Kaden studied the destruction the domain storm had wrought and the face of the mountain where the gate had been before. It was gone, along with thousands of tons of rock. Panic wanted to come and have tea with Kaden. It wanted to dance in his belly and send chills down his spine. But logic also whispered, saying key things to Kaden, like ‘You don’t like tea or panic, why would you have tea with panic?’ and also that the gates shifted every night. It made sense that their exits inside the domain did, too.
Kaden had been trapped in the domain of a Greater Abyssenian once and survived that, and he was more of a dog person than a cat person, so the [Ulf] was already better in that regard. At the thought, the [Ufl] raised its head and huffed. It wasn’t like Vip, but it agreed with his assessment.
Instead of panic or tea, Kaden engaged [Stealth Aura] and began to search, moving carefully through the domain. During his time high above, he’d noted the river wound back and forth, and so Kaden was certain Adventurers were meant to fight their way along the river, facing greater challenges.
His challenge would be escape.
He was looking for anything that might resemble a structure, anything that might contain a doorway. The paths into the Domain had lead to carved stone gates, and the key would be finding one.
Like the Fire Domain, most of what lived here was simply surviving, and what Kaden had taken for brutal battles was the ebb and flow of life, and it didn’t end well for the predators in so many hunts.
The [Ulf] followed, sometimes within reach, sometimes out of sight, but it limped along, and Kaden kept his pace steady, since he hadn’t been able to heal the broken legs. Three storm-cycles passed, and another loomed, when Kaden finally found another gate.
At the moment, it was simply stone columns that arced together at the top, but the shape was unmistakable. Set into the mountainside, the columns opened to wide, flat area devoid of pines and stomped smooth, which said to Kaden it was something’s spawn point.
If Domains were like Dungeons, this, too, made sense. Any exit or entrance should have a challenge, though Kaden wouldn’t put a boss directly in front of an exit or entrance. A stampede of Frozen Elk had Kaden hiding in a thicket, not because he couldn’t kill one, but because he couldn’t kill twenty.
And if the herd fled, it fled from something worth fleeing.
The air grew impossibly cold as Kaden worked to dig a hole in the snow, which was an easier way to survive the storms than what he’d done the first time. The [Ulf] whined and dug with one paw as best it could.
Every storm cycle, he dribbled healing potion into the beast a drop or three at a time. Now it no longer shuddered with every breath. Now, it stayed close, like Kaden, sensing something wrong. Kaden forced himself down into the snow-cave even though it wasn’t large enough yet, and the [Ulf] joined him. Fear made allies of everyone. Kaden raked the snow he’d dug out down in front and on top of them.
Then held his breath, focusing on [Stealth Aura].
A pine tree exploded—and another.
Others swayed and leaned as something pushed them aside.
A slver-blue snout, reptillian in nature, and as long as Kaden was tall, emerged from a copse of trees, followed by a serpentine body with six short legs on each side. This was the Ice Dragon, in one of its many forms.
[Stealth Aura] trembled under the dragon’s pressure, while Kaden balanced so many needs. Keep [Beast Soul] from reaching out. Hold on to [Stealth Aura], and worst of all, the jangling in his hand where Kaden’s collection of scales lay imprinted.
The Ice dragon, while deadly, didn’t exude the same amount of mana as, say, Oceanus, but any dragon was enough to flood him. Oceanus was magnificent, Suridev was clever, this dragon was primal, a hunter who embraced the hunt, reveled in it.
Its serpentine body lunged skyward, and fell, spearing a random drift—and emerged clutching the body of a [Frost Bear], which it shook side to side, then swallowed, forming a lump in its spine. Then it tromped over to the clearing in front of the arch and curled in a twisting, lumpy ball.
As the coming storm mounted, the dragon glazed over.
*Patience,* Kaden sent to the [Ulf]. When the storm cleared, the dragon would move on. He settled in to wait.
###
The storm still blew, but a change in the pressure jolted Kaden from his nap. The Ice Dragon had risen and stretched and shat in front of the gate, which glowed bright blue through the swirling snow. Then with the speed of a hunter, it snaked through the Domain Gate.
Kaden was on the move in an instant, sprinting through the storm toward the gate. He stopped just long enough to unbind the [Ulf], trusting it wouldn’t turn hostile. “You’re on your own, I’m leaving this domain. I might be back to hunt. If I see you in here, I’ll do my best to hunt someone else.”
The Ulf’s emotions weren’t what Kaden expected. He’d thought perhaps it would be grateful or attached, instead, it simply engaged [Stealth] and slunk away, limping along.
It wasn’t Kaden’s right to force it to do anything. One more task, he drew a corpse inventory and collected the dragon’s waste. Whether it was for gardening or alchemy, almost everything had a use. With [Stealth Aura] engaged, Kaden slipped through the Domain gate, emerging to a scene of pure carnage. The crushed corpses of Domain beasts littered the icy waste. In the distance, a band of yellow rose, a Clan enclave.
Detecting the [Ice Dragon] was surprisingly easy, the screams in the distance gave him a decent idea of where it was.
[Field Harvest] claimed the crushed beasts had been {Cyclone Wolverines], but what Kaden actually cared about was the essence. And the teeth, which made arrow heads. And the hide, which wasn’t all that useful but still.
The stars above glittered, and Kaden turned south, a direction [Beast Soul] told him. Then back to the village. No longer in the domain, Kaden dispatched the [Falcrow] to Trella, and a moment later, to Ashi, then Eve, explaining about the dragon.
Eve’s response came first. “There are two clans who are hostile, three friendly to us, and three undecided. Odds are the victim is at least neutral, but a dragon is probably beyond our abilities.”
The crystaline mana dragon which landed on Kaden’s arm dropped a scroll. Do not challenge a dragon alone. Even the solar dragon is beyond your abilities. Return to us.
The last came from Trella. “I’ve been waiting for you. I never doubted.”
Hunting the ice dragon would be best. Hunting the ice dragon could let him claim another scale. But perhaps there was an alternate path. Kaden sprinted toward the village, still wrapped in [Stealth Aura], and only slowed as torchlight revealed fleeing figures—and fighting ones.
He drew Thorn Caster and produced a maximum power [Mana Arrow].
The ice dragon had reduced its size, less than fifteen feet long, and it stalked through the village with gleaming eyes.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Kaden timed his shot—and loosed it, diving into the snow as the arrow flew true, striking the ice dragon. The chrono-aspect activated, striking twice more.
Damage rounded up to: 1 point.
You have inflicted poison x3.
Kaden was already moving to his left, already in [Stealth Aura], and already drawing another arrow. No creature could ignore poison forever. The damage it did was a percent of maximum health, which meant these arrows were probably more dangerous than swords, hammers or spears.
The dragon whipped its tail down, smashing a different snow-bank, then focused on a screaming [Beserker]—only to receive another trio of [poison] from Kaden, who sprinted away, heading straight into the village even as the Ice Dragon charged the position he’d held a moment earlier.
No time to fully charge, Kaden settled for nailing it in the back. Seven points of damage from arrows. Probably thousands from poison. The ground shook as the dragon roared, and in answer, clouds began to gather, a freak storm which Kaden knew had to be the dragon’s doing.
Suridev had said some dragons were little more that beasts with vast mana, and the ice dragon didn’t behave like Oceanus, Suridev, or even the fire and death dragons. It didn’t make them less dangerous, just more predicatable.
Kaden waited as the thuds grew louder—then created a Portal that led back to where he’d emerged from the Domain Gate. The Ice Dragon perched atop a stone house, blasting ice shards from its mouth. When three more arrows struck it, it whipped the breath around, aiming for Kaden, who hid behind the Domain Gate.
Storm winds buffeted Kaden as it rushed the Domain Gate.
Kaden kept himself cold, calm and careful. When facing a dragon, the only right thing to do was run, but leaving a dragon to ravage a village wasn’t right, either. Now, it would take more than strength and more than poison. Timing, intelligence, and bravery would combine.
The footsteps slowed as the dragon approached the domain gate.
Kaden hid on the other side, ready. Whichever side the dragon came from, it would receive another arrow. More importantly, it would find Kaden gone through a Portal, setting him up for another round of pin-the-poison-arrow-on-the-dragon. Which would totally be a game he’d play.
But now the night lay silent except for cries for help and warriors organizing.
Kaden didn’t blame them for not chasing a dragon that looked to be returning to its domain. He also didn’t want to lead the dragon back to the village, so he focused on [Stealth Aura] and holding Thorncaster ready.
Something struck him from the side, sending Kaden rolling in a ball of snarling white fur and snow. The [Ulf] had turned on him—an ice dragon slammed down in the spot where he’d been a second earlier. It had leaped over the Domain Gate the same way it attacked the bear, striking from above.
“Hide,” Kaden said as he stood. Then he focused on the Ice Dragon and [Beast Soul]. “Hi. Kaden Birch, [Beast Master]. You’re a great hunter. Incredibly powerful, agile, deadly. I’ve really enjoyed hunting you, too.”
The dragon seemed shocked by his words, or maybe by [Beast Soul] translating. *Prey.*
“Or friends. The kind of friends where one friend shoots the other with poison arrows and the other friend tries to squash the first friend, but then they laugh and give each other scales and go home.” Kaden could hope.
This time, it took the dragon even longer to answer. It shook its head back and forth, as though the ideas hurt it more than arrows. *No.*
“You’re awfully small here. Not your fault, it’s really cold. But I saw you in the Domain, six times this size.” The [Ulf] had slunk away. Any debt it owed him had been paid in full as far as Kaden was concerned, and he wished it good hunting, far from the village. Or perhaps it had already returned to the Ice Domain, its home. Buying time for the villagers to escape was his only goal now.
*Challenge.*
That wasn’t the answer he was expecting. It had chosen this shape and size to challenge itself. It hadn’t expected this challenge. “Goodbye, ice dragon. I’ll return to hunt you at some point. If the only way to get a scale is to carve it off your corpse, that works for me.”
Kaden waited for the words to work their way through the dragon’s brain. It was definitely on the strong/deadly end of the scale and less on the smart/powerful end. He would would know when the message finally made it to the dragon’s brain.
It roared in rage and opened its mouth wide to spray him with ice.
Which meant, for the briefest moment, it couldn’t see directly in front of it.
[Moment of Speed] drove Kaden forward to slide under the tip of the dragon’s lower jaw. He already clutched the [Levicon Blade] and sank it into the dragon’s flesh just past its lips.
Touching it made the Frost inside him dance with joy.
The writhing the Ice Dragon did was not joy, it was pain, as Kaden cut downward. He was waiting, ready for the dragon to roll right, whipping coils around like a constrictor, and [Split Second] let him vault off the dragon’s body and slash again, this time, scoring so deep rib bones flashed through the wound. Kaden’s mana plunged as only a chain of [Moment of Speed]/[Split Seconds] let him dodge the constant whipping body, slashing claws and deadly jaws.
Kaden’s counter attacks were opportunistic, relying on the [Levicon Blade]’s power to inflict dozens of small cuts.
You could kill a quillophant with enough cuts, the old saying went. Perhaps dragons were also vulnerable. The ice dragon groaned, and roared, lunging forward to strike, and slamming into the pillars of the domain gate instead of Kaden, who drew Thorncaster and shot it again. “Should’ve just given me the scale. Now I’m going to wear ice-dragon boots. See, when you said ‘prey,’ you probably meant me. You actually meant you.”
It righted itself and dragged in air to breathe ice, breath that whistled through the gash in its side. Before it could react, Kaden loosed another arrow at it, then dove left through a portal that brought him out beside the dragon. This time, he raked the [Levicon Blade] down the back of one leg as he leaped over. “See, you gave me a scale after all! We are friends!”
One miscalculation.
One moment of arrogance.
Kaden already had a portal open to escape, but in mid-air, [Split Second] could only warn him of the dragon’s head coming around to chomp. Kaden twisted, pushing himself away from the fangs that would bite clean through him.
He passed through the portal and slammed into stone, breaking his leg, his arm. Breaking so much.
You have gained a status condition: Grievous Wounds.
[Grievous Wounds]
There’s more of you broken than there is fixed. You will not heal on your own, regardless of talents or skills. Seek help or die. Death will reset [Grievous Wounds.]
Kaden struggled to stand. Everything ached. He’d meant to appear behind the groundhouses. The dragon’s impact had slammed him into the stone roof. He rolled over and looked. In the distance, the Domain Gate flickered and went dark.
Cries of triumph rose over the village.
Kaden drew his healing potion and drank it. As his health rose, his focus returned. His bones crackled and moved under the skin as they patched, but his health barely rose. With whispered words, Kaden dispatched the [Falcrow] to Trella, describing the village and the ornate leather patterns the dead wore.
A whine beside him drew Kaden’s attention.
The [Ulf Stalker] nosed him.
Kaden leaned on it to stand, and found himself surrounded by clansmen. [Beserkers] and [Backsmiths], they looked at Kaden with fear.
“That was a dragon,” he said, pointing toward the domain. “Also, the [Ulf] is with me. I’d appreciate you not harming it.”
“Don’t move!” one of their guards said.
For once, Kaden completely agreed. “What do you say you take me prisoner? I’m used to sleeping in motivational chambers and my Party is already on their way.”
“Drop your weapons! Empty your Inventory!” another Beserker shouted.
“Did you not just see what happened?” Kaden stood, drawing on the dregs of his strength. “That was a dragon. It was wrecking you. I damn near killed it. Now, put away that sword, lead me to a cell where I can sleep, and pray to whatever gods you believe in that I choose to stay there. Also that my party doesn’t decide to burn this place to the ground. You should have killed that dragon.”
“Our weapons don’t hurt it. Nothing hurts it,” said a beserker woman. “How did you hurt it?”
Kaden shrugged. “Actually, I’ll be back for my cell in a moment.” He limped out to the domain gate, leaning on the Ulf for balance. His health wasn’t rising, and walking hurt. Standing hurt. Breathing hurt. But he circled the empty domain gate making certain there wasn’t a scrap of dragon hide or scale laying in the snow. As he returned to the village, a ring of clansmen waited, still armored, but without weapons.
Kaden studied them. “You. You have thirty levels on me. Why didn’t you kill it?”
The man, older with a grey beard and hair glared. “We told you the truth. Our weapons don’t hurt it. Plus, we’re beserkers. We’re the most powerful warriors you’ll ever meet against other warriors. That thing will kill you before [Rage] takes hold enough to harm it. What are you?”
“A boss-killer,” Kaden said.
It was the truth. Resillient swarms like the torrods overwhelmed him, while even a large-lizard-with-mana would attack smart next time instead of relying on superior strength, speed, armor, and damage. Taking it on that way had been amazing.
Oh, [Frost] had dropped since leaving the domain, sitting at thirty-five. It let him wander the village, following the guides, until they reached a groundhouse. The [Ulf] balked. Its kind were known to nest in caves, but it smelled the emotions around it. It knew the fear could turn to anger at any moment, and that being underground would leave them both vulnerable. “Go on, I’ll stay here,” Kaden said, sitting down in the snow with it at his side.
“And if we don’t agree?” one Clanswoman asked.
Kaden looked around at the dead, the smashed houses, the burning roofs. “We have a saying where I’m from. Don’t go borrowing trouble. You’ve got enough trouble as it is. Don’t borrow me.”
And that was where he was sitting when Ashi arrived, her skin ablazed, and the burning power of the sun trailing her.