A Tale Of Dragons And Sorcery II

"Its simple. You will become one of my possessions."

Her words slithered and echoed through the mounds of glinting silver.

I took a step back unconsciously at the sight of her unsettling smile. I knew exactly how vulnerable I was. The moment I stepped foot into this world I was shown how weak my mind was. My pride had long deserted me. Yet every bone in my body told me to reject this fate.

"W-what do you mean possession"

Seeing my fearful gaze, her predatory grin instantly disappeared, replaced by the small smile she had shown before.

"It is the same as the mountains of silver you see before you. You will become my possession."

So she would simply own me? Was I to become some form of slave? Or was I simply there to look pretty? Confusion broke the veil of panic that had been guiding my thoughts.

'What exactly does that even mean?'

"Do you understand what I am telling you?"

A light voice tickled my ear as I shivered, my blood running completely cold. I had stopped focusing on her for a moment, and now I could feel her behind me. Her presence was that of a predator, acutely aware of the power it wielded.

"Dragons are creatures of greed. Out of desire we come to own many things. And over the millennia, this desire has become a grand pillar of our strength."

I then completely froze as I felt her hand caress my chest while she spoke.

"You smell of Irn, a dragon's treasure. Every dragon seeks their true treasure. Its what grants them their power and majesty. The more they hoard, the stronger they become. My Irn is silver. Yet despite you not possessing even an ounce of it, you are utterly intoxicating."

I could feel her carnivorous gaze wash over me, every instinct in my body screaming for me to freeze. My mind raced through possibilities and futures as I felt the hot breath of the jaws of death on my nape.

I was going to die here if I refused her.

"So will you become mine?"

Though I had no heartbeat to tell, I was sure I had answered in one.

"Yes."

A felt a steamy hot breath curl around my neck as a putrid smell filled my nose. I could feel her smile widen as her jaws split from ear to ear. This surely would be the death of me.

…

Tyvelia said she had some preparations to make since she had never had a living thing as an Irn before. I was currently being guided around by Scola, who seemed to be refusing to come close to me.

'I guess what happened before scared her?'

Scola was Tyvelia's sole maid. Though she seemingly lacked dexterity, she had two small pairs of crab-like pincers underneath her main forelimbs that she used for more delicate tasks.

The low, dim, wavering glow of the lantern reflected off of Scola's deep black eyes as she led us through the narrower tunnels. The click of her tens of legs skittering off the floor being the only sound for what felt like miles. I was really in it deep.

I had been captured by a dragon to be some kind of icon of strength and I was still unsure whether or not I was even dead. What I needed was information. I needed to know what the hell was going on, where I was, and perhaps get a hint as to how I came to this world.

'Well let's wait and see what Tyvelia has in store before attempting to immerse ourselves in anything.'

Scola finally stopped in front of a massive silver door, patterns of turbulent seas flowing along its edges. For a moment she placed down the lantern as she patted down the door, looking for something with her forelimbs.

"Are you looking for a key-hole?"

Scola turned around and stared me with pleading eyes as she nodded.

"Heh"

I laughed. My eyes widened as I realized I had actually managed to find something funny in this situation.

Shaking my head, I walked up to the door, looking it up and down as I felt around for a keyhole. After a moment of searching I found what I assumed to be the keyhole however…

'That really feels like it was made for Scola's forelimb'

Looking back I saw the curious Scola, semi enshrouded in darkness as she peered at me. I then slowly reached out towards her and took one of her forelimbs in my hand. It was cold and rough, with the black edges feeling almost like serrated knives.

Scola reared up in surprise, her smaller legs which normally slowly undulated when off the ground, splayed out and were now shivering. Her armored plates began to close and lock up, literally causing her to freeze in place.

"Calm down, just let me help you."

Scola, who seemed to be frozen in shock, seemed to register my words and thought for a moment, before she slowly began to unlock her joints.

Scola obviously had terrible eyesight. If I let her try to open this door on her own we may be here forever. Slowly but surely, I coaxed her to put the tip of her forelimb within the lock. I then tried twisting it to the right, very slowly and carefully shifting the lock. I could hear the slow clanking of gears as they turned. Finally, before long, I heard a little *Click!*.

Scola then hurriedly withdrew her forelimb, the serrated edge breaking my skin as she pulled away.

"Shit!"

Immediately I dropped into a squat as I grasped my hand in pain, gritting my teeth as I held in a scream. I then peeked at the wound, hoping to not see that it had been cut down to the bone.

However, what I saw completely stunned me, the pain almost completely disappearing in a moment of surprise. My blood was still red, yet also transparent, reflecting the dim orange glow of the lantern in an almost prismatic fashion.

"What the hell?"

Scola was not as enthralled by my blood as me. She was more insistent on panicking. Hard.

She pushed open the door before leaning over and grabbing me by the scruff of my jacket. Pulling me into the room in one swift movement. Though I had little time to look around as I was tossed into the bed, I could see this was almost a small apartment of sorts, though without all of the technology that normally went with such accommodations.

As usual, everything that was not a part of the cave was silver.

Almost everything.

The bed had white sheets.

Scola, after tossing me onto the bed, rushed into the tiny kitchenette, opening a small drawer and pulling out a roll of cloth bandages with her smaller claws.

She then whipped around and raced over to the bed at blinding speed. Instantly she was before me, her small claws pinching and pulling the bandages as moved my uninjured hand out of the way and wrapped the other one.

In literal seconds she covered over the wound, before opening up the nightstand and leaning over to grasp a small bottle within, her small claw cutely attempting to grip the bottle's smooth surface. I smiled slight at this scene before reaching over and grabbing the bottle, handing it to her as she looked at me thankfully.

She then poured a slightly stinging liquid onto the bandages, causing me to grimace slightly. She then sealed it up and applied a little pressure, before finally letting go and putting the bottle away.

Scola then took a moment to look me over, seeing if I was ok. When she was finally sure and satisfied, she flopped onto the bed, letting out a chittering sigh.

"We really are gonna have to work on your reactions to me, you know."