Months passed as dwarves and dragons worked together. The Primordial Dragons assisted by burning rock, while the dwarves experimeo see what could be smelted and refined.

  Their earliest discovery was, of course, copper, which was the most abundaal heir settlement. Traces of iron were found as well, and while Dragon’s Breath could remove impurities, it couldn’t be mass-produced.

  Iurn for their fire, the dwarves ground, chipped, and polished gemstones. As they delved deeper into the mountain, they uncovered even more precious stones- sapphires, rubies, emeralds, topaz, and amethyst- a trade deemed worthy of the power on’s Breath during this time.

  But one major problem arose.

  Jealousy.

  The Bck-scaled Primordial Dragon lost the Queen’s favor, and two rew frustrated that she tio focus solely on the Red-Scaled Primordial. Despite their efforts, no amount of cooperation with the dwarves seemed to ge her heart.

  To the Bck-scaled Dragon, it seemed her choiate was set in stone.

  Among the dwarves, a simir problem brewed. The Primordial Queen refused to iate with Har Firebeard- only with Hornfinger. And Riverlily, the one whose heart Har had tried so desperately to win over, had begun to fall in love with Hornfinger instead.

  When Har tried to speak with her, he reized the ge in her eyes- she was drawn to Hornfinger’s newfound importance.

  Tears fell as he watched the love he had fought for slip away.

  But no matter how much it hurt, he couldn’t bring himself to harm his friend.

  Hornfinger had been with him siheir arrival in these nds.

  And that made it even worse.

  ---------------

  In the ter of the dwarvelement, a rge bonfire crackled as dusk settled. Dwarves ed up their work early, gathering to celebrate another occasion.

  "Let us toast to anreat discovery!" Hornfinger raised his copper pint high, mead sloshing over the rim, while his other hand held a strange obsidian shard. Beside him, Riverlilly stood with a bright smile, lifting her own pint filled with fermented berry wine.

  The female dwarves had spent weeks experimenting, mixing berries and honey into water, stumbling upon the first forms of mead and berry wine.

  Some batches were bitter, some overly sweet, and others had a sharp se- but the effects were undeniable. Intoxicatioion.

  A wave of cheers erupted as dwarves huddled around the fire, lifting their copper pints high, even those who remained iheir stone dwellings.

  From one of the windows above, a dwarf sloshed mead over the edge, dousing an unlucky dwarf below.

  "Oi!" the soaked dwarf roared in e, ung his pint mug straight at the window. Mead sprayed through the air, glistening in the firelight as ughter erupted. When the pint fell and hit another dwarf, a small brawl broke out.

  Hornfinger, still grinning, motiooward Har Firebeard, who stood tall with pride shining in his eyes.

  "This is no ordinary obsidian!" Hornfinger decred, holding the dark shard high. "It has been two weeks since Dragon’s Breath melted this stone."

  Murmurs rippled through the crowd as he passed it to onlookers, their eyes widening in astonishment.

  "It's still warm!"

  "How it still be warm? That doesn’t- what in the mountains?!"

  The murmurs grew ied chatter as the obsidian shard made its way through the gathering. Har Firebeard stepped forward, raising his own shard into the sky.

  "I decre this be called Ignis Obsidian! And all future forms that retain the fire of the Primordials shall bear the title of Ignis!" Har procimed triumphantly.

  A thunderous cheer erupted, the name quickly catg on as dwarves cpped their mugs together, r in approval.

  But as the crowd cheered, Har’s gaze waoward Riverlilly. He waited- hoped- that she would gnce his way.

  But she didn’t.

  Her eyes were fixed solely on Hornfihe two locked in deep versation, their smiles lingering, eyes drinking each other in.

  Har’s proud expression faltered. The weight of reality pressed down on his chest with a sharp, cuttiion.

  He lowered his shard, his gaze falling as the cheers around him blurred into nothing but distant noise.

  Then, Riverlilly moved.

  Har’s heart ched as she stepped away, but his breath hitched further when he saw where she was going.

  Hornfinger watched her with wide eyes, then slowly followed.

  Har's own eyes widened in horror.

  She wasn’t heading home. She was heading toward Hornfinger’s house.

  Stepping forward, Har grabbed another pint of mead and jumps in front of Hornfinger's path as a faint roar echoes in the background.

  "Ah, Har!" Hornfinger greeted him with a genuine smile, though faint traces of irritation flickered across his face. "Enjoying the celebrations?"

  Hornfinger's gaze lifted toward the darkening sky, listening to the distant roar. His grin widened. "Sounds like they want to join in the celebrations!"

  "Aye, of course!" Har smiled back, him the mug of mead. "e, drink this mead with me! Let us celebrate together!"

  He hesitated, gng back toward his house.

  "Ah, I 't say no to a mug from a friend!" Hornfinger accepted cheerfully, but Har noticed how eager he was to move on.

  Still smiling, Har watched as they locked eyes for a moment before Hornfinger raised the pint and chugged it down.

  "Ah! Now, I must be off!" Hornfiepped forward.

  But Har pced a firm hand on his chest, catg the empty pint as he smiled again.

  "Let me get you an! We aren’t done drinking together yet!"

  "Har..." Hornfinger sighed, brushing Har’s hand aside and pg his own hand on Har’s shoulder. The fake smile slipped from Har’s face, his expression being unreadable.

  "I know what you're trying to do." Hornfinger’s voice softened, but remained firm. "I’m going to go see her, and she wants to see me."

  Har’s jaw ched, his chest burning with jealousy.

  "After all I've done for you?"

  Their gazes locked, Har’s eyes sharp and intense.

  "Let me try one more time. You know how long I've chased her. From the very first days we were brought to this nd, my heart has burned for her. You know this."

  Hornfinger shook his head.

  "You’ve tried plenty, Har. She’s made up her mind." His voice was steady, unwavering. "And I have feelings for her too now."

  "She hasn't made up her mind," Har growled, poking Hornfinger's chest. "That's just you-"

  As their argument was heating up, her noticed the rrowing louder until it drowned out their words.

  Turning their heads, barely visible beh the night sky, a wave of fire desded upon the square.

  Festive cheers and shouts of awe ged to screams of misery and agony as fmes engulfed the square.

  "What in the- Why are they attag us?" Hornfinger shouted over the chaos.

  "This is your fault," Har snapped, gring at him as they ran in the dire of his home together.

  "My fault? How the fuck do you imagihat?" Hornfinger barked back.

  "You should've let me hahe diplomacy! Your clumsy-"

  His words were cut short as debris from a colpsing structure came crashing down.

  Both of their eyes snapped upward, but amid the chaos—Har, seeing that he was in the clear, shoved Hornfinger aside.

  "You bastard!"

  Hornfiumbled, his footing lost as the rubble came down on him.

  Siing bone g noises cut through the air.

  Har Firebeard looked back eyes widening in horror, realizing what he had done, but kept running regardless toward the house.

  A single, bloodied hand poked out from the rubble, surrounded by a pool of blood.

  For a moment, he stood frozen as the weight of his as struck him. But theurned away, a on running toward Hornfinger's house- toward Riverlilly.

  Screams tio fill the night before the Queen desded. She spotted the anomaly from the mountain, fmes dang betweerees as her sharp eyes spotted the male.

  A furious mid-air battle erupted, cws ah fshing as the Bck Primordial Drago her in bat.

  Her cws raked his front, leaving deep gouges in his dark scales.

  A roar of agony ripped through the air as dark red blood- glowing with intense heat- spttered across the ground, hissing against stone and wood.

  The Bck Primordial whipped his tail, smming it into the Queen’s head.

  She reeled, momentarily stunned.

  It was all the time he needed.

  With a final, furious roar, he turned and fled, his form disappearing into the night.

  The sky burned as their battle tinued far beyond the settlement, deadly dispys of power illuminating the darkness.

  But despite her size, the Queen could not catch him and the Bck Primordial escaped the irely.

  In the months that followed, the two other disgruntled Primordials left in frustration and disagreement, abandoning the e two other females remaining.

  Riverlilly wept openly over the mangled corpse of her lover, and Har stood behind her, resting a f hand on her shoulder.

  Tears streaked her face as she rose and embraced Har for fort, burying herself in his embrace for support.

  He would never breath a word of this travesty, and she would never know the truth over their turies long lifespan.

  The Primordial Queen apologized profusely to the dwarves in the wake of the destruenting that this was the result of one dragon’s jealousy.

  But words did not erase the loss.

  The dwarves remained distrustful, their anger festering for decades.

  For the first time in their history, they suffered heavy losses- friends, lovers, kin, all taken from them in fire and ruin.

  Some bore perma scars, others lost limbs, their sight, their hearing. The wounds of that night would ruly heal.

  Out of caution, the dwarves migrated.

  They moved to the mountains surrounding the basiing new homes of stone ah far from the den of the dragons. Most decided to build their residenside the mountain for more prote.

  Some left the ndmass entirely, unwilling to share the same sky with creatures they no lorusted.

  But those who remained- including Har Firebeard and Riverlilly- chose to rebuild, even as the years stretched into turies of silent tension.

  Slowly, after tless efforts auries of peace, they reached a fragile uanding once more.

  --------------CDIM: End of Repy--------------