Platinum dragons are tied with Mithril for being the largest of metallic dragons. Similar to the purple dragon they have affinity for almost every ability the other metallics have, only to a lesser extent. Unlike the chromatic dragon with this trait, Platinum dragons act primarily as sages and peace keepers most of the time. That other metallics coming to them to act as mediators in disputes, often causing them to be confused as some form of government by those who do not know better.

Aside from the tendency to seek for knowledge and wisdom, platinums are also favored by their god and tend to have stronger divine magic than other dragons who walk the path of priesthood.

Adrian

It is roughly another half hour before the food is done and everyone has started eating. We are spread out in the front room as the kitchen table will not seat all of us. Biscuits and gravy with sides of eggs and bacon are a good meal even if I am not sure how the bacon and eggs hadn’t spoiled.

“So where is the dragon?” I ask my dad.

“Impatient? There is plenty of time to go over that after eating” he answers.

“It isn’t like we have anything else to talk about.”

He sighs and I notice Abagail whispering something to Ria before the two of them walk to another room. “Last week a dragon with black scales that could bring shadows to life and command them took a military base between here and Colorado.”

Shadows? A shadow dragon then. But to take out a military base, how did it manage that? Shouldn’t guns have had the force needed to punch through the scales?

“How big?” I ask as thoughts of what a shadow dragon's powers could be run through my mind.

“No idea, at least twice the size of a horse. Dragons, particularly this variety, are difficult to magically collect information about and the reports the government has never mentioned a size, only that bullets passed through it without harming it.”

I frown, intangibility? or a shadow transformation? That explains why it managed to take the base but why would it even have wanted to? I suppose it doesn’t really matter, I going to kill and eat the creature regardless.

“Do you know anything else about it?”

“Unfortunately no, but it does seem to be content staying where it is at.”

Abagail

I frown as Ria sways her hourglass figure catching the attention of Bryan as she walks out of the room with me. We go outside as I know most of the people in the house have very good hearing and I don’t want any more teasing than I already get from the elves.

“What did you want to talk about?” Ria asks after closing the door behind us.

“Can you stop flaunting yourself in front of Bryan?”

“Why?”

“Because he is my boyfriend and I don’t want to share him.”

“But I don’t want to be his” she says with some confusion.

“Then why are you trying to catch his eye?” I ask with only slightly less confusion as she just showed.

“So, the alpha will look at me”

“Who?”

“Adrian, I wan. . . “

“How does that have anything to do with flirting with Bryan?” I interrupt.

“Boys like girls who like someone else. The pattern is in all the books I’ve been reading.”

I don’t know how to respond as she starts explaining how boys always want the girl who likes someone else. I give a sigh before interrupting her detailed explanation of her flawed reasoning.

“Ria, that isn’t how it works.”

“But my books . . .”

“Are fiction. They’re lies made to entertain.”

“But . . .”

“Chasing my boyfriend won’t get you anything but upsetting me and maybe him.”

The look of sadness and dejection in her drooping ears and tails tugs at my heartstrings as she asks, “have I been bad?”

I can’t help but pull the girl into a hug. Sometimes I forget how fragile she is emotionally.

“No, you were not bad, just wrong.”

“Really?

I nod, her tails movement following her shifting emotions.

“What should I do then?” she asks giving me her absolute attention, twin tails swaying slowly behind her.

I pause for a moment, thinking of just what I should tell her. I don’t really know how I feel about this. I respect Kythia, Lysan and Talia and don’t know if they would appreciate sharing Adrian’s affections with another girl.

With a sigh, I give into the cute begging that Ria is doing unconsciously. “Just be near Adrian and show him your affections like the other girls do. Talk to the other girls about it before doing too much.”

Ria thinks for a moment before she says, “the alpha won’t let me.”

“Adrian won’t let you?”

“No, the other alpha, Kythia.”

“Why?”

“She thinks I’m weak and cowardly” she answers with dying enthusiasm.

“Do you really want him?”

She nods, forgetting the earlier parts of our conversation.

“Then earn their respect and talk about sharing him, but stop chasing Bryan.”

I feel a little guilty about encouraging Ria to chase after Adrian, to be competition to my friends’ love lives. If she wasn’t so innocent looking and cute as we talked I would have been upset about how she wanted to use Bryan to get to Adrian. Even so I am a little worried about it, she is manipulative even if it is innocent and without malice.

Adrian

A conversation about the details of the shadow dragon’s attack at breakfast ends just before Abagail and Ria return. For the first time in a while Ria doesn’t send a smile at Bryan or take an appealing pose for his viewing pleasure. I wonder what Abagail said to her, at least there doesn’t seem to be any conflict between them.

“I don’t think we should bring everyone when we go dragon hunting” Bryan comments after a moment we all spent on thinking how to handle the creature. At least that is what I spent the brief pause on.

“Kathrine and I won’t be much help in such a fight” my dad says.

“Mom’s not a fighter but shouldn’t you be able to use magic?” I ask.

“I’m not very good with combat magic. Magic-wise I’m a seer not a fighter, I can’t handle a dragon on its home turf, not without more preperation than is currently possible.”

I nod, accepting my dad’s words. I don’t know anything about his ability to use magic but he feels weaker than me somehow. I don’t know what magic he can do but he would know better than me if he could handle it. Am I actually powerful? He doesn’t seem concerned about me fighting another dragon, just proud.

“Abagail should stay behind too” K says and both Abagail and Bryan nod at that. There is also a frown that follows on their faces for an instant before Bryan brings up another point.

“If we are going to split up, we need to make sure both groups have enough fighting power.”

A valid point even if I think it is more so he won’t have to spend a night away from Abagail. Can’t blame him for that either, I would want to do the same if any of my girls weren’t up for this. Are they all up for this?

I really want Bryan to come along for this, we need a trial run for his shadow lich stuff but he should be able to mitigate some of the dragon's abilities.

“If it isn’t a powerful magical creature, I should be able to protect those here” my dad says and Bryan sighs but nods.

I turn to the elves, “I know Kythia is up for this, are coming?”

They look at each other, going over their capabilities before both shake their heads. “We wouldn’t be useful enough.”

They seem a little sad at that, but I suppose they don’t have any anti dragon or shadow abilities. I nod after some hesitation, as much as I don’t want to separate from them they are right.

The last member of our group answers a question never asked. “I’ll help. I want to be useful,” Ria almost blurts out.

“What will you even be able to do?” K asks with an ever so slight dismissal of her combat viability. A mistake if they ever end up fighting, illusionists are best when you don't take them seriously.

“Shadows are Illusion magic and I can dispel or make my own” she gives in her own defense.

K nods, we don’t have anyone to counter the illusions that no doubt come with shadow magics; at least not a guaranteed counter, Bryan might be able to.

“We’ll travel during the night and make our attack after dawn, minimizing the amount of darkness that the dragon can use against us" I say.

After a moment’s thought most of the odd looks I got turned to nods, except for my mother’s but that was just worry. The plan was accepted but now we had to do something with the rest of the day.

“Can you teach us more?” Talia asks and my other two girls nod in agreement while looking at me.

My mother frowns not understanding the language but says nothing.

“Sure, but I want to try a few ideas with Bryan too.”

“Shadow stuff?” Bryan asks and I nod.

I begin to walk outside as we will not doubt need more space to practice. What can I even teach them? More theory, but what?

Admixture? The idea of metamagic? Exchange ideas on use of the Grey Dream?

An idea about a possible manipulation of the Grey Dream or more specifically those that run it flashes in my mind for an instant. I make a note to try that tonight.

Abagail and Ria ended up following, and without a reason to keep them away I just allow their presence.

“Alright, before anything else how have my theories worked for you?”

“The healing is painful and seems less efficient than divine healing magic but works as far as I have managed to test it. Involuntary blood magic has been less efficient compared to a voluntary subject but aside from the limits of being in melee and only having an instant to drain the life to fuel the spell it is more of a bonus than a detriment” K responds immediately with pride. I’m not sure what the pride is in though, herself or the magic.

I nod and turn to the twins, “In short ranges the cost of lightning magic is reduced but beyond melee it becomes more expensive to use. Regardless of range the raw power is higher.”

I smile at Talia’s answer. I wasn’t sure that messing with electrical magic like that would work.

“What about control?”

Talia frowns but Lysan answers, “it’s harder but you can make it turn instead of stay in a straight line.”

“You should try and see if you can get it to hit specific targets without harming others” I comment wondering if Chain Lightning already uses this idea.

“I don’t have that much control.”

I nod, “an idea to try when you do.

Anyways, I want to talk about two things, metamagic and combination effects.

Bryan could you go over metamagic as you might already have figured out how to do it?”

He nods, “I haven’t managed to become proficient yet but metamagic is the idea of altering a spell slightly to change the effects.

Spells can be broken down into components, by altering how much mana is given to each piece rather than just the amount the entire spell gets. Or perhaps exchanging a part with something else to modify something like the shape or energy type of a spell.”

There is a twinkle in K's eyes as she immediately recognizes that was the idea of how cure spells could come from negative energy spells.

“Metamagic does however have limitations, alter a spell too far from the original and it’s likely to fail and backfire. Some changes are simply not possible, animate dead for example will never work if you swapped negative energy for fire.

Control of how much mana goes to what is the more stable side of metamagic. Both require intimate knowledge of how a spell works.”