One of the greatest successful failures of Duke Varkrm. That is how the campaign to reclaim the lands stolen by The Mistress of Tranquil Water ended up being called. In the most technical sense, he had achieved the goal of taking back the land, however the dragoness escaped, as did three infant dragons and three witches. That alone would have been enough to make this a failed endeavor. However the costs that followed after that were much worse. Thirty thousand common men, be they levies or trained soldiers, close to two hundred magic users of all kinds, thirty wyvern riders and their rides, four masters and their many monsters.
They were not even able to pay for the damages from the dragon’s hoard, since she left with most of it. At least her lake had a lot, but it took two months just to get rid of the water and claim most of the precious things, as the mana itself was thick enough to kill peasant workers. He had to make nobles, low ranks though they might be, empty out a stubborn lake and haul out the precious materials. There were probably some things left behind, deep in the mud, but that was far beyond what he could ask without losing all the dignity that he had left.
Finally, two things were lost that made everything so much worse. The one that the Goddesses were looking for, and his sword. He couldn’t help but curse as he looked at the bladeless handle, devoid of any of its old magic. An item that survived centuries in under the whore’s mistreatment… gone. Completely warped and destroyed by chaos magic so thick it even made him stumble back. That spell that whisked them away, the dragon so warped, that even the kinder of the two divinities wanted dead… He could only curse. He got the bare minimum of what he wanted, and his head might have still been on the chopping block if not the living infant dragon that he delivered to the Emperor.
He had to rebuild. If nothing else, at least this should buy them years of peace. He made sure to conscript men from any surrounding areas first and foremost, so nobody nearby was strong enough to declare war on him now that his position was weak. He had to make the most of it and prepare for when that dragon would come back.
At least this time the Emperor would not be able to stay away from it all. After all, he had ways to make sure The Mistress knew where her precious child was, once she came back looking for revenge. He was going to see her dead, one way or another. If she were to also kill that worthless sack of bones called “Emperor” before she croaked, that would be all the better.
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He was burning with anxious wrath. His sister did little more than pace around and weep in confusion, his mother had yet to move from the spot they found her in and all he could do was be angry about it all. He screamed of flames eating all the land they had abandoned, of thunderstorms devouring the skies, of floods wiping away the scorched remains of the lessers that had attacked them in their own homes.
The sister could only reply with whimpers of a rotting branch that fell and was devoured by the ground. That smothered whatever wrath he could muster. They were both angry, hungry, scared, but it seemed his sister wished to imitate their mother and simply collapse, letting the world devour her and wash away this whole experience.
This was the kind of thing his greater brother would have probably fixed with his wit. But he had not escaped that day, likely perishing with the good lessers. Maybe his earthen brother would have been able to sit by the sister’s side and slowly make her rise again, but he had not made it out either. It was only the two of them and their half-dead mother, so he had to finally think for himself and fix this himself.
He thought for two seconds before he bit one of her horns and dragged her away, ignoring any protests, retaliating to her claws with a flat strike of his palm or tail, doing anything he could to simply bring her out. Their flying home had a bit of the ground outside still stuck to it, so they could walk under the sun and feel the air run past. A few weeks had passed and they needed to eat. They had already gone through the corpses of the lessers, with only a few drying out and becoming barely edible before they could reach them, so now they had to go back to hunting. It might clear out their minds, if nothing else.
His sister still fought, but he did his brotherly duty and tossed her off the edge, watching her catch the strong winds and fly around more wildly then ever before. He roared of meat and she roared of bones, so he spread his wings and followed, magic from his chest wrapping around his body to give him much needed speed. A spell formed above his head, between his horns and his wings lit up in flames, making him soar like an arrow towards the ground. He saw his sister do the same but with her element, which did not make her faster but she seamlessly slipped through the strong winds, only aided by them instead of hindered.
Below an endless field of hills stretched out and while he couldn’t see as well as his greater brother could, he still had learned how to do a proper dive attack. His target was an easy one, a flock of sand-like yellow things were eating and basking. He had no concept of what the creatures might be, he had not seen any in their forest, and for good reason. The closer he got the more clear it was that they were defenseless and weak, not even touched in passing by any sort of magic. Only two things in that flock seemed more dangerous: a lesser and a malformed wolf.
He saw the lesser look at him, then run, scaring the other animals into a mad rush. His sister was behind, she would get one of the larger animals so they could test them as a meal. He could afford to ignore them. He could afford to kill him. His dive became sharp, his aim straight for the one that looked a lot like the invaders… and then he landed by him, flames burning at the grass underfoot. The man froze, the wolf next to him barking and trying to intimidate the dragon, however he was eye level with the man when he raised his head, so the little wolf was little more than an afterthought.
He watched the man. He wondered why he hadn’t just crushed him. He remembered his sibling and how careful he was with the good lessers… actually, were those even good lessers? The invaders did attack the good lessers… Was this one a good lesser? His body was like that of the invaders, but his second skin was like that of the good lessers, if a bit more complex and colourful. He had no shiny scales to protect him… and no magic to make him dangerous. He had a stick, and a metal claw.
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He sat in front of him, head tilted, trying to figure out which it was, then he heard the sound of death and saw… fear? It looked like how the invaders looked before they died, so maybe. Were these animals part of the lesser’s hoard? Something so weak claiming so many things? Even his greater sibling only claimed five living things, and back then he was stronger than the lesser he is looking at right now. Lessers were strange.
So far the man did not attack and neither did his wolf, so maybe he really wasn’t an invader, just looked like them. Like the flying lizards looked and smelled a bit like dragon, but they were nothing like them. They couldn’t even speak. Oh, he was getting distracted, and in his distraction he did not notice his sister coming by and nudging him.
She spoke of thick fur that acted like scales on a few of the stronger things they had hunted together. Looking down he saw what she was talking about and frowned. So much protection on its body, but its head was perfectly easy to bite through and crush. All things have a weakness after all. Still, he wanted to deal with the problem and see how this thing tastes, so he quickly spewed his flames, making quick work of the curly fur and getting access to the quickly charring flesh.
The lesser screamed, but he did not mind that. Lessers were vocal, that much he knew, and one that couldn’t mold fire would be scared of it like any other animal. He ignored the lesser, and so did his sister, though she kept glancing over at him. He let her take her time and bit down into the body. It was meat. It was better than a wolf or a bear, but not too different from most meats. It was good. Sad that its core was little more than a bead of hardened meat with a grain of sand in it, he had hoped that he could take over eating them now that his greater sibling was no longer around, but he’d need to find worthy prey for that.
For now they had sated their appetite, so it was time to leave, or they’ll be left behind by their home. He yelped of more, and his sister agreed, taking flight and chasing after the fleeing animals, each killing and carrying one, before going as fast as they could to catch up to their floating home. They’d have food for a few days, especially if they just slept through… Maybe it was time to carry all their treasures to their Mother and hopefully help her wake up again.
It was time to look forward.
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Chains, spikes, deep cuts, magic, obey, deep cuts, bleed, obey, blunt strike, obey, magic, obey, hunger, obey, hate, forbidden, obey, death, forbidden, obey, light, obey, les- human, obey, obey, obey, obey.
His eyes opened and he was not something else this time around. His body was dying. His mind was weakening. His heart was pumping as hard as it could, sometimes breaking the chains, only for stronger ones to be used on him. He was alive. He was remaining alive. Whispers told him of the toughness of stone and how pressure fused it into something stronger, loose cobble and pebbles being buried and turned into proper rock. He kept trying to do just that, but he had mixed results. he was becoming tougher, but the horrible metal still made his scales fall off after a while, rotting away. Yes, rot. Something he rarely saw before was now his normal.
His mind was not like his body, however. His body may rot but it persisted. his mind was rotting and he could do nothing to it. his mind was not stone, it wasn’t rock, it could not harden like his body. So here he was, struggling weakly, eating the lifeless things that were thrown on him. He is sure at least some of this isn’t meant to be food and his stomach is becoming unable to even digest it anymore. His mana is running low. He is dying.
What happened to his siblings? Did any survive? He thought he had died, but he remained. Could any of them still be around? No. They either died or escaped, but they are nowhere near. He can’t smell them on anyone, can’t hear even the tiniest thing, and they are paying a lot of attention to him and only him.
He is glad.
He will die here, but they will persist. If only one of them died, it was a good exchange. He was glad they left him behind, for he would have done the same. He simply hopes that leaving him in the hands of such worthless enemies would not haunt them for long.
His greater sibling would probably weep the most. He was always the most possessive despite wanting the least of their precious things. He was possessive of living things, and by how many times he had saved his life, the young dragon knew that his sibling would be devastated. He only hoped mother and the others would be there to care for his paradoxically soft brother.
The entrance to the cramped place opened. His eyes closed as he felt the foreign thoughts invade his mind again. It was a pity that his magic wasn’t letting him end his own life.
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The sky exploded in a deadly storm as The Outstretched Thunderous Scorching Hand circled for the fifth time around the land. Things had changed. Certainly it was close to winter by the time he had come back home, but what could he do? He had gotten lost while searching for something befitting of that clever little child that weaved so many magics so elegantly in spite of his age. Fire, water, that child clearly outstripped both himself and his mate in talent, so he needed a suitably foreign element to start out, as he foresaw the simple ones rejecting him for his much too complex thoughts, or his natural talent for chaos magic.
That is why he was now carrying both an unborn life elemental and an unborn death elemental. Either would hopefully be complex enough and aligned with his interests enough to become his first true affinity. Of course he would love to see if he can fix his son’s chaos troubles, if only he could find the damned place. He knew he was bad at directions, but this was absolutely insane. He decided to hover above the large hole in the ground, and imagined a mountain in his place. He followed the nearby empty riverbeds and found a now empty lake and terrified humans who seemed to dig through it, for what was plainly precious metals covered in mud. This was his mate’s lake, her favorite lounging spot.
No wonder everything nearby was dead and dry, sure the cold did much of that, but the land doesn’t just become desolated from a bit of cold wind and fallen leaves. The land was simply reverting to its desolate, rocky state from before she arrived and changed it all to fit her taste. Now the question was, where did she go? He understood getting bored of a place like this, and he didn’t doubt that she wouldn’t care for a few loose coins being left behind in the mud… but she should have at least left a mark, or something.
He incinerated the scavengers in his annoyance, then took to the sky. He would need to comb the entire continent for her, but then again, that was a cheap price for that woman, and likely a deserved punishment for leaving for an entire year.
It was time to fly and see where she moved. He was looking forward to seeing how his children have progressed in this time, so with an excited roar he shot through the sky, leaving behind a deadly fire that sealed the fate of the abandoned territory.