Rust dragons are the only considered metallic due to that if one reverses the rusting that covers their scales they are indeed the hue and shade of other metallics. Their scales are a myriad of colors as if they were bits of metal that had not been cared for in decades. Like the rust monster they have the power to corrode and destroy iron but unlike them it is not just limited to iron but any metal. The stronger the metal that they consume with this instinctual magic the stronger they become as their hide takes on the properties of the metal even as it appears to be the ruined version of the metal. Few rust dragons are friendly to the civilized races and they like the chromatics prefer to raid and demand tribute than working together causing many scholars to debate if they should still be categorized as a metallic dragon.

Adrian

Once I enter the house with Ria, I am immediately greeted by those that stayed. Bryan bringing up the reason for why we left in the first place and I can see some nervousness in Abagail and the others.

“Did you manage to get the stuff?”

“I did, more than just what we had ordered earlier too. We do need to get out of town quickly though, I ran into some soldiers while leaving and they are hostile. What happened after I flew off yesterday?”

“The army tried to arrest us for public safety but Kythia refused them and had Ria cover us with illusions to fool the guards as we left” Abagail answers.

There is more to it but Abagail does not want to say it. K had them all resist arrest, we are probably being blamed for the terrorism then. How can I solve that problem? No idea but I nod in thanks to Abagail. I should tell K that we need to be less contentious with the governments of wherever we are, but every interaction has been them trying to take advantage of us. Even the dwarves did even if they have not tried to betray us.

I start pulling out the equipment that I traded for, at least the stuff I didn’t already have a plan to use myself. When I pull out the thin elven longsword Talia immediately picks it up and sets the dwarven blade back in the pile. I suppose she knows how to use it better than the dwarven blade. Everyone else waits for me to finish setting down object after object from Void Cache, except for the commissions that Bryan had me pick up. Those were taken as they were set down like the elven longsword.

Once it is all out I nod to the others and they begin to search through it all for what they can use. The girls save K each end up taking the elven chain over the dwarven. It’s lighter and with even the little magic that is there should still be just as good as the dwarven gear in protection. A hand crossbow is also taken by everyone but the elven sisters who both jumped at the bow. I should get more modern archery stuff for them when I can.

Bryan takes two of the swords, the shield and a set of dwarven chain. Abagail takes a few knives while K tries to find which sword can be used in a drawing strike easiest. I should find her a saber or katana, those would work better for what she is trying to do. At least for drawing strikes.

I end up reading through a few pages of a book explaining in detail how to fight with a glaive, most of it is very similar to a spear except for the slashing strikes. Within an hour everyone but me had put on new equipment and are packed and ready to go.

“Ready to go?” Bryan asks knowing full well I’ve done nothing while they played in some of my treasure hoard.

I stand up and abuse the power of Void Cache to dress myself in a suit of dwarven chain before picking up what they did not take for themselves. It does not take very long and while I try to feel how it work I, like always, get nothing. I can feel a connection to Void Cache but not through my magic.

“Alright lets get going then” I say and everyone else smiles even though they no doubt hear the sadness still in my voice.

We make it to the edge of town before nightfall our only stops are from being waylaid by the seemingly endless supply of goblins. How are there so many of them anyways? The food that they managed to get after the initial attack should have ran out by now. They should be starving but aside from the smaller clearly younger goblins all of them are bigger than those I saw at first.

Once dusk arrives we all break into a nearby building, raided and aside from a few dried bloodstains clear of both foes and useable loot. The parking lot has a few cars with ame damage and popped tires but they are arranged in front of the entrance. It’s a hotel but run down and the only thing still in somewhat usable condition are a few couches in the lobby.

The chairs have been broken and used as clubs if the scattered bits of wood mean anything. The front desk itself has taken gunfire but is still sturdy, the doors for the rooms themselves are all ajar. The electronic locks having failed after the loss of power.

“Usable but we are not alone in here” Kythia states after sniffing the air.

I mimic her action and while I can smell something, I am not sure how recent it is. People were here earlier but I am not sure how long ago.

“Who else is here?” Bryan asks as I warp reality to sense any nearby life forces.

“Humans, or close to it but they smell sick. They won’t be a threat” K answers.

I nod to K’s answer, I may not be able to tell the race but the few lives I feel aside from us are dim and something seems off about it.

“Adrian and I can take care of it, if you all would like to begin to set up” Bryan says and all but K seems to agree with the plan.

“I’m coming too” K says and I just nod.

The three of us walk down the hallway of rooms towards where I sensed. As we approach the room they barricaded themselves in a scent like an outhouse sitting in the afternoon sun. For the first time since I’ve gained my heightened senses I regret using them, as bad as the scent is the taste causes me to gag for a moment. I don’t understand how K manages to ignore the smell and open the door.

In the room itself there are three individuals, two men and a woman. There clothes are tattered and they have not eaten or moved much in the past few days. They are running fevers and when I switch back to normal vision I can see blotches of discoloration on their skin.

K growls slightly as she draws her blade and begins to approach the nearest individual. Bryan rushes up behind her, stopping her from killing the man as he asks, “what are you doing?”

“Putting fallen out of their misery” she responds and for a moment I don’t understand just what she means until I remember one of the first things she and the others told me. The tainted have to be killed.

“How do you identify the tainted?” I ask before she gets upset over Bryan’s actions.

“They smell of wrongness aside from that they are turning into monsters.”

“Are you sure?”

“You’re going to let her kill these people?” Bryan interrupts.

“Has she lied to us about anything before? Besides don’t you have spells to let you know.”

Bryan sighs, “Your right, she hasn’t and I don’t actually have spells for that.”

“Since they are demons or monsters there isn’t a problem, right?”

“I should be, at least assuming that my patron doesn’t like demons.”

Bryan unhands K as I create fire over the other two individuals. K cuts the throat of the one near her as I control and spread the fire throughout the room, cleansing the scent of both sickness and feces. Normal fire wouldn’t quite do this but the fire I will into existence does.

After a moment, the fire dies down and Bryan brings up a different subject, “Adrian, I want your opinion on something before I try it.” K leaves the room, no doubt to make sure that the others are safe should anything find the others.

“On what?”

“Lichdom, I read Damû’s books and I want to try something. A modification of shade lichdom.”

“Why? And how? Do you even have enough control over mana for something like that?”

“Strength, I have the power to protect Abagail and the others. I just don’t possess the same raw power that you do and this is the only way I know to get it. Besides, mana isn’t too difficult to use.”

Mana isn’t difficult to use? How does it even work? I can’t get it to do anything aside from Void Cache.

“What are you going to do and how?”

“Separate my spirit and create a connection to the plane of shadows, then reestablish the connection to my body. I would like you to keep me alive so I won’t be a walking corpse.”

“Will that even work? Lichdom is tied to negative energy it doesn’t pair with positive energy without a medium between them.”

“Life and death are the two side to the same coin. It’s that the dead can’t hold positive energy like the living suffer from negative energy.”

Maybe, I’m not sure but that could work. The two energy types are connected even if they are inversions of the other. . .

“How long will this take?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Alright, I’ll help set up your ritual as I do my own.”

Bryan

I smile as Adrian agrees to help. I’m not actually sure what I’m going to do would work but Adrian’s power is to change reality itself. If he believes or even thinks something will work it does. Kythia’s magic shouldn’t work as conveniently as it does, blood magic works by the concept of sacrifice. I’m not complaining since it benefits me too, it doesn’t seem to be something he does on purpose.

Adrian pulls a knife out of nowhere one of the very few things he does that detect magic can find. He begins to carve words into the wall.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Time dilation field, I assume that you're going to need more than just a few minutes or even hours.”

I stand still for a moment, not sure what to think about him having that much power. The energy cost of such a thing would be ridiculous but he can create energy by willing it to be. I begin to draw the runes and patterns needed and altered to be fueled by positive rather than negative energy.

“How are you going to fuel your spell? That is what the connection to the negative energy plane was for, drawing power from every death that occurs in the multiverse.”

“I was planning on using my living body as a conduit as you heal and restore the life force in it.”

“Your plan is for me to fuel your spell by generating lifeforce?”

“Well, you can do it, can’t you?”

Adrian sighs for a moment before nodding, “It isn’t the best idea though.”

“I trust you, it’ll work.”

I finish up drawing the ritual as I explain both what the ritual is supposed to do and what I want my alterations to do. Once finished with my preparations I motion to Adrian when I am about to begin and chant the spells of this ritual.

My body begins to chill and my vision darkens before my body falls to the center of the circles. I stand in a spectral form over my body as my lifeforce is drained to call and draw power through the Aether, the rawest form of mana to form the runes to build the bridge between my soul phylactery and the plane of shadows.

My lifeforce dims and then swells, no reason for the growth of my dwindling life can be seen by me but I smile as Adrian lets me use his endless magic as a battery. I draw more and more of my life as it regenerates almost as quickly as I can spend it. The shadows of the room are all pulled to my body as something changes in my essence. The line of life and death gets blurred for me and I try to reconnect to my body but every connection I try just cause the shadow around my body to become thicker.

Maybe I was wrong in thinking Adrian was pasivly warping what's around him. . .