Present
The lesson I've learned in twenty-six years of life was that dragonkind was inherently foolish. We hailed ourselves as Gods and confused agelessness with immortality. While closely related, they were far from the same. I learned very quickly that we could be killed by the mortals who rose up against us.
Across from me, my twin brother slept, curled into a ball similar to a cat. His black scales rendered him almost invisible, and if it were not for the glimmer of moonlight reflected by water across his hide, I wouldn't even be able to see him in the dark dwarven fortress was had taken residence in.
The fortress was long abandoned, and nestled behind a roaring waterfall. I sat at the entrance, the mist from the waterfall sprinkling my skin as I stared out into the night, keeping watch. There was no fear of animals. Only the Denari, the wrath of nature herself, and perhaps the most vicious hunters of dragons.
There was a rustle of scales as my brother shifted in his sleep, rolling over onto his back, his feet up in the air. I couldn't help but to lightly chuckle. He looked absolutely goofy.
Movement caught my eye from the ledge carved out into the cliff face that led into the fort. I squinted my eyes. I could make out a vaguely humanoid shape. Only two arms, so it certainly wasn't a Kalurei, and it wasn't short, so certainly not a dwarf. Hopefully it wasn't a Denari. I crouched low, moving over to awake Morahvir with a swipe of my tail. The dragon snorted as he was awoken, rolling over and getting to his feet.
"Shh," I hissed, and then pointed a talon to the figure moving along the ledge, getting steadily closer. He looked out, arching a brow once he saw what I was pointing at. Then he looked back at me.
"It's just one. Did I really need to be woken for this?"
"One lesser being around is one too many," I informed him. They commanded magic that rivaled ours these days, and neither one of us were close to our prime.
"They're hardly lesser-"
I interrupted him by stomping on his paw. He growled, rubbing his paw and glaring at me. I turned my gaze by to the figure, moving closer. "We're going to question her, see if there's anymore of them, and then throw her over the falls."
"You do it. I'm not interested." Morahvir moved back to his spot, settling back down his stomach with his head resting on his front paws.
"Psht, whatever." My brother was far softer than he should've been. If I wasn't around, I swear he'd have already gotten himself killed and turned into a trophy by now.
The mortal was almost here. They'd disappeared into the part of the ledge that curved back and came around under the waterfall. I raised a paw, preparing myself
The moment she crossed the threshold, she'd barely had time to look up and register what she was facing when I dashed forward, wrapping his talons around her midsection and pinned her to the stone. She screamed, and I squeezed a little harder
"Shut up!" I roared, and she fell silent. The human girl looked terrified.
"P-please," she began. I pulled my lips back over my teeth, snarling at her.
"Shut. Up. Is anyone else with you."
"No," she replied, her voice barely above a timid whisper. She was trembling beneath his talons. I lowered my head a little closer, peering at her with one wide eye.
"Are you lying?"
"No." And that settled it. I lifted her up, and started toward the waterfall. Only, I was stopped by a yank on my tail. I almost dropped the girl as I spun around as quick as I could with only one front paw to stand on, glaring at my brother. "What?" I could hardly believe he'd just stopped me.
"She's by herself, Calemvir." He paused a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "Perhaps we could entertain ourselves? Surely there must be a reason why she came all this way. By herself." The girl in my grasp froze, her eyes wide as saucers. I thought about it for a moment. She wasn't lying, I could tell. She could barely say one word. And Morahvir brought up a most interesting thought. I threw her at my brother's feet, the girl rolling over moss covered stone and coming to a halt just short of Morahvir's talons.
"You can throw her over when you're done," I told him, before seating myself by the waterfall once more. I kept an eye on the human girl though. She had a staff with a sharp garnet as a focusing iris strapped to her back. She was a mage, meaning she was significantly more dangerous than the average lesser one.
Morahvir lowered himself to be eyelevel with the human as she stood, fiddling with the sleeve of her coat nervously. I found Morahvir's act most distasteful, but didn't say anything. The girl trembled, taking a step back. She didn't make any move to run. Smart girl.
"Calm yourself," Morahvir told her. "What is your name?"
"Morganna," she replied. Great. Now he was going to get sentimental. I rolled my eyes.
"I am Morahvir." He then nodded up to me. "That is my brother, Calemvir." Morganna looked up at me when I was introduced. I growled at her, and she shrunk away, looking back to my brother.
"Please don't throw me over the waterfall. I don't want any trouble, and I'll leave and nobody will ever know you're here."
"As if!" I said, laughing. "You lesser beings are liars and murderers."
"We aren't going to throw you over the waterfall," Morahvir calmly replied, looking up at me. I turned my glare to him. He was terribly predictable.
"Hurry up. We're definitely throwing her over."
Morahvir ignored me, to my great annoyance, and turned his attention back to Morganna. "What are you doing here?"
"Do you not know?" She asked us, her voice trembling a little less now. "This fort is Dur Golath. It's said to have a fragment of the philosopher's stone, hidden away here. The fort was teleported away from the Shiverpeaks by a coven of Dwarven magi, and hidden away so nobody would find the fragment that they held."
"What is a philosopher's stone?" Morahvir asked her. Despite my annoyance with the situation, I couldn't help but to be curious myself. What was so amazing about this stone that had made this human brave enough to venture so far from civilization?
"It's a legend among those who practice alchemy. It is able to transmute anything into well… Anything."
I spoke up. "Anything into anything? Are you serious?"
"Perfectly. Water to stone, cloth to gold, flesh to dirt. Or visa versa, or any other thing you could possibly think of." My mind immediately dove into the possibilities a stone like that held. Stone to water. The fortified castles of lesser beings would stand no chance.
"That's amazing," Morahvir said.
"It's useful. Where are the other fragments?" I asked her. I moved over, now standing behind her. She looked back, looking incredibly more terrified than she was but a few moments ago.
"I-I have one. The other three are scattered elsewhere in the world, and then there's the one hidden within here, of course."
"Show us," I commanded.
Carefully, Morganna reached into her pocket, pulling forth an object wrapped in a cloth. She unveiled the cloth to reveal what looked like a red crystal. The bottom was smooth, while the top tapered to a jagged point. It certainly looked like a fragment of a whole. Deep within the heart of the red crystal that gave away it's magical nature however, was a pinkish spark of mysterious magic. She held it up for my inspection.
"Do you know exactly where the other pieces are?"
"I do- wait. You're interested, aren't you?" She pulled the stone away, stepping back towards Morahvir. Clever girl. She read me like a book.
"You will tell us what you know, or I will eat you, starting with your feet." She paled at my words.
"Cal, come on. What do we want with a stone like that? We should help her find the fragment here and send her on her way." Morahvir then reached across their connection to my mind. If we help her, she'll be definitely less likely to reveal our location to others, and then we won't have to kill her.
I glared at him, as I replied. No. Imagine what we could do with a stone like that, brother. We could at least restore some semblance of glory to dragonkind. We could drive back those who hunt us.
Just the two of us, with one stone? I doubt it brother. The life we have now is simple and peaceful. We've been safe at this fort for two years. Not a single person has ever been here. "Besides," he continued out loud. "This could be our chance to explore the rest of the fort. You know, the parts you were far too spooked to go into."
I growled, not appreciating his not so cleverly disguised attempt at manipulating me. If he had any sense, he'd be afraid too. The air had a whiff of death, and the air was chilled with hints of magic most foul. However, it went against every fibre of my being to look like the coward in front of this lesser one.
"Fine," I snapped. "We'll go find the fragment." And then we're taking her fragment and we're killing her. I added through our connection,
"Great! Let's go," Morahvir said as he stood up. However, his gaze locked with mine. So you say, brother. We'll see when it's all done, hmm?
I ground my teeth together, infinitely irritated by Morahvir.
"Uh, I have a map," Morganna added, reaching into her bag. She procured a roll of parchment, unraveling it before her. She then whipped out a wand. "For light, I swear." She followed that with an incantation, white light radiating from the tip like a beacon.31Please respect copyright.PENANA6kPz6azxr6
"Lead the way then, lesser one," I grumbled. So she did. She stepped past Morahvir, and went past the once-grandiose statue of a dwarf that marked the entrance into the Dwarven fort. I walked by my brother's side. The tension was thick in the air. I sensed it was going to come to a fight between us by the end of this.-