A miracle

The Andorian saint returns your gaze, eyes steady. She doesn't look a day over 20, a young woman in the flower of her life. If anything, her long, flowing blonde hair, immaculate skin, and pristine armor don't look like they've ever seen real combat. Only her eyes betray her true history. Hers is the gaze of a hardened warrior, a killer who has taken countless lives on battlefields too numerous to remember, who has known too much loss and grief and rage for any normal soul to bear.

"I am prepared to serve, my lord," Tiana says.

"I know," you reply, keeping your face neutral. "And you will. But first, please tell us all what led a saint of Andea's church to pray to me?"

Tiana's face falls, ever so slightly. "As the dragon said, I am Tiana, one of Andea's seven sword saints. I am a general in her armies and a guide for her worshippers." Her fists clench. She takes a deep breath, looks away from you, and continues. "And I am a failure. Two dragonfalls ago, I failed to protect a caravan of pilgrims. That was when Baalphazran arrived."

A shudder of revulsion goes through the entire assembly at the name. Of course it does, you think. The fourth Greater Dragon is known and feared throughout the world, as he should be. But not for long.

"We were nearby, and tried to get as far as we could as soon as we saw him land. But of course we weren't fast enough." Her voice starts to hitch, then goes into a flat, emotionless monotone. "He - I can't describe what he did to them. He took his time, went one by one. And he made me watch the entire thing. He didn't even restrain me or take my weapons, he let me try to fight him as he worked. And I couldn't do a thing, not even put the last of my charges out of their misery."

She locks her eyes on yours again.

"Bring them back," she says. "You can do whatever you want to me, put me through everything he did to them and worse. But let them have the lives that were taken from them."

You nod. "I will resurrect your pilgrims."

Tiana slumps, the tension finally leaving her body as she lets the mask fall. "Thank, you, my lord dragon," she says, tears starting to flow. "This is all that I've -"

"But first, my price," you add, cutting her off. You can feel the tension slam back into her even from a distance as her shoulders tighten and she schools her expression. "My price is threefold. First, I claim your fealty. Yours and theirs. You will forsake Andea, the false light who has thanked you for your service by leaving you to relive the worst night of your life for two thousand years. You pledge yourselves to me. Your pilgrims will become my tribe, my subjects, and if the need arises, my soldiers." Tiana nods solemnly. Clearly, this was within what she'd expected when she made her **** plea on your star.

"Second, I claim your body, to use however I please." The blonde grimaces, but nods again. Again, this could hardly have come as a surprise. You have no intention of subjecting her to the tortures you assume she's imagining, but you decide to let your last demand speak to that.

"Third, I claim your skills." She looks up at that, unable to keep the surprise completely off her face. "You are an exceptional warrior, but more than that, you are a gifted strategist and tactician. You will serve as my general, commanding my armies and advising me as we carry out my conquests."

She blinks. Twice. Then she finishes processing what she just heard, and as the realization that she is safe washes over her, she collapses to her knees. "Thank you," she says, her voice choked off. She has no tears left to shed, even in relief, but even without magic you can feel the strength of the emotion overwhelming her. "Thank you. Lord dragon. My lord." The words come out odd, as though she's trying to wrap her mind around what it means for her to say them, but she repeats. "My lord dragon. I am yours."

You smile beatifically. The terms of the wish would have granted you her loyalty regardless of how she felt about the matter, but to see her submit so completely of her own will - well, you did mean what you said earlier about the benefits of cooperation, after all. You suppose you've secured the genuine devotion of your most powerful asset right out of the gate.

"Then rise," you say, "and accept this mark." You place your hand on her head, and feel your magic flow into her. You inscribe a small rune in the center of her forehead - you'll move it later, but for now, it's best if she announces to the world that she serves a new master.

Her eyes widen as she hears your next words spoken directly into her mind.

<And now for my end of the bargain.>

Your eyes begin to glow. Not with the purple light of your own magic, but the pure blazing red of the ur-dragon's power. Ethereal wisps of red and white surround you. The wisps expand, join together, start to swirl around you. Faster and faster they go, until the entire impact site is flickering in the glow and you are encased in a shell of the pure fire of creation. Then, all at once, the swirling stops, and the wisps shoot off into the jungle around your perimeter.

For a moment, the night is still again. Then you hear the first voices. "Saint Tiana?" calls an old man from the darkness. "Where are you? Where are we?! What's going on?"

More voices from the jungle. Tiana stands dumbstruck, scarcely daring to believe that after all this time her nightmare might be coming to an end.

You smile at her. "Go to them," you tell her. "Explain the situation, and do what you need to do. You've waited long enough."

To your surprise, the first thing she does is rush towards you, sweeping you into a bear hug and burying her face in your chest. "Thank you, my lord," she says again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

It speaks to her incredible strength that even you are starting to feel the crush from the **** of her embrace. You put your arms around her and hold her, let her have her moment, then whisper in her ear, "What are you still doing with me? You have some people to take care of."

That does the trick. She bolts off into the jungle, running free for the first time in millennia, and you hear the elation in her voice as she cries out "Werner! Sofia! Everybody! I'm here! You're safe! We're all safe!"