Valoon — Palace Courtyard

  Isaac landed in the courtyard like a storm that chose to walk.

  For a second, the guards forgot how to breathe. Then their knees hit the stone.

  “King Isaac…” one of them said, voice thin with disbelief. “We didn’t— we weren’t told—”

  “I’m not here to punish anyone.” Isaac’s eyes stayed calm. “Is your king inside?”

  The guard swallowed. “Yes, Great King. We’ll inform him at once.”

  Isaac didn’t move. He simply waited—still, quiet—while the palace scrambled around his presence.

  A moment later, the doors opened. He was led through halls that smelled like incense and polished steel.

  Then—

  The door shut behind him.

  Yamato walked in first, wide smile, arms open like nothing in the world could ever be wrong again.

  Beside him, Sasaki. Regal. Measured. Her gaze flicked once over Isaac’s posture—reading him in a single breath.

  “My son,” Yamato said warmly. “The King of Olympia… finally in my house.”

  Isaac stepped forward and embraced him.

  “Good to see you, old friend.”

  Yamato held him a second longer than usual, then pulled back, eyes narrowing just a little.

  “You’re early,” Yamato said, tone still friendly—now sharpened. “Your royal messenger is still here. You told me five days.”

  Isaac’s smile stayed, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Plans changed.”

  Sasaki bowed with perfect control.

  “Great King,” she said. “It is good to see you.”

  Isaac took her hand and kissed it—respectful, precise.

  “Queen Sasaki. The honor is mine.”

  Yamato gestured toward a side chamber. “Come. I want you to see something.”

  Inside, Henry sat with his crutch nearby, reading as if the book was the only thing keeping him steady.

  The moment he saw Isaac, he jolted up and dropped to one knee.

  “My king— I— forgive me. I didn’t expect you so soon.”

  Isaac crossed the room and pulled him into a brief hug.

  "Henry."

  Henry’s voice shook. “Lord Yamato treated me well. I’m grateful.”

  Isaac glanced at Yamato—just once.

  “Good.”

  He turned back to Henry. “You’re dismissed. Return to Olympia. Tell Mia I’m fine. Tell her I’ll be back soon.”

  Henry bowed again, hard. “Yes, my king.”

  When he left, the room felt bigger. Colder.

  Yamato studied Isaac like he was looking at a blade and trying to guess how many battles it had seen.

  “And you,” Yamato said quietly. “How are you?”

  Isaac exhaled through his nose—almost a laugh, but not quite.

  “Tired.”

  Sasaki’s eyes narrowed slightly. She noticed something in that one word. Something Isaac didn’t give on purpose.

  Yamato leaned forward. “This isn’t a courtesy visit.”

  “No,” Isaac said. “It isn’t.”

  A beat.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Yamato’s smile returned—smaller now. Protective. Dangerous.

  “Then we’ll talk,” he said. “But first— you will eat. I won’t accept a ‘no.’”

  Isaac held his gaze.

  Then, slowly, he nodded.

  “Fine.”

  Because even kings needed a table before a war.

  Valoon — Palace Dining Hall

  A long table. Warm lanternlight. The quiet clink of cutlery.

  Isaac sat with Yamato and Sasaki across from him, Yu close enough to hear every breath he didn’t say out loud.

  For a few minutes it almost felt normal—until Isaac asked the question that mattered to him.

  “And Aiko?” Isaac said. “How is she?”

  Sasaki’s mouth curved, subtle. “Fine. Knowing her… she’s probably bored.”

  Yamato drank calmly. “She was attending a royal conference in Valoon. She knew you were coming in five days, so she moved her schedule around. She’ll be here tomorrow.”

  Isaac nodded, a small smile. “I see.”

  Yu watched that smile like it offended her personally. She turned her face away and kept eating, expression tight.

  Yamato leaned forward, tone casual on purpose. “She’ll be here tomorrow night. I’d like you to see her.”

  “I’d like that too,” Isaac said. Then he inhaled, and the smile left. “But that’s not why I came, Yamato. I—”

  The doors opened.

  Not servants.

  Presence.

  Two ancestral dragons entered—Yuno and Yoshi—and the room shifted. Even the air felt more careful.

  Isaac stood immediately, respectful, controlled.

  “Queen Yuno,” he said. “It’s good to see you.”

  Yuno studied him—his posture, his eyes, the way he carried himself after everything. “And you, King Isaac.”

  Isaac turned to the other. “King Yoshi. Thank you… for everything.”

  Yoshi gave a short nod. “Sit.”

  They all returned to their seats, but the meal was no longer the point.

  Isaac placed both forearms on the table, not relaxed—just steady.

  “As I was saying,” he began, voice quieter. “Some time ago… I was taken to another world. Outside this dimension. People there call it the New World.”

  Yamato’s gaze sharpened. “New World?”

  Yuno’s eyes narrowed slightly, like she was searching her memory. “I’ve heard fragments.”

  Isaac nodded once. “What matters is— I found two ancestral dragons there.”

  Yu stopped chewing.

  Isaac didn’t rush the sentence. He let it land.

  “One was darkness,” Isaac said. “Gone mad. The other was lightning.”

  Yamato’s fingers tightened around his cup. “Lightning… like yours.”

  “Yes.”

  A silence that weighed.

  Yoshi’s voice cut through it. “A dragon with a unique element. That shouldn’t exist.”

  “It did,” Isaac said, calm. “She told me herself. Her name is Yae.”

  Yu’s head snapped toward Isaac so fast it was almost rude. The name hit her like a blade.

  Yamato leaned back, eyes distant—like he was opening an old drawer he never liked touching.

  “Yae,” Yamato repeated. He exhaled. “I understand.”

  He looked at Isaac fully now, no warmth in his face—just truth.

  “She was the daughter of a powerful wind dragon. Twins.” His tone stayed even, but the room could hear the anger underneath the history. “Yae and Yuki. Both… wrong to our world. Powers nobody had a name for. They were banished.”

  Sasaki didn’t blink. “To a prison land.”

  Yamato nodded once. “To die. People feared them. They called them demons in the old stories.”

  Isaac absorbed that, jaw tight. “So she wasn’t lying.”

  “No,” Yamato said. “And if she’s alive— then the place is real.”

  Yuno’s voice softened, careful. “And her brother?”

  Isaac’s eyes dropped for a second. Not guilt. Not shame. Something heavier than both.

  “He’s dead,” Isaac said.

  Yu’s fingers curled against the table edge.

  Yamato’s eyes widened slightly, then he stopped himself. “Dead?”

  He didn’t finish the sentence, because everyone in the room understood the missing part.

  Who kills an ancestral dragon?

  Yamato looked straight at Isaac. “You?”

  Isaac didn’t dodge it.

  He released a breath through his nose. “I didn’t do it because I wanted to.”

  A beat.

  “I was running,” Isaac said. “I had no powers. I had no Yu. I didn’t even know what I was facing until it was on top of me.”

  Yu’s eyes flicked away. Like that detail stung.

  Isaac continued, quiet, honest. “If I hesitated, I’d be dead. So I didn’t.”

  No heroic speech. No pride. Just what happened.

  Yamato watched him for a long moment, then finally nodded—slow, like a king choosing to accept a truth he didn’t like.

  “Good,” Yamato said. “Because you’re here.”

  Then his voice softened, just enough to feel real.

  “That’s what matters.”

  The room breathed again.

  And right then—

  The door slammed open.

  Footsteps rushed in.

  Aiko appeared, slightly disheveled, breathing hard like she’d run through the whole palace without caring who saw. She froze the moment her eyes landed on Isaac.

  Her face cracked—half relief, half disbelief.

  Then she smiled through tears and launched herself at him.

  “Aiko—!” Isaac laughed as she knocked him back, the chair scraping.

  “ISAAC.”

  He caught her, steadying both of them. “(laughing) Koko… it’s so good to see you.”

  Around the table, small smiles appeared—Sasaki’s was the most controlled, Yamato’s the most quiet.

  Yu’s was nonexistent.

  Aiko pulled back just enough to look at him like she had to confirm he was real.

  “I heard you came,” she said quickly. “I left the moment I could. I didn’t even— I just—”

  “It’s okay,” Isaac said, warm. “I came earlier than planned. I was talking with your father… and the other dragon kings.”

  Aiko blinked, finally noticing the room properly. “Oh— I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” Yamato said, but his tone turned sharp as soon as he spoke again. “Where is Ryujiro, daughter?”

  Aiko’s smile vanished. Her eyes moved away from Yamato’s face on instinct.

  “He’s coming,” she said. “He… had complications.”

  Yamato stared at her like he wanted to say more, but didn’t—because the table had witnesses.

  “I see,” he said at last. “Sit. While you wait for your husband.”

  “Yes, father.”

  Aiko grabbed a chair and dragged it closer to Isaac without hesitation, sitting beside him. Then she hooked her arm around his, clinging like she didn’t trust the world to not take him away again.

  Isaac allowed it. He even smiled—small, genuine.

  Yu watched that—silent.

  Her jaw tightened.

  Her hand crushed a piece of food on her plate slowly, like she was testing how much pressure it took to break something without making a sound.

  No one noticed.

  Only Isaac felt the shift beside him.

  And Yu leaned slightly forward, voice low enough to be almost nothing.

  “Bitch,” she muttered.

  Aiko kept smiling at Isaac—completely unaware.