Taming the Dragon

Synthara saw the Kobolds storming out of the cave like blood out of a gaping wound, running towards the Orcs behind their metal barricades waiting for them to get slaughtered. Yet for every Kobold slain by an Orc two more replaced it. At this rate the Orcs would be overwhelmed.

‘Luckily for them I am here.’ Synthara thought to herself with a vicious grin. Knowledge of the proper spell to use in this situation flowed into her head instantly. Her body and throat responded as if she casted this same spell millions of times. She was the creator of all spells for all of her creation, of course she would know how to cast them. It was as instinctual to her as walking. She lifted up her finger and made a gun gesture out of hand. A small seed of flame shot out and blossomed into a great fiery rose that almost covered the entire mouth of the cave which stood as tall as five orcs with a loud roar.

“Kyaaahh! Lady Sy-” Morgan coughed. “Well done! As expected of my prodigious apprentice!” Morgan winced at the thought of placing herself above her goddess but such was what the secrecy required.

Zhuul stared in awe as a Kobold lay stuck to his blade. “I have never seen such a large fireball spell before! Orcs! Charge and dont give an inch to these puny lizards!” The Orcs let out a war cry as they took advantage of the massive hole in the Kobold horde and pushed the Kobolds back toward the cave.

Under the combined assault of the Orcs and Synthara, the Kobolds found themselves being pushed back into their own lair. They began to retreat into the various tunnels of the cave as the Orcs split up into individual squads and cleared out any resistance in the caves.

Zhuul spoke as he ran down the cave with Morgan and Synthara. “Allow me to lead you to the dragon’s lair, he should be near the main metal refinery.”

“No need to trouble yourself. I can find my way there myself. Besides, it's best for both of you that you stay out of my way.” Synthara said coolly.

“Very well, good hunting!” Zhuul said as he ran down a volcanic tunnel.

“I will go with Zhuul to ensure that no interlopers interfere with your battle. I would wish you luck, but you dont need it.” Morgan said with pride as she followed Zhuul.

‘Gosh I sound so cool! This will be a cakewalk, all I have to do is find a stupid lizard and kill it. How can it be after I fought far worse?’ Synthara said confidently. She remembered exactly how to get to the refinery from the map that Morgan showed her on the way here.

Or not.

‘Where is that fucking dragon!?’ Synthara thought angrily as she blasted her way through hordes of Kobolds and the occasional Orc that dared raise their blade at her. ‘Its a giant lizard, how can it be so hard to find in this cramped place!?’

As Synthara continued her mindless rampage through the tunnels, slightly levitating as she was barefoot, the volcanic caverns eventually gave way to metallic hallways filled with various machinery such as conveyor belts, large moulds, and tanks filled with various smelting fluids. As she grew deeper she noticed the Kobolds were growing in size to the point that they became as tall as a man. If killing a Kobold was like killing an ant, then killing these were like killing beetles. As she blew a group of Kobolds into a pool of magma, she saw Morgan and Zhuul and immediately hid behind some machinery. She would be damned if she had to ask them where the dragon was all because she got bored halfway through Morgan’s explanation.

She felt a Kobold’s sharp skin and claws touch her head and she moved to lash out with her strings.

“Wait! It Yol!” Yol exclaimed as he held up his hand in surrender. The Kobold held on to her robe, hanging off as if they were a stuffed animal on a child’s backpack.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” Synthara yelled at the Kobold.

“Th-the dragon is that way you remembers?” Yol said as he pointed down a ruined hallway with a sign that said ‘Main Refinery’.

Synthara was grateful for the orange light around her from the magma, it would've been hard to hide her blush otherwise. “O-Of course I do stupid Kobold! I was just indulging in a warmup! Now go lead the way and ill cover yoy.” Synthara floated down the hallway while slicing apart any Kobolds in their way with string, almost hitting Yol a few times.

The hallway ended in a balcony overlooking the mouth of the large volcano, open air flowing into Synthara’s lungs. Hugging the walls of the volcano were various pipes and tanks that presumably moved the magma to other parts of the forge. At the bottom laying peacefully in magma was a large black creature on four legs, its jaws red with Orc blood as it chewed on a poor Orc. Its cries of pain could barely be heard over the roaring lava and the din of battle. Nidhogg slowly crunched and swallowed the Orc with a satisfying gulp. Surrounding it were smaller dragons, Wyverns as Morgan called them, doing the same. They looked up at Synthara and spoke with a guttural voice.

“Ah, the feast continues. This time a human.”

Synthara looked down on the overgrown lizard gorging itself on her followers as if she were looking at a disobedient dog. “You’re the one the Order of the Black Dragon worships?”

“Why yes, smart little things they are. They recognize the natural order of things and give tribute to their betters as opposed to forcing me to rip it from their cold dead bodies. What of it?” Nidhogg sucked off bits of grey orc meat from one of its front claws.

“I was thinking about how to best publicly humiliate those traitors. Dragging you out of this mountain by the neck and forcing them to see their god prostrate themselves before me should do.”

Nidhogg paused as it was taken aback for a moment before shaking the volcano with laughter. “You are the first to ever speak to me in such a way. I shall devour you in such a way that you can sing a song of prayer to this ‘Synthara’ you and the orcs worship. A song of condemnation!” The dragon let out a stream of flame from his mouth.

Synthara dodged by using a spell to give herself flaming wings, easily dodging the fire which melted the balcony she was on. Yol was quaking in fear behind a pillar.

“The only song that will be sung today is you begging for mercy.” Synthara said, still looking down on the lizard.

The lizard snarled in rage and attempted to fly upwards, only to find its four legs tied to the ground by strings. It continued to fly upwards, the strings too weak to restrain such a powerful creature, but it delayed it long enough for Synthara to drop a fireball on top of it with a loud explosion. Within the fireball contained a string that attempted to pierce into the dragon’s body and pull it apart from within.

The explosion took out some of the wyverns nearby, but Nidhogg merely flinched as it broke through the strings and darted towards Synthara, its maw gaping wide to launch a barrage of fireballs back at her.

Synthara danced around the Nidhogg's attacks and counterattacked with her own fireballs, engaging in a deadly dogfight in the air slowly rising out of the volcano. Other elements might be more effective against the dragon but she didnt  want to just defeat it, she wanted to completely crush its spirit and dominate it. It would be a waste to kill such a magnificent and rare creature when she was that much stronger than it.

Nidhogg began to wince in pain and slow down as it was hit with more attacks.

Angered, it shouted at its wyvern underlings. “I have had enough of you, kill her!”

The wyverns followed and flew towards Synthara from above and below, the air around her being enveloped by winged lizards.

She did not wish to risk being surrounded so she quickly darted up to the mouth of the volcano, dodging the wyvern’s claws, fangs, and wings. Some had to be blasted with fire, a shame given that she would like to keep as many of these potential dragons alive as she could.

She darted out of the smoke and the top of the volcano into the ash filled sky. A flock of Wyverns flowing out of it like ants out an anthill with a triumphant Dragon smugly staring at her from atop the volcano.

Synthara darted through the grey ash-clogged sky like a jet black and red arrow, dancing in between walls of scales. Her hands moved frantically, using her strings to tie the wyvern’s wings together. With each twitch of her finger more and more of the wyverns found themselves immobilized by near-invisible string. The sky of Ort was slowly pelted with clumps of red wyverns tied together like hams in butcher’s strings.

“Are you done hiding behind your impotent followers? Or are you that impotent as a god?” Synthara said, looking down with her arms outstretched.

As the Wyvern’s numbers rapidly dwindled, Nidhogg roared as it beat its wings and took to the sky themselves. As it approached it unleashed a beam of fire from its maw which Synthara easily dodged. As Nidhogg advanced, it found itself colliding into extremely tough cables, even cutting itself on them from its own momentum and slowing down. It roared in frustration and pain.

The dogfight went on as Synthara pelted it with fireballs as the dragon fumbled around in her invisible web, unable to escape. Even with its flame breath, hotter than any fire a normal spell could produce, the web would not completely disappear as Synthara reformed it such that it cannot completely escape. Eventually it was covered in scorch marks, bleeding from several cuts, and panted heavily in exhaustion as it rested its weight on the web, unable to move.

“Impossible, no human mage could be this powerful…What are you doing?” Nidhogg said as he felt Synthara’s feet upon its back.

Synthara’s feet felt rough, pulsating scales beneath it as she trod upon the dragon. She came to a stop at the midpoint between its wings. Nidhogg attempted to turn its neck towards her but with a twitch of Synthara’s fingers, the strings adjusted themselves so that it could not move its neck. It could only wiggle and writhe like a worm helplessly before a tiny woman.

Synthara pointed her fingers at Nidhogg's back and had the strings pierce through its hide. This time it succeeded, albeit with some resistance, Nidhogg was truly a powerful creature. Beings of its strength are able to resist having the strings that make up its body and mind manipulated but its not impossible if they become weakened. The chances of success were greater if you only wanted to manipulate a specific part of the creature. The strings could only take control of its wings and neck. Any beyond that might either cause the dragon to break free from her control or permanently damage its nervous system. But it was all she needed.

Synthara felt her will travel through the strings into the nerves controlling Nidhogg’s neck and wings while evicting Nidhogg’s control. They were almost a part of her own body. She then beckoned the wings to slowly twitch and eventually make full beats, gradually untying the dragon as she did so.

“Human! What have you done to my body! Release me!” Nidhogg said indignantly.

“I don't think I will, in fact, lets go for a walk.” Synthara said with her voice dripping in smug satisfaction.

Nidhogg went silent in terror as he found his wings moving against its will. He could only move its tail and limbs uselessly as it was paraded around in the skies of Orte. Orcs and Kobold alike went silent and stopped fighting as they were stunned by the sight they were seeing. The dragon that had terrorized Ort for nearly 800 years was loudly screaming for help as a human woman rode atop cackling maniacally. The Orcs throughout the city cheered while the Kobolds and remaining Wyverns went silent.

As it was brought down close to the city, it attempted to unleash his flame breath upon the cheering orcs but found itself choking the flame down when they tried to do so. Even the muscles in its neck were rebelling against him.

“I didn't know dragons could get airsick, please don't rain on my parade.” Synthara said lightly. The dragon was then brought up into the air with a loud moan of defeat. After some time, the dragon spoke pitifully.

“Wh-who are you?”

Synthara’s smile grew wider. “It's complicated, but let's say that I am a witch.”