The Ballad Of A Semi-Benevolent Dragon

Chapter 30: The Dragon Knows Magic

Having spoken to Dreamsong, Doomwing was eager to find something else to occupy himself, lest he dwell on their meeting more than was wise. His mind was perhaps his greatest asset, but over-analysis of what was, ultimately, a mostly emotional matter would not do him any good. Emotions were not like spells or runes. They did not adhere to strict sets of rules or laws. He would simply have to wait and see.

But what to work on?

Two projects came to mind.

The first was communication. His mirror was an incredibly powerful device, and its communicative abilities were unmatched. However, it was not something he could simply lug around, and he could hardly mass produce it either. What he needed was something that could be carried around easily and which could be shared with the various leaders and individuals he might wish to speak to on a regular basis.

Yes, he could use his own magic to contact them, but if he wanted his empire to function properly, then his subordinates needed a way to contact him. One possibility was to provide them with single-use spell crystals that contained communication spells. With his raw power and alchemy, it would not be hard to produce vast quantities of those. However, the sheer wastefulness of the approach rankled him.

What he wanted was something that could be used repeatedly without having to be replaced. Ideally, he would never have to replace it. Moreover, it had to be operable by people with miniscule reserves of magic. It also had to be able to reach across long distances and provide reliable audio-visual communication.

With all those constraints in mind, the solution was actually fairly obvious. He needed to craft spell-stones, similar to those used by the dwarves of the Third Age, except instead of containing spells to manipulate gravity and generate force, they would have to hold communication spells. Since he could not rely on his subordinates to generate the magic required themselves, there needed to be a system in place to allow the spell-stones to absorb ambient magic from their surroundings.

It would also be much better if the communication-stones as he had decided to call them were small enough to be transported by a human or dwarf while still being durable enough to withstand rough treatment. Yes, he could easily shove a large communication-stone in a tower somewhere, but what would his subordinates do if they needed to show him something away from the tower?

A spell-stone was essentially an alchemical construct that could 'crystallise' spells. These crystallised spells could then be operated by running magic through the spell-stone. Creating a spell-stone for a sky ship was an arduous affair that required multiple dwarf craftsmen working in tandem, often for days or even weeks a time, depending on the size and power of the spell-stone.

Doomwing had far more magic than any dwarf and had far better control of his too. He was also far better versed in alchemy than the dwarves of the Third Age. The issue was that communication spells were not only more delicate than the spells used by sky ships to fly but they were also incredibly power hungry, depending on how far they needed to reach and what sort of communication was involved.

The spell-stones used in sky ships were simply not suitable for what he had in mind. To make the communication-stones smaller, the material had to be capable of handling much greater densities of magic, so he could pack in all of the various communication spells required. Moreover, the material would also have to be able to withstand multiple runes to enhance its durability and allow it to absorb ambient magic. Due to the lack of volume and surface area, the communication-sphere could not operate like the sails of a sky ship. Instead of merely absorbing ambient magic that passed through it, it would have to actively draw in ambient magic from its surroundings.

Alchemy was renowned for its use of complicated and elaborate rituals, along with exotic and rare ingredients. However, those were not necessarily required. At its heart, alchemy was about the transmutation and transformation of matter and energy. Those rituals and ingredients allowed an alchemist to shift the hefty burden of transmutation and transformation from themselves to the rituals and ingredients. More elaborate rituals and more exotic ingredients would allow even a relatively weak alchemist to perform impressive feats of transmutation and transformation.

Doomwing was a primordial dragon. Power was not an issue. Rather than rely on rituals and ingredients, he could exert his great power and mastery of magic to perform transmutation and transformation directly. The drain had the potential to be enormous, but he was really only limited by his understanding of the rules that governed alchemy and he had millennia's worth of study and experience to draw upon when it came to those rules.

His first several attempts to create a communication-stone were failures. That was to be expected. He had never made one before, so creating a material that matched his requirements necessarily involved a bit of guess work. However, his fifth attempt resulted in a satisfactory communication-stone.

It was a cube of dull grey material that was roughly the same size as a human head. However, when it was activated, the material would turn transparent, revealing the intricate spell craft within as the communication-stone projected an illusion of its immediate surroundings while receiving an illusion from another communication-stone that showed that communication-stone's immediate surroundings.

A lesser dragon might have baulked at the visibility of the spell craft, but Doomwing did not care. Anyone with the skill to understand what they were seeing would have been able to divine the spell craft involved anyway. The most important part of the communication-stone was the material, and even another master alchemist would still have to break off a chunk of it to understand what it was and that would not be easy at all with the runes upon it.

The communication-stones operated in a straightforward manner. Each communication-stone could be 'connected' to other communication-stones. Once two communication-stones were connected, they could reach out to each other. Assuming the person being contacted accepted the contact, then the people using them could see and speak to each other. It was also possible to connect multiple communication-stones, allowing for a conference of sorts to be held.

He tested the first two by giving one to the earth elemental he'd summoned and then flying away from his volcano. There were no problems, even at great distances, and the communication-stones showed no signs of damage or failure. Their ability to absorb ambient magic was also working as intended, and they did not burn through the magic they absorbed too quickly. In his territory, it was difficult to imagine them ever running out of magic although more judicious use might be required elsewhere.

He made more than a dozen other communication stones before stopping. That should be enough for the first batch, and he could easily make more now that he had experience with the process. It made him wonder why someone else hadn't done this earlier.

It was likely due to a combination of factors. He could easily imagine the unscrupulous using such items to plot against people. Since he was not a fool, he had ensured that he could listen in on what people were saying and even listen to past conversations. He would not allow these tools to be used against him.

In the past, long-range communication was usually reliant on individuals skilled in that sort of magic. It was extremely reliable, and there had always been enough such individuals for people to manage. There had been enough of them in Elerion's kingdom that every major settlement had several, with even small towns often having at least one. Combined with aerial couriers and short-range communication magic, there had been no pressing need for things like communication-stones.

Materials were another issue. The material that Doomwing had made for his communication-stones was not something that just any alchemist could have produced, nor was it something that occurred naturally. Naturally occurring materials were much better suited to other applications, and even those that could be produced using more typical alchemy were not ideal for the delicate yet powerful spell craft of long-range communication magic.

Dragon alchemists were ideally suited to making it, but most dragons who practiced alchemy used it to craft other kinds of artifacts or to make treasure. If they wanted to speak to someone, they had the raw power to rely on normal communication magic. It didn't help that dragons who focused on alchemy tended to be reclusive and weird. He, of course, was a rare exception, regardless of what Marcus might think.

And speaking of Marcus he might need his help for his second project.

Even if Doomwing could now communicate with his subordinates, that still left the matter of educating them. Casting magic through the communication-stones was not possible. What he needed was something similar to the construct he was using to teach Antaria. However, as useful as that construct was, it came with a serious downside he had to control it himself. Given his many talents, controlling his own body and the construct's at the same time was not especially hard. Unfortunately, the mental load of controlling additional constructs was closer to exponential than linear.

So what to do?

He wasn't about to do anything stupid like tear out part of his soul and shove it into a golem or something. He wasn't a lich, and there was a reason liches often went insane long before their phylacteries failed. The simplest answer was a doppelganger.

Unfortunately, most doppelganger were stupid. A typical earth doppelganger, for instance, could follow basic instructions, but it would almost certainly fail when confronted by any complex problem. They were only useful in battles as distractions or as a means of overwhelming the enemy via sheer numbers. Few dragons made use of them since they typically lacked the power to meaningfully impact a fight, and draconic sight could easily distinguish between a real opponent and an earth doppelganger.

Blood doppelgangers were different. They seemingly possessed the potential to have the same knowledge, skills, and intelligence as their creators but at the cost of requiring copious quantities of blood and far more power to create. Blood doppelgangers were also fleeting, seldom able to last as long as their less intelligent peers.

Although blood doppelgangers were not unique to vampires, vampires were, by far, the best at making them. Marcus's father the Fourth Catastrophe had been fiendishly good with them, and had used a small army of them to help manage his empire of undead. Unlike other vampires, his blood doppelgangers lasted far longer and demonstrated a number of incredibly interesting abilities, like being able to communicate with him, use higher-level magic and runes without much loss in power, and the ability to maintain themselves by consuming magic and blood.

They had even been able to serve as vessels for the Fourth Catastrophe, allowing him to reincarnate into them in the event of his destruction. Unfortunately for the vampire, Dawnscale had been a celestial dragon, and her astral sight had allowed her to use that connection to attack the Fourth Catastrophe and his blood doppelgangers simultaneously.

Doomwing had been interested in learning how he had created those blood doppelgangers, but the Fourth Catastrophe had taken his secrets to the grave and Doomwing had been forced to destroy the vampiric homelands to prevent any further issues from arising. However, there was someone who knew a lot about blood doppelgangers, someone who might even be considered an expert in them, and there weren't any world-threatening crises getting in the way of a proper discussion

When Doomwing contacted Marcus, the vampire was fending off Faustina.

"We are not attacking Commodus just because he has the heart of an ancient sphinx."

The female vampire clung onto his leg as he tried to escape. Quintus was eyeing a chair contemplatively, seemingly wondering if he shout hit her with it. Ivar, meanwhile, was just nursing a bowl of hot soup. "Do you know what I could do with that? Besides, he's evil. We'd be doing the world a favour and I'd get the sphinx heart."

"And what do you intend to do with that?" Doomwing asked.

Marcus gave him a tired smile. No doubt, Faustina had been haranguing him about the sphinx heart for some time. "Please, tell me you're not calling because something awful is headed my way."

Doomwing paused. Frostfang would likely be headed Marcus's way soon, if only to speak with him and make clear his position. Did that count as awful? Probably not. "No."

"What was that pause?" Marcus asked. "You had to stop and think! What's headed my way?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. Just remain calm if Frostfang shows up. I have spoken to him. You and your forces need not worry about him, but he will likely wish to discuss a few matters with you. Rest assured, you will be fine if you do nothing foolish."

"" Marcus sighed. "Thanks. I appreciate it. But if you're calling about that?"

Doomwing glanced at the other people in the room. "It pertains to some of your father's research."

"I see." Marcus straightened and then pried Faustina off his leg. "Faustina, Commodus is a bastard, and we'll probably have to kill him later. But right now, he is fighting a few of our other enemies. We'll let them bleed each other out and then swoop in once they're done weakening each other."

"And the sphinx heart?" Faustina asked, pouting. "What if something happens to it?"

"If it's as valuable as you say, I doubt anyone would destroy it. We'll just take it from whoever has it. But what does it even do?"

Doomwing chose to answer before Faustina could slip into another rant, as she was prone to do. "A sphinx's heart can be used to craft items with power information-gathering or information-revealing properties. Given Faustina's proclivities, I suspect she wants to make an item that can reveal the properties and origins of other objects. She likely already has several such items, but there are often strict limitations on what sorts of objects they can analyse. If you were to use one of those on me, you would receive no information whatsoever, due to my immense power and resistance to magic. An ancient sphinx's heart could be used to make a much stronger item, one capable of analysing much rarer and more powerful objects, as well as providing much more detailed and useful information."

"Would something like that work on you?" Faustina asked.

"No. I am beyond such things," Doomwing replied. It wasn't arrogance. It was fact. Analysis magic could be incredibly useful in battle, so Doomwing maintained multiple protection spells against it, in addition to his own natural resistance. "But it would almost certainly prove useful against other ancient vampires, even if they tried to conceal information using magic."

"Hmm" Marcus pursed his lips. "You know, maybe we will attack Commodus. That does sound quite useful."

"See?" Faustina said. "And I can use it for my research too." She glanced at Doomwing. "I don't suppose you have any items like that, do you?"

"Only a dozen or so. I prefer to use my magic since it's more powerful."

"" Faustina glared. "I hate you, you know that, right? How can you can have stuff like that and just keep it in your hoard?"

"I either found it, made it, or won it in battle. I decide where it goes, and it goes in my hoard." Doomwing nodded at Marcus. "About your father's research?"

"All right." Marcus motioned at the door. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask the rest of you to leave. This is a private matter."

"I heard someone say research," Faustina said, batting her eyelashes at Marcus. "I don't suppose that I could listen in?"

"No," Marcus said. "Not this time." He winced. "Trust me. This isn't the kind of research you or the world should know about."

"Fine. Fine." Faustina flounced toward the door. "You don't have to be so grumpy." She made a face. "It's not alchemical research, is it?"

"No. Blood magic." Marcus shooed them toward the door. "If you want us to attack Commodus, then you need to gather intel. Go send some bats or something to scout out his territory."

When they had all left, Marcus used a few runes to ensure that they were truly in private. "So you want to know about my father's research? What brought this on?"

Doomwing explained his idea.

"I see you're right. Blood doppelgangers might be able to help you, but not the normal ones."

"Oh?" Doomwing asked.

"A normal blood doppelganger still needs to be told what to do to some extent. There's a pretty decent mental load involved in maintaining them. Yes, they can act just like a normal person, but how smart they are is determined by how much blood and power you're willing to spend."

"I have plenty of power," Doomwing replied. "And far more blood than you."

"That's not it. Most magic works on a fixed cost basis. Assuming two people have the same level of skill and control, then using the same spell should cost them the same amount of magic. Blood doppelgangers are different. How much blood and magic they require is based on the creator's overall abilities. It's a fixed percentage."

"That is inconvenient." Doomwing's magical reserves were tremendous, but their size wouldn't matter if creating each blood doppelganger demanded a certain percentage of his power. Yes, he did recover magic at an unbelievable rate, but even so, it would be troublesome. "Yet your father was able to create so many."

"That's what his research achieved a way to get around that issue." Marcus shuddered. "It's just not pretty, and it requires a certain level of expertise in a number of different forms of magic."

"Can you do it?" Doomwing asked. "If I could see it in action, I might be able to replicate it."

Marcus made a face. "Yes probably. It's complicated. I'd need several things, not all of which I have here."

"Tell me what you need. I'll send it through the mirror."

"" Marcus sighed. "You really want to learn, don't you?"

"Yes. Although I doubt I'll be using the exact same method since I'm not a vampire, I do believe I'll be able to work something out."

"Just as long as you don't plan on doing anything too crazy with it," Marcus said. "My father was always a bastard, but I think linking his soul to so many blood doppelgangers didn't help."

"I have no intention of forging such a strong link between myself and any constructs I create," Doomwing replied. "Besides, given how he was still alive and how his blood doppelgangers continued to fight after the link was severed by Dawnscale, a link of that strength should not be necessary."

"That's true," Marcus said. "Fine. Here's what I need"

Doomwing sent through the materials and tools that Marcus would need. He had to make a few of them himself, but the majority could be obtained from his hoard. He had destroyed the vampiric homelands, but he had been able to raid several of the Fourth Catastrophe's outposts elsewhere in the aftermath. He had been able to obtain a variety of tools, materials, and books although none had revealed the most important secrets, and he had been forced to cleanse all of them to ensure there was no residual taint from the madman's sorcery.

Sending the materials through the mirror was an interesting experience. Due to the mirror's limitations, some materials could be sent through fairly easily. However, others required significant chunks of power, and still others had to be wrapped in subtle but powerful layers of protection to prevent them from being damaged in transit. The crystals he had given the hatchlings had been simple things whereas some of the things Marcus needed were far more complex and delicate. If he pushed too far, there was a chance he could damage the mirror. However, he had been keeping a close eye on it, with several diagnostic and analytical runes in place to warn him the moment the mirror was in danger. So far, it was doing well, but he made a mental note to work on it afterward to ensure there was no lasting harm.

What immediately stood out to him was the ritual involved in creating the blood doppelganger. When Marcus normally made a blood doppelganger, there was no ritual involved. It wouldn't be very useful on the battlefield if he had to stop fighting to carry one out.

"The important thing to realise is that my father did not create all of those blood doppelgangers at once." Marcus's lips curled. "No. What he did was create blood doppelgangers who did not require significant mental and magical investment to maintain and who could, at least theoretically, be maintained indefinitely."

"Fascinating." Others might have been disgusted by the collection of blood magic paraphernalia that had been used in the ritual, to say nothing of how bizarre any normal person might find it that Marcus had repeatedly drawn out his own blood and used it to paint elaborate spell formations all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. He also wondered if a goat was strictly necessary. However, Dooming was truly fascinated to see such high level blood magic in action.

"That's one way to put it." Marcus drew out more of his blood it was fortunate that he kept a liberal supply of other people's blood on hand to drink and ripped out one of his own teeth. Setting the pain aside, it regrew almost instantly, as would be expected of an ancient vampire. "The key is that you need an anchor, something that will serve as a core for the doppelganger. That core will provide the doppelganger with a place to store magic on a long-term basis, as well as give the doppelganger a stronger connection to you, creating a link that will allow you to control the doppelganger or even receive its thoughts and memories when required."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Yes," Doomwing nodded. "Which is why you used your blood and a tooth. Those are two things that are incredibly strongly linked to a vampire's sense of self. Magic derives from the soul, so using something with such a strong link allows for the creation of a better core than simply taking a crystal or some other medium of storage."

"Yes. Using blood to make the core also links it to the doppelganger's body, which is, ultimately, made out of blood and magic. The core is also what allows them to use high-level magic without the same sort of drop-off as a normal blood doppelganger. Now, why do you think blood doppelgangers are so intelligent?"

"It's the blood. Blood is tied to the soul, and the soul is ultimately bound to both our memories and our intellects," Doomwing replied. His lips curled. "Dawnscale was an expert in soul magic, and she explained the concept to me once. Essentially, our soul contains an idealised 'map' of everything we are. Astral and light magic heal by restoring a person to match the 'map' their soul provides. That is why they can easily heal limbs that have been severed in battle. The missing limb is seen as a deviation from the idealised map, and the magic restores the body to match that map. Likewise, even massive damage to the magic circulatory system can be healed in the same way. With its links to the soul, the blood must be creating a copy of that map, including things like knowledge and other abilities."

"That's right," Marcus said. "Sufficiently high-level blood magic can copy the map, as you refer to it, of the soul. Now, the copying process isn't perfect. Blood, as a medium, can only copy so much, which is why normal blood doppelgangers can't perform at the same level as their creators without truly massive expenditure of power and blood. The blood doppelgangers my father made that I'm teaching you about use the core to better copy that map, allowing them to better match the abilities of the original." Marcus paused. "Incidentally, as someone who can't use any astral or light magic due to being a vampire, is that why you can't use astral or light magic to heal someone who has born with a missing limb?"

"Correct," Doomwing replied. "Since they never had the limb to begin with, the map of their soul does not include it. From the point of view of astral and light magic, there is nothing to heal. The same goes for issues like blindness from birth. In both cases, you would be better off using growth magic, a subset of life and nature magic, to create a new limb or better eyes. Once you do that, however, the map of the soul will eventually realign itself to include the improvements." He chuckled. "It's why Dawnscale went to such lengths to learn those too. The idea of being unable to heal someone distressed her."

"She always was a softie" Marcus murmured. "When she wasn't flying around and blasting everybody with mountain-piercing beams of light or ripping people's souls apart."

"I always found the contrast intriguing," Doomwing said, the memories painful yet precious at the same time. "She could go from scolding a hatchling about being careless to exploding the soul of whoever had harmed them in a matter of moments. It was the reason so many of us learned defences against soul-based attacks."

"Heh." Marcus sighed. "Anyway, here's how you make the core"

Making the core was an intricate process, and Doomwing once again paid very close attention. There were several moments were blood magic that was unique to vampires was employed, but he could already think of several substitutes to make up for it although he'd have to test their efficacy.

By the end of it, Marcus stood beside a copy of himself. "You see, the funny thing about blood doppelgangers is that since they're magical constructs that are made of blood, you don't actually have to give them clothes. They can change their outward appearance to match what you need by changing the appearance of their exterior. Now, if you really want to fool people and you've got a bit of time on your hands, you'll give them proper clothes and have them speak. Most doppelgangers can't speak properly. Blood doppelgangers, especially ones like this, can." He shuddered. "But I prefer to avoid that when possible. It's extremely creepy."

"Can you demonstrate it replenishing itself with blood and magic?" Doomwing asked. This was the critical process, the one that ensured the longevity of the doppelganger.

"Sure. Keep in mind that normal blood doppelgangers can't do that. Only these special ones can."

Marcus handed the doppelganger a gourd of blood, and Doomwing cast more advanced spells of analysis and divination as the doppelganger drank. It was truly fascinating and a testament to the genius of Marcus's father, at least in term of magical research and development. The long-dead vampire was still an absolute madman.

The doppelganger did not have a proper magic circulatory system. Instead, it was constantly leaked magic into its surroundings. Drinking blood allowed it to absorb power from the blood and that power was then shunted into the core where it was safely stored. That power could then be used to replace the power the doppelganger radiated over time. It was a simple idea, but the magic used to execute it was truly worthy of praise. Little wonder that no one else had been able to replicate it independently.

"And that's how you do it," Marcus said. The explanation had taken the entire night. "As you can see, the process has some drawbacks."

"Creating the doppelganger took roughly a third of your power a sizeable chunk. How long does the doppelganger last?"

"Almost indefinitely, assuming it can get the nourishment it needs."

"It must have taken your father centuries upon centuries to accumulate his army of doppelgangers" Doomwing's eyes narrowed. "Wait the doppelganger's themselves can also create more doppelgangers, can't they? There does not seem to be anything preventing that."

Marcus smirked. "That's right. Each doppelganger can create more doppelgangers. Obviously, they will be weaker than the first set, but that's the other bit of genius my father showed."

"If you use the same core for each, even the second generation of doppelgangers will eventually get strong enough to match the first generation."

"Yep. As long as father dearest could keep providing blood and teeth and believe me, he had plenty of ways of boosting his regeneration and healing his doppelgangers could just keep churning out more." Marcus grimaced. "Of course, blood magic could be considered a form of soul magic. The more powerful someone is, the more stress their soul can tolerate. Creating this sort of doppelganger stresses the soul."

"It is most likely that the 'copying' of the soul map can be detected by the soul, and that each additional copy extracts some sort of toll and that only a certain number of copies are permitted to exist simultaneously." Doomwing used an ancient rune of analysis to examine the doppelganger as closely as possible. "Yes. There is definitely a link although it seems you can modify the strength of the link and how easy it is for the doppelgangers to influence the original. That same link must be how your father planned to be reborn through his doppelgangers and why Dawnscale was able to strike at them all simultaneously."

"Yeah." Marcus shuddered. "That's why I don't use this technique much. It takes a big chunk of my power, takes an entire night to prepare, and that link the bigger your soul is, the more doppelgangers you can sustain before it starts to become an issue. Me personally? Any more than three for more than a few days I'd be very concerned about long-term damage to my soul as well as mental contamination due to soul fragmentation."

"Your father was insane even before that became an issue," Doomwing replied.

"Absolutely, but it didn't help." Marcus squinted at him. "But you? You could maintain far more of these for much longer, maybe even indefinitely." His expression twisted. "Vampires are, well, our souls have never been the most concrete things. Ultimately, we're parasites, and our souls reflect that. My father always believed that the Progenitor the first of our kind was an accident, a human who bonded or enslaved some sort of astral parasite to make himself the first vampire. It would explain why blood, which is connected to the soul, nourishes us and why we have such close ties to our fledglings. It also means that our souls are relatively unstable, which is why light and astral magic are so dangerous to us. Dragons are different."

Doomwing nodded. A dragon's soul got stronger and stronger with age and Awakenings. Contrary to common belief, injuries to the soul were not permanent. At a certain level of power and understanding, people could heal their own souls, either passively or through direct effort. A primordial dragon's soul was tremendous, a vast, unyielding thing that was almost impossible to damage and which constantly healed and renewed itself when damaged. In other words, it was entirely possible that he would be able to use blood doppelgangers or their equivalents far more safely than the Fourth Catastrophe ever had but with the restriction that his inability to use true vampiric blood magic would nevertheless severely limit how many he could make in the first place.

"Thank you," Doomwing said. "Your demonstration has been most helpful."

"What's a little bit of forbidden blood magic between friends?" Marcus drawled.

"By the way, what are you going to do with that doppelganger of yours?" Doomwing asked. The doppelganger in question was slouching in a chair and had put its legs up on the table.

"I was thinking of using it against Commodus. It should last long enough for that."

"If you do" Doomwing bared his teeth. "You should try this." He explained his idea, and Marcus began to laugh.

"Oh, that is hilarious. I wonder why my father never mentioned that ah. He would have considered it a failure. He always was obsessed with perfection."

Doomwing's idea was fairly simple. The core was an intricate structure. When destabilised in a certain way, it would rupture, and the doppelganger would release its accumulated power in a huge explosion. In theory, it appeared that there was nothing stopping Marcus from destabilising the core remotely using the link he had with it.

"I don't know if that would actually kill Commodus, but it would definitely do a lot of damage if he's not ready for it." Marcus grinned. "My father would have had a hard time doing it too since he made so many of them. Just trying to sort through all the links with a fragmented soul would have made it very difficult for him to avoid accidentally exploding the wrong one. Plus, he would have hated to do that. He was so closely linked to them, it would have felt like blowing himself up. It might have distracted him so badly that he lost control of his other magic. Still, for someone like me who never makes many, usually just one if I ever do make any, it's ideal. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Doomwing called several treasures to him and sent them through the mirror. "Have these."

"I don't need your help," Marcus said, chuckling. "I said I'd handle things up here on my own."

"You have explained the secrets of your father's magic to me. It would be disgraceful for me to accept such knowledge without offering recompense." That was true, but this was also a way for Doomwing to help his friend without injuring Marcus's pride. "Take them."

"Well if you put it like that." Marcus accepted the treasures. "I guess you're going to give it a try now, right?"

"Yes."

"Let me know how it goes." Marcus snickered. "And try not to make too many. Soul fragmentation and insanity aside, I'm not sure the world can handle a bunch of you wandering around."

Doomwing spent an entire week carefully considering his course of action while examining his memories of Marcus's demonstration multiple times to ensure he did not miss a single thing. Only once he was confident of what he wished to do did he proceed.

First of all, he would not be creating doppelgangers of great power. Marcus's doppelganger had consumed a third of his power and had wielded perhaps a quarter of his strength. Doomwing had no need for a doppelganger that powerful. Moreover, reducing the strength of the doppelganger would also substantially reduce many of the associated problems. Doppelgangers capable of activating the more useful greater runes should suffice.

He could still use blood as a general medium, but the core would need to be made of different materials. Blood, yes, but also flame, for fire was the essence of a dragon. Combining blood and fire might seem impossible, but that was where alchemy came in. The two could indeed be combined, and the resulting material could be used to form the basis of a core, along with additional materials, like scales he had shed, teeth he had lost in battle, and so on.

Since he was not capable of use true vampiric blood magic, he would have to turn to substitutes. This was where his lessons with Mother Tree, the elves of the Third Age, and Dawnscale were critical. Mother Tree had been the greatest master of life and nature magic outside of the Life Bringer, the member of the Seven Gods who had created Mother Tree, along with many over forms of life. Indeed, the Life Bringer had played at least a partial role in the creation of basically all living things of the First Age. Doomwing had learned all he could from Mother Tree, and even if he had never reached her mastery, the knowledge had stood him in good stead ever since.

The elves of the Third Age had developed elven script, a counterpart to the dwarven script used by the dwarves of that same Age. It had its own uses, but it was incredibly good at capturing the essence of life and nature magic and in modifying living things. Rather than etch it onto their living ships, they had grown the script into the very body of the ship. It was the same reason the mightiest elven weapons were technically alive the elven script used to empower them was woven into them in a very literal sense.

Dawnscale had taught him a great deal of astral and light magic before leaving. He he had never been as good at it as her, but she had been the greatest living exponent of those disciplines. Now, with millennia more experience and power under his belt, Doomwing was one of the mightiest practitioners of those arts, not through natural talent but through obsessive study and practice.

Using his telekinesis, he could sense and affect the inside of an object. In other words, it was possible to use his blood as a framework for the doppelganger before taking a material similar to the core he would make and then weaving it into the doppelganger's interior, tracing out countless lines of elven script to substitute for the true vampiric blood magic he was unable to perform. Throw in astral and light magic bound into the core to make up for other shortcomings, and the end result should be a doppelganger that met all of his requirements.

Another month

It took him another month of constant, unrelenting effort to succeed. To a magic user of his calibre, that was almost unfathomable. Winter was now very close indeed, but he was glad to have completed his task in time. His very first doppelganger stared back at him, an almost perfect replica of how he had looked back when he had only been twelve feet or so long, right down to the overly large wings and stubby tail. Nevertheless, this doppelganger was capable of using most greater runes and was able to operate independently without his direct oversight although it would still pursue his objectives as best it could. After all, it was effectively still a fragment of him.

"The mental load is negligible," the doppelganger said, flapping his wings. "And the load on your soul is also well within tolerable limits."

"Yes." Doomwing smiled toothily, an action his doppelganger mimicked. "And as long as there is ambient magic for you to absorb, you should be able to operate indefinitely."

"Yes. How about the link between us?"

Doomwing concentrated on it, and the link was indeed present. He could modify how deep it was, whether or not information could pass through it, and so on. Better still, the safeguards to prevent soul-based attacks on his doppelganger from harming him were operating as expected. "It meets expectations."

"So what will I be doing?" the doppelganger asked. "Will it be Antaria or the dwarves?" He chortled. "I do think Antaria has gotten attached to your construct despite it being a puppet."

"True I think she wants it to remain, so she can eventually murder it as revenge. Even so, I think I will be replacing it soon. It simply isn't worth the mental burden now that a better alternative is available."

"You're not going to make too many more like me, are you?" the doppelganger asked. "Even with the strength of your soul, that would be unwise. A dragon's soul may be stronger than a vampire's, but a vampire's soul is able to withstand more fragmentation before complete disintegration."

"That is correct." Doomwing was pleased to see the doppelganger's intelligence. Clearly, his work was excellent. "Perhaps half a dozen like you in total. Any more might be pushing it, especially if I wish for them to operate indefinitely. At the very least, making more than that would be extremely unwise until I can confirm that there are no long-term dangers."

"Half a dozen of us? That should be fine. I'm guessing you wish for me to go to the dwarves then."

"Correct. The dwarves need an instructor. I want you to teach them as much as they are able to learn in the fields of metalwork, artifice, alchemy, and magic."

"That should not be too difficult," the doppelganger said. "If nothing else, I am sure they will be enthusiastic about learning."

"As for the others I will leave one with Antaria to oversee her training later and to assist Daphne and the villagers. That leaves four others whose deployment I will decide when the need arises. I imagine we will have more people to deal with soon."

"If Antaria impresses at the tournament."

"She will. My construct has been seeing to her training. Her progress has been commendable," Doomwing said.

"She has yet to fly," the doppelganger said.

"No. But she has gotten very good at falling less awfully, which is decent progress. Besides, her combat prowess has increased considerably."

"Teaching her a style popularised by the elves was a good decision."

Doomwing nodded. Historically speaking, elves typically favoured fighting styles that emphasised speed, agility, and accuracy over raw strength and power. Antaria could already hit disproportionately hard. An elven style ensured she would be able to land her blows while avoiding those of her opponent. Once she mastered flight and could move freely in three dimensions, she would be ready for Alenna's fighting style. Even a bastardised version of that style would be terrifying and would likely make her the most dangerous human alive.

"It was." Doomwing studied his doppelganger. "Now what to call you"

"Don't call me Doppelganger One. Marcus would never let us live that down."

"Since you are the first you should have a name that reflects that. You will also be helping the dwarves. Ah yes. You will be named Vngr."

The doppelganger's expression grew sober and then fond. "Ragnar used to call us that when he was drunk. It meant 'wing' in his language." The doppelganger chuckled fondly. "He always used to complain that Doomwing was a silly name since it wasn't like our wings brought doom."

"Not to him or his fellows, anyway," Doomwing said. "I remember him laughing when I told him why our parents gave us the name they did. Of course, it was hard to be mad with him after he explained what his parents were originally going to call him."

"Their original choice meant 'screamer' in their language since he screamed so much when he was born. I'm glad they went with Ragnar instead." The doppelganger nodded. "Vngr it is then. I like it. It's a good name."

Doomwing chuckled. "Now that I've made you, making more shouldn't be too difficult. Two more should suffice for right now. One for Antaria and another for my hoard."

Vnger's eye twitched. "Wait one of us gets to stay with our hoard?"

"Yes. It's been a long time since I've catalogued the contents, and I do need to make sure that everything is working as it should. I also need to retrieve anything that might be useful in the immediate future, not to mention having a doppelganger to watch over the phoenix egg would be a wise precaution to take. The elementals can see to its protection, but a doppelganger can help if there are any complications. Not to mention, that doppelganger can also carry out research here and even use the mirror to contact people if necessary."

"Hmm he'll be busy then. Still, the thought of lounging about with the hoard"

"The dwarves will keep you occupied, and I'm sure there will be riches for you to roll around in once their mining truly takes off." Doomwing stretched. "For now, I will create the other two doppelgangers, and then we will leave. There is more work to be done elsewhere."