I fell into the bed when we got back to the room after setting my wards. Badb went off exploring the city, I wasn’t worried about him because anything that could kill him would obliterate me. Besides he was enjoying his freedom after so many years. I probably should have thought about it more before I passed out.
What I woke up to was cackling raven sitting in a nest made of shiny things. Some of them were just shiny, others though had the glint of actual metal and gems. Evidently some natural instincts were hard to the get rid of, or maybe it was because he had been trapped in the ring so long. I would have to give him a way to access the the new ring, maybe if he filled it with this crap he would use it. No time like the present, first I ordered some food though. While I waited for it to be delivered I altered the magic of the ring, making it available for him. I also added to the world he had started to create for himself in the ring, adding more room for him to explore.
“Hey Badb, move your spoils into the ring, you can… “
“No!” He cut off my explanation, a bit of madness entering his voice as it rang in my head. “You’re not getting me back in that fucking thing.”
“You can sense magic right? Naturally decipher spells?”
“Yes?”
“Look at the spell, I altered it so you can come and go as you please.” I spoke fast enough that he couldn’t interrupt me. “That way your loot will be safe from anyone else.”
I watched him study the ring careful for several long minutes. Then he studied it again, with my senses I could feel in him exploring the magic and then when he built in a back door I wasn’t surprised. Then finally all of his collections disappeared with him, back into the ring he hated. The food arrived before he returned, I had it set out on the balcony and sat out enjoying the day.
I made it half way through the food before Badb joined me. He peeked at the food while talking to me.
“How did you do that?” He finally asked.
“Do what?” I didn’t really know what he meant.
“Made it so big? I flew around easily and even started building my horde.”
“While I was altering the access spell I added a bit more spatial magic to what you had. All I did was build on your magic.” I shrugged almost casually.
“Thank you.” Badb’s voice held a True Tone of appreciation.
We left it at that, returning to our meal. Once the food was done it was time to figure out the next step. That was getting into the manor, no easy task or was it? A thought struck me, most people had a flaw when they created great barriers. They never considered all the directions. Could it be that simple? Seems like something I should check out.
“Come on I have an idea.” I waited for him to land on my shoulder before slipping into the floor and traveling down.
We moved through the earth toward the manner, ahead of me I could sense the wards around it. They sank down into the ground but the closer we got I began to laugh. They only extended down about twenty feet and then curved in. As I slipped under then I was both amused and annoyed. The later because the wards did extend under the manor, someone had taken their job seriously.
Amused because while they had put in the effort it had been lack luster. There were easily gaps that I could slip through. I didn’t know why the wards underneath were this open but I would take what I got happily. Slipping easily between the wards my awareness spread out before me. I immediately pulled them back, not far from me they had run into a magical force so strong it almost blinded me. It was strong enough I had to stop moving and allow my mind to recover.
“What was that?!” Badb cawed in my mind loudly.
“No idea, I have a guess. I think it’s what we are looking for.” I smiled to myself, only a creature like a dragon could be that strong, I hoped.
“Be careful, whatever it is it’s in pain.”
“Is that what that was?” My magic sense was still to new to understand everything it transmitted.
“Yes, great constant pain. The kind that could drive someone insane.” Badb had a bit of panic in his voice. It took me a minute to understand why, he recognized this pain. It was the pain of a sentient creature trapped.
“Do you think it’s succumb to the madness?” I asked, relying on his expertise.
“I can’t tell but be careful.”
I took his advice to heart, slowly moving forward toward the presence. I felt the earth open above me, the sense of a large open space echoed back to me. The presence was overwhelmingly powerful but immobile, it felt like it was chained somehow in the space. Exploring the area I began to understand, while the cavern above was large it barely fit the massive dragon. He couldn’t move, to fight the chains that bound him. The closer I got the more clearly I could feel his presence in my mind. The encroaching cavern walls removed his ability to break the chain, while they bound him tightly enough to ensure the rock trapped him.
Tentatively I reached out to his mind, anger and pain washed over the surface so strongly I almost recoiled. Taking a deep breath I braced myself and pushed forward. As I gritted my teeth and pushed on I began to sense the calm center underneath the chaos. This was his true self, protected from intrusions by the layers of pain and madness. I carefully reached out trying to contact that calm center.
“Dragon, will you speak to me?” I tried to keep my voice polite. There was no response but I could feel that calm unfathomable power turned to focus on me. The pressure built around me, testing my protections probing me. It was aggressive but the pressure it pushed onto me was unbearable, even in the earth I could feel my sense of self slowly being crushed.
“Stop!” Badb’s voice commanded. The force behind it didn’t repel all the force but it did stop enough to allow me to breathe again. The force had been slowly killing me.
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“Raven what is this? You come with one of them?” The dragons voice echoed through me tearing at my senses.
“Dragon have you lost yourself? Look at the human without your vengeance!” Badb wouldn’t be cowed. “He is not one of them, he knows the old truths.”
“Fool!” The dragon bellowed his response. “None of these know what they do.”
“I do know.” It felt like I was yelling into a storm but I had to answer. “I was sent to free you.”
“Lies!” I felt the barriers around my self quake under his response.
“He speaks the truth dragon! Are you blind?!” Badb was getting angry and his power washed out pushing the dragon back. “Stop this foolishness or I will stop it lizard!”
I had known Badb was strong but the power he pushed out now was colossal. It felt like a tidal wave of power that was held at the edge of the dragons mind, capable of washing away the gnat in front of it.
“Who are…” the dragon began to question before Badb cut him off.
“That doesn’t matter what matters is that you hear this one’s voice and stop thrashing about like a child!” The commanding tone was unwavering.
“Fine!” His voice still held anger but it withdrew its power, softening the pressure on me.
“Dragon, I am Syn may I have your name?” I asked trying to be as polite as possible. It seemed like a good idea, that and my own mind was still recovering. Manner would buy me a few moments of recovery.
“You couldn’t know my name even were I willing to give it human!” Grumbling his response. “For the sake of that damn bird though you may call me Noctunro Dracoeon.”
“So you want me to call you black dragon?” I couldn’t help but laugh at his response.
“You know the old language, perhaps the bird is correct.” The disbelief was evident in his voice.
“He is telling you the truth, i have been given a mission to release you and any others trapped by humans.”
“You cannot free me, this is the place of my end.” His tone was resolute, there was no question in it. It made me ask for an explanation.
“Why? Why must you die here?”
“The chains have bound to my soul, the moment they are broken or released will sign my death notice. They have been on too long.”
It sounded like the truth but I still inspected the chains with my mage sight. Sadly I could easily see the truth of his words. The truth was obvious, the enchantment on the chains was simple but brutal in its method. They bound themselves to the dragons soul, breaking them would destroy his magical self, leaving only a raging beats that would die not long after.
“What would you have me do dragon?” I asked.
“Can you open the cavern? Allow me some vengeance before my end?” I could see what he wanted. If I opened the space around him he could break the chains and destroy the manor and those inside it.
“Is it truly your wish to die?”
“To die killing those who trapped me here, yes it is human.” He meant every word. “Though I have a favor to grant for allowing me to take my captors with me. Something unseen in this domain for thousands of years. I will give you a black shard.”
“A black shard?” I hadn’t ever heard of this, no one ever had more than five shards and they were never black.
“It will be created at my souls death, only a black such as myself can create them and it will be absorbed adding a sixth shard to your magic, completing the set.”
“A complete set is five.” I responded without thinking and to my surprise it was Badb who answered.
“Untrue Syn, the sixth shard did once exist. Only domain breakers had them, those few mages who could eventually reach beyond the domain.”
“Beyond the domain?” I was completely confused by this idea.
“It is said there are worlds beyond ours young one.” The dragon picked up the explanation now.
“Once thousands of years ago a few mages were gifted the sixth shard by dragon upon their death. Those mages eventually learned to travel beyond this domain, they returned with stories of other worlds.”
“Those other worlds were ruled by powerful beings, each so different they couldn’t be explained.” Badb continued. “Some were hostile while others could be kind, they offered knowledge and understanding of the wider multiverse.”
“I have to free the dragons before I can do anything, I can’t betray my mission.”
“Foolish boy!” The dragon laughed “it will take you hundreds of years to understand the magic, for now it will give your the advantage you need to continue on the mission. That sixth shard will make you the most powerful mage in this domain. That power can be used to free the rest of my kin, or grant them the death I desire.”
“That is my quest either way so if what you offer helps me in that, I’ll happily accept it.” There was no way I would turn down more power. “How much room do you need?”
“The stone only needs to be moved a few feet, just enough to let me flex and I can break these chains.”
“Can you wait while I explore the manor?” My greed was tearing its head, I knew he would destroy everything above me and I wanted the wealth it contained first if possible.
“How long?” His voice was harsh edged with anger.
“A few hours nothing longer.” I responded and Badb must have caught my thoughts because I could feel his interest.
“They will come in eight hours to harvest another shard, be done before than boy or they will know.”
“How?” That didn’t make sense, how would they know?
“These chains reveal the truth to them.” He admitted. “There is nothing I can do to stop that.”
“I’ll be back before then.” I promised.
“Then go.” His toned was annoyed but accepting. I slipped back into the ground and began exploring. Only two places drew my attention, both were warded, not as well as the exterior of the major but it meant something precious was inside them. That meant they held things of value.
The first one was close to the dragons chamber, it was the first one I would check out. The wards around it were strong but the weave was meant to block access through a door, it made slipping into the room easily enough. There was also an enchantment containing the room but it wasn’t a barrier, it was some sort of preservation ward. Once inside I almost staggered at what I saw. The room was filled with shards, rows and rows of chards. These must have been what they harvested from the dragon, but why? Why had they stock piled these and not distributed them? Something was going on here and I wasn’t sure what it meant, then I remembered it.
The nobility had been doing all of this to control the population, that meant regulating the shards. That made sense but then why weren’t all nobles true mages? Or were they? I didn’t really know any nobles, maybe they were all true mages. Badb interrupted my thoughts with an answer.
“They aren’t.” Was he reading my mind? “Remember most people can’t take five chards, even with preparations they can’t contain the magics.”
He was right, I had forgotten about that. The vast majority of people couldn’t take more than two shards, three and four were rarer. The very very few who could take five shards had no way of displaying it, a noble wouldn’t be willing to risk detonation. That’s what happened if the took too many shards, they detonated killing the host and destroying the shards. From what I had read you could sense how many you could take when adding shards. I hadn’t dealt with any of that since all five had been stabbed into all at once.
It still didn’t explain why they had these simply stored here. It did explain the odd preservation enchantment, it held them in stasis. Preventing them from degrading over time. My storage would accomplish the same, and more importantly it would remove them from their power. That was more important than the wealth they represented. I could do with them as I wished, distribute them as I chose.
I collected them all, shards the thing I had once desired more than anything else were now being shoveled into my storage by the handful. Badb helped, the shards held no interest for him, other than being shiny. I did feel a couple here as there slip into his ring but it didn’t matter. Worst case I could retrieve them, best case it didn’t matter. Clearing out the vault took no more than thirty minutes and then we were off the the second location. Most likely it was the lords vault, likely full of his personal wealth.