Dragon Sorcerer 2- Epilogue (Patreon)

Epilogue-

Far to the north, lay the elven continent of Eredriss. The elven people were spread out as the primary race to occupy the continent. They were divided into districts of a sort rather than cities as humans and dwarves favored. Each district was the domain of an elder or greater dragon.

It wasn’t that the dragons ruled the elves, no matter what they might think. No elf would have to agree to that, but they respected the power of the apex predators and thus lived in their districts where they abided by whatever whims the great dragons had. As for lesser dragons, they were present of course. Not even a dragon is born with five hundred years of experience.

It was the dragons who were not strong enough to claim their own district yet who sought to supplant the one who ruled their district which caused the most problems. Elven communities had been known to come together to hunt down such beasts.

But now, Namis, was far from the interior of the continent. He had received word from his half-breed son. Many of his kind thought he had done the boy a disservice by letting him live, but while Namis knew that nature was cruel, he couldn’t be cruel to his son. He had cared for the boy and his human lover.

Now that investment was paying off. The call for more ships to explore what he learned from his son bore investigation. Could this be the rise of another dragon overlord? If so, it would fall to Namis and the other ship captains to determine if this Nico would be a friend or foe. He only had to wait for his boat to be loaded, and then he would sail with the morning tide.

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Far to the south, Emperor Ferdinand Castine was dealing with another dragon. “Why must you be so difficult, Sheraleigh?”

“What did I tell you to address me as, human?”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry Mistress Sheraleigh, Lady of the Sky.”

“When it’s just us, simply calling me Mistress will suffice. You have been a good little human, after all, providing me with delicacies and gold. Speaking of which, my bed of gold is starting to flatten. I think I need some more to fluff it up a bit.”

Ferdinand sighed. The empire was rich after a time of long prosperity since the overthrow of the previous dynasty, but Sheraleigh’s demands were staggering. He already had groups making continuous dungeon runs because it was actually faster to farm gold from dungeons than to mine and mint his own coins, not that he wasn’t doing that part too.

“Then why won’t you at least talk with any of the candidates that I’ve sent you? They are the most promising mages and warriors amongst all my imperial knights.”

“To me they are just humans with flat, squishy faces. How you can tell one another apart is hard for me to imagine. Now, I believe it’s time for my second breakfast.”

Ferdinand clenched his fists. “Yes, Mistress.”

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Meanwhile, in the sewers under the Imperial University on Urgoi Isle, a group of monsters gathered. Nan’sedoh, the oni mage led them and the others waited in silence. He would have very much liked to have some trolls or even a giant or two for this. Many of the human mages were powerful enough to cause problems.

But raw might wasn’t going to win the day. Nan’sedoh knew this called for stealth. So he was surrounded with dark elves who had given their souls to the mysteries of Beyond, were-rats, were-tigers, and even a pair of dark stalkers. The insidious cold which emanated from them was one which affected the mind as much as the body.

“Report, has there been any sign of the humans Nico or Cami?”

“They are not in their dorm rooms or any of the usual training places. They were both sequestered for the past few days but now seem to have disappeared,” one of the were-rats said.

Nan’sedoh hated such creatures, but the green-eyed mage had come and given him orders. No servant of Beyond would question one blessed with the green eyes. It was not for him to know why the Beyond wanted these two humans dead, but he was happy to be the instrument. They had been part of a group which had wrecked his return to the surface world.

“Very well, keep your eyes open. The enchantments I was given are enough to hold their scrutiny at bay for a few more days. We need to prepare our trap carefully, there can be no mistake. You know what happens to those who fail.”