Jerome dreamed. He dreamed a very vivid dream about sailing through the void. Stars blinked in and out of existence as he passed, as billions of years went by in a flash. He continued onward with no destination in mind, as though he was waiting for something. What it was, he didn’t know. He only knew that he had to keep moving. To keep traversing the universe.

Jerome woke up, to the sound of something knocking him on the head. He quickly shot up as he remembered where he was and scrambled backward. The dragon got up on all fours in front of him and walked toward him.

“You gave me quite a scare, Chosen of Ilyrrah,” it said.

“And you tried to get inside my head!” Jerome growled at it. The dragoness didn’t respond. Something was different about it now, he noticed.

It was restraining itself.

“Not like it worked,” it said and gave him a sideways look. “What are you? Did Ilyrrah put a more powerful barrier on you?”

“And why should I tell you that?”

The dragoness growled. A very inhuman growl. The surrounding forest seemed to respond with a fearful vibration. Then a stillness, as if the very earth was afraid of the predator.

“I’ve never met a human I couldn’t read,” it said, sitting on its haunches and giving Jerome a curious look.

Jerome stood where he was bristling. He needed to get away from this monster. To get back to the rest of the group. But he was sure this thing wouldn’t let him go. And it wouldn’t release the two Sprouts with it either. Until it had what it wanted.

“Why do you even need a name anyway? And from a human nonetheless.”

The dragoness took a more relaxing position on the ground, lying on its belly with its forelegs folded and tucked in front of it like a cat. “There is a lot about you, you don’t know…Jerome. A lot about you even Ilyrrah had no idea of.”

Jerome drew in a sharp breath. What the hell was going on? What had he gotten himself into? He hoped he wouldn’t be drawn into some ancient conspiracy. With all that he was hearing, he sensed the dragoness would say something absurd next.

“What are you talking about?” he asked before he could stop himself.

His curiosity had been piqued and now he felt like he had entered into a trap set by the dragoness. It might be that there was nothing to worry about and it was just trying to spring him along. Mind games, all of it. Jerome beat himself inwardly at that.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” the dragoness said. “For now though, if you’d like me to let go of your friends, you’d better start thinking of a good name.”

Jerome clenched his jaw in anger. It was baiting him. Using his own curiosity against him. But two can play the game. He sat down on the floor to meditate for a while. No sooner did he start meditating did the vital aura deep in the earth start to infuse his body.

A green circle of light glowed in the place where he sat.

“Fascinating,” the dragoness purred delightedly. “You have a lot more secrets than you let on, don’t you?”

“I’m trying to concentrate here,” Jerome snapped at it. He quickly shut his mouth, afraid it would retaliate.

And retaliate, it did.

The dragon pounced on him so fast, he was on his back before he knew what was going on. It glared at him in silence for a while. Jerome could almost feel the fury brewing beneath the surface of its exterior visage. It wanted to deliver recompense. But something, he didn’t know what, was keeping it in check. He held its gaze though, refusing to back down.

Its piercing gaze had an almost physical weight bearing down on his mind as it stared at him. Somehow he knew the dragoness was restraining its aura so as not to crush him like a pimple.

Still, the dragoness was crushing him with the weight of its claw, drawing out the pain and siphoning his essence. Jerome clenched his jaw, refusing to let out a sound. He wasn’t going to be bullied into submission. Not even by a dragon.

“This is the last time you snap at me like that, do I make myself clear?” its sultry voice reached his ears, slow and threatening. A promise of pain and suffering if he ever misbehaved again.

“And I wouldn’t be bullied into submission,” he said, still holding its gaze.

The dragoness spent several more seconds glaring at him before walking back to its position. Jerome watched it go. Its steps were as quiet as a cat’s and as graceful as a succubi’s, never disturbing the surrounding foliage.

Two horns protruding out of its head, curving backwards and then upwards were the only parts of its upper body he could see. Though, he knew there’d be a row of spikes protruding out of its spine in a long line down to its tail. Its legs were thick and short. Or at least shorter than he expected, giving it the skeletal frame of a feline predator.

The dragon flicked his head with the end of its spade-shaped tail as if to chide a naughty child. The impact was still heavy and painful. Jerome glared at it but said nothing. The dragon didn’t even look his way. To it, he was a pest. Unwarranting of attention. Yet it wanted him to name it? Jerome snorted. Loudly. So it would hear. But the dragon pretended as if he didn’t even exist. It closed its eyes as it leaned on a tree, causing the gigantic tree to groan under the weight of its strength.

Jerome went back to meditating. He needed all the vitality he could get so he wouldn’t die from giving something so powerful a name.

But why am I so unlucky like this? he thought in frustration. My first time naming another being and it had to be a powerful dragon.

~~~

Jerome meditated for a long, long time, stimulating the vital aura in the ground. He was glowing with verdant energy that was pulsing out of him. His plan was to gather the vital aura in the same way he’d gather essence for Godspeed — the most dangerous spell he had in his arsenal right now. It was not a direct danger to others but a danger to him.

But he was finding out that vital aura wasn’t like the normal essence he could gather and hold around him like a cloud of essence. He could store up some of it but he needed a special container for it if he wasn’t storing it up in his body.

He decidedly sent some into a corner of his void plane, keeping it there for another time. That sparked a curiosity in him as he wondered what changes might happen as a result of the presence of vital aura. But he had to concentrate. He couldn’t afford to entertain such thoughts right now.

“Hey, dragoness,” he called out.

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“What is it?” The sleeping dragoness woke up lazily.

It stretched its body in a way only felines could. Jerome wondered if dragons had the genes of other animals in them. That would make sense — in a really weird way, that is. Or maybe it was just this specific one. The ones the royal Sprouts took down some time ago had looked quite different from it. Like the kind of dragons you’d expect to see in myths, honestly.

“I need you to help me clear the area around me of the darkness. The vital aura is being corrupted every time I try to expand it outward from me.”

The dragon looked at him with focused eyes. He knew it could understand what he was saying. The corrupting influence of the darkness was a hassle and he needed to get rid of it before he could draw out more vital aura from the ground.

“Very well.”

It flicked its tail in his direction and the still air moved in a circular pattern like a cyclone, taking the darkness with it. A wide circle was formed in almost an instant with a radius of about 20 feet with him at the center.

“Fascinating,” Jerome said in astonishment and the dragon snorted.

“Get to work. The charm you put on your friends would wear off soon. As will yours.”

How the fuck did you know about that? he scowled.

He started muttering the spell for Godspeed making sure that he was drawing on the vital aura from deep inside the earth and not the darkness in the air.

~~~

Jerome cleared his throat to get the attention of the dragoness. It had been almost half a day now and he needed to get back to Csala before she came looking for him. And she would. He had a feeling she would. He just hoped the others could hold her back.

The dragoness rose up to its feet and walked up to the border of a scripted circle Jerome had set up.

Its whole body was put on display for Jerome to see due to the green light, emanating from the vital aura. The size of the dragoness gave him a sense of how big the surrounding clearing they were in was — and it was huge. At least forty feet tall on all fours, and should weigh nothing less than a dozen tons.

He would have checked his surroundings to get a clear picture of where they were using his 360 vision but now was not the time to waste psychic energy.

And besides, even if he thought there was some kind of danger or other predators around, the dragoness was an apex predator. There would be no other predators around its territory for miles.

“Was this necessary?” it asked, eyeing the barrier and the rich verdant energy swirling inside. Vital aura was thick in the air inside the barrier. It was like a green fog that was alive and swirling like a storm.

Jerome had taken his time to make the barrier as powerful as possible. Not that the dragoness couldn’t destroy it. He knew it probably could with the flick of that deadly tail.

“Please bring my friends and drop them inside the circle,” he said, sounding as polite as possible.

The dragoness grinned at him. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I only seek to protect mine. I’ll do as I said I would.”

“Didn’t you wonder why I didn’t have you swear an oath?” it sat down comfortably looking at Jerome mockingly.

He had wondered why but said nothing. This way was better for him. This way, he wouldn’t be tied to a vengeful dragoness by oath. “I wouldn’t presume to know what goes through the mind of a great dragoness like yourself.”

It snorted, unamused. “Flattery doesn’t work on me, Chosen of Ilyrrah. Urgh, that’s a mouthful.”

“Then, Jerome would do just fine. And it’s a fine name.”

The dragoness raised a group of smaller, protruding scales where its left eyebrow should be in a human. Freaking freak, Jerome thought. “Heh. I think I’m past being surprised by anything you do now,” he said.

“Don’t cross me, Jerome. Those that tried have long digested.” Its right forelimb made an impossible movement for a creature on all fours, patting its slightly round stomach.

Jerome’s jaw dropped. “How did…” he couldn’t even complete his sentence as he watched the dragoness turn around and walk farther into the darkness, disappearing from view.

Jerome sensed the Sprouts before they reached him. He reached out with Suzie to catch them before they hit the ground. They had passed out but were still breathing, probably from exhaustion. The fucking dragoness had siphoned their essence. Jerome exhaled loudly to calm his anger. He didn’t know these two personally, but he felt responsible for them. And he wanted to make sure they got to the pool unharmed. He had promised after all. He would look like someone who exaggerated his own worth if they didn’t return alive with him.

The dragoness was already there waiting patiently at the edge of the barrier. Jerome stood up and muttered another spell. A prism of colorful lights beamed out of his body, making him look like he was bleeding light.

“Now, what’s that?” the dragon asked, rolling its eyes.

“Protection. Terra Praeta is a named planet so you can be named naturally without needing power for it, right? Hold on,” he said to stop the dragoness from interrupting him. “What you want is a name that comes from a place of power and that’s what all this preparation is for. It would help me—”

“Yes, yes. It would help to partition the amount of essence and vitality used so you don’t end up giving too much and dying,” it said and rolled its eyes. “Fae magic is child’s play. And not worth my time.”

The dragoness gave him a toothed grin, as it saw the surprise on his face.

“You truly understand what I want then,” it said. “Good. So, let’s get to it. I want to be given a mighty name. Something…” It took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as it sat on its haunches, “Epic!”

Jerome watched the emotions play across the dragoness’ face, unable to wipe the one on his for a while. Did it just call his magic child’s play? It took so much to learn his Fae Spells, so much to even be worthy of obtaining them, and this overblown reptile just called it child’s play? The gall! And what the fuck kind of name could he come up with that would be epic right now? And the dragoness couldn’t name itself. There were rules to these things. Maybe he could come up with something using the force it wields like Shadow or Darkness, or Obsidian?

“What are you waiting for?”

Jerome came out of his thoughts. “Hmm? I’m looking for the perfect name.”

“Right. Be quick about it,” it sat down to wait.

Jerome kept thinking, trying to come up with something that’ll make the feline reptile — if that even was a thing — keep him out of its jaws.

The dragoness stood up and began pacing back and forth. It looked like a black lioness with wings and horns, and black scales instead of golden fur. Its tail swished with every loop it made around the distance it paced. Its claws were retracted and its feet gracefully avoided anything that would cause it to make a sound as if there were eyes on it.

Its movements mesmerized Jerome as nothing else could. Jerome had to admit to himself that the dragoness looked very elegant. There was a sophistication to it that one could only appreciate in the dead of the night.

Night…

“Ooh. I’ve got something. But first, a question,” Jerome asked.

“What now?” it snapped.

“What happens to you when I name you?”

“Of course, I become… more,” the dragoness said. Then it narrowed its eyes at Jerome. “You’re not thinking of going back on your word, are you?”

“I’ll keep my word. But I wish to know how strong of a dragon I’ll be dealing with when I name you.”

“It’s just a name, Jerome. Urgh, what’s in a name anyway?” it rolled its eyes, almost looking cute. Almost. “Yes. I’ll be stronger.”

“Don’t try to downplay the significance of a name. Or I might just name you something stupid.”

The dragoness glared murderously at him.

“How much stronger do you become? As strong as a Transcendent?”

The dragoness snorted. “If only wishes grew on trees… My patience has limits, Jerome.” It picked up its paw and pointed at him… with a claw! The rest of its fingers were folded in a fist!

“Fucking…!” Jerome was saying but quickly held back the rest of his words. He inhaled and exhaled loudly. “Very well.”

He believed the dragoness was telling the truth. Or he had no other option than to believe. It was better this way, kind of. As long as it wasn’t Transcendent he’d be able to get away from it. And it wasn’t like he could prolong things. The dragoness would see through him.

“By the power vested in me. By the authority granted—”

“Stop that, stop…just… STOP!” the dragon glared at him. “Speak the name, or is that too difficult for you?!”

Jerome sighed. “Ahem. I name you…” he cycled essence to his vocal cavity…