Both Malta and Abornazine bowed to Alice and Sofia, the new two queens of the first layer of hell. "Malta, tell the devils to move close to this fortress," Alice said looking down.
"Can we count on you two to build a city around here?" Sofia smiled.
Abornazine kneeled, "As you order, we shall allocate the majority of resources to building houses and erecting walls. A city shall be built in your name as soon as possible."
"I will get all devils currently living on this layer to move here and unite our forces," Malta responded with a big smile.
Sofia stared at Alice for a moment, "What should we call the city?"
Alice scratched her head, "We just need a city as a base of operation and funds here…Thinking of a name is a bit too much for me."
"Can we just leave the naming to Cain?" Sofia asked, "It would be better if he found the city ready."
"Shall we name it Lisworth?" Alice asked with a puzzled face, "Hold up, that's a bit too much."
"How about purgatory? We're in Avernus after all and it's built around Tiamat's fortress." Sofia suggested.
Alice nodded, "That seems right, you still haven't chosen a hut like Zaleria. This will be your hut."
Sofia stood puffing her chest. "Is this all? Can you guide me to the next spot in this place?" She wanted to check all the rooms immediately and get a lab set up, maybe some training rooms and a spell test field.
"Shall I guide you to the treasury first?" Abornazine suggested.
Hearing those words instantly triggered Alice and Sofia, the treasury of the chromatic dragon goddess. Even mortal dragons had legendary hoards that could dazzle the eyes, would they even compare to their god?
"Hoard of the dragon queen and goddess, wonder if that will be something material." Alice thought loudly, she would be surprised if a god-like Tiamat had valued mortal items like gold.
"Let's go see!" Sofia rushed behind Abornazine and so did Alice. What will it be?
… After walking for a while, Abornazine reached a massive, red-hot iron door. "This door leads to the treasury, it only opens to the purgatory key holder, Tiamat."
Sofia looked inside herself, he was talking about the purgatory shard, which was the key. "Then let me try pushing it." She approached the door in her half-dragon form.
She touched the door with her hands and focused on pushing with all her might. The door didn't budge at all. "It won't move, is there a way to open it?" Sofia turned toward them sweating.
Abornazine shook his head, "I was really close to the previous Tiamat. I've seen her open the treasury door over and over. Each time the door turned black and white chilly smoke emitted from it."
After thinking for a while she found a solution, Sofia grabbed the door again, this time confident she will open it.
Her heart started beating loudly as she glared at the door. Her Draconis fundamentum started absorbing the heat, storing it inside her to cool the red-hot door.
Alice covered her face from the heat emitting from Sofia's wings, even though she was barely able to tame the goddess flames.
After the door became jet black, it still didn't move. No matter how Sofia pushed, something was missing. "I heard that steel expands when heated and contracts when cooled, could you try freezing it?" Alice suggested.
"I will give it a try, I wish Mary was here to give her advice." Sofia took a deep breath and absorbed more and more heat, freezing the door to an impossible temperature here in Avernus.
As soon as the door cooled all the way, a white frigid smoke dripped from the hinges as it cracked. The door slowly moved over revealing an endless darkness behind.
Sofia glared into the darkness panting, just opening the door was extremely exhausting. Just what ancient power did the dragon queen hide in there?
"It's dark, even I can't see a thing…" Sofia panted.
Abornazine smiled and knocked the ground with his staff. "This is magical darkness conjured by the queen herself to prevent shadow thieves from getting in. Even they can't teleport to it. It can only be dissipated with the queen's fire." He walked behind the door guiding Sofia with his.
"Touch this orb and the walls shall be set ablaze, illuminating her majestic hoard." He said with an excited voice, he hadn't seen this place lit in decades, no centuries.
Sofia grabbed the orb and took a deep breath, releasing all of her flames into the orb.
BAN! CRACKLE! With a crimson flash, red lines of crackling embers rushed into the darkness with a boom. The flash of light released a wave of heat as the ground rumbled, Abornazine went on his knees praying to the dragon goddess, this was her return.
The spark of Sofia's flames traveled far beyond just the treasury, her scent, blood, and flames used the shadows to seep into the mortal world.
The darkness covering the treasury was called [Twilight] it wasn't simple at all, it's what the chromatic dragons see in their last days of old age.
Dragons had many distinct age categories, Wyrmling, Young, Adult, Ancient, Wyrm, and Greatwyrm. In each of those dragon ages, the creature only gets stronger and stronger. But what about when they reach old age, when will they die? For that, there was one last category that only dragons who lived for over ten thousand years knew about. The terrifying forces lying dormant far away from the dragon king awaiting their natural death.
The Twilight, this age category was the last. In it the dragon experience rapid deterioration in his body. His magic quickly disappears and his limbs become unable to support his draconic weight. They shrivel and wane getting weaker and weaker, their scales fall and their claws disintegrate. Only death awaits them.
Dragons who reached this category finally get what dragons lacked most. The arrogant chromatic dragons finally gain wisdom and compassion, humbleness as they face death. All of them finally pray to the dragon queen, offering their life-long earned hoard as tributes for peace, for another year in life.
The more wealth a dragon offer, the more time he gets in life…eventually they die and get consumed in Tiamat's essence.
All of their hoards end up here, in the dragon goddess's hoard.
CLING! CLING! As Sofia slowly turned around, she saw endless waves of gold and gems, weapons, and draconic skeletons. On top of the eye-burning glitter of gold, more was dripping from the ceiling like a river. This was enough gold to draw cities.
Sofia immediately turned toward the corner puking, she wasn't used to seeing this. Her head was spinning. Her stomach twisted as she heard voices in her head.
"Ah, Tiamat, just another year!"
"Every penny I own for but a moment in life!"
"All my possessions for one moment of time!"
"Hear my plea!"
"Tiamat is back! I can die in peace!"
"I offer thee everything, don't disappear on my children!"
The dragons' dying words flowed through her mind, going deep into her soul and onto the purgatory shard.
Sofia puked again leaning on the wall, Alice was right. This place had more than just mortal gold, this was Tiamat's workplace. Why was she called a god, is giving peace to the old dying Chromatic dragons.
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