Bang!
The door to the room was shoved open roughly, striking the wall with a dull thud.
The noise woke Dick from his sleep. The Paladin rubbed his eyes and threw back the covers, only to see the Black Dragon Prince sitting in a chair in the room, his face gloomy.
"Ah, Mr. Nefarian, can't this wait until tomorrow?"
Dick sat up in bed in disgust, picked up the pipe beside his bed, and put it between his lips. He muttered an incantation, and rich smoke rose throughout the room.
Shrouded in smoke, Dick's face looked indistinct, his expression impossible to make out.
The Black Dragon Prince did not grow angry at Dick's rudeness. His two yellow serpentine eyes stared intently at Dick's body and eyes, as though searching for something. After a dozen seconds, he abandoned this utterly useless strategy and came straight to the point.
"Tonight, a gang of thugs attacked my Palace! My laboratory was left in a complete mess, and my loyal servants were slaughtered. I am furious! Truly... truly... furious!"
Nefarian's voice clearly carried some kind of magic. As it entered Dick's ears, his memories began racing through his mind. But with a sharp cry from Anveena, the confusion in Dick's eyes abruptly vanished. He warily took a step back, snatching up the staff beside his bed and holding it in front of himself.
"What are you doing, Mr. Nefarian! This is hardly the conduct of a gentleman!"
Nefarian ignored Dick's wariness. He extended a finger, and amid a flicker of black light, it rapidly became a fearsome dragon claw tipped with a long nail. The black light emerging from the tip of that claw resembled a black thread as it slid back and forth across the staff Dick held before him.
A mere five