F.H. 55 Spring, Winona.

An impenetrable dome of ice covered the whole of Winona, protecting the burgeoning city. At the apex of the dome stood two women, one blonde and one with rainbow colored hair. In the skies above Winona flocked dragons. Hundreds of dragons. Most were relatively young, but a few elders flew in the flock. There was no unifying element or species to the gathered dragons, they answered the call of power universal to their draconic lineage.

One such elder dragon crashed into the plains south of Winona, grasped in the claws of a much larger draconic being. Arkaziel stood out like a sore thumb, what with his true form now exceeding twenty-five kilometers from the tip of his nose to the end of his main tail. The elder dragon was little more than a bird compared to a jumbo jet, yet Arkaziel had made a point to grasp the dragon in his claw and crash him into the plains.

The elder dragon didn’t survive that, obviously, and Arkaziel created a massive ravine filled with fragments of dragon scale, bone, and blood. It would be known as Dragon Gorge in the coming days, and the magics of the dragon would lead to a boon in crafting, and its explorers would come to develop dragon related classes.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAR!” The black StarMane roared at the flocks of dragons in the sky, but none fled. Which was impressive, considering how much larger Arkaziel was than the entire swarm of dragons, or how much more terrifying the Void touched dragon of the Apocalypse was than your run of the mill green or red dragon.

+Sorry blue, looks like they won’t listen to reason.+ Arkaziel’s telepathic voice filtered across the bond the four (Telos, Kallos, Bobbi, and Arkaziel) shared. In contrast with the anger in his roar, the black cat’s mental voice carried regret.

Bobbi joined Telos and Kallos atop the ice dome, or a projection of her did, at least.

“Nothing has made it inside; the kids are mostly bored. Some of the more exuberant ones want to try and fight a dragon. If we don’t get this sorted soon your children are going to attempt a jail break to fight a dragon.” The projection of Bobbi laughed at the annoyed looks the women shared.

“It’ll be dealt with shortly, tell them to stay inside, or else.” Telos assured the projection.

“I’d rather not destroy them all,” Kallos murmured.

“I’m not going to destroy them. I’m going to disperse them… peacefully.” When Telos finished the words, she vanished and reappeared in the sky, and the dragons responded as if gold started to rain upon them, happily. Her power was what had drawn them in the first place.

“Gather in, little ones. Let’s give you a taste of what you want, and a purpose, too.” Telos beckoned, and the dragons could not resist her voice, or the hypnotic sparkle of light that filled the sky. Waves of crystal-clear water billowed out from the floating woman, crashing into the swarm of dragons and capturing them, pulling them in closer, and swirling them in a vortex around Telos. The few aquatic species of dragons, who swam euphorically through the magical water, prevented a panic from the dragons who weren’t naturals in water. The sedative properties of the high energy water went to work slowing all of the dragons down, and Telos had to make minor adjustments to concentrations to prevent any harm to the dragons.

Libby? Incorporate these dragons into trials of their elements. Negotiate with the ones that are sentient after they detox from sensing my power. Send those who have sentience back home once they can control themselves and offer jobs to the ones who don’t. We’ll nurture the non-sentient ones with training to be worthy of the role. Don’t let them roam free, or they’ll just come back here.

::Yes, Mistress. Fred and Reverie wish to make one of them a pet and are requesting permission.::

Yes, that’s fine, it would be good for them to have a pet. Pick a silver dragon for them.

::Done. Transfer initiated.::

The dragons, along with the crystal waters they had been ensnared by all vanished from the skies, and Telos reappeared on the dome, where Arkaziel now sat in cat form, licking his paws clean. The black cat studiously avoided looking to the south, and the massive gorge he had created.

“I could have eaten them,” Arkaziel said with a half-hearted pout. Telos could tell that his stomach wasn’t really in it, and Arkaziel even seemed to feel bad for the dragons. It was draconic nature to be drawn to power.

“You’ll have your fill when you revisit Grief, won’t you? Quit being greedy.” Telos pretended to scold him severely, and completed the dress down by picking him up, cuddling her face against his, and giving Arkaziel belly rubs.

“Stooooop!” Arkaziel whined, halfheartedly. He even pawed pathetically at the air.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“How long until more come?” Kallos asked with a tightly controlled tone. Not laughing, and attempting to keep her lips from turning into a smile, took a visible effort of all of her willpower, even with the serious conversation they were having.

“Four or five days,” Telos answered. “Our ambient powers are too bright of a beacon.”

“Our?” Arkaziel asked with a high-pitched gasp when Telos brought him up to her face and bopped her nose against his.

“Yes, ours. Even excluding Kallos and my power that you and Bobbi share, you two are the next two most powerful beings in this reality. So even if I broke the soul-binds, these confluences would continue to happen if you two stayed in one place for a few years.”

“What would even happen if you did that?” Bobbi asked curiously.

“Break the soul-binds? You and Arkaziel would lose access to my power. So, you’d lose some of your base power, but still be incredibly powerful on your own. All that power would settle in Kallos and I. Well, Kallos, actually since I’m already at capacity, and her vessel is nearly there too. So, within a month or so we’d exceed the ability of the dimensional axis to handle our continued presence. We’d either risk fundamental damage to the whole multiverse by staying or have to depart for Pleroma.” Telos didn’t mention the strange mystery at the center of the River of Light.

“So that’s out,” Bobbi said curtly.

“The end doesn’t change, only the timing does.” Kallos responded curtly.

“It’s likely our ascension to Pleroma, or what lay beyond, will break our bonds when Kallos and I ascend. That’s part of why I empowered Libby with Fred and Reverie, she’ll continue to run uninterpreted regardless of what happens to us, and slowly integrate lower dimensions into the System. You two are already ridiculously powerful, but maybe it’ll be a good learning experience for one of you to only have your own power to rely on.” Telos bopped Arkaziel’s nose with the tip of her fingertip, and he gave her an offended look.

“See, this is why I stick to humanoid forms,” Bobbi smirked at Arkaziel’s treatment. “You don’t see anyone bopping my nose.”

“How do we stop drawing dragons and other power-seekers? Dragons are one thing, but what if you pull the Warlord of the North, or the King of Nightmares to Winona?” Arkaziel teleported out of the hold Telos had him in and morphed into his humanoid form.

“Argarg won’t come down here for years. He has his eyes set on the ancient ruins I seeded under that crystal Erdtree. That will keep him busy for another five years. By then Morgan and the kids should be strong enough to take him out. The King of Nightmares would be a problem, so I’ve had Libby keep him occupied. The Tyrant of Terror has already started building a fleet to cross the ocean but she won’t make it in time, especially with the new Sun King that’s rising in the West.” Telos shook her head.

“The immediate problem is monsters, dragons, and spirits. They can’t resist the sirens song. Can you mask it?” Despite knowing the answer already, Telos asked Kallos anyway.

“You could simply abandon your rule of Power calls to Power. If you changed the rules, then it wouldn’t happen, obviously.” Kallos arched a brow at Telos.

“You’re the one who enforced As Above, So Below.” Telos noted with a smirk. “I can’t go and break one of your rules on a whim.”

“I appreciate that, but you are both the author of all rules and enforcer of consequence. Changing the rules need only affect me if you decide it should.” Kallos smirked.

“Wow, just get a room already,” Bobbi growled. “It’s like watching someone with two bodies flirting with themselves.” Bobbi rolled her eyes at the other two women, but a new presence made itself known before anyone could react. A heavy pressure, a heavenly presence, bubbles filled the air, motes of light shone.

A crystalline chime rang in the minds of all four. It was a pleasant sound, and served as a greeting from a great distance.

“What is it, Bythos?” Telos asked the sky.

A greater than three-dimensional geometric crystalline entity, rendered in a scale the size of a human head, appeared amongst them.

“The cycle ever repeats itself. You have another choice than those you have mentioned.”

A hopeful look crossed Kallos, Arkaziel, and Bobbi’s faces, but Telos showed no glimmer of optimism, her air of resignation remained complete.

“I’m not going to reincarnate right now.” Telos pre-empted what she thought Bythos would suggest.

“Sige and I have empowered the Mantle of Mortality. It effectively narrows the Gates. Each time you channel your power will accelerate the draining of the enchantment. Please note, each time you draw your power, you will be hit with a surfeit of power. Reliance on local, lesser, energies will prevent this.”

A red trench-coat dropped into the hands of Telos. After a moment, her black coat vanished into her repository, and she pulled the new one on. For old times sake, her multicolored hair shifted to a pure, radiant, aqua glow.

“I can barely sense your presence,” Bobbi exclaimed.

“Good job, crystal guy,” Arkaziel complimented the Aeon, who vibrated with discomfort.

“Thank you, Bythos. This is a very thoughtful gift, and I appreciate you and Sige both thinking about my problems. Will this effect Libby or the kids at all?” Telos asked with optimism. She hadn’t thought an item like this Cloak to be possible, but she hadn’t considered the possibility of using Sige or Bythos to conceal herself, as that wasn’t what the Aeons were meant for.

Or is it what they were meant for? Yeah, no.

“Since you formed direct channels for Libby which operate outside of your power, it will have no effect upon her. Your children’s power sources are their own, and likewise will be unaffected. We exist to serve you,” Bythos chimed and then vanished as he had come.

“Who was that guy again?” Arkaziel asked without any hint of embarrassment.

“Really? You can’t remember a big glowing crystal that spills into dozens of extra dimensions?” Bobbi’s exasperation reached a new limit with Arkaziel.

“Think of him as the maintenance man for reality,” Kallos suggested.

“So, he’s stuck doing all the hard work, day in and day out, while the executives are off having a family, making swords, eating good food, and all around having a good time? He got screwed, you should really make it up to him, Blue.”

All three women stared blankly at Arkaziel, and Telos kicked a foot at the ice dome in embarrassment, before she sniffed and smiled at Arkaziel.

“Aww. My kitten is all grown up and knows how to use empathy now. I’m so proud.”