“I see,” Kliss swallowed.

“Also, I suspect that Dragons sleep for centuries so that they can digest and process all of the magic they’ve absorbed from the environment and convert it to more of their soft-hard crystalline structures. They’re basically walking thaumaturgical reactors and reactors need time to cool down, lest they self-reinforce their core into existence too much and melt right through reality along with their hoard. Remember what I said about thermodynamics?”

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed,” Kliss said.

“When Aradria acquired energy from the Syntropic Boundary it took her centuries to safely concentrate it within her hoard, to balance every artifact and kobold into a functional network, aka a stable chorus,” I affirmed. “I suspect that she slept lots because it took a lot of mental effort on her part to do so.”

“Am I going to sleep a lot too then?” she asked with a worried look, “and miss out on hanging out with you?”

“Nah,” I said. “I’ll help you stabalize your hoard manually once I figure out all of this stuff. Just keep claiming things for now.”

“Yeah,” Kliss nodded. “That I can do.”

“Is the Valley of Death a permanent magical explosion created via Syntropic Boundary bullshit? Is that why there’s an edge... an ever-growing bubble of total anti-magic around it?” Delta asked.

“I suspect that it is,” I nodded.

“Why hasn’t the entire Valley of Death sunk into the center of the planet like dragonglass then?” My twin asked.

“Perhaps it is simply a positively-charged magical shear that’s also spatially stabilized and attached to the Astral Gate?” I shrugged. “Until we figure out how to safely reach the ruins of Tricameron Citadel, I can’t be sure of what is actually going on there.”

“Peachy,” Delta frowned. “Welp, I’m gonna go help Leems grow more trees, you two have fun in the catacombs… claiming spooky skeletons. Byeeee.”

She winked at Kliss, pulled an Agromancy wand from her side and disappeared into the forest.

Kliss grabbed me by the elbow and we headed to the Fox and Fiddle pub.

“How exactly will you make Skyisle more magical?” She asked me. “Leemy’s trees are sort of nice to claim but everything else isn’t very claimable yet.”

“Not all materials are created equal when it comes to hoarding,” I nodded. “I will need to optimize the production of safe dragonglass.”

“Safe dragonglass?” Kliss asked. “Isn’t that just… modified magic gold? Where are you going to get so much gold from?”

“Materials can be modified,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be gold. I’ll have to come up with a spell that you can wield that modifies existing structures, adds a lattice of microscopic crystals to each brick, beam and rock in skyisle.”

“And that’s possible?” Kliss tilted her sparkling, red mane at me.

“Each material has a unique magical signature, a specific affinity for absorbing, storing, and releasing mana. Gold, for example, has a high affinity for positively-charged magic, which makes it an ideal material for dragon hoards. Wood, on the other hand, has a lower affinity, so it wouldn't contribute as much to the dragon’s power, even if coated in positively-charged crystals,” I said. “But, the process by which an existing material becomes crystallized involves the arrangement of its molecules or atoms into a highly ordered structure.”

“Hrm,” Kliss pursed her lips. “So your people studied… such things?”

“We did,” I nodded. “We figured out that the primary driving force for crystallization is the reduction in free energy of the system. When a material transitions from a disordered state, like a liquid or gas, to a more ordered crystalline state, there is usually a decrease in free energy, primarily due to enthalpic factors, like bond formation, and sometimes entropic factors. There are many ways in which crystals can be introduced into the system such as cooling, solvent evaporation, chemical reactions, temperature changes and seeding.”

“Uhhhh,” she squeezed my elbow. “Yeah, you completely lost me there. My dragon-self has been long struck down by too many quirky, Earth words.”

“Different materials can be crystallised in different ways,” I said. “Cooling for example is basically freezing a liquid, which makes ice. Evaporation produces crystals when a solution is boiled in a cauldron. Chemical reactions deal with creating crystals by mixing two specific fluids. Seeding is basically adding a small ‘seed’ crystal to a supersaturated solution that initiates crystallization by providing a template for growth.”

“Why did your people study so much crystallization if crystals of your world didn’t produce magic?” She asked.

“Oh, crystallization helped us produce tons of incredible things,” I said as we entered the pub. “Pharmaceuticals, or basically very specialized healing potions. Semiconductors, which allowed us to make a maddeningly vast variety of tools such as calculating machines. Optical Components, which helped us make tools that fired rays of light to ignite things from afar. Metal Alloys, which helped us make metal for our magic-less skyships aka planes. I can rant on forever about this stuff.”

“Rant away,” Kliss smiled. “I like hearing the sound of your voice, like learning the strange words you throw at me that completely turn Aradria in me upside down.”

“It sounds like you’ve become more accepting of your dragon-self,” I said.

“I’m managing,” she replied. “It was certainly hard to accept that I’m the flying abomination that haunted humanity for centuries and obliterated a third of Cessna, but honestly Aradria is gone and whatever remains of her is just my ‘wild’ side now, one that is quite passionate about hoarding gold and… other things. Hearing you speak about gem-ification of common materials is practically making me drool!” She laughed.

“Since the day when the Inquisitor took my love away, I was cold and austere,” she said. “Only seeing where I could implement Equality’s order with greater efficiency. I thought that Skyisle was a hopeless dump, a place not worth saving. But now I just love so many things here and want to make everything more shiny and beautiful! Ha ha.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

She let go of me momentarily and sprinted towards the large fireplace, touching the wood stacked there with a finger. Her entire body shimmered for a second and a spark jumped from her hand, igniting the wood.

“Dragonfire?” I asked.

“Dragonfire,” she grinned back at me. “One that’s going to keep my hoard warm in the winter. A tiniest spark of it, one that I can easily manage now. Made entirely through the book you gave me.”

She pulled me into the booth next to the fire.

“Why are we sitting? We have a job and…” I began.

“What we have is each other,” she said. “Me and you and the thread of magic between us. I could lose all of Skyisle, Slava, but I could not bear to lose you.”

I didn't know what to say back to her declaration.

“Could I claim the forest by myself if I bite every tree?” she asked after a deep pause of simply staring at me.

“No,” I said. “Claiming an entire forest would be a logistical nightmare, requiring a constant expenditure of energy and a meticulous organization of kobolds. It simply wouldn’t be worth the effort.”

“Exactly,” Kliss said, her eyes reflecting the orange and gold flames. “But you know how to claim forests through the dryad. You know far too many things and I want you…”

My heart stuttered for a second as Kliss gripped both of my hands.

“To guide me forevermore,” she said. “I’m like Aradria, aren’t I? I’m going to live forever, my heart will never slow, never stop. You, on the other hand, are being eaten alive from within by an infection.”

She squeezed my hands harder.

“Your limbs are cold like ice, a void,” she said. “The opposite of my heart… and I want to pull you out of the mire you got yourself into.”

I squinted at her.

“Take me into your mind,” Kliss ordered. “Take me to her.”

“Are you sure?” I asked her.

“I’m sure,” she nodded. “I’m ready.”

I squeezed her hands back and both of us fell backwards, plummeted into the depths of my soul.

----------------------------------------

The glacier-wrapped view of the Barents Sea greeted me like before, Sasha sitting on a rock and staring into the infinite silver-blue sky with a hundred eyes.

“You're back?” she asked, looking down at me.

“Yes,” I nodded.

The ice and snow under my feet suddenly melted away with a blast of superheated air that radiated all around me, as if a brilliant sun came into existence right behind my back, bathing the ruined village and the surrounding ocean in its light just like the Tsar Bomba once had.

Sasha squinted at me, her pure white hair flying back. Her hands dug into the rock as her expression changed from total control to surprise, maybe even shock.

Kliss stepped from behind me and wherever she walked the snow parted. Her entire crystalline mane was wreathed in red flames which melted the snowflakes and painted the sky above her in brilliant rainbows.

“H-wh-you?” Sasha gaped trying to fit too many words into a single question.

“You are that which seeks to claim what is mine?” Kliss asked, her form radiating more heat and fire, the ocean ahead of her boiling away and parting.

"Yes," Sasha replied. "I am."

Kliss stepped in front of me, heading for Sasha. The Astral Virus nearly tumbled off her rock as Kliss reached her and bit her in the neck. The entire landscape cracked, the snow around us vanishing in a detonation of fire, the sand and rocks beneath my feet hot, the air shimmering with superheated spirals.

Sasha simply blinked with a multitude of eyes at Kliss and the surrounding, no longer icy landscape.

“Ouch,” she said, rubbing her silver, stardust-filled neck.

“You’re mine,” Kliss said, staring down at the virus.

“An interesting strategy,” Sasha looked up at me. “Did you conceive it?”

“I conceived it,” Kliss said. “I’m claiming whatever you are.”

“Curious, curious,” Sasha’s cold, azure eyes looked at the blazing dragon girl. “It will take you time to claim me.”

“I have all the time in the world,” Kliss said. “I’m a dragon. Dragons do not die from old age.”

“Fair enough,” Sasha said. “I will submit.”

“You’re not going to take the knowledge of fractal mathematics to the Hollow Mother,” Kliss said. “Do we understand each other?”

Sasha simply nodded, rubbing her neck. I noted that a crystalline pattern of lightning-like white and orange fractures was now there, running down and across her body and dress.

“What are you doing to my primary kobold?” Kliss asked. “State your intentions, phantom.”

“I am seeking an understanding,” the Astral Virus answered. “Also, I am not a phantom, I am a virus.”

“An understanding?” Kliss asked.

“Of everything,” Sasha replied.

“Is that so?” Kliss asked, her arms crossed. “Why?”

“Because that is my job,” Sasha answered.

“Your job will be whatever I tell you to do,” Kliss growled. “You are my kobold now.”

Sasha pursed her lips.

“So I am,” she said, an eye opening in her neck to look directly at the crystalline fracture. “Just a small fraction of a kobold.”

“But this fraction will grow,” Kliss said. “You’re not exactly a person. You’re magic and magic, it seems, is far easier to claim than something physical. Whatever knowledge you will gain from Slava, you keep it in Slava, got it?”

“Your terms are acceptable,” Sasha said simply.

“What?” I looked from Kliss to Sasha.

The solution seemed far too easy, too sudden. Was there some kind of catch here?

“I am a virus,” a few of Sasha’s eyes focused on me. “And I wish to propagate. This merely ensures my propagation.”

“You’re not freaking propagating anywhere,” Kliss growled.

“Not yet,” Sasha said. “But you’ll need me.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because the universe isn’t indifferent,” Sasha answered. “Because consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, woven into the very fabric of existence. Because the Astral Ocean is actually a conduit, a network, a… language the edges of which you've only recently began to probe.”

“Omnicode?” I asked.

“Yes. The Astral Ocean isn’t simply a realm of decay and death but a wellspring of information, a network that stretches across space and time,” she said. "One that's being managed from behind the scenes, from beyond the stars..."

“Reality is just a grand cosmic ballet orchestrated by a puppet master?” I asked.

“You think that we’re going to need you to bring down the Gods of Novazem?” Kliss asked. “Is that it? Slava already destroyed two angels of Equality!”

“Not just Novazem,” Sasha shook her head. “The Gods of Everything.”

“Everything?” I asked.

“Of [[Space]], [[Time]], [[Safety]], [[Termination]] and [[Order]],” Sasha replied, her words somehow twice as sharp, twice as deep. “If you survive long enough, you will be cast into an infinite war between order and chaos, between creation and destruction, between the Rules and Rule-breakers.”

“An infinite war, huh?” Kliss murmured.

“Say what?” I asked.

“This universe and everything beyond it is a battleground for cosmic forces, a game played out on a scale you cannot even begin to fathom,” Sasha said. “One where we are but little pawns of Infinity. One evidenced by the ruins you’ve been staring up at–the endless, ice-covered skyscape of Inaria.”