On a Dragon's Lips Ch. 01-02

"You... are strong? May I... challenge?"

You're surprised at this amount of civility from such a creature, and turn to Terenim out of uncertainty. He simply smirks, not saying or doing anything else. Both you and the troll take that as a blessing of sorts, and you nervously wonder if you should have discarded your pride and declined.Too late now though.You notice the goblins form a tight circle around you and the hulking brute you are about to face, their eyes wide with excitement at the novelty of your presence.

Letting out an intimidatory roar the troll charges you, an overhand swing of his tree trunk sized arm aimed at your thorax. You immediately find your body moving almost on its own. At first you think you're going to dodge and weave under his reach, going for the sweet spot of flesh you noticed on his jaw, but your reflexes seem to be wired differently. Your comparatively small hand's nails are planted in the troll's arm before you even realise what you've done, your outstretched limb stopping the monstrous mass with next to no effort. The rock beneath your feet crumbles and cracks slightly, your heels and toes having dug into it like dirt and absorbing the force of the troll's blow. You feel like widening your eyes, but your face remains passive, coolly staring into your opponent's eyes. Both of you remain still for what seems like an eternity, but in fact was only a few moments.

"Orgal... Recognises you."

The troll's low and gravelly voice sounds as he slowly, carefully removes his forearm from your claw-like nails. Some blood trickles down his skin, and you realise the tips of your fingers are coated in it. You look at it gingerly, not particularly happy about such a sight, before a goblin walks through the crowd and hands you a surprisingly clean handkerchief. It was more like a piece of cloth, but he still hands it to you with wide eyes and an oddly innocent smile compared to his peers'. You curl your lips upwards back at him just as a ghoul makes his way to you. His voice is raspy and slightly strained as he talks through his lipless teeth.

"Interesting newcomer I see. Your body sure is impressive, to say the least my lady...?"

"Shyvana"

"My lady Shyvana... Since you have so graciously entertained my friend Orgal's request, may I test myself on you as well?"

He looks to Terenim, and so do you. This time, however, your host speaks. "Beln, you may. However Shyvana, you are not to use magic. Let him acknowledge your toughness, but do not retaliate in any way. There will be opportunities for that later."

Beln hisses, a sound of respect amongst ghouls, and turns to you before doing so again in a similar tone. You nod whilst closing your eyes in response, and reopen them, ready. He concentrates for a second, before his hands strike out in front of him. A powerful column of purple flame envelops and shoots from one hand whilst unholy energy flows from his other limb, black and red, racing alongside the ghoulish fire to impact your abdomen.

You feel a small shock, as if hit by a jet of water or air, but other than that you suffer no other effects. Your dress however, fared a little worse. Your belly button is visible to any that choose to look, and the goblins cheer and whistle jovially before the silk begins to creep back over your skin, seemingly regenerating.

"My apologies, my lady. You seem to beextremelyresistant to elemental magic." He gives a knowing look to Terenim before continuing. "I would like to try something more specific if you don't mind."

He lowers his stance, stretches his arms and fingers towards you, and pauses. He then growls and curls his fingers as he rips his arms back towards him, as if pulling something. You feel a small tingle in your veins, but look down at yourself and see nothing out of the ordinary.

"Not only is her blood resisting my control..." The ghoul's master laughs and answers his shocked look. "Even if her blood was vulnerable to your control, her skin would be too tough for you to drain it out." You detect a large amount of pride in the man's voice as he talks of your abilities. "Congratulations, Lord Terenim. She is a fantastic creature, in more ways than one."

Beln hisses again before moving back through the crowd, a small entourage of goblins following, as well as Orgal the troll. The rest of the goblins and hulking officers go back to their activities, although a lot of them can't help but look at you from the corner of their eye whenever they can.

"You are everything that I hoped for and more, Shyvana."

A bolt of pure pleasure rips through your body as you hear such praise, and images of those goblins closing in on you cloud your mind; only this time it's not goblins... It's Terenim approaching you as you gasp for air. As you calm down yet again, you begin to think there's more to this than you being inexperienced. You turn and bow to him out of instinct.

"Thank you... Lord... Terenim?" You try out the title, and find that it rings nicely along with yourlord'sname.