Arrival at the Brass Fortress

*Boom!* High in the sky, the red dragon flapped his wings and casually shattered a meteor blocking his path. Cassius narrowed his eyes slightly and asked offhandedly, "How do you fire dwarves live?" Hearing the question, Grim, who had just been quaking with panic, puffed out his chest with pride. "Each to his own duties, Your Majesty Cassius." "Our fire dwarf society is the most perfect on this plane. Unlike the cruelty of the efreet or the savagery of the salamanders, every fire dwarf inherits the vocation of their parents from birth and carries out those duties for life." "The nobles in brass kilts rule and defend against foreign foes; the merchants in bronze kilts handle trade and sell goods; and those in copper kilts are the servants, craftsmen, and laborers." "Our lives are always orderly like this. Every fortress is like an exquisite machine..." Grim spoke with undeniable pride. Fire dwarves were ever dedicated to their duty, and as a guide, he was no exception—answering everything he knew without holding back a word. *A caste system...* Listening to the fire dwarf describe his flawless society, Cassius could only think of the term from his past life, and he cast him an amused glance. "So... does that make you a noble among fire dwarves?" Grim puffed out his chest proudly once more, giving a deliberate shake to his cast-brass kilt. "Of course, Your Majesty. Our Cardoso family has been nobility among fire dwarves for four thousand years." "Seven hundred years ago, my father forged my body with his own hands and breathed the fire of life into me. The memories of their participation in crafting the City of Pig Iron and the City of Brass were passed down into my mind as well." A faint, almost imperceptible trace of surprise flickered through the red dragon’s pale-golden pupils. *Seven hundred years.* That was no short span of time, even for dragons, whom mortals referred to as long-lived species. A seven-hundred-year-old dragon would be classified as a "very old dragon," which was also the final stage of a dragon's life in which they retained their reproductive capacity. Many chromatic dragons did not even live to such an age before being slain by armies or adventurers. To Cassius, a "juvenile dragon" barely in his twenties, it seemed even more vast. "Very good." "Grim Cardoso, you are quite fortunate." "Perhaps... you will become a bridge between the Empire and the fire dwarf realm." The red dragon looked down at the fire dwarf held in his talons. Seemingly insignificant, yet seven centuries old, the creature finally commanded a modicum of respect from him. Originally, he had viewed the Elemental Plane of Fire merely as a place to plunder fire elemental energy. Now, however, he realized that perhaps the Empire ought to have its own colony here. "Heheh, thank you, Your Majesty." Grim scratched his head, impressed despite not entirely grasping the dragon's meaning. He only felt that while this sovereign was terrifying in appearance, he was surprisingly affable in conduct, and even held a favorable impression of the fire dwarves. "We're almost there." "That's the place, isn't it? The fire dwarves' Brass Fortress." With his powerful wing-limbs, the red dragon tilted his wings, spreading them slightly as he prepared to enter a dive. It was an immense structure whose main body lay underground, while the portions protruding from the surface were made of gleaming brass and basalt. "Wait..." "What is that?" Roars and howls rose from the ground below, accompanied by familiar explosions and the sharp hissing of steam. Before the Brass Fortress, in Cassius's high-altitude vision, creatures looking no larger than grains of rice were tangled in ferocious combat. Fire and steam were everywhere on the ground. He spotted halberd-wielding salamanders, tall and burly efreet, and flame drakes flapping their wings in midair. On the other side of the battlefield were fire dwarves wielding bronze hammers and—the Empire's advance force, equipped with rifles and cannons. "Your Majesty Cassius!" "It's efreeti raiders! Those despicable scoundrels have attacked again!" Grim shouted excitedly. Cassius narrowed his eyes, a smile surfacing in his pale-gold pupils, and the corner of his ferocious maw curled slightly. "An efreeti army?" "It seems I arrived just in time..." Faint magical auras rippled across the surface of his massive draconic form. With a heavy sweep of his wings, his speed surged even higher. *Crack—* A deafening sonic boom tore through the air. Accompanied by a shriek like ripping silk, the red dragon cut straight through the sky of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Across the orange-red firmament, he left behind a long, narrow cloud of turbulence that seemed to cleave the heavens in two. ... *Boom!* A cannonball plunged from above, crushing a salamander's skull flat. *Sssss—* A shrill wail rose in Ignan. The salamander's serpentine lower body twitched several times before going still, and the flaming fibrous tissue covering its skin gradually extinguished. *Clang!* The halberd in its hands tumbled to the ground. Not far away, an efreeti merely crossed his arms and looked on with cold detachment. Then, he drew the scimitar at his waist and raised it high. "Vile creatures from the Material Plane!" "Hand over that human mongrel named Misha, and we might still spare your lives!" "And you fire dwarves! If you continue harboring these intruders, we will smash your Brass Fortress to rubble!" *Boom!* His answer came in the form of searing-hot metal cannonballs. A concentrated barrage instantly blanketed the efreeti's position, forcing him to scramble out of the way. "By the True Lord of Fire, these damned material mongrels!" "Destroy them!" The efreeti raised his scimitar with his left hand, lashed his whip with his right, and roared in fury, flames blazing fiercely in his eyes. "Roar—" "Charge!" The flame drakes and salamanders surged forward in another wave. Meanwhile, within the fortifications before the Brass Fortress, the Empire's vanguard was growing equally exasperated. Leading them was a half-dragon. His name was Serkan Wood. He had joined during the Kingdom of Cinders era, achieved distinguished military merit in the northern campaigns, and was already an honorable viscount of the Empire—as well as the primary officer in charge of the Elemental Plane of Fire expeditionary force. This time, he had volunteered to come to the perilous battleground of the Elemental Plane of Fire, only to meet unprecedented frustration. Given the extreme environment here, the troops dispatched were all the most elite half-dragons! Serkan spat fiercely and cursed, "I've had more than enough of these damned fire elemental mongrels!" The half-dragon adjutant nodded in deep agreement, chiming in, "By great Cassius above, explosions can't even hurt them—the cannonballs only do anything if they hit them dead-on." Serkan kicked the fortification wall before him, fuming, "When I get back, I'm reporting straight to the Ministry of Magic to have them send over a batch of wizards specialized in ice and water magic to wipe these bastards out!" Beside them, the fire dwarves hammering and repairing the brass battlements heard this and shrank their necks back in alarm. They were elemental creatures, too, after all. *Hum—* Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek pierced the sky. The half-dragon adjutant turned around and looked up, spotting a magnificent anomaly across the heavens. In an instant, a bold suspicion flashed through his mind, and it was about to be proven true. "C-Captain!" "Look up there—" Serkan turned around in confusion, only to find his adjutant already on his knees, his expression feverish with devotion. What puzzled him even more was that even the fire dwarves repairing the fortifications were staring dumbstruck, shouting, "By Moradin!" So he looked up at the sky. *Thud.* Serkan dropped to his knees as well, murmuring under his breath. "Cassius above..." A red dragon tore across the firmament like a falling star, plunging straight toward the ranks of the efreeti army. *Boom!* Accompanied by a violent tremor that shook the ground of the Elemental Plane of Fire, ash billowed across the wilderness, and pillars of fire erupted into the sky.