I left the humans alone and slowly, sadly returned to the base...

When I arrived in front of our house, which should have been our paradise, our sanctuary, I had tears in my eyes.

We had everything... everything to be happy... Eternal life, an almost indestructible body... Dwarf friends and Kobold friends... a goddess who watched over us and our happiness.

She was all I had left...

Kate... gone... my children, kidnapped by the Ummites... and my dragonets now also out of reach...

Yet... I did everything for the others.. I have made a base and a haven for humans...we have the kobolds and with the destruction of the empire, we would have finally had peace..

But what right do they have to judge me? She screamed at me when that dirty beholder bit her...and Enka gave the dwarves a new life as Kobolds and some as Drago Kobolds...

Now I'm being criticized...I was a scientist and my research, as heinous as it was, was done for heinous people, never for me, but I was able to survive and so was she... What did she do to thwart the Ummites?..eat pie and drink tea with her friends...while I was dying in the Himalayas looking for the remains of the last dragon?

Yes, I have merged in body and mind but I am Carnage as much as Hans...

I stood in a corner and moaned...

Female kobolds of all sizes crept up behind me without making a sound except... one clumsy little one who had dropped the broom handle on her tail...

I almost had to laugh... They were cute.

Lying in my den, in the room with a view on the lava waterfall, I tried to calm down and think about the situation.

I was alone... or so I thought.

My lair was deep under the mountain and gave access to the energy part, the runic power plant. Humans have only visited the entrance, the small power station, the prototype which was accessed by elevator, but here I was at home, with a passage to Enka, a dark well.

The only light around was the reddish light of the lava, like a huge hotbed.

On the other side of the waterfall, the lava bridge. My masterpiece.

I thought of all the efforts, the sacrifices to have a better life, a paradise just for us. And it was all gone.

I lay down, my head folded on my paws and my tail hearing me as a last barrier of protection.

Moans came from my nose and immediately little hands/paws wiped away the tears and several dragoKobolds lay down against me.

I respected them and accepted their comfort.

I wanted to play with the little ones...but they were still too young. Another month to wait...and a month...when you wait, and count the minutes...it's long.

Then a light more purple than the others appeared on the screen.

"GOLEM RUIN, at your service!"

My magical ai based on a runic computer had just come to life.

It was basically a golem with the logical functions of a computer and all the advantages that magic can bring over a conventional computer.

It could not be hacked, and even less so without the knowledge of draconic magic...

Cabal had his chance. He either gave in or betrayed me, it doesn't matter...I'll replace the drones with golems, more solid...more powerful and insensitive to the tricks of this Yuri and the elven and Ummite archmages...

The Kobold dragoness had her muzzle close to my ear/wind and her warm breath, how can I say, soothed my suffering

The Kobold dragoness had her snout close to my ear /event and her warm breath, how to say, soothed my suffering.

"Magelin, that is indeed your name... This is the first time I've seen you..."

The dragoness licked my ears and massaged my neck with her little paws.

I was 10 times her size and, unfortunately, any romance could only go so far without turning into a drama.

I felt a deep admiration from the creature, almost a sexual desire.

I caressed his head.

"You are a very nice creature... The goddess has blessed you, I see..."

"Yes, master. "

"Were you a dwarf before?"

"No, I am a primogenitor, a Kobold 'princess'...

"I like you and I feel at peace with you...."

"Thank you Master.."

She couldn't have hoped for a better compliment.

We watched as the lava flowed and stretched into a sort of lake and then the molten stone sank under its own weight and disappeared into the bowels of the earth.

"You see, Magelin, life comes from lava, fire and stardust, where our goddess resides."

Her eyes also sparkled but she shed a small tear that did not escape me...

"Don't be sad. I'm here and I don't intend to leave and even less to die.

You have your place here with me, but you also have your role to play. Your people are a proud and brave people, and you have nothing to envy to the others...

If you want, I will teach you magic and science.

The dragoness stood up and tried to kiss me on the mouth.

But my head was high now, unreachable.

I saw her discomfort immediately, as if deprived of something.

I kept my distance, and talking would only hurt her. I liked this little one, and somehow her presence brightened up this grim base without Kate and the children.

I fell asleep and several days passed.

Strangely, my dreams took me to the Tropic of Storms and I was in a dragon, naturally.

The sea was rough and the mist hid the steep cliffs.

In the distance, a black fortress... a ruin?

Certainly. It must have been several thousand years old... Battles, storms and the incessant flow of the sea had taken their toll on its beautiful days, but I knew that it kept in its bosom, immense underground tunnels, always lit by eternal stones of light.

The night had fallen and the moon gave a weak light on this dreamy landscape.

But when I looked, there were several moons. Each of the moons was an eye of the Destroyer.

Suddenly, I jumped out of the ruins I had just seen. I forced my wings to reach mother...

"Mother!!!"

But the hydra smiled at me but was unreachable, like a bird trying to get to the stars.

She pointed to a massive rock, even darker.

"GO, SON...GO TO MEET IT..."

In my head, well, in my dream, I knew that meeting her was pretty positive, but for the shadow creature to come and find me was very serious to me.

I felt that my dream could turn into a nightmare at any moment and that my forces, powers and machines, here, would not be of any use to me...