Tobian watched from a distance as Sirah removed the cuffs from the dragon. The metal links were darker than iron but not of a metal he knew. He shifted his vision into the magical spectrum; the cuffs and the dragon were enchanted. The creature radiated magic in a way that the Professor did but was brighter than almost everything in the room except Tristan's aura and the walls.

Tobian stared at the walls for a second, wishing he had a piece of another wall in order to compare, as he pondered if they were all this highly enchanted or if his ability had increased. He walked over to the Professor, who was too focused on the dragon.

"The dragon." Tobain paused to word it carefully. "Radiates more magic than you." He quickly winced as he realized it sounded better in his head than after he spoke it.

"I," The Professor looked at Tobian and then at the dragon. "I'm not at my full power, but is it more powerful than anyone else?"

"Not Tristan or the walls, which are equal." Tobain looked at the wall and tried focusing on them, hoping his ability would glean more information, but nothing appeared or changed. "I think the walls here are stronger than normal. I wish I had a piece to compare it to."

"Dear boy, your ability is fascinating. I genuinely wish there was a way to rank things at the magical level. "

Tobian remembered his father with the measuring weights used when taking foreign currency. A dozen little stones, each weighing a little more than the other so they could accurately weigh and compare items. "If we had stones or items of varying magical values we could."

The Professor smiled and patted Tobian on the shoulder. "Excellent idea. Let's start categorizing things as you pick them up, and we can use the stuff we don't sell to calibrate such a scale."

"… And remember to tuck in your wings during the third doorway; while not lethal, there is a trap that will shock you." Sirah finished saying to the dragon as she drew a rough map on the floor using some sand she had spread out. The dragon gave a nod and walked toward the exit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to befriend it, Professor," Darius said softly after the dragon had passed into the next room.

"May a wizard have met an untimely end believing a dragon would be a pet. Only to find out, they were both the pet and food. Besides, fully grown, they eat like a dozen sheep every few days. I couldn't afford to try." The Professor said with a glance in the direction the dragon went.

"How big do they get?" Tobain said as he picked up the unlocked shackles from where the dragon had left them on the floor. The magical aura on the shackles was great, but not as much as the dragon. Tobian decided he would start making a ranking system or assigning a number. Given Tristan was the most potent aura he'd encountered, he assigned her 9; that way, if anything was more powerful, he could make it a ten. The walls were also about a 9, at least in this place. Dragon at eight, and the Professor at a 7.

Tobian held up the shackles to see them from the same point of view as the Professor. Both were about the same aura. The Professor happened to see what Tobain was doing and smiled and nodded.

"That dragon was pretty young, not a hatchling, but not juvenile, maybe twenty to forty years. I imagine they brought the egg in here for some reason, and it hatched; they tried to raise it and left it here when they sealed the prison up after the war ended." The Professor looked around, in a couple of the cells there were some bones piled up. Tobian followed his gaze and looked, some of the bones looked like they could have been humanoid.

"When demons die, they are forced back to their plane. Could those be some of the guards?" Tobian said, pulling his gaze from the bones.

"It is possible; lots of these were closed in a hurry. Once the war ended, many pulled back support from these so they could go back to fighting each other." Tristan said. She walked over to the bones and knelt for a moment. "These are goblin and orc, probably servants that were captured with other demonic soldiers."

"I'm sorry I never asked before. Is there a prayer I should say before looting behind you guys?" Tobain said, quickly making the size of the seven-pointed star in a circle.

"There is no prayer; the nameless god believes there is enough suffering among the living, and we should focus on helping them. Saving all we can and quietly mourning those we lose." Tristan turned toward the closed door to the next room. She beckoned to Sirah and stopped in front of the door. "Tobian, hang back near the Professor in case the dragon breaks its oath."