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What Cadmus suffered from, wasn't a physical sickness, it was much, much worse. His body had been crafted by some of the greatest magical minds in the world, dragon and human combined into one. However, as Hephaestus had explained to him when the symptoms had first appeared, his body was being held together only by the vast pool of mana his body contained.

That vast pool had begun to run dry barely a year after he had come into possession of the blacksmith shop that he called home. As his supply of mana began to run low, his body began to crumble. Having been born as a human, he did not possess the mana generation required to keep up with the demand.

The best way she had found to explain it was, his body was a bonfire. He was feeding it matchsticks to try to keep it burning when it required logs. Sure the matchsticks would keep the embers alight, but the fire would burn out eventually.

With careful preservation, it was just enough to sustain his bodies most vital of functions. Yet even that would not save him. He could keep his organs running sure, but his muscles, skin and bones were deteriorating.

His band of loyal Kobolds, fifty strong, worked diligently at the tasks he set them. However only four knew the true extent of their masters dire predicament. The four worked as best they could to comfort and treat his failing body and to keep the others from finding out that the dragon, Cadmus, was dying.

Brusk worked as his voice and will within the smithy. He was the leader, through which Cadmus would give orders. Overseeing everything from the sale of goods, the crafting of said goods, and the activities of the others.

Braax worked directly under Brusk as the one in charge of the dens beneath the building. He would send bands of Kobolds off to the dungeons for resources, or to the markets and forests for supplies. He was also the primary appraiser, checking the quality of all regents that returned from the dungeon, and storing those of high quality, with a focus on storing mana gems.

Von was the primary dungeon spelunker, leading every band that descended into the depths. Through his carefully crafted maps and memorisation of the dungeon, the bands had managed to breach to the lowest levels of any exploration group to date, level 25.

Lastly was the most directly descended Kobold from Cadmus himself, Kirg. It had been discovered that his blood had a strong healing quality for the stricken dragon. Other than Brusk, he was the only one who was permitted to see Cadmus. He would carefully prepare meals for his 'father', and even bathe him twice a day, adding a drop of his blood to whatever food or water he used.

They were careful to make sure it was rarely ever over a drop. Cadmus himself was squeamish about having to consume it, and had ordered that it never be a burden to the Kobold. Yet Kirg always insisted he could add more and it would not inconvenience him, indeed sometimes when bathing the dragon, he would sometimes add more than a drop or two.

The search for the regents required to save Cadmus had been going well, however it was still slow going. Even as skilled as they were, Von and his teams struggled to locate and acquire everything needed from the depths. The last item, Heart of Protodrake, was proving to be especially tricky to get, as the drakes were rare, even on the lower levels.

"we're running out of time..." Kirg muttered one night during one of the meetings the four usually held. Von was deep within the dungeon, leaving only Brusk, Kirg and Braax at the meeting that night.

"What makes you say that?" Brusk asked "We have managed to slow the deterioration considerably haven't we?"

"We had... but I am struggling to keep it at bay now," he answered sadly "Some days I need to apply my blood directly to his wounds and even then, it may not hold more than a day."

"You fear he is losing hope don't you?" Braax asked looking to the larger kobold with some worry. The large male simply nodded his head.

"I fear he is losing his will to hold on... there are times he will not even look at me any more."

"We can't lose hope, or let him lose hope," Brusk said trying to boost their own wavering faith "Von swore he would not return this time without it."

"He may not return at all then," Kirg replied looking to Brusk then to the crystal ball on the table "We haven't even heard from him in days." Brusk was about to reply when the crystal ball lit up brightly.

"I HAVE IT!" Von's voice announced triumphantly through the object "That bastard was hard to kill, but we have a viable one!"

"Finally!" Brusk replied looking to the orb "How long till you guys can make it back?"

"It will take a full week I'm afraid," Von answered regretfully "We are deep on level twenty three, if we focus purely on the trek back, and have a minimum amount of rest, we may be able to cut that to five days."

"No, a week is fine," Braax replied "We will need to prepare the spell array and room large enough for it and all of us, that will take time."

"And you ten will need to be as rested as possible when you return," Brusk cut in and tapped his clawed hand on the table "It is going to take everything we have to pull off the spell... you have the most mana reserves out of any of us Von, we are going to need as much of it as we can."

"Understood, I'll go now then and see you all in a week." Von answered, the ball returned to looking like an inert orb of glass.

"In the meantime, we need to begin preparations ourselves..." Brusk announced feeling a rush of excitement flow through him "the circle required is huge... Braax, have the others begin carving the room immediately, the array must be flawless, understood?" Brusk ordered looking to his fellow Kobold who nodded

"Kirg, in the morning, when you give Cadmus his morning bath and breakfast, inform him that we have everything and will begin the spell as soon as the others return." He added looking to Kirg in turn.

"Do you think we should contact Lady Hephaestus?" Kirg asked curiously "She is a formidable witch, she may be able to help with the magic required."

"We will contact her... but I do not think Cadmus would like her being there... he has wanted this to remain 'in house' as much as possible... what we have will have to do."

"Then why contact her?" Braax asked curiously.

"Because succeed or not... power of that scope will not go unnoticed," Brusk answered "We will at least need to notify her of what we are doing or she may think the town is under an attack of some kind. We will close the store for the next couple of weeks too, forges quenched and all possible entries closed."

After informing the rest of the clan, every kobold went about the tasks given to them. Upstairs in the forge, the fires were snuffed, windows closed and doors bolted. Down in the tunnels, all of the small lizards worked day in and day out, in teams, to carve out the massive chamber that would be required.

Despite being able to make and use digging tools, simply due to them being Kobolds, it was easier for them to dig with their claws than with any equipment. Despite Braax being the Kobold who was usually required to oversee the dens growth, Brusk oversaw the rooms construction himself. He would accept no flaws anywhere. Going so far as to fill in any mistakes and make them re-carve sections of the circle he was displeased with.

The day before Von and the rest were estimated to return, Braax, Brusk and Kirg contacted Lady Hephaestus. She was surprised, but pleased, that they had pulled off such a feat of magic, having formed a liking for the 'cute kobolds' as he labelled them. She had been understandably concerned for Cadmus' condition, upset that she wasn't permitted to see him. After they explained that he was holding on, barely, she accepted their warning as to what was being planned.

When Von returned, there was jubilation from the three, who began the last stages of preparations. Any and all mana crystals they had horded were gathered to the ritual chamber and the regents placed in their proper places. The last part was getting Cadmus himself which they were dreading.

Cadmus was a proud person, and had sequestered himself away to not worry his 'bolds with his deteriorating appearance. He wouldn't even let Kirg into the room till he was reassured that he was alone, even then the door would only be open long enough for the Kobold to enter or exit.

Getting him out of the room and down to the dens meant his condition would be fully exposed. There would be no time to explain, or way to hide it fully. They could only hope that Cadmus would know that his life was on the line, and they would still love him as their Dragon Lord regardless. Even if he told them time and time again he wasn't their 'Lord'.

"It is time, Kirg, get Lord Cadmus." Brusk commanded, every Kobold pausing and listening as said dragons voice boomed down from above.

"IT'S JUST CADMUS!"

"How does he do that?" Braax asked and there was a smattering of giggles. Kirg just shrugged and walked out of the room, arriving quickly at the master bedroom above the forges and knocked gently.

"Father? I'm coming in." he announced, opening the door. He didn't bother closing it knowing that there was no point anymore.

On the bed lay the stricken dragon. His once shiny black and red scales had turned a sickly grey. Around him lay countless shed scales which crumbled to dust when disturbed. His wings were torn in places and sagging under their own weight, threatening to tear in other places. Some spots on his body, mainly around his tail, feet and chest, the skin had torn or sloughed off, leaving wounds that would not close. When he turned his head to look at the tall Kobold that walked in, several scales were brushed off of his scalp against the soft pillows.

If Kirg wasn't used to seeing it, it would have made him sick to see a once proud creature, in the prime of his life, looking like a walking corpse. He walked over slowly, spotting fresh blood on the bed sheets. It would be hard to mistake it for old, he had changed them that morning. He bit his thumb as he approached, causing blood to begin to flow and shoved it into the dragons mouth to force feed him the crimson liquid.

"It is time, father," he told him, not giving him any room to escape "This is the last of your treatments, everything is ready in the dens. The last regent was delivered only an hour ago, this should give you the strength to get down there."

When he pulled his thumb free, Cadmus gave a grumble and sigh eyeing the Kobold with some irritation.

"You know I don't like needing to consume blood, Kirg." he told him and started to get up. Kirg helped him, letting the dragon shroud himself with the bed sheets as much as he wanted.

"I know, but we both know that it's necessary." He replied and helped him walk, letting him rest as much of his weight on the Kobold as was needed.

When they reached the chamber, all eyes turned to face them. The Kobolds all muttered to themselves as to why Cadmus remained hidden under the sheet. However when they got half way, the tall male stumbled, the sole of his left paw splitting open like a ripe melon being dropped. The motion caused the sheet to fall, exposing his body to the room of watching eyes.

There was a collective gasp from every one of them, only Brusk and Kirg silent being the only ones to see Cadmus since he had begun his isolation. Multiple started to whimper and whine, some starting to whisper and gossip a little. They all stopped with a yip when Cadmus gave a soft growl.

"I...It's just Cadmus." he managed to get out through grit teeth, looking in the direction of one group of reds. Brusk gave a soft chuckle and simply shook his head.

"Places everyone!" he called out "Kirg, help Master Cadmus to his place in the centre." The taller red Kobold nodded and walked forward slowly with the dragon. He helped him rest down to a seated position on the floor in the middle of the incantation circle before retreating. Cadmus himself, was the last regent needed for the spell.

Cadmus rest in the middle of the enchant circle, all fifty of his kobolds around its perimeter holding the biggest magic crystals they could. The six regents were pride of place where they were needed around the array. He knew the spell, how much power was required to pull it off. As sick as he was however, even with all of the preparations, it was a flip of the coin if it would work.

The words were inconsequential, the intent was what was required, however it never hurt to go all out, especially when his life was on the line. He shook off the last of the blanket that covered his form, some scales falling loose. Raising his hands in the air and closing his eyes to concentrate as he began to chant.

"A cry from the broken to those who make them whole, A desperate plea comes from one who is many, water to ice, fire to ash, repair what is broken with bindings as solid as the mother earth below." Small sparkles of light started to form around him, a liquid rainbow of energy spreading out from the dragon within the carved spell array on the floor, filling it quickly yet never overflowed.

"I give everything as sacrifice, to fight back the dark and make us whole!" He slapped his hands down to the ground, the skin on his palms parting with the force and a couple of claws breaking away, blood splattering out and he flinched in pain. There was even some parting beginning to happen on his arms, his body starting to give out completely "Nolite confractus!"

The circle suddenly lit up blindingly, filling the cave with a pure white blinding light, blocking any view into it as Cadmus poured every drop of magic he had into the spell. His Kobolds did the same, pushing as much magic as they could into the spell.

The light only lasted a few moments, a blast of air erupting from the stricken dragon, knocking the small lizards onto their tails as the light blinked out. The shock wave ricochet through the tunnels and up out the chimneys of the forge above, blasting out as a plume of soot.

When the dust in the chamber settled, the Kobolds looked towards their master with worry. Every mana crystal that had been in the room had become empty, useless shards. Many of the small lizards were drained of almost every drop of mana their small bodies possessed.

"Has it worked?" Brusk whispered, almost fearfully. He got to his feet slowly and carefully approached his master, fearful that it had failed despite all of their efforts "Lord Cadmus?"

"It's.... Just... Cadmus..." the dragon managed to utter before slumping sideways to the floor, unconscious. However the red Kobold didn't miss that, when he landed, no skin parted, no scales fell, and even the wounds that Cadmus had possessed previously, namely on his hands and feet, were closed.

Kirg and Brusk rushed forward to carefully inspect him, they could see that some of the colour had returned to his scales. He was breathing steadily and had a strong pulse, yet they had very little magic of their own left, and could not do a proper inspection on their own.

Thankfully they wouldn't need to wait for their own mana reserves to replenish. A magic circle appeared close by, Lady Hephaestus appearing out of it a moment later. As graceful and elegant as always, she waited for the magic effect that had caused her appearance to dissipate before speaking.

"My my, when you said it would be a powerful spell you weren't kidding," she announced and looked around then down to Cadmus, Kirg and Brusk before smiling "If I am correct, that was more power than I could muster in a single spell... it was hard to keep the other mages of the kingdom calm."

"M...My Lady, wh...what..." Brusk started and she hushed him, placing a finger to his lips then pet his snout gently.

"I am here, little one, to check on you all," she said simply before squatting down and gently placed a hand on Cadmus' chest "With the consumption of so much mana... I can see why he was worried it may not work."

She stood again and looked around the room, observing the magic array, the tired or slumbering Kobolds and masses of depleted crystals. Her gaze eventually returned to Cadmus and she smiled warmly.

"Hmm, more creative than I gave you credit for... you even put safeguards in place should it fail." she observed impressed.

"My lady?" Brusk asked curious and she chuckled.

"The way he powered the spell was clever, yet there are two spell arrays built into one here," she informed him simply "One for the spell to save him, and the other to make it possible to perform... He spent his own mana to run the spell, effectively burning his remaining life as fuel. Yet at the same time, he had you all use you magic to keep him alive, you all acted as his life support. He did think ahead though... there was a safeguard built in should it not be enough. Should the spell fail, it would automatically cut you all off before you used up too much of your own mana. The only life at risk here, was his own. Such a clever boy, he obviously loves you all very much."

"So... it worked?" Kirg asked and she nodded.

"It is going to be a long recovery, for all of you... but yes, it worked," she answered, still looking at Cadmus "It does make me wonder however... just how vast is his mana reserve if he could do a spell needing three times my full power, at its lowest level... You are a fascinating... and scary Dragon, Lord Cadmus."

There was a rumble from the slumbering dragon, followed by him uttering, while still unconcious "Its Cadmus." They all blinked before Kirg started to chuckle.

"How DOES he DO that!?"