If you have embarked this far into the journey of this tome it might be of no surprise to you that in regards to Draconic there are certain lexiconic abnormalities regarding societal views. Words expressing fondness and love pertain more to objects, wealth, and locations than to other dragons or companions, for instance.
Of particular fascination to myself, there are no words pertaining to fault or remorse. While there are several hundred ways to express the intent to kill in Draconic, there are none to say sorry or to acknowledge fault.
The idea of assuming responsibility is so abhorrent to dragons, even if a dragon were to encounter another dragon and a feud was started over an accidental slight, there are only three predictable outcomes. The first outcome is that both dragons don’t bother to engage in discourse and immediately attack each other with the intent to kill. The second, that the dragons react rudely to each other and then fly off in separate directions each thinking they’ve gotten the better of the other.
The last, and the most probable outcome is the dragon in question will double down on the accident. If a dragon accidentally offended another dragon and was asked whether he did it on purpose? ‘Of course I did!’
Probably with a snort for flare and a puffed out chest.
Excerpt from “The Danger of Draconology - Shattering Romanticism” by Archivist Sikes
“Now, let’s talk about your present circumstances.” Tamara decided to fill the awkward silence. She looked around the room and noted the books, the tables, the extensive maps on the walls, and the sheer decadence of the rich materials used to furnish the room. Real wood from above in the garden, books that were lovingly tended to with nary a ripped page or unfortunate looking binding, and of course, the three locks that climbed between the door and the door frame.
“Let me up,” Ruth suggested casually. He was staring intently at the side of her pale neck, envisioning ramming his claws in the soft spot between her jaw and ear.
“You know that you tried to stab me in the eyeballs and that didn’t work right?” Tamara said in exasperation. She wasn’t even looking at him and had somehow detected his murderous thoughts. “While I find your devotion to me charming, it is a little bit shortsighted to think you’re in my league.”
“Can soul spaces be moved?” Ruth asked, still staring at her exposed neck.
Tamara’s eyes widened for just a moment, a movement that wasn’t lost to him. He had managed to surprise her at last. She schooled her expression and looked down at him, pursing her lips. He was beginning to understand that this was the countenance she gave him when she was trying to decide how to speak to him. Whether it would be an actual explanation or a truncated speech.
“Put simply? Yes. Soul spaces drift in Elsewhere and can be propelled. If your soul space is discovered you could move it, assuming they do not use some technique to mark the location or bind it to one place.” Tamara began stroking the horn on the right side of his head in a placating manner. “I would still be able to find you though, don’t worry…”
“You said if they are sufficiently motivated they could find me?” Ruth knew he was just repeating a lot of these questions but, honestly, it seemed kind of important and he hadn’t really understand even half of it the first time she went through it.
“Mm.” Tamara nodded and smiled, now running her fingers through his hair. It felt like he was being petted like some sort of animal companion.
His eyes narrowed. He had seen those. Humans kept ridiculous small creatures at their side. Originally, Ruth had thought that they were kept in case they were needed for food. Soon(after quite a lot of careful snooping from above), it became apparent that the creatures were actually a huge waste of space. They consumed more than some humans, shat wherever they wanted, and seemed unrepentantly shameless in their attempts to cajole attention from their human masters.
Despicable.
Ruth scowled at her, absolutely refusing to show any indication that he liked the way her fingers felt on his scalp.
Tamara misunderstood his scowl and decided that he had wanted more information on his soul space.
“Can you really understand Elsewhere, Ruth? Even if I explain it to you patiently? This is a conversation we should have later in life, when at the very least the order and chaos of the universe can start attaching skills to you,” She smiled coquettishly at him, as if daring him to ask what the hell she meant by order and chaos and attaching skills.
Fortunately she didn’t wait for him to respond. “When your soul space grows large enough there are forces within the universe that began attaching meaning to your power. In addition to spells, you will gather skills, and you will be able to monitor them much like your spells and mana. At such a point, you’ll be able to monitor your own skills without relying on my awareness so much.”
Ruth listened to her drone on for some time after that as she talked about how spells relied upon mana and that skills relied on his bodily capability. The mana would reinforce and shape his bodily constitution to some degree, but it would be the strength from his body that would be necessary to use the skills. Basically, she seemed to be saying, don’t worry about it until it happens.
“Elsewhere…” Ruth finally interrupted her, tired of listening to the lecture on the importance of skills and how he was just a fledgling again, weak, pathetic, etc. etc.
Tamara froze in midspeech and looked down at him with those timeless eyes. There was reproach in those eyes, but also amusement. “Imagine the entirety of the world.”
Ruth grunted, doing no such thing. That was stupid-
“All the world. Imagine how big it is. How long it would take you to walk across it,” Tamara smiled, and her smile seemed to stretch in his vision as whatever trick she played took effect.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Ruth was suddenly standing in a great area that kept expanding ever wider in his point of view. His perception showed the garden above, the landscape changing from mountains to forests to lakes to snow capped plateaus and ever onward. Oceans, stunning vistas, deserts, swamps, volcanos, more forests and more mountains. His mind reeled with just how large this world was.
He gasped for breath even as he came back, noticing that he was covered in a sheen of sweat. She continued to pat him on the head, pausing a moment to tuck the blanket up under his neck with a gentle tug. It was definitely not what he needed right this second, but he was too floored to complain.
“That is the world,” Tamara said matter-of-factly. “It is pretty small, all things considered, but is still enough to give you mental pressure. So, for our next little thought lesson, I won’t show you -- I just want you to imagine it, okay?”
The idea of being subjected to more by her had him grimacing. He tried to nod, feeling sweat trickle down from his temple. He didn’t want her to do that thing again. Ruth had almost lost himself in the vastness.
“I will… just try to imagine it now,” he replied when she didn’t speak.
“This world is one of many. When you think of this world, intellectually you’re thinking of a sphere or globe. But in your imagination particularly you think of it as a box. Everything surrounding you flows into this box you have labeled the world. Do you see the box?”
Ruth grunted acknowledgment. He was imagining a box where all that… everything… was contained. It was a pretty big damn box.
“Imagine that the box is the size of a grain of sand on a beach. Countless grains of sand. You understand countless right? Beyond your ability to count…” He noticed that she specified his ability and felt a little annoyed, but she continued calmly. “...those are other boxes with other worlds. The ocean laps at those boxes, and that is the space in between worlds. That is just a reference in size so you can begin to contemplate what I am about to tell you.”
Truthfully, the idea that this world was just the size of a grain of sand in the grand scheme of things was a little off-putting. So there were a lot of worlds and there was a lot of space and it was pretty vast? Big deal? There were easier ways to say that then the elaborate and mentally taxing thought process they were traveling down.
“Now at the edge of this ocean of space, what is beyond?” Tamara asked him.
“...uhh, another beach?” Ruth stabbed randomly in the dark.
“Sure, another beach. What is past the other beach?”
Ruth fell silent, slowly working his way toward this. If there was an ocean of space between the worlds, what was on the other side? “More beach, or more land, or more oceans?”
“Perhaps.” Tamara agreed. “What is beyond those beaches, lands, and oceans?”
“More space,” Ruth was starting to get irritated.
“Until what?”
“Until what?” Ruth parroted her, not understanding what she was asking.
“Well, when does it end? How would you even describe the end?”
“...nothingness?” Ruth tried at last.
Tamara held out her hand in front of him palm upward. “My hand contains nothing, but you know where it exists. Therefore, it exists somewhere.”
“What are you trying to tell me?” Ruth finally just gave up.
Tamara didn’t look angry or even disappointed, she just stared at her hand for a long time before finally slumping a little bit. “I’m trying to tell you that there are no boxes. There are no walls. There are no ends. Can you really conceptualize that the issue is not ‘how far’ or ‘how big’? The issue you have to conceptualize is ‘never far enough’ and ‘bigger than you can even think’.”
Ruth finally tried to imagine it. A darkness so profound that he couldn’t see anything in any direction. Knowing that it might just… not ever end. That he could travel for his entire life and still have no concept of the shape or borders of everything around him or how it was tied together. A chill ran through his body. How… was such a thing possible? And yet, he could think of no other way to explain it.
“...now. Imagine going to the edge of everything where only that darkness looms…” Tamara said, looking up with eyes suddenly blazing. “...trying to find anything specific there without landmarks, or tethers, or directions, even acknowledging that traveling in one direction for your whole existence might yield no discoveries. That, is the Elsewhere.”
“How does this effect me?” Ruth finally asked aloud, voice full of wonder.
“Truthfully? Not at all.” Tamara said cheerfully, continuing her careful maneuvering.
Ruth finally blinked, feeling parts of his scalp being pulled. An awareness that while he was distracted she had been doing something to him. “What are you doing?”
“Braiding your hair.” Tamara admitted. “I was going to do pigtails but they’d just get caught in your horns so I’m doing a plait down the middle of your head.” Tamara paused and narrowed her eyes, trying to see if his expression changed. “Which I know means nothing to you, so why worry about it?”
“What now?”
“Well. You feel like you’re doing pretty well now, and my repair is mostly done. Your soul space also has the added benefit of a review-like ability. Everyone can look into their soul space at some point and review everything they’ve ever seen. Honestly, all this hissing and clicking is starting to wear on me so I was thinking I’d just burn a language into your space.” Tamara smiled cheerily.
Ruth’s eyes narrowed, and he cautiously licked his lips to ask, “burn?”
“Well, I can’t just keep burning templates and things into you, but I’m somewhat impatient so I’m just going to give you the Under Common language. Most gods require the followers of their pantheon to understand one of the common languages associated with Chaos and Order, Evil and Good. You can think of this as the one spoken by most of the ‘evil’ races. The chances of you becoming a vegetable are increasing, admittedly. Engraving this information comes with a bit of a risk, and normally I’d just make you learn it all in a month or so of practice but,”
Tamara hesitated almost as if she were deciding something in her mind before continuing slowly. “I would hate for you to spend the rest of your life drooling…”
She laughed and placed her palm on his forehead and smiled down at him with such a loving look that for a moment he stilled, feeling safe.
Her next words filled him with terror and motivated his body toward struggling under her monstrous strength.
“Imma risk it.”
Power flooded into his forehead and for a moment before he started screaming Ruth could swear he smelled something burning coming from inside his skull.
Immortal and Deadly Textbox:
> Planar Tiefling: Ruth (Level 13) (Baby Ruth/Lord Rush) (Lightning Specialized)
>
> 5 of 5 spell slots
>
> Languages: Draconic, Under Common(Evil Races)
>
> ★★★★ Limited Electrical Immunity
>
> Mana / Regeneration Rate: (20/20) (2HR)
>
> ★Lightning Ward: 50%
>
> ★Lightning Chain: 50%
>
> ★Lightning Wings: 0%
>
> ★★ Shock: (Mana Consumption 2)
>
> ★★Thunder Struck: (Mana Consumption 10)
>
> ★★Magnetic Field: (Mana Consumption 1, Upkeep 1)
>
> ★★★★★Devouring Plasma Wave: (Mana Consumption MAX) Effects: ???
>
> Lord Rush: ★★★★★ Innate: SHAKE SHAKE