Yana rolls around in the boss room on the sixth floor trying to come up with ways to change himself. His Mother had mentioned that it was present in all the stories, and he had read similar things about dragons. Though all of the stories had been just that, stories made up about mighty creatures. The few examples of them in the Realm were more drakes, so wild beasts that looked like dragons. His one example was the story his Mother loved to tell, "The Song of Fire". It spoke about a six-eyed dragon who made a deal with a human girl. So, it clearly had the ability to speak aloud, which he currently couldn't do. As well as the ability to change shape into something looking human, which he also couldn't do.
Yet, it rolled around in his mind, similar to how he was rolling across the floor. Just like his Mother he felt that there was more truth in that version of the story than the others, and he had certainly found many others. Some were clearly intentionally badly written, while others were just children's stories. Even in the Hold, which was close to a thousand people, there were plenty of books to go around. So, it hadn't been hard to find the various versions. Though most called the dragon a demon, and he wasn't a ruler but a prisoner of the true rulers.
He stops himself in the middle of the chamber and then sits up to rest on his haunches. Thinking about how mana is everything, at least on a basic level, he wonders if that is the key to all of this. Will is a part of one's ability to manipulate mana after all. Flesh, blood, and even bone were forms of mana set in patterns. He tries to pull at the mana of his body thinking to make it into a cloud or clothes, and failed without the mana moving. Next, he tries to push it down making himself smaller than before, and a slight shift gives him pause. It works! He is now a few inches smaller, though still a dragon.
It had been a surprise to him that his Mother wasn't upset with his change, considering that she had made him. He had always assumed that her hand would reject him now that he wasn't in the form she had given him. Yet, her words had been kind and soft in a way he hadn't heard before.
"I am just happy to see you home, my son." And then she had wrapped him in her mana, in what he assumed was supposed to be a hug. It had felt so nice that he had fallen asleep, and confirmed to him that she wouldn't cast him aside for being different. In the words of the humans, it was okay to grow up and be different. Something about that had both hurt and felt like a great weight had been taken away.
While rolling around these last couple days he had mused about his feelings on that day and those after. Being around humans and beastkin had shown him these odd behaviors that didn't make any sense to him at the time. Yet, made a little more to him now. They wanted to fit in with those around them, like he wanted to be accepted by his Mother. Sometimes they did stupid things just to be accepted. Like his own desire to go find his sister. Yes, it was his own desire to find her, talk to her, and get to know her. But, it was also something he thought he needed to do, because he could always feel his Mother's sadness when they talked about her.
He had realized, while he recovered, that he wanted to do it as much for her as himself. When he had gone underground into those ruins he had felt like he was back in the corridors of his Mother, and when he had actually returned he realized he didn't want to leave it all. He had decided to still go after his sister in the end, but first he would need to shape his form to not be as conspicuous as a dragon. Mother's spiders had already gotten the Hold's walls all riled up and they were creating traps for them. Unluckily for the humans, Mother was often inside those ants and would never let them fall into such simple traps.
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The tension at the town must be extremely high these days he mused.
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Mirabella just wanted to sleep at this point. It had been the same thing for three days since the incident, and she had almost needed to whip the soldiers to go out an patrol. They had just been getting the nearby towns back in order before all this went sideways. And, now it was looking like it would take even longer to get it all smoothed over. Apparently, Lolacal and Restibue hadn't experienced anything, but had seen a strange dome of shimmering light on the day of the incident. It was something she had the twice-furred mages looking into. They had been useless for anything of late, and to think she had once considered them the most diligent of scholars.
"We can determine that the magic that affected everyone was some kind of dispelled enchantment that affected the mind." They had told her when she asked for a report. Like it wasn't obvious to anyone with a brain that it was magic going away. Yes, it was nice to be confirmed but the only other thing they knew was.
"Some people claim that it tasted like peppermint." Like what use was that information? Mana didn't have a flavor just colors. She took a deep breath while leaning back in her seat, and wondered if this is what Reginald felt. He kept popping up in her mind over the last couple of days as she struggled to make up all the extra work. When she had gotten here she had seen a ragged man who had been wasting his resources and abilities. Now, she knew he had been under some kind of mind control. They had found the Mana Well under the Keep, so it was clear that Reginald had picked this place for that exact reason. Then, when they started digging, something had taken control of them all and pushed them towards the dungeon to the south.
After that all the events were just natural ones brought up by the mind control keeping people from seeing the ruins and Well. What HAD those ancient Faerun been doing here to put up such a powerful magical field? The mages were all talking about a secret research facility, but she recalled the Faerun being called god-like beings more than once in school. What would they have needed to keep so secret if they were the rulers and children of god in the Realm? It opened a lot of questions up, and, from the twice-furred mage's reactions, it wasn't the first time such evidence popped up. Mirabella was now very curious to examine those records the College considered restricted. Did they have reports of places like the one below? Or perhaps that strange mana type they had found lingering down there?
Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she focused back on the papers in front of her. One was a series of reports about the town of Lolacal and the Ashfall event. Along with a list of supplies needed and possessed by the garrison and locals. She had already drafted a letter to the King and Lord Cedric, a long time rival of hers. He had a partial stake in the lands around the Hold, and would love this chance to one-up her in court. Though, it was a letter that would "accidentally" get intercepted by Baldwin, a spy of his in Reverie. She knew the man was lazy and would take a bribe, which would help the town stay on its feet through the winter that was fast approaching.
The King was a more complicated matter, but he needed to know, or at least the Lord Chamberlin did, about the events. If things were going alright in the Capital then the joint contingent from the Guild and the College would be here in a few weeks to setup the machinery around the Mana Well. Then, she could force them to help her clear the forest of the monsters growing wild in it, especially the overflow of ants from the dungeon.
The dungeon always caused her to shudder thinking about it. The fear in the eyes of the Captain, a level 80 Grand Knight, was something that would put even the most ambitious merchant on edge. Yet, it was likely that the dungeon was far from done with them. They would need to prepare for anything, perhaps even a full dungeon break.