In a moment of curiosity, I placed the vessel of the Storm Dragon into my inventory. I wasn’t sure it would work, and I immediately threw it back out onto the sand where it crumpled. Naea looked at me with venom in her eyes, a familiar look on her face. Her tongue was barely held back from slobbering over the body. Only my need to loot the body and subsequent developments with the Guidance Stone had stopped her from devouring the magic-rich body already. “Go ahead.”
While I had considered keeping the corpse, my own revulsion and Naea’s disapproval were enough to tip the scales. There was something special about the homunculus for sure but I suspected the dungeon fairy would get more value from it. I was quickly proven correct as, for the first time, it was Naea who entered a state of meditation and not myself.
The sounds of her strange eating method had stopped for some time when I finally chanced a look and saw her floating in the air. Her wings were frozen and I could feel an aura enveloping her form. An aura I now had a name for. It seemed like I wasn’t going to be alone in my journey of understanding.
A transparent egg of golden light obscured her from view, but I could see her silhouette dancing within the Dao like a music box figurine. She twirled, extending her wings wide before sweeping them around herself. Her arms and legs moved gracefully in intricate, weaving motions full of meaning. I fell comfortably into the sand and watched with rapt interest.
After a while, yet far too short a time, the process completed and I beheld a remade fairy. I made a huge fuss over Naea, who was clearly proud of herself and happy with the changes. A palpable sense of power exuded from her confident features. I opened the Familiar page and my eyebrows shot straight up. Wasn’t that really incredible? “Evolution and a Dao?”
“Amazing, aren’t I?” Naea preened. I agreed happily and loudly. Naea’s appearance had changed in fairly dramatic ways. Her wings were wider in places, no longer pointed like a wasp’s. Widest at the bottom, they much more closely resembled a butterfly’s wing but with some of the wasp’s sharpness remained. Her limbs were longer, more similar in proportion to myself and her black hair had grown in more comfortably. She no longer looked like a barbie doll that had its head shaved and then left in the sun too long.
Name - “Naea” Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 30
Grade - E Dao of the Fairy Dragon
Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm
Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 29)
It had been a while since I last looked at her page and just like myself, she had come on leaps and bounds in such a short time. As evident in her new, finer features, she had evolved from grade F to grade E. A new section of the page had appeared to house her Dao. Sparkstep was the movement skill in which Naea turned into a streak of lightning, which I was happy to see she had not lost a skill like I had. I did have one question, though.
“Fairy dragons, huh? Is that because of me and him?” I gestured to the sky with my chin. Naea looked up thoughtfully before shrugging.
“Not really sure. When I started eati- cleaning up the body, it was like a new voice appeared in my head. Only, it was me, but a smarter version of myself. She asked me what I wanted, who I wanted to be.” I didn’t ask Naea how she answered. It was her business, and it was private to a deeper level than even our soulbound contract. The implication was clear, and she groaned as I broke into a cheshire grin.
“You like me,” I crooned, pushing my face cheek towards her in a ridiculous fashion. She slapped me away, as she had done before. Except, Naea wasn’t the fairy she had been even minutes ago. I bounced away like I had been punched by a brick wall. It didn’t hurt, but it knocked me off balance and onto my butt. My wide smile was stolen and found its way to Naea’s mouth instead while she looked at her hand.
“Let’s go see if there’s even more power to be had up there.” Both to move on and to distract Naea from the megalomania I could see forming behind her eyes, I pointed to the top of the tower. It worked, as Naea nodded and shot off ahead of me. She challenged me to a race, so I obliged.
She absolutely smoked me.
The short dash was a good proof of concept for the new energy within me but it made no difference. My skills lay in the manipulation of mana, while Naea was firmly in the Speed-based category. Plus she was a higher level than me now, even. I didn’t voice these complaints because I realised how childish I sounded but I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t rankle against it a little. I soothed my Dao by reminding myself Naea’s strengths were my strengths.
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It wasn’t like the gains were over, in any case. The journey back to the top of the tower was fast. I had no sudden nostalgia for the dangerous rooms which had felt worthless at the time. The lack of experience as I climbed had bothered me more than getting no loot but with my current bottleneck, the missing valuables were the only real loss. Once I started up the final set of stairs, I forgot my gripes.
The sensation of bliss I had experienced before was back. When the Storm Dragon had descended, the vault had closed, but it was now releasing its tantalising aroma and melody once more. I stopped early on the stairs as an idea came to me. The desire in my heart felt so natural and yet with a flex of my Dao, the feeling became muted. “Of course.” With a flick of attention, I extended my aura to cover Naea as well. She rubbed her eyes.
“Were the walls always this boring?” She asked, letting me know it had worked. Without the Storm Dragon bearing down on me, moving my own aura around was quite natural. I allowed my control on the Dao to slip, and the feeling of ecstasy returned. Naea giggled like she had been tickled. Unlike with the Storm Dragon, fighting the feeling wasn’t necessary. There was no reason not to experience these feelings. The mouthwatering senses which assault us were simply a powerful Dao. Without intent behind it, all that remained was beauty.
The stairwell opened and we wasted no time heading over to the vault. “Finally,” I said happily when we entered, “a room befitting a dragon.” The plain nature of the tower was clear to me once I thought about it. Why waste wealth on a room meant for killing? My understanding of a dragon’s actions was only a little less than understanding my own now that I had taken the first steps upon the path and created my Dao pool.
Only a space in which the Storm Dragon themself would spend any amount of time was worth attention. The simple, almost boring trials below were crafted without care because the dragon had no interest in them. The vault was a different story altogether. My eyes didn’t know where to look first, my heart ached knowing I wouldn’t be able to stay here forever. Conscious of the addling effect, I used my aura to push back the Dao in the room.
The small lump atop the trial tower held mysteries aplenty. First, it was much larger inside than out. My ears popped as I walked into the room but they cleared quickly, like a train going into a tunnel. An incredible marvel, but one of many. I was aware that the wonders of the universe were getting the cheerleader effect but there was nothing to be done. Keeping my attention on any one thing for too long meant potentially missing even greater sights.
The room itself was large and circular, much like the levels of the tower below. The similarities stopped at the material of the walls, none of the mundanity of earlier showing on these clearly hallowed halls. Someone or something loved this place enough to carve impossibly detailed filigree and reliefs into every spot on the wall. Precious metals were melted into the grooves, gems placed in the nooks. A great, carved story of some kind was explained by the art.
I wanted to take it with me, and the decadent space had given me some ideas of my own for some changes to my inner world. With the strength of the Dao in the vault, I was tempted to sit down and meditate right there. Instead I traced my fingers along the wall and took in the story the expressionstic carvings depicted.
“Pretty, I guess.” Naea’s bored voice surprised me. Her eyes were scanning the centre of the room, which held the real treasures. “I only know art from your world, but this isn’t really my style. Not that I’d judge someone for their taste. Ooh! Do you know Richard Dadd? Amazing painter and such a great name for someone who murdered their father.”
“What are you talking about? Actually, I do know Dadd, his work is in the Tate…” I waved my hand at Naea, bidding her to be quiet and she obliged. To me, the overall theme was clear. A milky grey crystal was surrounded by sweeping curves and jagged cuts, used in masterful duality to show a young dragon embracing harsh weather. The journey of this cloudy gem flowed in magnificent stages all around the room. There were eight distinct stages of growth for the dragon.
A single gem, overwhelmed by the swirls and bolts. A pair of gems, strong enough to face the multitudinous lines of gold and silver. Next, a set of four interlinked crystals, two new colours mixed in as single yellow and a single blue gem joined the bunch. These four were strong enough for the carved lattice to show signs of disruption for the first time.
The next two were, predictably, eight gems and then sixteen. The first three stages were the rise of a dragon to its own strength. These next two stages showed the dragon starting to feed on the storms which surrounded it. Stage six was dominated by a large array of gemstones. Thirty two crystals of various mixtures. Some were entirely one colour, others held different ratios of blue, grey and yellow. The storm itself was completely overwhelmed and disjointed in this stage.
Stage seven was a departure from form. The sight was jarring as the previously well-thought-out formation of thirty two gems were mashed together seemingly at random. My eyes, familiar as they were with the Dao of the dragon, understood the intent of the piece like looking at a photograph. The dragon had contained and stolen the entire storm, but it was left injured and imperfect. My heart fluttered as I came to the final stage.
Like the first stage, the final section only held a singular gem. Of course, this was the most incredible jewel of the lot. This was the realisation of the Storm Dragon’s journey. With more facets than even my improved mind could hope to count, each of the final gem’s faces was a different shade of the previous three colours. Some were even green as the yellow and blue fused instead of battled.
Even faced with the last gem, I had no inclination to try and remove any from the wall, even though they were doubtlessly rare. My analysis ability granted from Manasight was inactive here, so I couldn’t know for sure but it was an educated guess. Naea, without the same reverence from her Dao, had to be slapped away. “Nuh uh,” I warned, “Cave of Wonders situation.”
Naea’s eyes widened. “That stupid monkey,” she nodded sagely. I laughed, glad she was able to keep up with references to animated movies from the 90s. The System really was all-powerful. I took a deep breath, feeling the scent of the storm in the air. The slow circular walk admiring the artwork had mostly been to calm my mind down for the main event.
I opened the Trial of the Storm Dragon quest prompt, still waiting for my final approval which I now gave. The vault around me seemed to release a tension of its own. Until then, there had been the spectre of the Storm Dragon’s disapproval at us being within its vault. The ghost of a roar so distant it was hard to hear passed through the room. My ears even popped again.
Finally, the Boon of the Storm Dragon was mine to receive.