Jack stood back and watched as more and more of the lizard emerged from the hole

  in the world. He made sure to tell his ring to keep expanding as more and more of it

  appeared. He took a few steps back to keep from the inside of the ring as it expanded

  with the giant winged lizard.

  The last thing he wanted was to be in a confined area with his watch cut off from

  whatever powered it while taking on a giant blue monster.

  “How’s it going?,” said Jack. “I’m Jack.”

  “What makes you think I care?,” said the dragon. It peered down at the enemy facing

  it.

  “It’s just basic politeness,” said Jack. “I tell you my name and you tell me yours. Then

  we talk about the weather, or something.”

  “I am Aviras,” said the dragon. “You are bold for a human who is about to die.”

  “You know what they say,” said Jack. “There are old humans, and bold humans, but

  no old, bold humans at all.”

  “Why are you messing with me, human?,” said the dragon.

  “The people I represent want the Duchy that you are standing in to continue

  unimpeded and unharmed,” said Jack. “That might change in the future, but right now

  at this moment, I have been asked to keep you out of the land until further notice. I

  would like to ask you to go back where you were and stop draining the life out of

  everything.”

  “I don’t see why I should do that,” said the dragon. “I have drained too much out of

  my home, and now must seek out my food here and the places I can sense beyond this

  world.”

  “And the Duchy is just your current meal?,” said Jack.

  “That’s exactly right,” said Aviras. “I eat the world until it becomes something good

  and true.”

  “It doesn’t sound like it will be good and true,” said Jack. “In any case, you are going

  to stop bothering the land here.”

  “I don’t see a reason to do that,” said Aviras. “My sole reason for being here is to

  make sure nothing happens to my source of food and here you are telling me I can’t

  eat. Do you see where that would be a point of contention between us?”

  “Maybe you should go on a diet,” said Jack. “Anyways, it isn’t a point of contention.

  The Society doesn’t want you eating the elves, my friend doesn’t want you eating the

  elves. I don’t really care if you eat the elves, but I am definitely not getting my friend

  angry at me. So what we need is a halfway point where you don’t eat the elves, and

  I don’t have to put up with the stress.”

  “What kind of halfway point would you suggest?,” said Aviras.

  “I can build you a mana charger to gather all the loose mana still left in your home

  dimension so you can eat there without spreading out,” said Jack. “I can build it into

  this ring. Then you can go home and a stream of mana would keep you fed without

  killing everything here.”

  “Let us see how that works,” said Aviras.

  Jack changed to Majik, checking his watch. He had only one try to be tricky.

  Anything else and he was going to be killed.

  He changed the ring. He saw Aviras smile as mana was slowly drifted into the ring.

  The dragon stretched its wings.

  He looked at Jack who reverted back to normal. Jack smiled outside the ring. Why

  was the human smiling?

  “What is the smile about?,” said Aviras.

  “What do you mean?,” asked Jack.

  “I know a smile when I see it,” said Aviras. He stretched his neck toward the human.

  One fire blast would get rid of this unknown menace. Maybe that is what he should

  do now that he had something just bombarding him with mana.

  “Can I tell you a story?,” said Jack.

  “I don’t see why you want to do that,” said Aviras. It waved a claw. “Go ahead.”

  “Let me go back like eighty-ninety-years my time,” said Jack. He sat down on the

  ground. He wasn’t that close to the ring, but he wouldn’t have been able to run if

  Aviras wanted to hurt him.

  “People were buying these things called pulps,” said Jack. “They were magazines that

  contained weird ghost stories, mysteries with hard detectives, and The Shadow, The

  Master of Darkness. A group of people decided that they could make the same type

  of stories but with pictures.

  “I am going to stick to the history part of this and not get into a breakdown of what

  these picture books looked like if you don’t mind.”

  “Go ahead,” said the dragon. “I don’t see how that is relevant to this situation, but

  proceed while you can.”

  “Thanks,” said Jack. “Now once these picture books got popular, they were sent all

  over the world. A major war across the continents was raging and these picture books

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  were traveling with the troops, and inspiring picture books in other countries who

  hadn’t seen the like before.

  “Companies came and went, characters rising and falling after the war and across the

  decades. A guy named Martin Goodman saw his chance to create another company

  to challenge the king of comic book companies, and the middle class of the others.

  He hired a guy named Stan Lee whom he had worked with to help start a new

  company. Lee hired two guys he knew to come in as his starter artists and coworkers.

  He had a ton of stuff to do, and these guys had to be able to do things on their own.

  And they had to be fast artists to get the pages done.

  “So we have Timely as the brand and Stan Lee riding herd on Jack Kirby and Steve

  Ditko for Martin Goodman. Ideas started flowing.

  “Years later the three men would dispute who did what and what credit was owed.

  But that is out of the purview of this because we are close to the core of what I

  wanted to tell you.

  “Still with me, big guy?”

  “I am following along with interest,” said Aviras. Flame leaked out of his beak-like

  snout.

  “Now Timely, which would get a name change to Marvel, was doing superhero

  stories to match up with what the king and the other companies were doing. They

  were also doing like weird science stories and invasions from space and things like

  that,” said Jack. “One of these monster stories was about a man who accidentally

  shrunk himself down to the size of an ant. He recovered and got his original size back

  at the end of the story. It was what is called a catalogue story. It’s not really

  important, it stands alone, and the hero is kind of the stereotype of a mad scientist at

  the mercy of his own invention.”

  “Is this relevant with the rest, or are you talking to hear yourself?,” asked Aviras.

  “Both,” said Jack. “You see Goodman wanted teams to compete with the other

  company’s new Justice League, and Doom Patrol, and Teen Titans. So he tells Lee

  to think of something. Lee turns to Kirby, they throw a few ideas on the wall to see

  what hits. One of their ideas is the Avengers. And the Avengers as a group have been

  one of Marvel’s top teams ever since. Every new writer wants to take that team and

  turn it into their own creation with their own things added on to it.

  “I guess it’s like Matilda telling us about Gowan Hand in a way.

  “So the ant man I was telling you about became the Ant Man for the Avengers with

  the ability to get small and the power to control ants. His girlfriend becomes the Wasp

  who can shrink down and fly. They are joined by three other guys Lee and Kirby

  worked on. Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk make up the rest of the team. Their first enemy

  is against Thor’s brother, Loki. So they stick together for a bit but the Hulk is written

  as surly as my friend Josie so he leaves, and Lee and Kirby bring in one of Kirby’s

  creations from the big war, Captain America, who basically is the Avengers at this

  point. Almost every line up has Captain America as the guy saving the day.”

  “And all of this is relevant how?,” asked Aviras.

  “Henry Pym, the Ant Man, has a lot of mental problems,” said Jack. “At this point in

  his history, some of the dumber writers who use him emphasize those problems, but

  they have also made him the controller of size. Early in his career, he found out how

  to reverse his ant formula to make him a giant. Then he figured out how to use it

  tactically. He also had some mishaps and side issues along the way. I don’t even want

  to tell you about Ultron.”

  “Again I fail to see how this is relevant,” said Aviras. More flame was leaking from

  his snout as he looked down at Jack. There was something wrong about this. This

  human should be screaming in fear.

  “Like I said, Hank Pym, a man with eight, or nine, names, but usually the Ant Man,”

  said Jack. “Controlled the size of any object.”

  He held up a switch and pressed the button on the top of it.

  Aviras opened his mouth to breathe flame on his enemy. He looked up at the human

  who grew taller than he was. He looked around. Jack hadn’t grown taller. He had

  shrunk.

  He roared in fury. It sounded like a kitten’s weak mewling.

  “Before you get all angry,” said Jack. He became Majik again. He waved his hand to

  create a bowl out of the ring around the dragon. It had shrank with him as it was

  designed to do. “I’m willing to trade with you.”

  “I will kill you,” said Aviras. “I will roast your bones, and chew your face off.”

  “Then I guess you want to be six inches long forever,” said Jack. “I’ll just send you

  back to your home so you can be a warning to the next dragon who wants to fool

  around and find out. The Society takes this stuff seriously. They don’t really care

  what I do to you to accomplish their aims. They just want it done.”

  “What do you want to trade, human?,” asked Aviras.

  “What do you want first?,” asked Jack. “I think once we settle that part, then we can

  talk about what I want.”

  “I want my rightful size and power back,” said Aviras. “I want to take as much magic

  out of the air as I can. I want to eat until I am full.”

  “But you are never full,” said Jack. “That’s some clear goals. I respect it. Getting back

  what you lost is something everyone wants.”

  “What do you want, human?,” asked the dragon.

  “Nothing,” said Jack. “I already have one cranky roommate. I don’t have much use

  for another one.”

  Jack modified the ring and the island it had pulled out of the ground to have a handle

  so he could carry it like a basket.

  “What’s going to happen right now,” said Jack. “I’m going to talk to Bob and Lorelei

  and then we’re going home. I will get you some food, and we’ll see what we can do

  about the rest of this. I know you think you can be all weaselly, but I am going to let

  my partner have you to see what kind of real curse she can put on you. Jo will show

  you some things, my friend.”

  “I don’t think I want to meet this Jo,” said Aviras.

  “Don’t worry,” said Jack. “I’ll tell her you are friendly. Maybe she won’t give you

  cancer.”

  “What’s that?,” asked Aviras.

  “It’s a disease that eats you up from the inside,” said Jack. “The more it eats, the more

  it spreads. The more it spreads, the more it eats. Eventually you drop dead without

  someone to take it out of you.”

  Gall stepped out of the trees. He held his halberd at the ready. He didn’t look like he

  wanted to get too close.

  “You were talking, and then you shrank him,” said Gall. “I can’t believe what I saw.”

  “We’re going back up to the castle,” said Jack. “I have to get home and let the others

  know things are okay. Josie or I will talk to your wife. I know Josie talked to her

  earlier so she can get help from Jane. If you do good, Bob will send you home. If you

  want your wife and kids to come here, I will talk to Bob to get them here with you.”

  “Let them stay in the city,” said Gall. “The Dire Woods are more dangerous than the

  human world.”

  “All right,” said Jack. “What do you think, Aviras? You could stay here in the Dire

  Woods and defend the castle until you are big enough to go home.”

  “Why would I do that?,” said the tiny dragon.

  “Helping others helps yourself,” said Jack. “Remember, my tiny new friend, everyone

  matters, or no one matters.”

  “I am not your friend,” said Aviras. “I hate you.”

  “You are going to be small a long time with that attitude,” said Jack. He grinned.

  “Tiny--new--friend.”

  He carried them across the Elven woods as the quest list dinged.