MIR, the sentient Wyvern.

Paper tiger

A week passed and I was still in a coma, but you could tell I was dreaming.

Xayda noticed that I was on an astral plane, my body regenerating and recovering from all the stress and forced evolution.

She checked my mana veins and explained to Chloro that I was fine, that I was getting better but that I was about to undergo some changes and evolutions. What's more, an ectoplasmic egg was surrounding me, becoming more and more tangible as time went on.

But Chloro and Sacha were very busy.

According to the news, the situation was getting out of hand with the countries of the Ring of Fire and southern Europe.

Customs was causing disputes, strikes and scandal after scandal as goods were taxed or simply returned if not confiscated until customs duties were paid.

The military bases ejected NATO members and all the southern armies became confederates opposed to those of the Union (Nato).

The ICC (International Criminal Court) judged the presidents of the various states to be secessionists and subject to arrest warrants.

The courts of justice came into conflict with their states and after heated debates in the various constitutional courts, the confederates officially left the ICC, which took note, but because of the extraterritoriality they had proclaimed for themselves, the warrants persisted and commandos were sent to seize the presidents and their ministers involved.

The dragons were forgotten for a while as they made themselves "very small".

Obviously, the security forces came into conflict with the commandos of the CPI, sponsored by NATO, and blood was shed, which provoked the ire of the Unionists, who sent troops to punish the secessionists, who in turn sent their tanks.

The situation degenerated and a carrier, a kind of flying fortress or military base mounted on giant drone propellers, arrived to sweep up the French tanks and drop thousands of paratroopers to storm the French defence bases.

The carrier was caught unawares by hidden cannons and the fortress fell on a village, causing carnage in which thousands of soldiers perished in the crash and on-board explosions when the ammunition bay exploded.

France organised general mobilisation and led the Confederates, who provided support and kept at bay any Unionists who might attack from the South.

Sirens wailed everywhere and Paris behaved like a city under siege.

As in 1414, millions of sandbags were deployed by drones to protect all the infrastructure and sculpted historic facades. Like Paris Cathedral under a pyramid of sandbags. All in just a few hours. The drones accelerated the whole thing a thousand times. Unheard of.

General Leclerc, a direct descendant of the family that bears his name and a hero of other conflicts in his time, was in charge of the defence and turned to President Truck.

"We're going to be crushed and tried as criminals. The ICC does not recognise our secession and does not recognise our right to self-determination.

The orbital cruisers are taking over and will destroy our bases.

They meet in an extraordinary council and then give us an ultimatum with the threat of doubling or tripling our sentences. They've started to freeze our assets and we're deprived of the Swift global payment system. I see very difficult negotiations ahead, my president."

"And the Charles de Gaule III?"

"My president, our super carrier is near D'IO to defend our colonies...That's all they have.."