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