Chapter 101: Denial of Service

  CROWN

  I could still feel the eyes of the other four dragons as I made my way up to the hillside toward the larger shelter. I’d been shortsighted when I created these dragons… I’d imagined dragons sulking in a cave, waiting to be approached for a Quest. True, the one Tastka had visited hadn’t been a cave, but it had been something like one made out of vegetation. That should have been my first clue.

  I’d made them intelligent – greatly so, even. Why would they lounge on the dirt and lay out in the rain when they could shape stone dwellings with their powerful magic? The dragons of upside didn’t do this as often because they had no real need. Their scales were heavily-armored, their bodies well-used to just laying anywhere and still being comfortable.

  The dragons of downside were nothing like that. Even if they were still draconic in shape – at least vaguely so – their bodies had fewer scales, and thinner ones. Most of their form were furred, with a rougher underbelly for crawling. Their wings were more delicate, as were the entire frame of the dragons. Even if they were more magically potent than their Upside counterparts, their bodies would naturally seek out more comfortable shelters and bedding.

  Sena was behind me, looking back and forth with a wary eye. I’d known she was an assassin or something, but she’d seemed genuinely helpful, so I’d sort of forgotten the idea that she was probably ready for battle more than I’d considered. For the fifth or sixth time this trip, I had second thoughts of bringing her along, but the reality was… I didn’t know very many people in the city anyway. This whole situation would be much better with an actual mortal along with me.

  I still felt bad about it, though. Assassin or not, this wasn’t her business and she’d been nothing but nice to me, and even engaged in some conversation that was obviously friendly and intended to make me comfortable. People don’t just ask questions about others unless they’re trying to be friendly, after all. It was too bad I had to dodge or deny some of them, but at least she liked my cooking. If she weren’t a killer of some kind, I’d want to hang out with her more just for the fun of it.

  That thought made me wonder if I should check in on her from my ‘god-vision’ above and maybe look into what she actually did, but I discarded the idea. I could pull up stats and the like easily enough, but focusing on a single person to watch them was difficult. Also, I was in a mostly-mortal body right now, and the idea made my skin crawl. It just seemed creepy even if I knew it wasn’t intended as such. Invading her privacy just because I could seemed… not the kind of god I wanted to be.

  Don’t babysit them. That was the lesson I was trying to learn.

  Shaking my thoughts from my head, we hiked up the slope with a little grumbling from me. My ‘perfect physical condition’ body didn’t mean this sort of climb was comfortable. I should have taken a Totem that gave me clawed feet or something like Sena’s had.

  Despite the arduous climb up, it did not take long before we were both stepping onto the shaped stone floor. The center had a large, softer mat of some kind, though I was sure it wasn’t textile. The dragons of Downside did almost everything by magic, so wouldn’t have invented a loom or anything like that.

  Then again, I was starting to realize I’d missed a lot on Downside lately. Maybe I was just wrong.

  “Tryelesar,” I greeted, raising my voice but keeping it deferential. No need for these creatures to realize I was anything more than an odd vaskan. “I apologize for the intrusion, I have an important discovery to share, if you are interested.”

  The Elder Dragon in question was… big. Not as big as the Upside dragons, but longer. The serpentine length of his tail coiled and looped about several times, making a nest for the dragon’s front, where he lay lazily. Like Upside dragons, these tended to sleep a lot. Tryelesar was no different, and I could tell by the quiet, languid yawn that he had awakened recently. I had timed my trip to his active cycle when I’d found him, so I was glad that had worked.

  Lately, too many things had been going askew from my plans. At least in most cases they’d been skewing the right way, but I dreaded finding a major exception.

  Unlike the Upside dragons, Tryelesar left his wings open and draped over himself, making a cover for the coiled body. Upon ascending into an Elder Dragon, the fur over the body grew thicker and more lush, but flight became more difficult. They could still fly, but burned way more mana doing it due to their added bulk. By the time an Elder Dragon was flying, the wings were more a polite suggestion for lift, and magic did most of the work. They had a longer muzzle, as well, along with a faint glow to the eyes. Tryelesar’s glow was purple, a color I hadn’t expected.

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  The Elder Dragon held up a talon much as a human would hold up a hand. Gazing over Sena, then back to myself, he weaved a quick enchantment to allow translation. It was different from what the Upside dragons used, but the end result was the same. Both of us could now understand him, in theory.

  I sensed Sena stiffen when the words rolled out Tryelesar’s mouth.

  “A vaskan and a Visitor have come seeking me? What could they want, I wonder.” The words were higher-pitched than I’d thought, and spoken in the complex growl-squeak noises of the dragon tongue. Echoing words in Elvish were laid over the words, conveying the meaning to me. I presumed Sena was hearing her own language, as well.

  That was a puzzlement to me, though. Why Elvish and not English? Was it because I’d spent so much time as an elf, or because English couldn’t be parsed by the System? Interesting.

  “Visitor?” Sena pounced on that word. It probably sounded different to her, but the point was it wasn’t ‘vaskan’ and she had definitely caught that. “What do you mean? What is Kenta here if not vaskan?”

  I considered interrupting, blocking the dragon from speaking. The risk of doing so was pretty high, though, and I realized there was no way any explanation she could get that would make sense to her. At worst I might have to erase her memory. I was… pretty sure I could do that if they weren’t dead yet?

  I needn’t have worried. Tryelesar made a dismissive snort, but his answer was more useful than not. “We are creatures that do not use the System that you do. Instead we nurture and guide the System, so that lesser creatures may use its full benefits.” He pointed a talon at me. “This one is different. He uses the System as he pleases, because he is not bound by it. We detected his presence years ago, before determining that he was no threat to us or the stability of the System.”

  Sena was looking at me, but I steadfastly ignored her for the time being. “You are not entirely outside of the System. There is an exception to that. It is why I came here with my companion, Sena.”

  Unfortunately for me, the reaction was not what I thought.

  Tryelesar blinked slowly, eyes wandering from me to Sena in apparent puzzlement. I briefly considered a draconic avatar to learn these expressions better, but his next words banished the thought.

  “Ah, you speak of the Quest system.” The Elder Dragon sigh-rumbled. “Yes, we are aware. We have consulted about it in Dreamspace, and have decided to reject this. Our stewardship over the System makes our involvement with Quests too integrated. It would possibly influence our stewardship to become involved.”

  And just like that, everything came crashing down.

  “What?” I asked, baffled. I’d never considered the idea that the dragons had known about the Quest system… and then deliberately avoided using it. I also wasn’t quite sure why they thought it was a conflict of interest… unless they thought they were, through their naming, shaping the System itself.

  I shook my head out of my daze. “So you will not be giving out Quests? Is that why you’ve been avoiding the vaskan? I thought it was because they uh… ate creatures.”

  Sena shot me a withering glare. “I told you that hasn’t happened in a long, long time. It may even be a myth! We don’t know, and if we knew they were able to speak, we…” She trailed off and rubbed her chin. “I guess a few stubborn sorts would still try, but it wouldn’t be frequent.”

  Not helping, Sena.

  The dragon took it in stride, though. He waved a talon as if to dismiss it. “That is a mild concern, but not the true reason. We simply believe that interfering with those who are bound by the System would pollute its purity of purpose. We are content to watch events unfold and make minor corrections to the System as needed.”

  I let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “If that is the case, then I wasted my trip here. I apologize for taking up your time.” Hopefully they would let us both leave with an apology. Sena did look like she wanted to ask something, but she wisely chose to keep her mouth shut.

  Tryelesar let out a sound like a chuckle and tucked his head back down. “If you have no other requests than to ask us about the Quests, then you may go, so long as you do not tell anyone else of this place.” His claw gestured toward Sena. “Are you willing to accept a binding to prevent this?”

  “Yes,” she replied immediately. That surprised me, she’d seemed far too curious to be willing to keep a secret so important.

  I watched as the spell took shape around her and settled into her body, before we bid farewell and made our way back down to the flark.

  I sighed heavily again. “I apologize to you, as well. I had grand plans for you to be the first one to receive a Quest from a dragon, and to carry the news back to your people. Now I’m afraid we are back to relying on dungeons, which are not the most reliable about Quests outside their immediate area.”

  Her tail swayed as she listened, then she tilted her head. “Are there no others who can give quests? Not people? Are you looking for a way that my people can accept Quests?” Her curiosity was much more pointed now, eyes peering at me with an intensity that made me feel awkward despite the weight of the years on my soul.

  I thought for a long moment as I climbed onto the flark. “Yes, but it cannot be any of your people. You are meant to take Quests, but… there aren’t any other creatures suited to giving them out that I can think of. Maybe I’m missing something, but if you have any ideas… I’d certainly owe you for one.”

  She settled on the saddle behind me with a quiet tsk in her voice, before grasping my waist again. The vaskan leaned in and chuckled in my ear, almost playfully.

  “I do, in fact, have an idea.”

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