Hadofi dreamed of better days, back on Earth playing casino games and watching his favorite streamers. The glow of screens in his dimly lit bedroom, the laughter of late-nights, and the faint taste of cheap beer and microwave popcorn felt so real he could almost reach for them. Then the images were all washed away by the goddess, sitting smugly in her golden throne, laughing maniacally at him. Her opulent throne room seemed to rub his nose in the pathetic life he had left behind. But the image soon clouded over with white smoke and ethereal wisps as a figure slowly came into view, walking boldly toward him. It was the massive form of Hebe, messenger of the gods, in her deep V-neck eagle-feathered dress. With her arms and wings spread wide in welcome as always, and an evil, naughty smile, she bowed formally as she had done when they first met. With the same results.

  "I will be watching you from afar when I can, Dragon Slayer," she said playfully. "In two days' time my people will come to you, to exchange with you books of knowledge, wolf hides, and map scrolls... in exchange for dragon meat. And to thank you for all you have done."

  She turned and started walking away while Hadofi called out for her to stay. "My duty to you is fulfilled now, Han. Try not to die..." She waved as her voice trailed off and she faded away.

  Hadofi's dream began to break, and he slowly opened his eyes. The orange tent of warmth around him still had an hour left, but his golems had long since turned to dust. The deep silence of the mountain pressed in, four thousand feet from the cave mouth. No pine scent reached this far back, only the thick, crusting reek of dragon blood and the faint metallic bite of frost on stone. It really began to sink in again that he was truly alone. He literally had only himself to rely on. Then he noticed in his hair the feather of an eagle—soft, still carrying the wild scent of Hebe's perfume. Maybe he was not completely alone. The thought comforted him to some degree, but he still needed to survive.

  He reached into his magic box and pulled out several tomes containing his priestly spells, as well as a fresh jug of juice and a bowl of seasoned hardboiled eggs. He did not have a cup, so he crafted one from stone with his magic and made a stone chair, adjusting its contours for comfort. With a cute side table, it was almost cozy. The dragon's corpse was not yet cleared, and he needed to dig around in that room today. He noticed the dragon's egg cradled in the stone holder he'd made; he'd almost forgotten about it, but it still seemed to be in good shape. He wondered if he could train the hatchling or sell it to the eagle tribe.

  He summoned four golems and gave them clear orders: expand the cold storage room, haul meat and bones, stack scales, and keep working until the bedroom was clear. While they labored in the background with the steady scrape of stone on scale, Hadofi ate his breakfast and studied the tomes. He discovered a few useful spells and memorized them all for reference. A distant wet thud echoed as another slab landed in the ice. It was good the blood wouldn't attract scavengers yet. He poured himself another glass of juice and consumed another egg.

  For now the new spell that would save his life was clear. Allowing him to stand naked in the cold and endure it without a problem. It lasted for nine hours and cost only one mana. With this he could explore. He tested the spell and followed the golems as they dragged their next load of meat to the storage room. Slabs of dragon meat there were packed floor to ceiling and had begun to spill out into the cavern. Ninety solid stone blocks, each three hundred pounds, stacked like goods for trade at the entrance to the cave. Perhaps he could use them in the construction of something; there would be more with each passing day.

  He took this opportunity to relieve himself on the frozen grass just outside the mouth of the cave and knew he would have to think about a better solution to sanitation soon. The valley below was shrouded in thick fog, and the creatures flying through it seemed like fish in a stream. The sun was rising but still had not cleared the mountains to shine light into the canyon. The scent of pine was more dominant than ever, sharp and clean against the faint tang of blood drifting from the cavern. The cries of things killing other things echoed up the mountain cliff.

  For a moment Hadofi considered his exploration options. He could give himself wings and fly... but how effective of a flyer would he be? With the drafts in the canyon he could lose control and plummet to his death. He much preferred the solid ground of stone and mountain, knowing he could pass through it to hide if threatened. Another more powerful spell would allow him to fly like Superman, but for ten minutes.

  "Fly!" he commanded, and then floated into the air. It was as easy as walking, he thought, as he tested it out flying around in the cavern before venturing out into the vast expanse. His heart dropped as he cleared the edge and looked down two thousand feet, the wind whipping past his ears with a low, constant howl, and he remembered he needed to be fast—he had already wasted a couple minutes inside the cave, and he did not want to be up here when the spell ended.

  As he flew away from the cave he could see that indeed the mountain valley was vast and the tops of mountains could be seen between the peaks for as far as he could see in all directions. With large creatures flying below, he felt like a small fish dangling in the waters for something to eat, so he tried to survey the area quickly. The valley far below ended here at this very mountain. As he looked back, examining the geology, it appeared this mountain was a glacial horn. "Dragon Horn," he proclaimed, looking more closely back at the cave. He could see a ledge not more than twenty feet above it.

  He turned around and flew back, mindful of time and wanting to get back to solid ground. Only slightly above the tree line at this point; grasses and small shrubs still managed to eke out an existence when it was not winter. The ledge here was almost fifty feet wide and around two hundred feet long of snow covered grasses. With his keen senses of observation, he could see traces of rut beneath the fresh snow. Perhaps a game trail.

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  With no invulnerability, he summoned his last golem as escort and proceeded to follow the path down the hill for a time. It quickly narrowed and in many places was eight feet wide. Certainly wide enough for passage. The dragon's lair seemed to lay beneath a mountain pass that brought them food from time to time, perhaps even extracting a toll on those who... what? There was nothing for probably a hundred miles in any direction, he thought to himself. This path led down into the valley; that was clear. There must be something somewhere down there. The howling of wolves and the roars of creatures much larger convinced him to turn around for now and head back home for some lunch.

  He tested his skill to fly through stone and swam like a dolphin back along the trail through the rock with his golem at his side. They leaped and played like dolphins, diving down into the rock and up playfully into the air, as he tried to get familiar with the geology and strata of the mountain. When they got back to the ledge above the cave it all started to become clear. The path continued out the other side, into the other valleys of the horn. This was some sort of remote mountain pass. The heavy stillness of the deep cavern greeted him on return—no pine, no distant wind, only the faint echo of his own breathing and the distant scrape of golem work.

  "Derivation Citadel of Dragon Horn Mountain!" he proclaimed, like an explorer of new lands claiming ownership. Surely with the dragon dead, he was by right the new owner. He calculated the location of the cavern below and swam down and back up through the rock a few times to confirm its exact orientation and location. Then with confidence Hadofi pointed his wand at the ground where the ledge met the mountain face and summoned forth its powers. Energy flowed out and surged from him as rock turned to mud, and that mud flooded into the cavern below. Luckily none of the golems were standing there as eighty thousand cubic feet of mud came crashing down.

  The hole in the side of the mountain was forty feet square and thirty high, but it was also thirty feet deep before it opened up to the cavern below. It was another forty feet before the ground, where the wet mud slowly thinned out under its own weight to be only a foot deep in the middle. Still it would be annoying, and Hadofi used several more charges of the wand to dig a path through the mud so the golems could pass. He levitated down the shaft and planned its reconstruction on his way down. Here in the cavern, a tower would rise up to the surface and spill out onto the ledge. It would block passage to deeper into the cavern like a gatehouse, and the "bedroom" of the dragon would be his to remodel. He could see it all clearly, but it would take so much time. He needed to search the bedroom for magic items, but there was still half a dead dragon in the way. So he returned to where the golems were working. Scales were stacking around the area he was using to sleep, and bones were not far away. For now he instructed his golems to pull the remains out into this chamber so that he could get in there and search. He cast a spell of strength on each one, including himself to help pull out the wings, tail and bigger pieces to free up space inside. He left them to continue working and used a detect magic spell to aid in his search for treasure. He was immediately drawn to the mangled silver statue of the dragoness, once beautiful, now not. With his dagger he removed the gems of her eyes that glowed a bright white. With the help of another spell he was able to identify them as "Eyes of the Eagle", and immediately he thought of Hebe and her dream visit to him. He fondly stroked the feather, now pinned to his cloak. By the time it was all done he had increased his luck, found his new favorite cloak, a scroll of spells, and crystal ball. He wondered if it was similar to the gambler's orb that he'd found broken on the floor. It took a fair amount of determination to find the last two items: a wand of conjuration and a ring of fire resistance. He laughed to himself how useless the ring was here in the frozen mountain wastelands, but he put it on nonetheless. You never know when a fire breathing dragon will appear. He'd gained two levels from experience earned in gaining ownership of all the items, but his invulnerability timer was almost up by the time he was satisfied that no other magic items existed. He got back to his stone bed with them all, determined to learn their secrets. He ate dinner while examining the items, contemplating various ways they could be useful. Then he turned his attention to reviewing the new spells he had acquired. He was starting to feel truly powerful, plus the five spells on the scroll he'd found were written by a much stronger mage than he. Thus they would have much stronger effects than he could presently produce. He would use them sparingly. His new favorite spells would turn his skin to stone, create illusionary walls, and create a cabin he remembered all too well. "Cabin of my Desire!" he commanded, as it rose from the cavern floor. It was only 210 square feet in size, and only lasted 9 or 10 hours, but the inside was level, clean and dry. A fireplace, a kitchen with an oven, a table with four chairs, a bed, and even a writing desk. To top it off, an ethereal servant tended to its master's needs and no door or window could be breached without notification to the owner. This would make exploring the outside world a lot more possible. With his new cabin in place, as the golems dragged the stone chests of gems and coins in, he was beginning to feel a semblance of home. It reminded him of the Avatar's cabin, but his mind drifted to Badb and her sexy green silk dress. She was a bad girl he laughed, always so distracting.

  A low, guttural roar echoed down the cavern walls, announcing the arrival of an unwanted guest. Hadofi froze. A young adult male black dragon burst into the tunnel, wings half-folded in the tight space, charging along the trails of blood. His scales gleamed obsidian under the dim light. It stopped in horror at the severed head, bones, and scales peeled like armor plates—and its eyes flared crimson. A deafening roar shook the cavern, as the golems moved to attack. Then sprang forth its acid breath: a hissing corrosive spray that melted stone and turned all the golems to slag in seconds. Hadofi felt fear spike through him like an arrow. The invulnerability timer was long gone. The stone cabin might stand one or two acid attacks if he was lucky. He backed into the corner, heart pounding, mind racing for a spell. Any semblance of a plan, anything.