The Dragon of Roads

Like thieves in the night, my riccen operatives descended into the city. Dawn is a few hours away, and these are riccen we are talking about here, so there isn't much need for a simile. Either way, they had their orders and assigned areas. Valuables of any sort and children were their primary concerns, for I did not want any of that destroyed in my upcoming rampage. Also, for things that could not easily be stolen, such as murals or statues, they would mark locations with specially enchanted objects that would act as beacons to my flight. We would avoid destroying those buildings so that we could take the good stuff, and by we, I mean me; my children don't have the right Abilities to steal a building.

I had devised a fairly simple plan for deconstruction. I would start on the outside and unmake everything in a giant circle around the city, typically right where the city wall is located. Then, after appropriating all the buildings and large structures of art that I wanted, I would unmake the dirt, sewers, and underground passageways as I spiraled my way in. The buildings, so undermined by my efforts, would naturally collapse, which metaphysically changes them from buildings to rubble, which makes it easier and cheaper for me to suck everything up into pocket dimensions.

Naturally, I have already diverted the river and other sources of water from flowing into the city, in part to influence people to leave, and for the practicality of not wanting to wade through mud during my final push to destroy the city. The survivors would find themselves herded into the center, which would be the district that held the palace and their largest cathedrals and temples. The goal would be to secure the king, high priest, and a certain general into one location, but if other bigwigs ended up there too, so much the better.

As dawn arrived, various teams of my loyal operatives confirmed that their areas of responsibility had been cleared. The city, now primed for my assault, stood relatively defenseless, with only a few stubborn holdouts of resistance to contest my Control over the area. [Nobles], and certainly, [Kings] exert Control (as most Blessings and cultures call it) over an area, which roughly correlates with an overlapping area of civilization. With the populace largely gone or disaffected with their former leadership, the Control over the area encompasses a very small region, namely, the district of the palace and temples.

As such, deconstructing the buildings there will be difficult and costly until the [Nobles] and the [King] are dead. While I am not and cannot be a [Noble], I still am capable of Control, even if I cannot create civilization. That is how my own [Nobles] are subordinate to me and cannot lay claim to my domain. Beyond that, Authority is another matter, which is basically how strong of a right I have to justify my actions. Authority is why a pretext for war is important beyond political reasons. Since the Theocracy of Ulsfarh was complicit in an act of war against me, and indeed, lost the confidence of the populace and the territory where people used to live, the [King] has very little Authority left to contest me. I have the gods, the people, and legitimate grievances on my side, so this final confrontation will be one-sided, as most of the benefits of being a [King] will be moot for their leadership.

Wordlessly, I rise from where I had been lounging on my viewing platform in my draconic form. My children also rise to follow me, and together, we take wing. Nanu and Iresdora are tasked to retrieve large caches of wealth, documents, art, and other such valuables, as well as to undergo preliminary efforts to isolate the larger works of art and culture so that I may more easily swoop in to scoop it up. Tamadora and Kaisadoro are to let loose. They should cause havoc and a suitable distraction that will keep pesky interlopers out of my way. It isn't that anyone in the city is a threat, but dealing with them while I go about my business will be irritating.

And, as dragons, we naturally let out fearsome roars to cause the trousers of our enemies to spontaneously become soaked with urine, which may or may not have anything to do with full bladders and the primal fear that a dragon's roar seems to invoke in people. If that didn't do it, then watching Tamadora body drop and elbow slam a building might tip people over the edge. I know, you probably think that would hurt, but the way magic works, there is a massive difference between being the one to initiate smashing into a building and being thrown into one by an enemy. Because she initiated it, all her various Abilities that could be relevant to mitigating damage to her person work as intended.

Meanwhile, I fly a circle 'round the outside. Verily, I fly 'round the outside. I am sure people would tell a friend about my actions, for the wall, now an unattended object instead of part of the city because Control over it is lost, seemingly disappears. A black circle looms over it, with my Abilities sucking the wall up and into the opening of the pocket dimension. I do need to fly at a leisurely pace to accommodate this process, but within two hours and two loops, I have dug deep enough to be at the level of the deepest reaches of the city. Naturally, I have created retaining walls of obsidicrete in my wake to ensure that the outer earth does not collapse on me.

The ground quakes and the sky trembles as my King and Queen cut loose. I hear plenty of roars, and as my whelps observe for me, Kaisadoro is surprisingly into wanton destruction. Perhaps he and I could have more bonding time later by following up on a hobby of mine. I do love to build strange castles, towers, and temples out in the wilderness and then smash them in such a way as to make "ancient ruins", complete with loot I hide away there. Adventurers love it when I have quests made to go check them out and bring back the loot. Perchance Kaisadoro would like to help with the smashing part of that and perhaps use the "inside information" about these ruins as political favors.

Come to think of it, maybe I could start a mimic farm that way. Mimics are some hybrid of beast and monster, and since my ruins have plenty of treasure chests, the mimics would naturally be attracted to them. I don't know how someone ever figured it out, but if you take the bones of powerful dead [Mage], grind them up, refine it until all the inherent magical power of the resulting sand is condensed into a few grains, and deposit it into the guts of a mimic, the mimic will eventually turn it into a pearl that can be used as a powerful catalyst for a staff or other magical tool. [Mimic Tender] is a very rare Blessing, usually the result of a Dual Blessing, and so making this feasible could be tricky, as it is a dangerous and coveted profession. Perhaps that can be the next side hustle I have Kaisadoro work on for me.

Anyway, as I got distracted about mimic farms, I had finished gobbling up the bulk of the city by midafternoon. All that remained was the palace and temples. My scouts and whelps have gathered intel that suggests with a high level of confidence that my targets have congregated in the cathedral. Without any further ado, I made my way there.

I did not use the front door, but rather, I burst through a big window on the side of the cathedral. Well, the wall too, as even a large window is not enough to accommodate my bulk. My targets conveniently stood in an area near a pulpit, and they immediately began to get pissy about all manner of topics.

"How dare you invade my lands! I am King-"

"You dare desecrate this holy church of-"

"You dare face the might of the-"

"I don't care," I replied as I cut them off in the middle of their pre-fight banter. Secretly, I was a little giddy, because I got three variants of "you dare" out of them, which always makes me feel good about the choices I make to shape my interactions with people.

With no more wasted effort, I opened my mouth and let forth a breath attack of acid. This particular blend was designed to get rid of the pesky organic bits but leave the bones behind. Now, they did try to defend themselves through one means or another, and indeed, so did all the pawns in the room. In truth, while I had recently picked a primary breath attack at the detriment of all others, one has to consider that I am a very powerful Emperor dragon in an enclosed space. There simply isn't anywhere to dodge, and with this being a battle between rulers, Authority plays a big part in how well magic works. Since all the cards are in my favor, the results are entirely one-sided.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

From my point of view, this was never really meant to be the final confrontation between good and evil, or whatever it is that the bards will sing. I was simply exterminating the vermin that lingered in my territory. I saw no reason to extend honor to the honorless, or mercy to the merciless. Such efforts are a waste at best and a detriment at worst, much like throwing pearls before swine.

While parts of the floor still bubbled, all that remained of the last defenders was their bones, which I collected before I started looting the place before I would commence my plans to tear it all down.

By dawn the next day, all that remained of the city was a large patch of dirt in the rough shape of where it had been.

My world had become screams of rage and despair, of unfulfilled ambition and dismay, of a wound that may never heal and a remedy that could never be taken. That, and a rhythmic squelching sound of Serideth plunging her butterfly knife into the corpse of Lord Kraul over and over. It was a sad and futile effort to reclaim that illusion of control over her life once again, for the lord had died before her blade ever reached him.

I don't fully understand how it had happened, and neither does Relarina. As the oldest of us, I should try my best to comfort my "sister", as we now call each other, even though no amount of comfort can fix this.

It had started out exactly as Serideth had envisioned it when she fantasized about it. Many times, she had told us how she wanted to end things with her former captor and master, how she would confront him head on and kill him while delivering some sick one-liners. We had made our way to Berkerin, infiltrated Lord Kraul's secret chambers beneath the city, and trapped him within a room where he had conducted profane rituals on the unwilling. The room was spacious, ideal for a fight, but the dead typically cannot put up any resistance. Lord Kraul proved not to be an exception.

As we had entered, the room went dark as a spotlight illuminated Serideth while Relarina and I lingered in the Nether, as we call it. With menace and righteous wrath, Serideth delivered her opening line with conviction and clarity.

"Kraul, you heartless bastard; I have come to rid the world of your filth once and for all!"

Following that, a spotlight appeared before Kraul. I got the impression that the spotlight missed, for Kraul looked irritated as he stepped into it. And while he delivered his monologue rebuttal, the spotlight slowly started to drift forward and to the left. He looked rather ridiculous as he had to repeatedly shimmy to stay in the center, but it would have subtracted from the mood to call him out on it.

That was when I heard a loud snapping sound, like one of rope under too much strain, followed almost immediately by a surprised and fearful yelp that sounded suspiciously like a kobold. I could not react in time, but as I turned my gaze upward, I saw the source of light rapidly approaching the man under it. Indeed, he had been standing directly under the powerful illuminator that now fell freely.

Lord Kraul had only just started to turn his head up to discern what was happening when the illuminator crashed into him. Such a heavy thing, from such a height, crushed his skull and slammed his body into the floor, breaking it further as the illuminator bounced off him and landed to the side.

In its wake, a screaming kobold descended as well, but a safety harness arrested his descent before he too would meet the floor at inadvisable speeds. Some elasticity in the line bounced him up and down, and though I could not clearly see him, I could hear how the location of his voice changed up and down rather rhythmically.

A moment later, the lights in the room returned, and as I looked up, I witnessed a number of sheepish looking kobolds that hid their faces or assumed stances appropriate for groveling and sniveling.

That was when Serideth started shrieking and ran to the fallen Kraul. Relarina and I found our legs move unbidden to keep pace, for our actions could not deviate greatly from Serideth's. Her emotions were too strong, her conviction too insurmountable, that we could do nothing more than be swept up in her storm of negativity as she lashed out at his body for any scraps of closure. Tears and snot streamed down our faces as blubbering words of dismay exited Serideth's mouth. I had no answers for her questions, not that she was in a state to listen.

Time passed in a blur, and what had been Lord Kraul was now a lump of broken mincemeat. The kobolds slowly descended from their perch in the rafters and slinked out of the room with their equipment, the leader of the troupe staring daggers at the one that bungled the lighting. That left Relarina and I to somehow try to handle the mess that was Serideth, for her moment of closure had ended in catastrophe.

I admit that I have not been the most empathetic of women. Years of loss and trauma had broken and reshaped me into someone that finds distraction in the arms of various lovers. I had fought and fucked my way through the pain, and through it, quickly learned to reserve my emotions only for those who deserved them. And here, now, with Serideth's history intimately revealed to me through our connection, I knew that she had suffered far more than I could have imagined. She somehow endured things that would surely break me, and I, Blythnin, who had attained Platinum, had endured hardships that had seemed enough to topple mountains.

I could not fathom how Serideth did not go completely insane during the decade that she had been a mind slave. I do not know how she resisted the influence that had sought to usurp her identity. And now, the final piece to moving past that had broken before she could use it, and with that, all those memories cascaded back over her in a torrent. Relarina and I were not spared reliving those nightmares, for we were all so closely bonded now as to be one.

I thought myself strong, but I could not weather the storm. It crashed upon me, and I started to break. I don't know what inspired me, but rather than trying to save myself, I gathered every last fiber of my being to comfort Serideth. Relarina too made the same effort, and together, we manifested as ghosts and knelt beside Serideth, wrapping her in our arms to simply exist with her, to witness her, and to let our presence make it known that she was not alone or abandoned.

And somehow, after her final tear dropped onto the corpse that deserved none, we came out of that moment stronger than ever. Serideth, now Platinum, wiped off her face and stood, and together, we wordlessly strode out of that room, never to talk about it ever again.

In The Void, a demigod watched as Serideth left that room.

"Sorry, kiddo. It had to be this way."

Sanagba Imuru, He-Who-Saw-The-Abyss, offered up an apology heard by none.

He had made himself comfortable, with a realm of quasi-reality imposed upon The Void to create a pseudo-Domain for him to reside in. While it was no Abyss, The Void provided him with insights and opportunities that the Abysses of other universes simply could not. Not that he intended to change his Portfolio to to include Void instead of Abyss, but the similarities between them were becoming enough that he could consider the Void an Abyss unless there happened to be a demigod of Voids in the same universe, which was a highly unlikely scenario.

"Just a few more strings to pull before that tower should appear. I really am ahead of schedule, but the sooner I get this done with, the sooner I can get back to other things. This universe isn't really to my taste anyway."

No one was around to hear him, but it didn't matter. Talking to himself was a normal thing, especially considering how his Divine Host, his mortal adherents that normally followed him from one universe to another, were restricted from keeping him company. Were I in his shoes, I would probably likewise try to rush things along without violating my contract.

The Void, being a timeless place, offered glimpses into possible futures. He took a moment to gaze upon such mysteries, and he found himself pleasantly delighted at the spoilers that awaited him.

"Ooh, that is a surprise twist! I wonder how that will work out for Big E and his flight. Not to mention how Her flight will handle that… change in leadership. Is that even allowed? Let me check The Rules."

Sanagba Imuru, He-Who-Saw-The-Abyss, popped open an impossibly large book and flitted through its pages as he sought to divine the mysteries of rules that cascaded upon one another as one plane of existence usurped another.

"Hmm, well, it doesn't say She can't do it, but how would that even work? It seems that it has been unsuccessfully attempted in the past, so what is She doing differently that makes it work this time?"

Intrigued by this mystery, he delved deeper into it. Since he had looked at such a future, he was held somewhat responsible for it. If he had a part to play in it panning out, he would need to take the appropriate measures to ensure it.

"Maybe this universe isn't so dull after all."