Master of the Hoard, Chapter 4 (Patreon)

"Could you please repeat that?"

Her innocent stare was infuriating. "Which part, Milord?"

"What do you mean - Oh, for the love of... the part where you just so happened to mention that war was about to break out like it was the most normal thing in the world!"

Aelis' jaw dropped. "Oh. Well, I suppose you would not know. I had not considered this - but for us, it is a natural fact that when a clutch of dragon eggs hatches, a fight for territory is bound to follow."  Shit! This could be a wrench in the works.

"Why?"

"I cannot be certain. It is known that dragons are naturally contentious, prideful and defensive of their domains. Why must this result in war? Deyra only knows. Or perhaps Arthor would know."

Deyra? Arthor? Nevermind. This was less pleasing news. It also put pressure on me - both for making a clever decision in assigning my points and for getting out there to increase my levels further. This way I'd be able to take on any challengers and secure my survival. "Alright, we'll stop wasting our time and get going in a moment. One final question: I want to see the area today, but from your comment, my urgency just increased and I need to gain levels. Fast. Are we likely to find any easy targets today?"

"Luck is providence of the Spirit, but we should be able to come upon a wide range of enemies. A good number of these should be manageable for you, Sire."

'Luck is providence of...' the hell did that mean? Yet another detail I'd have to postpone for a later time. I once again lost myself in the status screens. The night before, I'd given them a once-over, firmly putting them away until I was better informed. With my ignorance reduced, I just needed to decide which path to take. Easy. Right. I expelled a snort and brought up my info page, selecting the pulsing 'Level up' button.

[Level 2 gained. You have 5 attribute points available for distribution]

[Level 3 gained. You have 10 attribute points available for distribution]

[Feat available. You can select one feat from among the following:]

[Path of the Strong. Your Strength attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

[Path of the Agile. Your Agility attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

[Path of the Tough. Your Toughness attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

[Path of the Wise. Your Mental Control attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

[Path of the Keen. Your Mental Power attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

It seemed like such a simple choice. None of these was bad per se, but it all depended on how I wanted to handle myself. The question was simple enough. Did I want to be a slugger, wading into the thick of it? Then Strength or Toughness were the way to go. Did I want to be the backstabbing type, striking at the weak points? Agility, for sure. Mental Power would be indispensable for the spell-like abilities. Still, I had yet to see any of these, begging the question how useful it would be in the long run. Mental Control probably meant that I could get better effects from less effort. I just wasn't in a position where I could use it yet with no spells. That could probably be used as a metaphor for my life... Alright, focus. I wanted to go with Agility. Not out of any desire to become a rogue-like dragon, but because I had no safe haven yet and the place was teeming with monsters - some of them undeniably stronger than me. While the other attributes would surely be helpful, being tougher, stronger or cleverer wouldn't help me in running away from an overwhelming force. Even so, something stopped me. If I was actually surrounded by huge, dangerous monsters on all sides, opting to increase my physical capabilities wouldn't hack it in the long run - there would always be a bigger fish. No, I would need to profit on my reasoning and wisdom, such as it was, to rise above the competition.

[You have selected the feat Path of the Wise. Your Mental Control attribute is increased by one for each level increase]

That done with, I allowed myself to dedicate all current points to my present situation, entering seven attribute points into Agility and three into Toughness. The Toughness was mostly so I'd sleep better at night. Since I felt somewhat sturdy already, more was better. Right? My intentions were to keep away from conflict unless I felt certain I'd be able to handle it. As such, I'd rather be able to leg it if we stumbled upon something truly dangerous. I’d be relying on Aelis in that regard for the time being until I got a better idea of just what constituted more dangerous than me. Heh.

I got to my feet, marveling at the difference in sensation. My body felt lighter and less cumbersome and a few rapid steps confirmed that my speed had increased. A triumphant hiss escaped my lips and I started bounding around the cavern, testing the limits of my new attributes. Twenty seconds later, I was picking myself up from the floor with a chuckle. Increased attributes aside, I still needed to work on my muscle memory - movement did not come naturally to me when I was moving fast. Yet this new world was absolutely fantastic in providing changes immediately.

Aelis was doing her best not to be too obvious about staring at me. I grinned at her. "I'll have a quick bite and then I'm ready to go." The Clencher's corpse did not look any more appetizing now that life had departed, than when it was alive. Still, it was more attractive than the idea of going berserk mid-trip and having Aelis as a snack. She was proving indispensable just now and I would hate to lose her for that. My body knew what it had to do, however and to my surprise, the tough meat, muscles and blood met my taste buds as a pleasant experience. Ultra rare, to be sure, but quite the enjoyable taste. Just needed to wrap my mind better around the idea of eating monsters as meals. A brave new world, for sure. One badly savaged leg later and I got up. "All good. You ready?"

"Yes. I have prepared a route, but we may have to take a detour. Should I understand your desire is to be learning the surrounding area better, increasing in level and sustenance - in that order?"

She was quick on the uptake - and eager to please. I approved. Definitely indispensable. "Yes. Also, we'll be ending our trip with a visit to your tribe." She faltered in her steps, but I kept talking. "No need to be nervous. I'm not too sure exactly what dragons are supposed to be like, but like you yourself have said, I might be a bit of an anomaly. I have nothing negative in mind for your kind. Quite the opposite actually." I had the shape of a plan forming for what I think I ultimately wanted to do here in this world. Beyond even just survival, which was paramount.

Mollified, Aelis continued and the journey began. We talked from time to time, but Aelis spent a lot of the walk ahead of me, listening intently or sniffing at the air. From her explanation, her tribe's current home area wasn't really an area in itself. It was more of a lattice of tunnels leading every which way between the known occupied territories in the southern part of the lower layers of the mountain. This was positive to the Talpi in the sense that there were no obvious powers here and they were able to sneak around mostly undetected. The negative part was that there were a lot of solitary stragglers, like the Clenchers, and the power balances underground changed often. This kept the Talpi on the move often and alert at all times.

I'd tried all mental commands I could possibly come up with, but a minimap was still stubbornly refusing to appear. Bloody annoying, especially with the maze-like terrain we were traversing. The tunnels we were traveling were of varying size and composition. We started in a wide earthen passage with little signs of regular passing. Shortly it joined paths with two other tunnels and the rocky passage grew more spacious, and I spotted the occasional track. Five minutes and six possible exits later, we changed directions, sneaking our way through a wide corridor that had once been covered with rough tiles on all sides. Today, only ruins and the occasional patch of tiles remained. Of course, when you play a computer game, one 'level' is pretty constant in its ups and downs. Here, a descent turned into a short, wide climb with no apparent rhyme or reason. In short, I was soon utterly lost. Now it looked like I was dependent on her for knowing where we were too. Great. Some highly intelligent dragon I’m turning out to be. Can’t even figure out where the hell I am, let alone how I got here. Stupid non-existent map.

We took a short break a couple of hours in at my request. Well, that's what it felt like - I still hadn't found any sort of in-game clock, if there was one, and it could've been a lot more or less. I was impressed by Aelis' stamina - she kept a consistent, tough pace and rarely slowed down. Still, with her short legs, it meant that I had to move at a leisurely stroll or leave her behind. Her pathfinding skills were impressive, though. Not once did she appear to doubt which path to choose.

I didn’t ask for a break because I felt tired - that wasn't happening in this body at this slow pace. In fact, it felt like I could run for hours without becoming winded. No, I had spotted something that tickled my curiosity and I needed a closer look. The cave system we were walking through had a large number of stalactites and stalagmites, glinting with liquid. It was pretty, but nothing mind blowing. However, the place held one thing I hadn't seen here before. A pool of water. The liquid looked like it hadn't been touched for decades. There was no dirt or growths inside and the crystal clear surface presented a perfect mirror. To my own surprise, I found myself hesitating at the edge of the pool. Seeing my claws was one thing, but looking at my face - it somehow felt like it would make it more real. Not that eating monsters wasn’t enough of a reminder that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Huffing at my own silly behavior, I stretched my neck - and saw a monster.

There were many qualifiers I could have used, fancy descriptions to soften the blow. The first reaction my own mind screamed at me, however, was just that. Monster. I moved my head around and grimaced. Yeah, that was me. This predatorial portrait of scales, teeth and horns were what I would wake up to in the mirror for the rest of my future. Unless this was a fever dream - I wasn't entirely discounting that one just yet. I took a closer look, turned my head to see my profile. Hrm. It was a good monster face, though. I mean, it could easily have been a horror story of tentacles and open sores, or a dull, unwitting brute, but no. This was the face of an apex predator, sleek and deadly. The teeth - yeah, those were kind of nightmarish, made for ripping and tearing. And the scales were dull and lifeless. The eyes sparked with intelligence, however, and I could even form a somewhat believable smile. Sure, it was an "I might decide to eat you whole in a minute - let's see what the future holds." smile, but it was a smile. All in all, I decided, as I turned away, it could have been much worse. Not that I believe I would be looking at myself very often, mind you.

As I turned, Aelis addressed me, "Sire, we are approaching the first area I wanted to show you–"

I interrupted her, "Why do you keep calling me Sire, anyway? I am not royalty."

She bowed deep, "It is a token of respect, Sire. I acknowledge your natural superiority and grace, admitting that I am way below you. Also, since dragons invariably end up as masters of their domain, I merely respect that you are my ruler."

That kind of flattery might work on other dragons, but this one wasn't going to take all that sort of kowtowing. I was about to tell her exactly that when a scene started playing out in my head. I could practically see it before my eyes. Me constantly insisting that people should just call me Carl while people conveniently forgot or started inventing more and more interesting ways to say the same. I shuddered at the inevitable 'Your Dragonness' making its way through my subconscious. Naw, I was just going to live with it - besides, I'd been called a royal pain in the ass before. Heh. Close enough that I could live with it. I motioned for Aelis to proceed.

"Ahem. As I mentioned yesterday, our current home is placed near the southern edge of the mountain. The tunnel system is surrounded on almost all sides by five different races who contend for living space, food and power. As I mentioned earlier, much of this is in constant flux as the inhabitants gain or lose power. This is one of the smaller areas, to the south-east of our current home and it stays relatively constant in size, for reasons that will soon become obvious. The other areas belong to the following," she started ticking off on her undamaged paw, "Straight east of our home are a grouping of earth furies. Nobody knows what has drawn them to the place, but they are both unpredictable and impossible to dismantle." She glanced at me, "For us, that is. Next we have a large tribe of Dweelers, north to north-west. Physically weak creatures, much like us, but without speech. They do, however, hold an impressive command of the elements. They have been the largest threat to us, given that they, again, like us, enjoy isolating and hunting weaker prey. Straight west lives a family of Tainted Shamblers, few but powerful. South to south-west is dominated by Clenchers. They are prowlers by nature, but have a central cave where the entire clan gathers to feast and procreate, as far as we can tell. Obviously, we avoid everybody equally. In addition to this, we have, of course, other races and solitary creatures with varying powers - but none who hold dominance in our area."

That was - eminently useful. Sounded like the Clenchers would be my first larger target. But first: "So, which of these should we ally with?”

“Ally? I am afraid I do not understand, Sire?”

I bared my teeth. “Come now, don’t be daft. Your tribe is weak, I’m strong, but completely new to this place. Let’s find somebody else and convince them we’re better off together.” I was beginning to think of all the possibilities this could mean for us, me especially. Make some real changes here and end up on top.

She bowed her head. “My apologies, Milord. None of the groups surrounding us can communicate. As for those who can… even should we find them, we would be nothing but prey to them.”

I grumbled for a moment. Shit. Was this even a possibility then? Maybe I started thinking too far ahead and this wouldn’t work after all. “Okay. I’ll let it rest… for now. Do you have any ideas for easy prey we could focus on today?"

She smiled, relief wafting off from her. "We have a few options. Lately, we have been forced to limit our excursions in the northern direction with Dweelers sending hunting parties after us. If we move northwards after this, we might chance upon a group. There is another alternative, Sire, which might lead to a better result. I hesitate to mention it, however. Most people would see this as far beneath your station."

"So this suggestion might be a slight upon my honor - yet still you dare mention it? Wouldn't you call that a dangerous choice?" Was she actually trying reverse psychology on me?

"It is, Milord. Lesser masters have slain my betters for less."

Oooh. I liked her, confusing word choice aside. A deep rumbling laugh built in my stomach, echoing through the tunnel. "It was also the right choice. You might not believe this right now, but I'm not easily offended. In fact, I'd be more offended if you withheld useful information from me because you wanted to protect my sensibilities." I considered it for a bit. "You'll probably need some sign that I mean it. That punishment I promised you earlier? Gone. We're square."

Timidly, she asked, "Square, Sire?"

"Damnit. I mean we're even. No quarrel between us. We straight. No hay pedo, güey. I absolve thee of thine sins." Her blank stare caused me to laugh again and I waved a claw in the air. "The last few days have been one surprise after another, and your personality has been one of the nicer additions. So, far beneath my station, was it?"

"Yes. Basically, we are talking about clean-up duty for such as yourself. The inside of the mountain is often forcibly rearranged. Never-ending construction and warfare makes earth slides and the like a constant risk. A former digger of ours broke into what she believed to be an old, sealed-off chamber. It would have been a wonderful home for us, were it not for the flawed souls sealed inside to slowly decompose, bereft of their master."

"Flawed souls? Like, televangelists?  I’ll need a bit more than that, Aelis. " She just stared at me for a moment, confusion wafting off of her.

"Tele… no. They are vessels. Vessels that were killed which have had their souls forcibly reunited with them. A Soul Carver can do that. The only Soul Carver was chased out of the mountain years ago. Their presence suggests that his departure was hurried, or he would have brought his playthings.”

I almost laughed. "Wait. Vessels. So, bodies? We’re talking about the undead? How very standard. What are we talking? Vampires, skeletons, revenants?"

"What? No, Sire. I do not know these – apologize for my confusion. Please, let me center myself and explain it better. " She looked down for a while. "Yes, un-dead might be a suitable description. Creatures that should have been dead, their souls returned to Deyra. Instead, the soul is linked with the body, trapping a semblance of the knowledge of the erstwhile person. I do not know those other words, however. What is a revenant?"

"That's not revenant right now." Go Team Dad Humor! "I believe you were about to show me the nearest group of monsters?"

She shook her head, clearing the perplexed look off her face and led the way onwards. “Yes, Sire. After you have seen the dominant species of this area, we will return to the un-dead.” A short walk later, we had moved inside a tiny dead-end cave off the main tunnel. Aelis moved to a large rock near the wall and started pushing. Once she'd managed to push it slightly away from the wall, she knelt and then proceeded to push it entirely away. "See for yourself, Sire."

Curious, I stepped closer. Blazing light emanated from a tiny opening in the rock. I was forced to move slowly - whatever ability my eyes had to see normally inside a completely black tunnel was forced to work overtime in order to cope. Several moments later, I was able to see into the hole. My first thought was "Is this hell?" - definitely blaming overstimulation for that stupid thought. Some of the trademark touches were present, though. Pools of lava? Check. Haunting and disturbing shadows playing over the walls? Yup. Disturbing, huge figures playing around in the lava? Got those. I looked closer. "What are those?"

"We are not entirely certain. Not fire elementals - they are living, physical creatures and need to hunt and eat like the rest of us. They are very slow and should be easy targets - but we have been unable to cause any damage to them. Their damage, on the other hand, is horrendous. Once, a cousin of mine was caught by one of them. He lit up like a torch."

"My apologies, Aelis."

"I beg your pardon? Oh, no need, Sire. I never liked him."

This girl had issues. Shaking my head, I focused on the surroundings. Our viewpoint was placed up high and we were able to watch down into the large, open tableau. I gazed in fascination, watching the flames emanating from one of the lizard-like creatures lounging on the shores, next to the lava. Mentally, I named them Salamanders. Size was hard to judge from this distance, but they were definitely larger than my companion. "Are they intelligent?"

She shrugged. "We cannot communicate mentally like yourself, Sire, and they attack on sight. They are also very determined hunters, if unskilled. What is most important, however, is that they do not range far from their pools."

"Alright. I've seen enough. Thank you, Aelis." I rolled my shoulders - the day's exertions were finally making themselves known and I could feel that I did not need any additional puzzles right now. "How about we keep our tour short today and go clear a home for your kin? Oh, and I'd love to see your village first."

With the speed at which my spiky-haired companion complied, it seemed she couldn't believe her luck. In this world, this was probably not half-wrong - it was either eat or be eaten as a motive. Of course, my motives weren't pure either, rather my kernel of an idea was taking shape for what I hoped would be the betterment of those involved. I didn't think she'd object when we finally made it to that discussion. Our return trip was almost without incident. Only once did Aelis show a hint of hesitation, wavering between two different tunnels. We stayed there for a couple of minutes, until she felt certain to proceed, making no mention of the reason. Just like that, we made good time and soon reached the Talpi village.