Build Sequence Is Key

Time to Pray

Hezmet waited.

Finally Jason asked, "Hhmm, what are you waiting for?"

"I'm waiting for you to figure out your menu so we can find out how much time you have left. Figure it out." She said.

"Well, no matter how you look at it. There is nothing to figure out. I don't have anything to figure out."

She spat out a seed she had been sucking onto the ground, "Alright, then there is nothing else we can do. Let's pray."

"Pray? That is not the answer, ..., no I have no idea. Really pray?" Jason was shocked.

Hezmet slowly lowered herself down to her knees, "Yes, prayer, it takes a big man to admit his weakness and humble themselves. Prayer is good for the soul."

Disbelieving, but still thinking that this was just a game. It cost him nothing to follow her lead.

"Don't we need to inscribe a circle, draw a hexagram, or something? Maybe light some candles..."

She cut him off, "Maybe for some of those Gods of the humans. But for my God, none of that is necessary. Just lay your petition with real intent. A little faith doesn't hurt either."

Jason put his knees in the dust and bowed his head. He heard Hezmet saying something, but he didn't have words so he just...

A finger lifted his chin, "You don't need to speak aloud, Jason. I heard the wish of your heart."

Jason lifted his eyes up to behold an orc. His fighting leathers dusty from the desert and well used. Without being able to say anything, all he could do is look. The orc had some kind of charisma. Hezmet's eyes tracked her god closely devotion clear and unhesitatingly given.

"Hello my spear maiden. I see it is time for your long walk. But this young man seems to have come at the right time to give you one last task." The orc God tucked a wisp of white hair back behind her ear lovingly.

Bursting out into tears, Hezmet cried, "I do long for my eternal rest. But, I am also willing to continue for a little longer with this youngling."

"I appreciate your sacrifice. Know that I have witnessed."

Fat tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but the sobs quickly stopped after that.

The God walked over to the nest and looked down on the eggs.

Not knowing what to do Jason stood there confused until Hezmet shooed him over to stand by the God's side.

"So much potential." The orc God stated regret in his voice.

"Can't you bond with them?" Jason asked as humbly as he could. Stunned that he could stand next to a God seemingly as equals.

"I could, but I am not a greedy God. Not like Azeroth's bond mate. Having a dragon ended up in his death. No. This task falls to you." He said the words with finality and Jason not only heard the words, but also the power, the weight of them. He had never known that simple words could have weight before.

"But I can't bond anymore, Lord. I can only bond with the one."

"Oh, you can call me Olto. No need for the ceremony." Olto frowned before continuing, "Azeroth gave you this burden. No one else can take it for you."

"But how? How can I save them? Please, hmm, Olto, please I would do anything to save them." Jason spoke the words before he realized what he was saying. But as he said then he knew, he would do anything for the dragonets.

"Then it is settled. You will bond with them." Olto smiled and took a step back clapping his hands together several times as if wiping them of the situation.

Jason panicked, "But how, the system won't let me."

"Oh, the system is only a system. It has arbitrarily rules about how much this or that. Here, let me wipe it away." Olto waved again, this time as if pushing something that had been in front of Jason away, "There it is done."

"Oh." Again Jason was dumb struck.

"Go ahead touch each one, or as many as you can before you faint. I need a few minutes with Hezmet." When Jason didn't move Olto smiled, "It is okay, no need to stand on formalities. Go ahead." Then he turned and taking a few steps out his arm around Hezmet's shoulders.

For his part Jason looked back down at the eggs. Carefully he reached out and touched an egg right next to the one that had turned bright yellow. This new egg turned dark brown and Jason felt a sourceless pain. Sharp it made him gasp at the sudden uniqueness of the wound. He heard a ping as if a text box should be popping, but no text box appeared. Maybe it was disabled, too. He touched another egg and it turned a dark blue. The pain and the ping happened again and this time Jason noticed that they occurred simultaneously.

Smiling now, Jason enthusiastically climbed the sharp obsidian rocks and then carefully took off his shoes. Toeing his way between the eggs he put his weight down onto the sands of the nest and felt the warmth welling up from below. It was a surprisingly welcoming and wonderful feeling.

Taking a deep breath he realized that Olto had given him a hint. He was going to eventually pass out from bonding so many at once. But he could already tell the pain from bonding was only hitting him a little as a time.

"Maybe I can bond with all of them if I can do it fast enough."

Quickly Jason knelt in the sand. Using both hands he bushes the tops of the eggs. Like a rainbow of colors the eggs reacted. Going quickly he efficiently swiped again and again. The pain became a constant while the pings turned into a staccato trill. Before he knew it he had finished. Surprised that he hadn't lost consciousnesses yet he turned around and his eyes blurring from the pain looked for eggs that he might have missed. Uncaring now if some of the eggs were overturned in his rush to check he struggled around the nest. He had actually missed quite a lot. At the point where he thought he had got them all he saw one more that for some reason seemed to have become forgot wedged between two rocks at the edge of the nest. Turning he went for it, but only partway there darkness came up to swallow him. Fighting off the feeling he took two steps and reached out for the egg. Touching it the eggs turned black as night and Jason thought he had burned it. Yet as he felt his mind darkening he saw that behind the black egg was another smaller egg, tucked up behind it. Reaching out for it Jason passed out. His last thought, failure.