Tilly shot toward the mountain range at an astonishing speed and once again found himself grateful that the High Priestess had come along. He moved at what was at least a hundred miles per hour, shortening his trip to the Peaks by a huge margin.
Ahead of him in the sky, he saw Brokenridge reach whatever it was that obscured the top of the central peak and launch a bar of liquid flame at the opaque mist shrouding the mountaintop. The attack pierced the veil there but seemed to do little damage, followed closely by the dragon himself who dived into the area he had just hit with his Ability as if softening some unseen target.
Then he was gone. No sound of a distant impact or roar of battle. He just disappeared, leaving a profound silence hanging in the air between the mountain tops. Tilly frowned up at the sight, silently urging his little cloud to move faster.
The closer he got to the peaks, the more the shape of the peculiar mountain range came into clarity. Each mountain sat equidistant from one another, forming an unnatural half-moon shape with the tallest peak sitting at the center-left of the formation. As Tilly passed by the nearest two mountains that formed the leading edges of the half-moon, he saw that even though their bases were miles to his left and right, their peaks still lorded high over him, even at this proximity.
The peaks he was passing were the shortest and they had to be over five miles high. As he fully entered into the unnaturally flat valley between the peaks he could feel his cloud begin to slow down as the last of Erash’s Mana was spent. He was glad his injuries were all metaphysical because it looked like he was about to have to make a hell of a sprint to get to the top of his destination… he just hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
Whatever her spell was, it began to dip lower as Tilly’s mile-eating speed reduced to something he might have managed himself at a full sprint, but he didn’t complain. He had already saved a lot of time, and he was grateful for any remaining help he could get.
After another few minutes, the cloud finally gave out, skipping to a shuddering stop right as the eerily perfect flat valley turned sharply into a steep incline, leading high up into the sky as he arrived at the base of the tallest peak.
“Thanks, buddy.” He said to the construct as it dissolved. Then he turned to look up the slope.
The mountain was completely bare of irregularities or plant life and was astonishingly perfect in its circular structure, adding to Tilly’s suspicion that these Peaks had not formed from any sort of natural phenomenon. Tilly took a final deep breath in and then leapt into motion, pumping his legs powerfully as he began his ascent. He still hadn’t heard anything from Brokenridge since his collision with whatever was at the top of this peak and that worried him more than anything else.
He was almost sure that the dragon was doomed to fail if he tried to take on the dragon king on his own. But that didn’t mean that Tilly didn’t expect the dragon to be able to hold his own in a fight. To have heard nothing of the ensuing fight had Tilly very concerned and his brow furrowed darkly as he continued to push up the slope, legs now burning. He leveraged every bit of his newly increased Strength and Dexterity to move at what might have been forty or fifty miles an hour, each of his bounding steps taking him ten yards up the slope.
At some point, he began to pass large gaping openings leading into the mountain, which he skirted around instead of trying to enter. He had no clue what waited within, but he had seen where Brokenridge had chosen to enter, and he wasn’t going to waste a bunch of time exploring a maze of caverns when he knew exactly where his dragon had gone. Unfortunately, being sure of his destination did not make the climb any easier, and while his Endurance was now possibly god tier, his Strength was a measly thirty-four, having been left as his trash stat.
That meant that while Dexterity was making each of his motions impossibly graceful, allowing him to get much more out of his body than would have otherwise been possible… He was still limited to a speed three or four times as fast as an Olympic sprinter, which meant that scaling the mountain whose top was a vague destination, high up in the sky, would take minutes.
Eventually, legs burning and chest billowing in large gasps as he pushed his body to its limit, he finally approached his goal.
Rising before him on the slope was that same greyish, indistinct mist, blocking his climb. While it didn’t look substantial, Tilly pulled up short, not wanting to enter into the mysterious barrier without considering his options. Due to its indistinct form, he had trouble even finding where the mists began, but as he caught his breath, he watched as they shifted slowly, rotating in a gentle circuit from right to left.
Identify gave him nothing, and his notification log remained silent as he studied the oddity…
Stolen novel; please report.
“Shit,” he huffed to himself, “Going in blind it is.”
Tilly drew his weapons, noting that his Mana had climbed to 48%, and then forged into the mists.
Soon his sight was completely obscured, causing him to even lose sight of his weapons pumping in his arms. But he continued up, building his strides into a cautious run as he kept an eye on his HUD. He wanted to know the moment something popped up on any of his radars.
But nothing happened. No notification, no Debuff, nothing. Shrugging to himself, he kept running, pushing himself further up the mountain, straining his ears to catch any hint of his lost companion.
After another minute or so nothing had changed and Tilly slowed to a stop, schooling his breathing to silence and looking around. Behind him, he could see that the mists thinned. Everything else, however, had stayed the exact same.
His frown deepened, and he retreated back down the slope, finding himself clear of the mist in only a few seconds, confirming his growing suspicion.
Once free of the mists, he stared accusingly at his notification log and pulled it open, finding no hint that he had been the target of some kind of enchantment. He turned angrily, staring up at the frustrating barrier.
His next step would have been to sit down and spirit walk… but with his soul the way it was, he doubted it would be a very good idea to try and separate it from his body at this point. So instead, he cursed under his breath, kicking at the hard dusty ground beneath him as he considered his options. His moccasins scuffed the ground oddly as he kicked loose the lighter material covering the harder surface underneath.
Something about the feeling caught his attention and he squinted down at the mark left by his shoe. Tilly lowered himself onto his haunches, using his hands to move away more of the dust, his motions revealing the dark, almost glossy stone underneath. An idea bloomed to life as he reached down toward the uncovered stone and enflamed his hatchet to tap the weapon against the odd material.
As the inflamed head of his weapon touched the glossy black stone, it burst to life, arcane markings blazing up at the touch of a familiar power source.
‘Holy crap… these mountains are made of Dragon Glass!’ He thought wildly to himself.
He was literally standing on a mountain of treasure, although it looked like these structures had already been enchanted and he had a hard time imagining a miner who could scratch this substance now that it was empowered.
Hastily, he wiped away more of the surface layer of dirt, finding the glowing angry script flowing in all directions, disappearing back under the dirt and covering the hidden, extraordinary nature of the mountains themselves. Slowly, he looked up at the misty barrier, a smile forming as another option presented itself.
With a thought, he directed his world ring to issue a withdrawal from his account, only feeling the slightest twinge at the tiny use of internal Will. Then, with a pop, the same coin that the Raptor Magnus had given him at the Auction appeared in his hand. It buzzed a few times and then suddenly a crackling voice came through the metallic object.
“Oh! Hello there, may I ask who's calling?”
The sudden noise caused Tilly to jump and almost drop it before clearing his voice and stumbling over an answer, “Oh, Uh, this is the human you met at the auction… I have a proposition for you.”
“Wonderful! What a pleasant surprise! I’ll have you know that you just interrupted a dreadfully boring meeting, and I am pleased as punch. Would you mind holding me up so I can get a look around? I can only see the sky and your palm from this angle.”
Tilly cocked his head at the coin, before slowly lifting it and panning its face around to give the Magnus a clear view.
“My good man, what an incredible sight. If I am not mistaken, you are standing on the famed Peaks themselves! How would you feel if I popped over for a bit?”
“That would, uh… be fine. I just need some help from you in return.”
“Absolutely, it would be my pleasure to assist!”
“Very well,” Tilly said, attempting to sound unhurried, “you have my permission to come through.”
“Place the coin on the ground if you please. Wouldn’t want any accidents.”
Tilly complied, laying it on the patch of ground he had just cleared of dirt and stepping back.
“Dear me! Is that Scorch I see on the ground? What a delight! One moment…” He practically hissed in pleasure. Then the coin flashed with light and began to unfold one half at a time, doubling with every opening of its shape. Soon enough, there was a half circle with extended lines glowing on the slope of the mountain. Then the whole structure of light tipped up off the ground to stand open before Tilly, revealing a rather ornate room filled with hazy magics and arcane objects glowing with power.
In front of the doorway stood the Lizard Wizard himself. And behind him, at a long and ancient stone table, sat five other beings who practically radiated authority.
But before Tilly could get a good look at them, the Magnus stepped through and the portal went dark. Tilly belatedly looked down and realized that his armor had reverted to its base form while he had been unconscious and he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he had met the Magnus while pretending to represent the dragons of this land.
The robe-wearing raptor shook out his sleeves dramatically and licked his teeth in anticipation, “ I could almost kiss you for getting me out of that meeting! Now, I can see you are a claimant for the Contested Lands, good for you! Incredibly bold for one at your level. Now how can I help you?” he asked, rubbing his clawed hands together as he stared down at the ground beneath their feet in fascination.
In the face of the Magnus’ enthusiasm, as well as the fact that he had no way of knowing just how powerful this creature was, Tilly decided to go with his favorite tactic: blatant honesty, “Look, I need to get through whatever magic is barring me from reaching the top of this mountain, and then I need to help my dragon fight another dragon. What can you do for me?”
“Hmmm,” he said, turning to face the mists seething just feet away from their position. He flicked his tongue out several times in a very snake-like maneuver, and then reached one arm deep into the sleeve of his robe, pulling forth a staff that seemed to be carved from metallic bone, “Yes, well if my senses are correct, you are barred entry to this peak by the same magics that have protected this land for decades. The barrier seems to have failed on its borders, hence our presence here… All that remains of that storied protection resides at the top of this mountain… although there is a strange flavor to the magic, something that-”
He interrupted himself with several more flicks of his tongue, “-yes, It tastes of the Primal energies. That barrier is partially fueled by something powerful, and possibly as old as the plane itself…” He concluded thoughtfully.
“So… can you get me through it?” Tilly asked, after a long pause to see if the Magnus had anything to add.
“I’m afraid not.”