Humming a long-forgotten melody, Umbravor finished placing the last carpet by the massive fireplace of the throne room. That feature had been the sole reason he had began his efforts at revitalizing the property by that room. With the Everburning Logs in place, a comfortable warmth would forever grace the whole place, which he could adjust by limiting the flow of essence to it.

When you spend a millennium traveling around, you gather quite a lot of jun… I mean, “irreplaceable artifacts”. The entire room now had been filled with those, each holding a special place in the perfect memory of their owner.

Sitting on his armchair, Umbravor couldn’t help but wonder what he would do next. Oh, I could get a pet. A cat and a dog, so they can be company to one another whenever I’m not around!

Then, the now familiar sound of the doors opening followed.

“You know, Sir Cedric, the Balding, you should…” The dragon went silent, his entire demeanor tensing up. “What in the Hells have you done?”

This time, the energy swirling around the armor he wore gave him nausea. So dark in its miasma, the ancient being couldn’t help but to recoil away from it. Whoever conjured whatever laid upon the metal had the sickest mind he could ever imagine.

“His highness had enough of my failures.” Cedric’s voice lacked his usual bravado, instead coming out as little more than a whisper. “As punishment for showing my inner parts before the queen and princess, I have been sentenced to don the Black Knight’s regalia and to atone by facing you in battle one last time.”

“Come again?”

Cedric then took out a nasty looking axe, its jagged blade rusted in some points, the same eldritch miasma emanating from it. “This armor cannot be taken off as long as I live and it consumes my life force to give me inhuman strength. Now, I must face you one last time.”

“Why in the blazing infernos are you babbling?” Umbravor got up from the comfort of his chair. “No one could have been able to force you to wear that disgusting thing!”

“Even as a failure, I am still the Hero.” The voice behind the helmet cracked, but he continued. “Honor demands I do as much.”

“And people wonder why every immortal race calls you all naked monkeys.” Umbravor had to face palm himself to give the whole thing a proper analysis. No reaction showed the drama better than a good and loud face palming.

“Now, either die together with me, or put an end to my suff…”

Before he could finish, the dragon summoned the heavenly energies to cleanse the man of every curse placed upon him. Once he finished, not a drop of dark magic could be felt for miles around. Unknown to him, a beast nearby returned to being a human, much to the joy of his beautiful lover. That is, until she learned his bad breath hadn’t been a result of his own curse.

But that is a story unrelated to the one of the chilling dragon.

Just to be sure, Cedric got stripped of everything, every piece of equipment then sent into the Abyssal Wastes. Can never be too careful with hexes of such magnitude. Now, what to do with you?

Sending him back to his country didn’t seem like the best of ideas. Not after they sentenced him to death, at least. And the dragon hadn’t been too caught up on the recent political events, so he couldn’t be sure which of the other nations he could lead a comfortable existence.

“Oh, of course.” Said Umbravor as a thought crossed his mind. “I can send him to the Holy Temple! Their territory belongs to no nation and they would surely give asylum to this poor soul.”

With that decided, he conjured the spell once again, sending the good knight away for the third time. Only for his heart to sink to his stomach, a cold shiver running down his spine. “Oh bollocks, I did not put any clothes on him!”

Surely the good men and women of the cloth would forgive such a small mistake, wouldn’t they?