The Caverns, Near the Town of Eldor. Troug, 8th.

Olea Munroe

In a long-drawn-out moment, I felt it as my mind was transported to another space, a void of purest darkness. For a moment I feared that I had done something wrong, but then the space brightened, taking on the color of the azure sea.

The entirety of all I could see was taken up by forms traversing the world both horizontally and vertically, fish, merfolk, semi-transparent undine-like creatures, and a whopping mammoth of a whale. There were so many sea faring creatures for my mind to catalogue that unsurprisingly I lost track of myself and completely forgot my current situation.

Who knew.

I was brought back to myself as I felt a presence come up behind me. I cannot say that I am possessed of a sixth sense that would let me go without ever being surprised, I am merely going to say that failing to sense the being behind me would be impossible for a deaf and blind sloth.

I could feel the pulses of energy as it pulsed through the surroundings. Would it be considered elemental energy? Water energy? Something else? No idea, I was just going to label it as the do-not-anger-me energy as the creature I saw when I turned around was not something I would survive angering. Of that, I was sure.

“Hello, Olea.” Came the voice of the being in front of me. It carried through the watery substance all around me, echoing in the very core of my being.

Another damned dragon.

“Ummn, hello.” I said intelligently.

I was greeted with a deep resounding laugh; it shook the area causing a ripple of shockwaves to spread in all directions. The creatures that had seemed so plentiful moments ago were not making a run for anywhere that was not here. I guess I could play on the fact that I was found to be amusing.

Funny people stayed alive longer! Usually.

“Have we met? I am afraid to say I have absolutely no idea who you are.” I said, then quickly followed up with, “I’m sorry.”

It usually pays to be polite when dealing with existential dread, and the creatures that inspire it in you.

“No, mortal. I would be shocked to recall ever encountering one so weak in my domain before today.” He paused then, in thought maybe. Or he was giving me a moment to collect myself.

His form was difficult to fully grasp outside of his dragon-like appearance. I could make out the hazy outline as it stretched into the distance behind and down from his massive head. I would gauge him as being two-hundred feet in length, if you counted the tail that covered a good forty percent of that length. The scales, while lacking the prismatic color scope of Help-chan, held a color that was ever-shifting between deep blue, almost black, all the way to the bright green lagoons that were popular in the more exotic tourist destinations.

It was so unbelievably beautiful, marred only by the fact that I was in danger of making the water in my immediate area a little more yellow. I had met a dragon, yes. The difference here was that I had known the spark of that dragon before meeting him and was relatively sure at the time that he meant me no harm. This guy could very well want to eat me and devour my soul or keep me here to churn out mushrooms for his progeny for all of eternity. I had no idea.

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“Calm down, child. I can feel the beating of your heart from here. Your fear is vibrating through half of the kelp forest.”

“Sorry!” I said quickly.

“All is well, fret not over my appearance. I was merely curious to see a Progenitor in my realm so soon after the initial implementation. You surprised me.” He looked skyward for a moment as a shadow passed overhead and then continued, “I do like surprises.”

“Well, I am glad to be of service then. Was there anything else? Can I head off now without offending some standard protocol for a meeting like this?” I really did not wish to offend a great entity today, had I not had enough of these random visits from oversized creatures that bend and warp reality by existing?

“Be at peace. I am here to officiate the bonding of a spirit in my realm. I have been given the position of protectorate in this realm and as such I would like to make sure that I am signing my charges into a beneficial contract. I cannot have some uppity jerk ruining my children for all of eternity by making them suffer through onerous tasks such as heating a bath daily for the local nobility. Imagine the shame that work would bring upon a youngling.” He tsked to himself causing the water to echo with vibrations strong enough to make my teeth chatter.

“So, this is like a job interview then? Does every Piety user get the same treatment?” I was genuinely curious now that I knew I was not on the menu.

“By the blessed Three, this is far from normal. Child, I came for my curiosity. Your contracted partner was chosen the moment you incanted your spell, not the wisest move with such a new spell you know, full investitures are harsh. That aside, you will find your newly bonded elemental in the waking world when you return.”

A small worm of thought wiggled itself into my ear as I listened, “Wait a moment, what was that word you used for me earlier? Progenitor? What does that mean?”

Another laugh followed my question, I was getting somewhat sick of being laughed at, or was I being laughed-with and not at? I was thinking about the former as this was not very funny for me.

The dragon paused for a moment, cocking its head to the side as it did so. “Not an answer for me to give you this day, whelp. Some time soon you may find your answers, but they are not mine to provide. Not even I will risk angering Mother.”

He said Mother as if it were capitalized, which made me think that I would never wish to meet his mother, regardless of whether she made the best cookies in all of existence. Nope, not for me.

“So…” I said, not quite saying anything. I did not entirely know what to say, ask, or request. I mean it was a dragon, were they not being that hated ignorance, loathed greed, and disliked mortal peons like me? I was not willing to risk my life under an ocean of which I did not know the location. Nope, all life-rising behavior is bad.

“Yes, yes. My brother did say you were an odd duckling.” He gestured vaguely upward, and I saw nothing there but the usual shimmering haze of azure sky, except it was all water, no real sky to speak of.

“Brother?” I asked.

“No matter. That is a matter for another time. Let it be known that I approve of this bonding and shall look forward to your actions in the future young Progenitor.” He then made a dismissive wave of his whiskers, and I was gone, cast back to reality.

Upon reorienting myself I found that I had indeed brought back a new friend. In my cupped hands I held a small Undine.

A creature of old myths back on earth. This one was in the shape of a woman, albeit an exceedingly small woman made entirely of water. Her form altered in colors much like the sea she had been brought from, though there were occasional hints of crimson near her hair, a result of the blooded bonding. I had no idea.

She looked at me so serenely that I lost myself yet again, only jolting back to reality when I heard a soft babbling voice in the back of my mind.

“I greet you, Mistress Olea Munroe, Progenitor and Progeny of Divinity.” Was the message I received, even as pain lanced its way through my body. The pins and needles had shot up five levels to become a searing agony in the very core of my being.

My mind shut down as it failed to process every nerve in my body being set afire all at once, as if screaming for a release from torment. My bodily consciousness followed shortly thereafter, taken down into darkness.