UL1 - Book 10 - Chapter 20

Max laughed as Miranna toddled toward him.

“That’s it! Come to daddy!”

A babbling girl moved with a grace that seemed impossible for an 18-month-old. Her limbs moved with coordination that Max knew wasn’t like the typical child of this age.

“Why is he smiling so much?” Fowl asked. “This isn’t the first time she’s walked.”

“Quiet you fool,” Batrire said as the toddler paused to stare at the dwarven warrior.

“Ignore them,” Max said. “Whose Miranna’s favorite?”

His daughter laughed, turned and pointed a finger at his wife.

“Mamma!”

Everyone roared with laughter as Tanila smiled and held out her hands, Miranna moving quickly to jump into her outstretched arms.

Clutching his chest as if he were injured, Max fell to the stone floor and let out a groan.

“No pain… has ever hurt that much.”

“She would make a fine demon,” Sog said. “One so young and already knows how to wound a god.”

Tanila gave her daughter a hug, brushed some stray strands of gold hair to the side and kissed her forehead.

“Go give daddy some love. Otherwise, he might not let you fly on Rakonath anytime soon.”

Without wasting a second, Miranna was crossing the dozen yards to where Max still lay, jumping on top of him and proceeding to hug and kiss him.

“Daddy!”

Max smiled, kissing her back while hugging her.

“You’re too smart for your own good,” he said. “You know I love you, right?”

She nodded and pulled into his hug, leaning against his chest.

“I know.”

Fowl and Batrire both started to laugh, as Max rolled his eyes.

“She got that from you,” Tanila teased. “Now then, if you two are done playing, we have to go meet Cordellia and Rakonath.  Jazzjak said he needs us to chat, and they have been… busy lately.”

“An elf and a dragon,” Sog muttered. “Who would have thought?”

“I feel that,” Fowl said. “Still, I’m glad she’s got someone. Now we just need to find you a nice companion as well.”

Their demonic friend shook his head while holding out his hand.

“No, thank you. I’ve spent enough time in bondage and servitude before becoming a god. That is something I can wait a few hundred years or so before finding myself bound to the whims of another like you two.”

Fowl and Max chuckled as both women glared at him.

“Soggy in trouble,” Miranna said.

“Yes, dear, he is,” Max replied. “Now then, let’s all leave before we let him get in any more trouble.”

***

The stone radiated with heat from the sun and Max laughed as his daughter took off toward a red wyrming.  It saw the half-elf child and started to waddle toward her, looking almost as excited as the approaching child.

“Rakonath said those two seemed to hit it off well,” Tanila whispered. “Do you think it would be possible?”

Shrugging, Max waved at Rakonath and Cordellia who were lounging along the stone wall that held back the lake.  They were sitting almost on top of each other, smiling and laughing, returning his gesture but not moving from their position.

“It’s not something I can say. Wekime allowed me to bond with him. He says he’s not sure how it works if a dragon is born or hatched and one wants to bond with it. In the end all I know is that she and Shale Spark enjoy playing with each other.  The dragon isn’t strong enough to fly with her so she’s not in danger of that.”

“Aye, and we all know how protective Daddy is of his little girl,” Fowl said.

“Is he?” Sog asked. “I mean we watch him let her practice with magic. It is strange to see one so… small so strong. No doubt the bloodline you two share has made her so.”

Max and Tanila both frowned, each of them well aware of the concerns they had about how fast their daughter was growing in power. 

“I am protective,” Max replied, waving at an elder green dragon who was lounging on one of the coverings near the giant amphitheater area. “Still a child has to learn that fire can burn or that something sharp can cut. I’d rather they learn it while we’re nearby and can ensure their safety.  All the things my sister Stacy told me seemed weird at the time, but now I get it.”

The thought of his sister made his heart ache a little as the world he once knew as home was out of his reach. Part of him wondered how she was doing in the tower.  His parents, the faction, Tom, and Everett. So many friends were hopefully doing well and enjoying life.

“Yeah, don’t make me tell you which one cried more when Miranna cut herself on a dagger,” Tanila said. “It was Max though. Not her.”

All of them chuckled as a few other wyrmlings moved to join the sounds of laughter and thrumming, and a gold-headed little girl became the center of attention.

“Max!” Rakonath shouted, his voice carrying across the open area. “Finally!”

Everyone gave the others hugs, and Max noticed the looks and winks Batrire and Tanila gave Cordellia, who simply smiled and shrugged.

“It would appear that your daughter is the talk of my children. So many asked if she was coming today and Shale Spark could hardly contain herself. Fear not, Arvir is keeping watch over all of them and she has told me no harm will come to any of them.”

“Wait, to a dragon?” Fowl asked. “How would that happen?”

“Do dwarves ever get hurt when playing as kids?” Rakonath asked.

“Well of course.”

“So do dragons. Most don’t intend to do so, but there are times when a claw tears something or a playful bite might cut deeper than one expected.  Arvir is talented with healing and has tended to more wounds on the wyrmlings than I can keep count of.  She is the clutch mother for the first group that comes. Part of her longs to have a child of her own.”

“So are you going to help with that?” Sog asked.

The dragon coughed and Max chuckled as Cordellia’s glare could have frozen water.

“Do not get involved in things that don’t concern you,” their ranger said. “Otherwise I might be forced to say things best unsaid.”

Sog glanced at the others and then shook his head.

“For one who is so tiny, I wonder what is worse. Your bark or your bite. Perhaps Rakonath could tell us.”

All the fierceness in her face vanished as her sparkling cheeks became flushed.

“This is why you all are such problems!”

As one they turned and saw Ophelius landing near them, his green scales glistening in the sun.  His talons touched down on the stone and he moved with the grace of a being that seemed impossible, somehow mastering the shape of a dragon as if he had been born from it.

“You’ve improved a lot on your flying skills,” Max said. “Seems you’re more impressive than I had imaged.”

A pair of emerald green eyes sparkled as their helper said nothing.

“I would comment on how much nicer this form is than the vorpal bunny but doing so might make me recall the shape I take when I am with Sog.  Not one that I would prefer to display after hearing the conversation you all have been discussing.”

Having moved to be between the seven gods, the dragon tapped his claw on a stone and a pedestal rose, translucent like glass. After reaching waist height, it spread out forming a table like the one in the room they often met in for such meetings.

An aura washed over them and Max glanced back at Miranna who was chasing a trio of wyrmlings, Shale Spark beside her.

Ophelius’s body shifted, becoming a humanoid dragonkin, with a short green tail emerging from under the robe he now wore.

“We need to discuss a few things as it's been a little over a year and a half since all this has started,” he said.

“Eighteen, almost nineteen months,” Batrire whispered. “Has it gone by that fast?”

“Is that a question you want answered?”

Their dwarven healer shook her head.

“No I was simply trying to wrap my mind around everything we have done in the past.  Watching the city grow, helping our people become stronger. I mean, you’ve seen our king and queen first-hand.  Those two are almost to level forty. Of course, none of them compares to Max’s king and the party he hunts with.”

“I’ve offered,” Max replied. “There are countless weapons and armor all waiting to be used by anyone who needs it.”

Fowl shook his head.

“I remember someone telling me we needed to learn how to fight on our own, not depending on gear a lifetime ago,” their warrior said. “Yet it doesn’t seem to bother you or anyone else how much you have given to the one who champions your name.”

Two sharp nails tapped against the glass table, and a throat was cleared.

“We are not here to discuss those things… again,” Ophelius said. “I agree with Max and that is why you all must choose today how to proceed from here.  The gains have been great and you are reaching a point where decisions will decide how much faster you can grow.”

Without waiting for anyone to respond, Ophelius’s fingers moved across the table, causing a display to appear before them.

DP Totals

Max - 31,644,817

Tanila - 2,688,129

Fowl - 2,688,129

Batrire - 2,688,129

Cordellia - 2,688,129

Rakonath - 2,688,129

Sog - 2,688,129

“Wow, that’s a lot of DP,” Sog said. “Now I really wish there were more fights to bid on.”

Ophelius nodded, his green hair shifting slightly as he did.

“I told you all that fights can be an all-or-nothing kind of thing. Sometimes you’ll have a bunch all in a row and other times you’ll have none for decades. In the end it’s a tricky business if one waits just to bet and doesn’t spend their points. Which is why I’ve called you all here.

“You each need to consider what comes next. All of you have chosen your first being to house a spark. Until you reach tier two, you cannot select the other four. We are reaching a point where you’ll need to decide if you want to spend the five million and get to tier two and then start that next part, or if you’ll choose to gamble with these points, waiting for fights.  As you know, each year right now you are earning 4,122 DP a day and that number will continue to rise, but slowly. 

“Remember, you’re about to reach a point where the only thing you can do is help your people or do what you all do right now.”

“Downtime,” Fowl muttered. “It’s like cooldowns but with years and decades instead of a single day.”

Max watched as some of the rest grimaced at their warrior's words.

“So what’s your other thought?” Tanila asked. “You called us here and I’m assuming it was for a specific reason. Add to the fact you cast a bubble of silence around us and I’m certain it’s more than just giving us a running total of our current points.”

Ophelius smiled and nodded.

“Always the sharp one,” he replied. “Yes… What I’m going to suggest might seem foolish but I was considering a few options on how to help make you all advance faster. Max and I had spoken about this and we weren’t sure when to approach the topic but everything rests upon him.”

“What our friend is taking forever to say,” Max said, “Is if we want, I can challenge someone in the arena. Depending on who I challenge, the odds are set in a certain way.  There is no way of knowing if they will accept it or simply deny it, giving me a world in exchange. But if they do, you all could bet everything you have on me and at least double what you have right now.”

“But you’d have to wait a hundred years before you can challenge someone again,” Rakonath said. “Are you sure that now is the right time?”

“That’s the real question and why we’re here,” Ophelius replied. “You’re gaining a little less than 1,500,000 DP every year. If we wait a few years, that would give you a larger amount to wager. The question comes down to how long you want to wait.”

“Because the sparks provide more DP?” Batrire asked.

“About ten percent more per spark,” Ophelius said. “Which, if you think about it right now, that’s a 50% total gain if you were all tier two and had five sparks going. It might not seem like a lot but when one does the math over the years, it adds up.”

“Uh, can you give me a better idea of how much more that is?” Fowl asked. “Math isn’t my thing.”

“It’s about six hundred thousand more DP per year,” Max replied. “If you wait five years, it’s almost three million more you could have earned from this moment on. Putting that across 299 years and you never used your five sparks, that would be almost 179,000,000 DP lost. That’s almost ten percent of the amount needed to reach tier five.”

Fowl groaned and massaged his temple.

“Someone just tell me what to do.”

Everyone looked at Tanila, whose face had remained expressionless the entire time.

“It’s Max. No part of me is worried about him losing,” she said.

“Then let’s watch our friend fight!” Sog shouted.