Chapter 14-395: Force, Too (2/2)

Mated parents, came from a clutch of four eggs. Brought to a new world on The Chase of the Mentos in his youth, perhaps a thousand years ago. Growing in lore, fighting against human Psions, facing other dragons in debates and disputes, mostly non-violent, saving military endeavors for places he had fortified to defend and hold.

He had mated and had several clutches of eggs, raising them as proud Gem Dragons and opening his library to them. The new world his parents had brought him to had given him vast amounts of lore to go through, and his library had expanded over the millennia as they seized control of the world and chased away the Mentos and subjugated those left behind once more, the hapless psionic humans leading them on to yet another world to take from them.

That had not been what had happened here. It seemed something had bargained with them for knowledge of a new world the Empire could expand onto. Intoxicated with the idea of being the first to digest an entire new world’s lore and judge it worthy of being subordinated to dragonkind, he had volunteered to be one of the Elders sent here to assess things for the Empire of Cold Blood. He had left his mate, children, and library-hoard behind to come here and see if this place was worthy of taking over and preserving, or simply eradicating cleanly, as the Elemental Dragons often did, and building a new Draconic Realm from the ashes.

I focused on that entity that had bargained the location here away. This was not all that different from what had been done to Terra-Luna, but I had no idea how the timelines matched up at all. It was just that involving an alternate Earth was screwy no matter how you looked at it, and from the macrocosmic level, that kind of a coincidence simply wasn’t.

If that was true... then cause and effect meant that it might have lured the Empire of Cold Blood here FIRST... and then the Shroud came in and messed things up. Having done that, had it decided it could use the Shroud as a weapon against Terra-Luna, and perhaps play the Empire of Cold Blood again, sending them against Terra-Luna as a distraction, as well? The Empire’s dragons had come well before the Shrouded undead arrived...

That damn psychopomp was one busy bastard if that was true...

A grunt down a side tunnel and the sound of a big body moving had me flitting up to the roof and remaining motionless as something came walking with heavy steps through the tunnel.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a half-dragon saurial, but they didn’t look any friendlier in purple, their dad’s crystal patterns showing their progenitor to anyone who was interested. Unlike normal T-Rex-sized dinos like this, it actually had a low amount of intelligence and cunning, plus wings, and its front claws were actually long and strong enough to be useful.

Still, Int 4 is still pretty stupid by human standards, it was just that this big SOB with the oversized and gleaming crystalline teeth had to be a raw Sixteen, too.

I watched it and its purple crystalline armor-plated hide stride past below me, remaining motionless even though I was invisible. It looked like it was heading for the pool, possibly to indulge in some fish after inheriting dad’s proclivities.

Nope, nope, Gem Dragons didn’t inherit the Empire’s tendencies to take over the local ecology at all, nuh-unh, don’t believe you...

I noted that the crystal pattern extending out of some of the ‘saur’s draconic frill and jaws was also replicated in its scale pattern... as it was in the scales of the dracosnake outside.

Well, that would certainly make it easier to track down anything else with this casually horny bastard’s Bloodline...

After the dracosaur turned into the lake access and I heard the somewhat subdued splash of it entering the water smoothly, I resumed my inspection of the walls.

Importantly, the display of the council of dragons on the wall was done with a level of detail both smug, arrogant, and exactingly polite. The crucial points of horns, spikes, frills, and crests were replicated with exceptional accuracy, and if the amethyst was at the seat of honor, I didn’t much care, as it displayed the other seven dragons that had come here from the Empire in just the level of detail I needed.

A Topaz, a Sapphire, a Pyre, a Hoar, a Mire, a Briar, and a Storm Dragon, along with the lurking, not in the council, figure of the Demon Dragon Grobiundlarsh sulking over there in the shadows. He was darkly menacing, his greater size and power not readily apparent. Not so much an insult as an exclusion...

That indicated that none of the other dragons would be above Ancient in age, and the Pyre, the only breed more powerful than Umry here, had to be younger, or it would not tolerate the Amethyst being displayed at the head of the table. The flaming bastard probably rivaled the older gem dragon in physical might, but the additional psionic powers and hard-to-overcome nature of its Force-based breath weapon probably kept it in check, especially given how easy it was to reduce the effectiveness of dragonfire... and, perhaps, exploit its Elemental vulnerability to Cold.

I coldly imprinted everything there into my Visual File. If we were lucky, nine Cold Blood dragons was all we had to worry about here.

It also meant Legion’s effective Dragonsire had to be killed. This Shrouded Earth had drastically changed planar coordinates, and the Empire wouldn’t be able to track it or find it... unless these Elders called out to them and formed a Beacon to home in on.

Big surprise...

Their plans might or might not be dark. They certainly didn’t care about any other races but their own. Exterminating them was not just the work of Heaven, but a direct service to the Land.

Cold Blood dragons just didn’t have many redeeming features.

This amethyst was going to be mine. Legion would have to take care of their Dragonsire. I could let the others in on the others, give them some more real-world experience fighting dragons...