4.3

A tightness rose in my chest as I walked down the tunnel that seemed to go on forever. My wings pulled in tight, and my tail stilled. I was beginning to miss the lizardmen. Having them around would be better then being alone in this tunnel that was lit by only the dim light of the wisps. The chamber opened up slowly until I was in a massive chamber that made me feel small. There was an odd lizardman at the end of the chamber.

Well I guess lizardwoman would be more accurate. She had small reptilian wings that looked too small for proper flight, and her scales were half red. Almost as if they were slowly changing to pure red. She laid across a stone slab covered in skins lazily.

"That is a crown of horns," she surprised me by saying it in heavily accented English, and a hiss at the end of each word.

"You speak English?" My tail ticked side to side slightly.

"This lesser known human language is difficult for my tongue, but I understand that it is your preferred language," she flicked her own tail as she stood up slowly.

She was definitely a lizardwoman. Her undersized wings flared once she was standing properly.

"Odd for a dragon to speak a human language willingly," she looked me up, and down with her reptilian eyes.

Her disproving stare felt like it was looking through me.

"Young too," she started striding around me.

I didn't take my eyes off of her. My body wanted to curl up smaller with those probing eyes on me. I growled angrily. I didn't like that her eyes continued to probe me even when I warned her off. She stopped in front of her alter to look down on me again.

She was much taller then the other lizards I'd seen, and her presence just felt wrong. Like cold grease on bare skin. Disgusting. She made a disgusted sound before looking at me again.

"You have at least one human bonded to you," she snarled.

I snarled back at her, and stepped toward her.

"Some spirit in you," she stopped snarling at me, "You may have some potential as a dragon yet. Break your bonds, and I will teach you the true way of the dragon."

"Break my bonds?" I was so pissed off by this statement that I forgot to snarl as all my scales rose slowly, "What makes you think you know so much about being a dragon?"

"Because I was one," she stated bluntly with a sharp flick of her tail.

"Was?" I was thoroughly confused now.

"Yes," she seemed to lose focus on me for a few minutes as she talked, "Surprising isn't it? A young dragon like yourself wouldn't remember a dragon like me. Even if I was a candidate for being queen." she refocused on me, "How is earth now?" she paused as she waited for me to give her a response.

"You expect me to tell you how earth is when you are no longer a being of earth?" I spoke slowly, and cautiously.

I was slammed into the ground with a force I couldn't see. Earth chains came up out of the ground, and pinned me down.

"You really don't know much about dragon society," the priestess walked toward me, "The fact that you're here alone means that dragons have fallen quite far in the time I've been gone."

"Like you would know anything," I snarled.

"I know that dragons would never let a promising prince like yourself travel to the poisoned worlds," she slammed her foot down on my nose, and broke it, "You would be undergoing hard training in history, mana manipulation, and combat. Yet you are here." she stepped back a few paces, "That means that you have no teacher. No bodyguards. No one looking for you." Her face took on an expression that resembled a smirk, "Sever your bonds, and I will become the teacher you so desperately need."

I snarled. There was no way I would sever my bond with Ethan, and if I was keeping one then I was keeping them all. The earth chains tightened around me until it was hard for me to draw in breath.

"Not severing those bonds, and becoming my student willingly then?" she crouched down within inches of my nose.

Lightning crackled beneath my scales as my agitation rose to full blown rage.

"Not that it matters too much," she patted my nose, "Provided your body is compatible I should be able to bring the dragon race back as the great race they used to be."

Her pressure let up a little.

"Sorry, but I don't think the dragons were as great as you say," I snarled again with a wheeze.

It was all I could do with my lungs squeezed tight.

"Too bad," the priestess snarled back, "I was hoping I wouldn't need to kill you."

"What are you going to do with my body if I'm dead?" I wheezed.

"I never said I would kill your body," she bared her teeth, "I said I would kill you." A circle slowly lit up on the ground beneath me, "I'm going to kill your soul, and take your body for my own." she walked around the edges of the circle slowly, "I've been trying for many millennia to recreate the dragon race here on this planet. It'll be nice to skip all the ridiculous planning, and clever breeding to recreate dragons."

That bad feeling I'd been having since it all began intensified. Whatever she was going to do was probably worse then anything I'd ever seen or done. I couldn't let her go through with it. I struggled. Pushing myself up against the stone chains with all the strength I could.

It was hard with me pinned down the way I was. I should've just listened to that sinking feeling in my gut. I let my lightning loose. It struck outward in every direction. She blocked the strikes headed her direction with small chunks of earth.