After the meal,

Tania was only looking at Isolde.

Then Marise and Pharotek took leave accompanied by Andromedius. They climbed into the small helicopter ship and quickly arrived in sight of the dwarf castle. Also, they saw the castle of the dragons but this time, by prudence, they arrived with the dwarf castle between them, from behind.

They landed and the guards immediately recognized Andromedius and warned the dwarf king and Torquemada, Andromedius' colleague.

Of course, their arrival was foreseen thanks to the communications re-established by the manacom, a resonant communication crystal, whatever the distance (well, up to a certain limit, that of mana consumption).

Baltes waited for them all smiles "Andromedus... my dear friend...How are you? "

"Well, thank you, your majesty."

"What about your assistant Isolde, isn't she with you?"

"She stayed with Tania, our host and general of the Zergonians..."

Baltes... "I see...."

And," Hello Sir...?"

"Pharotek, Your Majesty... I am Mentat Zergonian... I accompany Sire Andromedus to meet your people and learn about your culture and customs..."

"Ah, I see, you are a wise man... Welcome to dwarf territory..."

The mentat bent down, following the protocol.

After presentation of the events, the end of the demon lord and the circumstances of his capture, but also, his misfortune, the necklace of submission and his innocence that made him be spared but taken prisoner in order to redeem himself.

Baltes was very interested in this story and was beginning to understand.

But he was not talking about the hydra.

Pharotek spoke to him about the one hundred thousand year history of the Zergs and the civilizations and colonies of their empire and their space exploration.

It was fascinating and He supported his stories with videos and holographic recordings.

The wise men of the king were also fascinated by so many technologies and also by their lost knowledge.

Pharotek reassured them by saying to them that they were the descendants of a people with very advanced knowledge too, and that he would help them to recover their lost knowledge.

The wise men were already jumping on their seats to show their collection of strange objects requiring electricity to activate, lost chemistry, etc...

But they were just as fascinated to see a wisely seated dragon who listened to everything Pharotek said.

She was waiting for someone to speak to her to make her request once the wise men had calmed down. Even Andromedus was excited that he forgot the reason for his visit.

A few hours after the excitement subsided, Andromedus remembered, when he saw Marise...

"Sire, you probably know Marise, she came here to investigate the hydra of the castle opposite. We would like to be able to speak to her..."

Baltic rubbed his beard and said: "You can try yourself but I have no relation with the dragon, except that he asked to stay here without causing any problems in exchange for some excavation work. The only thing I know is that the creature is infinitely sad and is mourning his children. She does not have a mean background and shared our feast to forget her grief for a few moments, like many of us who lost loved ones in this war.

But a word of advice--don't burden her."

After a meal with the king, Marise, Pharotek and Andromedus, accompanied by a guard with a flag with the coat of arms of the dwarf king, approached the entrance of the castle of Dracula.

The guard sounded the horn to announce himself, although I (White) had already spotted them as soon as they arrived in the chopperr behind the castle.

The small group waited in front and the bronze doors opened, giving access to the huge hall which had kept its original splendor.

Andromedus was surprised by the new condition of some similar objects found in the ruins and in a dilapidated state at best.

What was striking were the children's toys that were highlighted as relics from another age.

A beautiful white dragon appeared near a large staircase probably leading to the lower floors, cellars, or underground.

The humans and the red/golden dragon flattened out in front of me.

To their surprise, there was in front of them a dragon alone, not a hydra.

Marc and the others were preparing the crystals that had been used but had gone back in time for the Zargocene planes against the F35 and tomahawk.

The Zargocene arsenal was in darkness and Oriharukon was inspecting planes and vehicles by the hundreds. The Ai ensured their good maintenance but expressed reservations about the performance compared to the Zergians. Even with magical improvements, it was still inferior. Only the surprise effect could work.

Then Oriharukon straightened his head and swore a big blow.

Marc, KArrrine, Kraa. It's useless... We are wasting our time...

Marc: "??? explains. I can no longer understand".

Orichaque: "Who will pilot these machines???? You?? the dwarves???".

We all lowered our heads, defeated once again.

We left the darkness and went back to the workshop and up the stairs.

In Tiamat Hall (the wicked one) we saw another dragon talking to another dragon.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

We, (Marc, Orichalque, Kraa, Karrrine) were interested in what they were saying.

Me: "We are of this world and your Tiamat was called the infernal and our Tiamat called the wicked one...could enter in conflict with the Tiamat of your world.

In fact there are several versions of your Tiamat but they avoid each other to avoid bubbles of paradox since they can pass from one world to another."

Marise : "Our intentions are to save the dragons lost and scattered in the destroyed world.

We have ravaged several dimensions. And here, it is the most terrible. There have been many victims.

So if you want, our Tiamat will be happy with its dimensional ship to cross time and dimensions to take you home and see your loved ones again.

Pharotek, was already rejoicing...for Tania....

It was important to succeed in these missions to please Tiamat the infernal, that of Tania and Ivan.

But Marise didn't know that she had in front of her one of the pieces of Tiamat the wicked one.

Also Pharotek apologized for the Zergs' surprise attack against the Orcs.

Then Marc intervened : "But if the Zergs of your world are here, there are Zergs also here with a baron Zergalor...". And if there is (he looked at me and I begged him with my eyes not to tell me Tiamat but White...) a Tiamat in your world, there could or could not be Tiamat in ours."

Marise: "Yet I recognize you, I saw a hydra the other day."

Me: "If Tiamat is a hydra, not all hydras are Tiamat... here, it's Marc... He's very strong and we're trying to fix him up a little bit by merging with him to stop him from doing shit. I think he's calmed down a bit but we can't get used to the idea of having lost our children. They didn't die but somewhere else... but we're looking like you to see if there are any who have suffered the same fate as us...".

Oriharukon: "I don't trust you enough to give you the list of our protégés. We thank you for your offer, but it is those who are here who need help, not those from the past."

Pharotek: "I understand...but we felt a phenomenal mana power that makes us think that you have a power greater than a hydra in magic, like a goddess."

Blanche : "Probe us... you will see that it is Marc but it is ghostly mana... We exhausted it for our hibernation. It's a long story."

I was getting angry... who does he think he is!!!! I didn't understand their insistence....

Then, tilt, I was suddenly afraid.

It's a trap...

Me: "Do you work for Altus? or for Tiamat?"?

I felt infernal forces emanating from Pharotek.

"You, Marise, you have however the air of a nice dragon... why am I afraid of you???"

Marise: "I have how to say, I have Tiamat's blood flowing in me... I am one of her daughters..."

I wanted to squeeze her between my paws like one of my children but that would betray me and I felt that they had more than one trick up their sleeve and she had a smell... a fine and subtle smell, like Marc's...

"Marise, you would have met another dragon from here? by chance?"

Marise thinks for a moment...

"The demon Lord..."

I looked at Mark and really, it was a similar smell.

But maybe asking her would put Mark, me or the demon lord in danger....Shit...

Me "Tell me about the dragon/demon lord...I'm interested"...

Human meals and roasted prey appeared for us dragons and, to our surprise, Marise ate the human meal.

Marise: "It's a beautiful black/blue dragon but it is recovering... it has suffered martyrdom and is being treated well... He is not responsible for what happened but he wants to redeem himself. He always asks for his mommy, like a child. It seems that having taken the necklace off, his original personality has come back, less proud, less arrogant."

Oriharukon: "And do you know his name?"

Pharotek "It's confidential information, unfortunately, and his mother has been dead for millennia. The poor girl's name was Glaurung. That, I can tell you..."

Marc's eyes froze, like all of us... but we don't react to avoid a catastrophe.

Suddenly we were no longer hungry... We hesitated between crying and celebrating.

But we remained impassive.

Me : "Poor dragon... he must have seen some...".

Marise : "Yes..."

But her attitude showed that she was in love with the dragon, and out of wisdom, and to protect it from us, she changed her conversation.

Marise: "We could collaborate with mom, to find the other dragons... we have tracks on a family of red and sea dragons. We have satellites to search for them and we have legends of dragons living in caves and dungeons, but this is more the responsibility of the adventurers' guild. They have information and other unofficial networks that escape us, but we have time, we are not in a hurry".

"Marise, Mr. Pharotek, we thank you for this offer which interests us but we are exhausted and have not yet recovered from our hibernation. "

Marise cut me... "We can help you recover at our base... we have everything you need".

"Sorry, Marise, but, as I said, we really want to recover here and do our own investigation on our own. We may not have your science, but I'm sure our prayers will lead us in the right direction as well."

Andromedus: "Who are you praying to?"

Mark: God...

Kraa, Karrine: Poseidon...

Oriharukon: "Vulcan and the ancient Gods, I have known antiquity... I am the oldest of them all..."

I didn't answer...just: "Like them...".

I wasn't going to say that I was praying to myself... I was a devourer of gods...at last the primaries and the guardians of time...at last those who have passed beyond Mark...

Andromedus was happy that a dragon prayed to the same god.

"So, Mark, you're a Catholic???? Have you ever been baptized?"

Mark: "Yes...I was born human and I had a loving and very religious family..."

Tears of sadness fell at his answer. Probably, he must have been thinking about his missing people...

Then marc ran to the cellars...

"Sorry... it's too hard..."

Andromedus : "I'm sorry I woke up a bad memory"

Me "No, it's not your fault... he's been like this since our big awakening.... He remained a child and played a lot with his children and descendants. It's his whole world that has collapsed. Kraa is almost in the same state. That's why we want to rest a little. What you are proposing is very nice and I am sure we would recover faster but it is an emotional fatigue. We have to grieve and this is a necessary step. We all, to varying degrees, have to question ourselves and our reasons for living on the table. We need it to keep going."

Pharotek: "I understand now. Your explanations are clear and we can only watch helplessly as you are in distress, but let us help you. I'm sure that finding relatives and other dragons, descendants or acquaintances could relieve the pain of each of you."

Me: "Thank you, Mentat... may you be right."

We took our leave of them, and then... the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. We took refuge in the darkness, all together, even if Oriharukon was uncomfortable there...

"Marc... pull yourself together... Glaurung.... If the dragonlord is asking for his mother, it's because she's still alive!!!! or like you... maybe it's your grandson!!!!"

Mark regained color and his eyes became stronger.

"You think, Tiamat? Do you think she is alive and that he is my grandson?"

Me: "Of course... And we did well not to say anything... We would put him in danger.

In fact, the danger is even greater than we think...

I recognized his smell that vaguely resembled you on Marise. When she talks about him, she is madly in love with him... but that doesn't change anything...

He is not mistreated at least not even if he is a prisoner. Moreover Marise protects him and looked after him.

He is very strong and he is a dark dragon like you..."

Marc "Yes, it's him, my little Georges....he is black/blue ... But he is a complete dragon? not a hybrid?"

Me "I think hybrids go back to dragon once human time has passed and since he suffered centuries between waking periods and small hibernating periods, it must be him. Like us, he has overcome the great cataclysm."

Marc: "Yes, just as his mother had overcome the paradox via darkness. She was extraordinarily intelligent. She had finished her graduate studies in veterinary science as she knew how to talk to animals...Sniffed as I miss her."

Kraa and Karrrine leaned against Marc. "We'll find her, I promise, and we'll still have the grail with us...in the worst case..."

Marc calmed down, and sketched a semblance of a smile since his awakening.

"Do you think the others survived?"

"I'm sure of it, Marc... the dead dragons are judged by me and I feel nothing. All I know is that the blessings of my alter ego, kind Tiamat Obsidian, have protected them.

I know that's what you did. But I'm not afraid of her, she won't try to absorb me".

Kraa: "And why didn't your heads grow back?"

The other selves are alive, and they want me to merge again, but I don't want to. I thought they were dead, but they are somewhere else.

I am me and I love you. You are my new me."

Kraa: "I don't understand..."

Orichalcum: "If she melts again, our "White" will disappear, her memory, her new spirit will die. We will see her body in the evil hydra that will have absorbed her memories but not her reason. We will have another Tiamat, with a white head and we don't even know if we would survive the encounter."

Me: "That's right, Oriharukon, but Tiamat has another terrible power that few know about.

Every time someone talks about me within 100Km, there are a few percent so that I or they know that someone is talking about me and we know the direction of the chatters. We also feel the presence of fragments of us like this, not always but sometimes.

But above all, it's Marise... She has Tiamat's blood and there is a good chance that Tiamat sees through her eyes and comes here.

She wants to absorb me"

Kraa: "But why absorb yourself???" it's for your powers?

Me: "No, few know it but there is a rule in the multiverse. We Tiamats of different dimensions know it, well almost all of us.

There is a limited number of Tiamats. Never more than one per dimension.

Normally, each in its own history, in its own universe.

Except that some Tiamat like the infernal one, me, the evil one and the good one know how to pass from one universe to another.

We are very strong. And you know why?

Because every time one disappears from one world, the others become stronger.

Basically, the fewer versions there are, the more invincible the remaining ones become.

Only me and the infernal one know this. The good one being too young to know.

Like the Tania, there are few of them but they are very strong.

Of the Marcs, there are very few versions but it is very strong too.

Tiamat infernale's ultimate goal is to eliminate her doubles. She will then be truly immortal in this dimension.

Oriharukon: "Then what should we do?"

Me: "Flee as far away as possible, as fast as possible... Tiamat is certainly rushing here."