Rue awoke, cold stone pressing upon her body. The cold seemed to want to leach her of her strength and she found her limbs slow and sluggish to respond. She pushed a tiny bit of mana into her surroundings and felt the temperature increase, from cold to comfortable. Her belly was empty and her resources not regenerating. The cold receded and she felt some of her strength return but found her body still slow from hunger.

The days she had been running prior to finding this place had been of constant motion and little feeding or rest. It had taken a toll on her body, and now she needed a large quantity of food and rest, to let her body recuperate.

Rue weaved her head around looking at the place she found herself in. It was quite large, similar in most ways to the entrance hall. It had white pillars holding up the ceiling and light grey blocks of stone for the walls. They were all covered in large symbolic carvings. The main difference was the size, resting comfortably at about a third the size and without lots of objects scattered around. Rue got to her feet and decided to explore the room. There were six pillars holding up the rectangular room and only one door. This was on the sort side and furthest from where she woke up. It was a large double wooden door about three meters tall and wide, the large symbols were carved into its surface and it refused to move when she pushed it with her head and paws.

Rue sniffed the air but it was free from any informant scents, the air still unmoving, with no trace of the dwarf. He must have put her here though. The last thing she remembered was being hit by the dwarf and then blackness. It must have been day though, for her to be so drained.

As she paced around the room she froze mid-stride. In the silence of the cavernous room, it had been easy for her to hear the sound of stone sliding on stone.

“Bad dragon ye are, cas yar so talkative like I won’t kill ya but some propa training is in order.”

Rue turned to look at the wall with the wooded doors placed on it. The dwarf stood in front of the slightly opened doors; in his meaty fist, the neck of some creature was held. Its limbs and claws flailing uselessly against the stubborn dwarf. It looked like a very muscular and bald goat, except it had razor-sharp claws instead of hooves.

[Cave Goat Lv12]

She considered making a run for it but she would be easily overpowered and didn’t like the prospect of more violence against it. Rue bared her teeth and hissed, low and threateningly.

“Stop dat hissing, or ye wont be getting no food.” He waved the struggling creature around and it made some spluttering and muffled growls in feeble protest.

“Now den, for the first meal all ye have ta do is lie down flat on the floor, nice and quiet like.”

Rue looked at the dwarf, it was commanding her to supplicate. Her muscles tensed and a low growl was struggling to escape from her chest. She tensed her stomach and throat muscles quieting the sound. The lure of food was so tempting, she could now smell the struggling beast as it let out its panic and fear. Her body was nearly too dry and exhausted to produce saliva but she found her maw growing wetter.

Her instincts were screaming at her that to lay before another animal was tyranny, the world gone sideways. Her kind did not submit, lesser dragons maybe would in their ignorance but her …

Rue’s rumbling growl made the stone pillars vibrate and her body hum such was her displeasure.

The dwarf’s posture changed and his face fell with disappointment and then anger.

“So be it ya beast, well see if you reconsider in a few days”.

There was an audible crack and splinter followed by a wet gurgle as the dwarf clenched his fist, snapping the goat creature’s neck. The limp body leaked a few drops of blood before it was dragged back through the door by the dwarf and the wood slammed shut, locking her in once more.

Rue had the sudden urge as the heavy wooden doors slammed shut to bathe the room in fire. The only thing reigning in her desire for fire was her modicum of reason. She had so little fire and mana left, she could not afford to be wasteful. She would need to be smart about this, control her ever-growing anger, let it smolder life fuel.

Rue stalked up to the wooden doors, her tail cutting savagely at the air with each swing. She observed the heavy door and once again tried to open it with her strength. It didn’t budge an inch, not even a creaking sound emanating from the looming structure. It could clearly be opened, the dwarf had done so before, did she simple lack the strength, or was something blocking it?

Rue let out a small lick of flame at the door, conserving as much mana and fire as possible. The flame seemed to slide off the door, a faint sheen of mana preventing it from gaining purchase. The door resisted her claws fangs and fire, what could she possibly do to break it? Rue continued around the room investigating the walls with smell tough and even sound, using some of her precious flames to test the resilience of everything in the room.

When the rest of her investigations returned empty she let out a thunderous roar of rage. That insolent dwarf had trapped her down here, he was just as bad as the human. How could she have ever thought he was ok, or even remotely friendly?

Her rage lasted for over an hour as she smashed herself against the door and expended more flame in an effort to break it down. By the end of the hour, she was lying on the floor exhausted and fading into sleep.

…..

When Rue awoke, she could tell it had not been too long since her fit of rage and decided to see if any skills were available that would help her. She curled up in one of the room's corners as far away from the door as possible and made sure she still had a line of sight, just in case. Perhaps the knowledge skill would tell her how to get out of this situation.

Hereditary Dragon Knowledge [1]

Knowledge passed down by the generations of dragons for the betterment of dragon kind. Allows you to see the history and share some knowledge from your ancestors. For each level in the skill gain access to one more generation of knowledge. Living ancestors can connect and share knowledge should they be willing.

10

This would not have been her first pick for a skill. It was worth 100 attribute points and she was distressed that she had to take it now. But it could possibly provide the knowledge she needed to find a way out of this situation. After some time considering it, she decided to take the skill. She could always level up more to get more points.

Ding! You Have Gained [Hereditary Dragon Knowledge 1]

Ding! For Witnessing The Death Of An Ancestor [Hereditary Dragon Knowledge 1] => [Hereditary Dragon Knowledge 2]

Ding! Draconic Ancestor Discovered [Juvenile Green Dragon - Virildi Silvara – Deceased]

Ding! Draconic Ancestor Discovered [Adult Green Dragon - Vinea Flumine - Deceased]

Ding! HDK – Draconic Inheritance – [Gift Of Speed] +20 [Dexterity]

Ding! HDK – Draconic Inheritance – [Gift Of Vitality] +20 [Vitality]

Ding! HDK – Draconic Inheritance – [Knowledge]

The stats were helpful and mitigated some of the sting of so many core points being spent. But what gave her some hope was the knowledge that flooded into her mind. None of the knowledge was directly helpful but some of the knowledge about her species was. And from the older dragon, a spark of knowledge, an understanding. The old dragon Vinea had lived for nearly 150 years. In that time she had experimented with magic and from some choice, memories of how Rue might go about unlocking spells. That would be very helpful in the future, but for now, she did not have mana to spare.

She would live a very long time, and she could afford to play the long game.

…..

Rue awoke an indeterminate amount of time later and opened her eyes. Her whole body felt cold and listless, hollow from hunger. She swiveled her eyes to look at the dwarf standing over her. Even such a small action as raising her head would be too much. It must have been days since she was last awake and many more since the dwarf had first come. She could feel her body eating itself from the inside out. Slowly but surely she was starving to death. As a dragon, she could survive for weeks like this but she would become even weaker until she never woke up again. Fear and sadness was creeping into her emotions, she didn’t want to die. There was one way out…

The dwarf bent down and whispered to her, his tone more serious than before. He enunciated every word carefully, giving her an ultimatum. His green eyes penetrated to her very soul as he spoke her most dreaded and yet only hope.

“Well little dragon. Will you accept my offer now?”

Rue paused, but just as the dwarf's expression began to change she heaved a low rumble of affirmation. The noise small and quiet but translating her intent. Even this small sound cost her energy and she felt so tired. Each of her reptilian blinks took seconds and made her want to sleep even more.

Ding! Lokgrod Redminer Has Offered A [Familiar Pact] – Accept Y/N

Rue mustered up her dignity and strength before affirming the pact.

Ding! [Familiar Pact] Accepted….

As the bond connected she felt a flow of strength from the dwarf flow into her and the old dwarf sighed with contentment. He slumped to his knees and Rue felt a wave of hope and longing wash over the initial lonely feeling from their bond.

Perhaps this would not be so bad.

…………

Magus Velora walked down the halls of the barracks. Usually, she would not have deigned to walk in such an establishment but she had come with the express purpose of meeting with Major Ironhammer in Veneris Keep. They had a problem festering beneath the city and it had grown to the point where she could not ignore it.

She had been in her study at the university when she felt the magic swell and flex. A dark and malevolent force beneath the city. It was urgent enough that she would just barge into the office of the Major without invitation. She was not a military mage but her rank was still roughly equivalent to his.

Drawing on her mana she incanted a simple 2nd level spell.

“[Knock]”

There was a loud thump, as if a giant had knocked on a door, the sound echoes around the stone corridors and would have been audible to near everyone within a few hundred feet. Velora strode up to the door and push it open with some minor telekinesis.

“Ahhh, welcome Magus Velora, I heard you did a number on the secretary, and thank you for hurting all our ears, the door wasn’t even locked.”

Velora stood a few feet into the room and looked around seeing stacks of paper and other administrative items scattered around as well as a few well-kept weapons and armor tailored for the large man. The Major was flanked by two of his senior staff that currently stood ramrod straight, behind each of the sitting major shoulders.

“Major, you have a problem. I am here to resolve it. I hope for your full cooperation to clean up your mess.”

The Major seemed to grown red and one of the guards shifted uncomfortably.

“And do pray tell, what is this…mess?”

“You have a magic beast living beneath the city…”

The Major did not seem surprised, neither did his two men. Velora narrowed her eyes and brought a thrum of magic into the air.

“You didn’t know about this, by any chance. Did You?”

“We have sent multiple subjugation parties but none have returned. Prisoners have been going missing and those that are left seem to be going mad. I did not want to have to involve the mages guild, but perhaps your arrival will be fortuitous.” The Major gritted out this with a look of pain on his face. Velora smiled in her mind, the stubborn old git hated asking for help.

“Well, why don’t we mount a proper extermination party, I could lend my personal assistance I suppose”