The bronze dragon like both the iron and steel dragons love combat, particularly melee combat. Bronze dragons due to this instinctual love of combat constantly seek out causes that allow them to fight against what they consider evil. They do not have a preferred habitat before gaining sentience, but once they do they seek to live amongst the civilized races and be a part of the art of war. They are skilled with lightning magics and cloud based air effects, their natural breath weapons are a knock out gas that is flammable and a burst of electricity.

Adrian

The others found me and while I do like and appreciate that they are here for me I don’t say anything. Tears of sadness continue to fall, I don’t get it. Frank was my little brother but he tried to kidnap or kill me.

I shouldn’t care that he is dead, he was an enemy but I do. If dad's book is true then Frank was never really my younger brother but one of my ancestors who stole the bodies of his decedents to keep living. I get that and understand it but I still can’t throw away the feelings and memories of my little brother.

Was everything he ever did with me a lie? An act for the role of being a little brother, or were they separate? The smiles and begging me to get candy from shelves he couldn’t reach. Was it all to get me to lower my guard for later?

I also caused his death, not directly. I did not make that bloody specter but I went to heal my girls and Ria first. I should have gone to Frank sooner, maybe I could have saved him.

“Do you need anything?” Lysan asks me softly, concern on her face.

I smile as some warmth forms in my heart, the trio are here for me. I can hear the others talking nearby too even if I can’t make out what is being said. I shake my head at Lysan, there isn’t anything that will make this go away but time.

K gives me a kiss on the cheek before whispering, “lets go lie down, you’ll feel better that way” as she pulls my up from my sitting position. I don’t resist and the elven sisters help her almost drag me back to the building.

I’m not handling this well, I shouldn’t have run away to mope and I shouldn’t be basically ignoring my girlfriends but I am. I needed some time to myself and I got it but I don’t know at what cost. The government no doubt tried to restrain the others after I left.

Why couldn’t I have just cast it all aside like I do for all those I don’t care about? I need to help protect the others . . .

We arrive at a bedroom and I sit in the bed, they probably want sex from me and while I do like it I don't want it now, not like this.

Talia starts to kiss me with some passion but I don’t kiss back. I want happy sexy times, not don’t be sad pity sex. Instead I pull her and her sister close in a hug, “can I just hold you all tonight?”

I don’t get a verbal answer, just return hugs from the trio. I end up holding Lysan in my arms as we fall asleep. K on my other side and Talia on the other side of her sister, Lysan just felt best for this.

Abagail

I look over at Adrian, he clearly has been crying his heart out the entire time since the attack. I still can’t believe what Kythia did and had Ria do to get us here. I would have rather submitted to the government but they probably would have tried to frame someone rather than admit fault so maybe this is better.

I don’t get how he can emotionlessly butcher people without a care yet almost fall apart when it’s a friend or family member. Something is wrong in his head but Bryan’s like that a bit too so maybe it is a boy thing.

“I’ll be a good girl and keep watch, you can go to sleep” Ria says and I nod but do not walk back to a bedroom yet. Poor girl, I'm not sure Kythia's backbone training is good for her.

Bryan is drawing weird symbols on the walls, alarm spells probably. I look at Adrian as his harem continues to comfort him. They really do all love him, I take a breath and walk over to close the door to where they are.

Crazy and sometimes irresponsible he may be but he is there when we need him and he truly cares for us. I hope he feels better tomorrow, we need to get out of town even if that means leaving without the commissions we made with the dwarves.

As I pray as I do at the end of most days I add in comforting Adrian. I may not get spells and cool powers like Bryan’s new god gives him but I still believe this helps.

Adrian

I find myself standing on a dirt road before a cave of stone steps that descend downwards, the grass in the fields to either side of me brown and withered. There is nothing behind me as I look around but once I turn back to the cave I see two people standing in front of me.

They are both shorter than me, identical twins just over six feet tall. They look like they could be my uncles but I don’t have any uncles that look like them. Semitransparent but there are many holes in their form.

“That is what attacked you” a voice I recognize as me-but-not-me and she walks up from behind me.

“Can’t I just sleep and morn in peace for a night?”

“No, you need to understand what monsters are on father's side of the family.”

I sigh and frown at my emotions being dampened as me-but-not-me touches me on the forehead.

“What do you see?”

“We are standing in a field before a cave that probably symbolizes the underworld or realm of the dead.”

“Good, you got that part. Now do you remember what was in the book dad left?”

I nod, “most of what I’ve managed to read is about my ancestors' quest for immortality.”

“And the conclusion is practical immortality through theft of body. To die and steal another’s chance at life to live again.”

“Why show me this? I already know, Frank had to have been one of those who did this. It hasn’t helped me feel any better. He still fills the slot of a sibling in my heart.”

“Do you know why he was sent to be your sibling? I do, I can’t tell you but I do. Do you want to know?”

“Will it make me feel better?”

“No, but you should ask you dad about it when you meet with him again.”

“Anything else?”

Me-but-not-me does not answer instead the dream fades. I avoid the Grey Dream as I drift back to real sleep.

I end up waking before dawn, the scent of my girlfriends brings a smile and warmth to me even as I still feel the pain of betrayal and sorrow for the death of Frank.

I want to just lie here but I can’t leave everyone to fend for themselves. There has to be consequences for what happened. I killed US soldiers, Frank was working with someone in the government even if I assume that wasn’t the boss he was talking about.

I can’t trust the government and I can’t trust family either. What am I going to do? Do I keep heading for Grandpa's cabins or look for something else? I don’t know but we can’t stay here.

I barely manage to extract myself from the bed without waking them. I look over them for a moment before I open the door and see Ria sleeping on the floor. There are also many softly glowing runes around the walls that I have no understanding of.

After a moment I pull out a blanket from Void Cache and throw it over the kitsune using her own tails as both blanket and pillow. She fell asleep during her watch and while she needs punished somehow for it, I couldn’t bring myself to wake her.

I spend the next few hours cycling between planning how to get what we already paid the dwarves to make, how to get as much as we can while getting out of town and my confusing sorrow at Frank's death.

“Feeling better?” I hear Bryan ask after he opened a door.

“Not really, but there isn’t time for it right now.”

“Take the time if you need it. We can manage for a bit.”

I sigh and shake my head, “how badly do you need the dwarven equipment?”

Bryan pauses for a moment before answering, “truthfully it is necessary if we are going to keep finding creatures stronger than a goblin.”

“I’m thinking of sneaking back into town.”

“It’s too dangerous, the army is probably searching for us now. You won’t get past the gate without being noticed.”

“I was thinking invisibility while flying and landing in the dwarven area.”

“And you think that will work?”

“As long as I make sure to bend even micro and infrared wavelengths to keep radar and lidar from finding me yes.”

“And the sound? You're not exactly quiet during takeoff and landing.”

I pause for a second, I had thought about that but not a viable method for being stealthy during that part of flight. “I don’t think the dwarves will get hostile over it if I land in their part of town. I should be safe there since the feds need the dwarves to be allies, they won’t be able to afford making a fuss.”

Bryan nods, “that may not stop an overzealous idiot though.”

“Fair point, but do you have a better idea?”

He shakes his head. I turn to the girls just walking out of the two bedrooms, “do any of you have better ideas? I assume you overheard the conversation.”

They nod slightly at the second sentence of mine but don’t give any other ideas save for Lysan after a moment.

“Does Ria know any illusion that could cover up or mute your sound?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask her” I say before walking over to the still sleeping kitsune. As soon as I touch her she mumbles something in a language I don’t know before bolting upright.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be good. I won’t fall asleep again. Please don’t make the pain come back” she says and most of us frown. She has a lot of problems even if K has straightened her out a bit. At least she didn’t scream in her sleep this time.

“K will talk with you about that later but for now do you know how to magically cancel out noise?” I ask and K nods with a smile. I think she likes being in charge of inner party conflicts. Is that due to her whole alpha pair thing?

Regardless Ria nods and I continue, “that solves the problem I don’t know how to. So, Ria could you go get ready to go on a quick trip with me?”

She nods but seems slightly confused as to why. The trio, or more specifically Talia seem upset by what this entails though. Are they jealous that she is getting some of my attention? If so, why doesn’t Lysan seem to mind?

“I’ll be back soon” I whisper in Talia's ear as I give her a hug. They were never jealous of me spending time with anyone before, why is it different for the kitsune?

I take a step outside and for half a second there is a loud high-pitched ring as some of the runes on the wall flare up in light. Bryan waves his hand at them and they return to their previous inert state.

Once outside I go through the process of shifting into a dragon, still unfamiliar with the slight discomforts of this new transformation. Part of it feels relaxing at the start, at least until the shift towards quadrupedal happens.

Just after I finish my shapeshifting I turn my head towards the others. I grin at the gaze of my friends as a useless thought from my dragon side passes through my mind, they can appreciate the artistic value of this body.

“Climb on Ria” my deeper draconic voice echoing slightly off of the hard walls of the nearby buildings.

“Are you ever going to give me a ride, or is it girls only?” asks Bryan.

“Probably, being ridden by a boy just sounds gay to me.”

We both share a chuckle as Abagail glares at us. The trio and Ria don't get the crude joke as it doesn’t translate well to their native tongues.