Malachite dragons while they have very few offensive abilities, mostly retaliatory barriers, have more powers in protection and aid than any other dragon. Given even a short period of time to prepare a malachite dragon becomes difficult to harm before all of its magic is expended. They have powerful anti-curse and defensive psionics in addition to their abilities in what is considered abjuration.

Adrian

Not knowing where to go after getting past the people we assume are to keep an eye on us, we wander the streets in our search to stumble upon a vampire. I constantly release small pulses to try and hear echoes of negative energy but I find very little. Not enough to be what I’m looking for.

“Can we get something to eat?” Talia asks.

I nod and we walk down the street to the nearest open place that would still be selling food. Which as it is getting close to midnight is a slightly run-down bar by the name of Kody’s.

We enter and sit, some men in the back glance at Talia and Lysan for a moment before looking at me and going back to drinking and playing darts. A middle-aged woman walks over within a minute and passes us a set of menus.

“What can I get you to drink?” the waitress asks.

“Bubbly sweet water” the twins both say and the waitress looks at them in confusion.

“Coke, they mean coke and I’ll have the same” I say before she questions what the twins meant with their answer.

I don’t hear what Bryan ordered to drink as Lysan points at one of the pictures of a burger as she asks “can I get this?”

“You and Talia can get whatever you want.”

They smile and look towards the waitress to find her gone.

“She’ll be back with the drinks in a few minutes to give us time to decide what to eat” I tell them.

They smile, “how long do we get to walk around after this?” Lysan asks.

“A few more hours though I had hoped we already would have found something. Why? Are you already getting tired?”

“No. It’s just that this city seems so much more. . .” Talia says struggling to think of the last word.

“Stable? Aside from the military being more prevalent if all the people were human it seems almost like it was before.

I wonder if this is only this city or if others have become like this?”

“I would assume no since the roads are not yet cleared. Trade hasn’t fully resumed yet and without that and farms starting back up this won’t be sustainable” Bryan answers.

“But this world is already moving to recover, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more demons though. There were a lot more of them on Althrá” Talia mentions.

“Perhaps not all the inhabitants of your world we’re moved at once. The first day I saw goblins pouring out of a mist. I can see there being issues with dumping a whole plane into another that might be solved with a gradual integration” I comment.

“I didn’t know you were a master of planar travel. Does you teleportation of objects extend to yourself and people?” Bryan asks.

“I'm not and no. For some reason I suck at that kind of magic.

It’s just, I’ll explain in a metaphor. It’s easier to slowly fill a glass of water without spilling than to dump the entire volume at once. Gradual change should be more stable than the alternative.”

“Makes sense but I was hoping you could teleport. You can pull of stuff beyond Time Stop, why not at least Dimension Door?”

“The same reason why you can pull of Cure spells but not strength enhancement with your arcane magic. I simply don’t know how or the background information needed to figure it out.”

We stop talking for a minute as the waitress sets our drinks down on the table and takes our orders. Everyone gets some form of a burger, mostly because there is not much else we could have ordered.

I sip my own Coke and find the taste slightly off. I guess someone didn’t spend enough time rinsing the cups, or maybe their fountain machine just changed flavors. I find myself glad to have a drink not out of a can. I think there is more fizz in bottles and fountains.

“Any plans on learning how to teleport?” Bryan asks.

“No, I’m far to busy for that.”

Not really having anything to say we silently drink for a few minutes before Talia asks me a question.

“Why aren’t we talking?”

“Because I have no idea what to talk about. We can be overheard here so training, theory and planning should not be done.” I answer.

“Then tell me what you used to do before all this” Talia responds as the waitress comes back with our burgers and another drink for everyone.

“I played fantasy rpg games and read books set in similar . . .” I continue onwards in an almost monologue as Talia and Lysan give me their full attention, asking questions about my hobbies and why I enjoyed them.

We begin to yawn and I frown at how tired I am. I shouldn’t feel sleepy and drink the rest of my third soda for the caffeine.

The world gets fuzzy and I barely notice that my friends have already fallen asleep before I join them in drooling on the table unconscious.

I feel myself begin to wake up with a pounding headache.

“. . . sure that there won’t be any trouble over them?” I hear a male voice ask.

I open my eyes for a second before closing them on a reflex. The light of the room stings, my pupils must be dilated. How did I get here?

“They didn’t have any papers on them, so they are on the waiting list for approval. No one will come looking for them.” I hear a female voice say. It sounds slightly familiar as if I had heard it recently.

I was doing something, with the twins and Bryan. Eating. . .

“You’ve done well my servant. Elven blood is a delicacy I’ve not had in centuries and the males are not normal either. . .”

Kidnapping, whoever these two are it’s a kidnapping. How? Something in the food? No the drinks tasted off.

“. . . I will see you rewarded, but return to you work. I can’t have you arouse suspicion on the disappearances of the new comers.”

“Of course master” the female voice responds and I connect the dots. The waitress drugged us. Sold us to a vampire? He mentioned blood like a food.

I try to move but my body does not follow my commands before I end up passing out again.

I open my eyes and find myself shackles to a concrete wall. My head still hurts as I groan and look around.

I am in a small cell, there is food and drink next to me but I’m not going to touch it. I try to move my right hand to my head and am meet instead by the rattling of chains.

My left hand was however free and I rub the crust of dried tears? away from my face as I piece what must have happened back together.

I feel weak and find some dried blood on my shirt. As if the left side of my neck had been bleeding but I find no injury. Shit kidnapped and sold to a vampire to be what? A blood sack?

I look around the room a second time to try and get my bearings and find a digital clock,11:13 pm. That can’t be right.

I try and pull something from Void Cache but nothing happens. I can’t manifest my claws either to break out. Must be the dull glow coming off the shackle. I can’t wait around and try pulling the chain out of the wall as I stand up.

The door opens behind me and I hear a male's voice.

“Oh, you’re lively, good. I like my meal to struggle, now let me see if you’re worth what I paid or if I should have just gone with the newest elf.”

I turn around as rage boils within me. I am not food. I am not something to buy and the twins are mine.

I don’t notice what the vampire said next other than it was derogatory and the word dragon was included as he lunges at me. I catch one of his arms and keep him from biting me but I feel weaker than normal, no doubt from being fed on while unconscious.

I hear metal creak as it prevents my anger from being unleashed on the vampire in a physical manner. I delve into the Sphere of Death and Fire as it flows into my Ravnos magic and the vampire lasts only seconds in the inferno of deep purple fire.

I take a single second to calm myself just enough to turn my reality bending will on the shackle. It’s rune flows brighter for a moment before I give up on trying to destroy it magically.

“Fucking antimagic warded shackles” I mutter before breaking my hand to try and slip out.

I grunt in pain as the shackle constricts to prevent my escape and stare at it for a moment before breaking my forearm with a combination of blunt force and magic.

Since that alone is not enough to get free I bite my arm and tear out a chunk of flesh. I push away the pain.

‘I refuse to be caged. I refuse to let my girls be stuck little this.’

‘I refuse to be caged. I refuse to let my girls be stuck little this.’

This repeats over and over in my head until I am free. I have to get free and save the twins.

As soon as I am no longer connected to the shackle I feel an energy return to me and my left hand manifests draconic claws. A darkness that is not darkness surrounds my left claw as I destroy the steel bonds that trap my arm. Unsure why my blood loss hasn't made me light headed.

I catch my dismembered arm and hold it to my still bleeding arm and heal myself. The bone becomes whole as muscle and tendons reconnect as the gaps are regrown and my skin knits itself back together in seconds.

My stomach growls and I pull food from Void Cache as I send a ripple of energy to let me know where any nearby undead are.

There are dozens but they don’t feel as strong as Mateus. A second ripple tells me of the nearby living, there are more of them.

I recognize some, Bryan is the closest and the twins are together but farther away, the strongest vampire is next to them. . .

I tear the door to my cell off it’s hinges in anger as I instantly begin moving. A pale human runs at me in the hall and I take the first payment to appease my rage out of the vampire's head, my claws rending it to pieces before he bursts into light and ash.

My cell was the furthest one down this hallway and I walk past the nearest door ignoring the prisoner kept there as he is weak and not my friend. A vampire flees from Bryan’s room puking blood only to meet it’s end my claws.

I step into the room to see Bryan bleeding at the neck and rush over to heal him. The wound seals itself easily and I destroy his shackle with my claws.

I wake him with a light jolt of electricity and he blinks for a few seconds as I accelerate his metabolism to get whatever drug is in his system out.

“Kidnaped by vampires” I say and give him a sword from Void Cache. He frowns and jumps to his feet before chanting a spell that removes the physical weakness I’ve been feeling.

We don’t say anything as I lead us towards where I felt the twins, killing all that stand in the way.