After a thousand years laying dormant, once again I awaken!

  Well it was actually two weeks, but the point is, I slept, and I awakened, and most important of all-

  I lost a game of Warbarge against one of the Dragonguard. Impressive really.

  "You sank my final boat," I spoke. "Congratulations," my voice boomed and then I raised a claw, sending some zappy zaps, making the modifications to her armor that she had asked for, shortening the cape to a shoulder mantle, and replacing the skirt-like bit that fell over her thighs with a much lighter loincloth that exposed her skin.

  Normally, I would've done it if she had just asked, apparently this sort of style was the new in-thing, but I felt like being a bit of an asshole so I demanded that she challenge me in order to get her request.

  The Dragonguard cheered and pumped her fist, and then squirreled away, to be replaced by Ariel, who had mastered the art of swimming through the air and no longer needed to slither around on her tail, her scales looking lustrous and super pretty.

  "Great Silver One!" she intoned as she hailed me, "the Lady Aqua bids me to call for you."

  "Strange, she didn't send one of her own," I muttered as I closed my eyes and thought for a moment about why that may be. They could just be busy, or it could be that Ariel was just available and close by. Maybe it was kinship as fellow aquatic beings. Or maybe I'm overthinking it, and Ariel's calling for my attention again. "Did she tell you what for?"

  "Yes, she said she wanted to go on another date," Ariel spoke, whipping her tail in the air behind her and using the momentum from that to rise in the air, allowing me to extend my neck and rise to my full height, so I could stretch the sleepiness away.

  Breakfast had been big, they had managed to hunt some sort of creature that looked like a Rhino with a horn instead of a tail. It also wasn't made of keratin like hair, it was actually straight up part of its spine, despite being solid, I have no idea how any of that physically works or how that winds up being the path of evolution a species takes, but it was quite tasty.

  Very gamey, but tasty.

  "You're thinking about food and ignoring me again aren't you?"

  "No," I lied as easily as I breathed. "You were saying?"

  Ariel sighed and chuckled. "Lady Aqua said that it would be best if I just pointed you in that direction and told you she awaits you," she said, gesturing towards the north. "She said it was near the ice wall, but that's all I know."

  "Alright. Speaking about women, where's everyone else? There's only a small handful of people here."

  Ariel smiled. Did I give her shark teeth? I don't remember giving her shark teeth. Not a bad look to be honest. "We're running Kobold Trials and the Priestess has graciously lent us her help," she spoke, "we're testing our strength as well so it's slow going."

  "Oh. Cool," I hummed. "Okay tell her that overworking is still forbidden even if her body can take it," I said, "just in case she's been doing what I think she's probably been doing."

  No doubt, working nonstop abusing the might of her Dragonewt body.

  "No worries Great One!" Ariel said, saluting, "we even made sure she picked up a hobby! She's been learning how to dance!"

  "Good job," I said, giving her a clawed thumbs up and then unfurling my wings, jumping into the air and then slowly lifting myself, once I was clear of the forest, I added my wings, and then took off towards the North, rising high in the air, not quite piercing the cloud cover, but just high enough that the water vapors in the air started growing thick enough to affect my vision.

  As I flew towards the North, I saw the biomes change underneath me. Very, very far away, the Northern Ice Wall loomed... actually as I got closer, I noticed it was way bigger than I thought it was, and it wasn't just a single mountain chain.

  It was staggering, dozens if not hundreds of mountains that seemed to just get bigger and bigger the further north I looked. The planet really was overwhelmingly immense, and the Ice Wall even broke the cloud cover, the tallest mountains were entirely covered in a white blanket.

  It was such a majestic image that I almost forgot what I was actually looking for.

  I began scanning the landscapes under me, vast tundras that lead into snowy white plains... the land became narrower the further north I went, and there were oceans to the east and west.

  "Now, if I was a Water Dragon, where would I be waiting for my partner to look for me so we can go on a date..." I muttered to myself as I flew through the air.

  A lesser lizard approached me through the air, wreathed in storms, which was perfect because I could really use a snack, even if it was more than a little bit bony, as I searched for Aqua, scanning the entirety of the wasteland until I spotted a small structure of ice, a dome that was sort of like an igloo but one single structure, that was smoking.

  Following that and hoping I was right, I began descending, the air becoming somehow colder by the second as I came down. Usually it was the other way around. Even so, the temperature was very far from a problem, the ocean was colder than that anyway.

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  The snow crunched softly and I sank a little as I touched down, making my landing as gentle as possible but still causing a ruckus.

  The dome-like structure had a tunnel of an entrance, carved into the snow and covered with more snow, but as I touched down, the snow retreated and the ice underneath parted, as the tunnel became wider and wider until it was big enough for me to step through comfortably.

  The ice dome, the igloo, was basically just the entrance, the actual structure was an extremely large cavern, carved and made out of ice in its entirety, except for a very important key aspect.

  Right near the middle of the room there was a gigantic cushion, in red velvet with silver thread ropes fastening it together. Right beside the cushion there was a huge table made of ice, upon which a large number of dishes, again made of ice, were laid out, all with some sort of food element on top of them.

  Everything was frozen, naturally.

  Sitting on the other side of the cushion was Aqua, in a rich, deep blue gown, floor length and studded with tiny blue gemstones near the hem. She was looking a little more muscular than usual, her hair was shining with its natural luster enhanced even more than before. Her arms were fully exposed, as were her thighs and legs, as the gown had two slits cut into it all the way up to her waist.

  "I see you've arrived," she spoke.

  "Sorry, did I make you wait long?" I asked, as I managed to make my way into the huge room without breaking anything, not even when I slipped and had to dig my claws into the ice to prevent a humorous but humiliating pratfall.

  "Only a week," she said, and she dismissed it so easily that it really made me think about how that much time would've been an unthinkable delay for humans, and yet, for us...

  "Did you wait here? Seated?" I asked. "Didn't you get bored?"

  "Very," she admitted. "But I was not alone, I had Ornlu, although she's out hunting, and the Water Tribe is currently making the journey back to my lake, but until recently, they were here with me as well."

  Oh, that was good.

  "I've become a Connect Four champion," she boasted, proudly. "I can show you my abilities whenever you'd like."

  "Tempting," I admitted, "but I would scarcely want to waste the food you've prepared for us. Shall we?"

  I scanned the table, almost all of the dishes were seafood, oceanfood? Whatever. Some of it was impressively ugly deepsea creatures, squids with tentacles that split into more tentacles, serpents of all sorts, even what looked to be a shark with additional mouths instead of gills.

  "Yes, would you do the honors of warming up our food? I can't breathe fire."

  "Sure!" I agreed, letting out my breath, not a powerful flame, but instead, a gentle breeze... that was hot enough to sweep over the table and warm up the frozen dishes, warming them up, without touching the table underneath. I had to be careful not to actually melt the dishes themselves, and instead, just the food on them.

  Luckily I could control the wave of heat well enough to do so, with a bit of effort to be precise.

  The food's smell wasn't super perfectly preserved but once it was warmed up it actually didn't smell too bad.

  "Let's dig in," I said, as we both began eating. Despite me having just had breakfast and there being enough food to feed an entire tribe's worth of humans, it didn't last us very long at all, seemed like Aqua wanted to get it done post haste, because as soon as the last piece of food, a massive turtle shell full of soup, was gone, she basically swept it all out of the way and then slammed her hand on the table, a massive Connect Four board rising between us.

  Six rows and seven columns, perfectly spaced.

  I waved my hand, and silver coins of the correct size, nearly the size of her head, appeared on my side, while golden coins appeared on her side. I'm not sure what they're actually made of mind you, sometimes I just let nature fill in the gaps.

  "I'll let you have the first go," I said, "it's your day after all."

  "Oh, by all means, you should take it," she said, and I could immediately tell she had a strategy in mind.

  Well... "If you insist..." I plopped the first coin near the middle, and the game started, as she placed another right next to mine. I then put my next coin on top of hers, and she put hers on top of mine.

  Slowly but surely, I began to cotton onto her strategy, as she seemed to be building up a diagonal to the left, trying to catch me unaware, but it seemed like I am not as smart as I think I am because she managed to get all the way to a third coin on the left side... luckily she miscalculated, because I was able to put the coin on the spot where her fourth would go.

  "I got you now," I said, sending a grin with as many teeth as a dragon could show.

  "No, no you don't," she responded, and then slid a coin on the other side, all the way to the right, on the empty column there, completing the line of four and defeating me most soundly.

  "Best two out of three," I immediately challenged... only to lose again, and again, and again.

  We even changed games, but no matter what I tried, I simply could not beat her at any of the games I had already introduced to our people.

  "Are you ready to admit defeat yet?" she asked, taunting me as she leaned back on the ice throne that she had enlarged with each victory.

  "Never," I huffed. "There has to be something I can beat you at," I reasoned. "At least one thing!"

  "Do you mean besides-"

  "Fighting doesn't count!" I countered. "That's not cool at all!"

  It was lame! I could beat her because I was simply more powerful than she was, because of how I came to be here in the first place, that only felt lamer! And I'm not so pathetic I need to throw hands just because I can't beat someone at a game.

  "You know what," I hissed, "fine, you want to play a REAL game, a complex game... let me introduce you to the concept of trading card games..."

  First, I need a change in ambiance. For that, I concentrated, gathered my power, and created vibrations in the air, demanding that the world conform to my whims and wishes. Was I sure I could even do it? No. But I had to try.

  "What's that strange noise..?" she muttered.

  I had to adjust a lot. It wasn't the least bit easy. In fact, it was painfully difficult. Especially because I couldn't remember exactly, 100%, just how the sounds I was going for even went, but... slowly, surely, I managed to do it, managing to cause the air to vibrate in just the right way to give myself Final Boss music, getting as close to an approximation of the theme I was going for as I could without using any instruments.

  "This is the most ridiculous use of power I've ever seen, not even the Songstress of the Winds is this ridiculous," she said, facepalming and laughing. "But I don't dislike it... very well then, show me what you've got."

  "This..." I waved my hand over the table, separating it in two sections. I carved five spaces, rectangular boxes, then another rectangular box on its side cut across it, and then did the same for a second row. Next was two spaces in the middle. Next I went to either side, separate spaces to the right, two in line and a third just out of line.

  And finally, two spaces to the left.

  "This is where I'll show you just what I'm made of!"

  I looked down at her.

  "Let's play the game, I'll be sure to show you how..."

  I would soon come to learn, Aqua is absolute bullshit.