Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 45. Eyes of Fire and Scorn

As soon as Sylvia’s magic touched Rick, the world burst into a rainbow of red and gold light. His stomach lurched as reality itself seemed to twist and compress, squeezing him through some invisible tunnel that defied all sense of direction.

He tried to scream, but nothing came out. His eyes watered because he was moving so fast, and for a scary moment, he thought his body might break apart from the pressure. It stopped just as suddenly as it started.

Rick fell to the ground, gasping for air and trying not to throw up. He could feel something cold and smooth against his hands, maybe ice, and the temperature had dropped so much that he could see his breath coming out in white puffs.

Sylvia’s voice, sounding like she was having fun, came from above him as she said, "I forgot to tell you that teleportation magic is confusing for people who aren’t used to it."

"You did better than most people would have. The last person I took threw up for ten minutes straight."

Rick groaned, "Give me a second and I might join him." He slowly got down on his knees. His vision was still blurry, but the world slowly came into focus.

What a world it was.

Rick was standing on a giant platform of ice that looked like it had been cut out of the top of a mountain. The air was thin and frigid, and every breath hurt his lungs.

The snow was gently swirling around him, but it wasn’t the weather or the height that caught his attention. It was the castle.

A building that went against the rules of architecture was rising in front of him. The whole palace had been carved right into the mountain, and giant pillars of red stone stuck out like the ribs of an old animal.

Gold veins ran through the rock, and they glowed with a warm light that was very different from the ice and snow. There were huge arched doorways that were at least fifty feet tall that led into the mountain’s depths. The sky above it all was full of red and gold lights that made everything look otherworldly.

Rick whispered, "Holy fucking shit," and his breath made clouds in the cold air.

"Welcome to Drakthar Citadel," Sylvia said, now standing next to him in her full human form.

Her red and gold hair blew in the wind, but she didn’t seem to mind the cold at all. "Home of the Dragon Court and my seat of power for the last eight hundred years."

"Few people have stood where you are now, Rick Rolland. Even fewer have made it out alive."

Rick rubbed his arms and said, "That’s comforting." He could already feel the cold coming through his clothes, and his fingers were starting to go numb.

Sylvia saw that he was uncomfortable and waved her hand. Rick felt a warmth spread through his body right away, as if someone had wrapped him in an invisible blanket. It was a strange but welcome feeling that pushed back the biting cold enough for him to think clearly again.

She said with a smirk, "Can’t have you freezing to death before the trials even start. That would be bad for both of us."

Rick saw something move before he could answer. Figures started to come out of the palace’s giant doors. At first, he thought they were people, but as they got closer, it became clear that they were not people at all.

They looked like people, but they were really dragons. And there were dozens of them, and they looked like they were anywhere from teenagers to ancient people.

The colors of their eyes were amber, crimson, emerald, and sapphire, and they glowed with inner fire. Some had horns that curved out from their temples, some had scales on their arms and necks, and a few had tails that swished behind them as they walked.

Rick’s hair stood up on end even though Sylvia’s warming spell was working on him. And they were all looking at him with looks that ranged from curiosity to outright anger.

"Is this the mortal who courted our queen?" one of them asked.

He was a tall man with red scales covering half of his face and golden eyes that burned with anger. "He seems weak... How did something like this live through an Ancient Black Dragon?"

"Probably luck," another voice said, this one from a woman with silver hair and ice-blue dragon eyes. "Or the queen’s meddling. I heard she got there just in time to save him from death."

"That’s not totally right from the source, Rhyssa," said a third dragon, an older male with white scales on his temples. "The reports say he fought bravely and even hit a few times before the High Priestess stepped in. At least that shows the bravery of who he really is."

The red-scaled dragon said, "Courage means nothing without strength."

"She needs a partner who can stand next to her as an equal, not a weak person who needs to be protected all the time. This is a slap in the face to all dragons."

Rick’s fists tightened. He thought there would be resistance, but hearing people talk about him like he wasn’t even there, like he was some kind of broken goods, made him very angry.

"That’s enough, Drakor." Sylvia’s voice cut through the noise like a knife, and all the dragons stopped talking right away.

There was no doubt in her voice that she was in charge. It was the kind of command that came from years of unquestioned rule.

"I don’t want my guest to be insulted as soon as he gets here."

"I asked Rick Rolland to come, and he did. He has three weeks to prove himself worthy by passing the tests, and you will treat him with the respect that any possible mate of your queen deserves until those trials are over."

The dragons bowed their heads in agreement, but Rick could still feel the anger coming from a lot of them. The warrior with red scales, Drakor, looked especially ready to kill.

"Of course, my queen," Drakor said through clenched teeth. "We live to do what you want."

Sylvia turned to Rick, and her face softened a little. "Come. I’ll show you to your room before the challenges of tomorrow, you need to get some sleep."

She started walking toward the palace entrance, and Rick hurried to catch up, feeling the eyes of dozens of dragons boring into his back. As soon as they left, he could hear whispers starting up again. They were full of doubt, speculation, and barely hidden scorn.

Rick said quietly once they were inside the palace, "Oh wow, those eyes... I can really tell that they fucking hate me."

Sylvia said, "They don’t know you."

"Like I said, Rick, dragons are proud of who we are."

"For thousands of years, we’ve been building our society, our traditions, and our strength. They see you as an unknown factor, a mortal who somehow caught their queen’s attention without showing any of the power that dragons respect."

"They think you’re weak until you show them you’re not."

"And what if I can’t prove it?"

"Then you’ll fail the tests, and they’ll be right about you being a fraud." Sylvia looked at him. "But I don’t think you’ll fail."

"If you were fragile, you wouldn’t have lived this long, especially after the ancient black dragon fight. Even though most dragons are compelling, they don’t have what you do."

"What is that?"

"The ability to really connect with other people. To get people to be loyal not by being scared or in charge, but by trusting and caring for them." She stopped in front of a giant set of doors with detailed carvings of dragons on them. "Rick, that’s a rare gift."

"Don’t think less of it just because you can’t measure its strength."