After a short journey we came upon a hidden entrance to Tharn's cave, belonging to Livy. We walked up and headed in, hearing the echoing of voices as we walked deeper inside.

"I DON'T CARE IF THARN IS DEAD! NO ONE IS LEAVING JUST CAUSE SOME THING SAYS HE KILLED HIM, AND EVEN IF HE IS DEAD THEN THAT MEANS THAT THIS PLACE IS MINE!"

The healing potions I had given Livy had finally started working and she was able to stand without me. I waved for Luna to stay back and watch Akira while Livy and I approached. Standing in the center of the cavern were the two dragons I'd driven off of Livy and Akira, with the green being held by the throat in the hands of a taller dragon. Whereas the two I had already seen were a good foot shorter than me, this one was possibly a few inches taller. He was bulky and covered in muscle with silver scales and golden eyes. Tharn's scales and eyes. i leaned back to Livy and whispered.

"Friend of yours?'

She grimaced.

"My elder brother, Tyrath."

I looked around the rest of the cavern and shook in barely contained rage. All of the walls had gem hunters and ponies digging and mining at the walls, placing bits of gems and metal into carts. All of them were in chains, with a few other teenage dragons watching them and driving them to work further. I could see tunnels running off of the cavern, most likely containing even more slaves. I leaned back to Livy.

"Tyrath is the biggest of them, right?"

She nodded.

"Good. Watch Luna and Akira, if this backfires then get them out of here and back to the Crystal Empire."

She looked unsure, but nodded. I walked forward into the chamber and into the sight of the dragons.

"HEY TYRATH! WHAT'S THAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE GUY WHO KILLED THARN?!"

He turned at me with a look of hate. I spoke up again.

"HOW ABOUT YOU PUT YOUR CLAWS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS? I AM JACK, SLAYER OF THARN, AND I CHALLENGE YOU TO ONE ON ONE COMBAT FOR OWNERSHIP OF THIS HORDE!"

He looked at me and laughed.

"Well then... Alright, I'm game. Let's do this. Drakes, call the slaves up and keep them in the upper tunnels and out of the way of the center chamber floor. I want them to see what happens to those who challenge me."

I narrowed my gaze at him.

The slaves all moved out of the way and the two of us squared off, my weapons all set off to the side as per the rules of our battle. The green dragon stood above us with a makeshift flag.

"Okay, one... two..."

As he said two, Tyrath rushed for me, only for me to dodge to the side and extend all of my arms into blades. Tyrath's eyes widened in shock as I charged him. He started slashing at me, only to get pushed back by a flurry of slashes. After a few tries to gouge me, his scales were chipped all over and he had a few cuts to him. He dodged back, and blasted towards me with a blast of fire which I matched with necromorph puker bile, a new ability I'd developed. The two blasts collided and mine managed to get past his, with him narrowly dodging the blast of acid from hitting him. I allowed him a moment for him to watch the bile burn into the ground and sizzle against the stone. He spoke in a quiet voice and looked at me.

"What.. are you?"

I grinned at him.

"I'm Jack, champion of Luna and enemy to those who would harm others for their own gains."

He sent a stream of fire at me, and I dashed to avoid it. I morphed my upper arms into those of a brute necromorph and kept my lower as slasher blades. I waited for the opening where Tyrath inhaled again after firebreathing at me, and I rushed him, smashing him against a wall and then using one of my upper arms to hold his throat to halt him from blasting me with fire as I pinned him to the ground with my other upper held his claws down I placed both of my bladearms to his throat below where I held him.

I leaned in.

"I win."

His eyes were wide with both shock and anger, and he narrowed his eyes before nodding. I let go of him and he slowly stood. I looked to the gathered dragons. I turned my back to Tyrath, fully prepared for him to attempt a cheap hit on me.

"I have beaten Tyrath in combat, and so this horde is mine. All dragons here who worked for either he or Tharn are to clear out of here, NOW!"

I heard movement, and turned to see Tyrath's face puffed up and prepared to blast a fireball. I turned and swiftly socked him with one of my brute arms, and watched the flame leave his mouth into the wall. I seized his throat again, and leaned in to quietly whisper.

"I allow you that one attempt. Next time you harm any other sentient being in anything other than self defense and I find out, then I will not hesitate to hunt you down and finish the job."

I carried him in that fashion past the other dragons and threw him out of the main entrance to the cave. I walked back in and turned to the remaining dragons who stood there with uncertain expressions.

"GET OUT NOW!"

The all scrambled and rushed past me and into the open mountains. I looked to the bound slaves. This may take a while.

---

It took a while, but Luna had magically called in a contingent of the Night Guard, led by Razor and Shield, to help us with escorting the freed gem hunters and ponies back to the empire. The castle had plenty of room, and we converted a good deal of the empty space into a care center for all of those rescued. Levy and I had also embarked to lead some of the guards to help with moving the treasure out of Tharn's cave, that way the Empire would have additional funding for giving care to all of those we had liberated, as well as giving additional metals for the empire to use. In case there were any other dragons that had been in hiding as we unchained and freed all of the slaves, Livy and I were scouting ahead in the cave.

"Holy shit... Tharn wasn't kidding about taking the most sacred treasures of all other dragons he slew but..."

I heard Livy say this as she looked down a hidden passage in the wall of Tharn's personal chamber. I walked over and looked in, and was just as shocked as her. Inside of the chamber was a lava pit with a number of dragon eggs sitting half submerged.

"What the hell? What's all this!?"

Livy walked in and looked at me.

"Dragon eggs take a lot of heat to incubate, so most dragons either warm them with their flamebreath or set them up in such an arrangement  sitting in lava to keep them warm until they're ready to hatch. It looks like along with the hordes from lesser dragons he took their unhatched eggs so that he could take them as his own. That way he could have another group of dragons to watch this place while he was away, that way he could off all the current guards before they got big enough to challenge him."

"Well we can't leave them here. We can store them back at the empire, one of the sublevels of the castle and try and have soem of the unicorns make a new lava pit, that way we can care for the eggs when they hatch."

Livy nodded and we both called in some of the unicorns amongst the guards we had brought to move the eggs, though we had to take them out of the chamber ourselves since Livy and I were the only ones with bodies that were able to handle the heat., Livy as she was a dragon and therefore flame proof and with my necrohuman form it was a bit toasty but still livable. After a while we had all of Tharn's slaves freed, the eggs moved to a safe place in the castle to be watched over, and his horde had been collected.

Livy and I were the last ones to leave the emptied cave behind, and the two of us brought up the rear of the guard.

"So what's the story behind you and Akira?" I asked, attempting to make conversation.

She looked at me with a sad smile.

"A while back when Akira was a newborn, barely teething, she and her family were taken by Tharn. Her parents ended up fighting and getting killed by Tharn, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was asleep and out of the way he would've killed her too. I had been in the middle of an escape attempt but I ended up finding her and so I took her back to the room Tharn usually kept me trapped in. I wanted to get her out of there, but I wasn't sure if she'd survive a trip through the wild, what with the arctic winds and all. I ended up putting up with it all for a few years, and so I cared for Akira as if she was my own, giving her all the food and stuff she needed out of the stuff Tharn gave me. I kept her completely hidden from all of the other dragons until I finally decided that she was old enough for us to escape. That was when you found and saved us from the guards that found me using that secret entrance I dug out. You saved me and my daughter from a life of enslavement, and for that..."

She stopped and turned to me with a serious expression.

"Thank you. For saving me, the slaves, my daughter... Thank you."

I gave her a small smile.

"You're welcome. Anyone that would do that sort of thing to someone else for their own selfish gain is an enemy of mine, and I'm glad to have been able to help you all."

The two of us arrived at the Empire after a while more of walking, entering the castle to see Luna and Akira standing between two Night Guardstallions jumping rope. They both looked up when they saw us enter. Akira bounded towards Livy and rammed her to the ground with a hug, yelling out:

"Mama!"

Livy laughed and returned the hug.

"Hey there kiddo. Have you had fun with auntie Luna?"

Akira nodded her head fiercely.

"Uh-huh! We did double dutches and jumping ropes!"

I smiled at this and walked over to Luna, who looked at the child happily. I stood next to her.

"You have fun with Akira?"

She nodded.

"It has been a most enjoyable experience to have her about. We hope to spend more time with her once we have finished investigating the Cairn. Did you have fun with Livyathan while exploring the caves alone?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, Livy's a pretty cool person."

Luna kept an even gaze to Livy and spoke again.

"She has a rather shapely build as well, hmm?"

I blustered for moment before Luna shushed me.

"I was merely jesting dear Jack. I was just seeing if you possibly had any interest in her."

"What!? No I don't!"

Luna looked at me slyly.

"Methinks thou dost protest too much!"

I huffed and turned away.

"Anyway, are you ready to embark again for the Cairn?"

I nodded.

"Everything should be in order for a while, and I got all of my gear replaced that I used to patch up Livy and Akira. Let's go."

We told everyone we were heading out again to finish investigating the Cairn, and after a few goodbyes to everyone we were prepared to go. I thought about how ridiculous Luna was to think I would have interest in Livy like that...

Right?

I shook my head, hoping to forget such thoughts as we set out.

After another long walk Luna and I found our way through the wilds and then to the top of the mountain above the entrance of the Cairn. What should have been a simple circle of stone that opened into a crystal stair well was torn apart into a massive cavernous pit, torn apart roughly, with the stairwell obliterated and the ground below barely visible. Luna was livid.

"HOW DARE HE?! HOW COULD HE HAVE VIOLATED SUCH A SACRED PLACE!? Jack I am glad you slew him, for someone that would destroy a place so sacred for his own gain... To enslave others and force their laboring... Tharn was a monster that needed to be stopped."

I gave a grim nod. I reached into my pack and took out a long length of cloth wrapped chain and then bound it to a frozen tree a good distance from the pit. After it was securely set in place I threw the other into the pit.

"Okay, Luna you fly down there and I'll use the cord I brought to slide down there. Since there's supposedly another exit to be used when the pilgrimage is complete then we can use that to leave."

She nodded, and I started sliding down the rope slowly, thankful that my armor included dragonscale gauntlets that could withstand rope burn. We both landed down at the bottom after a minute, looking around. The first chamber was filled with the wreckage of the ceiling and stairwell. We looked around and entered the second chamber, finding the way heavily damaged and covered in scorch marks. We were about to leave the otherwise nondescript room when we heard something. A voice echoed, sounding heavily distorted. We saw a mass of light illuminate the chamber and on either side of it a doorway slid open in the wall. Each door was the same design, but above one a glowing emblem of a crown ignited and above the other a sword. We looked at the light, which seemed to bend and reform into a spectral visage of a large stallion. His coat was a dark brown and his mane a deep gray. His eyes were silver, and he was adorned by a rough coat along with a crown of wrought iron which lacked any adornment. He looked at us with a neutral gaze and spoke in a deep baritone voice.

"I am Chancellor Level Head of the Earth Ponies. I am the first spirit to dwell in this place since the first days of the wendigos' onslaught of weather cold enough to match the hatred of pony kind. I led my people to this ancient land and worked to create an artifact powerful enough to protect us from the freezing death around us and bring life to the land. This place is the burial ground of all previous rulers of the Crystal Empire, save for the late Princess Amore. There is no bigotry in the Empire, but this place was made to test the worth of those who would rule over it. Along with this it would test their most trusted guardian, both in whether they would remain loyal to their charges and if they have the strength to protect those around them that are in need. Understand, the one true way to prove yourselves worthy is with the blessing of this place, but if you are not..."

His gaze narrowed upon us.

"Then this place will become your own tombs, not in the honor of a monarch but the shame of a scoundrel. So may you prove worthy if you take this challenge, Lady of the Moon and Necrotic Knight..."

With this final warning the specter dissolved into the air, leaving Luna and I alone in the dimly lit chamber.