Poisoned Rationality

-Ariana-

I stretched in bed, yawning. It was time to get up and get ready.

Today, I had made plans to spend time with my older sister. She was coming back to town after two years, so I was excited to see her.

At the moment, I was waiting near the town’s main entrance for her to arrive.

“Hello, Ariana,” A rough, gravelly voice behind me said. I turned to see Ferris, the Stonetress, walking up behind me. “What’re you up to?”

“I’m waiting for my sister,” I told him. “She’s coming back to town today.” I had received a letter from her a week ago letting me know.

“I see,” Ferris rumbled. “That’s nice. How’s adventuring going for you?”

“Great!” I said. “We have a full party now, with five people.”

“Is it fun?” Ferris asked.

“It is really fun,” I answered. “I like my class. It’s a good one.”

“Well, you continue having fun,” Ferris told me. “I have to go organize some things at my shop.”

I waved goodbye as he wandered off, before turning back to face the road. After a couple more minutes of waiting, I decided to get a better vantage point.

I climbed up the stack of hay bales by the wall and leaped from the top to the roof of the nearby building, before hopping the small gap between its edge and the top of the town walls.

After finding a good spot to rest, I relaxed as I waited for my sister, keeping an eye on the slow stream of people walking in and out of the main gates.

There was a huge variety of people, with adventurers of all kinds heading in and out, as well as a couple of merchants who were stopping by to restock on their way to a big city.

The diversity of the different races was astonishing. There were humans and wendigo, of course, but I saw a couple of elves, dwarves, and beastkin, as well as a harpy and even a merfolk.

After close to an hour of watching and waiting, I spotted a nekomata a few hundred meters away, walking toward the town. Even from a ways away, I could tell that they had the same orange hair and fur as me.

Walking beside my sister was a tall person with large feathery wings in place of arms and thin, birdlike legs, and someone wearing full plate metal armor, who looked human from the distance I was at.

I jumped down from the town walls, startling a merchant who was entering the town, before starting to jog toward my sister.

When I was about a hundred feet away, my sister noticed me and turned to her companions before starting a run toward me as well.

When we met, I dove into her arms, giving her a huge hug.

“Ari!” Coraline exclaimed, grinning. “I’ve missed you so much!” I nuzzled against her, smiling happily.

“I’m level 11 now,” I told her proudly.

“That’s amazing!” She said, “My baby sister is growing up!” I pouted and bonked my head against hers.

“I’m not a baby anymore,” I mumbled.

“Yes, but you’re still my baby sis,” Coraline grinned. “Guess what level I am.”

I hummed in thought.

Coraline was 28, eleven years older than me. She had been adventuring since she was 17, like me and my friends.

Having defeated a lot of monsters and even completed several dungeons, she was level 35 the last time I saw her.

“Forty?” I guessed.

“Close~,” She sang, grinning. “Forty-two.”

“Wow,” I said. “Who are they?” I nodded towards her companions as they walked up to us.

“These are Harley and Flint,” Cora told me. “We’re partners.” She showed me her hand and I saw the pair of golden rings.

“Did you get married?” I whispered.

“No,” Cora said. “I got engaged.”

“With two people?” I asked. “Is that allowed?”

Cora giggled softly and smiled. “Yes, that’s allowed. Everyone makes sure we all understand what’s happening, and I love both of them.”

“Is this your sister?” The harpy asked, her voice rich with a slight sing-song tone to it. “Pleased to meet you.” She stuck a hand out, which I shook. She was tall, with light bronze-colored skin and gorgeous tan-colored feathers.

“This is Flint,” Cora told me. “A harpy, obviously. Flint, Harley, this is my little sister Ariana.”

“Hello,” the armored woman said. “A pleasure.”

“How come you’re wearing so much armor?” I asked her.

“It’s a bit of a secret,” Cora answered. “Can you keep a secret, Ari?” I nodded, and she leaned in close and whispered, “Harley is half-dragon.”

My eyes widened, and I looked at the woman in question in shock. She lifted the visor of the helmet and showed her face.

It was angular with a scattering of red scales all over. Her eyes were slitted and glowed gold. What I could see of her teeth were all razor sharp.

She grinned before dropping the visor.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Cora told me.

“I know,” I said. “I won’t.”

We started our walk to town together, chatting as we went. I learned about what Cora’s adventures were like and what she did.

The coolest part, though, was her story about the dragon’s capital city, Crowkoris.

…

-Coraline-

Flint gently nudged me awake in the wagon.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” She said, smiling. I yawned and stretched before sitting up.

“How close are we?” I asked.

“A few miles away,” Harley responded from the other side of me. “If you look out the side, you should see some structures already.

Flint and I stood up and wandered to the edge of the wagon, peering out the side.

The mountains around us were all made of dark red and brown rock, piercing into the sky like the teeth of some unimaginably huge monster.

From where we were, I could spot a couple of dragons flying around in the sky in the distance, their gemstone-colored scales glittering in the morning sunlight.

Just in between two mountain peaks, I caught a glimpse of a large spike made of bone.

The capital city of the Dragon Kingdom was Crowkoris, and it was a huge city, mostly due to the immense size dragons could grow to.

It was built upon the body of the God of Dragons, Drakias, who had died many hundreds of thousands of years ago. The palace was built upon his skull.

“I can see a horn from here,” Flint said, grinning. “It’s huge.”

“Wait till you see it up close,” Harley told her. “It’s even more impressive.”

We fell silent as the group of horse-drawn wagons drew close to the giant gates that led into the dragon’s valley.

There were two guards at the gate: a male in their full dragon form and another in their humanoid form.

The humanoid one was checking each wagon before they were let through, while the one in their dragon form kept watch over the whole thing.

When the guard got to our wagon, he exchanged a few words with the driver we had hired before going around the back to check inside.

“Hello,” He grumbled. “I need to check this wagon before you’re let through.”

“Of course,” I said. He stepped inside and checked underneath the seats as well as sniffing around our bags. As he was leaving, he turned to Harley and raised an eyebrow.

She lifted her helmet visor for a moment before letting it drop. The guard smiled and whispered, “Welcome back.” Before stepping outside again.

“Do you know him?” I whispered to Harley.

“He’s my cousin,” She whispered back. “On my dragon ma’s side, obviously.”

The wagon started moving again, and all three of us watched as we were drawn through the huge gates.

The valley opened in front of us as we turned a corner, and we finally saw the city in its full glory.

The skeleton of Drakias was so big that it was hard to take in just how big it was. The skull alone was as tall as the massive mountains that stretched several kilometers into the sky, and its spine stretched nearly thirty.

The massive ribcage was the center of the city, with buildings built on each rib and covering them like moss covers a fallen tree.

The arms and legs of the deceased God stretched into the valley, the bones partially buried in the ground, and a set of large buildings built around the talons. Each claw was many times bigger than some of the buildings around them.

The tail snaked across the edge of the valley, with buildings clustered around the spike at the tip of each vertebra.

The massive wing bones rested atop the mountains, with only a couple of buildings atop them.

Turning back to the skull, I took in the castle.

Huge spires stretched into the sky, built into the eye sockets and atop the horns. Sprawling sets of buildings all interconnected coated the upper jaw, with even more around the lower jaw.

And the dragons.

Thousands of them soared around the city, flying from all corners of the massive, sprawling structure that was thousands of years old. Each one was its own beautiful color, scattering light across the city.

The scale was so big, it was hard to think about. A full-grown dragon could easily reach several hundred meters in length, which meant that when they stood on all fours, they were taller than most humanoid buildings.

I knew the crowns of the two monarchs were each big enough that if they had a bottom, they would make a sizable pool for the shorter races.

“It’s so pretty,” Flint murmured, eyes wide.

“It’s amazing,” I added.

Soon enough, the wagon reached its destination, and we waved goodbye to the driver after paying.

Then we were truly in the city of dragons.