FEB 26 Monday.

I slowly wake up from a deep sleep to the soft sounds of the campfire and the small cavern I've been living inside.

I stretch my body and spend a few moments looking over my wound from the previous day. That fight was both exciting and messy, a bloody mess that took me almost an hour to scrub out of my fur. Still, it went about how I expected it to be considering the circumstances.

The fight was never going to be to the death, the Dragon Lord's rules on that were clear and I remember a few of the market guards watching everything closely. I presume that's why Obsidian was only trying to grab or bite me instead of just blasting me with all his fire full force.

He did use his fire, but never very much of it and I've seen Dragons of his size output a lot more than what he used. He was trying to injure and disable me with flame, but not kill me outright. With so many witnesses he'd be in very big trouble if he did actually kill me in that fight.

Still, there was a good amount of risk to everything I did and I could have come out much worse. My wound was very shallow and was pretty easy to clean and treat, I used a skin healing spell to cover the wound with new skin instead of stitching it closed, it will prevent a scar from being formed as well and it also means I don't need a bandage.

The flesh underneath is still tender and regrowing, but I've been feeding that part of my body a little life magic over time to speed the healing up. I don't have the confidence to fully heal it in one go, even though I think it's well within my ability at this point, I decided to take things slow so nothing unexpected happens.

I cast a scanning spell on myself to check the wound and bring over a piece of paper to see the results. I focus my eyes on the paper for a moment and blink before recasting the spell again, I expected the wound to have healed at most a quarter from the life magic I added to it.

The scan seems convinced that it's over a third healed already, which makes no damned sense. Ponies don't heal faster than humans and that small amount of life magic shouldn't have been enough to cause this much of an effect. I press on the wound through my skin and start to inspect it myself through the layer of skin.

After a few minutes, I keep my confused and thoughtful face as it seems the scan was right, my wound is already far more healed than it should be. I see Entropy wake up and immediately fly over to me, inspecting the area where my wound was visible the day before. "Ok?" She asks with some concern.

I nod with a smile. "Much better actually, I'll heal right up. Let's get some breakfast." I say and she rides me while I move around to gather a few things for a good meal. While making breakfast my thoughts wander to this conundrum but I stop for a moment as a thought strikes me.

The amount of life magic in my body is a lot higher than a normal Pony, several dozen times higher in fact. It's nothing like Celestia, Philomena, or even Entropy. It's still much higher though and I think that having that much life magic will extend my lifespan to a degree, no idea how long exactly but several other life magic practitioners lived a lot longer than normal so it seems likely.

I also know that Celestia can recover from wounds she considered fatal, if I had to guess my abundance of life magic is boosting my healing to an unknown degree. I don't really get injured often and I normally recover using healing spells when I do, I probably just never noticed.

It's not massive and even with several hours of rest and recovery, along with extra healing from life magic and a spell to heal the skin, I'm only a third healed. Still, it seems I'm a little more durable than I first thought I was, I'm not going to be throwing myself into danger though, and would rather not have something like this happen again.

I finish my food and enjoy a mostly peaceful breakfast if I don't count Entropy fussing over me like I'm a foal again. After breakfast, I spend some time gathering the things I'll need for today. The plan for today is different from the days before it, I'm going to be visiting Larimar so she can direct me to the Dragon Lord's home.

I just fought one of his subjects and mutilated them temporarily, he might have some words for me so it's best I get this over with quickly. I don't think he'll be extremely mad, many Dragons do this exact thing to each other and he doesn't seem to care in the slightest unless someone dies.

Then again I'm a Pony and an outsider causing trouble for his Dragons. Either way, I expect him to have heard the news of what happened already, it was far too public to not have spread like wildfire. I very slowly add a little more life magic to my wound to let it heal more and put on my saddlebags before leaving my cave.

Interestingly enough it seems my slightly reckless actions were finally enough for Entropy to work up the courage to not just hide in my shadow. She activates her band and stays on my back as I walk out into the small valley and start to make my way to Larimar in the dawn of a new day.

I am surprisingly relaxed at the moment, I have several things on my mind but nothing that's really stressing me. Most Dragons that see me as I walk look at me in a very different way, most with normal curiosity but some with respect. Even the small fact that my chances of being attacked again are much lower makes me pretty happy.

That whole fight may have been very unpleasant, but I don't need to be as paranoid or as attentive to the Dragons around me. I still pay attention but to a lesser degree, it gives me a nice bit of breathing room. I shake my thoughts away as I move through some rocks and spot Larimar waiting for me like normal.

She looks over at me, as unexpressive as ever, but she seems to be more relaxed than before. Laying on her side where her belly is a little visible but still giving me a look as intense as ever. I walk up to her and nod, "Larimar, enjoy the show? I certainly didn't." I make an honest joke about it all to not be as serious.

She lets out a small chuckle and snorts some smoke. "I only came after I heard the loud booms, by the time I arrived I only saw the very end." She reveals in a slightly relaxed tone, another change from her previous moods of level tones. "I do wonder why you seem to have dragged it out, it is rather dangerous." She reasons.

I don't care about how she sees this mess all that much, she knows why I did this and now knows a little more about how I fight. I shrug, "To make a statement, I doubt others will bother me now." I had a few reasons for not just cutting him up from the start and that was a big one.

I could have made a statement by just cutting off his legs instantly, but I needed a more flashy example for the others to see. It did backfire a bit when he lunged at me but that's the risk I took, and it's not like he left me much choice but to fight him so backing out wouldn't really work well.

I really doubt he'd keep any promise he would have made. I also did it to test out my lightning spells against a strong opponent, it turns out they work decently well against a Dragon. Larimar huffs a little more smoke and looks at me, "It seems you are also a skilled healer as well. A powerful combination." She takes note of my lack of any visible wounds.

I just nod as I've mentioned my healing ability before when talking about Obsidian so this is just confirmation for her. "I'm decent. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk much today." I get to the point as I want to deal with the Dragon Lord before anything else. "How do I get to the Dragon Lord's home?" I ask simply, making it clear we’ll talk about this another time.

She smirks a little at me and stares at me for a moment. "Clever." She doesn't elaborate and keeps her small smirk. "I will do one better, I'll lead the way there, it will be a long walk from here." She stands up and I pause hearing her words. I don't have much of a reason to mistrust her at the moment, but I still think it through before answering her.

"Sure, but we aren't walking all that way." My wound is near the bottom left of my chest and that means I can luckily use my wings without a problem. A few moments later after casting the Wing spell the wings fully form on my back as Larimar watches me curiously. "We need to stop somewhere, I'll lead the way." Me and Entropy take flight a moment later and fly up above her.

After we gain some distance and height from her Larimar opens her massive wings and also takes flight, flying in a direction while I quickly fly in front of her. I cast a Lightening spell to make flying easier and lead her back to the valley my cave is inside, while keeping an eye open to make sure no other Dragons follow us.

She just hovers in the air as I fly down and collect the gift I have for Torch, casting an opaque shield around the water-gathering gem to hide its true nature. When I fly back up with the shield ball being moved beside me Larimar looks at it and me, but she doesn't comment on it before nodding and turning to lead me to my destination.

She doesn't fly quickly so I'm easily able to keep up and mostly just glide along behind her as we fly. I watch the landscape change over the next hour of silent flight, neither of us talking as it would be hard to do so without yelling. The land becomes more uneven and mountainous than before.

Many more rivers of lava as the volcanic activity seems to only increase as we get closer to our destination. I see many larger Dragons as we fly, not all look old like an elder, but it's clear this area has more of the larger and stronger Dragons. Eventually, a large peak comes into view.

Land stretches out to my left and right with a sea splitting the middle of the area, the coast forming a v shape. Right at the point where the two coasts meet in the middle is a large mountain with several smaller mountains next to it. It stands on the ocean coast and it doesn't take me long to put it together that this is probably Torch's home.

Larimar stops flying forward and simply hovers for a moment before looking at me, she gives me a single nod before turning around and flying off. I don't need words to understand that she's taken me as far as she is willing to go, and I also don't really need more directions.

The large mountain is an active volcano but it seems more stable than others I've seen. A few small streams of lava and some smoke, but nothing more. At the base of the mountain, there is a large cave entrance with a lava river flowing out of one side of the cave and flowing into the sea nearby.

I look over at Entropy as she flies next to me. "Shadow." I give the simple instructions and start to descend from the sky. Entropy slips into my shadow immediately and I land outside the cave without issue. It's easily over a few hundred feet tall and wide and looks daunting.

I dismiss my wings and bring my gift with me, floating behind me as I walk inside. The ground is carved into a smooth surface and the walls have scattered carvings on them, most look to be very simple things and don't have any pattern to them.

The lava river flowing to the entrance flows along the tunnel to the left side in a carved-out channel, providing light as sunlight is blocked by the rock ceiling. As I walk deeper the tunnel looks less and less like a cave and more like a building. The walls had sections that bulged out in rounded pillars to support the now evenly arched ceiling, the walls caverned in an uncountable number of small carvings.

After a few hundred feet of walking with a consistent incline as I walk, there is a bend and a split, a smaller pathway going off to one side. I ignore that and continue to follow the large hallway-like tunnel as that seems like my best option. I continue to follow deeper and deeper, passing more offshoots before finally arriving somewhere.

The hallway opens up into an utterly massive cavern, dwarfing anything else I have seen in the Dragon Lands. The cavern is supported by eight massive stone pillars, each over a hundred feet thick and spaced a few hundred feet apart from each other, and all of them stretch a few hundred feet up. They form a perfect circle all together to support the cavern ceiling.

I stare up at the admittedly impressive display of carving and planning, after a moment I look forward and see what I came for. The walls of the cavern have a large moat of lava that wraps around the room and flows out down the tunnel I came from, lighting up the room well.

The mighty pillars sit on the edge of this moat and the circle of space in between the pillars is a flat and smooth platform. Near a small mountain of gold, gems, and a great many other things, lies Dragon Lord Torch looking over a ship in his hand. He sits there on a bed of gold at the foot of his hoard of wealth and just studies the ruined ship.

His wings are slightly splayed out, showing the small tears in his wing membranes and the scars that cover a good amount of his body. Several dozen spots have misaligned scales from old wounds and many more signs that he has seen a large amount of battle.

His dull blue scales cover his body and I see a band made from gold and some other metal on his right horn, what's really eye-catching is his chest piece. I've seen a few dragons with jewelry or armor, but not to this degree. The piece of black metal that covers his upper body looks titanic on his form.

He's easily the biggest Dragon I've seen so far, able to hold a very large ship in his clawed hand comfortably. After a long moment, I start to walk closer, casting a Flame Shield to deal with the heat of the room. As I walk close my hoof steps echo out and Torch turns his head to me.

His eyes focus on me and the item I'm carrying with clear interest, unlike Larimar he makes no effort to hide his expressions. He smiles at me as I close the distance, I stop before I get near his hoard and keep a respectful distance from it. I give a quick bow, breaking eye contact before standing up again. "Dragon Lord Torch, I have come with a gift and to speak with you, if you'll allow it?" I am polite and formal just to be safe.

There is silence for a long moment as Torch looks at me, a single one of his claws being multiple times the size of my entire body and then some. He looks at me and eventually, he laughs, loud and clear his laughter echoes throughout the cavern. "A Pony with some courage, to walk right into my home with a gift." He laughs more at his words and looks thoroughly amused.

His tone doesn't sound insulting, he simply seems to find the situation funny like other Dragons I've met. He stops laughing after a few moments and looks at me, lowering his head to be closer to the ground so I don't have to look up as much. Even then his size makes it difficult to find a comfortable way to look at him.

"I heard you put a whelp in their place, a bloody fight from what I've been told." He mentions the fight right away and seems, with an oddly cheery tone. "You are either mad or strong. Let us speak, show me what you have brought as a gift." He smiles widely and apparently has a jovial mood.

I am reminded of the king of Feather Falls for a moment, but Torch is much more than just hospitality. I take off the shield obscuring his gift and move a little closer while holding it up for him to see clearly. "I am sorry if fighting him inconvenienced you, but it was a good fight," I say honestly and try to take up a similar mood to him about the fight in hopes of keeping things friendly.

His tone is relaxed and confident, but not hostile or wary in any way. He chuckles loudly, "No, from what I heard the whelp started it, he should have known better." He says back and laughs at his own words. "Something magic? It is not often I get a gift like that." He reaches out a hand and taps the shield covering the floating gem with a claw, inspecting it slowly.

I start to relax more as I get a better feel for the ruler, he's far from formal and reminds me of a more outspoken Stone. An old warrior who likes to talk and boast about battles. I move it closer. "It floats wherever you want it to, just leave it in the air. All it does is produce water, pure drinkable water." I explain quickly as I don't think he will care about the details.

I move it back and tap it twice before moving it close to him. He doesn't move back or even look suspicious, he just watches as the gem activates and starts to gather water, the water simply falling down and splattering on the floor. There is another moment of silence as he watches the gem work for a few moments.

He raises a brow and with a calm and curious look moves the gem closer to his mouth before slipping his tongue out and lapping at the falling water. "Ssss, it is pure." He seems satisfied with it and turns back to me. "How does this thing work?" He turns it in his hand while holding it like a large marble.

It seems like he's at least somewhat satisfied with the gift so I quickly nod. I don't go into specific detail and instead give him basic information as I think he'd prefer that. "To turn it off and on, just tap it twice. Beyond that it will gather an endless supply of water from the air when active, it doesn't need anything else." There really isn't much to say about the gem beyond that,

He taps the shield very gently twice and it turns off. He smiles at the small item in his claws and moves his tail quickly to grab something from his immense pile of loot. He brings a metal bowl into view that is over thirty feet tall, he places it down to the side and puts the gem in the air above it before activating it again, letting the water fall into the bowl to pool.

"So this will just work?" I nod as it doesn't need anything else and he understands it well enough. He lets out another laugh and smiles widely. "A Pony who knows my needs well, a good gift indeed." He celebrates and shows no suspicion over the gift or any potential danger from it, whether he is blind to that or simply uncaring is unknown to me.

I decide to rest my legs a little and lay down on the smooth stone floor, which he sees and nods in agreement. "Yes, sit! Let us speak of your battle, I heard you cleaved his tail right off." He speaks with another laugh and I relaxed even more at his reaction. "I should have been there to see it, I haven't laughed this much since your Princess threw that one fool through a rock." He laughs harder at the mention.

I laugh a little to fit in, and because the idea of Celestia throwing a Dragon through a rock is pretty humorous. "I did, I even made him ask nicely to reattach it afterward." I boast some to get into a similar mood and because I do have some pride in my victory, not my actions though as I do not like hurting others.

He laughs harder and keeps his smile. "You really are a warrior, good!" He says happily. "So many of you have met me, all with fancy words and fearful faces, not you though. I am Dragon Lord Torch, who are you Pony?" He greets me with a good mood and surprisingly a little respect.

It's not massive or too noticeable, but he's being friendly about things and nicer than many other Dragons. "Shade Evergreen, and I'm less a warrior and more a researcher than anything else." I think for a moment and try to use less formal words while tempering his expectations of me.

He moves the metal bowl into his hand for a moment and drinks down what water has been collected quickly. He places the bowl back and looks at the floating gem with a satisfied look. "No more seawater or flying to springs. You picked a good gift, Shade." Even with his casual attitude, I'm a bit surprised that he used my name so freely. "A researcher?" He chuckles again. "No matter, you fight like a Dragon, even more than some actual Dragons." He makes another joke and laughs.

I once again laugh, his happy attitude is actually rubbing off on me a little. "As good a compliment as any other. I am also glad you find the gift useful, Dragon Lord." I take the compliment with good spirits and take out my teapot to make something to drink while we talk.

He watches the water fall into the massive bowl slowly. "My daughter got to see your fight, even if she shouldn't have." He looks a bit annoyed for a moment, but it's not directed at me. "She told me about some of your fight, and that you ask many questions. A researcher indeed, you have brought me a good gift, let me hear of your fight in more detail and you may ask what you wish." Torch shows some of his intelligence by guessing my intentions for wanting to speak to him.

I'm once again pleasantly surprised at the fact that I didn't even need to ask for him. I think for a few moments and sip some tea while trying to find the best way to tell this story. "Do you know how it all started?" he shakes his head a bit. "He tried to take something of mine while I was trading at the market, so I threatened to cut his wings off, he took offense," I explain simply as I have a decent idea of what his reaction would be.

As expected he laughs more. "Good, whelps always start trouble." He huffs a bit of bluish fire from his nose. "He got pissed like a hungry hatchling?" I smirk at the insult and nod. "Pride has its place, and that place is not in any fight." He gives some surprisingly wise words. "So, how did you humble this whelp?" He bluntly hints for me to recount my fight.

I sort my thoughts and make some small adjustments to the story in my head before speaking. "It started with me throwing a rock at his face." I start to recount the fight for him.

I think I can get along with Torch, he's a bit more brash than what I'm used to but he's a good host so far. As I speak I notice something in his crown, the band of black metal is filled with massive jagged red gems that show his authority, and among all the red gems on it, one stands out.

Embedded inside the largest gem is a staff with a faint red glow to it, I take notice and study it a little while continuing to talk to him.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Not much in this one, but I will be continuing it next chapter. I plan to wrap up this Dragon arc in two more chapters so we can spend a chapter in Griffonstone and head back to Equestria.

I tried to make Torch come off as a guy who likes a good fight, but a good clean fight. Anything goes, but only to those in the fight, no dragging others into your shit. I also wanted him to act as the stereotypical Viking, loud, boastful, and friendly to those he respects.

I'm not sure I got that completely right here, but it's close enough I think, and I think it fits him well. Any ideas for conversation topics? Things you might want to see them talk about?