Deep below a massive mountain chain, inside a vast cavern filled with flowing lava and pools of molten precious metals, Aindaeth the Inferno lazed in her bath.

A large part of her body was covered beneath tons of molten rock, kept hot enough to stay liquid by the ambient heat her body produced. Occasionally, waves of magma would splash from the lake of molten rock she lazed in, stirred by errant movements of her massive body.

At the edges of the cavern, groups of kobolds, and the occasional dragonman, stood fidgeting, ready to serve her every whim should she deem necessary to speak.

The tribe of small scaled humanoids were incredibly nervous, as they had never heard of Aindaeth being this active in centuries. Just yesterday they had heard the dragon speak. It had been an unconscious utterance, but it was a massive honor for those present to hear the draconic language from one so mighty. Many of those that heard her, would likely achieve better evolutions the next time they tiered up. Usually such an occasion would be cause to celebrate, but Aindaeth had been restless since then.

Even though none knew anything specific, the words "The end of an era" told them more than enough.

The nervous anticipation of the group of three kobolds and a single dragonman, was rewarded as the head of Aindaeth rose from beneath the magma.

Eager to serve, the group approached the edge of the massive sea of molten rock. Prostrating themselves at the edges of the pool, the leading dragonman spoke.

"Great Aindaeth, we are filled with joy to see you awake. The tribe has accumulated a great deal of wealth in the century you have been meditating. If it would please you, we would present our tribute. Perhaps something may catch your fancy"

Despite having his forehead pressed into the boiling hot ground, the dragonman spoke with a clear voice, having likely practiced this speech thousands of times before.

For a while, the cavern was silent, except the occasional pop of a bubble of magma, before a long rumbling exhale shook the surroundings, creating waves on the surface of the molten lake.

"Very well. Bring me your baubles, maybe you've gathered something interesting."

Aindaeths voice rumbled through the cavern, carrying with it a tone of utter boredom.

"And bring me something to eat, it has been too long. Perhaps one of those Mammoth things, those are always a feast."

The group at the edge of the lake broke out in shivers at the might behind the voice. It took the leading dragonman a moment to understand Aindaeths orders, but he became elated after a moment. The last 4 times his tribe had tried to offer tribute, they had been ignored. Though the rejection had stung at the time, now they had literal mountains of valuables to offer. Even if none of it was of special interest to their patron, quantity was a quality by itself.

"As you will great Aindaeth!"

With haste, he peeled his burnt face from the hot ground, leaving a layer of skin behind. Turning, he rushed out of the cavern, closely followed by two kobolds.

The third lay as a smoking pile of blackened meat where he had prostrated himself, his [heat resistance] evidently too weak.

It took barely half a day for the first kobolds to arrive with their offerings. Many carried things they had looted from passing adventurers, or raids on rivaling kobold tribes, others pushed wheelbarrows full of precious metals, while others still were leading different animals. Every kobolds that had an offering to make, was standing in line for their chance of being granted a boon.

When after another two hours of waiting, the dragonman returned, he made his way to the edge of the magma lake, prostrating himself again.

"In accordance with the ancient rites, our tribe comes before you, great Aindaeth! We bring you tribute, in hope of being granted your favor."

For a moment, the gathered kobolds grew quiet, as their chief spoke to their patron.

Then, the lake began to boil, as something massive moved beneath the surface. Two gigantic spires erupted from underneath the molten rock, closely followed by an even larger head. Molten rock was flung upwards, as the massive head of a dragon emerged, closely followed by a long and sinuous neck. The rest of the behemoth's body stayed hidden, but the head alone showed the gathered tribe that the dragon must be titanic in size.

For the first time in over a century, Aindaeth opened her eyes to behold her servants. Each of her eyes was larger than the largest of the gathered humanoids, and they listlessly scanned the gathered.

Seeing nothing of interest, Aindaeth lay her head at the edge of the magma lake.

"Go on then, show me what you have gathered." She spoke in a bored tone.

Her nostrils flared and she took a deep breath, smelling the precious metals and magic items her servants had brought before her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A few millennia ago, such a gathering of wealth would have excited her. She would have purred over every golden coin as she made her nest on unimaginable riches. Nowadays, it bored her.

The first of the Kobolds gathered the courage to step forward, advancing until the heat grew too great for him. In his clawed hands he carried a blade, forged from some metal he could not identify. The crossguard was patterned with golden inlays, and the pommel was a single large blue gem. The blade itself had a beautiful pattern and was covered in runes.

The kobold went down on one knee and presented the blade to Aindaeth. After taking a deep breath, he gathered the courage to speak.

"I come before you, great Aindaeth, to present you with the spoils of my greatest victory. I took this blade from an elven [swordsman] I bested in honorable combat.I ask for nothing, only wishing to dedicate my triumph to you."

Aindaeth took a moment to observe the kobold that stood before her. He was tiny in her eyes, barely larger than the smallest of her teeth, and yet he had slain someone that wielded such an impressive sword. If she remembered correctly, only adult elves were allowed to carry magical weapons, so the little Kobold must be truly impressive for his size. Sadly, lowly beings such as kobolds, rarely lived up to her expectations.

With a huff, she sent a miniscule amount of mana into his core, accepting his subservience.

The potency of Aindaeths mana overwhelmed the little Kobold and his form instantly caught fire. The blade dropped to the ground, as the kobold fell to his knees screaming.

Two larger dragonmen came to carry him away. It would take some time to see if he survived the boon she granted him.

Before the burning kobold was even dragged out of earshot, the next supplicant came before her. This one with a wheelbarrow full of coins and a herd of goats.

Before he could even state his case, he burst into flames. An errant thought of the dragon enough to incinerate him and his goats.

"What do you take me for, a hatchling?" Aindaeth thundered. "Mundane goats? With fur on them? The next one to bring such disgusting animals will be thrown in the lake!"

Noting her displeasure, many of the Kobolds that had brought similar animals, wisely decided to vacate the line.

"Put the metal in one of the pools. If I smell correctly it's mostly silver" she spoke, her good mood ruined.

One after the other, kobold after kobold came before her, offering her all manner of shiny things. The first one with his magic sword had been kind of interesting, but with time even magic weapons or jewelry lost their appeal. Sometimes she thought a bauble or trophy interesting enough to reward the supplicant, but without fail they were too weak to withstand her boon.

At some point, the ordered mammoths arrived, led by an old dragonman with a diadem on his head. Aindaeth could see the threads of purple magic connected to the heads of the individual mammoths, pacifying them.

Luckily for the [mind mage] leading the animals, he had shaved off their nasty fur first, presenting her with a snack that would not stink of burnt hair.

Aindaeths massive head shot forward, and with a single bite, she had two of the eight mammoths in her maw.

She saw the old mind mage struggle to keep the mammoths pacified, as they rebelled against his control.

It took her barely a few bites, before she swallowed and went for seconds and shortly after thirds. It had taken her a little over a minute to devour over 50 tons of meat, and she was already growing dissatisfied. The last time she had eaten mammoth, she was significantly smaller, and so it had taken her a longer time to eat them. Her ever increasing size made even eating her favorite snack undesirable.

Not wanting to seem too petty, Aindaeth rewarded the old [mind mage], with a boon. Putting a bit more effort into her blessing, ensured the old lizard would not burst into flames, no matter how weak he was.

Feeling the incredibly hot foreign mana in his core, the old lizard bowed as low as he could, while thanking her profusely.

Aindaeth meanwhile had already checked out again. While the old man thanked her, and the next supplicant came, she rummaged between her teeth for any stray bits of mammoth.

For the next half a day, the offerings were incredibly boring. A few carts full of raw gold went into the molten gold pool, a few tons of silver went into the molten silver lake, and a handful of platinum coins went into the platinum puddle.

Just as Aindaeth was about to call it quits, and return beneath the molten rock, she smelled something. Her head rose a few meters of the ground, as her slitted pupils scanned the gathered kobolds.

Spotting a lonely kobold with a wheelbarrow, she called him forward.

"You! The tiny one with the black scales and the cart! Come here!" She demanded.

The kobold in question was momentarily stunned. He had expected to be ignored due to the unusual offering he wanted to present, but to be singled out by the dragon herself was outside his expectations.

Aindaeth continued to take deep breaths, even going so far as to taste the air with her tongue, but she could not identify the smell. All she knew was that the little Kobold carried something extremely valuable, something that roused even her long dead treasure sense.

She observed as the kobold pushed the wheelbarrow closer and closer to her, going farther than anyone had all day long, as if the heat was not bothering him.

When he was as close as he dared to come, he parked the wheelbarrow, and stepped in front of it. Going as low to the ground as was possible for him, he spoke in an uncertain voice.

"Greetings great Aindaeth the Inferno. Your dragonship. I was uncertain if I should even present my findings to you. Ehm…. I gathered them only this morning, as they only recently fell from the sky. I hope they are to your liking."

After his little speech the kobold stayed low to the ground, shivering as Aindaeths gaze bore into his back. It took him a moment to remember that the wheelbarrow was covered in a tarp, and that Aindaeth could not see what he had brought.

Staying low to the ground, the kobold shuffled to the side of the cart, and tried to remove the tarp. After a few tries he finally managed to remove the tarp, presenting the dragon with his findings.

Aindaeths slitted pupils narrowed further as she beheld the contents of the cart.

A relatively large black sphere, that positively reeked of magic. She was familiar with the material, having seen obsidian thousands of times in her time, but what was unusual was the smell of cosmic magic. What was even more curious was that Aindaeth felt emotions from the black ball of glass.

But what really caught her attention was the corpse of the celestial laying next to the glass sphere.

At least, Aindaeth assumed it to be a celestial, as it emitted an extremely holy aura. And now that the body was closer, she noticed it actively absorbing heat. Most likely the reason neither the wooden wheelbarrow nor the tiny kobold had caught on fire.

Aindaeth continued to observe the body. It was about three meters tall, which was large for a non giant, and it was incredibly muscled. She didn't know her humanoid genders, but she assumed female, owing to the odd lumps of fatty tissue on its chest. From its back sprouted three pairs of black feathered wings, and its head had the same color of fur. Most notably, was the massive hole where its face should be. Currently all that was visible was an open wound and rock shrapnel.

Aindaeth was intrigued. It had been too long since something this interesting had occurred.

She took a few minutes to observe the body laying on the ground, when she noted that the ground around the body was solidifying. This close to Aindaeths body, it was in a constant state of barely melted. For the ground below the body to solidify, it had to be absorbing a truly momentous amount of heat.

As a small test, Aindaeth ignited the air around the body, only to watch as the flames were instantly absorbed into the prone form.

Ramping up the test, she used a larger amount of mana, ramping up the heat, only for the same thing to occur.

At some point, the cart burst into flames, but the body showed no difference.

At least until Aindaeth took a very close look at the celestial's wounded face, and saw as tiny pieces of rock were slowly pushed outwards by healing flesh.

Having never encountered such a situation before, Aindaeth did what all confused dragons did. No matter how old they were.

With a rumble, the upper part of Aindaeths body emerged from beneath the lake. Her claws gripped the lake's edge, and she accidentally crushed the kobold chiefs tribe. Not that she noticed.

The gathered tribe felt an odd sensation, as cool air rushed into the cavern from the exit.

It took barely a moment for the first of the Kobolds to notice how Aindaeths rib cage expanded as she breathed in.

Before the first of the Kobolds could even think of running away, Aindaeth blasted the prone body with the strongest [dragon breath] she could, only for the same thing to happen as before. Instead of vaporizing the surrounding rock and the kobolds, the entirety of her [dragon breath] was absorbed.

The only difference was that the body now sat upright, looking in confusion at the stream of fire exiting the gigantic dragon's mouth.

"What the fuck?"