659 13

Our return to the convoy was peaceful, and lit only by the light of the stars since tonight was the night of the new moon. I allowed Aurora to set down first. Focusing instead on what my bonded had observed while I was gone. Aqua was well fed so I didn't really need to worry about her eating anyone. I rolled the core around in the palm of my hand. 

It wasn't bigger then the megalodon's, but it was much more concentrated then the other core. My purified mana washed through the core as I worked at clearing it out all the impurities. I wanted to know what kind of mana this creature possessed. Part of me wanted to recreate the unusual kind of affinity this creature possessed. It bypassed armor, and struck at the insides of it's target. 

I wanted to do that. Whatever that spell was didn't require much mana so I wanted to see what it would do. My power pulsed through the core in waves. It cracked, and crumbled in my grip. Turning to dust. 

I felt a pang of guilt at wasting something like that. It faded quickly. Not everything I did would succeed. Maybe I'd been too generous with my mana. Perhaps something like this required a gently touch. 

Maybe I'd pushed too much mana into the core, and that was what caused it damage. Maybe if I was more finessed, and precisely controlled I'd have better luck with it. I'd have to do some experimentation. The mana from the core wasn't completely destroyed, but it didn't linger either. Much like most of the mana that came to the planet it seemed to be sucked down into the core. 

The core of the world must have some way of dealing with the impurities in the mana. I frowned to myself as I sifted my talons through the dust of the destroyed core. There had to be a way to do it. I spent the time happily collecting all the cores from the wyverns, and giving them to the human crew of the convoy of ships. I turned my attention back to Letty. 

It was clear he wanted me to do more, but I really just wasn't in the mood. My wings flared as I walked across the darkened deck of the ship. Daylight was hours away, and none of the humans were on the deck of the ship at the moment. I was certain that there were eyes on me. I could see the slight glow of the goggles as they attempted to watch us without being seen. 

I looked right at each of the lookouts from where I was standing one by one. The glow of my eyes made it easy for them to tell I was looking at them. Someone attempted to use an ability on me. My pupils narrowed as a quiet growl slipped past my teeth. It carried. 

I was too big to ignore, but I had no intention of causing them any harm. This whole peace mission was necessary. Humans progressed faster then dragons. The only way we were going to keep up is if we allowed them to pull us along with that progress. I strode back to my place next to Aurora. 

From what the humans saw they probably didn't think we slept at all. We only slept in small five minute stretches. That series of small naps was more then enough for the two of us. The wyverns needed to sleep about five hours a night from what I could tell. I was kind of glad that we could get all the sleep out of our bodies while we were still young. 

I lapsed into a peaceful silence as I waited for daylight. My mind was filled with peaceful bliss about my last sexual encounter. I knew I should be thinking about some more productive things, but it was difficult to think about anything else if it wasn't right in front of me. I imagined that it wouldn't always be this way, but then again I was a guy. It was practically my job to make random things sexual. 

We were only a few days away from the port, and I wanted to make in impression. It might take a few days for the ships to arrive, but we could get there much faster if we flew. I just needed to wait one more day. Then the wyverns would be able to make the final stretch in one go. Creating a portal to send them back would be a simple task once we arrived. 

We just needed offload all the humans that wished to return to human society. Some of the woman had even chosen to abandon their half breed children. I didn't blame them. Repeated rape, torture, and forced labor had been enough to sever any connection they might have had to the children. I had an elf on my side with a soft spot for those children, and he was more then willing to take them in. 

Not all the enslaved woman abandoned their children, and many of those that stayed were willing to help with the others. It was very much a group effort, and I was certain that some of those woman would even be willing to return once they got some serious therapy. Others would choose to abandon those children entirely, and we would make sure they were cared for in their place. All the dragons were orphans so why not a few half breed, and human orphans as well. Our entire beginning in Greenland would be built upon the strength of those who were rejected or unwanted by human society. 

I sighed heavily. I could do two or three more of Letty's tasks before I needed to worry about separating from this group. I needed to be more productive. Sitting here thinking about sex would lead me to trying to get her into the mood once again. Which was a bit too soon.