It looked like a hybrid between a tiger and a comodo dragon with the head and fur of an indian tiger and the body of the varan. It broke through the reed at the river with powerful movements that ate the distance to its rider easily. Darius winged himself on its back with a fluid motion and the creature turned around with the grace and speed of a cat.

I guessed its shoulder at 1,6 metre and its weight at close to a ton of muscle and claw. Watching this monster made me realize that the humans on this world ruled supreme on any wide terrain and maybe even in thinner forest areas. There were some other weapons at the sides of the creature, some spears and a short bow with arrows on the other side for a quick access.

The saddle was built for an easy access to any weaponry the rider wanted and it made one thing absolutely clear to me. Don't. Mess. With. Humans. An attack force of 50 riders would be enough to kill my settlement easily. I guessed that there were many more where Darius came from.

“Damn, what a beast! But now we have other things to do.” I said, stopping myself from staring at the departing human as I sent an invite to my guardians. There was some talking to be done.

I waited in my inner mind, and a moment later they all arrived at the table. I could see that Galen and Nala were pissed about my treatment of Kitara. Maybe I was a little bit to hard on her, but she made me angry with her impulsive action.

“I called you here to make something clear. Even if you have the best idea in the world, you will have to talk about it with me first. If it's good, and I won't deny that Kitara's idea is good, I will gladly do my best to put it into effect. The important part here is that that will happen after we had a talk.”

Galen got his hand up and I stopped my monologue, “I acknowledge your need for instilling a kind of hierarchy here, but I'm not a big fan of your treatment of my wife. Please don't get this wrong but if you still treat me and my wives this way in the future we will have to part ways with you, even though you offer so many advantages. I know, you are young and have much to learn, but disrespectful treatment of your subordinates will only result in insurgency.”

They were silent and I had to stomach his words for some moments before I turned to Kitara,”

I am sorry for my treatment of you and I will try to reign in my anger. I liked your idea very much and hope that you will have many more such sudden inspirations, so please forgive me for treating you so badly.”

Kitara could have been a proud and hurt woman right now and after Galen's lash at me she would have had the perfect opportunity to strike back at me, but she just smiled and reached her hand to me, “We both made a mistake here, Marcus. I spoke without thinking, something Galen and Nala have told me here and there, and you punished and humiliated me right before a possible ally, “She knew where to drive the blade into the wound, “So I will forgive and forget if you do the same and we both try to better ourselves in the future. I will tell you if you walk down the wrong path and please do the same for me.”

I took her hand and shook it with heartfelt relieve. This could have exploded quite badly into my face and I would have lost my support from the elves right before the big fight.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

My other guardian watched the scene and I knew that Galen and Nala would be extra careful in the following weeks but that will remind me to watch my manners. Being a diabolical tyrant wasn't in my job description and I should have gotten that without this wake-up call.

My life in the last weeks have been a rollercoaster and I will have to adapt and remember the manners my mother taught me in my future dealings with my environment.

“There's something I also wanted to talk about, “Chara interrupted our moment, “I have watched you doing some amazing things outside but you have never cast a spell like we did. Is it because you can't or because you haven't tried?”

Now that surprised me. Did I limit myself because I always remembered the stories I read back on Earth, where the dungeons couldn't do anything as soon as there was an enemy in their territory? I had taught my guardians to cast spells, so why didn't I try it too?

“She's right, “Galen added, “You should be able to cast spells in your domain. Most dungeons can use some simple spells to defend their core if threatened, so it should be possible for you too, and even more so because you are somewhat different from them.”

“That was a very good idea then, Chara. I think I have narrowed my mind too much because of some old habits from Earth. Any other ideas or thoughts? Anyone?” I looked around and the shook their heads, “Good, then let's get outside and test the theory. As soon as I reach level 15 my mana pool would be massive and I could throw some serious fireballs at our enemies.”

“You shouldn't focus on attack, Marcus,” Nala interposed.

“I think it would be better to develop some kind of magical defence against physical and magical attacks. The goblins may not have many casters, but we have already been attacked by a dragon, so it would be better to have something to hamper them, and there's nobody else around with the necessary knowledge and inventiveness to create such a spell, Don't you think?”

Nala had a good point there, I had to admit. My mana pool made me the strongest magical defence for my citizens, even though I could easily destroy many enemies with offensive spells, but my mages needed levels and training for their skills.

The others left my inner mind and I followed them outside to go to our crater filled test area.

The place looked like a mad scientist had unleashed his meanest inventions to the world here, so a little bit more destruction wouldn't hurt anybody anymore. I reflected on the fireball spell and how I wanted to do it without having a voice or hands to cast the spell.

“It might be harder to cast the spell, master, but I think with your better mana manipulation skill you should be able to cast the spell without the components we need to cast it.” Galen said with an excitement in his voice.

I grunted briefly and concentrated on forming a globe of fire mana and the necessary runes in it for the fireball spell.

My first try disintegrated quite fast because I couldn't hold the necessary concentration on all the spell components. Luckily my guardians had enough distance from me to not get injured by the sudden explosion. I used only 30 mana, so the earth only got scorched a little bit.

“Okay, it seems that I'm able to cast spells outside, but it's really straining. Next try.”

I used two of my subminds to help with the casting. One held the globe, the other drew the runes while my main consciousness focused on providing the mana and the targeting.

This time the fireball formed correctly and flew true blasting away the muck hill I had targeted.

I felt pride and amazement with my ability to cast the spell and looked to my guardians to get some praise.

“Nice fireball, Marcus. I expected something with a little bit more force behind it,but not bad for your first successful spell.” Galen said.

This arrogant and smug bastard! A week ago he wasn't even able to project his magic farther than 5 metres and here he stands demoting my awesomeness.

I wanted to tell him my piece of mind when I saw him smirk and wink at me.

“Payback is a bitch, Master. Get used to it.”