The cave was warm tonight. Jaq needed air, and to escape the heat of his cave. He walked from his cave into the main corridor, and then into the massive main chamber that had been empty of life for hundreds of years, aside from a few truly devoted. Currently, he was the only one. After 20 years of trying to find the right people that could be as devoted as himself, he had only found one, and she was very far away right now.


    In the center of the main chamber was a gigantic statue of a dragon, Emberon by name. Emberon had started the group that was now his calling. In Emberon''s days there were more than a thousand, and they had three such caves. One man and one woman were not enough to maintain three, so, for now, this was the only Ministry of the Dragon temple. Jaq chuckled to himself. He knew that there were only a handful of people in all the world who even knew there used to be a Ministry of the Dragon, much less that one was still inhabited.


    Those who worked in the Ministry used to have many different jobs in keeping peace between humans and dragons, but now, there were just two Keepers. No administration, no diplomats, just those who would interface between dragons and humans and fight battles with humankind so that dragons did not have to, lest they be accused of dominating humans and have them revolt against them. Dragons preferred peace, but they could fight and were very good at it.


    Jaq chuckled again. That''s what happened anyway, dragons and humans fought, and the dragons all but won when they all disappeared. Well, he knew they didn''t disappear. He knew they were still there, but most people in the current age consider dragons a myth, something of legend and story rather than something that was real. Dragons sacrificed their freedom and sense of self so that humans could live. Those were the amazing creatures that Jaq served.


    Of course, he had never seen one in all his life, but he had always believed. When he was just sixteen, the old man had brought him in. Taught him everything willingly but made sure that Jaq was true to the cause before giving him the dragon''s blood infusion. The old man had to be sure, as there were only five vials of infusion left, and now only three after him and then his recruit. That is, unless he could find a dragon in its true form.


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    Jaq walked out the Temple and into the main courtyard. The air was nice and cool out here, which was refreshing after the warm cave. As soon as Cerna, the only other Keeper in the world, made it back from her research mission, they would both be heading out into the world to search for a dragon, and maybe do some recruiting. He had followed so many leads and clues and each time had his hopes dashed, but this time felt different. He felt like something big was coming and he would be needed, and that washed away all the dismay from all the failed attempts before. This time, they would find a dragon.


    The trouble, in his mind, would not be finding a dragon, even if he had had no luck and neither had the old man, but it would be convincing them to come out of hiding and make a new bargain with humanity. It would be dangerous. He knew that humans unacquainted with dragons would react poorly to giant magical creatures flying around, and the normal first reaction was always violence.


    That reaction --- that violence --- was the reason he needed more Keepers. He needed an entire army of Keepers. To make it possible for dragons to come out again, for them to be an inspiring part of the world again, he needed to find a dragon not for his end goal, but for the one thing that would keep the end goal from being a disaster. He needed a dragon to give him blood in dragon form to make more infusion. Only when an army was ready could he defend dragons from those who would answer with aggression when their fear of the unknown was tickled.


    A Keeper, trained and infused, was worth more than ten men on the battlefield, and legend held that some Keepers of old, were worth well more than one hundred. In his mind he could see one hundred keepers taking on entire armies and being victorious, but the same thought made him sad. He knew that to see his goal achieved, there would be a lot of death, but he tried to focus on the end goal. The Ministry of the Dragon would live once more, and peace would come. He could feel it with every fiber of his being.