The Obsidian Slumber

“Whoa!”

I didn’t just fall; I slid. I had no idea how deep the tunnel went as I barreled down the slick, muddy chute like a runaway bobsled. Finally, I was spat out, landing hard on my backside on what felt like solid ground.

“Urgh…”

Tears pricked my eyes from the impact. Worried I’d fractured my tailbone, I hissed in pain and summoned my Divine Authority into my palm.

The faint light emanating from my hand revealed a small, earthen dugout. One section of the wall had collapsed, which seemed to be where I had tumbled through.

“Great. Just great.”

I looked up the collapsed section, but while the slope wasn’t vertical, the mud was too slick to climb, and the entrance was nowhere in sight. Going back the way I came was out of the question.

‘It looks like an artificial tunnel, so there must be an exit if I keep walking.’

The way the ceiling and walls were smoothed out suggested human handiwork. Since the only people in the Great Forest were the priestesses, I assumed this was some sort of underground storage cellar.

I didn’t think it would be a maze, but I remembered the old trick: keep one hand on the wall and keep moving. I chose the left wall and started walking.

Eventually, I encountered a heavy iron door that looked entirely out of place in a dirt tunnel.

“I knew it.”

It really was a storehouse. The door was too heavy for me to budge, and it didn’t look like an exit to the outside, so I turned back. Keeping my left hand on the wall, I retraced my steps and kept exploring.

I’m not sure how long I walked. I encountered several more identical iron doors and had to turn back multiple times.

“…I’m exhausted.”

I let out a long sigh. How much time had passed? Without a watch, I was guessing. It felt like two hours… and my legs were starting to protest. The only silver lining was that it was warmer underground than outside.

‘So sleepy.’

Perhaps it was the exhaustion, or maybe it was just past my biological bedtime, but drowsiness began to pull at my eyelids. I knew Chase would be frantic if I didn’t return, so I slapped my cheeks hard to stay awake.

I forced myself forward once more, but this time, the path changed.

“Oh?”

Unlike the other tunnels that ended in iron doors, this path opened into a massive, yawning cavern. I could tell it was a vast space not just by the pinpricks of light from above, but by the way my footsteps echoed against a ceiling that seemed miles high.

There was only one place that could house a cavern this size.

“A lair?”

Lair… lair… lair…

My whisper echoed back at me. The stress of wandering through the dark evaporated instantly. I had essentially stumbled my way into success. Whether this belonged to the White Dragon or the Black Dragon, I didn’t know—but hoping for the latter, I ran toward the center.

There, reflecting the faint light from the ceiling, was a massive, coiled heap of obsidian scales. I nearly shouted with joy.

“Found you!”

A shiver ran down my spine. It was a gargantuan form that overwhelmed its surroundings just by existing. Even curled up, the scale of the creature was unimaginable; I couldn’t even picture how it would look standing up. I rushed toward the beast.

“…Excuse me? Hello?”

I pressed my palm against a scale and gave it a shove. It felt like cold, polished metal. Honestly, “shove” was a generous word; I was basically just rubbing my hand against a mountain.

The Black Dragon didn’t budge.

“Is he seriously still sleeping?”

He didn’t wake, even with me standing right there.

‘Is he really this defenseless? Or just that confident because he’s the strongest creature on earth?’

Whether it was supreme confidence or just deep sleep, he remained motionless no matter how much I yelled or smacked his scales. My palms were starting to bruise.

In a fit of pique, I almost blasted him with my Divine Authority, but I caught myself. I was here to ask for a favor; starting the relationship by attacking him was a one-way ticket to disaster.

I tried to reach his face to pry an eyelid open, but even his head was positioned higher than I could reach, and a single puff of air from his nostrils sent me tumbling backward across the floor.

“You… Hey!”

I shouted, I jumped up and down on his foreleg, I threw a tantrum—but the dragon remained fast asleep. Finally, I collapsed.

I slid down and sat leaning against the dragon’s massive front leg. I had no idea of the time, but dawn had to be approaching. Between the hours of wandering the tunnels and the workout I’d just given myself trying to wake a dragon, my eyes began to flutter.

‘I shouldn’t… sleep…’

With that final thought, my consciousness winked out.

Kaiern was an ancient dragon. While dragons born of knowledge tended to be wise and solemn, he was a bit of an outlier.

Perhaps it was because his power was rooted in “negative” energy, but he never hesitated to befriend those whom others shunned. Other dragons had warned him, but he simply mocked them for being narrow-minded. Once, a group of dragons had even come to “punish” him for associating with a “tainted” friend, but he had beaten them into silence with his overwhelming strength.

He had become the “untouchable” of the dragon world. The others simply looked the other way, relieved as long as he didn’t go on a rampage.

‘Having someone around is a nuisance.’

Dragons were solitary creatures. The Black Dragon was particularly prickly, refusing even the priestesses who wanted to serve him. However, since he couldn’t be entirely self-sufficient, he had settled near the White Dragon’s village. He figured it was better to live near the White Dragon and ask him for help whenever necessary rather than have priestesses fluttering about his own lair. Naturally, he hadn’t consulted the White Dragon on this decision.

The White Dragon, being the most easygoing of their kind, simply tolerated his selfish younger brother.

However, there was one time the White Dragon had been truly furious: when his young priestess fell in love with the Black Dragon’s only friend.

Kaiern hadn’t seen the problem, but because of that affair, his friend could no longer visit, and the priestess had to flee the Great Forest. Kaiern had considered following them, but knowing nothing of the human world, he figured he wouldn’t be much help. He decided to sleep off his boredom, figuring that if they ever needed him, they would return.

‘…What is that smell?’

A scent he knew well, a scent that was familiar, and a scent he’d never smelled before were all wafting nearby. Since the priestess had left, no one should be in this lair.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he opened the eyes he had kept shut for over a decade.

[Hmm.]

His eyelids parted to reveal massive golden eyes. The slit pupils darted around, tracing the scent until they found the intruder nestled between his front claws.

It was a tiny, fragile thing. A creature so delicate he could crush it just by shifting a finger.

[Why do you smell like that?]

He lowered his head to sniff the human leaning against his leg. He had never seen this human before, yet the boy carried the faint, lingering scent of himself—and the unmistakable, subtle scent of his old friend.

‘Strange, very strange.’ He let out a snort of air, and the tiny, insignificant body was blown away like a scrap of paper, rolling across the stone floor. He pulled back, startled, but the human had already rolled quite a distance.

“Ugh…”

The human groaned, clearly aching from the sudden tumble, and slowly opened his eyes. Squinting in the darkness of the lair, the boy fumbled about. Kaiern decided to show this little creature a bit of draconic generosity.

Without needing to speak, he cast a spell, and the lair filled with a warm, golden light. The human winced at the sudden brightness but soon adjusted, looking up to meet Kaiern’s gaze.

The humans Kaiern had met usually had one of two reactions: paralyzing terror or hollow bravado. Both were rooted in fear, and Kaiern expected the same from this boy.

He was wrong. Instead of trembling, the human looked him dead in the eye and spoke.

“Excuse me?”

[Excuse me?]

Being addressed as “Excuse me” for the first time in his long life, Kaiern let out a huff of bewildered laughter. The human, apparently thinking the dragon was mocking him, pouted and muttered under his breath.

“Ah, hell… is ‘Excuse me’ too casual? What am I supposed to call you then?”

It was hilarious to watch the tiny thing grumble right to his face. Savouring a sense of amusement he hadn’t felt in ages, Kaiern listened as the boy tried again.

“Black Dragon… sir?”

The boy looked like he was swallowing vinegar just to say the polite suffix. Because the words seemed to cause the human physical pain to utter, Kaiern decided to be even more generous.

[Call me Kaiern.]

“Fine. Kaiern, my name is Ailen. I am the Crown Prince of the Empire.”