.^^ Dragon Ring ^^

— Athenos —

I dodged the flailing dragon's paw, mostly on instinct, as my eyes were glued to the Giant Crystalline Apple Tree that had grown in front of James when his shielding talisman hadn't been up to holding back the dragon. It was designed to protect against magical attacks, not physical ones.

The new tree, however, has proven to be incredibly sturdy, as the dragon's tail was visibly broken, the heavy, bladed end flopping uselessly on the stout tail, while the tree had only lost some bark.

James's voice came from behind the tree, Muffled a bit. "I'm okay!"

I hid behind the tree before the dragon could attack again, and looked for James, then paused, looking at the tree. "Are you inside a tree? Really? Your first day as a Mage, and you find yourself inside a tree?" I sighed, and darted out of cover, throwing another fireball at the dragon's eyes, to make him close them.

James emerged from the tree like a mirage, and then grinned. "That was AWESOME!!!" The dragon snapped its blurred gaze to him, and he gulped. "Oh bloody hell..."

He ducked the swipe of the dragon's left claws, and grabbed the knife from his bag, running under the dragon.

I wanted to go after him, but logically I knew he would need me to distract the dragon from whatever her was doing, so I made more fireballs. A better battlemage could have likely done more damage, but I could at least pester the dragon.

A few copies of myself threw illusion magic at him in the shape of fireballs, which made him flinch, and only one in four was real, though as we switched places as he closed his eyes, it was hard to tell for him.

Soon enough, I heard a sound like metal grinding against crystal, and a giant icicle grew on the dragon's arm, in its armpit.

He shrieked in pain, and bit the area repeatedly, until the ice shattered. Then James appeared on top of his arm, and sliced again, with that same sound of metal on crystal.

The armband fell away in two halves, as the ice crystals grew in front of James, and allowed him to dodge the dragon's jaws a second time.

He grabbed the two halves of the artifact, and sprinted over to me. "He's all yours, Doc!" He laughed breathlessly, visibly shaking with an amalgamation of emotion, mostly terror and excitement, if his grin was any measure.

I hummed and nodded, eying the dragon, who had stopped for a second to lick his wounds, and sniff the place where the band had been. "Are you a bit more calm, now? I'm a doctor, here to help you, not fight you. This isn't in my job description, you know? I sew up cuts, not make them." I called to the dragon.

James translated, and I waited for the dragon's reply.

He snarled something, curling up into a disk, and snorted fire lazily at us.

"He's not letting you turn him back into a human." James shrugged.

"Well that just won't do, we've already accepted payment." I frowned.

"Technically I did, and I did what I said I would, to do my best to turn him back. I thought removing the armband would turn him back." He shrugged again.

Before I could answer, the dwarf reappeared, and hummed, nodding to James, and speaking in Dwarfish. I caught 'Debts Payed', and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he looked at me. "Is it at all possible to turn him back?" He asked, his accent making the words thick, but understandable.

"There's a few ways, sure. I have the original artifact, so I could reverse it, if I could get the magic through his scales. You know dragon's scales are mostly immune to magic." I shrugged.

"Stick your hand in his mouth." James suggested casually.

I slowly turned, in sync with the dwarf, and stared at him. "Are You fucking insane?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "The scales can't interfere if the magic starts inside his body, can they? That's why most myths about dragon's, they're killed with potions poured into their mouths, or poisoned food."

I hummed. "True, but I'd rather not get my hand bitten off."

"The Dwarf can hold his mouth open. Right? You can hold his mouth open?" He looked at the Dwarf.

He scratched his beard thoughtfully, and then nodded. "Aye, I think I could. Worth a try, at least."

I sighed and cracked my knuckles, taking the halves of the armband from James. "Alright. Let's see if this works." I pulled a few potion items out of my bag, and set the metal halves into a mortar, with the Ashe of an Elder Tree, for Control of Magic, and a pinch of salt from the Black Sea, for Earthly Power, and Litmus Moss, for magical stamina.

The metal melted immediately, and I stirred until it all turned silver, and cooled. Then I drank the concoction, shivering at the ghastly taste, and walked over to the dragon's mouth.

His father gripped both of his jaws, and braced them open with a roar, as I shoved my arm down his throat.

The magic of the armband was to turn the wearer into a dragon, but when I'd ingested it, I gained the ability to reverse those changes. I had to be careful not to turn him into a human, but back into a Dwarf.

The Elder Ashe helped with the control necessary, and thankfully he started shrinking, soon enough. I kept my arm in place, slowly pulling it out, until my hand was between his humanoid teeth, then I pulled away, and shook the dragon-spit off of my arm.

"How's the arm?" I asked professionally, and began giving him first aid for the two cuts and massive abrasion around his bicep. There was a small hole where his tailbone ended, and the end of his draconic tail sat a few feet away, having not come back. I applied an antiseptic, then some gauze, and finished his physical.

He burped up some fire, as I tended the last burn wound, (barely a red spot, because of his scales,) and then laughed. "Sorry about that. Thought I could handle it."

"Are his wounds fixed?" His father asked. As soon as I nodded, he gripped his son by the collarbone, bent him over his knee. and gave him the thrashing of his life, growling in Dwarfish.

Once he was finished, he dropped the boy, and dusted off his hands, snorting with a sense of finality. "You'll think twice, before stealing from your father and making a ruckus like this again! Oh hel~lo! What's this?" He'd caught sight of James's tree.

"I made it to protect myself, I think. I planted an Apple there, and it made this." James caught an apple that fell out of the tree before he touched it, and the tree shattered, falling into a pile on the ground.

The dwarf looked at the severed tail, and the crystal, and nodded. "I've got an idea, to repay you, if you'd like." He grabbed the tail, then collected the crystals into a sack, and whistled for his son. "BOY! We've work to do."

We followed and sat outside, watching through the thick windows of the trailer/forge. The inside was enchanted, bigger than it should have been, like most Dwarven dwellings.

The crystal was melted, into the same cauldron as the dragonscales, and then cooled with an icicle from Helheim. It was heated again to a rubber-consistency, then hammered down until it was no bigger than a finger, and then the real magic began.

Dwarves had a type of magic that no other race or species had ever matched, or recreated. It was raw, and elemental, as befitting their status as Descendants of Ymir, the Earth Itself. It was also the most powerful enchantment magic that existed, across any realm. The dwarves of Muspelheim would argue that theirs was better, just on principal, but the direct connection to Ymir's body, over several dozen millennia, had made the Midgardian Dwarves stronger than their kin, and there was no way to beat them in a battle of raw power.

I explained this carefully, in between the ringing crashes of the hammers the two dwarves swung. James listened with rapt attention, and when the magic began, he gasped, his eyes glowing softly.

I blinked, surprised, then hummed, thinking about his heritage. 'Perhaps... an Elf in the family? No, he's got red hair... a dwarf wouldn't mate with a human, so that's impossible... hmm... ah well. We'll see when his mother answers our questions.'

The ring of crystal shrank slowly, and then the dwarves added in the details, carefully working around each other like well-oiled machines. Gems were added, then filled with raw magic, which caught me by surprise. That magic would be just the same as their own. If used to make an enchanted item, it would be... formidable.

They cooled the ring again with the ice crystal, then picked up a glowing coal, shaped like a heart. It was obviously the heart of a dwarf, which was as incredible as it was confusing. Firstly, where did they get it, and secondly, why would they put its power into a ring? Not even my best relics came close to something like that.

The heart turned gray, and then to sand, covering the ring, and effectively quenching it almost all of the way. It was picked up in tongs, for the first time, and dropped into the blood that had been squeezed out of the tail, before it was all melted down.

The blood hissed, slowly evaporating, and when it was done, the ring sat at the bottom of the bowl, perfectly clean.

The older dwarf nodded, and picked it up and carrying it out to us, leaving his son to shut down the forge.

He walked entirely past me, and handed the ring to James. "A ring for a Coin?" He asked. James easily handed him the coin, and he nodded. "Perfect. And now to pay the doctor!" He handed me the golden coin, grinning.

I laughed softly, and bowed, taking the coin. "It was a pleasure, sir. Very informative." I hummed, looking at James as he gawked at the ring, which looked more like silver than crystal.

He nodded. "It was my pleasure, actually. Been a while since I forged something. Figured I'd open all the stops. And a young Mage like him, with as many enemies as you have? He'll need some extra stopping power, if you know what I mean."

I nodded. "I do, yes. Any users guide for it?"

"It's pretty comprehensive, I think. Doesn't do anything except store magic, and protect its user from physical and magical attacks of all kinds. If it runs out of magic, it needs a charge. If it has enough, you can pull from the pool, so to speak, and use that for Enchantments or Spells. Simple enough a child could do it." He grinned, and wandered back into his trailer, which promptly disappeared into thin air.

James yelped, falling on his ass, and I helped him up. "Well, you got a pretty handy talisman, there! Much better than that cruddy beginner's protection talisman I gave you." I admitted easily.

"Where-... wow!" He laughed incredulously, and dusted himself off, slipping the ring on. "That was awesome! Are most of your house-calls this exciting?!?" He asked breathlessly.

"No, not even close. There's usually less dragons, and more poisoning's or magical wounds and sicknesses, to be honest. That's my specialty." I cracked my back, and led him back to the car.

She cranked up like a beauty, and I started the drive back to the house.

"Hey, is it possible for me to go into my bag?" He asked suddenly.

"No. Your Familiar can hide in there, because he doesn't need air, but you do. Keeping the door open to let in fresh air would be extremely tiring, and no one could manage it for very long. An hour, tops." I shook my head.

"What if I had an air purifier in there, and I could make clean air?" He asked.

"Then you'd also have to build a floor, in a zero gravity area, and a whole building, and so on and so forth." I hummed, thinking the problem through.

"But if I managed all of that, I could do it? Carry around my own house?" He grinned.

"I guess... but if the bag was stolen or destroyed, while you were in there, you'd be dead. " I explained.

"Alright, that does make sense... what about the trap door of your house? Isn't that like the Bag?" He asked.

"No. The trap door is a portal to an actual location, in Athens. It's very different." I shook my head firmly.

"Oooooh... Alright. What about, like, a portal inside my bag? I could hold my breath, then go through." He hypothesized.

"That's probably a good plan." I nodded. "Any thoughts?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'll make a portal to the Library, and another to my house in England, and that way I didn't have to take a plane, to get back every summer." He said casually.

I blinked, and glanced into the mirror. "Every summer? You want to spend every summer with me?"

"Don't you want me to? I mean, I guess having a kid in your house could get old, pretty quick, but-"

"NO!" I cleared my throat and controlled my voice. "No, that's awesome! I'd be totally game for that plan! Yeah, your mother might allow that. Sounds like a Plan, man!" I grinned into the mirror, and made my way onto the southern interstate.

He smiled, and opened his mother's book, struggling his way through with the help of a scientific dictionary I handed back casually, keeping my eyes on the road.

The ride was longer, this time around, as I circled around to the south side, showing him Miami Beach. "We'll come here on a weekday, when it's a bit less crowded. It's the beginning of summer, so all the crazies are out. Fucking Tourists." I spat the curse, and drove us back to my house.

"You really hate tourists, huh?" He asked as we climbed out.

"Yes. They're the bane of my existence, ask any Floridian. I was born in Okeechobee, and left when I was twelve, but the hatred of tourists stuck." I shrugged.

"Brits feel the same about Americans who visit England." He said casually.

I nodded, laughing. "The hatred is definitely valid on both sides." I unlocked the front door, and pulled it open, then paused in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"I don't know. Mostly instincts. They've kept me alive as long as they have, I've learned to trust them." I hummed.

He nodded and took a few steps back, down the stairs, and leaned against the car. "Well, I'll be here, until you figure it out."

I looked down, and froze.

"You figures it out that quick?" He chuckled.

"Someone opened the Trap door." I answered.

"That is Bad, yes?"

"Nigh-impossible, and very dangerous." I agreed.

"Alright. Well, do we have magical cops to call about a breaking and entering?" He asked.

"Something similar, I guess." I closed the door slowly, and started walking towards the sanctuary, pulling him next to me protectively. I let him walk on his own, but my hand didn't leave his shoulder until the door to the sanctuary opened.

I let him in, then closed and locked the door. "Alright then. Let's go find an Ogre." I sighed, and started walking.

"What would an Ogre do?" He asked as we wandered.

"My bigger cousins are some of the best trackers in all the realms, for one, and very hard to kill, for another point." Perceval poked his head out of James's bag.

"Exactly. Also, they're the peacekeepers for the realm of Midgard. Lots of their legends paint them as savages or villains, but most of them are remarkably calm and even kind. Ah, here's one I know." I hailed one of my old patients, and he grinned, walking over to envelop me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Athenos! How are you?" He asked after he'd set me down.

I cracked my back slowly. "A little better, now... listen, Garçon, someone broke into my house and opened my Trap Door, the one that leads to my house in Greece. The Ancestral Plot. I don't want to tangle with something that can do that, so I came to find you."

He blinked, then nodded. "I'll see to it that the culprit is found and brought to you for punishment."

"Much obliged, my friend." I breathed a sigh of relief, and handed him a sack of bones from my bag. "For the road. A gift." I said.

He grinned and accepted the bag, then jogged away, gathering a hunting party, and exiting the sanctuary.

"I kinda hoped we'd fight whatever it was ourselves." James hummed.

"I don't want you to think we're powerful enough to do that. Don't make the mistake of thinking yourself powerful. There are beings, just in this room alone, that could smite us from existence, if they felt like it. Thankfully, they don't, at the moment. Mages are around the middle of the totem pole of power. Not at the bottom, not even close, but we're not at the top." I shook my head.

"Where are dragons?" He asked.

I hummed. "About the same, honestly. Dwarves are much higher, and dragon's that were once dwarves are about a few ticks above us. Without a dwarf to help us, or a magic blade, we'd be toast right about now."

He nodded. "So artifacts and magical knowledge can conquer most things on the totem pole?"

"Yes. That is true." I nodded. "But only if you know exactly what you're fighting. Without that knowledge, no artifact is powerful enough to guarantee your safety."

He nodded. "I understand, I think. Now where should we sleep? It's getting late, and I'm hungry."