Uniri, empress of the vast empire known as Red Isle was becoming slightly vexed. She stood in one of her many extra-dimensional workshops where she gave birth to artifacts and new magics that were incomprehensible to the lesser creatures of the world.
She could barely be recognized as the elf she had once been. Her knee length glinting silver hair was comprised of nearly microscopic strands of exotic segmented alloys that could be moved at will, combining and changing shape into delicate instruments or powerful tools. This effectively gave her a near infinite number of extra hands which could be conducted like her own personal orchestra of creation.
Her face was as flawless and smooth as it had been on her hundredth birthday. Her eyes, however, were blank white crystals enchanted with detection spells which her former apprentice Aghma had developed especially for her. With them she could view the inner workings of any object in three dimensions from any angle.
Her body seemed like that of a tall and beautiful elf woman, though its inner components were anything but. She had spent literally thousands of years reconstructing her frail vessel into something god like and completely unique. Her natural mana capacity dwarfed nearly any other creature in the world, and the technology in her body amplified that power a hundredfold.
She had not been thwarted in centuries, yet now one of her most dependable tools was little more than a barely conscious heap of scrap on the table before her. Robaru had lost a battle. That alone was troubling, but that was not what caused the pump in Uniri’s chest to circulate fluid faster.
She was viewing the stored memories of the dwarf as he faced a human child. Robaru’s iron eye had recorded a moment in which the boy had so casually achieved the dream Uniri had been chasing for more than a millennia. It should have been impossible, but here it was clear as could be. The energy of the world, the movement of the air and warmth of the sun were being pulled into him and converted into mana within his body.
Damn the devil possessed toys, damn every other scheme. She would have that boy. She would study his every cell with ecstasy over and over until she unraveled his secret. A sound came from her mouth then, causing the three artificial elves in the room to pause and regard her. It was an awkward sound, one that they had never heard her make. It was shrill, metallic, and discordant. Empress Uniri was laughing.
----------------------------------------
Dalazog surveyed the great empty ice cavern, his huge spiny tail thumping lightly in irritation. This had been the lair of Shika the prime white dragon for more than two thousand years, yet now it was empty. Not a dragon or even a scrap of her modest (in Dalazog’s estimation) hoard was to be found. He had been looking forward to some hospitality after his long flight through the frigid winds of the arctic southern continent but now it seemed he was only going to be faced with yet another troublesome errand. A tendril of smoke rose from one if his scaly nostrils as he leaned back on his great haunches to think.
What did he know about Shika? She was kind and humble for a dragon, was rumored to be in a relationship with E’claire the prime blue dragon, and she was worshiped by a nearby city-state of polar bear kin known as the Ursook.
The Ursook were undoubtedly his most convenient bet at finding any clues of her whereabouts. He quickly dismissed the prospect of flying all the way to Black Sands to visit the hyperactive and battle obsessed E’claire.
With his mind made up, Dalazog exited the cavern and leaped into flight, sending powdery snow flying in a great cloud in all directions with the first flap of his massive leathery wings. The capital city of Uunartuk was only a short flight to the northeast and Dalazog found himself excited to visit the place once more after so many years. The polar bear folk were avid dragon worshipers and always gave him royal treatment.
Less than an hour later, Dalazog felt the first warm currents of air from the Uunartuk hot springs under his wings and he descended into the comfortably warm mists below.
The temperature climbed dramatically as he approached the ground. As the landscape below came into focus, he was once again taken in by its unique beauty. Here the trackless white tundra gave way to rugged crags, deep ravines, and sheer cliffs carved by countless centuries of geothermal activity. Plumes of steam rose from thousands of pools large and small which dotted the area, the largest of which being a deep (legends said bottomless) blue lake formed in the crater of a prehistoric volcano. This was Lake Uunartuk and the capital city of the ursook was built around it.
The polar bear folk used their innate shamanistic earth magic to wondrous effect in their construction. They could soften even the hardest stone to a clay like consistency and shape it with specialized tools before it reverted to its normal hardness. The results were buildings that seemed to grow naturally from the volcanic landscape, soaring up like a dark forest and intertwined with one another through a network of stone roads suspended a hundred feet and more from the ground below. Some of these high stone roads were wide enough for the many yeti drawn carts to pass one another safely. The nine foot tall, grayish brown, and shaggy biped creatures gladly provided their strength to the Ursook in exchange for shelter and food. They could be seen all around performing all kinds of manual labor.
The Ursook themselves were a thriving people thanks entirely to Shika, whom long ago allowed them to settle here and abandon their nomadic ways. Uunartuk was a popular tourist destination for the ultra wealthy from all over the world, and all manner of races could be seen strolling the walkways adorned in luxurious furs likely purchased right here in the city. High end shops, inns, and of course a plethora of public baths and pools drove commerce here, and Dalazog found himself in less of a hurry to find Shika as he spotted one nostalgic attraction after another. Wafts of delicious smelling food, tickled his huge nostrils even high in the sky and he pulled up in his descent to take in the pleasant sensations.
His fixation on the city below caused him to ignore the approaching flight of greenish blue winged creatures approaching from his right flank.
“Great red one, what brings you to the city of The Storm Princess?” The speaker spoke in Draconic and it took Dalazog half a breath to decipher the question after so long using only common.
These were the Crystal Talons, a flight of southern turquoise lesser dragons loyal to Shika and serving as protectors of her territory. They were only a third of Dalazog’s size, covered in glittering turquoise colored scales, and carried long lances formed of enchanted ice in their powerful clawed hands. Though formidable, the score of them that had come to greet the red dragon didn’t measure up to his power even all together. Still, Dalazog gave them respect as Shika’s underlings.
“I’m Dalazog, the Prime Red. I’ve come to pay a visit to my comrade Shika at the bidding of Belithel.” Dalazog answered truthfully, seeing no reason for secrecy. He noticed that a large crowd of spectators was beginning to gather on the upper walkways of the city.
The leader of the drakes seemed suddenly crestfallen.
“I am surprised that you haven’t heard, lord Dalazog. Please return with us to the palace, where one more eloquent than I may pay you the hospitality you deserve and inform you about what has happened.”
Dalazog was worried by the reaction and nodded for the drake captain to lead the way.
They flew over the throngs of ursook, humans, and other humanoids to the dominant structure on the southern bank of lake Uunartuk. Dalazog didn’t remember a palace in the city, and his confusion deepened when they began to descend towards what he remembered as a great church dedicated to Shika, built by the first of her followers many centuries ago.
It consisted of three huge towers constructed from the same dark stone as the rest of the city and arranged in a triangle three hundred feet from one another. Thin patterns of dark stone were woven between each tower like geometrically perfect spiderwebs. Between the stone webbing was deep blue enchanted ice that would never melt and even Dalazog doubted he could crack it easily, in spite of how fragile it appeared. Inside the wall of stone and ice was a courtyard dominated by a crystal clear pool of water on which stood the pinnacle of the Ursook’s creative power.
A flawless life sized sculpture of Shika herself made of ice, steam, and magic was maintained by a great many powerful elementals and ursook shamans. It was incredibly realistic. The eyes were deep sapphire and shone with life, and every single white scale was sculpted in relief and glittered like a jewel, reflecting a rainbow of prismatic color even in the muted light of the misty region.
Shika had always hated that sculpture, but would only vent about it to Dalazog. He remembered the white dragon’s words clearly in his mind now from a visit more than two centuries past. “The tail is too short, and my face isn’t anywhere near that puffy! Also my eyes aren’t that far apart, it looks like a bladder fish! What’s so funny Dal?” He smiled at the memory. He had always been attracted to her but she had only ever had eyes for E’claire.
“A shame...” He muttered as they circled the open courtyard to land before the great white sculpture. Dalazog was only slightly larger than Shika’s likeness and his heart sped up a bit at the sight. He would have to really prepare himself to see the real thing if this chunk of ice was riling him up.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
A deep voice from behind the dragon drew his attention away from the beautiful sculpture. He turned to see that the drakes had assumed their humanoid forms of turquoise scaled winged lizardmen. They flanked an ursook female wearing blue robes with gold trim, and a male ursook in heavy enchanted plate armor made from the same enchanted ice as the drakes’ lances and the walls of the courtyard.
Dalazog assumed his own humanoid form, that of a handsome human mage in deep red robes. He studied the unfamiliar ursook pair as they bowed deeply to him.
Like all ursook, they had powerfully built humanoid frames standing around nine feet tall with short, dense, snow colored fur. Their heads were that of a great polar bear with small rounded ears, muscled jaws and dark eyes.
“Greetings, Great One. We are the current leaders of Uunartuk.” The priestess spoke first in a surprisingly feminine voice and in perfect draconic. She straightened herself but kept her gaze down. “I am A’hnah, High Priestess of the Prime White and carry the greatest mana of all the Ursook.”
“And I am Kiryama Kilik, strongest of the Ursook.” The warrior announced himself after, also not daring to meet Dalazog’s gaze but putting a huge fist to his chest. “You may call me Ki-Ki if you wish.”
“Indeed.” Dalazog nodded. He nearly blurted descriptions of their power as he could see it out loud but the memory of Coralia scolding him for just that made him choke on the words before they could come out. He covered it by clearing his throat and continued. “It is good to see my comrade’s city prospering under your guidance. I do not wish to mince words, I seek Shika. Do you know where she may be found?”
“It is a short tale, but one better told indoors if you would indulge our insolence in delaying Your Greatness further. Please come this way.”
Dalazog was led to the northern tower and into a beautifully decorated hall with several chairs of many shapes and sizes meant for hosting the variety of races that visited the palace. He was given a goblet of hot spiced mead even as he took his seat across from the pair of ursook.
A’hnah then began to tell the tale that had so devastated the ursook.
“Fifty and five summers past, our goddess came to us bearing an egg and instructions. She spoke of a coming conflict, and instructed us to keep the egg safe at all costs. The next day, my predecessor suddenly felt her connection to The Prime White suddenly vanish. We have not seen her since, but there was a miracle just a few years later when the egg belonging to the Prime White and Prime Blue dragons hatched. Our sages say that a child of two prime colors is unprecedented and believed to be impossible.”
Dalazog’s eyes were rimmed in an unfamiliar wetness and his voice was strained. “Not impossible. Both of the parents would simply have to be dead before the egg hatched.” His voice broke slightly as he spoke but firmed again as he came to a realization. “Shika’s hatchling is here?” He asked, standing suddenly.
“She... is.” Ki-Ki answered haltingly as though struggling to find a way to speak his next words.
He didn’t need to worry because A’hnah suddenly broke character and blurted out desperately.
“Please take her away with you great and merciful Dalazog! We can’t take it anymore, she’s going to be the end of us all!” She was on her knees now, begging Dalazog with her hands folded in front of her as if in prayer.
As if on cue, the heavy double doors exploded inward, nearly blasted off their sturdy steel hinges. Dense, violent mana rolled into Dalazog’s keen senses, and there was no mistaking that another prime dragon had just entered the study.
By the looks of sheer dread on the faces of the two mighty ursook leaders, Dalazog expected to find a truly terrible dragon stalking in behind him. He spun with his gaze naturally drifting upward, a god tier defensive spell already forming in his mind. He at first saw nothing, and thought the dragon must have enacted an invisibility spell. His gaze drifted lower just slightly, and the tips of two round white ears pulled his attention fully downward to the tiny creature that stood before him.
Outwardly she was an ursook child, roughly the size of a human five year old and covered in short white fur except for the striking blue mane of hair that grew from her head to cascade down in unruly waves well past her shoulders. She was bundled in a thick black fur coat, an incredibly luxurious garment secured with ivory buttons. Muscular furry legs and bare feet stuck from the bottom of the coat, one of which was strangely marked with a lightning shaped black pattern that wrapped around her thigh and down to her calf in a spiral pattern. The mark glowed neon pink at seemingly random intervals. Her strange appearance was hard to take in at all because her large eyes were so intensely colored with hues of the same neon pink that they enraptured any that gazed into them. She stood glaring with her tiny clawed hands planted on her hips, straight through Dalazog at the ursook behind him. Dalazog cocked his head in confusion and inhaled to speak, but was never given the chance.
“COLD! The fire went out in my room again, A’hn!” The tiny child certainly packed a set of lungs. Dalazog noted as she shouted at the rapidly shrinking priestess.
“A thousand apologies, Storm Princess Nanuke!” A’hnah wailed as she prostrated herself. “We had to attend our honored guest you see and-” She wasn’t allowed to finish as a blast of ice shards, with blue lightning arcing between them suddenly erupted from the girl’s outstretched hand.
As the spell raced toward the grovelling ursook, it suddenly impacted something invisible and vanished before doing any harm.
“You dare!?” She snapped her furious pink eyed glare on Dalazog, finally acknowledging his presence. Her voice lowered to a malevolent growl. “It’s your fault my servants let my fire go out! Now you block my wrath? You can die, ugly red man.” She pointed a tiny stubby clawed finger at Dalazog as she declared war.
“You take more after E’claire than your mother it seems.” Dalazog’s glittering eyes were playful, giving away the excitement that the rest of his expression tried to hide. “He once called me something similar. There was one key difference though. He could back up the insult. Now come little egg yolk. Feel the power of Dalazog the prime red, champion of Belithel, destroyer of ten thousand celestials, and sworn friend of Shika the White.” Though he remained in humanoid form, Dalazog’s aura of power swelled and the room seemed to shrink and darken around him as he spoke.
The child, Nanuke showed no fear in the face of Dalazog’s power. The mere fact that she could remain on her feet in such a presence was beyond what the two ursook (now both flat on their bellies, covering their heads) could comprehend. Her own aura flared brighter and she took a solitary step toward Dalazog a single heartbeat before all hell broke loose.
A spiraling web of lightning reached out from Nanuke’s left hand, while a jagged lance of ice formed in front of her right hand.
“Another dual caster?” Dalazog mused. Coralia was the only other being he had seen perform such a feat. He held his arms wide, inviting the high tier spells. The ice lance shot out ahead of the lightning. The tactic was clear, ice would pierce the target and act as a lightning rod for the subsequent electrical barrage.
The ice lance vaporized as it impacted Dalazog’s passive resistances which negated any magic of insufficient potency used against him. Dalazog frowned.
“Your spells should be much stronger. It seems you won’t even pass as a playmate for me.” He lamented.
“So you can stand up to more of my power than the others? Take this then!” Nanuke’s long sapphire hair roiled around her small body even as she herself levitated off the ground. A large amount of mana was surging within her, and Dalazog cocked his head curiously.
Suddenly she was before him, within striking range. Lightning crackled in infinite tiny sparks all over her body and a foot wrapped in pink flaring light was angled to kick him in the chest. A moment later he was flying backward at an impossible speed. He crashed through one wall, then another, passing between two gossiping ursook maids who never even had time to react to the crackling flash that blinded them. A blink later and Dalazog was floating outside, a hundred feet from the palace and two hundred feet above a stone garden far below. He watched the tiny lingering sparks playing between his long fingers and grinned. He was more than a little impressed by the attack, it was a unique skill called Arc Step. While it lacked most of the power Dalazog had once felt at the hands of the prime blue dragon, it was still surprising that a fifty-three year old hatchling could use it at all.
He willed a shimmering portal into existence and casually walked through it, back into the study. He found Nanuke with her back to him, praising her own power and seeming to be in suddenly high spirits.
“That ugly furless geezer really thought he stood a chance? Bwahaha!” She laughed in triumph. “Now. I’m in a good mood so I’ll forgive you this once but if my fire ever goes out again I’ll do the same to...” She trailed off, finally detecting the presence of Dalazog.
“You can’t do that!” She protested with wide eyes. “I kicked you as hard as I could. You’re supposed to be a lump of coal sinking in the lake by now.”
“I considered your mother a precious friend and ally. It pains me to see her child so spoiled, and so very weak...” Dalazog looked past Nanuke to the cowering ursook. “You who respect dragonkind have suffered this sniveling brat for long enough. You have my apologies for her behavior on behalf of my kind. I will bow my head if you like.” Dalazog spoke with as much respect as a red dragon could.
“Please do not bow your head!” Ki-Ki finally found his voice and begged.
“We are at your mercy, Great One!” A’hnah agreed with reverence.
“Very well, you have my thanks for your forgiveness.” Dalazog nodded and shifted his gaze to Nanuke who was shaking with outrage at being ignored. “Now, little rotten egg... it’s past time you left the nest.”
Nanuke began to activate her Arc Step once again, determined to shut the red robed man up once and for all. She flashed through the air with her powerful leg leading, then the world got all blurry around her and the last thing she saw was Dalazog’s toothy smile.
It was cold suddenly, and dark. Nanuke hated the cold more than anything in the world. She had been revered as a goddess among the ursook from birth, and had used that influence along with her own considerable innate power to bully them into creating an environment for her that would keep her from ever feeling even the slightest chill. In the stories told to her by literate servants there were places that were warm all year round and full of beautiful green plants or even endless hills of hot sand. How she longed to see such a place, especially now as she experienced a cold that went beyond what she thought was possible.
Her eyes slowly opened and she found herself tumbling in a free fall through icy clouds; not the warm mists of Uunartuk. She tried to scream but the sound was lost in the rush of wind, and she found it difficult to inhale as the frigid air stung her pampered lungs.
Her terror only escalated as she fell through the bottom of the clouds and saw the icy tundra rushing up to meet her. Aren’t I a dragon? Can’t I just fly? Why can’t I transform!? That's when she realized that her own magic was being smothered by a power that she couldn't even fathom. Thoughts fluttered through her panicked mind and she began to cry. The images of the only people she had ever known, people that she loved deep in her heart... cowering before her own cruelty came unbidden. The tears froze to her furry face and she mustered enough air in her lungs to scream a final thought.
“I’m so sorry everyone!” She didn’t know why she yelled that out, and then her voice lowered to a whisper. “I really hate the cold...” She closed her eyes to await the inevitable.
Suddenly she stopped, and not because she impacted the tundra. Her fall had been arrested by magic. She dared to open one eye and nearly fainted from the shock of what she beheld.
Still far from the ground and flying in place before her was a hundred and fifty feet of muscle, bone, and primordial fire wrapped in ruby red scales. Dalazog had invoked his own unique skill Flame Emperor to assume his most powerful form. It was the same size as his everyday dragon form, but exuded a far more potent aura of terror, and was wreathed in flames so hot that the icy earth far below was already beginning to melt. Several extra spiraled horns jutted in a symmetrical pattern to form a crown atop his massive head and a halo of white flame spun and roared behind the horn crown.
The frozen tears on Nanuke’s face melted and then evaporated. The heat was intense, and the light painful to look directly at but Nanuke couldn’t look away even if she wanted to.
“A god...” She whispered, for such a being couldn’t be anything short of a deity. The pride and arrogance that had dominated her life suddenly shattered. She was so very vulnerable, so very fragile and little. The flaming monstrosity before her could snuff her out with no effort. Her eyes unconsciously focused on Dalazog’s chest. It glowed like a sun every time he inhaled. How much time had passed she couldn’t know when a voice like an avalanche made her whole body vibrate.
“It seems you now see.” Dalazog said, extending a colossal hand. Nanuke floated closer.
“Are you going to kill me?” She asked, surprised by the calm in her own voice.
“Your mother would never forgive me if I did that.” He replied. “I am going to take you on an adventure: one that might one day even include eternally warm lands with green plants and endless hills of hot sand.” He added, causing her eyes to widen.
“When your death is imminent, it would appear that you aren’t such a rotten little egg after all.” Dalazog’s booming revelation caused Nanuke to blush beneath her furry cheeks.