56.2. The Day Monsters Attacked - Part 2

It has emotions I realise a second before the spell hits its head. They're primitive and crude but it does feel. The heligorr experiences dread and panic as it senses instinctively that it's going to die. But I don't feel sorry for it, that's not in my Celestial nature. We're in the battle and it's my enemy. It hurt and killed many innocent people. It deserves to be eradicated.

I mercilessly seal the spell and heligorr's head turns into a huge cube of ice. The monster desperately tries to break the ice with its pincers but it's futile. This is no mere ice crust; I froze every cell in its head instantly. Its last attempt is just a bodily twitch, nothing more.

The monster... is dead.

I gulp. I needed protection while casting but, in the end, I killed it single-handedly. I feel proud about myself, I get a dopamine rush and my Celestial nature is overjoyed. But I also realise that I'm potentially much more dangerous than some heligorr. And that was just a level 20 spell, nothing to brag about if Draconia was still a game.

Humans have every right to fear me. To fear Draconians. It's in their best interest to want peace because war would be devastating to them, not us. Sure, no shield can probably protect against a nuclear bomb but Draconians don't have a country humans could attack. We're scattered all over the world, we live everywhere. And that's what makes humans uneasy the most.

"You did it, Your Majesty!" Celestials start flying around me in a joyful victory dance.

It might be too early to celebrate but as I look down, I see that the Dragonkin finally arrived as well and are decimating filandras side by side with Clawfangs. I'm impresses seeing Fefnir literally tearing one monster apart with brute force of his hands. Giving them proper swords, they would be unstoppable.

But it's no time to relax yet. While I don't sense any new monsters emerging, I feel the pain of injured people all around me and it's maddening. I might be the best Celestial battle mage but, first and foremost, I'm an empath. I can't help feeling compassion towards people, regardless of whether they are my race or not.

"We have to help them!" I say urgently and head down.

I land neatly but my legs give in the moment they touch the pavement and I end up on my knees, panting. I'm more exhausted than I thought now that I'm not so pumped up with adrenaline. And I'm starving.

"My love!" Gotrid lands just a second after me and goes for a comforting hug. "Here, eat this."

He fishes a protein bar out of his robe and I have never been more grateful for food in my entire life. I gobble it in a matter of seconds.

"Cien gave it to me this morning just in case you skip a meal again," he explains with a smile and is caressing my wings. "We did it, love! We killed it! You killed it!"

"Is His Majesty okay? Gosh, that must have taken a ton of mana," Taranah lands next. "A level 20 ice barrier? Amazing!"

"Just tired and hungry," Gotrid assures him and everyone else because all Celestials go for landing one by one, worried sick about me.

When sugar from the bar gets into my blood stream, I feel immediately better. I still need a proper meal as soon as possible but at least I'm able to stand up again.

I shudder when I look around. The heligorr wreaked a havoc and the street is full of dead humans. But there're also a lot of people we saved and should be okay when given medical attention. I see Fefnir taking a heavy pole off a person buried under it. It's a young woman and looks about my age. Probably still a student.

"I can't feel my legs," she's crying.

My eyes get teary when I fully realise the gravity of what just happened. These innocent people were attacked by a monster from our game! How is that even possible? Will it happen again? And what if it's somehow our fault? But I don't have time to ponder when there're people suffering around me.

"You'll be okay," I hurry to the woman and catch her hand. Her pain and fear overwhelm me for a second but I don't flinch. "Don't be scared, we can surely heal you."

"Your Majesty," the woman keeps crying and is freaking out that the Celestial Emperor is touching her but otherwise it seems she trusts me. I let her pet my feathers to calm her down while I active a transfiguration symbol for a level 15 healing, hoping it'll work on a spine injury. But as I'm about to apply it to her, a hand lands on my shoulder.

"Leave healing to us, Aefener, you've done enough."

It's Werden, the Earthborn have finally arrived. Unfortunately, being slow when it comes to movement is their racial weakness. Celestials can fly, Clawfangs can run really fast and the Dragonkin have great stamina so they can also run reasonably well. The Earthborn were the only ones who had to use cars to get here. But that's fine, their powers will be most useful after the battle anyway.

"Hello, young lady," Werden kneels and takes her hand instead of me. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing our Earthborn healing wouldn't be able to mend. You're hurting too much, I'll put to sleep, okay? When you wake up again, you'll be in hospital and in need of some rehabilitation but you should feel your legs just fine."

"Thank you," the woman sighs out in relief. She believes every single word Werden said and Werden himself is confident about his abilities. He can really mend a broken spine!

"My darling, King Werden is right, let's leave healing to the Earthborn. We're too exhausted anyway," Gotrid pulls me up.

I hug him tight because my head spins. I feel light-headed because of starvation and the emotions all around are starting to overwhelm me. But I have him with me and finding refuge in his mind helps a lot.

"This thing," Deminas is curiously knocking on the heligorr's shell, "do you think we could turn it into useful materials for crafting?"

"I'm afraid secret services will be here soon and confiscate the monster for research," Liana has to disappoint him and glances at me with narrowed eyes. I guess we'll have a serious conversation about my levelled-up telepathy when we return.

"Eh? No way, we're taking it," Deminas frowns. "We need that chitin."

I watch him, astonished, as he orders his subjects to start peeling the heligorr out of its shell. I have to turn around because the sight of it makes my stomach turn upside down. Celestials never used parts of dead monsters, not even when Draconia was still a game. It seems we won't be starting that now either.

Then federal agents start arriving. Ms Behera with the army shows up as well and also damage control, paramedics and the media. Humans are running all over the place: taking care of the wounded, freaking out over dead monsters, documenting and interrogating witnesses.

The Dragonkin don't let anyone get even close to the dead heligorr so agents are twice as anxious. They try to disperse the onlookers but we're in the middle of New York and people are watching from office buildings, slowly getting out of shops where they hid and everyone is holding their phone.

The government officials aren't brave enough to antagonise Draconians in any way. We killed the beast while their police couldn't do anything. The Earthborn are cooperating closely with paramedics and I see Emi carrying a little boy who got separated from his parents. Not even she with her hate for humanity is indifferent towards children.

The paramedics are astonished by what the Earthborn can do. Doctors are watching in disbelief as broken bones and open wounds are being mended in front of their eyes and firefighters are in genuine admiration with Dragonkin strength and fire-proof scales.

"Your Excellency, please," Ms Behera approaches us, pleading. "We need samples but the Dragonkin won't let us near that crab monster."

"They just want the chitin, you can have the rest for research," Liana assures her. "Did any street camera catch the moment those monsters started appearing?"

"We have no idea how such a thing is even possible!" Ms Behera is freaking out.

"It doesn't seem any less possible than us turning into fantasy races," Liana says impatiently. "Do have the recording or not?"

"We're just processing the request," Ms Behera gulps and looks around again, horrified. "This is insane... insane!!!"

"Your Majesty, eat this," Luvi is suddenly shoving a hot dog and a can of iced coffee into my hands. "It's vegetarian and one of the Earthborn checked it so it's safe to eat."

"W-what?" I don't understand how she came by food but I take a bite immediately. My body desperately needs calories.

"I got it from there, desperate times call for desperate measures," Luvi points towards an abandoned food stand.

I take another bite. It's just cheap street food, nothing that my subjects would serve me in a normal situation, but it tastes heavenly.

"Want some?" I offer the hot dog to Gotrid because I can sense that he's also quite hungry even though his hunger isn't as urgent and doesn't make him dizzy.

He politely shakes his head and keeps caressing my feathers until I finish eating. When he feels I'm stronger and hopefully won't faint, only then he opens his wings and lets me face the commotion again.

My subjects don't want to let me but I insist I want keep helping. I entrust dealing with agents to Liana and focus on helping people who weren't hurt themselves but were still affected. Every stressed-out person we help means less telepathic strain on my brain. I'm somehow managing only because Gotrid is constantly touching me so I can stay connected to him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

A man who had his shop damaged by the heligorr thanks me when I use telekinesis to get the shards of his broken shopping window away and use my healing powers on his dog that got cut. No paramedic would bother with a pet right now but I'm not indifferent towards animal suffering either.

"You know," the shopkeeper speaks up shyly when I'm about to leave to help another person. "I was against you."

I slowly turn around and study his face. He's a man in his fifties and I notice a little cross on a necklace around his neck. He's feeling bewildered, scared, still in a shock and doesn't really understand what just happened. And right now he's talking to the Celestial Emperor who was just a very distant figure from the media until now. The idea of meeting me in person was unthinkable for him.

"But you're kind," he continues. "You might be alien but you're no monster. I've met a monster today and it wasn't you."

"Ehm... thank you?" I'm not sure how to react.

"You mess with my beliefs, though," he nervously plays with the cross. "Because right now I'm looking at angels. It's too much to digest, to be honest."

"You can take your time," I say softly, "we don't want to force anyone to understand right away because we're still figuring things out for ourselves but... maybe... don't hate us just because?"

The man is staring at me for a long while, thinking frantically.

"That might be a good start," he nods in the end.