Han did not know what to expect from this huge ancient steel dragon. Was it here to guide him through a tutorial, or perhaps explain how this world worked? Maybe the dragon was his new pet or bodyguard, a gift from the gods to ensure his safety in the coming days. He stared at it for a moment, but it did not look happy to see him.

  "I'll ask you this instead," the dragon mocked. "WHO are you?" The dragon seemed genuinely curious and perhaps slightly less threatening. His voice was certainly softer and calmer. A good answer here could unlock some great perks.

  "Are you here to teach me about this world? Or are you my new pet? Or..."

  With startling speed, the dragon's sharp claw lashed out at Hadofi. Instinctively he leaped to one side, rolling into a kneeling position with his dagger drawn for battle. The dragon's strike had of course actually landed, despite the half-elf's pathetic dodge attempt. But his level-up god-tier forcefield prevented any contact. Hadofi realized he could not stab the dragon even if he wanted to. He was thankful for the forcefield, designed to give him time to spend new skill points and review any spells he acquired. A couple more swipes and a bite later, the dragon grew confused and paused his attacks for more dialogue.

  "WHO are you!" he demanded in a roaring, echoing voice.

  "What if I said I was a god?" Hadofi replied, ignoring the dragon as he reviewed his new spells, looking for something useful. He selected Leatherworking and Blacksmithing so he could use his magic box to process things. Like perhaps dragon leather. He smiled evilly at the beast.

  "You're no god!" the dragon challenged, though he was not entirely sure he was right. This half-elf gave off an imposing aura but seemed to be only level seven. He wandered around digging through piles of treasure, searching for something. Again the dragon struck him. Again the shield prevented contact.

  Mindful of the time limit, Hadofi searched for a way to defeat the dragon. Digging through the dragon's treasure pile, he could not be stopped. A magic item, an artifact, maybe a genie in a bottle. He pored through other possibilities and calculated the odds of success. His new spells were of little to no use, and he could not fight from within the barrier. Once it vanished, he would get one, maybe two attacks before he was dead. He was going to make that bitch goddess pay somehow. For now he had to overcome this. He checked the timer. Only ten minutes remained.

  "What is it you're looking for?" the dragon bellowed, growing increasingly annoyed but also feeling increasingly helpless.

  "Do you have like a secret treasure room somewhere with the good stuff in it?" Hadofi asked, quite seriously.

  "Like I'd tell you, thief!" The dragon exhaled a poisonous cloud of gas that slowly spilled from his mouth and enveloped the entire cavern, except inside Hadofi's bubble. Hadofi watched as some of the gas passed through part of the cavern wall, as though it were not there. He moved toward the spot, but the dragon blocked him. Then it occurred to him: if he summoned a golem, could it attack outside the forcefield? Quickly doing the math, a simple cone of stone six inches at the base would be fifteen feet long, and might just do the trick. Worth a try. If it worked, he would call it "Stone Lance."

  Hadofi summoned a golem. It was about his size, and he caught the dragon by surprise. It unleashed its attack, and a lance of stone surged from the ground beneath the dragon. The dragon barely avoided it, but the move gave Hadofi the opportunity to get through the illusory wall. Behind him the golem was smashed in a single attack. Before him lay a lush room of royalty. Confused, he stepped inside.

  A gold-inlaid four-poster canopy king-sized bed sat atop a dais of smoothly polished stone with inlays of obsidian and quartz. Level up! flashed across his screen, resetting the timer to ten minutes. A wardrobe cabinet, locked steel chests, a granite writing desk, and a large obsidian and alabaster chess set stood nearby. Dominating one wall was a life-sized silver statue of a dragoness—breathtakingly beautiful, regal and ethereal, her wings half-furled, eyes like diamonds seemed to follow him. Heavy banners hung from the ceiling: deep blue silk embroidered with silver thread, showing stylized mountain peaks pierced by lightning, ancient draconic runes, and dragons guarding hoards. Even a large basket held an egg, cradled in a fur hide.

  Behind him, the dragon shifted to human form and sealed the room with a spell that summoned a wall of stone. "Now that you've found this place, you must die!" he declared. He began to launch his highest-level spells at the invader. Lightning, frost, and fire were all easily turned aside by the god-tier forcefield that was Hadofi's only protection. He noticed the attacks stayed clear of the egg, so Hadofi moved toward it. In a blinding flash of magic, the dragon-man stood before it. "You'll not touch my unborn son!" he screamed, unleashing more attacks. Hadofi turned and summoned another golem behind him, shielding it from the spells. Its stone lance attack nearly knocked the basket with the egg off the table on which it sat.

  "I didn't have to miss, you know," Hadofi said with a smile, making the dragon-man freeze in place. "I'm not here for your son. I'm not here for you either."

  "Why are you here? Who are you? How did you get here?" The questions came like a machine gun, and Hadofi left them all unanswered. He was not sure how to answer them anyway, but it was certainly far more dramatic this way.

  "How about a game of chess?" he suggested, motioning towards the board. "If I win, you give me your most valuable magic item. Something I can wear, perhaps a ring or an amulet. If you win, I'll answer all your questions."

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The dragon thought about this for a moment and saw it was a win-win situation. If the half-elf won, he only got one item. If he could, perhaps he could figure out a weakness and then kill the thing. If the half-elf lost, he got the answers to his questions and the same thing happened. Either way it ended with a possible snack. The dragon was wary, though. The humanoid had a trick up its sleeve. It was very powerful and crafty and not to be underestimated.

  "I agree on one term," the dragon-man stated as he smashed the golem to dust. Hadofi raised an eyebrow. "We play a version of the game where, although the sides mirror each other, the starting locations of the back rank are randomized." And by randomized, the dragon smiled falsely. He meant the same setup he had been practicing these past few years.

  "Sounds fun, although it might put me at a disadvantage. I've never played like that. So no time controls on the game then, right?"

  "Of course not."

  "And you promise not to try and kill me while I'm focused on the game?"

  "Of course. I will ensure no harm comes to you while we play. And if you win I will honor our agreement, as shall you. I even have a betting sphere to enforce the rules, so everyone keeps their agreements and no one cheats."

  Hadofi did not know what that was, but he was sure the dragon was just trying to make sure there was no cheating and that Hadofi answered the questions truthfully. Either way it did not matter, because he was not going to lose. Since assuming this new form, his understanding of chess had reached a whole new level. As a last resort, Hadofi could always merge into the stone cavern and fly through the rock. Although without knowing where he was or where he was going, it might be dangerous. But anything beat dying, and he was certain he would not be one-shot by the beast, either by might or magic. And he still had one more golem up his sleeve too.

  The betting sphere, or gambler's orb, was a blue crystal sphere that looked like a typical scrying ball but was instead for contracts. Two individuals placed their hands on the orb and each gave conditions for the match, which the other agreed to or rejected if unfair. They went back and forth until the end, when Hadofi added one more condition.

  And we both agree to not use any magic, magic item, or artifact that might influence the outcome of the game, either directly or indirectly." The dragon's heart sank. This took away his ace up his sleeve. But since he did not need it, he agreed happily, and the game began. Hadofi had to fight the urge to troll the dragon by moving his knight back and forth a couple times to give himself a handicap. But with his life on the line in a world he did not know, he managed to stay focused.

  It was fun, for Hadofi anyway. Playing chess in this new form came effortless. Every move was obvious, the lines crystal clear in his mind. He could have played blindfolded while facing twelve dragons, inventing new potions, and plotting the orbits of the stars. It was almost unfair, but fairness had never been part of the equation. He made it look like he was thinking hard, frowning at the board, while quietly drawing out information about the area and the world he now lived in.

  It seemed they were high in the mountains, far from civilization. Hadofi in turn revealed he was from a large civilization of humans from a town called Earth. The dragon seemed interested to learn new things, and Hadofi pulled out freshly baked biscuits and some warm mead from his magic box to share. The game was not going well for the dragon, who realized he had made a poor move and asked for a take-back. Hadofi felt bad for him and said, "No." The dragon grew irritated.

  "What about best two out of three then?" he proposed after a couple more moves.

  "What about double the bet then?" the half-elf quickly retorted. "I get two treasures if I win, and you get my full story from start to finish." The dragon thought it over while considering his next move. "A story of heartache, betrayal, loneliness, redemption, gods, and revenge." His eyes lit up. He was hooked. He agreed and knocked over his king.

  As they set up for the next game, Hadofi wondered if he should insist the pieces change locations but decided it would be easier if they did not. He took more time this round, as did the dragon, perhaps hoping to make Hadofi sleepy or distracted. Nothing helped. Every move was the top engine line, as if a six-thousand-elo grandmaster were sitting in his head. The dragon was already considering which magic items to give up, but he knew which two they had to be. The stipulation was that they were small to carry or wear and were his most valuable. The key was the past tense of "were". The ring had only one charge left, and the wand had only twelve. The dragon laughed to himself at how easily the humanoid had been deceived. So he counted himself lucky as he got up to retrieve them. The game was not over; it was his turn, but he was in a forced mate in sixteen and needed to stretch his legs.

  When he came back, he placed a wand and a ring on the table and laughed. "It was a fun game, half-elf. I even learned a few tricks." On the outside he was smiling, but inside he was plotting. The dragon lit a pipe and blew smoke rings into the air, trying to pretend he did not care. Staring at the board, he knocked his king over, gathered up the prizes, and reached out to give them to Hadofi. He blew a bit of smoke into his face and confirmed there was no longer a shield.

  The moment possession of the items passed, the contract of the blue sphere was fulfilled, and a notification appeared: Level up. When the dragon's attacks came, Hadofi was almost half expecting them. His sharpened observation caught the subtle shift in posture, but this time he did not flinch. He had five minutes on the clock to figure out what to do next.

  Hadofi slid the ring onto his hand and felt the power of the last remaining wish it held, like a trapped star begging to be unleashed. The wand held twelve charges to either dig or move earth, but was also capable of turning rock to mud and back again. He smiled. Things just got interesting. Like the moves in chess, his next plays were crystal clear to him. "So that's how it is?" he said, his voice calm but laced with menace. "You really want to die over a couple of trinkets?" The dragon continued to assault him with every spell he could muster. Hadofi bided his time. He closed his eyes and summoned the power of the wish. "I wish that my forcefield could be applied to others. Restriction: twice per day. Restriction: fifty percent failure chance at night. Restriction: five-minute duration." Granted, rang inside his mind as the ring on his hand dematerialized into nothing. His plan was clear. He would have to be fast. The dragon's attacks stopped, frustration gripping him again. "Perhaps another game of chess?" Hadofi mocked, trying to put the dragon at ease. The dragon did not know when the shield would drop, but Hadofi was counting the seconds.