Chapter 260: Mother

William Oh stole a grimoire of ancient secrets from a dragon’s hoard, right under her watchful gaze.

• Jason Salazar

Maribelle picked up Jer and Will followed her to her mother’s Domain. The others stayed behind and set up camp at the sap-spring falls.

Their reasoning: If the mother dragon was going to pick a fight, Will might be able to escape by himself, but a full Party of Climbers armed to the teeth showing up on her doorstep might send the wrong message.

It was a quick flight to an oversized clearing around a pair of earth hills. Will didn’t see any entrance to the den, but there was a ton of miasma flowing through and around it, so it had to be special somehow.

Will didn’t realize that he’d entered a dragon’s domain at first. It crept up on his consciousness. Unlike Nora’s dome of swirling curses, the dividing line between the domain and the outside wasn’t so clear-cut. The miasma inside Mother’s domain felt like…stillness.

Not calm and tranquil like a serene lake or an idyllic forest. It was an ominous stillness, as if all the animals in the forest had suddenly gone quiet. The kind a predator might have while waiting for a juicy prey to enter their range.

Every strand of Miasma running through the trees or the earth, floating through the sky or under the wings of the birds…was operating on some strange intelligence that lived and breathed behind the realm of consciousness thought.

Will was absolutely sure the surroundings would turn against him in an instant should he prove to be a threat.

Crap. Mirabelle’s mom is scary. Although I am curious to see if Aspect would resist it, like it did with Nora.

“Mother! Mother, wake up!”

The nearby hill peeled an eye open.

With a snort, a deep red dragon unfolded from beneath centuries of leaf-litter and detritus that had long since become soil, allowing grass and small trees to take root.

Mirabelle’s mother brushed them aside with a yawn as she raised her head, peering down at the two of them. She dwarfed the already titanic Mirabelle, forcing Will to stare straight up, eyes wide to try and take in her whole face.

“What is it, Mirabelle? I just laid down, and I asked you not to disturb me unless it was an emergency, didn’t I?” Mother said, bopping the side of her head and causing several wheelbarrows worth of soil tumble from the cracks between her horns.

“Ummm…Jer’s hurt real bad, Mother.” Mirabelle said, dropping the smaller male from her back onto the ground in front of her mother.

“Hmm…Climbers have bullied poor little Jericho. I did tell you not to get involved with them, didn’t I? If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Most of them are powerless insects, but every once in a while…WelI suppose you had to learn for yourself one way or another.” Mother said, rousing herself enough to lean her chin on a single paw while the other extended towards Jer.

“How do you know it was Climber work?” Maribelle asked.

“You’ve been around as long as I have, you start to get a feel for it. System-generated magic has a stuffy, lifeless feel to it.” Mother said, swirling her paw above Jer. “No sense of organic beauty or style.”

Tell me more, Maribelle’s mom. Will thought.

Will watched in fascination as the curses embedded in Jer’s body were pulled out of him and swirled around Mother’s finger, like cobwebs drawn upwards by a gentle breeze.

She knows magic. She knows magic good. Is it weird to want a dragon mommy to tutor me? Hah.

Jericho let out a gasp as the captured image and paralysis debuff were removed, finally able to breathe properly. His eyes and nose stopped bleeding, too.

Should probably give him some healing potions too, to be safe, Will thought, setting about using Sourdough to dump the same healing potion over Jericho over and over until he looked better.

Mother stiffened for a moment, her eyes focusing on Will, as though a gnat that had been there the entire time had suddenly come into focus.

“Oh my, are you the Climber who hurt Jericho? Why are you here?” Mother said, peering down at Will as she breathed in, causing a rumble to shake the earth. “Here to try your hand?”

“Just trying to keep things civil, ma’am.” Will said, skin cold as he tried not to look the ancient dragon in the face.

“What a polite young man. Let me see your face.” There wasn’t really any arguing with that.

Will glanced up at Mother. He wasn’t sure what to expect. A smiting, perhaps, or being batted across the forest by razor-sharp claws.

“Oh, you again.” Mother said, hiding a yawn behind her paw. “Is it the Migration again already?”

“…Yeah, me again.” Will said with a shrug. Apparently she’d had dealing with previous Will’s. This could be an excellent opportunity to get information.

“So, Ezykial, where’s your snake? Is Steve hiding out somewhere?”

What?

“Mother, he said his name was William Oh.” Maribelle pointed out.

Mother frowned.

“Did I sleep through an entire Migration?” she asked, aghast.

“I…didn’t want to disturb you.” Maribelle said, tapping her claws together.

“I suppose your father’s run off with some younger dragon who doesn’t fall asleep for entire Coils.”

“Father’s right there.” Maribelle said, pointing at the second hill.

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“I suppose he is.” Mother mused.

“Excuse me, do I look like Ezykial the Serpent?”

“Well, the three of you have the same face, so you’ll have to forgive me, but no, Ezykial is a great warrior who is a fair bit bulkier than you, so I should’ve guessed. I was just expecting him, but I slept through it.”

So there are just three.

“And since you aren’t sneering at everyone like a pompous prick and bugging me about learning magic, you’re not Castavelle the Paragon. That makes you William Oh, the Legend.”

“Is that something that could happen?” Will asked. “I would love to learn more about magic from you. Perhaps we could come to some kind of arrangement? I’m sure a few years wouldn’t be a burden.”

Mother frowned, peering down at him.

“You are William Oh, right?”

“…Maybe!” Will said. “And you are?”

Mother snorted, creating a titanic wind that nearly knocked Will over.

“Call me Mother. I’ve forgotten my name while I slept. Or perhaps I dreamt it. If you’re still alive after the Migration, then seek me out. I’d be happy to teach you for a few decades.”

Will clicked his tongue, waggling his finger. “You’re just saying that because you know I’m supposed to die at the end of the Coil!”

“My, how well-informed. Ezykial usually falls for that. Who spilled?”

“I’ve got my sources,” Will said mysteriously.

“It was Reese, wasn’t it?” Mother asked.

“…Yeah.”