Vyviir felt like he was forgetting something now that his insubordinate brat of a daughter and that fool Vaile were gone, but he could not put his claw on what it was. He knew something was off, but as he searched his memories, as fragmented as they were, he could not figure out what exactly he found off about their discussion.

This ‘Trial’ would no doubt end in his favor. If it was a comparison of wealth and destructive power as he theorized, then his victory would be assured. After all, all of the treasure in these lands belonged solely to him, and his destructive power among all dragons was second to none.

Still, though, he could not figure out why he felt that the Trial of Wrath and Avarice felt… off. He knew that both that fool Vaile, and the rest of his own draconic kin were dumber than a back of bricks, but could they both have been really so utterly moronic as to believe they could outdo him?

“Wer ergriff hofiba tenpiswo ui wux, othoke.”

Again, that annoying voice in his head that refused to die and be silent spoke up, mocking him as though he were more of a fool than the actual fools.

“45 78 70 6C 61 69 6E 2C 20 76 69 72 75 73 2E 20 59 6F 75 20 73 65 65 6D 20 74 6F 20 6B 6E 6F 77 20 77 68 79 20 77 65 20 66 65 65 6C 20 6F 66 66 20 61 62 6F 75 74 20 74 68 69 73 2C 20 73 6F 20 65 78 70 6C 61 69 6E 2C 20 6E 6F 77 2E”

The voice in his head merely laughed at his words and mocked him further.

“Sia ith vur sia heir re naoilt loupon vi othoke hefoc wux, ini karif. sjek wux shilta ti ocuir svabol astahii tepoha authot vur svabol wux re zahae ekess tir, hak banprivi ignore ve vur xoal vur jutosh dout hexlith. Si nishka ti rinov letoclo wux gjahall wer vis ssissthi di nomeno thaczil. Sia ith nishka duulo ve, tangis sjek coi confnic sva wer cost di sia tobor.”

The absolute gall of that damn voice in his head! Fine, if he wasn’t going to help, then he had best just shut up and let his end come.

“46 69 6e 65 21 20 49 66 20 79 6f 75 20 77 69 6c 6c 20 6e 6f 74 20 61 62 69 64 65 20 62 79 20 74 68 65 20 77 69 6c 6c 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 57 61 72 64 65 6e 73 20 61 6e 64 20 67 69 76 65 20 6d 65 20 74 68 65 20 69 6e 66 6f 72 6d 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 49 20 72 65 71 75 69 72 65 2c 20 74 68 65 6e 20 73 69 6d 70 6c 79 20 66 61 64 65 20 69 6e 74 6f 20 6f 62 6c 69 76 69 6f 6e 20 69 6e 73 69 64 65 20 79 6f 75 72 20 6f 77 6e 20 62 6f 64 79 2c 20 76 69 72 75 73 21”

The voice in his head chuckled and spoke a few last words before going silent of its own accord.

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“Yth geou ocuir, soti. Yth geou ocuir.”

…

The day of the Trial had arrived, and while Monarkea had arrived at the starting position early, Vyviir was late. No, not fashionably late, just regular late. It was already an hour into when the competition was supposed to have started, but the only trace of Vyviir being anywhere nearby was the fact that a slew of lesser draconids, from kobolds to lizardmen, from draconewts to dragonborn, kept coming and apologizing for Vyviir being late.

As if he could not have been any more disrespectful, he was now flaunting that utter lack of care for any kind of decorum and duty in front of literally tens of thousands of true dragons, as well as a literal nation’s worth of lesser dragon-blooded creatures, to say nothing of the cultists that were formerly members of the Races. Eventually, though, after three hours of waiting for the ‘guest of honor’ to finally show up, the judge decided to give the possessed dragon a damn good reason to get his ass out of ‘bed’.

“By my power as the judge and jury of this Trial, and by the immense responsibility placed upon my shoulders, I declare aloud that if both contestants are not in place within the next hour, that the participant and/ or participants who have not shown up will have forfeited by default, thus invoking the contract agreed upon by both parties. Vyviir, also known as Vyviir the Ancient, I, Vaile, as judge and jury who oversees this Trial, hereby demand that you attend this Trial. Failure to arrive and participate within the next 60 minutes will result in you having forfeited. This is your last warning.”

As expected, this was enough to, if you’ll pardon my butchering of an old Imperial Japanese quote, ‘rouse the slumbering giant from his laziness and fill him with a terrible fury.’ Unfortunately for Vyviir, he was not going to win this contest, no matter what he did.

After all, Vaile was the judge and jury, so what he said was the law. Even if the plan he had hatched with Monarkea in the previous few days didn’t pan out, then he could still rule in her favor regardless of who should have won.

If he were a dragon or dragon-blooded being, that potential course of action would have made everyone lose respect for him. But he wasn’t either of those. No, he was just a superpowered member of the Races, and as the Races were, according to dragons and a number of other species and groups, entirely untrustworthy or simply conniving, despicable, duplicitous assholes who used whatever dirty tricks they could to get ahead, he could use that as an excuse to justify his decision if all else failed.

No doubt many would object to him calling himself those things, but Vaile had already played the villain more than enough times by now to be worthy of such degradations, both due to his action in the game and in the New World. He had toppled, what, at least five civilizations, even if some of them were by proxy. Actually, if you counted that Lovecraftian land of fog and hidden eldritch beings, he had actually toppled six, but who was counting?

As the time left reached the thirty-minute mark, Vyviir finally made his presence felt.

“I have arrived.” Vyviir grumbled, obviously displeased at needing to do anything.

“Good.” Vaile replied with all the sass and mockery of the CDi version of a certain elf-eared Princess who bore the power of Divine Wisdom. “Now let’s get this show on the road. You both understand the rules, yes?”