“Jurot,” Adam called, his eyes sing across the area. “This is the Front Iyr, isn’t it?”

  A rge town weled the group, with many Iyrmen moving about. There were a great number of children moving all about, but there were far more older Iyrmen, many of whom wore tags of silver, mithril, and through the crowds of Iyrmen, gliags of gold.

  More awkwardly, the entire area was covered in snow, hiding most of the Front Iyr from their eyes, though its silhouette was so different.

  Jurot blinked. “Yes.” He was certain that this pce, which had already grown three times rger previously, had doubled in size again. It made seer hearing that Elder Story had left. The snow wasn’t out of the ordinary, since a Raith was nearby.

  “Adam!” The voied from nearby. He was taller than the average person, adorned within pte mail made of fmedarksteel, which betrayed his rank among Fire Giants. He carried at his side a giant bde, one which would been impossible for any man to wield. It was too big, more like a sb of iron, than a bde. His skin was dark, his hair fiery red.

  “Lord Morkarai,” Adam called, before he shook the Fire Giant’s hand. “Have you been well?”

  “I have. It has been some time.”

  “A little while at least,” Adam replied, w when he had st seen the Fire Giant. “You missed my children’s first birthday.” Adam frowned.

  “A shame,” the Fire Giant replied, his brain w hard to try and find a way to make such a thing right. “Perhaps I’ll fe a on for them?”

  Adam smiled. “Well, if you insist.”

  “e, sit with me,” he said, leading Adam, and his panions, through the Front Iyr.

  Adam hat the estates had increased, the Front Iyr’s borders spanning further out from before. ‘Why the hell’s it still snowing?’ Nightval had passed two and a half months ago, yet the Iyr was still covered in fresh snow.

  They arrived towards the tre, where three figures sat. Two of them were Drakken, though Adam was sure they were Dragons. The bronze scaled man griowards the group, while the bck scaled womahe rest of the group up. They had mao smell the group before they had seen the rge group arrive.

  “A new axe?” Burgwing, the bronze scaled Drakken, asked, raising his brow.

  “Yes,” Adam replied, patting it. “It’s named Wraith.”

  “A fine he Drakken said, his smile faltering for a moment. “Is it named after the Undead?”

  “Yes.”

  Burgwing rexed visibly. It sounded far too much like Raith for his liking. “What does it do?”

  “Oh, this and that,” Adam replied, taking a seat opposite them. “How have you been?”

  “The Iyr treats us well,” Burgwing said.

  “Always does,” Wingburg, the bck scaled woman, said.

  Adam was still ahey decided to call themselves Burgwing and Wingburg. They didn’t give away their identities to Adam, though he assumed Jurot and the others knew. Burg was the name of some Bck Dragons, and Wing was the name for some Bronze Dragons.

  Adam looked towards the third figure, a beardless Dwarven woman, though she was her a Dwarf, nor a woman. She was drinking slowly from a barrel of ale. He decided against saying anything to her, since she disliked Fae regardless, and it wasn’t a good idea to speak with someone enjoying a drink like that.

  “Are you eager to sell the axe?” Burgwing asked.

  “No.”

  “e now, young man,” he said. “Having su axe, and being an Elf, even half an Elf, will cause you trouble around these parts.”

  “That’s why,” Adam began, reag down to his axe, before the metal shifted, f a ring around his finger, “it do this.”

  “A rick, but not enough to fuse the senses of a Dragon.”

  “Sure, but another Dragon coveted what was mine, and found itself being scales which I’ve gifted to a great many children within the Iyr,” Adam replied. “That isn’t even to mention Vandra, who was the first Dragon to try it.”

  “Yet you’ve given your spear to Entalia,” Burgwing joked.

  Adam raised his brows. “I expected you to be mentlemanly than that.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to sell the axe?”

  “Unfortunately for you, this axe will one day belong to the Rot family, so I don’t think you afford to keep it,” Adam stated, simply.

  Burgwing looked to Jurot, who wielded an equally great on at his side. “Is that true?”

  “If my brother says it is true, then it must be true,” came the Iyrman’s response.

  “I suppose if it’s called for by the Rot family, I’ll have to step back.” Burgwing sighed. “I’ll apologise for being so forward.”

  “It’s alright,” Adam said. “I’m sure if I was a Dragon, I’d want this axe too.”

  Burgwing smirked.

  Lord Sthed, pg down the barrel. “I thought I smelt something awful.”

  “How are you, Lord Stokmar?” Adam asked, doing his best to keep his voice polite.

  “Hmph,” she replied. “How are your children?”

  “They’re well,” Adam replied. “The twins are so chubby and cute. They’re so mean though, cag at me when I told them I was leaving. They say dada now, and they walk around if I hold their hands.”

  Lord Stokmar wondered why the Goblins were growing up so slowly. “What of the Dragons?”

  “They’re cute too,” Adam replied, cautiously. Lord Stokmar hadn’t been so ied in his triplets before. “They pouted when I told them I was leaving, but I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

  “Hmm,” Lord Stokmar replied, grumbling to herself quietly. She eyed up the twons, before dropping the topic.

  “We’ll be heading out soon,” Adam dared to tinue. “I probably ’t afford something great enough for you, but would you like me to buy some drinks for you?”

  “Are y to bribe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmph,” Stokmar replied. She could at least appreciate that he didn’t lie. “Bring me something good from Ever Green,” she said, before remembering it was currently at war, “or Red Oak, or the north.”

  “I will surely do so,” Adam said, smiling politely towards the Lord of Earth.

  ‘Right,’ Burgwing thought. ‘He’s close with Entalia, Lord Stokmar, and he was close with the old Emperor too.’

  Morkarai sipped some of his own wine, sighing. He was gd that the numbers of monsters in the Iyr had halved. There had been Lord Strom, also known as Emperor Hadda, was well as Emperor Shama, Lord Stokmar, and the old Raith. He still wasn’t sure which Raith he was, but it was more than likely Wiseraith. One Emperor had died, and the other had disappeared sometime iwilight Month, allowing the snow to cover the ey of the Front Iyr.

  ‘I shouldn’t steal his axe ter,’ Wingburg thought, the bck scaled woman thinking about the amount of trouble she would get into. She looked to Jurot, who had stated he was Adam’s brother. If it had been Adam alone, she wouldn’t have minded, but annoying an Iyrman too?

  “How long will you be gone?” Morkarai asked.

  “Not sure,” the Half Elf admitted. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and then we might also deal with the Noonval Tour i Port. Well, we’ll be heading back during te duskval, si’ll be my twins’ first birthdays. I ’t miss it, not since I didn’t miss my triplets’ birthdays.”

  “I’ll make something for them too,” Morkarai said, sipping more of his wine. Adam had already refused being a Hill Lord, but there were other ways to tie them together. “You should e to our voloes. I would be willing to host you in my court.”

  “What’s that like?”

  “We invite guests to show off to our family,” Morkarai said, before smiling slightly. “You would be a great guest.” Adam would no doubt be a one of a kind guest, ohat would make all of his siblings annoyed. If he could somehow get his father ied in Adam, he was certain that their prestige would increase.

  “How would I be someone you show off?” Adam asked.

  “How would you not be someoo show off?” Morkarai replied.

  “I suppose I am pretty handsome.”

  “If you would be willing to e for some time, I would allow you to use my personal fe,” Morkarai offered.

  “Ho?” Adam replied, leaning in.

  “It grants one a bonus to enting, and an eveer bonus towards enting ons with the fire property.” Morkarai’s words were like honey as Adam tio lean in.

  “I might have to check that out,” Adam said. “I suppose it would be o make a fming swo-, axe.”

  “We could hunt a wyvern for a fme core,” Jurot said. “It would assist iing a great on that uses fmes.”

  “We should do that.” Adam nodded his head slowly, w how great such a on would be.

  “Aswadasad has a great many creatures in its deserts,” Duated. “We could hunt a creature there.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Adam replied, nodding his head a little quicker, before stopping. “Isn’t Aswadasad currently in the midst of a civil war?”

  “Yes,” Dunes replied, almost longingly.

  “Perhaps not, then.” Adam frowned. “The Aldish civil war might be awkward to navigate too…” ‘Two civil wars at the same time iwions which have been stable for millenia?’ Adam thought about his Omens. ‘There’s no way, is there?’

  Hahahaha!

  There's no way that Adam, who shift Fate, could be the reason why two predominant superpowers, which have been mostly stable for ~2000 years, are currently in civil wars.

  Right?

  ...