"Elnor, take cet ready to fire. Shiloh, activate Emp Pool on her and stand by for buffs. Twil, get bad have Deyed Satisfa ready to go. Katerine, get ready to drop everything you've got." Ara barked orders, and the others immediately followed them.

  The dragon circled lower and lower, and Shiloh was keenly aware that it had not just roasted them yet. The wind from its wings was deafening, the pressure differences iween its fps making his ears pop. When it finally nded with ah-shaking THWUMP, they were able to get a real, up close look at the world's apex predator.

  The dragon was colored simirly to the drake, with darker red scales on its belly and legs, fading to lighter shades on its back. Uhe drake, it didn't have spines running along its length, but just a promi ridge demarg the left from the right. It had fs and two colossal wings, eaearly as long as the beast itself, which it folded into its body when it had settled. Its tail ended in a bded point, like the tip of a spear, except it was five feet long. From the tip of the tail to the nostrils billowing smoke, the whole creature had to be the length of a football field.

  Beh the scales, its body was corded with muscles that bulged and flexed uhe beast's weight. The kind of strength to turn boulders to dust rested in each of its limbs. It began walking towards them, their khreatening to buckle with each step it took, and its eyes focused on Shiloh's. They were as red as the rest of it, and bespoke untold ages of experience; battles won and lost, children born, friends sin, kingdoms toppled and legends vanquished.

  It opes maw wide, and Shiloh felt more than saw the rest of his team tense. "Wait!" He ahrowing a hand out to the side. The dragon's lips pulled bad it exhaled in a low rumble before snapping its teeth together with a loud click, then shaking its head. Did it just yawn?

  When it had drawn level with their group. It turned on the spot, lifting its tail high over their heads, and id down before ing its tail gently around itself. Shiloh was about to start cirg it to be on the head's end of the body when it ed its neck around the side opposite its tail aed its head on the ground right in front of him. It stared at him for a long time, not moving or speaking, just streaming smoke out of its nostrils.

  Shiloh, in awe of the majesty of the creature, took a step forward and raised his hand. He heard hissed warnings from the others, but he couldn't help himself. He took aep forward aed his palm upon its snout. It bli him.

  "You're beautiful." He whispered reverently.

  It blinked again.

  Shiloh looked back at his panions and saw, much to his relief, that they weren't p aggressively anymore. Beck, Elnor, and Ara were staring with open-mouthed amazement, their arms hanging limply by their sides. Twil was supremely unimpressed, but Katerine was hiding behind a boulder, only peeking around the side occasionally.

  Well met, chosen of the gods. A distinctly feminine voice, though deep and almost gravelly, echoed in his mind. Judging by the expressions on his lovers' faces, they had heard it as well. Shiloh turned back to face the dragon. He opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, then Aphrodite's Advocate took over.

  "Well met, great flyer of the skies. We are humbled and honored by your presence. Pray tell, is there ought that we mere mortals may do t you joy?"

  A puff of air came from the dragon's nostrils, blowing his hair backwards with the warm currents.

  I see there are still those who are taught proper manners among the walkers. Please, indulge me with your names.

  "I am Shiloh Sutton, avatar and Cleric of Aphrodite." Shiloh replied. He took a step backwards and motioned for the others to join him. They came slowly, and Katerine only moved after nearly a minute of indecision. When they had assembled in a lio each side of him, he tinued. "These are my allies and lovers. Elnor Ludger, Ara Litton, Twil Reignover, Beck Quickfoot, and Katerine Sharvel. We are Aphrodite's Apostles."

  Well met, Apostles of Aphrodite. I am der, the Life-Giver. I am also Ember, the All-Seer. I am also Inferno, the Skies' Wrath.

  There was a hesitant chorus of "Well met." Shiloh wao repeat his question, but the skill held his tongue. After another long pause, the dragon spoke again.

  I have heard, on the Winds of ge, a tale sung about the chosen of the gods. The uprooter of kings, the shifter of fates, the lover of all beings. I had not thought to enter such a one, close as I am to the end of this cycle. Fortune smiled upohis day, however, as I felt the Winds of ge drawio these mountains, and now I have seen the beginning of the . Tell me, Shiloh Sutton, Cleric of Aphrodite, who do you serve?

  "I serve my lover, Aphrodite." Shiloh responded immediately. Then, the skill made him go on. "I serve the truth and not lies. I serve life and not destru. I serve freedom and not e."

  The dragon pted his answer for a moment.

  You have brought me much joy this day, Apostles of Aphrodite. To know the future is a troublesome matter, when the choiillions shift it every sed. The Winds have showhe power you wield, but food or evil they have told me naught. Today I have seen your soul, and it is pure. I have seen the souls of those you fide in, and they are pure.

  "Pure lust, maybe." Ara couldn't help herself, even in the presence of something capable of iing them actally. The dragon's eye flicked to her and she froze as if stunned. It blinked ond looked back at Shiloh.

  As the Life-Giver, I treasure the lives and freedom of all se races. As the Skies' Wrath, I am uo enact justice without destroying i lives in the process. To this end, I would ask a boon of you.

  "What may we do for you, great one?" Shiloh asked. If he kept pig up side quests like this, it would take him forever to get to the Dungeon Core...

  There is a pgue upon the nds to the north of these mountains. The vampire Lord Ronak has subjugated and stunted his people.

  A variety of images fshed through the minds of Aphrodite's Apostles. They saw the horrors of quest inflicted upon is, farmers taxed into starvation, young women... scars and bloodied bdes... Shiloh threw up. He was not the only one.

  For his crimes, I would have you excise him from this mortal realm. For the crimes of those who follow him and would take his pce, I would have you treat them the same.

  Shiloh wiped the bile from his lips and stood back up, iron hardening his will. "I son our honor, we will remove this blight."

  "Shiloh!" Elnor hissed, grabbing his arm. "Lord Ronak is reportedly the stro vampire in the world! How are we supposed to fight him?"

  Shiloh looked at her, and she released him. "We have a moral obligation to try and stop the atrocities. We were sent to his castle by the word of our patron goddess. Do you think she didn't know about him? Why else would she entrust us with this mission, with the gifts she has given me?" He turned back to der. "We will put ao him and his followers."

  You have my gratitude. In pursuit of achieving this goal, I would grant you these treasures.

  With that, der stood back up to her full and imposi, turned around, backed up, aended her neck straight out. There was a low rumbling noise ing from her belly, then she made a sort of coughing noise and begag. They saw a huge lump traveling up her throat, and watched in amazement as it reached her mouth, where she seemed to roll it around for a moment before l her snout to be directly in front of Shiloh.

  He winced, afraid that his gift was going to be a c on puke, but looked down in surprise as der spat something out at his feet. She moved to his left, dropping an item in front of Elnor, Beck, then Katerihen she moved to his right and dropped something for Ara, Twil, and ora item in front of a person who wasn't there.

  Then, der brought her snout back to Shiloh. She i forward aly brushed it against his chest, a low rumble emanating from her chest. He opened his arms and hugged her muzzle as much as he could, smiling and leaning against her.

  "Thank you for yifts, Live-Giver. They will be treasured above all others."

  You are wele, Shiloh Sutton. May the blessings of Akatosh be with you.

  With that, she rose back to her full height and took three steps backwards. She crouched to the ground and raised her wings to their full height before leaping at least fifty feet into the air and bringing her wings down. The wind khem all to the ground, and they watched from their backs as the majestic dragon took to the skies and soared away from the mountains with a roar. The stared until she disappeared beyond the horizon before Beck spoke.

  "I 't believe Shy didn't fuck her."

  ***

  They decided that they would wait until they set up camp to ihe items der had given them. Despite their excitement and curiosity, the corpse of the frost drake was sure to attract e creatures, especially now that the dragon had left. They had to thhly wipe them off in the grass first, though, as they were all covered in saliva.

  When the sun was nearly setting, they set up camp faster than they ever had before. They got a fire going, but didn't even bother with dinner before pulling out their items.

  "You go first, Shy." Elnor said, smiling. Shiloh nodded and withdrew the neckce he'd been given. It was a red jewel ed within a green jewel which was, in tured inside a rger red jewel. The whole thing was set in a gold pte, which was strung on a gold . As he was examining it, a notification popped up in front of him.

  Amulet of ResurreBound: Shiloh Sutton

  While wearing this amulet, you gain accessto the "Lesser Resurre" spell.

  "Lesser Resurre? Bound?" Shiloh murmured aloud.

  "Lesser Resurre?!" Beck excimed, looking up from the rge, red object she held.

  "It says that wearing this will give me the 'Lesser Resurre' spell." Shiloh expined, putting the amulet on. He opened his skill menu and dispyed the new spell for them all to read.

  Lesser ResurreSpell

  You may touch a retly deceased bodyand attempt to resurrect it. If the soul iswilling to return to their mortal coil, theywill return to life with 1 HP and 0 Mana.

  Does not work on anyone who has beendead more than 24 hours. Does not workon beings without a soul.Cost: 300 manaCooldown: 1 week

  "It's a shame I 't use it yet." Shiloh ented. "Katerine could, though. She could wear the neckce."

  "Not if it's bound." Twil interjected. "Bound items ot be traded or used by aher than the one bound to it."

  "How did it get bound to me, though?"

  "It was either der's doing, or it bound to you when you picked it up. Hard to know which." Ara said. "Either way, we o get you some more mana. Lesser Resurre is aremely sought-after skill, and those who have it be paid fortuo revive loved ones reat heroes."

  Shiloh made a face. "I don't want to sell my abilities."

  "Why do that when you give them away for free?" Beck muttered under her breath. Shiloh smacked the back of her head.

  "You know what I mean. I don't want a bidding war breaking out over a spell like this and having someone permaly lose their loved one because they weren't as rich as someone else. I don't want to refuse to resurrect a farmer because there's a ce that someone richer than him will have need of it and will be able to pay me for it. If someone needs it, and I give it, I will."

  "Th-that's the p-purity of h-heart the d-dragon was t-talking about." Kateriammered, smiling at him.

  Shiloh smiled bad squeezed her hand. "Are the rest of your items all bound?" A round of affirmative answers greeted him.

  "This one isn't bound to me or Twil, though. her of us could exami." Ara held up a wickedly bck bde, the extra item der had dropped. "Is it bound to any of you?"

  The rest of them took turns trying to examihe sword, but none of them could. It was a fasating sword, too long to use single-handed, but the handle was too short to grip with two. It was entirely coal bck, from the onyx in the pommel to the extraordinarily sharp edges, to the fine point at the tip. It was straight as could be, but was much broader in the middle than the sword Beck wielded.

  "Why don't you go ?" Shiloh asked Katerine ohey'd all examihe mysterious sword.

  Katerine nodded and produced a set of robes, shimmering with a silver light. She exami the same way Shiloh had, and her eyes lit up with joy. She ractically vibrating with excitement.

  "They're Robes of Dispersion!" She squealed, her nerves lost iion.

  Shiloh was going to ask what they did, but Katerine whipped them on before he could, and the effect was immediately apparent. As soon as she raised the hood to cover her head, Katerine shifted. Shiloh khat she was sitting right o him, but he couldn't tell where exactly she was. Her outline waved like a mirage in the desert, ached in fasation as she got up and ran about twenty feet away from the fire. At a greater distahe effect was intensified. She was moving around faster than his eye could follow but, when she lowered the hood of the robes, she appeared two feet to the left of where he thought she was standing.

  "That's incredible!" Elnasped. "There's no way I'd be able to hit you with that on!"

  "Those robes should keep you very safe in the baes." Twil assessed. "How long it be used for?"

  "Up to ten minutes each day. It recharges at dawn." Katerine said, beaming as she rejoihe group. She pulled the robe off and stroked it happily, while Beck held up the red object for their iion.

  "It's one of her scales." Beck expined in awe. "I don't know how she ma, but it's been turned into a shield." Shiloh leaned in and gazed in wo the shimmering quality of the gem-like scale. "It is unbreakable and stores part of the power of each physical attack it intercepts, which I unleash ter as an attack, if I use it before leaving bat."

  They gushed over the beautiful shield for a few minutes before Twil produced a staff. "This is a Staff of Mana Replication. I charge it with any amount of magic, thehat mana to fuel my spells at a ter time. Each dawn, it recharges the mana I stored within it."

  "So it doubles your mana? That's great!" Shiloh excimed.

  "Not quite." Twil mused. "It gives me a rger starting pool each day, but it doesn't regee mana the way my body does."

  "I know Katerine has some skills reted to magic regeion, but I haven't really paid attention to mine. How quickly does it happen?"

  "Yee one pert of your mana every minute, up to one hundred mana per miwil responded. "It would take one hundred minutes for aee their mana reserves, uheir mana pool is rger thahousand, which is quite rare."

  Elnor's eyes lit up. "Twil! you charge it with all of your mana, wait a couple hours, then charge it some more?"

  Twil raised an eyebrow. "An iing idea. I shall try it now and see if I put more into it before we got to sleep." She trated, and the staff began to glow.

  "Alright, my turn." Ara said, grinning. She materialized an enormous battleaxe from her iory. It was as tall as she was, and both of its heads were wide, sweeping arcs capable of inflig massive damage, even if they weren't as razor-sharp as the bck sword. Ara grinned as she stepped out of the circle, and demonstrated her ability to swing the thing as if it weighed nothing at all. Then, without warning, she whipped it around in a blur and fmes sprouted along the edges before dying out at the end of her stroke.

  "It sets shit on fire if I swing it fast enough." She said before showing it off again. "It's called Sky Cleaver, and it says it gh any non-magical armor with ease."

  Ara was extremely pleased with the new battleaxe. Shiloh could tell why, too. With her rength, she was kind of wasting it on the mundane on she carried. Sky Cleaver was much lohan her old one, giving her a far better rea the battlefield, and its fire and armor pierg would truly make her a meo anything she tangled with.

  They all gratuted her on the magnifit on, then all eyes turo Elnor. She materialized a quiver from her iory and held it out for them to see. It was made of ivory and gilded with golden designs, flowing in runes all over it. The strap was a fine, high-quality leather.

  "It's called Iris' Quiver." Elnor whispered, reading the description none of them could see. "It holds seven arrows, which respawn each day at dawn. When you draw an arrow from the quiver, you may think Ice, Fire, Wih, Lightning, Poison or Acid. The arrow deals additional damage in the element of your choice."

  "Wait a sed." Shiloh said. "Your Toxophilite's Draw should give you an infinite amount of these arrows, though."

  Elnor stood, slung the quiver over her shoulder, and materialized her bow. She stepped out of the campsite and drew an arrow, aiming at a tree some thirty feet away. She let fly the arrow, and it roared into life, being wreathed in an inferno of fme before smming into the tree, scorg it thhly. They all gaped at it for a long moment before Elnor drew another arrow. She cycled through each of the elements, all of which had simirly impressive effect to the fire arrow. Theook the quiver from her bad showed them the seven arrows still held within.

  "Imagine if she had her damage multipliers on those." Ara grinned. "Vampire lord be damned, she's gonna blht through him!"

  Elnor vahe bow and quiver and sat back down. "We shouldn't go into this overly fident. We are definitely strohan others of our level, even before we got these items. Lord Ronak, however, has been in power for turies. He has vast resources and power at his disposal, and we o take out not only him, but every other powerful vampire who agrees with the way he's been ruling. This quest is a very easy way for us to get killed."

  "H-how d-do you kn-know that?" Katerine asked softly. "I th-though we h-hadn't heard f-from any v-vampires sih-they w-were exiled."

  "There have been several adventurers who braved these mountains before." Twil informed her. "None of them ever came back, but one group of royal soldiers were locked away in Ronak's dungeons for years. The eime, their mage was reying information to the capital while stressing that nobody should e to their rescue."

  "We'll take this very seriously." Shiloh said, quietly looking around the circle at the solemn faces of his lovers. Even Ara's normally humorous attitude had been mollified. "I don't want anything bad happening to any of you. If we have to level up before we fulfill reement to der, then we will. However, you all saw what that monster has been doing, just as I did. Every day he walks this earth, suffering follows in his wake."