The Treaty

And so the negotiations drew to a close. The Empire of the Efreet and the Cinder Empire entered into an Imperial Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. Representing their respective realms, the two monarchs—the Grand Sultan of the Efreet and Cinder Emperor Cassius—swore upon the essence of the Elemental Plane of Fire to bind the covenant. 1. The realm of the efreet shall grant twenty-five wishes annually to the Cinder Empire for a duration of at least ten years. 2. The realm of the efreet shall pay five million gold dinars in elemental ore to the Cinder Empire to purchase large stockpiles of munitions. 3. The realm of the efreet shall cede control of the City of Pig Iron and the City of Black Iron, and cease all harassment of the Brass Fortress. In a fit of fury, the Grand Sultan detonated his projection, blasting a crater a hundred meters wide into the ground, while his true form remained nursing his wounds in the Charcoal Palace. Meanwhile, Pasha Ismail hung his head in dejection and led his soldiers back toward the City of Brass. As was customary for defeated pashas, what awaited him would be the Sultan's retribution and challenges from ambitious efreeti warriors. Though efreeti officials tightly monitored all speech, news of the battle spread like wildfire regardless, stirring profound panic throughout the ranks of the efreet. In mere days, the "Battle of the Torrid Wastes" had reverberated across the efreet realm, reaching even the Sacred Fire Rebel Army. According to those rumors, the red dragon emperor from the Material Plane had bitten off Pasha Ismail's head in a single snap, and only when the Sultan intervened in person was Ismail resurrected to flee. And after undisclosed negotiations and untold concessions, the two sides finally brokered a truce—some even whispered that the Grand Sultan had yielded a hundred wishes a year just to see off this harbinger of doom. Cassius's name spread far and wide across the Inner Planes. Many denizens across the Planes of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Positive Energy, and Negative Energy came to know the dragon's name—remembering above all that terrifying moniker: the "Genie-Devouring Dragon." *** On the outskirts of the City of Black Iron, in the Torrid Wastes. Scarred by recent conflict, the terrain lay battered and torn. Boiling magma surged through deep fissures and craters, intermittently erupting in bursts of fire. "Roar—" The red dragon let out a long roar toward the heavens, snapped his wings wide, and held out his left claw. Flames embodying the planar essence converged from all around, tracing a complex magic circle within his palm. Summon Elemental Behemoth. A vortex of flame manifested midair, and a colossal brute over ten meters tall clambered out. With a low rumble, it knelt submissively before Cassius. Its form was forged entirely of fire and magma, every inch infused with violent elemental fire energy capable of reducing mortal cities to ash and ruins. Fire Elemental Behemoth Challenge Rating: 16 "Not bad." Cassius looked at the behemoth before him and nodded with satisfaction. With a casual flick of his claw, the creature vanished. He lowered his head, contemplating the cluster of crimson flame resting in his claw. This was power representing an infinitesimally small portion of planar authority over the Elemental Plane of Fire. After several days of experimentation, he had gained deft mastery over this power stripped from Pasha Ismail—or, more accurately, from the Grand Sultan of the Efreet. He could even sense the true nature of this power: quasi-divine force capable of influencing the elemental planes. Elemental lords did not rule their respective planes or every elemental within them; the authority they held was nominal rather than true divinity, yet separated by only a hair's breadth. And the Grand Sultan's ambition was likely to bring the entire Elemental Plane of Fire under efreet dominion, elevating his "authority" to a plane-wide scale. It shared an uncanny kinship with the mechanics of Cassius's own domain. The six pashas were unquestionably vessels for the Grand Sultan's power, sacrifices painstakingly groomed for his ascension to godhood. Before the Sultan could even reap them himself, Cassius had devoured a portion first. Yet even had Cassius not "devoured" this pasha, the greater deity, the Lord of Flames, would never have tolerated anyone coveting his divine dominion. To preserve the balance of power, the Burning War was bound to drag on for a long time. There would be no true winner in this game; if anyone stood to gain, it could only be outsiders like Cassius who fished in troubled waters to reap handsome rewards. Cassius grinned, savoring the rush of power akin to planar fire essence coursing through him. "Quite an unexpected boon... Absorbing this power, surely I qualify as an elemental noble now." "Fascinating." The flames shifted ceaselessly in his claw—now taking the shape of a soaring bird, now a darting fish, now a dragon flapping its wings. Having absorbed this power, Cassius's mastery over flame had reached a terrifying summit. Red dragons naturally possessed a core of fire element and were often regarded by scholars as semi-elemental creatures. Now, infused with the might of an efreeti pasha, Cassius could in some sense be called a "native of the Elemental Plane of Fire." Elemental Command As an Element Master, you may attempt to command elemental creatures of your same type. Unless the target succeeds on a Will save, it will be brought entirely under your control. With a shift of Cassius's intent, light flickered in his pale gold pupils. At once, the firebirds in the orange sky fell under his sway, wheeling into various formations. Magmin bounded out of the magma one by one, lining up in neat rows, as though the red dragon were their sovereign born. "Tsk, tsk. Truly a fine place. If I had a secure domain here, I would be tempted to slumber right in this plane." "A pity I signed a pact with the Sultan requiring me to depart the Elemental Plane of Fire within ten days." "In that case, before I leave, I might as well go see what that Prince of Sacred Fire is made of." So Cassius thought to himself. And so the red dragon beat his wings, whipping up a gale laden with ash and sparks across the Torrid Wastes, his colossal form vaulting into the sky. "Roar—" With another reverberating roar, Cassius stroked his wings once more. His massive form blurred into a crimson afterimage, cutting through the orange-red sky as he flew toward the distance. Upon the battlements, imperial soldiers and freemen looked up at the streak cutting across the heavens like a shooting star, gasping in astonishment. "Look!" "It's His Majesty Cassius!" "So it's true... His Majesty, he's leaving the Elemental Plane of Fire!" "O Great Red Dragon..." A wave of sorrow and reluctance washed across the walls. Many soldiers and freemen fell to their knees facing the direction the dragon had departed, murmuring under their breath as if offering prayers. Within the City of Black Iron, Serkan, who was still supervising the repairs to the city's fortifications, looked up toward the horizon. Striking his chest hard with his fist, he gave a crisp salute of loyalty. His eyes brimmed with resolve and emotion. "Your Majesty Cassius..." "I swear I will not fail your high expectations. I shall become a worthy colonial governor, carving out an impregnable foothold for the Empire here in the Elemental Plane of Fire to welcome your next arrival." "When that day comes, you shall become the master of the Elemental Plane of Fire."