The days quickly pass as the voyage wears on. While learning to work metals from the old master is engaging, I can only do so for around two hours daily, leaving me to search the caravan for other hobbies. For the first few days I count all of my… er the dwarves’ gold. Unfortunately, unlike what Themis continues to hammer into my head about dragons, I am not permanently captivated by my hoard. And once I quickly grow bored of the gold itself, I take to walking around the caravan, setting up an impromptu court wherever I feel the need to lie down.

Surprisingly enough, this actually grew to be entertaining. I always found it absolutely hilarious that hominids would attempt to lie and hide the truth from not only a dragon, but a champion of Justice itself. The tales they told were also quite amusing. My personal favorite was when a dwarf was caught cheating on 4 different wives and excused himself by saying he was a priest of the goddess of Lust, something which I rather quickly disproved. After my second day judging, Eitri caught up to me.

“Hello there, your Honor!” He bellows out as he meanders over. Sidling up to me, he whispers,” So how much are you charging these poor idiots?’

“Wait, I can charge them?”

Again, are you sure you’re a dragon? I thought I’d practically have to physically stop you from taking all of these dwarves’ gold….

Eitri also appears stunned by the revelation that I hadn’t even thought about charging gold. After a moment however, his face splits wide in a malicious grin as he looks almost hungrily at the waiting dwarves.

“Ohoho, well then Terrus, Let’s see what we can do about that…” Rubbing his hands together, he calls together a few assistant and sets to work on the crowd.

Uhh Themis, I think I’ve just created a monster….

Quickly organizing my pseudo court into a practically royal affair held in the treasury, Eitri begins to charge every case brought before me one gold. Gleefully taking taking the coins, he rushes me through the day, and a small part of the night. After, closing the gates to the treasury, the two of us split the gold between ourselves and settle down to talk.

“Ahh I feel much better now.” Eitri had a chair brought over to sit on and was now smoking a pipe as he contently held his money pouch close.

“Haha I would certainly think so my greedy friend! You practically bled a few of those fellows dry!” In my stage of money counting, I had asked Themis what each coin was worth.

Do you not know any thing of the world you live in? Wait, don’t answer that… (Sigh) look, the lowest coin is the copper bit. For perspective, 10 copper bits are enough to feed a family of three for about a week in most cities. Next is the silver tarn worth roughly 100 copper. After that is the gold Phoenix worth 100 silver. Finally, there is the onyx dragon worth around 1,000 phoenixs. Don’t get too big a head over that, you dragons named and invented currency so naturally you placed yourselves at the very top of it.

“Why I am offended Terrus! I am an honorable business dwarf! I would never fleece the poor people seeking justice! It’s just that as a big dragon, you need a lot of food!”

Snorting aloud, I shake my head at my friend’s antics. Settling down on a patch of floor empty of gold, I pull out my daily portion of lava rubies and begin to devour them. As I do so, Eitri continues to talk while looking off into the distance.

“You know,” he continues in a more somber tone,” tomorrow we reach Aleran. It’s a mixed city so they’ll be elves, dwarves, humans, and even a few beastmen living in those walls. You’ll have to be careful at night when you guard the gold.”

Pausing from my meal for a moment I ask,” At Night? What do I do in the day?”

“Well , you are free to do as you please in the day, we dwarves can hold away any would be thieves while we’re awake. But, Terrus, be careful. The last caravan passing through here was attacked on the first night and lost nearly all of its treasury. They barely managed to hire new guards and make enough profit off their goods to continue the trip. After that, for some reason, the city suddenly found enough funding to build itself a brand new palace and walls! The bastards didn’t even try to hide it! ”

“Ha, my friend, a few mere thieves will hardly trouble me, sponsored by the city or not! I’ve been waiting for some action anyways!”

Shaking his head and chuckling, Eitri turns back to his pipe and the two of us settle down in companionable silence until he finally retires. Flying up on top of my trailer, I sit and watch the stars. Themis has said that there are Dragons up there. Can we really become that strong? Have I made it this far on my own strength or for a lack of challenges? As the moons lazily make their way across the sky, I shelve my questions and turn away from the vastness of the cosmos, making my way back inside the trailer to sleep as well.

Waking up the next morning, I stretch out and launch myself into the air circling around the caravan, I look for an appropriate breakfast. Fortunately, I quickly spot an adequate target.

Armored Flesh Golem Lvl 140

Hmm, what a strange thing to be wandering around the palins like this. Reaching thirty feet tall, the flesh golem stands on two legs and is covered in metallic armor. Shambling slowly towards the caravan, it drags an obscenely huge sword behind it.

Hmm? What’s that on its shoulder?

Shade Grand Necromancer Lvl 127 LAWBREAKER, Child Slayer, Dragon’s greed

Aha, and that explains the golem! Hmm it must be undead then. How unfortunate. It looks like I’ll have to grab myself a quick snack after dealing with these two…

Rising higher into the air, I peak and rapidly dive down towards the golem. Having reached level 135 last night after devouring the rubies, I felt more than able to handle them. Righting myself at the last second, I crash down upon the golem’s head, ripping through his armor and digging deeply into his undead body. Biting down upon its head, I am filled with disgust and immediately regret my decision.

It tastes rancid! Well I suppose it is an undead, but seriously! These things need improvement to satisfy a dragon’s palette! Can I apply a complaint to the god of the dead...

You do realize that having a minion be disgusting is probably a bonus to the necromancer? If it tasted well you’d have another weapon at your disposal. By the way, speaking of weapons, Shouldn’t you be dodging that one?

Having been distracted by the awful taste and stench affecting my senses, I had failed to notice the golem stumble back and Clumsily swing its greatsword at me. Fortunately, its awkward swing was far too slow and I merely leaped backwards to avoid it. From my new distance, I am surprised to feel a burning pain in my right shoulder.

Much to my horror, I can see scales beginning to wither away and dissolve under some spell from the necromancer. Fortunately, I have a very effective universal response.

Breathing a massive jet of fire forward, I disrupt the necromancer as he rushes to create a barrier that saps away the fire’s energy. Taking advantage of his distraction, I stomp the ground, manipulating the Earth. Sinking the Earth below one of the Golem’s legs I make it clumsily lose its balance. At the same time, I rush its fall along by bashing its other side with a few strategically thrown boulders. While they are not enough to actually break its armor, they add momentum, tipping the creature.

After its crashing collapse, I leap forward grabbing the stunned necromancer in my jaws and toss him up. As he flips around, I aim my fire closely and burn him to ashes. Bullseye.

Seriously Terrus, you’re talking to yourself. Is there any need to use one-liners?

Ignoring Themis’s foolish comment, I turn back to the flesh golem only to see it fall apart before my very eyes. Carefully, I use my fire to burn away the remaining traces of necromancy, and then raised the Earth up to cover the battlefield. It had been a quick furious battle, too bad it had done absolutely nothing to sate my hunger. Taking the golem’s cumbersome blade and placing it into storage, I rise up into the air and fly to a herd of plains rainbison.

Picking off two elderly bison, I eat quickly and make my way back to the caravan in time to see Aleran rise above the horizon. It was very different from the dwarven city. It’s walls were built from a solid tan stone that blended in to the sea of golden wheat that surrounded the city. Unlike the dwarven defenses which had been purely built for functionality, these sacrificed practicality for beauty. Tall curving spires formed the upper portion of the towers, and the walls were not crenellated. The inner walls were decorated with mosaics, colorful scenes depicting traders and warriors. Meanwhile, the main gate had no doors, just a drawbridge spanning the moat that surrounded the city and a thin portcullis.

The city interior also differed. Whereas the dwarven city had been filled to the brim with buildings and small plazas, here large bazaars and parks dominated the space and the houses that did exist were large and lavishly decorated. As the caravan made its approach, a group of riders came out to meet us.

Completely uninterested in the situation, I landed far behind the caravan and quickly bounded over to the blacksmith’s trailer. Climbing In, I took my drakonid form and walked over to my master smith.

“Hey old man! How are you this morning?”Shaking his head slightly, the old dwarf grunts and backhands me.

Hmm, is it just me or is this dent in the wall starting to get deeper everytime I greet him?

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times! Don’t call me old! I’m your master not your grandad!”

After pulling myself out of the crevice I had formed, I race back over to the smith and detail my exploits of the day.

Listening carefully, he nods his head a few times. While continuing to work on a sword, he speaks openly with a hint of approval.

“ Ha! That sounds like it was Neroth, a Grand Necromancer of the Plaguelands in the realm of Ruin. An opponent worthy of dying in such a manner. Did you by any chance keep the golem’s sword?”

“Hmm, the sword? Yeah I did grab it and put it in my storage. Why?”

Finishing the sword with a few expert blows, the old master lays it down of to the side of his forge and pulls up a chair. Taking a deep breath, he launches into a lengthy lecture.

“Alright boy, considering that you’re an Arcane Smith’s apprentice, I suppose you should learn a little about the nature of magic shouldn’t you? Magic is the base form of energy. If it loses energy, it solidifies forming the air, the water, and the earth. If it gains energy, it becomes fire, life, and death. Now I am oversimplifying things by not including higher elements such as time and space or specific elements such as dark and lightning, but you can understand my meaning. Also, realize that this has nothing to do with the Gods, who are embodiments of each element or an ideal, or the affinities which are far too complicated for an apprentice like you to understand. This is merely the nature of magic. Now, think about it. If you take six pieces of steel that each contain an amount of one of the basic elements and meld them together…”

He pauses, looking at me expectantly. Thinking back over his explanation, I come to a tentative conclusion.

“Wouldn’t they just cancel each other out and disappear?”

“Correct, that’s what would happen if multiple elements normally met within a sword. However, if an arcane smith like myself takes control of the reaction, we can hold the pure arcane energy in the physical realm and bind it to the blade. Now, why is this useful? Simple: for all intents and purposes, it gives the weapon’s wielder a second core. Whenever they need more power, they can merely draw arcane energy directly out of their blade and change it into whichever element they know how to shape: fire, earth, light, space, anything whatsoever really. Additionally, the weapon becomes even more useful as you hold onto it because you can keep adding energy to it from cores or relics.”

Changing slightly in tone, he begins to dampen my excitement. “Now, there is a limit to how much power you can add to the blade. Materials and the time and skill used in its creation all matter greatly. Even the greater smith on all three planes couldn’t make a copper blade hold as much power as an orichalcum blade forged by a novice. But of course, if said smith could also use orichalcum, his blade would hold at least a thousand times more power than the novice’s. Understand?”

“Yes Sir! Haha! You’re gonna teach me how to make a weapon like that aren’t you sir?”

Looking at me with a quizzical tilt to his head the old master replies,” No of course not! Today you have to sweep the forge. It is Lerday afterall.”

After watching my face fall completely, he bemusedly replies and booms out,” HA! Idiot apprentice! Of course I’ll teach you how to make an arcane weapon! One day you may even make yourself a soul weapon, but that's far from today! Come on let’s get to it!

After only a moment of sulky indifference, I give in and rush over to the old dwarf’s side ready to learn more about my chosen craft…

P.O.V. 12 hours later (nightime) Outside the dwarven camp Valn (Human)

“Alright lads! Let’s move!” The mercenary leader struggled to get his ragged men into order. I had argued greatly against using mercenaries, pointing out that the gold was barely guarded by a few dwarves and a large drake. This attack had been planned for nearly a decade and was going perfectly thus far. Originally, the dwarves had been expected to hire the same guards. Guards that had been in Aleran’s pocket the entire time. Of course, when they made the decision to hire a drake, the king had been slightly apprehensive. Fortunately, with a band of drake-slayers-for-hire in the city, the plan had been able to continue without any major interruption.

Checking my blade carefully one last time, I also look back out over my men. As captain of the guard, I was the one who would actually lead the force that entered the treasury with the drake slayers, a rugged group of 8 with 12 kills under their belt. Worrying about the fact that this would be their thirteenth kill, I chuckle bemusedly at myself. This would be their easiest kill by far! This time they even had a hundred armed men backing them up. Giving the order to move forward, I kick my horse into action and charge into the dwarven camp.

The camp is already buzzing like a kicked anthill as the silent nives, a rather ironic name for such a group of mercenaries, engage the dwarves. Ignoring the individual battles, my force thunders through making its way to the treasury while dashing both friend and foe out of the way. When we reach the bottom of the ramp leading into the treasury, my men and the drake-slayers dismount. The slayers move to the front. Three members of their group are mages, capable of working together to disperse any dragon’s flame. Then there are three warriors that have blessed armor and blades. Capable of cutting through a drake’s hide, they would get in close and keep its attention while the mages and two archers peppered its weak spots with spells and arrows while also targeting its inner throat whenever it roars. Stupid creatures these drakes.

Taking nine of my best men, I go up behind the slayers leaving 90 troops behind to handle any heroic dwarfs. Upon reaching the top of the ramp, the warriors and mages brace, preparing for the inevitable onslaught. Surprisingly no attack came. Pushing into the entryway of the treasury, we are surprised to see eerie shadows cast across the massive piles of gold and treasure from the moonlight filtering through the entrance. The floor was covered in dirt and loose stones

Looking inquisitively at the leader of the slayers, one of the three mages I quirk an eyebrow.

Answering my unspoken question, he replies,” Aye, there’s something in here. Something strong. All this gold is interfering with my senses though so I can’t quite tell what’s inside.”

Lighting a fire in his hand he leads us forward into the massive trailer. Amplifying his voice, he booms out into the silent room,” Show your face you scaly fiend! Know that this day, another one of you foul drakes dies by our hand! Fear us for we have come for your head!”

Originally sounding strong and confident, the declaration weakens in the face of the resounding silence it is met with. Slowly, the echoes die out and only the disturbing silence remains. A small wind begins to whisper its way around the room as an unsettling pressure falls upon everyone in the group. A deep rumbling voice booms from the darkness.

“(Chuckle) A band of drake-slayers? And what’s this? Ten Alerani soldiers? I should enjoy this…”

Suddenly, the doors slam shut, closed by pillars of earth that rose from the dirt that coated the floor. Shocked by being suddenly trapped, I am left to listen to the voice as it bemusedly continues.

“You see, I think you humans believe I am something which I am not. I admit, you are correct in that, if I were a drake, in the face of your group I would just take up a place on your trophy wall. But, you see, I’m not exactly a drake myself.”

Suddenly, the mage’s fire winks out, plunging the room into pitch darkness. Stunned and now terrified, I nearly fall to my knees as two lights appear thirty feet above the floor and the voice concludes.

“Let’s see what you drake slayers can do against a true dragon…”

Rapidly, a band of fire wraps around the walls of the trailer lighting up one of any reasonable man’s greatest fears: an angry Champion Dragon.