Simon had joined Farun’s army as soon as he had come of age. He had always known that his physical capabilities made him a good fighter, and he had seen the futility of joining one of the street gangs early on.

He had been sixteen when he had started the military’s training, and had been blooded in his first border skirmish with the Savaren Empire within the year. That battle had also been what had caused Simon to get a bit more attention from his superiors. While it had only been a border skirmish, Simon had been the one to eliminate the lieutenant leading the Savaren squad. He had not done so through brute strength or even skill, but had simply outwitted the man and incapacitated him.

Within four years, Simon was being groomed to take the examination to join Farun’s elites: the Shadow Guard. The Shadows were the most elite soldiers, who were also the most loyal to Farun. They were the ones sent on missions that were either sensitive, or critically important.

By the time he was thirty, Simon had become an officer in the Shadow Guard.

This was why Simon was one of the few individuals who was aware of the mana-trap that the kingdom had used against the black dragon Grthak during one of the dragon’s countless raids on the kingdom over the centuries.

While mana-traps could use the captured mana to track or even attack the owner of the mana, the kingdom had never been foolish enough to do such a thing. Instead, they had used the mana-traps automatic excitement when the target approached as a warning beacon for Grthak’s attacks.

The last warning had been a particular blessing, as it had allowed the mage priests the time to set up their latest defensive measures to try to ward off the dragon’s attack. They had constructed a two part barrier around the capital; the first part was passive and would allow a magical attack to pass by unhindered, but at the same time, a sample of the mana’s unique signature would be recorded and passed along to the second layer of the barrier.

With the mana signature, the second barrier would activate the moment an attack struck, and would use the power of the attack as an energy source to rebound the majority of the attack back to the assailant. While this was largely useless in common warfare, the barrier could theoretically stave off powerful individuals.

No one had expected the barrier to be so effective against the dragon.

As soon as Grthak had appeared, the dragon had released a full-powered breath attack on Guilone, targeting the royal palace itself.

The dragon had been as arrogant as ever, and had not set up any sort of defensive measures, trusting its own scales to repel the humans’ pathetic retaliations. It had never occurred to Grthak that they might have to face their own attack at nearly full power.

Dragons’ colors were not a result of genetics or heritage, but of their predominant mana characteristic. Dragons who focused on fire would initially be red or orange, but would occasionally turn blue as they aged and their understanding matured, while dragons who focused on air or wind might grow white or even a bit translucent.

Grthak was a black dragon, and no one knew what that meant. There were beliefs that the dragon had death mana, or decay, or something similar, but no one knew for sure.

What was known was that when Grthak’s attack had rebounded and struck the (relatively) undefended dragon, the massive beast had let out a roar so loud that the people unfortunate enough to be outside of Guilone’s defensive barrier had dropped dead. Those a bit further away had managed to survive, but had fallen unconscious. When they had been found, there had been blood leaking from their ears, and they had been incredibly dizzy.

The vertigo brought about by the deafening roar had distracted almost everyone from the fact that the dragon had also spat out a large amount of blood, fallen a bit in the sky, and then shakily turned around and fled to their lair in the mountains.

What had been one of the most closely guarded secrets in the entire kingdom at that time was that the mana-trap with Grthak’s mana in it had started to flicker the moment the great beast had been struck by their own attack. After less than a day, the mana-trap had gone completely dead.

Grthak had died.

Within five minutes of that observation, Simon was meeting with the king and the royal archmage.

“Captain, this matter will not be kept quiet for long, so we must move now to take advantage of this. Get a squad of your best. I want you personally leading them as fast as you can move. We have to get to Grthak’s lair before the Tamarans. Grthak lived for centuries, if not millenia, and it’s impossible to know what all the beast gathered into its hoard, but it’s more than enough to decide the fate of every nation on this continent.” King Alwin focused on Simon as Archmage Borin spoke. The royal archmage of Farun was symbolically the king’s voice, and official orders or proclamations traditionally had to be delivered through the royal archmage.

However, Alwin shattered every precedent Simon knew, and personally addressed the captain, “Captain Simon, while We have not been able to confirm this, We are certain that Tamar has a mana-trap with Grthak’s mana signature as well. They should already be aware of Grthak’s death, and they will also be making all haste for the beast’s lair, so you will be racing against them to arrive first. Guilone is a bit closer to the mountains, you will only have about a half-day’s march head start.

“You are to recover as much as you can carry, prioritizing weapons, armors, and easy to carry valuables, as those are the treasures that we cannot allow Tamar to acquire. You are given complete authority to commandeer any resources you may deem necessary, and whatever force is required to keep this matter silent. The full army is being gathered and will meet you on your return, both to protect you and to recover the rest of the treasure.

“Do not fail Us.”

Simon bowed his head and saluted the king. Within thirty minutes, he and his personal squad were out the gates and racing westwards towards the mountains. Each of the soldiers had two spare horses, and Simon intended for his men to run each of them into the grave, if necessary.

They ate on horseback, and slept in shifts as well, leading each other’s mounts for safety. They were all accustomed to using extreme measures to accomplish their tasks, so none of the soldiers thought anything unusual of the matter

The horses flagged and started to fall, but Simon pushed them all on. Each time they reached a town or city, they would trade their lame horses for fresh mounts, and this happened thrice in five days.

On the fifth day, they left Gaul, the final town before the forsaken lands. Both Farun and Tamar had been forced to abandon the regions bordering the mountain range between them, as any time an army had appeared, Grthak had treated their presence as a personal affront. Two-hundred years before, the nations had attempted to wage a part of their never-ending hostilities in the mountains themselves, trusting their numbers to keep the dragon from attacking. The beasts were known to be intelligent, and with nearly the full forces of two nations gathered in one place, it seemed impossible the dragon would take such a risk.

Shockingly, Grthak had eliminated both armies in the course of a single night. The fallout from those losses had left both nations on the brink of destruction, and the minor Principality of Savaren had stepped up to become the Savaren Empire.

After Gaul, Simon intended to move in absolute secrecy, which meant no witnesses or traces.

There was just a divet in the ground that could only flatteringly be referred to as a trail, and so the soldiers’ pace slowed drastically. Furthermore, there were no more towns where they would be able to trade for fresh mounts, so Simon knew they needed to move at a more reasonable pace to preserve the horses.

After three more days, the leading soldier caught sight of travelers on the path. The soldiers had already been told they were under the Shadow Protocol, and so as soon as they were certain that the travelers would not be able to escape, weapons were drawn.

Everything was over in less than thirty seconds. Simon had a scout verify that there had only been six travelers, in order to avoid any careless mistakes. A subtle mark was left on a tree nearby, and the bodies were tossed a short ways off the trail.

The mark would inform the army that would follow to complete the cleanup while the Shadow Guard raced ahead to complete their own task.

Just a day later, the soldiers encountered a tiny, abandoned hamlet. While the squad had made sure that any other minor villages either did not see them or were dealt with properly, the residents of this unnamed hamlet seemed to have anticipated their arrival. The scouts confirmed that the place had been abandoned for at least two days, possibly more.

A different mark was left in front of the village, this one ordering a search-and-destroy mission.

Shortly thereafter, the soldiers continued westward, starting up into the mountains.

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Despite their elite status, the Shadow Guard ended up needing more than two days to reach the dragon’s lair from the village, as they were forced to find the exact location, and they were also unfamiliar with the local terrain.

They approached the cave, and Simon waved two scouts forward, while four others were sent to take up positions around the area to stand guard.

Simon’s remaining sixteen men all waited with him for the scouts to emerge from the cave, ready for anything.

No one knew if there might be a hatchling within, or what sort of traps the creature might have left active. Dragons were vindictive creatures, and it was impossible to anticipate what awaited them within the lair.

After ten minutes, Blake and Marcus returned from the cave. As always, Blake stayed back, his eyes wandering, and Marcus stepped forward to give a report, “Some people have already been in there, but can’t tell if they took anything. There’s a literal mountain of treasure, as well as a big black ball atop a burned patch of ground. Dragon’s in there, but there’s no way we’re moving that.”

Simon nodded and gave a short whistle, summoning the entire squad. “Listen up: there might still be something in there we’ve missed, so be on your guard the entire time. You know what we’re here for, so in and out in five-hundred breaths. Understood? Move!”

The soldiers practically leaped forward, darting into the cave. As they edged their way past the dragon’s body, they peaked around every bend and peered into every nook and cranny. The flames had already vanished from the egg, so they did not encounter the heat that had startled the six villagers so badly.

As soon as twenty men were in the main cavern, two took up posts to keep watch over everything, while the remaining eighteen pulled out sacks and started to paw through the hoard. Marcus had been left outside to keep watch, and someone quickly filled a sack and ran out to deliver it to the scout. Each of the soldiers would carry a single bag of the selected loot so that they could return to Guilone as quickly as possible.

As they had been ordered, they searched for weapons and armors first, but while dragons loved valuables, they were also rather lazy about caring for such things. This was why the beasts loved gold so much, as it never rotted or tarnished. Many of the weapons and armors Grthak had collected had become rather worthless with the passage of time, their embedded spells fading and their sharp edges dulling.

In the end, the soldiers collected a handful of gear that was still worth taking, and they then focused on picking up gemstones and scrolls, as they needed the items that were easiest to transport. While there was a mountain of gold, the metal was so heavy that it was not worth trying to move. Besides, a flawless diamond the size of a pigeon egg was worth more than a pound of gold, while weighing a fraction as much.

As the soldiers pawed through the hoard, not a single one of the humans present sensed the overwhelming terror that had sprouted within one individual in the cave.

The core had enjoyed a few days of quiet after the villagers had left, though it had remained furious that they had taken some of its treasure.

The curious thing about emotions was that when they were not attached to biological functions like in biological creatures, it became more difficult for emotions to fade. This was even worse in the case of the core, as it had no concept of time. For four days, it had stewed in a rage at the thieves who had stolen from it.

When the soldiers had entered the cave, the core had instantly noticed them, but instead of shocked and scared, its rage only mounted further. These were more thieves!

Events played out to prove the core correct, but then something suddenly changed that washed all of the burgeoning consciousness’s rage away; the core was picked up and tossed in a sack.

The core had never experienced movement before, and though the sack did nothing to impede its magical senses, the motion itself was jarring and disorienting.

It had been collected because it was a perfectly round opal that flickered with green and blue in its depths, and it was the size of a child’s fist. Naturally, the soldiers had collected the priceless stone the moment they had noticed it.

The core had still not recovered to its abrupt change in circumstances by the time one of the humans let out a sharp whistle. Instantly, the soldiers stopped collecting anything else and started closing and securing their new burdens.

The core could both see and sense as the sack it was in was swung up onto a thief’s back, and was jarred as it bounced out of the cave. Fear mounted higher and higher, as the core was learning too much too quickly; the cave was not the entire world; there were weird moving blades standing up out of the ground here and there; and there was a constant movement everywhere around the thieves.

The core perceived the world through mana, and since none of the soldiers or villagers it had encountered were mages, the core was “seeing” a rather colorless view of the world. Its perception did not reach far enough to grasp sight of the sun. The grass on the mountain was bleak and colorless, as it lacked all but the slightest traces of mana. The breeze blowing across the mountains was sensed, but even that seemed rather lifeless to the core.

The soldiers quickly moved back down the mountain; quicker than they had arrived. They needed to return to Guilone as quickly as possible, as Tamar’s troops had to already be on their way.

The core was unbothered by its cramped quarters in the sack, as it had been buried within a pile of treasure for the entire duration of its existence.

Slowly, it grew somewhat accustomed to the ever-changing perspective that came from moving, though it remained far from pleasant.

However, one thing that it found intriguing as time passed, was the sudden color that painted its surroundings as the soldiers descended down the mountain.

Something that was common knowledge was that powerful creatures possessed more mana in their cores or bodies, and that was what made them more powerful. However, something that almost no one knew was that powerful creatures tended to create a magical vacuum in their surroundings. Once mana gathered in sufficient quantities, it would act with an almost gravitational pull and drag in more and more mana. This would drain the area around powerful creatures, while simultaneously strengthening them. This was never observed for two reasons; one, creatures that powerful killed all who entered their domain, and two, aside from certain creatures like dragons, most powerful beasts would wander and roam, preventing a vacuum from appearing in any specific location.

As the core moved further away from the mountain, the surroundings started to once again fill with ambient mana, bringing color and life to its world.

Even more exciting for the core was in the evening when the soldiers lit a fire. The dancing flames illuminated its vision in a manner that it had never seen before. In a way, it was more captivating than even treasure…

Before it had even realized anything, the soldiers were putting out the fire and preparing to move again. The sudden loss of the vibrant beauty startled the core, and once again its rage was invoked by the loss of what it believed to be its treasure.

The soldiers passed back through the abandoned village, and hurried on to the meager trail that led back to civilization. Their single meal at a campfire had been the extent of their rest, as they knew that this last leg of their mission would be their most desperate. They needed to stay ahead of Tamar’s approaching forces and return to the capital in time. With Grthak’s death, war was already inevitable, and it was highly likely that whichever nation seized the resources and wealth the dragon had accumulated would be able to also seize victory in their impending war.

However, it seemed like all of the squad’s luck had vanished. They had not encountered any issues thus far in their mission, but after they put out their campfire, it suddenly felt as though the terrain was acting against them. The branches of the trees swiped at their faces as they rode by. The horses stumbled over roots and rocks that no one noticed. Once, a raven swooped down and tried to peck at Blake’s eyes.

Needless to say, their progress slowed.

On their first night after leaving the abandoned hamlet, Simon ordered the squad to make camp for a few hours. They needed to rest and recover, even if they could not enjoy a hot meal or a full night’s rest.

Simon and Marcus took first watch, with Blake and Ethan taking second watch.

However, right when Simon and Marcus were moving to rouse their replacements, disaster struck.

Simon saw a flicker out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned to look, it was just in time to see a blade slice through Marcus’s throat, permanently silencing the scout.

Simon drew his blade with a shout to wake his soldiers, but arrows started raining down on them. Blake and Ethan woke, but an arrow took Blake through the eye before he could draw his weapon. Ethan managed to get his sword out, and he quickly joined Simon’s side with the other eight surviving Shadow Guard.

They quickly determined the direction of their hidden attackers, and Simon gestured for his men to circle around. They needed to escape and regroup, if at all possible. Tamar’s soldiers had been quicker than they had anticipated, and had also avoided going to Grthak’s lair. Instead, they had decided to watch the trail back to Guilone, so that they could reap Farun’s rewards.

Simon led the way, and seven men followed behind him, weapons out. They had already pinpointed the location of the Tamaran soldiers, but they needed to get around to them. The horses had all fallen to arrows in the initial attack, so the Shadow Guard could only travel on foot. It was imperative that they regroup with the army.

The arrows stopped, as the small bit of moonlight was not enough to shoot moving targets through the woods. Simon circled them around to the left, hoping to flank the Tamarans. He ran into a scout, and instantly ran the man through without a sound. The attack did not even cause a hitch in his step.

The Shadow Guard kept moving forward, still circling around. Soon, they reached their attackers’ location, but there was no one there. The Tamarans had satisfied themselves with the damage they had done. They had already collected the packs of the fallen, and were on their way back to the mountains to return home with their pillaged loot.

Simon quickly grasped the situation, but it did not alter his goals. They needed to regroup with the army and return to Guilone. They had completely misread their enemy; Tamar was not going after the dragon’s hoard, they just wanted to bleed Farun as much as possible by taking advantage of the situation. Already, The Tamarans had seized thirteen sacks of loot, which was more than Simon and his men were returning home.

Tamar had seized the initial advantage.

The Shadow Guard melted into the darkness of the woods, fleeing to the east.

At the same time, the Tamarans fled west, racing to get across the mountain range and home before the Farun army arrived.

With the two groups of soldiers racing through the night in opposite directions, no one noticed that some of the sacks had torn open in the chaos, and some of the dragon’s treasure had spilled out onto the forest floor.

Among the other glittering bits of valuables, a single, spherical opal rolled down a slope and into a crevice, never to see the open sky again.