The Inheritance

They had no concept of time inside the cavern, but when everyone began to wake up they assumed morning must have come.

Ra was already awake, during the night while he slept he discovered the extreme cold was also a dense form of energy.

When he tried absorbing it his stage began slowly increasing, Ra realized the entire cavern itself was a treasure, he naturally chose to share this information with the others.

However, apart from a few others with a high affinity for the frost element, no one else could absorb this energy.

Meanwhile a few of the Elves and humans had a huge fire set up, they were roasting dragon meat which sent an enticing aroma wafting through the air.

The group was clamoring quite loudly as they talked about how good it smelled.

When the meat was finished roasting they ate quickly before continuing deeper into the tomb.

They soon encountered frostfiends in an adjoining cavern, Ra chose to sit this one out, he wouldn't benefit as much from killing them.

Still, it was a one sided slaughter as the 29 humans and elves swept through hordes of frostfiends at a time.

"Watch out!" An Elf called out as the frostfiends began employing tactics.

They would throw one another high into the air to cause as much damage as possible, landing in their midst and attempting to disrupt their teamwork.

But by this point their group was like a well oiled machine, constantly working together and supporting each other.

"Thanks," Merlin flashed the Elf a grin and a thumbs up.

The female Elf blushed, "It was nothing..." she muttered softly.

Merlin had already taken off, his hair flew back as he ran.

Ra noticed for the first time that the ambient mana surrounding Merlin was especially dense, in a way it wasn't for the others.

He began paying closer attention to him, as he clearly had an immense talent for mana spells.

Bast was no slouch either, her rapier seemed to sing as it impaled the frosty exteriors of the frostfiends, there was almost no pause between her first stab and the following four.

She danced among the frostfiends like a war goddess, protecting those around her effortlessly and slowly, almost imperceptibly, began driving the frostfiends back.

Which was quite impressive as there were quite literally several thousands of them.

They had soon destroyed the bulk of the frostfiend force, Ra performed minor clean up to prevent them from causing further trouble, destroying any who managed to escape and they pressed on.

They soon made it to what must have been the center.

The walls gave off a powerful pressure, it became difficult to take even a single step.

"What an incredible aura..." Ra and the others released a collective gasp.

A large ornate slab was visible on the floor, runic patterns and complicated magic arrays surrounded it.

And at its foot was a huge blue orb that hummed with power, and though this was clearly a treasure that caused their eyes to shine, no one dared to approach it.

Ra circled the room several times, taking careful note of any changes ready to leap to safety at any moment.

Finding no significant dangers, Ra approached the slab, it began to glow, pulsing violently.

Ra took a quick step back, but he needn't have done so.

A gigantic Dragons visage hovered above the slab.

It spoke a language they were unfamiliar with, yet were still able to understand.

"I am 347,531 years old," It began. "This tomb was built with the last vestiges of my dragon soul,"  some of the chatterboxes in their group began asking questions, "dragon soul? what's that?" "Shhh!" the others shushed them vehemently.

"I am old, but not so old that I should die after a mere three and a half centuries," the Dragon lamented. "I was injured by a Primal Red Dragon Saint, bastard had connected his affinity to fire to counter me, and as I slept he crippled my mortal vessel."

"Young Dragons, heed this old one's plea, with my inheritance it is possible to reach the primal stage, and a saint rank in the future is not impossible, take revenge for me-" the voice faded.

Ra pondered for a long while.

"What do you think he meant by his dragon soul?" The questions erupted again.

"I think," said Bast. "That he was referring to this blue orb."

"I think so too," Ra said. "However, what will happen if we remove it?"

Merlin leaped forward.

"The tomb will collapse, of course," he said happily.

"Merlin, you can see what will happen?"

Merlin shook his head, but then nodded.

"Pieces," he admitted. "And even then only pieces of what might happen, for example; Nothing will happen if you choose not to touch it." he beamed brightly nodding his head as if giving sage advice that was not advice.

Ra sighed, and clapping Merlin on the shoulder he said: "Nevertheless we must touch it, it is what we are here for."

Ra came to a decision.

He would separate this tomb into portions, 70/30, with the humans taking the larger portion. he told this to the Elves, and they who hadn't expected to receive anything by this point agreed.

Small treasures such as gold, gems, and spell scrolls he allowed the Elves to take which they carefully stored away.

The rest of the Dragons inheritance belonged to them.

Ra had them start collecting all of the Dragons belongings, telling them they could keep items that they could use for themselves.

Meanwhile, Ra approached the orb.

It was radiating a heavy pressure, whatever created this had been far more powerful than he.

He laid his hand on its smooth surface and immediately an intense suction gripped his body, it surrounded him attempting to draw him in.

Ra resisted at first, but sensing it was hopeless relaxed and allowed himself to be transported by the orb.