For Binxie. For Ogre John.

  After Maggy explained why she was looking for The Drake, John and Gummy quickly became bored and left to train. Sharilla and Destiny offered to give Maggy and Tammy a tour of the dungeon. They started by walking down the entrance that the goblins used to reach the communal gathering, mining, crafting, and agricultural dungeons she had set up. Destiny then showed them some examples of the instanced dungeons she could create for mixed combat/gathering-mining. Tammy asked why anyone would use the mixed dungeons instead of the communal ones.

  “Dungeon law. Everything has to have a difficulty. If you add in a chance of combat, then the ease of finding a resource can be increased. The higher the chance of combat or the difficulty of the combat, the easier it is to find valuable resources. The dwarves often use these to train their lower leveled fighters while their miners work” Destiny explained and then opened a portal to take them to the wonder via her core room.

  When Maggy stepped out of the portal she took a deep breath, basking in the high essence as she placed one of her foreclaws against the essence vein. When she turned and saw the pedestal holding Destiny’s core, she froze for a second. “Destiny, is that your core?” Tammy whipped around and looked between Maggy and the core and suddenly seemed very tense.

  “Yes. That is also the pedestal John found me on. It gives me a 10% increase to essence absorption. John says it was a gift from the meddling gods.”

  “Destiny. It is not my place to order you, but I must insist that you seal off all access to this area and never let anyone besides John in here again. You are risking too much.” Maggy said. Tammy relaxed and turned back to admiring the essence vein.

  Sharilla laughed. “You’re much faster than me. I was so scared of John that I wandered in and out of here for a week before I even thought of how dangerous it was to give me access. When I finally mentioned it, Destiny showed me what was behind those two walls and let me in on the empire’s biggest secret.”

  “The empire?” Maggy asked

  Sharilla laughed again. “The Drake Empire. Do you make a habit of challenging the gods?”

  “Of course, not.”

  “Neither do I, so when Destiny pointed out that the god’s made John an Emperor and that she assumed there must be a reason they did, that’s all I needed to hear to decide that we need to plan on becoming an Empire despite the deficiencies of our leader.”

  Destiny continued for her, “John is focused on securing the essence of this planet and protecting it from the sects. However, we cannot do that by just controlling the dungeon and the main essence veins.”

  “Or even just the whole planet.” Tammy added.

  “Yes. The sects have ships that can destroy entire planets. Do you think they are going to just leave us alone if John refuses to let them mine our essence?”

  “So we need to lay the groundwork. Expansion, education, training, support, legislation, taxation, commerce, governance, agriculture, transportation, military. The list is endless.” Maggy said thinking to herself.

  “I’m glad you said we, because we definitely need some help. Have you or any of your ladies had experience with trading?” Sharilla asked.

  “Yes, that was one of the responsibilities I had for my husband’s business.” Maggy replied.

  “And by business, you mean kingdom.” Sharilla interjected and Tammy once again became very still. “Relax. Destiny has purchased many upgrades and one of which lets her know details about the people that enter her dungeon. That’s how she learned John is an emperor and you are a Royal Dragon which is what gave us the hope that you could help us with a little problem we have.”

  “What is your problem?”

  “Our problem...” Sharilla said. “It’s easier for you to see it, then it is for us to explain.” Destiny opened another portal. Maggy followed Tammy through into an enormous room with weapons and armor piled high. There were goblins that identified as dungeon creatures sorting through and pulling out items to take to other goblins that were sitting at desks with large crystals.

  Maggy quickly realized what was going on. “You’re selling loot on the exchange?”

  “Not just any loot.” Sharilla said as one of the dungeon goblins brought over a shield and held it out for Maggy to examine.

  “Essence imbued. Even this low level gear would be worth a fortune.”

  “And this doesn’t include what the dwarves are selling us.”

  “The dwarves?” Maggy asked.

  “John was annoyed by a settlement of dwarves that thought they could take control of me, so he had me conquer them.”

  “And John took the survivors as slaves…but you said they are selling it to you?”

  “John doesn’t like slaves. He says they never reach their full potential. And they all survived, he just forced them to join the empire. Of course, he lets anyone that wants to leave go, but they all decided to stay when he offered to purchase any good quality or higher weapons or armor they produce and showed them around the dungeon.”

  “Wait…you said you conquered them, but they all survived. How did you do that? Wait…did you steal their alcohol.”

  “That is the empire’s greatest secret. John is not dumb. He’s just … different … in a really scary way once you realize it. And yes. We did steal their alcohol” Destiny answered. “How much time do you have left?”

  “I’m sorry? Time?” Maggy asked

  “2 hours 45 minutes.” Tammy answered.

  “We better hurry then. I’ll just show you the scenario John and Gummy are running as an example of our combat instances.” A portal opened and the group stepped through into a room overlooking a battlefield. John stood in the middle of an open field casting spells at a small army of slimes, orcs, goblins, beasts, and masked humans. In the distance, a mass of bladed tentacles was tearing through the last of a group of ranged units. John’s staff shortened and grew blades on both ends as he switched to melee and used a dash skill to keep himself out of trouble until Gummy could come from behind and pincer the remaining troops.

  When they finished, John and Gummy seemed to be having a discussion with John talking and Gummy creating small models out of his body. After the short discussion, John put his hand on a crystal that had risen out of the ground and the pair were surrounded by a large force of melee units. Gummy used tentacles to strap John to his back and the dove into combat with John seeming to take on the role of crowd control for Gummy’s assault.

  “John has amazing control and coordination with his companion.” Maggy said.

  “I don’t know if he actually controls him. I believe they just think similarly.” Destiny replied. “But you’d better get going. I’m sure your family is worried. Think about our offer and we can show you around more when you have more time.” She opened a portal, but quickly closed it before opening a different one. “I forgot to show you the Wonder. This will just take a couple minutes.

  Maggy once again followed Sharilla and Tammy through the portal onto a walkway overlooking an immense training facility full of dwarves, goblins, and a few orcs. Destiny did something and two control crystals appeared behind them. “This is the world wonder that John discovered and I took from him when he…when he annoyed me. Place your hand on the crystal and you’ll understand.”

  Maggy and Tammy placed a claw on the crystal and were greeted with a menu:

  Welcome To Destiny’s Amphitheatre. Please choose one of the following to train:

  Flight

  Breath

  Stats

  Skills

  Spells

  Another portal opened and the dragons said their goodbyes to Destiny and Sharilla. As they rose over the mountain, Tammy turned to Maggy and said, “Those two aren’t normal. John fights like he’s done it for centuries and the slime is a one man army.”

  “John just used his first name on the leaderboard and is in 5th place. 2 and 3 are probably lionkin and 4 is an orc. So I’m assuming the slime listed himself as Xeno. I think we should follow the god’s guidance and join them, but how do we explain it to the others?”

  “Like they did us. Just show them. I wouldn’t even try explaining. Keep Donel on a tight leash, so she doesn’t try to beat up John and force him to bind her also.”

  Maggy laughed. “She does hate being weaker than her little brother. Having both of them immortal would be nice, but we can’t ask John to give up that much strength again.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Two days later, the eight dragons landed in the clearing in front of the keep. This time the large ogre just waved, but the small goblin with the wooden armor walked over and glared at them until he noticed Bill and Donel. Walking up to Bill he pointed at himself and said, “Binxie.”

  Bill nodded and said, “Nice to meet you Binxie. I am Bill and this is my sister Donel.” as he held out his hand as John, Gummy, and Destiny appeared out of a portal as Binxie bent over and grew vines forming a dragon shape. He held out his hand and Bill’s eyes went wide with excitement. Donel…well…Donel did what she always did and attacked. “No fire Donel.” Courtney called out as the dragon and the vine dragon wrestled.

  Gummy changed his shape to something that looked like a melting chameleon and walked over to Bill and opened his mouth in a silent roar. Bill studied him closely, but did nothing else. Gummy put his foreclaws on Bill’s shoulders and silent roared again. Bill let out a small puff of lightning breath, so Gummy opened his mouth and tried to slap Bill with a tentacle tongue. Bill flipped Gummy over his shoulder, but Gummy pulled Bill along with him as they went flying.

  “Well. The kids seem to be adjusting well.” John said as he watched Bill and Gummy squirm around. Gummy was obviously trying to only match Bill’s strength and speed, but Bill always stayed one step ahead of him squirming out from under Gummy’s attempts to pin him. Donel and Binxie were still rolling around with Binxie holding his own by matching Donel’s ferocity with shameless cheating of growing extra arms, legs, and tails.

  The maids all did what John assumed was the dragon version of kneeling as he turned to them. “Never serve someone who demands you kneel. Never trust someone who kneels before you. Stand up ladies.” The maids glanced at Maggy who nodded and they rose.

  Bill squeaked as Gummy gave up on his melting chameleon form and coated his body around Bill’s from his neck to his tail. He then stood up and moved Bill like a puppet doing some sort of weird dance where he moved his hips from side to side and swung his arms back and forth. Donel apparently didn’t like seeing her brother treated this way and tried to attack only to be met with a flurry of tentacles. Not wanting to be left out, vine dragon Binxie jumped over and began battling Gummy’s tentacles with vines.

  “I wanted to thank you for letting us join you John…” Maggy started to say, but John waved her off.

  “Think nothing of it. There’s a lot to be done around here and I sure as heck don’t want to do it.” John seemed to think for a second before he continued. “Hey, don’t you dragons gain leveling essence from your hoard? Get with Destiny to work out some way for you to be the official owner of our loot and treasury. Just make sure she has a way to get what she needs. Gummy and I need to get back to…”

  John was interrupted by a flash of lightning as Bill had apparently had enough of being Gummy’s puppet. Gummy turned back into a puddle then formed a tombstone that said, “RIP, Gummy, 1985-2062.” Donel laughed from her back and Binxie smiled. Holy crap. Binxie can smile. Bill seemed to be analyzing Gummy again.

  “Training. Destiny can get you set up.” John said as he walked off and Gummy followed him. However, Donel saw him starting to leave and she jumped in front of him and pointed at her chest and said, “Strong.”

  “Yes. You are quite the dragon and growing stronger every day.”

  Donel shook her head and said, “No. Make stronger… please.”

  John was confused, but Maggy explained. “Donel. We talked about this. It takes too much of his strength. We can’t ask this of John.”

  Finally figuring out what was going on, John said, “It’s no problem. I would consider it an honor.” He made a companion crystal and held it out.

  “Are you sure, John?” Maggy asked, but it was pointless. Maggy jumped and swallowed the crystal from John’s hand. John laughed, “Yes. It’s fine.” He said as he saw an icon of a red dragon appear in his interface.

  A few days later, John left a combat scenario to go to the wonder and work on a multi-target lightning spell for close combat. Binxie walked in a little bit later and headed for the crystal but turned and walked over to Bill who was currently trying to figure out how to get the spell components properly adjusted. Binxie walked around him looking at the spell John was holding then asked, “multi-target, close range?” John nodded and Binxie took out a stick of charcoal and began writing on some paper he also pulled out.

  A few minutes later he handed the paper to John and said, “single power source. Targeting.” while pointing at the small circle and larger circle around the elemental component before walking to the control crystal.

  John looked at the sheet of paper and held a cast of lightning bolt. He adjusted the targeting to match the drawing and released it. A sheet of lightning erupted around him. John then did it again, but made globes instead of circles and released it. This time lightning erupted all around him and he received the notice:

  Spell Learned: Lightning Nova

  “Thanks Binxie.” John shouted and received a thumbs up. A dwarf close to John grumbled something about trying to concentrate and John sent a lightning bolt over his head while the dwarf ducked.

  *****

  Simba and his troops were entering a mountainous region about 9 day’s worth of travel from their protectee when he received an alert and everybody stopped and spread out. Simba continued to the front of the order of movement with his detachment and awaited more info from the scouts.

  “Orc horde. Estimate 3 days ahead of us. Heading towards principal.” he also received a map update with an estimation of the horde’s location.

  Simba growled in frustration and adjusted the scouts in his interface ordering them to find the fastest way to the protectee while avoiding contact with the horde. He also sent an update to his father and his sub-unit commanders. Boris nodded and T growled until Boris turned his way and he ducked his head. Dred looked worried as usual.

  *****

  John looked around the wonder and for the first time noticed all the orcs. “Hey Destiny?”

  “Yes, John?”

  “Where are these orcs coming from?”

  “Apparently a horde integrated onto this planet and some were able to escape.”

  “How are they fitting in topside?”

  “Not bad. Most live in a settlement not far from where the dragons had their hide. Some are working on their crafting or hunting, while others are taking a more combat oriented path. Only problem is the coliseum.”

  “What’s going on there? Wait…what coliseum?”

  “We built a coliseum two weeks ago, John.”

  “And”

  “Well, one of the orcs is a bit too strong for fair competition. Usage is dropping and skill improvement is very low.”

  “I’ll check it out.” John said and Destiny made a portal for him. When John stepped through, he was surprised. The keep had expanded a lot. There was a market and food vendors and …there it is. John spotted what he assumed was the coliseum. As he entered the stands, he saw the avatar of a large orc beheading another orc’s avatar.

  “Who is next to challenge the mighty Gorlac?”

  “I will.” John said.

  The orc squinted and identified him then laughed. “Sit down old man. This is no place for farmers.”

  John paused but quickly realized one of his empirical skills was still set to show him as a farmer. “Is the mighty Gorlac scared of an old man and his stick?”

  Gorlac laughed again, “Okay, old man, it's your credits.” And he pointed at the control crystal opposite his. John placed his hand on his controller and deposited 10 credits. His consciousness transferred to an avatar standing a few feet away from Gorlac.

  “You ready?” Gorlac asked and John nodded. Gorlac charged forward with his axe raised high for an overhead strike. John stepped aside at the last second and removed Gorlac’s head with the glaive he now held.

  “Didn’t get any skill gains from that, did you?” John asked. “I barely did either. Let’s go again.” John said as he transferred 10 credits to Gorlac who nodded and placed his hand on his controller. This time Gorlac put away his heavy axe and selected two smaller axes. John also switched his armory to twin axes. Gorlac charged, but feinted this time before attacking. John sidestepped one swing and parried the next.

  “Now if I was an accomplished gladiator who wanted to continue polishing his skills while making some extra money, what i would do is…” John said while ducking beneath a swing and then jumping over the next. “On defense adjust to be just a little faster than my opponent and just a little stronger. On offense, I would try to be just a little slower and weaker. This would allow for multiple exchanges”

  They continued fighting as John spoke. “I would make sure to counter my opponents when they made a mistake, so that they would learn from them. But do it in a way that would allow them to counter my counter. I would focus on form and technique. Let my opponent get a feel for what was working and what wasn’t.” Gorlac was changing the pace and making his feints more elaborate, but John remained a step ahead of him.

  “This way, we could both advance multiple skills. If I was a true champion, I might even make a business of it. If I could help people advance their skills by multiple levels, they would gladly pay to spar me.” John said as he dove over Gorlac and swung at his back pacing it perfectly to meet Gorlac’s spinning block.

  Over the next several minutes, John felt Gorlac getting better. He paid more attention to his balance and began to be able to anticipate John’s moves, so John picked up the pace and took the offensive for a while driving Gorlac around the ring, but never scoring a finishing blow. After a few minutes of that, he shifted back to defense.

  Finally after a half hour, he blocked and countered Gorlac, making him stumble and beheaded him again. This time John walked over to Gorlac and said, “I might even give a few weeks free training to prove my worth.” John then transferred 10,000 credits to Gorlac and walked from the coliseum after bowing to the group of young goblins that were cheering for him. “Destiny. Make sure Gorlac and any other skilled fighters have what they need if they wish to train others.”

  Gorlac just stood there in shock as he now possessed 100 times more wealth then he ever had in his life.

  *****

  Ogre John and Binxie had taken the older goblin children and baby ogre out to the woodline outside of the keep to play for a couple hours. As the kids explored for a while, they slowly made their way to a patch of fruit producing bushes that they had discovered while on a previous outing. The goblin children ate berries and tussled around while baby ogre ate berries and threw rocks at anything that moved that wasn’t a goblin. And yes, that included Ogre John. Baby Ogre had figured out that high level targets increased his throwing skills faster.

  Ogre John didn’t mind as he casually caught the stones and carefully tossed them back to baby ogre. Baby Ogre had thrown a stone at Binxie once, but quickly learned not to do that that if he planned on sitting comfortably any time in the next week.

  Ogre John reached down to grab a berry for himself when he felt a punch in his right shoulder. Confused, he turned and saw a crude dagger sticking out of his shoulder and an orc with a red handprint on his face get his nose smashed by a stone. Ogre John roared and sent the orc flying with a kick, but another orc nearly cut his arm off with an ax and another knife went into his side. Stones flew in, striking the ogres away, giving Ogre John a chance to get his balance.

  Binxie sent vines to pull all the children away to safety and sent them running with a finger pointed towards the keep. Binxie sent a vine to pull himself into a tree, but took an arrow to his armor and swung wildly. Ogre John pulled out a club and positioned himself between the children and the orcs that were still coming out of the woodline. Binxie had fallen to the ground, but rose to his feet and was battling two orcs that had gotten around the enormous club somehow.

  Ogre John kept swinging at the orcs around him as he tried to get in position to free Binxie to run when he noticed that the stones were still flying in from behind the goblin. Ogre John turned to jump towards Binxie as he yelled, “Run”, but a spear went deep into his left lung. Blackness began closing in, but Ogre John didn’t want to let Harmony down. She would follow him to hell and torment him for all eternity if anything happened to her baby.

  Binxie screamed as another orc appeared and sunk an ax deep into his back. Baby ogre charged in and smashed the orc’s head with two rocks. Binxie used his vines to hold up the orc with a sword and shield, long enough for baby ogre to begin pelting him and the other orc with stones.

  Ogre John felt both his hamstrings get cut and more arrows pierce his chest as he fell to the ground swinging, knocking back the orcs closest to him. His eyes met baby ogre’s as the kid advanced, throwing stones as he came. Suddenly lightning and tentacles filled the air and ogre John closed his eyes with a final thought. Damn good kid.

  *****

  Gummy grabbed the last of the orcs and smashed him ruthlessly against a tree. John spun looking for his next target when he heard Sharilla scream. He turned to see her holding Binxie’s broken and bloody armor. Baby ogre was crying in Harmony’s arms as she tried to comfort him. Five dragons roared overhead scouting for more orcs. Gorlac and a group of goblin and orc warriors were searching the area.

  My people. They did this to MY people. They will all die. John stormed to where he felt Destiny expanding out the dungeon. “Destiny. Find that horde. I’m going to war.” He then walked over to Sharilla and said, “Sharilla. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I…I can’t bring Binxie back, but i can make those that did this pay.”

  Sharilla looked up with red rimmed eyes, “He trained so hard. He wanted to protect us all. Kill them all, John. Kill them all.”

  *****

  Later that night, John was training in the wonder. Just mindlessly beating on a dummy with his staff. Binxie was so smart and brave. John was so gentle with the children. My people.

  “Gorlac says they were the Red Hands Horde. Scouts sent by the chieftain to gather slaves and supplies.” Destiny said to him.

  “Have you warned the dwarves?”

  “Yes. They are preparing in case the horde gets past you. Gorlac says if you kill the red hands, most of the others might be worth saving.”

  “I’ll try, Destiny. I’ll try.”

  ‘It’s time John.” Destiny said.

  John weaved essence to cleanse himself and his equipment. He adjusted his armor to maximise charisma and it changed to a black leather with silver bracers and pauldrons. He then stepped through the portal to stand in front of the crowd assembled by the gatehouse. Harmony, Sharilla, and Gummy were already there. The dragons stood to one side. Even an honor guard of dwarves stood at attention. John took a deep breath.

  “Today, two brave men gave their lives to protect our children. Binxie was a genius and fearless. John was kind and gentle. They represent the best of what we hope to be. In there honor, Destiny has created a troop to watch over us”

  Two portals opened on top of the gatehouse and a small goblin in wooden armor and a large ogre wielding a huge club stepped out and took positions facing out. “When you pass through these gates, Give thanks to Binxie and Ogre John. This…This was my fault. I will see that those who attacked us today are punished, and I will do my best to ensure this doesn’t happen again. But I need your help. Train hard in case I cannot be there in time. Work hard to prepare for what may come so that we may live free. For Binxie. For Ogre John. They were heroes.”