Gaia stood still, her head tilting to the side as she looked at the odd, tiny green dragon standing at the center of the valley. Her hand lay resting on her Blood Wolf, stroking his shoulder softly.
She turned around and looked at Brutus.
She then turned and looked back at Dorian.
And then back at Brutus.
And then back at Dorian.
"That is one of the beings that has twisted Fate? That caused Highlord Marcus to send out a hunting order?" Gaia's statement was more of a question, her voice filled with incredulity as she kept stroking Salum's shoulder.
"If the wolf led us here, that sounds like a safe guess." Brutus responded, staring at the small, weird dragon with a bored look. Even from this distance, he could feel that it was a weak creature. He could probably defeat it with a single blow, unless it was hiding some secret power.
"Is it… cooking a deer over a fire?" Her voice was deadpan, almost emotionless. Her eyes, however, were completely serious.
"Seems like." Brutus grunted, supremely unconcerned.
"And now it's singing?" She continued, her eyes locked onto the small dragon. Dorian's singing voice carried quietly through the valley, joyfully spreading his love of West Virginia.
"Yep." Brutus replied, rubbing his chin.
"And now… it's dancing?" Gaia blinked, and then looked down at her hands, pinching herself.
"Energetic little fella." Brutus shrugged.
Gaia turned and glared at him, rolling her eyes in annoyance, "Would it kill you to show interest in anything?"
Brutus gave her a grin, showing the white of his pointed, vampiric teeth.
"I have quite a few interests. What would you care to learn about?" He was about to continue, giving her a leer filled grin, but abruptly grew completely serious, his head whipping to the north.
Gaia froze as well, turning her head to the opposite side of the valley, her eyes narrowing.
"Humans."
..
"It's so tasty!" Dorian did a little happy dance, his tiny dragon feet pitter-pattering as he ran around the fire in happiness. Every little thing, even the small things, seemed to be so much fuller after he let go of his worries the other night.
He was currently munching on an entire roast deer thigh. It was meaty and well cooked, the insides melting with juices. The flavors rolled over his tongue as he sank his teeth into them, the fat sizzling in his mouth.
"It's SO good!" Tears of joy came into his eyes.
It had truly been a long time since he tasted something as good as this. Even when he was eating other beasts as a Red Salamander, where his taste buds had adapted for raw meat and delighted in blood, there was a certain mental limit Dorian placed.
As someone with a human mindset, he just couldn't fully enjoy eating raw blood and meat.
But this deer thigh… it was well cooked… juicy and delicious… the greatest thing he had eaten since he came to exist in this world.
Dorian looked up at the sky and then at the deer that was still roasting on the spit. He bowed slightly, showing his respect.
It was right after, however, that he noted the presence of several human beings walking towards him, causing him to instantly go on alert.
..
"Hey little guy!" Oblong motioned with his hands in a non-threatening way, keeping his voice and tone down.
After observing the small green dragon, he could tell it wasn't very powerful. Wizards were very sensitive to the strength of other beings, and could usually tell if a being had a stronger Soul Spell Matrix than them.
He'd also cast a very fast Fate cantrip, designed to gleam general information about a being. From that, he discovered that the creature was very young for a dragon, though his spell results had thrown him slightly. The dragon was either a relatively small number of days old, or around twenty to twenty five years in age, his spell couldn't seem to decide.
It was the curse of Fate Magic, he'd thought, shaking his head in exasperation. Any spell that tried to unravel Fate was bound to be difficult to understand, especially the less information you had about someone or something.
Still, the beast before them was definitely odd, and definitely young, and his magic indicated that Fate around it was twisted. It was the target they were looking for.
He motioned with his hands again, this time in a gentle waving gesture, indicating for the guards to step forward and start to encircle the dragon. They couldn't have it escaping.
Graxital kept a close watch on the beast, his hands behind his back gathering a small ball of black energy.
The Royal Wizard Aymon, meanwhile, watched everything dispassionately, staying at the back of the group. He didn't seem to trust anything about the appearance of the beast before him, probably something that came from experience.
"Just relax, we're just here to come talk. Let's be friends!" Oblong continued babbling nonsense, focusing on his tone. No one here was fluent in Draconic, and while whatever the dragon wyrmling had been singing wasn't in Draconic, it certainly wasn't in a language he understood.
The small green dragon stood frozen, raising a half eaten deer thigh to its mouth as it stared back at the approaching humans. It seemed like it was about to bolt, its body starting to tremble.
"William." Oblong said, turning his eyes to the side briefly. The young Wood Magic Wizard had proven adaptable and calm, even when faced with surprises. Oblong had been quite impressed with his performance thus far.
In addition, Wood Magic was truly a versatile and useful type of magic.
William stepped forward, his eyes focused on the small drake. A slight drop of sweat rolled down his forehead as he concentrated, not letting himself slip up. For some odd reason, the dragon he was zoning in on seemed to be glaring reproachfully at him.
"Wood Magic: Seali-"
"WATCH OUT!" Graxital's normally quiet voice shook the valley as he abruptly yelled out loud, interrupting William.
..
'Crap.' Dorian split into panic as he saw the approaching humans, freezing up. He had no idea what to do. Should he run? He held the roasted deer thigh in his hand, almost as if to use it as a club. His heart began to pound, causing him to tremble with whatever the draconic equivalent of adrenaline was.
As he was now, in his baby dragon form, he definitely wasn't able to confront anything tough. In addition, he recognized one of the humans here. It was the same human that had tried to attack him in his Red Salamander form! One that had used magic! He gave the human a glare for good measure.
"Hey little guy!" One of the humans began speaking one of the languages Dorian now knew, Common. He was a very overweight man wearing a set of loose blue robes, with a poor attempt at a friendly look on his face. The man waved at him in a non-threatening manner. Around him, however, several humans wearing black armor started to surround Dorian.
"Just relax, we're just here to come talk. Let's be friends!"
Dorian mentally rolled his eyes at the man's words, despite his heart full of panic.
'Sure you are, buddy.' He thought, his eyes darting from side to side.
He felt oddly threatened by the humans in front of him, his senses telling him that they were stronger than him. The closer the warriors got, the closer the robed men got, the bigger that sense was.
'Can I run?' Dorian's eyes darted to the side, his body tensing. The warriors in black armor, however, seemed to more far more swiftly than they appeared to be, already cutting off most escape routes. By the time Dorian tried to flee, he felt as if they would instantly catch up with him.
His eyes glinted as he forced himself to calm down, controlling his fear and analyzing the situation. It seemed he would need to rely on the Aura stored by his Soul Spell Matrix in his Soul.
The Wizard he had seen before stepped forward,
"Wood Magic: Seali-"
"WATCH OUT!"
He was just about to draw on that Aura when a small explosion detonated, knocking into several of the warriors that were surrounding him.
The black armored men to his right and left were thrown backwards as what appeared to be a several meter large eruption of blood appeared, blasting them backwards. Small shockwaves slammed into Dorian, stunning him as the scene around him abruptly unfolded into chaos.
..
"Blood Magic! It's some damned Nobles! Look alive!" Graxital yelled out loud, launching the ball of Black Lightning he had formed earlier forward, towards a spot on the opposite side of the clearing.
A pair of tall oak trees exploded into wooden shrapnel as his attack slammed into that area, creating a small distraction.
He immediately clapped his hands together and then raised them up, casting a spell.
"Black Lightning Magic: Black Calling!" Overhead, nearly a thousand meters above them, several lines of black energy formed, starting to rotate. Gradually, nearly clouds became drawn into this vortex, slowly becoming something ominous. A heavy, black aura of energy surrounded Graxital, shivering around him.
Aymon, the Royal Wizard, waved his hands, concentrating as he created a transparent Spatial Barrier that surrounded his body, protecting him. Casting spells without calling their names aloud was an extremely difficult feat that one could only manage after many years of experience and practice targeting one specific spell.
Oblong gave him a sidelong irritated glance for an instant. Creating a Spatial Barrier to protect only himself… It wasn't exactly unexpected, since they weren't comrades, and it wasn't wrong of him either. Your own personal safety as a wizard was paramount, and even Department Wizards couldn't force other wizards to do what they said, not if they were of equal or greater strength under the laws of the Borrel Autarchy.
But it still annoyed him.
Oblong grunted and held his hands out in front of him, his long experience as a Department Wizard coming into play as he maintained his calm,
"Fate Magic: Lucky Guard!" A green glow briefly surrounded him.
Not a split second later, several dozen arrows of glowing red blood shot forward, targeting the wizards at the base of the group, ignoring the scattered and wounded warriors. These arrows hurtled forward at breakneck speed, carrying a deadly strength.
Only a few blood arrows went towards the Royal Wizard, and all of them failed to even scratch Aymon's Spatial Barrier. Every single arrow that went towards Oblong seemed to just barely miss him, entirely by lucky chance.
The arrows that tried to slam into Graxital shriveled as they came into contact with the black aura surrounding him, failing to do any harm.
William, unfortunately, took the brunt of the damage here.
He was knocked backwards off his feet, slamming several meters through the air. Oblong cursed mentally at this, blaming his own poor planning.
The difference between a Master Class and a Sky Class Wizard wasn't just in their concentration of energy.
Once any Wizard reached the Master Class, their Soul Spell Matrix transformed slightly, granting them a powerful innate barrier. This barrier would be active at all times, but only drawing energy when an attack landed on it.
The barrier itself used a huge amount of energy, and was inefficient compared to protective Magic. However, simply having this protective barrier was a huge safeguard against surprise attacks, or physical attacks.
William, unfortunately, had no such barrier, and either wasn't experienced enough or strong enough to raise a powerful protective spell in time.
The bastard son of an important family looked down at his body as he crashed into a set of trees hard, feeling his ribs and legs fracture. Two enormous holes could be seen, one in the lower portion of his chest, and one on his hip, holes that completely drilled through bone and flesh. Not a trace of blood could be seen in these wounds.
His lips turned pale as he was overwhelmed with pain. With shaky hands, he twirled both fingers, stuttering out,
"Wood Magic: Great Elm's Healing Branches."
Shortly after, he collapsed, his body going into shock at the horrendous wounds, falling unconscious. Around him, several small branches grew from the ground and began to cover his body in a cocoon.
A moment later, two figures walked into the clearing. One enormous hulking brute of man, with a set of crimson gauntlets on his hands and arms, and another gorgeous woman, wearing a thin, revealing set of black leather armor. Their skin had a faint, grey skin tone, and an aura of blood surrounded both.
"Damned Nobles." Oblong swore aloud, holding his hands before him as he took charge. Aymon watched everything in his continued dispassion, not even trying to help. Oblong could even sense him preparing to flee, using his Space Magic. He mentally swore again.
"This is human territory! You have no right to be here. Leave immediately!" Oblong threatened them, stalling for time while Graxital charged up his spell.
Vampire Nobles, or Nobles as they were oft called, were one of the contenders for dominance in the 30,000 Worlds. While the Borrel Autrachy controlled more than 10,000 Worlds, the three Vampire Families controlled only 91 Worlds.
That wasn't because they were weak. Far from it, the Highlords at the helm of each Vampire Family were able to contend with the Mad Kin- the Wizard King Telmon, Oblong mentally corrected himself, carefully studying the two figures before him. That said, the Highlords could only contend. Even if all three worked together, they would be unable to defeat Telmon. That man was simply an abnormality in his own right.
The Nobles seemed to abhor change, usually remaining in the worlds they had already conquered, ruling them as they saw fit. Thus, the Autrachy and the Noble Families didn't collide too often, not after the Autrachy learned which worlds they controlled. Even the weakest Vampire was equivalent in strength to an Earth Class beast, after all, far surpassing the weakest humans.
The Autrachy had far bigger problems to focus on, like the Draconic Tribes or the Graal alliance.
Oblong shook the stray thoughts from his mind as he focused on the Nobles in front of him, readying himself to react. There was no chance these two were here by chance. They must be after the disturbance in fate too.
"Leave?" The woman's voice softly filled the valley air, a hint of glee in it. The big brute of a man stepped forward, giving a grin that showed his pointed teeth.
"Why would we leave after finding such delightful food! Salum! Come!" She clapped her hands with a warm smile.
Immediately after, an enormous, hulking Blood Wolf appeared, stomping into the valley proper.
Oblong's eyes widened as he saw it, and he cursed yet again. He swiftly began planning a withdrawal route in case Graxital was unable to handle them.
The female Noble before him must be at the peak of the Grandmaster Class, at minimum, to have such an enormous Blood Wolf familiar.
Vampires had incredibly regenerative skills, innate access to powerful Blood Magic with experience that far outstripped even the most skilled human Blood Wizards, and extreme physical endurance and strength.
Oblong clenched his fists in rage, his eyes turning bloodshot and the fat on his body trembling. He'd come all this way, and even found the disturbance in Fate, the small, weak green dragon, and it seemed he might lose out to a pair of deviled bloodsuckers.
At this thought, Oblong shifted his eyes to the ground between the vampires and him, where the green dragon lay on the ground in fear.
No, not on the ground in fear, Oblong observed in that split second. The dragon was, oddly enough, leaning forward with its chest puffed out, as if it was about to yell, its body trembling.
It was at that moment that every living being in the valley froze completely.
Every animal within ten miles abruptly began to tremble, Master Class beasts on distant mountains directly collapsing, Grandmaster Class beasts in the midst of sleeping, battle, or rest freezing in terror, their eyes widening in horror.
For at that moment, an Aura began to spread out, an Aura so devastatingly threatening that the air itself seemed to shake. An awe inspiring, majestic red haze descended and gathered upon the tiny green-scaled dragon, as if he was a mythical beast of legend.
"YOU DARE IGNORE THIS GODLY DRAGON?!"
