Minglings - Book 3 chapter 12: What came before

Mason had to run to keep up with Clarissu and her long legs. They were still walking deeper into the building, but there was no indication of the massive dragon slowing down.

I wonder how big this place is, Mason thought as he looked around.

He felt small in the massive hallways that were obviously meant for dragons like Clarissu. Or bigger.

They walked into a massive room, the ceiling so high he was pretty sure he could fly comfortably through it. Gazing at an enormous rune-covered light in the ceiling of the room, he wondered what Sandra would look like as a Dragon. She had been a copper-colored kobold with black highlights before. So, would she be a massive copper and black dragon now? It would make sense, seeing as he was red and golden like he had been as a kobold.

More golden than red, though, he thought as he remembered how his scales had changed during his time in the desert.

Clarissu stopped after turning another corner, and Mason saw they were in a long hallway with a double door at the end. Each looked big enough for two Clarissu-sized dragons to walk through simultaneously.

"Alright, I don't know if you know Sandra, but there are probably other dragons with her right now, so I request you keep your calm and wait until you two are alone. Not everyone here is privy to all the information you have, and some might panic," Clarissu said.

Mason nodded, his anticipation rising as he realized he would finally meet someone else from Earth again. Someone he knew even!

"Alright, follow me then."

They crossed the hallway, and Clarissu gently pushed open the massive doors. Behind it was a massive room with hundreds of balconies placed in a bowl shape. Far below, in the middle, was a daze that seemed made for a dragon to speak in front of a crowd. Most of the balconies were empty except for a massive one far to the left.

Three dragons were perched there, a brown one, a smaller copper-scaled one with black highlights, and an enormous black dragon. Though it was hard to see from this far, Mason was pretty sure that the black one was even larger than Clarissu.

"Midnight is awake! Marvelous, as soon as they finish listening to Torroh, you can present yourself!" Clarissu said, then she spread her wings and jumped off the ledge. "Follow me now!" she shouted.

Mason shook his head as he stared at the size of the black dragon.

Midnight? That doesn't sound like a local name.

He jumped forward and tried to keep his calm as he soared after Clarissu. As they neared the balcony, he realized the distance had not done the scale of it justice. Even the smallest of the dragons, Sandra, he presumed from the copper-colored scales and beautiful curves, was almost as big as him. The brown one, Torroh, was the same size as Clarissu, and covered in scars. Whole sections of scales on his hide were missing.

The black one, Midnight, was twice as big. With one eye closed, he was lying with his massive head on his front arms like a cat. This close, Mason saw a dull metallic gleam on his black scales. The single open eye, like a drop of quicksilver, turned and examined him as he drew near.

"Alright, as we are getting new guests, I suggest we wrap this up," the copper-colored female said in a familiar voice.

Mason grinned widely. Hearing Sandra's familiar voice removed a load from his shoulders that he hadn't truly realized was there.

"Torroh, please go to the Inferno Quarters and see how the repairs to the runic power core are coming along. Make sure those two idiots don't begin fighting again!"

The brown dragon snorted, and as Mason landed on the platform, he could feel the dragon's laugh cause a slight tremor through the platform.

"Yes, Sandra. I'm sure it will be fine."

Mason wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic, but Torroh's eyes were glittering with good humor, so he presumed he was. The glittering eyes turned to him and Clarissa, but Torroh's simply nodded, then jumped off the balcony's edge and flew off.

"Clarissa, who did you bring? It's not the time for me to welcome new dragons yet!" Sandra said.

Mason couldn't help but snort as he saw her serious and slightly annoyed reaction. It reminded him of how she had been while trying to give a measure of control and direction to the Kobolds back in the jungle.

As she turned to him with a frown, he couldn't hold back his laughter. Slowly a horrible, pent-up tension flowed from him as he laughed, and it took him long moments to regain his control.

Sandra, Midnight and Clarissu were staring at him, Clarissu with a benevolent smirk and Sandra with confusion. Midnight's face was unreadable. He had barely caught Sandra seeming ready to silence him, with Clarissu holding her back.

When he managed to catch his breath, Mason looked at Sandra with a wide smile. He had planned a dozen things to say when he finally saw her, things on how to prove who he was, but when he finally saw her, he just gave her a goofy grin.

"Hey there, Sandra, you look as hot as a dragon!"

Sandra's gleaming eyes widened, and she rose from her perched position.

"Mason?" she said, sounding confused and uncertain.

"The one and only," Mason replied, unable to keep from making a mock bow and tipping a non-existing hat.

Sandra moved closer, looking him up and down with eyes filled with surprise. He thought he saw a tiny bit of joy, but that could just be him.

"Mason! Where did you wake? How did you get here? How did you find me?" she said.

Mason shrugged, impressed with how she managed to keep her voice in check while spewing questions. Still, it helped him realize he might need to calm down, as Clarissu had said. With a deep sigh, he managed to change his wide grin into a serious look.

"I woke on an island for the coast and eventually made my way to this continent to wander the desert for.... a long time. I heard some dragons I came across talk about a dragon called Sandra. It didn't seem like a name they would use here, so I decided to come and check."

It wasn't completely true, but close enough for him.

Sandra sighed, and a cocky smile played across her draconic face.

"That was the plan. I'd thought about calling myself Sandra from Earth, but, well..."

"A bit to on the nose?" Mason said, his lips curling up again.

"I had hoped it would draw in more Terrans, although I hadn't imagined the first one to show would be you!"

Just me, huh? Mason thought as he felt a twinge of worry. With a population of billions, millions of people should have chosen Kobold. Had none of them started here?

Perhaps they did, but they are slaves now, he thought.

Besides, even if they were here, it wasn't that easy to reach the Hound's eye. His mind drifted back to the path he had to take to get here, from the island, across the sea, the massive stone snakes, the desert, and the bats, he finally nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy."

"Tell me... what happened on the island after I.... left? Did anybody make it back before you awoke?" Sandra asked.

Mason felt his good mood slowly sour as he remembered the others.

"I don't know. Nobody but Jake made it back before I awoke, and I haven't been able to find the constellations we saw on the island."

As he thought of Jake, his mood dampened even more.

Sandra moved closed and then slowly pulled him back to the stone benches she had been lying on, and as they sat down, she sighed softly.

"Mason... I'm afraid I have bad news for you."

Mason looked at her, noting the concern in her eyes, something he hadn't seen there before.

"Well... great," he muttered. "Lay it on me."

As Sandra seemed to steel herself, he did the same thing. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"We are almost a fourth of a planet away from the island we arrived on… Even flying, it would take us over a year to get there if we even made it alive."

"Which you won't," a deep, calm voice said before Mason could spout the curses he felt bubbling up.

Annoyed, he turned to Midnight, who was staring at him with intense interest.

"Even I wouldn't survive that flight," he continued.

Clarissa lay down close by and snorted. "As if you could even stay awake that long, you old sleepy head!"

Her words were sharp, but when she smiled at Midnight, the much larger black calmly grinned back.

"I could probably fly in my sleep," he replied jokingly before looking at Mason, who was trying to wrap his head around what Sandra had told him.

How can any planet be that big? he thought as he tried to calculate how large a planet had to be for him to take a year to fly over a quarter of it.

"It's not just the size," Sandra said as if she knew what he was thinking about. "There are many dangerous creatures, even high in the air, and even if you would make use of the floating lands, you'd have to land, which is even more dangerous."

Floating lands? Mason thought as he looked at her, slowly shaking his head.

"Don't worry about things you can't do anything about now," Midnight said. "Instead, tell us something about yourself. Are you one of Sandra's friends? I am glad you made it here, although from your scales I take it you will need to head down to the Inferno quarters to rest soon. We wouldn't want you to torch the place here."

Mason wasn't sure what to say and shook his head in confusion.

"Don't mind him. I'll explain later," Sandra said. "Now, tell me everything that happened as you traveled here. What did you see, and how did you meet? Make sure you leave nothing out. It's important."

"Okay, but after that, it's your turn," Mason said. "I want to know what all of this is." He waved around at the building and the other Dragons.

"Don't worry. One of the reasons for you to go first is because I have far more to tell you… and you aren't going to believe half of it," Sandra said, and Mason heard a steeled resolve in her voice.

Thinking back to the long time he had spent in the desert doing nothing, Mason didn't doubt her.

"Fine. Well, after you turned, I was only there for a little while longer," Mason said as he slowly began filling in what Sandra had missed.

After that, he told her about what had happened when he had woken up on the volcano and Big Bird. She calmly listened as he explained how he had managed to fly to this continent and how he had found Baudron. When he mentioned the slavers, Sandra's eyes narrowed, but she didn't interrupt.

Only when he began telling her that they had seen the massive white dragon Sandra cursed.

"Damnit, that old monster made it this far again? Those stupid magic turrets won't hold out much longer without the maintenance! We need a rune-smith," she snapped, casting a worried look at Clarissu.

Not sure what a rune-smith was, Mason added to the list, right below magic turrets.

"Yeah, well, after that, Salvo brought us here," he said, finishing with a swish of his tail. "Now, it's your turn. What the hell is going on here? Why does this whole place look like it was built on Earth? How did you get here? Why are you a queen, and what the hell are magic turrets and rune-smiths," he rattled.

Sandra looked at him, her mouth opening and closing before she sighed. "Yes.... well, I think it's better to just show you the most important thing first. I'm not sure if anybody had told me, I would have believed them."

"I'll stay here with Clarissa. Come back after you've shown him, alright?" Midnight said, followed by a massive yawn. "I need to talk with you before I fall asleep again."

"Will do, now stay put, so you don't exert yourselves anymore!" Sandra said before jumping forward and flying off.

Mason quickly jumped after her, letting his gaze roam over Sandra's new dragon body, trying to distract him from his bubbling curiosity and annoyance at not having an answer yet. Taking in her shapely tail and legs, he decided he very much liked it. She was almost as large as he was, slightly less bulky but with well-defined muscles.

Watching her did something to him that hadn't happened when he was watching Maru or Clarissa. As he felt his new body react to watching Sandra, he quickly averted his gaze.

"Stop eating me with your eyes!" Sandra shouted, and he realized she had been watching him a few times and caught him looking.

"I can't help it! You're gorgeous!" he yelled back.

He saw the slight worry in her eyes fade as she laughed and made a barrel flip.

"Yeah, I think I turned out alright!"

Seeing her check him out, Mason spread his wings as wide as they could, grinning at her.

He saw her eyes widen and pupils dilate, and he grinned wider.

"Proud of yourself?" she asked as she shook her head.

"Damn right! Look at these muscles," Mason shouted back as he spun around her. He'd never figured out why they had been drawn to each other when they were Kobolds, even when they didn't really like each other, but apparently, it hadn't left just because they were dragons now.

If it wasn't for whatever creepy shit she was going to show him, he might have pushed a bit further. For now, he was happy to use their odd attraction to distract himself, and Sandra seemed similarly inclined.

Laughing and bantering like high schoolers, he followed her through the massive room until they reached a wide corridor that led away. It was wide enough to fly but not side by side, and Mason followed Sandra until they reached the foot of a large ramp. Although they could still fly, Sandra landed, so he followed suit.

When he touched down close to her, his shoulder rubbed against hers, and he felt a tiny static-like spark.

What the hell was that?

Sandra frowned, then shook her head.

"Now, no more shenanigans," she said, her voice turning serious as she looked up the ramp. "Listen... take a deep breath and prepare, alright?"

Mason frowned as he followed her gaze. At the top of the ramp was a long wall filled with images. It was hard to see from here, but it seemed almost like a comic book, with text below the different panels. He noticed a few at the start, and as his eyes drifted along them, his breath caught in his throat. Barely noticing Sandra following him, he moved up to the leftmost image.

When he reached it, the frill on his head was shivering.

"What is this?" he hissed as he read the message below the image of two planets connected by some form of an energy bridge.

"Why is this in English?"

"It's a message for us," Sandra said calmly. She gazed at the image with a sad look. "Just read all of it. I'll wait here and try to answer any questions you have after that... if I can."

Mason turned to the first image and quietly read the text to its side.

"For those who read this... God, I hope there are some. Know that we, those who came first, did what we could in a trying time. Don't judge us too harshly, please. Now, I'll tell the story of those that survived the first crossing."

The first crossing? As in... before us?

Mason swallowed, turning to look at Sandra in disbelief before continuing to the next image, quickly noting the date above the message. It was the date of the first merger when he had been with Jake, drinking coffee!