Chapter 94: Chapter Eighty-One A Dragon’s Day in the Sun

Uliera blinked and shifted in the warm sun. Only to freeze in her movements, when she noticed something. Carefully, she shifted and glanced down at her own belly, which was currently facing up. There she noted two small forms curled up on her belly. Both of them were children even by Neku standards. Uliera had rescued them from a crashed transport about a week ago. It had been a supply transport present when she had arrived to make her nest, and these two had been aboard at the time.

From what Uliera had been able to gather. They had been taken from their families by someone and were slated to be delivered to the Neku homeworld of Nekuri. Fortunately for them, their transport had a side trip here first. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to these little ones? The younger one was only two, far too young to have been taken from her mother, while the older one was four. Still too young. Uliera had considered trying to find their mothers, and in fact, with her powers she already had. It was easy to find the minds of a mother if you knew the child. Unfortunately, neither mother remembered her child. Memory of these two had been completely wiped from them. As for why, Uliera had gathered some information on that. These two had very strong talents, especially for a Neku.

In any case, Uliera had come to the conclusion that it was better if they didn’t go home. They were in danger there. So she had chosen to adopt these two. Make them her own, but of course, adopting was something special among dragons. Already she could see the signs of that on the little ones. Fur was giving way, slowly to new fresh scales. A good sign really. The ritual had worked, and both of them now had dragon blood, her blood running through their veins. In many respects, she had given them a great gift. With time they would manifest dragon abilities, and better yet, they would have a lifespan on par with that of a dragon.

With a thought, she reached out with her powers, and gently scooped them up. Beneath them, the very air transformed, turning solid. She shaped the transformed air, hardening it where needed and softening it where it mattered. She imbued the resulting cushions with dragonfire, bringing a pleasing warmth with it. An instant later she set down two cozy little cushions, topped with the sleeping forms of her new daughters.

She carefully shifted her bulk with a grace that belied her large form. With just a bit of movement she lazily settled back down onto the valley soil outside her den. Her new position let her gaze at her two new daughters more easily. She found them quite cute, just sleeping there in the sun. Their skin was a little red, a sign they had been in the sun perhaps a little too long.

It wasn’t a problem though. With a thought, she focused her energies, and rays of light sprang forth to bathe the two little ones. In an instant, one of her favorite spells had done its work. Their skin returned to a much more normal coloration, although perhaps not quite as pale as it had been. The two were starting to tan a little. Something she internally marveled at. Healing magic rarely allowed that to happen when used to counteract something like sunburn. 

Regardless, she took this little inconvenience as the reminder it was. Her little ones had not yet learned how to protect themselves properly from the elements, and were likely still too young to do it. With a thought, she reached into the ground, and pulled forth two small little rocks, and a clump of soil. She quietly bathed the materials in dragonfire, while simultaneously bringing forth the power of the nature element, and starfire. A bit of light flared as the stone was imbued with the energies she was channeling. Its very structure changed as more magic filled it, and changed it.

The soil soon transformed as well. Changing from simple dirt, and hardening as its very structure was ripped apart and put back together at the most basic level. It shrank as it was reorganized, air was added, and changed to make up for lost material. Soon it was reshaped into two perfect little bands of pure silver. She wasn’t quite done yet, as she took the stones which had changed into dazzling gemstones with gorgeous blue tones. These stones were now far more valuable than diamonds, and far more useful. She pushed each stone into the bands, at what was to be the front, while at the same time she carved draconic runes into the large silver rings floating before her.

A quiet outburst alerted her to someone watching, and she glanced over as she continued her forging. The source was young Seru, one of her new caretakers. One she had been training in her new role. Uliera smiled, “Curious are you?”

Seru glanced at the shaping chokers, and asked, “What are you doing?”

“It’s called ‘Psy Forging,’ a mystic technique for turning the materials around you into whatever you desire. It’s not as easy as it looks, by the way. It takes great understanding to turn simple dirt, and rocks into something more useful. The technique isn’t easy to learn either, and mistakes are dangerous. I did just reorganize matter at its most basic level after all. Reshaping atoms is no laughing matter. I can sense you are interested, but no, I will not teach you. You are not ready, perhaps in a century, but not today.”

Seru blinked, “but it looks so amazing. Why can’t you just teach me the basics? I don’t need to start with atoms do I?”

Uliera gave her a look, “No, but magic isn’t something to be entered into lightly. It’s a very powerful tool. It can do just about anything you imagine, but that also means it’s quite dangerous if done wrong.”

Seru frowned, clearly not quite believing. Uliera set down the two newly formed chokers, they were finished now. Although still a bit hot from the process, and needing to cool. Then with a thought, she reached out and plucked Seru’s head off her shoulders, and turned her around to look at her very much intact and still living body with a clean stump at the very top of her neck. Skin covered where her head had been attached.

“As I said, it can do anything. Congrats, you are now a living Dullahan.”

Confusion radiated from the girl, “What!? How!?”

“I could tell you, but at the moment it’s beyond your understanding. I might as well be speaking gibberish if I tried. At least in regards to how I made you into a living Dullahan. The other item is something you can understand on the basic level, since your people do some of it without magic. What I can tell you in simple terms, is that psionics at its highest level is true magic able to bend reality itself to the will of the user. This allows all sorts of impossible things, no matter how bizarre, to be possible. What I just did to you is fairly benign. I picked this mainly for the shock value.”

Seru replied, “It certainly was surprising. For a moment I thought you just decided to kill me. Although I’m not sure this is better.”

Uliera replaced Seru’s head on her shoulders, and undid the separation, while saying, “I didn’t plan to leave you like that.”

Seru felt around her neck and sighed in relief when she found nothing wrong. “That was a very strange experience.”

“Yes, and perhaps in time you could learn to do equally interesting things. When you are ready, I do plan to teach you a few spells. For now, I can teach you theory, but you must learn to understand it or you will never be able to channel the elements, much less do something like what I just did.”

Seru blinked, “You will?”

“Yes, just not right now.”

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“Why not?”

“It seems I have a guest. Would you watch them for a bit? I have a ship to greet. Oh, yes, they are going to be hungry when they wake up, which should be soon. So be ready to feed them.”

Seru nodded, “Um, sure.”

With that Uliera slipped away. Not without noticing Seru crouched down to inspect one of the two chokers she had just made. Each of them a work of art, and intended for her adopted daughters. They would not only protect them from the elements but harm in general. They were the magical equivalent to a personal shield. Once equipped it would cloak them in a magical barrier that would keep them comfortable regardless of how hot or cold it was. It would protect them from any weather, and keep them from getting scrapes, and bruises. Even if it did fail, and they were hurt, she had further enchanted it with healing magic. Allowing it to heal wounds. A masterpiece that would ensure their safety during this vulnerable point in their development. One she would have to take away later, as it would likely hinder them later. Uliera wasn’t looking forward to that, but thankfully it was years away.

Uliera pushed those thoughts out of her mind, and having gained sufficient distance reached out with her power. Manipulating the very air around her, she prepared to take off. Her wings worked in much the same fashion as Solean wings, with one difference. Unlike them her mass meant that her wings wouldn’t provide enough lift to fly in this atmosphere unaided. As such, she had to use her biological stardrive even down here on the ground. With a thought she flapped her wings, as pulse waves rippled off her, providing extra lift. Yet no sound echoed, even after she broke the sound barrier. A consequence of what she was doing.

It took her only seconds to breach the atmosphere. Reaching out with her senses, she found her guest. A single ship had entered the system, mere moments ago. A cruiser from the looks of things. It was a smaller cruiser, and they were moving into the system slowly. Scanning the wreckage of scattered Neku ships, with shields and weapons active. It seemed they were battle ready, but it remained to be seen if they would prove hostile. The newcomers hadn’t seen her yet, and she decided to make sure it stays that way. With a thought, she projected a cloaking field around her large form protecting her from all forms of detection. It was a trick her mother taught her, and one she felt was most useful right now. She wanted a closer look before she drove them off for being too close to her nest.

---

Seru ran her hand over the smooth, and warm metal surface of the objects she had just seen formed out of simple earth. Nothing more than soil, and rock had been used, yet now it was gleaming metal etched with alien symbols, and decorated with a single yet gorgeous gemstone. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen. It was honestly tempting to try and slip one on, but somehow she knew they were not meant for her.

The significance of how they were formed did not escape her. Magic was truly something else to be able to reorder matter on the subatomic level. To reshape atoms into something else like this. It really drove home how powerful her new boss was, if Uliera could reshape matter so casually, it made her wonder what chance her people or anyone else for that matter stood against the dragons. Perhaps it was a good thing that they were not like everyone else seemed only interested in their own affairs. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see a galaxy where the dragons weren’t pretending to be powerful space monsters to be avoided.

With a sigh, she placed down the small band of jewelry, and turned to the little girls, she had been asked to watch. Girls who seemed to slowly be changing into something else. Uliera said something the other day about her blood now flowing through them, and at the time it seemed preposterous. Now she wasn’t so sure. They did have scales, and they matched Uliera’s. Not exactly but close enough to seem related. Finding a nice spot, she settled against a tree, and decided to watch them sleep. While still keeping an eye on the area. Not that a predator might come. Giant dragons tended to scare just about everything away. Still it never hurt to be cautious.

---

She leaned over her subordinate's console, watching the readings. The dark portion of screen reflected a bit of her own image back to her. She still looked young, a benefit of good genes, but she was a good thirty years older than she looked. That image however was not what she was looking at. No what the captain was looking at left her quite worried.

At the moment they were scanning the dead hulk of a Neku battleship. A three-kilometer long hulking behemoth that would have wiped the floor with her tiny cruiser. They just weren’t in the same league. Yet something had bisected the Neku capital ship, with a single strike from the looks of things. Worse it wasn’t alone.

The system was littered with countless dead ships. It had to have been the largest Neku fleet she had ever seen, and now there was nothing but dead Neku hulks. There was no sign of whoever had bested them. It gave her goosebumps, and just being her sent a chill down her spine. 

The young ensign at the console looked up, “Same as the others, readings inconclusive. I can’t tell who did this. What I can say for sure is that this ship was killed a while ago. Its had enough time to completely cool off.”

She sighed, “I don’t like this.”

The ensign seemed to relax a little her shoulders softening, and in doing let her top slip a little. Just not quite enough to reveal anything. “Glad to hear you say that. I don’t like it either. We were sent to look for a possible invasion fleet, and what we find is a ...” she trailed off.

“A graveyard with enough ships to overwhelm not just the homeworld, but all the core worlds in one fell stroke, all dead.” she said, glancing out at all the dead ships. Even if they were the enemy’s ships, it still set her on edge. It seriously begged the question. Who could have killed them? Or worse what might have killed them? The answers however might be worse than the question.

Pointedly changing the subject, “Anything interesting about this one?”

With a sigh the ensign turned back to the console, “Whatever killed her was quick, and precise. Most of the ship was quite suddenly vented to space. Emergency systems may have kicked in after that, however, as I’m reading no escape pods. The crew it seems had time to abandon ship. Also of note, is that most of her systems are intact.”

She blinked. That was very noteworthy. “Run a quick wide area scan. Look for anything that might be the area. Try not to miss anything.”

While she had a feeling, an urge saying she should run. This was a chance to change the tide of the war. If they could recover some Neku technology, it would go a long way to possibly saving lives in this war. It was a risk, she knew that, but it was one she felt justified about. Little did she realize that a price would be attached, nor did she realize what that would entail.

A moment later the report was in, “All scans negative, nothing out there but debris.”

She gave the order. One that was likely wrong, one that went against her feelings. One that would exact a toll, but she didn’t know that yet. She would, but by then it would be too late.

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