1: The Dragon's Gift

Cosmic Seeker lies in his den at the peak of a snow-covered mountain in a world populated by elves, dwarves, and numerous other creatures, all ruled by the Arch Dragon, Sulfur Hide. He sighs out dreamily as he dreams of furthering his courtship with Sky Wing, remembering how it is customary for the male to make the first move by presenting a gift for their intended mate and awaiting their decision. Wondering to himself about what he is going to give her, he sighs and gets up to fly around for some inspiration.

As he spreads his wings and leaves his den, he climbs higher into the skies to let the air currents do some of the work for him. When he gets high enough, Cosmic uses his wings to steady himself as the currents carry him across the land swiftly. Seeing snow-covered mountains passing below him, he focuses his sight on them and adjusts his eyes to get a closer look at them. Noticing that they are mountains made out of crystal, an idea forms in his mind as he swoops down between two clouds toward the mountain's very peak.

A dwarf standing guard catches sight of the large, four-legged, deep purple dragon with two wings, sharp spines running down along its back, and a spiked, star-shaped tail heading in the direction of the city. Seeing an elf turn to raise the alarm, he calls out to the others, "MAN YOUR POSTS, WARRIORS! DRAGON INBOUND!" He then runs to his assigned ballista and hops into the seat, then cranks the small positioning wheels to adjust the weapon's aim into the sky. With the dragon heading towards the mountain behind him to the right, he angles his seat and aiming reticle sideways slightly to the left, which are both part of a small, adjustable, platform.

He follows the dragon's trajectory as the dragon seems to be heading straight for the mountain and not their city, not taking any chances, he begins to crank the two ratcheting levers back and forth to cock the braided mithril string back. When the string reaches the very back of the rail, he hears a click and watches a long, black steel shaft tipped with a barbed, twin-bladed mithril arrowhead loaded into the rail and says, "When it's loaded, get clear of the string and ready another bolt!"

One of the elves rolls the bolt into the proper position and slides it back against the string, saying, "This isn't the first time we've done this you know!" She then crouches down and rolls out from harm's way, standing up and rushing over to bolt carrier, saying as she reaches it, "Clear!"

The dwarf then waits for the others to shout clear before using his foot pedals to rotate the entire ballista to follow the dragon's trajectory to the right while adjusting the aim downward, he follows the dragon's trajectory and notices one bolt take off towards the dragon, saying, "DON'T FIRE YET YOU MORON!" When it hits and breaks off half of the dragon's right horn, he gasps and says, "Well that greenhorn just pissed off that dragon...OPEN FIRE!"

The elf hears him pull the lever back beside the seat, firing the bolt at the dragon and shakes her head saying, "I can't believe that idiot fired before the order was given. Don't they know that they can't fire on a dragon until it attacks first? That's against the Arch Dragon's law!"

Cosmic growls in anger at losing half of his right horn and looks down at the city, narrowing his red, slitted eyes balefully at the city at the base of the mountain, thinking, 'After I get what I came for, I will take it to my den and come back to punish this wretched city...' He then roars out in pain as six other bolts pierce through his hide, missing vital areas but still inflicting deep wounds that will take time to heal.

As he twists his body out of the way of the bolts fired at him, he suddenly pulls upward and extends his four legs out toward the topmost part of the crystal mountain. Hitting it heavily with a lot of force fractures a sizable chunk of the peak, allowing him to pry his claws into the break and fly ahead while a few bolts hit his tail. A few moments pass when the portion breaks free, permitting him to wrap his claws around it firmly as he then flaps his wings hard to get out of range of the weapon's range, shouting, "YOU WILL ALL BURN FOR THIS!"

Cosmic forces himself to ignore the stinging pain of the shafts piercing the right side of his body, feeling grateful that none of the bolts hit his lungs or other vital organs. When he finally arrives back at his den a couple of hours later, he begins to carve away at the chunk of crystal with his claws.

Working through the rest of the day and much of the night, he wakes a short while later with a painful groan as he rolls onto his stomach from his undamaged left side and gazes upon his gift for his lover. Reaching out his left claw, he lays his palm on top of it and pulls it closer before closing his claws around it. Lifting his claw, he then turns it over and opens his clawed hands to look it over more carefully. As he looks upon the clear, crystal-shaped heart, he can't help but feel that it isn't quite special enough. Not sure what else to do, he recalls the attack from yesterday and growls angrily after allowing himself to get sidetracked with the gift for his love. He spots a large boulder where his secret hoard of gems is that he secretly shares with his love whenever they spend time together close to his den and makes his way over to it, he then moves the boulder into the small hole containing a very small pile of gold coins and treasure he took from the creatures around the planet and sets the crystal heart he carved into the hollow hidden underneath the boulder.

After moving the light boulder back into place, he turns around and makes his way out of the cave to punish the city for attacking first without reason. When he walks out of his den, he sees it is still night out with the moon obscured by clouds and spreads his wings to take flight.

When Cosmic is in the air, he flies higher into the sky to preserve what strength he has and angles himself towards the city that broke the law.

Only taking him a couple of hours to reach the city, he sees the signs of dawn approaching and circles the city just below the layer of clouds while looking at the city very closely to develop a plan of attack. Spotting several archer towers along with at least a hundred ballistae mounted on parapets along the top walls, he takes note of two large warning bells on two separate towers towards the interior of the city.

Knowing that the ballistae provide the greatest threat to him, he temporarily ignores the bells and dives towards one of the gates guarded by two towers. Keeping quiet, he approaches the rightmost tower beside the northern gate at a steep angle, pulling his body up and moving his wings straight behind him to let himself slam into it with full force.

When he slams into the tower, alarmed cries and terrified screams rise into the air after the tower collapses and falls into pieces on both sides of the closed gates. With the gates only partially blocked, Cosmic takes to the air again quickly as war horns sound the alarm with the bells ringing out their deep, sonorous notes.

With the sky so dark still, Cosmic swoops back around and slams the other tower down to completely block the gates. With his breath ready, he then breathes out his enchanted blue flame easily capable of melting stone which cannot be extinguished by anything. Engulfing a long stretch of the wall and smaller archer towers in his blue flame, he executes an overhead loop and swoops back toward the blocked gate to fully engulf it in fire.

After covering the blocked gate with the destroyed towers in fire from both sides, he goes back to his next task of destroying each ballista along the wall. When he comes across the second gate towards the southwest, he slams into it and sends it crashing down to block the gate.

As he returns to the air, he circles back around to take out the final tower beside the gate and starts hearing bolts whizz past him. Knowing he needs to be more careful now, he hits the tower and collapses it while the bells continue to ring out the alarm. Changing his tactics, he flies up and turns around to continue taking out the ballistae along the next stretch of wall.

Flying over the walls while banking to the left and breathing his blue flame, he hears metallic twangs as a few ballistae are destroyed. Seeing the final gate looming up ahead, he stops breathing fire and takes in a fresh breath while building up his speed again.

Seeing a ballista aimed directly at him, he quickly pulls off to the side while slamming his tail into the right tower, sending it down in pieces to block the gate while hearing soldiers shouting, "IT'S TRYING TO BLOCK THE GATES AND TRAP THE CITIZENS, SHOOT IT DOWN!"

When the bolt misses his body, Cosmic feels it punch through the membrane on his wing and heads for the ringing bells that are beginning to annoy him. Lining himself up, he uses his tail to destroy one and uses a fireball to destroy the last one, hearing it ring out dully a few times as it tumbles to the ground before falling silent completely. Returning to his previous task, he circles back around to take out the remaining ballistae.

A human teenage boy sees the blue light appear in the dragon's open maw as blue fire burns brightly behind him along the top of the walls, casting the dragon in a nightmare, inducing sight as it makes its way towards his station, saying, "Screw dying, I'm outta here!" and jumps out of his seat and races for the stairs down. When he reaches the side of the wall, he spots a hay cart nearby and jumps for it. He feels a blistering heat bake his back as he lands into the cart safely when one wheel breaks and tips over, sending him rolling out into the cobblestone street below.

When he returns to his feet, he hears the metallic twanging snap of his ballista breaking apart. A moment later, he sees the metal string slam into a house and reduce it to pieces, causing him to race toward it to save those he hears screaming inside.

After managing to save an elven girl, he looks back toward the wall to see the dragon finish off the last ballista and leave the entire wall burning as it banks around to the left while mages continue attacking it with their spells. He watches the dragon head straight for the last gate and engulf the side facing inward in flame, grabbing for the girl's hand and rushing off toward one of the entrances to the lower tunnels for safety, saying, "C'mon, we're getting to safety before that damned dragon starts lighting up the whole town and cuts off our escape!"

The young elven girl nods as tears fall down her delicate face while her light blue hair trails behind her in a long ponytail, turning her head to the left as she watches the dragon pass down a wide street several streets away from her. Anguished and terrified screams rise from the dragon's path as it begins to destroy the city, saying, "IT'S GOING TO KILL US ALL, RUN FASTER!"

The teenage boy pants and pulls her along, saying, "I never was that great with my stamina, but I'm going to keep running as fast as I can, so don't ever let go of my hand!"

Gripping his hand harder, she uses her long legs to take the lead, saying, "Try to keep up with me or I will carry you there on my shoulder, human!"

Cosmic destroys another tunnel that the beings below are streaming toward for safety, watching as they change direction and follows their path toward another escape route, shouting, "ACCEPT YOUR FATE, WRETCHED INSECTS! THERE IS NO ESCAPING MY FIRE!"

He breathes a trail of fire along the path of the fleeing citizens, burning them alive in seconds with his flame as he collapses yet one more tunnel. As watches them begin to change course again, he circles around and watches them from a short distance away for their destination.

When he finds where they are heading, he incinerates the whole line with his fire and collapses their escape with a blue fireball. Returning to the sky to look for more, he watches them scatter and start heading toward the castle. As the spells start coming frequently from the castle's defenses, Cosmic starts heading there when movement to his right catches his eye. Quickly turning his head, he spots an elven girl sprinting to a tunnel that he assumed he destroyed and watches her use magic to bend the fire out of her way. Seeing her do that enrages him to no end as he then bellows, "HOW DARE YOU MANIPULATE MY FIRE LIKE THAT! PREPARE TO DIE HORRIBLY!"

Almost to the tunnel, the elven girl runs even harder. When she sees the wall before her begin to glow with white light, her hair starts to singe and burn. Not wanting to die in a flash of light, she continues running and casts a protection barrier around her with what magic she has left when she is suddenly hurled forth by an explosion from behind. Hurled forth into the tunnel, she feels the human wrap his arms around her as they both begin tumbling down the stairs violently and holds him tightly right back.

When her magic runs out, the two cling to each other and try to protect their heads as much as possible until they black out after hitting the bottom of the floor and tumble apart.

Atop the tallest tower of the castle, the princess's eyes follow the dragon and cries out for the citizens, screaming, "PLEASE TAKE ME INSTEAD AND STOP KILLING THE PEOPLE, THEY'VE PAID ENOUGH FOR ATTACKING YOU!"

Her pleas fall on deaf ears as the dragon begins tearing the castle's defenses apart, watching in horror as her father leads the attack against the dragon and screams out, "FATHER, NOOOO!" She then falls to her knees as the dragon quickly engulfs him and his men in fire, letting her long, bright crimson hair fall in front of her face as she wails out in grief at her father's death while the dragon continues to destroy the castle's defenses.

After a while, the screams fall silent, making her look up with her tear-stained face and pull herself up the marble balustrade of the tower's balcony to look out at the city. What she sees in the mid-morning's light destroys her as she hoarsely wails out at seeing the entire city ablaze, causing fresh tears to stream down her face in rivers as she weakly cries out, "Take me instead..." while sobs wrack her body.

The princess's ears hear a dull roar as heat rushes up through the tower and past her face, blasting her to the end of the tower's large balcony when blue fire starts to erupt from the doors and shatter the once beautiful stained glass windows. As the fire races toward her in slow motion, she looks on with deadening eyes as she waits for her death, saying quietly, "Let my suffering end already, there is nothing left for me here..."

The fire slowly starts flowing upward, missing her by a few feet and setting fire to her lovely crimson hair but only burns away half of it. By the time her hair stops smoldering, her white silk dress starts on fire, screaming out in agony as the fire turns orange and burns the fabric away.

When the fire finally burns out, only scraps of her dress remain, barely enough to cover her private areas as she registers a dull flapping of large wings getting louder with each passing second.

Seconds pass as Cosmic reaches the tallest tower, watching as blue fire and smoke rise from every opening in the castle. Poking his head through the smoke to see if the one who screamed earlier is still there, he grins as his eyes fall on the barefoot, and nearly fully nude form of a high elf young woman with bright red hair matching his eye color and says, "How miraculous of you to survive..." His eyes notice something shiny to his left and spots a small silver tiara encrusted with diamonds, then looks back at her, finishing, "Young princess. I remember hearing you offer yourself to me to spare your people, are you willing to actually go through with that offer?"

The surviving princess sniffs sadly and pushes herself up on her burnt arms with a pained hiss, nodding weakly and looking down in reverence to the mighty dragon, saying softly, "Y-Yes..."

As he watches her avert her eyes in respect as all beings normally do when face-to-face with any dragon, his hurt pride fades a little more and puts him into a nicer mood, saying to her, "I permit you to look me in the face, elf." When she shivers and looks up at his face, he says, "Now what did you say? I didn't quite hear you with the blazing fires behind me."

With her hopes for her people surviving rekindled, she takes a short breath and speaks a little louder, saying, "I will still offer myself to you freely if you would so kindly spare the rest of the citizens, milord."

Cosmic feels her stroking his ego a little bit but does not let that get to him as he then narrows his eyes at her, saying, "Very well, I accept your offer and shall spare the few that managed to survive the destruction." He then uses one of his claws to pick up the discarded diamond-studded tiara while using his other to destroy the marble banister for the slightly crispy princess. When he lays his clawed right hand on the edge of the balcony, he looks at her and says, "Climb onto my head near the base of my horns amid the small spikes up front and hold on tight, if you try your luck attacking me...keep in mind that many mages have tried to pierce my thick skull and diamond-hard plates with their spells, but I will ignore your offer and make you watch as I slaughter the survivors of this city." Without another word, he lowers his head while watching her very closely with his crimson eyes.

The princess gulps and says honestly, "Understood sir, I will not try my luck." then climbs up into position on his head, not wanting to do anything to earn the dragon's wrath and kill the rest of the citizens, saying, "I'm in position, milord." She inhales an unsteady breath as she feels him raise his head up and fly away from the castle, watching the smoke flow around her barely clothed body when he begins to circle back around.

With the surrendered princess and treasure in place, he circles back around while looking at the castle and blasting the base of it apart with his fireballs. When he hears a faint rumble as it begins to collapse, he huffs and starts flying out of town while looking at the entire city engulfed in flames when he passes over the wall near the mountain and spots the missing half of his horn and says, "So that is where it fell, I shall use it to serve as a warning for other fools who dare to break my uncle's law..."

As Cosmic picks up his horn with his other front claw, he heads to the main road leading toward the burning city and plants it in the middle of the road with the point upward. Finding a boulder big enough, he splits it in half with his tail and writes in a language any being can understand clearly, 'Let this severed horn belonging to I, the dragon known as Cosmic Seeker, serve as a reminder of the fate that awaits those who violate the law and attack a dragon before it attacks them. Though I suffered some minor injuries while collecting a gift for my love, I still had plenty of strength remaining to lay waste to this very city and set each stone ablaze. HEED THY WARNING WELL, OR BE REDUCED TO ASH AS PENANCE FOR THY FOLLY!'

She looks up at the massive column of black smoke rising from the blue flames of the city she once called home when the hope within her eyes dwindles to nothing and fades away, causing her will to break as her mind starts to descend into madness. As she gazes into the raging blue flames, a stray thought enters her mind as she mumbles, "Such a pretty color..."

With the message written for all to see on the main road, he returns to the sky and says, "There are a few dragons that can breathe blue fire capable of melting stone, but I am the only one with that deep blue color."

Holding on to the small spines atop his head with what strength she can muster, some parts of her tattered remains get torn off and blow away in the wind, leaving her in just a tattered thong that covers almost nothing and a few slivers of silk covering some of her small chest.

It takes a little longer for him to return to his den due to the princess atop his head wearing practically nothing but the charred remains of a silk dress, seeing it getting closer with each flap of his wings, saying, "As you can see, there are no paths to or from that cave at the top of the mountain ahead of us, it is just a straight drop on either side without anyplace for a hand, foot or claw. I used my fire to melt the stone into a smooth surface about fifty years ago."

As the princess takes in the sight of the tall mountain, she looks on in awe at the dug-out moat at the base of the mountain filled with water from a waterfall on the side of the mountain and can't stop herself from asking, "Forgive me for this stupid question, master, but do you have fresh water in your dwelling?"

Cosmic smirks at hearing that and says, "Of course I do, even us dragons enjoy a bath on occasion." Then hears a pleased sigh from her and adds, "And I do expect you to bathe regularly as I have a sharp sense of smell. You also won't have to worry about food as I will bring back food every few days."

When he finally lands, he folds his wings and heads into his cave, setting the princess down near the lake at the bottom of his den, saying, "There you go, wash if you desire it but keep away from my treasure hoard." then drops the silver diamond-studded tiara beside her, saying, "To remind you of your offer to me..."

She watches him turn around, noticing how many bolts have pierced his hide as he heads up the curving tunnel, saying, "My name is Summer Raelordiel." Asking, "What's your name, master?"

Cosmic looks over his shoulder at her and notices her looking at the bolts lodged in his body saying, "My given name in our tongue is Neach-sireadh cosmaigeach, but in the common tongue I go by Cosmic Seeker. If you're hoping I die from these bolts, you will be disappointed to hear that they have missed all vital areas."

Summer then quickly says, "I wasn't hoping you would die, I was worried what would happen to me if you perished from your wounds."

An amused snort escapes his nostrils as he then says, "How common for a being such as you."

As he continues up the tunnel, she looks down at her destroyed clothing and sighs, realizing it is completely useless to cover herself with. Tearing her tattered silk dress off first followed by her thong shortly after, she tosses them both into a pile and crawls her way to the water's edge as braziers provide ample light to navigate the lower area. Taking a breath and bracing herself for an icy chill to shock her body, she is pleasantly surprised that the water is actually very warm. She washes her hands off before scooping some of the water with them and raises it up to her lips, taking a refreshing drink from the little that she manages to hold in her cupped, dainty hands.

While Cosmic makes his way up the tunnel, the bolt in his tail bumps into the wall which causes pain to briefly shoot through his body. Growling lowly in annoyance at the bolts in his side, he makes his way to the front of his den to begin removing the annoyances when he hears the beating wings of an approaching dragon. Stopping just inside the entrance to his den with enough room to look outside, he looks out to see his lover approaching from the direction of the still-burning city and lets himself relax a little while adjusting his angle a little to shield his right side from view.

Sky Wing makes her way to the ground in front of the den belonging to her lover, she moves her body into a landing position and gently sets down saying, "I spotted a column of smoke from my den and went to check it out, learning that it was your doing when I saw your signature blue flames melting the stone. I saw your message to the bipeds on the road, what happened to break your horn? Were you injured?"

He huffs out in annoyance, saying, "I will be fine but those bipeds have gotten smarter and made better weapons that can cause great harm to us dragons, let me show you what I mean..." then bends around to his right, sliding his tail towards his head as he holds his tail still with a claw and uses his mouth to yank the irritating bolt out with a pained snarl.

She gasps at seeing the black metal bolt hit the floor and skitter to a stop before her, armed with a blood-stained barbed metal tip, saying, "What a sinister-looking tip, the Arch Dragon needs to know of this development at once. Are you capable of flying to the dormant volcano?"

Cosmic shakes his head, saying, "No, I've had a long night and need to rest. Go on without me and I will meet you there tomorrow."

Sky sees another bolt sticking out of his side above his shoulder before his right wing, causing her to worry about him and ask, "Are you sure you're okay? How many of these hit you?"

He heads inside his cave saying, "There are a couple more bolts in my right side, though I assure you that I will be just fine Sky, there's no reason to worry about little old me."

She narrows her blue eyes at him and huffs in amusement, saying with slight sarcasm, "Old? You know all too well that dragons don't die from old age, we fall in battle with pride!" and says back snarkily, "Get some rest...geezer!" Grabbing the bolt with her hand, she takes flight and starts heading to where the Arch Dragon holds court while shaking her head thinking, 'He must not be that hurt if he is making jokes, though I don't like this new development at all.'

Cosmic makes his way into his den to slumber for a little while when he recalls that the elf doesn't have anything to wear and heads to his hoard to dig through each of his chests for anything remotely suitable for her to wear, finding a couple of chests stuffed with dresses and picks them up with his mouth before heading back down to the lower level to let her pick something to replace her clothing.

Summer washes herself off gingerly when she hears the dragon come back down the tunnel, setting two large chests down by the wall and telling her to find something suitable that will fit. With a smile, she says, "Thank you kindly, master, I am most grateful for your generosity."

He makes his way through the lower level to another pile of treasure, looking for a large mirror he remembered taking from another castle a couple of centuries ago. When he locates it, he carefully lifts it up and stands it up near the wall before ripping open some crates saying, "There's more crap here that I took from a wagon that some noble offered me to save his manor from being sacked by another army."

Curious, she makes her way up out of the warm water towards the crates to check them out, using her arms to try to preserve her modesty. When she reaches the first crate, her face brightens up with glee as she finds healing elixirs, scented bath oils and brushes mixed in with various luxurious soaps and gasps, asking, "Are you going to keep the healing elixirs, master?"

Cosmic looks down at her and says, "No, those are too small to do anything for me, so help yourself to them and whatever isn't gems, jewelry, or enchanted weapons and armor."

Summer hops back and forth on her left and right foot in happy glee at being able to enjoy a somewhat luxurious lifestyle, then drops her arms and rushes over to hug her generous and kind captor's front left leg, squealing happily, "OH THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MILORD, YOU ARE FAR TOO KIND!" Remembering her current state, she then hurries back toward the box and puts it between her and the dragon's gaze, pleading while bowing her head, "Please forgive my carelessness, master, I got carried away."

With a nod, Cosmic turns around and heads back toward the tunnel, saying, "If you have to relieve yourself, do it outside. I am going above to slumber, don't wake me unless it's an emergency. My lover visits regularly, having vibrant red scales, two slightly twisted horns on the back of her head, and bright blue eyes with a heart-shaped tail."