Pushing past the foul smell we emerged from the ground into a crater. The bones of beasts littered all around. Dead withered trees were scattered around, and vents belched steam and sulfur from the ground adding to the smell in the air. The bones of a great dragon were scattered across the ground. At the center of the crater was a ball of black metal shining particles drifted through the air reflecting the light and denying the call of gravity.

“What is this stuff?” I asked wrinkling my face with distaste as I felt the strange feeling on my skin.

“The Blight,” Guinevere said with some apprehension. “We aren’t exactly sure what it is, but it poisoned the land when it came. We must be in the Blighted Swamp.”

“That would explain the smell,” I said. “What’s that?” I asked pointing at the ball of black metal.

“The Fallen Star,” Guinevere gasped in wonder and horror. “I’ve read about it in the histories but never thought I’d be this close to it. Oh shit, we’re way to close to that!”

“Why?” I asked stepping closer to it to get a better look. “What’s it do?”

“It kills anything that’s ever touched it,” Guinevere said pulling me back. “Just being close to will start to kill us we need to leave. Unless you want to die a horrible painful death, we need to run.”

Some pieces began to click together in my head. “Does it cause burns to the skin, vomiting, diarrhea and cause tumors to start growing?”

“Yes, which is why we need to leave,” Guinevere said still pulling on my arm.

“Hell Dragon’s Armory,” I said calmly. Using telekinesis, I gathered the dust particles in the air my perception letting me go down the microscopic scale as I compressed them together into a single ingot. The oppressive energy in the air was lessened slightly but still radiated from the fallen star.

“What are you doing?” Guinevere asked.

“For starters I’m getting rid of a dangerous radioactive object,” I said.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What’s radioactive?” Guinevere asked stumbling over the word as she began to speak it in English the word having not translated.

“I’m not the best person to explain it but basically it’s a dangerous form of energy that causes cells, the pieces that construct all living things, to die, mutate or grow out of control,” I said.

“You have this in your world?” Guinevere asked.

“We use it to produce energy sometimes,” I explained. “We also have bombs made with it capable of destroying our entire planet.”

“That’s terrifying,” Guinevere said.

“You get used to it,” I said with shrug. “There’s only so long you can live with existential dread hanging over your head before people stop caring. Hell Dragon’s Armory.”

The giant black core of the fallen comet began to compress and shrink until it was a black orb that would fit inside my hand. I brought out a chunk of lead I had mined and created a chest dropping the orb inside and sealing it shut. I had never touched the orb and didn’t intend to. I dropped the chest in my storage pouch hoping that energy wouldn’t start leaking out.

“What do you plan on doing with that?” Guinevere asked.

“Play a game of catch with my enemies?” I suggested with a grin.

“Very funny,” Guinevere said dryly.

“I thought so to,” I agreed ducking a swat she aimed at the back of my head. “Is this where the Hell Dragon lairs?”

There were black scales littered around the ground. I gathered up a large armful of them storing them away in my pouch.

“Yes,” Guinevere said. “As far as I know it’s the only creature that ever-survived contact with the fallen star. It’s energy that, radioactive stuff you were talking about changed it. It infused and changed all its abilities.”

“Wait,” I said holding up my hand to stop her. “Your telling me I have to fight a radioactive dragon?”

“Why do you have to fight it?” Guinevere asked.

“Quest,” I said. “To conquer this forest, I have to subdue or kill a big list of creatures and people; the dragon’s the last on the list. Back to the first question, your saying this is a radioactive dragon, does it have some atomic breath or something.”

“What atomic?” Guinevere asked with another sigh as I kept bringing up words she didn’t understand.

“It’s another way we refer to this type of energy,” I said.

“The blight is spread with its breath,” Guinevere confirmed.

“Great, so now I have to fight a winged Godzilla,” I muttered. “Before you ask that’s the name of mythical creature from my world that was also altered by radioactivity.”

“I’d like to hear some stories from your world sometime,” Guinevere said. “For a world that doesn’t have monsters you seem to have a lot of stories about them.”

“Someday, I’ll have to tell you about Star Wars,” I said distractedly my head turning as I heard a sound.

Guinevere tilted her head to the side, also hearing something. We turned and looked up; a pain filled roar shattered the air as a dragon plummeted down towards us from the sky above. Not waiting for permission, I scooped up Guinevere in my arms and started running to escape the impact zone.