“...Well, that took longer than I thought,” a lone woman muttered to herself. She stood directly outside an imposing cave, located somewhere in an enormous forest. Without a moment’s hesitation, she made her way down the dark caverns of the earth.
“Hopefully that old fossil won’t be too surprised to see me again,” she said, sighing. Her voice was relatively deep and masculine, and carried itself with an abrupt sense of breeziness and composure. Her eyes, colored an intricately vibrant sanguine, were sharp and alluring—clearly filled to the brim with power and awareness; although, others might argue that it looked lazy.
“At least I brought his favorite beverage,” she remarked with a smirk. “Makes me feel like a mother bringing back soda for a sugar-crazed kid.”
Dark would certainly be the best way to describe the cave. So dark was the cave, in fact, that it nearly seemed artificial—almost as if darker forces were at work in keeping the lair ominous. Then, with no gestures whatsoever, the woman gave rise to the existence of light upon the entirety of the cave. Most likely, it was with some sort of magic—and some sort of interesting magic it was. Miraculously, there were no direct sources of light to be found, even though the eyes could witness the cave’s vastness clear as day. It was almost as if the walls themselves were emitting light, albeit having previously not done so.
Besides there being apparently no monsters inhabiting the cave, there was another surprise: the woman clearly wasn’t dressed in battle gear. Undoubtedly, she was intending to enter the confines of the cave, yet as far as the eye could see—she was unarmed. If anyone saw, they’d think it more appropriate to say she was dressed as if about to meet with the ruler of some important country—she wore a splendid robe indeed.
An indefinite amount of time later, and her footsteps finally came to a stop. What laid in front of her now, was an exceptionally massive double gate, painted blood red and embellished with impressive streaks of black. It seemed to be composed of some type of extremely hard metal, but was otherwise unlocked; although, pushing it open would require excessively ludicrous strength. In the center of the grandiose gates lied a single emblem—the emblem of dragons.
“Let’s hope I don’t need to give him another beating. Can’t help it if he jumps at me like that again,” she said, sighing one last time. “Well, then—sorry for intruding.”
Her hand found its way on one side of the gate, with the palm touching the metal. In a single instant, it was pushed forth swiftly, creating a loud grazing sound and leaving a gap for her body to pass through. Grunting noises could be heard developing beyond the gates, and the woman wasted no time in entering through and closing it.
The entirety of the room was completely shrouded in darkness, and the grunting noises gradually became louder. Each grunt resounded throughout the room with intimidating presence, primal in its nature and remaining clear and powerful for all unfortunate ears to pick up.
Like with what she did on the way here, the woman once again used the spell which immediately lighted up the room in a flashy manner. Perhaps it was too flashy. The room was revealed to be extremely magnificent in size, and circular in shape with the ceiling coming up to form a rough dome. What the light also revealed, however, was a single black mass at the other end of the room. As for that black mass, it was riveting back and forth amidst its slumber, clearly in discomfort as it sensed another presence in the room.
“Don’t hurt yourself too much, old man,” she said quietly, making her way towards the black mass. “Otherwise, I’ll start the funeral preparations early.”
Without the need to add anything else, the black mass started up and rose from where it stood. There, as plain as day, was a dragon in all its splendor. “Huge” would be the first word to pop into a person’s head. The second would be “Run!”. But as for running, it certainly wasn’t something the woman was doing, or perhaps even wanted to do. She instead strided forward slowly with poise, distinguishing herself through the dragon’s eyes as a formidable (or alternatively—foolish) opponent. Readying itself, the dragon spreaded out the entirety of its awe-inspiring wingspan, and bellowed out an excruciating roar. The rocks within the enclosure visually appeared to vibrate, and the air in the room shook violently.
In an instant, the crimson reptilian eyes stared down the intruder threateningly—and charged. Defying its colossal stature, the dragon had charged down the entirety of the room at beyond breakneck speed; if the room were long enough, a bystander would be seeing afterimages of something black. Besides just the unprecedentedly shocking display of speed, the dragon had something else up its wing: agility. To prevent bashing out its own head against the gates, the dragon was able to impressively come to a near full stop almost immediately, and quickly extended its neck to chomp down at the intruder. An explosion was brought forth amidst the site of impact.
“If you wanted to eat some dirt, you could’ve done it right where you were, geezer.” Unexpectedly—as if already there in the first place—the woman had emerged completely unharmed behind the magnificent dragon. An aggravated snort could be heard coming from the black mass as it rearranged itself to once again face the intruder. Its eyes stared down coldly at the woman before it began spreading out on all four limbs and inhaled. Something dreadful could be faintly heard stirring and sizzling within its behemoth body.
It had wasted little time since the first attack, and now, in mere moments—the room was set ablaze. Engulfing almost the entirety of the cavern instantly was an outstanding conflagration, relentless in its inferno wake, which rendered the surrounding area completely devoid of color except for the macabre cloud of red. The heat (if any beings were still alive to experience it, of course) was extraordinarily intense and all-consuming, reaching newfound proportions of incandescence; it was more than capable enough to turn skin to charred parchment, meat to black substance, and bones to absolute cinders. Amidst the raging hellfire, the walls themselves seemed ready to melt while drips of rock were forming from the ceiling. As a final conclusion, the air itself was glowing with an eerily bright intensity.
It had felt like a ceaseless amount of time, but the seemingly endless flames had finally dispersed. There was still some slight fog, suffused through the air, which remained as an aftermath of the dragon’s unforgiving barrage of heated breath. As for the user of the breath attack, it stood up attentively: no time was taken to commence a celebration, for it knew something amiss. Like a hunter enclosed by foliage, awaiting an attack from the enemy, the dragon remained on guard, scanning the fog with avidity.
“Usually by now, you’d be greeting me properly, you know?” Displacing the fog around her as she walked, the woman made a lazy grand entrance after having apparently survived the inferno. She took languid strides, and her everlasting composure made one wonder if she’d even begin to take action against the dragon.
There was no civilized response from the beast, of course; instead, there was another harrowing roar as it began to ready for another seismic charge. The woman’s expression tightened. Something wasn’t right about this old dragon and its behavior. Reinforcing her suspicions, the hardened reptilian eyes which stared her down never wavered, meeting the woman’s own as if she were a stranger.
“Hey, hey!” she started. “What happened to the geezer who claimed to be the most—” Her eyes opened wide. Almost robotically, the dragon went limp, and immediately collapsed on the ground, completely cessating any form of assault it was about to attempt. In quick succession, it began coughing repeatedly in an extremely coarse manner, of which each puff of air was accompanied by faint traces of smoke from its previous attack.
It took no more than a few seconds for the woman to appear by the dragon’s side. Hurriedly, she strided further until she was able to meet the weakened dragon’s face. The reptilian eyes were closed, fully concealed by enormous, dark eyelids. Two grainy coughs later, and the eyelids peered open slowly, revealing vertical pupils encompassed by deep crimson irises. It let out another slow, wheezing cough before its eyes fixated on a familiar figure. The pair of blood-red eyes opened wider, and ever so slightly—in a manner of which the opposing member was barely able to pick up—the dragon smiled.
“...Heh, come on now. That look you’re giving me doesn’t fit your usual composed self,” it managed to say with some trouble. “Looks like I can’t even greet my friends as properly as I could the last few times anymore, eh?”
“Old man! You still haven’t—”
“And who do you think you’re still calling an old man?!” the dragon exclaimed with surprising vigor. It didn’t take long until he fell into another coughing fit. “Anyways—you’re here now. If anything, it’s a nice change to see you, so let’s settle down and talk.”
“As if that’d happen so casually, you bonehead lizard!” she replied abruptly. “It’s worsening quicker than I thought, isn’t it? Old man, if I can go and find Yuf—”
“Listen to yourself talk! If anything ever manages to surprise you—there’s a reason for it. I sure as hell can tell that this sudden turn of events isn’t natural.” His voice gradually cleared, and his body was quickly recovering from the effects of weakness, albeit temporarily. As one would expect from such an intimidatingly massive dragon, each word it spoke was far down in the octave, and exhibited itself sonorously within the confines of the cave. “Besides, I already owe you all a great debt: if you were to interrupt her travels and bring her here for my sake, I would no longer know how to express my gratitude even with all the years I’d be granted.”
She clicked her tongue briefly. “It’s fine, you damn mossback! She’d be more than happy to see us again.”
The dragon’s eyes lighted up for a moment. Afterwards, he stood up from the hard ground and laid himself down in a more comfortable position, one which was reminiscent of a curled up dog. Filled with more life and animation this time, the dragon spoke. “Let’s get back to that topic later: it’s been some time since your last visit. Not to mention,” his eyes almost seemed to beam, “my nose is picking up on something rather pleasant.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The woman simply smirked. “Now that you mention it, I do remember carrying along some sort of reunion gift. It might get some life back to that sour mouth of yours.”
Several hearty draconic laughs rang out and echoed through the expansive interior of the cave, and the dragon grinned. “Respecting your elders for once, are you? Let’s hurry and get it started, then. It’s been a while since I have had anything fulfilling to drink.”
“I’ve more than enough for the both of us, old man. I chose to be more spoiled this time, so don’t hold back,” she said, ignoring the fact that the dragon admitted to its weakening, old age.
And just like that, they settled down. The supposed “drink” that was to be divvied up between the monstrously large dragon and the relatively tall woman was only contained within a single wine bottle—and a normal sized one, at that. Regardless, eyes of lively anticipation made itself known upon the dragon’s face.
At some point during their easygoing conversation, the woman had seemingly pulled out an empty bowl from nowhere, and followed it up by bringing to life—from nothingness—an enormous circular container of what appeared to be water. The water was nearly filled to the brim, and the container’s liquid capacity reached to almost the size of the dragon’s head.
“Heh, it seems you’ve upgraded since last I saw. That’s rather good of you,” the dragon remarked, grinning slightly more.
Then, with calculated precision, the woman uncapped the wine bottle and poured approximately three-fourths of the liquid into the water. She didn’t make any motion to stir the mixture, and instead waited patiently for several minutes. The eager dragon brought forth its nostrils to the newly formed concoction, basking in its aroma. Similarly, the woman brought her empty bowl to the massive container, filled it up with the liquid contents, and brought it closer.
“Hmm, not bad at all. Good enough to leave an old lizard like you more than satisfied, no?” the woman remarked.
“You can wipe that damn smirk off your face already: you won’t receive any praise from me when I expect no less,” the dragon sneered.
“Seems that’s the most thanks I’ll be getting, then,” she muttered. “If you ever plan on acquiring some for yourself, old man, then give it up—the cost of each bottle would make your eyes pop.”
The dragon delighted itself upon the wondrous beverage, and gave a puff from its nostrils after hearing the woman’s comment. “Now if only there were any individuals willing to peacefully make exchange with an elder dragon...” he said. “Thinking about it, how were you able to get your hands on them all this time?”
“Well, making money has never been my strong suit, so you can imagine my more preferred method,” the woman said, grinning. “It’s more complicated trying to get it by hand, but that’s only because the government has control over the plant’s growth region. Those greedy bastards are especially protective of this species. Feeling more grateful yet?”
“It’s nothing more than a good drink; don’t get too full of yourself,” the dragon remarked. Although he appeared overly pompous and kept to himself, there wasn’t anything the woman missed as she caught the slightest hints of the dragon’s mouth (which continued depleting away the contents of the liquid container) curving upwards ever so slightly. “How about you go run a country, relax for a spell, and put some sunscreen on at the beach? Maybe with a lifestyle like that, you’d stop sleeping on the streets.”
A challenging smirk unraveled itself upon the woman’s face, and she spoke with extra oomph. “As usual—confronting as always when it comes to me but not with the others. I’m sure rulers don’t enjoy such carefree lives anyways, and I sure as hell don’t enjoy being involved in half-assed politics. Also—I’m not that poor, you damn geezer!”
Once again, the dragon committed itself to erupt into a burst of heartfelt laughter. “And here I thought you always enjoyed being in the presence of challenges! I guess when it comes to mental tasks like being a leader, you’re more of a lazy simpleton than I thought!” he roared. After some time, he managed to settle down, and switched his voice to that of something more sincere. “Now that you mention it—I’m interested in hearing about those two.”
The woman’s eyes sparked a little, and she stood more upright to present herself in an esteemed manner, smiling ever the more. “Right, I almost forgot you were a mossback hermit,” she said mockingly. Her spirited lips moved slowly and gracefully towards the bowl in her hand, and she finally began indulging in the drink. “Well, the trouble girl’s been traveling around the world—and still is, in fact. Improving even more in healing and light magic, from what I heard. Plans on setting up her own magic school once she’s done traveling. As for the kid—he’s off doing some impressive things. He’s been busy, but so far he’s landed himself in an influential spot, and he’s only rising higher. Maybe he’ll land himself in a position near the Emperor...”
The dragon’s voice lowered, and he spoke with teeming interest, almost as if in a trance. “Hoh? It seems that I’ll live to witness some revolutionary things by you lot, then,” he said. He raised his body majestically like any enormous, regal dragon would, and eyed the woman with his crimson sockets. “Well? You wouldn’t think I’d forget to inquire about any updates from yourself now, would you?”
In retrospect—and to the dragon’s amusement—the woman had previously described her old party members as the “trouble girl” and the “kid”, although the dragon knew better. He wouldn’t ever say it aloud, but he knew that the woman herself—of all people—had actually been (and probably still is) the most troublesome and childish of the trio. Again, he wouldn’t start anything trivial by announcing that to her.
“Hey, old man, give me a break. I don’t plan on doing anything big like you’d expect me to. I guess I’ve been doing more solo traveling, if that counts as anything in your books,” she responded. For the first time since arrival, the woman broke character: she was rubbing the back of her head, and her eyes steered away from the dragon’s own as if somewhat abashed upon having nothing more noteworthy to add.
As for the dragon himself, he understood perfectly: the woman was at an impasse. An impasse of which, given an entity of her calibre, could only be surmounted through methods other than force; which, in this case, the method was seeking out the fundamental pleasures of life via traveling. This came to be of no mild surprise to the dragon, as he knew the lax workings of the woman. By her characteristics, he always knew her to be more on the hedonistic side of things, but he couldn’t help imagining how perfect the image seemed to fit her: a lone woman, with the power to (and who had already) changed the world, simply choosing to travel the lands in search of nothing else but what her heart desires, bound by nothing.
The woman readjusted, returning back to her usual composed self, as the dragon would put it. “Hey, old man,” she started slowly, “...a few months back, I paid Phestus a visit.”
For a brief moment, the atmosphere tensed: a shift was beginning to take form in their conversation.
“It’s been a long time for the both of us, so she was extra happy to see me, and we shared drinks. At some point during our reunion, I noticed something odd. She explained that she hadn’t been feeling well: almost a year prior, she was suddenly afflicted with something which caused minor weakness. The problem is—it never stopped.”
The dragon blinked, visibly awed and confused. “Hmm, if it’s meant to cause only minor weakness, then it makes sense as to how I wasn’t able to notice it. If it were something like my curse, then...”
The woman also blinked, nodding before she continued. “I’ve also visited Sanguis and Pentrale. They both described having felt the same thing. Lastly, during my short time on the Southern Continent, I met up with another one of your guys’ kind, but he reported having felt nothing that I had mentioned. Do you know what this means, old man?”
She was evidently rushing the story, but both parties understood that it was only as a basis to prepare for the true conversation to come. Questions would come later after having laid the topic, and this was something the dragon understood mutually.
“How irregular this all is. So this continent’s the only one experiencing such a phenomenon, huh? This certainly isn’t natural, I’ll tell you that,” he said.
“There’s also one more thing—unrelated to all of this,” the woman began slowly. “It’s about Caladbolg...”
Perhaps born from the weariness of his bitter days, the dragon’s eyes proclaimed themselves with a new spark of apprehension. In his endeavor towards hopefully seeing off the last of his draconian days in unperturbed peace, the fates have only accompanied it with plight; this time, however, one of which possessed unprecedented abnormality on an unbenign scale. Seemingly cursed even in his potentially final moments, the dragon only snorted his displeasure.
“It seems… we have a lot to talk about,” he spoke deeply, nearly in a whisper; although, whispers of such magnitudes were rather unrestrained on human ears. “It can’t be helped, I guess...”
The conversation’s turning point, of which had hitherto been set aside, emerged on the two entities like a soggy, dirt-breached blanket. Indeed, there was plenty to talk about; and indeed, there was plenty more to figure out. Together in an artificially lighted cave preposterously deep beneath the earth, the strange duo finally began their true discussion.