The air inside the treasure vault shifted.
It wasn't the lazy stir of gold coins settling or the faint hum of cold that leaked from the dragon's very breath—it was sharper, alive, a vibration that turned the cavern into a drum.
Arlo felt it first as a prickling in his ears, then as pressure, like someone was folding the air around him.
The dragon queen's vast head tilted, her white-scaled maw twitching into something between irritation and disdain.
Her voice—icy, regal, and unamused—thundered directly inside his skull.
"I told them not to disturb me."
Arlo blinked up at her, still flat against the gold where she had pinned him.
'Them? Who the hell is "them"?'
The vault groaned as though reality itself obeyed her complaint.
A ripple spread outward in the center of the chamber, bending light, warping air.
Gold coins rattled and slid toward the distortion, clinking in discordant chorus until, with a low whoomph, the space tore open.
From the tear stepped a woman.
She was encased in silver-and-white armor that caught the glow of the treasure hoard like liquid fire.
Her helm was under one arm, revealing a face both noble and severe, framed by hair as dark as midnight.
Every step of hers was deliberate, boots sinking slightly into the gold before she lowered herself to one knee.
"My Queen," she intoned, voice calm but reverent.
Meanwhile Arlo almost forgot how to breathe. 'Okay... I guess those features description from those cheesy fantasy authors weren't exaggeration after all.'
She lifted her head, and for a fraction of a moment, her gaze fell on him.
Her pupils narrowed. Surprise flickered—just barely—but enough that Arlo felt like a bug under glass.
The Queen's voice rolled like thunder. "What is it now?"
The armored woman pressed a fist to her chest. "My Lady, the Council requests your presence. Matters of state cannot be delayed further."
A low rumble echoed from the dragon's throat.
Coins slid off her rising chest. "I have not been awake a single minute, and already those old fossils circle." Her great eyes narrowed, then drifted back toward Arlo.
He stiffened. 'Oh no. Don't. Don't look at me. Look at your knight. I'm just a wallflower. A harmless—very squishable—wallflower.'
But a slow smile crept across her muzzle, fangs catching faint light. "Fine. Let us… entertain them."
Then it began.
The massive body that filled half the vault rippled with light.
Scale by scale, her form unraveled into drifting shards of frost.
Her wings collapsed inward, bones groaning, then folding into nothing.
The cavern filled with a glare so blinding Arlo shielded his eyes.
When the radiance dimmed, standing amid the mountain of gold was no beast—no, but a woman.
Tall, regal, terrifyingly beautiful.
Hair like spun ice, eyes of glacial fire, a figure draped in flowing robes that shimmered with frost.
Her presence burned into the vault stronger than the dragon's bulk had.
Arlo clutched his chest. 'Nope. Nope. Heart.exe has stopped working. How does one even achieve this level of looks.'
She turned to him, tilting her head, lips curving into a smile that was too sharp to be kind. A smile that said: You are mine already.
His soul screamed.
The knight cleared her throat, cautious. "My Lady… the human?"
"He will be joining us," She said instantly.
Arlo's brain did a full reboot.
'Joining them? Joining them WHERE? No, no, no, I'm not dressed for this, I'm not even alive for this—'
His survival instincts roared.
His mind immediately began working overtime coming up with all sorts of nonsense.
"H-hey! Wait! You can't just drag me off!" Arlo scrambled upright, still trembling from the aura crushing his bones. He jabbed a desperate finger at the knight. "You! Yeah, you! Just so you know, I'm—uh—an envoy! Special envoy! Top secret mission! Straight from, uh, the heavens! Classified business! You don't wanna mess with me, lady!"
The knight stared at him. Not even a blink.
The Queen arched a pale brow. "…Envoy?"
"Damn right!" Arlo puffed his chest, though his knees were still shaking. "Touch me and divine lightning will smite your—"
With a flick of her finger, invisible force swatted him aside. He crashed into a heap of gold coins, face-first, sending a cascade of treasure raining down.
The knight's lips twitched. Just slightly. Almost a laugh.
Arlo's head popped up, hair full of coins, spitting one out.
He glanced sideways at the glowing system panel hovering in his vision.
He still didn't know what it did, but he didn't have time to start analyzing panels.
'Alright, Innovator System. Time to shine. Give me something, anything—smoke bomb, flashbang, ninja vanish, I don't care!'
A cheerful ding.
[ Innovation Failed. Materials Not Detected. ]
"…Son of a—"
"Are you done?" The Queen's voice slid across his mind, half amusement, half promise of pain.
Arlo threw his hands up. "Y-yeah, yeah! I am, was just stretching."
The knight's shoulders shook once before she coughed politely into her gauntlet.
The Queen swept past them toward the portal, robes trailing frost across the gold. "Then follow. Both of you."
Arlo staggered to his feet, muttering under his breath. "Great. Just great. First day in fantasy land and I'm about to get executed in a medieval courtroom. Perfect."
The knight gave him a sidelong glance, lips curved just barely upward. He glared. "What? You think this is funny?"
"Yes," she said flatly, turning away.
Arlo groaned and dragged himself after them, into the swirling portal that smelled faintly of ozone and frost.
And as the vault collapsed behind them into silence, Arlo realized with sinking certainty that the only thing worse than being trapped with a dragon queen in her hoard… was being dragged into her politics.