The Ballad Of A Semi-Benevolent Dragon
Interlude 9: The Priestess and the Storm

The emperor of the Storm Isles opened his eyes. Life was good. He was hale and hearty, and he had at least four children worthy of succeeding him. Of course, that could prove problematic if he died unexpectedly, but he had always been careful about both his legacy and his personal safety. He had left instructions regarding the succession with five separate individuals, all of whom he held in the highest regard, and all of whom possessed unimpeachable honour and loyalty. Frankly, if he ever took ill, he would make a point of publicly proclaiming his successor before he died. He would not go down in history as the emperor whose intransigence brought an end to centuries of prosperity.

His keen senses, honed by decades of training, informed him that the sun had yet to rise. He yawned and was about to go back to sleep when a member of the royal guard entered his bedchamber. His eyes narrowed ominously. To enter his bedchamber unannounced was a serious breach in protocol unless...

"Your Imperial Majesty!" The guardsman fell to one knee before the bed, studiously ignoring the woman beside the emperor. She was one of the newer concubines, a gift of sorts, from a new clan head eager to regain his favour after the previous clan head's missteps. "The Storm Wardens have reported! The storm is moving!"

The emperor took a moment to process the words and then shot to his feet. The woman in the bed yelped as the sudden motion threw her out of the bed, but the emperor ignored her in favour of throwing on clothes as quickly as he could.

"You are certain?" he asked. "If this is a mistake..."

The guardsman nodded, helping the emperor dress before falling into step beside him as the emperor left his bed chamber. Previous rulers had insisted on their guardsmen walking behind them. He considered that foolishness. How were his guardsmen supposed to stop him from being stabbed if they were all behind him? "It has been confirmed." The guardsman's lips thinned. "I too have gazed to the west. The storm is moving. It should be here soon."

"Damn it." The emperor was dimly aware of the sudden surge of activity throughout the imperial palace and the capital at large. His advisors were proving themselves worthy of their positions. Already magical defences and more mundane preparations were being enacted. Yet as they crossed a courtyard, he had eyes only for the western sky. There, a vast and terrible storm loomed, a wall of black clouds that seemed to stretch across the entire horizon, the towering thunderheads illuminated by jagged bolts of lightning that turned the night into day. "She's almost here." He raised his voice, adding magic to it to be heard over the thunder that boomed overhead. "Where is the Priestess?"

Akemi bit back the urge to scream as she hurried to dress. As the Priestess, it was her solemn duty and highest honour to serve as a link between the great dragon who actually ruled over the Storm Isles and the human empire that pretended to rule over the Storm Isles. Centuries ago, the very first Priestess had ventured into the domain of mighty Stormbringer to beseech the dragon for aid. In order to prove herself worthy, the Priestess had participated in a sacred ritual to bestow blessings upon worthy animals. Apparently, she had passed Stormbringer's test, and the dragon had granted her a boon.

In the centuries since then, the line of Priestesses had come to serve as the link between the dragon and the humans who lived in her domain. The position was not hereditary. Instead, upon the death of the previous Priestess, special candidates were chosen from amongst the young maidens of the empire. Only the most worthy of those candidates would take up the mantle of Priestess, becoming arguably the second most important person in the empire. Akemi herself had not been anyone important before being chosen. Instead, she had been a mere cobbler's daughter. Nevertheless, the magic used to identify her had been developed by Stormbringer and Tyche themselves. It did not lie, and the dragon had proclaimed Akemi to be a particularly worthy Priestess after her participation in the sacred ritual had apparently yielded outstanding results.

Now, at only nineteen years of age, Akemi wielded power second only to the emperor himself although some would argue hers was even greater. She lived in a sacred temple at the edges of the capital, protected not only by an elite order of warrior maidens but also by a number of Stormbringer's followers, including one of the great dragon's grandchildren. And it was to that grandchild that Akemi now directed her ire.

"Was there truly no warning?" Akemi wailed at Typhoonbolt.

"About what?" The female dragon continued to do her best impression of a beached whale on the slope beside the temple.

"About that!" Akemi shrieked and pointed at the titanic wall of storm clouds that was approaching the capital with frightening speed.

"Oh, you mean grandma?" Typhoonbolt sat up. "Yeah, she said she was going on a trip with some of the others. Something about a meeting."

"..." Akemi stifled the urge to scream before setting aside any thoughts of restraint. Instead, she hurried over to Typhoonbolt's side and threw a magically enhanced punch at the dragon. Her guards let out gasps of amazement - only a Priestess would dare to lay hands on a dragon! - but all Akemi could do was curse as her punch clattered off Typhoonbolt's scales uselessly. Damn it. She might have broken her hand.

"Hey." Typhoonbolt sat up, and a wisp of healing magic drifted over Akemi's wounded hand. "Why are you panicking so much?"

Akemi took a deep breath. She had been chosen as a young child, and she could hardly remember a time before Typhoonbolt had been present in her life. The dragon might be exasperatingly laid back at times, but Akemi trusted her with her life. "Because that storm is going to smash the capital flat!"

"Huh..." Typhoonbolt made a face. "Now that you mention it, grandma does tend to forget about stuff like that." She shrugged. "She said something about wanting to make an impression while travelling, but she might have forgotten about, you know, being able to accidentally kill you all by not restraining her power properly."

"..." Akemi made a choking sound. She wanted to get mad about that comment, but it was hilariously, horribly true. The approaching storm wasn't something that Stormbringer was doing to deliberately destroy them. No. It was merely the result of the mighty dragon loosening the tight hold she had over her powers. After all, she was the mightiest of all storm dragons, an existence that defied comprehension. She didn't call storms, so much as she was the greatest storm in the world made flesh, a seething, raging torrent of power that could easily crush everything in her path if she wasn't careful. "Look," Akemi said. "Just... can you ask her to go around the capital or something? Please!"

Typhoonbolt sighed. "Yeah. Yeah. I'll send her a message." Her tail reached out, and the very tip of it gave Akemi a gentle pat on the head. "You look like you're about to cry, and we both know how absolutely awful you look when you cry. So turn that frown upside down. I'll send a message to my grandma."

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Stormbringer smiled as one of her grandchildren, Typhoonbolt, reached out to her with communication magic. The younger dragon had achieved her First Awakening less than a century ago and was busy consolidating her gains. Since much of her time would be spent looking inward, Stormbringer had tasked her with watching over the newest Priestess. Humans were very fragile, and it would be troublesome if something happened to the girl. Luck magic was incredibly rare, and although the increased luck the Priestesses had only seemed to apply to throwing things into the Pool of Ascension, it was still quite useful, albeit not something she could ask them to do too often. At best, a Priestess might be able to ensure a truly fortunate outcome every year or so, but that was fine. One year was hardly a long time for a primordial dragon to wait.

"What is it Typhoonbolt?" Stormbringer asked.

"Grandma, do you think you could go around the human capital? You're kind of going to smash it."

"Smash it?" Stormbringer's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"..." There was silence over the communication spell before Typhoonbolt continued. "Grandma, you know how you wanted to put on a show while going to the meeting?"

"Yes..." It was common sense. Meetings between primordial dragons were as much a spectacle as they were practical. It was not enough to be strong. One had to be seen as strong. Stormbringer intended to remind everyone of why she and her brood were to be respected. Let them see the power of the great storm firsthand and realise exactly where they stood. Oh, the other primordial dragons respected her, even if some of them looked down upon her hobbies. However, there were many younger dragons who had not seen her and her brood in battle. To them, their deeds would be mere stories... and over time stories might turn into myths and legends, things to be discounted rather than believed. But seeing was believing. "What about it?"

"I know you're not trying to do it on purpose, but even releasing a small portion of your full strength could destroy the humans in your path." Typhoonbolt's voice took on a hint of urgency. "Look ahead of you, grandma."

Stormbringer did. Ahead of her, the humans in the city were preparing all manner of magical and mundane defences. Normally, Stormbringer would have been insulted if someone tried to defend against her with such pitiful measures, but these defences were likely the best the humans could muster. However, the fact that they were using them was telling. They were terrified, and not in an amusing way. No. They were terrified that they would be completely annihilated.

"Hmm... you're probably right." Stormbringer gestured at the others flying alongside her. "Clear the skies," she ordered. "At least until we're away from the archipelago and out over open water." She smirked. "I plan on meeting Fathombinder along the way, and it's always fun to see if I can wrestle control of the rain away from him."

Akemi fell to her knees in relief as the skies cleared. Despite how utterly ominous the approaching storm had been, there was now nothing overhead except clear skies and stars. The change was equal parts startling and terrifying. This was the power of Stormbringer, the dragon who ruled over the Storm Isles, the very same dragon who gave those isles their name. Overhead, more than two dozen titanic shapes soared through the sky. The largest of them was a behemoth whose sheer size hurt to look upon.

And yet Akemi did look because in her whole life she had never seen anything as beautiful as Stormbringer.

The great dragon was utterly resplendent in the starlight, her scales a dazzling combination of silver, blue, grey, and black. Her form was enormous yet graceful, her wings so wide they seemed to span the sky. Every inch of her gigantic form oozed power, pure and perfect, a storm made flesh. Little bolts of lightning crackling over her scales, and each beat of her wings was a gale that threatened to throw Akemi off her feet despite how high the dragon flew above the ground.

"Phew." Typhoonbolt grinned toothily. "It looks like nothing will get smashed today."

Akemi nodded. "Yeah. It looks that way." She paused. "Um... if it's not too much trouble, do you think we could join them, at least for a while?"

Typhoonbolt looked at her. "Join them?"

"I..." Akemi's fists clenched. "They say that Stormbringer let the Fourth Priestess ride upon her back once."

"The Fourth Priestess?" Typhoonbolt made a face. "Ah. Grandma has mentioned her a few times. They got along pretty well." She sighed. "It's a shame she was human. She only live a hundred and twenty years before she died."

"I don't think I've done anything to deserve such an honour, yet I still wish to fly, if not on great Stormbringer, then perhaps on you." Akemi tried and failed to conceal the longing she felt. "I want to know what it's like to soar through the clouds as dragons do, to fly more swiftly than the wind, to -"

An enormous claw reached out and very carefully scooped her up before putting her on Typhoonbolt's back. Magic snapped into place, holding her securely in position. "How long have you felt that way?" Typhoonbolt asked, not quietly, but gently.

"A long time," Akemi said. "Since I first saw great Stormbringer soar through the sky."

"Yeah, seeing grandma fly will do that to you. Oh, sure, all dragons can fly." Typhoonbolt laughed. "But grandma... she can fly." She paused. "But you know, if you wanted to fly that much, you could always have asked me."

"..." Akemi blinked. "What?" she croaked.

"Yeah. You could have asked. I kept wondering why you always travelled to grandma on those giant wolves, but I figured you might be afraid of flying. Most creatures who can't fly naturally are."

"But... but we never conducted a ritual to prove my worthiness," Akemi blurted.

"A ritual? Why would we need to do that? Your predecessors didn't. They just asked."

"Are you serious? That's it?" Akemi made a choking sound.

"Yeah. Didn't they write that down somewhere?"

"No! They did not write that down!" Akemi grabbed her head with her hands. She could have been flying this entire time?

"Well, no use complaining about it now." Typhoonbolt shifted, muscles tensing as she prepared to launch herself up into the sky. "Grandma isn't going anything close to full speed, but she's got a bit of a head start on us, so hold on. We've got some catching up to do."

"Wait a second," Akemi said. "I need to mentally prepare myself first. This will be the first time that I - ah!"

Typhoonbolt lanced upward, racing to catch up to Stormbringer and the others.

Below them, having only just arrived at the temple, the royal guardsmen dispatched by the emperor to summon Akemi could only stare up in disbelief.

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