On the way, I spot another flock of those bitey things, but they don’t take off as we pass. Instead, they stay in their tree and do their best to pretend they aren’t alive, not that I blame them. I certainly wouldn’t attract Everburn’s attention if I didn’t know him, that’s just asking to get eaten.

  Everburn lands after crossing the barrier and I hop down once he has stopped moving. I take out a gate platform and bury it, then I take out a new crystal and open a gate back to Everburn’s cavern. As soon as we are through, I close the gate and start looking around where the fight happened.

  Everburn says “What are you looking for?”

  “Some of the gold’s blood. It will make it easier to track it.”

  Everburn points out a broken golden scale that has some flesh and blood still attached. Since I only needed a single drop, that is more than enough for me to get a lock on. Once I have that, I use the network to scan the area surrounding the mine looking for traces.

  The network isn’t complete up here, but it is enough for me to find a blood trail heading north. Once I know that, I merge my senses with the network and use it to boost my range as I track it north. The trail soon leaves the peninsula, still heading north, but the trail fades over the ocean.

  Before it left the land, the trail was heading straight, so all I can do is keep going and hope it doesn’t turn. Unfortunately, I hit the maximum range that I can boost my senses to before the trail hits land.

  “Everburn, I am at the maximum range that I can extend my senses. Can you help me reach further?”

  Everburn says “I can, but it is going to be painful. You had better brace yourself.”

  If I ever wanted to know what it felt like to have my brain covered in gasoline and then ignited, I now do. Even with Pain Resist, it takes me several minutes before I can recover enough to continue. If my mental force is a stone the size of my fist, then Everburn’s is a mountain.

  I am no longer the one powering the search, all I need to do now is direct it and Everburn handles the rest. With no real trail to follow, I simply guide his senses due north until the ocean ends. It ends in a massive wall of ice that is several hundred feet tall and stretches as far as the eye can see.

  Luckily, when our senses reach the top of the wall, a single drop of blood marks the trail. I’m not sure what I would have been able to do if the trail had changed directions. The blood trail continues north, so we follow it across the ice for what feels like hundreds of miles.

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  The trail eventually leads to a black volcano rising out of a large, steaming lake. The volcano is obviously active as I can see several lava flows leading down to the lake. That must be what is keeping it steaming and preventing it from refreezing.

  The trail leads into a large cave opening and we follow it down for a while into the volcano. It is a straight shot and the cave remains huge, it is big enough that Everburn could fly down it. I am guessing that the gold made it that way so that he could enter and exit at speed.

  Finally, our senses reach the heart of the volcano where we find the gold dragon. Everburn wasn’t kidding, he is in worse condition than what I found Everburn in. The gold is currently laying in a lake of lava, but his wounds are still bleeding.

  I quickly guide our senses to touch the ground near the edge of the lake and mark the spot. Then I break the connection and we are thrown rather painfully back to our bodies. I immediately jump onto Everburn’s back, take out the crystal, and start opening a gate.

  Everburn says “Ow! Was that really necessary?”

  “Yes. I had to break the connection before the gold detected it. I figured you would want to return the favor and catch him by surprise.”

  Everburn says “Oh, right, carry on then!”

  Building the gate is a lot lower, but not only because of the distance, I am slowing it down. I am attempting to build the entire gate spell without any signs showing on the other end. If I can do it right, the gate will just suddenly be open and the gold will get no warning.

  I’m pretty sure that Everburn sees and understands what I am doing because he doesn’t interrupt. When the gate finally completes, there is a blinding flash of light and I feel Everburn moving. By the time my sight has cleared, Everburn has already passed the gate and pounced on the gold.

  Instantly, the fight between them becomes so intense that I can barely stay on Everburn’s back. It doesn’t help that every other second I am in the lava as the two roll around. For the first part of the fight, I am unable to do anything to help Everburn, but it doesn’t look like he needs help.

  My chance to help comes when the gold breaks away from Everburn and tries to flee. As soon as he leaves the lava, I hit the gold with my breath weapon before he can get far. It isn’t strong enough to seriously hurt him, but it does make his muscles twitch and slows him down.

  That is more than enough for Everburn to catch up and pounce on the gold’s back again. I quickly summon my weapon, shift it into a lance, and start poking holes in the gold. It probably isn’t more than pin pricks to it, but it is about all that I can do to help.

  This fight is way out of my league, but I can’t get down without getting in Everburn’s way. Even though both of them are immune, they still use their breath weapons, probably from instinct. If I wasn’t immune, I would have already been turned into charcoal by the two of them.

  The speed and ferocity of their fight is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I now know that alone against a real dragon, I wouldn’t stand a chance against one. It is a humbling realization, but it is better to learn it now than be overconfident again.

  A lot of things lately have been humbling experiences, I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something. It can’t be the goddesses, I would be able to sense them interfering with the world. I am just too used to them watching me, I can sense their attention too easily.

  My distraction almost costs me and I almost get thrown from Everburn’s back. Since I don’t want to get stomped into paste, I stop thinking about other things and focus on the fight. Although the fight seems to be winding down, the gold’s injuries are mounting.