So Long, Suckers!

I’VE GOTTA SAY THOUGH, THAT’S A BIG DOOR.
And unfortunately for me, there don’t seem to be any other exits.

Of course, I’m not entirely stuck here. I could smash the door open in my dragon form, or melt it with fire, or even try to dispel the enchantments guarding it... but every option screams 'hey, I’m in here!' loud enough to summon whoever's on the other side.

I inherited a powerful intuition for magic from the dragon, but not much in the way of direct knowledge. Every spell I know so far is self-taught, and without a proper instructor in the horizon, anything else I learn has to come from trial and error.

Alas, in this case, I can’t take the luxury of making mistakes.

My arrival here was purely accidental, but the end result is that I stole one hell of a power from someone else. By eating the dragon, I interfered in a ritual that spanned for more than a millennia of preparation, and I have no idea whose toes I stepped on.

Common logic would dictate that not just anyone would be capable of sustaining such an ancestral rite, so I’m all but guaranteed to have made myself a powerful enemy, if not several of them.

Then again, it could also be the polar opposite.

If luck would have it, I could be received as a hero for my actions. Maybe I landed in some Holy Kingdom or whatever, and I can masquerade as the Chosen One who came to save the day.

But that’s wishful thinking, probably.

If I did piss someone off, and that someone was capable of killing the dragon in the first place, then dispatching me wouldn’t be an issue for them. No matter how I look at it, facechecking the new world is far too dangerous.

I need to find a way out, discretely. If it turns out eating the dragon wasn’t an unforgivable transgression, then I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. But for now, I’ll keep a low profile and gather whatever intelligence I can.

With that, the remaining question is… how do I get out of here?

* * *

ALRIGHT, I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT. At first glance, the chamber appeared to be perfectly sealed, with only the giant door as an exit. That is, until I found a small crack on the roof, dripping the occasional water drop.

To the untrained eye, it might not mean much. But to me, well… that little crevice is enough to pour my mana outside the chamber, looking for a way outside.

So here I am, hanging from the ceiling like a bat, trying to probe my way out. By the looks of it, the chamber is hidden beneath a mountain. Mostly everything above it is solid rock, with only small cracks and gaps to let my mana seep through. Fortunately, levitation magic isn’t so difficult, so I can stay up here for as long as I have to.

* * *

THREE FREAKING DAYS LATER, my mana finally found its way up to the surface. I swear, I was beginning to wonder if the chamber was built under Mount Everest. I was pulling my hair out for a moment, without a wink of sleep to my name.

Fortunately, with enough patience to make a saint proud, I managed to squeeze my mana through God knows how many kilometers of rock. As a result, I was able to cast a scrying spell in the surface, allowing me to see the exterior.

Careful not to break my mana’s link, I concentrated some of my magic into an invisible orb, which functioned as a long range sensor. Think of it as a third eye and ear, which allows me to see from afar as if it were a camera hooked to my brain.

Outside the chamber, it appears I summoned the scrying orb close to the mountaintop. Stupid me could’ve made my mana go sideways instead of upwards, and it would’ve taken me a fraction of the time to cross through.

Oh well.

It’s covered with snow up here, but that’s probably because of the height. There seems to be a forest spreading out from the base of the mountain, and everything looks green towards the horizon.

I can’t see any settlements from here, but luckily, there is a river flowing at the distance. It’s probably fed by the ice melting off of the mountain, and I’m bound to find a settlement if I follow the river downstream.

So for now, I have a lead to find civilization. I’m tempted to explore the area outside the temple itself, but it’s probably too dangerous. I’d rather learn more about the world I landed myself in, and then revisit the temple when I think I’m ready.

In any case, now that I can see the surface, I can activate a teleportation spell. One of the major weaknesses of teleportation magic is that you need to know where you’re teleporting to, so without the scrying orb, I was stuck inside the chamber.

But now, I’m as good as outside already. I’ll just set up a surveillance spell in here before I leave, and we’re good to go.

Why bother with that, you might ask?

You see, I still don’t know who I stole the dragon’s power from, and I’d very much want a heads up when they realize the dragon is gone. Based on their appearance and reaction, I might be able to tell just how much trouble I’m in.

So, if I just rig a scrying spell up here in the ceiling where no one will notice, and combine it with an alarm spell and a bit of telepathy… presto! I’ve got a surveillance camera! I rigged it to draw power from the mana crystals in the chamber, so it won’t run out of energy anytime soon.

In theory, if the spell works as intended, it will notify me whenever the main door is opened. Then I can hop into the active visual feed, and see what’s going on inside. I do risk having someone find the spell and use it to trace me, but eh… I’ll take it.

I already left traces of mana going all the way up to the mountaintop, so leaving a surveillance spell behind won’t make much of a difference. If the harm is already done, then I’d rather have some extra intelligence to work with.

Anyway, the spell is done.

Now I just need to open a teleportation gate, and… FREEDOM!!

God, I want to scream it out like William Wallace, but I’m too scared to risk it. I’d up and jump off the cliff if a hunting party came after me because I yelled to the horizon.

In any case, I can’t stay up here for long. I’m freezing my ass off, half-naked as I am in the middle of the snow. Transforming into a dragon would solve the problem, but that’d make me way too conspicuous.

I’ll settle for a discrete fire spell. It’s early in the morning, by the looks of it, so no one should notice a campfire up in the mountain. Alright, let’s make a small fireball and hold it in place. I don’t have any wood with me, so I’ll have to sustain the spell manually. I’m still a bit cold, but hey. It’s better than nothing, I guess.

Anyway, let’s lay the groundwork to get out of here.

If theory holds true, I should be able to find a settlement somewhere down the river. I still have the scrying orb active, the one I first made when my mana reached the surface, so I can send it flying over to explore remotely.

Yeah, sounds like a plan.

Let’s do it.