Book 4: Chapter 51: Stone Gold

Penitent

Michael stood still for a few moments, feeling the full attention of the gods turn to him as soon as he heard the dragon’s request. It had been some time since it had been so totally focused on him, and he could feel the accumulated power they’d gained as their worshippers had grown. What had felt like a shaft of bright light breaking through clouds was now a blazing sun shining on him. His body began to respond, with a gold glow appearing across him outputting small plumes of smite across his skin and through his armor.

The dragon noticed the change and nodded. “There… now you are truly in a position to negotiate.”

~Have you not taken enough already, Parthax? ~

The voice was Estaid’s, stern and feminine, but it emerged from Michael’s mouth. He didn’t fight the sensation, if the gods wished to negotiate directly he was fine with being their vessel. This particular bargain seemed to be above his pay grade anyway.

The dragon shook his head.

“The scraps I take from my worshippers are sustaining. They give me a longer life and allow me to keep my fatal wounds from reopening, but they can not truly heal. Besides, if I want to truly benefit from worship in the way you do, I need more.”

~And you wish to compete with us directly? Not even the aelven overmind or the gods of the dwarves are so greedy. What will you do with such power? Before we intervened your kind burned whole villages and ate all they desired without limit~

This time the voice was Seras’s and with it came flashes in his mind of humanity’s struggles from before the time of titles and deeds. Goblin raids, aelven slavers, and Troll incursions all paled before the fear in humanity’s heart when a dragon appeared. He saw men in crowns appearing and fighting the dragons, whole groups of titled knights dedicated to slaying them, and powerful titled weapons being used against them.

The rumbling sound Michael heard before from the dragon's throat began to start up again. “Things are not as they once were and I am not as I once was. Even with what I request I would not be able to stand against the might of mankind as it is now. Besides, I no longer have a desire to do so. My only wish is to protect these people who you have so cruelly forgotten.”

Michael heard a bit of a chuckle from Nykas, but luckily he didn’t make it emerge from his mouth. Then he heard a large amount of back and forth between the gods. They were connected directly to him, so he was able to witness the entire argument. Bruntus supported the dragon due to the many steps he’d made over hundreds of years to protect the people of the mountain, but Seras was wary of the consequences. Veras claimed she could feel the love the dragon had for his people. Durand thought it was worth the price to add the dragon’s strength to their own during the battle with the rift creatures. Nykas remembered the fear and absence of joy caused by dragons in the past and so was against it. Estaid was the last to weigh in and decided in favor of granting the request, her judgement being that while risky, the benefits would be tremendous and they couldn’t leave any possibly helpful pieces on the table. The discussion felt long in his soul, but really only lasted a few seconds.

~Very well Parthax. We shall grant you what you ask for, but in return you shall answer the call to defend this world. You must also grant our champion and his companions swift transport to the site of the great rift~

“Even if you grant me what I ask, I may not have the strength required to carry them so far. My wounds will still take some time to heal.”

~haha~That wont be a problem~

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That was Nykas’s voice, and Michael immediately understood the implication.

“Would these even be able to survive a ride on dragonback?”

~Do not underestimate them. They could match even your strength as you are now~

This time it was Durand speaking, his voice shaking Michael’s lungs a bit as he spoke through him.

The dragon rumbled a bit more, but nodded. “I will accept this bargain.”

~Lean forward toward our champion~

This time the voice was all of the gods at once, creating a vibration in the air around him.

The dragon complied, leaning forward toward Michael with his tremendous snout within arms reach. Michael felt compelled to reach toward him. He placed his hand squarely on his face, feeling the powerful heat emanating from his gray scales.

Michael felt all the focus of the gods that was on him build even further, and the golden glow and flame that was emanating from him grew and grew until it became blinding for all of those around them. Then, very suddenly, all of that light and divine power became concentrated with his palm. The heat of it felt like there was a small sun within his grasp. One moment it was with him, then it was gone, infusing into the dragon in front of him. At the same time that it left him, he concentrated his own divine gifts, sending a powerful wave of healing energy through Parthax. He found tremendous wounds, no longer bleeding, but not sealed all throughout his torso and back. He wove them together, finding his healing energy blending with the divinity that now resided within the dragon, making the healing much easier than when he’d healed the dwarven god.

When the divine energy and healing hit its peak within the dragon, it suddenly reared up, forcing everyone, but Michael backwards with a powerful gust of wind. He roared as he stood and flames spewed from his mouth into the air in a powerful arc. At first the flames were red and orange, but as the roar continued they shifted into gold and began spiraling back down toward him. The flames surrounded and consumed the dragon for a moment, and when they cleared he was changed.

Parthax no longer had scales of stone, but rather gold and as the sun hit him he reflected it in blindingly lustrous glory. He seemed younger as well, as if the power of the divine had rolled back time for him to when he was at the peak of his power.

He opened his mouth again, this time to speak, and his voice seemed to carry perfectly to the ears of everyone in the town as well as all of his people throughout the mountains.

“You have worshiped and honored me, given yourselves and what was within you in return for my protection, well now I grant you the blessing I have promised!”

He roared again, and Michael saw thousands of golden letters spread from him and shoot in a hundred directions. He turned to watch one of them hit the worshipper nearest to him, a young woman. As it entered her she glowed for just a moment, and when the glow left she had several small blue scales along the side of her face. He tried to divine her, but found that while words did appear they were in a language he did not understand made up of characters he didn’t recognize.

He looked around and noticed that all of the dragon’s nearby followers were sporting similar patches of scales and some even had slitted eyes or sharper teeth than what they’d possessed moments prior.

“You made them more like you,” he remarked.

The dragon folded his wings, adulation ringing out from every direction toward him.

“It is what they wanted. What they always prayed to me for. For the heat within to keep them warm in even the darkest of times, and the strength to build a life in even the harshest of places. As their worship of me grows and they themselves improve, they shall become even more like me. They will never be full dragons as I am, but they will be closer to my greatness than anything else.”

He let out a warm rumbling purr as he fully settled down. “Allow me a few hours rest and conferring with my people. After that, I shall honor my end of the bargain to take you to the southern tip of the continent. I will not remain there, as I must ensure my people’s safety here, but when I feel the rift is close to opening, I shall be there to meet it.”

Michael nodded. “Thank you.”

“I noticed that it was your healing that fully closed my wounds. As an additional thank you, I grant you my blessing.” He opened his mouth and released a puff of divine flame over him. Ollie and the others rushed forward, but Michael held up a hand. It didn’t hurt at all.

He didn’t pull up his titles and deeds, he could feel the change that was made. The fire that sat in his chest, ready for him to bring it to the surface whenever he needed it.

He gave a bow to Parthax.

“Thank you for this honor.”

“Only fitting for you to have something draconic within you as well. Seems a fair trade for bringing me something divine.”