SECTION 3         CHAPTER 1 - Challenge of the Sea
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Continued around a month later....
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The 34th Day of the Month of Vryce's Arrival, Year 544.
September 27th, 2008, Earth time.

The pig's first thought was of panic, which seemed natural as here he was 
falling through the sky towards certain death. 

The pig's second thought turned into magnificent joy as he quickly learned 
some impressive aerodynamic moves. 

The pig was swimming and falling through the sky with long slow kicks, 
looking like a happy flying pig, when he had his third thought, which was 
impressive as pigs do not normally think so fast. 

The ground was approaching and he was being pulled towards that giant 
creature's mouth! 

Oloth, the ancient ruby dragon, flamed on, roasting the pig as it was 
slowly descending from above. Oloth's entire body quivered in ecstasy as 
he delicately snatched the pig out of the air and crunched down, splitting 
it into pieces with his impressive teeth. Sprawled out and on his back, 
Marious simply shook his head as he looked up at his dragon friend lying 
down beside him. 

Marious did not mind feeding pigs from his prized stock to his old friend, 
but this trick was getting old after four hundred years. His mistake was 
that day long ago. He was trying to impress a young lady with pigs flying 
in formation. 

Marious felt almost no connection to that impulsive younger version of 
himself lost to centuries past. That day though was still clearly 
imprinted into his mind's eye. Out of nowhere a giant ruby dragon came 
diving out of the sky right at the princess! He crashed down into a 
graceful tumble and jumped up standing right in front of her, striking an 
incredibly silly pose, an imitation of himself as he stood there arms out 
in fake concentration while he controlled the flying pigs with his magic.

He still had to admit it was hilarious. His mistake was when he sent the 
pigs tumbling through the sky towards the dragon in mock anger. Oloth 
surprised him and flamed on and ate each roasted pig with an exaggerated 
grace of a stage actor. The princess went from laughing to shock in 
seconds and ran off, never to speak to him again. Marious never got a 
chance to explain that he monitored the pigs' happiness and put them out 
before they ever felt fear. 

The great war wizard, a man to be feared across this world or any other, 
stretched out on his back and pushed himself up onto his elbows as he 
lazily looked out across his belly at the Sea of Infinity. He said, "Vryce 
is probably sleeping like a baby."

The giant dragon continued the game and telepathed, "Vryce is probably in 
the heart of Mount Vryce sitting on a giant pile of gold."

Meanwhile far away to the northeast and deep down in the dragon's lair, 
Vryce was being thrown around like a rag doll inside of his new 
experimental fae shield. Zeksagmak was going berserk, destroying his lair 
as he whipped about trying to get Vryce out of his mouth. Vryce shouted, 
"Where better to test this new fae shield then in the jaws of the mighty 
Zeksagmak?"

Vryce was thrown around violently but seemed to enjoy himself as he 
shouted, "Tell me what you remember Dragon! Just one thing then! Tell me 
just one thing you remember after after you died! I need to know!"

The dragon thundered a reply into Vryce's mind, "DIE!" 

The most powerful ruby dragon in history crunched down with every ounce of 
muscle as he raged on.

Vryce stood up inside the dragon's mouth and shouted, "Finally ready to 
speak are we?", just then the shield failed. The resulting CHOMP could be 
heard for miles and triggered an avalanche, burying the combatants under 
tons of rock.

Hours later back on Star Island, Marious took a sip of his beer and 
continued his explanation as he pointed to the giant fae clam coming 
ashore, "If a solar eclipse starts anywhere on Medievia they come here and 
deposit the stae, slowly forming this giant star shape over thousands of 
years." Marious took a longer sip and continued,  "If we take the new stae 
off the island during the solar eclipse it retains its ability to store 
fae magic. The faeorbs we will make will give the immortals fae power!" 
Marious spilled some beer as he gestured wildly, "Everything changes, even 
for you old lizard!"

The wizard motioned to his right at Moon Island and explained, "Every new 
moon the giant fae clams go there and deposit frae, which as you know is 
the only material known to float on our oceans filled with fae magic."

Oloth the massive dragon watched a giant clam so large it could swallow 
him and his whole family. He raised a massive dragon-sized eye brow as the 
clam turned and spit out a tiny spec of stae. Oloth mindlinked, "You are 
crazy old man. That clam is the size of Medievia Castle and could only 
produce that one small piece the size of your head?" Oloth twisted around 
to look directly down at Marious and telepathed, "Tell me, oh great and 
wise war wizard from the distant past, what is the trick? How can you make 
fleets of ships and orbs for everyone with such small pieces?"

Marious was picking a small chicken bone out of his teeth when he calmly 
muttered, "Well old friend, I do not know, yet." He pointed a chicken leg 
at the monster-sized clam and said,  "We could investigate, but my new 
theory is working. Why change!?" 

Marious performed his mad war wizard cackle with even more glee than 
usual, and said "We sit here and stuff happens." He paused and exclaimed, 
"We wait, and eventually somehow it will all just work out." Marious then 
conjured another large mug of beer and a king-sized sun shade.

Oloth replied with a dragon-sized laugh of his own, "Things do tend to 
work out here on Medievia don't they? It is as if some grand architect was 
behind it all."

The old and powerful war wizard sipped his new beer as he enjoyed the day. 
Looking out over the Sea of Infinity he could see the Moon Island's 
southern tip far down the horizon as the sun played tricks on the whole 
distant but glorious scene. Marious, enjoying the good times said "Vryce 
is probably playing in Adversary and ignoring all tells." Oloth rumbled 
the reply into Marious's mind, "Vryce is probably in his study deep in 
thought about the next big problem for you to solve." 

Two hours later Vryce prepared himself to face the only being that he 
feared would actually kill him some day, his Necromancer! 

The Necromancer was conjured up from some alternate reality by Vryce when 
he founded Medievia, and he was in all ways Vryce's equal in power. That 
was how it worked. The Necromancer is not a demon. He is an incredibly 
powerful soul who once ruled over the darkest most evil galaxy of the old 
universe, or so Vryce assumed. 

This is Vryce's first Necromancer and he was not proud of it. The 
Necromancer collected the souls of the departed and fed Vryce's infinite 
need for power -  as the souls were recycled Vryce shaved just a little 
off the top. He wondered again if the people would still love him if they 
knew where much of his power came from. 

Vryce turned and looked at the Necromancer, as he had done every month 
since year zero, and shakes his head again as he gets the same feeling as 
usual, that he is somehow being hustled. The dark spirit from the 
netherworld seemed to enjoy these battles, even though he has yet to win 
one. The Necromancer was bound by a powerful spell and a trick Vryce 
played on him long ago. Part of that deal was that once every new moon he 
was able to win his soul back in combat of their choosing. The necromancer 
chose magic combat with weapons that day long ago and has long since 
stopped trying to beat Vryce in his chosen way. Today, as it has been for 
many years now, the Necromancer and Vryce would battle in the combat Vryce 
chose way back on year zero.

Vryce, not a man for habits, started his ritual thinking again anyway, 
"544 years now, 17 months per year, 5 weeks per month, 7 days per week..." 
Focusing in on the seriousness of the situation he continued his mental 
exercise. He tried not be distracted by the fact that this is the month 
the people call 'The Month of Vryce's Arrival'. The Necromancer pulsated 
in that black smoke from death way he has as he glared at Vryce. He 
appeared at once to wish to kill Vryce and kiss him, a creepy sight that 
would give anyone pause.

Vryce stumbled mentally and then thoughts of Marious and the need for frae 
and stae shatter his concentration. The Necromancer seems to notice 
Vryce's uncertainty so he quickly continued his habitual pre-Necromancer 
battle thinking, "Carry the four, add the years.." Vryce thinks on, "This 
is the 9,253 battle. It is as important as the first, he reminds himself, 
and as deadly as the last will prove to be. This is the 323,790th day of 
my control. It will not be the last."

Vryce finished preparing for battle with his loyal collector of souls, 
making sure he was ready before they started. If he lost, the Necromancer 
would have his soul and complete control of Medievia. With that in mind 
Vryce stiffened himself for the challenge and said, not without some 
affection, "Your move smokey." 

The Necromancer popped in and out often to collect souls, gone and back 
almost faster than the eye could see. Sometimes it was just once a minute 
but at other times he phased in and out a dozen times a second, it was 
such a time now. The Necromancer moved as if in a black smoky blur and 
Vryce could not help but think again that this was truly a creepy thing to 
see up close. 

The Necromancer, ready to start, slowly leaned forward to engage Vryce in 
battle and begins. He said with a voice filled with thousands of souls 
speaking at once, "King's pawn to E4."

Meanwhile flying over Moon Island, Marious holds onto Oloth's neck as they 
fly around the giant fae clam as it made landfall. He telepathed his old 
dragon friend, "We have been flying for almost ten minutes. We should 
rest! The sooner we kick back and wait for something to happen, the sooner 
Medievia will provide the answer!"

Oloth turned and landed expertly onto the moon island with exaggerated 
style, even while mentally counting how many of the promised prize pigs 
were left.

Marious relaxed into a conjured chair as he sat next to his old friend, 
protected from the midday sun within the dragon's giant shadow, he took 
another bite of his sandwich and telepathed, "Vryce is probably stretched 
out on his belly getting a deep back rub from Soleil."

One hour passes as the game continues while a few others join in.

Chengsan the mage hero was sitting nearby with his friends and could not 
help but join in, "Vryce is probably fencing with the death knight in 
Bloodstone." Marious laughed at that one and added, "Vryce is probably out 
picking daisies in the dark woods." Prince Kalidus joined in with, "Vryce 
is probably pub hopping with Scruff."
 
Oloth was now floating on his back, slithering back and forth across the 
shallows with his belly exposed to the sun. He telepathed, "Vryce is 
probably taking a shower with the spirit of the world, deep down in some 
secret magical water wonderland."
 
Chengsan felt like a natural at this game as he said, "Vryce is probably 
playing hop scotch at the animated chessboard with Soleil." Duke Komyer 
decides to add his theory, "Vryce is probably deep sea fishing." Chengsan 
seems to take over the game and quickly adds another, "Vryce is probably 
spearing fish with Poseidon off the coast of Trellor."

Meanwhile, on a planet far away, Vryce was flying across the ocean at 
supersonic speed, fists out front  like some sort of flying super man as 
he crashed into ship mast after ship mast, disabling the whole fleet in a 
matter of minutes. His body took a heavy beating but before he risked true 
death he teleported out and landed onto the giant tortoise's shell. 
Instantly healed, he jumped and flew away again, loving the ability to fly 
without a dragon here on the Khrait's home world.

Vryce took aim for the demon-spawn volcano and flew down deep through its 
center at max speed. He exploded into a massive cavern filled with 
hellrippers, hellreapers, and hellraiders. He slowed down and let out some 
rage, the rage of not being allowed to do this on Medievia. He took out a 
few hundred and was in incredible pain and agony as he teleported out and 
landed on top of the massive tortoise shell. 

Vryce sat down, a speck of life sitting on a creature the size of a 
mountain range. He relaxed for a moment, fully healed physically but 
mentally recovering from hours of pain and risk of actual death so far 
away from Medievia and his poor Necromancer.  Vryce said, "I fear this 
will only slow them down a little while and we still have not found the 
source of the frae. We cannot make any ships." 

Jakob the giant tortoise melted into the mind of Vryce as perfectly as a 
kiss from Soleil melted into his lips and said, "Do not feel bad about the 
Necromancer my son, for you will soon learn that he is just practice. 
Soon, your immortals will have to control their own Necromancers, and you 
will have to control them." 

Vryce was still recovering from thinking about how to control immortals 
here on the Khrait home world where they can fly without a dragon. He 
hardly had time to worry about them controlling Necromancers before Jakob 
continued, "The battle is upon us. The Khrait must flee their home world 
soon before it is too late. We know what will follow them to Medievia."

Vryce sat perfectly still, eyes closed and loving his life and the code 
for which he lived it. The healing powers felt so close to Jakob was part 
of why he felt so good, the other part was when Jakob spoke. It was as if 
the writer behind the story of Vryce was turning a page and letting him 
take a peek. Vryce said, "When will we know why the Khrait fear them? My 
newest heroes dispatch hellraiders weekly, sometimes alone! It takes just 
a few immortals to destroy hellreapers and hellrippers." He opened his 
eyes and shook his head as he continued, "Jakob, I just took out a hundred 
in 10 minutes." Vryce stilled his heart waiting for the reply even though 
Jakob rarely answered any direct question.

"I must warn you again.", Jakob thundered into Vryce's mind in a way that 
made Vryce feel that Jakob was truly concerned about this point, "You must 
not interfere. The immortal heroes will save Medievia or they will lose 
it. The fate of this galaxy is their's to decide. They must figure it all 
out Vryce." Jakob changed into a mood that he then fed into Vryce's mind, 
calmly showing him many possible outcomes, all bad.

Vryce remained stoic and with a poker face said, "Ok. The planet exploding 
is bad." Vryce could not help it and gulped as he said, "The planet being 
moved to some chaotic hellish universe where my Necromancer is from is 
bad. The fae and rae being set off to destroy the universe itself, also 
bad." 

Vryce waited a moment and said cheerfully, "Every possible outcome for 
Medievia ends with the destruction of the planet, and your death, and you 
tell me your next destination is Medievia." 

Vryce waited until the silence broke his calm and asked quietly, "Jakob, 
do you want to die?"

His mind was filled with billions of years of flashbacks and of millions 
of times showing Jakob not dieing when by all rights he should have. It 
came in a flood just powerful enough for Vryce to understand that he went 
too far in asking.

Vryce stood and shouted, "It is difficult arguing with a being older than 
time!" Vryce looked about and yelled, "and so large I feel like a flea!" 

Vryce knew that Jakob felt that this time was different. Jakob would die. 
Vryce said loudly, "Just go somewhere else and I will take care of 
Medievia. The heroes of Medievia will save the galaxy. Marious always 
reminds me, 'things have a way of working out'."

He loved when Jakob spoke to him. Jakob felt like a mixture of the voice 
of god and the father he never knew, but instead of listening he stood up 
and said, "I know. I know. Don't come back. Don't risk my life. Wait for 
you on Medievia." Vryce started to run and flew off and away, risking one 
more daring attack before returning to the planet he ruled over.

Hours later back on Medievia, Marious heard the news via telepath, "Prince 
Kirius from the Tribe of Malicious Exiles found a way into the fae clams! 
If they fly a dragon slowly over the clam and circle, the giant clam 
apparently sucks them inside of itself with some unknown fae magic!"

Marious repeated the news to Oloth and said, "Soon I can summon Vryce with 
answers!" He pointed at the ocean and continued, "He is probably switched 
with a dolphin and playing dolphin games just off the beach there." Olath 
flamed the latest pig as Marious magically floated it into his gaping 
jaws. Oloth swallowed it with a disgusting display of pleasure as the 
powerful ruby dragon mindlinked, "Vryce is probably disguised as an 
immortal and is running down the road with that new faeball like some 
crazy school kid."

Vryce spent the next hour in his study catching up on the neverending 
grind of running a world. He finally sat down to enjoy a dinner fit for a 
king, a massive ham feast prepared just the way he liked it. His stomach 
gave off a god-like rumble as he leaned over to skewer a large section 
onto his plate. Just as he was about to pierce the most promising section, 
the whole ham meal disappeared. 

Oloth sighed happily and said, "Marious, that last one was already cooked. 
It was perfect!" The dragon belched and telepathed, "Vryce is probably 
enjoying one of your prize hams with Soleil right now." Marious spoke 
while thinking out loud, "The people would pick my family's history of 
breeding prize swine over my station as their war wizard!" He added, "I 
hope you are full Olath. I fear I ripped that last pig off of someones 
table by accident!"

Marious laughed at the thought of a disappearing dinner as he said, "Vryce 
is probably riding a dinosaur while playing polo with his god friends."

Nearly two hours later and far to the north at a secret location Vryce 
stood next to the chair placed there for his 'comfort' and looked around. 
Encircling him was one hundred dragons. They were mostly the oldest 
dragons on Vryce's side of the dragon war. Vryce shouted, "All I am saying 
is that the battle is nearly here and you will not lower the charge for 
dragon flight? Does gold rule your every decision?" The massive golden 
dragon mother who appeared to be in charge of this conclave stood up 
taller and mindlinked, "You do not control us my lord. Gold is worth less 
as humans uncover more of it from below and yet we have not asked for 
more." 

Vryce replied, "It is true. And yes I do not control you ancient one, but 
know this, it is only because I have had no reason to - yet." 

Vryce tried not to feel small as he looked about, surrounded by one 
hundred creatures that could kill a normal man in a second. They all stood 
up taller as Vryce finished his last sentence, perhaps the most 
threatening words ever uttered to a dragon conclave. Vryce hated to do it 
but enough was enough. We have good dragons and we have bad dragons and it 
is time the good dragons helped him for once! Vryce calmly waited for a 
reply as he realized that Oloth was not here. Marious must be hard at 
work, Vryce thinks again, as he mentally thanks the universe for giving 
him such a powerful and hard working assistant.

Thirty minutes later Xanalor from The Seventh Circle clan appeared before 
Marious and bowed deeply. Marious started to speak but then slowly put his 
beer down. He dusted crumbs off of his belly while ducking under his sun 
shade as he slowly stood up after a little snooze. He tried to look more 
like a man in charge as he said, "Good news?"  Xanalor tried to give a 
detailed report as he said, "To be fair the credit goes to my friends as 
well, Nadddre, Noelio, and Ferral. We were inside of a giant fae clam over 
there and killing as many baby clams as we could when the clam made land 
fall!" Xanalor pointed down the beach and said, "Look!" Marious cast a 
quick farsight and instantly saw it, a fairly large pile of frae! Typhius 
teleported in followed by Chengsan. They grinned at Marious as he turns to 
face them.

Marious stretched his arms out wide, made a show of turning his palms up, 
and suddenly clapped his hands together high over his head. Fireworks lit 
up the late afternoon sky and magic confetti fell down from above! Marious 
echoed to the land, "I have found the source!"

Oloth tried to cough politely just to make a point, but it came out way 
too loud and with some fire. He nearly torches Princess Ferral!

The grand war wizard laughed and said to the legendary hero Xanalor,  "You 
and your friends have done Medievia proud today, but still, this will not 
be enough. We need to find out how to collect a lot more frae and stae 
than that!" 

Xanalor laughed, feeling daring and proud, he said jokingly, "Let us get 
back to work then my lord and I am sure you will figure it out!"

Marious slapped him on the back with affection and agreed, "Medievia does 
work in mysterious ways. Perhaps the answer is in the bottom of a nice 
warm bowl of stew. You and your friends go back to battle inside of a 
giant fae clam, and I will explore the stew theory!"

Minutes later Marious was finishing his early dinner as Oloth walked 
ashore and sat down next to the wizard. The dragon, dripping from his 
latest swim, shook violently, laughing as the wizard quickly created a 
shield spell around himself. Oloth telepathed, "The more baby clams the 
heroes kill inside of the giant clam the more frae or stae the giant clams 
deposit? Let me try!" Oloth pointed his head high and trumpted out a jet 
of flame that nearly reached the clouds. It was quite the display! Heroes 
across the island cheered at the sight and sound of such a powerful ally. 

Marious simply said, "Vryce is probably below the oceans underworld, 
playing chess with Davy Jones." Oloth plumped down on his side as he 
telepathed, "Vryce is probably out on a romantic cruise on his warship, 
with a crew of night sirens!"

Just then deep below the Great Blood Sea in his secret facility Vryce 
prepared to go off world. Vryce was a master archmage, he was THE master 
archmage, the most experience wizard when it comes to blood and souls in 
the known universe for all he knew. He was about to risk death to try to 
travel to a planet nearly one hundred times further in jump distance than 
he has ever attempted. He could not say why he was trying this now. It 
must have been the flashbacks Jakob showed him and Jakob's unfailing blind 
faith that he would not die. He knew of this target world before he came 
to Medievia but it was always too far away to attempt. It was not worth 
the risk. It is still not worth the risk Vryce thought, as he continued to 
prepare anyway.

Vryce wondered if he was mad one last time as he focused his mind on his 
destination, the rumored home world of the dragon species.

He smiled a little as he wondered what Soleil would think of him now, 
naked and covered in blood, standing in the middle of an octagonal room 
made from blood, deep below a one million square mile lake of pure blood. 

Five centuries ago in the middle of the most remote dark woods Vryce could 
find he cast one of his most powerful planetary spells. Blood from all 
sentient beings would be magically preserved when they died and would 
slowly seep and travel to this spot. Little did Vryce know how long he 
would be on this planet nor how great his powers would expand. He may soon 
have to teach some immortal heroes how to use the Great Blood Sea and his 
ancient wizard knowledge, after all we would not want the sea of blood to 
flood the entire continent. It is nearly time for the Medievia immortals 
to be trained to travel to other worlds.

He allowed the blood to ooze over him as he focused his mind, calling 
forth a bit of the soul from every cell of blood above in the Blood Sea. 
Miles above, the sea of blood started to drain its mind into the mind of 
Vryce. Slowly Vryce's mind became one with the planet as the body of Vryce 
transforms and drips away as it turns into dribbles of blood. Vryce 
continued his focus, every trip like this was a real risk and he half 
expected to die every time. The timing was key. Just as the last particle 
of what was his body transformed into blood and fell down to splatter the 
bloody floor, Vryce exploded into his mind the thought of a destination, 
far far away off world on another planet. 

Vryce became a singularity, nothing but a simple thought of magical energy 
capable of traveling great distances. He focused deeper and used the 
surface of the Great Blood Sea like a giant magical antenna to transport 
himself to a planet further away than anyone has dared before. Risking 
death, risking leaving Medievia to his Necromancer, risking Jakob's great 
plan, Vryce popped off-world.

Moments later on Moon Island, Bberke from the Righteous clan appeared out 
of thin air and ran up to Marious saying, "It is true my lord. Inside the 
clam are hundreds of baby clams that grow quickly. We can kill a hundred 
times more if we time it right and go below where they are still young! 
The trick is that we must get back to the top before the clam sends the 
jet of water out as it would wash us all to our death. If we work as a 
team we should be able to get these things to dump a mother-load of frae 
and stae every time!"

Heroes pop in from all over the island to congratulate Bberke with 
figuring it all out. Grinning from ear to ear they all laugh as Marious 
makes a mighty gesture and creates the spell to make confetti fall from 
the sky from sea to shining sea. Marious turns to them and says, "We have 
done it! Summon Vry... .."

** Vryce appears with an ear-splitting bang! **

Marious and Oloth stood tall and proud as they explained to Vryce the 
secrets behind fae clams. Marious finishes and appends, "And so now I will 
lead a new naval force and we can br.." Vryce cuts him off and responds, 
"Well done Marious, well done indeed!" He turns and faces the mighty 
dragon saying, "Well done Oloth. I am sure you worked on this critical 
project every bit as hard as Marious. Do you know what all of this means?"

Oloth nodded, and then shook his massive dragon head no.

Vryce smiled and explained, "Every new moon and every solar eclipse I want 
dragons flying heroes to and from this place so that we can harvest as 
much as we can."

Oloth took in the all-knowing smile Vryce gleemed at him as he slowly 
understood what he was saying. 

Vryce continued, "Tell them that I will not take no for an answer this 
time. During solar eclipses and during new moons I expect dragon flight to 
be nearly free of charge. Is that understood?" 

Oloth mindlinked to the master dragons what Vryce said along with the view 
of Vryce's confident and all powerful death-smile for good effect. 

Oloth telepathed, "You know they will not approve of this my lord. Why 
push this too far?"

Vryce, knowing all of the good dragons were seeing him from Oloth's mind's 
eye, stepped forward as if to poke the dragon and said, "I will not 
explain myself to you or your kind Oloth. I will ask one more time, Am I 
Understood?"

Marious looked toward Vryce as he stood in front of his giant dragon 
friend and wondered if Vryce knew what he was doing. He looked up at Oloth 
and felt sympathy for his old friend as the tension in the area scaled off 
the charts.

Oloth spat out with choking regret, "I understand....we understand." 

Oloth shook his head in amazement as he found himself saying, "We will do 
as you say my lord. We will give nearly free dragon flight during new 
moons and solar eclipses." Oloth then bowed deeply towards Vryce and with 
deep sincerity linked, "We also apologize for our desire for gold."

Vryce smiled up at Oloth and laughed as he said, "Dragons talk a big talk 
about gold but I knew there was never a question about the good dragons' 
motives. I never doubted that you would agree to my demands because I know 
your heart Oloth. I know what separates a good dragon from a bad dragon 
and it is honor. It is a dragon-sized honor!" He smiled at Oloth and said, 
"Broadcast this for me please."

Vryce stepped forward and touched the massive dragon's foot as he looked 
up and said, "Before I arrived, dragons were just another monstrosity on 
what was a hellish planet gone wrong." Vryce looked around at everyone 
coming to encircle the area and said, "We found that dragons could fight 
their evil thoughts but only if they did not live underground. At first 
only a few dragons gave up their lairs and their evil ways. I did not 
force them. They did it because I questioned their honor!" Vryce patted 
Oloths toe and shouted, "We soon learned that dragons have great honor! 
Honor enough to match their terrible thoughts and their incredible power!"

He turned to face everyone and said, "That honor has held strong since the 
day I arrived 544 years ago! Today we honor the good dragons with good 
news! I have learned of a thing from afar. It was just rumor before but 
now I have proof. I have seen it with my own two eyes. I have learned of a 
thing called a 'Dragon's Spire', an island created by fae magic featuring 
a large mountain filled with dragon's lairs! This is a place where dragons 
can raise families without their offspring becoming evil!" 

Throughout the land dragons could be heard trumpeting and singing as Vryce 
exclaimed, "Dragons can soon raise families without fear! The age of 
dragons on Medievia is nearly upon us!"

Just then as the sun set Squire Bartenis from the Seventh Circle clan led 
a large wing of dragons that thundered across the sky in a giant formation 
making the letter V. Lateous from the Legion of Legends clan came flying 
by with another formation that stopped directly overhead. The dragons 
individually circled tightly and overall kept a tight V formation, upon a 
roar they all flamed on creating a massive stationary V of fire across the 
darkening sky.

Vryce, not wanting to hog Marious's glory grasped him by the shoulders and 
while grinning echoed across the lands with the voice of a god, "Marious 
has saved us all yet again! Today is the day of Marious, our great war 
wizard, our greatest servant, our savior! All Hail Marious!"

Marious made a grand spectacle of it all, stopping only much later when 
Oloth was seen down on the beach doing his best 'Marious being the center 
of attention' impression to a large laughing audience of heroes.

Marious joined the crowd by flying in with flame coming out of his mouth, 
landing in a smart tumble to jump up standing, doing a perfect 'Oloth the 
most dangerous dragon in the world' impression complete with a magic 
induced roar that knocked half of the crowd off their feet.

Vryce smiled as he took in this night. He smiled even brighter as felt his 
inner voice sing as Soleil must be approaching. Just then a solitary ray 
of sunlight momentarily blinded Vryce as Soleil appeared, arm around his 
kissing him as she watched a flaming letter M cross the night sky. 

Soleil smiled as she watched Marious and Oloth down on the beach as heroes 
from across the land came to thank them and be a part of history.

Soleil took Vryce's hand and placed a small rock in it, the original piece 
of frae shaped like a crescent moon, made into a necklace by Soleil 
herself. Vryce lifted it up and let it hang by his finger. The chain was 
made from braids of Soleil's hair instilled with subdued golden rays of 
sunlight. Vryce felt a shiver run up his spine as he took in the sight of 
Soleil as she stood in front of him, her face profiled by the warm light 
of the beach fires to their side and the giant flaming M far above, she 
could always take his breath away. Vryce smiled as she looked at her 
creation dangling from his finger, her eyes sparkled reflections of it as 
she said, "This was a gift for you but perhaps we should give it to 
Marious?"

Vryce nodded and stepped into Soleil's embrace. He quickly leaned down and 
kissed her, the combination of souls intertwine and become inseparable for 
infinite instants as they share a private moment together. Afterwards 
Soleil took Vryce's offered hand and strode down to the beach towards 
Marious.

An hour later Marious stood with the priceless prize necklace boldly 
displayed on his chest as Oloth mindlinked to Marious, Vryce, and Soleil, 
"Today has been a great day. I will sleep tonight dreaming about a lair of 
my own and a family to care about me the way Soleil cares about you 
Vryce." Marious nodded in agreement and said to Vryce while looking at 
Soleil, "You are truly blessed my lord. Perhaps one day even I will settle 
down and start a family."

Vryce waved as if to leave after that ridiculous statement and put his arm 
around Soleil, the best prize in this galaxy or any other. He said, "We 
are off! I am looking foward to a simple night home alone with Soleil." 
Soleil hugged Vryce's shoulder as she asked him, "How was your day?" Vryce 
answered just before teleporting off with her, "Nothing much. The usual. I 
went here and there. Maybe I will tell you about it over dinner. I am 
starving!"

Marious mindlinked Oloth, "Vryce is probably tired after a long day 
waiting for us to solve the planet's problems." Oloth returned, "Vryce is 
probably tired of endless days filled with infinite power and control over 
our planet." Vryce telepathed them, "Vryce is probably in bed with Soleil 
saying to her, 'Marious is probably too proud to wear that gift'. Marious 
and Oloth laughed as the necklace disappeared in a flash. 

Soleil then telepathed them, "Vryce is probably locked in my embrace as I 
fill his soul with sunshine until morning." Marious smiled as Oloth 
linked, "Good one. I nearly forgot that she was the one who started this 
game."

High atop Mount Vryce in his hidden cabin Soleil smiled again towards 
Vryce as she was thinking back to the day he gave the small piece of 
original frae to her. He told her that day about the future filled with 
sea travel and great ocean adventures. That day seemed long ago now but 
here they were at the dawn of a new age for Medievia, an age filled with 
ships and fae power. She spoke out loud, "I wonder what will happen next?"

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