I had Resists and Immunities and all the fun stuff, but mostly I had the Firefrost Seed. I opened up and drew in the holocaust of flames coming forth to devour more, possessed of an unbridled sense of fury and domination that could only belong to some form of Dragonflame.

It had a very different nature and magical spirit than the Phoenix or Luan Flames, but this Drake’s version certainly wasn’t any more powerful, just different.

Exposure to the flames naturally spurred my own Seed in reaction, and Ice blossomed up behind and around me in response to the Fire I was soaking in. It rapidly formed a dense crystalline stand behind me, the temperature of the cavern plummeting hundreds of degrees as it did so.

Instead of watching everything in front of it get reduced to molten goo, the Earthdoom Drake blinked at the fantastic display of icy crystals having frozen every damn thing in front of him solid, a clear line between hot and cold starting at me and extending behind without any respect for how this was a center of Earth and Fire Mana.

“That was wonderful. Your Fire is very Imperious, a fine legacy of your ancestors, Elder,” I complimented him. “Would you like to see my deepest Ice in return?”

I didn’t wait for his response, my Aura billowing out as the Frozen Notes of the Sublime Chord plucked at air that seemed as taut as crystalline heart strings. The Domain of Ice around me began to swell and grow and press forward, and the power of Fire therein fall to a sudden lull and low in the face of it.

He watched the Shards gathering into perfect crystalline spears of Arcane power, refracting the dim fiery light like a thousand blessed rainbows, felt the condensed Ice power in each one of them, and knew that if I launched that spell, he was going to die.

He was very proud, very arrogant, fully willing to fight to the death with Beasts and Humans of equal power to defend his territory.

My magic was not something he could equal.

“Is my magic to the Elder’s approval?” I asked politely, and he glanced aside as Ice stole over every surface around him, chiming in tune with my Voice and a thousand reverberations, building and layering with a terrible power that echoed in his bones and seemed to invite the chill in.

He looked at me, and very slowly, he lowered his head once.

A second later, there was a rush and whirl of air displacing, Ice evaporating, and suddenly the Ice was all gone. It had come in, displaced Fire in a grandiose, overwhelming display of might and power... and now, it was gone, and the Fire returned, in less than a breath, almost as if it had never been there at all.

The Drake looked at me, and realized I was even more dangerous than he thought if I could do that...

He lowered his head again slowly. This time, he did not raise it back up.

“Elder is wise, I see,” I observed, drifting forward over the lava again, my body language and aura displaying an utter lack of fear of him, which only heaped more domination upon him. “I’m sure you know why we came down here, but we were not expecting Elder to be present. It is good to meet you.”

He blinked at me in consternation and confusion, and more than a little wariness. After all, Humans did not have a good reputation for dealing with Beasts, particularly Dragons. He huffed and rumbled at me, and I paused to listen patiently.

“Lord Quake it is,” I agreed calmly. “Yes, we are indeed after the Soul Seed. Master John over there is a Fire and Earth Mage,” the extremely excited Big John, his face almost bursting from his big grin, waved with great enthusiasm when I pointed to him, “and we are coming to claim it for him. We were expecting a Worm or Bug to be down here. You are very brave, venturing into the Firelands here, as well as stealthy and perceptive. The Birds didn’t realize a Dual Seed was down here, or I’m sure something would have come for it.”

He puffed up a little bit, and then deflated when he realized we were going to take it.

“But with Elder here, I think we can come to a much better agreement. Your patience is going to be rewarded much more than you hoped, Elder.”

His gaze on me was quite skeptical, whuffing my way.

“Well, first, this place is a death trap. If you break through here, it is likely the Phoenix Emperor Himself will come down on you and kill you for having the temerity to intrude on His lands. My guess, given those scars on your flanks, is that you had a tough time at home and decided to find some place where your cousins weren’t threatening to eat you all the time.”

His huff was somewhat more constrained. “Yes, family can be the worst, I agree. So, this is a good spot for Earth power, but the Fire power is much constrained here, thus the Volcanic Fury Seed, Earth at rest with Fire contained inside, ready to erupt if it can but find the power.” He blinked when he realized I was up next to him, patting his jaw consolingly. “If you stayed here, your strength and toughness would have grown, but not your Fire. It is likely you would never have gotten your wings, Lord Quake.”

His rather stumpy tail shifted, betraying some anxiety. It was not ideal, of course, but with more strength at least he could have defied his relatives, even if he never took wing. They would not have dared to come to blows with him!

“With your help, I think all of us can be more satisfied with how things will turn out. If Elder is willing, I have some proposals for him.” I waved a hand, and his burning eye turned as a point opened in space, and Reynard jumped out.

I felt the Drake wisely tremble at the presence of a creature with a transcendent Bloodline. The laughing Golden Celestial Fox showed off his many Tails, wings, and horns as he trotted up alongside me in midair, completely at ease despite the far more massive Drake’s presence.

“Reynard is my guarantor that my words are true and that I will not mislead, abuse, or trick you, and that I deal in good faith.”

“Trust the little monkey. She has been of help to Emperors and Rulers alike in the Beast Realm. She will not be untrue to her words,” Reynard laughed at the big dragon. “I was a Crimson Fox of the Nine Tails line. As you can see, I am now something quite different!” He proudly trotted around in a circle, showing off his wings and horn and Tails, as well as the subtle underflow of some powerful magic, the Drake watching his display very intently.

The Drake finally nodded, willing to listen to more.

“Excellent. First order of business... do any other creatures know this place exists?”

His head did rise proudly then, his thick tail slamming the stone once and making it crack. “Excellent, then. Now, I presume you’d want to rest in a place of Fire instead of Earth, if you have the choice?”

He thought about that, and puffed out a tiny flame in assent. After all, without enough Fire, he would never get his wings!

“Good! What we are going to do here is make up a Pyramidal Formation. It will concentrate the power of Earth and Fire here, making the equivalent of either four Spirit Seeds or one Soul Seed here in but one year.”

The Drake’s lambent eyes popped open in amazement, and a huff escaped him. “Yes, Humans can do that,” I confirmed.

“Remember, they are the clever little monkeys,” Reynard warned the Drake sagely, having his careful attention. “These little tricks are how they’ve survived for so long.”

Lord Quake huffed agreement with that observation, if nothing else.

“If power is what you seek, then we have another faster road for you. Master John there is a Summoner, and can offer you a Contract of Power. He is perhaps somewhat lower than what you might desire of a Contractor... but he will be gaining power very quickly, and as he does, he will be helping you come to power, as well. As an Earth, Fire, and Summoning Mage, he literally cannot be more ideal for you to have as a Contractor.”

The Drake’s head shifted thoughtfully, gaze spearing the short and broad Human who was anything but discomfited by the attention, only looking even more eager to get the process going!

“We’ll also offer you a very pleasant place to rest, indeed, as well as the chance to wander around and see far more of the world than you dare without escorts. Your mind will grow, as you will see many things that other Dragons ignore or do not consider, and delve into viewpoints on magic other Dragons do not consider.

“You will learn the power of Dragons, and you will discover far more, besides.”

He weighed the purity and arrogance of Dragons, their strength and their might, against the chance to know all that and more.

“Do not think Fire Dragons know everything, nor are even the best of what they do know,” Reynard scoffed to the Dragon. “It is not Fire Dragons who rule K’un’lun, or the Frozen Lands, or the Great Sands, or the Deep Waters. The Great Father of Fire does not test Fire against the Phoenix Emperor, does he?” he asked slyly.

The Drake considered that. He had already been almost forced onto the path of a Drake, bound to Earth, and this was perhaps his only chance to change his fate.

He huffed, and settled down to think on the matter.

I didn’t gainsay him, as I turned to the boys. “Let’s go! To positions, let’s channel and gather the Nodes here. Swampy, Mick, up top and seal the place except for some narrow, small, and scattered heat vents. I don’t want anything else coming down here if possible, so see if you can subtly reinforce the stone to make it harder to dig, too.

“The rest of you, with me!”

---

Lord Quake extended his head into the Pyramid’s middle, looking up at the Nexus that was slowly gathering energies from the tapped Nodes all about.

He could see the mix of energies in flux there, gathering slowly. They were being drawn from the four other Nexii in this edifice of stone that the Human female had Shaped up with frankly alarming speed and a transcendent skill that sang to his own awareness of stone and Earth. Just treading upon it felt like moving over holy ground, instilling a sense of awe and wonder that stone could flow into a form like this with such surety and speed.

The Earth and Fire Mana in the air was almost completely gone now, drawn away and dropped into this slightly hovering, hundred-foot structure of flowstone. If any Beast ventured down this way, the increasing paucity of Mana in the air would drive it away as surely as entering a desolate area of no Mana, such a place of no use and less attraction to them.

Very cunning, Lord Quake realized, his thick tail swishing absently.

Her offer was quite appealing. Fully tapping the Nodes here, this Pyramid could manifest an Earth and Fire Spirit Seed every six months. If four Seeds were left alone for six months, it would then gather enough power to manifest another Volcanic Fury Soul Seed.

They would harvest the Pyramid every eighteen months. Each time it was harvested, he would be allowed one Spirit Seed. After it was harvested the fifth time, a Soul Seed would be his, as well!

It would take multiple years to generate a Soul Seed otherwise! It was a very good deal for him, and he withdrew his head with a huff.

“No, you were waiting for nothing. The energies here are nowhere near intense enough to generate a Heaven Seed.” He grunted just once, glancing over to where Big John was absorbing the Volcanic Fury Seed. “This may seem a bit crude, but the Volcanic Fury will increase the amount of Fire and Earth Mana he can send you by almost double. Add that to the general power of the Summoning Element and the better den, and yeah, you’re going to be getting stronger decades faster than you expected. Actually...” I lowered my voice slightly, “he broke through to Earth Mage not long ago, and his Fire breakthrough should come soon. You can be there when that happens if you like. Nothing but benefits to you!”

The Drake huffed with interest. This interaction with Humans was proving strange, but interesting, there was no doubt! It was not that he could not gain such things on his own... but finding them and holding them would be far more dangerous, and much, much slower...

“John should be finishing up first. Let’s wait for him to do so, and then you can consider offering him a Contract. He will agree to cancel it if you decide he is not a good match for you, but I seriously doubt you are going to find such a thing.”