I had woken up in plenty of weird situations and odd ways, but this time had to be in the top five, at least. I was in a reverse starfish position, with my limbs splayed out at odd angles, only I was laying on my stomach, with my neck twisted to the left, and my cheek against something coarse and cold.
Oh, and I was naked. No clothes, no shoes, no soft silky underwear that protected me from rocks and pebbles digging into my butt as I tried to move around.
Darkness surrounded me, preventing me from even making out any details about the environment. My extremely underdeveloped and ignored nature magic let me feel that I was in contact with the earth, but somehow I couldn’t manipulate it at all, my nature affinity unresponsive beyond any basic sensory capabilities I had neglected to familiarize myself with for months, if not years.
My blood sense, on the other hand, revealed that there were three bodies roughly fifty feet away from me. Two were upright while one was kneeling on their heels. While I doubted anything sexual had taken place while I was unconscious, I was still a bit hesitant to walk out and talk to someone while nude.
Use your damn brain, you idiot. I said to myself. You have clothes in your space. What, did the dragons drop you on your head or something?
Well, that could very well be the case. Regardless, it was better if I did as…I…said, and took stock of the situation before speaking with whoever was holding me captive, apparently. The same was true of accessing or entering my beast space.
So, what do I know? Reela and I were summoned to the dragon heartlands, though I don’t remember why. We entered the desert, and Reela did something so we could make our way into the dragon lands. I felt like I was being judged by something…ancient. Twice, technically. Then I found myself at the wrong end of weird weapons.
Was there a lightsaber or was I just hallucinating that?
I was fairly certain the weapons I briefly saw were more advanced than what I had seen in the human continent, though that shouldn’t have come as a surprise, even if it did.
Then I was knocked out somehow and now I’m here, naked, cold, and hungry.
No. Not somehow. I knew what affected me.
Soul pain. It was faint, and nowhere near as potent as what I had experienced before, but there was no mistaking it for anything else. Moreover, whoever had done it was unbelievably skilled, using just the right amount of power to affect my body how they wished.
Were those moments of feeling judged some type of soul magic, then? If that was the case, I felt much more apprehensive about being near the dragons. The Deity claimed that the soul was the best place to store anything secret, and as I felt another presence approach my little cave, I thought that maybe that would be tested very soon.
The newest arrival conferred with the others outside my cave for a few minutes while I leaned up against the back of the cave wall, brushing away any pebbles that might annoyingly dig into my unprotected skin. I heard an ominous thud as something impacted one of the walls outside, but I didn’t hear a single word being exchanged. Not long after, the small mystery was solved as a voice in my head spoke to me, increasing my suspicion even more.
“Young man, I understand you bear some ill will towards us dragons.” The speaker was as audible as anyone else who had mentally spoken to me, the connection between us created and traversed in an instant. What that said about his proficiency with soul magic, well, it probably didn’t bode well for me. “From what my descendants have said, you seem rather pitiful, yet I cannot allow anyone who might be a threat to enter our home.”
“I understand…elder?” I hesitantly replied, unable to refute him or any other dragons thinking of me as pitiful.
“Then answer my questions honestly.” He continued, taking my address to him in stride. “Know that I can discern the truth of your words, and do not think yourself clever using omissions or half-truths. Such paltry tricks only waste both our time, and simply make you more suspicious in my eyes. Now, do you wish harm on all dragons?”
“No, definitely not.” I replied truthfully. I may have been pissed off at the leadership and Reela, but I wouldn’t go so far as to commit genocide on their entire race.
“Then you wish harm on some dragons?” he countered.
I sighed internally, knowing I couldn’t get away with it. Maybe if I could stop time and mesmerize myself into being able to have perfect control over my thoughts and emotions, I would have a different answer. Unfortunately, it seemed like I could only roll the dice and see where they landed.
“Yes.”
“Which of the dragons, specifically, do you wish harm upon?” He followed up.
“Reela…and whatever ancestor or elder decided to make me her disciple.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He paused for a moment before continuing. “Why should you wish harm upon Reela?”
“The first time we met, she held a sword to my neck and threatened to kill me. Then she made me take some kind of blood oath or world oath, that basically made me her subordinate under the threat of torture or death. Next, she made me kill a bunch of human poachers without any consent from me. Now, I don’t mind killing, let alone poachers, but to take away my freedom in doing so made me unbelievably angry. After that, she threw me into vorander nests for the sake of training. Goddamn fucking training! Are you serious?! Do all dragons train like that? Or is that just what she went through and then thought that was the only way to do it? Oh, and don’t even get me started on the lack of recovery time! How do you expect anybody, let alone someone who doesn’t have access to healing spells, to be alright within a day after having fucking acid blasted into their body?! Then the –”
“Enough.” My interrogator became weary all of a sudden, and I got the sense this was somehow familiar to him. That ticked me off even more, but I didn’t want to push my luck by pressing the issue.
“And what of the others? The ones who, as you say, made you the disciple of Reela? Are your grievances with them simply an extension of the…numerous ones you hold against her?”
“Basically. I mean, whoever it was put that princess in charge of someone else’s life and neglected to tell her that humans need time to heal after suffering wounds. God, it’s like –” I quickly stopped thinking before I made a rash generalized statement about all dragons being so arrogant that they forgot about the limitations of other species. I was already in hot water, no need to make it worse unprompted.
“You may come out now, young man.” The dragon elder said, after deliberating on my statements for a few minutes.
“You don’t happen to have any clothes I could wear, do you?” I asked hesitantly. Sure, they probably knew about my space, and a normal person would assume that I had a decent amount of supplies in there including clothes, but I wasn’t above getting a freebie from them if possible.
“Oh, yes, clothing. We do have some garments for humans available. Though I must warn you against attempting to open your…beast space, was it? You will find the outcome of doing so beyond unpleasant.” He warned me.
I couldn’t feel anything special about the cave, but that didn’t exactly mean much. Who knew how advanced the dragons were? If I tried, I could still feel my space, and I could even see inside it, but either way, it was probably best if I did as he said. I got to my feet, still a bit shy about appearing nude in front of strangers, before ignoring those feelings and walking forwards where I could sense people ahead of me. At the entrance to my cave were two torches, providing some much needed light in my dark cell. Two dragonkin with golden brown scales were facing me, each one holding one of those taser tridents. Reela was to the right of them, with her head down and kneeling on her heels like a servant from ancient times.
And standing before them was an elder dragon, though he currently took the form of a black-scaled dragonkin. I had no idea how I knew he was a dragon and not a dragonkin, but he was one of the strongest beings I had ever seen, radiating an aura of power and wisdom. Even standing there unclothed and unarmed, he seemed like a wise sage who lived on a mountaintop while delving into the secrets of the universe and the vicissitudes of life.
As I came closer to him, practically at the mouth of the cave, I walked into an invisible wall and bonked my head, staggering back and cursing before casting a cooling spell to dull the pain. When I got my bearings back, nobody was on guard at my casual use of magic, which I noted for later. They could likely still take me down even if I went all out, well, not including everything in my space, but it was better to at least make an attempt at diplomacy.
The elder dragon’s eyes opened as I gazed in his direction, and I felt myself tremble unconsciously at the pressure contained in such a simple action. “You may wear these robes if you wish,” he said to me telepathically, pulling out a set of folded clothes from a ripple in space – his own spatial pocket. With no effort, the clothes were sent through the solidified air barrier and landed in my outstretched hands. I put the tunic, pants, and robe on, only to find them automatically adjusting to my size and preference, leaving just enough room to be comfortable without being too tight.
The mystery of the clothes had to wait, though, as the elder looked at me once more with that heavy gaze, the connection between us barely noticeable. “Are you willing to learn from other dragons if they use similar methods to what you have experienced before?”
“I –” I reflexively answered out loud before doing so telepathically. “I would prefer not to, but if there is no other choice, then I will.”
“And if Reela were to use…gentler methods, would you consent to remaining her disciple?”
“Yes.” I answered immediately this time. I was really only thinking of what it would cost to break that world oath and what the repercussions would be.
“Then it seems you and my descendant have more to learn from each other than you might believe. Now, one final query before you may join us properly.” He walked right up to the barrier, and without any hesitation, walked through it before holding his clawed hand to my chest and rendering me immobile without any use of essence whatsoever. “Do you accept living among the dragons, keeping our secrets, and knowing that succumbing to any desire to harm any of us, will lead to your immediate demise?”
“Yes, thank you.” I couldn’t help the relief that flooded my mind at his words. He may have meant it as a threat, but I took it as an assurance that they wouldn’t draw out my death. Honestly…I could tell there was definitely something wrong with me when that was my reaction to a death threat.
The elder pulled his hand back, but not before scratching my forehead with one of his wickedly sharp claws, leaving no pain or physical wound, but a…beacon? Whatever he did placed something in me to automatically receive mental messages instead of having to create the connection manually every time. I could sense other similar beacons in Reela and the guards, though theirs were less refined. Then there was the fact that I was able to determine the beacon’s function without any explanation, something that would have unnerved me had I had the mental attention to spare for it.
“Then welcome to the land of the dragon, young human. It seems we have much to speak of, including, what was it…oh yes,” he pointedly stared down at me and revealed a terrifying smile full of teeth that I wanted nowhere close to me, “my poor judgment in appointing my descendant as your mentor.”