Rush twitched several times and then finally rolled over. He spun a few more times in the air and let himself adjust to his surroundings. An initial check of everything around him with his awareness revealed that their territory was humming behind them as healthy as ever. He was already unconsciously drawing mana from it in small amounts. His ability to pull from the area seemed to be undergoing subtle change.

Rush felt like he could begin to pull more mana than the space was just passively providing if he needed it. A dangerous thought. Would he be depriving his Ruth of the mana that he could store if he did that? Rush suspected that was the case. It wouldn’t be a good to draw from Ruth’s mana pool without letting Ruth know.

A quick thought provided a window in front of him. Rush winced slightly at the sight. Ruth was sprawled with all of his limbs akimbo breathing loudly through his mouth while he slept. There was a stupid expression on his face and one of his feet was kicking absently. Maybe he was having a good dream? The blanket that he was lying on top of was dirty and soot stained. Depositing Ruth into the room in the Archives seemed to be the extent of Tamara’s gentle and tender ministrations.

A cough behind him made Rush turn around and consider Arathan. He had known the crow was there but had pretended to be ignorant of the presence. It pissed Arathan off to be ignored and that was fine with Rush.

Arathan made a motion next to her meaningfully and Rush squinted at the space in Elsewhere that seemed to ripple. There was the barest hints of a thread there. Rush didn’t know exactly what it was but there was a strange tug that Rush felt in his mind. That small thing did something.

No. He narrowed his eyes and waddled through the air toward the spot in the air. It went somewhere in the Elsewhere.

He cast a casual glance at Arathan and jerked his head. He was too lazy to start a fight this second, or at least that was his justification for not being outright hostile. It had more to do with the fact that he was recovering his strength. The moment he felt topped off and right again he would attack Arathan.

Because Arathan was his enemy, no matter how the crow tried to say words and send thoughts expressing other sentiments.

Now that Rush had access to the Soul Space and knew how to look through the memories of himself and Ruth, or rather, of their collective memories, Rush was starting to understand things. Everyone except those who were subjugated through strength was an enemy. Even they had to be watched carefully.

Arathan nodded toward the thread, “...don’t you want to see where it goes? It goes to a soul shape that is very relevant to you right now. Don’t you want to see?”

“Can’t come.” Rush said indifferently, giving Arathan a steady look.

“All you need to do is walk up to the thread. Tamara had already marked their soul space so I could find it, and now I’m giving you the link. Your instinct will show you how. We’re… naturally invaders as well as defenders.”

Rush peeled his lips back again and tilted his head. Arathan had not understood him. It pleased Rush greatly. “Ok. But you. Stay.”

Arathan eyed Rush thoughtfully. Rush could see the crow thinking about this request. Or rather, Rush knew that Arathan was trying to think of it as a request. Truthfully, Rush had set an ultimatum. Sure. He’d go. As long as Arathan stayed.

Like a good minion.

Arathan finally nodded, beak firmly clasped shut. It was likely that she didn’t trust herself to speak.

Rush didn’t lord his minor victory over her, he was too big of a Lord to do that. He did walk up to the thread, grasp the secret of traversing along the path, and cast one small petty sneer and eyeroll as he left.

Lords were allowed arrogance. Everything in moderation.

********

Rush’s first impression of this new soul space was one of power and tremendous size. The space was large and the mana and power that it put off was impressive. It was easily five times as powerful looking from afar as his own space. He had already been starting to comfort himself by acknowledging that he and Ruth had only been gathering their power for a short time. In another week, month, or year this thing would be puny in comparison.

Probably.

As he traveled along the guide thread and moved closer though Rush’s opinion began to drop. The closer he got, the more he wondered about this soul space. It was big, that was true. It gave off a dizzying sense of power, also true.

Rush padded through the air fearlessly and floated gently in the nothing as he looked into the dim space. It was about the same light level as his territory, which made Rush frown. As their territory had grown, so too did the light level. This one was still dim.

Additionally, the whole space felt sick. Mana was escaping through various holes in the sphere’s structure. Cracks and jagged cuts were showing in the membrane of the space, lit up brilliantly against the contrast of the dim interior as power escaped into the void. The shape of the space was a sphere, but it was a sphere that seemed to be thin-skinned. Every now and then a particularly violent loss of mana would cause the skin to ripple as if it were only a sheet draped over a clothesline. It had a shape only as long as the wind didn’t blow too hard.

The last thing that Rush noticed were the chains. He had become increasingly aware of the small golden chain that surrounded his own territory, but hadn’t yet decided what to do about it. A preliminary investigation when he’d noticed it the first time had yielded the information that the chain tasted kind of good but was too hard to chew through.

These chains were not like the chains on his territory. Well, maybe they tasted good, but they were different! For one thing, there were four or five chains with massive links pressing down on the space. It almost looked like the space was even having a hard time retaining it’s sphere shape because of their weight. They also looked like they were cutting violently into the skin of the space, like the chains had been there a long time and the space was actually growing too big, strangling itself on the chains that had always been that size. Most disturbing. Not like the golden chain on his territory at all. He frowned, wondering if he should go back and take a look at the chain. It would be better to get rid of the damn thing if this is what happened if he let it alone for too long.

He felt like he could be forgiven for not thinking about it sooner. Honestly, some shit had gone down and was continuing to go down. Fucking Arathan.

Rush narrowed his eyes slightly and trembled in delight. He was learning swear words and slurs and felt like it was something he should have been born knowing. Swear words should be hereditary like other important dragon words.

“How did you find this place? What do you want?” A curious and somewhat melodious voice projected from the inner space causing Rush to be on his guard.

Want? What do I want? What does this Lord want? OBVIOUS.

“Submit or I eat you!” Rush began to channel his projections around him and several red flashes burst out into space before quickly condensing into his shape. Five red projections that bore his image began to advance hastily toward the barrier. Then they came to a stop as the voice called out again.

“Why?” There was a sort of idle curiosity in the tone.

Why? That was a fucking stupid question.

“To be in charge!” Only from a position of strength would Rush be safe. Only from the dominant position would he know that those around him wouldn’t try anything funny. As he thought about that his tail began to shake back and forth in excitement. His lips began to peel back once more at the thought of violence.

“If you were in charge, what would you do with me?” A shape started to form as the soul shape moved from within the middle of the space and came closer to the edge of the fractured and dilapidated soul space.

The shaking from his tail and his snarl stopped midway. This was a good question. It hadn’t actually come up yet. Arathan was still in the process of being conquered and the ‘after’ part hadn’t really come up yet.

“Then, I would be in charge!” Rush replied, grimacing slightly as he realized that wasn’t well thought out at all. “Wait. Temporary.”

Rush let his attention wander and the projections dispersed harmlessly into Elsewhere. He needed to think. It wasn’t a good idea to become a Lord of something and then not immediately make use of it. Would he send it out to conquer other soul shapes?

Rush gave a doubtful look at the enemy soul space. It was a pathetic thing. It probably could not conquer anything.

Would he eat it? No. Eating it was something he would do if it wouldn’t submit or was too troublesome. He couldn’t just eat it if he won too.

Being a Lord was proving harder than he thought.

Almost as if it were reading his mind the voice called out. “Well, if you’re in charge you’re not going to eat me, are you?”

“No, shut up dumb dumb. I’m thinking.” Rush grumbled. He laid down in midair and started spinning, clicking his claws together to make it easier for him to formulate a plan. Thinking and clicking his claws together went hand in hand. He kept an eye on the space but it didn’t seem to be working itself up for an attack.

Surprisingly, the space went silent. It was nice. Normally Arathan would be already blabbing on and on while Rush tried to decide what to do.

“What can you do?” Rush finally asked. It was better to get an idea of what this feeble soul shape could do before he decided its fate.

“What do you need?” The voice countered.

The shape finally got close enough to the barrier now that Rush got his first good look at it. It was a snake...person. A person snake? It was hard to know which was the dominant feature. The bottom half of the woman(girl/female?) was a long snake tail with dull red scales that looked old and bruised. Some of the spots that went further down were missing large portions like something had come along and torn into her. The top half of the creature was more of a human with exaggerated features. One large circular eye stared thoughtfully at him over a very small pert nose and lips that were almost too big for the face. Red hair spread out through the air as if it were gently swaying in water, like a piece of seaweed drifting in the current. Her eyebrows were high on her face giving her an expression like she was in a perpetual state of amazement. A loose teal tunic draped over her upper frame, comprised of aura? Rush wasn’t sure why she had bothered with the shirt.

Like her lower half, the top half was riddled with imperfections and old wounds and scars. There was only the one pretty eye. The other one was being hidden by some creative hair tying and braiding. Several of the fingers on both of her long and slender hands were missing at the knuckle.

Rush paused for a moment and let his eyes casually take her in. She stiffened for a moment but he ignored her discomfort. It was good to know what his future underling looked like. He kind of liked the way her tail was a snake tail. The human part could use some work. She also needed to heal herself. She was a mess and in desperate need of his leadership.

Rush immediately looked away and went back to thinking. A minute of silence passed.

“Good. You are good at quiet. What I need is to know things. I have questions and you can give me your opinion. First, I have to beat you up. Okay? Until you give up.” Rush spun around and righted himself and shrugged a bit. It wasn’t an apologetic shrug, just matter-of-fact.

This is just how things worked, it wasn’t like he could change the rules of the universe you know.

“Okay!” The soul shape smiled nervously at him and steadied herself, lifting her mutilated hands toward him.

This pleased Rush. She had some spunk. He summoned his projections again and then unleashed a probing wave of aura to crash against her soul space. The red light splashed against the soul space and then rebounded off it, flying off into several directions before the rays of power burned themselves out. Rush was a bit surprised at how easy the soul space had deflected his power as he lowered his head. He would try to attack directly nex-

“Ahhh! I give up! You have defeated me after one blow!” The snake lady threw her hands up and smiled at him. “It seems you have bested me!”

Rush froze, eyes widening in astonishment. He quickly went back through what he’d said before. Technically, he had attacked after saying he would just beat on her until she gave up. Well, he had thrown out a wave of energy that he thought wasn't effective. Maybe it was?

Silence stretched between them as the projections in the space between the soul space and Rush tumbled in circles in the air randomly as they awaited his order.

“This one is referred to as Pipren!” the snake lady took the initiative again. “I admit my defeat. You are in charge. What are your orders or questions, my lord.”

Rush blinked several times and narrowed his eyes. This seemed to unnerve the snake lady a little bit but that was okay. Healthy fear was important…

...for subordinates. Probably.

Rush was, at heart, a soul shape that had been born from a dragon.

So, Rush did what any dragon would do in this situation where he wasn’t sure what was going on and he should probably retreat.

He doubled down.

“Good. I am Lord Rush. You are under my protection while you serve me. Betray me and I eat you.”

“May my Lord reign for a millennia!” Pipren then raised her hands in the air and gave a soft cheer.

It was a little embarrassing, but the cheer made Rush a little bit happy. A millennia was probably a very long time, even for a dragon.

**********

“I see! If you don’t mind me saying, this Arathan seems like a right bitch!” Pipren nodded, drifting lazily with her arms crossed under her chin just inside her wounded soul space.

Rush was laying on his back and floating nearby, giving a casual nod. Pipren was correct. Rush narrowed his eyes. Quite the bitch.

“Merriweather is your territory?” Rush asked, the barest hint of reproach entering his tone for the first time.

“We are all burdened by the universe,” Pipren said with a cryptic smile.

Rush couldn’t argue with that. He felt his animosity toward Merriweather drop. She had thrown his Ruth through a wall, but he could take down his negative view of her a notch. The fact that Merriweather had apparently mouthed off to the great enemy, Tamara, pleased Rush greatly and might have also influenced this decision to take the high road and allow Merriweather to continue to serve with Pipren.

“My Lord, it is not my place but I feel as though we started to talk about something and then I distracted you. My humble apologies, might we revisit that conversation?” Pipren said carefully with that same full mouthed smile.

No one was perfect. Rush immediately forgave Pipren for distracting him from… whatever it was.

“Why exactly do you want to be in charge?” Pipren asked. When she saw the small lizard freeze in the Elsewhere the barest hint of amusement crossed her face, unnoticed by him, and was just as quickly replaced with polite interest.

“Mm.” Rush considered the question and then turned a very serious and grave gaze on Pipren. “Will show.” He reached out to tap her soul space.

Pipren resisted rolling her eyes and was about to tell him he couldn’t project from her soul space when… she felt the space twist briefly out of her control. Her eyes immediately widened and the lax and casual posture she had been adopting straightened into what could only be described as full Lamia alertness.

The dim space she lived in was immediately transformed into a view with a bright blue sky, grey-white and wispy clouds, and an endless ocean of green below. An aerial view of a world that Pipren had never seen. Stranger still, as Rush used the space to show her his memory, she felt it integrate into her own memories, as if he were gifting it to her.

A look to either side revealed that the point of view was from a dragon. Pipren immediately knew that it was not the point of view of someone sitting atop a dragon, it was the dragon. The dragon circled above and then found something on the ground below that interested it. It wheeled high in the sky, completely ignored by the humans running below.

The ocular capabilities of dragons, Pipren decided, weren’t something to sneer at. Once the dragon focused on the small dots below they increased in size, as if she were only a few meters away from them. There was a human on a hill, a king, and he was making motions to a number of knights fighting not far from him. He was yelling at them and desperately pointing behind himself with a free hand. The other hand was holding a sword. Despite his yells, the knights in front seemed to ignore him, looking back and shaking their heads. The battle, as Pipren now realized it was, pushed in close to the king and the knights as one by one they fell. No one abandoned the king, and the king refused to abandon anyone.

It was a waste in Pipren’s opinion. Her lips curled disdainfully downward for a moment. Maybe they could have retreated together? It was a lack of options or intelligence, probably. She didn’t know for sure, she hadn’t seen enough of the beginning. No! Rush had not… seen enough of the beginning.

Dangerous!

Several other similar scenes played out, obviously several years apart. They had one thing in common. Groups that were fighting together and displayed some sort of unity or loyalty.

“Ah, loyalty? You want loyal subjects?” Pipren blinked rapidly. This was somewhat outside of her expectation. Her conversation thus far had led her to believe that, while somewhat adorable and ridiculously disposed toward violence, he didn’t actually seem to care about other creatures or people.

We understand loneliness.

Pipren immediately narrowed her eyes and sent a gentle pulse of mana through her soul space, canceling Rush’s ability to keep projecting his thoughts. It was too dangerous to let this sort of resonance continue. That last thought might have been hers, or it might have been Rush’s.

Rush blinked rapidly, his eyes beginning to narrow as he considered her soul space.

She quickly sought to distract him. “How will you inspire loyalty? With respect my lord, your cavalier attitude of beating everyone up doesn’t inspire the same … kind of loyalty.”

As she expected this immediately caught his attention. His eyes began to narrow in the way they did when he was giving her his ‘suspicious’ look. She coughed to hide a smile behind her hand.

“You will of course get them to do what you want while you are stronger, but the thing you seek, if you will forgive me, isn’t what you’ll be receiving in return for the fear you’re instilling.” Pipren waited patiently, watching the ebb and flow of his mana and aura. Like Merriweather, Pipren could detect truth and tell no lie.

“What do you suggest?” Rush asked curiously, startling Pipren for a moment. She once again felt like she may have been underestimating him. His willingness to ask opinions and listen to suggestions was somewhat contradictory to the arrogance he displayed.

“Merriweather’s mother… our mother, once said something that struck me as very profound. She said that the wisest thing a ruler could do was to hold a simple expression in their heart,” Pipren smiled in spite of herself when she saw that she had his complete attention. “Value loyalty above all else. I believe what she meant by this was; there is neither gold, nor power, nor a favor you could receive that is greater than the true loyalty of those who willingly serve. It is not something that can be truly born from fear, or promises of riches.”

Rush spun silently in the air with his eyes closed.

Rush surprised her for the fourth or fifth time when she felt his aura expand...and change. The black scales became flecked with gold and silver. He went entirely limp.

Pipren blinked rapidly and relaxed her posture as she watched the aura expand and then retract. In and out from his body, over and over. Each time it came it was just a little bit denser than the time before.

It wasn’t long before the strange actions faded and he opened his eyes. A golden pupil peered out from both of his black eyes now, regarding her with an intensity that had been absent before.

“How I do this?”

“...well, start off small?” Pipren offered with a smile, after she realized he was asking her how to gain the loyalty of others. If it was so easy...

“Pipren is good. Good Pipren.” Rush swished his tail, somehow propelling himself through the Elsewhere until he was next to her soul space. Her eye widened as his hand came through and patted her twice on the top of her head with a rough force that was enough to pancake her hair, even if it didn’t hurt. She was also amused because he’d spread his claws so he didn’t get her with them.

Pipren could not help it. She gave a startled laugh that turned into true mirth seconds later. “Thank you, milord.”