Mark took a moment inside of a deep Union of Alacrity/Slowness.

The wall of fish ahead was thinner, on the other side of the migration, but it was still thick enough to wipe away the Dreadnought and everyone on the ship, if Mark did anything but Glory/Fear. He’d have to go back to that soon, but for now… he pondered.

The dragon greeting party was visible through Quark’s wireframe model.

David stood beside him, waiting for him to catch up.

4 dragons arrayed themselves out there, hovering in a line beyond the fish migration, about 50 kilometers beyond. The migration flowed and shifted every which way, but the dragons were generally 50 kilometers out there, and spread out over a good 20 kilometers of space.

A medium one on the far left, a smaller one, then a tall one, and then a fat one. The smaller one was the one that had attacked the ship and then fled. Mark didn’t know that one. The names of 2 of them were known, but Mark had never heard their names before.

The first one on the left was Elkatracks. She was a brown/bronze dragon who had a history of edging around humanity, not really interacting, except when it came to other dragons. If a dragon appeared among humanity then she tried to get them to disengage from humanity and leave all of that behind. Before the Reveal she was a weak dragon, and she still technically was weak, but now Endless Daihoon was open all the time and dragons actually had lands, now, that were not human lands.

The Empires ‘liked’ Elkatracks quite a lot for her political stance to separate humanity and dragons.

The small yellow dragon that had attacked the Dreadnought was next. She, according to Quark, was unnamed/unknown.

The tall one was unknown. She, also according to Quark, was tall and golden and very angry.

And the fat one was Quatrok. He was a deep blue lightning-type dragon who had always been politically strong among the dragons, and he hated archmages with a passion. According to history, Addashield and Quatrok had fought in something called the Red Dragon War 200 years ago, and Quatrok had been exiled since then. And now, here he was again. Quatrok didn’t think that anyone should try to be an archmage, and the goal of every demon Contract should be the creation of a dragon.

That was about all of the intel Quark had in his databases. Dragons were not well known aside from their big stories and Quark hadn’t done an extensive deep dive into all of that, aside from the highlights. And he couldn’t get any extra information from the Two Worlds at all. They were cut off, for now.

Mark regarded the lineup, beyond the veil of migrating fish.

David said, “All caught up?”

Mark nodded a little, with his Kinesis.

Quark said, “It appears so, sir.”

David raised an eyebrow. “That is messed up when you do that.”

Mark wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t; Yoro had said the same thing.

Quark translated, “Mark expresses mirth… for some reason.”

Mark couldn’t speak, but he could roll his eyes.

David stared for a moment, his vector highly concerned for Mark’s physical health, and then he turned away and continued, “So, for a general plan: We go out there, you stand tall, and then we blitz the big golden one if she makes a fuss. I got a good look at the big gold and I think she’s the smaller yellow one’s mother… or something.” David huffed; an aborted laugh. “Didn’t know dragons could have kids…” He added, “And maybe that’s not it? Maybe the younger one is a demon-progeny-complicated-thing. We’ll find out. Ready? Ready.”

Mark switched back to Glory/Fear, time sped up quickly, and the fish that had migrated about 20 meters into Mark’s bubble suddenly decided that was a bad idea. The swarm flowed once again around the ship, and the Dreadnought proceeded.

Eliot’s voice crackled from Quark’s speakers, “All persons please take cover inside the castle! David? This means you too!”

David said to Mark, “If we need you to make a distraction—”

“I’ll keep them busy and you escape with everyone, with Tartu. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine out here in Endless Daihoon by myself, if I have to be.” Mark told him, “I do not wantto be alone, though, so…” Mark didn’t finish that thought.

David nodded.

And then it was just Mark and Quark, alone.

Mark moved to stand on top of the forward castle, in the center of the operations deck. It was just a rise of stone meant to protect anyone in a secondary way, if they couldn’t make it to the main castle. It would be obliterated by any wayward strike from a kaiju; same as any other part of the ship.

Mark drank in the Glory and excluded all Fear, standing tall in a light of his own making, surrounded by the darkness of endless monster fish, all shimmery silver and subtly yellow.

And then the river of fish broke. The storm of scales crashed behind the Dreadnought instead of in front. Stray fish scattered fast, fearful of being on the edges of the migration.

Four dragons loomed far ahead.

In the way the night approaches, the Dreadnought sailed on toward inevitability.

Isoko was at the controls right now, down in main command. Everyone was down below, at main command. Isoko pulled the throttle back, outside of Mark’s sight, and the ship began to slow.

The dragons hovered in the air, wings spread up and back, not even flapping. Their vectors were like gravity. Going toward them, especially toward that one on the right, Quatrok, and the second to the right, the unnamed gold, felt like going downhill.

The Dreadnought stopped several kilometers from the dragons. It was more than close enough.

Mark hovered forward, onto the front end of the ship, and Called out to them, “Greetings!”

“I want my ward’s teeth back,” said the golden one, in a feminine voice. “Return them to her.”

The pressure of her voice was like a wave of pure fear driving into the world; a dark storm crashing against the Dreadnought and Mark, rippling the world in that crashing. Mark broke that storm, and darkness fled to the sides, around the ship.

Mark still felt that bone-deep fear, and that fear did what it always did.

Mark sharpened, invigorated, and he felt transported, for a moment, back into his Xerkonan Etiquette classes at Citadel of Freyala. Mark wantedto Call for a fight to the death, but what he didwas Call back, “And I believe unprovoked attacks should be met with absolute death. Therefore, your ward can have her teeth back when she comes for them, and when she tries I will be taking her head.” Mark Called back, loud and happily now, “It will make a great figurehead for the ship!”

… Hmm.

Should Mark have been less confrontational?

… No.

Mark let the words hang.

The golden one glared, full of the confusion of someone who had spotted a particularly bright bug.

The small yellow one was furious. It launched forward, rimmed in lightning, yelling, “I’LL KILL YO—”

A brilliant globe of light surrounded the yellow dragon.

The big golden dragon pulled her hand back, claws filled with the same sort of light, for she was a Light Shaper the size of the sky, and she held tight. She simply said, “Nalamenca.”

Nalamenca called out, “But sister!”

The big sister glared.

… Nalamenca pulled back, body curling inward, as she said, “Sorry, Odanci.”

Odanci nodded at Nalamenca, and then she let go, the container orb of light breaking.

Nalamenca retook her spot in the group under the disapproving gaze of her big sister, and also Elkatracks. Nalamenca shocked at catching Elkatracks’ gaze. Nalamenca told Elkatracks, “Sorry, Ma’am.”

Elkatracks nodded, softly saying, “You were lucky to escape the first time with your life, Nalamenca.”

Nalamenca couldn’t agree to that. She shouted, “I was fine! He couldn’t have gotten me! He’s not that strong!”

“He is that strong, and more,” Odanci said, staring at Mark, her large golden eyes focused on him, most of all. “Aren’t you, little human… if you even arehuman anymore.”

“I’m mostly human,” Mark Called back.

Odanci snorted, and the world shocked at that snort, darkness crashing out of light, and then passing far away. “At least he is not delusional.” She glared. “I still want my ward’s teeth back.”

“What will you give me for them?”

“My forgiveness.”

“Would youaccept such a trade, if you were in my position?”

“Never. But you have a lot more to lose than I, little not-so-human.”

Mark casually Called out a deep, fundamental truth, “I would hunt every one of you to death, all across Endless Daihoon, the moon, and everywhere you could possibly hide, or flee, forever. I would swear blood vengeance on your kind, and rise to heights of dragonslaying untold. You think Aurora is a dragonslayer? I would become 100-fold the dragonslayer she is.”

The air crackled, or maybe it was just Mark’s imagination.

A moment passed.

Odanci huffed, and then said to Nalamenca, “This is a lesson for you, Nalamenca. Sometimes enemies are a lot more trouble than they are worth, even for us dragons. It is a hard lesson. One of the hardest for our kind to understand, and especially for you, for we already stand above so much, and you are still so young. So do as I say: Cut your losses, bow your head, ask for forgiveness, and mean it.”

Nalamenca glared hate at Odanci—

Odanci stared back, and her eyes were a lot tougher than Nalamenca’s.

… Nalamenca turned toward Mark, toward the Dreadnought, and said, “I apologize, Mister Careed…” She scowled. “I apologize for enacting justicefor trying to stop your poaching, for trying to have a dialogue with you when you attacked me for no reason! I apologize for not allowingyou to run roughshod over our lands and our powers and I will KILL YOU THE NEXT TIME—”

Odanci smacked Nalamenca on the back of the head, her wings moving too fast for Mark to see. And then Odanci was floating regally again, as though she hadn’t moved at all.

Nalamenca’s head fell through the sky.

The yellow dragon was dead, her weight upon the world vanishing like a brush of fog evaporating off of the bathroom mirror. Her head continued to fall, and her body followed.

Elkatracks tensed.

Odanci said to Mark, “I apologize for my former ward’s actions, future Tyrant Dragon King, Mark Careed.”

“… Apology accepted.” Mark went with the flow, saying, “I would like to know what she meant about poaching. We have done no such thing, and are continuing far beyond dragon lands to hunt.”

“I will field this one,” Quatrok said, speaking for the first time. He was only interested in Mark, and did not care one whit for whatever happened to the newly-dead dragon, or Odanci, or Elkatracks, but he did glance at the falling body, and said, “Aren’t you going to eat that?”

Odanci asked, “Perhaps?” She reached out with light and captured the falling body and head. She looked at Mark, and said, “Or perhaps Mark would like to partake of the prismatic mana, instead?”

“I will hunt my own meals, thank you.”

Odanci bowed in the air, and then ripped apart the corpse of the young dragon in a flash of light and power, condensing flesh and crashing bone into a firework of gore, leaving behind a single glowing orb of bright, rainbow light. She flicked the rainbow light into the air, and then ate it, jaws snapping, and then throat distending in a swallow.

She flickered a little with radiance, for a moment, her eyes lidded, her vector calm.

Odanci opened her eyes and turned toward Elkatracks and Quatrok in turn, saying, “I apologize for the rudeness of my former charge.”

Elkatracks sighed. “She had every opportunity. The next one will be better.”

“She never would have survived the coming integration anyway,” Quatrok said, looking at Mark. “You two may leave us now, if you wish.”

“I will remain but be silent, if that is acceptable,” Odanci said.

“Then back away,” Quatrok said.

Odanci bowed in the air, and then she flew backwards, cracking the air with a hurricane of force, leaping backward, doing a somersault, wings folding, arms tight, tail trailing golden and glittery. She looked quite beautiful doing that, which was a weird thought to have, but whatever. And then she was several tens of kilometers away, just hanging out—

“I wish to discuss your future as a ruler, Mark Careed,” Quatrok said.

“Then let us discuss it. What do you want?” Mark asked.

Quatrok arched a very scaly blue eyebrow, and then he asked, “You do not deny your mantle? That it is not a joke for the cameras?”

“Let me ask you a question in turn: Will I needto be an emperor, or king, in order to kill all monsters, cast the demons into some abyss or kill them all, and eradicate all of the external problems of humanity? Because if I can do that withoutbeing a king, then I will try for that.” Mark said, “I do not wishto be a ruler at all.”

Quatrok huffed, then said, “It is not fun living here in Endless Daihoon. It is large enough for us, this is true, but it is not great. The food sucks, the people are worse, and shitty upstarts are born from dragon Contracts all the time, like that one that Odanci eradicated. That sort of event, right there, is common. Sometimes the union of True Magic and a bounded mortal is not a proper dragon, but an idiot that cannot think or act their way out of a precarious situation.

“I much preferred life before the Reveal, even when some of those times were bad.

“Living on Daihoon and venturing here when I felt the need to really stretch my wings, or take a long nap, was good. Before the Reveal, before several other events, I was known to escort future royalty out into the True Wilds, so that they could become powerhouses strong enough to create the kind of world I wanted to live in.

“This is what it means to be dragon; a Real Dragon. A High Dragon, if that label makes more sense. A High Dragon empowers others and is empowered by them in turn. Our kind desires merely fealty, and worship, from lessers to greaters. Proper imperialism, enforced upon all, as is only Right, and Good.

“The world I want to live in is one where dragons are revered as the righteous powers we are; not as these diminished things we have become, where we live in Endless Daihoon all the time.

“I want a world where archmages and their foolish pursuits are culled from possibility, and all demon Contracts are instantly Contracts for dragonizing. I don’t want the uncertainty of magefalls. I don’t want the uncertainty of demons in my life. I want solid tribute, and solid worship.

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“If you, or your brother, would seek to create the world that I want to live in, then I will assist you in creating that world, and I will not be the only one doing so. If you do not wish to be a ruler yourself, then this is not a problem. The most importantpart of being a ruler is knowing who to empower in turn, to spread proper ideals and proper management.

“Mostly, people take care of themselves, if you can ensure that they have the space to take care of themselves.

“But rulers are needed, and I would help you be the ruler that is needed, if you desire it.”

Quatrok finished and he stared, his eyes demanding answers, right now.

Mark felt a little stunned at the depth of Quatrok’s conviction. At what he was offering. If Mark accepted becoming a ruler then he’d get an escort for his people into Endless Daihoon, as Quatrok had apparently done for others? That was surprising. How much of all of that was true, though?

Probably a lot, but only when seen through certain lenses. Through specific points of view.

Quatrok had a history with Addashield, and probably with Addavein, but Mark didn’t know much about that at all, and Quatrok hadn’t volunteered any of thatinformation.

… Hmm.

Mark responded, “I am strong enough to get what I want, as I want it, but your offer is taken under advisement. I will think on it.”

“… You’re not seriously thinking of going out into Endless Daihoon on your own, are you? You might survive, but your people will die.” Quatrok huffed, then asked, “Do you even know where to go?”

“Yes.”

Silence greeted Mark.

And then Quatrok rumbled, and said, “I am a much better guide than a prismfinder.”

“Perhaps you are,” Mark said, not knowing what a ‘prismfinder’ was, but guessing that it was like the Storm Prism that Mark, Andria, Tartu, and Eliot had made. “But I would trust the allies I made before I trusted a new person, and you are verynew to me.”

“Fine,” Quatrok said, letting that go. “Then let us speak of poaching. Since you are not accepting an alliance at this time: Do not poach in our territory. Our territory is 5000 kilometers near both Crossings, and when a ship comes into a Crossing they end up at about 2,500 kilometers away from getting back to Earth or Daihoon. You are now at kilometer 3000, where wildlife starts to appear rather frequently and the hunting gets dense and dangerous. Past 5k you will meet Cat 6 and Cat 7 kaiju.

“If you have a dragon with you, then you will survive, otherwise you will not.

“It is a simple truth.

“Another simple truth is this: Elkatracks wishes to talk with you, and you will fulfill her desires. We will be using your man Eliot for building several things before we allow you to continue. It will take several days.”

Elkatracks spoke up, “Ican speak for our people’s needs, Quatrok. You assume too much, yet again.”

Quatrok snorted, and then backed away, floating quietly, without moving any wings at all.

There was no room for Mark to speak right now, so he did not try.

Elkatracks said, “Normally I am loath to deal with human matters at all, for your kind are too ephemeral, but we have several refuges of humans in several locations, and we tend to care for them, because it is the right thing to do. People tend to crash on Endless Daihoon all the time, you know. Usually we simply put them back into the air, and send them on their way, but it’s been thousands of years and some of these societies simply... happen. They happen quite too often after the Reveal, after Endless Daihoon opened all the time, and we were rightly kicked off of Daihoon…” She huffed, and Mark could tell she was pissed off at people far beyond her own situation. “So even if what we do is enabling behavior, we need some functional building and infrastructure built, and Eliot is here and capable, so we’ll be using him. In exchange, we’ll allow you to poach in our lands, and you don’t have to go into the Deep Wilds.”

“Not happy about that!” Quatrok spoke up.

“And you will accept it anyway,” Elkatracks said.

“Bah! Fine.” Quatrok called out, “It’s also a good introduction to what dragon-led lands can do!”

Elkatracks added, “Otherwise, you can simply go that way for another 2000 kilometers and probably run into a few Cat 7 kaiju that are 3 times the size of any kaiju you have ever seen before, including us dragons, and maybe even a Cat 8 kaiju the size of an entire layer of Endless Daihoon. They will consume you and move on before you realize you are being consumed.”

“And there’s the Bigs!” Quatrok said, “Don’t forget the Bigs—”

“Quatrok,” Elkatracks merely said, annoyed.

Mark did not have to convene with his team to have their answer, for what they wanted was written in their vectors. Isoko was having none of this shit. Sally wanted to kill them all. Andria was freaking out over how fast Odanci had killed her ward, and Tartu was in a similar boat. Lola, David, and Derek wanted to go very far away, very fast, and they did not believe the threat of the bigger category of kaiju out there… at least not wholly.

Eliot wanted to split the difference, and that was causing some rifts between the team. They were all talking in the main command, and Mark didn’t know what they were saying.

Mark didn’t have to know what they were saying.

Mark said, “As per international law, humans cannot trade with dragons for anything at all, and as we are part of the Empire Aluatha —even though they tried to assassinate me a few times in the last week— so we still have to play by the rules with which we have bound ourselves. So how about this: We hunt where we have to hunt, and if some critical infrastructure systems should happen to fall off the back of the ship, they fall off the back of the ship.

“What are your colonies missing the most of?”

The dragons went quiet. Contemplative. Dismissive, almost—

Eliot’s voice piped up in Mark’s comms, “We need perfect grav crystals and brightspeed crystals.”

Mark added, “And if we should happen to find some grav crystals and bright speed crystals in our path, then that might be nice, too—”

“ ‘Brightspeed’, all one word,” Eliot said. “Odanci should have some. I know she must.”

“Excuse me; I misspoke,” Mark said, “ ‘Brightspeed crystals’. Odanci should have some. I know she must.”

Elkatracks hovered, her face unreadable.

Odanci huffed in the far back, saying, “I’m not giving up those to anyone.”

Quatrok said to Odanci, “How about for equal adamantium?”

Odanci paused, slightly—

Eliot said to Mark, “Do it, Mark. Start at 20 kilos for 20.”

“Double brightspeed for adamantium,” Mark said, “40 kilos brightspeed per 20 kilos of adamantium. And throw in the grav crystals for free.”

“Esaily done,” Odanci said, eyes focused, “But I want 3,000 kilos adamantium for 6,000 brightspeed. Can you do that?”

“I would talk of appliances,” Elkatracks said, “I want 6,000 electric-crystal-powered electrical generators, and 3,000 sets of air conditioners, water heaters, water purifiers, ovens/stoves, microwaves, refrigerators, and toothbrushes. Human-sized, with 10% oversized. Like that big girl you have in there. I will accept them ‘dropped off the back of the ship’ if they are dropped off near a settlement. Do you have a map of the dragon cities of Endless Daihoon?”

Eliot said to Mark, “We have few supplies and no map, unless Quark does and I don’t have a copy?”

Quark spoke up to Mark and Eliot, “I have no such map.”

Mark Called out, “We’ll exchange adamantium for brightspeed, Odanci, when we do the rest of the exchange. But we do not have the raw materials to fulfill such an order of appliances, and we have no map.”

Odanci nodded regally.

Elkatracks asked, “What do you need?”

Eliot listed off some stuff, and Mark Called the order out.

Elkatracks said, “Here’s a map, then. You will find your supplies just outside of the city. You do not have to go in—”

“But you are welcome to come inside!” Quatrok added.

And then Elkatracks flowed light and illusion into the air, painting a ‘map’ unlike Mark had ever seen before. It was a series of ribbons and labeled with things like ‘water’ and ‘sky’ and ‘land’. It had a bunch of dots on it, too, each of them with names in various languages, from Xerk to English to others.

Elkatracks asked, “Do you know how to move in Endless Daihoon?”

For most everyone on the ship, it was a confusing question.

Tartu, Andria, and Eliot knew exact rules, but no one else did; not really. It was supposed to be a complicated thing with an ‘ego shield’ and whatever, and Mark knew the theory, but practice was going to be different.

“… Go in the direction that you want,” Mark said.

“That’s about it,” Elkatracks said. “Actually getting where you want is harder than it seems, but if you continue going toward your goal then you can usually get there, as long as you don’t fall off the paths too much. So, aim for the city of Kabberjaw. That’s one of the larger ones. And do not share the names of these places with anyone. We like our privacy, and normal people knowing the names of these places brings…” She spat, “Tourists.”

Elkatracks left without another word.

Quatrok said, “See you soon! Hope to end the demonic threat with you someday, because demons are only a threat when demons are allowedto interface with humanity. That would not happen if we instituted worldwide demands that all Contracts be instantly consumed and used to make dragons.”

Quatrok left.

Odanci said, “I have the brightspeed crystal with me if you want to do that exchange now. I do not have the grav crystal, but that is a trivial request. I will leave it at Kabberjaw with the supplies for Elkatracks’ appliances.”

“… One minute,” Mark said.

Mark was still deep in the Glory and Fear Union, and the migration of fish was still close enough, so he slipped out of his clothes and then held those to the side in an adamantine grip.

And then he easily cut his head off of his body.

With a few beats of his heart… which wasn’t there? Ah. Seemed to be working anyway. Maybe he was in a Union of Brain right now. Anyway! He healed his body to full, leaving behind a good 2000 kilos of ‘Mark’.

It was only after the fact that he realized what kind of power move that was, when Odanci stared, eyes widening a fraction.

… Mark cut himself off at the waist, removing his top half, just below his rib cage.

He regrew from his legs, leaving another 1000-ish kilos on the deck of the Dreadnought.

Mark put his clothes back on and then made sure his illusionary clothes were working as well, as he swished his former body parts into the air, into several long tubes of adamantium, Calling out, “It’s about 3,000 kilos.”

“3,190,” Quark said.

“3,190,” Mark Called out, correcting himself.

Odanci had a moment, and then—

Her vector was so very close. Mark shifted to Alacrity/Slowness—

Odanci’s face was right in front of Mark, inside of the area of the ship, staring down at Mark with open wonder and curiosity, her lips in a curl, her eyes soft. Mark regarded her, moving his head with Kinesis to see her more clearly. Odanci smirked. That expression looked positively hungryon her big golden face.

Strangely enough, she did not seem violent. Mark had expected violence after that event with Nalamenca. But everything past the initial posturing and casual threats seemed… okay?

Was Mark okay with this?

“You really are quite fast, and… durable.”

Mark made himself bow a little.

Odanci huffed, and then plucked a room-sized brightyellow, lightning-crackling crystal out of the air and set it into the surface of the ship behind and beside Mark, saying, “You can’t speak?”

Mark made himself shrug. And then he pushed forward the tubes of adamantium.

Odanci plucked the adamantium from his fingers with claws of light, hauling them back into the sky, as she said, “Apologies once again for Nalemenca. She was stupid, but she had everything I needed in an apprentice, and ward. I forgave her for many trespasses, as one does, but she had the nerve to speak like thatto a future king. Very unbecoming, and especially for one born from a 90 year old grand mage of good capability and politeness, and demon that we have had dealings with in the past, in this very same arena.

“We’ll get the demon back, though, and they can try again, but, maybe not.

“Did you know that wedid not know that it worked like that, until your very public event with that Leash demon? That the demons from dragons never really died? That they were recycled on Luna. We always assumed the ones we got for other dragon rituals were mirror reflections of the demons we had previously Contracted with. Family-type deals, and such. Not directly the samedemon.

“But it does explain a lot.

“That particular ‘family’ of demons that gave birth to Nalemenca was always willing to become dragons, but they never made the bestof dragons. Almost High Dragons, mostly not, and to know that many of them were probably the samedemon… Makes one wonder. We are still figuring all of that out.

“I am glad you allowed Nalemenca the chance to redeem herself, even if she failed to make the most of that opportunity.”

Mark had nothing to say.

Odanci hmm’d, then said, “Perhaps you will become a true speedster when you attain your prismatic goal. I hope it is so. I also hope that you think deeplyabout Quatrok’s words. No one likes demons, but dragons don’t exist without them, and you can’t actually kill demons, so Quatrok’s directly-to-dragon solution is one of the better ones.

“Farewell, Mark Careed.

“Death to all monsters.”

And then Odanci departed, flowing away like a golden cloud that then turned to light, and air, and lightning, toward the left, into the ephemeral edge of the layer 150 kilometers away.

… And then she was gone?

Hmm.

Slowly, Mark allowed time to come back to normal, and then he went back to Glory/Fear, and the giant spike of brilliant yellow crystal fully settled into the deck of the ship.

It was a lot of crystal, easily the size of a large hovervan, or the room of a house.

Everyone started talking a lot, arguing a lot, but also relaxing a lot.

Mark managed to ask, “What’s the crystal for anyway, Eliot?”

“It’s for making the ship go fast! Super fucking fast, too!”

“Sounds good to me.”

Mark sat down and relaxed for as long as he could.