The gods forsaken desert. It was perhaps the last place Alia wanted to find herself. Really it was the last place any sane creature should want to find themselves. The sun beat down from on high, its merciless rays a constant and unending torment for those unsuited to the climate. Namely mousy scholars far better suited to libraries than hoofing it along vast dunes. The dark haired young woman looked up to the cloudless sky, so bright and endless. Almost as though she was looking for a sign. A direction she could head for civilization. It would appear the gods indeed had forsaken her in this place. 

Misfortune had come for her when the caravan she had been traveling with to another branch of the Mages Guild was beset by raiders. In the chaos of the night she had run for her life, the natural response. The only problem was well. Now she had no idea what direction she was supposed to go. It all looked the same. The only landmarks were the occasionally bleached bones of creatures just barely peeking above the sands. Perhaps her bones would join them soon. What an utterly mundane way to die for such a prodigy as she. 

A slight breeze swept the cowl from her head, the young beauty glaring at the sun. Redness had formed here or there on patches of her pale skin, burns from the malevolent sun. She paused in her ascent up a slope to the top of a dune, opening her waterskin and pouring out the warm fluid past her chapped lips. And finding it was empty after she was done. Her eyes widened and she tried to get a few more drops out of it as panic started to set in. Learning Create Water would have probably been a good idea now that she was faced with death from thirst. 

“Why send me, why not those useless talentless whelps? Why do I have to waste away in the desert?” The apprentice mage grumbled to herself not for the first time. 

She reached the top of the dune moments later and shielded her eyes as she looked around, the vast expanse of desert seemingly without end. Smaller rolling dunes stretched out in the distance and there weren’t many places to mark her position. At least until she spied something that caused her heart to leap into her throat. Green. It was a green and blue spot that when she squinted looked like an oasis to the west. It was a good distance away but damn the sight of it almost brought her to tears. 

There was no thought to her movements as she set off down the tall dune in the direction of the oasis, driven by thirst and the desire for something to help her on her way through the desert. Sand cascaded around her as she stumbled down the way, almost tripping and falling several times. The drive to reach some kind of water source was enough to find strength she had felt fading from her legs. Enough to race across blazing hot sands with reckless abandon in the hopes of slaking her thirst. 

Alia ran and ran across the sands and found the oasis closing in sight. Part of her feared it would vanish before her eyes like some illusion or mirage. Yet it remained real. She made her way through the grass, joy rising inside her as she knelt down at the water’s edge. The dark haired noble apprentice cupped her hands and guzzled down the water, letting out a moan of sheer bliss as crystal clear water flowed past. It was a blissful paradise in an otherwise hostile realm, a stroke of good fortune at last. 

“Perhaps not entirely gods forsaken.” She mused to herself as she started filling her waterskin with the water. 

The place was indeed an island amidst the sands. A font of life when otherwise there was only arid death to be found around her. She wiped a dribble of water from the corner of her mouth as she finished filling her waterskin and looked at the trees. Strange orange fruits grew up upon them and she felt her stomach growl. Alia pointed a finger at them and whispered a word of arcane power under her breath, the tip of her finger glowing a greenish hue before a missile shot out. It lanced forth and sliced the stem from one of the fruits, a telekinetic force gripping it and drifting it over to her. 

Normally she would have checked for poisons probably but at the moment she had no food, so poison or no it was the only food she’d seen. So she bit into it, the flesh quite bitter but the juices inside were so sweet it almost brought tears to her eyes. She’d have given her whole family fortune for this place really. A sign from the gods above that someone at least was watching out for her. 

Alia ended up curling up against the tree and enjoying the shade, the blissful and wonderful shade. She poured water down her hair and let it cascade along her body through her clothes. It was a brutish thing suited for a commoner but right now she couldn’t bring herself to care. This was luxury after three days in the desert. Sad that a woman of her standing, First Apprentice to the great Archmage of Theros, would come to think of such a thing as luxury but what a difference a few days made. 

She rested beneath the shade of the tree, tossing the cores of the fruits she ate aside once she finished. She plowed through four of them with ease and wiped the juices from her lips, leaning back and sighing softly. Stocking up on the fruit would take priority. Hopefully they could get her through the desert. Though she still had no idea where she was. Geography and such had never been her strongpoint at the Academy. Hadn’t involved magic so she really hadn’t seen much reason to pay attention. Bah, how irksome. 

After a moment Alia’s ears perked up, hearing a strange… flapping noise? It was distant but getting louder rapidly. Birds? She turned and looked in the general direction of the noise and her eyes nearly fell from their sockets. In the sky there was a vast dark shape that cast a shadow upon the sands it passed over. An enormous being that defied all that Alia had ever seen before. Instinctively she knew what it was, most people would just from the size and shape. A dragon. 

A dragon that was heading in this general direction at a rapid speed. 

“You have got to be joking!” Alia screamed as she buried to her feet and started scrambling from the Oasis as fast as she could, not caring about supplies in the face of that. 

Not that she managed to get very far. The shadow passed overhead and engulfed her briefly. She looked up in time to watch glittering brass scales gleam above her before passing overhead and landing in the direction she had been running. Sand and dust was kicked up by the landing, air blasting around Alia and sending her tumbling back onto her ass. She let out a loud scream as she fell to the ground, sand buffeting her and obscuring her vision. Adrenaline was roaring through her veins. 

Dragons were the highest form of creature in the known world. Beings that existed in legends of grand heroes. Vast beings that terrorized villages and devoured maidens. Alia rather fit the picture of a maiden and she was not looking to get eaten anytime soon. She looked up as the sands cleared and saw a dark shape in the cloud of sand, a pair of molten orbs gleaming far overhead beyond the cloud. 

It cleared and… it was so much. The creature towered high above her. A single talon on its claws was about the same size as her. Scales gleamed in the light of the sun, reflecting its light in a brass tone. Its orbs were fixed squarely upon her from on high, like liquid fire. She stared up and felt herself unable to move, unable to so much as think about moving. It was a grand being beyond any she had dared to think to meet in her lifetime. It opened its maw and she almost fainted as she saw teeth that could sheer wagons in two with ease. This was it, this was the end oh gods oh gods why like this-

“Lovely day we’re having, wouldn’t you say?” 

...Eh? Alia stared at the beast as it looked down at her, the orbs glistening with an expectant light to them. Had she… misheard it? Was she actually going insane? It sounded like it had just asked about the day like someone in the market might. No that couldn’t be it. She was absolutely about to crack. 

The Dragon cocked its head to the side, seeming confused by the reaction. “Hmm… maybe this is better for you?” 

A bright light gleamed from its form, brilliant and blinding. Alia shielded her eyes with her arm and winced as the form of the dragon was swallowed in the light. It passed and when she blinked away the spots in her eyes she found the scaled beast was gone and replaced by a different kind of towering being. Her eyes turned up, and up, and further up still and she let out a nervous kind of squeak in the back of her throat. 

Standing overhead was a vast fifty meter tall form of an… absolutely beautiful young man. Sandy hair fell around his shoulders, a crown of brass colored horns curling around his head. He was dressed in a loose fitting white tunic, trousers and a pair of brass sandals on his feet. His skin was a lightly bronzed shade, a pair of wings also sprouted from his back and rested at his shoulders almost like a cloak. His finger and toenails were rather sharp at the tips, almost like filed talons. Then there were his eyes, just like the dragon they were less like eyes and more like orbs of molten brass.

The beautiful giant grinned a toothy and beaming smile. “There we go, let's try again! Lovely day we’re having, wouldn’t you say?” 

The booming and velvety voice rumbled across her ears and almost felt like it shook her bones. She hadn’t misheard the dragon it seemed. But if he was trying to comfort her, well, it definitely wasn’t working! Dragon to Giant didn’t matter much when it was still fucking huge enough to squash her like a bug! So naturally, her first response was to panic and cast a cloud of fog all around her. It expanded out from her form and covered the whole oasis and some of the desert beyond. 

She ran. Alia wasn’t thinking, her lizard brain was absolutely in full control and just wanted to get away from the big scary thing behind her. Being a mage didn’t exactly mean one couldn’t be utterly terrified by things beyond the norm. Some experiences unified everyone, regardless of race or job. And one of those things was fear of huge dragons dropping out of the sky. She emerged from the fog cloud and started heading up a dune as fast as she could manage. 

“Heeey, you should respond when someone’s talking to you! It’s rude not to!” The booming voice sounded put off by her display. 

No talking, just running, that was fine by her. Not so fine by her host who pinpointed her basically immediately. The ground shook beneath Alia and she found herself watching out of the corner of her eyes as the towering giant lifted a foot up and stepped toward the dune. The single step of the draconic man shook the whole of the ground, grains of sand and rocks jumping from the impact and air blasting out more from the point of impact. The dune wobbled under Alia and she stumbled, falling to all fours and struggling to not fall but she kept moving. 

And then he idly pushed the tip of his sandal into the dune and collapsed the whole thing. Alia’s eyes widened as the sand buckled from under her suddenly and she fell, pulled down into the sands and struggling not to be pulled under by the sudden rush and shift in the sands. She screamed, loudly. Like she was being murdered though she was not really hurt from the whole thing. Mostly just panicked. 

She shifted and tried to rise from the sand when she noticed a vast shape fall over her, a shadow looming on high. Alia looked up and her heart probably stopped for a fraction of a second. A vast bronzed sole loomed above her, bare toes freed from a sandal dancing in the air. Alia struggled to get up and start running before she was crushed, but it was to no avail as the shadow got deeper and closer. Oh gods she was dead. She was going to be squashed like a bug. This was it. 

Alia squealed bloody murder as she found herself pinned under the rather admittedly soft big toe of the dracontic beauty, pushing and squirming and flailing as she was pressed to the ground. “Stop! Please, gods stop! Don’t crush me, I’ll do whatever you want please! I-I know magic! I’ve knowledge you could use oh great dragon! Please!” She started begging fast now that she was caught. 

“Eh? Crush you? I just wanna talk, human. That’s been like… what I’ve been trying to do since I landed but you just ran and stuff- super rude by the way. Who does that? Have humans stopped teaching social etiquette?” The sandy haired man remarked, scratching behind a triangular shaped ear. 

Alia was still breathing heavily, her breath puffing heavily on the toe pinning her but she wasn’t being crushed. Just pinned. Just held to the ground firmly so she couldn’t run away. Her mind was still a whirlwind of fear and confusion from… everything basically but she was processing words now since she really had no other thing to do right now. Trying offensive magic was laughable and her attempt to escape had been easy to deal with. 

“T-talk? You mean you aren’t going to kill me?” Alia asked, her breathing heavy. 

“Jeez, really hung up on the whole killing thing huh? I’m not some meanie Blue like Valitriaxus across the way. Just looking for some conversation. You tripped my wards when you stumbled into one of my stashes. I keep stuff buried under the water of the oasis.” The dragon remarked. 

Wards. Stash. Okay so there was a dragon’s hoard buried here or part of it. She hadn’t noticed that. Blue. Like a blue dragon probably. Alia didn’t know what difference that made but the brass colored dragon seemed to think it was self explanatory. Seemed like she wasn’t about to be killed then. She squirmed slightly, the digit shifting slight weight to make sure she couldn’t escape. 

“W-what do you want to talk with me about then? Some kind of magical secrets? Some strange dragon lore?” Why else would a dragon seek someone out to talk. 

“I mean, we can start with the day. It’s pretty nice don’t you think?” He squatted down and peered down at the woman underfoot. 

“Er… well. I mean it’s not bad? A bit too hot for me.” She said, bewildered by the… banal nature of the question. 

“Why would you come to the desert if you didn’t like the heat? That’s a little strange! Oh, oh, wait are you one of those humans that like travel and exchange goods? Uhhh, I know this one. They’re called merchants right? Think I met one like a few centuries ago. He had this funny creature on his shoulder called a monkey, it did tricks and yipped and climbed all over my horns and was the cutest thing. It had brown fur and a funny tail, do you have any monkeys?” The brass eyes lit up with an almost… intensely excited light to them as he chattered away about the merchant and his monkey. 

Alia… felt like she had downed some kind of hallucinogenic potion. In fact she was half convinced, if not for the very real weight on her that she was having a very strange dream. The vast and likely very ancient dragon spoke in a manner that more seemed fitting on a woman that would gossip around a well. In fact it reminded her of when she’d listen to the maids from time to time. 

“I… have never seen a monkey before but it sounds… distinct. And no, I’m not a trader. I was traveling with a caravan when we were attacked by raiders-” 

“Raiders? Do you know what they looked like? Did they have like blue clothes trimmed in gold? Ruby hilted weapons?” The dragon boomed. 

Alia blinked. “Well. Yes. That is basically exactly what they looked like.” 

“Ohhh, so those were Valitriaxus’s people. They do that all the time and I always tell her she’s not gonna make any friends if she keeps doing that to people, it’s super mean. But she always scoffs and tells me that it's only natural that all that enters the desert belongs to her. As if she owns the whole thing, totally rude. We’re neighbors and she never ever stops by to say hello or anything. I have to fly over there and then she blasts me with lightning for a bit until she finally stops being a grumpy gus! Who does that huh? Who just shoots lightning at people?” He said with a roll of his eyes. 

She never thought she’d say this but Alia could understand exactly why someone would shoot lightning at people if they had to endure this every visit. Alia essayed her best polite smile and let out a nervous chuckle. “Ahahaha… right, yeah that sounds really extreme. Um. You can take your foot off me now, I’m not gonna run.” 

“Hmm? Oh, right, gotcha gotcha! Sorry, don’t get many people out this way so whenever someone happens by it's like well gotta go chat that person up I bet they’re interesting!” He laughed a booming laugh and lifted his toes up, allowing Alia to slowly crawl from beneath them. 

She stood up and brushed herself off. So the draconic man was harmless it seemed, just. Really into conversations and talking. What a stroke of luck. This one could clearly tell her the way out of here. Hell he could probably take her there himself if she could endure more of the chatterbox. Which honestly she could if it meant making it out of this whole thing with her skin intact. 

“I didn’t catch your name, sir…” 

“Oh, right, duh. I’m Halistaraxus. You can call me Hali though! It’s easier for small folk I’ve found. They aren’t too good with dragon names. Don’t shorten a Chromatic though, they’ll throw a huuuuge hissyfit. I did that once with a Red called Malavarunas and he blew his stack and started burning a bunch of stuff and it was a really bad time. Well for his servants, poor little things, you ever see a gnome melt? Not pleasant, let me tell you!” He wrinkled his nose as he recalled the experience. 

Right, no shortening the names of any other dragons she met but this one it was alright. Alia coughed and drew herself up. “Well met, Lord Hali, I am Lady Alia Sangrid, First Apprentice to Archmage Talistar of Theros.” 

“Talistar? Hmm… where have I heard that one- oh right I totally remember him! He bumbled through here like half a century back and I almost ended up swallowing him when I was drinking from an oasis. Silly billy, tasted pretty good though but small folk are too squirmy for me, dunno how Vali does it. Knew a lot of stuff though, good conversationalist.” He scratched his chin. 

The archmage almost got swallowed by this dragon. She found that very hard to believe. Then again, fifty years ago was a long time. He wouldn’t have been the archmage then. Alia made a note to ask about that when she returned to her master. She imagined it would probably get the old man sputtering if true. Still, since Hali knew the archmage supposedly she could maybe get some help. 

“I’m sure he remembers it fondly.” Doubtful, Alia damn sure wouldn’t remember being swallowed whole fondly even if the draconic man was… extremely pretty. “I am, however, rather lost at the moment, my lord. If you would be willing to point me in the right direction to the nearest settlement I would be most grateful.” 

Hali had a contemplative look on his face as he scratched his chin. The ground shook suddenly as he plopped himself down upon the desert sands, the air blasting out from the point of impact his rear set down. Alia stumbled and swallowed hard. It should be forbidden for things to become this big. 

“Hmmhmm… the nearest settlement… would be Valtaris to the east.” He pointed in a direction. 

That was exactly where she was supposed to be heading. She felt a wave of relief. She could still complete her assigned task it seemed with that as her direction. “Oh thank the gods, how far away is it?” 

“Like… a week or so on foot? I dunno, you guys have really teeny tiny legs so it takes you a lot longer to get there. That route has a lot of nasty sandworms though. Sensitive to vibration. They taste really good cooked as well!” He answered. 

Well that sounded dangerous. A bit too dangerous for her liking. “I, uh, don’t suppose you’d be willing to fly me there, my lord? I would be most grateful.” The woman said. 

“Oh sure, sure, absolutely! Not a problem at all! Up we go!” 

“W-wai- mppph!” 

Yeah Hali didn’t wait as he reached down rather suddenly and wrapped his fingers around the apprentice mage. She squirmed a bit, bound by the rather slender fingers. Puffs of air escaped her and tickled at the skin around her. Her heart was racing again as she knew that one clench or slight change in pressure and she would be very dead. He was a cheerful sort it seemed and quite friendly but uh. Clearly didn’t have a grasp for how weak smaller folks could be. 

With his charge secure the draconic man spread his wings out and enlarged them a bit so he could get off the ground in this form. They flapped mightily, scattering enough sand to cause a vast sandstorm to start around him as he kicked off the ground and into the air. The sound of the wings beating against the wing was loud and booming, even trapped as she was in his fist Alia could hear them. 

“Away we go!” He sped through the air toward the direction of the city at an *extremely* fast speed. Fast enough that even from where she was Alia could feel her insides being pushed around and the forces pushing around her. 

A smaller person would have taken well over a week to get there absolutely. For Hali it took him perhaps an hour or so. His shadow circled the city when he arrived over it, the dragon humming rather loudly before landing right outside of it. His landing was… perhaps less than graceful as his sandal clad feet smashed down into an inn right outside of the city. The building lasted for all of a fraction of a second under his weight before being crushed into an unrecognizable rubble underfoot. Along with the people that had been inside of it, the draconic man blissfully unaware of the destruction. 

His wing beats brought an equal level of destruction. The guards manning the walls found themselves blasted right off of the walls, screaming as they fell to the ground below. Trading stalls were torn up and sent flying along with plenty of goods. People in the city were panicking and running around in terror, their screams quite loud. Hali rolled his eyes, rather oblivious to how much damage his landing had caused. 

“Jeez guys, we get it, big scary dragon. Drama queens, am I right, Alia?” He chuckled as he opened his hands. 

Alia had rather gone limp and passed out halfway through the flight. Not really shocking considering the amount of G forces working on her. Hali blinked and leaned down to confirm she was still breathing and let out a sigh of relief. “Wew. Sorry about that! Would have flown a bit slower if I knew it would take that much out of you.” The man laughed. 

He was looking around for a good spot to put her and figured probably best to leave her with the guards or something. The dragon started stepping toward the gate itself, people very quickly getting out of the way as the terrified guards were on their knees pleading for their lives rather wisely. Only instead of getting crushed they found the draconic man leaning down and placing a rather limp woman upon the ground in front of them. 

“Found her out in the lost in the desert and she wanted to go to the nearest city. You guys can take it from here!” He said, clearly pleased and happy to have done a good deed for the day. 

The guards balked at the dragon as he turned around and lifted his hand in a casual wave. “Anyway, sorry to barge in like that, have a great day little people!” He said cheerfully as he flapped his wings again, creating another massive wind storm before taking off to the sky. 

Well. Alia had made it to the city at least.