Meanwhile, the Wanderer was taking the elevator up. Fortunately, the elevator crew hadn't noticed anything and did their job after he blew the horn that was in the cabin. He was sure that he hadn't seriously hurt any of the bandits, but he assumed that he had woken the dragon, which probably didn't make him particularly friendly.

  Although it was generally foolish to underestimate a dragon, whether it was a year or a thousand years old, he was still pretty sure that he could quickly defeat the self-proclaimed lord with his trump card. Dragons were extremely strong, but there were powers that could not be defeated with brute force. This one may have already surprised him by activating the ancient dwarven keys, but he doubted that the dragon could defend itself against such magic.

  Funny, dragons have some of the greatest magical powers there are, but they don't do anything with them except for their subconscious applications, he thought with a grin. But the thought of a fully grown dragon that could cast spells like an archmage sent shivers down his spine. Even his big brothers would think twice about fighting such an opponent.

  It's fortunate for the peoples of this world that dragons are far too impatient and lazy to learn higher magic, he thought relieved.

  Suddenly the elevator finally came to a stop. The traveler stepped out into a corridor that led him to a fork in the road. While he was still considering which way to go, he heard a loud stomping noise from the right, followed by a loud clatter that echoed through the corridor which made the decision for him. He followed the right path for a while until he finally stepped through an archway into a huge hall.

  The chamber was so enormous that he was sure a human would hardly be able to clearly see the other end or the ceiling.

  He suspected that this was the central chamber of the dwarven fortress, from which all other parts could be reached, as he could see several archways to his left and right, as well as on the other walls.

  I'd love to know how many times Schlucht could fit in here, he asked himself, impressed. The only thing that didn't quite fit into the scene before him was the huge hole that gaped like an open wound in the wall opposite him at the other end of the enormous hall.

  Probably the path the dragon dug into the mountain. Speaking of dragons. So impressed by the size of the chamber, he had almost forgotten why he was here. The traveler looked around the chamber. Like the mine, it was lit by countless torches that were attached to enormous pillars that ran through the chamber in several rows.

  The reflective gold finally told him where the dragon was and he carefully approached this glow, on which a large shadow seemed to be sitting. Once you got closer, it was a considerable pile of gold, gems, jewelry and other glittering things on which the dragon lay. Compared to the rest of the hall, however, it seemed almost tiny. It was no wonder that even a dragon would not stand out in this huge chamber.

  Up close, however, it looked much more impressive. The dragon must have been relatively young. The traveler estimated it to be sixty years old, as it only seemed to be about the size of a Barn. The dragon's scales were poisonous green, as he could see in the torchlight, and several razor-sharp spikes ran along its back, confirming that dragons were really not the best mounts.

  The dragon now stood up, which was accompanied by a tremendous clinking of the treasure beneath him. The self-proclaimed lord of these lands now looked down on him with his yellow reptilian eyes. Two horns grew diagonally backwards on each side of his head and his eyes seemed to sparkle unnaturally.

  He quickly looked away. He knew that a dragon's hypnotic gaze could be just as dangerous as its fiery breath. He had undoubtedly helped this one create its own small private army, he thought. Although he didn't believe the Dragon could hypnotize him, he could very well be able to see threw his disguise which could complicate things along the line for him.

  He also noticed that the long, curved claws of the Dragon, which looked as though they could disembowel a mastodon with one blow, were resting on the ground less than a few steps away from him. I hope his vision is still a little blurred from sleep and I'll finish this quickly, he thought determinedly.

  "Before I devour you for waking me, tell me what brings you to my lair? An attempt to steal my treasure?" asked the dragon. His voice was filled with anger, tiredness and a spark of curiosity.

  That's probably where the saying comes from that you shouldn't wake sleeping dragons, the Wanderer thought to himself before he answered.

  "I am a simple wanderer and I have no interest in your treasure. My name is Stephan Sturm and I just wanted to talk to you oh..." Damn, I forgot to ask someone their name. Oh, I hate asking dragons their names!, the wanderer thought desperately. "Oh impressive and terrible dragon, would you please do me the honor of telling me your name," he finally finished his sentence and suppressed a sigh.

  The dragon's eyes seemed to light up briefly as he took a breath. And here we go, thought the traveler, trying not to groan in annoyance at what was about to happen to him.

  "Before you stands Aodhan, the Green, the Flaming Terror, the Stormbringer, the Cunning Fire Serpent, the Free One, the Terror of the Djinn... rightful ruler of these halls and all that surrounds them." The dragon Aodhan concluded, after about five minutes of his introduction. If even half of it is true, I'll eat a horse, the wanderer thought annoyedly, although he had to admit that Stormbringer actually had a nice ring to it.

  "Well, Aodhan, you are undoubtedly the ruler of this fortress, but are you also the rightful one? I think the dwarves would see it differently," he said cautiously. Aodhan snorted amused, and a small cloud of smoke rose towards him.

  "The dwarves lost their right to this fortress when they abandoned it. I broke through its walls and made it my own," the dragon answered him, his head held high with pride. What would probably have been much more difficult for you if a horde of angry dwarves had pelted you with bolts and bombs, he was about to say, but thought better of it. He refrained from saying his true thoughts and instead said: "If you allow me, Lord of the Fortress, I have met others of your kind in the realm of the Djinn and I must say that you are different from your fellows, both in intelligence and ambition."

  “Yes Human, I have nothing in common with the tame dragons of the Djinn. A true dragon does not need payment. A true dragon does not sign contracts or work for others. A true dragon takes what he wants and lets others work for him!” Aodhan shouted the last sentence loudly into the hall as if to confirm his words, causing his voice to echo several times so that it seemed to be storming towards the wanderer from all sides at once. The wanderer even instinctively took a step back, for which he immediately scolded himself for being a fool. There is no reason to be afraid and even if you are, you should never show fear, especially not to a dragon, he reprimanded himself mentally.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Aodhan had of course noticed his small step and looked down at him with his yellow eyes, seeming to grin as he began to slowly bend his head down to the wanderer. The wanderer got a glimpse of Aodhan's teeth, which would put most swords to shame. And he's not even fully grown yet. Now the only option is to go on the offensive, it flashed through his mind. "I know where you got your… Bed from. I think that, in the name of good neighborliness, you should give it back to the people of the surronding Towns and apologize," he said calmly. Aodhan looked at him for a moment, astonished, his mouth falling open slightly, before he tilted his head back and started to laugh loudly, which echoed through the entire chamber again.

  This time, however, he did not take a step back. "You are a fun meal. And why should I Aodhan, the Green, the Flaming Terror, the Stormbringer, the..." Not again, he thought to himself and hung his head in frustration. Now he could not even suppress his annoyed sigh, which Aodhan either did not notice or willfully ignored. ... "Rightful ruler of these halls and everything that surrounds them, do something like that?", Aodhan finally finished after what felt like an hour of self-glorifying monologue to him. In fact the Wanderer even needed to think for a while about what he had actually asked before Aodhan gave his speech again. At last, he remembered.

  It's probably in vain, but I'll try to explain it to him sensibly, he thought to himself. "Well, Aodhan, it seems to me that you use your gold either as a place to sleep or to equip your servants further down, which undoubtedly serves the purpose of stealing even more gold. Although I must say that such equipment is probably a bit excessive for harassing the surrounding villages here. After all, someone as powerful as you is hardly going to need an army for protection. You said it yourself, a true dragon takes what he wants, so why hoard gold and let others collect it?" he asked cautiously.

  Aodhan looked at him briefly, amused, before answering: "Quite simply, Human, it is beneath my dignity as a dragon to collect the gold myself. And why I hoard gold is quite simple. Because it is valuable, and a dragon deserves to own everything that is valuable." "And what makes gold valuable to you, Aodhan?" the wanderer asked him now, although he was almost certain he already knew the answer. Aodhan bent his head down so that he was directly in front of the wanderer. He answered in a tone that emitted both amusement and finality: "It is valuable to me because everyone wants it."

  With these words, Aodhan ended the conversation and snapped at the wanderer with tremendous speed. His teeth, however, hit nothing. Confused, Aodhan noticed that the intruder was suddenly standing a little further back. "Disappointing as it may be that was the answer I expected," shouted the wanderer, to which Aodhan responded with an angry growl.

  Moving much faster than one would expect from such a massive body, the dragon darted forward and slammed one of its paws into the wanderer. The ground splintered from the impact, but when he pulled his claws back, it did not find the crushed body he had expected.

  "Strange that a dragon your age already has problems seeing," Aodhan heard the wanderer's voice again. The wanderer was now standing a little further to the side from where he had last been. Enraged, he struck again, but found that he had missed his target again. Aodhan was sure that the strange human was using some sort of magic to avoid him. So, he began to strike the ground in front of him without aiming so that the wanderer never knew exactly where he was hitting, but to Aodhan's frustration, he never seemed to hit the wanderer anyway, which is why he eventually stopped destroying the Floor in front of him.

  Said Floor had now splintered in several places, so that the solid rock beneath the hall floor was visible. Inside a small crater left by Aodhan stood the wanderer, whose hood had been torn from his head and whose grey hair seemed to be fluttering around his head as if he were standing in a storm.

  "Well, let's just say we both..." the wanderer began, before Aodhan yelled at him. " Burn, you worm!" the angry dragon interrupted him and spat a veritable wall of flames at him. This could be close, the wanderer thought as his entire field of vision was enveloped by flames shooting at him.

  For almost a whole minute, Aodhan spit fire constantly, longer than ever before in his life . A good part of the hall began to glow and Aodhan finally, exhausted, stopped his firestorm. I'm only stopping because I don't want my gold to melt, he said to himself, looking at his work.

  He noted with satisfaction that the metal that had been incorporated into the nearby archways on the wall had completely melted away and that even the rock seemed to glow in a hellish red light. It's just a shame that there's nothing left of him to eat, Aodhan thought amused. Once I am rested I'm going to a serious word with these pathetic Humans below me about fulfilling your duties, he now thought angrily.

  "Hot, hot, get out, damned cloak," Aodhan heard behind him, just as he was about to return to his hoard. He spun around and there he was. Sweating, with a slightly red face, throwing off his burning cloak, was the wanderer, who now noticed that Aodhan was staring at him in disbelief. " What are you?" the dragon thundered through the hall and shot towards the wanderer.

  He frantically rummaged around in his pocket and finally pulled out a small object and held it towards the charging dragon. Aodhan stopped just in front of him and eyed him suspiciously. Does he want to offer me this shiny thing for his life or is this a trick? he thought and carefully looked at the object. It seemed to be a mirror from which a constant light shone.

  Aodhan took a closer look at the small mirror. His eyes could see the surface of the mirror through the sparkle. No, that's not a mirror. I would recognize myself in a mirror. Here I only see... a Human?, he thought, still confused, when it happened.

  Suddenly a dazzling light exploded from the mirror and briefly bathed the entire hall in a bright glow, so intense that Aodhan had to close his eyes. Instead of an angry dragon, a very confused-looking human in a plain white robe stood now in front of the wanderer.

  "What have you done?" the so to say newborn Human asked him confused. "Gave you a human body," the wanderer answered and held out the mirror so that he could see his old body. Aodhan looked briefly in disbelief into his old eyes before he snapped at the wanderer in typical dragon fashion: "How dare you? I, Aodhan, the Green, command you... He didn't get any further because the wanderer angrily interrupted him. "You, Aodhan, have no right to command anyone else to do anything anymore. Magic older than even this mountain you call home binds your form to this mirror and it shall only be released when true selflessness fills your soul. And until then, you will share the form of those you once tyrannized and know that if this mirror is destroyed before you repent, your true form will cease to exist forever." Now it was Aodhan's turn to stagger back a step, shocked and visibly paler than before.

  I'd better not tell him that the mirror is now almost indestructible, the wanderer thought, satisfied with his speech. But of course, Aodhan wouldn't be a real dragon if he couldn't keep his arrogance and pride intact even in hard times. He came angrily towards the wanderer and tried to grab him by the throat with one hand. The wanderer just slapped his hand aside and gave him a shove with his palm to the chest.

  It wasn't a strong push, but for Aodhan, who was in a foreign body, it was enough to send him to the ground. The former dragon looked up at him, astonished. "You pushed me," Aodhan said in disbelief. "I know," the wanderer replied calmly. "You can't push me, I am Aodhan the Green, the flaming terror, the storm bringer... "I just did it," the wanderer interrupted him and threw the mirror into his lap, which Aodhan immediately took in his trembling hands.

  The wanderer turned around and walked towards the next archway. Aodhan got up and called after him: "Where are you going? We're not finished with each other yet," he called and ran, or rather stumbled awkwardly, after him.

  Suddenly, however, a powerful gust of wind sent Aodhan to the ground again, clinging fearfully to the mirror. It was as if a storm was whistling through the hall, and for the first time in a decade, Aodhan felt fear. Suddenly the winds stopped whistling and he cautiously stood up and looked around the hall, but the Wanderer simply seemed to have vanished without any trace, leaving the former Dragon alone in the Hall