As Dallion flew into the crater that composed the fallen south, he could feel the eerie calm that wrapped the world. There hadn’t been a rocket or tidal wave for over six hours, as far as he could tell. It was easy to think that the sides had grown tired of mass attacks, but the truth was that such forms of action were simply no longer efficient. Every settlement was in constant motion; the world itself had entered a phase never seen since the start of time. Travelling was all but impossible—from this point on, people had to rely on their domain rulers and overseers to transport people and goods where they needed to be.
Dallion suspected that in a day or two the next phase would start: a new form of strategic combat in which settlements were the pieces moved on the board. As long as one managed to surround an enemy settlement with an overwhelming force, they could tear it off from an enemy’s domain and add it to theirs. Before that, Dallion had to win his new army and, hopefully, increase his awakening level by one or two.
Beasts once considered lethal scattered at the sight of Dallion. Even the stupid ones were aware they didn’t have the strength to face a being of such power. Yet, there still was no trace of any shardfly colonies.
Maybe they really died out, Adzorg suggested. The times aren’t perilous just for people.
Dallion didn’t reply. There always was a possibility of it happening, even if the odds were low. At the same time, searching for a bit longer would cost him very little, while the potential of reward was huge.
Stopping in the air, Dallion summoned his vortex finder. There were several small dots indicating small vortexes, but nothing that could be considered a shardfly colony.
“Any thoughts, Gleam, Ruby?” he asked, putting the magical device away.
Nothing, the spectral shardfly admitted. I’d have sliced through half the area as a reminder of what would happen if anything enters my territory.
“You’re too wild for your own good.”
Most creatures in the wilderness are.
If the incident at the Academy was an indication, the colony might well have burrowed itself deep beneath the ground. Dallion might as well have flown over billions of the insects and never known. They didn’t like intrusion and if they had picked up on magic, could well create a complex illusion that would fool his device or even Gleam.
“I might as well—” Dallion didn’t finish.
Thanks to his high perception, he noticed a dot of fire flying right at him. Summoning his harpsisword, Dallion directed a point attack in the dot’s direction, while simultaneously casting two aether sphere spells around his companions. Gleam protested, naturally, slicing the confinements with her wings.
“Get Ruby out of here!” Dallion ordered as darted towards the source of the distant attack. “Don’t get involved! You’re not an item guardian anymore!”
As he suspected, a new torrent of flame emerged from the distance—dragon fire. This time, it surrounded a core of lightning.
“I’m not here to play!” Dallion infused his sword with spark, then thrust it forward. A growing spiral filled the air.
Both attacks clashed, but Dallion’s was clearly the strongest, dispersing the energy of flame and lightning, as if they were dandelion seeds.
“I’m not here for you, Derrion!” Dallion shouted, maintaining six instances in close proximity. “And even if I were, you’re no longer able to take me on.” Music strands went in all directions, instilling fear and doubt into anything they touched.
In response, another stream of fire shot at him, this one coming from a totally different direction. A lot less powerful, it shot up from the ground, missing by several feet. Dallion knew well in advance that it wasn’t going to hit him, spending the time to locate the source. And, this time, he managed to do so.
His opponent was a dragon, though not large enough to be called an adult. To his relief, it wasn’t the emperor’s great dragon—Aurun’s magic attacks were different, more hostile. The fire of this creature seemed to have determination and a touch of fear within it.
Summoning his aura sword, Dallion sliced the space around him, performing a full three-sixty slash attack. He could see clusters of magic concentration in the area shift. His invisible opponents were moving away, expecting a line attack. Instead, a series of magic circles emerged, releasing purple lightning all around.
Not to comment on your battle, dear boy, but usually one doesn’t cast an anti-magic spell in the area one is, Adzorg said.
“It’s fine,” Dallion ignored the spell and the comment. The layer of magic threads he had covered his skin with were more than adequate to counteract such a feeble spell. The illusions of his opponents, on the other hand, weren’t.
Air shattered in several spots, causing several green dragons to emerge. Four of them flew off with a snarl, quickly casting new sets of illusions to conceal themselves. The remaining two didn’t. Maintaining an aggressive stance, they kept on flapping their wings, staring straight at Dallion.
You’re a lot stronger now, a female dragon said. Not fair!
“Snarky?” Dallion asked.
The following snark indicated that he was correct, just as the dragon didn’t appreciate the name he had given it back during dragon training.
“Emerald?” An instance of Dallion addressed the other dragon. “Where’s—”
The cone of a hurricane formed beneath him, thrusting Dallion up into the sky. There was a time when such an attack would have been fatal. Now it was slow, weak, and far too visible.
Choosing the path of least resistance, Dallion let the wild force carry him, yet before any of the air cluster currents could harm him in any way, he’d slice them one from the other and gently push them away, creating a zone of calm around him.
A second cone of air blasted from below, in an attempt to increase the intensity of the air currents.
The effort was in vain. At a moment’s notice, Dallion slashed through the cone again, letting off hundreds of line attacks. He could feel a slight pull as someone attempted to force a different instance of reality. Too weak to cause any changes, it persisted for a while longer, before abruptly ending.
“I told you, I haven’t come to fight,” Dallion said, as the cone of air around him weakened. Already it had lost two-thirds of its strength and kept on decreasing until only a gentle breeze remained. “I can oblige you if you want, but it wouldn’t last long.”
The air above the ground rippled. Several layers of illusion cracked one after the other, revealing the massive form of a green dragon remaining in the air, right above the thick jungle. Not intimidated in the least, Dallion floated down, stopping right in front of the monster’s face.
“Quite the welcome you put out,” he said.
The dragon snorted, releasing vast amounts of air through his nostrils.
“You never did that during my previous visits here,” Dallion added.
“You’ve changed,” the dragon’s voice boomed. “The world has changed as well.”
“So, you felt it.”
“Any domain ruler would feel the change. The wilderness has been growing, yet all the power keeps concentrating in smaller and smaller areas.” Green sparks flickered all over the dragon’s scales. “I’ve been alive for a very long time. I remember the time before the fall of the city and the split of races, but this… This is something I have never seen before.”
Acceptance emanated through the dragon’s shell.
“Have you come to claim the fallen south?” it asked.
“Yes.” Dallion admitted. “Do you want it? I can give it to you.”
“If you do, you’ll only make me your puppet.” The dragon snapped its jaws in anger. “There can only be one master of a realm, and I don’t have the strength to challenge you.”
One by one, the smaller dragons flocked to the scene. Dallion could feel the fear emanating from them, but also determination. They knew perfectly well that they had no chance against him, but even so were willing to give their lives to help their father.
“They’ve grown quite a bit,” Dallion smiled. “Dark has as well.”
Relief and pride emanated from the ancient dragon, even if on the outside he didn’t react in the least.
“I’m searching for shardfly colonies,” Dallion changed the topic. “They weren’t up north, so I thought they might have settled down here.”
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“Will you make them the same offer you made to me?”
“You said you weren’t interested. Yes, I plan on giving them the south to rule on my behalf.”
“So, they’ll become another army, giving you a few levels in the process.” A guttural growl came from the dragon. “The way of the domain ruler.”
“It’s better than the alternative. Trust me. As you said, the world is a lot different now.”
The young dragons moved closer to their father.
“Are there any safe places left?” Derrion flapped his massive wings once, rising a few dozen feet higher.
Dallion shook his head.
“I see…”
“You can go into an item realm. It won’t be safer, but at least you’ll live under the illusion it is.” Until it no longer matters, he added mentally. “I’ll try to protect you as much as I can.”
“You?”
The dragon laughed internally. Dallion could hear the emotion so loud that the dragon might as well have done so.
“The first time you came here, you only survived thanks to luck and my mercy,” the dragon continued. “Now, you say that you have to protect me. I don’t think so.“ Derrion turned around, looking at the six dragons that he gently tucked beneath his wing. “The shardflies are here,” he said after a while, refocusing his attention onto Dallion. “Look for them beneath the towers. You’ll find one of their nests beneath the building on which I had mine. From there, you should be able to find the rest on you own.”
That made sense. The shardflies had come into existence in the basement of a mage and were accustomed to think of it as their home.
“Thanks.” Dallion reached out towards the dragon, but the creature pulled back. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? There are no guarantees, but I’ll do what I can to help.”
“I walked away from one master because I wanted to have freedom of mind. What was the point if now I went back to another?” The dragon spread its wings. Its scales flickered, forming symbols between them. “Good luck, otherworlder. I hope you make it till the end.”
Green and purple magic threads shot out, surrounding the creature like a cocoon. For several seconds, they grew brighter and brighter, until they suddenly imploded on themselves, leaving nothing behind.
Goodbye, Dallion said mentally.
The spell had been too foreign for him to discern its purpose, but he could hope that it was a teleportation spell.
He’ll be fine, Adzorg said from within Dallion’s realm. Dragons haven’t survived so long by accident.
“Yeah.” Dallion rose further up into the air.
What was Dark going to say about this? Maybe it was better if Dallion didn’t share the encounter. That was something he’d have to discuss with Euryale once he came back. For the moment, he had to focus on what he’d come here for.
It took him a few minutes to find Gleam and Ruby. The pair had kept away from the fight, as he had instructed, but in exchange demanded to know all the gory details of the fight. Upon learning that there weren’t any Gleam flicked her wings in disappointment, but dropped the topic. It was no secret that she wished she could take on a dragon, especially after failing to do anything substantial during the northern dragon hunt.
Reaching the building ruins the green dragon had spoken of took less than an hour. On the way, Dallion went through dozens of conversations in his mind, anticipating any demand or doubt the creatures would have. The moment they got a glimpse of Gleam’s true form, the negotiations were already won. Despite coming from another world, the creatures remained true to their nature—they were drawn to the strong specimens of their species, viewing them as the greatest asset to protect and lead the colony. Thus, the decision was left to her.
Quite ironic that I get to claim this place, Gleam said, amused. It’s the place from where I got sent to the banished realms.
“Think of it as interest for what you did, then.” Dallion looked around. Even now, thousands of shadflies were off to inform the other colonies of the changes. “I take it you don’t want to stay here.”
Not a chance. Your fights will be a lot more ferocious from here on. I’m not missing that.
“Alright, let’s get on with this.”
You have created the Land of SOUTHERN FALLS – Level 1.
You have full control of the Land of SOUTHERN FALLS.
A quartz spider has been made the land’s guardian.
Defeat the guardian to change the land’s destiny.
For a moment, Dallion wondered whether the area guardian would end up being a shardfly as well, but it turned out to be a quartz spider. That was irrelevant, of course. Dallion immediately linked the new domain to his whip blade, which was also Gleam’s personal domain.
SOUTHERN FALLS linked to GLEAM
Now it was time to see whether Dallion’s theory about the shardflies was true.
Venturing into the realm, he immediately had Nox challenge the guardian, then proceeded to destroy him, improving the settlement each time. When the area reached level five, Dallion paused for a few moments. This was the moment of truth. If he succeeded in improving it further, all this would have been worth it.
SOUTHERN FALLS Level increased
The VILLAGE has now been improved to a Level 5 TOWN
Yes! Dallion kept on going.
Soon, the town became a city and kept on growing. At fifteen, the city became his domain’s capital, which was rather awkward, come to think of it. Normally, this was the point at which one would stop, though not Dallion. When the domain reached level eighteen, three rectangles emerged.
SOUTHERN FALLS Level increased
The CAPITAL CITY has now been improved to a Level 18 WORLD CAPITAL
WORLD CAPITAL
(+2 Mind)
Every bright hopeful goes through this step. The question is, what will you do now that you have it?
You have broken through your one hundred and thirtieth barrier.
You are level 130.
Choose the trait you value the most.
And there it was—the level that Dallion had strived for. Most likely, it was going to be the last level he’d earn before the end of the conflict, but it made him feel a lot better. Given that his reaction was at ninety-nine, he chose to finally add the final point to make it a round hundred.
No sooner had he done so, when a new rectangle popped up.
HUNDREDS SOFT CAP
All your traits and skills are now a hundred or more. It’s quite a feat for which you’ll earn something special.
A hundred? Dallion wondered. So many things had been happening lately that he hadn’t even stopped to think about it. Indeed, everything was three digits, indicating a vast sense of improvement since he’d started. On the negative side, he was still thirty levels short of the awakening gate. Sadly, there was no way he could make up the difference through achievements.
Without warning, an orange cloud poofed into existence before him. Once the cloud faded away, Dallion saw nothing less than a dragonlet of the same color curled up on the ground.
FAMILIAR COMPANION – GREAT DRAGONLET AQUILEQUIA
You have gained a Level 1 companion!
While still young, the dragonlet has the power and potential of a great dragon. Loyal and eager to grow, the dragonlet has been created by the Orange Moon’s magic and has the potential to move faster than any creature as well as offer some of its magic when needed.
Being a great dragonlet, it can additionally see magic threads and move in and out of realms of its own accord. The size and abilities of the familiar depend on its level.
It had been a while since Dallion had received a familiar. Ever since receiving Gleam, he had been convinced that only a Moon would let a new creature join him, and now a Moon had. Not only that, but they had granted him the most special creature one could hope for.
“Aquilequia?” Dallion asked.
The dragon opened a lazy eye, then stood up, stretching its wings, tail, and neck. The resemblance was unmistakable, although she was a lot smaller now, and without all the hatred emanating from her.
“Hello,” she said in an almost childlike voice. “Are we in the real world?”
“Yes.” Dallion reached out and petted the creature on the top of the head. “Yes, we’re in the real world.”