Chapter 27

“I’m sorry, what exactly do you mean, sir?” I asked, realizing the ramifications of what Tyr was saying. “I thought that the various Pact Houses didn’t know which other Pact Houses were participating in the Challenge. I also thought that they had no idea who was going to be fighting for the Pact Houses that were chosen to compete?”

Tyr rubbed his temples with his only hand and said, “The person in question who is contesting her being added to the group is a member of the Council, specifically the god Jupiter. He has petitioned to the Council that Kat’ilth’ana isn’t able to participate in the Challenge due to her status.”

“What is he talking about?” I asked, wondering what reason Jupiter had for his argument. “Why has he claimed that she is unable to participate in the Challenge?”

“He has claimed that she is not technically a member of the Pact House and therefore cannot participate,” Tyr replied. “She never went through the choosing and that leaves her status as a member of our Pact House questionable. There would be no guarantee, if she were put through the choosing, that she would end up here and that is the basis for the complaint Jupiter made.”

“What about her choice to maintain her servitude to me?” I asked. “Wouldn’t her choice to serve me bind her to this Pact House, which would allow her to participate as a member?”

He shrugged and replied, “It is the temporary nature of her servitude that is the issue. Due to that, I am not sure if that would be enough to placate them. There is no real way to know how the Council will decide on the matter. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning in the Council room and only you, me and Kat’ilth’ana will be allowed to attend. Amenthia and Entivala will have to remain here until we return with the decision.”

“What do you think would happen to us if things don’t go in our favor tomorrow morning?” I asked, worried about what his response would be.

“She would most likely be made to go through the choosing, which you are familiar with, and which would also possibly remove her from her temporary service,” he explained. “The Council has the power to end the bond of servitude that I placed on her and that she chose to continue for the time being. They could also stipulate that you would have to be removed from the group participating in the Challenge, due to your appointing her to the group to replace Silvia. I wouldn’t be surprised if I face disciplinary actions given that I agreed with you and pushed her nomination forward. In fact, that was the only stipulation that Jupiter put forth in the event of us losing to the complaint.”

“Well, this is total bullshit,” I said, mildly irritated by this inconvenience. “Something like this is the last thing we need so close to the Challenge, and to think I merely came to talk to you about the dragons.”

Tyr smiled, “Ah yes, your new charges. After the meeting tomorrow morning, I will stop by your room to fit them with their collars. I am sure that your draconic friends have explained the purpose of the collar and how they will be bound to one another. That way, if one dragon is returned to the hatchery, the other would be as well. The only time that it would work differently is if one is injured enough that one of them is removed to the hatchery for their safety. Just so you are aware, it is exceedingly rare for a radiant energy dragon to be born. Radiant dragons are rare and only a few are born within a given century. The two that hatched for you are the first instance of twins that I can remember of the radiant variety being born. The balancing scales of fate do constantly seem to balance the bad instances with the good ones for you.”

“How soon should they be sent to the hatchery?” I asked. “I don’t want to have them accidentally cause trouble at the Pact House, but I also don’t want to send them away prematurely. The last thing I want is to affect the bond that has been building between us since they hatched.”

“Well, they are ready to go at any time to be perfectly honest,” Tyr replied. “Given how intelligent these creatures are at birth, which is a necessity of the harsh environment of this world, I would suggest having whoever is bonded to them ask what they want to do. They can make the decision to go on their own and may realize the issues their presence can cause in a Pact House such as this one. In regard to them assisting your adventuring group, my opinion is that I would wait until they are at least a year old before they enter the Dungeon with your group. With each growth spurt, a dragon from youngling to juvenile, and finally adult, their scales and hide continue to harden. By the time they are a fully grown adult dragon, they are far more protected by their scales and less likely to be harmed than they could be at this moment. While staying at the hatchery, they will be fed and allowed to hunt on their own when they are old enough. They will be able to fly around and enjoy the area around them without worry of being injured. There are older adult and ancient dragons roosted in the area which will ensure they come to no harm while they reside at the hatchery or explore the region.”

“Wow, they can live there together like that! There is no jealousy or prideful aggression between the various dragons there?” I asked. “I am surprised that wild dragons would be so protective of their brethren that are bound to adventurers.”

Tyr smiled at the question, “There is no such jealousy or animosity between these creatures. You are thinking of the Chromatic counterparts that come from your tabletop games that were created in your world. The dragons of Eden work towards keeping each other alive, since there are not many born into each century. Mind you, the dragons that choose to guard the hatchery are ones that had once been bound to adventurers in ages past. With their bond to those adventurers gone, they have chosen to protect those who would come next. Dragons can live for thousands of years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them wasn’t bonded to a Rebirth. Two other rebirths were lucky enough to come across dragon eggs, though the last one was quite some time ago. The elder dragons realize the importance of their role in protecting their younger brethren and try to make sure the next generation of dragons reach the same potential.”

I nodded in response, as it made a lot of sense and asked, “How long would it take for both of them to grow and get to the size of Trethraz? I know that he was a Dungeon creature, instead of a natural born dragon like the twins, but you said it took some time for him to get that big.”

“Well, Trethraz did have to evolve to the state he was when you fought him,” Tyr said, as his eyes focused off into the flames of the hearth. “From starting as a small drake, to a proto dragon that consumed creatures to change and then transform into a full dragon. Over time, he would then grow in size as he continued to kill and devour monsters within the Dungeon that were foolish enough to cross his path, as well as the experience gained from defeating adventuring parties. Creatures in the Dungeon are able to grow as adventurers do, though very few get as far as Trethraz did.”

“What kind of growth would that crazy beast have gained from devouring the adventurers it had slain?” I asked, remembering that it had killed some adventurers prior to us finally killing it. “Could the change in size that we saw come from the adventurers it consumed? I mean the Arachni Queen was insanely strong and that could have come from the victims she consumed.”

He shook his head and said, “I really don’t know, to be perfectly honest, but I would think that devouring them had helped the beast grow, as well. Since it hadn’t really happened before that creature came into being, we have no idea how it affected the creature’s growth and development.”

I cocked my head to the side, “I thought that, as we reached the much higher levels, the escape stones don’t work as much and then at the highest level, they don’t work at all? Wouldn’t there have been instances of such a thing happening to creatures on those upper floors if adventures died on them? I mean, if the stones stopped working, then how have the fallen adventurer’s bodies escaped the clutches of the monsters that killed them?”

“While that seemed like it would be the case, those who fall to creatures on the highest of floors are still evacuated after they fall in battle,” he answered. “The escape stone would remove the fresh body of the fallen adventurer back to the Pact House for a proper burial by their kin. We have ensured, since the beginning of this world, to make sure they are treated with the respect their sacrifice brings. In the early days, the Valkyries were the ones to collect the dead, but since there were other means of collecting the dead in the other cultures of the Council, they couldn’t agree what to do. So instead, they decided to create the system that became the escape stones.”

“So the red stones we have been finding are the first real instance of the stones being prevented from doing their job,” I said in response. “Trethraz was the first creature to have been eating fallen adventurers, though the stone that it had was defective, so this has to be all new to you and the Council.”

“Indeed it is, Pathios,” Tyr agreed with a nod of the head. “I do hope that it doesn’t happen to anyone else again, but it would also do us well to find out the effects of a creature in the Dungeon consuming an adventurer, should we come across that circumstance happening again in the future.”

“I honestly hope that it will never come to that happening again, as well,” I replied, feeling a shiver at the idea. “The children of the Arachni Queen were devouring adventurers, as well as villagers, though I don’t know if the queen herself consumed them. There is nothing good that will come of that happening again and I would hate to think of how many would have to die for the Council to learn the effects. We have gotten off topic I am afraid, so I will leave you to your work. I do ask if it would be okay for me to tell the others of what has happened and what will happen tomorrow.”

He nodded, “Yes, please do so. I have not been told to keep the information from you or your party and I think that they should be prepared for the possible outcomes of the meeting tomorrow.”

I said goodbye and left to see if the others had returned from their spa day yet. I looked at my map and couldn’t see them in the Pact House, so I went in search of Darius. I didn’t see him in the training area when I looked nor was, he in the training yard. After asking a few passing Pact House members, I found him and the rest of his group sitting at a table in the dining hall. They seemed to be in the middle of a casual conversation, laughing at moments as the conversation continued. I walked over to the table and was greeted by the group before sitting down to join them in their conversation. Instead, the whole table got quiet as I sat, and I wondered what that meant.

“So how did your meeting with Tyr go, Pathios?” Darius asked, causing the rest to focus on me. “I take it you were able to get the dragon stuff sorted out with him?”

I nodded and sighed, “Yeah, the stuff about the hatchery and the dragons is all sorted out, but some other things have come up that will need to be sorted out tomorrow. Unfortunately, until this new issue that has come my way is dealt with, I am not at liberty to say anything about it to anyone, sorry.”

“Bah, don’t worry about it,” Grishta said with a wave of her hand. “If you can talk about it, you will. If you can’t talk about it, then it isn’t any of our business.” Gesturing to their leader, “So, Darius here said that you wanted to talk to all of us about how we will try to prepare for the Challenge coming up?”

I nodded again, “Yes, that is correct. I do. I think that we should actually begin to spend time working together in the Dungeon. My thoughts are to put in at least four hours a day in the Dungeon leading up to the Challenge. I figure that after the morning meal, we get together and head into the fifth floor. That will allow us to work on both fighting as a group and on developing tactics for various situations. The lower floors would be too easy, given the group size, and will be detrimental to our progress. I heard from Darius that we will deal with both monsters and possibly other adventuring parties during the Challenge, so I hope that we come across some humanoid creatures as well. Though my goal is to put in a lot of time getting us up to snuff as a group, I do want to continue working with my ladies as well. That is why it is for part of the day instead of the whole day. It will allow me to work in the Dungeon with them as well.”

“That sounds like a fine idea, lad,” Dilbar said with a grin. “I like your plan and it would do us well to get to know how to work with one another. I can also understand your need to work with them, to ensure you maintain your group’s growth. We can both get stronger to prepare for what is coming. So, I take it we would start your plan up tomorrow morning?”

I shook my head and answered, “I’m afraid not. That issue I couldn’t talk about will cause me to be unavailable tomorrow morning, but could we get together after the mid-day meal and do an afternoon run instead?” The group glanced around at one another and began nodding in agreement that it would work for them.