On the 8th day of Vendua in the Underempire of Remula, the Shadeguard began to receive strange reports throughout the sprawling city. Starting with the jewellery sector and then sporadically in a southwards direction, the population was inflamed by the sight of a dragon in the sky.

Abrus Aericidae was by no means a grizzled veteran of the Shadeguard, but even he wasn’t going to start believing dragons were falling from the sky. Especially when there wasn’t a sky to begin with. He was pleasant enough with the various helping hands that were just trying to do their “civic duty”. By the time he had reached nine different accounts of this lizard abroad, he was ready to pin his ears to his chin.

“Yes, sorry ma’am, I am paying attention. You said that your grandson saw the beast?” Impressed that he managed to keep his voice in control, Abrus continued to write the small report. Earlier, he had been more thorough but the current writing simply read “another person spooked by a big bat. Arcadium sector.”

“He did!” The gnomish woman was saying. Her grandson looked the same age as she did, but gnomes basically got to full - tiny - size at about twenty five and then stayed there for a few centuries. As a drow, life was similar, but Abrus felt like the elves moved more naturally through their years. “Purple thing it was, wasn’t it Dynatik?”

“It was!” The apparently younger gnome said. Dynatik was definitely more animated than his grandmother, so the youth was showing slightly. “It wasn’t a dragon though. Gods grandmother you’re so dumb. Can’t even tell the difference between a winged kobold and a dragon.” The gnome made a noise of derision in his small throat. “Old people, am I right?”

“These things can be confusing in the moment, we take reports and assume the worst and then hope for the best.” A Shadeguard’s main job was the discovery of monsters before they were created. Once that was done, a Reaper could be sent to clear the danger. There was often a lot less running around than Abrus had done today but he was glad for the literal change of pace. Many less monsters had spawned in the last two weeks or so. Maybe the population was making them up, anticipation of the inevitable resurgence keeping them on edge.

Whatever the case, Abrus left the strange pair. “What do you think, Cyrus?” Abrus asked his partner as they left the ground. The simurgh barked sharply before hefting it’s wings and taking them into the air. Abrus laughed and patted the lupine head that bounced in it’s reins. “What? You don’t have the scent of a dragon yet?”

Abrus had to giggle, really. If a simurgh was built for anything, it was a dragon hunt. There wouldn’t even need to be a report before every Shadeguard in the realm was kidnapped by their mounted partner. The simurghs would smell the dragon’s scent easily with their strong noses and, if you were in the saddle at the time, you’d just be taken for the ride at that point. Chuckling to himself as his transcendent humour, Abrus Aericidae got comfortable in his high-backed seat.

“Let’s go imagine dragons like the rest of these fools.”

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I love this place. It’s a real, actual magical city. An underground magic city with light crystals, and dozens of races I both knew and didn’t. The “skies” of it were filled with moving parts. Blimp-like buildings sat moored to the roof of the cavern, flying mounts of different sizes were ferrying people between the ones which did not have bridges or ladders connecting them.

What looked like one layer of craziness at the floor was even better. Storeys of buildings simply dove downwards instead of upwards. By the time I landed, I had already seen the benefits of having wings. A person was stuck, fallen from a gap on the main thoroughfare level at the top, and landing in the nets which were there for this reason. It was one of the elf-like people with the bluish skin. A dark elf, Salan had said. Was that more or less offensive than drow? He was hesitant to take my hand for a moment but when I told him not to worry in a language he understood, he was more than happy to get up from the tangle he was in.

“Thank you, strange one. Are you a dragon?” Even after I had helped the man, there was a clear anticipation in his bearing. It said “please don’t eviscerate me, strange dragon thing.”

“Well I think people would argue with you if you said I was, but maybe people care less about that stuff in this world.”

“...Excuse me?”

“You,” I made myself as gracious as I could, “are excused.”

I leapt into the air once again. That was my good deed for the day, I decided, as the confused drow looked to see if anyone around noticed the insane kobold he had met. There was no one, unfortunately for his mental health. I stopped looking at the ground and turned my eyes forward.

Just in time to dodge.

Sharp, huge teeth appeared from nowhere. Silently, I had been ambushed in the sky. With a loud roar and my newly enhanced strength and awareness, I managed to flip quickly, plant my feet on these attacking jaws and then shove it away. A yelp like a kicked dog came from the thing, along with a less composed “uwagh!”

Getting a good look at my attacker, I was both terrified and absolutely enamoured. “Is that a FLYING DOG?!” I shouted, even as it shook off my kick and began to turn on me in the air again. I used strengthen and hasten. Like flicking a switch from rest to on, my battle mode was initiated and it became child’s play to stay away from the snapping jaws. “Hey! Call off your dog!” The winged canine was technically leashed, but the thing was about twice the size of a horse. Even the drow on the back in it’s reins had no chance of calming it.

“Cyrus! Stop!” It seemed to have no effect on the thing, but I loved it even more.

“It’s name is Cyrus?! I love him!”

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Well,” I said between barking howls and clamping jaw clashes, “I’m trying not to kill your wing dog Cyrus. Any way we can make that happen?” The drow tried a slew of commands, as our dogfight continued. I wasn’t being pushed, although I felt a little like a chased squirrel which would need to stop. I allowed the useless pet owner on it’s back to keep trying, but it was clearly to no avail.

“This poor puppy is going to get hurt. Brace!” I used my reinforced wings to do an instant rise in the air, letting the creature pass below me. Then forcing my wings with the same strength the opposite way, I dropped onto it’s neck. “Shush, puppy. It’s okay buddy I’m your friend, it’s okay.”

These general platitudes continued while I choked the poor thing. I was not going to kill it, whatever it was, but this would work. As it struggled, it would have looked, possibly, like I was trying to tear it’s head off. Instead, a small amount more pressure caused a heartbreaking whine and it lost consciousness. I was more than strong enough to lower the thing to a rooftop without further damage though.

“Is he going to be alright? Sorry about that.” As the drow jumped from the reins, he didn’t answer me. Instead he ran a finger down his fine breastplate before reaching into it and pulling out a bow. “That was so cool.” My own inventory was less mystical looking. That had looked like the bow was magically grafted into the armour itself.

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From the range we had on each other, and a reapplication of hasten, I was confident that I could dodge the arrow before it left the bow, but the string was not taut. Just a precaution, then.

“Cyrus,” the drow said, “is none of your concern. Are you the kobold that has been making trouble for me?” The answer to his question was likely yes, but I felt misrepresented in all this. I had mostly been minding my own business exploring a new city.

“You’re the ones who attacked me, I should point out.”

”I’m a Shadeguard.” Apparently this guy felt like that was enough of an explanation. Honestly, it was.

“Ah, so you’re a cop. Ohhh and Cyrus is your K-9, I’m starting to get it. Look, I’m not here to get into politics… well I suppose I am, but not with you. The dog thing is okay? I’m going to go. Don’t follow me.” I didn’t wait for a response from the guy before turning. I heard the bowstring tighten and stopped, but I didn’t turn to face him. “If you shoot me with that bow you better be ready for everything that comes next.”

I waited a few heartbeats before leaving. The arrow never flew. Good.

————————————————————————

Cyrus came back to consciousness a few minutes later. He whimpered like when he had as a pup and Abrus was incensed. That thing had hurt his simurgh. It had also called it a dog, whatever that was. Probably an insult.

He had wanted more than anything to pierce the small, purple creature’s hide. Two warring sensations battled as the bowstring was pulled. The arrow would never miss, and the desire to launch it had been strong. The impending sense of doom, felt when he tried to find the resolve to release his fingers, was stronger.

The moment passed. Within three heartbeats, the kobold had disappeared into the dark space above Remula.

“That was a conqueror, Cy. Good boy for doing your job, but I think… I think we got lucky just then.” The simurgh’s black and white face seemed to agree, huge snout pressing into Abrus’ side. The Shadeguard looked out over the city. His city. Shaking off the jitters, the drow climbed back into his seat. His best friend and partner shivered underneath him. “That felt like an important moment, buddy. I hope I made the right choice.”

————————————————————————

That could have been bad. I had felt my ruler’s presence doing its job when the drow had put down their bow, but had things gone a different way I might have had to kill him. All is well that ends well, so I just enjoyed the freedom of the massive open cavern.

Much of the huge space was in use, but large swathes of clear space before me meant I could really stretch my wings. I flitted like a flash of amethyst light between the hanging or floating buildings. Some were gambling houses, some brothels and some were restaurants. Hanging baths, libraries and even what seemed to be temples bobbed and rocked high above the ground. It seemed that the city above and below was split into areas of specific intent. There was a rhyme and reason to the chaotic tangle of streets and hot air buildings.

I liked it, run in with the law aside.

During the battle with the dog bird and it’s rider, a notification appeared.

New Spell

You have learned the spell “Enhance”

Cost: 130MP

Increase all physical abilities of yourself or a target of your choosing.

Lasts for 1 minute.

I could feel my mana rolling around peacefully inside me. With my evolution, every attribute had gained a tier of growth. Not only was I physically much more powerful, my magical awareness and potency had both grown. I now regenerated mana quicker, and more than that, my spells were beginning to evolve too. A combination of hasten and strengthen at once, with even more amplification behind it.

My blast and rebuke abilities were also pushing against their limits, but without cause to use them, I’d have to wait.

The libraries I had seen were absolutely gnawing at my mind. Books meant knowledge, knowledge was power and in this world, I needed as much power as possible. There were a few options available to me, but after the run in with the Shadowman or whatever he had called himself, I felt my draconic presence might not be as casually accepted as I had hoped.

I almost wished the drow was still in front of me, because at this point I needed to find whoever was running this place. I could have done the whole “take me to your leader” thing. Missed opportunity.

It wouldn’t have been strictly necessary. An absolutely gargantuan palace, built right into the rock of the cavern, was calling me. If anything, I had been putting off heading there in case my exploration was cut short. I knew nothing of the ruler of Remula, aside from what Salan and Logue had to offer. Considering their human-centric tutelage in the empire above, even they said it was probably not good information.

Possibly, the twin rulers of Remula were a drow and high elf. Same parents, but due to genetics the twins had been born almost entirely of separate races. It had brought the two peoples together in a way nothing else could have. The high elf was said to possess the silver eyes of a drow, while her sister had the gold of a high elf in hers. To an elf, that was apparently very striking and powerful. Salan had gotten teary just at the thought.

Finally conceding that there’s a proper order to these things, I activated Enhance for the first time.

The world froze. My vision sharpened telescopically, I could hear the chirp of a caged bird somewhere below, a hidden trove of scents filled the air. Flying, which had felt like a casual jog, now felt weightless. I laughed, the sound of it in my ears startled me. Even my voice was more powerful under the effects of Enhance.

An unexpected gift. My heart fluttered and I must have looked like a meteor to those below me. Closing the vast distance to the massive, gothic palace took nearly no time at all. That was fun.

For possibly the first time, from an actual place of true gratitude, I thanked Dion and Nahariel for this chance. It was confusing, violent and scary at times, but now? Flying over a magical underground city like a character from a book or movie? What a gift.

I alighted upon the side of the palace, perching next to an ornate gargoyle. Horns wrapped tightly around a bulbous skull. It’s eyes bulged in pleasantly unpleasant ways. As though protecting itself from torrential rain that would never fall, one wing was raised to shield itself. “I think this is a gargoyle. You’re ugly, but I wouldn’t call you grotesque.” I chuckled to myself.

“You’re not much of a looker yourself.” The statue replied.

I gasped in a very respectable way, as to show my slight surprise.

“Did you just shriek?” The gargoyle asked. I replied, in a calm voice, that I absolutely did not shriek, and that I had gasped in a very respectable way actually. “It sounded like a shriek, and I’m something of an expert.”

“Well, your definitions clearly need work.”

“What brings you to my ledge, scaredy simurgh?”

“Just resting some weary wings before going to speak to the queens.”

“Ah, sensible. They’re pretty interesting, those elf ladies. It used to be a dwarf in this place a long time ago but the elves have done it up real nice. You see it all from up here, especially being here as long as I have.”

“Right, yeah, I see.” I hadn’t been expecting the gargoyle to move. My adrenaline had finally calmed, but the situation was more than a little surreal. As though we were best friends, the thing had just started up a conversation. I supposed it was likely bored up here on it’s own. In fairness, it was me who had started talking. “So, look, I’ve got to be going. It was nice meeting you though.” I wanted to be as far away from my shame as possible, this thing had gotten me really good with the jumpscare.

“Ah that’s a shame,” the gargoyle replied, “well… you know where to find me if you ever want to gossip. I’m Vrack, by the way.”

“Oh!” I hadn’t even thought it might have a name. “I’m Izaark… enjoy your people watching, Vrack.”

“I will, Izaark. I will.”

Slightly less ready than I thought I would be, I decided to drop down to the obvious main entrance to the place. Enough getting sidetracked. Time to start the main quest: Destroy the realm of humanity.

First step: Alliance with the cool underground elf empire.