.^^ EmberFang's Human Form ^^

— Dashiva —

The Cliffs were a monument, in a way, to an era long past. The idea of Passing Time, really. What had originally been the tallest mountain in the world had been halved, and flattened, then cut in half width-wise, and now was being slowly hollowed out, into a Crescent Moon.

The Cliffs themselves were made of a bright and luminescent Virgin Marble, generously Mixed with veins of a specific variety of iron, a black metallic color in its raw Ore form, and white-silver when smelted to be free of impurities.

Off to the eastern side of the Valley created by the crescent Cliff was the Smithy, a massive collection of smelters and kilns, where the metal was rendered out and sent off to the Islands, and the marble was baked into slabs, cubes, and then cut down into custom dimensions, for specific projects.

The White Iron was unworked, and relatively useless, in its current form, but I didn't actually know where it went, after it was rendered out here... It was a humungous structure, anyway, that seemed totally quiet. Until of course, with a gargantuan heave, and a roar that shook the heavens, a giant Red Dragon smashed through one of the walls, revealing a cave system that had apparently been his home.

It didn't leap off the edge, instead perching and breathing fire around it as a warning. I recognized the behavior, from my studies of dragon's, to be a simple display of dominance. The fire was only able to reach about a hundred feet, the size of the dragon itself, so no one was harmed. The workers were already out of the area, so there was no one to be crushed by the falling stone.

"CEASE YOUR HAMMERING AND CLAWING AND TAKING OF THE ROCK I CALL HOME, TINY HUMANS!!! I ALLOWED THIS MUCH AS A FAVOR TO YOUR MASTER, BUT NOW YOU GO TOO FAR!!!" The dragon's voice screeched in common, easily understandable.

Rune raised an eyebrow, and began walking forward, his arms spread companionably. "BRIARFANG, SO GOOD TO SEE YOU! I THOUGHT YOUR TERRITORY WAS FIFTY MILES SOUTH OF HERE? THE BAKED PLAINS, NO?" His voice took on a deep vibrato, almost quaking in the air after it was spoken, just like the dragon's.

The dragon looked down at him, surprised, and hummed deeply. "Cursed One... you speak my mother's name, not my own... I, EmberFang, have resided here for just over a century, sustaining myself upon the lava flow that boils beneath this mountain... have you come to kill me, Cursed One?" He seemed casually curious, not concerned, which was worrisome, but the fact that he knew Rune was even more of a surprise.

"Not at all, my friend! Not unless you need killing, and even then... eh." Rune shrugged, and laughed in a carefree manner, and sat on one of the boulders.

The dragon hummed again, and crawled down the side of the cliffs, -his caves being only about five hundred feet up,- then stalked towards Rune carefully. His wings, now I saw them, were feeble, thin, with holes in the edges, like moth-eaten tapestries. Clearly he would not be capable of flight. I made a note of that.

"So you do not come to kill, but to talk? My mother says you talk too much." He grumbled.

"And She's probably right." Rune shrugged, and then drank some water. "Either way, I'd like to talk... how far do your caves stretch, in that mountain? And what was your agreement with the foreman, a hundred years ago?"

The dragon reached him, and hummed again, this time muttering some arcane words, making me clench my fists, until the spell completed, and his form blurred, shrinking into a tall, humanoid male form, with shocking red and gold hair, matching eyes, and even golden robes, but with the red gem I'd seen on his chest still present, resting in the hollow of his throat.

Rune clapped softly. "Bravo... Your mother didn't manage that until her third century, I believe she told me that once. Impressive."

The dragon-man grinned, and sat on another rock, oddly situating himself like a dragon, at first, then seeing his ridiculous he looked, and sitting like Rune. "I am something of a prodigy, yes... my caves are not far upward, that visible one is the furthest skyward, but they dip down into the lowest portions, where the Magma that I sustain myself upon flows."

Rune nodded. "Yes, I see... And your bargain with the foreman, a hundred years ago? Word for word?"

EmberFang nodded. "Yes... I was to be given the easternmost portion of the mountain, while the rest was quarried away, and in return I would eat the goblins when they attempted to raid."

"And have you renewed those terms with the newer Foreman's? Remember how short human lives are." Rune nodded.

The dragon tilted his head, and then a long-suffering sigh emanated from his chest. "How folly of me... to forget the oh-so fleeting existence of humans... you! Foreman! My name is EmberFang, and I present to your attention a Contract!" He took his draconic form once again, and settled himself like a giant cat, tail swishing behind him, and his head but twenty feet from where the foreman and I stood.

I cleared my throat. "As a representative of the council that owns this quarry, I believe I can be of much more use to you, in creating a lasting working relationship, Sir Dragon."

He completely ignored me, still looking between us.

"Dragon's can't hear you unless you speak with a timber, Dashiva. They don't have ears." Rune smirked, then spoke in that bassy, booming voice again. "The small Elf is a representative of the Master's of this Quarry, and can offer more lasting terms than the Foreman."

The dragon turned its head towards me. "Mm, good... I seek only a renewal of my previous agreement. I wish my mountain left alone, while your people strip the land of the stone around the mountain all you like, and I will scare away the Goblins and Foxlights and Weizenbeast's... understood?"

I breathed deeply, and then looked at the foreman. "There's rock to be mined around the cliffs, right?"

He nodded slowly, still staring at the dragon's giant teeth, twenty feet away.

"Then we accept your gracious offer, Dragon." I nodded.

He cocked his head. "I believe the elf is speaking, but not loud enough..."

"She agreed to your terms, EmberFang. The crescent cliff will not be quarried, beyond being halved in height, and the area around it. In return, you will deal with incursions. A deal has been struck?" He pricked the palm of his hand, and held it out.

The dragon muttered that same arcane enchantment, turning human, and then pricked his own palm, with some difficulty. Even as a human, he had very tough hide, which was good to remember. They clasped hands, and a red chain appeared around their palms, then the foreman yelled, as his own hand was branded, in the shape of the chains, as were all the miners, one after the other.

"A deal struck, then. Good day to you all." The dragon leapt upward, impossibly high, and returned to his normal form, slinking into the caves and curling up in the entrance, a soft trail of smoke rising from his nose as he apparently went to sleep.

"Well! You've gained a rather large watchdog! And I managed to allow you to take the top half of the cliffs, but you have to leave the bottom half. Easy enough, yeah? Don't fuck with the deal, by the way, and attempt to hurt him. Firstly, he's more than you can handle, and secondly, the chains you've been branded with are Blood Magic, and will kill you if you even attempt to break the deal. So maybe don't." He shrugged casually.

The foreman bowed his head. "Thank you, sir, for your assistance..."

"Oh shut your ugly face, I didn't do it for you. I hate what you do here, and I find you a disgusting and egregious waste of human flesh, Whip-Cracker." Rune sneered at him, and made his way back over to the group.

"Harsh." Yeshiva hummed.

"You think that whip is for show?" Rune asked darkly, and walked past as I found my way to the group. "Let's get going, the issue is resolved. I would like to flesh out that new village a bit more before we go."

We turned to follow, and I saw Duncan staring at the quarry, and at the prisoners who were already being put back to work, with a hint of anger in his face. He shook it off, and followed, keeping his eyes downward.

"Ah! Actually, one last thing, Lord Raava, if you could... we wondered if you could just move the dirt out of the way, around the mountain, so we can get right to work on the Stones?" The Foreman asked, grinning shamelessly.

Raava sighed. "That was what I was sent here for, most likely... fine. Get them all out of my way." He grumbled, and stepped down the wooden stairs, into the quarry.

Rune glanced back, and frowned, disappearing into the trees, along with Duncan and Yeshiva, who hadn't noticed that we weren't with him, yet.

I sighed, and sat on the edge of the cliff, looking down into the quarry, a valley with a massive crescent moon of Virgin Marble on one side, and a small silver granite cliff, on the other, where I currently sat, watching Raava roll and compress all the dirt into several large marble spheres, which he left in place.

That done, he leveled the ground, and dug out the beginnings of a strip mine, his OCD driving him to do more than he'd been asked to do. The Foreman wandered off, and began his work, getting the prisoners working on the upper Rings, and the font of boulders that Raava was tossing out of the hole he was digging. The giant marble spheres were rolled away, and loaded into a transport, while the rest of the marble was cut and set into kilns, to be baked into perfect slabs and cubes, as usual.

I whistled to Raava, after a few more minutes, and waved him back towards the forest. He looked up, and then at the work he'd done, and nodded, following me into the tree-line.

Rune was staring down at us, his eyes bright silver and shining eerily, lounging faux-casually in the trees about sixty feet above us, when we stepped into the trees. He didn't say anything, just stood, and lead Duncan and Yeshiva away, leaving us scrambling to follow.

Catching up was difficult, as they were in a higher section than us, but I managed to eventually lead us up a branch that led between the two layers, and from there it was simply our speed versus theirs. Raava immediately began to regret his choice of plate armor, and grumbled under his breath about never refusing magic light-armor ever again.

When we reached the temple, Raava, Duncan, Yeshiva, and Rune went off to work more on the new Village, leaving me in front of the Lonely Greenwood. I sighed, and sat down on the bank of the river, washing my face.

"You look curiously sad." The Ursine didn't bother announcing her presence, and didn't react to my reflexive rearing back.

I sighed. "None of your business."

"You're washing your face in my river, so..." she smirked mischievously.

"Fine... It's nothing really... I just hate being proved wrong. I hate telling people that they're right. I hate them knowing it, even if I don't say it." I shrugged.

"Your emotions aren't those of anger, just... tired, and sad." She cocked her head.

I chuckled. "Yeah... tired and sad, that's pretty accurate... I've been defending my People for so long, but when I'm confronted with the things we do, it hits me in the gut, the fact that I'm fighting for people who would never fight for me. People who would rather me die in this place, than return successful, because then they'd have to pay me. I find myself sometimes, acting like that, like money is all that matters, and- what am I doing!? Spilling my guts to a fucking water-Spirit! God's!" I laughed at the absurdity, and shook my head.

She smiled. "True, I'm not the best confidant. I've much too big of a mouth. So here's a piece of advice for free: if you think whoever you fight for would never fight for you? Don't fight for them. Easy as can be."

I scoffed gently. "Easy for you to say. You're immortal, you don't need money to survive, or allies."

She cocked her head again. "You think Ursine's don't have families, and society? I myself have several children, several siblings, parents and grandparents, there's an Elder Council, in the Elemental Plane... we are an old, proud people, and trust me when I say, I understand the concept of wanting your society to welcome you. The pain of being Ostracized."

I blinked. "I sort of thought of you all as more Nomads... what caused you to be Ostracized, if it isn't too much to ask?" I asked gently.

"When I adopted Rune as my Son, and taught him Elemental Magic, There was near a riot, with several of my Kin disowning me, the Elder Council voting to end my existence... how do you think I came to possess almost all the rivers of this continent? When most Ursine possess only as much water as they can control, how do you think I am capable of controlling an entire network of 4000 Square Miles of Rivers and marshes and lakes?" She asked, sitting on the bank.

"Uhm... how?" I blinked slowly.

"Simple, really: I ate the others." She grinned, showing shark's teeth.

I gulped slowly. "Oh... I see."

"It began with just the area around the temple, when they came to kill Rune, one day. I went into a rage, and tasted, for the first time, the flesh of another Ursine in their prime. With each kill, I became stronger, and spread my domain. I began sectioning off my power, wanting to not become an Elder Elemental Just yet, as that would mean I would be banished to the Elemental Plane... but my Castoff's continued, growing and sectioning, defeating my enemies without my direct influence, which left me free to raise Rune, along with Faranza, Gethod, and the Construct." She trailed her hand through the water, and an illusion built itself, making the water look like blood for a moment.

I looked at my hands, and nearly puked at the sight of the blood spread over my hands, and, logically, my face.

She sighed, and the illusion faded. "Yes, quite distasteful, isn't it? I severed my connection to the others, giving them their free will, and after a few years of border disputes, it's all back to calm, here... and I have many, many children, now, where before I only had one... but he's a good boy, even if he's very cynical, and sometimes very rude. His heart is in the right place, though."

I hummed. "So, Wait... Your children are just pieces of you that you've severed connections to? And they cover the entire continent?"

She nodded. "Yes?"

"And you, the original, have everything here in the Temple's river?" I clarified.

She smiled. "Well, everything within six miles or so, yes... I'm still a very powerful Ursine. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just blown away, honestly... so, wait, are you a fully-fledged Cannibal, or is it just some sort of Assimilating as you get more powerful than them?" I asked.

"Assimilation is a good Word for it... our consciousnesses Go to the Elemental Plane when we are destroyed, or when we reach Elder Status, in which case we go with all our power, as well. When I decide to go, I will take the power of an entire Continent with me, equal to the power of a large Ocean... I imagine I'll be something of a celebrity... or hunted until I die. Who knows?" She laughed casually.

I chuckled. "And Rune? Is he... guaranteed that Afterlife?"

She nodded. "As my adopted, I gave him a portion of my essence, so... perhaps. He is technically an Elemental. When he dies, his Dwarven God of Luck will decide, I suppose."

The water was cold, as I trailed a hand through it. "And what does that entail? Giving him a portion of your essence? Is he bound to your service, or...?"

"No, nothing like that. I gave him a gift of power, and he can use it as he wishes, until his death. When his soul transfers into another body, as a part of his reincarnation, my blessing is there, but I may remove it, if I am close enough, and I deem his new self unworthy... why? Are you wondering what powers it gives him? If it would be worth buttering me up?" She grinned again, laughing at my flustered face.

"Only a bit." I admitted.

She chuckled, and looked into the water. "My Power simply gives you a control of Water Magic, nothing more. Powerful Magic in the right hands, yes, but that all it is."

I smirked. "Says the creature who controls a continent with 'just' water magic."

"I suppose I am a bit too modest, sometimes... but only sometimes." She leaned closer, and kissed my cheek. "Now do go stop your apprentice from getting himself killed. He seems to be inspecting the Beanstalks." She sighed.

On cue, Yeshiva screamed, hanging upside down from a swinging tendril, and I sighed deeply. "When will his dignity match his Gift?"

"Probably never. That is the nature of Balance, after all." Ophelia shrugged, and disappeared into the river, which glowed briefly, then settled down, as I turned to deal with the new threat of the beanstalks.