"—issa… —lissa… ALISSA!"

I come to, not really sure when or even how I was knocked out. The bedroom is still standing, but everything that was in here is destroyed. The red emergency strobe is flashing, indicating a breach somewhere. Damian is still talking, but I'm struggling to pay attention. He pushes the metal bedframe off of me and places his hands on either side of my helmeted head. He turns me a bit here and there, presumably checking the suits integrity after that atypically violent decompression.

"Alissa? Are you well?" He sounds concerned. "We both lost consciousness for a moment, but you took the brunt of the furniture when it displaced. I wasn't thinking, I should have removed it from the room." He is rambling now, on the verge of panic.

"I'm good. Just… just give me a moment." I slide to the floor and take a few deep and unnecessary breaths. It's a good thing too, there is absolutely no oxygen down here, but the movement is comforting anyway. Moment by moment, my head clears of that cottony feeling and thinking becomes easier. Damian is sitting on the floor across from me looking out the ragged hole where the window used to be muttering to himself about misrun calculations, and how he is so stupid. Geniuses miscalculating is never a good look.

I reach out for his hand when I'm ready, we put our feet next to each other and stand up using each other as a counter weight. "Feeling better?" He asks.

"I'm good. Man, it's a good thing you didn't mess up those numbers and kill us all." I can't resist a little teasing. It's not everyday he makes a mistake, especially a mistake of this magnitude.

He glares at me, which looks a little comical through his helmet visor with the flashing lights and general chaos caused by his 'miscalculation'. "I'll have you know even I'm not perfect." he replies while walking over to the new hole in his bedroom wall before holding out his hand to me.

"Always a gentleman," I say, taking his hand and allowing him to assist me over the ledge. We drop down to the bottom of the trench together and start walking towards the pulley system I descended not 24 hours ago.

"One should never neglect the art of chivalry." Damian responds.

"So… where exactly are we going?" I ask, looking back at New Eden. Where it is usually peaceful, the red strobe lights flash through the windows into the darkness of the trench. We are going to be in such big trouble when we come back… if we come back.

"We have to find Vulcan. I'm not quite sure where he is these days, but based on what his previous hoard was, I have a good idea where we should start."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"'Previous hoard'? Elder Vulcan is a dragon?"

"Of course. Who else would embody the god of smithing? Everything he forges is superior because it is forged in a dragon's breath."

"Okay, so what was his previous hoard?"

"The library of Alexandria." He says it like one would say 'It might snow tomorrow' or 'look at that, the grass is green' as though saying the most boring fact in the world. I stop and stare at him as he continues to walk. It takes a few steps for him to realize I'm no longer beside him before he turns and looks at me. "What?"

"The library of Alexandria was his hoard? The library of Alexandria!"

"Yes."

"I thought dragons hoarded wealth? I thought we might be looking for some big-wig billionaire."

He brings his hands up as if to cradle his head in them, before aborting the motion when they encounter his helmet, then he shakes his head. "They really should have an introductory course for newborns about the races."

"Hey! I'm not stupid."

"No, just ignorant." He turns and keeps walking. I jump a few times to catch up. "Wealth is not necessarily money. In fact, it is almost never money. Each race contributes to the balance of the earth, you learned that at least, right?"

"Of course."

"Then consider, how is hoarding money—a made up human construct—beneficial to the earth or her inhabitants?"

"I don't think hoarding money is entirely beneficial to humans either."

"Correct!" he glances over at me with a teasing smile on his face "Shall I give you a gold star?"

"Jerk." I shoot back sarcastically.

"So, we have established the hoarding of money to be detrimental to human society, and not particularly beneficial to the earth. What kind of a hoard would be valuable?"

It is a good question, one I take a wile to mull over. We have time, and Damian is patient. It is only after we use the pulley system to exit the trench that I come up with an answer. "Knowledge."

"Good. What else?"

"Seeds, plants."

"Yes. Any more?"

"Animals, especially endangered ones?"

He smiles then. "You are getting the picture."

"Um, people of value to the earth?"

"You are going to have to explain that one," He says.

"Like, humanity is destroying the earth and its resources, but there are people fighting back. Climate activists, scientists, and stuff, right? Aren't' they helpful to the earth?"

"Yes they are, and that is why they are often recruited by think tanks often run by—"

"—dragons."

"Yes, dragons." He concurs.

"So, Elder Vulcan, he hoards knowledge?"

"Yes, and lends it to the people. His previous hoard was the Library of Alexandria, but I'm thinking his newest hoard would be the Library of Congress."

"Huh, I would have thought it would be the internet."

"Alyssa, he hoards knowledge, not memes. He only hoards things that are factual, or as factual as he can get."

"You could have just said we were heading to DC"

"We are heading to DC" he deadpans.