I reared back, gathering all my strength, and struck the shield with all the force of a tempest. My claws, imbued with the fury of my dragon's soul, battered against the crack, widening it with each blow. The sound of the shield fracturing was like thunder, echoing through the cavernous chamber.

  As the shield finally shattered, the lich’s flaming eyes pulsed in rage and surprise. Yet, he quickly cast another spell. Streams of fire, bright and searing, hurtled towards me. I felt the heat against my scales, but they held firm. I knew it was searing away a chunk of my health, but I couldn’t be stopped so easily. The fire washed over me, a scorching wave that left no mark, but the pain was there, a deep, burning sensation that roared through my body.

  I bellowed in pain and anger, a roar that shook the very foundations of the dungeon. In response to my fury, I activated my Sand Manipulation ability, channeling my control over the earth. The sand that covered the dungeon floor, a remnant of the dungeon's ever-changing nature, began to swirl and rise, creating a whirling maelstrom around the lich.

  I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that mere sand, even under my control would be able to stop the lich. That was never the intention. I was simply tired of responding to his attacks. I wanted to seize the initiative.

  With a mere thought, I directed the sand towards him, a relentless barrage seeking to blind and suffocate. The grains, fine and sharp, whirled with such intensity that they became like a thousand tiny blades, seeking every crevice, every opening. The sand cloud enveloped the lich, obscuring his form as it sought to fill his hollow, skull-like head.

  His first spell faltered even as his concentration buckled. He was a legendary caster, though. He quickly responded. This time though, instead of sand stopping him, he found my claws ripping into him. I drove my way through the layers of magical protection he had around him. They might be powerful, but they were nothing compared to that first dome.

  Within two seconds, his skull was removed from his body and sent flying across the floor. But this was a lich. It wasn’t that simple. I knew his soul would flee to a phylactery if I allowed it. His confidence in his ability to escape was likely the only reason he had dared to come in person.

  I reached out with my control of Ileria. Soul Seer showed me the movement of his soul and Cami joined me. Her Soul Forger class had been upgraded as a Soul Surgeon and she was better than ever at manipulating living souls. All of the practice we’d gotten restoring a generation of dragons made this all too easy.

  I could feel his raw power. He was strong… for a human or former human, but he was no dragon monarch and certainly not a dragon monarch fighting with his bonded companion.

  Once he realized that his soul was still attached to the skull, his voice projected out by purely magical means. “What now? You can’t hold me here forever. Eventually, I’ll escape and destroy you.”

  I slapped the skull, cracking his rune enhanced bone. “Silence. This was never about you. You aren’t even the true villain of this story. If this was one of those silly stories which Cami likes to read, you’d be nothing more than the spoiled rich boy who gets jilted and turns to life as a slaver. Your downfall would happen halfway through the novel, and while some might celebrate it, most would never even notice your passing.”

  Cami whispered, “You’ve read some of my books?”

  I didn’t explain that I wanted to be sure I understood who I was bonded with. It certainly wasn’t because I’d needed anything other than the pleasure of my gold against my scales, while I was resting in my lair. That was a conversation for another time.

  The lich meanwhile began to sputter some retort, but I cut him off again. “You really don’t get it. You don’t matter. The numerous dragons you’ve affected matter, but I’m fixing that. Soon, you’ll be completely forgotten and everything you sought to achieve will be gone.”

  He tried to reply again, but with a quick mental signal from me. Cami thrust her spear, Dragon’s Truth, into the skull which held his soul. The long, impossibly sharp tip of the spear cut right through the reinforced bone, all while it blazed with both the Fire and Soul Cut affinities.

  The flame took on a garish green hue as it burned not flesh, but rather licked away at his very soul.

  For a second silence, only broken by the sounds of sand slowly falling to the ground reined. The lich’s ability to speak seemed to have been driven from him. But that was when the screaming began.

  I stood there, forcing his soul to stay in place. I combined my raw control of the magic of Ileria with Cami’s abilities, and he had no chance. The fire of her spear roasted his soul, causing it to split open, yet there was no relief, no respite to be found for him. The burning drug on and I simply listened to him scream.

  The sound of his unbelievable agony was the cry of vengeance from all those dragons who had died without ever being able to give voice to the crimes perpetrated against them. They never had souls, so they had simply become fertilizer for the ground, as though they were nothing more than cows. It was sickening.

  For a full half-hour, we stood there listening to the screaming. Knowing this magic, I knew it had to have felt like so much longer for the lich, but he could no longer make a coherent sentence. Even his piercing cries for mercy had long since become nothing more than gibberish.

  “Nico?” Cami whispered. The question was evident in her tone.

  When I didn’t reply, she said, “He deserves whatever he gets, but doing this takes a toll on you, too. You can’t stay here forever to prevent his writhing soul from escaping.”

  I almost asked her to grab the bag of holding. A poorly formed half-thought said that it would be perfect if I could carry his still screaming soul around me with me. He would be forced to endure centuries or millennia of agony. But I knew that wouldn’t work. I couldn’t risk his soul escaping.

  This had to end. All things had an end. So with that thought, I burst his soul apart. It didn’t even resist at this point, since any release was the sweetest of mercies he could have hoped for.

  Then I collapsed down. Manipulating reality even just in a dungeon had taken a toll on me. The lich had been strong as well, but it was more the strain on my soul that I needed to worry about. Even obtaining revenge had come with a cost. I thought about Modessa then and grinned. The head was cut off, but there were still some grubby fingers which were begging to be cut to the quick.

  Sleep… yes, a bit of sleep. Then there was much to do. It was time to focus on unity.

  Epilogue - Necessary Steps

  Modessa stepped into the shadows instinctively the instant that they materialized in an alleyway in Maltesur. Rizal seemed a competent mage, and she supposed the fact that he was a fellow exalted minion should make her trust him more. He had a legendary class now, so his power couldn’t be doubted. She’d finally come around to trusting Nico. That was about as many new people she could trust for a while, if her dragon master could even be considered a person.

  “Thanks,” she whispered and then Shadow Stepped. The storm mage wasn’t part of her mission once he dropped her off, so there was no reason to wait around. She watched as he shifted into the wind and then was flying away. It must be nice, not that she could complain about her new powers. She was stronger than ever before.

  It had taken her a fairly crooked path to get here, and it was all too easy to fall into self-recrimination, but that never helped. She’d been accepted, if not completely forgiven. She’d found a love she didn’t deserve and had never truly expected, and she’d obtained the power she had always dreamed of. The hardest part about it all was that she owed it all to Nico. It was a bitter pill, but she was starting to embrace it.

  This mission was one which made her happy. It wasn’t that she enjoyed killing people, but she reveled in the idea of being Nico’s shadow, able to do things that he couldn’t do publicly. She’d seen the light now. What the rules of Maltesur were doing was nothing less than slavery. That left a foul taste in her mouth. As she understood it, the collars drained both soul and life force from the dragons to power some dead emperor who had been overthrown long before her great grandparents' time.

  Oh, well, that was for Nico to worry about. Her part was smaller, and it was one that she was uniquely equipped for. She’d been in every city in the empire, but some more than others. Adventurers weren’t as in demand in Maltesur. They were far from the City of the Dawn and most of their threats were pirates from the sea rather than dungeons or rampaging beasts.

  Now was a time for action though and so she pushed her musings away and began running across the rooftops. Dragon Sensory Reception was running at full bore as she was able to see, hear, and smell better than ever. The world took on a new context for her. She’d done some training, but even after that, she was still adjusting to just how much more clearly she could perceive the world around her. Modessa couldn’t help but think of some previous missions where these sensory skills would have come in handy.

  Draconic Shadow kept her moving at unprecedented speeds. She knew she was safe from any but the most powerful of divination magics. Her already high stealth capabilities were increased by 100% and that was on top of the double speed she already got from her passive, Draconic Wings.

  While she was in the shadows, she felt so strong it was silly. It was hard to believe that this was only 20% of Nico’s Strength stat, because she had gained nearly 350 Strength. That meant each push of her foot drove her forward further. She imagined she could probably leap from the ground to the top of a four story building without any difficulty at all.

  Once she reached the center of the city, Modessa activated her favorite new ability. It might not be the most powerful, but she still grinned just thinking about it.

  Spawn Shadow.

  She used it the full five times, which means that each shadow was only 37.5% as powerful as she was, but they had all of her abilities. As powerful as she had become, she was certain they would be able to carry out their tasks.

  Modessa sat down cross-legged and waited for each shadow to return. Nico had given her some general instructions about the mission, but largely left it up to her to figure out how to carry that out. She already knew who the five best targets for her shadows would be. A couple of merchants who dealt with procuring dragons for the city as well as three barons who were largely left in charge of running the dragon flights.

  Once she removed those players, the city’s ability to control the dragons it had refused to release to Vox would be crippled. Then all that she’d need to do would be to cut off the head of the snake, as it were. For that thought, she’d need her full power, so she sat and waited.

  Not that she had long to wait. Less than an hour later, her heightened senses heard alarms and screaming coming from a certain baron’s mansion. Moments later, that shadow returned to her, and she immediately knew what it had experienced. The mission had gone off without a hitch. Half a dozen dead guards and a disemboweled baron would definitely leave a message. Those in power might connect it to Nico, but there was nothing they could do to prove it.

  Modessa felt her power swell as she absorbed the shadow. That, in turn, made each of her other shadows just a little bit stronger. Each time one of them finished their mission, there were alarms or smoke to indicate that the strike had gone off. They were all successful and she could only imagine how much panic had set in at the palace.

  That was good. It was according to plan. Nico insisted that the king be the last target and that he know he was being targeted. This was not meant to be poison in a cup or a dagger in the night. This was an execution, and Modessa was happy to perform her part.

  She took a few deep breaths and centered herself after each of the shadows had been re-absorbed. It was disconcerting to gain memories which she hadn’t personally experienced but she’d trained for this and was ready to after just a few moments. She was up and moving the Dragon’s Shadow, ready to avenge the wrong done her master’s people.

  When she reached a building from which she could view the palace, she waited. Her eyes darted around to see the mages and guards who were in place. There was no force-field in place, because such things could only be activated for limited amounts of time, but she was certain that every ward they had available was armed and ready to detect her. It would be interesting to see if her new ability really would allow her to pass through all of them undetected.

  She counted the paces of each guard. Memorized their routes. She didn’t mind killing some of them if she had to, but they were just following orders and no matter how awful the treatment of the dragons was, they likely didn’t understand the problem. She certainly hadn’t until she learned more. So if she didn’t have to kill men for the simple reason of ignorance she’d be happy.

  Once she had a full mental map of the layout of the palace ground and the placement of the guards, she cast Shadow Step.

  Her new class doubled the range and cut the cool-down in half, so she’d be able to get real use out of it. Her first leap cleared not only the open area that separated the palace from any surrounding buildings, but also over the wall.

  Modessa felt a tingle like goose-bumps on her skin as she passed through a series of magical wards. Yet, no alarms went off. She could use Sense Ward and Sense Trap still and they told her that not only had she passed through the wards but that they were still intact. So far, so good.

  She crept down a hallway, stopping as needed to allow a guard to move past her, but in the shadows, she was practically invisible. She had Greater Invisibility as a spell, but felt like testing the limits of her new abilities. Finally, when she neared the royal bedchambers, she noticed a distinct rise in the level of the guards.

  None of these were below level 10 and many were above level 15. The wizard, who probably thought he was safely hidden in a corner near the doors to the bedchamber was level 20. That would have meant something to her before, but now with an effective level of 24 and legendary skills, not so much.

  She pulled out a small pouch of caltrops. Each was enchanted with a light and sound effect which would explode and disorientate the guards. It would be better if one of them opened the doors first though, because then she could daze them and streak right in.

  So Modessa waited… and she waited.

  No one ever talked about this part of being a rogue. Whether it was the assassin side or the thief side, there was a whole lot of crouching in uncomfortable positions for hours on end.

  Then a servant walked down the hallway, passing her hiding spot without ever noticing her. She was carrying a tray with a pitcher and what looked like some cookies. For a moment, Modessa worried that there might be children in the bedchambers. That shouldn’t be the case. The king of Maltesur was a widower who had yet to remarry and his only child was his heir, but a grown man in his own right.

  Modessa had been planning on those two being the only ones in the bedchamber, but the cookies threw her off. Then she remembered a report that she’d read once, about how the king loved his sweets but only got to rarely indulge because his now deceased wife kept him on a strict diet. Modessa almost snickered. Love did strange things to people, even kings. Rather, she would have snickered before she had felt the sting of love herself.

  The guards checked the servant’s person for any weapons. The wizard cast a spell of some sort, but didn’t step out from behind his screen of invisibility. Then the doors began to open, and she moved into action.

  Modessa flicked her hand with practiced ease and the caltrops rolled down the twenty feet that separated her from the doorway. They exploded just as they reached the guards. The concussive force was limited, but that was never what this was about to begin with. Meanwhile, Modessa leapt forward. She covered her eyes and plugged her ears. It helped, but she was still a bit slower than she would have liked as the thunderous sound threw off her balance.

  Still, it was enough. She activated a series of abilities.

  Exalted Minion Boost pushed her effective level to 28.

  Draconic Shock imbued her enchanted blade with a staggeringly powerful electrical attack.

  Slip Between Seconds allowed her to move outside the normal constraints of time.

  It wasn’t that it made her faster, but rather that she moved while the others were caught in a single second. Her speed and grace showed off here as she first targeted the most powerful of foes. The royal archmage needed to be put down and put down hard. He wasn’t the kind of foe she could leave standing behind her.

  He wasn’t able to respond as she drove her charged dagger into his gut. The veil of invisibility did nothing to protect him. All of his normal magical defenses meant nothing, as she literally existed outside of time for this single set of actions. Her blade passed through all of them and was back as he fell to the ground. Not content, she cast one of her most powerful spells, Assassinate. It was a death spell to any target who was below half HP.