I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Second Dungeon?

"Gah... that was terrifying!" Rae exclaimed as Ergen collapsed on the ground to rest from the recent excitement. Quickly, she moved over to his head to do the same, and it wasn't for several minutes that the dust in the air finally settled and the ground stopped shaking underneath their feet as the dungeon finished collapsing.

"Is everyone accounted for? Check for casualties!" Sera ordered from somewhere, though it still took several moments for the still coughing mercenaries to answer.

"Everyone that went into the dungeon escaped somehow... we all made it!" One of the mercenaries replied, and all of the men and women let out several cheers while thanking several gods that they were alive. All save for one, however, as Ergen glanced at Sera to see that she was still examining what looked like a sword in her hands that was entirely covered in rust. And soon, everyone seemed to realize that she had been the only one to have gained anything from the dungeon as the mercenaries all fell silent.

"Is that really the only thing that we got from being in there? A freaking rusty sword?!" One of the mercenaries asked in anger, and Ergen didn't blame the man as it had been a waste of both lives and time. However, now that he thought about it, he'd gained absolutely nothing out of going into the dungeon and facing the broodmother, not even a rusty sword.

"It seems to be enchanted in some way." Sera commented, though Ergen didn't care about their conversation as he was already exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home. And seeing as Rae was already safely on top of his head, Ergen rose so that he could take off, only to find that Sera had circled around him to block his path out of the overhanging rock slabs that the columns around them were supporting.

"Not so fast, we still need your help." Sera announced, apparently having forgotten everything that she'd ever done to him as she asked for even more of his time.

"What do you want? We've already defeated the chimera as well as it's broodmother. We've completed our mission." Rea replied.

"This was only the first dungeon that we found. There's another nearby that could hold even more enchanted equipment." Sera explained.

'And how is that our problem?' Ergen asked internally.

"Fine, where is it?" Rae asked, and Ergen emitted a low grown as he shook his head in an attempt to eject his passenger.

"Hey! What are you going to do if they run into another chimera?!" Rae asked with a hint of desperation in her voice as she frantically clung onto one of his horns. "Even if you don't like it, we'll probably just be sent back out here anyway if we leave them now!"

Sighing inwardly, Ergen knew that it wouldn't be this easy to get the fairy off of his head, nor the guilt of leaving these people behind off of his mind. With how many of them had died already, they would most likely all be completely annihilated in their next dungeon, so he supposed that he could accompany them for a little while longer. And he also supposed that Farell had better butcher five cows for his return meal as he wasn't going to be possibly fighting another broodmother for free.

"Good, then now that that's settled, let's go back and get the horses." Sera said with a sly smile that reminded Ergen of Farell's grin when he'd left, which irked him to no end.

"Yes Commander!" The other mercenaries all yelled in unison.

"Call me Sera!" She yelled back, obviously displeased with the title.

"Yes, Commander Sera!" The mercenaries all replied as if they had practiced before hand, and Ergen couldn't help but start a deep laughter as Commander Sera turned sharply and glared at him. Though, seeing as she wasn't a threat at all, Ergen continued his laughter until she started walking quickly back towards the mercenary campsite, obviously attempting to at least maintain a small amount of her dignity before they all followed her back to the horses. Thankfully, the beasts had somewhat calmed to Ergen's presence, though they were still giving their riders a handful before Ergen moved away from the camp so that the steeds would be less skittish.

Giving the mercenaries time to clean up their camp and get onto their horses, Ergen waited until Sera came to get him before he followed them in a long convoy leading down the mountains alongside a river. They traveled downstream along with the water until they eventually all started dismounting as they approached the top of a large waterfall. And as they did, Ergen looked around in confusion as he didn't see a dungeon anywhere and it was early in the morning now so none of the mercenaries needed to set up camp yet.

"The second dungeon is just past the waterfall." Sera explained as she rode beside Ergen. "Take a look if you want, but don't get noticed."

"Noticed? By what?" Rae asked, and they quickly found out as Ergen stuck his head over the edge of the waterfall and saw what looked like a large village beneath them. The entire area was swarming with what looked like small green creatures, and suddenly Ergen had flashbacks of the frost troll city as he immediately knew what they were going to have to do to get inside of the dungeon at the base of the waterfall.

"And now it's an army of goblins... Great. Just great." Rae complained from the top of Ergen's head, and all he could think about was the fact that she had been the one that had volunteered for the task in the first place.

*     *     *

"Did you get it?" Emric asked eagerly as the assassin entered the throne room with a parcel in his hands.

"We lost over half of our men in the process, but-"

"I didn't ask for a casualty report!" Emric snapped. "Did. You. Get. The. Arrow?!"

"Yes, your majesty." The assassin bowed while raising the parcel above his head, and Emric quickly stood from his throne and moved towards the man before beginning to unwrap the parcel with greedy fingers. As he finally unwrapped the arrow, Emric completely froze along with the breath he'd been taking before he started laughing as he picked up the arrow. The wooden shaft had disintegrated long ago along with any feathers used for fletching. However, the tainted arrowhead still remained, and Emric almost cackled now that he had it within his grasp.

"You may leave!" Emric yelled in between bursts of laughter, and the assassin quickly left before Emric turned around and started leaving the throne room out of a side chamber. He quickly descended the several flights of stairs there before finally entering an enormous chamber with heavy metal bars dividing it in half. And as he entered, a loud screeching cry blasted him from behind the bars before a large bolt of fire suddenly shot out and hit him directly in the chest.

"Come now, Chae dear, that's not very nice." Emric chuckled as embers scattered all throughout the chamber and he patted off his chest peice, completely unharmed. "Oh... That's right, you're hungry, aren't you? It has been over a week since you've eaten."

Being answered with another screech, Emric turned away to hide his wide grin as he grabbed the raw leg of a deer that was hanging over a nearby table. And after secretly slipping the still sharp arrowhead into it, Emric turned around and walked towards the cage, not minding seeing the celestial griffin there cowering in the corner in an attempt to get away from him.

"Eat up, my dear. I'll need you to be strong soon." Emric stated before he tossed the deer leg through the bars and Chae immediately rushed forward and caught the meat in her beak before it had ever even touched the ground. "I'll also need you to be following my every order, which now won't be a problem at all anymore."

After he spoke, Chae suddenly started screaming, rolling around on the floor and convulsing as her feathers flew in all directions. Already, the ancient magic was working and her once golden feathers were turning pitch black, a sure sign that the curse was engulfing both her body and mind. And neither the pain the Chae was currently going through or the lives of the men that had died to fetch the arrowhead ment anything to Emric as he started laughing again, cupping his hands up to his ears to fully enjoy Chae's screams before she eventually stopped, having fallen unconscious.

"Rest well, my dear." Emric was still chuckling as he turned to head back up the stairs. "I'll need your new power soon... very soon..."