Chương 31: A Lesson in Humility

"Well," I said, looking up at the dragon through the settling dust, "Aurelion Ashgarde." His eyes narrowed at the sound of his name, proof that enough pride remained for him to recognize the deliberate disrespect in the way I spoke it.

"We have several ways to proceed," I told him, my voice carrying easily across the ruined peak.

"Every one of them ends with you lowering your head to me. Refuse, and pain will be the only lesson you leave this mountain understanding." Silence settled in the wake of my words. A cold wind moved between us, carrying the scents of ash, scorched stone, and shattered crystal. Behind Aurelion, the ruined ridge of Crystal Peak continued to groan and shed fragments where my Primordial Ruin had torn through it, offering a quiet reminder of what further refusal would cost.

The dragon's chest rose and fell in slow, heavy breaths. Smoke curled from his nostrils as his burning eyes remained fixed on me. Beside me, Celeste made a small sound of delight. I glanced toward her. She was practically glowing.

"What?" Celeste clasped her hands together, unable to contain her smile.

"Mother, you sound exactly like a supervillain right now." I stared at her. She offered an unapologetic shrug.

"What? I think it's wonderful." A few steps away, Adrian rested one hand on the hilt of his sword. His expression suggested that he had aged several years in spirit despite the inconvenience of immortality. I returned my attention to the dragon.

"Listen carefully. I don't particularly wish to kill a dragon, and I have no personal concern for the humans you have already killed." Aurelion's gaze sharpened at that. I gestured vaguely toward Celeste without looking at her.

"However, since my daughter finds you so entertaining, I'm willing to offer you a position as our mascot." Celeste cheered.

"Oh, wonderful!" Adrian let out the weary sigh of a man who had spent more than a century married to Celeste and nearly as long enduring my increasingly unreasonable decisions.

"A mascot?" Aurelion roared. The force of his outrage shook several more stones loose from the broken peak.

"You look down upon me far too greatly, little immortal!"

"Little?" I repeated. The dragon lifted his head higher and spread his wings, his golden-bronze scales flashing beneath the cold mountain light.

"I'm Aurelion Ashgarde, Lord of the Crystal Peak, Keeper of the Sunken Hoard, and Flame Above Mortal Kings! I'm no ornament to be displayed in your gambling den!"

"Hotel and casino," Celeste corrected. Aurelion snapped his gaze toward her, only to be met by Celeste's sweetest smile. I rubbed the back of my neck, already irritated by the effort of looking up at him. That was the trouble with dragons: they possessed far too much unnecessary verticality. My gaze traveled across the ruined mountainside until I spotted a jagged rock formation rising nearby at a convenient angle.

A broad ledge rested near its top, offering an excellent view of the cavern entrance, the shattered slope, and the open space where Aurelion currently stood being loud. That looked perfect. Without another word, I turned and walked toward it. Aurelion watched me with visible confusion.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"To sit."

"To sit?" He echoed back.

"Yes." I stepped lightly onto the lower section of rock and climbed until I reached the ledge. It provided an excellent view of the arena nature had so generously prepared for us. Once comfortable, I settled onto the stone, crossed one leg over the other, and rested my elbow against my knee. This was much better. The added height brought me nearly level with Aurelion's eyes, allowing me to meet his glare without craning my neck like a peasant admiring a cathedral.

Satisfied with the improvement, I turned toward my first two kin.

"Adrian. Celeste." They both looked at me.

"Teach this dragon some manners." Celeste's smile spread into something bright and vicious.

"With pleasure." Adrian drew his sword in one clean, quiet motion, his gaze never leaving Aurelion. There was interest in his eyes now. Adrian rarely displayed excitement openly, but I knew him well enough to recognize the subtle shift in his shoulders and the sharper focus settling over his expression. He wanted this fight. I already knew how the matter would end if I fought Aurelion myself. I could erase enough of him to make the outcome simple and immediate.

Fighting him myself would have been effective, certainly, but far too dull. Watching Adrian and Celeste teach him humility promised something much better: a proper show. I leaned back and allowed a faint smirk to curl across my lips.

"Good luck, Aurelion Ashgarde, Lord of the Crystal Peak, Keeper of the Sunken Hoard, and Flame Above Mortal Kings." Celeste froze halfway through her first step before slowly turning toward me, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"You remembered the entire title."

"So what if I did?" Her smile widened.

"You enjoyed saying it."

"I enjoyed mocking him properly."

"That still means you remembered it."

"Go do your job, Celeste." She laughed as she turned back toward the dragon, looking far too pleased with herself. Aurelion snarled, his claws grinding into the stone.

"You send servants to challenge me?" Adrian's expression hardened, while Celeste's smile sharpened into something far less friendly. Calling them servants had been a remarkably poor choice of words. Adrian moved first. The mountain cracked beneath his boots as his body-enhancement magic surged through him. Power flooded his limbs, strengthening muscle, bone, and blood until his body surpassed anything that could still be called human. The air snapped around him as he launched forward.

Aurelion's eyes widened slightly at his speed. Adrian crossed the distance in a blur and brought his sword against the dragon's foreleg. The blade struck the scale with a sound like steel crashing against a fortress bell. Aurelion's armored hide did not split cleanly, but it cracked beneath the force. A long silver line carved its way across the bronze-gold plate, and the dragon jerked his leg back with an offended hiss. Adrian landed lightly and sprang away before Aurelion could retaliate.

A massive claw crashed down where he had stood, shattering the stone beneath it, but Adrian was already beyond its reach. Celeste raised both hands as three circles of magic ignited around her at once. Fire burned around her right hand, lightning crawled over her left, and a pale halo of frost formed behind her. Over the past century, Celeste had refined her command of magic into something people had begun calling Sagecraft. I considered the title excessive, though not entirely inaccurate.

She could wield several elements simultaneously, layering and twisting them together until the battlefield resembled a tantrum thrown by nature itself. Lightning struck first. It descended from the clear sky in a jagged spear of white-blue light and crashed across Aurelion's shoulder. The dragon roared, more insulted than wounded, but the impact forced his head downward for half a second. Celeste used that half second beautifully.

Ice erupted beneath Aurelion's claws, racing across the stone in crystalline sheets before locking around his front legs. Fire followed. It did not burn hot enough to melt the ice. Instead, it heated the stone beneath it, causing steam to burst upward in a blinding white cloud. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Aurelion swept his wings outward. The resulting gust scattered steam and ice shards in every direction with enough force to flatten most fighters.

Adrian charged directly through the blast, less enduring its force than refusing to grant it any authority over him. His body-enhancement magic surged higher, sending pale veins of light beneath his skin as he drove his sword into the vulnerable joint beneath Aurelion's wing. The blade slipped between the armored scales and sank deep enough to draw a stream of thick golden-red blood across the steel. Aurelion's roar of pain tore across the mountainside.

The dragon twisted with terrifying speed for a creature of his size. His tail tore across the mountainside, moving faster than a falling tree and carrying considerably more weight. Adrian crossed his arms and reinforced his body a moment before it struck him. The impact cracked through the air like a cannon blast. He was hurled backward, crashing into the rocky slope and shattering through a shelf of stone, sending a cloud of dust billowing upward. Celeste's smile vanished.

"Adrian." Her voice turned cold enough to rival the mountain wind. The atmosphere changed with it. Heat rippled outward from Celeste in a widening circle, turning the frost beneath her feet to steam. Lightning crawled across her shoulders and down her arms in restless arcs, while a thin layer of ice spread over her skin and clothing like crystalline armor. The elements did not wait peacefully around her. They strained against one another, reacting to the sudden fury she had barely bothered to contain.

Then Adrian stepped out of the broken stone. His coat was torn, dust clung to his hair, and the bruise darkening one shoulder lasted only a few seconds before his regeneration erased it. He rolled his neck as though being thrown through solid rock had been little more than an inconvenience.

"I'm fine." Celeste's smile returned immediately, though it was considerably less friendly than before.

"That's good." Aurelion stared at them. That was quickly becoming my favorite part of the outing. His confusion… Slowly, Aurelion began to understand that the three small figures standing upon his mountain were not behaving as they should. None of the rules he relied upon seemed to apply here, and the advantages that had always been enough before, his size, his fire, and his grand titles, were failing him one by one. Watching that realization settle in made the spectacle all the more satisfying.

Celeste swept one arm forward, launching the ice spears in a glittering barrage. Aurelion answered with a wall of dragonfire that tore through the formation and vaporized half of the projectiles in an instant, sending a roaring wave of steam across the slope. The remaining spears punched through the edges of the flames and struck his chest and neck. Most shattered against his scales, but several lodged shallowly between the armored plates.

Aurelion burst through the steam and lunged for Celeste, only for Adrian to intercept him with his own body instead of his sword. He drove forward, planted both hands beneath the dragon's descending jaw, and stopped the massive head in its tracks. For one absurd moment, Adrian stood beneath the massive skull of a creature the size of a building.

His boots carved trenches into the stone, his arms remained locked above him, and body-enhancement magic blazed through his entire frame as he physically held the dragon back. Aurelion's eyes widened as Adrian held his massive head in place through sheer strength. Celeste's expression lit with delighted anticipation, and I felt a smile tug at my own lips. There he was. My son was quiet, disciplined, absurdly loyal, and apparently more than capable of wrestling a dragon's jaw when properly motivated.

Adrian gritted his teeth, shifted his footing, and forced more power through his arms before driving upward with a sudden shove. Aurelion's head snapped back, not far and certainly not with the same overwhelming force as my attack, but Celeste needed no more than the opening he had created. She flashed beneath the dragon's exposed throat with lightning coiling around both hands.

"Open," she said sweetly. Then she slammed both palms upward, and lightning detonated beneath Aurelion's jaw. His mouth slammed shut hard enough to make his teeth collide like boulders. Electricity raced across his scales, flashing between his horns, eyes, and clenched jaws. Smoke burst from Aurelion's nostrils as the force of the strike sent him staggering backward across the shattered stone.

Adrian stepped away and flexed his hands, while Celeste landed lightly beside him, her dress stirring around her ankles and her silver hair streaming in the mountain wind. Standing before the towering dragon, the two of them looked almost absurdly small, which only made what they had just done more satisfying. Aurelion shook his head violently, as though trying to dislodge the humiliation along with the lingering sparks.

"Impossible."

"No," Adrian replied with calm certainty. Celeste smiled up at the dragon.

"You're simply not as impressive as you believed." Aurelion answered with a furious snarl and slammed both front claws into the ground, forcing the mountain itself to respond. Crystal spires erupted around Adrian and Celeste, jagged and luminous as they thrust upward to form a deadly cage. Some were as thick as trees, while others narrowed into spear-like points. The display caught my interest.

Aurelion possessed more than fire, and the crystal spires surged upward with alarming speed, threatening to impale and imprison Adrian and Celeste at the same time. Adrian shattered the first two with powerful swings of his sword, though the third forced him back. Celeste raised one hand, and fire coiled around her arm like a living serpent before sweeping outward to melt the sharpened tips racing toward her.

A burst of lightning followed, tearing through the interlocking crystal formation and shattering several spires at their foundations. Aurelion used the distraction to launch himself forward, bringing one enormous claw down upon them. Adrian caught the edge of one talon against his blade. Beside him, Celeste created a wall of ice threaded with lightning, twisting the two elements into a glittering shield.

Aurelion's claw crashed against both defenses with enough force to crack Celeste's wall and drive Adrian's boots backward across the stone. Her hair whipped across her face beneath the pressure, but neither of them yielded. The dragon pressed down harder, baring his enormous teeth as he growled, "Kneel." Celeste laughed beneath the crushing weight of his claw, her eyes flashing with open amusement.

"Oh, you poor thing." Fire erupted beneath Aurelion's claw as lightning surged through the wall of ice. The shield shattered outward, not from failure but by deliberate release. The explosion forced Aurelion's claw upward. Adrian stepped into the opening. A faint glow spread along his sword as his enhancement magic extended through the weapon. He swung once, cleanly and brutally, across the underside of the dragon's wrist.

Adrian's blade split the scales beneath Aurelion's wrist, sending golden-red blood spilling across the stone as the dragon recoiled with a roar of genuine pain. I rested my chin against my knuckles and watched with immense satisfaction. Adrian and Celeste moved with the seamless understanding of two people who had fought beside one another for longer than most kingdoms had existed.

He drew Aurelion's attention while she punished every opening, and whenever she created an opportunity, he claimed it without hesitation. Adrian intercepted anything powerful enough to kill her, while Celeste destroyed whatever threatened to overwhelm him. Aurelion fought with overwhelming strength, but my children fought with centuries of trust and experience. With another furious roar, the dragon reared back and beat his wings.

The resulting gust tore down the slope with enough force to rip loose stone from the ground. Adrian moved in front of Celeste and reinforced his stance while she raised both hands, forming a curved wall of ice to absorb the worst of the pressure. Cracks spread across its surface. Celeste clicked her tongue. Then she smiled.

"Mother," she called without taking her eyes from the dragon, "how badly may we damage your potential mascot?"

"Enough to improve his attitude."

"Wonderful." Aurelion's head snapped toward me.

"I haven't agreed to become your mascot!"

"Perhaps," I replied.

"But it's only a matter of time." Renewed fury burned in Aurelion's eyes as fire gathered within his open jaws. Adrian and Celeste prepared to evade the coming blast, but Celeste struck before he could release it. She thrust one hand forward and sent a bolt of lightning directly into his mouth just as the dragonfire began to form.

The unstable flames detonated inside his maw, bursting between his teeth and spilling around his jaws as he staggered backward, coughing thick smoke through eyes watering with rage and humiliation. Celeste looked pleased with herself. Adrian gave her a brief glance.

"Risky."

"Effective." She beamed.

"Still risky." Aurelion recovered with a furious snarl and swept his tail across the ledge once more, but Adrian leapt over it and landed directly upon the moving limb. He sprinted along its length as the dragon twisted violently beneath him, each magically enhanced step striking the armored scales with a thunderous crack. Celeste covered his advance with a relentless barrage of ice and lightning, forcing Aurelion to divide his attention between them.

By the time the dragon realized Adrian's destination, he had already reached his back. Aurelion bucked hard enough to shake the mountainside, his wings flaring wide as he tried to throw him free. Adrian drove his sword between two armored plates and used the embedded blade to hold himself in place. No matter how violently the dragon twisted, he refused to be dislodged. Then Adrian tore the sword sideways. Aurelion's roar shook the mountain. Celeste seized the opening and summoned all three elements at once.

Fire coiled around her right arm, ice spiraled along her left, and lightning gathered above her like a blazing crown as she brought her hands together. The opposing elements compressed into a single unstable sphere, spinning with heat, frost, and electric fury. The surrounding air warped beneath the strain, and Celeste's eyes began to glow as she forced the conflicting powers to remain bound together. Sagecraft gathered between Celeste's hands as the three opposing elements compressed into a single unstable sphere.

Aurelion twisted toward her, but he was already too late. Celeste released the spell, sending the sphere crashing into his chest just beneath the violet scar left by my Primordial Ruin. The attack detonated in three violent stages. Fire erupted first and engulfed his chest in a roaring wave, followed by ice that flash-froze the heated scales and drove frost through every crack. Lightning struck last, tearing through the brittle surface with a deafening crack.

The combined force drove Aurelion several steps backward, his claws carving deep trenches through the mountainside as smoke rolled from his fractured scales. The attack hadn't gravely wounded him, but it had done enough to make its power impossible to dismiss. Adrian tore his sword free, leapt from the dragon's back, and landed beside Celeste. Neither side moved as the wind dragged smoke across the shattered battlefield. Aurelion stood breathing heavily, golden-red blood dripping from his wrist.

His chest was scorched and cracked, one wing joint had been cut, and his pride had been reduced to tatters. Adrian's coat hung in tatters, with one sleeve nearly torn from the shoulder, while the shallow wounds beneath it were already closing. Celeste had fared little better. One edge of her dress was singed, and the fabric near her shoulder had been ripped open during the fight. Despite their battered appearances, both of them were smiling.

Adrian's satisfaction was restrained enough that most people would have overlooked it, but I knew him too well to miss the faint curve of his lips. Aurelion stared at them before slowly lifting his gaze toward me. I met his eyes from my rocky seat with a satisfied smile.

"Do you understand now?" His claws flexed against the stone as I rose, and his attention followed every movement.

"That wasn't me fighting you," I told him.

"It was my son and daughter correcting your posture." Celeste released a delighted little sound at how casually I had called her my daughter, though I chose not to acknowledge it. Adrian remained composed, but the subtle warmth that entered his expression betrayed how much the words meant to him. I stepped down from the rock formation and made my way toward Aurelion. Adrian and Celeste parted to let me pass, though neither lowered their guard. The dragon tracked my approach with wary attention.

Smoke curled between his teeth, but no fire followed, proving that the lesson had not been entirely wasted. I stopped within reach of his enormous jaws and looked up as his golden-bronze head loomed over me like the face of a living cliff.

"You possess considerable strength," I told him, "along with all the rarity, greed, and arrogance one would expect from a true dragon. Unfortunately, you have no talent for extortion and even less for making a proper introduction." Aurelion's lip twitched above one fang.

"But you aren't entirely without potential." Behind me, Celeste whispered, "Mascot." I raised one hand without turning around.

"Don't ruin the moment." She fell silent, though I could practically feel her grin against the back of my head. I looked directly into Aurelion's burning eyes.

"So, Aurelion Ashgarde, Lord of the Crystal Peak, Keeper of the Sunken Hoard, and Flame Above Mortal Kings…" I allowed the full title to hang between us and watched irritation flicker across his face.

"Shall we continue until my children humiliate you further, or are you finally prepared to speak like something intelligent?" For a long moment, Aurelion said nothing. The wind moved between us, stirring ash and crystal dust across the ruined ledge. Behind him, his broken mountain groaned beneath the damage it had suffered. Adrian and Celeste waited at my back, prepared to resume the lesson if necessary. At last, Aurelion lowered his massive head another inch.

It was still far from a proper bow, but it was enough to show that he finally understood the cost of refusing.

"Speak," he growled, the word dragged from him with obvious reluctance. A satisfied smile touched my lips.

"Much better."