The giant dragon was sprawled on the stone floor that was glowing red from the heat radiating out of him. A thick cloud of smoke was rising from his black armoured body, drifting towards the shaft in the ceiling of the dark cave chamber.
The small elf with blonde hair and two curled horns poking out of her head was moving the long sharp chisel made out of a shiny black metal emitting white light and sparks out of its tip. Her hands were moving nimbly over the giant claw, her chisel leaving sublime and perfect lines glowing in bright white light. Her blue and reptilian eyes were focused on her work, not blinking even once.
The dragon was looking at the working elf, a blissful feeling of warmth spreading from his claw, seeping through his whole body.
‘Is this why people like to go on manicures… it feels so relaxing.’
Suddenly the elves eyes went wide, a smile growing on her face as she made a quick stroke with her chisel, creating spiralled glowing line crossing through another straight line. Both of the lines flared up in even brighter light as they formed a rune letter.
Then as a domino, one rune after another started to glow brightly, seeping with magical energy, their glow increasing with each moment as Vesuvius felt a warm and soothing feeling spread from his claw.
The magical energy in his body went wild, resonating with the long string of runes on his claw.
The elf fell on her bottom with a smile on her face, panting heavily as sweat poured down her forehead.
Doubt appeared in the dragon hearth, feeling his magical energy going wild. ‘Did she do something to me?’. His reptilian eyes flashed with anger, looking at the elf.
Suddenly his magical energy calmed down with the light of runes dimming into slowly pulsing faint white light.
Vesuvius quickly calmed down, realizing that he was too paranoid.
The small elf opened her mouth, hesitating for a few moments before finally speaking, “Your highness… may I please take a short break.”
“Of course, you can… It would be a shame if you botched your work because you were drained. Take pause as long as you need.”. Vesuvius wasn’t unreasonable, feeling a little bit weird at the small elf hesitating over such a trivial matter.
‘Maybe I should make more effort to make her accommodation comfortable…’ his eyes passed through the large, dimly lit cave chamber with only one large and fluffy bearskin and a small table in the corner, ‘This is not accommodation for a humanoid being… her endurance as a dragonkin is strong, but I should make her dwelling more comfortable.’
The small elf immediately crawled towards the bearskin, sprawling on it and closing her eyes.
In the meantime, Vesuvius looked at his claw. A few large runes, each surrounded by a circle of smaller runes, were lined up on his claw, creating a long string of glowing runes.
‘Time to test these out.’
The giant dragon slowly moved his weight towards his large hind legs, lifting his front limbs from the ground and moving his large tail towards the ground to counterbalance his long neck. His heavy armoured body lifted from the ground, turning vertically like a human.
The dragon stood up on his hind legs and supported himself with his large spiked tail, focusing on balancing his body that wasn’t built for something like that, his head almost hitting the black ceiling.
He felt dizzy and uncomfortably, ‘To think I used to walk on my hind legs as a human… This feels so unstable…’
Then the dragon moved his free front limbs, striking with his rune-covered claw against a claw on his second arm. The runes flared up in bright light with a thin layer of energy covering his whole claw. Sparks were flying everywhere, and the ear-tearing screeching of two pieces of metal scratching against each other sounded through the entire cave. Two claws ground against each other, electrical sparks flowing around them and their sharp edges scraping against each other.
The dragon stopped, pulling his claws to assess the damage, opening his mouth at the result.
His claw, covered in runes, was in pristine condition. Its glowing orange surface was immaculate without any scratches or damage, the golden webbing glittering in the orange light. On the contrary, his second claw was covered with scratches, with its edge chipped with missing pieces and deep cuts.
Knowing how stupendously durable his claws were, he felt amazed, ‘Such a great result…, but I still need to check its mana conductivity.’
A magical diagram flared up in the dragon’s mind, dozens of symbols arranging into a glowing triangle. Magical energy poured through his veins, spreading a warm feeling as it entered his claws. Bright orange flames with golden edges flared up out of his claws, covering them in flaming blades.
Suddenly the runes on his claw flashed in bright light, and the intensity and size of the flames covering it increased, overshadowing his other claws.
‘She didn’t just preserve their mana conductivity. She even increased it.’
Vesuvius kept watching the beautiful flames around his claws, mesmerized by their beauty. He lost his sense of time as he just kept watching his flames burn.
The young elf suddenly woke up, her eyes bulging out as she saw the dragon stand on his hind legs, with huge flames blazing out of his claws, illuminating everything in bright flickering orange light.
POV Alesia:
Alesia woke up, her magical energy recovered, and her strained mind rested, ‘The blood of dragons is really a miraculous liquid…’
Her still, little tired eyes fell upon the dragon standing on his hind legs with his claws in flames. She had mixed feelings seeing how the fire blazing from the rune claw was brighter and more prominent.
She wanted to smile and enjoy that she successfully engraved runes on the living dragon, seeing how beautiful her work was. However, her pride was pushed back by concerns, ‘Is this really the right thing to do?’
She knew that dragons were terrifying beasts strong in body and magic, with incredible innate abilities that gave them both strong defence and destructive power beyond comparison. However, weaker races still managed to defeat them with their tools and ingenuity, but now she was making dragons even stronger and more dangerous.
Then her eyes fell upon the magic radiating rings and amulet worn by the dragon, making her feeling even more complicated, ‘Already dangerous dragon using tools…’
She couldn’t help but shiver, but then the dragon blood in her veins suppressed her worries, replacing them with greed, ‘Nah, I want to become part of history and what damage can one dragon cause? I want to push boundaries of runic enchanting… for that, some price must be paid.’
She calmed down even more as an urging for vengeance awakened in her, ‘Hahaha, in the end, most of the damage will be suffered by humans. What is few humans worth in comparison to the materials of the highest grade!’
She really doubted that much harm would befall elves, remembering their past with dragons. With their altruistic lifestyle, Elves lived in connection with nature most of the time, not caring about material richness, thus making them unattractive targets for dragon’s “tax” collection.
They also refused to risk their long lives by hunting dragons and trying to steal from them, making both sides ignore each other.
Then there was the last feeling, the feeling to please her master. Her smile returned to her face and her eyes shined in excitement, “Your Highness, we can continue! We still have plenty of work to do.”