It shouldn’t have been like this.

After the attack at her employer’s house, the one that led to the old housekeeper and Secretary Lee discovering what had happened to Mr. Mercer, they didn’t waste a second.

They rushed to get him to the MBE.

Honestly, they could have run away. They really could have.

But in all the years they had worked for the man, he had treated them with nothing but respect and sincerity, and it made it nearly impossible to abandon him now that he clearly needed help.

It was easier for the housekeeper to say that, of course.

She had been behind Ms. Lee the whole time, and it had been the younger woman who faced the intruder with the only weapon they found at the house.

And because she had been shielded like that, the old housekeeper hadn’t immediately seen what had become of the very human boss they had always known.

Not until—

The secretary dropped to the floor.

Frozen, shaken, and staring—finally, allowing the old woman to see what had caused her to tremble like that.

"!!!"

He was bloodied, and whatever she was seeing made absolutely no sense to her.

But she’d always been the same person to wash, iron, and prepare his clothes. So while she couldn’t recognize the being in front of her, she could definitely recognize what was left of his clothing.

That was when the housekeeper realized this was far beyond anything they could handle.

Far beyond what anyone from their race could handle. Clearly, not even the human authorities would be able to help with this, so there was no point in looking for them.

Still, they tried their luck at the MBE, practically pleading to get anyone to look at their boss, whom they’ve painstakingly hauled using a truck, no less.

They explained as best as they could, over and over again, even when the words started to sound ridiculous to their own ears.

But apparently, none of that mattered. In the end, they unfortunately encountered someone who had no interest in listening to their explanation.

Maybe it was really hard to accept that someone who had always been human could suddenly turn into a dragon uncontrollably?

"If a human can turn into a dragon, then I’ve got to be the head of the MBE!"

That was the response they received.

Dismissive.

Almost amused.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the security guard to swallow those words.

__

"Oh no!"

The old housekeeper’s face went pale with pure horror, her whole body trembling as if she’d just realized they were already too late.

"Sir!"

And then, as if something in her finally snapped, she and the secretary who had rushed all the way to the MBE turned on the stunned guard. Their hands came down against him in frantic, desperate blows.

"We already told you! Now what?!"

"This is your fault!"

"If you’d only listened to us, then our boss—!"

The guard didn’t even have the time to process their accusations.

To him, they’d been rambling from the start. Humans, no less. When they first came barreling in, demanding help for something as absurd as dragon shifting, he’d assumed they were joking.

Because really, if they had encountered a dragon, they wouldn’t be standing there alive.

And more than that, he hadn’t sensed anything. Not a trace. No aura. No lingering presence that would suggest they’d come anywhere near a dragon.

So he did what made sense. Told them to line up like everyone else, despite the way they screamed that there was no more time.

Only now—

Now there was a giant red dragon right outside the entrance.

And the guard, newly assigned and already out of his depth, felt his mind go blank.

He shoved the two humans aside without thinking and bolted inside, voice cracking as he screamed,

"Dragon! There’s a red dragon outside!"

The roar that followed shook the entrance.

The massive red dragon lowered its head, its jaws parting as fire gathered deep within its throat, swelling brighter and hotter by the second.

The people near the entrance froze.

No one moved.

They couldn’t.

Others who would eventually hear the tale of what happened at the MBE would say that the stranded beings simply had defective fight-or-flight instincts and maybe deserved to be culled by natural selection.

But in truth, only those who had never experienced the pressure of dragon fear for themselves would be able to claim they would simply run away.

Because those who had just experienced their lives flashing before their eyes while unable to move despite wanting to, would know just how impossible escape really was.

Their eyes widened in helpless terror as the dragon released its breath, flames surging forward, aimed straight at them.

And for a split second, it looked like that was it.

Like they were about to be swallowed whole.

Only—

Right before the fire could reach them, another blaze erupted.

Blue.

It crashed into the red flames head-on, pushing them back before devouring them and eventually forcing the attack away from the entrance.

The people who had thrown up their arms, shielding themselves or the ones beside them, slowly looked up.

Everything felt slowed. Distant.

And there, standing between them and the fire, was a tall, cloaked figure.

Golden hair slipped through the gaps of the cloak, catching the light, though the face remained hidden.

Then a much younger voice cut through the haze.

"Everyone else! What are you waiting for?!"

"Run!"

The people looked back at the entrance just as the cloaked person continued releasing flames to counter the draconic ones that nearly annihilated them all.

And for some reason, what happened that day would be really difficult to forget. Because just as beings of different races trembled in fear and were unable to speak, the only other being moving and pulling people into the tower was most definitely a human child.

It was the oddest of things. In the first place, just what was a human child doing at the MBE?

Moreover, how was it possible for him to remain standing in the presence of two overwhelming beings?