The Holy Empire of Bahrati: The Holy Sanctum of Archdrake Elian Furtael.

A door slowly opened as a Lacertian clad in white and gold robes entered the room. He entered and closed the door softly, so as to not make noise. Bowing his head and clasping his hands together, the Lacertian walked slowly across the room to a large shrine, where an Aelfan in similar garb was kneeling in prayer.

He came to a stop at the Aelfan's side before himself kneeling. They both prayed in silence until the Aelfan's eyes opened. "I have news." The Lacertian said softly as he opened his own eyes.

The Aelfan bowed low to the ground and kissed it before standing and bowing toward the shrine. The Lacertian did the same, and they both calmly walked away from the shrine.

"Thank you for observing protocol." The Aelfan stated. "What news have you, my child?"

The Lacertian took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Tomorrow is Artandur, yet more Nobles are loathe to present their children for the Temple."

"Ah, yes." The Aelfan stated. "And as Archdrake, I am expected to kindly remind them to do so. How many have refused?"

"Thirteen." The Lacertian stated. "Four of which have only one child."

"The four may be forgiven, but protocol must be observed. Speak to them, these heads of house, tell them they must comply, but should their children's hearts not be moved, they will be allowed to return to their families without delay." Elian stated. He paused and looked at me. "I have the queerest sense we are being observed."

The Lacertian looked around, his eyes passing me several times. "I am sorry, Archdrake, I cannot see nor sense them."

Elian relaxed. "Then I am mistaken." He said. "Has there been found a Magebreaker, or a Fiend Slayer?"

"No." The Lacertian stated. "Though, there has been a rumor of Lady Wyrashe hosting a Human in her manor."

"Oh?" Elian asked, his eye sparking with interest. "Why would she care for a Human?"

"It is unknown, but popular conjecture is that he serves as her consort, that she seeks pleasures of flesh over the sanctity of the Gods."

"That would be most unfortunate." Elian looked at the Lacertian. "I would like for you to personally visit Lady Wyrashe, determine the validity of these rumors, and should they be truth, bring them here to atone. Should these rumors be false, then bring the Human here, as he is likely a vagrant, and in need of succor and solace."

The Lacertian bowed his head. "It shall be done, Archdrake. I have further news, the Emperor wishes to speak with you, it is in regards to expansion, I believe he wishes to have the blessing of Bahamut."

"The blessing of Bahamut shall always be on those who serve his needs." Elian said. "But I shall go to him. Tomorrow is Artandur, after all."

They left the room...

A memory, or a dream. A road one week ago.

The ocean sparkled with the reflected sunlight as, in the distance, a whale broke the surface, spraying water into the air. The smell of salt and fish was calming. I smiled. "Hey, Mom." I said. "Did you see the whale?"

"Yes." She said.

We were at Coos Bay, having gone as a family because my father was required to come for his job. Though we couldn't abuse it, we were on the company's dime, which was only allowed because of how frugal my father could be. Gas and lunch, that was all that was covered, anything else had to be out of pocket. Still, even that much, I couldn't hate him, I understood that what little he could spend from that was an explicit condition.

Given that we lived near the coast, one would think we'd go to get some good clam chowder or that we'd grab some sushi, or maybe a nice halibut, but we could get that without too much issue. There was a relatively small restaurant called 'Mike's at the Cove' that made excellent pork tenderloins, which I'd had only a few times before, visiting Uncle Dave in Iowa.

It was a reminder of better, simpler times, when the worst I had to deal with was someone teasing me about my hair being gelled up for picture day. Still, I had forty bucks in my wallet saved up from doing odd jobs around the house, the stuff that I was explicitly not expected to do.

"Hey, Ryan." Alex said. "The people at that shop are hiring." He meant it as a joke, but he'd made the joke often enough that it just felt like a dig.

"Are you going to drive me to and from?" I asked. "That's four hours out of your day just driving."

"Dude, chill." He said. "It's just a joke."

It's just a joke, the excuse assholes fall back to when their attempts to rile someone up succeed in the worst way possible.

"Obviously." I said. "I was making a joke too. Jeez, Alex, I thought you wanted me to make more jokes."

Was it mean spirited? Yeah. Did I necessarily care? Not really. The family dynamic was everyone speaking their mind and pretending it was a joke. If you got mad, you were getting mad at a joke, instead of getting mad at them for insinuating something.

The honest truth was, I didn't really know when a joke was legitimately a joke or not, everyone spoke seriously enough that I couldn't trust if they were serious or not. Alex insisting that Versailles was pronounced ver-SAY-liss or something of that nature was obvious enough that I didn't bother, but when he insisted the earth was actually flat, or that the moon landing was faked, I couldn't figure out if he actually believed these things, or if he was fucking with me.

"Boys, not today." Mom said with a sigh.

"Of course." I said.

"Fine." Alex replied.

I leaned against the wall again and stared out at the ocean. The calming sound of gallons of water violently crashing against the rocky cliff in an effort to erode the very ground beneath my feet was soothing. But, soon enough, we had to get back in the car and drive to our next stop. I watched the ocean to my right and imagined a dragon swooping over the waves, hunting for fish or large sea mammals to eat. I considered how it would potentially swoop, what kind of dragon it would have to be. Would it be a wyvern, or a drake? I imagined a cliff side kingdom ruled by a wise and just dragon, who used his long life and wealth to ensure the prosperity of its people, I imagined an empire ruled over by a cruel and tyrannical dragon, who bled its people dry for the sake of more gold.

"And yet, what would a neutral one be like?" I wondered aloud.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Just thinking to myself." I said. A neutral dragon would probably own a shop. I looked at Alex and asked, "What do you think a lawful neutral dragon would do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." He said.

"I think they'd own a shop." I replied. "Because then they could make money without breaking the law." I thought for a moment. "And that shop would happen to be the one where player characters could get their magic items, because the dragon makes them."

"Cool story, bro." He then proceeded to ignore me while I considered what other alignments of dragons would be like...

The estate of Lady Lissana Wyrashe: A treasure vault.

Draxkatar raised his mighty head and sneezed. "Someone must be thinking about me." He muttered before going back to sleep...