Chapter 284: The Mechanic and The Friendly Neighborhood Archfiend

Daniel groans as the pain gnaws at him from seemingly all over. The worst is, of course, his eye, which Baeka and Hekate hastily worked to change the bandages of before the pain relieving decoction Doephluev is supposed to be working on wears off completely. The mechanic hisses through his teeth, trying to keep himself from tensing his muscles and stay as calm as possible.

“Is there anything I can do, Mukori?” asks Reignleif’s voice tenderly. Everyone else went to find and address Doephluev, leaving the blue dragon to try to take care of Daniel in the meantime. Several Keepers of the Unity of the Great Dragons are nearby to watch over Gyualen, Samael, Clover, and Willow, while Yaulwembor looms over them curiously. Enya is with Geirahoel, who is the most defensive about keeping her child in arm’s reach more than anyone else, especially because Enya has ignityal already, and may already possess venom, meaning she might be at risk of the side effects of the curse.

Daniel does his best to look at her through his watering left eye, breathing heavily as he tries to get control of himself enough to answer. “Unless you’ve got something else… smothering me with a pillow to put me to sleep… Mukori…”

She frowns sympathetically, watching as he tenses and tries to find a position that alleviates the pain even a little. It’s no use, since it’s essentially half of his face, and it feels like his entire head due to the scorching damage.

Of course, he doesn’t curse or yell or blame anyone, because the crushing weight on his heart makes him feel like he isn’t getting as much as he deserves.

Hekate bursts into the room, saying, “Daniel! We found Doephluev, but… there’s a problem!” She jogs into Daniel’s room while everyone else present walks in with the archoneldwyn in bindings, and several dattakorien soldiers accompany them.

Everyone’s expressions are grim, and Ryuogriar takes the lead. “It seems, Mukori, that Doephluev has been working against us…”

“Forgive me… Mukori,” interrupts Daniel. “But at present,... Nnng… I feel like dying would be slightly better than my current… fuuuu… condition. So… can it wait?”

“Mukori!?” snaps the platinum dragon.

Daniel sighs, doing his best to sit up, and it’s clear that it’s taking every shred of his willpower just to lift his torso up with his arms, not to mention to avoid touching his face. His right hand clenches directly in front of his eye as he resists the urge to claw at, press on, or do something about the pain that burrows deep into his skull. Ryuogriar looks worried for a moment, and Hekate is torn between rushing to his side, and standing between him and Ryuogriar in case something happens. She’s not sure what will happen, but if anyone can stop a brewing fight… hopefully it’s the feldrok teen.

But, Daniel doesn’t retaliate or bite back with a mean retort. Instead, he asks, “Doephluev… can you explain… yourself?”

“I can, but… It will be better if I don’t. N-Not yet. But, I swear, it sounds worse than it is.”

“She was conspiring…” starts Ryuogriar, but Daniel holds up his left palm, and Reignleif sits on the bed behind him to help support him in case he loses strength and needs to lie back down, such that he doesn’t hit the pillow hard enough to jostle his injuries.

“I still trust Doephluev’s… * cough *...” One small cough turns into a short coughing fit, and everyone’s faces twist in pain as Daniel growls from the pain in his face spiking. He finishes his thought, “I trust her survival instincts…” He coughs once more, and he looks at Reignleif, who is rubbing his back gently and trying to comfort him with her own body, which is currently chilled with magic.

Ryuogriar steps forward, and she walks past Hekate, who watches nervously. If anything, she is friends with Doephluev in a sort of rival way, while Ryuogriar more distinctly dislikes Doephluev and her cunning behaviors.

The dragon matriarch sits down in front of Daniel next to his leg, and she places her hand on his forearm. “Mukori… She was speaking of the… Lurker as a servant would her master… And, she was trying to conspire with Thymeria.”

Daniel can barely focus, and his vision is watering even when he tries to dab his tears away with a handkerchief. He turns his gaze to Doephluev, and she continues avoiding eye contact.

The mechanic closes his eye as he braces against a surge of pain. He knows it’s not right to make an addict’s decision. He hopes he’s not addicted to whatever Doephluev made, but he does need something, or he’s going to be more and more serious about his remark about an alternative that is looking more and more palatable.

If that’s not the fundamental basis of becoming an addict, he doesn’t know what is.

Ryuogriar wants answers, or she would have simply killed Doephluev on the spot, and Doephluev obviously gave her a vague non-answer already.

The mechanic replies quietly, “Everyone in this room other than Doephluev can override me on this matter. I have consistently held, and I wish for the case to be that you hold the authority, and I support you.” He sucks his teeth in a long draw, feeling lightheaded, yet unable to even fall unconscious. He adds, his diminished voice softening a little, “If you want my permission to hurt her, you won’t get it. Doephluev, give us something to work with. Why should anyone else trust you?”

The archoneldwyn is quiet for a moment. She replies, “Because… I need your reactions to be genuine… Just,... not this early. Otherwise… I may not get what I need…”

Daniel thinks for a moment, and Ryuogriar growls, “This would be easier if you would just tell us. The soldiers you ordered away from their posts reported overhearing mentions of ‘the Fellmother’ while you left the doors wide open.”

Doephluev says nothing, looking at Daniel finally with a pleading expression. He knows she’s a master of disguise and trickery, and he knows he needs her, specifically, right now. Both factors set his gut at ease, even if he tries to filter out the growing desperation for relief that is clearly not going to come soon.

“Ryuo-Mukori…” murmurs Daniel. She faces him as much as possible, giving him undivided attention.

“Please, do not ask me to so easily forgive someone you so obviously have bias for, Mukori. I refuse. Our family is here, and she is too close.”

Daniel does his best to force a smile, saying softly, “I trust her… But, I won’t force you to. Put her under guard that can withstand any trick she could pull,...” Daniel exhales sharply, clenching his hands into fists, and Reignleif gently lays her head against his back as she hugs him from behind, unable to help him much more than she is already. Regardless, he’s deeply thankful toward all of them for being patient with him and caring so deeply about him.

The human finishes his suggestion, “Please… let her finish making… the decoction, copy it, record it, I don’t care… and when my head’s clear again, I’ll address this more seriously… Just… keep the peace that… I gave my eye for…”

Everyone that has gathered to ensure Doephluev can’t try anything all fall silent. Baeka and Peiburi are the ‘outsiders’ in a sense, and they share a nervous glance, while the three dragon Empresses avert their gazes away from Daniel. Hekate’s ears and tail droop as low as they can go, and Aoloan fidgets nervously.

The succubus steps forward, and she asks, “What if Doephluev is the one… disturbing the peace?” She isn’t trying to be inflammatory, but she’s trying to ensure Ryuogriar’s concerns aren’t ignored.

“Did she put up a fight?” asks Daniel.

“No,” admits Ryuogriar. “She was in her quarters after collapsing.”

“It was a bout of anemia, and nothing more,” replies Doephluev. “It won’t happen again.”

Daniel eases himself back, and Reignleif helps him as he lays back down. “Just watch over her, but don’t hurt her… please…”

Ryuogriar sighs as she stands up. “You certainly know how to tug on my teeth, Mukori.” She smiles softly at the Earthling, saying, “Regardless of my personal feelings on this woman, I would not dare harm your children.” She then turns to Doephluev and puts her serious face back on. “Doephluev, I think it is clear that I do not share Mukori’s sentiments towards you.”

The dragon’s ruby-red eyes momentarily flick to Hekate when the feldrok girl’s own disappointment shows on her face. The dragon continues with a serious tone, but more neutral in its severity, “Will you cooperate with Mukori’s plan?”

“Yes… Though… Uh… I… I will need to… act. And, for the next step,...” She glances at Daniel nervously.

Ryuogriar stalks closer. As the tallest of the Empresses of the Fievegal, she stands more than a head taller than Doephluev, and in a one-on-one fight, a dragon has the advantage with or without magic against most races.

But, without warning, and nearly starting that very deadly battle herself, Doephluev snatches Ryuogriar’s dress and pulls her forward. Geirahoel, Hekate, Aoloan, Baeka, and Peiburi all immediately go on defense, and Reignleif quickly moves to protect Daniel. But, just as Hekate is shouting, “Doephluev!”, and before magic flies, Ryuogriar holds up her hand.

The archoneldwyn just whispered something to her, and the dragon asks quietly, “Are you certain?”

Doephluev nods grimly, and Ryuogriar glances partially over her shoulder at Daniel. Her gaze drifts with her thoughts, deliberating on what to make of the information she just received.

Daniel groans, and the defensive stances slacken a bit. Ryuogriar takes Doephluev by the arm, growling, “We’re wasting time either way. Let’s go. Reina, dear Sister, if anything abnormal occurs, inform me immediately.”

“Riiight…” murmurs the confused blue dragon.

Without any further hesitation, Ryuogriar drags Doephluev out by the bicep, and everyone else just watches in confusion. Hekate asks, “What… just happened?”

“Hekate,” murmurs Daniel. She perks up and whirls to face him. The human requests, “Make sure… they don’t kill each other…”

“R-Right! Leave it to me!” Hekate salutes and bounds out of the room, meeting Erimaya and Heralesse just outside Daniel’s room. They remained outside at Heralesse’s urging in case it broke into a magic fight, and they go with Hekate to make sure Ryuogriar doesn’t go too far.

Though, Baeka, Aoloan, and Peiburi figure it out quickly enough.

“So… it’s something that needs to remain hidden from someone specific, and Ryuogriar isn’t one of them…,” ponders Peiburi out loud.

“I was thinking the same,” replies Baeka. “Though who…” Her own tiger-like tail twitches, and she glances with her eyes momentarily at Daniel. Thankfully, he has his good eye closed as he strains against the worsening pain, and Reignleif and Geirahoel notice. Their eyes go wide. Both dragon Empresses glance at each other, and then at Daniel. Aoloan seems to piece it together as well, and she gingerly touches her golem-supported hand. She has good fortune to be able to feel certain things again, but her hand is still too ‘new’ to fully work for her.

She does offer, “If… it means anything. I didn’t detect any lies from Doephluev. Though, I wouldn’t necessarily stake my life on that with someone like her…”

“If Doephluev has a shred of loyalty to Daniel and her children to be, at least, then I believe she was telling the truth as well,” replies Reignleif. “The problem is, truth can be a deadlier weapon in deception than the best-crafted lie. And, Doephluev is a master of both.”

“It’ll be fine…” replies Daniel with his ragged voice. “Thymeria… never identified… Veuthene.”

“Veuthene…?” asks Peiburi. “What or who is…?” As she is asking, she notices both Reignleif and Geirahoel seem to turn pale.

Baeka whispers, “If I’m not mistaken, she was the one that Daniel was cursed by…”

Peiburi accepts this answer as the dots connect. “Ah… I see…” She doesn’t know everything about what they’re talking about, but because Thymeria is the one ‘conspiring’ with Doephluev, it wouldn’t make sense for them to sell each other out when they both already possessed trusted positions. This is especially so for Doephluev to so brazenly behave like she’s ‘allies’ with Thymeria.

Reignleif, having had a moment to think, gently pets Daniel’s face. He grunts for a moment, but he adds, “The cold… if you would… Mukori.”

“Yes, of course, Mukori,” replies the blue dragon. She manages to smile, and she casts the ice magic on her hand again, creating a small ice block in her palm to hold against Daniel’s eye carefully. He lets out a sound that sounds almost like the decompression of his soul; a sort of groan mixed with a laugh as he noticeably relaxes. She instructs, “Geira, if you would, please retrieve me some water…”

“No,...” murmurs Baeka. “If I may, metal would be better, wouldn’t it? It won’t melt and stays cold for a long time.”

“Sh-She’s right,” huffs Daniel, sounding a little more relaxed, but very obviously still in excruciating pain that he is fighting not to crumble under. “But anything… This… It’s helping…”

Reignleif nods. “Then, if you would…”

As they’re discussing it, Yaulwembor crawls onto the other side of Daniel’s over-sized bed and draws over to his right side, looking at Reignleif’s hand. The blue dragon trails off her thought to watch the faormyr. The biggest problem with her is that she may be of a sapient race, but she grew up feral, and she only developed what wisdom she has now over an unknown, multi-millennial lifespan.

Yaulembor makes her purring-like warbling sound, and she suddenly lays down beside Daniel, intentionally curls her reptilian chin over the top of Daniel’s head, causing him to wince nervously that she’s going to bump his injury, but she manages to remain as gentle as anyone else, in spite of not being able to communicate.

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She drapes her arm over the mechanic’s neck, and he can immediately feel a gentle cooling come from every point of her body that is in contact with him. He can’t look at her, since she’s on his right side, but Reignleif asks softly, “Daniel? I can try to warn her off…”

“No… she’s fine. It’s not as helpful, but it feels good… Just don’t let her freeze me to death.”

“Or deep-chill,” warns Baeka. “Staying cold for too long can drive a person to madness.”

“Hypothermia,” blurts out Daniel in agreement. “If I get too cold, I’ll let you guys know… And a little hypothermia isn’t the worst thing to happen to me…”

The other ladies scoff, but Aoloan speaks up. “She’s… casting something else.”

Daniel tilts his gaze to the succubus, and then to Reignleif, who is studying the Faormyr. He jokes, “If it’s not instant death then I’m not worr…”

Daniel isn’t sure, but something feels familiar about the sensation that washes through him.

As suddenly as the flash that claimed his eye, his surroundings are completely changed. He is no longer in his bed, but instead, he is standing on the lower flyway that looks out over the lake that the Citadel rests upon the shore of. His brain finishes the sentence he was in the middle of, “...-ried… Uh…”

A body bumps into his back and hugs him with distinctly scaled arms that possess a naturally occurring variation of the most durable metal in the known world. She purrs in the warbling tone that she makes when she’s truly pleased, saying warmly, “Is the pain gone for now, Daniel?”

“Yaulwembor?”

“Yes,” replies the woman as she stalks around in front of him. Though her face is more distinctly reptilian, like an anthropomorphic dragon, or how Daniel could easily envision one at least, she can still give a toothy, devious grin. She reaches up and touches Daniel’s right cheek. He flinches, but it doesn’t hurt, and he realizes immediately why.

“Is… this a dream?”

“Yes. Seeing you in pain seems to distress everyone… including me. I know not why. But, the pain is gone now, at least in here. Yes?” Daniel isn’t sure if he’s ‘seeing’ through his right eye in the dream or not. His brain can’t quite make sense of it, but at least he’s not in pain. Either way, he can see her head cock to the side curiously.

Daniel replies, “Yes… Thank you, Yaulwembor… Though…”

“Those females can handle survival without you for a time.” She turns away to walk towards her dream ‘nest’ of pillows and cushions at the end of the flyway. She stops and turns to look at Daniel. “They do not risk as much as you to protect… everything. Even the creatures that are not your mates or your children.”

“Plenty of people risked as much as I did to stop the mana fire,” counters Daniel. “Too many people… didn’t have a choice…”

“Mm… This… The thing you are thinking now. It is a weight on your soul.” She sprawls out on her cushions and pats the bedding to invite Daniel over the same way he does for her in real life to get her to sit down and be less imposing to everyone else.

Daniel hesitates for a moment, but he sighs. If nothing else, they can work some more on her literacy, since it translates over to the real world. The only missing part is the true muscle memory to actually write the letters, but she’ll get there eventually.

Daniel takes a seat on a cushion next to her, and she crawls onto him to push the human down onto his back. She says sternly, “Speak. I am a simple creature that wants simple things. And, I want my mate healthy and energetic.”

Daniel scoffs. She certainly doesn’t beat around the bush when she can communicate, even if their current method of ‘speaking’ involves her using a fusion of dream-scape magic, telepathy, and language comprehension.

The human knows she’s fishing for what is troubling him, and it’s not his eye nearly as much as the collateral of the same event.

Daniel slumps under her since there’s no way he would be able to overpower her. “It’s… I don’t think it’s something you can help with.”

“Why not?” asks Yaulwembor skeptically, staring down at him with her stern gaze.

“It’s just not something I expect to get a helpful answer from you about.”

She scowls at him, bearing her teeth slightly in a low, irritated growl. Daniel isn’t afraid of her nearly as much anymore, since he is surrounded every day by people who could turn him into a cloud of mist with a flick of their wrists –or tails–. But, he doesn’t want to make her angry either.

Daniel adds, “It’s just not something you have had to consider, since you were so solitary for so long.”

“Am I not your mate as well?” asks the dragon with a slight bitterness to her deep, telepathic woman’s voice. “Or, is your promise meaningless?”

Daniel sighs. “It’s not that… I’ll keep my promise. It’s just…” I doubt she’ll give up, but how do I explain it to someone who has probably intentionally killed more people in self-defense than I did with the excuse that I needed to save the world?

Daniel massages the right side of his face, almost reflexively panicking, since it would be excruciating in a hurry in real life, but is fine for now while he’s trapped in Yaulwembor’s dream magic. Well… Whatever. She may not exactly be able to help, but she’ll at least listen, I guess…

The Earthling relaxes, and he starts, “It’ll be a bit of a long story, but it has to do with that powerful burst of fire that came from the crater and likely made you lose your magic for a moment.”

The faormyr cocks her head curiously. She knows what he’s talking about, but doesn’t know why, yet.

Daniel does his best to explain what it was, his role in its use, and how it’s a weapon that he used knowing people would die as a direct result.

She listens patiently, and as he continues explaining, she lays down on his chest, staring at his face as the human continues to explain. She asks a couple of questions to clarify what things are or mean, but otherwise simply listens, as Daniel expected.

When it’s all said and done, Yaulwembor replies, “I do not understand, then.”

“That’s why I didn’t figure you’d care about it…”

“No, that’s not true. I do not understand the sadness. By your own explanation, you had no choice. Rather, you chose to protect more lives by taking few. If they were not fast enough to get away or defend themselves, then it is the way of things.”

“It’s not that simple,” replies Daniel. “It was a weapon, and no one that died had any idea they were in danger until it was too late.”

Yaulwembor thinks for a moment. She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, but not because she’s speechless or even trying to speak. It’s more of an idle movement to loosen her jaws, wet her ‘lips’, or shift her teeth off of her gums. It’s more like the yawning movement a snake makes when it’s resetting its jaw after swallowing something large, but not quite as dramatic, since she didn’t dislocate her jaw or anything.

When she replies, she sits up a little to point out at the lake. “Look.”

Daniel shifts to sit up partially, and he looks where the draconic woman is pointing.

Surprisingly, her dream is lifelike in that he can see what appears to be the shadows of a school of fish swimming casually through the water in circles, likely preying on a pod of bait. Above, a bird of prey that differs slightly from an osprey, but certainly hunts in a similar way, circles for a moment before diving on the water, ascending back into the air with a fish in its powerful talons.

Yaulwembor states, “That water creature did not know it was in danger until it was already too late. I have seen little of the world, but I know many creatures are just like that. I am one such being.” She gives Daniel a toothy smile, since that is essentially how they met. Her ambush was fast and brutal, but everyone managed to make it through, since she was more interested in subduing the male dragons to ‘claim’ them for her ‘needs’ over killing everyone, only to be defeated primarily by Daniel and his rifles, which she couldn’t emulate and reverse on him.

The human sighs, and he replies, “I wasn’t hunting for food or defending my territory from the people I killed. If anything, I had as much of a duty to protect them as everyone else.”

“You impose these things upon yourself. You should worry only about yourself, your mate, and your offspring.”

Daniel chuckles. It’s the answer he knows she won’t likely be able to look beyond. She spent longer living as a lone survivor and apex predator than Daniel’s entire civilization on Earth existed. Not just USA, but she is potentially older than Earth’s recorded history. She is the ultimate hermit, but with that comes a complete and utter detachment from the ideas that make society functional.

He decides to try to explain this. “I’ve chosen to be a part of society, which is a gathering of many people, even ones who aren’t my mates or offspring, or even blood-relatives of any kind, because if we work together, we can make all of our lives better. To do that, I have… found myself in a position of leading many others, male and female. And, with that leading, I am responsible for the survival of as many people as possible, even our enemies, or our enemies might retaliate.”

“If they are our enemies, they should die,” retorts the Faormyr with the tenderness of a tsunami.

Daniel laughs, and he pets her head, which earns him a suspicious look, but one that is mostly pleased.

“If only it were so simple, Yaulwembor. And, more importantly, it’s the non-enemies; people who were innocent…” Daniel’s heart was already heavy, and now it tightens as his eyes start to water at the thought. He has been battered by pain and delirium, focusing on Fal to distract himself, but otherwise, he has been avoiding dealing with what he has done.

“I feel… crushing guilt… I know… I know it was… the ‘least’ wrong in a sea of terrible choices. But… I don’t know what to do… I can send aid to the survivors, I can send help to rebuild… But, it won’t bring the innocents back… And, even if life is not merciful to the innocent just because they’re innocent, that’s not an excuse for me to overlook my role in shedding what makes me… human.”

Yaulwembor has been listening patiently once more, and she sighs. “You were right. I know nothing of these ideas…”

“It’s why I didn’t kill you.”

This causes her to stop. She looks into his eyes, and he explains, “That feeling of mercy, the guilt at the thought of your death; I could and possibly should have killed you, but I didn’t. I didn’t because you were innocent in a sense. We invaded your territory, and you defended it. As the victors, including by your own logic, we could have killed you to prevent you from killing us. Can you understand that much at least?”

This explanation has her full attention, and she is noticeably quiet for a long time as her gaze moves around a bit, slowly tracking in time with her thoughts. She looks at her summoned bird and fish example, her nest, Daniel, the castle, the mountains and hills in the distance, the sky; she looks everywhere as she tries to coincide Daniel’s reply with her own experience of mercy; something she claims was non-existent in her life after her apparent father and until Daniel, which is possibly ten thousand years or so.

She murmurs softly, “You wished to be merciful… to those people. But you couldn’t because of the crawling magic…” She sparks her teeth as she thinks, almost seemingly trying to ground herself in reality in spite of knowing they’re in a dream being sustained by her own power in order to keep Daniel, whose body is in excruciating pain, from waking up into that agony once more.

“If that makes sense, then I hope you can understand why I’m so conflicted… I don’t know what to do about it now that it’s done…”

Yaulwembor remains in thought a moment longer, and she lays her head down on his chest. Her telepathic voice murmurs, “It is sad, then. I was sad when… the one-... Father died. I was angry. I was scared. I would be sad and angry if you died. I don’t know if anyone would be sad or angry if I died, but I would want it to be sad…” She takes a deep breath and sighs against Daniel’s chest. Her body contours like a woman’s in spite of having the actual soft and leathery texture of an oversized, particularly warm alligator laying on top of him. She partially copied a humanoid form when she first transformed, and though she probably could approach ‘more human’ if she wanted, she has not yet chosen to do so, except to test Daniel during one of their conversations.

Yaulwembor sits up and replies, “I will help you. Though, I don’t know how to help your heart recover from being sad, I understand why you feel so, now. It is sad that people who are not our enemies died when you did not want to hurt them. But,...” She flexes her hand, and four dodgeball-sized, pitch black orbs appear, which startles Daniel a little, all four orbiting around her hand as she delicately flexes her fingers to orchestrate their orbit. Though they are ‘microscopic’ relative to the actual attack that started it all. When she causes them to impact near-simultaneously, it creates a flickering flash that implodes into a truly tiny point. From there, a bright white light grows and descends towards her palm.

She just replicated the event that started the mana fire on a seemingly ‘microscopic’ scale in comparison, and it makes Daniel’s heart, even if it’s only a dream, feel like it’s pounding in his chest. For a moment, the ache in his right eye starts to return, and his vision starts to squeeze inwards, particularly in his right eye, which he can now confirm he was ‘seeing’ through in this dreamworld, but now reality is breaking through because of his momentary panic attack.

Yaulwembor is completely unbothered by casually summoning a mana fire spark, and she ‘catches’ it with magic to suspend it before it comes into contact with her palm.

Daniel whispers, “Y-... You can… create the mana fire? A-At will?”

Yaulwembor replies calmly, “Yes…”

She lifts her other hand up as well, rolling partially onto her back on top of Daniel. She flexes her fingers, and without the void artillery spell, a sudden spark creates a pitch black flame with bright technicolor licks and lines defining its presence; a mana fire that is already burning. Daniel is momentarily horrified as he realizes his most dangerous ally became more dangerous simply because she witnessed both spells for what they are.

Without realizing that Daniel is utterly aghast at this realization, Yaulwembor explains the point she intended to make. “This spell would not have stopped… It was our enemy, and you killed it, even if it did not live.” She dispels both, and she tilts her head so her bright, exotic eye can see Daniel. “Those who survive must continue to survive. The strong determine who lives and who dies…”

Daniel starts to sigh, but she presses a finger to his mouth, surprising him. “In this nest, we, the strong, choose to protect the weak so the weak may live as well. And, many, many weak still live. We will continue to destroy their enemies, including ones that do not live, and prevent the need to kill the weak who are not our enemies in order to stop an enemy that threatens all.”

Her answer is aligning with either variation of the trolley problem, and she’d likely not hesitate at all to pull the lever or push the man onto the tracks from a brutally utilitarian perspective. She doesn’t really care for innocent life any more or less than she cares about stones or grass. They are inconsequential to her other than being potential sources of food in the absence of more acceptable options, so long as they never threaten her or her offspring, which she does not yet have.

She may be preaching her understanding of Daniel’s desire to support the survival of people who are otherwise strangers to him, possibly out of the minor misconception that he hopes they’ll become friends or allies, but her attachment to the idea is superficial. She knows it’s what Daniel wants, and she understands the logic, but she would not hesitate to make the true, machine-like logical choice when needed.

If she had any concept of it being a weapon, would she have…? Daniel looks at his draconic companion doing her best to reassure him from the perspective of an apex predator that has no reservations at being an apex predator.

No. Stupid question. If she understood the stakes, she would have done it immediately without trying anything else, most likely.

Daniel replies quietly, “Thank you, Yaulwembor. Even if… I don’t entirely agree with you, it was more helpful than I thought speaking to you about it.”

The faormyr warbles and affectionately rubs her head against Daniel, and he recoils what little he can to avoid her curved horns from poking him in the eyes. It may be a dream, but he doesn’t want to trigger a connection to his real-world injury, if he can help it.

“Now, then, Daniel. I must remind you of your promise to me…”

“I’m almost literally dying in the real world, and you want to talk about…?”

“Yes,” growls Yaulwembor with a finality as she turns over to face him and stare him down again. “How long must I wait? How many foes of the other females must I slay? How many times will you delay.” She moves her face closer and closer to Daniel’s, and he can feel her hot breath on his cheek, recoiling away a little from the reminder of the scorching pain he has been dealing with for the last day or so.

“I hear you, I hear you… If you can do anything to heal me enough to make the pain go away…”

She looks down, as if towards his chest, and then sparks her teeth. She remarks, “This I can do, if you promise to immediately make good on your promises.”

Daniel nods in agreement. “Alright. You’re right, you’ve been helpfully patient, and incredibly helpful. I owe you a great debt…”

“Yes,” agrees Yaulwembor as she grins at him eagerly. “Yes, you do.”

Though Daniel is essentially literally trapped by Yaulwembor, his confinement for recovery is only the beginning of a major transition. The Fievegal survived a major event, but now without injury.

Like Daniel, many things will need to be prepared to prevent something even worse from happening next time.

The unorthodox Emperor also has to answer for what he has done in the best way he knows how; helping piece together a solid foundation to keep moving forward.

He’s thankful to be alive, but the new routine he will find himself in very soon will mark the beginning of another major chapter in his life of fantasy and adventure which he could never have dreamed of experiencing before that fateful day.

***