Chapter VII

Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.

The Chief, after teaching the Den Mother that NO a Human naming her was NOT an admission of infatuation on the Human's part and was very common amongst Humans, made his way up the steps to the main floor of the cabin to explore their new home.

He wasn't the only one, others have followed and started to make themselves at home.

Most going into the kitchen to see about the Human's food.

The Chief could smell the remnants of the food and it made him hungry from the left over aroma.

But, he thought shaking to clear his head, he had a duty to fulfill.

He made his was into the main room of the cabin.

In the center was a tree stump with many thin pamphlets and strange runestones were placed upon it. Surrounding the stump was a circular bench made from animal hide with soft fur cushions. Before the stump on a table of black wood was a strange wall of black glass and metal that reflected the Chief's image.

He pressed his claws against the strange black glass in aw.

Then panic as the black glass fell and broke in a loud crash, what the Chief saw was strange metal parts and runes behind the glass.

Unsure how to fix the strange mirror he turned to where more stairs led to the top of the cabin, and the Chief had no doubt was the Human Jeb's bedchambers.

Past those was another room that held a brick fireplace, and above it was the blackpowder weapon that the Human almost took his life with.

Swallowing at the stressful memory he saw two hide covered chairs, and a small dark wooden table between them, sat in front of the fireplace. He turned to eye the rest of the room and found a wall of books!

Books that weren't burned and ripped but actual whole books!

The Chief made his way to the wealth of knowledge and began to explore the works of the Human Jeb's world.

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Jeb clocked out and went to grab Clive so he could show him the little lizard folk.

"Clive come ON! You gotta come see this!" Jeb exclaimed excitedly.

CLANG

"OW! Later Jeb, I still have to finish MY work." Clive retorted to his overly excited friend as he rubbed his increasingly sore head.

"Fine. But hurry up, your gonna wanna see this!" Jeb said as he made his way to his truck.

After stopping at the store and grabbing a couple bags of snacks for the handful of lizard folk he made his way home hoping he didn't imagine it all.

He pulled into his dirt driveway and, not forgetting the snacks, headed into his home.

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Holding his breathe as he opened the door he let it out as he saw the little lizard folk wandering about the main floor.

"Thank God, I thought I might've imagined it for a minute." Jeb muttered.

Hmm, weren't there only a few of them last time? Jeb thought as he spied more than the handful he met earlier. Some of them were bareskin(scale?) but some others were wearing pieces of the rugs and rolled up carpet from the basement.

Jeb turned and saw his flatscreen on the floor.

"The hell happen' to my TV!?"

"Ah! Master Jeb!" A lizardman ran up to him holding a book about myths & legends in his hands.

He looked like the one from last night, he stood at about 3.10ft, he wore some charms, bracelets and had blue paint on his face, chest, and arms.

He was also a ripe tomato red but had a pale streak run from the bottom of his snout that was longer and flattened like a croc's, down his underbelly, and to the tip of his tail.

Stockier then Ruby and the others he saw.

He also had horns come out the side of his head and curved like a ram's.

"Evenin', Mr-?" Jeb asked.

"Oh!" The lizardman exclaimed before closing the book. He bowed and said.

"We Kobolds do not have names unless given to us by our Master as a reward for acceptable service." He straightened out before coughing into his clawed hand.

"Or when two of us wish to be paired for life."

Jeb thought about that for a moment, before his thoughts turned to the liz- Kobold that he met during breakfast. She seemed flustered and nervous the whole time she was talking to him. But now that he thought about it she seemed to get worse after he called her Ruby.

Then the last bit of what the Kobold said hit Jeb.

"OH!" Jeb said slightly louder then he wanted to. His own face now burned from the implications of him giving her a name was like asking her for her hand in marriage!

The Kobold coughed to get Jeb's attention.

"Yes, I'm sure you weren't aware but please be mindful of giving names to the rest. I know that its common for Humans to give names, but it's a very personal and intimate thing for us. In a Tribe where you are but one of THOUSANDS its a very special thing for a Master or someone close to give you a Name. It shows that you are either special in the Master's eyes that he notices you enough to stand out from the rest, or that someone thinks you are special to them and wishes to be a part of that with you. "

Jeb after collecting himself asked.

"Well, then what should I call you?"

"I am simply called Chief. Its my duty to work on the administrative work and temporary leader of the Tribe." He said proudly.

"Well then Chief, what brings you out here to West Virginia?" Jeb asked.

"Is that what this world is called? Is there an East Virginia? Or a North?" Chief asked excitedly

"Well. No. This world is called Earth." Jeb rambled on about basic geo-politics like what Nation they were in, what the State was, what States WERE.

Why there is a West Virginia but the other one isn't called South or East Virginia seemed to confuse him but the Chief still looked on eyes wide and fixated.

"No need to be rude but, what're a bunch of Kobolds doin' 'round here?" Jeb asked after refilling his air.

Chief calmed himself from the 'bout of knowledge thrown at him before answering.

"While we are deeply honored for your hospitality, we need to find a new Master for our Tribe to survive." He said.

"Survive? Ya'll can make more Kobolds can't you?" Jeb asked confused.

A sad look crossed the Chief's face as he told Jeb.

"No. When the earliest Kobolds served our Draconic Masters things were well. But as the years went by, and our numbers exploded without end, our Masters feared we would overthrow them. So the Masters came together in a rare Gathering of Dragons and cast a spell that would limit our population growth."

The Chief paused to collect a breath before continuing.

"We cannot reproduce to make more Kobolds without the Essence of a Draconic Master. Whenever eggs are laid without that Essence those born are little more than beasts with simple intelligence." The Chief said as he gestured to a nearby salamander that had wandered over and began sniffing at Jeb's leg before sitting down and looking up at Jeb before licking an eye with a forked tongue.

Jeb leaned down and began to pet the overgrown lizard that reminded him of an old Basset Hound that he used to have long ago.

"What do you mean when you say "Essence?" Jeb asked, getting both grossed out and confused at what came to mind, as he continued to pet the salamander.

"Magical Essence, imagine that in order for a seed to become a tree it NEEDS this Essence, without it the seed will only turn into a shrub."

"So you need a dragon to give ya'll the magical go ahead to keep bein' smart, talkin' and walkin' on two legs?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"So it doesn't involve ya'll and the dragon doin'-" Jeb trailed off not wanting to finish this strange nagging train of thought.

The Chief, realizing what Jeb was implying, hissed out a bit of laughter at Jeb.

"Oh goodness no! Not only is it physically impossible, dragons are too prideful to fornicate with us!"

Morbid curiosity sated Jeb then asked a better and more PG question.

"So then where're you gonna find a dragon?"

The Chief, calming himself from his laughter and looking excited once more, opened the book he held.

"Well I was hoping you could point us in the right direction."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it says here that there are many dragons on your world. Surly one of them would have us!"

Jeb looked sad for a moment and thought carefully how to say what he was about to say.

"There AIN'T any dragons in our world." Jeb said deciding to just rip the band-aid off.

The Chief looked at Jeb in disbelieve.

"But of course there are! There's magic, though strange and hostile, on your world! And this book says-"

Jeb held up a hand to stop the Kobold.

"I can't answer the bit about magic. But dragons 'avn't been seen or heard of on Earth in THOUSANDS of years, and even then they're mostly stories or myths and legends."

"But, but!?" The Chief looked between Jeb and the book.

"Chief, if dragons are still 'round they are VERY good at hidin'. But most likely they're dead."

"And we're probably the ones that killed 'em."