Jasper woke up with a groan. His body felt sore, but the soft whistle of swirling balls of magic told him that he had made it. The yells, growling, and various other noises told him that he might have some other problems.

  As he sat up, he slowly looked around, only to almost nuke the area around him with the magic he had just stored up. For some reason, he was surrounded by goblins, orks, and he could even spot a couple of trolls.

  However, his mind caught up to his instincts and told him that if he had been knocked out before, the green brutes would have torn him to pieces.

  Then he spotted what he expected to be the source of many headaches moving forward. Riez was walking on top of the green horde, jumping from shoulder to shoulder while seemingly giving instructions. The intern seemed to be in her element as she directed the people around her.

  It was at this point that Jasper noticed they were all moving, even him. Looking down, he saw that he had been placed on an improvised cart, slowly moving across the land.

  "Morning, boss man! Seems like you got yourself a good nap," Riez called out when she noticed that Jasper was awake. The god of magic groaned, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to loosen up his body.

  "That I did," he said, trying to appear nonchalant. "But what happened with you? Why do you have so many..." He struggled to find a word that wouldn’t deprecate the horde Riez had acquired.

  "Followers?" the intern offered. Jasper bobbed his head from side to side, not sure he would call them that, but it was a better term than what he had been about to use. Riez continued, "Well, I beat up their old leader, and turns out this whole Loyalty Domain that I have is really powerful, so they kinda just do what I tell them. Not only that, but they are so much stronger than regular orks as well. Even the goblins are buffed up," she explained with glee.

  "That is... okay, fine, but where are we going?" he finally asked. Riez grinned, a smile that looked very goblin-like now that she was close by.

  "Well, they were going to A'kastin to join up with something there, but I decided we might as well try and fix a glitch. Turns out there is a place, not far from here, where 'Time doesn’t move' or something like that," she said, using air quotes to highlight just what she had been told.

  Jasper blinked, unsure what to say, but honestly, it seemed like Riez had things under control. That had happened far faster than he would have expected.

  The god of magic nodded slowly, which was his only answer. He observed how Riez interacted with the other goblins and greenskins. He could see how eager they were to please Riez, something that continued to happen for almost the entire day as they travelled.

  It was late afternoon when things changed. Riez had been gearing the group up for the prospect of setting up camp soon, though they were interrupted when a shadow passed over the small horde of orks.

  Looking around for the source, they saw a circling outline above them, blocking out the sun from time to time. It seemed like they had company. Jasper couldn't tell precisely what was hunting the horde, but he expected it to be a dragon.

  He gave Riez a look, but the pink goblin, as the other orks called her, was already taking up a defensive position. The orks, trolls, and goblins around her were doing the same, even though Jasper hadn’t seen her give any orders to that effect. He had never heard of such a well-organised army, let alone one with such a chaotic and unorganised baseline.

  Jasper could tear the creature out of the sky with one of his spells. It was far out, but not really out of his range. Not to mention, the dragons had been getting on his bad side. Not only had they practically dumped the corrupted children onto the world with the expectation that it would be someone else’s problem, and gone to the side of another god after he had created them, but apparently, the dragons were not loved by everyone. Thanks to Jasper’s Knowledge Domain, he knew that there had been some rather scathing articles written about the dragons, trying to paint them as monsters. Maybe it was time they were removed permanently? Had they not served their function? They had created these legends of mythical beings so old and ancient that they could practically always have been part of the world.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  As the flying creature circled above them, it was clear that it had no intention of just leaving the roaming orks alone, and instead of waiting for it to strike, Jasper decided to annihilate the beast.

  It would be a trivial matter for a god. After all, he controlled magic itself. Though he didn’t want to unleash ur-magic right away, that seemed like a good way to leave more scars on the world than he intended, but even without those powerful spells, he was still a god of magic.

  Jasper took a deep breath, and as he did, he felt the world around him tremble. It wasn’t perceptible to most people, but he noticed that some of the orks seemed scared as they looked around. The orks affected were primarily the shamans, which made sense. Jasper was invoking the rights of the supernatural, and above them, clouds started to form. In seconds, the clouds turned dark and angry, with crackling lightning between them.

  It was little more than a flex of his will as mana surged from him, exploding into the sky and manifesting as lightning. As seven arcs of blinding plasma hit the flying being, Jasper saw something strange. Instead of the dragon being roasted to a crisp, there was instead a flash of a brilliant indigo barrier that sprung up in a sphere around the dragon.

  A smile crossed Jasper’s face, though instead of letting up, he unleashed another volley of magic, all crashing against the barrier. He knew those barriers, and he knew the caster had taken a gamble on casting that, since the indigo barrier protected against spell effects, not natural effects.

  While it had been unlikely that the lightning was natural, Jasper, as the god of knowledge, knew that it wasn’t impossible. He decided to do a little display of power, and with a smooth movement, the god slipped onto the ground from the cart he had been transported on.

  "What is going on, boss?" The voice came from nothing, and Jasper swore when Riez was suddenly standing next to him.

  The god shook his head. "We are getting a visit from an old friend... or a new friend. I am honestly not sure anymore," he explained.

  Riez gave him a look, but the orks quickly started to relax, despite what the world clearly believed to be some kind of apex predator flying above them.

  Jasper’s magic poured into the ground, and in seconds, a boulder the size of one of the trolls was being torn up from the earth, leaving behind a crater. However, it quickly accelerated toward the dragon and its rider.

  The boulder kept accelerating rapidly. As it reached the halfway point, it even broke the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom over their heads. Looking at the orks, Jasper was honestly surprised that none of them fled when the loud sound poured over the empty plain.

  Apparently, Riez was bolstering their morale in some way, making it hard, if not impossible, for them to scatter using mental manipulation. Before Jasper could think more about it, a wall of orange sprang up, ready to block the magically infused projectile. That was to be expected, and with a flex of his mental will, the god cast counterspell. Not on the barrier, after all, what would be the fun in that, but on the boulder.

  Instantly, the magic that propelled the rock forward vanished, leaving behind two tons of earth hurtling toward the dragon at Mach two. The orange barrier was designed to protect against magical projectiles, and now that the rock wasn’t magical anymore, it passed neatly through the barrier.

  Jasper saw a glimpse of red, and he felt a surge of relief as the rider of the dragon managed to protect themselves against the overwhelming power.

  The god, however, was already preparing a barrage of new missiles when the dragon quickly started to descend. Jasper was finally able to see its colors, and he realized he was looking at the golden dragon, one of the less hostile dragons, and on its back was sitting a familiar sight.

  The spells were cancelled, though as a heavy breath weapon erupted from the dragon’s mouth, Jasper had to think fast. A quick movement of his hands and an even faster incantation, and a green plane of protection sprang up over the ork horde. The god cringed at the shoddy work he had done. There were plenty of imperfections in his barrier, and while it did its job, he knew that he had cast it for twice the mana cost that it should have been generated for.

  He quickly dispelled the veil, and as the dragon landed, he moved to the front of the army, happy to see an old friend.