Darkness and Decay. Book 7. Dragon at the Lake. In Search of the Friend

By Elena Kryuchkova

What really happened to Odette? Did she become a human from the mermaid? What secret is the dragon Plamena hiding, and how is she related to the legendary mermaid Runia? Did Siegfried live up to Odette's expectations? And what price will she have to pay for her wish?
Meanwhile, Odile goes in search of her friend...
No one knows yet what events will soon shake the Runian Queendom...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elena Kryuchkova
• Release date: Apr 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215585467

Elena Kryuchkova

Elena Kryuchkova started her creative path in 2012. She writes in different genres, such as: esotericism, fantasy, Slavic fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic and others. Has several graphic works. A number of her novels were co-authored with Olga Kryuchkova.She is inspired by various fantasy and science fiction.Loves cats and draws.

Book preview

Darkness and Decay.

Book 7. Dragon at the Lake.

In Search of the Friend

Elena Kryuchkova

Darkness and Decay. Book 7. Dragon at the Lake. In Search of the Friend

Written By Elena Kryuchkova

Copyright © 2023 Elena Kryuchkova

All rights reserved

Cover Design — Cover created from images generated by AI (Stable Diffusion, NightCafe)

Elena Kryuchkova

Darkness and Decay. Book 7

18+

Chapter 11. Odile. Runian Queendom, Capital of Runia. Odette. Runian Queendom, the City of Morika in the South. Year 2123 After the Appearance of the Oracle. Odette's Story of How She Transformed from the Mermaid into the Human

Chapter 12. Odile. Runian Queendom, Capital of Runia. Year 2123 After the Appearance of the Oracle. Odile's Dream About the Past, Which she had on the Train, During the Trip to the City of Meshchera.

Chapter 13. Odile. Runian Queendom, the City of Meshchera. Odette. Runian Queendom, the City of Morika in the South. Year 2123 After the Appearance of the Oracle. The Dragon Plamena, who Lives near Lake Meshchera in the City of Meshchera.

Short description:

What really happened to Odette? Did she become a human from the mermaid? What secret is the dragon Plamena hiding, and how is she related to the legendary mermaid Runia? Did Siegfried live up to Odette's expectations? And what price will she have to pay for her wish?

Meanwhile, Odile goes in search of her friend...

No one knows yet what events will soon shake the Runian Queendom...

Book 7. Dragon at the Lake. In Search of the Friend

This story is fiction and fantasy. And any similarity to real people or events are coincidental.

This story is completely fiction.

Chapter 11. Odile. Runian Queendom, Capital of Runia. Odette. Runian Queendom, the City of Morika in the South. Year 2123 After the Appearance of the Oracle. Odette's Story of How She Transformed from the Mermaid into the Human

A month has passed since Odile saw the photo of Siegfried with the girl strikingly similar to Odette on the social network. It was the middle of July. It has been moderately hot and moderately humid this year. In other words, a successful summer in terms of weather, which has become a rarity in recent years.

She thought about it for a long time, not knowing how to react. She was in complete confusion. Common sense told her: Impossible! This girl can't be your friend Odette! It's just an incredible coincidence!

But intuition said: This is your friend Odette! It's definitely her! It's not just a coincidence!

And the caption to the first photo depicting Siegfried and Odette, which appeared almost two months ago, read: "It's me — Siegfried! Check out my new girlfriend! She's a beauty, isn't she? Her name is Odette, she cooks seafood very well, and she says that she was a mermaid in the past, but for me she became a human! Just like the mermaid Runia! Cool, right?

Hey Zizi, do you see this? So — know! I'm happy without you! And I was able to quickly meet the beautiful girl, although you said that no one would want to mess with me!"

And so, Odile once again looked at that same photo and reread the caption to it.

"No... Well, she can't be my friend! It's impossible for a mermaid to turn into a human!" once again she thought. And then she contradicted herself: But on the other hand... Isn't this too surprising for a coincidence?

Fr, fr, fr! she was distracted from her thoughts by the penguin Donut that ran up.

Oh, you are my sweetie cake! Come to your big sis! Odile deftly picked up the pet in her arms.

Fr! the penguin tried to escape with displeasure, but could not.

You are so cute! Let me scratch your head! the girl melted, starting to stroke the grumbling pet.

Fr!

Ouch! It hurts! Odile's scream broke the relative silence in the apartment. Mom! The penguin pecked me again!

Fr! Donut triumphantly broke free and...

Ouch! He pecked me again! another heartbreaking scream rang out.

Just don't touch him! answered her mother from the next room. She, as usual, worked at the computer — she completed a new design order.

Fr! the penguin shouted triumphantly once more and went somewhere about his business.

Soon he stopped grumbling — he went to sleep. He liked to sleep in different places. Either he slept in the mother's room on the carpet or on the bed, then in the father's room. And sometimes he slept on Odile's bed. Donut rarely slept on a fabric bed specially bought for him. But he certainly checked: is the fabric bed in place? Donut generally liked to check everything: fabric bed, toys, things in the closet, and so on.

...Meanwhile, Odile decided to take a break from contemplating the photos of Siegfried and Odette and return to her book. Yes, that's right: she recently started writing the book. Anyway, she had few freelance orders now, and therefore she had plenty of free time.

The book was called ‘The Brainy Princess and the Lazy King’. It was a parody of stereotypes, classic fantasy and now popular series ‘Intrigue of Thrones’. And Odile's book began like this:

"There were many kingdoms in one fantasy world.

But the coolest kingdom was considered the one where the Super Throne was.

Why it was considered the coolest is unclear.

But it has been that way since ancient times.

The kingdom with the Super Throne was called the Super Kingdom.

And there was a tradition in it: before a candidate becomes a new king and takes the Super Throne, he must save a princess from a dragon.

And he went to save a princess. Fortunately, there were always enough kingdoms and princesses kidnapped by dragons.

And so, another Candidate for Super King came to the Scientific Kingdom. He reached the tower with the Brainy Princess guarded by the dragon.

"I will save the Brainy Princess from the Scientific Kingdom! And I will take the Super Throne! Scary dragon! I will defeat you!" exclaimed the Candidate for Super King when he saw the dragon next to the tower.

But the dragon suddenly disappeared.

"Oh, he disappeared… Why would that be? Ah, well, well... The Brainy Princess, I will save you!"

And the Candidate for Super King entered the tower. And he saw there the Brainy Princess, who carried out scientific and alchemical experiments.

The Brainy Princess asked:

"Why did you come?"

"I came to save you!"

"From what? It was not a real dragon, but a hologram."

"...? What?"

"It was the hologram. I specifically created it to scare away knights. I have a science lab here, and I don't want to be interrupted in my research."

"I didn’t understand, what, you don’t need to be saved?"

"Exactly."

"How so? After all, I really wanted to save you... But it turned out that it was not necessary..."

And the frustrated Candidate went to the ‘Society of Anonymous Rejected Princes’..."

This is how this story began.

Work on the book proceeded slowly, but regularly. The number of words and pages gradually increased. The Candidate for Super King dealt with the shock that the Brainy Princess didn't need to be saved from the dragon. In the end, he and the Brainy Princess decided to make a deal. The Princess agreed to tell everyone that the Candidate had saved her from the dragon, and they entered into a fake marriage. Thus, the Candidate for Super King became the Super King after all (because it is impossible to become the Super King without marrying a saved princess). And the Brainy Princess got a bunch of lucrative trade permits for her Scientific Kingdom, as well as a new and superbly equipped laboratory and funding for her scientific research.

But not everything is so simple! For, far to the north, the Super Runners have begun to awaken — insomniac yeti, incredibly thirsty for caffeine. They were ready to sweep away all the kingdoms on their way to coffee!

In addition, the Brainy Princess and the Super King were opposed by the Warrior Princess, who was able to gather a mighty army on another continent. She was going to reclaim the Super Throne, for she came from a once overthrown dynasty. She also had pink flying unicorns that spit pink poison puddings. The puddings grew to huge sizes, consuming everything around. And they were so delicious that all living beings began to eat them, unable to resist such a great taste! And the giant pudding disappeared only when everyone around ate to such an extent that they could not even move...

But Odile had yet to write all this. In the meantime, she only got to the point where the Brainy Princess and the Candidate for Super King decided to make the deal and the fake marriage.

Odile did not know where she would publish the book in the future. She guessed that the publishing houses in her Queendom were unlikely to want to publish it. Lately, only non-fiction books have sold well. Or classics and modern popular fiction were republished. Yes, new fiction books were also published, but not very much. Usually the authors were offered to publish them at their own expense.

But Odile wanted to finish her story anyway. Creativity helped her to at least briefly distract from thoughts about her friend and the latest, very bleak news.

And now, after writing her book a little, Odile opened the browser and began to read the news.

Mom, the news reports that under the orders of Sir Zoran, troops continue to increase in the border areas with Lesovie!

I read it, came the reply.

Foreign analysts think that a military conflict with Lesovie may begin! Even our media write about it! Although the official position of our Queendom is that the troops are called there just for training... But this is worrying... By the way, Queen Vsemila also said that it is a bad idea to conduct exercises in the border areas, and this may create increased danger!

I have read this. Zoran will never give the order to attack Lesovie! mom answered confidently. Yes, a lot of things can be said about him, many are tired" of him, but he will never do such a thing! As for Vsemila, even if she is the Queen of our Queendom and the head of the Monarchy Party, her political weight in reality is no more than that of an ordinary deputy! She