The Dragon's Keep

Epilogue

"Damn it, Dr. Mills! They were unsuccessful! The human girl who we allowed to be plied with your mind-alerting substance is missing and holds compromising information about our organization. Your promising man, Chromeon, lies dead in your hideout, and what of the sniveling companion of his? Where is he?"

"He ran off with Ary, the human."

"Naturally! Icing on the fucking cake. I hope you're pleased at single-handedly being the downfall of the Centers for Destruction of Creatures." Dr. Omnide had turned red in his rage, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. The other members of the Elite board watched in sobering silence as their chair chewed Dr. Mills out.

"Not at all."

"What the...how the hell can you disagree?" Dr. Sturgeon sputtered. Now a low hum of arguing began to slowly build. Dissenting voices steadily grew louder and louder until finally Dr. Mills was finished hearing it.

"QUIET!"

Shocked more so than in compliance, the chatter stopped abruptly accompanied with looks of disapproval at Dr. Mills' outburst. "You presume to tell us what to do? We are the Elite! We are the very blood..."

"Blood and power of the human race. Yeah, yeah, yeah." Dr. Mills rolled his eyes to the surprise of the board. "For people of such blood and power, of such epic history, you sure know SHIT about what I know."

Having caught their attention and embarrassed them thoroughly, no one made a sound. "Please, Dr. Mills. Continue." The words were spoken by the quiet Dr. Plauton and Dr. Mills nodded. He turned to face the Board chair as he spoke.

"Dr. Omnide, everything you said was a loss of a minor battle to win a much larger war."

These words were intriguing to those at the table. "Explain."

"While Ary and Matt, two pitiful humans, get away with what they think happened, I have pillaged the Mythics for much deeper knowledge. By retrieving money from two Mythic specimens, I have created a new biological weapon."

Murmurs began to race around the room, the air suddenly feeling electric with new found excitement.

"Out with it, Dr. Mills!" Dr. Vincent stood up, the anticipation bubbling over the top of his pot.

"A gas. This was the 'mind-altering substance' we plied the human with. But this can be weaponized as it is the result of merging the bloods of two Mythics. This gas will incapacitate Mythics, making them ultimately comply without hesitation. We can enslave them and order them to march themselves to their deaths."

Dr. Sturgeon, reluctant to fall trapped to words only, sought to poke holes in Dr. Mills' plan. "How do you plan to apply the gas and it not impact humans?"

"With this." Dr. Mills held up a seemingly innocent golden disc with a gem in the middle.

"What is it? Jewelry?" Dr. Sturgeon coughed as she was laughing.

"No, this is an Access Card, designed to enter the Cavern of Mythics. With this, we can enter any Mythic location and have access to that miserable race."

"So you have gas and you have a card. What now?"

Dr. Mills looked to Dr. Omnide and scanned the room, being met with eager eyes at every turn. "This is war. We smoke them out."