Chapter 6

Fauraliiithiliana had heard such interesting things about the new dragon that Lord Leo had tamed. The elven scholar was quite keen to find her and speak with her. So the elf stalked the dungeon, searching for where Agubnamus was.

Lord Leo was busy in the Vault all day. He had been reviving the monster girls who had died and making some new ones. He had plans, it seemed. Ideas for new embassies. Fauraliiithiliana had her own plans. Her own ideas.

But that was for later.

For now, she wanted to talk to this interesting dragon that had served the Royal Family of Myreman in secret. How had that happened? The black-haired elf had to know.

She walked naked through the dungeon, used to going unclothed now in the endless, dark corridors. Well, they weren’t dark to her. There was no light, and yet she could see. The air temperature was always comfortable, too. Even if she passed through a room that burned with blistering heat or froze with frigid ice. The pale-skinned and slender elf passed through all these hazards without a problem.

She did not set off the myriad of traps that dotted all the corridors. Nor did the many patrolling monster girls attack her. They greeted her with smiles and playful slaps on the ass. Sometimes invitations to naughtier activities that the elf enjoyed.

But not when she was on a mission.

Her long ears twitched as she clutched her journal to her chest, her phoenix quill in hand. She searched high and low before she found Agubnamus had settled into one of the dead-end branches. The dragon had curled up on the floor like a kitten at nap. Well, a lion, given her size and fierceness.

Her red eyes opened before Fauraliiithiliana came within thirty feet. The dragon sat up, her white hair spilling around her dark-blue scales. She eyed the elf, brow knitting tight. “You’re not a monster girl yet you roam these halls freely.”

“I serve Lord Leo,” the elf said. “I am his scholar, and he is my research subject. Together, we are uncovering the mysteries of this world.”

“And you want to know about my mysteries.”

The dragon’s perceptive words saved much time. “Yes.” Fauraliiithiliana moved closer before she sat cross-legged. She opened her journal to clean pages and readied her quill. “How long have you served the Royal Family of Myreman.”

“I have served the rulers of those who lived along the Myr River,” she said. “For, I don’t know, four thousand years. I had hatched not long before Meskalamdug appeared.”

Excitement washed through her. “You were alive back then? What can you tell me of him?”

“The dragons were angry that Girru had mated with the Interloper and not one of the native races. And they hated that the races embraced these new gods who usurped our place. Co-opted our elements and declared themselves the Lords and Ladies of Water or Air or Fire. They gave our power to the lesser races. To these priests. They taught others what is now wizardry.”

“But you were just a hatchling, so you didn’t pay much attention, right?” Fauraliiithiliana asked, her heart pounding so fast.

“No.” Bitterness crossed the dragoness’s face. “I had fun escaping my dam and frolicking in rivers. I was found by Lord Enki, the so-called Lord of Water. I fled and returned to my mother. But she was then killed by the first Hero of Water, Kaliasilianiiian. After that, it was serve or die. I chose to serve out of fear, and the gods chained me to the leader of a fervent group of humans that had settled in what is now Myrecilla. The place was important to the Lord and Lady of Water.”

“How dreadful,” Fauraliiithiliana said. She kept writhing on her notes. “And you spent the next four thousand or so years protecting the leaders of what became Myreman in secret?”

“They would use my powers sporadically to keep the city, and the temple, safe from dungeon builders.” Agubnamus shrugged. “It was a banal and dull existence. I spent much of it in a form like this.”

“So you don’t know anything about the shrines?”

The dragon’s head cocked. “Shrines? Like the Temple of the Lord and Lady of Water in Myrecilla.”

“No, no, shrines that the Incarnation created.”

“Who is the Incarnation?”

Fauraliiithiliana set down her quill. “Well, it seems there is much you need to learn about the twelve shrines that are spread over a circle across this world. One lies beneath our feet. Lord Leo has found one more. They seem to hold the key to why the dungeon builders were summoned. I had hoped you had known more.”

“I don’t even know what made Myrecilla so important. I know it holds the greatest temple of Water in the world, but that wasn’t the case when I was bound. That happened because I was there to keep it safe. It was able to flourish. To grow from a modest hovel made of logs smeared in tar to the grand edifice it is today.”

Fauraliiithiliana nodded. “Well, this is what we know about the Incarnation, Queen Puabi. She came to this world fleeing the gods, whom she calls demons, and summoned her son first to help and protect her, but he failed. And for all these years...”

With Esclava chosen as my ambassador and the last of my monster girls revived, I decided to visit the dwarves and see if I could negotiate the treaty between us. I summoned Halia and the dwarven mage Hagza to me. Hagza had recently sworn herself to me along with the surviving members of her adventuring band.

Like with Halia, Hagza and her companions had attacked me to kill me. I tried to take them all alive, but sadly killed two. They fought with everything they had. They were convinced I was evil, but I returned them to their people.

When they learned of Berg, a new dungeon builder in the area, they agreed to help me destroy it. I sent Halia and some monster girls. They defeated him and were won to my cause. Hagza was also the granddaughter of one of the dwarven elders.

So she would prove useful in two ways.

“Asud Gu!” Hagza said as the four of us stood on the teleportation circle. As my vassal, she had learned the magic to work it from Kassie.