Chapter 5

Hall of Flames, Brimstone

Spike couldn’t help but marvel at the interior of the Hall of Flames. Calling it a “Hall” was not entirely accurate. The entire complex was pretty much a cave that had been blasted out of the side of a mountain with dragon fire. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive inside.

The interior, much like the buildings in the village, had been decorated with a plethora of various dragon reliefs. They were so realistic that Spike swore a few of them looked as if they were going to jump out and shoot a fireball at him.

Other than that, most of the décor was rather Spartan. It seemed to be a recurring theme with the Wyvertii. They were just a very functionally minded people who didn’t seem to care much for opulence when it wasn’t necessary. That is not to say that the furniture wasn’t well made or pleasing to the eye. All of it just so happened to be ergonomically designed to maximize potential usefulness.

The one thing he did notice as odd was that the interior was only slightly cooler than the outside. This in of itself was not unusual for a cave, but most caves that Spike knew of were almost always damp. However, the floor felt bone dry on his bare feet. How could that be? He got his answer a few seconds later when he noticed a massive hearth in the middle of the Hall.

It had to have been the largest and most ornate hearth he’d ever seen. Not even some of the drinking halls in Griffonia could even hold a proverbial candle to this one! The whole thing was shaped like a dragon’s maw, complete with a roaring fire in the center. To the left of it was a simple stone-cut throne, lined with an assortment of pillows and cushions.

Upon it sat a towering hulk of a man. From what Spike could surmise, he had to have been nearly two and a half meters tall. This guy was a freaking giant! His presence was made only more intimidating by the fact that his muscles were just about as chiseled as the rocks around him.

The fangs protruding from his mouth were more pronounced than just about every other Wyvertii Spike had seen thus far. The giant ran his hand through the spikey orange and crimson locks of his shoulder length hair and motioned for Spike to stand in front of him. Although the young man felt as though he was about to wet himself, he complied.

“I am Lord Torch, ruler of the Wyverti. Do you know why I have summoned you here?”

Spike knelt on one knee. “Yes, your lordship. I am to compete in the Gauntlet of Fire.”

“Indeed. However, I want to make something very clear to you. The Gauntlet is not to take place until two months hence. The main reason I summoned you here now was with the express purpose of allowing you to learn about Wyvertii culture and customs.”

Spike really tried to keep his composure, but it was incredibly difficult. Not only was Lord Torch an imposing figure, but he had a habit of sitting with his legs spread apart while on the throne. It essentially gave Spike an unobstructed view of the man’s ludicrously large penis.

Oh gods it’s freakin’ huge! That thing looks like a baby’s arm holding an apple! I-I mean, I guess it makes sense considering how tall he is. But still! Ok Spike, just try to focus on something else. GAH! I CAN’T! He could probably satisfy an Ursa Major with that thing!

Spike forced himself to meet Torch’s eyes. “I have been curious about my own people, so this presents a wonderful opportunity for me. Although…if you don’t mind me asking: could you remove the compulsion spell? It’s one of the main reasons I came here in the first place.”

“Think nothing of it! In fact, the moment you stepped into this hall it was dispelled. I apologize for the nature of the sigil, but it was originally crafted during an ancient and more brutal period of our people’s history. Things have changed since then.”

“Thank you, your lordship.”

Torch laughed. “No need to stand on such formality with me, Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious! I have heard tale of your heroic deeds in the Crystal Empire. Any hero who steps foot in this hall is welcome to call me Torch.”

Spike felt his face flush. He really didn’t like it when people called him that. It was such a long and embarrassing title. Though he would readily admit that he did help defeat the evil King Sombra, he didn’t think it was really that big of a deal.

He had done it in order to help his friends, rather than receive some fancy title or anything like that. He had to admit that it did have its perks when he wanted to get a deluxe treatment at the Empire’s premier spa though.

“Thank you once again—ermm—Torch. But I don’t think I’m much of a hero. I just did what I had to do to save my friends and keep the Crystal Empire safe. That’s all.”

Torch smiled. “You are humble as well. A refreshing quality in a Wyvertii at your age! Some of the youngsters these days are far too arrogant and hot-blooded for my taste. You shall make a fine competitor in the Gauntlet.”

Ember, who was standing next to Spike, paled. Apparently, she had been unaware of Spike’s titles and deeds and felt a tad bit guilty for not treating him with more respect. Of course, she also had no desire to invite the lord’s ire either. Torch stepped off of his throne and wrapped Ember in a surprisingly gentle hug.

“Daughter, it is good to see you! You have my thanks for bringing Spike here in one piece.”

Ember chuckled nervously. “Of course, Father. It was hardly any trouble at all. I did have to save him from an angry Charrick, but it was dispatched easily enough.”

“Ah, yes. Anyone but the most skilled of hunters would have had trouble slaying a Charrick during mating season. I am proud of you, Ember. Display the skin of your kill with pride.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

Torch rubbed his chin. “That only leaves the matter of where Spike shall reside. I’ve got it! He can stay in his parent’s former abode. It is his birthright, after all. And don’t worry, lad. It has been well maintained these past eighteen years, in case you decided to come back.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I never really knew my parents…”

Torch nodded solemnly. “A sad state of affairs, that is. Yes, I knew your mother and father. They were good friends of mine. I mourned their passing for a long time, but I have since made peace with it.”

“What were they like?”

“Viridian and Elm were magi by profession. I suspect that’s why I felt such a strong magical aura around you when I first cast the sigil. That and you’ve spent your entire life absorbing the latent magical energy from some of the world’s most powerful beings.”

Spike grinned sheepishly. “I guess I never really thought about why I could cast fire so easily before. Although, it does make sense now that you put it in context.”

“It is to be expected. You were ignorant of our ways. By Delmira…you look so much like Viridian. I—excuse me, lad. An aged Wyvertii like me tends to get sentimental at times.”

“I understand. Please continue.”

Torch cleared his throat. “Despite my best efforts to dissuade them, they could not resist their own wanderlust for exploring the world outside of the valley. It was an especially risky decision, considering that you were only a newborn at the time. They managed to book passage on an Equestrian supply vessel bound for Manehatten, but it sank during a fierce storm.”

“Oh…”

“Only later did I find out that Princess Celestia’s vessel happened to be returning from Griffonia and passed by the wreckage of the supply ship. I can only assume that she must have found you and taken you in. I’m…truly sorry that you never got the chance to know them.”

Spike blinked away a few tears. “Princess Celestia has always been a good mother to me. And I have a wonderful sister who looks after me as well. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’ve had a good life up to this point.”

“I still have a portrait of them hanging in my personal chambers. You are more than welcome to view it any time you desire. If nothing else, it will allow you to see what they looked like in their prime.”

“Thanks, that means a lot to me. I’ll take a look at it sometime.”

Torch cracked his knuckles. “Let’s move on to more light-hearted topics, shall we? Ember, I am assigning you to be Spike’s tutor for the duration of his stay. Show him how to strengthen his body and prowess in combat.”

“We have already reached an agreement on that particular issue. He shall also be training me how to harness my dragon fire more effectively.”

“Excellent! If the two of you have nothing further to discuss, I shall journey to the Grand Bath for a good soak and some female company. And do try to find some time to relax as well, Daughter. Perhaps a massage from Winter Silk might ease some of your tension? I swear that woman has magic fingers!”

Ember’s eye twitched. “I shall…consider it. Enjoy your bath, Father.”

Without further ado, Torch made his way to the Grand Bath to enjoy some rest and relaxation. Spike breathed a sigh of relief. He was expecting the Lord of all Wyvertii to be some vicious barbarian tyrant, but was pleased to see that he was actually a pretty decent guy. Even if that was the case, it still didn’t detract from how utterly intimidating the man looked.

Spike’s mind ground to a halt when he realized a very important detail that had not occurred to him earlier. Ember had called Torch “Father”. That meant Ember was basically a big deal around these parts. He suddenly felt like an idiot. What kind of title did she have? Was it some sort of social faux pas to just casually call her by her first name? Did she think he was rude for doing so? Spike wanted to tear his hair out and scream.

Ember glanced over at Spike with concern. “Why do you look like you’re about to have an aneurism?”

“I’M SO SORRY! I SWEAR I DIDN’T KNOW!”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t realize that your father was a lord! Do you have some sort of title I need to know about? You aren’t offended that I didn’t use it, are you? Is it improp—”

Ember put her hand over Spike’s mouth. “Shut up, you’re making a scene! No, I don’t care that you call me by my given name. I prefer it that way. Being called a princess all the time is an embarrassing pain in the ass. Just keep treating me like a normal person, ok?”

“Sorry I overreacted. It’s a bit of a bad habit I picked up from my sister. Are you sure you’re ok with that? I just don’t want you to think I’m not showing you the proper respect you deserve.”

Ember blushed. “Don’t worry about it. You’re already showing respect for me by being concerned about it in the first place. Let’s just—get started on our training.”

“Yeah, ok. That sounds good. Lead the way.”

Beyond the village of Brimstone was a lush, green valley that reminded Spike of Ponyville. Except that it was completely wild and lacked any signs of civilization. Though, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. There was a certain appeal to exercising outdoors without the hindrance of clothing to slow you down.

Ember led him to a lone oak tree that happened to be in the middle of a grassy clearing. All in all, the flat terrain was a perfect place to do some training. It didn’t have any rocks or tree branches he could potentially trip on. For once, Spike felt optimistic about the situation.

His optimism only lasted for about thirty seconds. True to her word, Ember was a harsh mistress when it came to training. She started off by explaining that he needed to work on his stamina if he had any hope of actually building some extra muscle. Then and only then, would she even consider giving him any combat training.

Her regimen started simple enough. She instructed him to join her on the grass and stretch out all of the muscles in their legs, back, and arms. Spike understood the concept and readily joined in, but had a difficult time concentrating on the exercises alone.

It became even worse when they graduated from sitting to standing. At least while they were sitting, the grass obscured both of their lower extremities. Now, Spike was directly behind Ember and got a generous eyeful of her lady bits every time she bent over. And rest assured, she bent over quite often.

The thin sheen of sweat that began to form on her bronze skin made the impromptu peep show all the more enticing for Spike. He couldn’t stop staring. She was just so damn sexy! He knew he should stop, but his eyes were hopelessly glued to the flexing muscles of her gloriously toned legs and behind.

Even worse, the breeze picked up and wafted the aroma of her sweat into his nostrils. It was that intoxicating mixture of flowers (hyacinth maybe?) and subtle earthy undertones that composed her natural scent. No perfume on the planet could possibly hope to smell that good! He wanted nothing more than to bury his face between her legs and savor it firsthand.

Spike had a sinking feeling that such a thing would never happen. Ember had consistently shown that she was, at best, uncomfortable with any sort of physical contact. Particularly when it came from males. She even looked tense when her father had given her a simple hug.

From Spike’s point of view, nobody had any business being that uptight about receiving affection from a family member who was obviously trying his best to be gentle and caring. Even if he happened to resemble a terrifying giant! It just didn’t make any sense.

The young man was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice the full erection he was now sporting. For the past minute or so, he was just absent-mindedly repeating some back stretches that he had been doing before. To Ember, it appeared as if he was shamelessly thrusting his manhood at her. Needless to say, she didn’t take it too well.

“YOU P-PERVERT! HOW DARE YOU!” Ember screamed.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying my best to train you a-and all you can think about is sex?!”

Spike paused for a moment and realized that his penis felt suspiciously sensitive all the sudden. When he looked down, to his horror, he was achingly hard. It had to have been like that for a while because even the slightest breeze made it twitch. There was even a tiny bead of pre-cum on the tip.

Spike’s face burned. “I’m sorry! I got lost in my own thoughts!”

Ember stomped towards him like an angry bull and moved close enough to him that their noses were practically touching. It was meant to intimidate him further but her movement had an unintended side effect. Her stomach accidently rubbed up against his poor, overly sensitive penis. That was all it took to send Spike over the edge.

In a fleeting moment of unadulterated bliss, Spike grunted softly as he squirted several globs of pent-up cum all over Ember’s abs. A warm sense of relief flooded his entire body. With all of the sexual tension he’d been experiencing in the past few days, it felt ridiculously good to get that out of his system. But now that his brain wasn’t clouded by lust anymore…it occurred to him just how far up shit creek he was without a paddle.

“Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?”

Spike knew he was totally fucked. The reason he knew this was because when women got really angry they became quiet. He could have handled shouting and insults, his psyche could recover from that easily enough. But silence was utterly terrifying! It meant that Ember was so angry that she couldn’t even articulate the words to describe her fury.

It all happened so fast that Spike didn’t get the chance to react. With the speed of a professional boxer, Ember punched him in the face. Due to her outrageous strength, it was more akin to getting hit by a baseball bat than a human fist. Immediately, he crumpled to the ground and felt a stinging pain in his right eye. Yeah, that was going to leave a gigantic black spot later. As he writhed on the ground, Spike was secretly thankful that Ember hadn’t decided to kick the stuffing out of him too.

Even with his now blurry vision, his ears worked perfectly. Though it wasn’t very loud, he inevitably felt worse when he heard Ember quietly crying as she ran back towards Brimstone. He wasn’t really sure where she was going, but it was clear that she needed to be away from him for a while.

Spike slowly rose to his feet. “I guess I’ll go check out my house. Ha…no time like the present, right?”

It only took a few moments after he arrived back in Brimstone to realize that he had no idea where he was going. Spike gingerly rubbed his forehead. He should have remembered to ask Lord Torch where his house was.

Not only did he feel incredibly stupid at the moment, but he was getting quite a few curious stares from most of the people he passed by. He supposed it wasn’t exactly normal for someone to walk around with a swollen black eye. Imagine that.

Spike was about to just give up and mope, until he saw the distinct white hair of the woman he and Ember had run into earlier. He wasn’t exactly sure what her relation to Ember was or even her name but it was worth a shot. She probably knew her way around Brimstone. Not wanting to scare her, he gently tapped the woman on the shoulder to get her attention.

“Uhh…hi. You met Ember and I earlier, right? Do you mind giving me some directions? I have no idea where I’m going.”

The woman smiled. “What a coincidence, I was just about to—BY THE GODDESS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE?!”

“That’s a long and painfully embarrassing story. I’d rather not get into it.”

She nodded knowingly. “Mistress Ember related, no doubt. I can’t say I’m surprised. That girl really needs to learn how to control her temper. I’m Winter Silk and it would be my pleasure to direct you to your new home.”

“Wait…so that’s why Ember didn’t look too happy when her dad mentioned you.”

Winter Silk winked. “I’ve been known to mercilessly tease Mistress Ember on occasion. Who knows? Maybe if I like you enough, we can come to a similar arrangement.”

“Whatever. I just want to rest for a while and get my eye patched up. Oh…I’m Spike by the way.”

Winter chuckled. “I know~ Lord Torch assigned me to be your personal attendant for the remainder of your stay in Brimstone. That’s why I was in the market, you see. I was gathering the ingredients for lunch.”

“Seriously? I—uhh—I’ve never had an attendant before. What exactly do you do?”

“Anything you want, really.”

Spike twiddled his fingers. “Doesn’t that…bother you?”

“Hmm. Not particularly. It’s considered a great honor to directly serve the Dragon Lord.”

Spike felt his cheeks warm. “When you say anything…”

“If you hunger, I shall feed you the finest meats. If you thirst, I shall quench it with the sweetest wine. If you desire a woman’s touch…I shall satisfy you with my flesh.”

“I-I that’s—you don’t have to…how can you be ok with that?!”

Winter shrugged. “I enjoy having casual sex. Besides, you’re easy on the eyes and you have a delightfully thick manhood. No wonder Mistress Ember is interested in you! Although, I can see why she thinks you’re scrawny. Nothing a little exercise can’t fix, though.”

“Are you sure she’s interested in me? I’m not really so sure.”

Winter laughed. “Trust me, I can tell. When you get to be three hundred and forty five, people become less of a mystery and more of a pattern. Unfortunately, Ember is a prideful, violent, and stubborn girl who’s rarely honest about her feelings. She’s a real sweetheart once you crack her shell, but I suspect that will take some time on your part. That is…if you’re willing to try.”

“You’re how old? That can’t be possible!”

“It’s rude to call a woman old, Master Spike. We Wyvertii are a long-lived people. Lord Torch alone is nearing his sixteen hundredth birthday. So yes, you will live just as long or perhaps even longer. Apologies, Master Spike. I keep forgetting that you are ignorant of our ways.”

Spike felt his stomach churn. “I never knew. So…I’m not considered a baby, am I?”

“Of course not. You are, by all accounts, a man. Our people tend to mature just as quickly as any race but we age exponentially slower once we reach sexual maturity. So you don’t have to feel bad about being so young.”

Spike looked down at his feet. “To answer your question from earlier: I’m very interested in Ember, even if she’s difficult to get along with. She isn’t like five hundred years old, is she? I don’t want things to get weird because we’re centuries apart…”

“No, she isn’t that old. Mistress Ember turned eighteen a few months ago. She is nearly the same age as you are. What? Don’t you like older women?”

Spike blushed. “YES—I MEAN NO! Stop putting me on the spot! I don’t actually have a problem with older women. They can be attractive too. I just…want to try dating a girl who’s my age. N-Not that it’s any of your business!”

“Oh ho~ Do you think I’m attractive?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t…”

Winter traced her finger along his thigh. “I like it when a man is honest. However, I think our priority should be attending your wound. After that is taken care of, we might be able to work something out.”

“Hahahaha! Taking care of my eye…yeah that’s a good idea. I am kind of hungry too, so maybe we could have lunch?”

Winter wiggled her butt. “Or would you rather eat me?”

“Just…get us to the house please. My lack of self-control already got me in trouble today. You’re not exactly helping me to get any of it back with your over the top flirting.”

Winter frowned. “Very well, let’s be off. If nothing else, I will listen to your troubles and offer advice if I can. Does that sound good?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to talk about it at some point. Thanks, Winter Silk.”