by M Arienach
Those were his thoughts as he rode into the village. The people excited as they saw the cattle only to stop cold at the look on his face. He didn’t notice. The rest had stopped, but he continued on. On to see Haladoria. She had come from her hut like a ray of sunshine through the clouds. He smiled grimly, enjoying seeing her, but thinking that he may have just bargained away her life. Her and her peoples life.
“Graniel?”
She hadn’t said more than his name, but the tone had asked several questions. She saw his state and understood right away that something was not right.
“Lady, I brought you cattle and possibly our downfall.”
“Please explain, Graniel.”
“I met Arienach. Those are his. He gave them to us with the… request… to see our village and to meet with you.”
“Arienach? The destroyer?”
“He called himself Michael, but he was… he was huge and silver… I have never ever seen anything that size before. It had to be him. We had found a herd in the mountains and were bringing them back when he found us. He told me they were his. Then asked why we were taking them. I told him of the greenskins and our need… Then he offered us half. But he wishes to come here. I know not what for.”
“Arienach… He did not kill you but gave you cattle? No dragon has ever given anything besides death before. He spoke?”
“Aye, a great rumbling speech. I didn’t know that dragons could speak. He sounded… amused. But he was polite. He said he would see no one suffer. I don’t know what to think.”
“If it is him, what can we do?”
“What do you mean, milady?”
“He is the king of the dragons. If he wishes us, there is no where to hide. You did nothing, once he found you, he knew of us.”
“I could have gone elsewhere.”
“It is in the past. You have found food where there was none. The dragon? If he wished you dead, or us, we would already be there.”
It made Graniel stop. She was right. But what could the dragon possibly want?
“Milady, you ease my mind somewhat, but I can not feel easy on this. Who knows the ways of dragons? We didn’t even know they could speak.”
“We have no council left, so let us talk with the people. We do need to make a place for him, however. It is only polite. There is no way to avoid the meeting, but we may yet survive it. I take the sign of the cattle as good.”
He brought out the stone.
“When we are ready, this will call him.”
The both stared at the stone. Perfect. Glowing. It seemed to bring home the truth of the story.
Greeting the Neighbors
We were discussing the land around my mountain when the call came through a little over a month later. I had flown over most of the mountain range and verified that it looked like an impact crater. My lair in the middle surrounded by a ring of large jagged mountains. The ring was complete, no openings and almost as high as the lair, which I estimated to be somewhere around twenty five thousand feet. The caldera was well over six hundred yards in diameter, based on my wingspan. Judging by scale then, it had to be around five or six miles from the volcano to the outer ring. The land outside the ring rippled outward, forming rills and valleys in places. It was not part of a chain which seemed to further my suspicion. The land between the volcano and the ring had leveled, which spoke of a very very long time.
Arienach seemed curious what I would do when I went to the elves. I really had no clue, but I didn’t see where it would hurt. Seriously, there would be little they could do to harm me and I could probably wipe them from the face of the planet with little effort. Thinking back to Arienach’s idea of unifying the elves, it might be a good start. I knew that he did it mainly just to see what would happen, but I had an idea that I might take it farther if I could create good will.
I was also entertaining the idea of bringing the dragons of the world here as well. I think in the terms of the old gaming communities, this would be called empire building. Frankly, it just sounded more practical to me. Shared resources and ideas… who knew where it would lead. Besides, it wasn’t like I was stuck here if it didn’t work out.
With those thoughts in my head, I shifted to their location. Being warned beforehand to do so well away from them. Displaced air and all that. Arienach was a wealth of knowledge and I was glad to have him teaching me. I noticed as I arrived the cloud of dust leaving the area and figured it must sound like an explosion when I got there and I was over a hundred feet in the air.
The flight to the elves took only a few moments. I made sure to land well before them and walk my way in so as not to frighten them too much. It was rather awkward as the brush I was moving through turned out to be trees. I tried my best not to damage the forest too much and vowed to find a better landing spot next time. It would seem that the elves, like the stories I had heard, did have an affinity with nature, their part of the forest was well over twice the height of the surrounding woods. Still, all I really saw in the way of habitat was wood huts.
The elves had made a small, for me, clearing. I had to leave a good portion of my body in the woods behind me so I didn’t fill it. Graniel and two others came out to meet me, one being a female that led the group. They had stopped about fifty yards from me, so I lay down and put my head as close to the ground as I could. They still had to look up, but it didn’t look like they were about to tip over backwards this way. There was a pause as the female was walking back and forth in front of me, looking me over. I was breathing slowly so my smoke wouldn’t cover her. I let her take her time as I had the feeling that my presence might be a bit disconcerting.
“I bid you greetings, lord dragon. I am Haladoria of the Horiel. How may we serve you?”
“I am called Michael and I am no lord. I am honored to meet you lady Haladoria and you owe me no service. I would see no being suffer.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Tis on our honor, lord Michael, to repay our debt to you.”
I turned my head to the side slightly and sighed so as not to cover them with my smoke.
“If you insist on payment, do you have anyone of your people that has knowledge of magic?”
“Magic?”
“I would learn of your magic and mayhaps teach them as well, if they be curious.”
“This does not seem as much a payment.”
“Tell me then, just what I could want? The cattle I kept as but a variety in my diet. I do not need wealth or a domicile to live in. I can travel this world at a thought and others besides. Knowledge is the only thing that is of interest to me.”
That gave her pause, so I continued. “One other thing I would know, if you would. Where do these green skins reside?”
Arienach chuckled as that brought her up short. I watched patiently as she thought of the implications of that question.
“Why would you wish to know this?” She asked, caution evident in her voice.
“I wish to pay them a visit.”
“You would visit with them?” This time colored with concern.
“Yes, I would bargain with them for peace with the other people of this land.”
“I see… you wish these lands to be at peace. I somehow do not see this with the green skins, but I suppose that is up to you if you wish to try.”
I smiled and they stepped back… oops, forgot about the teeth. “There will be peace, one way or the other.”
“They are sunward of here, follow the river down to the coast, that was where our home was before they took it.” She had paled a bit for some reason.
“I thank thee lady Haladoria of the Horiel. I will return soon, if I may,”
“We will welcome you lord Michael.” She said with a slight smile.
I shook my head. “Fair winds to you.”
With that I jumped high enough to clear the trees and took to the air.
The trip took almost an hour. The elves had moved quite a ways from their old home. To me that spoke of a people who didn’t wish to
fight. A good sign in my book. I rarely flew this low to the ground, so I did a bit of sight seeing while Arienach and I reviewed my actions with the elves. He thought it might be a novel idea, but didn’t understand why I did not take them as mine. I replied that I would rather have friends than servants. He grew quiet after that.
There was a line of hills that the river ran though, after it left the forest. It looked as if no one else had ever settled these lands. I could see no roads or structures until I left the hills and saw the city in the distance.
It seemed good size for the technology that we seemed to be living in, some of the buildings were in excess of three stories. Mostly done in pale white with muted colors. They were not the blocky look of the modern era, leaning toward tapered walls with intricate carvings and sometimes pillars on the corners. Some had stairs outside of the buildings as well. It had a flowing organic look to it. There were also trees. Lots of trees. A closer look had small buildings hidden under them.
As I glided in lazy circles above it, I could see damage all throughout the city. Some of the streets were almost blocked by rubble and trash blew and collected where it would. The outer wall had seen damage as well, with several sections breached. Twould seem the green skins knew siege technology.
My problem was to find these green skins and discuss things with them, however, from the looks of the place, twould probably be better to start considering what I could do to remove them without damaging the city excessively. Twas something I was ill suited for, since I was bigger than the largest building down there.
“You can change, you know.” Arienach suggested.
“Change?”
“I find myself forgetting you are not a natural dragon. You can shapeshift.”
I thought about that for a few moments. Thoughts of mass and size… Arienach chuckled in my head. “Would this not weaken me?”
“Not hardly. You would lose your scale armor, but you scarcely need it against most mortal threats.”
What followed was a very in-depth explanation of energy states, near dimensional thresholds and things I really couldn’t figure out a name for. I could think of a few mystics and writers back in my old life that would be in ecstasy by now. Me? I just got a headache.
I landed by the bay, noting the damage to the shipyards and followed Arienach’s instructions. It took a couple of tries.. well… okay, it took a couple of hours… with constant coaching. The first time I succeeded only lasted a few moments. I found that two legs were now a bit more complicated to stand on than four. Arienach made me practice till I could shift back and forth at will.
Surprisingly, we were not disturbed the whole time. I guess whatever the green skins were, they were not worried about posting watch. I was not going to be the one to enlighten them. When I was finally ready, I approached the city gates from the harbor road. I was stunned to get a notification.
You are about to enter the dungeon Calalistos, do you wish to proceed?
Yes
No
The Dragon
Haladoria was nervous… well… frightened was more accurate. They had talked over scenarios for almost a moon, but in the end, it came down to the fact the dragon could find them where ever they went. There was nowhere to run and they were not going to piss off a dragon. Especially if that dragon might be Arienach.
Arienach. The name was a legend to all the races. No one truly knew the truth from the fiction. Some stories were so far fetched that they couldn’t possibly be real. Up until Graniels return, she hadn’t even really believed something could exist like Arienach. She had questioned the poor man over and over, along with his men. They all agreed, this one not a large dragon. This was a titanic dragon. Who was silver. With the black claws and horns. She sighed. This was getting her nowhere. They moved out in a solemn procession to the field they had cleared. The clearing was twice the size of their village, but Graniel had laughed and said it wasn’t big enough. Well, they had used the stone earlier and they would know soon.
She jumped as a loud rumbling boom was heard. The elves looked to each other nervously. She had to fight to keep her face calm, to be strong for her people. Then it appeared over the trees. At first she though that it must be very close, then she realized that it was still quite far away and moving at them at a fantastic rate of speed. It grew in her vision till it blotted out the sky over the trees. And it kept coming, finally landing and walking towards the clearing. It seemed to be walking unsteadily, until she realized it was trying to keep from damaging too many trees. Not an easy thing for it’s size. It stopped with just its forelegs inside the clearing and looked around. No more would fit. She winced as it lay down and the trees beneath it was crushed and flattened.
It suddenly occurred to her that she was no longer as frightened as before. Something… That it was being so careful, put her at ease. Still, this was not a dragon to be trifled with. She had no doubt now. This was Arienach. This was the terror. It was worried about trees. It had been careful to come in far enough not to frighten them. Then it lay it’s head down to be on more… level terms. She still had to look up and it was still a good distance away. She couldn’t help it, she walked, pacing out the width of it’s head.
“I bid you greetings, lord dragon. I am Haladoria of the Horiel. How may we serve you?”
She was amazed that her voice was steady. She had planned this speech for weeks… a simple string of words that could mean their survival. Now it sounded rather silly.
“I am called Michael and I am no lord. I am honored to meet you lady Haladoria and you owe me no service. I would see no being suffer.”
His words shocked her. The great destroyer was worried about suffering? Why was he calling himself Michael? Maybe it was the fact no one ever talked to a dragon and lived, she mused. Her eyes widened a bit. “Tis on our honor, lord Michael, to repay our debt to you.”
Then it occurred to her. She was arguing with a force of nature. A being that could simply exhale and wipe out her people. Still, it seemed right.
“If you insist on payment, do you have anyone of your people that has knowledge of magic?”
Now this was not something that was expected at all. He had dragon magic. He was the most powerful creature on their world. Why?
“Magic?”
“I would learn of your magic and mayhaps teach them as well, if they be curious.”
Her mind went blank. She spoke before she thought. “This does not seem as much a payment.”
“Tell me then, just what I could want? The cattle I kept as but a variety in my diet. I do not need wealth or a domicile to live in. I can travel this world at a thought and countless others besides. Knowledge is the only thing that is of interest to me.”
The view was so… so alien. To be able to travel… no threat at all. She didn’t know what to say.
“One other thing I would know, if you would. Where do these green skins reside?”
What? Why? She felt a cold chill. “Why would you wish to know this?” She asked, caution evident in her voice.
“I wish to pay them a visit.”
“You would visit with them?” This time colored with concern. Visit? Was he seeking an ally? No, that would be silly.
“Yes, I would bargain with them for peace with the other people of this land.”
This was turning into something surreal. Arienach bargaining for peace. “I see… you wish these lands to be at peace. I somehow do not see this with the green skins, but I suppose that is up to you if you wish to try.”
His head came up and his maw opened. Her mind froze as teeth that were very sharp, very plentiful and very very large appeared. “There will be peace, one way or the other.”
The finality of that statement made the blood in her veins seem to freeze. The answer came out in a rush. “They are sunward of here, follow the river down to the coast, that was where our home was before they took it.”
“I thank thee lady Haladoria of the Horiel. I will return soon, if I may,”
<
br /> He was polite after that epitaph. He was asking permission to return. He made no real threat to her people. “We will welcome you lord Michael.” She said with a slight smile.
“Fair winds to you.”
With that he jumped. He moved so fast he almost seemed to disappear, then his gigantic wings opened and caught the air. He pulled himself up and the wind blew us all to the ground and held us there. Then he was gone. Two strong wing beats and he was out of sight. She looked to her people and they looked back. She wondered to herself if she looked as pale as they did.
Housecleaning
Arienach’s voice in my mind brought be back to reality. “I suppose that answers the question about discussing peace.”
I considered that for a moment. “Why?”
“This is now registered as a dungeon. All inside are hostile. Trust me, talking will be the last thing that will be on their mind.”
I sighed and asked; “What should I know?”
“What you are in is known as a temporary dungeon. It will start off easy and gradually get harder till you find the boss, or the leader. I would usually suggest clearing the entire town then hunting the boss, but in our case, it isn’t necessary as there is nothing our level in the known multiverse. This will actually be an excellent time for you to become accustom to your powers.”
“Is there anything I should or should not do?”
“Since you are wanting to preserve what is left of the city, I would suggest you avoid most of the more powerful AOE effects and maintain a shield.”
“AOE?”
Arienach sighed. “You never really played games much, did you?”
“Er… no? I mean, I did play strategic games, but never something like swords and stuff.”
“Strategic… then you may manage to preserve a good portion. Think of this as a street to street offensive. By the way, AOE means area of effect. Things like your magma blossom would probably take out a few city blocks. You see, even though you are not full size, your magic still is and it was designed to take out an ancient dragon in one shot. This will be an exercise in control for you.”
