Leila reached over and poked Grimmy’s side. “You burned down a city.”

Grimmy grunted and rolled over onto his back before nuzzling Leila’s neck with his snout. Lindyss watched the two dragons chuckle at each other with a blank expression on her face. The three of them were on top of a plateau, the rock surface above the clouds. Lindyss cleared her throat. “Before you two do anything, remember that I’m still here.”

“So?” Grimmy grinned at Lindyss. He sighed and rested his head against the rocky surface and stared up at the starry sky. “It’s been a while since I destroyed a city. I should do it more often.”

Leila pursed her lips and patted her mate’s snout. “Grimmy…” She sighed when he smiled at her. “At least do it at home instead of at my parents’ place. They wanted you to make peace with the dwarves, not wipe them out.”

“You say tomato, I say tomahto. Wiping them out and making peace with them leads to the same result—no more noisy dwarves.” Grimmy nodded. “Besides, you have to be at war before you can negotiate peace. Everyone knows that.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with that statement,” Lindyss said, her brow furrowing. “And that really means you’re going to declare war on the dwarves? Why did I even think you’d try to settle it peacefully?” She sighed. “You should learn a bit from Vur. He’s actually well-liked and not a bringer of death everywhere he goes.”

Grimmy rolled his eyes. “I’m a dragon of darkness. Bringing death around is what I do. And do you really have a right to speak, Ms. Necromancer?”

Lindyss snorted and crossed her arms. “Asshole. I’m a blessed warrior right now.”

Grimmy smirked. “The undead army begs to differ.”

“They’re not on this continent. So, for now, I’m a blessed warrior.” Lindyss frowned at Grimmy who was still staring at her with an amused expression on his face. She blinked. “Right? They’re not on the continent, right?” A wrinkle appeared on her forehead as she stared off into the distance. A moment passed before she exhaled. “I don’t sense them. Why would you act like they were here? I almost panicked.”

“Why would you panic?” Grimmy asked with a glint in his eyes. “Would it matter if the undead came here?”

“Of course! The matriarch of this land is a holy dragon, and I haven’t sensed any hints of dark magic since we’ve arrived,” Lindyss said and looked at Leila. “Your mother’s really old-fashioned, isn’t she? Believing in the dark-and-light rivalry and all.”

“You’re right.” Leila nodded. “The last time a cult of black magicians rose up, she initiated a crusade against them. I think she really wanted to exterminate you after seeing you throw lightning around, but your halo saved you.” She smiled. “If she knew you were a necromancer, I wonder how she’d react.”

Lindyss lowered her head and placed her palm on her forehead. “Why the hell did you two bring me here…?”

“To fulfill our promise,” Grimmy said and flicked Lindyss’ forehead, causing her to fall backwards. “You wanted to travel to these lands, so here we are.”

Lindyss sighed and stared at the sky, lying on the ground like a starfish. Leila stared at the cursed elf for a moment before turning towards Grimmy. “I forgot to ask,” she said. “Did you recognize the dwarves? You didn’t seem surprised by their appearance.”

“They’re just little humans, aren’t they?” Grimmy asked. “What’s there to be surprised about? I’ve seen lots of them before.”

“Really? Lots of them?” Leila asked, raising an eyebrow. “When?”

“A few thousand years before I met you,” Grimmy said with a nod. “The little humans were good at making sharp weapons. One of them poked me with one once, and it actually hurt me really bad. So I retaliated and stole every weapon they ever made. Then they disappeared. I assumed they grew up to be normal-sized humans and came back later. Maybe it was the weapons that kept their figures small…”

“…You’re not serious,” Lindyss said, raising her head off the ground.

“What?” Grimmy asked. “An ant is an ant regardless of its size.”

Leila sighed. “So it really was you who terrorized the dwarves in their legends.”

Grimmy’s head perked up. “There’s a legend about me? I want to hear it.”

***

“A black dragon burned down Plumby’s city?”

Cold sweat ran down a dwarf’s back as he kept his gaze glued to the floor. It was a shiny one made of green metal that reflected the dwarf’s pale face. “Yes, Your Gloriousness,” the sweating dwarf said. “Boss general sir was away to attend the annual assembly, and the city was attacked in that time. I came here right away.”

In front of the kneeling dwarf, there was a massive throne made of orichalcum. A minute figure sat atop it with three different colored crowns on his head. A red beard covered the majority of his face, only exposing two big, round eyes and an even bigger nose. “Plumby still insists on being called boss general sir? Haven’t I told him that name is too long and unwieldy to say?”

“He likes it, Your Gloriousness,” the kneeling dwarf said.

The dwarf king sighed and shook his head. “Tell me more about the encounter with the dragon.”

“It was a day like any other. I was crafting in my house when my ceiling suddenly shook and collapsed. The next thing I know, a massive, dead roc with an elf riding atop it was in my living room.”

“A rock?” the king asked. “Or a roc? Like the bird.”

“The bird, Your Gloriousness,” the dwarf replied. “It was dead. The elf was in the process of eating it raw. Her hands and mouth were bloody—it was like she hadn’t eaten in days. I thought she was going to eat me too!”

“Aren’t elves vegetarians? Didn’t you see incorrectly?”

“No, Your Gloriousness. She was definitely an elf. When I was about to say something, my ceiling broke even further and two dragons landed on my house: a black one and a silver one, but the silver one wasn’t Leoniden. There was lots of screaming, and someone fired a cannon at the black dragon. It didn’t do anything except piss it off, and the next thing I knew, my beard was aflame.”

“The flames came after the cannon shot?” the king asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s right, Your Gloriousness.”

The dwarf king rubbed his chin. “I see.” He hummed and nodded to himself. “Alright. You’re dismissed.” The sweating dwarf scrambled to his feet and left the room without looking back. “A dragon of darkness… did it provoke us, or did we provoke it?” He sighed and shook his head. “Ah… such a hassle.”