The Beginning of the End

These mortals were nothing more than flies to be swatted. It was as simple here as it was back in his own dimension to kill them. In fact one might even say it was easier here as there were only humans. None of the sturdier mortal races like orcs, goliaths, or even loxodons. Sure, in all his years he had never met a race so stubborn as humanity but they were nothing special. They fell just as easily as the rest and the vehicles (as he had come in contact with them and as they were used as weapons of war he now knew what they were and how they operated) were hardly an issue either. However, the design of these vehicles and their purpose was ingenious and when ,not if, he returns to his universe to conquer it as well he knew they would be a great asset.

He had just about finished decimating all the troops and began to inspect their weaponry, the metal pipe shaped objects, when he heard the dragon approach. The flap of their wings prompted him to turn just in time to witness the ice-y breath that for many would mean certain death. He was unable to speak out a word before he was encased in ice. Argonath, the Steelheart along with the area around him was flash frozen. What had been a hot vegas night, and a rather green golf course had been turned into an icy winter wonderland. Or, at least something that would have fitted in better in Canada or the North Pole. ‘Ah, so that is their breath weapon. Interesting. I had them pegged for an aquatic dragon but this is so much better.’ The God of Fire thought to themselves as they were frozen in ice.

A predicament that was at most a minor setback. With how hot their internal body temperature ran as well as the hardened exterior of their skin they were in no true trouble of succumbing to the freezing temperatures, and could break out fairly easily. But it did at least give the young dragon enough time to perhaps get a swipe in before using his control of fire and simple innate strength to burst out of the frozen statue. “Impressive young one. If I were anyone else that might have stopped them.” He informed as the ground around his feet melted from the intense heat he was now giving off to help combat the subzero temperatures. “But now, it is my turn.”

As he spoke that final word a few things would happen. First at speeds approaching what scientists on planet earth would dub Mach 3 or around 2,300mph the would be conqueror rushed behind the Dragon a fist raised into the air as chains made of fire would shoot out from the ground hoping to ensnare the young dragon and bind her to the ground. If successful he would jump and land upon her scaly back before plunging his sword into her hide. A stab wound that was not intended to kill but cause massive and debilitating pain. He had decided he would not kill this young dragon. No, he would let them grow, let them fester this loss and seek revenge. Or, give them one last chance to join him. “Kneel young one. I will end this pain. I could teach you so much. You could unlock your true potential under my guidance.” He would beckon them.

If however the chains were not successful in strapping the gray dragon down his approach would change in accordance with their actions. A fireball had seemed effective last time, so he would shoot one out aiming for their midsection while he got in close in melee range. Attempting to grab their tail and using his speed and momentum fling the beast down into the earth as far as they could go. Upon the crash, or not,  he would of course land and then give the same speech.

Once he was trapped in the ice, Dragon June wasted no time to land and deliver a massive swipe with her claws, in a massive downward stroke. But even in her bestial state, she had a feeling it wasn't enough, raking at him a couple more times.

June could scarcely react to the chains shooting, but thankfully her automated defenses could. The familiar flash of blue energies reacted to the high velocity objects, and violently deflected them away. The attacks were rapidly draining energy, putting the shields below half.

In the middle of the heated fight, Argonath would attempt to tempt June- but it was pointless to make the offer, seeing as June's mind was in a cunning, bestial state. "ROAAAAAAR!" Was all the response she could muster.

Getting in close with Dragon June would reveal the unpleasant surprise of her blade scales, as her armored plates were mutated- denticular in nature. It was like holding sandpaper that could cut diamonds. The energy field buckled under the assault of the fireball, reducing the power reserve to critical- after the next attack of significant magnitude it would fail. But even with minimal movement, she would punish any melee attack, any contact with her body, her scales punishing as much as they were punished. A twist of the tail alone would likely bloody anyone trying to touch them.

= = =

The attack drones meanwhile arrive on the scene, the first squadron carrying simple guns and flying in direct to get Argonath's attention. A second attack squadron came in out of sight, taking advantage of tree coverage; their role was to launch their smokescreen grenades, saturating the area with thick, opaque but harmless smoke. Once more, a desperate bid to give June the advantage- for the apex hunter relied on her other senses to deliver devastating claw attacks from concealment.

The energy field, not unlike the simple shield spell he noticed on the sword attack, flared once more when he attempted to chain up the dragon. Either this was one powerful magic or it was a technology of this world that Argonath definitely wanted to get his hands on and replicate. His legion of soldiers all being able to repel attacks in such a manor would be invaluable. They had already proven they could stand up to the Blackblade itself and his own fire. That was nothing to scoff at, and it proved once more than it could take a beating when the fireball that previously affected the young dragon was rebuffed with a blue flash. Yes. This was certainly technology he had to get his hands on.

It was this that he was contemplating as he reached to grab the young gray dragon’s tail, and was pelted by a hail of small arms fire. They did nothing to affect him, bouncing off as if they were low powered airsoft bullets and he was wearing body armor. The roar from the dragon in response to his proposal was disappointing. It meant that this dragon was not old enough to even speak in the common tongue, let alone true draconic. Argonath grabbed their tail and when he went to pull found his hands cutting open from the scales. Golden, molten, ichor dripped from his wounds as he dropped the tail and sped backwards. Darkness spread around the two combatants in the form of smoke as the God of War winced in pain and annoyance.

Not only did this young dragon have scales akin to sharks, further cementing the belief she was of the aquatic variety, but the blasted mortals continued to interfere. They would personally feel his wrath when he conquered this world. Or, he would make them all swear subservience to him and work endlessly for him even past the time their spirits shed their mortal coils. Annoyed by his new wounds and the smoke the dark lord took to the skies, letting himself above the smoke and looking down upon the frozen obscure battleground. Whatever tricks the warriors used they were smart about it as this vantage point gave him no sight on the dragon, as it was tall enough to obscure even their large form.

This would not deter Lord Belzenlock though. No, he was nothing if not resourceful and this young dragon had been a thorn in his side for too long now. She would either taste defeat by his hands or join him. But he would not grant her the release of death. She had not yet earned the privilege to die by his hands in combat. Throwing forth both hands in front of him he would release a wave of fire that cascaded down beneath him into the smoke below. The fire cauterized the wounds on his hands and fueled his own pain and anger. He knew not if her shield would stop this as well or if he’d witness a burning and fleeing dragon but it was all he could do in his current form. His draconic form was not needed for this fight. Not yet.

The smoke cover made Argonath fly up, putting distance between himself and June. June took this opportunity to morph back to human form and flee the smoke cloud, using the concealment as a distraction so Argonath was firing blind. Still, the resulting blast would disperse the smoke, and he would find she was already gone.

The rising smoke helped obscure her from his sight, as June used her anti-grav device to fly up and sneak up behind Argonath. She was really pulling out all the stops now, getting an idea to bring him down in a way he was not prepared for - once she was in position, she removes her anti-grav device, sets it to its highest setting, multiplying earth gravity by a stagger factor of 25 and slaps it on a spot on his back where he hopefully won't reach it. Bereft of her flight device, June freefalls, but not before trying to grab Argonath by the leg and toss him down.

If this worked, it'd slow him down enough so June could feed him a few knuckle sandwiches- though they were now at the level of each of June's attacks sending shockwaves around their environment, shattering glass and ruining asphalt.

It wasn’t until after he had properly burned every square inch of the ground where the smoke had previously covered, even the annoying drones were melted and left as nothing more than metal liquid, that he realized the young hero was gone. He knew what the scent of burning flesh was and as he did not smell it had a feeling she had fled. In truth it disappointed him. He expected better from this mortal champion especially as she was draconic in nature. Some of his best lieutenants were Dragon or Dragonkin. They made for excellent tanks or specialized soldiers. Fit for even the most daring of tasks and reliable enough to always see something through no matter the cost. Either that was not the case in this dimension or she truly was younger than even he expected.

Of course that was all going through his mind when June slapped some odd device on his back and sent him slamming into the ground as if he was under a reverse gravity spell. The added throw from the mortal champion as she herself was falling, now not under the effects of her device, amplified the fall. The ground around them was reduced to nothing more than rubble as Argonath cratered it, the giant hole akin to that of a meteor strike. A primal almost demonic roar escaped his lips as the forgotten one tried to push back against this weight with his godly strength only to be halted by a fist connecting with the back of his head. One, two, three, four strikes all at different and key spots on his body. Each blow was stronger than the last. Any and all buildings, structures, and even trees were rocketed and shattered by the shockwaves of fist meeting body.

His anger building and growing with each painful blow to his nigh invulnerable form. Argonath used his innate fire to burn and melt the device off his back. A low rumble was the only sign that something had changed; the shattered earth cracked twice more as his clawed hands dug into the Earth, his wings sucking into his body, as his form shifted and grew. Heating up exponentially as fire poured off of him. If the dragon girl did not move away she would not only be burned alive but also swept up in his final transformation. Argonath’s prone form grew and grew, expanding as his arms and legs became larger and bent. His wings shifted from a rocky molten demon like pair to leathery scaled draconic wings.

After a few short seconds the flaming form would solidify and reveal Argonath Belzenlock’s final form. With a draconic roar, louder and more powerful than June’s previous he would call out “ENOUGH!” Now he stood there, sixty to seventy feet tall, ninety feet long and weighing in at around 165,000 pounds of pure draconic might. He had not planned on using this visage to fight the mortal, she had not earned it. Had not proven herself worthy of facing his final form. But she had become an annoyance. A pest that needed to be stomped out and put in her place. Taking a step towards her June would feel as the earth itself shook. A literal earthquake from just one step from this massive dragon. A passive aura of pure fear radiating from him. “You were offered salvation. You were offered a place at my side young one. Now you die.” He growled out his maw licking with flames as he let loose a torrent of dragonflame. No longer was he toying with his prey. Now it died.

June's Alien tech was much more durable than earth tech, though against Argonath's magical flames, not that much. It survived a few seconds in his dragon form, before its demise was signaled by a pop and sizzle.

June of course, had the same dragon aura, but even she felt outmatched, as when a small fish encountered a much bigger fish. All she could retort to Argonath was a resigned quip. "I do not suppose... I can invite you to fight out on the ocean? No? I did not think so."

Needing to do something about the heat and fast, Dragon Girl knife-handed a nearby fire hydrant, shooting water high up like a geyser, just as Argonath unleashed a cataclysmic fire breath. This resulted in a ton of steam in the area, even as water continued to eject from the broken hydrant.

Dragon Girl leapt out of the way, Hulk Jumping up and clinging to a concrete wall. Her suit's alarm deigned to inform her her shield was depleted anyway from the heat convection alone- and she could feel her lower body uncomfortably hot. Her fists too were smoking from punching Argonath mid transformation. A voice rang in her head. "Dragon Girl. It's Riley. My satellite cameras are telling me you're not winning this fight."

"Agreed. Please tell me someone is on the way, because I'm running out of ideas and luck." she responded, thinking of a countermeasure as fast as she could.

"Negative. We don't have any supers of your level or higher in the vicinity. The few Metahumans at your location are on crowd control, getting people to safety." That was little consolation. There were no heavy hitters in the Vegas area. "June you need to bail out. NORAD is overriding my authority. They're bringing down the Hammer." Riley added, making June glance up at the sky.

June was briefed on that. An orbital weapon meant for ... extreme circumstances. But June was an extreme individual. She knew what had to be done. She needed to hang in there just a tad longer. "... Tell them to home in on my signal so they can shoot faster."

"Are you sure?"

"We know he's not going to stop. Besides, I think I made him mad now. He's definitely got the look."

"Affirmative. Godspeed, June."

DG looked at Argonath. A fire dragon. He countered her in every way. Except maybe, in agility. She grabs a power line, her suit also telling her the wire was live. She looked at her last flashbang, it probably wasn't going to work twice, but it was worth a try.

"YAAAH!" She descended from above, fully committed to putting this powerline into his eye. If it worked, or if she at least survived that, she might try and go for an attack from below. A knife hand thrust into his underbelly.  

= = = =

"Copy that." Riley turned off comms with Dragon Girl and relayed the plan to the NORAD liaison. "Share Dragon Girl's frequency with NORAD and lock onto her signal."

Riley stood up from his seat and went to the weapon rack. Fire Dragon meant he'd have to deploy serious ordinance. He picked out the mass driver- aka the rail gun. It bruised Dragon Girl once.

"Get the teleporter online. Dragon Girl doesn't have much time."

A guard didn't ask questions, he simply helped him get the Rail Gun's parts together. "No body armor sir?" he asked, concerned Riley was not changing out of his suit.

"...I'd prefer to die comfortably." He said, finishing the rail gun.

Quips. Jests. Jokes. Oh, how he detested when the mortal ‘heroes’ made light of their situation. Tried to use humor as a defense mechanism to lighten the fact that they were going to die. It seemed this young dragon was no different. As his deadly volcanic flame descended upon her she reacted quickly and was able to summon water out of a red metallic object to combat his flames. The resulting steam from the two opposite forces meeting covered her escape, allowing her to jump away to a wall that somehow had survived the shockwaves from her fists meeting his godly form. Of course, Argonath did not see this as once more he had his vision obscured. A repeating theme of this fight that he was not a fan of.

While the mortal had her conversation with the entity in her head, Argonath beat his impressive draconic wings. Not intending to take flight just yet. No, they were being used as a giant fan of sorts. Clearing out the steam that settled in the area, giving him back his sight just in time to witness the foolish mortal jumping towards him with something sparking in her hand. He knew not what the instrument was but knew he’d rather not find out. Batting his left wing in her direction he not only shielded his rather large face but also intended to send her flying back from where she came. His strength in his godly form was nothing short of impressive but even that was dwarfed by the pure raw power of his Draconic form. In this final visage he was capable of lifting and throwing mountains as easily as a human could throw a baseball.

He bounded off towards the wall where he intended to rebuff her into, the already loose earth quaking beneath him with every step. “Rejoice, young one. Your death will herald my impending conquest. You are but the first step to my ultimate victory.” The Arbiter of the Damned informed her, his voice gravely and low. Fitting for the vocal cords of his draconic body. He could have easily bathed her in flame once more but it was too early to try that again. Plus he wanted her dead. Wanted this one to see her life flash before her eyes and know that it was his hand that ended her life. So, his front right claw lashed out intending to slice through her like butter. Whether that connected or not his jaws would snap down on her next, his fiery maw intended to end her before she had a chance to recover.

June was swatted aside by the wing buffet, and was on her feet and rushing in, fast as her feet could take her, though cheetah speed was hardly that impressive.

Dragon Girl's luck had, finally run out. In the attempt to deliver an electric shock, a claw that moved way too fast was going to collide. She took the hit like a champ, stepping inside Argonath's claw attack to get blindsided mostly by blunt force but still scratched by his claws. As a young conventional dragon's weakness to their kind's bones prove her undoing, though it was more than most could hope - a human in the same spot would be utterly crushed, muscles, bones and organs all. June would get away with bruising and cracked bones.

She didn't have the rage to transform again, and mustered all her remaining strength to hold his bite back with her bare hands, her feet digging into the concrete. "HOT!" June reverted to Korean, the last of her strength being crushed under Argonath's might. As his jaws snapped, the end being near, she could feel his tooth drive into her bicep. She roared in pain, pain she's never felt in her life, but she put all her will in one final counter attack, formed a spear hand, and plunged with all her draconic might into his eye.

A flash of light heralded the arrival of a man in his 50s, with graying hair, a moustache and an eyepatch. He carried a firearm completely unlike anything that had been fielded yet.

As an ordinary human being, Riley could feel the heat radiating from Argonath even 100 meters away. "Oh fuck it's like an oven out here." Riley took aim at where he supposes his ear would be, and blasts him with the coil gun. The hypersonic round would hit even before the SNAP of superheated air would be heard. Once it expended its one shot, he discarded the weapon, preparing for his next moves.

"Hey ugly! Did I get your attention?"

She was not ripped apart by his claws, and instead impressively moved within only to get bruised and battered. However, his teeth sunk in meeting flesh and bone as her blood coated the inside of his massive jaws. Before he had time to finish the assault and devour her whole her hand struck into his eye. In response to the pain his jaws flared open, dropping their would be snack while he roared in pain. True, it was not debilitating and he would most assuredly survive with his eye intact but that did not mean it was an enjoyable sensation. Or one that he wanted repeated. What was it with these mortals and going after his eyes and sense of sight. It was truly a dishonorable tactic; one only used by them to try and convince themselves they were on his level or had hope of defeating him.

With his right eye closed Argonath made to end this annoyance, opening his mouth the flames gathered in his maw. Only to once more snap shut as something slammed into the right side of his head. The smoke from the shot cleared revealing no damage done to the ancient dragon god, the only sign he had even been accosted by something was a black scorch mark on the side of his head. This older mortal who appeared out of nowhere dropped what appeared to be some sort of advanced gun. It had done no damage to Argonath himself but it was still impressive nonetheless. His call asking if the mortal got Argonath’s attention was enough for him to gain said attention. Even if this was a way to distract the God from the mortal champion, it worked for now.

The God of War walked closer to the gray haired mortal and huffed, smoke billowing out towards him as he radiated his aura of fear.“Such interesting weapons this world of yours has. They shall make fine additions to my armies when I conquer this dimension.” The war God spoke. “I care not for why you are here mortal. Either kneel and serve Argonath or die. Those are your options. Nothing you can do can harm me; even your Dragon champion was no match for my might.” He boasted granting this mortal conversation simply for the pure arrogance and guts that it took to fire a weapon at him and attempt to distract him long enough for whatever play they had next. He would indulge them for now.

Riley gritted his teeth and braced himself for the volcanic heat hitting him. It took all his will to stand up and just talk. Thankfully June helped him get acquainted with Dragon Fear. But, this was on another magnitude. sure, June wasn't even top 10 in the world, but this guy was going to give a hard fight. He swallowed hard.

He looked Argonath in the eye, a literal god of war who had just flattened someone the agency considered one of their best agents. He seemed to like to talk, and Riley needed to buy the Hammer just a bit more time.

“Alright. Here’s my reply, Argonath. You listen and listen well." Acting like he was more tired, he put his hands in his pocket and began talking.

"This is the United States of America. A Continent of over 300 million freedom loving people, and we have a significant percentage who are ‘metahuman’, like Dragon Girl. Within the hour at least a dozen heroes – ranked as high in power level than Dragon Girl – will be here to fight you. The armies and weapons of the United States will mobilize to stop you. If we fail, we will not hesitate to unleash weapons of a category above anything you have seen today.”

The Las Vegas night suddenly became bright, as a column of light descended down from space. Riley grinned at Argonath, and armed the two grenades in his pockets.

"Oh. And since you like our weapons so much, let me introduce you two more- we call them... Checkers." He tosses two grenades at Argonath- on his left the anti dragon grenade, containing dragon bones, sphinx hair, meteoric iron. On Argonath's right was the anti-evil checker, holy water, garlic, blessed wood, four leaf clover, wolfsbane... encased in silver, to produce silver fragments.

Riley glowed briefly, then teleported over to Dragon Girl's side, to plant the homing device on her. He'd see which grenade would affect Argonath.

Ah, so this country identified itself as the United States of America? A bit presumptuous. Claiming that all of their cities and towns were united as one working governmental body; it would however make things easier when it came time to conquer all of it though. The boast about their nation being 300 million strong and filled with something called ‘metahumans’ (a term he took to be their version of champion) elicited only a low chuckle from the God of Destruction. “Good. Bring your worst. This champion of yours was not even worthy to face me. Nothing more than an annoying pest. I welcome your worst, it shall make your defeat all the sweeter.”

The bright light that filled the sky from above got his attention, and Argonath only just heard his call about another weapon called checkers. A strange name for a weapon and he would have paid them no mind. Would have focused on moving away from the rapidly descending column of light. It had his attention as it was almost like a sunbeam or firestorm spell mixed together. He was very interested to see what it would do to his nigh invulnerable form. He was ready to test the greatest weapons or powers this new dimension had to offer. Of course as soon as the two ‘checkers’ were pulled he started to feel weak. A slight pain throbbing in the back of his head. His eyes darted to the small ball shaped object soaring through the air towards him as the mortal teleported away.

There was only one substance in his home dimension that made him, and the other Gods, feel this way. Faebane, Godsbane, more commonly known as Silver. The first ‘checker’ exploded doing absolutely no damage to the Arbiter of the Damned, the second one however was another story. The silver shards tore through his scales and hide as if they did not exist, a roar of pain and anger shot through Argonath as he unleashed a torrent of dragon flame down towards where Dragon Girl and Riley were not in retaliation but in pure pain. That was all he could do however as in the next moment the orbital cannon touched down slamming into the back of the one known as Dis Pater.

An attack that in normal circumstances might have had little to no effect on the gargantuan dragon god. He would have shrugged the mortal super weapon off with little more than what amounted to a sunburn. However as it was done in such a short amount of time after he was struck by silver (and still had shards residing in his wounds) this was a different tale. For perhaps the first time in his very long life the God of Fire felt as if he himself was set ablaze. Crashing down into the ground and sending shockwaves out in all directions as his body bore the brunt of this attack. After a few seconds the attack stopped and Argonath Belzenlock, the Steelheart was on the ground; blackish golden ichor leaking out of his wounds the silver shards melted in the intense heat and pressure from the orbital cannon, and his body burned and bruised. His breathing was heavy and labored but he was alive. “Impressive mortal. It seems humanity impresses even here. Good”

It was Riley's turn to grin at Argonath. His throat was uncomfortably dry, his forehead covered in perspiration. But he stayed on his feet and did his job. "Did everyone get that? the lord of darkness has a weakness. Spread the word throughout the agency."

He had a final quip to Argonath before concluding his business. Perhaps to rub salt into the wound. "Well, well, well... Looks like it was the man who made the god bleed. I'll be seeing you, loser." They were gone the moment before the weapon impacted. Once the devastating weapon was done, there was only an eerie silence thereafter, as flocks of birds fell dead around the impact site.

= = = =

TASKFORCE HQ

Once Dragon Girl and Riley were brought back to HQ safe, a trauma team were on hand to process the Colonel and Dragon Girl. Atreus had a bad sunburn and was about to pass out, medics quickly help him into a wheelchair.

“Get me a comms officer when I get to the ER… If I can talk, I can keep working.” Riley ordered, then looked at the much worse state June was in. Her right arm was mangled, and she was unimaginably hurt, covered in cuts and burns.

“But get her to the infirmary on the double, and get the biomancers down here! and get her mom down here!”

“Yes sir!” the team responded, lifting the now unconscious June onto a gurney, quite literally working on the move. “Tell the infirmary to prepare the Dragon Bone instruments!”

Once he made sure June was going to be taken care of, Riley muttered quietly to himself. “Thank you, June. For holding the line. You do your country proud.” Only then did he allow himself the luxury of passing out from heat exhaustion and sunburn.

= = = =  

Dragon Girl may have all the capable allies she needed to survive that encounter, but surprisingly, there were forces that would ally with the likes of Argonath. Before the taskforce could muster a new attack, and equipped with appropriate counter-measures, a clearly infernal portal opened in the now blasted landscape of Las Vegas.

The enigmatic, self-proclaimed Chaos Witch Dabbler emerged from the portal, a being of obviously demonic origin. She surveyed the devastation of the Orbital Laser. She let out an impressed whistle. “Hoo mama. They’ve got some big guns way up there!”

She then comes eye to eye with Argonath, giving him a toothy grin. “That was the coolest fight I’ve seen, and I’ve fought dinosaurs!” Dabbler exclaimed, pumping her fists and laughing mad. “But… play time is over. They discovered a weakness of yours, and you’ll probably be gunned down with silver bullets. RATATATA! Eeaaagh!” Dabbler gestured with finger guns and dramatically acted out an ignoble death by shoot out, spinning in place then laying out on the ground with her tongue out. “Dead.”

She teleported from her prone position and was standing closer to Argonath. “I’m Dabbler by the way. And I have got an offer you can’t refuse. Shall we step into my office?” Dabbler offered Argonath the portal, perhaps the most convenient- and only easy way off the battlefield.

= = =

((THREAD SUMMARY:
WC: 4,922 words
EXP: 9
LOW: 422 words))

The mortal peon had the gall to insult him. Had the audacity to tempt Argonath’s ire. He was The God of Destruction, Fire, and War. He was the Blackblade, the Steelhearted, Arbiter of the Damned, Dis Pater himself. The forgotten God who came back and conquered every known part of his dimension. He could squash this pesky mortal underneath his foot without feeling a single thing. Yet he dared to call him the loser? It had been quite some time since a mortal, let alone a human had dared to speak back to him in such a way. It would have been strangely refreshing if Argonath was not currently in so much pain. The sheer stubborn stupidity of humanity. He would enjoy making that particular mortal leader bend and break to his will.

When the infernal portal opened up not long after Argonath made his statement about humanity remaining impressive he moved his body into a defensive stance; and regressed back into his Godly form as it was missing from injuries. The individual who exited said infernal portal was no demon he had ever seen before and in fact appeared to be yet another human. As much as appearances could be deceiving he stayed on guard, and put it up even more when they started to speak. He had met trickster beings and wielders of chaos magic before. They were always very strong in their art and in general. Their disposition to chaos and insane plots or ideas however made them practically unreadable. One could never know what they’d do next.

The constant use of portals was an example of this one’s madness it seemed, and although he knew not to trust them they were right on one thing. The mortal armies would quickly return with weapons either made of or using silver. That would spell certain doom for Argonath as even with his aura of rebellion he was sure these mortals had weapons that could affect him at ranges much further than his aura. He had seen it with their guns and now the light from the sky. A ‘big gun’ as this Dabbler called it, though he was sure that was not its proper designation. “Yes. I do believe we do. You may call me Argonath or Lord Belzenlock.” He intoned stepping through the portal, on guard to kill any and all if this was a trap.

(End Thread)