At Her Behest

The ground lightly vibrated for a long moment, not even hard enough to shake the leaves off trees. Yet still, the unnatural shadows hidden beneath the roots of a gargantuan oak wriggled and writhed before draining away like ink spilling in reverse. Two vertically slitted eyes made themselves known to the world upon the darkness’ egress, and soon from the crevice beneath the tree emerged a massive scaled form atop four clawed paws followed by a swishing tail. With a body crafted from the blackness between the stars by the very Heavens themselves, an Umbrial Dragon arose, then tapped a claw against the ground contemplatively.

They were aware that the quakes were not of natural origin, but were unsure of what to do about it. The shaking could have meant anything, from a nearby struggle between prey that would serve an easy meal to a far-off battle of proportions that could threaten even their life. The Umbrial Dragon was peckish, but fueling their indecision was the exhaustion from a long night of anxious travel—it had been some time since they had passed through these foreign lands, and they wished to leave as quickly as they’d arrived.

Eventually, the dragon gathered the nerve to investigate the shaking, hoping to find the beastly winner of a hunt who would then be their prey. They bounded toward where the quakes originated, slipping through the dense vegetation with the ease of an eel in water, despite their prodigious size. Soon they caught the savory scent of blood in the wind, and saliva pooled.

The Umbrial Dragon halted in its tracks, nostrils flaring with agitation. Frozen with confusion, they stared harshly at a member of the peoples they had hoped to avoid most. A Human infant trundled in circles between a pair of bushes, seemingly in pursuit of a butterfly that deftly evaded its hounding. Their saliva dried at the infant’s visage.

A defenseless child of the social Races meant there were more nearby. Were Humans the cause of the tremor and blood? With that thought, the dragon shrouded their form in shadows that made eyes slide off them. They did not fear some random Humans hunting for game that would feed their families, but their very presence brought to surface unpleasant recallings best left forgotten.

Yet the Umbrial Dragon found their limbs frozen, their eyes locked onto the child.

The faint, muted words of a woman chained the scaled terror down. Telling them to stay. To do more than just run away. To let go of the past and move forward.

Oh what they would give to hear her voice, which grew more distant with every season, just once more…but this was not a time to consider how she’d want them to act. The Heavens’ Laws were too cruel for anyone who valued their own life to be as altruistic as her.

The dragon finally managed to backpedal until their line of sight with the infant was broken by dozens of trees, and they sighed. They had not lived so long by involving themselves where they did not belong. This was for the best. Although the dragon’s bodily senses and enviable level of shadow attunement failed to find traces of any more Humans within a hundred paces, there was likely someone somewhere looking for the youngling. If not, then it would be an easy meal for the next predator who happened upon it, and there would be no clues as to the presence of a long-gone dragon…

Despite themselves, the dragon found their many senses still locked onto the infant, imagining an Umbrial Dragon hatchling in its place. A small, defenseless lizard whose eyes still only saw fuzzy colors and whose scales were still more gray than black. A hatchling held tight in metal bondages by bloodthirsty, merciless Humans who had just slaughtered its family and planned to sell it to the highest bidder.

A beast of the furred variety heard the hatchling’s happy chitters and sneakily approached from behind in a crouch, staying close to the ground. It moved with caution after being startled by the explosion, but its empty stomach compelled it to rise from where it hid. The Laws of the Heavens were to eat or be eaten, and this beast had found vulnerable prey of equal size that would sustain it for a while longer.

According to the Heavenly Laws, this small beast had lucked into a meal. The hatchling had no relatives left to defend and care for it—its life was worth nothing. There was no reason to…to…

There was no logical reason for the Umbrial Dragon to appear directly before the Human infant, a large and vicious rodent of some kind sliding down their throat…but they had.

The dragon reasoned they had followed the Heavens’ Laws just as the rodent had tried to. The beast was just prey that happened to make itself known when the dragon hungered. And the infant…

They craned their neck to look down at the infant smaller even than their paw that stared back up at them, shock and fear evident across its expression before it began to wail. Even so young, the infant could recognize a dangerous silhouette and called helplessly to any others of its Race who might be nearby.

Yet the Umbrial Dragon now knew that there were no such persons besides themselves. After thoroughly scanning the surrounding woodlands via shadow senses they found only a deceased adult Human. With a sigh, they used a shadow made corporeal to scoop up and swaddle the infant, hanging it loosely and comfortably beneath their neck. They knew the shadow’s cold nature would not be comfortable—as reflected by the infant’s struggles and continued cries—but the improvised transport would have to do.

As the Umbrial Dragon made its way toward the Human corpse at a pace the infant could withstand, they saw a ghostly presence in the shape of that woman move alongside them from the corner of their vision. Though, no matter how much they wished to see her smile just once more, they did not turn to look, lest it disappear. It was only an illusion manifested by desires, but it was better than nothing.

They soon arrived at the body and grunted after seeing the cause of death, knowing well that a claw—or arrow, in this one’s case—to the large blood vessels of the leg could cause massive bleeding that only a healer could stem.

Had the Umbrial Dragon arrived sooner…

With a casual swipe of their claws the corpse was separated into several large pieces. The dragon had no means to incinerate the corpse, so they defaulted to the cruder method for preventing undead from rising.

Then they moved on, following the bloody scent that they’d almost talked themselves into ignoring, and it was not long until trees gave way to a wide dirt path, upon which sat the scorched remains of three carriages surrounded by dozens of Humans and several large work mules.

The Umbrial Dragon sighed to themselves once more, a habit they’d long picked up from that woman. They had thought to travel across the continent simply to avoid the warmer seasons that fast approached the south, but now found themselves cutting apart the corpses of so many Humans that they hadn’t even killed, in service of any Humans living nearby, while transporting a Human infant to safety. Had the dragon not lacked a sense of humor they might have been tickled by the circumstances.

It was not difficult to piece together what had occurred. Though the explosion had rid the air of many scents, the dragon was confident in the lack of beastly smells and saw no tracks of predators, meaning the conflict was entirely between Humans, unless the work mules had somehow caused this before killing themselves. The dragon judged that at least two-thirds of the Humans had laid in waiting for the carriages to pass before they attacked, making this the result of banditry.

Then where had the explosion come from?

After more closely investigating the carriages in the center of the explosion, the dragon found a half-burned and half-cleaved body lined with expensive jewelry and other trinkets, marking that person as having had extensive wealth. Likely the body had belonged to a flame magus that had been tasked with protecting the carriage—a foolish choice. Those who wielded flames were feared on the battlefields of great wars, but for smaller skirmishes, the more subtle elements were preferred. This was not to say that flame magi with control over their element fine enough to defend a carriage from bandits in the woods did not exist, but they were very uncommon.

Likely the flame magus was a deterrent more than anything else, and when the bandits did not flee in search of an easier target, the magus had been forced to demonstrate their lacking skills before being overrun and forced to detonate a massive explosion above them in suicidal defiance.

The dragon’s story was further supported by the surrounding damage. While all the carriage tops and nearby canopies were heavily burned, originating from the middle carriage were troughs burned into the ground that extended into the forest and cleanly melted through the vegetation. The carriage’s two side walls were entirely melted through, meaning the magus had attempted to surprise the bandits by blasting them before even emerging from their transport.

Magus flames were even more insidious than conventional poison. A high concentration of the flames could easily burn enemies away, but even just moderate exposure to the magic, like from the widespread explosion, could lead to weaker warriors slowly dying from the magic’s vicious interactions with one’s own body heat. Not being attuned to flames, the dragon had only a light understanding of the nasty element’s workings from their experience combating Humans.

All the bodies closest to the carriages were now separated into enough pieces that undead could not form—something the dragon would not have had to deal with had the corpses been burned just a little more—and they moved on to the Humans who had died outside the explosion’s most deadly range. There the bodies were mostly only lacking hair and died of normal melee combat. The bandits were equipped with older weapons, even farm tools, and almost no armor, while the carriage defenders sported city militia-wear. The carriage had likely been transporting officials from whatever city the dirt path connected to.

But why did they travel along this seldomly used dirt path? With the number of earth magi the Human factions birthed every year they already laid long-lasting highways for all their major trade and transportation routes. An ordinary dirt path like this was more often what connected smaller settlements like hamlets and villages.

Perhaps the city officials were visiting smaller communities then, the dragon decided…before their head jerked to stare at a corpse amidst the trees that their shadows felt move. In but a moment they stood over a bandit’s body that a ragged cough emerged from. With a gentle flick of their claws the corpse was lifted and tossed aside to reveal the form of a Human youth. Not a baby, nor an adult; a child. Even after all their years fighting Humans they still had trouble distinguishing between children and small adults—likely a consequence of how most dragons aged in such a way that they had no equivalent development stage. They were hatchlings until they were small adults.

There had been several similar bodies in and around one of the carriages, so the dragon presumed they had been transporting children, for whatever reason. The child underneath them must have been captured by the bandit before they were both hit by the explosion’s edge, just far enough that the bandit died but the child beneath survived.

After a moment of consideration the Umbrial Dragon closed their eyes, shrouded the dying child in shadows, and focused their intent such that they tuned out the incessant cries of the infant beneath their neck so they could sense the child’s vitals. Of all the varied skills a master of darkness possessed, the one least known by the world was life siphoning. Requiring great precision and concentration, it was not a skill one could perform on the battlefield or for assassinations, thus it was a pathetic weapon. And even if a shadow master was present when a wounded ally needed assistance, their efforts could only equal those of the least skilled nature artists, at the cost of the master’s own life force.

Still, the Umbrial Dragon did not mind taking the time and energy to heal this child. Not only did they possess the prodigious vitality pool that was the advantage of any dragon, but as that Demon-Angel hybrid woman had often said before getting into trouble: in for Cent, in for a Centi; they had already decided to bring the infant to safety. Assisting the child as well was a negligible burden.

Almost a half hour passed before the child was properly healed, after which they added the little one to the shadow bundle with the infant below their neck. Though no longer at risk of death, the child remained unconscious, which was a blessing. The Umbrial Dragon did not wish to hear the cries of two Human younglings for the entire trip.

As for their destination, there were only two options as far as the dragon cared, and they preferred taking the younglings toward their carriage’s destination rather than where they began, as another small favor toward the Humans they had once so utterly despised.

So it was that the Umbrial Dragon traveled roughly southeast down the lonely dirt road, prepared to travel for as many days as necessary to transport the babies. In truth, the slow pace grated at their nerves and they wished to happen upon a living convoy so they could dump the babies on their fellow Humans, but they had no such luck. The Heavens’ only mercy on the dragon was the fact that their journey did not end up taking multiple days, only a few hours. Either the carriages had been close to their destination when the bandits attacked or the path was shorter than the dragon anticipated.

Regardless, from the top of a hill a city was within sight, so the dragon stepped off the beaten road for a moment to transform…but the moment the dragon placed the shadow bundle lightly on the ground, out ran the Human child carrying the infant.

First to strike the Umbrial Dragon was surprise. Having so little exposure to Human children they had not known how developed its mental faculties could be. They had assumed the child would be little more than a heavier infant, yet reality proved them wrong. It was a they.

What came next was amusement at the idea that the child could escape the reach of a fully grown dragon.

“Stop,” they said simply with a commanding tone, expecting the shock of hearing a dragon speak to freeze the child, like so many of their victims had frozen in the past.

However, the child continued pounding their little feet against the ground in hopes of freedom, forcing the dragon to swaddle them in shadows once more and gently bring them back.

“Ironic,” the dragon said to the struggling child whose eyes widened like saucers as they took in the full measure of their savior. “You think to flee from danger, yet—“

“NOOO!” the child interrupted with a scream. “PLEASE! EAT ME DON’T!”

Once again, the Umbrial Dragon was taken aback, but not by the contents of the child’s pleas, but the language with which they spoke. Not being well-versed with the geography of Human territories, they had not realized how far south they’d traveled. It was now apparent they had entered the territories in which the detested Sculthren was spoken—a language that placed its verbs, subjects, and nouns so strangely that the dragon had refused to learn too much of it despite its prevalence amongst Humans.

The dragon interrupted the child’s tearful shrieks by covering their mouth with a paw formed of shadows.

“You…Sculthren only talk?” they asked after a moment spent contemplating their words. “For answer move head.”

The child’s eyes seemed to widen even more upon the dragon speaking their same language, but after a few moments they gathered their wits and nodded.

The Umbrial Dragon released a deep and tired groan that startled the child, but the dragon could not care.

“You no talk Mandal? Any?” they asked irritably.

The child’s head shook, and the dragon groaned again. Mandal was the primary language spoken by both Humans and Demons in their border territories to the north, where the Umbrial Dragon was born and raised. Not being entirely fluent in the same language as the child was irritating, but they could work with what they had. The two needed only share a few simple exchanges before they would forever part ways.

“Umbrial Dragon is I,” the dragon said again before pausing and mulling over their words. “For weak babies you two…mercy I gave. You two healed and…moved, I did.”

That said, the dragon gently released the younglings from their shadows, placing the infant in the child’s arms.

Lips and limbs trembling, the child asked simply, “Helped us, a dragon did?”

The Umbrial Dragon snorted and retorted, “Bloody food, find self wake as?”

The child seemed to take too long to understand their rhetorical question, and though the dragon was glad to surmise that the child’s difficulty understanding them derived from either fear or a lack of language comprehension, embarrassment soon found the dragon once the child began their reply.

“Humble***this***one***to you for my and the baby’s***mighty dragon***it, do you, that***I***of everyone***? ***and families, after by***out the*** ***to***us—“

“Quiet!” the Umbrial Dragon growled fiercely without meaning to. The verbose child was cowed and shrank in place, eyes threatening tears until the dragon raised a paw to their snout in irritation and mumbled an apology.

“Huh?” the child weakly questioned, barely heard over the infant’s now continuing cries.

“Sorry!” the dragon seethed, forcing themselves to take in deep breathes for a long moment before they continued. “Harm, don’t mean. Bad at talk Sculthren, I.”

The dragon unintentionally stared harshly down at the child—further scaring them—for another handful of breaths before they acquired the humility necessary to utter their next sentence.

“Talk…easy talk, please.”

By the mercy of the Heavens the child understood the dragon’s meaning.

“Err, sorry!” they squeaked. “Easy talk, I can.”

“No sorry, only easy talk,” the dragon demanded softly, struggling to convey their sincerity through the language they had not only refused to learn enough of but also to practice. Speaking verbally was no easy task to all dragons. A scant few were born with the required vocal cords to speak the tongues of the social Races, and Umbrial Dragons were not amongst them. It was through solidifying shadows in their throats that the feat was accomplished, leaving few Umbrial Dragons with the capability to speak even one verbal language, much less two. It was just too much for too little to those who were satisfied with living their entire lives in the wilderness.

While the child took a minute to themselves seemingly to dumb down their vocabulary they finally turned and noticed the city at the bottom of the hill that sprawled into the horizon. As far as the dragon could tell and contrary to their expectations, the child was not mollified by the sight.

The child turned back to the dragon.

“Err, to you, thank I,” they eventually sputtered before gulping down their nerves. “Harm’s way, we were. Uhh, what more ***—“

“Quiet,” the dragon demanded again, though a bit more softly this time. Their patience grew thin at the mere use of another Sculthren word they did not understand, and they decided then that they understood enough of what the child spoke. The child was grateful for being rescued from the bandits and desired to know of what came next for them.

“For you, home, find I,” the Umbrial Dragon said before closing their eyes and clearing their mind. Like any elemental master, the dragon could become one with their magic. For masters of flame, that meant becoming a living weapon. To the water artists that tended to border great lakes or the ocean, that meant freedom beneath the waves. For the Umbrial Dragon, that meant a formidable stealth and shape-changing ability.

Countless shadows darted out from the surrounding forest to spin around and shroud the massive dragon in a blanket of blackness, and before the child’s very eyes a sphere formed. A sphere that slowly yet continuously shrunk until it stood only three times the child’s height. When the shifting shadows slowed, a violent crack split the sphere in half, and out stumbled the dragon, reformed. The shadows receded into them.

Clenching their fingers and toes, stretching their legs and shoulders, the dragon took in a deep breath, remembering how once upon a time, hundreds of seasons ago, they had taken this form quite often for the purpose of sowing chaos amongst their foes. The righteous wrath and hatred for their Human enemies remained but their enemies did not—outlived for some time, as things were—so the burning emotions more fit for a fire magus lay subdued, akin only to embers at this point, but undeniably alive.

Now the Umbrial Dragon took a Humanoid form in order to set free some random Human younglings in a region that spoke Sculthren, of all languages. Oh how the sands of time changed a person and their circumstances. Perhaps if they had known the region’s language before finding the younglings…

Shaking their head, the dragon stepped toward and loomed over the child.

“Deal big, this not,” they said before picking up the infant with one arm, then lifting the child with the other. The child struggled in panic before eventually settling into a comfortable position and locking their arms around the dragon’s neck for stability.

“No walk in this body, long time,” the dragon muttered in apology to the child as their first strides shook the passengers.

After a minute of walking in circles to once more grow accustomed to their Humanoid form, the dragon was off, dashing down the hill past countless trees with a speed that caused the wind to roar. The infant cried again and the child shrieked at first, but both quieted by the time they reached the city wall.

The dirt path the dragon had run down for several hours merged with a stone merchant’s road that led to a city gate decorated with familiar crests, which the dragon avoided. No longer did they possess a false Human identification with which to fool those who caught their sneaking about, so the solution was to not be caught.

In their shadow-melded form that naturally caused mundane eyes to slide off them, the Umbrial Dragon simply jumped over an unguarded section of the city wall and slipped into an alleyway, all the while being careful of their momentum so as to not injure the younglings. Just like that, the dragon was hidden amidst Humans for the first time in a long time, and their memories were sour.

With their mind on anything but the past the dragon passed between as many shadows as they could while utilizing their prodigious magical senses to scan nearby buildings as far and wide as they could without care of their magic being sensed. Judging by the surrounding architecture, the area was poor and thus pompous magi would avoid it, leaving them free to search for high concentrations of Human younglings.

What they hoped to find was a schoolhouse where the younglings were most likely to find other Humans sympathetic to their plights, and by the Heavens’ mercy, the dragon soon found something that fit the description. A singular building containing a handful of small Humans and one adult.

Soon the dragon stood at its doorway, set the child down, and knocked. Through their magic they sensed the adult, who’d been doing some manner of chore, look up from their task to yell something in Sculthren. Not understanding it all, the dragon grunted and simply unlocked the door with a shadow made corporeal before stepping inside and gesturing for the child to follow.

The adult was alarmed and stepped from the room they began into the main room, some manner of cooking utensil in hand wielded as though it were a weapon. Whom the dragon now knew was a woman began yelling at him in Sculthren, and behind her a few of the children in the building peeked at the pitch-black figure standing in their doorway.

Sighing, the dragon asked, “Talk Mandal, any?”

To their surprise, the woman’s eyebrows rose, and in the dragon’s primary language said, “Yes, I speak Mandal. Now, will you explain why you barged into my orphanage?! I see that you’re some manner of darkness magus but that does not give you the right to trespass any property you see fit! If I—”

“Thank the merciful Heavens,” the Umbrial Dragon interrupted the woman. “Orphanage? I’d forgotten those existed. Lucky are these younglings. Here, take them.”

The dragon dumped the infant in the confused woman’s arms and tapped the child’s shoulder, who immediately ran forth and hugged her leg while blabbering something in Sculthren through tears.

“Uh, I, what—“

“I am an Umbrial Dragon,” they interrupted the woman again. “I found these younglings on a dirt path, their fellow Humans dead to bandits. As an act of mercy I brought them here, and soon I will return to the wilds. I will speak to an official or something on my way out of the city so they know to reward you for your benevolence. Goodbye.”

Before the dragon could leave the woman put a hand to their shoulder.

“What are you on about, magus?! To just drop children—“

“What confused you?” the dragon asked in a deeper voice than a Human could speak normally. “Is housing the parent-less young not what you do? I’ve run out of patience!”

Seemingly remembering that she was speaking to someone who looked made of shadows, the woman let go of the dragon with fear in her eyes. But to her credit, she set her jaw and better controlled her tone.

“My apologies, sir. I didn’t even ask your name before I began shouting. I’m Stella. You are?”

Chaos shook the dragon’s mind as they turned and stared wide-eyed at the woman.

“Stella?”

The dragon did not hear the woman’s response as their vision was overtaken by memories of the Demon-Angel hybrid who’d rescued and raised him. The two looked nothing alike, but along with a name, they seemed to share a strength of will few carried.

“Mephy, she called me, so long ago.”

“Well, Mister Mephy, since you brought them here, could you please explain the circumstances surrounding these children just a bit m…“

Stella was quieted by the marching of boots as two watchmen approached the orphanage. At first Mephy was annoyed at the interruption of what felt like a fated encounter, but soon they became confused. On the watchmen’s armor was the same crest as on the dead Humans who’d protected the carriage, the dragon realized, and they were grinning maliciously at…Stella.

“Looks ‘ere like the boss called in a magus to help convince ya, huh? Gonna have the guts to turn us away today?”

Mephy turned to Stella for answers, and it did not escape their eyes how the child clinging to her leg was frightened by the city watchmen.

“What is going on?”

Gritting her teeth, the woman spat at the watchmen’s feet.

“These bastards have been pressing me to let them test my kids for magic talent early. From my perspective it seems the city Lord’s been tryna catch them with talent before an academy can test and offer them a real learning chance. See, smaller cities like this one don’t often get as many magi staying in them as the capital and places around it. They even tried impersonating academy officials!”

A small flame sprouted to life within the woman’s clenched fist, making her flesh glow orange for a time.

“But I know the difference. Only reason I’m not training in some militia or the army is that I was raised in an orphanage that cares. Now it’s my turn to be there for other kids in need.”

While she spoke the watchmen had muttered insults and disputes to her claims that the dragon had barely understood, but when Mephy turned around to stare them in the eyes, they quieted.

“Leave.”

The magic in Mephy’s voice caused the watchmen to pale before they high-tailed it off Stella’s property.

“It all makes sense now.”

The number of children in the carriages. How the bandits had tried taking the children away instead of fleeing when a flame magus had shown themselves. The child’s reaction to the watchmen’s uniform.

The bandits had not been bandits, but instead villagers who’d figured out the scheme.

The embers of wrath grew hotter as memories of a hatchling in chains resurfaced.

Mephy took in a deep breath before glancing at the magus and younglings they’d brought to her.

“I always knew that my place was in combat against Humans. Maybe now it’s time for conflict of a different nature.”

Again, Stella stared at the shadow master with confusion as they stepped into the orphanage.

“What?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“Sit down for a story, Stella. I might just make something out of you and the little magi here,” Mephy chuckled, now glad to have picked up the infant in the woods at what he knew would be her behest, had she still been around.