Shyrus tipped back the chair she was sitting on, rocking it back onto two legs and swinging her own human legs up onto the table before her. If there had been any tankards on it then they might have been disturbed, but so far nobody had come over to bring her a drink. She leaned back in the chair until it was on the verge of tipping over, head lolling back and arms hanging limply by her sides. She was bored. She had come to the city hoping to find… Something. The mages here were always good for a laugh but they seemed preoccupied by something going on across the continent. Whatever it was, nobody had told her anything. Did that mean it was none of her business? Maybe. Probably. Surely. But if she was to look into it, then would that distract her from her boredom? She huffed out an icy breath, chilling the air in front of her. Maybe. Probably. Surely. Fuck.

She dropped the chair back onto four legs with a crash, gaining the attention those at the tables around her. She turned her cool blue eyes on the nearest table, two mages who immediately dropped their gazes and began whispering to one another. Damn straight. They better look away. She'd fight the lot of them! The mages thus cowed, she stood up to her full height. In this human form, it was six feet tall. She could have been taller, true, but anything more might warrant undue attention. As it was she was fairly tall for a human female. She was wearing loose robes and slippers, cheap clothing that could be discarded and replaced without a second thought when she switched between forms. Her white hair, the colour of which she had no control over for some reason, was bound behind her head in a dragon's tail. It was a braid, but… She was a dragon. She didn't mind the colour, really. It was close to that of her scales, and she was quite proud of those. It made her stand out at  times though. In those times she thought about having a cloak with a hood. Too much work to replace one of those every time though. Where did she need to go to find out about whatever had everyone fussing? She could go back to those mages, demand an answer. She might just do that…

A flyer pinned to the wall caught her eye. She didn't know what it was about it that had grabbed her attention. For a moment she was sure it had said something else… Something very suspicious… Had it really said, in bright green lettering that covered the entire page, "HEY, DRAGON!!"? Surely not. She blinked with confusion, standing in the way of a barmaid carrying a tray filled with tankards. The barmaid must have cleared her throat five times, an annoying sound really, as Shyrus stared at the page on the wall. There was writing on it, but it was in black script with a crude drawing upon it. It didn't change. Weird. She went to inspect it anyway, wary of magic. It would be just like those sneaky mages to try and capture a dragon. The flyer was simple enough. It mentioned great trouble brewing around Tyr. A fearsome spirit that had everyone worried. Apparently many people had been harmed trying to combat it, but so far nobody powerful or smart enough had tried. Huh. Shryus was smart. Shyrus was powerful. She could be the one to do this… There was a mention of a reward, too. Shiny, shiny silver. That would look wonderful in her hoard. Wonderful indeed. A large grin split her face, literally. She didn't realise, but her face had elongated slightly, becoming more draconian, fangs glittering in the light as she smiled.

Shyrus swaggered out into the street after that, her features returning to human form slowly. The part of her that was a showoff wanted to transform right there in the street, take to wing and go investigate this great danger and put a stop to it. Shyrus, to the rescue. She would demand a crystal statue be erected in her honor, right in the center of Tyr. The light would glitter through it beautifully. Wasn't there something about Tyr she was forgetting though? What was so special about that place? She vaguely had an idea where it was, an island that was to the east of where she was now, in Iria. But there was something she was forgetting… Something that made it different from other places… It was on the tip of her tongue, she was sure. Just then, though, a shout rang out from behind her.

"HALT, DRAGON!"

Out of spite, she kept walking, not even flinching for a second. Tell her to halt, would they? Oh, whoever it was was going to be in for a world of trouble, but she wasn't about to do what they said! She would continue on for a few more steps and then turn on them. She had her wand strapped to her forearm, ready to be dropped down into her hand. It was made from bone, a tail bone to be precise, taken from the tip of her grandfather's tail after he lost it in a particularly gruesome fight. That had been a fun day. She grinned just thinking about it. Today was going to be a fun day too, she could just feel- A fireball shot past her, close enough to warm the air next to her face considerably. Oh, someone was going to die.

"I SAID HALT!"

Shyrus spun in place, robes twirling prettily around her as she turned to face the attackers. It was the two mages from the bar, who had seen her and begun to mutter between themselves. Fuck these bastards. She'd cronch on their bones before the next few minutes were through. They both had their wands drawn, pointing right at her, almost daring her to make a move. Her own wand was close to hand, but she suspected that if she drew it then they would strike at her. From this distance, with fire magic they obviously could use… Well, she really didn't have anything to worry about. She could just drop this human form. As a dragon, they would most likely run away leaving trails of urine behind them. The only reason they were so brave was because they didn't realise the truth of who they faced. Were they expecting a young dragon, newly hatched? Who they could just bully and kill? The thought of that got her heart racing. They must think they were so tough. Oh, she'd show them. A grin split her face, again revealing a glimpse of her true form. The mage on her left, a dark skinned humanoid, though not actually human from the smell of her, trembled. The mage's wand drooped. Perfect. She could almost smell the fear. Now to amplify it.

"I have halted, mortals. Now tell me, what would you like for me to do next? Allow you to choose which of you shall die first? Oh yes, I like that idea. Why don't you tell me who wants to die first? Tell me. Which one of you. Go on. Tell me. Tell me!" Her words grew faster and faster as she spoke, by the end they were running into one another without a pause. At the same time she was taking steps closer to both of them. She had her hands raised, palms outstretched to show that she was unarmed. She wanted them intimidated, but didn't want for them to do anything rash. She suspected the two of them to be low level mages, still learning. There was nothing they could do that could threaten her, she was sure of it. But, why risk these things? Her eyebrow raised as she looked at them in the eyes. The dark skinned one looked away immediately, her hand with the wand now at her side. The other, a human man, was glaring at her. Oh yes, he was a brave one. But he had made a mistake, hadn't he? He had let her get far too close. Her face, now making her look almost like one of those dragonborn creatures, was still frozen in a grin. Heh. Frozen. Her eyes flashed as she took in a deep breath and released it, breathing ice magic directly into the face of the human.

He had enough time to scream, for a second, before the ice was sucked down into his lungs and froze them.  She wasn't too sure at which point he actually died, but as she reached out and flicked his face, the cheek shattered and he toppled backwards to hit the floor. His main body hit with a thump, his head hit with a crash. Something else shattered. Good. She turned her gaze on the dark skinned one then, tongue darting out to lick reptilians lips. The girl was begging for her life. Let her beg. Shyrus began to cackle, then, enjoying herself.

A crowd seemed to have gathered while Shyrus fed. The good news was, with her features disfigured in this way there was nobody who would recognise her if  she cam back to this place in human form. It wouldn't bother her if they did, not if she was honest. But it might make things difficult, especially since the human form she took was one that she enjoyed. She was able to slip into it as easily as breathing now, it was like a second skin for her. Was it a second skin for her? An interesting thought to occupy her as she picked her razor sharp teeth with a bone from one of the bodies. The meal wasn't especially large, considering it would be fueling her true form soon, but it filled the small human belly she had now. Humming to herself, she walked off down the street, leaving the screaming bystanders to clean up her mess.

She managed to get a few streets away before the sound of running reached her, coming from behind. If that was guards, or more mages… Well, now was the time to leave. She had a spirit to tackle right now, didn't she? She slipped down into an alley and began to run, looking for a courtyard or other opening large enough for her to transform and take flight. She returned her features to those of her human form and slipped her blood covered robe off over her head. It was difficult to do while running and she was embarrassed to admit that it sent her crashing into a wall that in turn sent her sprawling. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Glaring around, she made sure there was nobody who could have seen her. If they did, she'd kill them. There was nobody. Lucky for them. She sat there, totally not feeling sorry for herself as she used the robes to scrub the blood from her face. They were ruined now so she tossed them aside. All she had left now were the slippers and her wand, and as an afterthought, her purse full of silver. She could never leave that behind.

Ten minutes later, and a lot of wide eyed stares and Shyrus found herself the spot she needed to get out of here. She didn't understand why so many people were staring at her. She was sure she had scrubbed all the blood from her face, and the robes had been covered with the rest of the blood so there was no reason for the staring! She was blood free! Stupid humans. And humanoids. And whatever else was out there, judging her. Luckily, the courtyard was empty. There was a large fountain in the middle of it, which she sidled up to to splash water over her face and get herself a drink. That accomplished, she spun in place as her body stretched and grew. The purse and wand she tucked into her mouth when it was large enough. She had found just the right spot inside where they could be safely stores. There was a pressure against her hip and a crashing sound as the fountain was crushed beneath her. Woops. Glancing around suspiciously again, looking for anyone who might blame her but seeing nobody, she quickly took off.

It took some time to fly across land, heading towards the island. She wondered, as she flew and had nothing else to do, how she would recognise the spirit and be able to take care of it. Fighting spirits wasn't something she had a whole lot of experience with, but consuming spirits… Heh. She picked off a bear and a cow while she was flying to feed herself. They were tasty snacks. She liked tasty snacks. It was late when she was finally soaring above the waves, the island coming into sight just ahead of her. There was something over there, standing tall next to the island. Whatever it was… It was huge. Might even be bigger than her. Her eyes grew wide as a stone flew through the air, coming directly for her. She rolled to the side, the stone narrowly missing her. Another stone was already being launched, and behind that, another. She let out her most thunderous roar, letting it echo through the night. She gathered herself as she drew even closer to the creature, it looked like a giant skeleton? Was this the spirit? It would make things easy if it was, no need to go running around looking for a little one if there was a giant one right there. She was just about to let loose with her ice breath when a bone club connected with her side, sending her crashing down. Down. Down. She wasn't sure what she was hitting, but she was destroying something as she went skidding across the island. Were those the remains of buildings beneath her?

Caleb had been here for weeks. Months, even. He had been researching for a while and found that he would be most successful here, which bothered him. He didn’t want to be successful. Part of him wanted to live in ignorant bliss. But this was his choice and he was going to see it through.
Tyr was home to a plethora of undead, roaming the streets and biting anyone who stood in thier way. Some ice, some fire, and they would easily succumb to the elemental strikes he would deliver.

His mission had gone peacefully for the most part until that skeletal menace appeared.

A large skeleton was seen roaming the area in more than one instance. Usually it appeared at night but one could never be too sure. The skeletal figure stood higher than any building Caleb had seen. More so, the undead all seemed to be congregating in one spot, making them more dangerous to hunt down.

Then there was the ringing. Oh god, the ringing.
When he had awoken one day, there was a loud ringing in his ears. It happened just the day prior to seeing the skeletal menace first make its premiere. It got worse as the days droned on and Caleb found himself whisking himself away to find land to have a doctor look at him. But as soon as he reached land again, it stopped. He gave himself a day to rest but as soon as he came back, the ringing had started again, though less potent. It seemed as time went on he would have to take breaks to avoid this sensation becoming too much. This slowed his progress and annoyed him immensely.

He had been careful not to be caught. If he saw it off in the distance he would stay inside his camp for the night and study. Other days he kept to the trees to avoid being spotted. He had some close calls but he was here for a reason and he wasn’t about to abandon it now.
Upon looking up ancient legends and lore, Caleb found a section titled, “The Gashadokuro.” Which fit the description of what he was dealing with rather well.
He would leave the island once his business was finished. Until then he wasn’t going to let some giant dead crybaby rule his life.

Caleb had just arrived on Tyr for what must have been the 8th or 9th time, his ears already picking up on the dull ringing. He had gotten used to the habit of leaving his campsite all together knowing it would probably be the same when he came back the next day. Today was no different.

He set down his books- the one thing he cared too much about to just leave- and began to make himself some food over the fire. He had seen the Gashadokuro on his way here but it remained at the other side of the island. As long as he wasn’t foolishly brave or stupid, he would be just fine.

He prodded at the coals with a stick and set the fire going, opening up his pack to find a few ingredients to stew together. He would begin his hunt on the undead once he had filled himself.
He had tried to imitate the food Perothisies, his butler, had made for him a few weeks back unsuccessfully. The spices where wrong and the consistency was too thin. Maybe he should ask for it to be written down.

A long, deep groan rumbled the sky and scared the birds up into the air. Glancing back, Caleb could just make out the top of the Gashadokuro’s skull above the tree line a few miles away. It was on the move, and it was headed this way. Caleb put the coals out for now and left the stew out for the bugs. He would restart again tomorrow anyway. For now he would stay inside his tent and just study until it passed him by.

Shyrus rolled over, crushing more of whatever she had landed on. Whatever had hit her had hurt, and for that it was going to suffer. Getting back onto all fours she shook herself off and looked at the destruction that was her path across the ground. Trees had been torn up by the root, branches scattered all over. There had been some buildings, here and there. Well, there wasn't any more. Whoops. With a sheepish grin she looked around to see if anyone had seen her tumble from the air. Didn't seem to be a whole lot of people around, though. The ones that were… Were they… Corpses? Ew. She hated the undead. They tasted terrible and weren't scared of her one bit. They also didn't appreciate how beautiful her scales were. And, and, and, the could didn't really bother them all that much. All in all, they made for a seriously boring, and difficult, enemy. That was what she had forgotten before. Tyr, island of the dead. Wonderful. Well she was here now and she was seriously pissed. Her tail flicked out, sending one of the shambling corpses that was approaching her flying off over the trees. In her true form she was much too large for them to bother her. Whatever had struck her out of the air was another issue, though. It was easy enough to find it, all she had to do was look back at the furrow she had dug into the ground with her body and right there would be the… Er… Where was it? Her claws dug into the ground, her eyes narrowing as she looked at where there should have been a spirit. A big one. With something huge and blunt that was big enough to knock a full grown majestic ass dragon shooting off like a meteor. But there was nothing.

All of a sudden a chill, heh, went down her long spine. Her head shot around just in time to see a giant skeleton reaching out from behind her to grasp her around the neck. She began wriggling and writhing, twisting in it's grip. What the hell was this thing? How the hell did it move so quietly? Why the hell was it so much bigger than her? Fuck! She lashed out with a claw, tearing free a rib. She had enough presence of mind to notice that as it crashed to the ground further away it seemed to collapse into a pile of… Were those more bodies? What the fuck?! The grip around his throat grew tighter, the long fingers digging into the softer scales there. She couldn't get enough air into her lungs to unleash her breath into it's face. She couldn't get enough breath into her lungs to do much of anything. Was that darkness growing around the edges of her vision? That wasn't good, was it? Blinking hard she hoped that it would go away, but it didn't. This was impossible. She was a dragon for fuck's sake! Nothing was meant to be able to harm her, not at her age! No spirit skeleton was going to get the best of her now. She flexed her wings, both of them colliding with the skeleton behind her and giving her enough space to give herself a powerful boost up into the air. The skeleton came with her, but that was fine. She came crashing back down onto the ground on top of it, knocking loose it's grip. It was bigger than she was, but then it was just a bare skeleton. It didn't weigh a whole lot, considering. Was that because it was a spirit? Whatever it was, she was about to kill it. Drawing in her breath, she unleashed her attack fully against it.

Ice hung in the air, coating everything in the immediate area around her. She backed away, slowly, from where the giant skeleton thing was. He wings spread out wide in an attempt to make herself seem bigger, more threatening. If it was anything like the smaller corpses then it wouldn't be able to feel fear. But it also meant her wings were in a better position for her to take off. Just in case the thing… Yeah, there is was. The giant skeleton shook itself off, chunks of ice cascading down from it in mighty crashes. That wasn't the result she had been hoping for. Her breath attack was really the most powerful thing she could do. She would chuckle nervously, if her throat didn't hurt so damn much.

"So… Creepy… Skeleton… Guy. Dude. Broh. How's it going over there?" her voice would be echoing loudly across the area around them, her draconian voice a deep rumble. She was backing up as she was talking, hoping to be buying herself time to think things over. She could feel things breaking, being crushed beneath her. Some of them were pretty irritating, and she didn't want to trip over. With mighty sweeps of her tail, she began to clear the ground behind her as she backed up. There was nobody alive here, right? Which meant she had nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about even if there were living people here really. If they weren't dragons then they weren't worth as much as she was. What she wouldn't give to have another dragon here with her. A fire dragon would be nice, even if they were hot headed. Heh. The skeleton thing was reaching down as she backed up, picking something up… Was that.. Yes. It was. It was a giant fucking club. Made of bone. Wasn't that just great. "Seriously, my man… Er… Skeleton. Thing. Why don't we just take a moment, discuss our differences? Think things through? No? Well then look out behind you! There's a giant dog!"

She would have been mortified if there was anyone around to here her. With that last attempt to confuse her attacker, which was not successful, she took back to the air. The club came flying through the air at her but she was able to spin out of the way. Rocks, boulders, debris. All sorts of things began to sail through the air. The damn thing was trying to get her on the ground again. Luckily there was just the one of them. There was just the one of them right? Oh by the dragon gods if there was more than one then she was royally fucked. She spun through the air, dodging projectiles, knocking aside whatever she couldn't dodge. She gained height, painfully slowly. Literally, painfully. She couldn't dodge or block everything. Luckily her scales were thick, but this was beginning to get bothersome. How do you deal with something that can't be destroyed with ice magic or ice breath? Well there were her claws and tail of course… If it was bones she could just cronch them with her mighty jaws. She was a dragon after all, and dragons were the top of all food chains. From the looks of things the skeleton had given up throwing things at her, or she had just reached a point where projectiles couldn't hit her. Either way, she had bought herself some time. There was no way she was going to back out of this fight now though.

Circling above the giant skeleton spirit, she watched as it slowly shambled off, looking for poor innocent dragons to attack no doubt. Her wings beat slowly, keeping her hovering more than flying. She could see the effect of the wind on the trees below her, rustling the leaves and branches. Regular corpses were flocking to the giant one as it moved, climbing up its legs and moving up it's body. They ended up moving to the point where the rib it had lost had been… And… Oh dear dragon gods it was regrowing itself. This was nuts. This was crazy. This was just plain unnatural and she was going to put a stop to it. Right now. Gaining more altitude, she hung in place for a moment before dropping like a stone. Her wings and limbs tucked into her body to streamline her shape, at the last moment she spread her wings. They snapped open, stopping her at just as she was about to hit the giant spirit. The force was transferred into her limbs which struck out at it. The initial impact sent it crashing forward, chunks of it flying off. Tearing with everything she had she bit, hit, scratched, roaring and screaming as she did so. She thought she was close to killing it when it shook her off. Then another club was sailing through the air. Her feet scrambled over the ground as she tried to get away but there was no hope of that. It hit her fully in the side, sending her rolling off.

When she finally landed she immediately opened her eyes, trying to keep track of the skeleton this time. The last thing she wanted was that thing on top of her again. She had tried hard but to no avail. What was next? What was next what was next what was next? Ugh. She hated this thing. It was reaching down again and she knew what would come next. Flying fucking rocks. She was a huge target, that was her trouble. If only she was… That was it! Gathering her magic, she began to transform, eyes widening as she watched boulders flying her way. She shrunk quickly, just fast enough to see them flying over her. As she shrank she remembered the items in her mouth, spitting them out while she still could. That could have been embarrassing.

She found herself then in human form, in a large clearing. Broken trees surrounded her. Something large must have… Ah. She collected her belonging, her precious coin purse and wand, and began to run away from the direction the skeleton was in. She was naked now. But not afraid. No, she just needed to figure out a few things and then she would be back on top!

Caleb waited for the Gashadokuro to pass by or even just to move to his location. The thing was quiet, which was unnerving. Something that big shouldn’t be able to move about without sound.
Caleb wasn’t sure exactly what it would do if it caught him, but a giant, silent skeleton on an island of the dead wasn’t the best omen. It didn’t take a scientist to realize that it probably wasn’t good news.

It had been quiet for a while. Caleb had learned not to peak outside while he thought it close. If it was quiet it could just be outside his tent, after all. He had some charms that would help ward it away from his tent but he found as long as he was smart he would turn out to be just fine.
For the first time in what must have been days, the silence was broken. There was a fierce roar and what sounded like someone screaming. There was a groan that rumbled the earth, which probably came from the Gashadokuro itself. This was the first time Caleb had ever heard it at all.

Curious, he peaked out from his tent, realizing that the skeletal menace was still far back on the other side of the isle.
It was fighting. Moreover, it was fighting something big. A wrym? No, it was airborn. A dragon of sorts.
Caleb stepped out fully from his tent and watched as the two fought. The dragon was unmistakably that of the ice variety. It used frost breath but to no avail. Every once and a while he could have sworn he heard words from the dragon’s mouth but it was too far to really tell. It did manage to damage the skeleton but the rib that had been removed quickly reformed with the bodies on the undead. Caleb started to write down what he saw. Maybe this would be useful information later.

The dragon and the Gashadokuro fought admirably, but the fight ended when the Dragon was hit with a giant femur bone. Caleb couldn’t see much else, but the fight had indeed ended. He had no real reason to go investigate. Honestly he didn’t care. If the dragon had won maybe he would go check on the Gashadokuro but with the dragon being the clear loser of the fight he had no interest. He had seen many dragons and owned many books about them. He knew enough already.

The Gashadokuro sobered away slowly, moving away from Caleb’s position again. It seemed he was okay to make his food after all.
It hadn’t been infested by bugs or the like yet, so he placed it back on the campfire and let it start to simmer.

The last few weeks he had explored the norther side of Tyr. Today he would try the eastern side and hope to find absolutely nothing.
Was it wrong to hope to fail in his quest? He did feel guilt, though he would never openly admit it.
He had traveled to the congregation area of the undead once but couldn’t get close enough to investigate without endangering himself. It did intrigue him but he had not yet the supplies or, as much as he hated to admit it, the strength to truly seek it out.

He heard a rustle in the grass behind him. Was it perhaps some wildlife? It had come to his attention that he hadn’t really encountered anything aside from bugs and the occasional frog while he was here.
Turning around, he knew something big was coming through. Not frighteningly large but big enough to give him pause. Was it an undead? Plenty of those around here, though they had all started to congregate in one area recently and they were becoming rare to spot.

He held out a hand, palm upwards as the thing approached. Fire began to twirl around his fingers and tendrils of smoke danced into the air. As it came closer he increased the flame, ready to strike.

The thing emerged from the grass and he immediately let the flame go out. It was a woman.
A very openly naked woman with white hair.
Caleb straightened himself and looked at her, bored expression taking over his features.
“I believe you’ve forgotten something.” He paused for a moment, trying to find words.“Possibly your dignity.”
Without waiting for a response He turned around and walked into his tent, shuffling through his items. He emerged with a large coat that would cover her down to her knees. “Here. You shouldn’t be in this state while you’re out here.” She shouldn’t be in this state anywhere outside, really. People were animals.
It was less an act of kindness and more an act of selfishness. Who did she think she was strutting around like that? He didn’t want any more of it.
“Don’t you know this place is infected with undead? This is no place for a Young woman such as yourself.”

Shyrus ran through the destruction some large creature had caused all around her, a part of her mind keeping track of where the giant skeleton spirit should be right now. Motherfucker was moving silently through the trees, heading towards her. She put her head down and pumped her legs faster, finally reaching the tree line that hadn't been demolished. She slowed down, then, ducking behind a tree as she caught her breath. After taking a second to compose herself, she peeked out from behind the tree to look for that skeleton thing again. She froze. Right there, at the edge of the trees was the giant skull seeming to peer into the darkness. It made a strange rattling sound, sounded like "gaki gaki". As luck would have it, it wasn't looking in her immediate direction. Thing was creepy as hell. How the fuck was it moving so silently?! She'd kill it. She'd crush it. She'd eat it's skull, she vowed this at the same time she was wondering just how she was going to get off the island. So, she wasn't able to kill the thing. But she could tear it apart. Maybe if she could disassemble it and freeze the different pieces? Maybe. She wouldn't have a chance to try it, though, until she could get away from it and return to her true form. At this distance the thing would have her in it's grip again if she tried it. So that meant she would have to put distance between herself and it, and somehow dodge the rubble it would undoubtedly throw at her. Great. Another peek and the thing was just… Gone. Creepy fucking… Ugh. She couldn't see it anywhere, not while she was under the trees and there was no way she was going to head out into the open while she had no idea where it was. Huffing, she started walking.

She trekked her way through the trees, with no idea where she was actually heading. Here and there, scattered around the place were little shrines and stones marking the graves of whoever had been interred here. Shyrus ignored them all, focused as she was on seething and plotting revenge, muttering under her breath the whole time about how she would cronch this, crush that, shit in that eye hole. She didn't even notice the opportunistic corpse that came shambling up behind her. It wasn't even that big of a body, before it had started rotting it looked to have been a young human. A good six inches shorter than Shyrus was in her current form. It wasn't until the undead was within three feet of her that she noticed the rotting smell permeating the air, stronger than the stench that was blanketing the local area anyway. She turned just in time to see it lunge for her and rolled her eyes. Her right hand grew claws, scales emerging from her skin from hand to elbow as she reached out and back handed the undead abomination which went flying through the air, colliding with a tree with a satisfying crunch. Her stomach rumbled and for the briefest of moments she considered the creature as a snack. Went as far as to walk over to it, crouch by it's side and poke at it. The thing was pretty far gone, rotten. Would not make a good meal, that was for sure. Ugh. She was beginning to hate this whole island.

Father Priest and his remaining brother in the Order had been tracking the Gashadokuro for a week now, ever since poor Paul had tried to return the bodies of the deceased to their rest. The three of them had been stationed here together. He and Grom had been on the island together for twenty years, Paul had joined them seven years ago. Their holy order had one simple task and that was to keep the deceased resting peacefully. Tyr was the posting that all wanted, but also feared. There was so much work to do here and the only reward for it was the spiritual one. Priest had made his peace with his life. He had found his true calling and this was it. The three of them looked out for each other, kept each other happy and sane in this lonely place. Then the ringing had started, it had been so painful. With it had come the Gashadokuro. The first night it had appeared had been terrifying. They had noticed that the undead seemed to have been migrating for a while, but never had they imagined that something like this could have happened. He knew some things about it, but had always suspected it was just a fairy tale. A story told to pass the long nights. How wrong he had been. Paul, the youngest of them, had been headstrong and thought himself immortal. Protected by the gods. When they had forbidden him to go alone he had waited for them to sleep and gone after it anyway. They hadn't seen him again after that.

Now, though, they had done their research. Collected the items that were necessary to do something about the angry spirit. They had their charms as well as blessed weapons. For something so large, though, it was able to hide well. It wasn't active for long each night, just long enough to cause chaos. They had been sure it would be active now though. The timing was off. Something was going on here. Something just wasn't sitting right with him. He turned to say as much to Grom when suddenly there was a scream. He shot around, looking at a foot the size of which was mind blowing. His eyes traveled up and up, following it up the body to see the skull. It was the Gashadokuro and in it's hands was Grom. No… No! Blood came down in a waterfall, covering Priest.

Shyrus walked out of the trees, hesitantly, looking all around for any signs of the skeleton thing. Nothing. Good. Good for the bastard, that was. Damn right. If she saw it, she'd kill it. What she was seeing now though was interesting. Something stood before her, waving around an insignificant amount of magic like it knew what it was doing. Another mage. Her tongue darted out, licking her human lips at the thought of the tasty snack those other mages had made. How long ago had that been now? Felt like so long. Her stomach growled at her again as she stepped further out into the clearing. Whoever it was began nattering away at her and she blew out an icy breath. He was an obnoxious little fellow, wasn't he? Probably an elf… He stepped into his tent and came back out with a coat. It was one of his, which meant it would probably fall down to just above her knees if she chose to wear it. Why would she, though? It's not like she was nak-ah. She looked down at her bare, pale skin and laughed. Woops. Clothes. She didn't want to stink of elf, though. Delicious as they were it would have her stomach screaming at her all night. She would have to eat him then. She licked her lips again but waved away the offered coat.

"Oh no, it's quite alright little one." she rolled her eyes at him, indulging him with a smile. "I appreciate your kind gesture though." Ah, the young ones were so thoughtful. Scales began to cover her, from neck down to wrists and ankles. She kept her appearance human, her head, hands and feet pale and fleshy. No need to worry the little guy. She breathed out through her nostrils, chilling the air around herself to make it more comfortable, then got her first real look at the elf before her. He was small for his kind, of a size with the corpse that had attacked her earlier. The colour of his clothing and his small stature reminded her of an elf she had known a few centuries before. What had his name been? Kee? Keith? Keep? Keebler? Ah, that sounded about right. Keebler the elf. That would be what she called this one, if she didn't eat him that was. The little elf seemed to be worried about the undead, though she suspected he meant those that were more of a level with him. If he knew of the big one then surely he would have been terrified out of his tiny little mind. She was about to say something to him when something caught her attention from nearby. Her ears pricked up, heightened hearing picking up some chanting. So there was someone else alive nearby? Were the two of them together? "Are you expecting company?"

She looked off in the direction she heard the chanting come from, seeing nothing. She looked around then to find the spirit and there it was, across the island. Whatever the chanting was doing it had gained the spirit creature's attention. It was now moving this way. Fantastic. She was going to kill whoever was over there before that skeleton got close. She didn't want to deal with this shit any more right now!

Priest chose his spot and began his preparation. Opening the bottle he allowed out some of the wisps that would light the area for him. No torches or lanterns, not here. He needed light and didn't want anything that might get blown out. Spirits were known for their trickery. He set his charms, then, placing them on trees surrounding him. He couldn't risk any other spirits, demons or corpses stumbling onto him while he attempted to exorcise the Gashadokuro. He also had his trusty bow, handed down through centuries by his order. The blessings on the weapon were powerful, enough to destroy the creature. That wasn't what he wanted though. It was made from the bodies of many, and if he destroyed it then they would never find rest. He would exorcise them first, give them peace and pull apart the abomination from within. The arrows within his sacred quiver held power of their own, the quiver too. People would kill to have any one of the items he had with him now, and here he was using them all against one unnatural monster. Thus prepared he enhanced his voice and began his chant, hoping to draw the monster to him.

As Shyrus approached the clearing she noticed a number of things. She could see magic gathered around a tree, seeming to form some kind of a barrier. She was able to pass through it easily enough so then what was it a barrier against? If it protected against spirits that would be pretty neat. She peeled it off the tree, holding it in the same hand as her purse full of silver to examine it later. Coming into the clearing she could see a number of floating lights hanging in the air. They were very pretty. Very shiny. She looked around and found a jar with the same glow of magic around it that the light had. She… She wanted the jar. If it produced magic lights she wanted it. If it didn't… She wanted it. Then there was a bunch of arrows, also glowing with magic! Oh, what a treasure trove she had found! All that stood between her and it was the asshole trying to summon the huge skeleton thing. She could take care of that, though.

A sudden crashing sound came from behind Priest. His words faltered as the possibilities went through his mind. Were there two spirits? Could he have missed the presence of  a second? He doubted it, but there was definitely something large behind him. His charms, while small, should theoretically be able to slow down and ward off the Gashadakuro. Which meant, in theory, there shouldn't have been any chance of one of them sneaking up behind him. If the gods were kind it would be something that could help him. He had heard the sounds earlier, as if titans were fighting. Had something come to save the island from the threat? He stopped his chanting and turned around in time to see a large set of jaws descend from the sky. He gulped. He died.

Shyrus cronched her way through the priest, spitting out the crunchy wooden bow that had been slung across his back. She hoped that hadn't been important. There had been magic gathering around the man, obscuring it. In regular sight it had just looked like a bow, though. Who would need a magic bow and magic arrows? Not her. She didn't really have a bow of her own, though… And where was she going to keep her new shiny things until she got home? These were troubling thoughts, distracting her as she shrunk back down into human form before the giant skeleton thing could see her and come running. She gathered up her new things, covering her human form in scales again so the little elf wouldn't be offended. She could hear him coming again. He must be close.

"Er, look! Look what I found here, completely unattended!" she said as she turned to face Keebler, blood smearing her face, arms full of magical charms, the quiver of arrows and the bottle of shiny lights. The good news was that she was no longer hungry, which in turn meant she wasn't going to be tempted to eat her little elven friend.

So it was a dragon. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. He had met dragons before. Some became great sages. Other became great beasts of the world. And then there where a select few who became- this.
Distracted by the simplest thing, she took off without much more warning. Despite his better judgement, he followed, knowing that he could somehow gain something from this. He caught up and stood in the tree line, he watched her as she munched down on the body of the priest, smacking her lips and eating grotesquely. He looked away- not due to the brutality just the mess, but because he found it unruly and disgusting.

Was this what he had heard? Was this what had caused the Gashadokoru to cry out?
If that was the case, maybe she could prove useful to him. He knew that the dragons where partial to coin and glimmers and baubles. If it shined, they needed it. If it was valuable, that would pursue it. As old and powerful as they were, some boiled down to simple overgrown lizards. But it also made them easy to exploit.
The dragon before him finished her meal with a final smack of her lips then shrunk down. The Gashabokuro wasn’t horribly far so laying low was the better option. She turned to him with blood smeared across her lips and chunks of flesh hanging off her face.
“Er, look what I found completely unattended!”
Did she just notice he had followed her? Truly idiotic.
“You have a little- well, I suppose you wouldn’t care.”
She was Appalling.

He looked at the items she had ‘found’ for a moment. Relics. High end ones, too. Though he had musch better back home.
“Listen, I have a proposal for you.”
He stepped closer, a few feet away now. “That monstrosity is hindering my research and it is a pain to have to try and find ways around it. I own a multitude of relics and gold and treasure. Wealth is near nothing to me now. If you help me to defeat the Gashadokuro I’ll pay you handsomely in wealth and wares that are bright or shiny.”
Wealth may not mean too much to this inferior dragon kin. She could have a stash at home bigger than his gigantic mansion. Knowing dragons, the key word was ‘shiny’.

The skeleton did not just pose as a threat to his life but also to his time and research. He needed to freely roam the island, especially during the night. He had tried to move more freely but he had too many close encounters. During one in particular, he stared back at the eyes of the creature, who was hunched down with its chin on the ground, smiling. The most unsettling thing was that he could have sworn it had eyes, despite it being obviously incapable of holding them. He escaped that night with not much more than the clothes on his back, exhausted from magic usage.

“The task will be deadly but if we both survive then I’ll keep my end of the deal. I’ll devise the plan and make sure we’re stocked so leave that part up to me. I just need your speed and strength.”
Caleb himself was rather formidable, but his size cast him as a huge disadvantage; and despite his best efforts, he could not grow jagged claws.

He took a step forward into the clearing and held up his hand. The edges of his fingertips where stained with soot, oddly enough, but if you use enough fire magic it tends to stick around.
“Well? Is it a deal?”
The Gashadokoru groaned loudly from across the island. It had a squirming body in its fingers, holding it by the head. The monstrosity crunched it, drinking the blood that spilled free. Of course Caleb would be fighting that in sue time, but he had to coax the dragon into staying long enough to get it done.
“I would have to prepare some wards and plan for some spells. It might take a small while. In the meantime, I do have a spare small tent if you need it. Or if you would prefer, I guess you could find some sort of musty cave. Though most dragons today tend to break away from those stereotypes.” He wouldn’t’ be surprised if she was the one who set the stereotype herself. She didn’t seem all that bright to begin with.

He should be more courteous though. Besides, if all went well then maybe he would gain something here. He liked to be alone and fight alone when he could, but maybe if he had formed a bond with a dragon then maybe somewhere down the road it would come to his benefit. Besides, he always needed more research material.

The elf, Keebler, began talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. Shyrus stood there, yawning openly, and loudly. She stretched, over exaggerating another yawn as she did so, hoping he would get the point. A part of her mind, way there at the back in the dark corners where she tried to not visit all too often, was taking notes. Listening to what the boring little guy was yammering on about, condensing it into a more palatable verse that she would be able to process properly. While he spoke, the front part of her mind, the good part that kept her sane started filling in the words for her.

"Do you like cookies? I like cookies. I bake cookies all the time! Hey there Shyrus, why don't we go off on an adventure! Go grab your traveling cloak and we can go! Yeah! Adventure!"

Shyrus perked up at this. Adventure? Hell yeah! Anything to get off this dreary island and away from that damn skeleton creature. Maybe she would come back with a friend, a fire dragon, and show that spooky bastard who was boss. She glanced around and saw that it had stopped, off there in the distance, but seemed to be looking straight at her. She froze, claws growing from the tips of her human fingers. She could possibly defeat it alone. She was of a size with it, she seemed to be stronger. Already she had used magic to heal away the small injuries she had suffered, though the creature's bone club was no match for her hide when she was a dragon. Being sent shooting off through the air wasn't a great feeling though, and the force and pressure seemed to have had a very slight, barely noticeable, but still negative impact to her insides. The fact that she had to use her healing magic at all attested to that. So, she might be able to defeat it. Or, she might end up wasting the rest of her night attacking it and being knocked around. Not a very appealing option, that. If only Keebler was at all magical. Well, too bad. That was like wishing she could fart rainbows.

"Look, hold up. I agree with you completely. Just, give me a second, kay? Kay. Good. Bye."

Not waiting for any kind of response from her tiny elven friend she opened a portal to Adeluna. She hopped on through and closed it behind her, letting the scales melt away from her skin. The breeze felt nice. She looked around, noticing she had been noticed in turn by some of the locals. Well, it was only going to be a quick stop. Just in case the elf knew how to open portals and followed her, she didn't want to be leading anyone to her cave. She opened another gateway, this time to Nisshoki, and then another and another. She continued this, having a good routine set up. She made the jumps randomly, just in case someone was ever waiting to follow her. Leading someone back to her hoard would be disastrous. So she ended up being super duper careful about it. She finally found herself right back in Adeluna, this time on the opposite side of the city, close to the docks now. Completely unashamed of her nakedness she strode down the street until she came to a familiar building. The Salty Barrel. She walked around back to the kitchen door, kicking it open with a little magical strength. Inside the kitchen was a hugely obese human. what the owner claimed was a chef. Shyrus knew better. He was mainly here just to wave flies away from the slop that simmered in a large cast iron pot over the stove and not blow too much snot into it when he blew his nose. Keith didn't even look up as he examined one gnarled finger which had just been rummaging around in his belly button, discovering whatever it was that he had retrieved. 

"Hey there, ya dumb fuck! Is Rain here?" As expected, the chef didn't give any kind of response. She was sure there was a little cave troll mixed into his blood at some point, generations back. It would explain so much, first and foremost how someone could be so damned ugly. Well, if Rain was in then she had just a couple of minutes to get out of here. Kicking the door shut behind her, again using magical strength to slam it hard, she took off down the hall. There were a few rooms back here, one in particular was infested with rats. It was where the owner kept the stores of food and blankets for the few guests who were stupid enough to stay here. She closed the door firmly, freezing the bottom of the door, fuck Rain, and opened one final gateway into her cave.

Shyrus stepped from the fairly warm room in Adeluna, her foot stepping down onto solid ice. A chill swept through her human form, rolling pleasure spreading from the tips of her toes right up to the roots of her hair as her body adapted to the below freezing temperatures. The air froze within her lungs, but more magic was able to take care of this, manipulating the ice and warming it to the point where her mortal frame wouldn't perish. The gateway was already closed behind her, shutting her off from that part of the world. She surveyed her domain, a smile spreading across her lips. She had, on a whim a few thousand years ago, decided to create herself an ice fortress within the cavern where she kept her hoard and hibernated. Since she took human form, she figured why not have a place for that human for to kick back? Relax? Take the edge off? It didn't really work out that way though. When she wanted to relax she didn't want to do it as a human. She wanted to be in her true form. So this had ended up being place for her to store all her… Human things. Mountains of clothes, silver for spending (though she loathed to part with it), magic items, weapons, staffs, staves, wands, amulets, armors, bits and bobs. It all really just stayed in the fortress, instead of being outside of the fortress on her real hoard. A mini treasure pile for a mini body. The only thing she really used a lot of was the clothing, because… Well, until the day they created a dress or robes that were able to survive a transformation…

Speaking of. She walked into the ballroom which was her closet. Along one entire wall was a row of robes, an icy blue with diamonds sewn into patterns. They glittered beautifully, and oh how she loved to run the silk through her hands. The joy of being a fleshy human, she supposed, was a better sense of touch. She would never dare wear one of these outside of her fortress, oh no. One slip and the beautiful material would be ruined. She turned away and instead walked over to a neglected pile. These robes were a pale blue trimmed in white. She had once held the daughter of a famed tailor for weeks, forcing him to pay her in cloth for the safe return of his loved one. She had, of course, eaten them both. But not before admiring and complimenting the man's skill. Even these, the cheapest garments she had here, were made of rich fabric. The robe was stiff to the touch and needed a little magic to manipulate the ice from it until it was workable. She slipped it on over her head and set about looking for suitable footwear. She had boots, shoes, slippers, flippers… All sorts of things. Simple slippers would do for today though, no need to get fancy. There was a window set against the back wall, right next to the mirror that reached up to the ceiling. As she slipped her feet into the slippers, heh, she walked over to admire herself. The mountain within the cavern caught her eye before the mirror did, though. All that silver and gold, jewels…. Well, she had already listed all the fantastic things that she had. But there was just so much of it, five thousand years. She could buy a continent if she chose to part with some of it. She never would though. She was tempted to jump through the window right now, transform and just bathe in all that wealth for a week or two. She couldn't, though, and she knew it. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, stopping her from her basic instinct. What was it though… Well, never mind. She would check the eggs, that always cheered her up.

Deep down beneath her ice fortress, down through a stairwell that circled downwards, on and on, sized perfectly so only someone human sized or smaller could fit through to walk down the thousand stairs, was a secured room. She could walk the stairs, if she was stupid. Instead she just opened a gate and walk through. Frozen down here, safe from the world, were dozens of her eggs. They were frozen safely so that they could be thawed out at any time, ready to continue her legacy if she chose. She had, of course, hatched some. Not many, not enough to threaten her power. But enough that say, another dragon were to come for her she would have her own defense. She really should check in on them, some day. She doubted she would ever want to hatch another egg though, so here they would remain. Along with the eggs she had taken from some of her enemies. She would ransom them back one day too, if she every grew bored of staring at them. They were like jewels themselves. She grinned, eyes glowing as she looked them over, remembering the adventures that had led her to having them here. Speaking of adventures, though, she had somewhere to be. That tiny elf, hadn't he said his name was Keebler, was waiting for her back on that cursed island. Better head back. The long way.

She considered bringing a staff with her but in the end decided that her wand was enough. It had the power of her bloodline in it, which gave her a better connection with it. She did like that way that one staff made her feel though. The mage who had wielded it had thought himself so tough, right up until the point Shyrus had shit out his children all over him. It would have been more satisfying if he had recognised the bones for who they belonged to, but that would have been asking far too much. He had been disgusted by the display which had distracted him. He had been a formidable opponent, skilled with ice magic to the point where he had been able to defend himself from much of Shyrus' attacks. That moment of distraction had been his downfall. Shyrus had then taken pleasure in slowly freezing off his limbs, one at a time, keeping him alive as she did so. Good times.

She stepped through gate after gate, freezing halfway through one that was on the deck of some ship in the middle of an ocean. No idea how she had ended up here, but that dark corner of her mind had finally managed to catch her up on a little of what Keebler had been gabbing about. He had offered her treasure… Treasure!!! No idea what for, but the offer was there! She hopped onto the deck and a second later a new gate was open to that damned island with that fucking skeleton creature. She was back in front of the little guy, a huge draconic grin on her face.

"Before we go any further, buster, you had better be willing to prove to me you have treasure." Her grin widened even more, if that was even possible. "Because if you're fucking lying to me, I'll tear out your eyes and shit in your eye holes." The slightly evil grin dropped from her face, replaced with one of sweet innocence. "So then, let's go to your place!" 

She opened a new portal, the grin returning as she began to transform in her excitement. The new clothes were torn to shred around her body as it turned into that of a young dragon and she bound through the portal on all fours.  She was positively hopping with excitement as she leaped through the portal and into whatever lay beyond it. She sure hoped Keebler's house wasn't as small as he was. If it was then he was going to be in for a nasty surprise. She wasn't much good with transforming. She could go back and forth between dragon and human easily enough, even give herself dragon features while she was in her human form. But making herself bigger or smaller was… Hard. It wasn't something she ever really needed to do. Either you needed a human mage or you got a big fucking dragon. Deal with it. But if she was going to be getting a whole buttload of treasure out of this then she was going to need to try her best to make this work, wasn't she? What were the chances that there was someone old and feeble on the other side of that gate, anyway? Or anything priceless? Unless she was going to be diving into a huge pit full of silver. Oh, if only she could be that lucky. 

Prothisies sat in the library, small teacup in his fingertips as he took a sip. The fire looked lovely, crackling in the fireplace.
He sat back into the Toddman chair, his bones creaking.
It was truly quiet. Master Caleb had left a few weeks ago and since then he had gotten many things done he otherwise would be too busy babysitting to get around to. He had cleaned the entire manor, organized the file room, and kept Caleb’s horses fed and groomed, as well as entertained. Not to mention he had just finished his biggest achievement yet- organizing the entirety of the library.
He sat back feeling a job well done, enjoying an old photo album and a cup of tea.
It had been so peaceful.

He did worry about Master Caleb despite enjoying his absence. The mage constantly locked himself away in the library or other parts of the home. He even hated his popularity and he avoided people like the plague. He had no real friends, only business partners and professional relationships. He never smiled, ate alone in various rooms, and was a general disaster of a person! Prothisies would never understand why everyone seemed so enamored by him. Sure he was rich and smart, and ‘mysterious’ if you really were that delusional, but he stood as an utter broken human being! He didn’t really work nor clean. What a child!

Prothisies had hoped and prayed to all the deities that might listen to him. He hoped Caleb would clean up his act- or at least his mess. He really wasn’t asking for too much. Maybe just a friend to socialize with for God’s sakes! Just someone who shared similar interests and might teach him to be a bit friendlier! Anyone!

The chair in front of him toppled over as a portal opened and a dragon came rushing in.

—

Caleb’s offer had been declined within a heartbeat. Well, decline would imply she said ‘no’ but instead she generally told him to piss off. She rattled off a phrase or two before bidding a sudden goodbye and leaving through a portal. The wind picked up and died with the opening and closing of the way.
Well, that was fine. He would figure it out by himself. He came into this alone, he would find a way through it alone, too. How hard could it really be? He just needed a plan and some room to move, that’s all.
He turned to go back to his tent before he heard the zipper like sound of a portal behind him. The girl stood there, suddenly back and interested. Didn’t take long for boredom to set in for her, it seemed.
"Before we go any further, buster, you had better be willing to prove to me you have treasure. Because if you're fucking lying to me, I'll tear out your eyes and shit in your eye holes."
He rolled his eyes. Right, he would have to deal with her childish behavior. He crossed his arms and turned back towards her. Well, he just needed her power for a little while. Not like it was a lifelong journey.

“Of course I have what I promised. Liars are sinners.”
The dragon made empty threats that annoyed Caleb. How childish could she possibly be? He walked to his tent to gather his things. Halfway in his temporary quarters he heard the sound of a zipper again, Then a gust of wind and electricity. He turned around. Eyes open wide, realizing that she meant to portal there. He leapt into his tent and grabbed the most important items inside, which included his books and a few magic items. He bolted out of his tent to see the portal closing in front of him. Clutching his duffel bag tightly, he jumped, body going horizontally as it closed around his shoulders. He felt the temperature shift as he barely made it through, the portal’s closing clipping the ends of his shoes. He fell onto the floor of his library, his shoulder taking most the fall. He grunted when he pushed himself up from the floor, teeth grit together.

“Caleb!” Prothisies stood up and hobbled over, taking the cane from its position leaning against the table. He got on his knees to help up Caleb, grabbing his arms to pull him upwards.
“I’m fine.” Caleb spat, pushing himself to his feet, shoulder being held by his hand. He looked at the dragon standing in his library, noticing the ground below its feet icing over. A few bookshelves knocked over just by the forced entry, papers and maps swirling in the air, carried by the currants of the portal magic.
The fish inside the tank to the side all swam sporadically, trying to calm down.
“I see you’ve brought a dragon. This isn’t who I thought you would bring home.”
Caleb turned to his butler, sharp glare evident on his face. “I see you’re still obsessing over my social state. I told you, It is not necessary. Fetch the key to my room.”
“But Master, your shoulder-“
Caleb grumbled lowly and pressed it, popping it back into place. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. Now go.”
Prothisies stuttered for a moment before giving up and leaving to fetch the key.

Caleb turned to face the dragon who stood in front of him, standing tall and excitable. He frowned, making his way to a pile of papers and books, picking them up. “You’ve really already made a mess. You’ll never see the treasure if you’re not small enough to fit through the doors.”

Prothisies came in a few moments later, black key in his hand. He gave it to Caleb, observing the mess.
“Leave the mess. I’ll pick it up… again.” He looked up at the Dragon, shiver running down his spine. Still, even with a fearsome appearance, she was a guest.
“Welcome to the Manor, Dragon. My name is Prothisies. I hope you enjoy your stay. Please let me know if there’s anything I can assist you with.”
Caleb pocketed the key. “Come on, this way.”

Shyrus burst through the gateway and into the room beyond it, leaping through in a very canine fashion. She went through a quick series of emotions as she took in the room. Disappointment that there was no giant pool of silver for her to swim in was first and foremost, and recurring.  It was true that the hope had been a remote possibility, more of an impossibility really. But one day, she was extremely certain of this fact, she would open and gateway to a room filled with silver. The next emotion was a very vague and fleeting sense of surprise at the sight of the extremely elderly, by the dragon gods that guy was old, elf. Smelled male. And decrepit. The next emotion was a strong one, revulsion at the fact the Keebler would keep such an ancient man here right in his gateway room. Such bad manors. The elderly deserved respect and a quick death. She hiccuped and grew an additional foot as she peered down at the elderly elf, jaws gaping wider as if to snatch him up.  The sound of Keebler entering the room behind her caused her to spin in place, her tail whipping around and knocking an entire row of books off of the shelf. The ancient stood up and started fussing over Keebler, then. Such a sweet old man. If he wasn't so wrinkled and disgusting she would have been tempted to pet him. As it was she was sore pressed not to let out an icy breath and freeze Keebler where he stood as he proceeded to be an ass to his grandfather. Great grandfather? Great great grandfather? Just how long could these elves live?

As they talked and talked Shyrus took the opportunity to take a peek at the room properly. She spun around again, her wing catching a bookcase and knocking it over as she did so. Looked and awful lot like a library. Leaning in close she began to read some of the titles on the shelf. An Elf's Guide to Gardening, How to Blend a Coyote with a Kraken in Five Easy Steps, Eating For One: A Lonely Butler's Tale and Toads! All You Need to Know and More!
"Whoooooooooohhhw…" she breathed out, a cloud of cold air gushing forth and freezing the tomes where they were. Her eyes widened, then, and she turned her long neck to glance at the two elves who seemed to be having some kind of lover's tiff. She reached one clawed hand up to brush the ice off the books, causing them to shatter in their place. She froze, heh, before her rational mind kicked in. They had no proof it had been her. She'd fight them if she had to. They couldn't prove ANYTHING! She backed off to put a little distance between herself and the broken books, backing right into another bookcase and knocking off all the books. She hiccuped again and grew another two feet. Much more of this and she wasn't going to make it through the doors… She looked at the doorway leading out of the library nervously. It was going to be awful tight but were those fishes over there?!?! She did a little hop, rocking causing a minor tremor and stared at the fishes in the tank. Her breath froze on the glass, obscuring her sight. Just as she was reaching out to brush off the ice she realised the two had stopped talking. What had they been saying? Come this way? Ah, yes, that sounded about  right.

Shyrus turned towards the door, her tailing brushing more books off of shelves as she did, and eyed it suspiciously. She hunched down low, tucking in her wings and wiggling her butt as she tried to make herself smaller. She was now not much smaller than an elephant, but hunched down like this she thought she might be able to make it through the door. As long as it wasn't a corridor on the other side then she would be fine. Inching forwards, digging her claws into the floor and dragging herself forwards, she began to make her way towards it. Head made it through just fine. Long neck snaked through and she was able to appreciate the room beyond, a large entry hall. Why hadn't he instructed her to open her gateway here? It would have made much more sense. Claws, feet, arms, shoulders…. Her wings got stuck in the doorway and she cursed loudly, a ball of ice shooting out of her mouth and smashing through a window opposite. Her eye swiveled slowly to check whether the elf had noticed, as she began to wiggle her way through the door. There was a slow creaking sound, followed by a loud crack of wood splintering. With a final little popping sound her hips were through the door and she was able to shoot forwards, colliding with the railing on the staircase leading upwards, reducing it to kindling. Spinning in place, she sat on her haunches, tail wrapping around her feet as she Raised herself up. She wasn't sure when the growth had happened, but now the top of her head was close to the ceiling.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck…." she chanted as she screwed her eyes shut, focusing on the spell that was holding her in this midway form. She slowly reversed it, stopping any growth and reversing it, shrinking her body slowly until she was back in her human form. She remembered, just in time, to spit out her wand and coin purse. She was completely naked again, and she wondered if there was any way for her to stuff a dress into her mouth and keep it wearable. Maybe if there was some kind of waterproof bag? Or maybe she could find some magical material to make a robe out of that would disappear and reappear as she changed form. A sparkling off to the side caught her attention before she could say anything more to the elf, Keebler. Not waiting for an invitation, or a lecture, she shot off towards the open door that had grabbed her attention. There was definitely something shiny in there, something grabbing her attention. Was this the pit of silver she was hoping for? Longing for? Judging by the dimensions of this place there was no way it could contain thaaaat much silver, surely not enough to make a noticeable addition to her own hoard. But she hadn't amassed said hoard by refusing to take silver when it was offered, had she? 

Her bare feet skated over the floor as she rushed across the entry way to get to the doorway. With a mighty kick she burst the door open, it wasn't done maliciously that was just her chosen method for getting through doors, and she found herself in a beautiful room. The room was big, not big enough to hold her in her true form but it was plenty big enough for the giant telescope in the center. She looked around curiously at the shiny metal contraptions, models of the stars and constellations, the artwork painted directly on the walls, the telescope itself. It would all look very nice in her cavern… Sure, there was no hole in the roof there to actually use the telescope but something like that must have cost a fair amount. She licked her human lips, resisting the urge to go straight over there and fondle it. There would be time for that, but right now she really wanted to fondle other things in here! She skipped over to the closest miniature model that caught her eye, there were plenty others including a much larger and more detailed one, but she would work her way up. Things needed to be savored. She was an adult. She could wait. She ran her fingertips over the cool surface of the globe, a shiver of pleasure running through her at the sensation of cold metal against her fingertips. A little trail of frost followed her fingers. She was done with this one!

Time lost all meaning as she touched this and that, being very careful not to ruin anything. If the stuck up elf Keebler died then all of this could be hers. What a tragic accident that would be. The little old elf would need to be consoled, taken care of, laid to a peaceful rest. But she could do that. She licked her lips again as she looked at the giant telescope. Her eyes followed it up to the ceiling, noticing the gears and contraptions that would move a portion of the roof and lift the telescope into position to see outside. It was all very fancy. If the small one could afford all this then what other shiny things might he have elsewhere in this manor of his? The thought was a little sobering. Unless of course Keebler had blown all his money on just this one room, and that library of his. He obviously didn't spend a whole lot on taking care of his elderly family members, the cheap bastard. Didn't he know that if the old elf died then he would be able to claim all of his riches for his own?

She reached out for the telescope, leaning in close. There was no way she would be able to see anything, not with the roof closed, but she was just curious for now. She could open it all up and take a real look later. She grinned, her lips parting to reveal sharpened fangs instead of teeth as she became excited. Then she noticed it. The demonic creature. The horrible thing spawned from hell. Her most mortal of all enemies. She held back the yelp that threatened to burst out, stepping backwards and waving a hand in front of her to ward it off. Oh she had known this was too good to be true. She never should have trusted that evil little elf. She should have known, upon seeing that sweet little man that he had nothing but darkness where a heart should be. She would kill him, painfully and in a humiliating way in front of everyone he had ever known and loved. She swore this by all the dragon gods. The floor around her iced over with her anger, and then the foul creature moved and she really did yelp this time. Her defensive instincts kicked in and she transformed, growing rapidly and reverting to her true dragon form. As she spread her wings the roof burst open like an egg. She knocked the telescope over, sending it crashing through a wall and causing her to lose track of the spider. Her heart raced, pumping her body full of adrenaline. She needed to fight this thing, she couldn't let it beat her. She carefully backed up, knocking down another wall before seeing the teeny tiny elf, looking a little panicked. Perhaps he hadn't been behind the spider. In which case he needed saving! It was too late for the old man, he would need to save himself! Opening a gateway, she snatched up the elf and leaped through.

“The treasury is just down this hall and-“ Caleb looked back, realizing he hadn’t heard her footsteps behind him. What sat behind him was an empty hallway. He grit his teeth, burying his face in his hands. Great. She had wandered off.
His mansion was huge! There was no telling where she had run off to! He heard a crash and a girlish yelp. The crash sounded like it came from the other wing of his home, and what’s more, it sounded big.
“Stay here, Prothisies. I’ll go take care of it.” He groaned, dragging himself towards the source of the noise.
He had read all about noble and wise dragons. Powerful, cunning, elegant ones. He had met a few who solidified that claim- a few had almost killed Caleb himself. Almost.
This one though seemed unruly and childlike. Was it perhaps young? But even young dragons tend to have more tact than this!
He heard another crash.
It was foolish to bring a dragon into his home. Sure, it had opened the portal and let itself in, much to Caleb’s chagrin, but he should have just chased it out and went back to Tyr!

Another crash sent Caleb’s heart racing. It had come from upstairs. He quickened his pace. He had to make sure she hadn’t destroyed the upper floor! That floor was valuable beyond recognition! It had to be safe and intact, otherwise-
The stairs at the end of the hall shook. It seemed she was in the observatory. He bolted up as quickly as he could, rain splattering his face. Rain? Did she burst the roof open?

He reached the top, observatory easily in tatters and pieces. The floor was iced over and his equipment was shattered.
He felt his palms heat and smoke trickled out from between his fingers, clenched into a fist.
“Dragon!” He called out sternly. “What have you done to my home?!”
He felt anger and heat pulse through his body, flame igniting around his clothes, yet not burning him. He spun around to face the hallway perpendicular to him. A little icy, but otherwise untouched. He forced the anger back, cooling himself and taking a deep breath. He looked back up at the dragon, a distasteful sneer still plastered over his face but otherwise regaining control. The dragon seemed to be in a panic.
He let loose jets of flame from his fingertips, evaporating the ice along the ground.
“Well, I suppose it’s time to clean this up, then.”
The sound of a zipper, the race of wind bursting through the air, the ominous ringing to his ears. Caleb looked up to see a massive portal open. He saw the claws of the dragon girl close around him and immediately she dove into the portal beyond. He barely had a moment to oppose the idea before it closed behind them, cutting off his objections.

—

Prothisies heard the roar and crash just as Caleb did. He took a step to go check out the issue but Caleb had quickly ordered him to stay put. He was a sage! He knew more about Magic than Caleb did and he was fully capable of helping!
But he stayed quiet. Of course. His role was to teach him, but he had no authority over him. Like a teacher who must listen only to unruly students. This was flawed beyond belief.
When he heard the second crash, however, he decided he didn’t wish to wait and went to go see what had happened.
Once he got to the stairs he heard Caleb angrily calling out to the girl. He gave a tired sigh, knowing today would again be yet another long and irksome day.
He climbed the stairs just as he heard the portal open. He caught sight of the tail disappearing through the gateway just before it closed, leaving Prothisies to behold the shattered room. He placed his palm to his forehead. This would be costly and require cleanup. Of course Master Caleb would leave him to do this chore.
With a quiet mumble, he turned around and went back downstairs. He had some favors to call in and some contractors to find.