I awoke from a strange dream. I must have started as Haladoria shifted in the lava next to me. I fought to remember details but the only image I could get looked like a bullseye on a target. There were dots on it like bullet holes and I was in the middle of it. A chill raced through me. Was I the target of something?

I sighed and stretched a bit.

“Love?”

“Sorry, I was awakened by a dream. It is nothing.”

She yawned showing double rows of needle sharp teeth. Funny how my views had changed. I thought it was cute.

“Tis not time to wake up yet. Come back and cuddle.”

I smiled. “Yes dear.”

The lava had it’s magical effect and it wasn’t long before I drifted off again. The dream was waiting for me. Strange in that I rarely had vivid dreams. What was said about dreams like this? Something about the subconscious trying to show you something that you had missed? I studied the bullseye in the dream. It had specks all over it. I couldn’t see… wait… stars. The dream then faded and I knew no more until the dawn.

I went down to visit Gabe and the others. I was still lousy with names. They had settled in and there were others there visiting with them. I chuckled when Gabe asked if there was a tavern. We decided to walk into outer Dragonhaven so he could see the sights.

“You have done so much here, Michael.”

“Not really. I only showed them a few things. This is what happens when all of the people work together.”

Haladoria caught up to us, landing and shifting. “Greetings Gabe. How are you this day?”

“Not bad. There is so much to see here.”

I looked around myself and saw all that the people had done over the years. Funny that I never noticed such things until they were pointed out to me. Arienach chuckled in my head. “Welcome to your life as a dragon.”

I said nothing. “We are heading in to the Dragons Head. Would you like to join us, love?”

“Any excuse for brandy.” She laughed.

The trip through the ring took a while as Gabe was awestruck with the carvings. I was hoping to see Dorvus, but he didn’t seem to be out. We made our way to the pub with frequent stops at all of the crafters and shops.

“This is fantastic.” He said as a fairy flew by. He watched it and just shook his head.

“Peace between the races has done wonders for the growth here.”

“Michael doesn’t see that the dragons were key to all of this.” Haladoria said with a laugh.

I looked at her shaking my head. “We couldn’t have done all of this.”

“No, neither could we until you opened our eyes.”

We made out way into the pub and I placed our order, a round of elven brandy for all of us. Gabe just stared when a drow brought us our order. I tipped her and she smiled sweetly.

“Thank you lord dragon.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Michael.”

She giggled and wiggled off making Haladoria laugh.

Gabe looked at me strangely. “They tease you?”

“All the time. It’s a damn conspiracy.”

Haladoria laughed harder.

We sipped our drinks and listened to a bard tell a tale. It was a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. I looked up as Shryke walked in and I motioned him over. He had a seat and I did the introductions.

“Gabe, this is Shryke, one of the first dragons to follow the crazy dragon. Shryke this is Gabe.”

Shryke smiled and nodded. “The crazy dragon that has brought peace and expanded the empire to what? Sixteen worlds now?”

I laughed. “I suppose. The people do all the work. Gabe was stranded on the last world, him and his people.”

“Ah, you are one of the ones who came in yesterday. How are you doing?”

Gabe shook his head. “I don’t know… I am sitting at a table with three dragons sharing tales and sipping the finest brandy I have ever tasted. I keep expecting to wake up and this all be a dream.”

Shryke laughed. “I know, the brandy is pretty good.”

Gabe just shook his head. “You do realize that dragons never had the best reputation.”

“I know, it just took some overpowered silver planar to teach us manners.” Shryke said with a grin.

“He also taught us how to play together nicely.” Haladoria added.

I thought about it. From their point of view, I suppose it was true. I simply tried to keep the peace and protect my people. The others chatted while I was lost in thought.

After we left the pub, we made our way out to the docks.

“What the hell? How do those work?” Gabe asked pointing.

I followed to what he was pointing at and didn’t understand at first. One of the freighters was making it’s way into the harbor.

“What do you mean?”

“How does it move?”

“Oh… come over to the shipyard, maybe they have one up in the air.”

We walked over and found one of the old patrol boats in dry dock. I gave him a brief tour of it.

“You used your magic to power vessels.”

“Yes. They were needed at the time. Later, I taught the artificers how to do the enchantments. They took what they learned and made the horseless wagons that you see around from time to time.”

“You let the other people use your magic?”

“Why not? Everyone benefits if we share.”

“Strange. The gods do not protest?”

“Why should they? The other worlds we have found wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have all this in place.”

He grew silent for a while. “You are teaching the gods.” He said quietly.

That thought stopped me cold. Was that what I was doing?

“No wonder they said they still had much to learn from you.” He added.

“Now if I could just figure out what they want and what they are doing.” I half whispered.

“Same thing they always do. Take over galaxies for power.”

“Huh?”

“They take over a galaxy and it increases their power. No one knows why.”

“I see. So something went wrong this time.”

“Well, it never goes this smoothly, that is for sure.”

“What do you mean?” I asked puzzled.

“The other races are usually segregated as they have never gotten along. Once they develop and discover one another, it usually leads to wars. Wars that span the stars.”

I was curious now. “What happens then?”

He shrugged. “They go find a new galaxy.”

The picture he painted was quite grim. But it did make sense. Where did the game fit in, though?

“Tell me, what is the game for?”

“It gives us points for advancement. That’s all I know.”

I sighed. Nothing more than I knew already. “There has to be a reason for it.”

“I do know that after a certain point of advancement, it goes away.”

“Huh?”

“The game goes away. No one is quite sure why, but once the worlds are past a certain point, it just seems to shut off.”

What the hell? Maybe it was to force the people to advance? I shook my head. There was no way of knowing.

“Well, thank you for the tour. Mind if I bring the others out to see the sights?”

“This is your world as much as ours now. You do not need to ask to go about in your own home.”

He stared at me a moment. “Thank you. You have a strange way of looking at things. But they make sense.”

“I am just trying to keep the people safe. If you need anything let me know.”

“Thank you… lord dragon.”

I stared at him for a few seconds then started to laugh. “You will fit in good around here, I think.”

He joined me in laughter. “This is a strange new world.”

“Well, I should get back and see to keeping the gods happy.” I laughed.

He nodded.

I found my mind back on my dream again. The bullseye. What could it mean? I tried to bring up the image in my mind. Then I had a strange thought. I flew back to the caldera and settled into the lava. Next I sent my sight out to where the mana trail ended. I looked back at the path the ship took then thought of where we had found the wyvern. Next, I thought of where we found the humans. Hm, about the same distance. I imagined a ring and followed it, noting other star systems that we hadn’t mapped. There were a few that fit the approximate circle.

Haladoria landed and came in to float next to me. “Greetings love. You look like you are deep in thought there.”

“Yes… I may have found something.”

“Oh?”

“I need to go look at some star systems. I may know where there are more people who are stranded.”

“Oh! When do you want to go?”

“Fetch a few of your wyvern.”

We went to the first one and found a barren system, still I had the wyvern search. They found nothing to my relief. The next one… well, we found dwarves. I had the wyvern do a complete map and they had taken the entire world. They were not up to our level in magic or technology, but they had a full civilization in place.

The next one was barren as well. That left one more. We ported in and found the planet that was most likely to hold life. It was dead. There had been life there. We could tell from all the ruins. The wyvern were sent out. When they came back, they told the story of no life to be found. We landed and explored as best we could. The remains that we found were either elves or humans. Since they held the same skeletal structure, we couldn’t be sure. The place had been dead for centuries. Little was left of the ruins. I wasn’t an archaeologist so I wasn’t even sure what to look for.

We went back to Dragonhaven slightly depressed. The thought occurred to me that the target had more than one ring. But I was in no mood to do this again till I thought of the implications. A ring of planets, with three, no four planets that were colonized. Three survivors. I didn’t know what to do about the dwarves, nor was I in the mood to deal with them at the moment. We sank down into the lava and let it’s heat and magic comfort us. It had been a long day.

Haladoria and I entertained each other for a while upon waking. Reaffirming life. I told her of the dream and how there were more than one ring. She seemed intrigued. I explained the mana trail I used for reference. This time we ported out to it. I pointed out where the pattern was and where I thought the next ring might be. So we went there… and found nothing. We did the tour and found a few more planets that were candidates, but none were inhabited. So we went out a little farther and tried it again. Again, nothing. Then we went inward. We found a planet of elves. I flew over it exploring while Haladoria went back to fetch the wyvern. We stayed pretty high up so that we hopefully wouldn’t be spotted till the wyvern completed their survey. The elves were the only thing on the planet. They hadn’t advanced that much either. I was beginning to think that maybe the others were right and only if the races worked together would they advance quickly.

We returned to Dragonhaven to relax and consider our next moves. Dorvus came in and we brought him up to speed. He was intrigued by the dwarf and the elf world, but had little to suggest on what we should do about them. I thought that we should approach them soon to prevent any problems down the road. Dorvus offered to come with us when we saw the dwarves. I thought about it. It would help, but I wouldn’t allow him there until we knew if they would attack us or not. I was not going to put him in harms way. Then I had a thought. Why not bring a representative from every race? They seemed to like the idea and it would give a hint at what was possible. After much discussion we decided to take a powered yacht. Dorvus seemed worried until I pointed out that a couple of planar dragons on board probably trumped one of our battleships. He laughed till he cried.

Of course there was another meeting and the yacht had to be bigger than we planned. It seemed that many were eager to go see the dwarves. I shrugged hoping that this didn’t turn into a major disappointment. Time would tell. By the time it was over, we had representatives from every race… at least two or three each. Even Noregus wanted to tag along. Alistor volunteered one of his new yachts for us… on the provision that he got to man the helm. I rolled my eyes. Still, it would be pleasant outing… so long as the new dwarves cooperated.

Later on Haladoria and I retired to the caldera to relax a bit… then sleep. She seemed to be more amorous lately, not that I was complaining. I fell asleep with the thought that it was so nice not to be alone anymore.