A jostling caused Sam to open his eyes, blinking sand out of his eyes.

“Problem?” he asked, blinking at Jennei who pointed forward, wordlessly. They were a couple miles outside of the city, travelling the smooth plains toward the mountain to the east, where the other elves should have secured a couple howitzers, and the only light was that of the stars... and hundreds of campfires ahead of them.

“Son of a bitch.” Sam leaned forward in the seat, studying the army in front of him. Where the hell had that come from? As he peered closely, he could make out the distant people assembling into formation, their armor gleaming in the firelight.

“Are they from Mississipi or are they Billy’s goons?” Sam asked.

“Does it really matter?” Jennei asked. “We’re driving the dragon’s stolen jeeps full of treasure. Either one would kill us on sight.”

“It matters because-“ Sam’s words were cut off by the air-shaking roar of a dragon. “Get out of the car.” Sam threw open the door and jumped out, followed shortly by Jennei.

“Jennei, I want you to-“ the sound of fluttering wings caught Sam’s attention. A black hawk flew into the darkness, rapidly gaining altitude and turning toward the east. “Yeah, that.” Now all he had to do was save the rest and kill the dragon. Or at the very least, survive.

“Out of the cars!” Sam shouted, waving his hands at the remaining elves. He placed his hand on the jeep. “ETTAI!” the jeep and all it’s contents shrank, sucked into the scorpion on his wrist.

The elves left their vehicles, looking around the skies for the dragon.

“Scatter! Fly low until you’re clear, then head east to regroup, got it?”

Sam spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, followed by a torrent of flame. He turned his wrist toward the flame and shouted the command word, sending a treasure-laden jeep twirling into Billy’s mouth, blocking the fire.

The dragon’s eyes widened, and it’s flight became erratic, plunging into the ground, stunned.

“Ettai, Ettai, Ettai!” Sam shouted, sucking each of the trucks into the silver scorpion as he ran past them.

“Get this to the others!” Sam shouted, pulling the scorpion off his wrist and tossing it to the nearest elf. “And get moving!” Billy was in the process of digorging the jeep, shaking his head wildly.

The rest of the elves nodded, turned into hawks and flew away, leaving Sam with Ella.

“Don’t die for nothing.” Ella said with sad smile.

“Been there, done that. Get out of here sweet cheeks.”

The old elf shook her head with a sour face and turned in to a gray hawk, flying away, leaving Sam truly alone, except for an army, a pissed off dragon, and a half-melted jeep.

Sam looked down at the rings on his fingers. Turned out the hawk one was a good investment. Sam idly touched Gurd’s ring while watching the dragon spit the last bits of windshield out of its mouth.

“Gurd, sorry to bother you so soon, but can you beat a dragon?”

If you can’t beat a dragon, Then I can’t beat a dragon.

“Can you maintain an illusion?”

Yes.

“Disguise yourself and the other rings, and try to make me seem nonmagical.”

Sure. The rings on Sam’s hands vanished in front of his eyes. By the way, I found a curse potted in your Isayatta. Did you want me to throw that out for you?

“No, it came in handy when...Just don’t throw anything away, okay?”

The memories i’ve seen from your previous life are fascinating. The architecture of the twenty-second century is giving me great inspiration for the design of your Isayatta. May I have access to the Implant? I think some of you studied architecture, and I’d like more concrete schematics.

“Knock yourself out, but don’t distract me while I talk to Billy.”

Who’s Billy- ih Seh kno, that’s a big dragon!

Sam put his finger in his mouth and gave a ear piercing whistle, drawing Billy’s attention to him.

“Yo, Tyranus, over here!”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. Billy began to run toward him, his steps shaking the earth as he charged.

“Wait!” Sam shouted, pulling the implant out of his pocket and holding it up high. The dragon didn’t stop, simply lunging forward with its jaws, forcing Sam to jump out of the way.

The dragon’s momentum carried him ten feet past Sam, but his neck simply bent back and took another bite at Sam. Sam pushed off the ground he was rolling on, and with a tiny application of telekinesis, pulled himself out of the way of the dragon’s teeth just in time to avoid being bit in half, unfortunately he lost his peg leg in the process. Fucking thing.

“I can win your war for you!” sam shouted, doing his best to hop out of Billy’s biting range.

“What are you doing?” Billy spoke, coming to a bemused halt. His voice rattled Sam’s chest.

“I’m of great value to you alive!” Sam said, brandishing the implant between the two of them like a holy symbol to ward off evil.

“I highly doubt that. You’ve caused me more grief than any other human, bar none.”

“This implant has the memory of the S4M that tried to kill you the first time.” Sam said, holding out the shiny metal.”

“So?”

“This implant,” Sam said, tapping his skull. “This implant has the memory of every S4M who ever lived.”

“I don’t believe you.” Billy growled.

“I know where every military base and laboratory in america was. Even the secret ones. Guns, diseases, supplies, supercomputers. I even know your real name, Mr. Billy Sanchez, Harvard graduate with a major in biology and a minor in psychology and history.” Sam said.

“Ah,” Billy said, the scales on his neck and face lying down again. Sam took a second look. The dragon looked smoother and sleeker than the last time he’d seen him, and the damage from the explosion was gone. Had the dragon done some kind of plastic surgery?

At the same time, the army in the distance flickered out of existance. It was a goddamn illusion, and a big one at that. They probably could have gotten away, but they’d fallen for a freaking fake. A really damn big one. Sam fumed inwardly in being caught in a trick. I’m the only one allowed to be a smartass.

Billy crossed his arms and settled to the ground in front of Sam, looking down at him. “I suppose you want to negotiate for the information.”

“All I want is a tropical island off the coast and a couple of bare-breasted women. That shouldn’t be hard to provide. You can have it back after i’m dead. That and an answer to a question.”

Billy snorted. “What question?”

“Where’s Faera, the elf who was with the S4M that the demon killed?”

Billy’s lips peeled away form his teeth in a vicious smile. “You’re going to find out.”

Sam felt gossamer threads settle on his brain, like his every thought and sensation had the tiniest tug as it shifted in real time. Sam resisted the urge to reflexively wipe the threads away. He couldn’t play his hand yet.

“Sleep.” Billy’s voice rumbled, and Sam felt his body loose control, sinking to the ground. Strangely though, he was still fully awake.

I got this, just close your eyes and let me know when you want me to let you ‘wake up’.

Sam felt massive claws cinch down around him none too gently, scooping up a bit of the dirt and grass beneath him.

“I should pop your head off right here,” Sam felt a claw pressing against either side of his neck, restricting his breathing. “But I’ve got questions that need answers.”

Sam felt his stomach sink and the wind rush past his skin as the dragon lunged into the sky, winging it’s way toward the city.

Oh, great, let’s all go to prison. Durg complained.

Better than dying. Just keep me as innocous as possible.

As you wish.

There was a long pause.

Since you’re not busy, do you want to discuss where to put the entertainment hall and the pool?

The what? Sam thought, focusing inwardly. When he reached his Isayatta, he saw the framework for a massive skyscraper slowly growing out of a block of solidified Nuetta ten feet deep and growing, covering and protecting the rings that channeled Sam’s Yuenan.

“Oh, there you are.” Gurd said, floating up beside him, taking in the construction from a distance with him. “Do you have an asthetic that you prefer? You mentioned liking bare breasted women so I was wondering...”

“While I’m not opposed to the occasional naked lady, I’ll have to turn down making my entire Isayatta look like one.” Sam said dryly. It occured to him that the Sam Faera knew was a totally different Sam. That Sam was awkward around people and boobs. This Sam was already jaded. It was either that or die.

“Suit yourself. I’m thinking of having the tower twist a little, or maybe split in two and wind around the shaft.”

“Try to keep it simple, elegent, and efficient.” Sam said. “No useless dangling or unbalanced parts. Other than that, you’ve got my permission to make it however you want.”

“Where would you like the Arena?”

“The what?”

“The Arena, where you make the souls of the men you kill fight each other so that you don’t consume them?”

“I don’t think I’ll need that.”

“I’ll just leave space for it. You never know. I’m adding a movie theater with every movie an S4M unit has ever seen, along with a pool, bar, and red light district.

“Populated with what?” Sam asked.

“Idunno. Any consciousnesses you create or pieces of yourself split away from you and waiting to be reabsorbed. If you don’t lay proper groundwork, It’s a total mess in here in just a few thousand years.”

“How long do you plan on our relationship lasting?”

Gurd looked hurt, the expressive brows above his fat face drooping.

“As long as you want it to I suppose, master. I’d appreciate it if you could give me to someone else rather than throw me aside. I couldn’t spend another eight milennia lying in the dirt.”

“I just don’t expect to live that long.” Sam shrugged.

“Not with that attitude,” Gurd scoffed, straightening, his expression clear. His head reached Sam’s waist. “I’m going to make sure we have a long and beautiful friendship, you and I.”

“Keep the Iseyatta simple.” Sam said, turning away.

“Got it.” The little man effected a salute and went back to the business of constructing Sam’s mind palace.

Sam peeked through his eyelashes and saw that he was sprawled on the red-tinted stone floor of a cell, and the dragon hadn’t bothered to bring Sam’s peg leg. Damnit. Sam was getting pretty fucking tired of that. Sam raised himself to a seated position with a groan. It felt like Billy had treated him like a squeezy toy.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Sam heard a familiar voice. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Faera’s haggard face.

“You’re alive.” Sam said, turning. “I didn’t-“ his words caught in his throat as he took in Faera’s condition.

Faera’s arms and legs were truncated above the joint. Her body was covered in bruises, and a magic sealing collar was around her throat. She watched him with a cautious gaze.

“You know me, huh?” she asked. “That Sam is dead. You must’ve been sent here by Tyranus. Don’t know where he got ahold of another one of you.” She looked away, staring at the ceiling.

“What happened to you?”

“I think you know.” She said, her eyes narrowed.

“I really don’t, Faera.” Sam said gently.

“Look around.” She said, motioning to the walls.

Sam looked, and saw the same obsidian walls with veins of red running through them as the ones in the tower.

“Are we in the tower?”

“Under it. This is where he ‘Fattens up’ his meals.”

“This is...the base of the chimney.” Sam said, looking around as the hemisphere of black stone built around them. “This is exactly where the two laylines converge?”

In the cells around them were another dozen or so limbless wretches.

“Yup, baking us like a stone-fired pizza.” Faera said. “They did this before I got strong enough to bend steel.” She wiggled her truncated arms and legs before looking at Sam.

“So when are you going to get around to asking me where the elves make their guns or how many people we have?”

“Later.” Sam said, looking around. “Glad you’re alive.”

“That makes one of us, I’m a goddamn quadruple amputee.” She said with a snarl.

“I’d still hit it.” Sam gave her a grin and a thumbs-up.

Faera’s eyes widened, staring at him. “You’re definitely not the same Sam.”

“Never said I was.” Sam said, dusting himself off as he stood. “Hypothetically, if I were here because Tyranus plans on torturing and eating me, how long before they cut off my arms and legs too?”

Hinges squealed as a section of the wall swung inward, revealing a grim procession lead by a woman in a revealing white dress with shining auburn hair.

“Ummm...now?” Faera said.