by Virlyce
Grimmy shrugged. “Try dumping cold water on her face.”
Vur raised one of his front paws and tapped his back. “Mistle?”
Blue runes lit up in the shape of a baby leviathan, and a sigh rang out. “Alright. Fine.”
A ball of water materialized above Alora’s head with little crystals of ice floating around inside of it. Then it dropped, falling straight onto Alora’s face. She gasped, her eyes widening, losing their red hue. “Gyack! That’s cold! W-w-what the heck!?” She coughed out water and wriggled, but Vur was still pressing her down. She stopped struggling and blinked up at her cousin. “Uh. Did I win?”
“No.”
37
“Nova? Sharda?” Prika pushed aside a tree and poked her head through the gap left behind. She peered around and blinked at the clearing. It was empty, save for a few gashes in the ground and overturned plants. A few uprooted trees lay on their sides. Prika’s expression darkened, and she shoved her way into the clearing. She cupped her front paws over her mouth and stood on her hind legs. “Nova! Sharda! Are you there?”
The only response she received was a startled bird cry, and two red birds flying out of a tree. Prika’s eyes shifted towards the movement. “Oh? Are those phoenixes?” She leapt into the air and flew after the two birds, gaining on them with every beat of her wings. “Wait! I’m not going to eat you two if you answer my questions. I promise from one red creature to another.”
One of the phoenixes hesitated, its wings stuttering. The other phoenix squawked, “Susan! What are you thinking!?”
Susan swallowed and turned around, facing the approaching red dragon. “You promise not to hurt us?”
“Yeah, of course,” Prika said, flapping her wings and rearing back, halting in midair. “I don’t live here, see, and it’d be real bad if I triggered a war between phoenixes and dragons. Anyways, do you two know the way to this continent’s dragon roost? I was left behind by an old codger and his mate when they said they wanted their privacy and flew away without telling me when they were done.”
Susan’s face paled. “By any chance,” she said in a low voice, “was that old codger a green dragon?”
“Yeah!” Prika said, her eyes lighting up. “That’s the one. You’ve seen him? Which way did he go?”
Susan furrowed her brow. “Um….” She thought back to the time of sitting so still that even her beak fell asleep. Which direction had the two dragons flown? Susan swallowed and pointed her leg to the north. “That way.”
“Thanks,” Prika said. Instead of flying off, she squinted at the two phoenixes.
“W-was there something else?” Susan asked, flapping her wings a little harder so that she was positioned behind Emile, who was hovering by her side.
“No,” Prika said and scratched her chin. “I just thought that you two looked familiar for some reason.”
Emile blinked. “Are you the red dragon who sealed herself inside of her cave for a hundred years because you wanted your nephew as a mate before realizing it was him?”
Prika flinched. “N-no. Who told you that?” Her eyes narrowed at Emile. “Oh, were you the phoenix who was with Tafel at that time?” She pursed her lips. “I guess that means I can’t get rid of you, huh…? Anyways, it’s been a fast hundred years, right?”
“It hasn’t even been one year,” Emile said. “You—ack!”
Susan smacked the back of Emile’s head with her wing. “When a dragon asks you a question with a heavy implication that you should agree with them, you agree with them!” She smiled at Prika. “Yes, it’s been a very fast hundred years. By any chance, are you going to find Tafel? We’re trying to find her too.”
“I guess if Tafel’s at Sharda’s nest,” Prika said and scratched her head. “Maybe?”
“Can we come with you?” Susan asked, lowering her head to look up at Prika with bright, round eyes.
“Sure, if you can keep up,” Prika said. “I fly pretty fast.”
“Wait,” Emile said. “Can’t you let us sit on your head?”
“Hah?” Prika raised an eyebrow. “You think a dragon just lets anyone sit on their head? How about this? I’ll carry you two in my mouth if you want.”
Emile and Susan exchanged glances with each other. Then they looked at Prika. “Okay!”
“Exactly,” Prika said and nodded. “I knew you….” She paused midsentence and stared at the two phoenixes. “Two … were dumb. Really? Really, guys?”
“You gave us your word from one red creature to another,” Susan said. “You won’t harm us, and we’ve never ridden inside a dragon’s mouth before, and you know Tafel, so why not?”
Prika sighed through her nostrils, ejecting two spirals of smoke. She opened her mouth and gestured with her claw. “Alright, get in.”
Emile and Susan rushed towards her mouth, pushing each other out of the way. “I want to sit in the front,” Emile said. “If I didn’t ask, she wouldn’t have let us. The front is mine!”
“I’m the one who stopped and answered her questions in the first place,” Susan said. “I—”
Prika leaned forward and closed her mouth around the two phoenixes.
“Woah! It’s actually not dark in here! Sunlight comes in from her nostrils!”
“Those aren’t her nostrils, dummy,” Susan’s voice rang out. “That’s the back of her mouth. Maybe that’s where the fire comes from.”
“Ooh.” Emile paused. “Want to go deeper?”
Prika scratched her head. Maybe keeping two birds in her mouth wasn’t a good idea. It took all her willpower to not swallow. Well, even if she did eat them on accident, their ashes would probably come out the other end, and they’d resurrect just fine. Probably. She nodded to herself, and the two birds inside her mouth screamed. Then she flew off to the north.
***
“So, Zyocuh came to you with an offer of power, and you accepted it,” Sharda said, staring down at Alora. Her granddaughter was staring back up at her with watery eyes, her head lowered like a guilty puppy. Sharda pursed her lips and resisted the urge to stroke her granddaughter’s head. “You know that was wrong, don’t you?”
“I was wrong, Grandma,” Alora said, hanging her head even lower. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled and shifted her eyes towards Grimmy, then back to her grandma. “If Grimmoldesser didn’t hurt me, then I wouldn’t have wanted to get stronger. It was all my fault.” She sniffled twice and closed her eyes, wiping them with the backs of her front paws. “And everyone keeps making fun of my weight. I just wanted to be strong enough to make them stop.” She wailed and buried her face into her paws.
Lindyss crossed her arms over her chest while Sharda leaned forward and hugged her granddaughter. “For some reason, I really don’t like that girl,” Lindyss said, leaning towards Tafel. “Maybe it’s because I’m too used to Vur being straightforward all the time.”
Tafel nodded. “No one likes liars or emotional guilt trippers.”
“You’re lucky you married Vur,” Lindyss said.
Tafel glanced behind herself at Vur, who was in his human form, curled up in the fetal position with drool running down the corner of his lips. Soft snores rang out of his mouth. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
“Okay, enough with the sob story,” Grimmy said and nudged Alora’s side with his tail. “Bring out Zyocuh.”
Sharda slapped away Grimmy’s tail, glaring at the black dragon. “Don’t you dare touch my granddaughter again.” She lowered her gaze onto Alora and stroked her head. “Where’s Zyocuh, dearie? Take him out so we can get rid of him for you.”
Alora sniffled and raised her front paw. She pointed at her middle claw. “He’s in there.”
Sharda stared at the claw. There was no response. She blinked and looked at Grimmy. Her throat let out low rumbles, and she gestured at the claw with her head. Grimmy took a step back, then another. “I’m not supposed to touch her,” he said and took a third step back. “Isn’t that what you said? You should really make up your mind.”
“It’s your es
caped experiment,” Sharda said, narrowing her eyes. “Take it out of my granddaughter.”
“What makes you think I know how to do that?” Grimmy asked and gestured towards his chest with his front paw. “I know I’m a respectable genius, but there are some things that I don’t know how to do. If you want me to figure it out”—he grinned—“then I’ll have to perform one or two or twenty experiments.”
“Wait,” Alora said. “I know how to get rid of him. I just need the giant’s red orb from her.” She pointed at Lindyss. “If I eat it, then Zyocuh will leave my body.”
Sharda snorted, ejecting two pillars of fire from her nostrils. She held her paw out towards Lindyss. “Hand it over.”
Lindyss turned towards Grimmy with a questioning gaze. He shrugged. A sigh escaped from Lindyss’ lips, and she bent over, reaching into her shadow. She pulled out a red orb and lobbed it into the air. It landed on Sharda’s palm but bounced off and rolled to the side.
“I got it,” Alora said and scrambled for the orb. She picked it up, blew on it, and wrapped her tongue around it, taking it into her mouth. Her throat bobbed as she gulped. A moment later, her scales—which were still red after losing their purple hue—pulsed and blood surged out of the gaps between each one. Alora hunched over, and black vomit flew out of her mouth, splattering against the wall of the altar room.
“Alora!?” Sharda grabbed her granddaughter’s shoulders, but they were too wet and slick with blood to get a proper grip. “Grimmoldesser! What’s happening to her?”
“Well,” Grimmy said, not moving an inch, “it seems like she’s bleeding and vomiting. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say she’s exploding, but I could be wrong.”
“What!?”
Grimmy scratched his head. “Oh, yeah, I was wrong. She’s not exploding.” He pointed. Blood had stopped surging out of the gaps between Alora’s scales. “It’s been over several thousand years since I’ve last experimented with blood magic, so my memory can be a bit off. If that wasn’t her exploding, then that was her body rejecting some of the blood that entered her.” He nodded. “You know how if you put lizard blood into a human, the human dies?”
“No.”
“Oh, well, they do,” Grimmy said. “The first trial to overcome in blood magic was figuring out a way to not die when absorbing another creature’s blood. And rejecting it all like that”—he gestured at Alora—“is the simplest way.”
Sharda furrowed her brow. “Then … this is a good thing?”
“It’s a great thing,” Grimmy said. “It means she gets to live and take the first steps towards becoming a blood magician. Blood dragon?” He nudged Vur, who was just beginning to wake up. “Hey, Vur, what sounds better for a dragon: blood magician or blood dragon?”
“Blood dragon,” Vur said without hesitation. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. “What happened to Alora?”
“She’s turning into a blood dragon,” Grimmy said and rubbed his chin. “Actually, she may already have turned into one. It looks like she finished.”
“But where’s Zyocuh?” Sharda asked. She lowered her head and peered at Alora’s face. Her granddaughter’s eyes were closed, and her breaths were slow and labored. “Dearie, can you hear me? Are you alright?”
Alora’s eyes shot open. She sneezed, and a ball of red phlegm flew out of her nostril, sticking to the wall. She shook her head, flinging red droplets throughout the room. She blinked twice and looked down at her paws. “Hey, Zyocuh! You didn’t tell me that would hurt so much!”
Alora’s claw flashed. “Remember the body you promised me.”
“Mm?” Alora tilted her head. “Body that I promised you? I don’t recall. Did we ever make a promise? Dragons don’t forget their promises, dude, and if I don’t remember, then that means we never promised anything.”
Alora’s claw flashed twice. “You!”
“Me what?” Alora snorted and reared back, holding her paw out towards Grimmy. “Here’s Zyocuh.”
Grimmy raised an eyebrow. “Have you tried biting your claw off?”
“Yes,” Alora said. “It didn’t work, but it makes him feel pain.”
Grimmy hummed. “I do have a way to get rid of him, but I’d have to give up one of my rare treasures to do so…,” he said and stroked his chin with the tips of his claws. His eyes shifted towards Sharda. He coughed. “Compensation.” He coughed again.
Sharda glared at Grimmy. “You know I don’t hoard treasures.”
“Excuse me?” Tafel asked, thinking back to the dragon matriarch’s kitchen. Her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hands. Thankfully, it seemed like no one had heard her.
Grimmy wet his lips with his tongue. “How about … you let me raise Alora for—”
“Absolutely not.”
Grimmy chuckled and sat back on his haunches. “Can you raise a blood dragon?” He tilted his head and smiled. “Hmm? What if something unexpected happens to her and I’m not around to stabilize the situation?”
Alora’s eyes shook, and she inched towards her grandma, who had a strange expression on her face. “Grandma…? You’re not thinking of leaving your poor and helpless granddaughter all alone with an evil black dragon, right? Who knows what he’ll do to me!”
“Vur will be there,” Grimmy said. “I wouldn’t do anything evil to Vur’s cousin.”
“You already have!” Alora shouted, pointing a trembling claw at Grimmy. She looked up at her grandmother, and her stomach sank upon seeing Sharda’s calm countenance. “Grandma…?”
Sharda patted Alora’s head. “Grimmoldesser has a point.”
“Grandma!”
“I just want the best for you, dearie,” Sharda said and ran her paw up and down Alora’s back. “Don’t worry. I’ll be coming with you and watching over you every step of the way.”
Grimmy made a face. “Eh…, if that’s the case, how about you give me your oven as compensation instead? You can keep your granddaughter.”
“Absolutely not!” Sharda roared.
“Grandma…? Why does it sound like you’re more indignant of having your oven taken away than having your granddaughter taken away?”
“You’re imagining things, dearie,” Sharda said and rubbed her granddaughter’s head. “Then we have a deal, Grimmoldesser? You remove your nasty experiment from my granddaughter, and I’ll give you the privilege of raising her under my supervision.”
“That sounds more like a hassle than a privilege….”
Sharda snorted. “Your child will be born soon, will it not?”
Grimmy narrowed his eyes. “And?”
“I’ll bake cookies for it.”
“Deal.” Grimmy reached into Lindyss’ pocket and dug out a jar with an unresponsive devil inside of it. “No takebacks.” He opened the jar and grabbed Alora’s paw, shoving the tip of her claw into it. “Alright, Zyocuh, here’s a body for you.”
“…It looks ugly.”
“So, it’s perfectly suited for you, what’s the issue?” Grimmy flicked the claw that Zyocuh was occupying. “This is the best and only body I’m offering to you; take it or leave it. The other way is to have Vur purify you out of existence with his laser even if it may hurt your host a teensy bit.”
Alora’s claw flashed, and a sigh rang out. “Alright.”
38
Nova had his palm held out, holding onto a few staves as if they were toothpicks. He used his other paw to rifle through them, flipping them over and inspecting them. “Oh, these staves are very good,” he said with a grin. He glanced down at his three grandchildren, who were staring up at him with sparkling eyes. He resisted the urge to chuckle. “They’re great, but there are some ways to make them better. See how this staff over here is completely straight?”
“Yes, Grandpa,” the annoying trio said at the same time.
“Mana may seem like a simple thing, and it may seem like a straight line would conduct it the best, but think about it, are any of our body parts truly straight?” Nova swept his gaze over t
he trio. “No, right? That’s because mana doesn’t actually flow at a consistent rate, it ebbs and wanes like the tides. Think of how mana moves through you when you breathe out a breath.” He pinched the straight staff and raised it up. “Who made this one?”
“I did,” Youngest said, raising his paw.
Nova nodded. “Do you mind if I make some changes to it?”
Youngest shook his head.
Nova put down the other staves and whittled away at the straight staff with his claw, gouging and cutting away the wood with precise motions. When he was done, the previously stiff pole had turned into a gnarled walking stick with a spiral cut out at the top end. The bottom end had been sharpened into a point. “When you tried putting mana in this earlier, it was probably stiff, right?” He handed the staff to Youngest. “Try it now.”
Youngest received the staff in his paw and swallowed. Then he focused his mana into the bottom of the staff. His eyes widened as his mana surged unimpeded from one end to the other. He stared up at Nova with his mouth hanging open. “Wow!”
“Let me see, let me see,” Bonnie said and snatched away the staff. After inserting her mana, her eyes widened as well, staring up at Nova with the same fervor as her younger brother. “Woah….”
Nova chuckled and leaned back, sticking his chest out. “How is it? What do you think of your grandpa’s skills?”
“Fix our staves too,” Eldest said, nudging the pile towards his grandfather.
Nova grinned and picked up the next staff, whittling away at it after a quick inspection. A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A woman holding a turtle shell was staring up at him with an entranced look in her eyes. Nova raised an eyebrow. “Who are you? Do you want to learn too?”
Mary bobbed her head up and down. Nova leaned over, grabbed a tree, and snapped it in half. He pinched off a branch and handed it to Mary. “Hmm. You’ll need something to cut that with, won’t you?” His brow furrowed. A moment later, his eyes lit up. “I have just the thing.” He lifted his wing and gestured towards Mary. “Climb up here.”
