Rise of the System Lords (Semi-SI OC, kinda PF)

[Moochy]

Puzzle Pieces

Roaring — truly an underrated and most versatile ability, and very cathartic, almost as much as a good gnaw at a truly prodigious bone — at my foes, I swung my tail. The snap and crackle of the electricity surging through their eponymous staffs little more than background noise in the song of battle. Ah, this was fun! It served well to get the appetite up in the morning. I leaped at a group of three soldiers who'd gotten too close to one another, shouldering aside two of them to pin the third with my claws. I snarled down at him, moving to bite his face off before allowing the other two to push me off of him before my jaws could close.

This had all started so well for the silly humans, until I decided it shouldn't. Now at least one human had a broken arm, at least one a broken leg and several more had to have at least bruised ribs. I was learning how they fought, but in return they were learning how I fought.

It had become a ritual over the last few days to try to cow me into submission before feeding me breakfast. Similarly, it had become my ritual to either 'act out' or submit as my whim took me. Slowly they were learning that if they waited too long before answering my call to be fed, that I would not be placated with a single cow. I could, however, be tempted with pig, sheep or goats. And if none of those were made available, I would most definitely take human.

I taught them hubris one limb at a time. I also taught them not to speak ill of me within hearing distance, not that I thought they quite understood what was happening when I picked certain days to relieve myself upwind of certain members of their little army. I just knew it infuriated them, but I had to mark my territory, after all.

"O'Malley!" I called, though I knew he wouldn't understand me directly. "Face me!"

Dutifully, though clearly not quite cognizant of that fact, the youngster I had enchanted first swung out from his friends to face off against me. I immediately spun and circled him, getting a good look at him. He seemed healthy enough, recovered from my tender ministrations.

"What are you doing, Son?" yelled Sarge. "Back in formation!"

"I got this, Sir!" he answered, as if he knew what he was doing.

"Got what? He'll kill you!"

"Maybe Sir, but… but I have to do this!" Sean O'Malley had a determined look in his eyes, his teeth gritted. Jacob swore under his breath. The kid had seemed fine up until now, where had this death wish come from? It wasn't as if this training session trying to get that damned to follow commands was going that well!

"You idiot! I'll—"

I leaped, wings half-spread, before Sarge could finish his threat, and allowed Sean to jab his spear towards me. I batted it aside, landed, and circled again.

"Listen to my words, but do not show you hear them to the others," I growled, eyes fixed on him. "I have orders for you. You will not harm any of my subjects, through action or inaction. You will continue to follow my orders, unless they conflict with my first order. And you will keep yourself alive, unless it conflicts with the other two. By these orders you will live your life. If you have understood, you will order me down, and I shall permit you to touch me."

"Down!" Sean O'Malley said, throwing one arm wide and gesturing with the other.

Jacob's eyes bulged at the stupidity of the… "Well fuck me sideways."

He watched as the stupid kid — everyone younger than him by at least five years was 'kid' — approached the dragon warily. What the hell was going on?

"Sarge? Sarge! What the fuck do I do now?" Sean asked, almost panicking. He'd gone too far to back out, any retreat could set off the beast's hunting instinct. He'd caught its interest, and the two were circling each other. Well, the dragon was doing the circling but Sean was keeping up.

"Keep… keep your eyes on him. Don't show any fear. The gate's opening, he'll work it out soon enough."

"I'm… not afraid, Sarge, I just… what do I do?" Sean seemed lost but driven, and very confused. Jacob waved the rest of the men back from the two, no point losing anybody else if this went tits up.

"Whatever the fuck you do, don't get any… I said don't get any closer! Jesus Fuck Christ wept…" Jacob watched as the kid walked slowly up to the dragon that had killed or injured a good many of his men in the last week or so and put out a hand onto the creature's muzzle. Jacob held his breath as a dopey smile formed on the kid's face; any moment now he'd be down another kid, or the kid would be down a hand, or… his head whipped around as the gate to the cow paddock finally clanged open, a motion mirrored by the bloody dragon's own head on its long, sinuous neck.

Sean was knocked flat on his back as the dragon galloped towards its food. Jacob was half convinced the kid was dead, but instead of crying out in pain, the kid burst out laughing.

"I did it!" Sean crowed.

"I don't know what you thought you were doing," gruffed Jacob, offering a hand up, "but whatever it was, you did it." He gripped the boy's arm tightly, and pulled. With a single heave the kid got to his feet.

"Sorry Sarge, I… I don't know what came over me. Didja see me though? I touched him. He let me touch him!"

Jacob nodded, worry creasing his brow. "Yeah, I saw, kid, I saw."

***

Vengis was… slippery. Still, I liked him. He seemingly knew exactly where I had itchy scales and knew exactly how to deal with them. I could forgive the smug look on his muzzle as long as he remembered his place, which was currently behind my right horn, applying his claws in a most satisfying manner.

"It seems my lord is part catfolk, hmm?"

"Silence, you impudent kitten," I rumbled appreciatively, modifying the noise I was making so it did not sound quite so much like a purr. One after another, my new subjects — those who could at least — had been coming to visit, to take my measure. Slowly, group by group, there was a sea change happening amongst the prisoners.

Vengis' claws stopped their motion, so I turned to look at him. I sighed. "Apologies, Vengis. I should be more careful with my words. You may speak freely."

"My Lord," he said, softly. When his ministrations didn't start up again, I rumbled in semi frustration.

"You have something to ask?"

"Did you make me love you, Master?" I caught the strange lilt to his voice even as I caught his choice of words. I blinked. Not quite the question I'd been expecting. I looked at him for a moment, thoughtfully, before speaking.

"Come here, put your head against my side, right here and listen."

Vengis left the crook of my neck, wearing a confused expression on his muzzle. He spoke draconic, so I knew he understood my words, but it was clear he didn't understand what I wanted. He very gingerly moved around between my claws and put his head against my side. "I… can hear your heartbeat, my Lord."

"Where are you, Vengis?"

"Lord?" Vengis was very confused now. I chuckled.

"You are simultaneously in the safest and most dangerous place in the world." I lifted one claw and gently put it on his back. "With very little effort at all, I could kill you. My laws don't stop me from killing any of my subjects, because they can't. Indeed, I can order you to kill yourself and you would. Tell me, Vengis, are you safe?"

"Lord?"

"Just… think about it." I rested my claw on his back, a gentle pressure, moving my massive mitt in slow circles. He started purring before he could catch himself. I chuckled again. "I think you think you're safe. I will tell you a secret, Vengis. I don't understand what is happening here. I don't understand all I can do. I am very much learning as I go, but I do know that I did not order you to love me. Not intentionally at least."

"Is that… was that the secret? Everybody knows that."

I cuffed him as lightly as I could, still he chuffed with a forceful exhale of breath.

"Impudent kitten. If you believe what you feel for me is false, then know that when this is over, I could release you from my service. Not right now though, because now should I have some creature uninvited so close, they would not survive. But I promise you this, Vengis. Should this concern stay with you, even if you are unable to ask directly for it, merely voice it, and it shall be done. The same goes for all my subjects."

"Would I be… sent away then, Lord?"

"You would have a choice, the same choice you had two weeks ago, to follow me or walk away. What would happen after cannot be speculated about, but know I would be loathe to kill you even then. Tell me one more thing though, Vengis."

"My Lord?"

"Is it painful? Does it burden you?"

"No," Vengis answered finally, not lifting his face, his voice muffled. "No, it isn't. It doesn't"

"Good. Then tell me how plans proceed, and any new developments."

That Vengis was so… tactile, had surprised me. I think it surprised him, too. The first thing he'd done, after working some sort of magical Art to skip through one doorway on the far side of the complex and out into my trailer that night, was to reach out a paw and pat me on the muzzle. I'd let him explore my body for a few moments, paws pulling at my lips and fangs until he seemed to come to a realization of what he was doing. Then he'd instantly become an amusing mish-mash of brash bragado and stiff formality.

I'd have liked to have called him a general of my troops, but that didn't suit his character. What he was great at, however, was intelligence. He could seemingly get along with everyone, and once he was part of my domain, that just increased.

"I don't know how they did it — well I know, but, you know — but those humans caught two young bulettes. They have recently been tamed by two of your kobolds, and as such are also under your command."

"Bulettes?" I asked. I could tell from context that these were creatures, but they weren't familiar to me.

"Ah, er, land… sharks?"

"Landsharks? You mean these bulettes can travel underground?"

"Indeed, my Lord, as easily as you the skies or I the forests."

"And the humans just… let them go?"

"I don't think they quite understand. The kobolds have tamed them, sent them out to hunt each night, and each morn the creatures return sated."

I nodded slowly. Two young bulettes? Probably souls slightly less fortunate than me, caught whilst they were still figuring out their new natures. Maybe without what was left of their minds to keep them afloat.

"So that means the tunneling is moving apace?"

"The dwarves and kobolds both estimate they are below the main complex now. Following the bulettes makes work move at a heady speed."

"Good. Fortify and prepare. Get Tucker's crew to dig the other way if they have nothing left to do. I want a warren out in the killing fields South of here. The enemy thinks they have us surrounded, I aim to disabuse them of that notion. And the young?"

"The females have started to lay, Lord."

I nodded again. "The young need training, see what can be taught in the way of Arts or shared in the way of weaponry. The eggs will be protected; bury them deep, hidden away behind as lethal traps as can be made, if they are not already."

 

[Moochy]

Digging In

I glared at the truck as I stomped around it, then lunged and struck. Clamping my jaws down, I snarled and growled, voice muffled, as I pulled at the huge tire. It burst around the inner rim and protested as I pulled at it and yanked it out of position, then with a single great mighty wrench I pulled it free. The acid in my spit had weakened the axle I'd been biting previously until it gave. I spat and coughed, I'd have to be more careful next time, that amount of pressure in the wrong place would be painful at the very least, and dying of a burst gut would be the ultimate in ignominious death. The truck groaned mightily as I felled the metal beast, and it tipped down for a moment before tipping back the other way with a crash. Then I savaged the other back tire and the whole back half of the thing dropped to the ground.

The soldiers briefly — very briefly — tried to stop whatever it was I was doing, but the moment they stepped into my domain I half spread my wings and rushed them, hissing and roaring until they all but jumped the fence to get back out again and I could return to what I was doing. With some amount of work that admittedly made my jaws ache, I pulled off the other two tires from the front of the truck bed and my lair proper started to take shape.

Yes, yes, this would do nicely.

As soon as I started digging, however, shots rang out, striking the ground behind me in puffs of dust.

I stopped, stock still, a low, threatening growl reverberating across the field. Silence reigned the complex as everybody paid attention. In one slow, fluid motion I spun and, using my tail like some sort of whip-scoop, hurled a boulder bigger than a man's head at the gun tower that had dared send lead in my general direction. It sailed well wide of the structure, but the message was quite clear. I fixed the gunman with a very direct, unblinking stare as my growl's volume increased several-fold. You are courting death, human. Would you like to try that again?

I bared my teeth and puffed myself up a bit larger for a long, long moment. If he didn't need a change of uniform, I would eat his hat. Preferably with his head still in it. He was behind electrified barbed wire, some thirty feet up, at the controls of what was probably a fifty caliber machine gun. He put his hands up and took several steps backwards.

That's fucking right, you little shit. As I took a step forward my claw bounced off something rubbery. Oh hey, free chew toy.

After a certain amount of time spent with a new favorite distraction, I went back to digging.

***

Jacob winced as the guard in the tower pulled the trigger and pissed off the beast. It had been as bad an idea as he thought it would be and the dragon did not like that. He made a mental note to keep that specific soldier as far away from the creature as he could. It enjoyed the morning sparring far too much to stop, but Jacob was sure it would take the next chance it was given to gut the lad, now. It was almost as bad an idea as when he'd had that faint, evil little hope that those two out and out bitey monsters they'd caught would kill off some of the prisoners. Instead, they were… pets? Things were rapidly spiraling…

His hands tapped his pockets nervously as the damned thing resumed digging, its new favorite toy forgotten for the moment, fingers looking for a thankfully absent pack of cigarettes he'd long since sworn he'd not touch again. The occasional cigar was something he allowed himself, but he had to admit, right now he needed a fucking smoke. The only good thing to be said here was that it wasn't trying to escape. He wasn't sure that wasn't worse, because he was pretty sure that meant it thought it could leave any time it wanted. Jacob wasn't sure he disagreed.

Charlie was not just dancing the Foxtrot, it was dancing the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. The voices in the back of his head were getting louder again, and he was not entirely sure they were real this time… the only thing he had to go on was that he'd never had this problem before and what whispers made it through in even semi-coherent fashion seemed to tie in quite well with how far the world had already gone to hell in a handbasket. That explosive day and night when the twinned announcements had been made to the world, the first triumphant, the second rousing in opposition, had changed everything in more ways than one.

The Stokerville Provisional Army had been little more than an extended hunting group, backed by an LLC setup by one of the members, before shit had well and truly hit the fan. Sure, they were a militia, most of them went to church — often the same church at that. Jacob wasn't a religious man, but going to church was just what you did — and a good deal of the members had been brought up learning how close they were to the end of the world, but none of them had seen it happening quite like this. It hadn't just shaken most of their faiths, in some cases it had obliterated it. Their base — cliche or not, they called it The Base — was always geared up for an extended stay with tinned goods and long-life dry food, with its own supply of water and powered by hydro-generators, and had suddenly been turned into a combined fort, daycare, school and prison.

For some stupid reason, they'd gathered up a lot of the 'freaks' as the boys had called them in the beginning, probably hoping that whatever this was, it was local. That had turned out to be untrue, manifestly so once 'local' changed forever.

Their actions had helped calm Stokerville initially, but the changes had been too great. They'd not exactly abandoned their home town, but with the boys' families and dependents evacuated, they'd pulled back, fortified their position and set about raiding the remaining businesses for as much non-perishable foodstuffs and other supplies as possible, and had instead prepared for the worst.

And then they'd heard about the dragon. Their greatest accomplishment, or possibly greatest folly, was capturing it alive. Accidentally — oh boy was he sure it was a complete fluke, given how much trouble the creature was for the SPA — caught in a massive walk-in freezer of all places, somehow not dead of the cold, it had eaten its way through most of the contents and then slept off one mother of a food coma for several days whilst the world collapsed around it, probably eating more in its sleep by the state of things, and with the help of an animal vet who was right now spending a good deal of his time seeing to the dumb animals Jacob called his men instead, they'd got the damned thing here.

The world had changed, and was still changing according to the voices. It had… stretched, flattened; it was actually and factually flat now, if the way the sun behaved was anything to go by, in defiance of what he knew of physics. Stokerville had been a little under a half hour away, as long as no smokeys were bored that could be almost halved, from the otherwise-defunct pit works. Now, it was several hours, most of a day's journey. Stokerville itself was many times the size it should be, in some cases whole gated communities had vanished under forests springing up where a few trees had been, or lost deep in rambling bramble thickets that had been well-tended bushes. Even outside of that, the roads meandered oddly from building to building, sometimes isolating what had been the next neighborhood over. The patrols he sent back there were finding it harder and harder to make sense of the place.

The only saving grace was that whole compounds like The Base stayed more or less as-is for some reason. Figuring out why made Jacob uneasy, he didn't want to name the reason why that he knew to be true in his bones, it opened too many doors.

He wasn't sure, now, if they'd been lucky or not. With The Yard being the way it was — sectored out to handle dangerous materials and machinery — it had been no trouble at all to clear it all out and turn it into a prison for the 'freaks' that they'd initially picked up from the scraggly dead tree forest to the West or the mountains that had sprung up to the East, and then later picked up — rescued in some cases — from the ruins of Stokerville even.

Quite what they were supposed to do with all their prisoners — refugees? Jacob didn't like how that felt — now they had them was beyond him. He gave them the minimum of food and drink, kept the peace, and… his men trained for the war he knew was coming.

Only now, that damned dragon was digging itself a lair by covering the mangled remains of their stolen truck with rock and earth, which presumably meant it was staying, and continuing to feed the bastard was his responsibility. Alternatively, they could try to kill it, and then all that work would have gone to waste.

But hey, sunk cost fallacy and all that.

Idly he allowed the thought of whether or not he should just execute all the prisoners to wander across his mind. The idea disgusted him, but he knew deep down that if he had no choice, he'd hate himself, but he'd do it.

For now though, they were well behaved.

A cold chill went up his spine at that thought. They were well behaved, weren't they? Fuck. His hands began to shake, and it took an effort of will to get them to stop. His men had been inspecting the encampment regularly, and nothing was out of place, but… fuck. It couldn't be that easy, especially when everything said it was. He glared at the dragon as it inspected its handiwork. Goddamn, there was no way things could be this easy.

 

[Moochy]

ch. 13? unlucky for some!

---

Lairs Within Lairs

Some time later, my lair was taking shape. I took in a couple of chew toys, left the others outside, then started arranging what skulls and hides I had left at the entrance. This was my domain and I needed everybody to know it. Not just because, well, dragon, but because now I would have something to actually hide.

It didn't take long after I had the trailer properly covered that the tapping below started. First it was quite quiet, but soon the tapping became knocking, then scraping. And then the lair shifted quite a bit, bringing showers of grit and rocks down through the holes in the roof as two blunt, dark muzzles tore at the metal bottom beneath the trailer until the tortured steel snapped and the wood splintered.

Two large shapes, each approaching my size, shouldered their way up from the tunnel beneath my lair and squeezed into the rapidly shrinking living space. The creatures were covered in armored plates, head to toe as it were, and colored a blue-brown at the front to a blue-green at the back. Their massive jaws hung open now in happy smiles as my two murder-puppies basked in a job well done.

They had reportedly cost some lives, but two of my kobolds had tamed them, one each, and now these bulettes were proving their worth a hundred-fold. Sent off to hunt periodically in the dark, they could travel under the ground much as a shark could swim through water. Indeed, 'landsharks' were another appropriate name for these beasts.

I didn't know whether they were transportees like the kobolds, dwarves and goblins and the like or whether they were like me, just… less fortunate on the whole 'keeping your mind' front. I was pretty sure they were both males, but had been reliably informed that if you found a pair of bulettes, they were usually mated and you were usually in for a very bad time. I wasn't going to disagree and didn't know how to check in any event.

We'd gotten lucky, again. The bulettes had been tamed, and as I owned their masters, they also deferred to me. With their digging ability, this compound was now mine, even if the humans hadn't the foggiest clue.

"Nalsi! Vezran! Well done," I greeted the kobold tamers as they followed the bulettes up. I had spoken to them briefly through the fence, but now met muzzle to muzzle for the first time. "Maybe you should send Smash and Grab back down below? Let them blow off some steam in the Great Cavern whilst you show me how things have progressed?"

"Your Will, Great One," Nalsi intoned, and she patted Smash on the shoulder, sending him back down through the hole he'd helped tear through the bottom of the trailer. Snorting happily, Grab followed, disappearing not only down the hole but somehow sinking into the rock like it was liquid, leaving nothing so much as a brief wake as if the ground were stirred up by the wind to mark their passing.

"We have circuited the foundations of the buildings, Great One. We know where they keep their young and their women, as well as the majority of their equipment. The workers have excavated their tunnels carefully. We can breach when you desire."

"Hrm, that is good news," I said, as I squeezed my way down into the tunnels beneath my lair. I chirped at a kobold as he slunk his way along on some sort of patrol. He froze as he saw me, and I recognized the look of adoration on his muzzle of a relative youngster. "Fetch a shaman, have them prepare whatever sounds, smells or images are necessary should any humans get interested in my newly improved lair whilst I am down here. They should stay far enough back, they're not usually eager to approach. If they don't, kill them."

"Great One," he said, ducking his head, then scurried off.

***

The tunnels were cramped, and there was no way I could turn around, but aside from a few brief interludes where I had to be dug free, I was able to easily make my way to the part of the underground warren the kobolds, dwarves and even the few goblins that had joined my side had taken to calling the Great Cavern.

With tools pilfered from the humans' stores — the ones stolen taken as unobtrusively as possible — the kobolds, dwarves and other subterranean-inclined races had swiftly dug in beneath their tents and shacks, with the entrances hidden by what scant furniture was available or, now that I had given them back their magic, spells to turn the eyes and befuddle the mind, or illusory weavings to hide the truth.

Deep below the Earth, the miners had found a cave system and had swiftly moved to exploit it. One such feature was a massive cave where as many of my subjects as possible spent as much free time as they could, mostly at night. The encampment above ground was mostly empty a good deal of the time, with a mixture of suggestion spells and illusions sent when necessary, along with honest to goodness shifts to maintain an actual presence should the former precautions not prove satisfactory.

Food and drink was bland, but plentiful. Some of the shamans and other magically inclined folk had the ability to create food and drink. None of it kept, but judiciously rationed usages of such spells bolstered the meager fair made available by the humans. My subjects weren't greedy, however, they gratefully took any non-magical extra and stored it, safely.

We were well prepared.

 

[Moochy]

What Lies Beneath

Two weeks. It had taken two weeks and change to get used to being a dragon. Two weeks that I had counted, and however many days it had been beforehand and after, of running, fighting, killing, clawing, sparring… It was not long enough. I knew this rationally, but instinctually the fact that I was a dragon was everybody else's problem.

I won't brag and pretend I have an iron will, able to withstand the grim realities of madness where mortals fear to tread. I don't. My mood was fickle at best and contrary at worst, but one thing I was sure of: some sort of psychotic break with what passed for sanity would be the worst possible thing for a lot of people, most of all me. As such, being overly concerned about just why I wasn't freaking out and killing everything that moved was something I could quite happily shove in a box and lock in the deepest recesses of my mind as something to worry about much, much later, along with figuring out whatever passed for reproduction in my kind, what it would mean to have my lusting after massive scaly lizards, and how long I'd live.

Those brash humans, and other humanoids, and yet still other not-quite-humanoids, were oddly faceless as I watched them move through their daily lives. The only ones I knew, or easily recognized at least, were first of all either my own subjects or the standout specimens like the Sergeant who posed a modicum of threat and/or annoyance. I had no names for the majority of the creatures surrounding me, but then I didn't need them. I recognized them all by smell far easier than by sight these days. Visually they were… just there.

As I entered the Great Cavern, Vengis made his way over to congratulate me on a plan well executed, skipping over Smash and Grab as they zoomed past under his feet, followed by a mixed gaggle of laughing, cheering kobold hatchlings and a few of the younger goblins.

Scar chose that moment to emerge from whatever shadowy protection he slunk around in, to appear next to me. Instantly my nostrils flared.

"Scar, you continue to smell… different."

"My Lord?"

"Are you ill?"

"Lord?" Confusion radiated from the little creature. Vengis looked from me to the kobold and back again, then he leaned towards me.

"My Lord, are you… unaware of the, ah, nature of kobolds?"

"Nature?"

"It is the rebalancing, Lord," he said, delicately.

I regarded the pantherkin carefully, eyes narrowed, before studying Scar in the dim magelight of the Cavern. He'd lost some muscle mass, but had packed some fat around his lower midsection and tail. His hardened ridges had softened somewhat, in fact he was looking…

"You're a female?" I asked, incredulously. Now that I was once again properly looking at Scar with my nose rather than my eyes, it made a strange kind of sense.

"Yes, my Lord?" Scar blinked, shifting from hind claw to hind claw, uncertain if he — no, she — had done anything wrong. He, she, was still changing, obviously. From the change in smell, I judged it would be another two weeks or so before she was done shifting, and some time after that, I guessed, before she would be ready to mate and lay eggs.

"Oh! Well, this is… excellent!" Vengis at least regarded me with some surprise. "What, would you… rebalancing, you said? To… what, half and half?"

Vengis slowly nodded his head, "I was… not aware you did not know, but it makes sense now I think about it. The Elder, Tucker? Or the Matron should have mentioned it, but I suppose to them it is just something that happens. Kobolds don't really have…" the pantherkin waved his paw around, lost for words for a moment. "They don't see male and female like you and I. They are male or female as the tribe takes them, changing freely between one and the other as the tribe requires, and mate as they wish to lay eggs or fertilize them according to their role at the time. It is… one of the reasons they are often regarded… oddly," he finished, diplomatically.

"But it doesn't bother you?" I asked, cocking my head to one side. I could see it did, at least a little.

"I, ah, admit I do not understand it, but then I am not a kobold. And I have not previously had enough kobold friends for it to really matter to me."

"Fair enough, Vengis, fair enough. Well, this is excellent," I continued, "my subjects will be fruitful and multiply, such that they will not perish from this Earth. So I have commanded, young Scar, so it shall be! How many of them is it then, Vengis? Can you tell me?"

"I would say… some two thirds or more will be female all said and done?"

"So, fewer males, huh? Well, whichever of those two groups are the lucky fellows, congratulations." I fixed Scar with a gaze, "You will fight as before? Answer me honestly, Scar, I do not know your people half as well as I should."

"My Lord, I… will fight as before?" Scar was looking very worried now. "I did not… I should… I…"

"Calm yourself, calm, I am neither disappointed nor angry nor anything of the sort, Scar. Whether this is a thing you can decide for yourself," I noticed my faux pas as she shrank away; obviously this was just a thing that kobolds experienced, "or not, I am pleased for you and your kin. I am indeed well pleased, for you will bear me strong young, I am certain of it."

From being worried and hurt, she immediately sprung back into confused pride.

"Though this is called a rebalancing?" I prodded the abnormally reticent pantherkin. At my attention he straightened. "How come this is so… unbalanced?"

Vengis chuckled, his voice a throaty purr as his eyes gleamed in the semi-darkness. "I, ah, believe I know. It is you, Lord."

"Oh?" I turned my golden eyed gaze his way, and for once he didn't falter.

"Indeed. The kobolds react to their tribal makeup, my Lord. You have upset that count, intentionally or not, and they seek to rebalance the only way they know how. Namely by making more kobolds."

I couldn't help but break into a hearty belly laugh that I struggled to keep quiet. With a flick of his wrists, I felt Vengis place a spell upon us where we stood, no doubt to dampen any sound. Just in time for my attempts at containment to fail.

 

[Moochy]

Constructive Behavior

Cas — short for Cassandra — Bronzehammer scowled as she made her slow way through the tunnels beneath the human compound she and her kin were nominally trapped in. That damned Vengis, the bard hadn't mentioned that the kobolds were the major stakeholders in this cursed alliance. She shouldn't have been surprised though, really, so it was her own fault, it was with a dragon of all creatures.

As daughter of the chief in exile, she was in charge of what remained of the knot, and as poor a choice as it had been to hitch their collective wagon to the back of that black dragon, she had to admit it had been worth it. So far, at least. Even if her quarters smelled faintly of fetid mud and wet dog.

That was improving, though, even if slowly. Those odd laws made it both harder to complain about kobold stink in favor of just politely refusing to talk about it, and also meant that the kobolds were… bathing. As much as they could, at least, given the conditions.

With the resurgence of the People's collective Arts, they suddenly had access to magically created food and water, both of which could be heated, and… with the mixing of Peoples, came the mixing of cultures. And the sudden increase in females around meant an immediate upsurge of talking about Boys. Cas didn't get it, because she was a dwarf. Most of the kobolds didn't get it either, because they were kobolds. But enough of them were… new at being female, so had asked, innocently enough, about what it was like for other females of other species, and during this, the subject of bathing had come up. Cas was faintly distinctly disappointed in that fact for some reason, but after enough days of roughing it, even she enjoyed being clean, so she couldn't really complain there, either.

As she moved into the main cavern of the kobolds' new warren, she jumped backwards. One of those damned bulettes went zooming past, inches below the surface, swiftly followed by the other, swiftly followed by a gaggle of kobolds and — she didn't spit — goblin youngsters.

However the two kobold trainers had managed it, the damned creatures were now acting like oversized, armored puppies and their favorite game was tag. There was a distant crunch as one of the bulettes mis-timed a leap and slammed into one of the support pillars. That would be 'Smash'. Cas sighed as she watched the second one attack the same pillar, trying to worry the rock to death and being somewhat successful. Ah, yes, 'Grab'. Aptly named, those two terrors were.

Across the way, she spied her new lord and master, the dragon. The sight filled her with a mixed bag of feelings. She knew that for all her life, she would have been scared shitless of being in the same general area as such a beast. She also knew that, for all her life, she would have boiled and bubbled with rage at being trodden underfoot by such an evil beast too. But this one… his laws drew her in. His laws that protected, at least nominally, all of her kith and kin from the dragon itself.

As such, he was an enigma. Seemingly unconcerned with such base behavior as terrorizing his subjects and laying waste to the swamps he would inevitably claim, he was instead organizing not only a resistance but a conquest of the lands above, with not even a hint of changing his ways once this goal was achieved. He was a strange one, apparently a human of all things before this world had opened to the Ways, he was definitely a dragon now, albeit a young one. She would never have joined his service, she told herself, she would have died first. Not intentionally, but just because actions had consequences. Frowning, she made her mind up.

"My Lord," she called, hurrying her steps as she crossed the gap.

"Ah, Cas! Come, come, princess of my dwarven contingent! Are your people assembled?"

"Those… those that can?" She didn't blush at his words. She didn't. "I, er, would speak with you, Lord?"

"Cas? Speak freely, we are all friends here."

Rocking somewhat at being told she was friends with a dragon, she stammered her way through her final attempt at tact. "It is, er, a private matter that, um, affects… you, Lord."

"Oh?"

The bloody dragon waited for her, politely, to continue. She closed her eyes. "You are without a… hoard, Lord."

"I… see? Riches do not concern me, just the safety of—"

"No, I mean, you… need a hoard. You need metal, Lord, f-for your scales."

"Ahh, I see! Well then, Cas, you had better see what can be scrounged up until better alternatives can be found. I don't want to get ill, after all!"

Oh… shit. She blanked for a moment, brain first freezing at walking herself into being ordered to find a dragon a hoard, and then working overtime to dig herself out of that same hole.

"My Lord, are we… taking this place for our own?"

"Yes? That has always been my plan?"

"Then…" she paused. "I believe I know what could be used. It is… inefficient, and may make things more difficult for us in the long run, though… hmm, yes, that could work…"

The dragon rolled his eyes in a clear sign of mirth as she dithered on the solution.

"Speak!" the dragon laughed. Laughed!

"Take the ammunition that the humans have stockpiled. It is soft, made of tin, brass, copper and lead. It is safe enough, at least unless set on fire. The only downside is that, once you have taken it for your use, returning it to its original storage condition will be time-consuming, not to mention if you, ah…" Cas gestured, suddenly struck by the idea that she was…

"Are you calling me fat?"

Torags teeth… she almost wet her britches. The dragon laughed, again.

"I understand, Cas. Your idea has merit. We shall experiment soon, once this place is mine. For now… assemble the troops, I have something to say."

 

[Moochy]

This is the end of arc 1, such as it is.

---

Sunset

"All's clear, Sir," reported Simmons. "Camp's quiet. There's been some sort of sickness with the kobolds keeping a few of them out of circulation for a while, they've been behaving odder than normal, but nothing serious. Dwarves are asking for tools again, goblins have been plotting something but as far as we can tell that's normal."

"Damn it all." Sarge sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Request for tools…" he was silent for a moment. "Ask them, if you can, what they want to do with them. Truth is we could do with some repairs on a number of our larger vehicles and systems around the base, but I don't want them making weapons! We'll barter for better supplies, give them some special privileges, if they'll help out there. They'll have to be watched, maybe we can learn something."

"Sir?"

"Look, we can't just keep them locked up for no good reason, and I won't keep them here if they're not useful. Should we kill them all, right now?"

"I, er," Simmons ran his hand through his thinning hair, nervously. He shook his head.

"Exactly. Time's coming, we may need to decide what to do with them, and unless I'm getting paid to be a prison warden, I don't want that sort of responsibility on my shoulders. Kobolds? They're too used to being trodden on, far as I can see. That's either really good, or really bad. Keep an eye on them. The goblins? If they're anything like the stories, keep both eyes on them and one hand on your wallet and have your friends watch your back. I bet they're fucking plotting. Good thing there is, we can be sure they're trouble. I'd give more of a damn about expecting the worst if I didn't have almost a hundred men, women and children to worry about here at the end of the fucking world."

"Sir," replied Simmons, more to fill the gap in the conversation than to actually say anything.

"I think we've bottomed out, Simmons. If we're smart, the only way is up. It'll be hard, but—"

"I, er, don't see how things could get any worse, Sir!" joked Simmons, though his hopefully cheeky grin faded as Jacob looked up at him with hollow eyes, his head snapping up like he'd been struck on the chin.

"Oh you did not just fucking say that, take it back! For the love of God, take it—"
Gunshots. Explosions. Shouts. Sirens.

"Fuck."

***

Nails gripped the steering wheel and flashed a hungry grin at his reflection in the darkened windscreen. He'd fought hard — tooth and (haha) nail — for the nickname, and now it was bearing fruit. Maccy, Guff, now there was an unfortunate name, Niner, Trin and the rest of the boys were under his command as they rode out to strike at the militia base.

Attacking a militia base? Now that was fucking ballsy, but the Sicario and his army were well armed, powerful, and in need of a new headquarters. The tired, fat old men sitting pretty in their little clubhouse would roll over and die, and the Kings would move in. And Nails would be right there, helping to deliver the booty up on a silver platter.

Life was good.

Nothing could go wrong.

***

"Shit! Hit the lights! I want more people up those towers! Sirens! Marko, get the women and children down to the bunkers, Walsh, get anybody fagging about in the infirmary that doesn't need to be there up to the windows! Get—" There was a sudden flare of light, a woosh and the heavy thump of an explosion. "Holy fucking shit, they have RPG's!"

And then, in the dark of the night, lit by muzzle flashes and serenaded by shouts and screams and the roar of engines, Death came to The Base.

***

There was a… flattened mound at one end of the Great Cavern. I ambled up onto it, then turned to look at my people. Kobolds, dwarves, goblins, beastkin of various sorts, a pair of halflings, some humans of various half or quarter-stock, and others I didn't yet know the name of. All waiting for me to speak. I turned to Vengis, and he bowed before casting a spell on me.

"My people!" I shouted, in draconic, "I welcome you!"

Through Vengis' spell, everyone understood. There was a ragged cheer.

"Tonight we rise. This place will, come dawn, be ours, and you will be free."

I looked around at the faces of my subjects, and saw their true feelings on that word. I chuckled throatily. "I know, it doesn't mean much. I am still your master, you are still trapped here. The first is not something I will change, but mayhaps if we work together, we can find a way to reverse whatever has happened to my world and you all can be sent home. Regardless, my friends, I will repeat what I have said to those of you who have asked: once this night is through, should we be victorious — and we will! — then those who wish to leave, may leave. Once you leave my protection, I cannot make any further promises as to your future or safety, but for those who stay, understand this. We will fight this night for our freedom, we will take control of this facility, and we will forge a nation upon this world the likes of which has never been seen before. So what say you? Are you with me?"

A ragged cheer once more rose up, and I slammed one claw into the mound.

"Again! Are you with me?"

This time the cheer rose higher.

"Then we shall strike! Now!"

As I turned to step down from the podium, a sudden noise from one of the main tunnels made me turn.

"Great One! Great One!"

"Nod? What is it?" I asked, stalking through a suddenly cleared corridor across the cavern, my people lining each side.

"It's… it's the humans! Above! They are fighting!"

My claws dug furroughs in the rock as I snarled in anger. It seems plans had changed once again. Instead of stealth and preparation, we would have chaos. So be it.

***

Sarge reseated the magazine, cleared the jam, set the gun against his shoulder, turned, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked as bullets burst from the muzzle, but he kept the barrel low and the shots single, no spray and pray unless he really needed it. At least one of his targets fell. Motherfuckers had modified flatbeds with gun emplacements and were using them to great effect. They had molotovs, trucks, bikes, RPG's and guns. Lots of guns. He had a sinking feeling that he and his men were well and truly outnumbered. They were, in a word, fucked. He had no idea how many men he'd lost, hopefully it wasn't in double digits but there was no way to tell in the middle of this bedlam. All of them were good men, and even if they'd been training for this, none of them thought this would happen, but they'd stepped up. He would make them proud.

He was shouting hoarse wordless encouragement to his friends and compatriots when something incredible happened. A rumbling, roaring snarl made itself known, emanating from that damned lair. The sound traveled right up the legs and loosened the asshole without having to go anywhere near to the ears. And then the lair exploded.

Jacob made a snap decision. "Open the fucking gates!" he shouted.

He needn't have bothered, even if he'd been heard. The black dragon surged out of the lair, wings spread, and barrelled straight through the gateway like it was made of straw, a shower of sparks that sent more than one enemy vehicle screaming for cover accompanying it. And out from behind it came wave after wave of the prisoners, all of them screaming war cries.

"Holy fucking shit," whispered Jacob. He turned back to the chaos out in the killing fields, "Holy fucking shit! They're with us!" he screamed to his men.

There was a sudden flash of actinic light, as if somebody had pissed on the wrong end of a junction box, and a bandit on a motorcycle was just vaporized. The lightning didn't stop there though, it jumped from target to target, killing or at least badly injuring a number of other attackers but somehow ignoring his own men. Luck? Or something else?

Then the fireballs started, great booming balls of flame that blasted whole flatbeds into the air. Missiles like demented fireworks that left burning holes in the unwary, rays of light that had those they played across screaming and covering their eyes, or just going slack until their vehicles crashed.

And then… and then there was the dragon. And boy was it pissed off.

***

Nails was hollering with delight as he aimed his truck at as many of the fuckers as he could. Niner was riding shotgun with, appropriately enough, a shotgun, and the pair of them were just on a fucking tear. All of a sudden, he spotted some sort of odd car or bike or something ahead in the darkness. The lights from the towers were tough to see through now and again, so he squinted at the oddly positioned headlights. It was almost as if they were pointed a bit sideways… oh, wait, those were eyes…

Those were eyes!? Those we—

***

Well and truly incensed, I saw a truck heading towards me making an obvious challenge to my supremacy, after killing more than enough potential and actual subjects. I threw myself at the vehicle, ramming my head through the windscreen and tearing the driver in half as I exploded out through the top of the cab. As what was left of the cab tipped onto a biker, I snicker-snacked my way through my catch and spread my wings as I leaped.

I flapped my wings, and to my surprise kept going. I can fly, I thought to myself idly, as I banked in the wind. I can fly, and I have a ranged attack!

I swooped down at a group of attackers, took a breath, squeezed, and exhaled a stream of acid over them. Their screams were music to my ears. This was a trick I repeated several times before my reserves seemingly ran dry.

"Warriors!" I shouted, banking on the wing over the battlefield, "Ranged attackers to the back, surround them and scorch those foolish enough to get close to our forces! Support, keep them safe! Close combat! Harry the edges! Leave the rest of them to me!"

I saw two distinct swirls of dirt as my two favorite boys came out to play.

"Who's Daddy's favorite little murder-puppies?" I called, as the two bulettes launched themselves out of the ground at various would-be bandits. There were screams like 'Arrgh! Not the teeth!' and 'Jesus fucking Christ!' and 'Noo!' before loud chomping noises and lots of crunching. Messy little pups, they were.

"Smash?" I called, pointing to a large truck with some sort of larger caliber gun on the back. "Smash!"

I turned around and saw another prime target, some of the bandits were trying to give orders and rally their men. "Grab? Do your thing!" My two murder puppies leaped back under the dirt, and sped off to make life miserable and brief for my enemies. I was so proud.

As bullets zinged past my head, and in cases bounced off my scales, I threw myself down from the air before I could be shot down. Although my presence was mighty and made my enemies weak at the knees, I was realistic enough to know that I made a big target and even if I was bullet proof, my wings weren't. I could already feel a few tight spots where they'd been perforated, so the less time I gave them being shot at the better.

I tore through several fabric-covered trucks to a great melody of screams, turning the occupants into shredded pork, then turned, wings half-spread, as I set upon any dumb idiot unfortunate enough to turn their weapons on me, which was surprisingly many.

To say my forces and I turned the tide of battle was an understatement. It wasn't even that our attacks were that much more powerful, but when you're used to fighting with guns against humans, then fighting lightning and fire from creatures definitely not human is beyond the pail.

"Surround them all!" I called to my troops, and was satisfied to see my warriors, mostly the kobolds simply by being the most numerous single group but in no ways the only ones, make a loose circle around the survivors, from both camps, as the fighting fell off. I tail-whipped a few stragglers and found my way to Vengis, pleased he seemed unharmed. "Do you have one more oratory spell in you?"

"Lord, I… I think so, but…"

"Then do it. Stand by me, I will shelter you. It is time I ended it."

There was the sudden tickle of magic sliding through me, and I took a deep breath.

"CEASE FIRE!" I shouted. "SURRENDER OR BE KILLED!"

To their credit, most people stopped fighting. I wasn't sure if it was my words or just because, well, dragon. One last gunshot rang out, a few people leaped sideways, and I hurled myself over the crowd to tear the gunman's head off before he could do it again. His body made a loud noise in the sudden silence as it dropped to the muddy ground.

"I SAID SURRENDER OR BE KILLED!"

I was in the middle of the crowd now. Normal logic would dictate that being right in the middle of a group of armed men meant certain death. Normal logic would be right, just not for me, in this case.

"Listen to my words well," I said, now that there was relative silence, "for I am burdened with glorious purpose. The sun has set upon the old world, and a new world, my new world, has replaced it."

I turned, stalking around in a tight circle, eyeing everyone. Nobody moved. I nodded.

"I am…" for a moment, I sought for something meaningful. Then, like a bolt from the blue, I had it. "I am the black dragon that brings this sunset! And this place, and all of you, are now mine." The words came easily to me, as if from somewhere else. I squirreled that thought away deep, snarling at it in the recesses of my mind. "I will give you a choice, a very simple choice. Pledge yourselves to me, or die. Put down your weapons, right now, and walk with your hands above your heads over there."

I pointed with a claw to one side, and the circle of kobolds made a small hole.

"Do this and I promise you, you will not be harmed. I will give you an oath to me to pledge, and then we will all be friends. The alternative is death."

For a brief moment, nobody moved, then the exodus began. First one, then three, then five more, then several tens dropped their guns and walked, hands up, into a new circle. Eventually very few were left, still holding their guns.

"The fuck is wrong with you all?" asked the inevitable hard guy. "You're just going to roll over? I'd rather fucking—"

I was wrong. I did have one more in me. I squeezed and spat, exhaling.

I didn't even dodge the bullets as his gun shot skywards impotently, although I did fervently hope that any resulting injuries to either my wings or people could be healed. I walked over to the heaving mess that was what was left of whoever the idiot had been, and I very decidedly put my claw down on him, and pushed. There was a gurgling crack, and he was silenced.

"Now I'll say this one more time. You are free to reject my offer, but seeing as you have insulted me twice now, the first time by coming uninvited to my land bearing arms, and the second by… that," I shook the mess from my claw in disgust, "there is no possible future for you other than in my service."

I motioned my troops to surround the two groups, fully separating them. The first group, the majority, looked at each other nervously, but I spoke to them to calm them. "Peace, I will deal with you soon. I have promised your safety, and I keep my word. Ask any of my subjects."

I then turned back to the rest of the dissenters, and my gaze hardened. "The rest of you who are yet to decide, you have lost the privileges I will grant to those who chose wisely, but I will still give you my protection. Kneel, or die."

To a single man, they knelt, sharing fearful gazes.

"Repeat after me: I swear my life to the black dragon of sunset."

I waited as they answered, and I felt their words take root. Nobody else had to be made an example of. It was almost a pity. Still, I couldn't forgive their reticence.

"You will not harm by action or inaction any of my subjects, and you will follow any order given by either them or me, save they conflict with the first law. These are simple commandments, are they not?" I looked at each one of them as their expressions went through a mixture of confusion and anger. "They are, because of this moment, you are not people. You are livestock."

I glared at them, showing teeth.

"You are beasts. You have no names unless given one. One day, one day, you may have proven yourselves worthy enough to once more be men, but until then you will eat, sleep and live in the barn with the rest of the animals. You will do chores as directed and you will be rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad as with any beast of burden. I have spoken, and so shall it be."

There wasn't any murmuring amongst the unfortunates, although there was amongst the rest of my prospective new subjects. I turned to them, and lumbered over.

"I will give you three laws, and you will say 'I do' to them, or you will die, clear? You will follow them to the letter and the spirit in which they are uttered."

There was a general murmur of assent.

"You promise never to intentionally harm, through action or action, any of my subjects. You promise to follow my orders save they conflict with the first law, and you promise to keep yourself as hale and hearty as you are able, unless it conflicts with the first two laws."

The chorus of 'I do's' was hesitant, but in moments the last of the opposing forces were under my control. I glanced back towards the administration buildings. At least, that was, for the women and children and a few key stragglers.

"Sarge, I believe you are called?" I said, feeling the last dregs of Vengis' magic fading as I approached the man I'd been sparring with for the last few weeks. I held onto it as hard as I could. This might prove to be a long night after all.

"Uh, Jacob, Sir, th-though you can call me Sarge. I-if you want." I could tell he didn't quite know what to do with himself now he'd lost so utterly.

"I'll need you and your men to tell the women and children, and any of your remaining men inside, that things have changed. I would rather this night end far more peacefully than it began. If they resist, the barn awaits. If they join willingly, it will be much easier for everybody. If they refuse, you may kill them. I will kill them if they take up arms against me or my people."

"I'll see what I can do." He went white, understanding just how much things had changed for him with two simple words.

Vengis' magic faded, and I rumbled something in Draconic that I knew he no longer understood. Swearing in of the rest would have to wait until morning.

"Get the beasts to their paddock," I shouted to my kobolds, who began rounding up the first group and ushering them towards the cow shed. I'd make sure they lived relatively good lives, but I'd be damned if the shits that couldn't take me at my word would get anything else unless they begged. "Send the rest inside. Kobolds, patrol the perimeter. Dwarves, go check out the equipment, any of you who speak Human get them to clear away the fucking mess. See to your fellows who have died, there will be a… a service tomorrow. The bodies of the unwanted enemy are yours to do with what you will. I'm going to bed."

I growled as I looked at two of the faceless dead. I knew them. I knew their smell. I had wanted to kill them. Brian and Pete. How odd now, that I almost missed them. Idly I wondered whether the 'vet' had survived, but most of all I mourned for how many of my people I had lost to do little more than swell the ranks with useless dross. I would make them useful, I swore, and we would prevail.

 

[Moochy]

So here we go. The start of the next arc, such as it is. Updates should slow a bit once I reach parity, but still going for 1-2k every other day. Any feedback is very gratefully received, thanks for reading and enjoying!

---

Dawn

Sarge opened his eyes as the waking world once more impinged upon him. Immediately his brain replayed the last terrifying night. The fucking thing had spoken. God fucking shit on a bicycle. He and everyone else had been played for chumps, they'd been attacked by a bloody slew of would-be bandits and had been rescued — and subsequently enslaved — by the dragon they thought they'd had cooped up in the exercise yard, but that instead had been having its — no his — creatures digging some sort of labyrinth right under their feet.

How hadn't he known? In his defense, actual honest-to-god magic wasn't something he knew how to deal with. He was learning now that the kobolds, and a good percentage of the rest of the creatures they'd had in the prison camp, could befuddle the mind and trick the senses as easily as normal people could breathe. And the less said about what dragons could do the better.

He slapped his face with a hand and groaned, then forced himself out of bed, something that got harder with every day.

"Michaels? Simmons? Which of you pukes is up and about?" he called, pulling on some pants and throwing yesterday's shirt on his back.

"Sarge?" came a voice. Simmons knocked on the door, but opened it without waiting. Simmons was mostly in shape, better at paperwork than legwork, his thinning light brown hair slicked back. "You, er, wanted to be the one to break the news to the families?"

Sarge took the proffered already half-empty cup of hot, black goodness that Simmons had extended once he'd spotted Sarge eyeing it, and downed it in one, wincing at the scalding it gave him before speaking. "No, I really don't. But I don't see anybody else that with any conscience I can foist it off onto."

Jacob did his shirt up, then waved his hand at the door. "Get me some more coffee, then lead the way. I guess you had better go get the dragon whilst I get the women and children. Not sure which of us has the easy part."

***

The sun had risen — was it still called that? — some time ago and now illuminated the complex. I stood, flanked by the kobolds Tucker and Matron, the panther-kin Vengis, the dwarf Cas, the goblin Rarix and also the human Simmons, who looked even more uncomfortable being there than Rarix, which wasn't that surprising given that both of them had been in my employ for about the same amount of time. Scar was off somewhere below in the parts of the warren which had been claimed by my kobolds as their own.

To my left were the human troops, to my right were the mixed irregulars of those of my kobolds who were above ground and a good number of the rest. True to my word, the cattle were in the cattle-pen. They'd been ordered to stay put, and stay put they would. I'd let them watch the ceremony, then they'd be put to work. That, or be picked out by any of the children that wanted a pet… that was a thing children often wanted, right? I wanted the kids happy, after all.

I tried my best to look less intimidating, but with the sun on my scales and the sheer feeling of success that coursed through my body given yesterday's successes — despite the losses, those stung — I was feeling very… boisterous. And that was bringing out my teeth. Teeth, I had noticed, put people off. I tried very hard to keep them out of sight, at least until after.

Slowly, very slowly, with plenty of hushed whispers and even more hushed crying, the women and children of my erstwhile captors filed out of the building they'd been hiding in, accompanied by the remainder of the men.

"Is that the last of them?" I asked Vengis, who turned to Simmons and, in English, asked the same thing.

"Y-yes, sir, that's… that's everyone I know of at least."

"Kill anyone over the age of majority that you don't recognize. No questions asked. Bring anyone else to me directly. Pass my order on to everyone." Simmons stiffened at the translated order, but nodded. "But now, Vengis, I need your skills once more."

***

Lucy said the words she'd been told to by Mommy, because the big scary monster said he would eat her if she didn't, and had said that she had to say them if she didn't want that. That didn't seem very nice, but then he was a big scary monster, and that's kind of what big scary monsters did. But then she thought about it. The monster had said he would look after her if she said the magic words. That was kind of cool. He also said they would all be friends afterwards. She hoped Daddy would be back soon, Mommy said he had to go somewhere. Lucy wondered if the dragon had told Daddy to go do something for him?

The dragon was turning to walk away, so she ran up to it and grabbed its tail, tugging to get its attention. Pain wracked her hand and she squealed as blood bloomed from her palm where the spines had slashed it open. In seconds, the lizardy woman was at her side murmuring words over her injury and… the pain stopped!

Through the hiccups, she wiped the tears away and looked up into the strangely concerned face of the dragon.

"I, I, I th-thought you wo-wouldn't hu-hurt m-me," she stammered out, still trying to recover her breath. The dragon's hot, stinky breath wafted over her as it said something, and the cat man knelt beside her.

"He says he didn't mean to, cub. You should never touch something like a dragon if it's not expecting it. They are dangerous."

The dragon rumbled again.

"He asks if you want to touch him again?"

Lucy just nodded. "Yes please," she whispered, and then the big scary monster put its head down towards her. So cool!

Mommy was calling for her, so after running her hands over the dragon's face and especially but really carefully his great big huge teeth for a while, she smiled, kissed it on the nose and then wiped her hands on her dress. "Okay thank you I love you bye bye!" she said, and skipped back to Mommy, who wrapped her in the biggest hug ever and shouted and cried things at her that she didn't really understand.

The monster rumbled away behind her, speaking something that she didn't understand.

"Little cub," called the cat man, as he gently put his hand on Mommy's shoulder to stop her, before kneeling down to talk to Lucy. He'd walked over because the dragon wanted something. Lucy looked across at him, head tilted. "Would you like to learn how to speak Draconic?"

Lucy thought for a moment. "Do you mean I could talk in monster?"

The cat man laughed. "Yes, yes you could."

Lucy thought again, then nodded. "Okay! Is that okay, Mommy?"

"Please," Mommy sounded very, very upset. "Please, don't hurt her. Not after my husband."

The cat man looked kind of upset about that too. "I couldn't if I wanted to, my lady, and…" The cat man looked down at Lucy, his mouth open, then he shut it again. His whiskers twitched, then he looked back up at Mommy. "As I have so recently learned, my lady, the safest place in the world right now, is under his wings."

The dragon rumbled something again, having padded closer.

"Would you like a pet?" Vengis translated.

Mommy looked very confused for a moment, "Uh, no? I—"

"I was talking to your cub."

"Yes!" said Lucy immediately.

"Ah, good, you may choose one if you promise to look after it. A pet is a good thing to have for a growing child." The cat man showed teeth despite Mommy protesting.

"One of the cows?" Lucy asked, eyes round.

"If you want one of those rather than the other beasts?" The dragon rumbled at the cat man, who nodded. "Then you can have one. You'd need a bell or something for it to keep it safe, and they're a lot harder to teach to do tricks."

Mommy said something Really Naughty. Lucy covered her ears, before the cat man gently, laughing his weird chuffing laugh, pulled her hands down again.

"Do you want one of the others?"

"You mean I can have one of the Bad Men? Why would I want a Bad Man?" Lucy asked.

The cat man squatted down instead of leaning, still laughing. "They were bad men, now they're pets. They'll do anything you tell them to, as long as you are a Good Girl."

"I'm a good girl!" Lucy said, pouting.

"Well then, I'm going to tell you something that Mommy doesn't want me to tell you, and that is that if the dragon says you can do something, Mommy can't actually tell you that you can't because he is… important. But the thing is, Mommies do often know best, so even if the dragon says you can do something, you should think very carefully about whether you should. Unless he says you have to, then you really should."

"Am I a growed up?" Lucy asked. "Because that sounds a lot like being a growed up."

The cat man grinned and nodded. "Very mature of you."

"Hm."

"Think about it. See if there's one of the beasts that you'd like. But, to keep Mommy happy, I suggest you don't go play with them alone, because beasts can be dangerous, and those cows at least scare easily."

"Okay!"

"Do you still want to learn to speak monster?"

"Yes!"

"Then you shall. And you can bring any of your little friends who you think would like to speak monster too. Go on, off you run, go find some of your friends. I want to speak to Mommy for a moment."

Lucy stared at the cat man for a while, trying to decide if the cat man was a Bad cat man or not. "Come here," she said to him. The cat man leaned down, a quizzical expression on his face, and Lucy patted the cat man's head. He was a Good cat man, she decided, after looking in his eyes. "Okay! I love you, bye bye!" She skipped off to find her friends.

"What are you going to do with her?" hissed the girl's mother, anger flashing in her eyes. Vengis shook his head, sadly.

"Calm yourself, my lady. I am going to do exactly what I said I would. I will teach her to speak Draconic. For better or worse, it will be the one common tongue we will all share. Did you not listen to the Oath you both gave?"

The woman scowled. "I don't like it. I was forced to. I already lost my husband, I can't lose her!"

Vengis ducked his head. "You were forced, you say, but you gave it all the same. You were offered a choice. We all were. We made a choice, and now that you made the correct one, we really are all friends. My Lord intends to do his best to keep all of us safe, do you not, My Lord?"

The dragon was right next to her, Deirdre realized, it had snuck up almost like a cat. It rumbled something, then gently nudged her with its blunt muzzle. Her breaths came in rapid fits and spurts as she forced herself not to panic. She wanted to scream, but she wanted to live more. A sound like a long sigh came from the beast, and then he rumbled more of that oddly snarling speech.

"He says he does. And if you could speak Draconic, you would know that too. So, my lady, I have been ordered to tell you to fetch the children. Round them up, find who wants to go to school and who would rather spend their time playing, working or learning to fight. The first group will be shuttled into chores, learning to fight, or learning to speak depending on their suitability, as gently as we can. If you have any experience teaching, if you can pick up languages half as well as I can, then you would do well to assist the Matron and the other kobolds with the school."

"School?"

Vengis grinned as the dragon continued to rumble away in the background. "I am told it is usual for your cubs to go to school. I don't know what school is for your cubs, but for ours? They learn to hunt, to fight, and to weave Arts. I do not know if your cubs have access to the Arts, but the rest? Are always needed."

"I don't want my daughter to learn how to fight!" she shouted.

"Then I would reconsider letting her have a pet, because if she cannot look after herself, she'll need someone who will die for her safety if necessary. Now, please fetch the children, and enter the tunnels below through the lair entrance over there. Find the Great Cavern, that's where it will begin when we're all ready."

Deirdre scowled as she looked at the buried, wrecked trailer, but nodded. She couldn't disagree. She hated it, but she couldn't do anything otherwise. And worse, the infuriating creature was correct.

 

[Moochy]

Adjustments

It took almost no time for Sarge to find me after the latest swearing in ceremony to beg for the return of the last few of his men who had been in the first group, especially now that I'd been giving some of them away to those who caught my eye. Namely the goblins, even if their politeness was definitely more towards to the simpering side. I could always do with more goblins, at least I guessed that was their aim, but I didn't want them to overwork my beasts, or to 'take advantage' of them — I would have to make sure consent matched up to no harm after all. I'd have to keep an eye on things, and I would have to tread very carefully if I ever ended up with females. I might be a bad guy, but I wasn't a bad guy, you know?

I glared at him for a moment, but he refused to budge. I could respect that. "I promised not to hurt any of you, and I suppose that means like this, too, but I cannot forgive them so easily for refusing my kindness." I considered for a short while, then shrugged. "Take as many as you wish. I release them to you, though they remain beasts in my eyes. I will reconsider their station in a month. You may keep them in a separate pen if you wish, but they must earn any improvements."

As he hurried off towards where my breakfast was mooing to pick out his new pets, I was struck with a thought: Was I evil?

I looked around at the complex, where the previous night had been bloodshed and violence, where I had acted in concert with my subjects to contain and protect the others sheltering here within… and had to concede that yes, I was evil.

I wasn't doing it for any higher power or altruistic reason. After all, I was defying the voices that at least proclaimed themselves gods — and had presumably had something to do with the impossible changing of our entire world — by setting up my new kingdom. I was doing it for me. For my peace of mind. No matter that I was doing my best to keep my people safe, from each other as much as from the rest of the world, I couldn't deny that the mental domination my Oaths enforced weren't all that far from slavery, and in many ways were worse.

If I were a good, just and kind king, I wouldn't need such oaths. My subjects would love and obey me through their own initiative, they would fight and die for me because they loved me. That the very idea of letting anybody exist in my presence that wasn't subservient to me was anathema showed me my true colors, that I required binding oaths of fealty told me that the strength of my character alone was not enough to otherwise ensure loyalty. Still, ruling through fear was just stupid. That I deliberately left the ability to order my subjects to their deaths, and would in future do the same, was the final nail in whatever coffin my humanity was buried in. I wouldn't ask any god to forgive me, because I didn't recognize the need for it. I did what I wanted because I could, and would continue to do so until I was forced to do otherwise.

"So be it, then," I said to myself. I wasn't who I used to be, in more ways than one. Maybe the voices that night had already won out, and the 'me' I used to be was dead. If so, I still couldn't find a reason to mourn him.

"Lord?" Vengis asked. I turned my head to fix him with my gaze.

"Would you rather live free, Vengis, however briefly, or under my authority?" I asked him, mostly rhetorically.

"My Lord? I, ah… would you kill me if you set me free?"

"I honestly cannot say, Vengis. I can say that if you were or could become a threat to me, and you were not my subject, that I would seek to end your life as swiftly as possible."

"Then I believe I am much happier to be alive, in your service, than… not."

I laughed, a deep, throaty laugh. "I will accept that reasoning, dear Vengis. Truly I am happier with you serving me than without your abilities and your company."

"You are in a strange mood today, Lord."

"Mm. Think nothing of it, I am just… considering a great many things. Did that little one choose her gift?"

"I think not, yet at least, Lord."

"Yes, well she may do so whenever she desires. She will learn to speak Draconic?"

"She professed that she wished to, along with a number of her friends. Matron has taken it upon herself to pool knowledge of our collective Arts, and will attempt to teach the human younglings. Tucker has undertaken a pooling of the collective knowledge of your kind, Lord, and seeks to give you… guidance, if you will permit it."

"Of course I do, that is why I chose him." I may be a budding Evil Overlord, but that didn't mean I needed to be a stupid one. "Are the preparations for the service for the dead progressing well?"

"They are, Lord," Vengis replied, bowing slightly.

"Good, then I suppose there is not much else to do but continue to improve the living conditions here for as many of my subjects as possible. And, of course, for myself."

Nobody yet had asked to leave my service. I sincerely hoped that none would, for their sake.

***

I peered around at the hangar that was the first proposed location for my new lair. It wasn't nearly defensible enough, was too large where I didn't want it and too small where I did, and it was drafty. Not that the cold bothered me. It was a real fixer-upper.

Hard pass. I'd give it to the dwarves or the goblins, or to any of the others who could give me a good reason for needing the space.

Me? I was going to go old school and get my lair built underground, in a highly defended, very secure, very deep cave. Good thing I had plenty of kobolds for digging one.

My final pick was a natural cave, ripe with stalactites and stalagmites, that had a nice deep pool of water off to one side and a raised, stone-backed pocket for my sleeping and living quarters, that afforded me plenty of privacy from those seeking audience. The kobolds had already started bringing down my trophies, including my chew toys. And boxes of my new bedding.

"It will suffice," I sniffed. At least until I found something better, and seeing as we were cementing our position here at this base, that would take a while. Still, the first part of operation 'Better Living Through Real Estate' was complete. I gingerly clambered my way onto the large pile of metals and other objects and wriggled until I had a proper divot going for my bulk. Cas had been right, this was much better.

I rested in it until the afternoon, when I would have a very solemn task.

***

The Great Cavern had been made even greater, but even so it was remarkably full of people. They stood silently, expectantly, watching as I stood up on the stage. Before me were a number of hastily yet expertly created jars, large pots made of what I wasn't sure was rock, clay or something else. Within them were the dead. I assumed they would be buried, but arrangements could be made for cremation. I would have to… sanctify some sort of burial plot, I expected. The kobolds had shamans. The humans, dwarves and others would have to share blessings, and whatever gods looked down upon them would have to understand.

I took a deep breath.

"Gathered here today, we bid farewell to our compatriots, new and old," I intoned. "Those who fought against us, and caused these deaths, have perished, as is the fate of those who stand against us. None but the beasts shall mark their passing. These here honored dead, these are our brothers and sisters, and we will mourn their passing. A moment of silence and reflection shall be shared."

I closed my eyes, projecting as much aplomb as I was able, and waited until it felt right, then I lifted my gaze.

"Those of you who wish to say a few words may speak freely, before us all, or with your friends and loved ones. Those that died in defense of this place I count amongst my people, and their sacrifice is gratefully, if sadly, accepted. Peace be upon them."

I walked down from the podium, and moved to the back of the hall, watching as The Matron stepped up to the stage. Strangely, she and her shamans also brought up a large pile of what looked like… kitchen and bathroom supplies? There was what I was sure was cooking oil, cosmetics, and even jerry cans of what I was sure was fuel oil. What was going on?

"Tribesfolk," she said in Draconic, a serious expression on her face, "We have communed with all those who have passed, and some have chosen to travel on to new adventures, to new worlds, to new realms. We will mourn them as they depart from our tribe forever, but we will not be regretful of their choice, only that their staying with us was as brief as it was. We will also make sturdy our hearts for those who return through the egg. With our powers granted by the Great One, we are unable to bring back the dead as they were, but for those willing to try, we will give them a new life amongst all our people. Listen, all ye who now join our tribe! Be not downhearted should the Gods choose another race than their old, for their old lives have ended, and their new lives begin!"

Wait, what?

I felt an odd draw, a feeling that left me a little light-headed, as Matron and a number of kobolds raised their voices in some sort of rhythmic chanting. Their haunting tones echoed up and down the length of the tunnels, shaking the foundations of the warren, for many long minutes before the group of five began to move, still chanting, as they touched some of the jars, one after another. Their sudden cessation of singing was almost painfully abrupt. The pile of… cosmetics? Jerry cans? All of the above, all seemed to burst into little motes of light, whereupon the sparkles spread like confetti on the wind, and were suddenly gone.

What was happening? The first rocking motion of one of the jars I dismissed outright, but slowly they all — all those touched — began to jostle to and fro, until the first fell, smashing open, and… something crawled out, coughing, but hale and hearty. That… that had been a human, I was certain of it! But now, he or she was… a kobold? Another that I was sure had been a human was now a huge lizard creature, similar to but obviously entirely distinct from a kobold. Another jar that I was sure had been one of the humans decanted what looked like a child at first glance, but what was actually some sort of… half-sized human? A good number — the vast majority, and all the previous kobolds — came back as kobolds, but others were the lizardfolk, beastkin, some were dwarves, at least one was human… but the two jars containing Possibly and Definitely were ones I stalked up to as they opened.

Possibly stood up, tall and thin, his ears pointed and his hair impossibly long and shiny. Definitely stood up, muscles thicker than a brick shithouse, his skin a dark green. An elf, presumably, and… an orc? Huh.

Vengis' ability for everyone to comprehend my speech didn't extend to the newly reborn, but it was still active on those who had been alive beforehand. I swiftly had all newcomers — whether they wore their original skin or new — before me to be sworn in, which I did happily so that those who could be reunited were able to be. Thankfully, none of the returnees spurned my generosity.

There would be a lot of interesting discussions happening tonight, I was sure, not to mention in the next few days. Somehow those returning to life had known what would happen, but I could see that a few kobolds were busy pulling at their anatomy in a way that suggested they had better be taken some place private unless they were willing to give the rest of us a show. It was equally awkward for the others that had to deal with new anatomy. I wish I could've said not my circus, not my clowns, but… well, with the return of Definitely and Possibly, it most certainly was.

 

[Moochy]

Learning

Cas made her careful way through the tunnels to the Great Cavern, listening to the growing voice of the Deep, then swore loudly as she had to hop backwards to get away from two dark green-and-brown blurs barely visible under the surface, followed by a gaggle of kobolds, a few of the younger goblins, and another much larger gaggle of loud, screaming humans. They were playing tag around the perimeter of the cavern, with the young ones trying their best to catch Smash and Grab. This was her life now, it seemed.

It had been turned into a game of learning Draconic, by having the Tamer kobolds direct their pets, and the teacher kobolds order things like 'left' or 'right' or 'jump' or 'switch direction' and the like. It was absolute chaos.

Cas, however, was made of stern stuff. She found her own gaggle of youngsters and set about corralling them into three groups; one she gave makeshift bows to, another she gave makeshift swords to, and the final she had lined up in rows.

It took a while, but after a few false starts, she had them all learning to fight. It would take a lot longer to become acceptable, but that's what she was here for. It was good to see that 'hurt' and 'harm' were still two different things, making training possible.

And, if her compatriots had anything to say about it, even if they couldn't raid a vast amount of bullets from the town she knew was a day's travel away by the metal chariots this world's humans had access to, then shortly with the help of the swelled ranks of the kobolds, they would have enough metal and other materials to start making their own ammunition, and then they could all start learning about guns.

Her dwarven soul rang like a bell at that thought, and the dragon… had to be thanked for it.

***

Lucy sat down with Tommie and Alice, and her new 'bold friends Gren and Koog and Grork, and then another kobold, much larger than her three friends, walked up to her and tentatively sat down in front of her.

"Lucy?" asked the kobold, his voice high-pitched, like hers.

"Uh huh?" Lucy replied, before blinking. "Wait! You speak English? And you know my name? How come?"

"Y-yeah, I'm… I know who you are, yes. And I do, because… can you come with me? Just for a minute?"

Lucy thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Mommy and Daddy always say never to go anywhere with somebody you don't know."

"That's true, that's very true, I… they… I… Lucy, sit down."

"I am sitting?" Lucy replied, confused.

"Ah, good, yes, because… I don't know how to tell this to you. I was going to tell you with Mommy, but… it's Daddy."

"What is?"

"I is! I mean, I am! I'm… your Dad, Pumpkin."

Lucy's eyes grew rounder and rounder as the squeaky-voiced lizard friend spoke and became… it did sound like Daddy! "You are? Why are you a kobold? Is that where the dragon sent you? Does Mommy know? Oooh, did you become a kobold without telling Mommy? She's gonna be so mad you get to play with me all day instead of working in your office! Is Mommy gonna have to work now? You do get to play with me all day right?"

Frank shook his head and tried to placate the maelstrom that was his daughter until he just hugged her. "Look, things are going to be really weird for a while, Pumpkin. Mommy and Daddy might… have a hard time because—"

"Because Mommy isn't a kobold? Can Mommy become a kobold? Can I become a kobold?"

"No! No, you can't become a kobold. Neither can Mommy. But I'm not… going anywhere, ever again, alright? But I might have to live down here with the… other kobolds, alright?"

"Can I visit with you? Is it like Jeanie's parents where they don't live together no more?"

Frank winced, curling his tail around himself and running his claws over the end. "Y-yeah, because… your Mom isn't a kobold. And can't become one. I was, ah, special, in a way that… it's not something that happens a lot and please don't ask for it to happen, at least not the same way, alright? But I love you, I love your Mom, and she loves both of us too… but things are going to be a bit difficult. But sure, Pumpkin, I'll make sure you can visit down here any time you want!"

"That's alright then. Are you a kobold because you have a kobold girlfriend?"

Frank made a strangled noise in his throat.

***

Deirdre looked down at the little lizard creature that Lucy held with both arms and presented towards her.

"Hi Mommy Daddy came back this is Daddy he's a kobold now!"

"Umm… what?" Dierdre managed, after a long few seconds.

"Hi, Dede," Frank said in his new yappy happy voice, "how've you been keeping?"

Deirdre did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.

 

[Moochy]

Back to Business

Frank knew he was dead the second he felt the gut-punch of the bullet hit. He didn't hurt, it just felt like he'd been kicked in the chest, but his body didn't quite work any more. There was a numbing cold that spread from just below his pectorals, down to his waist and up, up, up until it passed his shoulders and covered his face. He fell down like a puppet with its strings cut as red covered his chest.

"Oh," he managed, as an armored car ran over his legs and he couldn't feel them break.

He laid his head back, looking up into the stars, wishing things could have gone differently. Well, not all of it. He didn't regret his daughter, though he regretted spending so much time at work — to pay the bills and make sure his wife and daughter would be safe — and he regretted becoming relatively distant with his wife — same reason — but he didn't regret actually having them.

As darkness claimed him, he managed a last thought; that he'd gladly do it all again, but maybe a bit differently.

Would you, indeed? asked a silent voice, with more than a hint of amusement.

He was dead, he knew that. He swam, moving without motion, in a starless void. On one side of a curtain, so thin he could tell it was little more than gossamer whispers, lay a wavering image of a cave filled with those strange little lizard people that he guessed really were kobolds. On the other side of another curtain, this one as thick as night and twice as impenetrable lay… everything else. He shrank from it, it was too much for him to comprehend.

But here, in the shadowy between, something watched him. Teeth and claws, scales… some sort of bargain had been struck, it seemed, and he was now a chip on the table.

I would! He wanted to answer, but had no more breath to speak than whatever it was he communed with.

I have a price, and that price is… your soul. Do you still wish to bargain with it?

Hah, he thought back, if I could get to be with my family again, I would pay that a thousand times over, if I may keep them safe.

That is an acceptable bargain, little one, though I cannot guarantee your success, I can grant you the attempt. You will not have to wait much longer, payment has been made. Prepare yourself.

For what? He wanted to say. The answer came easily, as great wings wider than the sky spread.

For your rebirth.

***

Frank opened his eyes, he was… squashed into something? It was dark, and stuffy, and he wanted… out! He kicked and wriggled and head-butted his prison until he felt whatever he was in tip over and crack open… and he rolled out into a changed world.

There was something between his eyes, and everything was… wrong, it was all too big. He put his hands to his muzzle and saw claws grabbing his nose, only his nose was long and was the very thing that protruded out from his head, and was stuck in his vision, on top of a mouth stuffed with massive sharp teeth and… oh. Oh. That made sense.

"I'm a kobold!" he exclaimed, then clapped his hands over his muzzle. His voice was high and yappy, like a little puppy. Other kobolds came and yip-yapped at him in their strange tongue that he didn't understand, and he tried to make them understand that back. It took a while, but eventually he was swarmed with tens of little kobold buddies, and he realized he felt strangely happy because of it. He looked around for his wife and daughter, and found them… and for a moment, considered walking up to them, but then his courage failed him. No, not yet, he would have to wait.

After a few hours, he thought he'd happily wait a long, long time to get the courage to chat with his wife… but then he saw his daughter, sitting with a few of the kobolds in one of their lessons that had been arranged by whoever now ran this mad-house. The same lessons he now had to take because he didn't know how to kobold.

Well, this was awkward.

***

"Hi, Dede," Frank said in his new yappy happy voice, "how've you been keeping?" He winced as the scream shook his eardrums. "That good huh?"

"You-you-you… you died!"

Deirdre's last words hung in the air like… well, like last words are wont to do.

"Daddy died?" Lucy asked, in a small voice, before Frank found it very hard to breathe.

"Hrrk! I'm okay! I'm okay! Daddy's here! Please let me breathe!"

"Does that mean… if I die, that I could come back again and be with Mommy and Daddy?" Lucy asked in a small voice.

"No!" "Yes!" "I mean…" "we mean…"

Dede and Frank looked at each other, and Dierdre gripped her nose with her hand.

"Pumpkin, we don't want you dying, ever, and… God willing, that won't be for a long time, alright? But… y-yes, maybe, it seems like… you might be able to, and I wish I knew how or why this worked, but you might be able to come back. But we don't want to have to find out!"

Lucy's eyes sparkled, and she relaxed. "Good. Because I am sometimes afraid at night that I'll just go away and I don't want that. Now I know, the dragon has made it that I can come back, so I'm not afraid. Mommy, don't be angry with Daddy if he has a kobold girlfriend—"

"I don't!" squawked Frank.

"And Daddy, don't be angry with Mommy that she's not a kobold."

Frank and Dede shared another look.

"Darling," said Dierdre, "I'm just happy Daddy is back, and… just never forget we love you."

"I'll, ah, I kind of… I think we're cold blooded, Dede, so I kinda… either need an electric blanket or I need to live below, with the other kobolds."

"Daddy can sleep with me in my bed when he's visiting up here when he's not with his kobold girlfriend like Jeanie's daddy! That way he can stay warm!"

There was a loud smack as Frank's paws met his muzzle.