Damon climbed onto a cavern ledge and slid down into the cave after killing a wyvern. His boots scraped against the rock as he descended, pebbles scattering ahead of him into the darkness.
He glanced around the cave.
When he looked down, he saw the glow of volcanic embers dancing across the walls as a dragon swallowed the last of a massive pile of treasures. When Damon saw that, his eyes went red with greed.
He had no idea Ashergon had so much wealth, and that was only what he had seen get swallowed.
Ashergon slowly turned his head and saw Damon standing there, staring at him. The dragon imdiately realized there was no way out. The exit was blocked by Damon, and he was carrying a massive amount of treasures inside his spatial hold.
There was a long pause.
Damon was terrified of Ashergon. He did not want to die in a wave of fire. As for whether his desire to live was genuine or simply a result of the curse on him, he was not sure.
However, he did not want to make his daughter grow up as an orphan.
So he stood his ground while his heart felt like it would burst under the imnse pressure Ashergon passively gave off. Standing so close to him, Damon felt like he was staring up at a mountain.
Ashergon was not faring any better.
His mind began replaying traumatic mories of Ashcroft brutalizing him. Anger turned to fear. Fear turned to despair. Despair beca trauma.
Apparently even dragons could suffer sothing like post traumatic stress.
Ashergon backed away slightly.
Damon took a step forward.
They both moved at the sa ti, not realizing how terrified the other was.
Damon was putting up a brave front while imagining all the ways this could go wrong.
Ashergon was already imagining everything had gone wrong even though nothing had happened yet.
There was a pause. Damon slowly raised his hand, then glanced at Ashergon.
"We et again Ashergon. Many moons have passed since our last encounter."
He tried to sound as arrogant as possible. He wanted to sound like Ashcroft.
Ashergon growled and took a few steps back.
"Do not provoke fiend. I am fire. I am death. I am Ashergon."
His voice bood through the cave, shaking loose a few rocks from the ceiling.
Damon almost passed out. He forced himself to stay upright and squeezed out a reply.
"You are an edgelord."
Then he placed a hand on his head and spread his arms.
"Run Ashergon. Where will you run. You know as well as I do. There is no defeating , and now you shall not escape."
Damon forced a thin smile.
"However, I am willing to make you an offer. Hand over half your treasures and leave this continent forever."
Ashergon was about to growl when he suddenly paused.
Ashcroft sighed inside Damon’s mind.
"This is the type of greed they talk about in the Bible."
Damon had no idea what a Bible was, but he sensed he had made a mistake.
Ashergon suddenly stopped shaking.
"You are engaged in negotiations. It is unclear why you would negotiate when direct acquisition is an option."
Ashergon’s eyes narrowed with deep suspicion.
"You. What are your motives. No. I see. Yes. It has to be. You are actually weak now. You have fallen into the realms of mundane mice."
A hint of arrogance entered Ashergon’s tone, and with it Damon felt the hair on his body stand on end.
"Silence you lonely lizard. I was showing consideration for one who is to be my mount, and you take my rcy for weakness."
Damon was a fraud, and like any good scamr he knew how to double down. With how loudly he yelled, he was almost convincing himself that he was stronger than Ashergon.
Ashergon shifted back slightly as if preparing to escape. He gave Damon a long look, then narrowed his giant eyes.
"You have not attacked yet. It is as I suspected. You are a knave. A mongrel unfit to face ."
Ashergon opened his maw, then paused to glance at Damon again.
"You return weaker than before and even tried to trick this great one. However, I am wise beyond asure and have seen through your deceit. I shall not be led astray any longer. Hahahaha."
His laughter bood through the cave, shaking the entire mountain.
"I shall feast on your flesh and avenge the humiliation of yesteryear."
He opened his maw again. Heat began to fill the cave.
Damon sighed and placed a hand on his chest.
"Phew. That was a relief. You made it in ti."
Ashergon did not understand what he ant.
Damon was looking past him at a young lady with golden hair.
Damon reached into his shadow and laughed with equal arrogance.
"Weep you foolish lizard. You have earned my ire. You shall not leave this place with a single move. I, Damon Grey, shall deal with you."
Ashergon did not understand what this fool was saying. He thought Damon had gone mad from despair.
That was when Damon opened the book in his hand.
The pages were pitch black, as if made from countless sleeping shadows. There was no aura from the book. It looked like a giant to with empty pages that held no words and no images.
Ashergon glanced at Damon pointing the book at him.
Then Damon shouted.
"Light."
One of the two figures behind Ashergon raised her hand.
Ashergon had long known they were there. He simply did not care. Even if they attacked, they would fail.
Evangeline did not attack.
She released a blinding light that filled that side of the cave. The light wrapped around Ashergon’s massive body and cast his enormous shadow toward Damon.
The mont that shadow touched the book, a black wall of shadows burst out from the pages and turned into a vortex that shot toward Ashergon.
The dragon did not even have ti to react.
The shadows engulfed his entire form.
As they did, the image of a dragon appeared on one of the pages of the book. The book began to shake violently in Damon’s hands.
Damon quickly tossed it into his shadow storage before Ashergon could break free.
This was the Book of Shadows.
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