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- is anyone out there?

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- Hello!

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- Hello!?

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- I can’t see anything… hello?

______00rror!

Chapter 7

Negotiations

Canfermirax

Canfermirax stared at Ria, “A price...” He muttered as he eyed her. A long silence filled the cave as he examined her, small beads of sweat ran down the woman's face and he could see a jaw muscle clenching in determination like she was fighting down her fear.

The sheer audacity of this human, demanding payment and bargaining with him like a high-level knight or powerful warlord. It reminded him of Alar, he had not heard news of the adventurer for decades, so he doubted the ballsy barbarian was still alive, but the memory still brought a ghost of a smile to his face, one quickly hidden from the human. This negotiation would require some degree of finesse.

He continued to stretch the pause, watching the facade of confidence crack slightly under the pressure of his gaze. At first, he wondered if she would run but after a few more moments he barked with laughter making her jump in fright, which just made him laugh even harder. His rumbling laughter echoed through the ice caverns, even making the gems in his hoard tinkle and click together.

He had to work hard to not keep on laughing as Ria’s look of surprise turned to one of confusion. Canfermirax had forgotten how expressive human faces were. Smiling down at Ria and moved closer to sniff at her, gems tinkling to the floor as he moved.

“You remind me of an adventurer I once knew,” he growled, amusement still showing on his face. “What price?” he asked. His long pointed tongue extending the sounds into snake-like hissing as it flicked past his lips.

With his influence abilities apparently useless he would have to fall back on the tried and true method of dragon negotiation. Intimidation. Father would be proud. He thought dryly.

“I-I want to know about dungeons. I was never taught about them back home. I only, uh, know from stories as a kid,” she replied, pausing to look up, meeting Canfermirax’s gaze.

Canfermirax was puzzled, Doesn’t everyone in this world know how dungeons work? Or has education fallen by the wayside while I've been retired? I suppose she could have been raised in the high passes… Well, if she doesn’t know, I’ll have to teach her anyway if we want to destroy the dungeon. Ahh hell, she probably doesn’t even know how the dungeon interface works either. This is going to suck eggs.

Sighing loudly he suddenly realized this was going to be much more difficult and time-consuming than he really wanted it to be. He would much rather be napping and have his frogs back… Ahh shit, all my frogs are dead too. Dammit.

He used the annoyance he felt and let it pull his lips back in an angry sneer at the woman. “Why should I waste my time teaching you. I could just fly to any nearby city and find a willing adventurer?” He hoped to distract her with this argument. Make her fight for it, let her know she isn’t as valuable as she thinks.

The human stood before him and shuffled nervously. He watched with interest as she took a deep breath, puffing herself up. She looked him dead in the eyes and spoke clearly in an unwavering voice. “You said yourself that you couldn’t wait too long or the valley would be destroyed. Telling me a little bit about this dungeon you wish me to help you destroy hardly seems an unfair request.” She finished and stood her ground, still meeting his gaze.

Crap, she somehow saw through my bluff, I’m going to get bent over a barrel… I’ll be lucky if I get out of this with my hoard intact. “Fine, I’ll teach you, what else?” he asked with a growl.

The girl looked confused, she obviously had not expected anything more. “Uh, I also want your help in return, I would like a couple of small favors,” she said.

“What kind of favors?” he asked suspiciously.

“N-nothing big, I just, well I was wondering if you would help me transport some of my stuff to the cabin. Nothing like, heavy or anything.”

Canfermirax’s eyes boggled and he turned away to hide his shocked expression, hoping the human didn’t notice it. She doesn’t know! She really doesn't know that I have no other options… I gave in too soon. Shit! His mind raced as he schooled his face into a neutral expression.

He cleared his throat gruffly “Ahm, sure, sounds simple enough, come. We don’t have all day human.” Let's just move this along before she asks for anything else, shall we?

Canfermirax stood and together they headed out of the cave.

Canfermirax sat in the snow and watched the human, Ria, as she rummaged about the ramshackle lean-to. She was muttering to herself and would occasionally come out with something and dump it in a pile on a square of canvas.

He examined the lean-to and saw evidence of a few felled trees and marks here and there in the snow showing recent activity in the area, she had obviously been living rough here for a few days.

A cry of joy arose from the lean-to. He watched as she spun happily in the snow, holding up a Rock Snail. Canfermirax raised a scaled eyebrow curiously at her antics. He had not spent much time in the presence of humans at least not in the last forty years or so. Not since the war...

This human was different to the warriors and knights he had met back then, she seemed strangely naive, innocent. She could easily have asked for riches and magical items, instead all she wanted was help moving. She was definitely a strange one.

Yet another strange thing about her was how quickly she had thrown off his [Draconic Influence] Most sentient creatures could resist mind-influencing effects with training, practice, or excessive exposure, but she didn’t strike him as someone who had done any of that. She had brushed him aside with barely a conscious effort.

Canfermirax narrowed his eyes as he continued to watch Ria. There was something different about her, he just couldn’t figure out what.

Ria

Ria smiled as she lifted Speedy up, she had thought the snails had all escaped but for some reason, the red striped escape artist had remained behind. The snail did not retract and instead made a strangely cute “murble” sound at her and watched her with its eye-stalks.

She offered the snail her palm and it tentatively lent forwards and slid onto her hand and then up her arm. The snail settled its self onto her shoulder and it made her smile.

DING!

Congratulations

You have gained a pet!

Name: Speedy

Species: Lesser Rock Snail

Relationship: Friendly

Type: Non-Combat

Rarity: Common

About:

The Lesser Rock Snail is often found in mountainous terrain and can be found throughout Somnium’s various biomes. These docile creatures spend most of their time feeding on minerals and nutrients which they grind and dissolve from the surface layers of rock. The shell of the rock snail takes on the properties of any metal they absorb through their process of eating.

A rare variant of the rock snail is the Treasure Snail, which lives in an area rich in metals and jewels. Such creatures shells are highly prized and the flesh is considered by many to be a delicacy.

Non-Combat:

This pet will retreat to the safety of it’s shell in the face of aggressive actions or upon combat initiation. It will also attract no attacks from normally hostile monsters.

Ria’s smile grew wider, and she reached up and booped the snail on its little mouth between the two lower feelers with a finger. “Looks like we’re buddies now,” she said. Speedy murbled in response happily.

She saw the dragon looking at her with an odd expression on his face, he looked like he was thinking deeply about something.

Ria quickly got back to work packing, she didn’t want to annoy the grumpy reptile more than she already had, he hadn’t really stopped grumbling to himself since they left the cave. She wasn’t sure he had even noticed.

The majority of her useful items went into the backpack, the rest including some of the firewood went onto the canvas square. She left behind a small fire-starting kit along with her second flint and steel, she doubted she would come back but it couldn’t hurt to have a backup shelter on this side of the river.

She wrapped up the canvas into a sack around her pile of supplies and tied it up. Looking back to the dragon, she called out “Hey, uh, I’m ready to go to the cabin now.”

The dragon snorted loudly and looked about in what looked like embarrassment, he had obviously still been deep in thought. He shook his wings out, stretching them wide. Ria was still amazed at his size and despite still feeling more than a little afraid of the dragon, couldn’t help staring in awe as the massive creature stretched his wings.

“What are you staring at human?” asked the dragon gruffly.

“Uh, nothing I’m ready,” she replied.

“Right,” he grumbled and muttered something to himself under his breath.

Soon they were flying through the freezing air towards the cabin, the cold air once more whipped painfully through the new holes in her clothes. It took less than a minute to reach the cabin, and they quickly landed.

Ria got to work immediately packing away her supplies and then removing the pile of frozen wolf corpses outside. It was a delicate task and the freezing cold had caused many of the lower layers to become stuck to the floor in frozen pools of gore.

She spent the next hour chopping frozen chunks of blood off the floor and throwing them outside, each time she brought some outside, the dragon seemed to look even more impatient. His silent brooding presence made Ria more and more nervous.

Finally, with an annoyed sigh, she gave up and gathered her pack, spear, axe, and Speedy. She quickly headed over to Canfermirax. It was best to just get this whole dungeon thing done... at least then he would stop staring at her like she was food.

“Ok, I’m ready. I think,” Ria called.

“Finally,” he growled.

They swooped in towards a large cave entrance and Ria clenched everything, it didn’t look big enough, but the dragon expertly tucked his wings at the last second and glided to fast skidding landing.

Ria collapsed to her knees as Canfermirax dropped her. Gasping in fright she looked up at the dragon who was smirking at her. “Asshole,” she muttered under her breath. Only to receive a bark of laughter from the dragon.

It took a few moments for Ria to regain her composure, when she finally did she looked about to find herself in a massive cavern, far above a small shaft of light shone through one of several cracks in the arched ceiling, giving the chamber an almost church-like feeling.

The dragon had halted by the entrance, looking out into the darkening sky. “There will be a blizzard tonight, we will camp outside the dungeon so you might want to get a fire going, come, you can set up by the dungeon entrance. We won’t be entering until dawn, dungeons are weaker in the daylight hours.”

Canfermirax stalked through the cave sniffing to the left and right, as he headed into a chamber at the rear of the cavern, she realized that there were bodies and the stench of death was heavy in the air.

“Hey, what happened here?” she asked, pausing to look around, completely forgetting her apprehension about the dragons' intentions.

“This is Sizzarh’s Den. Home to the pack of wolves you slew. Before they came for you, the corruption was spreading within the pack and it looks like they fought. See,” he gestured at the top of the rock lit by the shaft of light. “There lies Sizzarh, the packs she-wolf leader.”

Looking sadly at the remains, Ria sighed. “So... I killed the last of them?” A kind of strange numbness settled over her, the realization that she was somehow responsible. She didn’t feel bad… but still, a sense of loss came over her.

“Sizzarh was a cunning leader. I wouldn’t be surprised if some have escaped,” he said, continuing forward.

Ria followed Canfermirax back into the smaller chamber and saw yet more corpses, many were young pups, she covered her mouth with her scarf as a musty rotting smell reached her nose.

She looked over to see the dragon sniffing at a strange crack in the wall.

“Over there,” he gestured to a small alcove in the cave wall. “Set a fire there, we will watch over the entrance tonight.”

Ria set about lighting a small fire that quickly warmed the small alcove. Canfermirax in the meantime began clearing the corpses out, moving them into the main chamber, which seemed to clear up the worst of the smell.

Canfermirax returned to the fire and curled up in a position where he could watch both Ria and the dungeon entrance.

At some point the fear she felt towards Canfermirax had mostly dissipated, It was obvious that he wasn’t going to hurt her… but he certainly didn’t seem all that friendly.

Ria sat awkwardly on the edge of a rock and tried to think of something to say that would break the ice between them. She always hated getting stuck in long silences, she could never figure out what to say and often found herself paralyzed with indecision which would make them even more awkward.

Her gaze kept flicking up to the dragon and then back down to the fire in embarrassment. She was in one such quick look at the dragon's face when her stomach suddenly rumbled loudly. The dragons' eyes flicked over to her from their vigil over the dungeon entrance.

Ria blushed in horror and looked away. In all the excitement over the past couple of days, she had lost track of her hunger. Her last meal had been a dry biscuit before the wolves practically tore her apart.

“Mhmmmn, It would seem the restoration spell has finally worn off,” rumbled Canfermirax. He slowly rose and headed towards the other chamber. “Do you eat meat human?” he asked, pausing for her response.

“Y-yeah,” she stuttered at his unexpected question.

“Wait here, I shall return. Try not to sleep and guard yourself, you will become quite tired this night as the spell's effects are no longer sustaining you. Food will help,” his rumbling voice echoed back to her as he left.

Ria waited by the fire and found herself jumping at every little noise from the fire, her eyes darted between the two entrances to the chamber, and she found herself clutching the haft of her spear with white knuckles.

The night dragged on and Ria found her eyes getting tired and a slow creeping curtain of exhaustion began to sweep over her. That spell must have been powering my body with magic, it repaired my wounds and then fueled my needs and now it’s like my strings have been cut.

*THUMP*

Ria jumped and looked around blinking in confusion.

“Your snoring is loud enough to ward off the dead, I heard you from the front of the cave,” Canfermirax rumbled.

“I-I shit… sorry,” Ria said and mentally kicked herself for falling asleep.

“Mhmmm, not a good idea to sleep so close to a dungeon entrance without a guard. My fault for not hunting sooner. It has been some time since I have spent time among humans, I forgot how feeble your constitutions are,” he said.

Finally blinking her eyes clear Ria noticed streaks of crimson ran down the dragons neck, forearms, and face. He gestured with a bloody claw at a large deer-like animal that lay broken at the edge of the fire.

“Dinner. I already ate mine.”

“Uh… thank you,” she said as she looked over the beast, it’s fur was still warm, the blood steaming in the frigid air of the cave.

Ria sat on her knees, pulled her belt knife and stopped. She had never butchered an animal before. The closest she had come was carving up a roast for Christmas dinner. She looked for some kind of clue as to where to start. She knew people used just about everything when they hunted wild game but still…

Glancing over at the dragon Ria saw him digging around between his teeth with a large talon as he watched her with a thoughtful expression on his reptilian face.

Looking back at the deer, she tried to remember how roast chicken was prepared from a long-forgotten home economics class back in high school. I think you have to get all the guts out and like section it all up… but I don’t have time to prepare and preserve it. Plus my salt is back at the cabin. She thought to herself.

Making her decision, Ria plunged the knife in around the deer's rear hindquarters and cut both rear legs off along with some of the fleshy muscles around its lower back. Ria surprised herself by not even gagging at the gory sight of blood and viscera.

She brought them over by the fire and realised she had left the skin on, the fur was all matted and red from the blood. Sighing in frustration, Ria set about trying to cut away the skin.

“Ahhhmm… are you going to eat this,” asked the dragon as he prodded the remains with his nose.

“Ah, no, go for it,” she replied and found herself watching in fascination as he snatched it up chomped it a couple of times. Bones crunched and snapped loudly, he rocked his head back like a duck drinking and let it slide down his throat with a satisfied gulp.

The whole sight sent a shiver down her spine, memories of crocodiles at the zoo came to her mind. She continued to stare as he licked his lips with his long slithering tongue. It was a reminder that she was sharing a cave with a huge carnivorous predator, one that could fly, do magic and likely tear her apart in seconds if it wanted.

Something else about it all brought a strange manic grin to her face, she couldn’t control it, the whole situation just somehow hit a funny-bone and she let out a stifled gasp of laughter before covering her mouth with her hands.

“Something amusing about my eating human?” asked the dragon. An unreadable expression on its face.

“Uh… no, sorry, my mum had a saying which, uh… just made me laugh when I saw you eating… sorry,” She said.

“Hmmmm?” he rumbled questioningly as he brought his head closer to look at her.

“S-She, she used to say that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach… she used to cook for us and dad loved her food.”

Canfermirax looked at her curiously for a few seconds before his face broke into wrinkles of amusement and he snorted in laughter.

“HAH! It is true, although it is reversed for us dragons, we even have a similar saying. The way to a dragonesses eggs is behind her back while she is eating!” He laughed even harder, it’s rumbling echoes filled the cavern.

Ria found the dragons' mirth infectious and was soon laughing at his joke. It was a strange release to laugh after so many days spent alone, surviving from day to day.

The pair trailed off into a more companionable silence as Ria struggled with the intricacies of skinning her deer legs. Eventually, she managed to get the meat cleaned and propped up by the fire to cook.

The delicious smell of cooking meat began to drift around the cave. She carefully rotated the legs and gradually began picking pieces of delicious greasy meat from one leg with enjoyment.

Leaning back against the wall of the cave, she burped with satisfaction. Ria was just stretching her legs out when she heard a “mrble?” sound and looked down by her pack to see Speedy poking around by her side, picking him up, she put him on her shoulder perch. She had been letting him wander around nearby where he had been checking out the rocks of the cave and he must have gotten bored.

The silence stretched on for some time as she finished cooking the second leg of deer, she placed it on a nearby rock to cool.

Looking at Canfermirax, she tried to picture him as a human. He seemed like a gruff but polite older man who was like a hermit. Comfortable with his own company and awkward around others. She saw the power and strength within him, but she realised she had nothing to fear. He just wasn’t interested in her or threatened by her. She was only even on his radar because he needed her.

Ria was confused however, what reason could a dragon possibly have for needing her help. He didn’t look injured. She had actually been near death when he found her and she was important enough for him to save her with magic. Why did he need her? The thought kept rattling around in her head with no answer forthcoming.

She needed to talk the answers out of him. She searched for something, anything to talk about. So she took the plunge and asked “So, you have to bait female dragons with food so you can ahem… do it?”

Canfermirax looked over at her and paused, looking kind of flustered before hesitantly replying. “Yeah, we still do the normal sex… but unless you want all male kids you have to sneak past and… ahem… do stuff to an egg. That’s if you want a daughter.”

Ria wasn’t sure but she had a feeling he would be blushing if he was a human. Wow, dragons can be prudish too. The thought made her smile.

Warming a little to the subject Canfermirax continued. “It’s kind of a game, the female knows most of the time, the idea is to provide the female with a big offering of food to help feed the young, if it’s good enough they pretend not to notice you sneaking past.” He smiled ruefully as though remembering the exploits of youth. “If it’s not good enough you will get sent back out with a few bites on the tail for encouragement.”

The two sat for a while and talked, Ria asked questions about dragons and Canfermirax, for the most part, answered, occasionally throwing out a question of his own. Most of which she carefully deflected.

Canfermirax was over four hundred years old and was once a part of the “Netir Dragon Riders 2nd division.” Whatever that was.

Eventually, they arrived at more serious lines of questioning, the dragon appeared to have been working his way up to them as they spoke.

“Where are you from?” Canfermirax asked, resting his chin on his claws as he spoke.

“Uh… well, a long way away,” she replied. Trying to avoid giving away too much.

“How did you come to the valley? Winter is too harsh to travel unprepared through this region and you are no ranger or tracker used to rough travel.”

Ria looked at the dragon for a while, he sat across the fire from her, watching with interest. He knew something, he was just trying to corner her with questions she decided.

“You know don’t you?” she asked.

“I have my suspicions. If I was to guess, I would say that you are probably a Reborn,” he said and scratched at the scales under his chin. “A young one at that, I am guessing you appeared suddenly somewhere in the valley.”

“What gave me away?” she asked cautiously.

Canfermirax began ticking off points on his claws. “Things you don’t know. Appearing in my valley in the middle of winter. Resistance to my [Draconic Influence]. You suck at butchering game for someone living out here intentionally. Many other things…”

“Is it bad to be a Reborn?” Ria asked tensing as her hand drifted closer to her spear.

“Hmm, I know little of human society. I know of the legends of this world, they speak of powerful Reborn heroes fighting to protect the world from great evils, monsters, and calamities,” Canfermirax shifted slightly to get more comfortable.

“I know that Reborn tend to gain abilities and skills more quickly and with more ease than the people born in this land. There was talk while I was in the army that the Reborn on our side had many strange abilities and one even returned from death. These were soldiers rumors though,” he said as he looked off distractedly as though remembering something.

“Oh, I’m nothing like that,” Ria said, looking down into the fire and took her hand from her spear. “I’m no hero or soldier.”

“Hmmgmm a soldier? I should hope not, I wouldn’t wish such a life on one so young. No, an Adventurer however… You certainly have the determination for it if your fight with the wolves is anything to judge you by,” he smiled slightly, his reptilian lips quirking at the corners. “I think you could easily join the guild if you wanted to. I wouldn’t go telling everyone you are a Reborn though. If humans are anything like dragons then they could easily become jealous or resentful of your Reborn abilities.”

“What’s the guild?” she asked curiously.

“It’s an international organization of Adventurers, run by them and for them. They do all kinds of dangerous missions throughout the world, they pay fees and have rankings and that kind of thing to judge who can do what kinds of jobs, I know they have seasonal intakes for entry to the guild in many of the major cities,” he replied.

So, it’s like a guild from a game? I wonder if this whole world is gamified or just bits of it. I really need to find out more about this place, she thought before responding. “I don’t really know if that’s the kind of thing I want to do,” she replied. “I’m trying to avoid just going with the flow and… letting things happen…” She trailed off quietly as she reminded herself of her past.

“Mmmm, we all make mistakes when we are young. I regret many of the things that I once allowed myself be talked into… You are not alone in that regret Ria,” the dragon met her eyes. “Still, it becomes easier to see a problem once you get far enough away from it to see it from all angles… Something my mother once told me. I find that it holds true after more than four hundred years in this world.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Ria looked up at him questioningly. “Hey, uhm, so. I thought dragons were supposed to be all angry and… uh, like power-mad. Or something.”

Canfermirax looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. “Have I not been a gracious and generous host?” he asked.

“Well… yeah but... I mean you seem… Nice for a dragon... I think,” she shrugged nervously.

The dragon barked a laugh. “Well, you could be right there. I’m not a typical dragon, well, compared to my own clan anyway. I’m not a Traditionalist like many of my kin.” He looked at her and snorted softly, he scratched at something between some teeth. “Look, dragons are complicated, just like any race. We have just as much politics as anyone, we have rituals and laws and all of those kinds of things. There are indeed many of our kind who the more civilized lands would consider to be evil and destructive.”

Paused for a moment to dig a bit more deeply between his gums with a claw.

“I just, you know… well, I guess you know now. I don’t know anything about this place. I was literally born on a freezing mountain slope like… a week ago? I think I lost track of time somewhere,” she said.

“Mhmm, indeed, very well I will tell you a little about myself then, seeing as we will likely be needing to trust each other tomorrow in the dungeon.” He rumbled somberly.

“Wait... So you’re coming with me?” Ria asked in confusion and gestured to the crack in the wall, “But like, it’s a bit small.”

“We dragons have our ways,” Canfermirax smirked at Ria’s annoyed expression. “Anyway, you want to listen or talk?”

“Sorry I’ll shut up now,”

“I’m from the Clan Mirax, not sure if I mentioned that earlier… mmmhmm… We are one of the largest Ice Dragon clans and for generations, my family has served this continents army as both scouts and dragon mounts.”

“I told you before that I was a part of the Dragon Riders 2nd Division, I was in fact the mount of Argus the leader of the division. We spent decades defending Netir from the incursions of pirates, monsters and other nations. It was a great time for me, I had many friends within the division and my travels took me to all corners of Netir.”

“We did great good, all across the land, but eventually I fought in a war that although it was won… It was not won with honor. I left and have lived here ever since. That was forty or so years ago.”

“There’s not much more to me I’m afraid,” Canfermirax said and looked down at his foreclaws.

“I-I was a photographer back home. I took pictures of the landscape. I sold a few to magazines and so on, but my work wasn't really that popular. I traveled a lot but I never really made much of my past life,” said Ria, “I was still young when I died… It’s strange to talk about your own death as something in the past.”

Thoughts of the past rose up in her mind but she pushed them aside as the dragon spoke.

“Hmm, you said you didn’t want to fall into your old ways here. Was it so bad there?”

“Mmm. Mainly just different. We had massive cities, advanced technology. Machines that could fly through the sky like dragons. We created machines and technology to do everything we could ever need. Food was easy to get. Life was just so easy,” she sighed. “Nothing like here, I didn’t even know how to start a fire without the machines of my world. Hell, I’ve had to learn how to do everything from scratch here.”

“Machines you say, like a wagon, a waterwheel or a ship?”

“Yeah, only ours were like a thousand, million times more complex.”

“Mmm, I can’t even imagine it. Were there dragons there?” He asked with interest.

“No, we had stories of dragon’s although. They were just fiction, magic never existed in my world. We had things similar to dragons called dinosaurs though. They were around millions of years before us humans came along tho, we only know of them from preserved skeletons, that’s why... uh, I was so nervous around you. In our world, big meat eaters were mindless beasts.” Ria said, picking at some muck on her boot.

“A land with no magic. You Reborn truly come from a strange place,” he said.

“So, there must be some amazing stuff in this world? What’s this Celestia place you mentioned?”

Canfermirax looked into the flame for a time before replying. “It is not a place I enjoy remembering.”

“I’m sorry Canfer. I didn’t-”

The dragon cleared his throat uncomfortably and continued “I have seen the caverns of Elegard, one of the deepest dwarven mines on this continent. They are thousands of meters high, the walls are lined with tunnels and minecart tracks. At its bottom runs massive rivers of lava where the dwarves forge their greatest works, truly a sight to behold.”

“That sounds amazing.”

Canfermirax grinned back at her. “Indeed,” he turned away. “You had best get some sleep, you are still weak from the spell. I shall watch over you.”

“Oh, ok… Uh, do you mind if I call you Canfer? Your name is like, super long.” Ria asked as she curled up by the fire.

“Hmmm, if you must, but not where others can hear.”

“Ok, night Canfer.”

“Night Ria.”

Canfermirax

Such a strange human, I’ve only known her a short time… and yet it’s like I’ve known her since she was a mere babe. The dragon thought to himself as he glanced at the human curled by the fire.

He had no idea why he felt so protective of the young woman, he had never had spawn of his own, not for lack of trying as a youth but, somehow his instincts told him to protect her. It was very strange.

His skills would not allow the majority of mind-altering skills to work and only the highest levels of elder magic could influence a dragon. Even so, such magics could be resisted and you could feel them working on you. A memory of magic resistance training exercises flashed across his mind. No, not magic. Something else.

Once they dealt with the dungeon, it might be an idea to investigate… whatever this was. He hoped he wasn’t just super lonely… Gods, if I’ve just made a friend…