There wasn’t a drop of ice or snow on any of the blackened mountains here in these scorched wastes, no matter how high they were. Every single seared peak had a molten heart somewhere, even if it wasn’t a volcano proper, and the only things that grew here were plants with the Fire Affinity that could thrive in the environment.

It was the Charlands of Heavenly Fire, Realm of the most powerful Fire Dragon on the planet and His many progeny and descendants. What would be Kamchatka on other Earths was here the home of more firebreathing reptiles of the winged and unwinged variety than any other place on the planet.

I had a lot of interested eyes on me as I flew out of the Whitelands into the Charlands, the ground going from covered with ice and snow to charred black and only the toughest, most fire-hungry scrub able to survive, even with all the potential water and growth that should have thrived along that border between the two forces.

Heavenly Fire Emperor had no fondness for greenery, after all. If it rose there, it was just fuel to be burned away, and likely would just spontaneously combust under a wave of Fire Mana at some point.

I was being watched closely and alertly. They could feel the Fire and Cold Magic upon me, the Avian bias to it, and their curiosity about how I dared come here and if they should challenge me was only quenched by the Wills I was carrying, which definitely included a lot of non-Avians among them.

Whether Heavenly Fire would respect those Wills was a different matter.

While Fire Phoenix wouldn’t overfly the place without getting a reaction, Thunderbird often did casually, different Elements and all. Even if He was opposed to having Dragons in His territory, He didn’t go looking for trouble with Dragons elsewhere. So, He knew the layout of the place and what Heavenly Fire’s lair looked like, not that I could miss the biggest damn nexus of Fire energy of his Demesne, a more intense and ‘purer’ version of the Firelands in North America which lacked the empowerment of broad Elemental Mana support found there.

There wasn’t a supercell below the crust, but every bloody mountain was a volcano-to-be, or was one already. The skies had plenty of smaller Fire Drakes and Dragonlings a-wing, soaking in the updraft from the active craters, maybe looking for meals in the likes of Fire-aspect Bugs, Bats, and ground-dwelling creatures of smaller size. There were some powerful non-Dragons here, but they were all reptilian or Elementals, no other Tribes permitted to contest this ground with the Dragons. Even the Titans weren’t the size of those found in Old Mountain’s domain...

Was it any wonder the other, younger Tribes of Beasts loathed this bastard?

The volcano Heavenly Fire Emperor laired in was ten miles across, with a molten lake with another active volcano sitting in the middle of it! That volcano’s flames were actually burning blue-purple, hideously hot stuff, and the firefalls coming off it and streaming down into the larger lake were still blue-white before they plunged into the slowly cooling crimson and oranges of the greater lake. The Fire Mana in the area was like a sledgehammer to the face... but, I noted, the Earth Mana in the ground was also incredibly dense, able to constrain this Fire and endure despite it, leaching off and mixing with the Fire Mana to become an incredibly obdurate form of basalt-obsidian found probably nowhere else on Earth, revered as Dragonstone.

The stuff probably wouldn’t be melted by a nuke going off, as tempered by waves of Fire and Earth as it was. Shaping it would require something beyond the level of manipulating adamantine, so a VIII Valence or more. Dragonstone would take Energizing at IX to make, with all the normal ounces-per-Caster-Level volume limitations for doing so. A volcano-worth of it was an incredible prize if you were into building great demonic castles and stuff...

His lair was underneath those magical flames, burning hotter than chemistry or alchemy truly allowed, a massive spiral of Fire Mana from deep within the world winding its way to the surface here and finding a release point.

Fire Phoenix Emperor could have done the same, but the spread of Fire Mana would have devastated the landscape, so He had chosen a different route to the same level of power, enjoying the support of all the Elements and nature itself as He did so.

Just another reason the Fire Dragons were annoyed by the Phoenixes.

I set down on the small jutting area reserved for those coming for an audience with Heavenly Fire Emperor. The Silver-Helmed Fire Titans standing emotionless honor guard duty watched me glide in, the stars within my Wings burning in resonance with the local Fire Mana, but icy fires of pale white and blue blowing back from me with every ebb and flow of the spreading field of flames, forming feathers of cold that only grew brighter and sharper the more severe the flames were.

These flames were not higher quality than the Luan Flames, especially conjoined, or Fire Phoenix’s. However, they were different, just like White Death’s Ice was different, and they had similar tempering effects on my Seed, exposing it to other advanced Fire and Ice Elements to help it grow.

White Death’s Ice, Dragon-derived as it was, had no problem countering this Fire, and Heavenly Fire was no more advanced in His flames than Fire Phoenix was.

I stopped before the Titans, who were a bit surprised that I could see them. “Envoy Healer Fae of the True Emperors seeks an audience with Heavenly Fire Emperor!”

Their eyes fixed on that pale blue bit of Ice dangling with the other Tokens. Heavenly Fire could rage all He liked, but He lived on this continent at White Death’s very grudging allowance. Even if this had never happened before, a Human coming at the White Death Wolf Emperor’s behest, spurning the Will of White Death was not something they had the right to do.

Melting out of camouflage against the stone, clutching great halberds wrought of Shaped and molded Dragonstone, the Silver-Helmed Fire Titans pounded on the stone with massive blows, letting out horn-like calls to their master indicating that someone had come to call on Him worth His time.

He was already aware of me, of course. This many Wills could not fail to escape His attention. But Dragons, pride, vanity, ego-soothing, follow the proper forms.

I wonder how long He is going to make me kneel, I mused, sweeping down the entry ramp into the inner volcano through the open crevasse, big enough to admit any Emperor who cared to call on Him... or Himself, if Heavenly Fire Emperor decided to stalk forth, instead of fly.

---

There was a small circle bulging out into the supernaturally-hot magma lake there, a place afflicted with Dragon-level Fire Mana, bound to be uncomfortable to even Emperors who needed to wait there. How far out a creature could go was a measure of its power and its rank, so few creatures advanced very far out.

I was sitting on the very end of it, a swath of ice sweeping back from my position as my Wings burned hot and cold... and if a dancing tail of furry ice was occasionally visible brushing the dark stone and crinkling it with snow that would not melt, well, it was what it was. The poisonous gases and the like did not affect me, products of a Fiery environment and as such I was immune to them by the Ritual of the Burning Heart, even before my other defenses came into play.

I always had stuff to do, so kneeling there for an hour just gave me a lot of time to contemplate the flames there, and Ice to spread behind me further as the Tempering of my Firefrost Seed proceeded. Dragonfire and Wolfice danced and did their thing as Luan Frost and Fire swirled and played, and I contemplated the direction Heavenly Fire was taking His flames as I studied the display.

Definitely aiming for a ‘molten heart of the world’ approach, something trying to approach Ice Emperor’s dark and unfathomable, unbeatable ‘cold at the ends of the world’ system, if what I had vaguely sensed from Antarctica when I was down at the tip of South America meant anything.

Finally, I felt Him begin to move, and the blue-purple fires and lava swirled and ran about wildly as He stirred and His influence was upon them. Soon enough He was out of whatever tunnel or cavern below this constant vortex of Fire Mana and magma was coming from, rising to the surface.

He broke through about fifty paces away, His head coming up first. Horns as black and polished as obsidian spears broke through the molten stone first, forming a glossy, shield-like crest whose colors ran from black to scarlet as they approached His scales. The blue-purple slid from the reds of His scales, the Fires within them greater than even the supernatural heat of the magma here.

His eyes were absolutely black, save for the terrible burning brimstone light leaking from the slits of His pupils. Just the touch of His attention was like a slicing torch sliding past me, and certainly would have Burned anything below Commander right to a crisp at this range.

His gaze struck me, and my plume of icefire exploded backwards, rising up in feathers and plumed tails, ice cracking and falling to the stone behind me, where it joined that which had built up here already.

I bowed my head further and spread my Wings out just that touch more of deference to Him, making plain this was not a challenge. He could see I wasn’t expending any power to do that, so I wasn’t mocking Him or anything... although He might consider the other Emperors’ choice of an Envoy who could do this before Him to be mocking him.

His Dragonfear Aura was a crushing wall of psychic pressure when it hit, the Dragonstone I was kneeling upon trembling with the force of it, even the Elemental energies within the stone acknowledging their lord and master.

The sharp wedge of my Will and Aura of Valor sliced up into it and split it around me harmlessly, even as I marveled at its potency. At least a 45 to withstand it... Without the combination of Resolve, Bravery, and Iron Will boosting my Will Save against Fear with my Aura of Valor’s support, I would have been quivering as I sat there, the Dragonfear overwhelming both Dauntless as it preyed on genetic instincts, and the magic behind it canceling the similar Courage effect of my Heavenbound Aura.

Immunities could be overcome. It was why I still invested in Resistances after becoming immune to stuff!

He couldn’t sense me spending any power at all, and I was unaffected by His Dragonfear. His pride was hurt by the fact I wasn’t cowering before His awesome power and majesty like I should have been, nor was I cooking or even uncomfortable from His heat.

Poor Imperial Dragon arsehole...

“WHY ARE YOU HERE, LITTLE HUMAN?” He demanded of me, maybe sounding a little bit petulant and sour. Maybe.

“To His Imperial Majesty! Heavenly Fire Emperor is invited to a council of the True Emperors to discuss the Matter of the Humans being able to break the recent Great Flood that has been raised by Ice Emperor once more! However, they cannot break it without the permission of the True Emperors!

“This one was sent to notify the Emperors and gather their Tokens so that they may speak in Council without journeying elsewhere!”

His slitted eyes didn’t open any more, nor did He do more than make the slightest shuffling of His wings, which would spread as wide as Thunderbird’s were He to flex them. “AND THEY ACTUALLY INVITED ME?” He seemed gravely amused at the idea.

“To His Imperial Majesty! Auric Tyrant insisted on Your Majesty’s presence!”

“HRMMM...” The ancient Dinosaurial was no foe of His, even older and not overlapping in Elements, no competitor and uncaring and beyond the desires and ambitions of Dragons. Likewise, the others would not care a whit if Heavenly Fire showed up or not. Pride and vanity, contrariness against expectations, obligation for another standing up for Him vs. really not giving a damn shit about this matter... “WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THIS LITTLE COUNCIL, HUMAN HATCHLING? THIS DOES NOT CONCERN ME...”

“To His Imperial Majesty...” My voice dipped, and despite Himself, He shifted to hear better. “As long as Ice Emperor lives, His Imperial Majesty will never become a High Emperor. He has been taking steps to ensure that will not happen for longer than Humans have existed.”