of them were his slaves. And a different idea hit Azriel's mind.

After he returned back to the Dragon Crypt, he used a significant amount of his power to create a flawless magic object that could find a sensible person who could lead the villagers into the path of peace and prosperity. And molding that someone to his liking was going to be his job.

"For someone who is as power-hungry as that bastard, I don't think there is any better punishment than being as powerless as a bird without its wings," Azriel smirked and then let that magic object find that special person.

After a few months, a young man climbed inside the Dragon Crypt to try his luck in killing a beast. He was wielding a sword with sharp blades. It had a large piece of amethyst embedded on its pommel, and that amethyst had an image of a Dragon embedded in it.

The magic object had the ability to take shape of the item that the chosen one would get attracted to. Just like Adeline was attracted to that chain in the market, this man was attracted to the incredible sword when he had visited a pawn shop in the nearby village.

Azriel felt the presence of his magic object at once. That lad had come to slay a dragon but Azriel lured him with his sweet talks and ended up striking a deal with that young man.

"I will help you be the King of this place and in return, you will provide my dragons with enough food supply. Your people will not suffer from the mass slaughter of their domestic animals and my dragons will not suffer from the hunt. And under your Kingship, your people will not suffer from the mistreatment of the current brat. Do we have a deal?"

"If you promise to keep your words then we have a deal."

Azriel asked with a smile, "What is your name, young lad?"

"My name is Dale. And what do I call you, sir?"

"You can call me the Dragon Immortal."

Dale was no fool. From the way Azriel carried himself, he already knew that who he was seeing was indeed an immortal. And thus he asked, "I also have one demand of my own, Dragon Immortal. Will you promise me that you will look after all of my descendants? Be our Deity and look after my bloodline."

Azriel liked the way this young lad was already thinking far ahead. "From now on, I promise that your descendants will be under my guardianship. I would not mind if you want to make me your Deity; that would be an honor... And let's call your Kingdom, Wyverndale, to mark the beginning of the truce between the two races."

Since then, the magic object had already chosen 13 rulers for Wyverndale, all of them were the descendants of Dale. Adeline was going to be the thirteenth ruler.

Before the test system was introduced, the magic object would find the next ruler after the death of its current owner. But after the introduction of the test, that magic object would disappear from the original owner's possession when the test approached.

Then it would choose one of the children of the reigning ruler as the future ruler before they even arrived for the test. However, it didn't mean that Azriel would blindly accept the ones who came bearing that magic object on the day of the test as the future ruler.

He would still test all the prospective candidates for the throne and would use his own judgment as well. But that magic object had never failed, not even once.

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(Continuation: Immediately after the test was over.)

After Azriel listened to that clever answer from Adeline, he talked with her about another pressing matter. Once again, he asked a personal question to Adeline, "Adeline, I have something to tell you. Before that, I wanted to confirm something. Is it true that Theodore had transferred some of his powers to you?"

Adeline was not surprised by how he knew that. She was sure that her strength was a dead giveaway. "Yes, he said he did that when I was a child. He wanted to protect me from magic spells."

Azriel nodded his head and went into deep thought for some time. And he revealed what he knew, "I am sure Theodore had your best interest in his heart. But the powers that he gave you have awoken. Meaning, it is able to make you act like a demon."

"Am I turning into a demon?" Adeline panicked.

"No. But your demonic power is able to absorb the aura of fear from others around you. It would have been a good thing if you were a demon but since you are a human, your body won't be able to contain that much power. It might not be a problem now but if you ever go to some place that is the epicenter of fear, like a war, then you won't be able to come out alive."

Adeline had never thought that the very thing that gave her strength would be the thing that would bring her doom. She was a little bit scared, who wouldn't be scared by their death?

"Is there a solution?" Since Azriel was telling her all this, Adeline was hopeful that he would know how to solve her problem.

Azriel gave a reassuring smile and replied, "I cannot purge the demonic power but I can try to seal it. I know an inscription spell that can seal such powers but I will need 7 days' time to prepare for that spell. Come and meet me after a week."

Adeline was even happy with Azriel's reply. Adeline didn't want the powers that Theodore gave her to leave her body. She knew that what she had with Theodore was very much real, but either way, she didn't want to take any chances. "Thank you, Dra- Azriel. I will be forever indebted to you."

Azriel grinned and replied, "You are lucky that I had promised your ancestor to look after all of his descendants."