The Lord of the Seas - An Isekai Progression Fantasy [ Currently on Volume 2 ]

Lukas was already moving before his mind could fully register the panic curling in his gut.

Damn it!

His boots pounded against the cobbled roads before he shifted, launching himself into the air, scaling walls and leaping from rooftop to rooftop in fluid, practiced strides. The moment Elion had said those words to him, Lukas knew exactly the red haired girl that he had been referring to.

It wasn't Rosalia.

It was Valkari Ishtar. And Lukas knew exactly where she was going. He knew exactly what she was trying to do.

Lukas had been so caught up with meeting Rosalia's uncle Maelis and reuniting with the Vice Admiral Anriette that he had forgotten that it was of utmost importance that he kept an eye on the dragonborn.

Valkari was headed for the dragons. The holding pens. The clearing by the far docks, tucked behind the opulence of the inner cities like something unsightly that the rich didn't want to see but still wanted to own.

The Dragonborn of the Flames was planning to set them free.

It was the only explanation that made sense. Valkari had been far too quiet when she came above deck, standing witness to the cruelty of Nozar against her kind. Lukas had watched her very carefully, witnessing the rage simmering beneath the surface. She hadn't needed to say anything for Lukas to understand the thoughts that must have been running through her mind.

Her eyes did not lie. And tonight, Valkari decided she had seen enough.

Lukas cut across rooftops, only pausing when he saw torchlight below—guards patrolling the streets, all of them ensuring that the Inner Cities remained safe at all times so the rich and powerful could sleep without worry. He adjusted his pace accordingly, weaving through shadow and silence, careful not to draw attention to himself.

The air was colder here, the kind of dry coastal chill that clung to your skin, the kind that bit through fabric the higher you climbed.

When Lukas finally reached the clearing where they were holding the dragons who were to be displayed during the Celebration, the breath caught in his throat.

It was worse than he expected.

The cages stretched across the open expanse in uneven lines, like rusted coffins left to rot in the moonlight. Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands.

Wyverns curled into themselves with lifeless eyes. Dragons broken and chained, many of their wings clipped and jaws wound shut as if they were mutts. Even the few Dragonborn that Lukas could see were barely conscious, their scales dulled as if the very life had been sucked out of them.

Their spirits…broken.

There weren't many handlers but there were still a handful of men who walked through the open expanse, ensuring that these creatures did not cause any problems.

Lukas crouched on the edge of a noble's estate rooftop, gaze sweeping over the site.

His heart was pounding now, not from exertion, but from dread.

He couldn't see her. No red hair. No flicker of movement. Trying to scan every inch of this area for Valkari would be a fool's errand.

Lukas pressed his hand to his chest, closing his eyes. And then, without hesitation, he called upon the Crown. The power answered, flowing through him like liquid fire, not burning but searing into every corner of his awareness. His breath slowed and his heart stilled. He pushed the boundaries of his mind outward, flooding the area below with the Crown's reach—threads of thought and will pouring into the night.

Lukas knew what he was doing was dangerous. If he slipped up—if he let his concentration falter even for a second—the Crown could draw unwanted eyes towards the magical intensity the Legacy possessed.

But none of that mattered.

The risk was worth it if it meant finding Valkari and ensuring that she did not put all of them in jeopardy.

The world around him fell silent. Not in sound, but in presence. As if the air itself recognized what was happening.

Lukas' mind stretched outward—threading into the night, sliding like invisible mist across the clearing.

At first, it brushed against fragmented thoughts, dull and tired. His mind formed a connection with all who were shackled, chained and caged. He didn't speak to them with words. Not at first. He let them feel his presence. Many of them recoiled at first, unsure—they had gone through too many years of silence, of pain and suffering.

But then something changed.

Lukas let the Crown fully reveal what he was.

They felt his presence.

They felt the presence of a Dragon Lord.

A heartbeat passed. Then another. It was not long before Lukas felt their emotions like a tidal wave—doubt, disbelief, then something fragile and half-remembered: Hope

Lukas could feel them now, clearer than ever. Not just bodies in cages, but minds, lives—each one unique. Each one broken in a different way. He saw fragments of their memories. The last time many of them saw their home, the last time they ever flew through the skies of Linemall. The horrific atrocities of the Great War. The moment the chains snapped shut around their necks, their legs and their snouts. The sound of their children being silenced.

They had been waiting. But they had waited for two hundred years and no one had come to their rescue.

They had given up long ago.

What was the point of trying to struggle against these chains?

Linemall had lost. And no one would fight for them.

But now, a Dragon Lord stood among them. One of the Rulers of Linemall, the most powerful beings of not only their race but all of Hiraeth. They knew it to be true through the Crown, the Legacy of these Lords that only the Bloodline of the Great Houses inherited.

Lukas held their awe close to his chest, acknowledging it but not letting it consume him.

Some stirred. Tails shifted, wings twitched. Eyes blinked awake for the first time in days. Some even rose from where they lay.

The guards were starting to notice the sudden activity in all of the dragons among them. Lukas felt the human minds nearby tense with suspicion. He whispered through the Crown, not with authority, but with understanding.

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"You must remain calm." Lukas' voice echoed through all of the connections he had formed; commanding them to calm their restless hearts, the projected thought laced with natural authority.

And like a tide receding, the dragons obeyed.

He was grateful—but he didn't stop there.

There was a reason why he had activated the Crown.

"Lend me your eyes, my people. I beg of you. Please, let me see through you."

And they listened to his request, allowing him to see what they saw. The world flickered—vision warped and split as hundreds of eyes opened to him. It was a bit jarring but his mind could handle the strain. He'd put it through worse.

Lukas scanned through them—some too weak, others too blurry—but a few, closer to the eastern edge of the field, gave him exactly what he needed. He shifted his awareness between vantage points—one dragon youngling resting his head on the cool steel of the cage it remained trapped in and through his set of amber eyes, he saw her.

Valkari stood still, not hiding, not yet acting.

She had her back faced towards the dragon who had lent Lukas his eyes.

Just in front of her was a wyvern with mottled green and black scales, thin from starvation, but regal in the way its head tilted to watch her. The wyvern did not growl or snarl. She simply watched Valkari with fascination, as if she could feel the draconic blood that ran through Valkari's veins.

That was all Lukas needed to act and he acted without a second of hesitation.

His entire form shimmered—liquid rippling outward as he released the tension in his muscles and let the spell flow. His body collapsed and transformed into water, moulded by will and speed. Lukas poured off the rooftop in silence, moving across the stone streets like a river hunting gravity, slipping through alleyways and across rooftops in a serpentine streak of silver-blue.

The Monarch had used this spell purely for its combative prowess but Lukas found that there were applications of this spell that could instead be used for espionage. Such was the fluidity and versatility of the Divinity of the Seas.

The guards he snuck by didn't notice him. They also seemed a bit tipsy which made them a little less observant.

Good for him.

Lukas raced forward, weaving through moonlight and shadow until he reached the far edge of the field where Valkari crouched and, he assumed, meant to free the wyvern from the chains that had bound her for far too long.

The stream of water rippled silently behind Valkari, sliding across the ground like a shadow given form. Lukas reformed without a sound, droplets falling from his arms and hair as his body took shape behind her. He didn't announce himself. Didn't raise his voice, they were so far away from the handlers and the guards that they would not hear him even if he shouted at her. He didn't even summon the weight of the Crown to lash her with rebuke.

Why?

Because the moment he saw what the dragonborn was truly doing, it was only then that he understood why she had come here.

Valkari was kneeling beside one of the cages, a vial of Varian's glowing regenerative potion uncorked in her hand.

She poured it slowly across a vicious cut that ran across the wyvern's hide, whose scales had dulled to a sickly green.

The potion hissed as it touched exposed flesh, steam rising softly in the cold night air.

The wyvern whimpered but she did not shriek in fear of drawing attention to them. Valkari didn't flinch from the smell or the sight. Her hands moved with practiced gentleness as she reached into the cage to run a comforting hand across the wyvern's jaw.

Lukas' eyes softened. His breath left him in silence.

Valkari had not come to set them free in a blaze of vengeance. She had only come to do what little she could. She had come to ease their suffering, even if it was just for a moment. Even if she could not free them now, she would give them hope for a better future.

She sensed him then.

Valkari turned, her posture stiffening, but she didn't reach for her weapon or raise her voice.

Instead, she bowed her head low.

"I did not mean to disobey you..." she murmured.

Valkari only kept her head bowed for a second before she proceeded to the next. She moved to the next dragon in the cage nearest to her, pouring the last of the potion along its torn wing. The wounded dragon exhaled heavily, one of pure bliss, as if he had forgotten what it had been like to live without this pain.

Lukas stood in the shadows, watching her work and his heart tightened.

When he'd seen these dragons, he'd wanted to scream. To tear open cages and rain fire down on every man in uniform. Valkari had wanted to do the same—he was sure of it. But she had not lost control of that fiery temper of hers.

She had still listened to Lukas' orders even when she disagreed with it.

Valkari deserved more credit than Lukas had given her and for that, Lukas admitted that was where he fell sort.

He should have trusted her more.

"It's time to go, Valkari. We need to leave now." He whispered, his voice soft but the steel in his voice had not softened.

Valkari looked back at him. But she did not protest. She knew the risk. She'd known it the moment she'd slipped off the ship. She knew that she had done what she could and that was all she wished to do in the first place.

Lukas was right. The sooner they left, the better.

But then, suddenly, there was a noise. A soft shuffle of gravel against stone.

Lukas and Valkari both froze. Instinct sharpened every muscle in Lukas' body as his head snapped toward the source of the sound.

At first, it was only the moonlight catching something small—a glint of pale polished wood, a faint shadow.

Then the boy stepped into full view. He couldn't have been older than Rosalia.

Barefoot, hair tousled by sleep or the sea breeze, a worn blanket draped across his shoulders like a cape. His clothes looked worn and even tattered. He was no son of nobility, that much Lukas could tell. Perhaps the child of one of the sailors or guards that patrolled the streets.

In his hand was a carved wooden toy, a little ship with sails painted in faded colors. He clutched it tightly as he stared at the two figures crouched in the moonlight beside the dragons.

There was a long, tense moment where no one moved.

Just the sound of flowing water in the distance and the faint rustling of chains as the dragons stirred.

The boy blinked.

His mouth opened slightly like he might say something. But it didn't look like he was about to scream for help so Lukas simply stood there rooted to the ground.

Then—the boy gave them a small wave.

A slow, uncertain lift of the hand. Hesitant. Curious. But welcoming.

Lukas' breath caught in his throat.

Maybe—maybe they could just go. Maybe the boy didn't understand what he was seeing. Maybe—

But Valkari took a single step forward. She gave the boy a small wave in return.

Then she took another step closer to him, still waving back at the boy.

Scales coiled along her arm like armour as Lukas felt the Draconic Flow flair to life when she was finally in arm's length. Her fingers elongated, sharpened into claws. And before the boy could lower his hand, before Lukas could even shout again, Valkari struck.

"No," Lukas breathed.

Her hand plunged into the boy's throat.

There was no scream.

Just a soft, gurgled gasp as she tore his voice box out in one clean motion.

Blood spilled like ink into the night.

The wooden toy fell from his fingers, landing with a soft knock against the stone, and then he dropped, crumpling like paper.

Lukas caught the boy as he fell, too slow, too late, his hands already sticky with blood. He could feel his own heart pounding, desperation filling his lungs as he pressed his palm to the wound, as if it could stop anything. But the boy's eyes had already glazed over. Like a dead fish floating in the water.

His body was still.

He was gone.

The carved toy rocked slightly where it lay, bumping once against Lukas' knee.

Valkari said nothing.

Her hand was still dripping red.

Her eyes, calm and cold.

Lukas stared back up at her in horror, crimson splattered across her body.

"He saw us." She told Lukas, as if that explained everything.

It was in that moment, Lukas realized he was standing before a monster, a monster named Valkari Ishtar, Dragonborn of the Flames.