“Waxy wax and more wax. Seriously, have you ever seen so much wax?”

“You’re a fool. This can’t go on much longer,” The Dragon Lord said. “I fear we will have to forfeit this place.”

The lizardkin looked up at the dragon with disbelief. “But, my lord! There’s no way we’d lose to candles!”

“Are you blind?” The Dragon Lord’s voice shook the cave. The surrounding lizardmen took a knee. “They’ve already reached the inner sanctum. It’s only a matter of time now.”

“So, you’re saying we will simply abandon our home?” The general shook, gripping his spear tight. “You’re mad if you think I will let them do what they want!”

The dragon nodded in understanding, his face painted with pain.

General Agama knelt before Dragon Lord Knifurtix. “I am sorry for my insolence, my lord.”

Knifurtix shook his head. “I understand your love for this place. I understand your will to protect it, as I do too.”

General Agama peeked at his lord. “If you understand, then why? Help me understand.”

“It’s simple. We won’t win, and I am not talking about the candles,” Knifurtix looked past General Agama to the shadows of his domain. The marshland held such beautiful castle walls, and it added a unique aura to the moss. The Dragon Lord sighed deeply. “It’s the only way. I will protect your escape, especially the elderly, women, and children. But we can’t remain here.”

“Then what about you!?” Another lizardman yelled.

“I will stay.”

General Agama shook his head. “You can’t force us to leave you here. What? While we escape?”

“Someone needs to protect the next generation. Who would be better for that task than you, Agama?”

“Fine, if this is really as big of a threat as you say, I won’t question your judgment. But, I will come back for you when I am done.”

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The lizardman’s captain pulled on Agama’s sleeve. “Sir?”

“You heard me. Evacuate the people! Children, women and elderly must go first! Only then, can you come back and protect our lord! You better hurry your scales! Unless you want to lose our home in futility!”

“Yes sir!” The captain saluted, gathering the troops quickly.

Agama turned back to his Dragon Lord. “I will come back for you. I promise!”

Knifurtix nodded. He watched his precious people begin to leave. He turned his large head back towards the shadows when they all left his throne.

“Aren’t you a perceptive one?” A small voice asked. She made her way into the light. Her black horns curled up and behind her head. She had an eerie childish face, like that of a doll. She grinned, her teeth looking like rows of shark teeth. “When did you notice?”

“Since my general started speaking of wax. What does the Lord of Gluttony want with a measly dungeon master?”

“It’s simple really.” She smirked, etching even closer to Knifurtix. She leapt from the ground, landing on his nose, and staring straight into his deep-orange eyes. From this distance, Knifurtix saw the foul aura coating her black armor. “I want you out of my way.”

“Do you aim to kill me?” He asked.

“No, you aren’t a failed experiment. Don’t you have people who depend on you?”

“Since when did you care about experiments?” The dragon huffed, billowing smoke from his nostrils. “I thought all you cared about was that appetite, or am I wrong?”

She cackled, her high pitched maniacal laugh creating an annoying echo in Knifurtix’s home. “You could never satiate my appetite. I am so much more than gluttony. I have overcome that! You’d never suit my palette. You know why?”

Knifurtix narrowed his eyes in response.

“You’re too boring! What is a meal without seasoning?” She asked, walking further up his nose towards his eye lid, and basking the dragon in even more putrid aura. “Where are the sauces? You’d never understand a true glutton! Your worthless appetite is beneath me! No one can know true Gluttony. No one but me could be myself. I eat, and I feast, but it’s not enough. There’s never enough spices. There’s never enough sauce. All of the pain and anguish from breaking my enemies, that’s what I want. I want to eat it when it’s ripe. I want to savor in the flavor. It’s endless hunger for the best flavor! That’s Gluttony!”

Knifurtix considered the retched creature. He’d not throw away his life in an impossible fight if she’d let him go. A dragon’s pride was more than his own life. It was the pride of his people. The pride of future generations, and their thoughts that he will always be there to protect them.

“You expect me to believe you will simply let me go?” He asked.

She frowned before leaping off him back to the ground. The Lord of Gluttony walked away from The Dragon Lord. She waved him off, damaging his pride slightly. “You aren’t ripe yet.”