by Virlyce
“I am the clan master,” the boulder said. “This is my seventh time meeting you, and this is the seventh time you have forgotten my face.”
E snorted. “You’re a boulder, damn it. How am I supposed to differentiate you from some other red boulder?” He squinted at the clan master. “You’re really Az?”
The boulder’s eyes widened as its mouth fell open. “You, are you really the dwarf king?” Az asked. “How did you remember my name?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” E said. “I’m not the dwarf king anymore. I relinquished my position to my friend over here. His name is Vur.”
Az took another look at Vur. The obsidian eyes stayed on him for longer this time. They narrowed upon seeing the brown runes on Vur’s arm. “Those runes,” Az said. “I’m sensing Diamant’s power from them, but that can’t be possible. Who did you contract with?”
“Diamant,” Vur said.
Az didn’t respond. Vur waited for the boulder to say something. A sigh broke the silence instead, and a brown humanoid figure appeared beside Vur. “Hello, Az,” Diamant said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Diamant?” Az asked. He tilted his body and rubbed his eyes with his rocky hands. “You made a contract?”
“Sadly,” Diamant said and lowered his head. A moment later, his eyes gleamed and he smiled at Az. “But, very shortly, I won’t be the only one in this position.”
Az shuddered and took a step back. “What do you mean?” he asked, his eyes narrowing at the mountain elemental. His gaze shifted onto Vur and Stella before shifting back towards Diamant. “I refuse. I am a volcano elemental, king amongst fire elementals; how can I submit to a human?”
“He’s a dragon, Mr. Red Boulder,” Stella said, speaking the words Vur was about to say. “And you’re going to help him grow wings by forming a contract with him. Understood? Great!”
E stepped to the side, turning his head away as he suddenly took an interest in the designs on the base of the volcano. Az shifted his gaze onto the dwarf and frowned. Who is this man? Az thought as his gaze landed back onto Vur. Vur was shirtless, and part of his pants were torn. A purple tattoo of a flower gently pulsed with light on Vur’s chest while the roots of the flower were entwined in the runes on Vur’s arm. Az’s eyes widened at the sight. “You’re absorbing his power,” he said to Stella and whirled to face Diamant.
Diamant sighed and shrugged. “Yes, the little fairy is taking some of my essence, but the mana in Vur’s body is so abundant that it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I bet you’ll grow stronger too if he contracted with you.”
“Unlike the warped hearts of you earth elementals, a fire elemental’s heart is pure, unwavering,” Az said as rings of fire appeared underneath his obsidian eyes. “After the death of Miriam, I swore I’d never form another contract.”
“But I really need a sun,” Stella said and furrowed her brow. She tapped Vur’s head. “Capture him and force him to willingly contract with you!”
A hollow laugh escaped from Az’s mouth. “Do you have the power to, human?” he asked. The air around the boulder shimmered as its arms and legs crumbled into a fine powder. A blazing red light erupted from the boulder’s surface, forming a tiger-like figure in the air above it. “I don’t know how you forced Diamant to submit, but don’t think he and I are on the same level.” The fire tiger’s body expanded like a balloon, and a roar blasted through the air. White flames spewed out of Az’s mouth, jetting towards Vur.
Vur turned his head towards E, unconcerned about the flames flying towards him. “Does this count as a rebellion?” he asked. The white flames washed over him, but he didn’t even flinch. A brown glow had enveloped him, blocking the flames.
“Probably?” E asked as he took a step away from Vur. The heat from the flames caused blisters to appear on E’s arms, and he scratched his head. “That doesn’t hurt?”
“Nope,” Vur said. “Diamant’s blocking most of it.”
“I’m blocking all of it,” Diamant said from the runes in Vur’s arm. The humanoid projection he had created had dissolved when Az opened his mouth. “And it hurts a lot. Haven’t you ever heard of dodging? What if I was unable to stand up to Az’s attack?”
“Oh, quit complaining,” Stella said from the air above Vur. She was hovering over him to avoid the heat. “With Vur’s mana, you should be unbreakable.”
The flames gradually died down, and Az’s eyes widened as his vision was unobstructed. “Impossible,” the volcano spirit said. “You’re weaker than me, Diamant. How are you unscathed? Even with a contract, a human shouldn’t be able to provide you with that much mana.”
“I’m. A. Dragon!” Vur said. His skin glowed black as he activated his awakening, his wings and tail taking shape. Diamant let out a groan as an earthen bracer covered Vur’s right arm, and Stella retreated behind E, who had an expression of shock on his face. Vur took a step forward, causing the volcano to tremble. A few puffs of ash shot into the air as lava bubbled in the volcano’s crater.
Az’s fiery hairs stuck straight up as Vur’s reptilian eyes glared at him. “I, I will never yield,” Az roared as he took a step backwards. He took another step back as Vur stepped forward. Az swallowed as he retreated once again, the walls of the cave in the volcano pressing against his back. “B-but I will retreat when necessary!”
The fire tiger dissolved into a mote of red light that rushed towards the ground, but before it could enter, Vur lunged forwards and grabbed it. “How!?” Az’s voice shouted from the struggling wisp of light in Vur’s palm. “R-release me, human!”
“Some people never learn,” Stella said and sighed from atop E’s head. The dwarf king gulped and thanked his intuition for making the right choice. Stella cupped her hands around her mouth. “Last chance, Mr. Red Boulder. Call him a dragon and beg for your life.”
Vur squeezed his palm, causing Az to scream. Vur’s head tilted to the side as his eyes narrowed. “Am I a human?” he asked, wriggling his fingers to grind the wisp of light. A scream was the only response.
Diamant sighed. “Just submit, Az,” he said. “A contract ends after the contractor’s death. A volcano is eternal. A hundred years of your life is nothing; don’t give up your hard work for the sake of your pride.”
“I … will never submit!” Az roared. “I’d rather die than live subordinated to someone else! Die with me, human!” His body shone with a white light that caused E and Stella to turn their heads away. Vur frowned as he smothered the light in between his palms. A massive shockwave rippled outwards with his hands at the epicenter, causing E and Stella to fall over. But other than that, the trio were unharmed.
“He exploded?” Vur asked and tilted his head as he opened his hands.
“He reverted back to his original self,” Diamant said. “He’ll reform in a few centuries or so as an ember spirit.” He paused. “And the volcano will probably erupt within the next few seconds, so you might want to formulate a plan to survive.”
20
A massive explosion rang through the cavern, causing Lulu to flinch and drop the bowl she was holding into the pool of bubbling liquid beneath her. “No!” she shouted before covering her mouth with her paws, glancing to the side at her mother and father. Kondra and her mate were stirring from the previous sound.
“What was that?” Kondra asked and furrowed her brow. Her head swiveled around like an owl trying to find any unknown sounds before her gaze locked onto Lulu. “Did you blow something up?”
“No!” Lulu said. “That wasn’t—” Before she could finish her sentence, the bubbling pool of liquid beneath her exploded, spewing green liquid everywhere as steam jettisoned towards the ceiling of the cave. Lulu whimpered as she wiped the liquid off her face before looking at her parents while hanging her head. “Okay, that one was me, but the first one wasn’t!”
“Get out,” Kondra said and pointed towards the tunnel with the sloped floor which led outside. Green liquid dripped from Kondra’s face o
nto the ground.
“But it really wasn’t—”
“Now!” Kondra said, her voice raising in volume but lowering in pitch.
Lulu’s head drooped further as she sighed. “Yes, Mother,” she said and trudged out of the cavern.
“Bring me a snack when you come back,” Grimmy called out as she disappeared up the slope.
“And you,” Kondra said, whirling her head around to face Grimmy. ‘Why are you still here? Righteous quests don’t complete themselves.”
Grimmy yawned. “Why are you so impatient?” he asked and raised an eyebrow. “If you wait long enough, even a righteous quest will solve itself. There’s no need to take initiative.” He nodded once before closing his eyes, resting his head on his paws.
Smoke shot out of Kondra’s nostrils as Leila curled up closer to Grimmy and draped one wing over him, snuggling her head into his neck. Kondra let out a growl. “Leila….”
“Grandchild,” Leila said in response, causing Kondra’s eyes to narrow into slits.
The dragon matriarch snorted and faced her mate. She nudged him and asked, “Can you believe this?”
“Well,” Leila’s father said and scratched his head, “aren’t Grimmoldesser’s words true?” He sat up and held his paws in front of his face. “Hold up, let me explain before you spew fire at me.” He lowered his paws as Kondra shut her mouth and glared at him. “Think about it; isn’t what you’ve done exactly what Grimmoldesser has suggested?”
Kondra stared at her mate. She continued to stare at him as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. When it dripped to the ground, she said, “Elaborate.”
“Grimmoldesser’s adopting a wait-and-see approach,” Leila’s father said. “It’s the same type of approach you adopted when the dwarves first shooed you away. You waited for someone to come to give a quest to them, but you’re not taking any initiative yourself.”
“Yeah, you hypocrite,” Grimmy said. Leila smacked his snout. “What? It’s the truth.”
Kondra snorted. “I recognized the problem and took steps to solving it,” she said and gestured at Grimmy, “by designating it as a quest. He’s done nothing at all. At least, I gave out a quest. I’m not just sitting around and waiting for my problem to solve itself.”
“Who says I’m sitting around waiting for my quest to resolve itself?” Grimmy asked and snorted. “I’ll have you know, I’m a very hardworking individual. Every time I go to sleep, I explore the world with astral projection. Before one can pacify a whole race, one must know every part of them. I can’t just barge into their place, break all their stuff, and massacre them without caring about the consequences. The ties between the dwarves and all the other sentient beings have to be taken into consideration.”
“Really?” Leila whispered while rolling her eyes. “Astral projection?”
Grimmy grinned at her but didn’t say anything. Kondra furrowed her brow and asked, “Is this true? You’re gathering information in your sleep?”
“Would I lie to you?” Grimmy asked, raising his snout into the air.
“Yes,” Kondra said. “You absolutely would. Dragons of darkness can’t be trusted.”
“Wow,” Grimmy said and lowered his head to meet Kondra’s gaze. “I’m offended.”
“If you’re offended, then prove to me you’ve been gathering information,” Kondra said with a snort. “Come, tell me about my continent.”
Grimmy snorted and closed his eyes. Leila furrowed her brow at him, sensing some fluctuations of mana coming off of her mate. “Nope,” Grimmy said. “I refuse. Why do I have to prove myself to you?”
“I’ll toss you out of here if you don’t answer my questions,” Kondra said, rising onto her hind legs. She glared at Leila. “And don’t you dare bring up my grandchildren. Out of consideration, I’ve let your mate slack for far too long on a quest I gave him more than a month ago.” Her gaze landed onto Grimmy. “Now tell me, Grimmoldesser, who is the dwarf king?”
***
“The dwarf king? His name’s E,” Alice said, furrowing her brow at the skeleton sitting beside her. “Why are you—”
“Shh, shh, shh.” Mr. Skelly placed his bony finger against Alice’s lips and stared off into the distance, completely unmoving. “What are the names of the top four elemental clan leaders?”
Alice ripped off Mr. Skelly’s finger and tossed it off the leviathan skeleton. She glared at him and placed her hands on her hips.
“Go on,” Tafel said. “I want to know too.”
Alice sighed. “This truth curse is the most obnoxious thing I’ve ever experienced,” she said and shook her head. “Their names are Diamant, Az, Mistle, and Zilphy. Mistle is an ocean elemental who has contracts with thirteen different people. Zilphy is a gust elemental, and she’s wanted by the dwarves for always destroying their property. Az is a volcano elemental, and he vowed to never form a contract again after his first contractor died. And Diamant—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Mr. Skelly said, covering her mouth with his hand. “I’m trying to listen.”
Alice ripped his hand off and glared at him, debating on whether or not she should punt his head off. She did, and his skull went flying over the treetops.
“What are all the factions on this continent?” Mr. Skelly asked, his voice coming out of the space where his skull would’ve been if it was still there.
Alice’s eye twitched. “The dwarves, obviously. The elementals, obviously. The humans, obviously. The elves, obviously. The fairies, obviously. And, obviously, the dragons.”
“Do you have to say obviously so many times?” Tafel asked.
“Obviously,” Alice said with a snort. “If I’m going to be forced to answer all these inane questions, then obviously, I’m going to make it as unbearable for the listener as well.”
“You’re so spiteful,” Tafel said, shaking her head. “What about the fishmen? Aren’t they a faction?”
“They’re insignificant compared to everyone else,” Alice said. “They don’t have a position in the universal assembly, so, obviously, I didn’t include them.”
Mr. Skelly cleared his nonexistent throat.
“Any more questions?” Alice asked, rolling her eyes at him.
“No,” Mr. Skelly said. “Actually, just one more. Why are you still single?”
Alice punted the skeleton off the dead leviathan before he could hear her answer.
***
“It shouldn’t be too hard to outrun the lava when the volcano erupts,” E said. “And it’ll be even easier if we drive; let’s go.”
Stella grabbed onto the dwarf’s hair and pulled him back into the volcano cave before he could get very far. “No!” she said and smacked his forehead. “The lava won’t kill you. It’s the pyroclastic flow that comes with the eruption that will.”
“The what?” Vur and E asked at the same time, tilting their heads to the side. Vur’s awakening dispersed, starting from the top of his head.
Stella sighed and placed her hands on her hips before shaking her head as she hovered in the air above the duo. “It’s too much trouble to explain,” she said. “Think of it as an avalanche.” She pointed at Vur’s arm. “Deedee! Encase us in a diamond sphere—a big one, so we have plenty of air.”
The runes on Vur’s arm glowed and bathed their surroundings in a brown light. The rocks that the light touched shimmered and condensed, twisting into diamonds. E sucked in a breath and glared at Diamant, who had taken the form of a glowing rock floating above Vur’s head. “You can make diamonds this easily, but you charge us so much to buy them.”
The glowing rock shrugged, its whole body moving up and down. “Supply and demand,” he said. “I only make diamonds when we run out of stock.” A sphere of diamonds gradually took shape, surrounding the four individuals.
They sat in silence. “So,” Vur said. “Are there any other strong fire elementals to form contracts with?”
Diamant took the form of a person and shook his head. “Az was the strongest. Hi
s second-in-command might be close to evolving into a volcano elemental, but she should still be on the level of wildfire. It may take a while before another volcano elemental graces this world.” He sighed. “If only Az wasn’t so stubborn. You most likely would’ve been the strongest person on this continent if you could’ve contracted with him as well.”
“Vur’s already the strongest; it doesn’t matter,” Stella said. “We’ll catch that wildfire elemental and force her to be my sun.” She glanced around, the view of the world outside the diamond shell distorted and warped. “No kaboom? Where’s the eruption?”
“Odd. It should’ve gone off by now,” Diamant said and poked his head outside of the diamond shell. “Az—”
A massive explosion—that may or may not have caused a young dragon to drop an explosive ingredient into her cauldron—cut off the rest of Diamant’s words. A flood of ash, gravel, and powder blasted the side of the sphere, causing E to scream as the diamond rolled down the side of the volcano.
“We need seatbelts!” Stella cried out as she clung onto Vur’s head. The sphere spun the group so fast that they couldn’t stand or move from their spots, their bodies pressed to the sides. Diamant dispersed and returned to the runes in Vur’s arm as E curled up into a ball and whimpered. Up became down, and down became up over and over until the sphere hit a sloped outcrop and was shot into the air. “Dissolve the orb, Deedee!”
The diamond shell cracked before it shattered into thousands of pieces, the diamonds falling towards the ground. Stella’s eyes were crossed, and her arm didn’t move in a straight line when she tried to tug on Vur’s ear, but she managed to pat his head and say, “Fly, Vur. Fly!”
Vur activated his awakening and spread his wings, soaring into the air. “So dizzy,” Vur said as he teetered and tottered in the air, his wings all flapping at different times.
“I can’t fly!” E shouted as he fell towards the ground. The launching force from before could only keep him in the air for so long. “Save me!”
