"The What?" Raymond and Alecia said at the same time.
The two looked at each other. Raymond's was a look of confusion, Alecia's was a look of surprise.
"The Scion of the Dragon is a myth among my people. The Scion is a powerful warrior that is a direct descendant of the Golden Dragon.
Legends say he will either save or destroy the world. He will be hailed as the new Dragon."
"Which one of us is the Scion?" Raymond asked, his head spinning.
The Dragon huffed. "If you do not know, I will not be the one to tell you. Why are you here?" His question was more forceful this time.
"Great Dragon," Raymond began, "we are here by chance. We are on a quest to find where the Golden Dragon rests."
The Dragon laughed, a sound like thunder that shook the room.
"You will not find him. The Dragons ascended to the Heavenly Realm a millennia ago. Only the Dark One still haunts the mortal realm.
You seek not the Dragon, but his crystal Visage in the hidden temple. You must first assemble the Key from the Scales of the Elemental Dragons.
Each Scale will point the way to the next. The Key will point the way to the Temple."
"Will you give us the first scale?" Raymond asked hopefully, he had a suspicion about what was next.
"My scales are not given. They are earned."
There was a flash of light and Raymond found himself in a barren expanse.
Alone.
Raymond gripped the Double Dragon and looked around frantically for his companions.
All he could see for miles was dry, cracked earth.
"What is this? Where am I? Where are my friends?" Raymond screamed into space, angry and terrified in equal measure.
The only answer he received was a loud screech. He looked up to find the Dragon flying a figure eight pattern in the sky high above.
Raymond activated his Fly spell, rocketing into the sky.
The Dragon met him, no longer a statue, his wings beating slowly, his eyes full of fire.
Raymond was in awe. He was facing down the largest creature he had ever seen. Just his head was the size of a mansion.
"Curious human." the Dragon said thoughtfully. "So powerful and confident. So brave and determined, yet, you really have no idea who you are, or what you are capable of."
"What is this?" Raymond demanded.
"To gain my Scale, I require a sacrifice. You may offer the life of one of your party, or your own."
Raymond's blade slid into place with a snap.
"How about I carve it from your carcass." Raymond hissed. He was not about to give up the lives of his women, or his own.
The Dragon grinned then spat a fireball.
The fireball swirled then took the shape of a Dragon the size of a large horse.
The mini-dragon smirked then spoke in the dragon voice.
"I am not above playing with my food."
The mini-dragon exploded forward, unleashing a cone of fire that lit the air with searing heat. Raymond conjured a towering shield of earth, the flames crashing against it like a wave against stone.
As the dragon entered striking range, Raymond lunged, his blade aimed cleanly for its throat.The dragon twisted away, narrowly dodging the strike, then spun to deliver a punishing tail-whip toward Raymond's flank.
He flipped backward midair, the tail slicing beneath his boots with inches to spare.
The dragon's head recoiled and—WHAM—met the bottom of Raymond's boot with a skull-rattling crunch.
It dropped hard, stunned for a moment, then surged skyward again with talons gleaming.
Raymond parried the claws and launched a blast of water point-blank into the beast's face, the torrent driving it backward in a hiss of steam and fury.
But he missed the blur of the dragon's tail whipping toward him. Pain exploded in his knee like a sledgehammer strike. He plummeted, momentarily disoriented.
The dragon pounced.
Back claws locked around Raymond's ribs while the front ones slashed for his face like berserker blades.
He blocked and dodged in a frenzy, his forearms coated in hardened earth, trading blows faster than thought, strike, counter, feint, repeat.
Neither landed a clean hit, their battle a blur of motion, grit, and magic.
Then Raymond had it.
He sparked his own body with a surge of electricity. The dragon seized again—just as the current hit. It screamed and spasmed violently, convulsing midair.
Raymond rocketed above the thrashing beast and drove both boots into its chest, accelerating like a falling star.
They hit the ground with the force of a meteor strike. The dragon's scream ended in a choking gasp as the breath slammed from its lungs.
Raymond landed, breathing hard. He summoned the Double Dragon to his hand, raised it high.
A pillar of lightning descended from the heavens and struck.
The dragon vanished in a flash of white fire.
The Great Dragon landed softly behind Raymond. His soft chuckle crescendoed into uproarious laughter.
Raymond turned, looking at the Dragon like he was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen.
"Brilliant! Simply brilliant!" the Dragon roared. "I haven't had that much fun in millennia!"
"I'm sorry. What?" Raymond was thoroughly confused by the Dragon's reaction.
"Young man, you are so much more than you know." The dragon smiled a toothy grin. "You have more than proved that today."
"I will return you to your friends, and you will have my Scale. It will point you to the Oasis of the Green Dragon. Farewell."
With that Raymond gasped as he opened his eyes.
He stumbled back a step, temporarily bewildered. Alecia and Nikki caught his arms, concern etched on their faces.
"Master, Master are you ok? What happened?" Alecia pleaded with him, tugging his arm.
Raymond shook himself, clearing his head. He noticed something warm and hard in his hand.
It was the size of a dinner plate, rounded on one end and pointed at the other. Raymond thought it looked like a giant guitar pick.
The Red Dragon's Scale pulsed slightly with a warm inner energy like it was alive.
Alecia stared at the scale blankly.
"That's a Dragon Scale. When did you get that? Ray, what just happened?"
They turned toward the statue, it now appeared as cold and lifeless as it had when they walked in.