Monster Girls and a Mundane Guy: A Guide to the Reptile Kingdom

by CataclysmusWind

I died. Simple as that. Had a Meeting with God and got Reborn in the world of the Monster Girl Encyclopedia. Now sixteen years later, I set out on a journey of discovery, leaving my siblings behind in a quest to find out, Who am I and Why am I here? Rated M because Monster Girl Encyclopedia.

5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The road was paved surprisingly, but then again, it did lead to the Reptile Sea. Even Mamono enjoyed fun in the sun from time to time. This would take us several days, but there were waystations where we could stop and rest.

Thankfully we were rested, taking the airship across the desert had been a good idea, though we both felt icky. We didn't bother stopping and bathing, no point when we were just going to be sweating all day.

"Ready?" I asked Abigail, "Looks like a long walk."

"As I'll ever be." She answered, "At least it ends at the seashore and from there, maybe we can either take a boat directly across to my family's lands or Island hop for a bit, get some sun, go for a swim, relax and enjoy a tropical paradise."

"I thought you would have had enough sun after all that desert!" I quipped. "You want to go back there?"

"When the Chief God decides to throw in the towel and the Sabbath stops being Loli central! Sun is fine, the heat though was horrid and without a cool breeze or pleasant view!" She snarked, "Give me the shores of the Reptile Sea any day!"

"And as long as the water isn't ice cold, I do not care," I remarked, "Learning to swim in ice lakes and freezing rivers is not a fun experience."

Abigail sucked in a breath between her teeth, wincing, "I don't want to even imagine that. It sounds so deeply unpleasant."

"When dad started it was unpleasant. Though the lesson at the time wasn't swimming, it was what to do should I be crossing a frozen lake and the ice give way. And as such, this was in the middle of winter," I fixed her with a look, "And it is something you learn quickly, after all, the only thing on the mind when you're tossed headlong into the waters of a frozen lake is, Get out of it."

Abigail shuddered, "That's a very harsh way of teaching!"

"But it gets the point across about the dangers. Though after these lessons we always returned home to an absolute massive pot roast stew, gratin and sausage dinner."

My companion groaned, "Oh that sounds just divine! Heavy things like that, especially stews aren't normal fair here in the tropics as they are too filling and warm for the climate but I do know in Pokke village there's a canteen that usually servers Hunters and travelers that has that sort of thing."

I chuckled, "That meal was only made for those training days and even amongst those it was sparing. Most of the time dad and I just wanted hot soup after being out in the ice sheathed forest for hours on end. Winters in the Cordillera are extremely brutal, small Ice Ages actually and there were many winters where the village was living cheek by tusk with Mammoths in the meadows. But once the spring thaw came and the salmon began to fight their way upriver to the lakes to spawn things always got better. The ancient aqueducts which run from the springs and small reservoirs in the nearby peaks gushed with cool water filling the cisterns even through the height of summer and the oldest of those often would carry chunks of ice down as well which helped in the summer sun."

"Aqueducts? That's amazing, the last nation to build those in the surrounding lands fell thousands of years ago!" Abigail remarked.

"Aye, that they did. But our Noricii ancestors when they first resettled the land repaired the damaged reservoirs, aqueducts and rebuilt the cisterns allowing the village to have clean water. They are a critical lifeline."

"I could only imagine," Abigail noted, "Would your elders mind if I mentioned this to my father and have an engineering team sent up to study the aqueduct system?"

I thought for a minute as we rounded a bend, then answered, "I would say that the elders wouldn't mind, just as long as nothing drastic is done. That is our water supply after all. I'd have to send a letter to be sure, and to give them a heads up."

The day steadily grew warmer as the sun rose and we passed into the utmost wilderness. The road was still there, though more gravel and tar than a paved surface because T-rexes were not good for having maintained roads, for when they weren't using them as toilets, they made for a nice warm place to nap.

We passed into a fern prairie where Stegosaurus browsed and Diplodocus cleared trees to get at the cycads that grew in amongst the ferns. While Stegosaurus generally stuck to the ferns, as Abigail and I traveled through the fern plain, we watched as the Diplodocus, far from sticking to just the ferns, also went for the fruiting cycads, utterly demolishing the groves.

"Watch," Abigail said, pointing at a small herd of the sauropods in question, "They're knocking down those conifers in order to get to the grove of cycads."

That was indeed what the Diplodocus were doing. They would rear up on their hind legs and resting their forebody on the trunk, would start pushing and shoving and eventually uproot the massive conifers at which point they would drop back down onto all fours with a snort and go for the cycads.

The road ran right by a grove that the sauropods had already demolished, but there were a few seeds on the ground that I wanted to examine, but Abigail warned me not to, pointing out a Taipan in the shattered trunks. At the sight of this notoriously venomous snake, I backed off and we continued onwards, Abigail enlightening me on some of the native plants that we passed.

"The cycads are poisonous, as you may know and most creatures leave them alone, but the large sauropods in particular are immune to the poison and are the main seed disperser. Humans and Mamono should wash and soak the gathered seeds at least five times, disposing of the water each time to make certain that the poison is gone. However, this cycad," She pointed to a smaller one of around twenty feet, "Is known as the Sago Cycad and this one is probably around a hundred years old. Sago like all cycads is toxic, but the true value is in the pith. This too is toxic and must be washed multiple times, but then it can be processed into a type of flour. Now they are often confused for the Sago Palm which grows in perfusion in my family's lands. The Palm is used in a similar manner but the wood is used by the lower classes to build barns, houses and rafts."

Abigail continued to lecture on the different plants that we came across and I listened intently. She pointed out which plants were poisonous and how to neutralize each one and which ones were safe to eat. I occasionally asked questions to which Abigail happily answered, pointing out where the differences between two related species could result in poisoning or not.

She told me that parents would have their children in these parts undertake such studies of the plants and natural poisons of the region to help prevent infestations and to treat their children should a child put something toxic in their mouth.

"Mom did that too," I chuckled, "Though probably to a greater extent because she was an apothecary and had mixes of different toxins that could be used as medicines. Though the one thing she told us to never mess with without her until we learned the difference was mushrooms."

"Oh Rep, yes!" Abigail exclaimed, "Mushrooms can be so difficult to identify correctly without knowing exactly what to look for and their poisons can often be untreatable. Though some as you know can be edible if prepared correctly."

"Morels for instance are excellent when prepared correctly," I remarked.

"Yes! They are! And as well as other plants."

"Mom mentioned that fern fiddleheads can be eaten but should be cooked first."

Abigail hummed, "Indeed. Certain ferns here get to giant sizes and their fiddleheads reach to three to four feet high before unfurling and can be eaten, but they're covered in a slime that has to be boiled off and should be boiled twice before eating. But my favorite are nettles. Yes, they can sting, but they taste good and add a bulk to the diet."

We fell into this conversation swapping knowledge that was useful. I as a commoner had a leg up in this matter, after all, living in a small village, you often lived off the land and by that dint of fate, I outclassed Abigail, who was a young noblewoman, though she too had a fair bit of knowledge. But it was when I got into the dyes Mom made that Abigail really shined.

Apparently, her mother's family exported and traded in rare and exotic dyes and fabrics and owned much of the trading networks here in the Reptile Kingdom. She had been taught how to balance and manage money from an early age and had a distinct eye for uncommonly high-quality fabrics and dyes. But much of it was learn from spending time in the markets with her mother and by herself, talking to the merchants, listening to the commoners and working to improve the lives of the people so that more money could be made. Abigail had a cunning mind for business, and paired with a noble's upbringing, had the status, demeanor and pride needed to be absolutely ruthless when dealing with her noble peers. Tokays which controlled much of the internal merchant guilds did not have the connections her parents did to trade beyond the Kingdom's borders. In fact, while the Tokays owned much of the merchant's guild, her mother's family and in turn her father, owned the transports and caravanners guild. Without those, the merchants could not do trade but the transports could be used for ferrying people and livestock as much as goods so any action the Tokays tried to cripple her family would backfire.

"Not that they do would even consider it. My aunt is a high-ranking Tokay and being married to a nobleman gives quite the amount of sway so both parties agree to get along and the other Tokays don't try their usual tricks. Though they kept clear of the deal my father made with Noricum, as they were not invited except as lawyers and legal witnesses."

"I seem to remember Elder Abbott remarking about certain Mamono deafening him when that trade agreement was being made. He still has hearing problems." I remarked.

Abigail grinned, "I am going to make certain that I pass that along to my aunt when I see her again. It'll embarrass her and her underlings for sure."

"Now I'm reminded of Elder Jeramiah's warning to us kids." I muttered.

Abigail raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what was that?"

"Hell is not filled with fire, brimstone, devils and demons, but by legions of lawyers in pressed suits and towers of parchment needing to be filled."

"And a good few of them would be Tokays," Abigail laughed.

Around midday we found a high boulder outcrop that gave us a clear view of the surrounding plain on all sides, a safe place to eat lunch.

While we ate, we talked about our interests. Abigail being a young noblewoman, had been raised to appreciate the finer things in life and enjoyed artistic pursuits and business management as well as riding and swordplay having been trained in the martial arts since childhood. She was no meek damsel that needed protecting, though, "I do appreciate a man who treats me like a princess from time to time. Afterall, I am one," She remarked, looking at me from under her long lashes.

"Of course, my Duchess. I am but your humble servant. Please have mercy on this poor commoner," I answered playfully.

She shoved me gently, "Jerk," she laughed, "There's no need for that, yet." She grew serious, "Should we visit my home, unfortunately, until I can talk to my father you will have to put up that act." Abigail was downcast, "It's an unfortunate side-effect of being born into nobility. You're expected to maintain a certain standard of behavior in public. My father is very lax about such decorum and mother can read the situation quickly, but in front of the court and lesser nobles it must be maintained. Your family name is known, but the nobles will still judge you as a commoner much to my distaste, and my parents may get stuck in that as it happens from time to time."

She was very sorrowful at this point and I laid a hand gently on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it," I remarked, "I'm well aware of how nobles often view commoners. Perhaps sending a letter off to your father at the next waystation will help prepare him."

"You think?" She asked nervously.

"Never hurts to try at least. And at the very least it will help lessen the shock."

She smiled, regaining her positive mood, "You're right. I'll do that. The waystations usually have postal birds."

We soon finished up and set off once more. The waystation was still a few hours travel down the road and we needed to make the most of it as darkness fell quickly here in the tropics.

The day had grown hot and, in the distance, thunder rumbled so we hurried along. After a few hours, just as the storm was about to break the waystation came into view. This was a small fortified village, mainly encompassing the station and the supporting trades but a welcome sight nonetheless. A sudden downpour marked the arrival of the rainy season, leaving us soaked as we entered the gates. Luckily that station was not packed, in fact, there were few people at all, due to it being the rainy season. After paying, we went and cleaned up taking turns in the bath. It wasn't hot water, but considering the tropical climes it felt good to clean up. The meal that followed, while a basic meat soup, helped us sleep through the night.

The next day we left in pouring rain. We had a sort of poncho but with the monsoon rolling in we were going to get wet. I was glad to have bought a large rubbered fly, which for those who aren't aware, is a large piece of canvas cloth coated in rubber that can be strung up as shelter. We'd need it because the next waystation was on the coast and our trek would take us through the swamps and mangroves on the northern edge of the Sea, but first we had to cross through acacia woodland and scrub.

Runny mud splashed and squelched as we walked southward, the rain drenching everything. Beyond a few hundred yards, the surrounding scrub forest faded into grey, obscured by the rain that fell down in unending torrents. Water dripped off of everything, including the native wildlife. The trees swayed in the winds and the ground was mud where there wasn't either grass or rocky road. Still, despite the rain, life in the wilds went on as usual. Muttaburrasaurus browsed the acacia while smaller Dryosaurus and Leaellynasaura nibbled on the grasses and low-lying herbs. Camarasaurus fed from the treetops and we kept a weary eye out for carnivores.

We didn't talk much, the rain really making it difficult to have a conversation without shouting. Traveling in silence, we avoided the dinosaurs when we encountered them, and we traveled for hours. At midday we came across an abandoned town and we decided since a few buildings were structurally sound to stop and rest for a few hours and gather dry wood.

After rummaging around, I found some and carefully packed it into my bag, wrapping it in a ground cloth that I had to keep it dry. Abigail squeezed as much water out of her hair that she could for oftentimes the rain blew into our faces; soaking us to the bone. After resting a few hours, in which the rain still did not let up, we started off again.

Once again it was more mud, wet grass, and rain. In fact, the rain came down harder, almost blinding with how hard it was coming down. We had traveled maybe two hours from the abandoned town and the storm blew with such fury that we had no choice. We had to hunker down somewhere.

Thankfully, there were was a banyan tree in full leaf just off the road in the grass and we made our way to it. I quickly scoped it out.

The truck had a large natural hollow as these trees sometimes do so I motioned to Abigail who cast the only fire based spell she knew and got a torch lit for me. Sticking my head inside, I nixed the hollow as a resting place.

It smelled of bat guano and I wasn't taking any chances. "The only other place is up in the branches. It won't be easy getting up there, but it'll be safe," I commented.

"You're going to climb that, freehanded?" Abigail queried me, with a skeptical look on her face, "That's almost thirty feet to the top of the trunk! Yes, it looks flat enough and the branches are low enough we could tie the fly to them, but that trunk is slick!" Just then the leaves dumped a large amount of water on her head, causing her to groan and scowl, gritting her teeth.

"I'll climb it, but first I need to make a ladder using the some of the extra ropes and the branches around here."

"For what reason?" Abigail raised an eyebrow.

"You don't want to have to follow my lead and freehand this thing, right?" I answered, "It'll also make it easier to get up and down if we have to do so. Now let's take advantage of this brief lull in the rain."

With that said, I immediately started working on making a rope ladder. I had done this before so it went faster than Abigail expected me to take and soon, I was scaling the banyan. The bark had deep cracks in it and was rough, allowing me to get purchase but it was still slick and I had to be careful not to slip. After ten minutes of careful climbing, I made it to the top of the trunk. It was actually fairly wide, around twelve feet or so of space before the massive branches started to split off.

I anchored the rope ladder with a spike and lowered it for Abigail who cautiously climbed up while I cleared debris. Smaller branches interweaved themselves together almost forming a wall while overhead a thick cover of leaves protected us somewhat from any rain.

Once Abigail had made it up, we quickly set up the fly as extra rain protection and once the top of the truck was cleared, I descended and hunted around the base for dryish grass. I was in luck, for protected in a small hollow in the ground, shielded by branches that had fallen, was enough dry, actually dry grass to made bedding out of. I bundled this up and after three trips, had carried enough grass up to give ourselves a nice dry base.

While I did this, Abigail set about starting a fire. Apparently the first thing she did was create a platform of branches that I had cleared and then she called down to me. "Stephan! Can you bring up some mud please?!" I brought her some and then followed her directions, plastering it on top and around the branches making a solid platform on the edge of the trunk.

I got the fire going on top of it and just in time too, as the storm regained its previous fury. Thunder roared once more and lighting flashed and we were both glad that there were other trees in the area that were taller than ours. I descended once more to grab the last bit of dry wood that I could and let the rain wash the mud off my hands and then returned to the tree camp.

Abigail had set up our bed rolls and was carefully wringing water out of her poncho. After stripping my armor, I started to do the same.

"This rain will last for some time," she remarked, "At least another day and then we'll get a few days of dry before the next massive storm rolls in."

"That's good. Hopefully we'll be on the coast by then and not in the midst of the swamps and mangroves," I remarked, stripping off my boots and socks to dry them somewhat and grabbing an old towel that I carried to dry my feet off before putting dry socks on.

"We shouldn't be," She said, wringing out her hair, "The road should get more paved in those areas and there are bridges so we won't have to do the swamp slog."

"Good," I rumbled, "I don't want to get leishmaniasis or jungle rot."

Abigail stared at me, "Jungle rot I can understand, it's called trench foot elsewhere. But not many know of leishmaniasis."

"Mom was an apothecary and Vivian as you know is a physician," I explained, "Both of them had to know the correct treatments for a wide range of things. Granted that was one of the more uncommon ones but there was a case or two that cropped up as we do have tropical swamps in the Cordillera."

"Ah," Abigail murmured, as I turned to tend to the fire. I heard a splashing sound and when I turned back around, Abigail had stripped off her boots and was emptying water out of them over the edge of the trunk. There was a lot of water.

I grabbed some talc powder from my bag, usually it was used to keep moisture from sword blades but it also had it's uses in drying things off. This I handed to her and Abigail looked at me in confusion until I told her to rub a little on her socks and feet.

She rolled her fiery, sparkling eyes and pulled off her socks and hung them to dry a bit first while she rubbed the talc powder on her bare feet. Knowing that nobles can sometimes be quite particular and indeed peculiar about showing bare skin in any form, especially when they are unmarried noble ladies, I averted my gaze.

I soon felt something nudging me, poking insistently. I looked down and there, poking me was a fair dainty foot. My gaze shot up and met the cheeky, mischievous smile that Abigail wore, her eyes sparkling like the most stunning of red sunstones that could be mined in the mountains of my homeland, what were called elsewhere as Cordillera Sunstones.

"My, my, does a little bit of bare skin, especially my bare feet embarrass you that much?" She teased me, her grin morphing into a wider thing, one that boded teasing and mischief, "You have siblings, surely bare skin doesn't bother you that much?" There was laughter in her voice now.

"My father's lessons. Book Number One: On the Proper treatment of Nobles and Their Many Peculiarities," I responded, "Chapter 6: Proper Behavior and The Peculiarities of Noble Dress. "Nobles have many peculiarities noble ladies even more so, particularly when it comes to the hair and displaying parts of the body."

Abigail scooted over to me and lightly slapped me on the back of the head. "And your father was from Lescatie so behavioral norms were harsher," She countered. "And they were foul," Abigail looked like she wanted to say something worse, but her upbringing as a noble prevented that. "You actually haven't had much experience with girls your age, have you?"

"Not really," I answered, ducking my head in embarrassment, "Vivian and Beatrice were the only two girls in our village in the current generation the obvious is right there."

"No girls what so ever?!" Abigail exclaimed, "How do any of the young men in your village know what to do around women?!"

"Our mothers impart as much as they can, but eventually all the boys will have to leave for a time to travel and find a spouse. Apparently, there is a three-generation cycle where each generation will have a different ratio of boys and girls. I just happened to be born in the generation that had all boys."

The pitying look she threw me hurt a lot, then she did something unexpected. Abigail put her feet in my lap.

"My feet hurt," She remarked coyly, "Massage them for me."

I stared dumbly at her for a time, whereupon she raised a fine eyebrow and inclined her head. I was being challenged.

I sighed internally, "Of course, My Lady. Your wish is my eternal command." Then I started massaging her feet. First the left, then the right. Her skin was smooth and soft as I worked to ese the ache that she apparently had, carefully rubbing her toes, the soles and her heel. Abigail leaned back, her eyes halfway lidded and moaned, "Ooohh, yes! That's wonderful! Ooo, haa, ahh! That's perfect! Yes, keep going! MHMM!"

I tried to block out her sensual moans which were turning me on, but considering I was rubbing her skin and massaging her feet, it was difficult, especially as every so often she'd wiggle her toes and try to grip me with them, a half-lidded coy look on her face. I was being played with by a noble temptress.

Finally, the torture ended, "That's enough. I don't need any more," she said, starting to pull her feet away. It was at that moment, the light of the fire reflected off of something on her foot, something I hadn't noticed before. Scales.

"Abigail," I hesitated, cautiously pointing at the scales, "Are those what I think they are?" The scales blended in so well with her fair skin that had the light not hit them they'd be almost invisible.

"Hmm? Oh! Those," Abigail started, "Yes those are dragon scales. My mother's line can trace its origins back to before the current Demon Lord when her founding ancestor went out to slay a dragon. That dragon beat him, but instead of eating him, they fell in love and married and over time the dragon blood her family has been diluted so many times that those scales are often the only signs of our ancestry. And I'm the only one in two generations to end up with them, the main trait is our eye color, after all fiery gemstone eyes like mine aren't generally found in humans."

Her deep flame red eyes held mine, they were almost hypnotizing. "Here," she scooted closer and grabbed my hand, "You can touch them."

I gently ran a finger across the small patch of skin-colored scales. They weren't hard at all, but felt like the skin on the rest of her foot. "I thought that they'd be hard, like well, like a dragon's scales."

Abigail laughed as I pulled my hand away, tucking her feet underneath her, "Hahaha! Ahahahaha! Perhaps several generations ago, but now they're merely skin that formed in the shape of scales with a slight reflective nature to them. People don't even notice." Darkness fell as we were chatting and the fire helped dry things out somewhat.

"How long do you reckon until this storm blows past?" I asked, putting more wood on the fire.

"The rest of the night most likely then we'll have a sun until tomorrow evening when it'll start raining again," Abigail remarked, shifting around, "That's the weather in the rainy season. Sun in the morning, rain every evening, and sometimes day long storms. We'll have to wait the night out and then see what the next few days will bring, though we'll be at the coast in three weeks' time."

Abigail then yawned and I followed suit so we decided to turn in for the night. My rest was peaceful, though halfway through the night I woke to stoke the fire and found that it had already been stoked and that Abigail had taken to using my chest as her pillow, her left ear directly over my heart. I laid back, and went to sleep again, gently running my hand through her silky hair.

Just as Abigail said, the storm had passed by morning and we soon descended and started off southward. We had started earlier than normal to avoid the heat of the day so both of us were rather quiet, still waking up and coming to our senses. Nibbling on rations, we traveled onwards, our eyes peeled for large predators.

We came across an Allosaurus pack at one point, but thanks to quick display posturing and brandishing of weapons they moved on leaving us alone. It was after this I presented a question to Abigail, "I am aware that the are three…breeds, if you will of Fatalis. How far does your dream stretch? Just to the base Black Fatalis, or does it go to the rarest, the White Fatalis?"

Abigail hummed, thinking for a time, "I would have to say, with all rational reason and common sense, that if a White Fatalis offered to monsterized me into one of their own, I would not turn such a boon down, even though my personal dream reaches no higher than the Black Fatalis. It is ill advised to disrespect or turn down an offer or request from any Fatalis for such a thing can easily result in death. The only thing that they'd expect a woman to refuse is the command to kill the man she's chosen; at least those are the rumors that I've heard of such situations where it was used as a final test of worthiness." She flicked her hand through the air, "But such a thing has not happened since the Great Mamonoization so it's as much of a theory as legend."

She chuckled, amused, "And most likely the Reptile King's attention would need to be gain on some level; at the very least he would have to suggest or rather command a White Fatalis to make such an offer."

"Ah. I see."

"And I most likely would be petrified with fear at being in the presence of a White Fatalis," Abigail mentioned, "They are gods among even the Fatalis which are considered gods among Elder Dragons, that fact alone should tell thee how powerful they are." Abigail's heritage and verbal nature came up again.

"I have spoken to thee about how the Elder Dragons are viewed here in the Kingdom of Reptiles, but the meaning delves much deeper, the belief goest further than thy mind thought."

"Oh?"

"Elders are revered as deities. That fact thou art aware of, yes? Fatalis are beyond that. Even the weakest of Black Fatalis are goddesses of the Elder Dragons. And Whites are beyond that level. More akin to the power levels of the Reptile King's younger children. That my companion is why they are respected. Goddesses that will walk the world, more evident than the metaphysical, with terrible tempers and a will to use their strength."

Her eyes flashed, "In a demon realm, a Lilim is one of THE most powerful monsters magically. But she would easily be matched by even the weakest of Black Fatalis in combat. A White Fatalis could easily outstrip the Maou herself and I dare say be able to challenge the Chief God. Remember, a White Fatalis is a monster old enough to have been eating people in during the Age of Murder. Furthermore, the pride of a Fatalis is nothing to scoff at. Blacks are the humblest, viewing themselves as the Undisputed Rulers of Elder Dragon kind, and allowing other Elder Dragons to be part of their "court" and ruling over vast territories; while Crimsons have an incredibly short temper and are battle crazed, ruling over very small, volcano centric territories and are rumored to have questionable amount of sanity."

"And Whites?"

"Are the most reclusive, interacting with anything less than their husband who most often doubles as her high priest and other Fatalis's is simply beneath them in their minds, though a few have been rumored to have the other Elders in their courts. The only place they can regularly be found in is The Great Tower Ruins... and you'd be suicidal to go there uninvited."

"So, Fatalis in general could be compared, and I say this only as an example, on some level to a tyrant empress?"

Abigail glared, but then realized I didn't mean offense, "On some level, that would be correct. They aren't tyrants, but that kind of absolute power, yes, empress is a fitting description and Whites would be God-empresses if they so desired."

After this we went in silence, trying to maintain our pace and get to the sea.

It was two weeks until we even hit the swamps thanks to the rain. It stormed every night, and oftentimes we had to shelter underneath our fly in some tree and go without fire. Every river we crossed threatened to bring down the bridges that crossed them.

When we got to the swamps, the road led straight into them and we followed it. On the edges it was not bad but once we passed the first couple of miles, it stank. Oh, how it stank of rotting leaves and wood, the water was black as could be and moved sluggishly and the road was crumbling in places. As we passed by a certain tree, Abigail harvested a particular purple fungus that grew in abundance and stored much of it while eating some.

"It's a Demon Queller mushroom," she said by way of explanation, "It only grows in these swamps and no where else. The swamps are saturated with reptilian and demonic energy and I can already feel the levels slowly rising in me. I don't want to monsterize yet so this will help expel it."

She chewed the mushroom and swallowed and I watched as demon energy was expelled by her body, joining the thick mist that blanketed the swamp.

Abigail panted, resting her hands on her knees as she bent over to catch her breath, "Hah, hah, hah. That's better." She stood and we continued on our way.

The road became slick with algae, moss and mud holes and we ended up splattered with it. But we stuck to our course, how could we not? The Capital was weeks behind us and the coast not far.

Setting up camp in the swamp wasn't fun, as there wasn't much dry land that we could safely use. In the end, we used our fly to create a large hammock that we slept in, our feet just hanging off the edge to keep out the mud and slime. The thing about sleeping through a night in the swamp? Is not sleeping through the night in a swamp. The place comes alive once the sun goes down. Owls hooting in the trees, billions of crickets chirping and singing, frogs croaking nonstop and countless other natural noises. But eventually we did sleep.

A daily pattern emerged. We woke up, broke camp, Abigail ate a Demon Queller, and we set off, travelling for twelve hours, set camp, we ate and slept.

Once in the distance we saw the massive shadowy shape of a Titanoboa battling a Spinosaur-like dinosaur and watched the waters as massive crocodiles glided past us, but as we were well out of range for any strikes, they left us alone. After a few days of traveling, we could see the swamp changing into mangrove and here the road got bad.

Often times it was flooded or crumbling as mangrove roots broke through the surface and we ended up having to take an alternate, though clearly marked route off the road which meant slogging through saltmarsh and brackish swamp.

"I'm going to develop webbed feet at this rate," Abigail griped, "As well as a paddled tail if it gets any deeper."

I knew this to be in jest, as she was still consuming those mushrooms on a daily basis to expel demon energy.

"I'm more worried about Trench foot or Jungle Rot," I shot back, "This is the perfect kind of place to develop it. That and leeches."

"Don't mention that!" Abigail cried, "Now I'll be paranoid until we get to the coast."

"Well, I don't think it'll be far now," I answered, "Look." I pointed down the cleared path. Not far it opened up and I could see a clearing that was dry. We shared a look and rushed for it.

The sight that greeted us when we broke through was wonderful, a rocky beach and the old trade road running down to a port town where massive sailing ships were docked in the harbor. The sun beamed down on us, seagulls and small pterosaurs called in the air as they fished the sea. Here the water was a brown, not because of waste, but silt in the water and there was a wonderful breeze blowing carrying the smell of salt and cooking food.

Taking to the road once more, we hurried to the port to find an inn close to the docks in order to get passage across the sea. While I spoke to the innkeeper, Abigail went to find the harbormaster to find out the next ship to the port in her family's territory.

I waited for her to return and when she did, I could tell she was pleased.

"The next ship leaves tomorrow at dawn heading directly to Port Nyanza. It'll be a week-long trip so we can rest. Did you get a room?"

"Yes, and there is a bath."

We quickly went to the room and while Abigail bathed, I dried out our gear the best I could on the balcony and saw to the maintenance of my equipment. At one point I heard muttered cursing of something, but ignored it.

Abigail entered from the bath, her hair wrapped up in a towel and a robe on her body and she was sulking, her clothes in her hands.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There was a leech," She answered dully, displeased, "One nasty little leech on me. Evil, foul, disgusting thing. It's gone now."

I patted her on the shoulder, "There, there, it's gone. Cheer up and get changed into something dry." I turned and went into the bath and got it started, stripping off my clothes behind the screen. Once the water was hot enough, I stepped into the spray of the ultimate luxury, a shower, and started to clean up. I carefully checked myself over for leeches and any other little parasites, running a fine comb through my hair to dislodge anything that might have attached. Luckily, there wasn't anything. It felt good to wash up and the soap smelled wonderful.

When I was finished and dry, I grabbed a robe and exited, picking up my clothes to air out a bit. When I entered the room Abigail was snoozing on a bed in a light, loose shift of a night gown, clearly exhausted. Checking on the balcony, I saw that she had hung her clothes up to at least dry and air out and I did likewise. Afterwards I quietly left Abigail to sleep while I wandered the town.

Being a port town there was a sizable marketplace and I found a supplier of traveling gear. With it being the wet season, I wanted to have another fly on hand as back up, and more spare sheets of canvas for hammocks. We had enough rations to make it to the other side, but would need to resupply there.

I returned to the inn and stowed the supplies and softly cleared my throat to rouse Abigail so that we could eat and tend to our equipment the pack everything.

"Mhmmm?" She whined, rousing slowly from her nap.

"We need to eat and then pack up so we're not up at the second hour of the night doing it before the ship leaves."

Abigail sighed and darted around the changing screen to get dressed. When she emerged, we quickly set about packing up everything and were grateful that the constantly blowing sea breeze had driven off most of the smell from our clothes which we packed away. This packing did take a few hours which flew by and then we went to eat on the inns ground floor before returning to our room to get to sleep early.

The wooden dock clunked under our boots as we ran to get to the ship, followed by several sailors and the captain as a massive caravan disembarking had delayed us. Luckily as we turned a corner of the dock, the ship was still waiting, its boarding ramps lowered. Sea Queen was her name and she was still being loaded. We scrambled aboard with one of the sailors there checking our passes as the captain rushed his men into loading faster. Dawn was approaching and the winds were rising.

Thankfully, the crew was experienced and we were soon out with the tide.

I don't recall much of the first few hours of that voyage, except being sick to my stomach and staying close to the rail. Abigail too was a little green at first, but come nightfall we had gained our sea legs. A strong wind carried the ship through the night and the crew hoisted lanterns keeping a watchful eye out for signs of the dreaded Mosa Mamono. These were monsterized Mosasaurs and were dreaded by sailors and port towns for their habit of unrelenting pursuit. A good deterrent, though an imperfect one was to suspend in the water from the hull containers that contained the essence of rotting reptile flesh. Don't ask the sailors if you visit, you really don't want to know.

The winds remained strong, and in fact grew stronger as a storm built behind us, blowing us along. The sea grew choppy and the ship bounced and rolled in the waves. The next morning the storm hit.

Lightning crashed as thunder roared, the winds howling untamed. All hatches were battened down as rain hissed onto the deck in unending waves. The sky was dark and terrible, the sea a roiling beast. The tempest raged, its fury unleashed and Abigail and I huddled below decks.

The tempest raged for four days until finally it relented towards sunset. When night fell, the wind, though strong, had a calm to it. The navigator observed the stars for a time and then the captain barked orders to the helmsman to adjust our course to the south. As the sails caught the full force of the wind, the ship jolted and sped up. I crashed while Abigail sat up for a bit, having not slept well due to the storm.

The next few days were dull indeed. Nothing except desert islands barren of all life were seen. When we were a day's journey out from Port Nyanza, we spotted a welcome sign. Ichthyornis. Or rather, it spotted us and did what they usually do. Squawk in someone's face; mine to be exact.

I was snoozing on the deck while Abigail read to me from a small book of tales that she had when I was startled by the squawk in my face. The Ichthyornis is a major pain, but the sailors took his presence as a good sign as birds like these can't survive entirely on the sea, and they cheered when they saw him take off southwards by southeast. The captain ordered the ship to follow as the bird in question had a leg band and shining bells on it. A Guide Bird.

"That's a good sign," Abigail murmured, "That Guide Bird had the Nyanza tag on it. The port isn't far now so we should be reaching the safe zone soon."

"Safe zone?" I asked.

"Port Nyanza is protected by a Krona, the Mamono counterpart to the Kronosaurus. They fill in the role that the Sea Bishops elsewhere have, being priestesses of Poseidon. Normally they roam the seas preforming the marriage ritual that allows men to breath underwater, but when married they'll often settle down in an unguarded port or a port will spring up where they've settled, and they'll use their primal form to protect the harbor from unmonsterized Kronosaurus, sharks, Ichthys, pirates, and most importantly, Mosasaurus and the Mamono counterpart the Mosa. This is the safe zone, their territory if you will. Only Sea bound Mamono that are peaceful or wish to get married may enter the harbor."

"So, the harbors are like sacred ground that none may violate, then?" I responded.

"In a way," Abigail paused, as though uncertain, "You'll see when we get there."

Indeed, her words were truth.

The next day around the tenth hour of the morning, we reached the harbor zone. This was a beautiful place, edged with coral reefs filled with marine life, palms trees swaying, birds calling of all colors, brightly colored fish swarming the lagoon and crystal blue waters with white sand. A paradise, where the boundaries of man and nature were all but erased. At least, so it seemed. But we had an unpleasant follower that made it's, or should I say her move just outside the safe zone, just as our repellant ran out.

We didn't know until it was too late to stop it. A violent crash threw us to the deck as something slammed into the hull, causing the ship to rock violently in the waves. Then a spout of water from the sea alerted us to the sea beast. A sailor ran for the alarm bell. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! The alarm for a Mosa attack rang out through the harbor echoing off the rocks. Deckhands ran for the cannons in hopes of driving it off.

I picked myself up from where I was thrown to the deck and grabbed the repeater pistol that my uncle had made as Abigail stared fearfully at the circling Mosa. Rushing to the railing, my eyes narrowed I aimed the gun at the water and fired at the sea beast. I knew the bullets wouldn't kill her, that wasn't my intention, but wounding her enough to get her to back off so we could get into the harbor? I had to take a chance. Crack-bang! The pistol barked, hurtling the lead rounds at the bestial form of the Mosa as she lined up for another charge.

I heard the first cannon fire and the great plume of water getting sent skyward as the cannonball splashed down into the depths near the Mosa. The sea reptile easily snaked her way through the massive plumes, but one near shot had her retreat for a moment, landing near her massive head.

As I was reloading, I witnessed a massive black four flippered shape come cruising out into the harbor at a fair clip making a deep rumbling call that we felt more than heard. As the shape reached the edge of the harbor, I watched as it sped up and massive jaws opened and snapped at the Mosa.

"Krona sighted! We're saved!" Came the shout.

The Krona maneuvered herself between us and the Mosa and the two squared off. Two great leviathans of the deep fighting just outside the harbor, snapping at each other with tooth lined jaws. There was a golden flash from the water; magic was being used as the Mosa tried to charge the Krona. The Sea Reptile Priestess was experienced though and not having it whatsoever. Kronas as I found out were masters of defensive sea fighting, their clerical magic and command of the sea making them ideal protectors even against a Mosa.

The two leviathans circled, waiting for the opportunity to strike. In the end, the Krona made the deciding move. The Mosa twisted to avoid a head of coral and a closely fired round from me, leaving her tail exposed too close to the jaws of the Krona and the harbor guardian ripped into the tail with her tusk-like teeth opening a gash, causing the Mosa to jolt to the surface and roar in pain before slinking off. From the deep, another Krona appeared in her Mamono form and escorted the Mosa away from the harbor, lecturing her sharply. The Krona that rescued us turned to go. That's when I heard the captain curse.

"Blasted Mosa! She knocked out our rudder! We're dead in the water."

I heard a massive snort as the Krona's massive jawed head breached the surface to breath before diving and circling the ship. She nudged the rudder with her snout then circled back around to the bow of the ship and surfaced again, morphing into her Mamono form and waving to the sailors to get their attention. The first mate dropped down on a plank swing to speak with her. The conversation was rapid and drowned out by the waves.

The first mate signaled a crew member and was hoisted aboard where a rapid discussion and scurrying about for a tow line to be found and dropped below into the water whereupon the Krona retook her primal form and grabbed the line in her jaws and began to pull us to the docks. Soon, smaller, magic powered tugs pulled out into the harbor and took the strain off of the Krona. The ship was soon docked and the boarding ramp lowered, so while the sailors waved goodbye to the Krona who slipped off to her spouse, Abigail and I disembarked and found an inn the rest at and plan our next few days journey which would take us through thick, hostile jungle before the verdant subtropical plains and hills of the Sunstone dukedom.

The humidity was ever worse here than on the northern shore, I felt sticky and foul as we hacked and slashed our way down an overgrown trail through the dense rainforest. We would have taken the trade caravan, but that had a route that would circumnavigate the entire region before heading back and meandered at that. This was a more direct route, but was one that was taken less often as it cut into the heart of the predator infested jungle.

It was horrid in plate armor, but I put up with it, activating the etched cooling runes imbedded in the armor to take the worst off of me, but it was still very unpleasant. Abigail didn't seem to be bothered at all, though she was clearly sweating and we both guzzled water.

Whack, smash, cut, hack. Move brush out of the way and repeat. Our pace was slowed to a crawl. And it was ruddy exhausting because after the first three miles that were cleared and well-traveled, the old road was very overgrown until we got under the dense canopy cover then the undergrowth thinned somewhat. We covered maybe around two miles, faster than trekking through virgin rainforest, but still a slow pace. Just after midday, we came across a stream that was fast flowing, and we crossed it, deciding to make camp on the other side. We had to get off of the jungle floor, but with this being big time theropod country, this meant another night of tree sleeping so we followed the pattern that we had developed on the northern shore.

With the both of us working at it, we soon had a decent shelter forty feet up in an old banyan tree and a fire going to ward off bugs the best we could. And just in time too, as the afternoon storms that frequented the rainforest made their daily arrival, dumping down upon the forest. We turned in extremely early, both of us exhausted from our labor.

Exhausted though we were, we still rose with the predawn songs of the birds and continued on our way. More cutting brush, though less now that we were underneath canopy and plenty of heat and humidity. It brought to mind memories of a trip I took in my student years in my past life to a country called Costa Rica. Hot, sweaty, sticky, and vines everywhere. However, we kept going, penetrating deeper and deeper into the jungle with every step we took.

Days, and then weeks passed. If it weren't for Abigail's impeccable knowledge of time in the jungle, I would have lost all sense of the passing days. Our days were mostly filled with hacking through rainforest, getting covered in mud, swatting blood sucking bugs, and more often that one would think, squaring off with dinosaurs.

The most recent, well the best word would either be confrontation or quarrel, was with a pack of Ceratosaurus. These carnivores form packs of no more than four, with the female being the alpha, with three subordinate males rounding out the rest of the pack. These mid-range carnivores yowled and howled, snarling at us as they circled, looking for an opening, but with both Abigail and I on High alert, they couldn't find an easy avenue for attack. In the end it was a short fight, not even worth writing about as after several well-placed blows on each of them, they backed off and scrammed.

We were far from any civilization, deep in the jungle when the worst of the rainy season struck. It came at nightfall, we were camped high in an old hunting stand that was built onto a natural platform of a massive strangler fig, sheltered by the thick canopy of leaves and the waterproofed flies that I had put up. In the distance, thunder rumbled as we settled down near the fire, watching the surrounding forest for any large predators and listening to the sound of a small river that we would have to cross in the morning that could be seen through the leaves beneath the tree. Small dinosaurs came down to get their last sip of water for the day before darting off for cover for the night. Soon the clouds rolled in and it got very dark. But then the forest was lit up was a bolt from the heavens struck somewhere and with a ferocious roar the rain came down. We had been through some pretty heavy downpours, but this was the worst yet. The lightning flash and crashed as the thunder boomed as the heavens warred, rain cascading down, swelling the river which, though I could not see it, I could hear it become dangerously swollen. We huddled near the fire as the endless drumming roar of the rain thundered through the night as the winds howled causing lesser trees to fall.

The roar of the river was tremendous, drowning out any thing else and we tried to sleep. That night we were awoken was an almighty crash and were jarred out of our sleep as something struck the tree. I lit a torch from our still glowing fire and cast it about, trying to see what happened. In the rain drenched darkness, just below the torchlight, I could see that another tree had been uprooted and swept downstream and ended up colliding partially with ours, blocking a fair amount of water that pushed on it relentlessly before with another jarring smash, it broke free and tumbled downriver. I watched as several dinosaurs, washed from upriver, struggled in the torrent and then vanish from sight. We'd have to wait until morning to decide whether or not to cross.

When morning broke, I dropped down to examine the river, it was still very high and very fast, with multiple massive trees caught in a log jam. The rain was still coming down hard, but we needed to keep moving to reach civilization. I returned to our roost and woke Abigail.

"It's high and fast, there's some trees we can use to cross, but it's risky to go."

"What did the banks look like?" She asked.

"Bad." I replied, "They're severely cut away, our tree is starting to get undercut as well."

Abigail was silent for a moment, "It's risky to stay as well. Should another storm strike like the one last night and we get slammed by anything, we're in the river and could lose everything. I say we need to move while it's light, cut some bamboo from the stand below to use as poles and tie us both together with rope."

I didn't argue and just did as she suggested as Abigail was right. Another storm like that and any more collisions would take out this tree.

We met at the riverbank packed and ready to go. After tying ourselves together with rope and taking a bamboo pole I took the first step. And immediately decided that we weren't walking across this thing.

"We have to crawl," I said. "It's not safe."

"Why?"

"It's too slick, we'll fall into the river. On our hands and knees is quite frankly, the safest way."

Abigail balked at this, but after testing the log herself, admitted that it was the only way.

I went first, to make certain it was safe. The log was slick and covered in a thin layer of moss that made everything even more slippery. I took my time, slowly inching out over the rushing water below. I was lucky in that the branches had been stripped off in the tree's tumble downstream to here; its final resting place. I was more than halfway across when the rope grew tight at which point, I turned and beckon Abigail to follow.

"Take it nice and slow!" I called, "Don't rush. And most importantly, don't look at the water."

She shuddered, but cautiously climbed onto the log and crawled across to the point that we could touch and then we both continued onwards. Finally, we clambered down and wiped the moss off our hands.

We found our direction of travel once more and continued on. In a few hours, we came across a well-traveled path hacked regularly out of the jungle. This headed in the direction the we wanted to go so we took advantage of it and the path of least resistance.

In a few hours we finally breached the edge of the jungle and were firmly in Abigail's family lands as the forest gave way to lush, tropical to subtropical meadows and deep rivers, was well as rolling hills, verdant plains, towering and beautiful cascades, and dense, forest where bird flocks of all sorts and colors roosted and flew about, creating a wonderful natural chorus of music.

Abigail relaxed somewhat, the tension of travel dissipating to some degree as she recognized different land marks and markers, taking over as navigator to which, I was thankful as my mind was almost spent from trying to maintain out course through the jungle before.

As dusk began to fall, we came across an old stone house that was in decent condition and we decided to stop and rest here before continuing on to her family's castle. We camped out in the main room of the building, this being the easiest to clear of debris and settled down into sleep, almost curled up with each other for comfort, but maintaining and appropriate distance due to Abigail's position. Our night passed peacefully and so did the first few ours of our journey to Abigail's castle.

Unfortunately, this peaceful state wasn't too last, but in hindsight, being the Reptile Kingdom, how could we have not expected something to go screwball. Something that we did not expect to come across whatso ever in this area.

Abigail shrieked as it landed, her eyes wide in fear, "No! Not you! Begone Malzeno!"

With body shape reminiscent of a standard dragon, similar to Velkhana, with dark scales covering its body along with swarms of small, flying leech-like creatures that I later learned were called Qurio on its neck, chest, and front legs. Its wings, while being dull grey on the topside, had a red underside and wing membrane connected "separately" to the wing fingers, and each wing possessed a single, giant talon. There was also a pair of smaller fins, similar in coloration to the wings at the base of its tail and three of the fingers on its front legs ended in a curved, giant claw. It had two large, golden horns, as well as frills extending from both sides of its neck that resemble a cowl and the tail ended in three large, prongs that I realized could move to grab small prey. As I watched it covered its body with its wings like a cape.

I glanced at Abigail, who was quivering in terror, but holding her ground, "Can we out run this thing, which I assume is an Elder Dragon?"

"Can we please try?" Abigail whispered.

We started to run, trying to dart around and away while the Malzeno was apparently resting, but just as we had gotten a few body lengths away, it leapt up into the air and landed right in front of us, its long fangs bared.

I drew my sword and gritted my teeth, so a fight it is. Abigail drew her own blade and I could see it trembling just before Malzeno charged.

It slammed the ground with its wing-talons breaking the earth it massive blocks. I immediately started to shred the nearest wing sail methodically while Abigail danced around the neck, trying to slaughter all of the leech things. The Elder Dragon twisted away, allowing me to cause a deep tear in the scales. The tail came around glowing with a fell energy the prongs making an attempt to grab; this I dodged, but barely. However, I rolled right into the path of the breath of this thing, and all I could feel was burning sparking pain.

I couldn't move, frozen in pain as Malzeno squared up to me. Then I was body slammed by Abigail throwing both of us out of the way.

"Eat this," she said, shoving a berry into my mouth before following suit. I swallowed and immediately the red energy faded.

Once back on our feet we found ourselves cornered by Malzeno, though Abigail was still trembling somewhat. There was a glow on the tail and I felt my strength being sapped. I shot forwards and slammed my sword into the neck, bifurcating several of the leech-things and getting covered in blood. Malzeno roared in surprise and I felt my strength return and I grabbed onto the nearest sail and started attacking anywhere my blade could reach and penetrate. I wasn't a Hunter, able to beat through the carapace and scales and hide with a massive weapon, so I had to aim for the natural gaps. I finished shredding the one wing, and I heard Abigail shriek as Malzeno lunged for her, saying something along the lines of, "No! Not me! I don't want the Cursed One to be me!" Considering where I was at at that very moment, I merely filed it away while attempting to shred the other wing. Just as I finished, I noticed something ominous. Demon energy. There was only a small amount, not enough to monsterized the Malzeno, but enough that it could get to Abigail.

"Abigail!" I shouted over the roaring of Malzeno, "Be careful! Someone's tried to monsterize this thing!"

"WHAT?!" The replying shriek caused Malzeno to flinch, giving me another opportunity to shred its remaining wing.

"This thing has demonic energy on it!" I shouted back.

"No. NO. NO! I'm not going to be the Cursed One that will bring ruination!" She shouted as she struck hard at Malzeno's tail, severing two of the prongs causing massive damage.

Malzeno thrashed in agony, throwing me about. This was not fun.

"Whoa, Whoa! I don't think it liked that!" I muttered aloud as I lunged for the head to try and disable it. This was heavily armored and I had a difficult time finding weak points.

Then the Elder Dragon thrashed its head and threw me off into the dirt. I landed well, but everything spun somewhat. I shook my head and launched back into the fray.

It was a grind fighting Malzeno, because this wasn't a duel like the fight I had with the Kushala, (and I was still wondering whatever became of that), this was one where we had to kill Malzeno. Even with both wings shredded, two tail prongs severed and the leech-bats slaughtered the fight was exhausting. The Vampire Elder Dragon was still fast and strong. Its tail came around and nearly grazed me. For this, when a wing got too close, I attempted to break it. The satisfying crack of bone and that stagger that came with it told me that I had succeeded. Abigail, though still clearly terrified, launched herself at the side of the beast her bastard sword in hand. It was a beautiful work of art that fitted her position in life and she wielded it like a Sword-master. She didn't manage to wound it deeply, but broke much of the carapace and scales, before moving well out of the way while I kept its attention.

Having trained since boyhood in combat, I knew exactly how and where to strike. This came in handy now. Slamming the pommel against the head of Malzeno, I dazed it and shattered one of its golden horns. With the crossguard I blinded one eye and raked it's face with the blade. In return, it attempted to grab me in its jaws to suck the life out of me, but merely got teeth shattered in return.

I attacked again alongside Abigail, aiming for its tenderized side, but the beast shifted around and the tail caught us both throwing us clear. I've been thrown by large creatures many a time and have learned how to land and launch right back into what I was doing. Abigail, however, landed hard in the grass.

"OUCH!" She shouted. I glanced in her direction, and she was rubbing her behind, scowling. I focused on Malzeno and dove into battle again. I wanted to finish this, now.

I broke the other wing to prevent it from doing that talon slam again and then launched myself at its face. I latched on as though I was breaking in a new horse or a young bull Aurochs and drove my blade deep into the skull. Malzeno screeched as a shock ran through it and then it dropped completely dead as in the distance drawing near, I heard the sound of many hooves.

I staggered back, completely exhausted and collapsed next to Abigail. My vision slowly faded, I could dimly hear Abigail shouting at someone as the hoofbeats grew louder and then go silent as a man called, "Princess, what?! Oh!" More shouting. The last thing I remember is Abigail's distressed and Malzeno blood covered face peering down at me and soft hands cradled me. Then I knew no more.

When I came too, I was lying on something so divinely soft I thought it was a cloud. I didn't want to move but sunlight on my face made me. Even before I could sit up or open my eyes, I heard a feminine, "Eeep!" and rapid footsteps before a door was shut. I collapsed back onto the bed without even opening my eyes and threw up and arm to block the sun's glare from my eyes.

As I dozed, coming to my faculties and making everything was working and responding as it should, I heard a tell-tale sound of a rushing lady. The distinctive sharp "click-clack," of stiletto heels. The doors were thrown open with a bang and someone rushed over to the bed I was in. I felt soft fingers dance lightly over my forehead and I stirred, opening my eyes and other rushed into the room calling for the lady, "Abby, Abigail! Young Lady don't rush!"

As my eyes opened, everything was blurry with sleep, but blinking, I cleared them and I saw Abigail peering down at me with concern and fright in her flame red eyes. She had cleaned up and looked so lovely that I had to make a quip.

"I must be in heaven," I murmured, "For where else would an angel, no a Seraphim reside?" Abigail froze and the room got as silent as a tomb. Glancing again at Abigail, I found her slowly but surely blushing bright pink, her eyes covered by her hands as she muttered something that I couldn't pick up.

I shifted, sitting up and Abigail noticed my movement and scrambled to make certain that I didn't get up. This led to her tripping and falling into my arms, her face so close to mine, her flame red eyes wide.

"I, um, I," she stammered and I tilted my head forwards into her hair as I pulled her up into a more comfortable position. I breathed deeply, "Irises," I sighed, "Sandalwood and lemon. The smell of Abigail." I inhaled deeply again and closed my eyes as I felt her curl up into a tight little ball against my chest.

A man's voice, older, and harsher, remarked, "Abigail, you are acting most unsuitable for your position and not at all like a young lady should, bursting into a man's room and then falling on him!"

There were several feminine protesting squeaks and mutters, and other assorted noises before she finally flicked me on the nose and I had to let go.

She freed herself and after standing, glared at her father. "Really father? I finally find the man I like and you act like this after all those prissy, ponces that you and mother invited and fawned over and you judge a man who has more ability in his hand than all of those princely men put together?!"

Her father spoke sharply, "Abigail, that's enough. We'll discuss this later."

"You, young lady, are not acting as benefitting your station," her mother chided, "Now, you have duties to preform and your father and I have our own."

That said, I heard both turn around and leave the room. I could see Abigail grit her teeth, "Talk about duties," she muttered, "The number of times I have seen the two of them put off their duties for my brother and be ever so informal around his numerous different conquests or ladies. Hypocrites! Father especially since he came from common origin. It's all about station in life with them of late, this is why I had father let me go traveling, so I could get away from this…," she trailed off as a stormy blue nimbus of magical energy formed in her grasping hand, getting denser and denser the more her fingers curled. When lightning started to crackle and thunder rumbled, she stopped and dispersed the nimbus.

"When you are feeling well, get dressed and ask the maid outside to come get me and we shall go speak to my father." Her cold tone was jarring from how I was used to her speaking. With a swish of her dress and rapid click-clack of her heels, she strode out of the room and shut the door.

I groaned and got up, searching for my clothes. I found them, nicely cleaned and folded with the rest of my gears on the foot-chest of the bed. I quickly dressed, and belted on my sword. Leaving the room, I opened the door and spoke to the maid, well I say spoke, but it was more like the maid in question anticipated what I was going to say and left without a word.

I stood there, blinking for a time in astonishment, but waiting. It wasn't long before Abigail returned with the maid. She looked calmer, but I still could see the flash of frustration and anger in her eyes.

"You got ready quickly," She remarked calmly.

"Better to get this over with and watch you verbally knock sense into your father. Though from what you told me on our journey, this seems quite out of character."

Abigail hummed, "Father, is well, very much a quiet and kind man and would prefer to let me do as I please within reason, mother too, but this is one of those things that unfortunately, mother's upbringing tends to rear up and father goes along with it for the sake of peace. I do believe that over time, he has gotten sucked deep into the mannerisms of nobility and at times, forgets his origins."

"Looks like he needs reminding then," I snorted, "From you."

"You aren't going to interject or say anything?"

"If I must, I will, but this is something he should probably here from you," I remarked, "Not I, a commoner."

"Though you have such a family line though that should be respected. The Aquila Family was known for being both just and fair soldiers and commanders as well as minor nobility, even though they often were considered by Lescatie as merely jumped-up mercenaries. Even Demon Realms respected them for their fair treatment and neutral view point."

"And dad left that life long ago and settled as a commoner," I responded, "And he taught me well enough that there will be many who will look down upon me for that. Present company excluded."

Abigail's lips twitched as we made our way to her father's office.

Nothing more was said until we reached her father's office where we were ushered inside. Her father was seated at his desk working busily at parchment-work and we stood there until finally, "Sit," he said, brusquely, "And perhaps common sense shall be found."

Abigail's eyes flashed, "The only one here lacking common sense is you, Father!" She snapped, "You have forgotten your own origins in favor of being a noble to the point you only looked at the cover and have not followed the lesson you taught me! "Get all the details and analyze the given information and research for yourself, never rely on just the first impression!""

Her father glared and ground out, "You would do well to remember that I am the head of this household, young lady and not you and I most certainly have not forgotten my origins. You were the one to bring home a peasant boy with no pedigree whatsoever and an unproven one at that!" At this point he took a sip of his drink, one I could not identify, brandy or something.

"So, the Aquila family are a bunch of peasants then, father?" Abigail purred, just as he was sipping. He started choking, spitting out his drink, "WHAAT?!"

"The Aquila family, father. Certainly, you haven't forgotten that family in your long years here," Abigail smirked, making a slight dig at her father's age, "After all, didn't you once say that one of them was a hero of yours when you weren't so, hmm, well-aged?"

"And the entire family was lost when Lescatie fell," He snapped, "And it's not well-aged, it's old." He paused at his mistake that she had maneuvered him into, "Gog Damn it, child, I'm not old! I'm finely aged, like wine."

"The grey in your beard says otherwise father. And the family wasn't lost."

"Don't be foolish, they were on the front lines when the city-state fell."

I interjected, "My father Marcus Aurelianus Aquila left Lescatie five years before the city fell to the Fourth and settled in Noricum beyond the northern border. I myself was named in honor of my great grandfather Stephanos Tiberius Aquila."

The Archduke glared at me, "Very well, then. What was Legate Aquila's childhood nickname given to him by his sister?"

"Fledge," I answered, "And it was because he tried to fly the nest two years two early."

"Fine, that was an easy one. What was his most outstanding achievement?"

I laughed, "Great grandfather was credited many outstanding achievements, but the greatest one he claimed was getting my great grandmother to marry him."

"Name of his second son?" The questions came faster now.

"Iaconus, and a name that was noted to be rather odd."

"Followed as family head by?"

"Julius Aquila, the fourth son."

"Name of his favorite horse?" This was a trick question, great grandfather hated horses.

"He despised horses and never had one."

The Archduke sat back and groaned, "No one ever gets that last one considering that damn statue that was erected after his victory at Mill's Crossing. You are who you say you are I guess, but you still have a lot to prove."

"Dueling a Kushala and killing that Malzeno not proof enough, Father?" Abigail questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The Archduke coldly stared, "It's proof enough of his training, but not that he is worthy of you, daughter and you'd best remember that. You as well have yet to prove that you should be granted independence from my purview and authority."

"How so, Father," Abigail replied coolly. "After all, I fought Malzeno alongside Stephan."

"Your comments about being the Cursed One could be heard quite clearly, daughter, even a mile away. You still have much to learn and prove."

Abigail flushed with fury and her eyes almost glowed, "And the writings of our family supported that idea quite clearly, Father! You after all, didn't deny them!"

"I also didn't confirm them, child," he snapped, "Think before you jump to a conclusion that you do not like!"

I softly cleared my throat, "A little clarification, please?"

Abigail glared at me, then sighed, "According to the writings of my ancestors, in time a child would be bore unto the Sunstone Family with ice white hair, eyes as red as flame and a complexion as fair as snow that would ascend or rather descend into vampirehood and herald great disaster upon to realm. The child shall be born of a union of the Religion State of Welsple and the kingdom of Reptiles and unto her great powers of magic most wild shall be bestowed. Father here was born in Welsple and raised in Polove before it turned extremely poor and mother is a Kingdom native and their union produced myself, with my ice white hair," this she flicked over her shoulder," flame red eyes, fair complexion and my magical powers are wild and of the storm. I have not succumbed to vampirism yet and it is a state that I do my utmost to avoid."

Her father groaned, "That explains it then. I should clarify for you daughter, something that I should have done long ago. The woman in question was my sister, your aunt whom you've never met. It was she who succumbed to vampirism after I left home and brought about in part the ruination of our family, at least in the eyes of the Order."

"And why didn't you tell me?!" Abigail asked waspishly.

"You never gave me a chance," he replied coldly. "That matter aside, if you both wish to prove yourselves in my eyes, then I have a job for you both."

"And that is?" Abigail replied.

Her father called for a servant, "Fetch me, William."

The servant bowed and vanished then a little while later reappeared with a wizard. He was young, with golden eyes, round glasses, tousled brown hair, a wooden staff and draping black robes and there was a cunningness to his demeanor that put me on edge.

"My lord," he bowed and then nodded to Abigail, "Student."

"William," The Archduke greeted him while Abigail glared, "Teacher," she said formally.

The wizard rolled out a map of the kingdom while the duke fixed us with his gaze.

"I came across an old legend from the depths of Reptile Kingdom lore; one that references a god fleeing from her life from the Chief God in ages past due to her more benevolent stance on monsters. A great Serpent of the rainbow that fled her home in the south and settled here in the kingdom to live out her days." He turned towards the map, "Now I don't believe the creature in question was a god, but the so-called Rainbow Serpent was rumored to have settled here," he indicated a remote region of the Reptile Desert far from any of the major settlements. "A temple complex is located here and I want you two to investigate and salvage whatever you can find, if possible, the body of the creature."

"And?" I asked, "We do the work, you reap the glory and rewards?" Abigail grabbed my wrist tightly in warning.

"No, boy," the old man rebuked, "I'm merely interested in the hide and flesh of the beast, which should still be there judging by the preservation magics that William picked up. Organs have no use and bones are merely display pieces, though a fang or two would be impressive trophies."

"Then, father," Abigail stated, "Whatever isn't hide nor flesh is ours to keep as a reward for the labor, yes?" She raised a fine eyebrow in challenge, daring him to refute her statement.

"That is correct."

"Well, when do you want us to leave?" She asked, "From what I can tell, it'll take us several months to get there."

William interjected, "I've left a teleportation circle there. My Lord has already had equipment and supplies packed and waiting in the teleportation room so you won't waste months just getting there."

"And it'll just be the two of you," The Archduke warned, "No one else. You're on your own once there. You leave immediately and I expect regular reports. You are dismissed."

We didn't have any time to argue, being escorted out immediately and given twenty minutes to gather our previous travelling gear before being escorted to the teleportation circle.

Before we knew it, we were both shoved unceremoniously into the center of the circle with all of the equipment and the circle flashed brightly. The next thing we felt was an incredible dry heat.

Looking around we were in the uppermost entrance of a temple or tomb complex, I couldn't tell which as it was a mixture of both, deep in a rocky desert. In the distance around us towered massive sand dunes and a river wound its way towards the horizon. The sun was setting and night would soon fall.

Abigail and I quickly discussed where we should set up camp. I advocated for outside in the open where we could see trouble coming and would have to worry about old ruins collapsing on us, while she argued for just inside the entrance where it was sheltered from the local wildlife, sandstorms, the heat of the day, the chill of the night and that William would have disabled or dealt with any outstanding issues before sending us. In the end, she won and we lugged our extra gear into the complex.

The complex was actually sturdier than it first appeared and we found a clear spot to set up the tents just outside a doorway to a large and prominent set of stairs. Setting up took time, and we had just managed to get a fire blazing as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

Like our previous experience in the desert, it cooled off rapidly and we huddled around the fire with blankets over our bodies to keep warm. A meagre meal of rehydrated pottage was our final meal of the day.

"First thing tomorrow, we find a more sheltered spot than this, an old bedroom or something," I remarked, shivering.

"Agreed," Abigail replied, at first not appearing to be bothered but the shaking of her hands showed that she too felt the chill of the night before standing up and grabbing some standing torches to ignite them with a hand torch after placing them around our little camp, muttering something that caused a flash around them that made them burn that much brighter.

I didn't ask, too grateful that we would have fire to ward off trouble. We sat up for a few more hours and watched as a full moon rose before turning in to our separate tents after stocking the fire well and feeding the torches.

The next morning, before the day heated up, we started to investigate. The outer hall where we were staying was barren and after several sweeps with some of the equipment, much of it magical, nothing was found. This left the stairs.

"There's nowhere else to go but down," Abigail stated. There was an excited, almost manic gleam in her eyes, eager to prove to her father that she was deserving of independence as an adult. I didn't say anything, but gripped my torch tighter and felt around for the hilt of my sword; drawing it from my back sheathe, this went against so many ingrained lessons for the Cordillera about cavernous places. Namely, don't go in, there just might be something inside that might think you are tasty.

Down we went, into the blackness, the light of the torch I carried the only warmth and our sole source of light until we reached a landing about fifty feet down. Here there were sconces, around twenty of them, that still contained fuel and I lit them one after another. The light of the flames illuminated the stairwell behind us enough that there was only a small section that was in shadow.

Before us lay a long hall that as we stood there began to light up with glowing crystal lamps. Scanning equipment in hand, we went down it.

The walls were carved from the rock of the desert and reliefs of Serpents and storms were common. One in particular was colored in with paint depicting the creature or goddess that we were after bringing rain to a dry desert. I noted this down on parchment as Abigail gently ran her fingertips over it, almost caressing it.

"Such a thing of beauty," she whispered, "After all this time and it's still here."

We left the carving behind and continued down to the end of the hall where we were stopped by a barrier of magic. Abigail started looking for some means of deactivating it while I tried going for the "hit it until it breaks" plan of attack. I shoulder-bashed it several times but merely bounced off of it receiving nothing but a sore shoulder for my troubles.

Abigail had more luck. "Aha!" she exclaimed, after dusting off a stone that jutted out from the wall on the right-hand side of the doorway, "Here is the deactivation circle. Now let me see," she ran her fingers over the stone trying to decipher the runes that make up the control surface, "Damnation! The deactivation rune has been destroyed and the system is mana-locked. I'll have to brute force this."

The next thing I knew was the feeling of an immense amount of mana gathering, like a pressure pushing me down, its focal point being Abigail's raised right hand. Her eyes glowed as she plunged her hand down towards the magic array which flared into the visible spectrum. As I watched, the mana that fed the array and kept the barrier active flowed up her arm and into her body almost as if she was actually feeding on it. The look of exulted ecstasy on her face proved to me that this was a true Sorceress. The magic pulsated as Abigail fed and the barrier flickered and then fell as she drained the last of it. Once it fell, Abigail swayed and braced herself, bent over, hands on her knees, her hair covering her face as she panted. As I approached, I caught sight of an evil smirk that played across her lips.

"Mhmhmh…ahahahahah…AHAHAHAHAHA!" As she stood, Abigail started laughing maniacally, her fingers curled into a clawing posture as she threw her head back at her full height. I stared at her with a deadpan look, which when she opened her eyes and caught, she froze. "Hmm?! Oh! Sorry, couldn't help myself, that just felt really good to flex my magic in such a way."

"What exactly did you do?" I asked her.

"Sorcerers like myself when trained in a certain manner can disable magic by feeding on the mana that powers it. It's a heady rush and feels really good when I do it, but it can drive magic users to evil in search of the ecstasy. I, myself have to be careful because my innate magical ability is extremely strong so in turn it is worse for me." She rubbed the back of her head in an embarrassed manner, "It sometimes gets away from me," she looked away, blushing in embarrassment.

I laid a hand on her shoulder, "It's fine, I was just startled, though the feeding on the mana was a little disturbing, feeling it pulse almost as if it were pulsing flesh. Though the evil act was kind of, well, really hot."

Abigail's face went completely red for a moment and then she calmed and smiled, "I can put on an act when I want to, but I think I'll save that for a later time."

"A time when you can get payback on certain people?" I asked cautiously.

The evil look returned and she cackled, "Hahahahahaha, I think so." An evil look came over her face, "I do believe I owe my teacher and father a little revenge and the evil sorceress act would work quite well." Her smile was all teeth and her eyes narrowed playfully.

"I'm afraid you'll have to do without a minion, though, my lady," I remarked with a grin, "I can't do Igor servitude if that reference makes any sense."

Abigail gave a little condescending but playful laugh, "Hehehehehe, it does makes sense. Father has such a lovely collection of tales."

We then entered the next room and our equipment went crazy. Apparently, magical artifacts or remnants of them abounded here, that or the entire room was laden with spells or traps.

"We need to move camp," I stated, "Better to be closer to where we are working than up near the surface where we could be easily hunted by any predator in the area."

"Hmm," She hummed and we retreated to pack camp. We left the torches set up at the top of the stairs to ward off anything coming down and set camp in the new room.

We then started to examine the area. It was massive, appearing to be some sort of antechamber or entrance hall carved from the rock of the desert. Great carved columns covered in reliefs of Serpents, Dragons, Storms, and a most ancient depiction of the Reptile King.

"This is a depiction that is ancient," Abigail murmured, "This Iconography hasn't been used in millennia well before the age of the Maou Lilith. The style is similar to that of the Aboriginal Peoples that lived here before even the ancestors of the Wyvarians first settled in these lands, but so much older. This could tell us so much, if we but had the years and proper experts to understand it." She turned to me in excitement, "This shatters so much of what we know of that time, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the rare examples of the old monsters that didn't eat humans wasn't so rare after all!"

I examined another column, this one collapsed, lying on its side after all these years, but still looked freshly carved. It detailed a civilization, protected by Dragons, guarded by the Rainbow Serpent, ruled by faith in the Reptile King and the Serpent.

"But what happened to it, then?" I asked moving to another area that was high in magic and uncovering an urn filled with magical gemstones, "They had all the water they could need, food was plentiful, even if they had to contend with the wildlife, they had no neighbors to war with, and they weren't concentrated in cities where disease could spread."

"That I don't know," Abigail answered, uncovering a chest full of sealed wine. She popped one open and tasted it, before quickly spitting it out. "Nasty. Not meant to age for millennium." She stood, turning to another one of the reliefs, "What I want to know is the relationship depicted here."

I wandered over and examined it. "It looks like a family tree, but of the different types of dragons. See? Here's that standard Dragon, branching off from that is the Wyvern, over here on this side is the Ryu and the Otohime."

"But the Rainbow Serpent is here as well, granted its far in the past and not directly related to any modern dragons but it's still here when it should be a snake or related to lamia," she responded.

"Another mystery," I pondered.

We agreed to put the matter to the side for a time, until we had more clues and set about cataloguing the items in the room. Abigail soon identified that much of the magic in this room and indeed possibly the complex was preservation magic to keep everything pristine and aside from the jewels that we found, there was nothing else. Until I tripped on something.

"What the heck?" I muttered as I knelt down and uncovered a tablet with three creatures inscribed on it. A snake, a dragon, and a wyvern from top to bottom.

"Looks like an answer key," Abigail said, examining it before I tucked it away in a bag.

"Well, whatever test it goes to, we haven't found yet. Let's go." I turned and headed to the far end of the chamber where a massive door waited. This had two pull rings and as one we tried pulling it open. Locked.

Abigail started casting spells to try and undo the locking mechanism or find whatever key was needed while I examined the doors. They were completely smooth except for a square panel that was subdivided into nine parts with etchings on eight of them. I leaned on one trying to think when I felt myself sliding. I looked and the panel had moved leaving an empty spot.

"Wait a minute," I whispered, "It can't be that simple." I immediately set about working, sliding small panels this way and that, lining up the etching lines as I went. Simon and Beatrice had a similar toy that they played with all the time when they were little. With the sound of clacking wood, the final etchings were in place creating a relief of the Rainbow Serpent. Not long after I solved it, I heard a thunking as though something had unlocked. I tried the door. It opened.

As it did, Abigail stopped and stared, "Really, a slide puzzle as a lock? Really?!"

I shrugged, "Sometimes the simplest thing can be the best option. People think that everything has to be complex or hard and overlook the basic."

The next few days were spent cataloguing and exploring the next few rooms which started to branch off the main hall. After two weeks, we had a basic map drawn when we came to a realization during a status update with Abigail's mentor, William.

"This place is a freaking palace! Between the guardrooms, cellars, and numerous servant quarters we've only scratched the surface! It's going to take time especially as the main hall is covered in all sorts of puzzles that we've had to solve and lost history to note down."

"Meaning what?" William asked through the mirror coldly, "That you can't do it?"

Abigail scowled at him and I finally snapped, "No you idiot wizard. This place is so damn ancient it's from before the Elves even settled by at least a thousand years. Half our time is spent trying not to lose or break anything just in case the Reptile King deems it valuable or would you rather us rush, break something and then when we get hauled in for damages throw your ass on the fire for making us rush?! Because the King obviously had some sort of interest in place if the repeated iconography is a tell."

William winced after I brought up the King. "No, no, go slowly then. I'd rather not be his next boredom victim."

"Good," Abigail murmured, "Because trying to decipher the lock for the next door is a challenge, the runes are almost half gone and I for one am close to just devouring the magic and shutting it down permanently. Now, are you ready for the artifacts to be sent over?"

"Not here," William squawked, "Your father neglected to inform you that he's hosting a very important meeting of mages and the Maou herself for a time before they leave for the Reptile Capital."

Abigail raised an eyebrow as William sighed and collapsed in his chair, "Look, Abigail, I know that we didn't part as student and teacher on the best of terms, but right now you need to believe me in that I have your interests at heart, at the very least your safety. Currently there are no human women whatsoever in the castle due to this meeting and every man here is married. They arrived not an hour after the two of you left and you both are single and virgins I hope."

"William!" We yelled.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, "Look it's a legitimate concern and right now we're trying to keep this from the Maou because if she hears of it, take a wild guess which group is going to try and show up first? And the First two guesses don't count."

"Sabbath," Abigail spat.

"Greilia's sub faction are the only ones I would dare even consider letting in here," I murmured as Abigail and William stared daggers at me before I explained, "They're healers; Vivian whom you've met, Abigail, trained with Greilia for a time and whatever they get up to in their free time, they're at the very least professional on the job, Greilia herself having lambasted a fool who showed up because of the overall reputation. Even then, I think Greilia herself is the only one I'd even consider."

Abigail hummed, "Healers have merit and considering I've met your sister, I'm inclined to believe you."

"Why is that?" William queried.

"His sister is the only case I'm aware of, of a woman being monsterized into a Velkhan."

"Elder Dragon sense and merit, they have an innate ability to sense the truth about things and don't lie," William muttered, "Just keep things organized and I'll discuss it in private with your father on whether to keep things there or send it off to storage."

"You mean, cram it inside the winter mansion that we never used in my entire life," Abigail responded.

"Or privately bring it up to the Maou herself with the Archduke with the request that a team of suitable Dark Mages be sent with a healer vetted and trusted personally by Greilia, possibly reach out to a particular Dark Mage by the name of Ariana," I added, "If something goes wrong here and we get injured, we'll need help, Rep forbid something collapses on one of us."

Abigail nodded her approval as William closed the transmission.

She turned towards me, "I though you Noricii hated the Sabbath?"

"Greilia's bunch I'll give leeway too considering she has been quoted on saying, "If you're here for the body type of the staff, OUT!" Otherwise, Sabbath in general I'd rather not deal with. Healers tend to get a little more slack in the mountains as their so damn valuable and that bunch know more about healing than anyone else and a proper research team is going to be needed to catalogue this place. I'm not a historian, and I won't ever be, but I can follow clues and clear safety zones for those that are. We need that team and soon. One bad column and we're both dead."

"Right. We should get cracking on that doorway however."

The door in question had a rune lock and Abigail still was puzzling over it. There was text that read, "To open, put the tiles in ascending order." Then a series of runes that Abigail didn't recognize. She pulled out a book and tried searching for anything she had overlooked.

I leaned against the tiles trying to think, wracking my brain for the answer when I happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye. My arm was resting atop part of one of one of the runes and I then realized something.

"Abigail? Come over here, I figured it out."

"How?" She asked as she examined it.

"The runes aren't runes, they're numbers and their mirror images that are touching."

"Wait," Abigail tried something, "The answer is just putting them in order from one to nine!" She quickly did so and with grinding stone the door lifted up as the magic activated.

We were both relieved and then astonished at what was revealed. We finally found living quarters of whatever lived here.

The room beyond was actually a massive cavern lit by crystals and covered in shelves laden with stone tablets. At the center was a great carved pillar which we rushed for. There the answer was revealed as to why this civilization had vanished. As usual the blame could be put at the feet of the monsters' old enemy, the Order and the Chief God. We decided to leave the column be and continue on, as several doors, smaller, human sized doors led away from this chamber. One of oak, the next ebony, the third ironwood, the fourth cedar, and the last iron.

I tried the oak one first, this creaking open. On the other side I found a beautiful bedroom, with finely carved furniture, a massive curtained bed that looked as if it had been made that morning aside from the very thick layer of dust and cobwebs, the floor was covered in a beautiful woven and dyed rug, everything in fact was dyed a brilliant shade of red, with purples mixed in. This was obviously the sleeping chambers of someone very important. Any paintings that would have been here were long gone and I carefully closed the door to see what Abigail had found.

She was in the next room, behind the ebony door.

"This is one amazing kitchen," she remarked as I entered, "I think everything here was heated by magic, to get fires going and keep things fresh."

For it's time, it must have been state of the art, but now it could be considered very primitive, though a time capsule to be studied. We left it behind to explore behind the ironwood door.

This opened to a winding tunnel that ended in a balcony carved into a red cliff-face overlooking the river. From the east, the river cascaded down into a wide canyon that was a stark contrast to the desert above. Lush jungle grew on its banks as the water went sharply from a muddy brown to a beautiful crystal clear. It was full of fish; birds of all types flew about and the banks were wide enough for farming or at the very least a private garden. I could hear the sounds of all sorts of wildlife, most of it reptilian, though birds too bounded. I made out just barely the shape of a crocodile basking on the banks. The mist from the waterfall cooled the balcony and below on ancient terraces palm trees swayed, it was a paradise.

"If I could, I'd make this my home in a heartbeat," Abigail remarked, "A private retreat where only those in the know could find me."

"Or a winter retreat to escape the Cordillera in mid-winter," I responded, "Get more people, trusted folks like the Hunters and carve out residences in the cliff face and this could be a place of quite healing, meditation and study and a perfect place to raise a family."

My companion chuckled to herself, "Anyone in particular on your mind?"

I flushed and was about to retort when she gave me a gentle shove, "I'm teasing, idiot."

Reluctantly, we left the balcony and went to open the fourth door. This opened into an office with a great wooden desk and looked remarkable similar to the Archduke's office with golden sconces that held glowing crystals, oaken bookshelves, a very fine carpet, maps of all sorts and all kinds of fancy items that you'd find in a well-off office.

"My, my, whoever had this office had good taste," Abigail said as she took a seat behind it, steepling her fingers. I choked on my spit, "Damn, put you in the right clothes and fit in perfectly as an evil villain or mastermind."

The smile I got in return sent shivers down my spine but then Abigail stood and we went to the iron door. We tried to open it but it wouldn't budge and we immediately looked around for a puzzle or some sort of control panel. Nothing. Abigail tested it for magic, and sure enough there was magic keeping it shut.

We had no way of opening it, then Abigail suggested the option that could be extremely hazardous considering the level of magic on this door.

"I'll have to drain it," Her face was grim, know that she could easily get overwhelmed by the power. Before I could stop her, she started gathering mana into her hand again and then plunged it at the door. The barrier flashed and the pulsating flesh sound filled the air as she drained the mana from it. Abigail began to gorge on the mana, her eyes beginning to glow. Then all of a sudden, the door swung open and the magic dispersed. Abigail collapsed, but just before she hit the floor, I caught her. She was still conscious, though breathing heavily. I waited for her to regain her strength and she finally stood as her eyes stopped glowing and the extra mana dispersed from her body for some unknown reason.

"I'm alright," she said, breathing heavily through her nose, "That sudden cut off stopped the drain and dispersed all the extra mana." She stood and dusted off her traveling clothes and we entered to doorway.

We found stairs leading downwards, lit up by eerie green crystals, curving downwards into the depths. Following it, we descended.

It was a long way down, but finally we entered a chamber at the bottom, lit up by the same green crystals. It looked like a lab of some sort, glassware, decanters, cauldrons, even an athame. On the stone worktable there was an envelope.

As we approached it, a dark area in the back lit up with a soft white light revealing a massive serpent's corpse, perfectly preserved.

This great snake was bigger than any Titanoboa, larger than even some of the smaller dragons covered in beautiful scales that started blue at the head and transitioned through every color imaginable all the way to the tip of its tail.

"We found it," Abigail breathed, "But how is it still here and not rotted away to a skeleton?"

I motioned to the envelope on the table, "Maybe that will have the answers we seek."

Abigail strode over and picked it up, blew the dust off of the cover and opened it, pulling out at letter on parchment.

"Greetings from the past, brave explorers. I the Rainbow Serpent greet you. By the time you read this I will have most assuredly have passed into the beyond, but it is my hope that the two of you will be able to make use of what I leave behind," She began, "How did the Serpent know?"

"I don't know, keep reading, maybe it'll say."

"As I write this now, I can already feel my life beginning to fade away, but in these last words I write in this experimental half-human form I congratulate you both in solving the puzzles and breaking the barriers that I personally set for the two of you alone and as your reward I bequeath you everything in this complex and the palace, my home for the past thousand years. I will spare a little time to preemptively answer questions that I no doubt are on your mind, the first of which is how I knew it would be the two of you in particular. The answer to that is that you must remember, my people who once lived here believed that I existed everywhen, in part due to a small amount of clairvoyance. While I could never learn your names, I was able to set the tests above for you and prepare magic to preserve this complex, my palace. My last-ditch attempt to spite the Chief God and the Order who destroyed my people when my dear friend the King of Reptiles was elsewhere and not able to help. As to the puzzle of the dragons, I will say this, I am a dragon, of a type, not a snake, the last of my kind, ascended almost to godhood, but wished to not be immortal, though the mantle of the Rainbow Serpent will be passed on."

"I can't believe the Serpent took the time to write this for us," Abigail whispered.

I took the letter from her and continued reading, "Here below the palace you find yourself in my lab and soon tomb, I apologize for the evil lair look, a certain old lizard decided to play a prank on me one day and I could not remove it. But that is not important. When you arrive, you will find my corpse, do with it as you see fit, for I will have no need of it. I have placed spells that will help you in the disassembling and carving of my corpse. For the young sorceress, on the far-right worktable there are large crystal jars, the substance within is for you as well as a note on a matter you may not want read aloud. I wish you well in life as my life ends."

As I finished, we both stood there, for a time in silence, solemn, in respect for this great being. Then we returned to break camp and move everything down to the cavern.

This took several hours, but we managed and then got to carving cleaning the great serpent. First came the skin, and what a skin it was; the scales weren't large, but the size of a standard snake scale. I went to plunge a skinning knife into the nose of the serpent but as soon as I nicked the skin, a wave of magic slammed through and in one great blast, peeled the skin off, dried it and folded it up. Glad I didn't have to do that; I collected the organs that were exposed and packed them away in brine while Abigail investigated the lab. This was a very, very nasty job, and I felt disgusting afterwards, very glad when I sealed the last bit of intestine into a barrel. When I got around to starting to carve up the flesh, I examined the head, which was more like that viper, though sleeker, a slenderer arrow shape compared to the broadhead that all other vipers had. I found something that disturbed me, venom glands, very large ones that were quite full. These I carefully extracted, tying off the ends so that nothing would leak out.

I was very careful to mind my footing now that I saw this. I did not want to find out what that venom did. I called Abigail over from her investigation.

"What do you think, any use for eyeballs?" I asked her. She was quite red in the face, I assumed because I was shirtless for this messy job. She didn't look at me when she answered, keeping her gaze fixed on the corpse.

"Take them. I'll find a use."

"Abigail," I said abruptly, "Everything alright, you've seen me without a shirt before, remember, in the swamp?"

"It's not that!" She squeaked, "There was another, personal gift for me hidden on the worktable, one from one woman to another. That kind of thing." Ah, I didn't pry, at least until she winced as she turned, rubbing her chest.

"Abigail…," I hesitated, not wanting to get slapped.

"It's fine, it's, uhm, well the magic I devour can sometimes have an effect on certain anatomical parts of a woman and it appears that my chest, well, benefited from that so it's a little sore and tight."

I glanced over her, I didn't notice any change, but then again it probably didn't take too much growth in that area to feel uncomfortable considering her shirt was already tight.

"Alright, if you say it's fine, I'll not pry."

I got back to carving. There was no magic to help here and so it took many hours to complete and Abigail had to give me several stimulant potions to stay awake as there was no place to get clean that we had found yet and we wanted this done now. When I finally finished after six hours of work another blast of magic cleaned off the bones and dried them.

"Yuck," I muttered, "Abigail, got any spells for cleaning up?!"

"There's one, brace yourself."

I watched as her eyes crackled with magic and she flicked her hand sending a controlled torrent of soapy water at me. I held my breath as the water swirled around me, scrubbing me clean followed by clear clean water to rinse the soap off. This then vanished and I stood there, soaked as can be panting when a blast of hot air dried me off. I put my shirt back on and we returned to camp to see if we could update William and get everything out of here.

I started the campfire and our meal while Abigail called William. The conversation was quick, William being very startled at our quick completion and soon teleported in.

"Well, I see you managed it. You mentioned a letter?"

I handed it over to him and he quickly perused it.

"Hmm, well ancient bequeaths will probably have to be verified by the Reptile King's office, but for now this should be written proof. Well, then where's the beast?" Abigail stood and escorted him down to the lab.

I had just finished cooking when they returned, William looking very pleased.

"On my end, a deal's a deal, but if you both don't mind, I'd like to explore for a bit. The guests are getting a little on my nerves and the Maou's pet Baphomet decided to show up. I should be able to handle some of the cleaning of dust, something my former student has trouble with casting."

He vanished into the bedroom, whistling as he went. I glanced at Abigail who just rolled her eyes and started eating. By the time he returned, we had finished and were about to turn in.

"The bedroom is cleaned and there is a washroom attached if anyone wants to use that luxury. Now if you'll excuse me, these stone tablets are mighty interesting."

Abigail looked at me and I just waved her away, "Go, enjoy the bed. Have some time to yourself."

She smiled and rushed off, shutting the oaken door behind her. I turned in and was soon out.

I felt much better when I woke up, well rested and ready to figure out where everything was going to go. I heard voices outside and exited my tent. The Archduke had shown up, I assumed William must have gotten him and they were in discussion while Abigail stood off to the side with a frown on her face.

I approached her, "What's going on?"

"Quibbling over semantics. Father is considering bequeathing me the old winter mansion until ownership of this place is verified. William is advocating that the personal chambers should at the very least belong to us as written in the letter until the rest is confirmed and they're trying to figure out where everything is going to be stored."

She sat herself down near the fire and we waited while they argued, eventually coming to a decision.

"Abigail, until everything is settled, just consider the personal chambers here as yours, we need the King himself, or at least his secretary to confirm the letter for the rest of it. Everything on our end of the deal will be stored at the winter mansion, whatever you want to keep will stay here. I now have to figure out what I'm going to do with seventy meters of Rainbow Serpent skin."

Abigail cleared her throat, "Father, you still owe me a birthday present. I want at the very least a few pairs of heels made from the skin, one in green and the other blue."

"Very well, I'll have them made. Now as to the rest of the treasures here, the historical stuff, I've called the Reptile College's Historical Department. They'll send a team out to take care of the rest, make sure you set spells for areas you don't want them to touch."

"That will be quite simple father, the first and third, fourth and fifth doors will have to be warded, though this big chamber, once they're done, and ownership is verified it would make a wonderful throne room." She purred, "And I believe this was proof enough for our little issue a few weeks ago, yes?"

The old man grumbled, but agreed as William sent him home.

"I'll ward the doors for you, Abigail before I take everything to storage. You'll be returning to your travels soon?"

"After I explore that lab some more and have a few days in an actual bed and bond with my new, what's the term that is going around the commoner villages right now, ah yes, my new boyfriend."

William shook his head and quickly warded the doors in question barring passage for anyone but the two of us, then disappearing with the hide, flesh and the extra equipment. We packed the tents and our usual traveling gear and deposited it in the bedchamber. I found tucked underneath a rollout trundle bed.

"Well, I guess I'll be sleeping either there or in the office tonight."

"No," Abigail stated, "You'll be sleeping in the bed, with me, like we do when we're on the road."

I spluttered, protesting, "Abigail, your father may have agreed for me to be able to be your boyfriend, but sleeping together, he'll have my head on a pike! I'll sleep on the trundle."

Her flame red eyes grew cold and crystalline as she strode forwards, making use of her height advantage to stare me down, "In the bed. With me, like on the road. Understand?!"

"Abigail-," I started, then stopped as she grabbed me tightly under the jaw, her raised eyebrow daring me to keep speaking.

"You will be in the bed, with me. I am the noble here, you WILL do as I want. Am I clear?" She asked very coldly, releasing her grip so I could answer.

"Yes, Abigail," I answered. She quirked her eyebrow even higher.

So, she wanted that then.

"Yes, mistress," I groveled, doing my best Igor impression, "Forgive this humble one. Shall I wash your fair feet with my own tongue in penance?" I hazarded a glance at her face.

"Mhmhmh…ahahahahah…AHAHAHAHAHA!" Abigail leaned back, her fingers curled into claws, her head thrown back as she laughed evilly. Considering she was still in her traveling clothes and not a dress the effect was kind of ruined.

"Alright, alright, evil mastermind, cool it," I muttered, "The scene didn't have the right atmosphere for that."

"Oh," she purred, "And what was missing?"

I smirked, "First off, your clothing, you're in a long-sleeved white shirt that fits rather tightly, black trousers, and leather heeled boots, you need something more, evil sorceress in theme, one of those dresses you noble ladies wear, a black cloak, and really a pair of high heels that aren't boots. Second, look where we are, underground, you need to be standing on top of a crenellation at the very top of a tower overlooking a dark fortress on a cliff with a thunderstorm raging and the wind howling. You might want to consider a little makeup or at the very least paint your nails red or black, even a dark blue could work, and would probably work better with your complexion."

"And what, pray tell," Abigail purred dangerously, "Gave you all these ideas?"

I nervously scratched the back of my head, blushing in embarrassment, "Vivian went through a stage when we were kids and as the little brother, I got roped into being minion until Dad finally had enough of high pitched, off-key cackling. Don't bring it up to her, she gets embarrassed when people bring it up. Mom said it was just a stage all girls went through but I took it with a grain of salt. Makes me wonder about Beatrice though."

Abigail laughed, a genuine one, "Vivian, the newest Velkhan, cool, calm and collected had a villainess stage? That's a surprise."

"It lasted months and none of my friends would dare come around during that time," I grumped, "A nine-year-old girl playing villainess? Any six-year-old boy in his right mind would have bolted if he could. I was always grabbed before I could though."

She pulled me in and chastely kiss me on the forehead, "And we shall morn for that lost innocence. Now come on, I intend to examine that lab in more detail."

I humored her and followed. Cataloging the lab took some time and Abigail knew more about it than me. The entire day in fact. During that time the research team showed up and after warning them about the doors that were warded, I let them at it. It was around this time that Abigail squealed in glee.

I rushed down the stairs and found that she had discovered a large hidden room filled with treasure. Gems, both magical and not, coins, gold and silver bars, goblets, plates, jewelry, mirrors, tapestries, rugs, furniture, statues, carvings, it was a dragon's horde of things. There was even clothing, all of it horrible out of fashion that Abigail took one look at and stated, "Give these to the research team, please."

I gathered up the clothes and hauled them upstairs and to the research team saying, "The few things we don't want in the warded chambers, how about putting them in a museum? Oh, and go and examine the kitchen if you have time, in fact, try to dismantle it, it's so old it's not worth trying to use."

I pointed it out to them and a few of the younger members were sent to survey the site as I returned to Abigail. We kept the treasure room as it was until we had more time to examine everything and put it to use or in the case of the coins, get them melted down and reminted by the Kingdom, though I took a gold ring with a deep red gem that swirled with an unbound transformative magic place on it.

"Maybe it'll keep the King from pranking us into oblivion when that letter crosses his desk, returning all this gold for the economy," Abigail half-heartedly said, before we shared a look, "Nah, no chance in hell."

"He'll probably do it because of the large amount of gold being returned," I said, "Doesn't he have a Dragon wife and we know what they do around gold."

A few more hours of cataloguing and Abigail managing to identify most of the potions and liquids stored in here and we finally decided to go eat something and rest.

Going to bed was awkward, sort of. Now we had shared the same shelters many times on the road, and there was the banyan tree, but at that time we were in our traveling clothes and we weren't using the exact same bedrolls like we were this bed.

I cleaned up and changed first as Abigail grabbed something from the lab and then she darted into the washroom. I then settled myself onto of the blankets and started writing in my journal.

Just as I was starting the outlines of some rough sketches of a few of the plants we had come across, I heard the sound of slippers on carved stone. I turned to my right and standing there, her hair completely free after these weeks of having it in a braid, freshly washed and in an elegant emerald green silk night gown that contrasted and highlighted her snow-white skin, was Abigail.

I couldn't describe the beauty standing in front of me, for all of her normal maturity, there was a pureness in this moment as she gently smiled, her eyes twinkling like stars in the night sky. My heart was pounding and my face burned, I wanted to avert my eyes but couldn't.

"Blush anymore and your head will explode!" Abigail teased lightly, bending down over the bed, giving me a lovely display of her sizable cleavage.

I spluttered, not knowing what to say or do as she laughed at me, her voice tinkling like wind chimes or bells ringing with that clear musical note that was always hinted in her voice.

She stood and turned a self-satisfied smirk on her beautiful face and I heard her slip off her slippers as she sat on the massive bed. It was at this point I realized that her night gown was shorter than normal, only coming to around mid to upper thigh. She slid her long legs up and onto the bed, the magical glow from the crystals that illuminated this place dully reflecting off of her smooth skin, where not a single hair made its residence. It was here in the pure white light of the crystals that I realized exactly how fair her skin was. In the light of the sun, her skin tone reflected that warmth, but here I saw that it was actually a colder tone, almost like that of Vampire or Wight. But it had the life to it that the skin of the undead does not, a current of warmth that created enough contrast so that her skin was merely cool in tone, not cold dead. A stunning look that went well with her coloration.

Abigail smiled at my staring and cleared her throat, jolting me out of my observations. I jumped and quickly put away my journal and pencil.

She grabbed my hand then and placed it on her leg, "Here, feel you sexually suppressed boy." She flashed me a teasing smile. Like the other times she allowed, or rather forced me to touch places on her, her skin was silky smooth and cool to the touch, though I felt the heat of her blood running underneath.

We sat there for a time, relaxing and for me, getting used to close contact with a woman in her actual nightclothes. Then I tried to hide a yawn as Abigail smiled knowingly, though she too had sleep rising in her eyes.

"Bed, then," she whispered softly, her eyes half-lidded. Slowly, gracefully, sinuously, she lifted her legs and as though she was taking the moment to pose for a painting, tucked them underneath the sheets as she stretched, showing off her slenderness and sizable chest as it bounced as she slipped underneath. I quickly shot under the sheets with far, far less grace than Abigail and she softly giggled as I huddled on the far side of the bed.

The glowing crystals blinked off and I laid there, tense, not moving as Abigail rolled around on the other side to get a comfortable position. I felt a foot touch the back of my leg and toes tickle me and I instantly locked up then the feeling went away.

I eventually relaxed but stayed to one side of the bed, however, any intention of sleeping without touching came to nothing as Abigail pressed herself up against me.

Her thin nightgown allowed me to feel everything and she pressed herself tightly to me. While it was pitch black, I could see in my mind's eye the satisfied grin that she no doubt wore and the gleam in her eyes at this perfectly planned move. I felt a slender arm snake it's way around me and before I blanked out, a pleased feminine chuckle from my companion.