Looking around, I quickly ensured all the giants were truly dead. It was a gruesome task, but my claws made short work of the wounded. A quick death was the only mercy they’d receive from me. When the grim work was done, I took a heavy breath.

  The counter on my domain was still ticking down, but with an effort of will I released it. I let it go even as I read the description I had previously neglected.

  Anti-Magic Domain (level 1): This ability is an evolution of Anti-Magic Pulse. There will always be pain when using this ability because it is the antithesis of draconic essence. Magic is dragons and dragons are magic. With this domain, you lock the area around you within 100 feet per ability level down so that all magic is pushed out of it. Magical items cannot work within the domain’s influence but are not destroyed; the magic in them is simply suppressed and sealed away.

  Most items will regain their function within a few minutes after the domain fades. Note: other dragons will not be able to enter this domain unless they are able to wrest control of it from you. Such challenges will be extremely draining, upon both the soul of your challenger and your soul.

  Cool-down on this ability: 6 hours

  Cost to upgrade ability to level 2: 100 DKP

  Note: Using it faster than this may result in permanent soul damage.

  As my domain dropped, I settled onto the cold of the cavern floor. I felt strangely drained and was still trapped inside the cave, with Cami outside. My mind raced with the implications of this new ability.

  It was a powerful ability. Arguably, it was overkill for what had just happened. But then again, I’d foolishly allowed myself to get stuck in an enclosed space. That I’d been so foolish smarted more than any of the wounds I’d taken. I was smarter than this—but I’d gotten caught up in my superiority and rushed in.

  I couldn’t hear any sounds of combat outside, but I did sense a great deal of fear and anger coming across the bond from Cami. At least it didn’t seem like she was in any danger. I felt pride that she had taken care of all six ogres on her own.

  My little bonded was growing strong.

  The muted, hushed silence of the cave settled about me like a weighted blanket. The air was cool, devoid of the raw magical energy that had recently saturated it. I sensed the very walls absorbing all residual vibrations, as if the stone itself was absorbing the aftermath of the battle. The icy ground below me was solid and unyielding, each shard and fragment bearing testament to the intense clash that had taken place.

  I took a deep breath, tasting the remnants of my own magic—a slightly metallic flavor that lingered on the back of my tongue. It was a testament to the potency of the Anti-Magic Domain I had wielded. The scent of incinerated ice, charred flesh, and freshly spilled blood filled the air. Each inhalation brought with it a vivid memory of the recent battle. These played out before my mind's eye in a sequence of rapid-fire images.

  There was a certain disconnected part of me that needed to understand. Anti-magic was truly magic of its own kind. Or was it? What could undo magic but a greater magic?

  I supposed that might be worth delving into when I had the chance. Perhaps Rizal or Lisella would have some ideas about it, although neither struck me as particularly scholarly. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to ask Serius, though.

  Hmm… I needed to add recruiting a scholar as a minion to my to-do list. I chuckled. Perhaps an elf would be best, since they were longer lived. If I had to replace the scholar after several dozen years, it would become rather burdensome.

  I allowed my senses to expand for a brief moment, taking in the full state of the cave. The walls glistened with moisture, each droplet lazily trailing down the textured surface caught the refracted light, twinkling like stars in the night sky. The gentle drip, drip, drip of water from the stalactites above played a soft, melodic tune–nature's way of reclaiming the space.

  Then, my ears picked up a new sound, muffled and distant at first, but growing steadily louder. It sounded like scratching, as if something, or someone, was trying to dig through the cave's blocked entrance. The faintest echoes of Cami's voice reached my ears, tinged with urgency.

  Suddenly, her voice filled my mind. “Nico! Are you alright in there? Can you hear me?”

  The concern in her voice was palpable, and through our bond, I felt her fear morph into relief when she realized I was alright.

  “I’m here, Cami,” I projected back to her, sending with my telepathic communication a gentle wave of reassurance. “I am unharmed, but the entrance is sealed. I’ll need some time to clear it.”

  There was still a bit of fear in her mental voice when she replied, “What happened? I couldn’t get through to you for a while. There was even a moment where it felt like our bond had been severed. It wasn’t until I looked into my soul, that I was able to feel a lingering connection.”

  “Oh… that was probably my new Anti-Magic Domain.”

  “Your what?!”

  “We’ll talk about it later. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing—so that I didn’t get frozen solid by a shaman’s soul-charged freeze spell.”

  Then a strange impulse came up in me. The apology came out before I could stop it. “I’m sorry if I worried you, Cami. Next time, I’ll try to warn you ahead of time.”

  “How about next time you don’t go charging in without me?! We are supposed to be a bonded team. Nagafen says that means I have to look out for you just as much as you have to look out for me. It isn’t just the helpless little human girl with the mighty dragon. You have to let me take care of you, too.”

  I was distinctly happy that I was in my true form and not my human shape. If I had been, I was afraid that my squishy pink face would have turned red as I felt a strange emotion rush through me. Was this shame? I did not like this feeling. Being a dragon was supposed to mean never having to say sorry.

  Dragons had no regrets, but with my Mind Evolution, I’d learned I wasn’t perfect.

  “We are still learning about the bond... but I wonder how Vox would feel about her human speaking so boldly.”

  Some deep emotion swelled up within Cami. I’d never heard so much anger in her mental voice. “He isn’t just her human, Nico. He is her bond. He is her husband! According to him, she completely agrees, although he did say that it took quite a few years for them to come to grips with it. I don’t want that to be us—I don’t want it to take us years to learn how to work together. I want to work together now.”

  I was silent for a while. I felt her anger resolve as it settled within her, before it spiked one more time. “Oh, and if you ever run off and get yourself killed because you rushed in without me… then so help me, I’ll get Lisella to resurrect you just so I can kill you again myself.”

  It was confusing. I felt the depth and intensity of her emotion, but knew that she didn’t mean anything hostile by it. It was followed by a sense of helplessness so black that it made despair feel like a cloudy day.

  Did she feel that I made her powerless? For some reason, that caused a hollow to form and ache within me. My initial reaction was to point out that resurrection magic almost certainly wouldn’t work the same on dragons as it did on humans, since our souls weren’t subject to the whims of the gods. Fortunately, a last-minute impulse convinced me that such an argument wouldn’t help.

  Within the cave, the scratching sound intensified. It seemed Cami wasn't willing to wait. Her determination, that fierce will of hers, was admirable. It brought a smile to my face. There was something heartening about knowing that someone cared enough to dig through a mountain of rock and ice for you.

  I was about to point out how impossible it would be for her to remove more than a hundred tons of rock and ice which blocked the cave mouth, when the scratching suddenly stopped.

  Gathering my strength, I focused on my ability to manipulate sand and glass. While there wasn't much of either in the immediate vicinity, I attempted to break down the rocks into sand. That didn’t seem to work, but it had been a long shot to begin with.

  After a moment of silence, Cami said, “I’m gonna try something. Make sure there’s a clear space around you.”

  I almost cautioned her not to take any risks, but decided she was right. If she had a plan, then I would give her a chance to execute it. Suddenly, I felt the briefest tug inside me. Soul Seer started to activate, but then it stopped and Cami stood before me.

  Her clothes and face were streaked with dirt and blood. Her eyes were wide with a mix of relief and anger. A lopsided smile crept across her face.

  “I guess I can’t be too mad at you without being a hypocrite,” she said out loud. “I just tried out an untested power in an unknown, enclosed space. I almost forgot about Spectral Tether, but the description didn’t say anything about me having to see you. Well, at least we know it works—even with tons of rock between us.

  Cami stepped forward, reaching out to touch my snout. The warmth of her hand contrasted with the chill of the cave, and in that simple gesture I was reminded of the depth of our bond.

  Chapter 10 - When Smaller Is Better

  We talked for a bit and looked to see if there was anything of value to be looted from the frost giants. Their armor and weapons were well made, if more practical than beautiful. Without beauty, gold, or enchantments, their things weren’t worthy of my hoard, especially since I’d have to store them in my soul space until we got back home.

  Fortunately, that wasn’t all they had. There were at least a handful of uncut gems and some silver. It would have been too much to hope that a dragon let his minions have anything of value. Sighing, I had to admit that it would have hurt even my draconic sensibilities to leave valuables simply lying around.

  After the looting, I turned at Cami. “It looks like you are stuck in here with me.”

  “Where I belong,” she replied. She started looking around the back wall of the cave. “Besides, you never know... I might find something you wouldn’t have thought to look for. We’re stronger together.”

  She held up a hand when I started to protest. “Remember, you were the one who told me that.”

  Closing my mouth, I settled in to wait while she walked into the tunnel the giants had come through. It was huge for her, but I had not paid it any attention because it was too small for me. As I watched her enter what might be a trap, it struck me how much of a fool I had been.

  After living for nearly a year in human form, I still had trouble thinking like a human—or at least, I couldn’t do so without some degree of intentionality. I could shape-change. The problem wasn’t that the tunnel was too small for me; it was only too small for me in my natural form. For that matter, I could use Astral Projection if I really wanted to go look at what we were dealing with.

  After only a few weeks spent back in my natural form, I was falling into old habits.

  I was better than this. Fortunately, a quick reminder was all that I needed. Rather than transform, I activated Astral Projection. My soul left my body and went straight through the wall. The wall was thick—over forty feet thick!—but I quickly found Cami inside a room on the other side of it.

  The room she was in had a long table, and what looked like the lockers did in the showers at the university. Everything was built to the proportions of frost giants. There were clear signs they ate and slept in this area.

  Cami scouted it out all out carefully before she looked up at my astral projection. “I wondered if you’d follow me.”

  I was initially surprised that she could see my projection, but then I realized that our bond had advanced to the level of our souls. She probably couldn’t see me, but she could sense me.

  I responded to her mentally, “Someone has to make sure you stay safe, little one.”

  There were a few chambers off the larger room. They looked to have been where the shamans slept. Cami found stacks of large books and several potion making ingredients in one room. I was proud of her desire to loot, but once she identified anything of value, she headed through another archway which led further in.

  “Hold,” I sent. “I’m sensing something beyond here.”

  I sensed her annoyance through the bond, but Cami stopped moving. I kept moving through the wall and down several tunnels. There was something of a catacomb of tunnels, but nothing moved—not even a mouse or small bugs. It was as though all life had been drained out of this place.

  The further in I moved, the more I felt a sense of danger. As I was incorporeal, I didn’t think many types of magic could harm me. But I wasn’t willing to take foolish risks. I’d already acknowledged that there was much I didn’t know—and today had demonstrated that I was still subject to some of my race’s blind spots.

  “Go back,” I said as I retreated back the way I’d come. “Let’s talk face to face about what we should do next.”

  “You’re not just saying that because you don’t want me to take any risks are you?” Cami asked, frustration clear in the tone of her telepathic words.

  “I don’t want you to be in danger. You’re precious to me… but no, I sensed something. Just come back so we can talk face to face.”

  I could still sense some frustration in her, but felt her turn around and move closer to my body as my soul sped back to fill my body again. This was only the second time I’d used the ability, but it felt odd to once again suddenly be constrained by flesh. Was that why the gods were such pretentious jerks, acting like they somehow knew better than dragons? It might be a symptom of their disconnection from the physical realm.

  Yes, that made sense to me.

  It took Cami a few minutes to get back, but by then I’d thought through various courses of action. I waited to act on any of them, though, out of respect for Cami. I wanted to hear her input.

  When she came back out into the big chamber, she asked, “Was it just me, or did you sense a really dark feeling the further you went down the hallway?”

  “I’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it,” I admitted. “I have to assume that it had something to do with the necromantic magic used to transform Iskaldurdauoi. I think we can overcome it. That was what Vox helped us prepare for, after all.”

  “Necromancy… yeah that makes sense. It sorta creeped me out... like Old Lady Jamison. After her husband died, she got really weird. She had tons of cats.”

  I blinked. “Wait… I thought that people liked their cats.”

  “They do, but not after they're dead. She would get them all stuffed when her cats died. Some people even started to think that she maybe hurried along a few of them along so she could get some more of her ‘pretties’, as she called them. It was just so… creepy. But sad, too.”

  “That describes a great deal of human life for me.”

  Cami looked at me for a moment and then did a human gesture I’d noticed several times before. It was like she rolled her eyes back as if she was trying to see up inside her head. I almost told her it wasn’t possible, but then realized I was getting distracted again.

  “I’ve considered different options—from brute force to other types of transformations I could take to get out of the rock. Unfortunately, I need to have seen a creature to transform. Otherwise, I’d transform into an earth elemental.”

  That would be useful—and not just for getting out of here. I’d have to see about finding and picking a fight with an earth elemental at some point.

  “In fact, as I sat here, I realized I really haven’t been using this ability to its fullest. The potential this ability has for playing various pranks on Modessa has gone completely under-utilized.

  “I could also upgrade Fabricate and then create something out of the stone. But I rejected that plan because of the DKP expenditure. I’ve already spent enough DKP and I want to save what I have for further evolutions. Then there is the brute force approach. I’m fairly certain it would work, but I’ve been rather quick to leap into action lately.”

  What was so interesting in her head that Cami kept rolling her eyes back like that? I did my best to ignore what I’d started to think of as odd ‘humanisms’.

  “A bit?” she asked, eyebrow arched.

  I shrugged, which isn’t easy to do with wings. “What can I say? I’m bold and I like to make an entrance. When you’re this amazing, it’s pretty much expected.”

  Cami grinned and said, “You make me laugh, Nico.”

  It was funny that she’d use those words when she didn’t laugh at all, but she was human. Allowances had to be made. Only so much of my dragon-ness was going to rub off on her.

  “Perhaps a better method would be for me simply to transform and head further into the cave with you,” I concluded, “disarming the traps or dispelling the magic as we go.”