Dragon World Hero
Chapter 1
Vor sat alone in his castle in the northern mountains of the one continent. The days were long and the memories of youth fueled his desire to return to the land of the humans. “The human populations in the north are moving to warmer climates, great king. The increasingly long winter seasons are natural weather patterns, nothing more.”
He was the dragon in a pack of wolves.
Eohnin, the ambassador from the southern elf kingdom, nodded without a comment.”
“Are you getting all of this, respected ambassador?”
The tall man with long silver hair continued to write, a guest of the king, but not by choice. “I am the chronicler of events in the north. I must stay close to you, on orders of the island empire of Illam.”
Vor said, “Seems important. In the world of my birth, a parallel reality, stories about humans with great magic were a form of entertainment. In this world, the humans appear to have zero magical ability, and not much imagination. I became a king in the northern lands, with the simple promise of building a safe place to live away from the wars among nobles in the populated regions.”
Eohnin recorded his response in a journal with a long, thin feather quill. “The High Elf Council needs answers regarding the abandoned dwarven kingdoms in the northern lands.” He noted a description of the human with a dragon spirit: a tall man in a tall chair.
“The walls of ice and snow are hammers breaking the world, a dangerous turn of the weather even a great king has no power to stop.”
Eohnin said, “Those words sound like the same warning the missing dwarves left at the entrance to the dungeons. The mountains were the best source of the star-fall metals. And you are no dragon, just a man with grand ideas.”
Vor studied the elf and held back a strong desire to throw him out of the castle. “The magic circle once protected the kingdom of the dwarves, and I intend to do the same in the human world. So who ordered you here? The elves from the island empire or the missing dwarves?”
Eohnin dropped his tablet and writing tools into a leather sack. He paused to consider. “The gate, I think. The use of the transformation magic opened a door to the high council of elves, a place usually out of reach of the human world.”
The top advisors in the kingdom were humans before discovering the magic circle. The dungeon in the mountain under the castle was a mine until the race of dwarves vanished without a trace. The rumor in the kingdom was that dwarves took a stone heart from the mountains, so the mountains took the dwarves.
The adventurers who traveled north in search of the dwarves closed the mine when clans of monsters filled the landscape, and reliable sources confirmed the monsters were born in a dungeon below the mine, deep in the mountain.
In time, the small village founded by adventurers outside the mine became a small kingdom. The village became a city, and then a kingdom was founded to close the mine. The fortress became a castle, using the wealth of the minerals found in more remote mines, but the first known mine in the north revealed no secrets.
“The ruins of a castle were here long before humans arrived in the northlands, but our clans restored the fortress.”
The top advisers of my kingdom were the first to evolve with the magic we found, turning from human to animal. The ancient writing in the circle hinted at a permanent transformation, but the king was relieved when his advisors confirmed the evolution could be reversed temporarily, for those with the desire to return to human form.
The long-tailed wolf transformation chosen by most of the advisors was immune to the seasonal cold of the northlands.
The king transformed into a dragon and soon learned the species cannot survive because of their cold-blooded nature. The first winter season was nearly his last, which resulted in his decision to search for warmer climates.
Vor continued sharing the story with the ambassador, the first outsider to claim his dragon transformation might be reversible if the events leading up to the changes were better understood. The wolf at his side was clearly human, but the elf did not request a transformation into her true form.
The official history is the story told by the locals, but unfortunately the elf ambassador wanted the true story.
The people of the northern lands were often known for being too serious. The kings’s genuine laughter was a surprise to the elf ambassador when a long-tailed wolf bounded into the room and transformed into a short-bald man.
“The last group willing the travel south is ready for the ceremony,” said Grald. “I recommend sending the caravan immediately, before the snowstorms close the road.”
Vor watched the grey skies above his kingdom. The blue flames in a fireplace were reduced to ashes. The chill reached him as the first snows began to fall in the courtyard below. “Agreed.”
Grald continued. “I was at the gate when a party of adventurers entered the city.”
The wolf at Vor’s side transformed into human form. The woman standing beside her king smiled at Grald and he became visibly nervous.
Vor said, “Honored Ambassador Eohnin, this is my top advisor Ree-Nin.”
Ree-Nin turned to the elf and bowed to show respect. “The fighters are here at the request our kingdom. The guilds responded with generous help. The caravan will be protected from monster attacks. Yyin, my sister, will go first and clear the path.”
Vor nodded his approval of the situation. “Grald and Ree-Nin. I will start the ceremony when the sun hides the second star. Please let the caravan know.” Ree-Nin returned to her wolf form to gather her friends and the kingdom’s advisors in the halls of the castle as the pack gathered in the courtyard.
The last group of human residents in the city left to travel south before the roads were blocked with snowfall near glacier’s edge pass.
Eohnin stood and looked outside. “The glaciers are a natural event. The weather patterns in this world are unpredictable.”
Grald said, “And the monsters?”
Vor said, “The monsters are no worse than a winter storm.” He walked with Grald to the castle courtyard and watched the ceremony.
The hero arrived the same day and remained anonymous while the king prepared to abandon the northern kingdom. “The dwarves left me with an impossible and frustrating request. The magic circle should have been destroyed to keep the power from leaving the ancient birthplace of the dragons! How does a hero destroy magic older than all recorded knowledge?”
Vor looked down at the courtyard from a window high above the chaos below. “I arrived in this world and immediately realized I was aware of two bodies sharing one mind. The strong hero of the central lands, and the frail magic researcher who founded a kingdom in the north. I learned to adapt in time, but I cannot get used to seeing from two perspectives.”
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