New Legacy

Ch.29

Kala, Copernicus and I have been in this prison for we-don’t-know how long. We’ve just been talking, playing with my son and trying very hard not to just screw the whole courting thing and have fun like the consenting adults we are.

I had assumed they’d let us out so I could vet potential Riders from the village, but when I asked, Roran told me that Ceris was, until further notice, disbarred from the Rider Pact for their crime of assaulting us. I was both saddened and pleased by this, because fuck these assholes, but some of those assholes could’ve been the partner some of my children were waiting for.

I did protest, saying that only those who committed the act should be disbarred, but the village as a whole took this entire affair as a stain on their honour and credibility, effectively disbarring themselves even if Oromis didn’t declare it to be so. They’d better not turn into a faction like Az Sweldn rak Anhûin because of this!

Whatever. However long we’ve been in here, Roran told me that the boats were finished and we would leave Ceris behind, hopefully for good if I could help it. Then again, it’s the gateway into Du Weldenvarden via the Edda River, so that may be impossible if I’m not flying. “I still don’t get how it does that.” Kala muttered when she approached me after doing her business in the corner. Thank gosh that the box annihilated or displaced any waste matter.

“Don’t dwell on it.” I told my girlfriend before she plopped her butt on the floor and laid back against my abdomen while Copernicus napped on top of me. The little cobalt hatchling had developed enough to string together concepts and try to communicate with images to his Rider rather than just impressions and emotions. Seeing him grow so fast reminded me that my species may potentially never hatch, but when we do we take off running.

“Sorry. There’s not much to dwell on in here that isn’t lewd or something.” Kala complained with her tail rubbing over my stomach and I hummed in agreement. It was getting harder and harder not to just let my girlfriend take me. It wasn’t like I’d get pregnant. My species becomes infertile for several months to over a year after giving birth. Something about the drain on our Eldunari.

Then again she is the direct daughter of Urta, her dimension’s Goddess of Fertility, War and Power. She may just knock me up because her super-sperm tells my body to surrender to her superior forces! Seminal siege engines would batter down the walls to my ovaries and take the women to make little children! Heh, he, ha~! That’s so silly I almost roared in amusement!

“Alright, ladies, we’re about to get on the boats. Unless you’re planning to swim, Shimmer, you’ll have to ride with us since the magic further into the forest protects it from large flying entities entering its borders.” Roran’s voice was a godsend! I gleefully rolled upright while Kala jumped, grabbed Copernicus, then landed in my saddle mere moments before-whoa~!

It was like before, only in reverse~! My body was water being sucked up through a pipe and then deposited on the ground where I wobbled on my legs. “That is so disorienting.” I commented and shook myself, tossing Kala off, but she used her wings to catch herself in the air and cooed at Coby, who was similarly dizzy.

“Shimmer, before we leave, the village wishes to formally apologize. Would you accept it?” Oromis questioned me as he took the Dragon Jar from Roran and I looked over at the group of possibly 70-ish elks all kneeling in a crowd. Where am I? Ah, near where Oromis imprisoned me, at the docks. Okay, confusion has lessened.

“I do. However, I am displeased by your refusal to be tested for eligibility to partner with any of my eggs. While I am offended by your assault, I am even more offended by this. Do not deny my children the chance of finding a partner among you. If you are truly sorry, then at least try.” I glared over the crowd and then looked at Oromis, who nodded in approval. It would seem their disbarment was mostly provisionary on how I felt about it, as the injured party.

Fucking Politics, I swear.

“You are beyond gracious and patient, Dragon Shimmer. If you wish so, then we shall visit your eggs before you depart and hope that any potential Riders do not overburden the boats we’ve crafted.” At the leader’s words, I looked over at the boats. Oo~ pretty! They’re all large single-piece canoes that seemed like they were made from the trunks of redwoods. Gigantic.

How though? The trees here are nowhere near that big. It must be part of elkish magic tradition, considering the title of the boat makers wasn’t a shipwright, instead they were called wood weavers. “I don’t think that will be possible. Come now, let us test you all.”

🥚

Out of the 70-ish villagers, only 3 of the elks matched my eggs. One hatched immediately! Also, during my incarceration, it would seem that all of my children that had resonated yet not hatched had hatched! I was keening and chuffing happily at my prismatic tidal wave of precious babies who were ecstatic to meet their mother along with those that had already been hatched.

I also couldn’t avoid hearing the commentary from the elks who watched with a mixture of awe and intrigue. Apparently dragons, before me at least, were not the nurturing type. That I actively sought out and promoted interaction with my hatchlings was odd at best and outright ostensibly wrong at worst to the ones who remember how the dragons had functioned in the past.

Well, I’m not them! I’m a kind and caring mother who will care for my children as best as I am able, even if I can’t possibly remember all of their names! Goodness! Trying to put names to scales in this mosh pit of happy murder machines would be like trying to name drops of water in a river! At least I don’t need to worry about that, since their names are either chosen themselves or given by their Riders.

“Shimmer, we’re about to leave and their Riders need them back.” Roran laughed as he helped separate two of my sons, who had decided to get really into a wrestling match.

“Okay.” I sighed in resignation before I nuzzled my children as best I could. When I stood they scattered in a wave of colours to seek out their Riders. “I will be swimming after you. I haven’t had a good long swim since we spent a while at Woadark Lake.” I was even looking forward to it. The cold water was refreshing to me and my nictitating membrane allowed me to swim with my eyes open, letting me experience an underwater view like I had goggles.

“I’ll be in a boat, okay Shimmy? Everlasting Dragons don’t float.” Kala poked at one of her black stony scales and I nodded in understanding. Dragons from here weren’t very buoyant either, but we had the benefit of our scales having innate magic and still being made of keratin over her dense stone-like scales.

“All aboard for Silthrim!” One of the elk fishers called with a bit of levity. He and his compatriots would be our boat guides since once past Eldor Lake, the Gaena River had many small tributaries that could get one hopelessly lost in the vast and dangerous forest. Also, they had aquatic features such as scales, webbed fingers and gills. So the elks do practice physical transformation magic like the elves in the canon.

However, it seems the elks do their transformations more on an occupational standard rather than the simple vanity the elves suffered. Now that I wasn’t so furious, I could see the various hybrid features of the elks, but they were all very clearly still elks. One may have the eyes of a falcon or owl, one may possess wings like a griffin, or another the nose of a hound. They weren’t repugnant at all and each served their owner a purpose for their occupation.

I could assume this because the ones with features of predators were clearly scouts and trackers from their garb and equipment. As for the others, I’d have to spend more time here to make more educated guesses. “Are you coming, Shimmer?” Roran’s voice echoed in my mind and I turned away from the village of Ceris to slide into the river.

🥚

“I have more lunch~!” I announced when I surfaced next to one of the several boats and deposited my catch of a few fish from my jaws onto it. The thankful Riders voiced said gratitude and promptly fed their ravenous partners. “Is anyone still in need?” I asked with my head craned out of the water like a brachiosaurus and looking over everyone.

“Do not insist on being such a mother hen, Shimmer, lest your offspring grow up soft.” Master Glaedr huffed in disapproval and I scooped up a mouthful of water before squirting the fairly substantial volume of water at him, causing the old golden one-armed dragon to sputter and everyone else to laugh. Even Oromis nearly cracked a smirk.

“I would think with your age and experience, Glaedr, that you’d know better than to throw stones at a female.” Oromis commented evenly to his dragon, but I could tell it was in jest and the two old partners simply looked at one another while Glaedr used his golden fire to dry himself off.

“I believe everyone is satisfied, Shimmer.” Roran called to me with a fond smile and everyone else gave affirmative responses. “Why don’t you take a rest in the boat? You’ve been swimming all day.”

“Roran, I enjoy swimming. Besides, it’s good exercise and a form of fun to make up for the boredom I had to suffer along with Kalameet in the Dragon Jar.” The clean and dark waters of Eldor Lake were rough with small jagged waves, yes, but this also meant the water below the surface was moving enough to discourage the sediment buildup that Woadark Lake had.

“Bwarg!” Kala bellowed while she messed with the glowing orange device on her arm. “I hate th0tSl4y3rXxX69! He keeps sniping me!” Oh, she’s playing games on her space-age deus-ex-machina device. How does she get signals across dimensions? Eh, probably the same way Elric and Boone do.

“Is that one of those odd battle simulators that Roran has told me is common from Shimmer’s old world?” Oromis questioned and Kalameet scoffed.

“Calling a toy like this a battle simulator is like comparing a game of chess to an actual battlefield. I have been to the Ash Room and the Ripatorium on field trips. Those conjure life sized replicas of foe, or use captured demons.” Kala told us with that snarky tone that initially irritated me, but at least in this case I can get her point of view. I wasn’t a gamer, but still, I was very much on the side of sensibility when it came to the whole ‘games cause violence’ garbage.

“Even so, it sounds rather engaging. As much as violence displeases me, it’d be nice to have such a vent for my frustrations.” Katrina commented while petting her partner, my son, who she decided to name Cloud for his cloudy quartz scales. He better not get a chocobo butt fused to his head! I may not have played many games, but I’m old enough to remember Final Fantasy.

“It is. Hm, I wonder if Mother would let me have access to the Ash Room to speed up our training? We would have to start at stage 0 though.” Kala muttered to herself while Coby looked at her with concern. “I only ever made it to Stage 4 and that’s a cake walk for our military.”

“Considering the restrictions Elric and Boone had to operate under as your superiors, I don’t think so.” Roran brought up and Kala sighed in resignation. I guess even if she is the daughter of a goddess, she can’t exactly pull miracles out of her butt. “If you wish to continue swimming, Shimmer, just stay near the boats. We’ll have to weigh anchor for the night halfway up the lake.”

“Okay, I’ll see if there’s anything interesting underwater.” I dove back down and enjoyed the peace since nobody needed food right now. Of course, there wasn’t anything interesting. There wasn’t much sediment on the bottom of the lake, the plants were hardy things used to constantly-flowing water, then there was the complete lack of debris too light to settle.

Still, all the fish, the twining vines around roots and ancient rotted trees that had fallen into the lake at some point and other various things made it a calming and enjoyable thing. I only wish that I had gills, so that I could stay beneath the water as long as I wanted, rather than when I could hold my breath. Are dragons immune to physical transformation magic? I’ll ask sometime.

Down here I could just be. I didn’t need to worry about anyone or anything, I didn’t have something to interfere with me. I’m sure it would be different in the ocean, considering the sea serpents and large aquatic predators, but here I was the apex and thus nothing would bother me. Thankfully I didn’t jinx myself, because these were temperate waters and thus uninhabitable for river monsters like piranhas, giant snakes or various crocodile species.

I surfaced for air and dove back in, following the boats using my tail to propel me and the tips of my otherwise folded wings as fins. I spent hours this way until Roran called me to the surface to reveal the darkening sky. “Come on up, the water will get much colder without the sun to warm it.” Roran held out his hand and I transformed before taking it to climb aboard.

I was thus fairly surprised to have Kala breathing a weak fire on me, not like the ones I use to dry myself, but outright engulfed me in a puff of her black flames. I was instantly dry and I patted my previously soaked tunic with a smile at her in appreciation. “About damn time you came out of the water. Do I gotta take a potion to reduce myself to a normal dragon to join you down there?”

“Reduce?” Questioned one of the new riders that could fit on our boat, which was the one ferrying my remaining eggs. Oh dear, how many were left? I know it’s still the majority of them, but I can’t for the life of me remember. Eugh, I’ll have to do a recount or ask Roran if he’s kept tabs on them.

“I’m not big, but I’m a dragon. A very dense and heavy dragon who only flies because my innate magic tells gravity and aerodynamics to go fuck themselves.” Kalameet clarified before she scooted closer to me so we could lean against each other and she rested her head in the crook of my neck, so I rested my head on the top of her smooth scalp and the frame of her horns. “You’re so cold, Shimmy. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Kala. It’s so peaceful underwater. Master Oromis, Master Glaedr, are dragons immune to physical transformation magic?” I questioned and the two looked at each other before looking at the fish/elk hybrid that was currently lowering a deceptively heavy weight on a rope into the water for the night.

“I assume you mean to grant you gills so that you may stay underwater?” Oromis questioned and I nodded.

“It has never been done, because no dragon has ever felt the need to dilute their heritage.” Glaedr said factually and I wrinkled my snout at him. “Of course, you’re no traditional dragon and with me merely being a teacher with far too many students, such a thing may change forever. Hmph, to be honest, neither of us know. You would be the first to request such a thing.”

“Okay then. Good fisher?!” I called to the front of the long and wide canoe.

“Yea?!” Good to see even elk fishers have a more casual diction.

“Would you be able to give me gills?!” I didn’t care if I was announcing my intentions to everyone. If he could-.

“Nay!” Aw, it was worth a try. “Physical Transformation is a dangerous craft, you should check with the physicians when we reach Silthrim!”

“You’ll have to wait longer than that, Shimmer. Master Oromis plans on us continuing on to Ellesméra immediately upon landing in Silthrim due to the fact we’ll be forced to use carriages again and the sooner we reach the capital, the better.” Roran informed me and I pouted.

“It is truly a shame we won’t be able to sightsee. I’ve enjoyed seeing so many new places.” Katrina muttered while petting Cloud, the pervy hatchling for once not focused on his Rider’s bosom and instead laying in her lap like a cat.

“I’m good with that, I don’t want technophobes shooting at me again.” Kalameet huffed and wrapped an arm around my waist, which I reciprocated by doing the same with a yawn.

🥚

We reached the Gaena River the next morning and I decided to stay in the boat due to the uneven riverbed and all of the tributaries making it difficult to stay with the boats otherwise.

This stretch of the journey was tense with the fishers refusing to hold conversation and requesting quiet to listen for where the water flowed. Their supernaturally sharp hearing would help the fishers guide us through the maze of tributaries that wove through the walls of trees. Simply heading west wasn’t an answer either, since nearly any fork in the river could lead to a dead end.

Thankfully, by the end of that day we had passed the worst of the maze and we reached Ardwen Lake the next day. This lake was much calmer than Elden Lake and had much more on the lakebed for me to see. I didn’t have any fantasies of finding treasure though, not when I could see so many aquatic elks too, who watched us warily until they approached and then cheered upon the understanding that this was perhaps the most important convoy in recent history.

Other than swimming though, nothing interesting happened until we reached the busier waters near Silthrim and I had to climb back onto the boat because of all of the fishing nets. “Well, civilization.” I snorted wryly and let Kala dry me off before sitting for the remainder of the ride into the beautiful city of Silthrim.

Goodness, but the elks had a flair to their architecture. Each building was a tree in it’s own right as I would have expected, but the bark of the trees was clearly manipulated to form plate-like patterns of mostly white with green and gold filigree woven into them. The leaves were a verdant green with silver accents and some of the trees even looked like they were permanently sporting autumn colours.

“It was a pleasure ferrying you here, please be safe on your journey.” Our fisher, who I hadn’t learned the name of, got off the boat and promptly got to talking shop with some of the elks working the docks.

“His job is done, let us purchase some carriages and be on our way. The roads within Du Weldenvarden are safe from predators and highwaymen, so we can camp without worry.” Oromis stated after he stood and I promptly joined Roran in unloading the crates from the boat onto the dock.

“I wonder if I should buy something for Kala.” I psychically whispered to my Rider.

“She doesn’t seem very materialistic, but I’m sure she’d appreciate it. Although, we don’t know the currency here.” Roran replied and I had to consider that since unlike everywhere else, I doubt the elks value gold as much as other nations do. The Imperial Crown was universally accepted since it was made entirely of gold and gold itself had the value to carry the coinage.

My consideration ceased when Kalameet sniffed and suddenly snarled when she focused on an Elk that was of absurd proportions similar to Umrae. She possessed odd traits, like her eyes had slit pupils and she had antlers. Aside from having a male trait she also had predatory fangs. Kala made a beeline for the caribou-like elk who noticed my girlfriend marching up to her.

“Ah! Great Everlasting Dragon! Please, I mean no harm to them!” The cow knows Kala? “I have never indulged since I came here! I have not warped any minds, I have repented!”

“Zalu, what are you talking about?” The elk bull with bat-like ears near her questioned in confusion as he looked between his companion and Kalameet.

“How did a Lust Demon come to this realm? Are you the reason it was so closed to other realms despite its lack of divinity?” Kala snarled with her glowing gauntlet producing a blade at the elk’s throat. “Drop that disguise, Demon.”

The elk mare whined in fear. “I used blood rituals, I forced my way here. I was not even aiming for any realm, I just fled the hunters, Oh Great Everlasting. I didn’t want to die!”

“You would have been purified then. Running only made you more guilty, bitch.” Kalameet snarled with her blade edging closer.

“I have been here for three hundred years! I’ve done nothing! Not even made potions! I only lived a common life!” Zalu pleaded and I yanked my girlfriend’s thicc and sexy tail so hard she yelped and fell on her tight bubble butt.

“None of that! Extradimensional interloper or not, you’re going to cause a political situation. Ahem, please reveal your true self, admit your guilt to those you’ve deceived and then come with us. Especially if you can make a potion to give me gills.” I cheerfully demanded with a tilt of my head and my hands clasped in front of my waist like an icon of purity and goodness.

“Gills? Certainly, that’s easy, but I only know the recipe for sharks.” Her body shimmered, looking very much still like an elk except her fur was a dark plum purple and her antlers, which was already unusual since cows don’t have antlers, became much sharper and pointy. “We don’t have sharks this far inland however, I would need actual shark gills if you want just those.”

“Phooey! The closest body of water that would have sharks is past Du Weldenvarden’s western border with the Imperial City of Ceunon on its shore.” I puffed up my cheeks in disappointment while Kala stood up next to me and I jolted slightly with a snicker when she yanked on my own thicc tail in revenge.

“Grr, whatever. You’re with us. I’m going to need to report you and get you purified.” At Kala’s words, Zalu wilted and nodded sadly.

“Very well. I am sorry Iolas, I’m afraid that my past has caught up with me.” The apparent demoness turned to her companion and held his hands.

“I knew one day you would leave us. Your True Name is that of one fated for travel and adventure. Go then and be safe.” He leaned in and Zalu kissed Iolas before he ran his hand on her cheek and left with a sad and understanding smile while she sniffled.

“Damn it, now I feel like a bad guy…” Kala grumbled and I sighed.