She shivered. “The tales say they were the strongest and most vicious of the dragons, and that we must prepare for their eventual return… But as I said, they are just Legends.”
Okay, but legends like that, even if they hold a fraction of truth, are the type of thing you don’t ignore, and this was a magical motherfucking world, where who knows what shit could go down.
“Great… So, theoretically, how long ago would that have to be for the dragons who were defeated back then to be dead? Like how long do dragons live? Because I really would rather not have to fight a fucking ancient dragon with a grudge thousands of years old.” I groaned, massaging the bridge of my nose. Nothing was bothering me, physically, in fact, I’d been in some of the best health ever since I got summoned, but stress like this back home would have had me needing the pressure point stimulation and I guess it had become a habit at this point.
And of course, the answer was not good news.
“Dragons can live until they are killed. They do not die of old age as we lesser creatures do.” Tavorwen informed me.
“Well… shit.” I groaned. “If there’s going to be a dragon apocalypse, let’s hope it waits for the shadow elf war to end and for us to get some more prep time.”
The sun finished setting and I was extremely glad for the headband that gave me elven sight. The moons gave enough light I could see clearly and could even make out the details of the world below. I honestly didn’t even miss night vision goggles with this. I glanced at the moons, grateful for the light.
There were four moons in the sky, confusingly in various stages of fullness, though the science part of my brain said that there was no way that should work. Having a full moon lapping a waning crescent moon, as the waning crescent moon slipped past a waxing gibbous… it just broke my brain to figure out how that would even work.
“Is everything in this world fucking magic?” I muttered.
“With few exceptions… Yes.” Risavis replied to my rhetorical question. Then to explain her approach she informed me, “Sevrina was wondering if you were ready to take another turn at the helm?”
I walked over and I could tell the time at the helm had exhausted her. She kept one hand on the crystal as she leaned against her hiersver for warmth and support.
“Marvin lasted five hours… so I tried my best, but I’m afraid I cannot continue,” Sevrina confessed, weariness etched into her body. “Forgive me for failing to last the full duty.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” I told her. I’d done longer shifts as a driver in my early army days, but driving for hours on end got exhausting, and that was with minimal steering and just a pedal to push. She’d had to maintain a strict degree of mental concentration for hours on end. Even on guard duty you could generally find a way to keep alert by shifting your attention around.
Sevrina dipped her head and relinquished the crystal to my care, quickly heading below deck.
I set my hand on the crystal and was immediately greeted by Dust Cloud.
[[Oh, finally.]] Dust Cloud groaned. [[The Pointy Ones are nice, but they are nothing for conversation. They just push and pull to get what they need done.]]
[[That happens when you can’t speak to each other.]] I noted.
[[Surely they can do better than that though.]] Dust Cloud whined.
[[Well, they thought they were making progress on learning your language, but you know how when you got summoned the elf yelled ‘fuck you’ at you before sticking you in the crystal?]] I prodded.
[[Yeah?]] Dust Cloud acknowledged.
[[Well, that was her trying to greet you.]] I informed it. [[They really struggle understanding your language.]]
[[Weird.]] The elemental noted with some amusement. [[Come now, our language isn’t that hard.]]
[[If it isn’t that hard to learn a language, why don’t you learn the elven language?]] I challenged.
[[… Okay, fine. Point made.]] Dust Cloud conceded.
We rose a little bit more to make sure we were high enough to clear the mountains cleanly, which made it a touch colder, but a small flame in my hand was plenty to keep me warm. Unsurprisingly, Dust Cloud said he couldn’t feel a difference in the temperature.
As we crested the mountains and the other side was revealed… my gut sank. You could see almost with pathetic ease the extent of Kathra’s reign. The land was torn up and desolate. You could see where trees were either ripped from the soil or small stumps remained from what trees had existed. The churned mud was absolutely wrecked from the army movement. The destruction reached and was slowly spreading into the beginning of the plains.
[[What happened here?]] Dust Cloud wondered.
[[Kathra.]] I responded. [[This is what we’re fighting against.]]
[[Well, night dirt… Even the Earth Elementals would be disgusted.]] Dust Cloud griped.
Luckily, moving further to the Northwest, we were moving away from the destruction. I kept glancing at it as we flew away. It just reinforced to me… Even if Kathra won, they had no idea how to manage a country on the surface. You had to maintain a level of future planning, if you couldn’t feed yourself afterward, it didn’t matter who won the fight. The widespread destruction was not viable. And, while I wasn’t sure how far west we were from El’Muth’Ran, I couldn’t even see the tower in the distance, but I knew the destruction spread all the way to the shadow elf capital.
Beyond, we quickly reached the point where the land underneath us looked pristine and clear. The unpopulated plains beneath us stretched in waves of grass. Our destination was over another mountain range that stretched from the northeast to the northwest, as far as the eye could see. The thick, tall mountains look like the Himalayan mountains, reaching far into the sky, rough and broken, with snow caps and sheer rock faces. High above one of these mountains a massive cloud, or cluster of clouds, hung. Based on our current speed and progress, we’d arrive early in the afternoon.
My gut tightened a bit. We would be trying to win over the Cloud Elves within the day, but what would that require from us? On the plains, I’d had to fight enormous crab insects, then slip in undetected and kill the queens of other hives… I had no idea what would be required to earn the trust and cooperation of the cloud elves. The odds of it being easy were slim to nothing.
Then there was the matter of their counter demands for their corporations. Taking Laliera as my matron had been the requirement the Wild Elves had demanded, which honestly wasn’t a real sacrifice for me. She was wonderful and beautiful and I was growing quite fond of her. But… could I keep just taking matrons? Was it sustainable? Would that even be the demand? The odds seemed high since a lack of males was one of the biggest issues that all elven societies seemed to have just accepted. With the boon of endurance, I could keep up with a large number of matrons wanting action in the bedroom, but… eventually, I’d just be moving from matron to matron in the bedroom all day long. While I enjoyed sex as much as the next guy, you wanted to come up for air regularly. And the worst would be if it reached the point where sex wasn’t fun and pleasurable anymore.
Nothing to do but see what ended up happening.
I looked again at the enormous cloud in the sky. I realized, with some concern, how big of a city would require such a massive cloud to support. Would it finally be an elven people who weren’t so decimated that their city, or cities, were left in ruins?
Luckily, the night passed uneventfully. I had done guard duty and enough similar tasks that staying alert wasn’t terribly hard. And I wasn’t tired, so it was just me on the deck.