My lips trembled as the next words came out. It felt odd to speak them. “You are right. I realize that we are already here, but may I enter your lair? I will not seek to claim any of your horde for my own.”

  Vox tilted her head to the side, as if trying to get a better look at me. “You truly are an odd dragon. But I’m a silver, we aren’t nearly as formal as you chromatics. Most of the time when I’ve encountered a chromatic dragon old enough to know about metallics, they insisted on calling me a half-breed and treated me as less than a dragon.”

  “I have other concerns,” I admitted.

  “I gather you found something wrong. Well, I’m here to help you—in more ways than you may comprehend. So yes, you may come into my lair. For the duration of your stay here, my food is your food.”

  I stopped walking and shook my head. Holding my head between my hands, I took several deep breaths. What was wrong with me?

  Dragons did not ask for help.

  My mind raced and the world seemed to slow down around me. I had experienced this before as my Mind stat continued to grow. It seemed to be part of the evolution, but I was still figuring it out. My ‘Mind Evolution’ didn’t make me smarter, it made me better with magic… but perhaps there was more to it. It certainly provided me with enhanced perception, but I’d been so fixated on the emotional crisis this created that I hadn’t explored more of it.

  Dragons didn’t ask for help. We didn’t work together. But why?

  It was already clear that the chief power of humans was their ability to work together. How could we dragons allow one of the lesser races to be better at anything? It wasn’t as though I wanted to lock tails with Vox or anything like that. I had no foolish primate tribal instincts. But I recognized that I’d be a fool not to take advantage of her great experience.

  “Yes… I discovered…” I paused, tasting my words before letting them pass my lips. “Actually, I didn’t discover, but I realized that there is something on my status sheet which has been there for some time now—since battling some servants of the horrors.”

  Nascent link to oblivion***

  I shared that limited slice of my status sheet with Vox. Then I told her more about the battle and how it had come to appear on my sheet. When I finished, she remained silent for several minutes. It likely would have driven humans crazy, simply standing there staring at one another in silence, but it felt perfectly natural to me.

  When she finally did speak, Vox only said, “Follow me.” Then she took off.

  While not quite at a run, it was much faster than walking. She jogged for the open fields of her estate. When she reached the flat ground at the bottom of the hill, I felt the world shift around her as she began to transform to her natural form. It took less than three seconds for her to change; she had clearly upgraded the ability.

  When she finished, she was almost as large as I was. I sensed the power emanating off of her and didn’t need to wait for an invitation. As I transformed, I felt the hunger become even stronger. It was all I could do not to leap into the air and dive onto the herd of cows which I could see that the far end of the estate.

  As soon as my transformation was completed, Vox said, “You’ve been tainted by the horrors.”

  “What?! How is that possible?”

  She shook her head and sighed. “You are quite young.”

  My eyes narrowed. Her words felt like a challenge to me. I rose up and demonstrated my greater size.

  She made a soft clucking sound. “You don’t have to take it as a challenge, Nico. Remember, I’m a half-breed. I have as many human habits as draconic instincts. I’m also a bonded dragon, so I know that it’s possible to grow strong very quickly while bonded. My grandsire insisted that no dragons be bonded before they were fully adults—preferably mature adults. Mother passed that belief on to me, as well.

  “I was around 500 years old when I bonded with Nagafen, but if you are now ‘over fifty’ then you were not a mature adult when you bonded.”

  I felt the growl trying to come out of my throat just like the rumbling in my stomach, but I suppressed them both. Instead, I told her the story of how Cami and I had bonded.

  “That was exactly the type of thing which our ancestor was trying to avoid when he agreed to bring back the bond. He wanted to be sure that only dragons old and experienced enough to handle the emotions of humans and the other races would bond.”

  “Brought back the bond?” I asked. “You mean it existed in the past?”

  “That is what my studies have discovered… but we need to focus on your problem. To be honest, I’m uncertain why the oblivion connection hasn’t altered you further. The horrors want to unmake things, or at least convert them into a type of existence that is incompatible with everything of our world. That is what we call that oblivion—the energy within you should either be unmaking you, or converting you into some type of hybrid.”

  I thought about it for a few minutes before I responded, “My resistance to this oblivion probably has something to do with being a balance warden.”

  That, of course, required me to tell the story about how that came to be. In many ways, Vox was as curious and scholarly as Cassandra, though she seemed to have a longer view of… well, of everything.

  “That is possible,” she mused, “but eventually you’ll become unbalanced. When that happens, you will lose both your title and you protection.”

  “Why can’t I just eat more? I only feel super hungry.”

  Vox snorted. “That isn’t physical hunger you feel. It is an urge to feed the emptiness which is growing inside of you. It is good that you came to Forlay. There is much for me to teach you, and meeting you has given me a new lease on life. I had expected to hibernate soon for the last time. Both Naggy and I have been feeling the lack of desire to continue which comes with stagnation.”

  She gave me a wry, toothy grin—an almost wistful smile for a dragon. “You’re lucky to be young and able to keep progressing. I only made it this far because of the growth I gained from my bond’s class.”

  “How is that possible? With two classes, he should have been able to push you all the way from mature adult to wyrm.”

  “If only... Metallic dragons are only truly half-dragon. So we all have a class, but we metallics have only one class. The same applies to Nagafen. That, and even with two classes it can take some real effort. Naggy’s class is only rare… let me guess, your bonded has an epic class? I probably should have expected that. You seem to be doing the impossible already.”

  “Cami has two epic classes and a legendary crafting class, but I don’t gain power for her leveling the crafting class.” As I spoke, I felt a tingling sensation. “Uh, speaking of which, I think she just decided to apply her recently earned XP.” With that, my body began growing.

  It was a strange sensation. When this had happened before, I’d been in my human form. That form was an artificial one and stayed mostly the same as I ‘aged’—with only small changes once I’d realized that allowing the changes to happen disturbed other humans.

  Now, my human shape was simply a reflection of my will. But in my true form I experienced the full growth.

  Your bonded has leveled her Dragon Knight class to Level 13.

  You have gained 30% growth in your age category.

  You are now Elder (40% to Ancient).

  I felt my body stretch. Each bit of growth produced even more size than earlier growth spurts had. I gained just over two feet of length for each 10% of age category, along with the weight to go with it.

  New Size: Length: 96’7” Weight: 58,105 lbs.

  Strength: +18

  Agility: +6

  Durability: +21

  Mind: +15

  I grinned as I felt the power swell in my body. With that growth, the hunger seemed to recede. Could it be so simple? In order to push oblivion back, I had only to keep growing? Hmm… something seemed to be missing.

  I still mentioned the idea to Vox.

  “I doubt that will work, certainly not long term…” she offered, “though it might be a temporary solution. It’s likely more palatable than the only solution which I know will work for sure.”

  I eyed her. Something about the way she’d said ‘palatable’ that made me not want to ask why. But I was a dragon and we dragons didn’t fear something as simple as words.

  “Why?”

  “Because the only thing I’m sure that will counter the oblivion within you,” Vox replied, “is an equal amount of divine power so that you remain balanced.”

  The weight of her words settled on me, but I already knew that I was going to reject them. I just needed to keep growing until I could find a way of excising the oblivion from me for good.

  Nico’s Stats 4.1

  Nicosandumas

  Race: Blue Dragon

  Maturity: Elder (40% to Ancient)

  DKP: 729

  Length: 96’7” Weight: 58,105 lbs.

  Base Speed: 18 mph on land/198 mph in the air

  1st Evolution: Mind

  Aura of Perception

  Enhanced Magic Sight

  1 Spell Slot per Tier

  1 to Maximum Spell Tier

  -50% to Spell Elevation for Bonded Rider

  25% effect to spells when cast in human form

  Astral Projection: 5

  2nd Evolution Paths Available: Claw, Breath, Scale, Wing, Prismatic

  Nascent link to oblivion***

  Stats:

  STR: 863

  AGI: 282

  DUR: 676

  MIND: 442

  Free stat points available: 50

  HP: 6,790 / 6,790

  HP Regen Rate: 676 HP/day (889 with bonded)

  Immunities:

  Electricity

  Poison

  Sleep

  Paralysis

  Resistances:

  Magic- 55%

  Physical Damage: 35%

  Acid: 50%

  Combat Proficiency:

  Armor Rating: 52

  ATK: 40

  DMG: 5-50+50 (claws), 7-70+75 (bite), 5-40+50 (wings), 6-72+75 (tail)

  Critical Strike: 33%

  Racial Abilities:

  Breath Weapons:

  1: Spark storm 225’ x 30’ (30-240 damage)

  2: Lightning Bolt 500’ x 8’ (50-500 damage)

  3. Forked Lighting 300’ x 4’ (40-360 damage)

  4: Draconic Roar

  5: Acid Breath 360’ x 7’ (40-320 damage)

  6: Poison Breath- cloud 300’ x 300’ (15 dmg per second + toxicity)

  Sprint 2: Reach a maximum land speed of 180 mph for up to 30 seconds or maximum air speed up to 1050 mph for 1 minute.*

  Sound Imitation/Ventriloquism*

  Dragon Fear 7

  Project Image (36% real)*

  Shape Change 8*

  Dragon Warrior Form*

  Fabricate 1*

  Soul Space 7*

  Manipulate Sand 2*

  Glass Manipulation 1*

  Concentration 3*

  Meditate 3*

  Dracomorphic Breath

  Darkness 1* (black hatchling)

  Suggestion 1* (green hatchling)

  Shocking Aura 5

  Draconic Roar

  Anti-Magic Pulse*

  Astral Projection 5*

  Soul Seer Talent 1*

  * - These abilities can be used in either form

  Companion Bond: Camille Westfork Level: 20

  Bond Benefits:

  Empathic Connection

  Bond Telepathy (Range: 100 miles)

  DKP bonus: +25% (minimum +1)

  Gain 10% Age Rank Growth per level gained by companion

  Elevate Spell: Use 1 DKP to raise a spell’s effective Tier

  Titles:

  Morfi Apprentice- +5% Str in other forms, -50% transformation time

  Making Do – double the area which can be affected by Fabricate if you are only making repairs.

  Balance Warden- maintain the balance created by the Pact. A one-time bonus of +50 stat points.

  Gain +10% respect with other dragons. Your Dragon Fear has a 10% greater chance of affecting other dragons. Gain +25 to your lowest stat, as dragons do not have weaknesses.

  Mana: 4420 points

  Regen: 44 MP/minute. (67 with Cami)

  Innate Magic Spells:

  1st Tier: 3/7

  Force Darts

  Identification

  Tripping Vines

  2nd Tier: 4/7

  Lesser Regeneration - Miseria

  Adoration of the Fearful

  Burning Sphere

  Resist Energy

  3rd Tier: 5/7

  Weave the Wind

  Call the Charge

  Life’s Blood – Miseria

  Thunderclap

  Fireball

  4th Tier: 3/6

  Airy Water- Temulara

  Wizard’s Eye

  Dimensional Ward

  5th Tier: 2/5

  Malcor’s Wings of Darkness

  Cone of Absolute Zero

  6th Tier: 3/5

  Breakdown and Analyze

  Earthen Construction

  Sphere of Controlled Speed

  7th Tier: 0/2

  Mage Spells:

  Tier 1- none

  Pending Quests:

  1) Free the Dragons: Shared with Cami Westfork. Cassandra Thomas, Modessa Lonerat, Lisella Forlay.

  Primary objective: Dragons have been altered by bondage. Free as many of the domesticated dragons as possible.

  Secondary objective: find a way to restore the freed dragons to their former glory.

  Tertiary objective: (personal only) – meet a free dragon of each color and gain their perspective upon the place of dragons in the world. (2/5)

  Rewards: Personalized based upon contribution.

  2) Scale Nation - Possess a land where dragons can live without interference from the other races. Create a political structure for those dragons to live under. The form of that structure is up to you, but will determine the extent of your rewards.

  Optional Modification: Join Me or Die - You have seen the fragmented nature of dragon society. Will you rise to become the first true Dragon Emperor since Tiamat?

  Possible rewards:

  A magical item which is optimal for you of a rarity between Rare and Artifact.

  A unique spell customized for you of a tier between 4th and 9th.

  Gold in a quantity between 100,000 and 1,000,000 coins.

  Minions: 39/500

  Named Minions:

  Daggin - Blacksmith

  Rubin - Enchanter

  Cassandra - Alchemist

  Sir Michael / Sir Thomas - Knights

  William - Infantry and Archers’ Commander

  Emilio - Head servant

  Bob - Chief builder

  Amos- Chief naval officer

  Exalted Minions: 0/3

  Hoard:

  1,083,614 gold coins

  2,632,885 silver coins

  42,508 copper coins

  Various gems worth 1,022,905 gold coins

  Assorted magical items:

  Amulet (Cami)

  Ring (Cami)

  Sword

  Staff

  Dagger

  Assorted valuables worth 310,314 gold coins

  HUMAN FORM

  Nico

  Apparent Race: Human

  Height: 6’5” Weight: 229 lbs.

  Apparent Age: 18

  Class: Dragon Disciple/Living Storm

  Level: 14th/10th

  XP: 31,150/25,000

  Base Speed: 14 mph

  Stats:

  STR: 380 (258 from draconic form)

  AGI: 282

  DUR: 676

  MIND: 442

  HP: 6,760 / 6,760

  Regen Rate: 676 HP/day (889 with bonded)

  Armor Rating: 23

  Immunities:

  Electricity

  Sleep

  Paralysis

  Resistances:

  Magic: 40%

  Physical Damage: 4% (bracer)

  ATK: 27

  DMG: 3-18+ 30 (punch), 4-24+44 (kick)

  Critical Strike: 9%

  Monk Fighting Style: Dragon

  Monk Abilities:

  Rapid Movement

  Flurry Attack 1

  Stunning Fist 1

  Meditation 1

  Stillness

  Pure Mind-Pure Body

  Make Me Whole

  Evasion

  My Body Poisons the World