The blue dragon who came to see who the invaders were could not believe what was happening! He looked at the immense black dragon, and there was no denying it was Placidusax, their lord.
Valethar was skeptical, not knowing if there would be dragons in that mountain, as he believed all of them had died long ago, but it turned out that was not the case, and some were still alive and kicking!
"Please, follow me!" The blue dragon said as he flew toward the mountains, entering a cave.
There were many caves on those mountains; the only one to access them was by flying, as it was impossible to climb them. Arthur had no problem with that, and the three dragons flew toward the cave, entering a system of caves.
Inside, there were many gold coins and other treasures, like mana stones, weapons, armor, and even a crown from a royal family. Dragons loved to store treasures like those inside their caves, and no matter the time, it never changed.
"The only thing that changed is the number of treasures they have…" thought Arthur as he gazed at the pile of items with awe.
The blue dragon led the way, and he said, "I am Thraxal. It is a pleasure to meet you two!"
They kept going deeper inside the cave, and what caught Arthur's attention was how well-designed it was, and the size of the tunnels was more than enough to fit all those gigantic dragons. If a human went there, then they would look like an ant.
Their tour eventually stopped in an open room, and there, Arthur saw the other dragons lying on the ground with lots of gold items around them.
One dragon looked more prominent than the rest and had a white color. It was in the middle of everyone, and that was the dragon Thraxal talked to first when he got there.
"Selen, my queen, these are the 'intruders' who came to our mountains. Dragons! Can you believe that? And that's not the most extraordinary part, but this black dragon is Placidusax, our lord!"
Selen was not the only dragon there. Around 12 adults and eight kid dragons, all of whom gazed at Arthur and Valethar when they heard Thraxal's words.
"This is impossible! Placidusax is only a legend!"
Those dragons had never met Placidusax before, in person, when he was still around with the other dragons. Some dragons survived the first wave of attacks and eventually had kids who never saw those ancient dragons.
All the dragons in the northern mountains of the demon continent were like that, new dragons who came to birth after the end of the dragon age. They did not know if Arthur was the real Placidusax, but no one could deny the resemblance!
They had never seen him before, but it did not mean legends were not passed down amongst the dragons, and there were some diaries still, so the dragons, being old or young, knew what their lord, Placidusax, looked like.
Selen was the daughter of high-ranking dragons, which was why she was in charge. She looked toward Arthur and said, "are you truly? I can see you look like him, but how can we be sure?"
Arthur, still in his dragon form, knew it was time to act. He gathered all the essences he mastered in one attack, a roar! It would not cause them any harm but would show them the mighty of Placidusax!
The moment he roared, the entire mountain trembled, and the color of each of his essences appeared inside the cave and its aura!
Yes, Placidusax was known as the Lord of Dragons, the only dragon capable of wielding all essences, and also known as 'The Eater of Worlds.'
Arthur did not have all the essences yet, but he had many of them, which could only prove he was the dragon he was saying he was.
When those dragons heard and heard the roar, they all got their heads down, and some even kneeled.
"I- I cannot believe it! Placidusax is back! If it wasn't for our small group, we could reclaim our glory…" one of the dragons said.
They felt happy to see their lord back and sad, as it would be hard to change their current situation. Their strength was superior to all the other races, but they were few, and only if one or two of them reached rank four would they have a chance to do something, which would still prove hard.
Selen was now confident Arthur was the real thing, so she asked, "why are you here?"
"Adventurers hurt my friend, Valethar, and we came here looking for a place to stay. Also, I only recently learned dragons are still alive, so I came to check." Arthur said.
"You can stay here as long as possible until your friend recovers. Also, do you want to look around to see our houses?"
"Houses? I thought you lived inside these caves."
She laughed and said, "we stay in our caves when hibernating in dragon form to make sure anyone who tries to trespass gets scared and runs. But we usually walk around in human form, and we live in the back part of the mountain, in a valley."
Selen, still in his dragon form, changed to her humanoid form, a white-haired girl with eyes of the sea's color and a body with perfect proportions.
He did the same, changing to his humanoid form, which was his true self and not an elf. Arthur was not worried about the three dragon priests — if they would recognize him from the killing he did when he was insane — because they were now under his control, so there was nothing to worry about.
Garry, Larry, and Terry went with Arthur and Selen, continuing walking down the tunnel, and reaching the back part of the mountain, in a beautiful valley!
As for the other dragons, they stayed in the caves, taking care of Valethar, who was still hurt and now wanted proper care and rest.
"This is gorgeous!" Larry said as he looked down to the valley and saw a dense forest covered with thin layers of snow, different from the snowy mountain peaks where the snow was unbearable.
"I know, right?" Selen said, happy to see others liked her place. "This is where we have our houses and cultivate magical plants here. Did you know they taste good and fill our stomachs?"
"Really? There is the answer to why we never saw dragons flying around. You don't even need to leave your valley to survive." Arthur said.
"Correct, but we sometimes leave, in our human form, to get some supplies we need, and no one suspects a thing. Come, I will show you the valley!" Selen said.
There was a path they made so that they could walk down from the cave tunnels to the valley. Arthur and his three Dragon Priests saw the beautiful scenery on the way down, and they were sure that valley was one of the prettiest places in the demon continent.
Selen was at the front, showing them exciting points of the valley and her memories of those places.
"That is where my brother and I fought one day, and he lost. He still cannot win against me, but he sure tries."
"You see that small tunnel there? One day, centuries ago, a group of dwarves dug a tunnel in our mountain and ended up here. They weren't excited, as they wanted a place filled with ores. Imagine the face they had when they saw dragons in here! That was when the stories about us spread around the continent."
"Dwarves? One day I want to visit their home. They seem like interesting people," Arthur said.
As an RPG fan, he wanted to meet the dwarves of the demon continent and the elves, too, if possible, but the latter had so few people Arthur was not sure they had a civilization still.
"We can go there one day. Look that is my house." Selen said as she pointed to a normal-looking cabin with many trees around it.
"I know, it is simple, but it is not like we are masters of building, and it is more than enough. Do you see the trees around it? These are the magical trees I talked about!"
Selen went near one of them, grabbed some red fruit that reminded Arthur of an apple, and tossed one to him, one to Larry, to Garry, and one to Terry.
Arthur bit it, as he trusted Selen, and poisons would not work on him anyway, and what he felt were a sweet taste and a fulfilling sensation. He could sense it drove his hunger away, and it tasted delicious!
"This is incredible! You lived by eating mostly fruits?"
"Yeah, I know. We are not dragons who kill everything and eat meat all day, but this is less time-consuming, and a small portion of these magical fruits are way better than meat because we need a lot of meat to survive. But it is not like we don't eat meat; we do, but not all day, you know?"
It surprised Arthur that the dragons were so prosperous, and he wished to make that valley his new kingdom!
"Selen, what do you think about us, dragons, rule again?"
She thought before answering and said, "I would love it for us to return to our former glory, with cities and a kingdom ruled by us, but this is impossible, right?"
"No, not at all! I plan on reaching rank four soon, and with my help and the help of my friends and wives, we can restore our kingdom! Tell me, is there a race living near here?"
"Well, there are dwarves in some mountains not that far from here."
Arthur looked for a place to share his word and make them worship the dragons again. The dwarven mountains seemed like a good place to start, but first, he had to give the inheritance to his avatar!