《Dragon Town》 Chapter 1 meeting The girl was speeding through the forest jumping from tree to tree doing peuroettes and summersaults along the way dodging tree and animal alike. Her persuars were quickly gaining on her; shouting profuse obscenities as blood dripped from the puncture wounds in the girls arms and legs, evidence of the lost battle that she was desperately trying to flee from. If she could make it to the next village through the forest she could find sanctuary from the ravenous beasts of men that were behind her, but her chances were slim at best. The dark corners and shadowed trees made navigation next to impossible in the dark. Hell, she didn''t even know if the direction she was heading in was the right one. "You blimey whore! I''ll tear out your insides for what you did to my eye!" The now one eyed man screamed as he chased her with outstretched hands ready to snatch her freedom and sanity away. "aaaahhhhaaaahhha." Her breathing was getting worse her stamina was lower then her pursuers and she was running out of time. She looked desperateley for a hiding place to catch her breath. There were plenty of bushes but they would get there in time to spot the rustling. She kept running for another thirty seconds, the roots seemed to be getting larger rougher and seemed to snake along the ground ready to grab any unsuspecting victims. The girl was getting into the deep ancient woods now far from any villages. She had definately gone the wrong way but it was too late now. Then out of the corner of her eye she had spotted a small nook in a tree just big enough for her to fit. '' Perfect!'' She thought and immediately dove in and tried her best to slow her breathing. She was already covered in mud so all she had to do was close her eyes to prevent anyone from seeing a glint in them. Not five seconds later and the pursuers had arrived. It was a good spot there were many bushes around and where her footprints stopped she could have dived into any one of them. " Search the area!" The one eyed man commanded. "I can smell the scent of a bitch in the air." He scowled. The other three men began rustling through bushes and picking up logs trying to find her while searching around and in other trees getting ever closer to her spot ''Go away, go away, go away, go away." She chanted the spell in her mind asking any and every god and demon that she knew to give her some solice... some kind of chance. She could smell the man rancid breath drawing closer as he sniffed like a pig, taunting her as if trying to get a scolding. the soiled clothes on his body must have been covered in mold and mildew from countless hours in the wild with an acute case of aquaphobia. It was torture. But just as the snakes head was about to enter the rabbits burrow, a Crack was heard. A root had given way allowing the woman to fall down along with the soil, straight through a hole that the now dead tree had dug up years before. It would be her salvation or her Tomb. She woke up. Her head throbbing in tune with her heartbeat making her almost wish it would stop. She lifted her hand slowly and touched the back of her head a golf ball sized bloody bumb revealing itself. Her vision was blurry and she felt extremely dizzy and then immediately vomited the meager meal she had before getting found by those slavers. But there was no blood in the vomit which meant she didn''t have many internal injuries only a mild concussion. Maybe severe but she wanted to keep a positive outlook. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. She unsteadily got up to her feet and looked up. She could see what appeared to be a caved in smooth piece of root that had naturally formed into a slide and then ended in a nice bunch of rocks that she had hit head first by sliding backwards down the slide. She didn''t know wether to thank the tree or cut it down and piss on the remains. Either way it didn''t matter, She was now in some sort of cave system that had collapsed a bit here and there, probably the remains of a now dried out underground river. So she walked down into the abyss cluthing once side of the wall and moving at an incredible slow pace. After what seemed like ages the girl came a larger dome like area of the cave. Probably a driied up underground lake. She would have welcomed some water and maybe a few crustaceans but all that awaited her hear was death so kept moving until she noticed a faint purple light. a pinprick in the distance. Of course she became curious and started walking towards it. However it was farther away then she thoought. "How big is this place!" She said out loud somewhat shocked at how long it took for the echo to reverberate back to her. Then after a few rounds of indulging in her own voice she began walking straight towards the light again. It was calling her; beckoning sweet promises of salvation to her mind and before she knew she was at the light. It was a single purple crystal Floating i place with nothing else around it rotating slowly. It was enchanting and she grabbed it. Then searing pain ran through her arm and up to her head instantly making the pain a hundred times worse then before and the last thought she had before she lost consciousness was ''Stupid Mocha, curiosity always kills the cat. "........" "........" "Wake up mortal!" A voice boomed scaring the living daylights out of her. She jumped up from her position laying down and taking away blood from her head almost causing her to almost faint once again but she held on due o the sheer amazement of what was before her. Standing at almost 5 metres tall and 10 metres long was a giant shadow illuminated by the fires that had appeared around the area. She first looked down to see nearly 50 centimetre scythes attached to 4 black legs as thick and sturdy as the ancient trees that she fell from. It was sitting on its haunches with a tail that extended another entire body length and endid in a three pronged spear. on its back were 4 black wings splayed out to their full width almost 30 metres each. The entire body looked elegant and streamlined with 10 inch thick horns growing along the spine and stomach lining, but every muscle twitch revealed taught fibres attached to what could now be seen as obsidian black scales that seemed to suck in all light never to let it escape again. Finally she looked up at the head. At the end of a serpentine neck was a plated snake head with a square jawline and three main horns crowning this monster king, along with smaller ones along every one of the heads ridges. Being rammed by it would be akin to being put through a shredder. But the most memorable for the girl was the deep purple eyes, the same colour as the diamond she picked up staring back at her with wisdom of the ages that she could not compare to. This was a beast only found in legend, this was a dragon! Chapter 2 A new era "Finished staring or are you just going to stay like that until you die, mortal?" The Dragon asked with a glint in his eye. His voice deep and guttural with an accent that told it wasn''t his first language at all. The great behemoth leaned down slowly and brought his eye close to the girl waiting for an answer. "M-Monster!" It was all she could say other than just screaming from fright. She was rooted in place, paralyzed by the predators stare. "Mmmm... hmph. I believe myself to be much more than any regular old thing that goes bump in the night. However you may call me whatever you like. It makes no difference to me. What intrigues me though is your presence here. Tell me, oh scared little lamb, who are you? How did you break the seal on this place? For how long have i been asleep? Do you know who I am? I have many questions to ask. I hope you can answer." His calm demeanor was betrayed by his impatience to know his own situation. "I''m Moca." She said through tears and a choked throat. The monster seemed cordially to her but she had heard about intelligent beasts. They were the worst kind of magical monster. They would entice you and make you drop your guard around them only to attack when you expect it least, they had no compassion for humanity. This black lizard was the epitome of what she had feared as a child growing up in her small hamlet. Her father and brothers would always tease her about the boogeyman or ghosts coming in the night to snatch her away. This was only made scarier by the fact that in this world it could actually happen. Now right before her eyes was her was she believed to be her executioner. She couldn''t say anymore. "I guess introductions are in order then, I can''t give you my full name but I am Talavernax. Also known as the world''s calamity, savior of the northern realms destructor of the west. Both saint and sinner, god and demon. I have many titles that list my achievements... hmmm but you don''t seem to care about that child. Tell me. Have you given up on life?" She was silent, she didn''t want to speak to this monster anymore she didn''t care what it had to say she just wanted it to get it over with. "Those eyes are resolute." The dragon spoke. "They are not the eyes of a quitter only the eyes of someone who has accepted death. I can respect that but it won''t do if my only source of information is like this." The dragon then breathed and suddenly a purple glow shined from between his scales engulfing his whole body in the light. Talavernax then reached a claw out towards the girl, she closed her eyes waiting for what she thought was the inevitable, then there was a light tap on her forehead and a warmth spread through her entire body. It was the most soothing thing she had felt in her whole life. In that one instant, Moca felt like she was back home with her family again, her two older brothers practicing in the fields of wheat. Her father sharpening tools in his shed constantly making a racket. Then, her beautiful mother sitting next to her sipping tea and smiling at her family on the porch. It was a peaceful day in their little hamlet and she could feel happiness indulge her as she too sipped her tea and breathed in the crisp morning air. And then it was gone. Moca sat there again in front of the dragon. She couldn''t describe what had happened it was a memory of better times and it just made her feel safe and happy. That wasn''t all she reached around to the back of her head and noticed that the bump was now gone and her vision wasn''t blurry anymore. She looked again at the eye of the dragon. Was this some sort of bewitchment? She thought. She could now feel a connection with him. There was no hostility coming from the dragon it was actually a warmer feeling. Did this beast... care? "Yes i do." He smiled revealing the razor hidden behind his jowls. "I have just performed a contract with you seeing as you were the one who unsealed me and that you do have some strength in you it''s not a waste. We are now bonded I have seen your memories and thoughts. It must have been hard. Losing your family to a disgruntled noble, on the run for most of your life from government officials and slave merchants. Walking through the muck and grime trying to find something worth living for. Desperately clinging to life. Believe me Moca I know what you''re going through and I can tell you this for sure It will never happen again." She could feel truth in those words she was happy in the thoughts of salvation from this evil looking creature but she had to be sure. She lifted her hand and reached for Talavernax''s snout. He was close looking her straight in the eye with a great intelligence once she touched his head she felt a surge of images. Fragmented memories of millennia¡¯s seeming to break every rule of common sense she could think of. Giant gleaming cities filled with hope, great ruins filled with death. Every kind of tragedy and miracle stretching across eons was there. It was too much and it ended in that eye staring back at her from the abyss and giving her a beacon of hope. She was caught now, it didn''t matter if all of this was a twisted fantasy created by the dragon in an attempt to break her, she couldn''t resist and hugged the head of Talavernax all the while crying and sobbing. Letting it all out in front of him. A few hours passed and Moca had calmed downed and was now seated in a crossed legged position her demeanor was back to the strong woman she was before no longer afraid for her life. Talavernax smiled another toothy grin and came close to her. "So you now understand a bit of what I am and i think it would take far too long to recount my experiences so let why don''t you tell me a bit of current events. I only saw the strong memories that you have and although i see that the world has changed. I''m not sure to what degree. What year is it and what do you call this place?" "Hmmm it''s the year 1049 AS and we are in the kingdom of Selestia. I was born here so i don''t know much about other countries but i know we border the ocean and two other countries, the countries of Marcest and Dancor. And for our current location I know we are in a forest near the mountains that part Selestia and Dancor. Between the village of Nern and Daria." She finished and looked up at him. She could feel that he was troubled by something but she didn''t know what. "Do you disbelieve me?" Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. "Ahh no, no I just think I''ve been gone for longer then I thought. Tell me how did you get here? How did you break the seal?" He was now pondering and waiting in anticipation of what she would say. "I fell down a hole hiding from slavers and ended up in this place. I touched a purple crystal... it was the color of your eyes. What is this seal you speak of there was nothing here but that crystal was that it?" Talavernax looked incredibly confused now, this place should be a tomb and the area above should be a hilly grassland. He looked around and made his scales glow again. She was right this place was a domed cave with two exits. No pillars, no walls, no inscriptions sealing him just an empty cave. He looked back at Moca. "Haha, so you did nothing but activate the ritual stone. You are lucky you have some inborn mana else you would have died on the spot." He said, making Moca wince in the process. "I guess the world really has forgotten me." He smiled. "We should rectify that." Then he looked at Moca again closely. She was a women of about 18 with fiery red hair with dimples on her cheeks making her look quite young and innocent. However her piercing blue eyes that now had a glint of purple in them, told of wrath and horror. Her pointed jawline had given her a models looks, no doubt the reason why slavers had sought her so fervently. This also gave her a very toned figure resulting from a life on the run. But right now she looked worried about what he had said. "What are you going to do?" She said, worry apparent in her tone. "We are going to make this country and this world a better place starting from right here." He then started glowing again and lifted his head up to the ceiling. "Wait what are you doing?!" Moca shouted but it was too late. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The dragon''s maw opened wide and let a purple energy flow from eat. The Breath was a concentrated beam of energy that bored through the ceiling of the cave vaporizing anything in its path and Breaking into the sky shooting up into the sky. Everyone in the continent saw the beam of light. Some were amazed, some terrified, others god smacked at what could have caused such a phenomenon. Armies doing battle Stopped in their tracks. Monsters of legend hid away from the light. Even the most steadfast and hardy man, good and bad alike, felt a cold sweat run down their backs. Court mages and wizards ran to convene councils and warn their kings and people of the potential danger that light could bring. There were uproars everywhere you went and chaos began to spread. If this wasn''t a sign of a new era then nothing was. It took 10 minutes for Moca to get her ears to stop ringing. With the big dragon with a dumb grin on his face trying to hold his amusement in and failing considerable, she felt that her troubles had just begun. "No little misses hop on were going for a little ride." Talavernax then lowered his head and ushered her on. With a bit of reluctance Moca climbed up and onto the top of his head and held onto the horns on the top of his head. She had a feeling she wasn''t going to like this. Right on cue Nax lifted his head up and spread his four wings and with one powerful flap a whirlwind was created that lifted them up and straight through the hole. The G-forces made her lose her grip but he had angled his head to compensate for her as he knew it was going to happen. They rose higher and higher into the air with Moca screaming her lung out as they went. Finally they broke the cloud line and he had leveled out cruising at a leisurely pace. "Would you stop that please?!" She yelled with tears in her eyes. This one was more of a loose cannon than an ancient guardian. Moca then almost stopped breathing for a moment. The sight in front of her was amazing, she was now among clouds and angels, the very description of heaven was at her fingertips. She couldn''t imagine that her life would change so drastically so fast. She had ran out of tears already but if she had more she''d weep at the sight of the rising sun. Light cascaded across the clouds dancing and shimmering in happiness. She suddenly remembered the jealousy she felt towards the birds and smiled. "Hahaha, I''m sorry little dear but centuries underground can make you a bit ancy if you know what I mean." He was twirling in the sky and flapping his wings tasting freedom for the First time in millennia can make anyone excited. No matter how old or experienced. "Now should i keep flying in circles or do you have a destination in mind." "What are you going to do?" She was now curious what his goals were he obviously had secrets but she couldn''t get them through the bond she had with him. All she would get is a headache from the info dump. "I told you i''m going to help." He smiled keeping as vague as possible. She didn''t like that answer but she probably couldn''t push it. " The village of Nern is close only a days ride away along the north of the mountains." She told him and they were off. Flying through the clouds at an alarming pace in only took around 30 minutes for them to see the town in the distance. At this Talavernax stopped and lowered to ground just inside the edge of the forest. He lowered his head down and let Moca get off. She was actually a bit sad that the ride was over. Nax just laughed reading her emotions again and told her they would be aloft soon enough. He Then told her what he was planning. "We are going to take over that town." He said calmly as he pointed his claw in it''s direction. "....What?" Chapter 3 Bloody Clothes "What!?" She said it twice right to his face. She was heartbroken, she had put her trust in him for five seconds and he was already going to eat all the townsfolk! ''Bonk'' "Ow! What was that for?" "Don''t jump to conclusions little miss." He scolded. "I said I was going to help and that is what I''m going to do. Now from the bit I saw of your memories I can tell that this country is rotting. You''ve never met a good official, gaurd, or noble for your entire life. They killed your family and chased you for their greed and pleasure. But they also run wholeheartily towards their deaths, no country can sustain that behaviour for long before it collapses. Moca thought about it for a minute and couldn''t help but agree. With the exception of family members, everyone was out for themselves, she had never seen any kind of orphanage, schools, or even gaurd posts. They only usually stopped people from getting in or out of a city. After that it was a free for all. Crime and poverty was rampant and disease was common. Only nobles got to go to private schools to learn math, fighting, or magic. It was a perpetual cycle that got worse as time and generations went on. "But what are you going to do? As soon as you step into the city you''ll cause a panic and people will die before they submit to you. It''ll cause chaos far worse then the city lord could" She scrunched her nose at the large dragon, obviously doubting his means, but he just smiled and said. "How do you think I''ve lived for so long without any tricks up my sleeve?" He then reared up on his haunches and outstretched one of his forelegs his scales glowed that familiar purple glow, signifying his magic, and in one quick motion he made a gash in his foreleg and let purple blood flow from the wound. It landed on the ground and started to conjeal in a strange lump. Needless to say, Moca panicked flailing her arms wildly and screaming. She eventually calmed down once the glow came back and sealed the wound, healing the scale. Then the Lump of blood started to glow a brighter purple and grew in size. gaining height until it was about 6,5 a full foot taller than her. As it slowly took shape she recognized a human Figure forming. It started to change color to a tan skin tone. Eventually it turned into a fully formed man with purple eyes, shoulder length purple hair and black fingernails, along with a chiseled jawline. The man really was ¡®fully formed¡¯ and once she looked down she yelped and turned around with a blush. ¡°Do you think the hair is too much? It might stand out after all.¡± He said as he combed back his hair with a hand. ¡°Put on some clothes, you idiot!¡± She yelled at him and turned around, accidentally getting another face full as she turned back, her head steaming. ¡°Oh, sorry. I forgot about those.¡± He said as he snapped his fingers and a black shirt and pants formed under a black hooded cape made from the same purple blood that made up his body. Curiously he had lost a half inch from the new clothes. ¡°Amazing¡­¡± She finally remembered how cool it was that a man formed from a dragon¡¯s blood after the embarrassment had passed. ¡°Hmmm, you know your clothes are pretty torn as well would you mind if I made you some as well.¡± He said while he looked at her pants, cape and shirt. She had ran through the forest while trying to evade the slavers so she had made cuts, scrapes and scratches all over her body with massive rips in some places of her clothes and her hood that kept her pretty face hidden. ¡°No, no, no. I am not putting on blood clothes!¡± She shivered and held herself, moving away from Talavernax. ¡°Oh stop whining and just take a hood. I¡¯ll get you a good pair of clothes once we get inside the town.¡± He said as he pulled her arm and forcefully put a materialized cloak on her shoulders. She screeched and shivered, trying to get it off but to no avail. It was clinging to her with force and she couldn¡¯t budge it. ¡°What is this magic?¡± She asked, still pulling on the stubborn cloth. ¡°It¡¯s simple blood manipulation. A branch of water magic that I¡¯m guessing has been lost since you¡¯re so shocked by all of it. Anyway you should know that this body is just a kind of golem with a connection to my mind. It¡¯s easiest to make a golem with a part of myself rather than out of earth or ice or something else.¡± The golem was talking while showing his body moving around in strange ways, showing that it was just a puppet. ¡°Anyway I¡¯ll hide myself underground and let my body sleep until we need it and keep talking through this.¡± The ground started to rumble as Talavernax¡¯s body began to sink into it using earth magic leaving only the end of his snout above ground, making it look like a rocky outcropping. ¡°You¡¯re full of surprises aren¡¯t you.¡± she said as she began to walk towards the town. ¡°One more thing.¡± He said holding up his hand to stop her. He put his palm to the ground and closed his eyes. Spreading his mana out and deep into the ground, after a while of waiting Moca was about to interrupt him until the earth began to shake uncontrollable. Trying to right herself, she watched awestruck as he began to pull gold, silver, and bronze colored ores from the ground. He had spread his mana through a massive area underground searching for small signatures of the specific kind of rock and then pulled them together. He then pressed the gold ore and silver or into small coins. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Have you any money on you?¡± He asked expecting the answer to be no. Once she shook her head he nodded and held up the bronze ore. ¡°We¡¯ll sell this, saying we mined it from the mountains to gain some coins. Then I¡¯ll just counterfeit some. Money problems solved." He smiled. probably expecting to be praised. She just sighed and motioned for him to get a move on. Nothing he could do now could amaze her. She had become surprisingly easygoing around him. It was probably due to the bond that he had made. ¡°Off we go then.¡± He followed close behind her; whistling a merry tune. Once they got onto the main road it was already obvious how dilapidated everything was. The crops along the sides of the road were withered and decaying. Not enough rain had come in the season and the closest source of water was miles away. You could see a few farmers who were beyond malnourished and looked like the undead, working under the blazing sun trying their best to stop the decay, without any signs of success. There were a few poultry vegetables and bits of wheat that were left untouched and would undoubtedly be sold to aristocrats for little to nothing under pain of death by hanging instead of starvation. After another hour of walking taking in the scenery of the farmers, who seemed to be left for dead, the two of them made their way to the front gate of the town. It was a wooden gate with two watchtowers with bowmen sitting atop them, mostly drinking atop them but always with a hand on their bow ready to kill for sport if anything fun happens. The wooden stakes that made up the wall were surrounding the entire town. Most of them in decay or just plain destroyed. Offering an easy way in for any would be criminals, but Moca and Nax decided to take the frontal approach. ¡°Halt!¡± The man held his hand out stopping the duo and gripping his spear. ¡°What business do you have in Nern?¡± He shouted obviously trying to intimidate them. ¡°We came from the mountains, we¡¯re here to sell some Bronze ore. May we pass?¡± Nax spoke cordially, Maybe too much so, Moca thought as the guard started sizing them up. Not much was visible but he could obviously see the curves of the women by the way he licked his lips. ¡°What mines do you speak of? I know of no bronze mines around these parts.¡± He snorted. ¡°Show me this ore you have.¡± At that Talavernax pulled a piece of bronze ore the size of his fist out of his cape and showed it to the man. He was surprised at its purity it look like a shiny piece of ore not laced with crystals or other debris. Probably smelted previously. He smiled. ¡°That¡¯ll be a 50% tax on all goods that come in and out of the city.¡± Moca twitched at that. It was an astronomical number nobody would make any profit coming in or out of the city. What was the city lord thinking? After giving over a chunk of bronze and being patted down by the guard who took the opportunity to grope Moca¡¯s every corner, causing her to nearly lose it, they were finally let in. They asked for directions to the nearest smith to sell the ore to they found a shop called ¡®the boots hammer¡¯ and went inside. The place looked grimy and unkempt but the heat of the forge still filled the shop and sitting there hammering an iron sword was a dwarf. Probably the only dwarf in the city left that hadn¡¯t been kidnapped and sold into slavery due to his usefulness to the town. But even this one looked malnourished, probably overworked from some unreasonable order from the lord of the town or another noble. ¡°Hello?¡± Nax said. Unsure if he could hear him over the fire. ¡°Leave the work orders there and get out.¡± the dwarf said dismissively. ¡°No. I¡¯m not here for you to make something. I¡¯m here to sell some ore.¡± Nax said, putting the bronze on the counter. ¡°Hmm, oh let me see here. Not many ores coming in these days.¡± The dwarf picked it up and peered at it through a small lens. ¡°Very high purity!¡± He said astonished. ¡°where did you get it?¡± ¡°From the ground.¡± Nax said nonchalantly. Shrugging of the answer ¡°Ah guess we need are secrets eh. I¡¯ll give you a silver for it.¡± He said Again Moca scrunched up her nose. That was pure bronze made by magic it would be at least 2 gold anywhere else. But before she could step up and talk Nax stopped her shoulder and signaled to her that it wasn¡¯t worth it. ¡°We¡¯ll take it.¡± He said and pocketed the silver and they left. It didn¡¯t really matter since he now had the ability to make at least 500 of those coins but it still irked her. Chapter 4 Fashion AN: Hello I''m just writing this to relieve some stress and i got alot of it so expect some more chapters soon. Thank you :). PS does anyone know how to see all the views instead of an average? They left the store and started to make their way out of the merchant district toward the richer section of the town which was the only place to get some decent clothes. Most people could only afford to make their own clothes so a skilled seamstress was hard to find. The actual rich district was a compound made of real walls with about a dozen mansions that were actually lavishly decorated and made of stone and reinforced concrete showing where any and all profits the town made had actually gone. This time they both jumped over the wall when Moca threw a rock at the head of a drunk bowmen, knocking him out cold. Nax just gave her a wry smile and followed her lead. Eventually they found a shop decorated with mostly furs with a few odd linens. The hunting industry in Nern seemed to be doing well but no one seemed to be growing any cotton, not that it mattered to any of the actual civilians. Once they entered the shop they noted the old woman and the front desk working some stitches into a furred leather coat. She looked up and almost instantly scowled. They were hooded and concealed, something that an arrogant noble would never do or allow any of his servants to do. ¡®Clink, clink, clink¡¯, anticipating this Moca had immediately emptied a sack of silver coins containing around 400 pieces of crown encrusted silver coins onto the floor. There were actually many different coins available throughout the kingdom due to trading with different countries and the general corruption of the nobles making any sort of generalized trade currency almost impossible. There was however the king¡¯s currency serving as the Selestia mint. It consisted of Crown stamped copper, bronze, silver and gold coins. 10 copper was a bronze, 100 Bronze was a silver and 10 silver was a gold. Of course there were hundreds of other mints and counterfeits used such as thin copper hay penny¡¯s that the poor would use, sometimes even using nickel or iron coins with values determined by their purity. This was however extremely unreliable and merchants would often get swindled with worthless fakes or painted coins. The woman¡¯s scowl receded to an acceptable level of a crotchety old lady again. She then got up and slowly walked over to the duo picking up a coin and biting It, checking for taste and hardness. It was genuine, so she relaxed and asked. ¡°What is it you need of me honored customers?¡± She said and tried to smile but only ended up making a witches grin. ¡°Two high quality leather sets of traveling clothes. Some spares and a purple and black Fur inlaid dress to these specifications.¡± Nax smiled as he pulled out a sheet of parchment from his robe and gave it to the woman. It was a detailed drawing of a Black leather dress that would start at her bosom and end at her ankles with a purple scaled pattern of a dragon¡¯s tail coiling around the dress and ending at the shoulders where a pair of wings would drape over them acting as straps that held the dress in place. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Moca was very surprised. Not only had he secretly drawn these designs, he had even somehow gotten accurate measurements that perfectly fit her. She scrunched up her nose once again and looked at the evil snake in question, who had nothing less than a shit eating grin plastered to his face. It even detailed kinds of furs and skins that would be best to use and comfortable undergarments to go with it. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± She cursed him under her breath. But he had heard it and broke into a toothy grin that reminded her of his other set of canines. ¡°About a thousand years too early to try, little miss.¡± It sounded like a dare. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. You have a talent for drawing young man.¡± The old lady said as she held up the picture to the light checking for mistakes, none could be found. ¡°I¡¯ll make it for a 100 silvers she said.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get 50 and not a scant more!!¡± Moca said with surprising force, shocking both herself and the other two. It seemed that the events of the day had actually gotten to her more than she thought. The old hag didn¡¯t say a word, she wasn¡¯t willing to get hit for the con she tried to pull and the blood shot eyes were enough of a threat. ¡°¡­¡­Okay¡­ we will take our leave then.¡± Nax said as he quickly pulled her out of the store. He had already given his measurements to her as well. Then as they were walking back towards the wall he spoke. ¡°It seems the day¡¯s events have been more taxing then I previously thought they were. Come on we need to find you someplace to rest.¡± Then He brought her out and through the streets, past the begging children and overworked slaves, over the dirt and grime to eventually find a halfway decent inn. They walked into the inn called the bears den. It was more then run down and probably didn¡¯t have much ability to make it better. As Moca looked around she noticed drunk and depressed people nothing new to her but something made her freeze. In the corner to the right of the counter was a group of men of haggard men. One of them had a familiar eyepatch with a fresh scar running across it all the way down to his lip. They were all cursing under their breath and drinking the piss-like ale, sullen over their escaped prey. She immediately walked out of the inn and into the street. Nax noticed this and followed. ¡°Didn¡¯t like the smell? We could camp out if you would prefer it.¡± He joked, but once he looked into her eyes he frowned. She was once again shivering like the meek animal he had run into in the cave. ¡°You said you would help me?¡± She asked under her breath. ¡°Yes I did.¡± He said it as a matter of fact, anticipating her next question. ¡°Will you kill them for me?¡± She said ¡°Yes.¡± Chapter 5 Night time Shennanigans Chapter 5 Night time Shennanigans AN: Sorry about short chapters I''ll definately make them longer once the weekend comes around. Anyway, enjoy. Later that night Moca fell asleep by a campfire that they had set up back at the forest surrounded by the body of Talavernax. He stayed up thinking of his next step. The town itself was quite well off. Situated on the border of the nation of Dancor the mountainous barrier had made it impossible for either side to wage a winning war against each other, which eventually had devolved into an alliance that made trade possible between the two countries. The presents of ore veins not including bronze that the town guard had alluded to made the towns mining industry quite profitable and along with the presents of a fertile Forest with an abundance of wild animals and natural edible plant life made this location prime real-estate. He could also see unused grassland to the west in the direction of the capital and further west the ocean was present. If a trade route could be secured then bringing fresh seafood in wouldn''t be a challenge. Further north past the mountains was apparently a warzone but this place was too far away to be affected by it other than the odd conscript that was forced to join. Honestly he was impressed by how the nobles had managed to suck this place dry like a savage vampire. The town had around a population of four thousand people almost a third of which had been magically enslaved and owned by about 2 dozen rich or noble families. This gave them a monopoly on every hunter, gatherer, and miner in the region. They would also send pompous soldiers like the ones at the gate to ''collect'' taxes from the farmers and small hamlets in the region, taking almost everything they had including women and children and sometimes even the clothes on their back. This loss in labour and security caused monsters, bandits, and beasts to run wild. Curiously though, lately the farmers have had a small reprieve from those threats, thanks to the recent appearance of one Very. Big. Lizard. He smiled. "This is going to be easy." He only needed a couple things to take over this place. One was wealth, enough to bribe officials and guards alike which he obviously had enough of. Flooding the market though would cause the economy to break. The other thing he needed were supporters and he had almost a third of the population to help with that. And the last was a symbol of his power. He himself looked nothing but evil he couldn''t deny it or change that fact. In the past he had been labeled a tyrant by the world, his people marked as worshippers of death itself causing the entire world to fear and rise against him. He leered at Moca once more through a half opened eye causing her to shiver in her sleep. Then as the moon reached its peak the golem of blood that had been laying in the dirt by the fire suddenly shined purple and morphed into thousands of small black snakes that slid into the abyss. They crossed the fields and trees and sped along to the broken walls and drunk soldiers. Most of the snakes passed through unnoticed, though one had stayed behind and crawled into one of the guard posts turned drunk tank. It was a two story wooden building with a lookout tower on the top with some sleeping guards on the top having a poker game not noticing the small army moving through the city. Once the little snake had managed to climb up to the second floor of the tower it found the guard from that morning sleeping soundly with an empty bottle of liquor in his hand. He was snoring loudly; completely unaware of the fangs that had sunk into his neck depriving him of life. Then a few of the snakes made their way into the slave shops of the merchant district and began absorbing slave contracts, land permits, legal bindings and all matter of dealings that had either bankrupted or enslaved the unlucky. The snakes quickly made their way through the town. They started biting all of the 1% and other random peasants. He did this to simulate the spreading of a plague. He was able to synthesize from his blood various toxins, venoms, and poisons that would show symptoms of heavy fevers, vomiting, nausea and delirium. It was a slow acting poison that he had made to last for 2 weeks before becoming lethal. But some of the ones administered to nobles would be faster acting. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Eventually though they had found the mercenary building that contained the slavers he had been searching for. These were even worse cutthroats then the guards and were basically a government run bandit house. For these men they had one more symptom given to them with their bites. Nightmare paralysis they would probably be the first to die. Not from the poison but because of the horrors they would experience at the hand of this drug. Every victim in their memory would come back to haunt them and stab and prod until they would voluntarily commit suicide to stop it all. Any actual decent people wouldn¡¯t experience these visions so it was a good way to tell sinner from saint. The ones who had chased Moca through the woods though, never awoke. They were discovered the next morning with frozen faces, depicting gut wrenching terror. Then after combing through the city administering blood along the way, they had made it to the noble¡¯s district. After squirming through the nooks of the wall and making it inside; they began to systematically paralyze every guard in the compound. Once that was finished they had a look inside the homes. With 24 mansions in all it was quite a luxurious site. Made in classic medieval style stone and mason work the houses were adorned with fancy metal work trim made of polished gold, silver, Iron, bronze and every other metal you could think of showing that this town had a lot of useful ores being put to waste magnificently. Without the presence of skilled artisans or construction workers it looked very tacky with bits of metal stuck to the outside like crappy hood ornaments. The insides had the odd statue or piece of art but were again mostly decorated with metals and or expensive weapons. All of the furniture was made of fine leather from monsters and other large animals. The layouts of the houses were mostly the same with slave quarters in the basement containing all the beautiful women in the region acting as sex slaves and servants. The ground quarters had large foyers, kitchen, living, and ballrooms with the rare guestroom mixed in. The top floors were the most furnished though with furs and other expensive items adorning the walls and family rooms. All of these houses needed to be demolished and salvaged for parts. Being a dragon he could understand the need to hoard valuables but he was old enough that he had gotten over the need for shiny things. The gold and silver needed to be circulated into the economy for trade and there was enough copper, iron, obsidian, mithral and other magical metals that could outfit an entire army. He even had the idea to making diamond tipped spears and swords, considering how many jewels were in the safes of these people. Talavernax couldn¡¯t kill any nobles yet. He could have merely blown the houses to smithereens and indoctrinated the people. However that would only breed fear towards him as a new tyrant and devil. That was the reason for the fake plague. Then once the city lord and all the nobles had been bitten the snakes all vanished into puffs of smoke along with all the slave contracts they had. ¡°Yawn.¡± Moca had woken up the next morning, rubbing her eyes to get the sleeping dust out. Her mouth was dry so she reached out next to her searching for her travel bag, What she touched though was a smooth surface that was hard like metal but it seemed to have a little bit of elasticity that stretched as she applied pressure. Confused she finally opened her eyes to look at this strange material next to her. And staring back at her was a large purple eye the size of her head staring at her not a palm length away from her face. ¡°AAAAAAAA!!!¡± She screeched and jumped away before remembering the events of yesterday and the fact that she now had an immortal dragon as a companion. ¡°I told you to stop doing that!¡± She came back and started hitting the beast on the snout causing more damage to herself then him.