Far to the north, lay the elven continent of Eredriss. The elven people were the primary race to occupy the continent. They had divided into districts of a sort, rather than into the cities that humans and dwarves favored. Each district was the domain of an elder or greater dragon.

It wasn’t that the dragons ruled the elves—no matter what the great lizards might think. No elf would have to agree to that. But elves respected the power of the apex predators and were content to live in their districts. There, they abided by whatever whims the great dragons had.

As for lesser dragons, they were present, of course. Not even a dragon is born with five hundred years of experience. It was these dragons who were not strong enough to claim their own district, yet who sought to supplant the one who ruled their area which caused the most problems.

Elven communities had been known to come together to hunt down such beasts.

Namis was far from the interior of the continent. He had received word from his half-breed son. Many of his kind thought he had done the boy a disservice by letting him live, but while Namis knew that nature was cruel, he couldn’t be cruel to his own flesh and blood. He had cared for his human lover and the boy they had created.

Now, that investment was paying off. The call had gone out for more ships to explore what he had learned from his son. This new dragon required investigating. Could this be the rise of another dragon overlord?

If so, it would fall to Namis and the other ship captains to determine if this Nico would become a friend or a foe. The old elf had only to wait for his boat to finish being loaded. He would sail with the morning tide.

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Far to the south, Emperor Ferdinand Castine was dealing with another dragon. “Why must you be so difficult, Sheraleigh?”

“What did I tell you to address me as, human?”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry… Mistress Sheraleigh, Lady of the Sky.”

“When it’s just us, simply calling me Mistress will suffice. You have been a good little human, after all, providing me with delicacies and gold. Speaking of which, my bed of gold is starting to flatten. I think I need some more to fluff it up a bit.”

Ferdinand sighed. The empire was rich, having experience a long period of prosperity since his family had led a rebellion to overthrow the previous dynasty. But Sheraleigh’s demands were staggering. He already had groups making continuous dungeon runs because it was faster to farm gold from dungeons than to mine and mint his own coins—not that he wasn’t doing that, too.

“Then why won’t you at least talk to any of the candidates that I’ve sent you?” the Emperor asked. “They are the most promising mages and warriors amongst all my imperial knights.”

“To me they are just humans with flat, squishy faces. How you can tell one another apart is beyond me. Now, I believe it’s time for my second breakfast.”

Ferdinand clenched his fists. “Yes, Mistress.”

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Meanwhile, in the sewers under the Imperial University on Urgoi Isle, a group of monsters gathered. Nan’sedoh, the oni mage had called them together. He looked over those who had arrived and now waited in silence. He would have very much liked to have some trolls or even a giant or two for this. Many of the human mages were powerful enough to cause him quite a few problems. But raw might wasn’t going to win the day.

Nan’sedoh knew this operation called for stealth. So, he was surrounded by groups of dark elves who had given their souls to the mysteries of Beyond, were-rats, were-tigers, and even a pair of dark stalkers. The insidious cold which emanated from those beings was one which affected the mind as much as it did the body.

“Report,” he said. “Has there been any sign of the humans Nico or Cami?”

“They are not in their dorm rooms, nor are they in any of the usual training places. They had each been sequestered for the past few days, but now seem to have disappeared,” one of the were-rats said.

Nan’sedoh hated such creatures, but the green-eyed mage had come and given him his orders. No servant of Beyond would question one blessed with the green eyes. It was not for him to know why the Beyond wanted these two humans to die, but he was happy to be the instrument of their destruction. Those two had been part of the group which had wrecked his triumphant return to the surface world.

“Very well, keep your eyes open. The enchantments I was given are enough to hold the humans’ scrutiny at bay for a few more days. We need to prepare our trap carefully. There can be no mistakes.” He fixed each of those surrounding him with a cold glare. “You know what happens to those who fail.”