“Claim you?” Kliss blinked. “What do you want me to do, bite your hand?”

“What, dragons don’t claim living things?” I asked.

“Uhhh, I don’t know,” Kliss shook her head. “From the Imperial reports on Aradria, she was a solitary hunter.”

“Well, you’re not Aradria,” I pointed out. “We have a golden opportunity here to explore the potential of your chimeric nature. Who knows, maybe claiming a living being could unlock some hidden ability, a new power we haven’t even considered!”

Kliss hesitated, her gaze flickering between me and Delta. My twin grinned and gave Kliss a playful nudge with a mischievous look.

“Go on, Lizzy,” she encouraged. “Bite him!”

“What if it goes horribly wrong?” Kliss asked.

“You already claimed my diary,” I pointed out. “I understand the process.”

“You’re not a book,” she said. “You’re alive.”

I mulled over her point.

“Delta, I know you’ve got Ogonek in your pocket, let Kliss claim her,” I said.

“Huh? What if she accidentally eats her?!” Delta huffed, looking somewhat offended.

Kliss looked between me and my sister.

“This is for science,” I said. “Ogonek is an immortal bumblebee, designed to stand up to the magogenic fault. I very much doubt that Kliss will be able to do anything to her–she's a level 5 dragon compared to Ogonek’s level 27!”

“Ffffine,” Delta exhaled. She opened her pocket and a pink and yellow striped, fat, fuzzy bee emerged from it. Ogonek buzzed to my finger and I offered the bee to Kliss.

“Claim the bee,” I said.

“You want me to bite the bee?” She asked with an incredulous look. “What if it stings me in the mouth?”

“The claim is magically conceptual,” I explained. “You don’t actually have to bite it hard - the key is to connect with it.”

Kliss pursed her lips.

“Give the bee a kiss,” I said. “While focusing on making it part of your hoard, tie it to your gold and book.”

Kliss looked at me as if I had grown a second head. "You want me to kiss a bee?"

Delta snickered.

“Alternatively, you can lick it or maybe hold it for a bit inside your hand,” I suggested. “Like I said, the claim is conceptual but there must be some kind of a physical connection for the spell to go from your soul into the claimed object. Don’t worry - she won’t sting you, Ogonek is our Phylactery and answers to Delta and me.”

With a sigh Kliss brought her face to Ogonek and gave the bee a smooch. Nothing happened.

Kliss eyed me.

“Wet your lips and do it again,” I said. “Really focus on making it yours. Think of Ogonek as a piece of treasure you want to add to your collection.”

The dragon girl brought the bee to her mouth once again and gave her a longer smooch with a determined look.

Time slowed as all of my Infoscopes focused on a red current of magic running from the mouth of Kliss into the fuzzy bee. The pulse ran across Ogonek’s body and ignited her crystalline core, rearranging it ever so slightly from within.

As my mental acceleration ended I heard the voice of Kliss tremble across the room.

“She’s mine! It worked! The Soul-Song defined the bee as my… Kobold! I’m sensing her presence, even when I’m not looking at her! I feel like I could allow her to draw power from me... but why?”

“To change her into something else,” I said.

“Something else?! What’s this dragon-butt gonna change my precious bumblebee into? A wasp? I hate wasps!” Delta interjected.

“Not a wasp,” I smiled. “According to my observations, Ogonek’s core became ever so slightly realigned, similar to these gemstones.”

I waved a hand at the sparkling mane atop of Kliss's head.

“What?” Delta asked. “Is she a dragon-bee now, or something?”

“Yes,” I said. “Ogonek is about 0.0045% aligned to Kliss. It seems that dragons are indeed capable of claiming other creatures to be their thralls... aka kobolds.”

“Behold, the Dragon-bee,” Delta said with a smug look, making Ogonek take off from Kliss and spin around her head.

“Try ordering her mentally,” I suggested.

Kliss focused on the bee. Nothing happened.

“Try ordering her to do something specific with your words,” I said.

“Umm... Ogonek, make two circles,” Kliss said.

The bee obeyed.

“Hold on. How would a claim even work on a human? You don’t have a monster core,” Kliss pointed out, looking at me from the bee.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“People do have cores,” I said. “They're just not as defined as the cores on animals. Mana crystallizes in microscopic patches all over people’s bodies.”

“If Kliss claims me, am I gonna be her kobold too?” Delta tilted her head.

“Presumably,” I said.

“Am I gonna grow shiny hair like her?” Delta demanded, eyes lighting up with hope. “Am I gonna stop feeling like an icicle?”

“Probably not,” I said, which soured Delta’s overly excited look. “You’re bigger than a bee, remember?”

“Okay, but eventually?” Delta pleaded. “I can’t be like this forever, Slava! I hate being a freaking ghoul!”

“Theoretically, the longer you remain a kobold the more dragon-aligned your core will become,” I said. “But that doesn't mean you'll be any less phantom.”

“Why is our bee obeying Kliss?" Delta asked. "Bees aren't supposed to obey people's words. How does that even work?"

“There are control threads interwoven in that spell that connect from one core to another,” I said. "It's positively-charged dragon magic, which is completely different from human Charisma-infused words."

“Dragons boss kobolds around with words then?” Delta asked. "Dragons can speak?"

"If they can't talk like people then they can definitely roar," I speculated. "It's an order>action magical chain."

"So if Kliss claims me... she could boss me around?"

"Not right away, since you're bigger than a bee, but once the connection grows stronger, Kliss could order her kobold around and the kobold would be unable to disobey, yes,” I nodded.

Delta bit her lower lip.

"So... is this like a Vow?" Kliss asked.

"No. A Vow is a specific type of spell that binds a person's soul to a divine entity, compelling them to obey the dictates which they set themselves,” I scratched my chin. “A Vow eats part of a person’s soul and eventually drags souls to Arx. A dragon's claim is more like a... magical leash that connects the kobold's will to that of the dragon. A Vow like a phantom operates on negatively-charged magic, it would not be able make a person gradually aligned to positively-charged magical currents. However, from what I can see on Ogonek, a kobold is capable of draining magic from the dragon's hoard!”

“Why would you want this, Slava?” Kliss demanded.

“Science?” I shrugged.

Kliss opened her mouth to reprimand me.

“I have a Vow of Equality on me,” I said.

“WHAT?!” Kliss barked. “How could you, after…”

“Overseer Ignatius forced me into one when I became the temporary Administrator of Skyisle,” I interrupted her angry rant. “I shredded it from within using magic-cutting blades of my Infoscopes, made it my own. It is currently a phylactery Vow that has a bunch of my soul shards inside it. Your dragon skill level is low. I’m pretty sure that I can handle whatever leash you put on me, rearrange it to my advantage, snap it off if I want it gone. As a scientist, I want to investigate all magic, no matter how…”

Kliss grabbed me before I could finish my passionate speech, pulled me to herself and bit my neck with sharp chompers.

Time stopped, decelerated, the moment suspending itself.

My Infoscopes and defense Wards formed from phantom lymphagons and Battie identified and permitted a magical tether to reach out from her dragonheart core to a spot in my chest behind my heart. Microscopic crystalline formations located in the back of the mediastinum between various nerves and lymph nodes began to rearrange themselves ever so slightly, becoming more like the ever-changing gemstones atop of Kliss's head.

I didn’t let them finish, tearing through the [control] part of the magical programming before the crystals fully modified themselves.

It’s not that I didn’t trust Kliss, it was more like that I sought the challenge, wanted to rearrange a completely new type of magic.

[Status: Kobold of Eliza's Hoard]

The System notified me.

A headache blossomed across the front of my brain, as my mana ran low. Time lurched back into motion.

A jolt of unexpected energy, like a static shock, surged through my body as I suddenly pulled mana from elsewhere. It wasn't unpleasant, more like the invigorating tingle of a cold shower after a long day.

My Infoscopes identified the source of the incoming mana as the pile of gold coins sitting in a backpack beneath the couch.

“Ow,” I said, rubbing my neck where the dragon girl's teeth had grazed my skin.

“You’re... mine,” Kliss declared with a pant, leering over me, eyes flashing with orange-red rings. “Are you freakin' happy? Is this what you wanted?”

“More like you’re mine,” I smirked. “But that’s just minor details.”

“What?” Kliss blinked.

“I rearranged the magical matrix of the claim ever so slightly,” I said. “Currently it allows me to pull mana from your hoard through you, that’s about it.”

Delta had been watching the whole spectacle with mild amusement and apprehension.

“Hey, no fair,” she said. “I wanted to be a kobold first. It makes you warmer… right? Are you feeling warmer?”

“Alas, no,” I said. “I’m still an Astral Phantom, I’m simply inhabiting a human body that’s a little more dragon. By my estimate, I’m about 0.000021% homo-koboldus now.”

Delta exhaled, looking very disappointed.

“Minute progress isn’t complete lack of thereof,” I said. “Kliss is basically akin to a newborn dragon with a very small hoard. If she was ancient like Aradria with a mountain of gold and artifacts, then maybe the degree of crystallization would be greater.”

“So we need a mountain of gold for the kobold-ness effect to make a difference?” Delta asked.

“Most likely,” I nodded.

“Argh,” Delta groaned. “Can’t you make this crystallization thing accelerate somehow?”

“No,” I shook my head. “The incompatibility would most likely kill you or cause a catastrophic runaway effect which would rapidly age you. You and I are Astral Phantoms with all of the advantages and downsides.”

“Bwa,” Delta buried her face in Kliss. “Why must you torment me with false hopes, brother?”

“What exactly is the point of having kobolds?” Kliss asked.

“Most likely,” I speculated, “kobolds serve as extensions of the dragon’s will, defenders of its hoard. Kobolds could even be agents of the dragon in the human realm. They could gather information, communicate with magi and eliminate threats to the dragon’s dominion. Kobolds could be a means of evolution, a way for dragons to transcend their solitary existence and connect with the world in a more profound way.”

“You think dragons are that good as planners?” Kliss asked.

“This is just me speculating,” I shrugged. “If I was a dragon I’d definitely spread my influence with kobolds across human nations. These microscopic crystal formations look just like the ones mundane human mages have, there is no way to tell them apart unless you know exactly what to look for. Maybe there’s a human empire out there that’s being managed by a dragon.”

“Lizz, do you remember where Aradria’s hoard is buried?” Delta’s eyes suddenly opened. “Maybe we could find it and claim it.”

Kliss made a thoughtful face.

“No,” she answered after a deep pause. “I cannot recall.”

“Did Aradria have any cute, shiny, little kobolds that she bossed around?” Delta asked.

“I don’t know,” Kliss shrugged. “Her memories come to me in dreams or as blurry, indistinct flashes at best or emotional responses at worst.”

Then she blushed.

“Sorry, I… I didn’t mean to bite your neck so hard, Slava,” she said. “You sort of coaxed the dragon in me into doing it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I shrugged.

“Sometimes Slava deserves to be bitten twice as hard,” Delta commented.

“Uh-huh,” I rolled my eyes at my twin. “Let’s have a late breakfast and head to the village council. According to Georgi, the Elders and Guild reps are meeting later today. It’s about time we introduce Archmage Delta to the people of Skyisle!”