The Lord of Ragnarok

Chapter 8: Dragon’s Horde/Lonely Mountain

Hidden City of Sanerek Nim - Long Abandoned StoreRoom - Mannulus’ P.O.V.

There was a reason why dragons were considered one of the most powerful races in Ragnarok. Eight hours ago Rainbow, Twilight, Solar, and Luna entered into this hidden city with me, and instantly we had found the bones of trolls. The bones looked to be crushed, deep grooves had been scratched into them, and I had instantly understood that we were facing something of at least moderate power. Looking at Rainbow I began to wonder if it would have been better to have remained with the plan to send her with Fluttershy. As it was I had reduced the number of dignitaries to the Kingdom of Coronam down to Lala and Maxine.

I had no doubt that they would do well in exploring the kingdom, and Maxine could fit into the role of a normal human well enough. I had sent them with the instructions to discover every facet of power inside of the Kingdom, and if there was a criminal underworld, to root it out. Either we could gain control of it, or if we ended it then perhaps the Kingdom would feel that we were potential allies. Either way would give us a foot into the Kingdom, and it would help establish the name of the Temple.

Wainwright was proof that I was not the only Player from Ragnarok in this world, and perhaps there was a chance that some of my friends were still here as well. At this moment I wished that Sombra, Clopmaniac, L0rd0f7hunder, Lighteningsword, or Trixieisagoddess was here. Not because I didn’t believe in my brides, but because they had wanted to take on a dragon as much as I had wanted to. The dragon itself was an adult, and she was very territorial. Like most dragons she looked reptilian, right up until she used the inherent magic dragons possessed to transform into a more humanoid shape. When we had ventured further into the Abandoned Dwarven City we had found more than the bones of the Trolls.

The sight we first witnessed was of a large purplish tail. It was easily four times longer than Solar Flare was tall. We had continued deeper into the abandoned Dwarven City until we heard a booming voice.

“You might as well show yourself. There’s plenty of treasure here, more than any one mortal could ever use in a lifetime.”

I knew better than to say a word, the last thing I wanted was to become fully noticed by such a potential danger. I needed to gather more on her power, on exactly how powerful she was, and that meant observing. I heard her snort.

"I can by smell all of you, hear your breathing, and I even feel the slightest trembles in this treasure from your movements."

Hearing her I kept us hidden. I had no idea of her strength, her power, or her magic. I knew that she was an adult, but was she a young adult, or was she older? If she was an older dragon then this was as close to suicide that I had ever come before. So far there was much of this world that seemed related to Ragnarok, but more than that, much more, it seemed to be related to all fantasy. If that was the case, truly was the case, then it meant that the older a dragon was the more powerful it was. Being a female didn’t make her an easier target. If anything it would prove to make her more cunning and much more of a threat.

“You have not been burned to a crisp yet, surely that shows that I am not going to harm you.”

Luna looked toward me, and then toward the voice. I nodded, and then I pointed at the various burned bodies of trolls, dwarfs, and a small collection of burned out armor of men. The dragon had obviously protected itself quite well. I reached back to my days of playing Ragnarok, and I began to consider everything. There had to be more. Then I thought of it. I didn’t have the one ring, that was something that never made it into the game, unfortunately, but what happened was still likely.

“I mean you no harm. I simply had to see if the stories were true.”

I heard the movement stop, “What stories?”

Her attention was given, and that was both good and bad. I didn’t want her to know exactly where I was, so instead I reached out with my feelings, and I found a mummified corpse. It was mostly intact, its body receptive to the magic I held, and I began to use it as a puppet. I moved its head, and the magic coursing inside of it formed two eyes of dark magic. I could see her, and in her human form she was beautiful. Her skin was light purple, two small horns curved up near her forehead, and a smaller, more delicate tail swished behind her. She turned toward the sound, and I could see the rest of her. Her face was soft, beautiful, lips full and pouting, and her eyes remained a gold color, the reptilian slit of her pupil was there. Her hair was a deep dark red, mulberry, or crimson, and her figure was similar to that of Twilight’s. I could see her looking at the dead body, a bit a suspicion and surprise on her lips.

“A necromancer? Well, this would be the first time one has visited me. Tell me, what stories have you heard?”

I remembered the story I had read so long ago, but I knew I couldn’t pull directly from it. The dragon in it had been a drake, a male, and as such her ego would be different. I looked toward my brides, and inspiration struck.

“I heard tales of a dragon who claimed a stronghold, one that trolls had turned into their home. The same dragon was said to be a beauty beyond compare. That her eyes sparkled more than any treasure, her face was more flawless than even the most striking elvish princess, and that her figure would make any comparison unworthy. I had heard these tales, and I needed to see for myself.”

Her tail flicked with what I assumed was interest. She neared the mummified body, standing nude, allowing me to see the fullness of her breasts, the taunt stomach, and full hips she had. She almost seemed to pose, and then she studied the body for a moment.

“You would venture into a dragon’s keep, simply to gaze upon her? Surely you are either a very brave, or very foolish, individual. If you are brave, then I would see the one who wished to see my bare form. Step out, proclaim yourself, and perhaps I shall add you to my horde. I have not chosen a consort, and unlike most of my kind I have no problem mating with other beings I find suitable. If you are to my liking then I will allow you to enjoy me in this form. I will even bare you a child.”

I looked at her through the puppet, “And if you find me repulsive, unfit, or undesirable?”

She touched the body, “Then I shall relieve you from the suffering of knowing that I would not choose you. I promise it to be quick, painless, and far more gentle then these trolls passed,” she replied, “Unless you make me search for you. If that is what you plan then your end would be the kind legends were made of.”

Solar looked at me, trying to figure out what I planned on doing. Having a dragon as part of the Temple would be a benefit, there was no doubt of that, but she wouldn’t be like the other NPCs. She may watch me and decide one day that I would be easy enough to kill. Granted, I was certain that the rest of the temple would rise up against her, but it would leave me no less dead. I could see my wives all studying me now, and from the body I was using I could see the dragon becoming impatient. Finally she lifted the body, causing me to direct more magic into it in order to keep it together. Her mouth opened to reveal her sharpened teeth, and I could see the whisps of black smoke as she studied me.

“Make your answer,” she demanded.

I studied her for a few seconds, “Madam, while I would not put you in a class with others, for truly you seem quite amiable, but I fear that your sweet promises may only to rouse where I am, and that may be done to destroy me.”

She dropped the body, her form changing to that of the giant dragon. She was a winged fire breather, and she was no less beautiful. A small snort of fire erupted from her mouth.

“Then you are wiser than most. Regardless, little one, I will find you, and you will curse the day you dared to enter my home. If you came to see my nude form, then I applaud you. You have collected the very thing you wished for, and hopefully your life is complete. Because now it will end.”

The magic dropped, and I looked at the others. She had given me what I wanted to know. She was old enough to use transmogrification magic, young enough to be in fantastic shape, but old enough to be powerful in her own right. The five of us might would be able to defeat her, if we had an army at our ready. I smiled, the bodies were still lined along the tunnels, most were little more than skeletons, stripped of flesh, but there was still hundreds, perhaps thousands of bodies belonging to dwarfs, trolls, human adventurers, and countless others. We had an army, and we had a true chance. I looked toward my brides.

“I’m going to gather an army to help face her. When I do be prepared. She is a fire dragon, and powerful at that. Fire magic won’t work on her. We need an overwhelming force to do so. I’m going to bring that force together. When I do I need concise strikes. Her scales are better than any armor, but her belly appeared to be soft. She will favor it, and she will not give you any chances to strike willingly.”

Rainbow grinned, “I’m so fast that she won’t have a choice.”

I nodded, “I know, which is why after she sees how fast you are she will counter for it. You have to be the final blow, not the first. Solar, I know you prefer fire, and out of us you are the only one that will withstand her fire breath. Don’t try to fight her fire with your own. At best you’ll be evenly matched. Instead focus on using the stronghold to your advantage. Collapse tunnels on her, use traps against her, do what you can to occupy her attention,” I said getting a nod of agreement.

I looked to Luna, “Luna, I need you to try and enter her mind. Do it from a safe distance, but get into her head. Find her fears, and turn them on her. Make her lose her focus and strategy. If you do that then beating her will be far easier. If you can get her to become completely overcome with fear, do it. It will weaken her, or at least it will weaken her resolve.”

Rainbow looked at me, “So, we can kill her, right?”

I looked back at her. In Ragnarok it was possible to kill a dragon, but even the strongest players had the stuffing beat out of them when facing down a dragon. It was nothing for a single to player to die against one, and even though Solar Flare, Luna, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and myself were all maxed out before coming here there was no promise that we would fully beat her.

“We will do our best, but it may be possible to not have to destroy her.”

Solar Flare looked at me, “Please, my love, don’t tell me that you wish to bed that creature. Perhaps she's quite fetching in that other form, but you only need to gaze upon her now to see what she is truly like.”

I shook my head, “It’s nothing like that. But destroying her seems like a waste. Granted, it may come down to it, and if so then Rainbow will have to land the killing blow on her underbelly. But it could be that we simply will be able to overthrow her.”

Solar beamed at me. I didn’t like the idea of taking slaves, and honestly I wasn’t even sure if it could work. I had the raw materials needed to cast an enslavement ritual, and theoretically I could do it remotely through a controlled corpse. Doing so could be risky, and it could even prove to be fatal if I didn’t get it completely right. The best option would be to do it directly, which would be incredibly difficult to do.

I needed to be somewhere to control the dead, and that meant that I had to be secure. What I had planned would take a massive amount of my magical power. I looked to Twilight.

“Twilight, my love, I know that you know spells upon spells. I know how well versed you are, and I know that you can even perform some dark magic if needed. The will will come. I will need you to remain close to me, and when I give you the word I will need you to teleport me directly to where she is.”

Twilight looked at me surprised. The fear in her eyes was evident. She had never faced a dragon, but she knew about them. She knew their power, and she knew what they could do. Doughnut Steel had done much in the way of making her just as intelligent as her counterpart, and part of that was gifting her the knowledge of just how powerful each race was. She touched me.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, “I am,” I said before I looked toward the wall, "If we are to have a chance I will have to do something risky. And in doing so I will need to be there. You are the only one I can trust to take control of the army I will raise when I perform it. Take them, bend them to your will, and make them hold. They will have memories of their lives, they will have their wants and desires, and you will need to make them serve. I believe in you Twilight Sparkle, do you believe in me?”

She kissed me deeply, “If I didn’t I wouldn’t have given myself to you.”

Solar Flare, Luna, and Rainbow each did the same. I smiled at them, Closed my eyes, and reached out to the darkness. Flickering memories of fire came to me. Thousands of deaths cried out, and I began to trace them. Each one is more powerful and potent than the last. The trolls were the first and easiest to raise. From my mind’s eye I could see the green ectoplasmic flesh form over their bones. Their splintered bones pulled themselves together, muscle, tendons, ligaments, and skin began to cover them. Their eyes were glowing balls of ectoplasmic jelly, and through them I could see.

Each Troll lifted the weapons formed from the dark magic creating their bodies. Weapons formed from their memories of what they had once used. Clubs, simple knives, and meat hooks formed for them. Next I reached out to the dwarfs. I found the warriors, six thousand strong, and I began pulling them together. Like the Trolls their ectoplasmic flesh began to cover the long lead bones. Their armor reformed, their weapons once again were new, and they began to chant a war cry. Finally I found the adventurers, and like the Trolls and Dwarfs they began to awaken from their long sleep. Weapons of every shape came into being, and I was surprised to see a longbow with an arrow made from a dragon’s claw. The adventurer had obviously understood that only a dragon could pierce a dragon. Once again they cried out their rallying cry. There, within the stronghold was an army ten thousand strong. I saw the dragon through various eyes, but I kept the dead under control. I made them converge together. Once they were formed I ushered their will to my will.

“Virth! Dragon Queen under the Mountain! We have returned for what is ours!” A voice cried out.

I had searched for her name, and the leader of the Dwarfs knew it. That settled it, she was over three hundred years old. Old enough to be powerful enough to be a tough boss. Still, I had an army, and she only had herself. She looked upon the vast army, formed of necromantic energy, and she did not proceed forward. A snarl escaped her lips.

“You raised an army for me?!” she shouted the question.

I opened my eyes and looked at Solar Flare, “Now,” I said.

She nodded and blinked out of the room. Closing my eyes once again I saw her, bright as the sun, and she laughed as she bathed in Virth’s fire. She returned it, playing a game of tag with Virth that drove the dragon queen mad with anger. I watched as she led her through the narrow hallway causing Virth’s wide hips to become caught. She screamed in anger, wrenching her hips loose only to get caught in the snout by a Troll’s meathook. The hook sank deep into the scale, but it did not pierce it. The Troll ripped it back, pulling well over half of the scale with it.

Virth howled at the troll only to find a full collection of warriors fighting her. I saw every attack, I felt the weapons in my many hands, and I plunged them deep each time. I could see her becoming reckless, her eyes frantic, and I knew that my Luna was attempting to break her mind. She screamed like a wounded animal as unseen attackers came at her. I could see what was happening, and I opened my eyes. I looked at Twilight, “Do it now love, Rainbow, be ready if this doesn’t work.”

Rainbow nodded, and I grabbed a crystal from my satchel. I lifted it to my lips, “Virth, Dragon Queen under the Mountain, I claim you as mine. Your power is my power, my life is your life, you will is mine,” I whispered to the crystal before putting into my mouth.

It became like honey, and I felt the power melt over me. With that I disappeared and appeared before Virth. I kissed her snout causing a blinding white light to cover her. When it cleared she was once again in her humanoid form. A shackle was around her neck, and in the middle was a heart shaped lock. Around my neck formed a necklace, and on the end of it a key. Virth growled at me, her eyes wide in terror.

“Hear me Virth, I am Lord Mannulus, master of the Temple of Celestia Sol, leader of those that live there, and now I am your master. To defy me is to welcome death!”

“RELEASE ME!” she screamed.

“No, you are mine, you are my servant, my slave, and as such I claim you.”

She looked at me with so much hate that I could practically feel it burning into my soul.

“What trickery is this?! Why can’t I transform and crush you?!”

I walked toward her, touching her soft skin, “Have you heard of the servant dragons?”

She looked away from me and hissed, “The cursed ones, those that would hand our lives over to pathetic mortals. Yes, I know of them.”

I nodded, “This is their magic. I have claimed you, you are mine.”

She growled at me, “I will be free, and then I will kill you. I will bathe in your blood, and your temple will fall before me!”

"So certain of this are you?" I asked, "I have a mate who bathes in fire and another who is awash in magic. My third bride can warp your mind until you are essentially lobotmized and my fourth bride is so fast, your head will be severed from your neck before you could raise a claw against me."

"And you can raise the dead?" Virth spat.

"Aye, and more besides," I answered, "you will not find me a subpar opponent. I have laid waste to whole armies with but a word; the world's of life and death mean nothing to me. But please, just try."

"You- you- filthy demon…"

A blade was at the dragoness' throat in an instant. Rainbow's blade shimmered even in the weak light of the cave; the gleam was bright enough to show Rainbow's wide sneer.

"Yet, you're the one with slave collar? Are you really a dragon? Or a kitten?"

"Hmm, Kitten," I mused, "Rainbow, I love and cherish you but you are not known for being a paragon of intellect-"

"HEY-!" Rainbow shouted.

Twilight smirked, saying, "he's not wrong."

I smiled at the two, saying, "and yet, in this instance, my prismatic bride was shown some deft wit."

Rainbow beamed and Virth had a disgusted look on her face.

"So now, KITTEN, you are mine, and your will has no meaning compared to mine. Luna, love, can you come forth?"

Luna emerged from the shadows, startling the now enslaved dragoness, "I am here, Beloved."

"Can you open a portal and take Kitten to our home? Be certain that she is placed into Fluttershy's capable hooves."

"It will be done, Beloved!" Luna beamed, then scowling to the dragoness, "MOVE."

With that said the portal opened, and Virth looked positivityly livid. She walked through the portal, her head held high, and I saw Solar practically dancing on her hooved feet.

“Do you want to watch?”

She nodded, “Oh Yes! I want to see that stuckup prissy little bitch get what’s coming to her! May I beloved?”

I smiled, “Of course, however, allow Fluttershy to deal with her in her own way. I believe it would be best.”

She smiled at me, and rushed through the portal. I looked at the army, knowing that Twilight could see me, “Release them Twilight my love,” I said.

With that the flesh began to melt from the bones, and the bones began to fall to the floor. The weapons and armor turned back to their original forms, and what was left behind was nothing more than a giant tomb.

“So, what do we tell the Adventurer’s Guild?” Rainbow asked.

I looked at the strong hold, “We tell them that it was a dragon’s horde, and that we defeated the dragon, “I said as I walked toward broken arrow. I lifted it, holding a dragon’s claw.

I formed some magic around it, and the claw became complete, along with the fleshy remains of a fire Drake’s digit. She looked at it, “I believe this will work.”

I almost fell over right then. The amount of magic I had used in both the ritual and raising the army had nearly taken everything from me. Still, I knew we had much to do. Twilight came down to us, and she opened the portal for me, although it was obvious that she was tired. My magic was nearly gone, but my disguise was still intact. Twilight disguised herself as a more bookish Equis. Her coat was a soft cream color, her mane and tail was red with a purple and pink strip in the middle, and her clothes changed to wizard robes with a cutie mark of a crescent moon surrounded by three stars.

We walked into the Adventurers Guild, and I looked at Cynthia who marveled that we were there.

“We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!” I exclaimed.

“What was it, will there be more of them?” she asked.

Twilight smiled, “What you had there was a class five fire drake, a real nasty one.”

Cynthia looked at her, “And who are you?”

She smiled, “Forgive me, I am Moondancer, a traveling wizard, and both of their traveling companion.”

Cynthia looked at her for a moment, “So, I take it that the stronghold is empty now?”

I nodded, “There’s treasure there, and I will take my portion, although I am tempted to leave it in there and use the Stronghold as a base of operations. Would that be possible?”

Cynthia looked at the paperwork, “Well, the empire just wanted it cleared, so I suppose that should be fine. Although, you’re in charge of keeping it guarded, and we will have to come and collect the Guild’s Ten percent.”

I nodded, “Of course, but for now, I believe my companions and I will rest.”

Author's Note

Sorry for it being late for this to one to be added. but I hope that all of you enjoy it