Leo stood in the square just outside the portal on the side of the One Empire side of the gate. He had his full team with him. Hugh was to his right side, his twelve-and-change-foot, bronze-scaled form glimmering in the sunlight. Lily was to his right, elf-slender again and appearing in her intricate white dress. Andul, in full plate that hid the dwarves red beard and brown eyes, rode the almost ten-foot-long Zun—also in plate armor, her features hidden. Neha, looking like a just post pubescent tomboy with purple wood skin and green vine ahir rode the gleaming white furred, five-tailed Remy, her two Leaf-tailed den mothers, Sumoon and Juri, patrolling the outside of their little group.

Ru, the moss wyrm, and Liu Vellin the Golden Scroll, was also there—and utterly exasperated.

“You want to do what?” the sky elf asked.

“I want to raid one of the god-dragons lairs while their involved in the dragonflight.”

“So, while they’re destroying our civilization, basically,” El said.

Leo nodded vigorously. “It’s not less than they deserve.”

“If you raid one of them, they’ll come back and look for their lost loot,” Ru said, his eyes darting to the cloudless sky as if the great dragon might descend on him at any moment.

“Which means, since the dragon can’t get to you, it’ll come to us,” El said.

Hugh snorted. “Why not take some vengeance? I mean, from what you guys tell me, the dragon will be here killing you people. But you’re worried about offending its poor sensibilities.”

“We’ll want to recover after…” El said, trailing off. “Maybe it isn’t just or fair, as the treatises would say, for they do support your position, dragon. But the reality is, when there isn’t a dragonflight, the dragons go back to the swamp. At least a lot do, and all the big ones. But they’re all Leveled past sixty. If one wanted to come back and burn a significant portion of Dayblossom to the ground, or, gods forfend, slay the emperor, we couldn’t stop them. Now, I don’t know why the dragons do this. Perhaps the various progenitors or gods would work against them if they stayed outside their realm. Perhaps they are simply afraid of the tiny chance someone would kill them without additional power. But they’ll come for their treasure. We’ver tested this before, although its risky enough we don’t do it often. But you’ll be safe on Toth when the vengeance falls. The One Empire will be the one to suffer for your raid.”

Leo frowned and gestured back to the gate. “I’m suffering right now to support your refugees when I probably have a war on my own realm upcoming. I need resources.”

“And levels,” Zun added.

Leo dipped his head to her.

“Well, we both know why the refugee crisis is happening now,” El said, raising one hand to forestall Leo’s complaints. “However much it might help my realm in the long run.”

Neha held her hand up with a single finger pointed upward. “Um, old people? What about a teensy bit smaller dragon? Like, whatever a dragon just a bit below the crazy ones is.”

Leo gave her the three finger gesture the elves used for approval and turned to El, raising his eyebrow. “I do desperately need an infusion of cash for my realm.”

“And levels,” Zun said again. Hugh laughed and head-butted her, despite her armor.

El rolled his eyes and hooked his thumb, a much less serious gesture, and Leo chuckled. But then there was a period of silence in which everyone stared at each other, except El, who had his hand on his chin and was staring down.

After a moment, he glanced up. “How will you make it? I can’t have you dying right now, after all.”

Leo put his arms around his wife. “We have an excellent illusionist with us. Every sense except tactile, and can cover us easily. We’ll appear to be the ubiquitous bugs—and also hunt them for levels.”

El nodded thoughtfully and asked another question. “How will you know you have the right cave? And aren’t stealing from a great one?”

Neha disappeared with a pop, walking from nothing next to Ru. She put her hand on the dragon. “Our friend, here, will guide us so that we can find an evil dragon who deserves to lose his things while avoiding one capable of doing serious harm to the One Land.”

“What?” Ru exclaimed, but everyone ignored him.

“On those terms, I will formally recommend it to Emperor Ru, who will, I believe, support it.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m emigrating from this dimension. Not going to be here,” Ru said.

“I can’t wait to work with you!” Neha said, rubbing her hand through the great dragons moss. “I’ve never worked with a plant dragon before. I know all about plants.”

Ru stared around at the indulgent, and self-assured, smiles around him. “Son of a lizard!”

***

Later that night, Leo huffed as he ‘stared’ at the forest around him. He could see everything—a lizard on the far side of a tree, birds huddled in the branches around him. He used his telekinesis to pull and push things at random places, including ones he couldn’t see with his eyes.

He did it all while telekinetically moving through the air and using sword forms. He had to be able to fight while seeing everything around him. That involved two new magical powers—telekinetic flight and telekinetic sight, as well as one more sense, the sight. He normally controlled one magical power and the five senses he was used to while fighting in mostly two dimensions. Controlling two magical powers actively and another sense while fighting in three dimensions was orders of magnitude harder, and Leo was struggling to keep up his ‘weaponized ADHD’ style of fighting, which involved constant movement and attacks from both his sword and telekinetically thrown objects. He had to evolve himself to keep up with his evolved magics.

Occasionally, he would add a third magical ability, triggering his brutal reaction ability and slamming sword strokes through the air almost too fast to see.

So he forgave himself for losing control and slamming into a tree when Neha simply ‘appeared’ in his telekinetic sight, not entering at the edges like everything else in existence. Still hurt like hell, of course, even through his inertial armor. But it wasn’t as damaging as running into a solid object at forty miles per hour ought to have been, that was for sure.

He righted himself and floated to the ground, landing lightly. His head hurt, and his soul ached—an expression that was the closest to explaining the magic overuse he felt.

Neha walked up to him, and Leo ruffled her hair. “What’s up, Sprout?”

“I saw the new baby,” she said.

“Your brother,” Leo said, smiling as he did. He took his waterskin from his belt, took a drag, then poured some on his head. He wasn’t tired in the traditional sense, but his brain felt almost overheated.

Neha nodded, then sat on the ground. Leo took a seat beside her.

“Like I said, what’s up?”

“Do you love me like you love Little Leonard?” Neha asked.

“Yes,” Leo said, without hesitation. He had thought about it many time over the last fifteen months, and he knew the answer.

“Why?” Neha asked. “I’m not the child of your body.”

Leo chuckled and ruffled her hair, and after a moment, she leaned against his arm. “So, fun fact, true fact—Little Leonard isn’t the child of my body either.”

“What?” Neha asked, glancing at him.

Leo stared into the night sky. “You know my story—this is a borrowed body. I mean, I guess it’s mine now, but the biology that once led to me being me is gone, presumably buried somewhere now and eaten by worms. My mind and soul—I’d call it my neurological pattern, but I suspect the ring just gave you odd pictures from that—”

Neha giggled and nodded.

“—is all that’s mine anymore. In truth, even though you have, essentially, two parents that aren’t me—The Crone and Ygg’drasil—the fact that some of my spirit went to you through my bond to the tree means you are, very genuinely, probably the only child I will ever have that carries any of me within her. You’re the closest thing to a child of my body I’ll ever have, as weird as you are.”

“I’m not weird!” Neha said indignantly.

“Weird as in a statistical anomaly—you’re wonderful in a very improbable way,” Leo said.

“The princess will take the compliment,” Neha said, her voice briefly silly-imperious.

Leo chuckled, glad this conversation wasn’t going weepy. He didn’t deal with weepy as well as he should.

He mused her hair again. “Seriously, I love you, and I love Little Leonard. But for me, you’re both... found family, really. The people I want to be a part of my family, just like Lily. I want you to be my daughter, Neha. I want to protect you—however little you need it—and teach you. You are wonderful. But it’s never about biology for me anymore. I really thank Wylla—who is technically your aunt now—for what she did for me when she brought me to this world, but she removed the possibility of carrying on my line forever.”

Neha stared up at him. “Does that make you sad?”

“Are you sad that you’re a dryad and can’t even make a line?” Leo asked.

“I… I think I’ll be able to one day,” Neha whispered.

“What?” Leo asked, shocked.

“I think I’ll have the power to be able to make seeds, like Mom did. Although a lot less and slower unless I get really powerful. I just… feel it.”

“Huh.” Not sure what the social mores are, but obviously the birds and bees lecture I know is completely impractical here. What should I say? “Make sure you pick the right tree before you get married?”

At the last thought Leo chuckled, and Neha raised an eyebrow. Leo didn’t elaborate.

They were silent a bit longer, then Neha asked, “If I’m your true child, than… am I your heir?”

So many questions I’d rather not answer.

“I… don’t know. You’re my eldest, and my closest, child. As well as the child of a dungeon boss. But Lily and the country expect Little Leonard to be my heir.”

“So which will you pick?” Neha asked, her gaze intense.

Leo sighed. “Probably neither, actually. Lily once told me that Body and Wyld mages can become immortal. I have access to a power to extend my life already, although I haven’t taken it yet. I’m sorry, Sprout, but I think I’m choosing not dying as my heir.”

Neha giggled and leaned back against his side. “Well, I can get behind that heir. I don’t want you to die, either.”

“And for that overwhelming vote of confidence, I thank you.”

They were silent for a bit, then Leo looked down. “How about this—I’ll make you my heir if I outlive my son, since you’re immortal as well, on the off chance that I die anyway. Sound fair?”

“I think I’d rather just go with you don’t die,” Neha said. “I don’t really care about running the kingdom anyway. I just wanted to know I’m your real daughter.”

Leo smiled down at her tenderly. “You are, most definitely, my real daughter.”