{"sf1_id":1953003,"sf2_id":"rna7PBNe","title":"6.3 - To Ponder the Shadow","author":"AlextheCyber","words":1821,"posted_at":"2023-02-11T16:51:00.000Z","tags":["Dragon","Dragoness","Fantasy","Story Series"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1953003-6-3-to-ponder-the-shadow","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rna7PBNe","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=1953003\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#8 of Darzarath\n\n[Part of a contiguous series]\nKnowledge can be power, but only if you have the right knowledge. Darzarath collected knowledge for eons, so she must have the right knowledge to wield great power, right?","content":"Darzarath sat still in front of the screen. Her office was perfectly in the dark safe for the\u0026nbsp;flickering glow of the images on the screen.\n\nThe extensive display covered a surface that would equal that of a small cinema\u0026nbsp;theatre for a human, but for her it was little more than a comfortably sized screen.\u0026nbsp;In front of her, the screen showed pictures that filled her with anxiety and anticipation.\u0026nbsp;Technical drawings and diagrams for the most part, undecipherable to anyone but a\u0026nbsp;keen technical eye. To her they meant a possible hope.\u0026nbsp;The door chimed, and before Darzarath could answer it opened a sliver, letting in a\u0026nbsp;faint light in the room. She quickly flicked a claw on the enormous dragon-sized keyboard in\u0026nbsp;front of her and the screen shut off, and the lights in the room turned on.\n\nAs quickly as the door opened, it soon closed as a human figure walked in.\n\n\"Lady Darzarath, is everything okay?\" The human asked as she approached the\u0026nbsp;dragon. \"You've been shut in here all day long.\"\n\n\"Yes, Martifia. I'm fine.\" Darzarath sighed. She looked down to the young woman that\u0026nbsp;was her assistant.\n\n\"'Fine' is a relative statement.\" Martifia said as she sat on a chair in front of what was\u0026nbsp;the dragon's desk. \"You've been nervous ever since you came back from your... day off.\u0026nbsp;Something happened, something that distraught you, but you're not keen on spilling it.\"\n\n\"Sometimes I regret allowing you to finish your psychology courses.\" Darzarath sighed.\u0026nbsp;\"Yes, something happened. Nothing directly bad, no one got hurt, but... It was not the\u0026nbsp;best outcome.\"\n\nDarzarath looked closely at Martifia. She'd been her trusted assistant for a few years\u0026nbsp;now, and she had come to trust the human as much as the human trusted the dragon. Always\u0026nbsp;looking dashing, today Martifia was wearing a dark blue dress, with a small red ruby jewel on\u0026nbsp;her collar. An unusually expensive chocie of attire for a normal work day, Darzarath noted.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"The Council wants access to my Library. I cannot do that in good conscience, knowing\u0026nbsp;what I know of their intentions.\" Darzarath explained. \"They think I befriended mortals for the\u0026nbsp;sole purpose of studying them. To determine their weaknesses. To understand how to destroy\u0026nbsp;them.\"\n\nMartifia listened in silence to the dragon's words. In spite of her self control, she could\u0026nbsp;not keep herself from being uncomfortable at those last words, but Darzarath was not finished yet.\n\n\"They believe I've built weapons to destroy mortals. To... 'purge' the world of what they\u0026nbsp;consider vermin.\" Darzarath continued, growling at the mention of how her kind considered\u0026nbsp;mortals. \"The problem? Yes, I did build weapons, but not to destroy mortals. But to kill\u0026nbsp;dragons.\"\n\nMartifia's head perked up at that reveal.\n\n\"My Library by itself contains nothing but raw, basic technical concepts. They think they\u0026nbsp;will find all they need in it. But they'll be lacking the very thing they claim to have over\u0026nbsp;mortals.\"\n\n\"Which is?\" Martifia asked. \"What would they lack?\"\n\n\"Vision.\" Darzarath said. \"They lack the vision to fully understand how smaller elements\u0026nbsp;make for a larger entity. It is this lack of vision that drives them to consider your kind nothing\u0026nbsp;short of a pest. They consider all humans alike, with no distinction. Similarly, humans at large\u0026nbsp;consider all dragons as nothing more than cruel and animal brutes driven by greed. In truth,\u0026nbsp;both sides are wrong, and both sides lack the vision needed to determine their victory or\u0026nbsp;supremacy.\"\n\n\"Then... why are you so worried about them accessing the library?\" Martifia asked.\n\n\"Because even though they lack vision, they are far from stupid. Some of them can\u0026nbsp;well outsmart me if they had reason to. The reason why we never crossed claws is because I\u0026nbsp;have mastery of what they could never understand. They need me, just like they need my\u0026nbsp;library if they want to find a way to destroy mortals.\" Darzarath explained. \"I fear for what\u0026nbsp;lengths they are going to do to obtain what they want. I know that they've done highly\u0026nbsp;despicable things in the past for lesser motives. I do not wish to witness first hand what would\u0026nbsp;they do if they decided that my Library and me were their best options.\"\n\n\"I... I don't know what to say.\" Martifia breathed. She was speechless in light of such\u0026nbsp;revelations.\n\n\"You needn't say anything.\" Darzarath said as she stood up.\n\nShe walked around the desk to reach closer to Martifia. She had just confided in\u0026nbsp;Martifia something that only very few of the most powerful dragons in the world knew. The\u0026nbsp;dragon appreciated that the young woman was level headed enough to not lose her cool to\u0026nbsp;this piece of information, but she was clearly shaken.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Martifia, I know that this is a lot to take in, but I would be grateful if you kept this to\u0026nbsp;yourself.\" Darzarath said as she laid down next to Martifia, or at least as close as she could\u0026nbsp;given her size. \"I know that the Council has eyes and ears where they matter, and at this point\u0026nbsp;I can no longer afford to be as lax as I have been before in regards to matters of this\u0026nbsp;importance.\"\n\n\"Yes. I... I understand.\" Martifia said.\n\n\"Good. Good.\" Darzarath said, nodding. She looked up to the large digital clock on the\u0026nbsp;far wall. It was late afternoon, and the sun would soon set. \"It is getting late, now. You should\u0026nbsp;take leave for tonight.\"\n\n\"I... Yes, absolutely. I already had plans for the evening, but I just didn't imagine that\u0026nbsp;the day would take such an abrupt turn.\"\n\n\"Oh, so that's what's the fancy dress is for.\" The dragon taunted.\n\nMartifia tried to look straight into Darzarath's eyes in a pretense of offense, but she\u0026nbsp;couldn't hold the eye contact for long as she started blushing. Darzarath let a slight chuckle\u0026nbsp;escape, which quite unsubtly made the room vibrate just enough to make Martifia feel as if\u0026nbsp;some heavy hammer was being swung against the ground. She never got quite used at\u0026nbsp;witnessing such a large creature expressing emotions so visibly.\n\n\"Very well, enjoy your evening.\" Darzarath said. \"You know where to find me should the\u0026nbsp;need arise.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Lady Darzarath.\" The woman said as she got up.\n\nAfter Martifia left, Darzarath returned to her computer. Once again she looked through\u0026nbsp;her files, every bit as apprehensive as she was earlier. Talking with Martifia soothed her heart,\u0026nbsp;but her mind maintained its turmoil.\u0026nbsp;She went deeper into her files. Past the newer and more sophisticated technological\u0026nbsp;patents, past the mass produced and common use electronics, beneath layers of security that\u0026nbsp;she herself put in place to ensure their safety, laid more important files. One of the first things\u0026nbsp;she did after the mortals invented a way to transfer material documents into digital format,\u0026nbsp;was to scan and preserve her oldest notes into her company's safest servers. Not just any\u0026nbsp;kind of notes. Alchemy, study of ley lines, astronomical observations and studies to link\u0026nbsp;elemental powers to celestial bodies, arcane infusion of metals and crystals, and much more.\u0026nbsp;Darzarath had kept all of that, safe from the decay of time and the short retention of\u0026nbsp;mortal history. She had an endgame in mind, and the Council wanted in on her plans.\n\nOther dragons discounted her inability to harness most types of magic and magic schools and\u0026nbsp;disciplines as a consequence from her lack of study, but it couldn't be farther from truth. She\u0026nbsp;did study magic, probably more than some of those that called her ignorant on the matter, but\u0026nbsp;because she just couldn't use such magic, she could never prove her words and her worth.\u0026nbsp;Her plans were ambitious. This world after all could only offer her so much, that there\u0026nbsp;had to be something else, something more beyond this world. And she found with astronomy.\u0026nbsp;One time, she had come to make acquaintance with a mortal astronomer, a noble\u0026nbsp;whose wealth, wits and wisdom afforded him the leisure to gaze at the night sky with large\u0026nbsp;telescope that he had specifically commissioned for the purpose. Curious about the\u0026nbsp;contraption, Darzarath set out to establish a connection with the noble. The young man was\u0026nbsp;very amused that a dragon, of all beings, would come to him as a student. They spent many\u0026nbsp;years together, and as they did so Darzarath learned of other worlds beyond the one she was\u0026nbsp;born.\n\n\"The wonders of the powers of nature stretch beyond our sky and our horizons.\" He\u0026nbsp;had told her. \"Countless worlds of incalculable complexity, at distances such that no man alive would ever see them with their own eyes if it weren't thanks to a contraption born of our\u0026nbsp;curiosity.\"\n\n\"Do you think that those worlds are anything close to ours?\" She had asked.\n\n\"Perhaps, perhaps not.\" He said with shrug. \"Our eyes can only let us in on so much\u0026nbsp;information. To find out what those worlds host, one can only go there and witness for\u0026nbsp;themselves. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be one such witness, or you'll encounter\u0026nbsp;someone who was such person.\"\n\n\"You sure are a dreamer, aren't you?\" She laughed. \"Nothing made by man or dragon,\u0026nbsp;or elf, or orc can reach beyond the highest clouds. The attempt alone to construct such a\u0026nbsp;thing is absolute folly!\"\n\n\"Ha! Mayhap you may be right.\" He responded. \"I might indeed be losing sight of what\u0026nbsp;us mortals can or cannot do. One can challenge nature so far after all...\"\n\nShe had to eat her words back however, as not even half millenias later a mortal nation\u0026nbsp;had managed to send someone beyond the highest clouds and back. An astronaut. And then\u0026nbsp;they did it again, and again, and again, and every time it happened, she was dumbfounded\u0026nbsp;that the mortals had managed to progress so much in so little time. Sure, she did have her\u0026nbsp;part in making it happen since she did invent some of the technologies that space program\u0026nbsp;used, and still uses to this day, but she had never though that her old friend's words would\u0026nbsp;come so close to come true.\n\nHer screen was now showing a sheet of her old notes overlapped with a modern\u0026nbsp;photograph. It was a planet, part of this world's solar system. It was cold, dark, but it seemed\u0026nbsp;to have an atmosphere nonetheless. She brought up its most recent data. Compared to that\u0026nbsp;modern data, her old notes were rather spot on, if lacking in detail all the same. Not too big,\u0026nbsp;no moons, no particularly visible surface features, and from what little light it received it\u0026nbsp;seemed to have a blueish-white color similar to clear ice. She could never tell if it was actually\u0026nbsp;ice or not, but the recently acquired scans from several years of probe missions said that it\u0026nbsp;could well be dry ice mist in the atmosphere. She shivered at the thought of flying in that, but\u0026nbsp;she wanted to do that anyway.\n\nShe looked at the clock on the far wall. It was midnight. She had just spent hours\u0026nbsp;reminiscing while browsing the scans of her old notes. Typical, but unnecessary, she noted.\u0026nbsp;Darzarath flicked her claw on the keyboard again, this time shutting off the computer\u0026nbsp;directly.\n\nTomorrow she would continue with her browsing, but for tonight she needed to collect\u0026nbsp;her thoughts and let herself afford the rest that she likely won't have much of in the coming\u0026nbsp;times.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Darzarath","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1952893-6-2-to-warn-the-shadow.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1953050-6-4-to-behold-the-shadow.json"}}