The trip into Aestas had been painful; sharing a cart full of fussy, disgustingly ungrateful humans without decapitating each and every one of them was nearly impossible for Taifuin.  But, though he was loathe to admit it, he would have been helpless without the assistance of the driver.  The caravan was the safest and fastest way across the desert, and his ultimate goal was far more important than any secondhand embarrassment he might suffer by travelling with these pitiful insects.  Thus, he spent most of the journey brooding in his loathing and admiring the craftsmanship of his old nemesis' sword with uncomfortably wide eyes. 

Wisely, the rodents he was forced to pack in with gave him as much space as possible.  At least some people knew their place.

Though it had taken a while, eventually he had reached the outpost of Aestas, and saw his destination on the horizon.  The supposed great pyramidal structure that signified the undead city that had risen overnight.  Aysut, apparently.  Regardless of what it was called, there was apparently some incredibly powerful forces at work within it, that Taifuin would either commandeer or use for himself to unlock the seal that bound him to his abhorrent human form.  He had waited far too long for an opportunity like this…he simply had to take it now that it showed up.

As the caravan drew nearer to the gates of Aestas, Taifuin made his move; suddenly taking his katana from his lap, he would slice open the thick cloth that covered the cart he was riding in, before leaping through the resulting hole.  The fraction of the draconic strength and agility he still possessed powered him as he took off at full speed towards the city of Aysut, his sandalled feet kicking up small clouds of sand as he crested and descended the dunes surrounding Aestas.  He had been sure to fuel himself as best as he could for the journey, and even as beads of sweat began to glisten on his pale forehead, he continued to rush ever onwards towards his destination.

Now and again a mummy would rise from a state of idleness to greet him.  Most of them he was able to simply blow right past, being far too fast for the lumbering undead.  Here and there he drew his blade to lop off a bandaged arm or a head sporting a gaping, rotting mouth that was reaching in his direction, not even staying in one place long enough to note how they regenerated behind him.  They were mere distractions as far as he was concerned, and nothing that Ryushi's carefully-forged katana could not handle.  The master of these undead apparently wasn't intelligent enough to even give them armor…what was his name, Redneck?  Radjock?  Something along those lines, according to the resident academic he had been quietly listening to on the ride in.

At any rate.  This…lich, Rubjack, whatever his name was, would soon know the meaning of true power.  The arrogant dragon could imagine his skeletal figure quaking in his boots as he neared the gate to Aysut, its ethereal green glow casting strange shadows on Taifuin's angular, ghostly visage.  He would not be denied his arcane assistance, regardless of his pitiful attempts to drive him away with his necromantic arts.

Not even the undead could withstand a storm as powerful as he.

Off to his right, the former Dragon Ruler of Storms heard a rather odd sound gracing his ears. It was a voice…but strangely artificial, as though it were being muffled by some sort of metallic echo chamber. He turned around and halted his slicing rampage to view who it was that was hailing him in such an irreverent manner.
What graced his eyes was what he could only assume was some form of golem…a machine, a magically created construct it seemed, with an awfully sing-songy voice for the amount of zombie-killing it was busy doing. In other circumstances, Taifuin might have actually found this particular creation interesting. However, it had made the foolhardy mistake of telling him what to do.

Turning to it, he stared daggers into its…head…projection…thingy, and spake words of wisdom unto it…barely keeping it together. Perhaps its murderous inclination and non-human form were the only things keeping him from cutting it to pieces on the spot “My journey does not lead me to a foul menagerie of fleshbags seeking refuge like cowardly sheep…I have come here for the lich’s power, nothing more, nothing less. Are you here to hinder me?!”

"Do not assume the gods have control over me…or that I am a mere human, foolish construct!" he reproached as his golden eyes glinted with fury.  But the strange contradiction of this creature's emotional state was not lost on him.  As incredibly happy as he sounded, his words did not come close to matching his tone.  He had no idea what to make of it; perhaps it was some experiment gone awry?  It served whoever created it right…imbecilic magi thinking they had the ability to create and control life itself…that they had the privilege, had the power to even come remotely close to doing so.  Inevitably all such attempts would end in failure.  Just as the undead of this lich lay strewn about writhing on the desert sands, or this golem stood murdering anything that came in the way of its own goals.  Life would always break free of whatever chains were imposed upon it; Taifuin's quest was merely another example of that in action.

"And believe me…sending these hellish beings back to whence they came is becoming more of a bore than anything else…they have only taught me that the undead refuse to give up despite their rightful inferiority," he said as he heard a small group of mummies clambering up the dune behind him.  With a slash of his katana, a gust of cold wind would reach them, sending their desiccated forms flying a few hundred feet away from the sheer power of his concussive blast.  "Hmmph…I must ask, why do you allow yourself to be bound to these pitiful beings you are protecting?  They wouldn't need protection anymore if they were dead, after all," he said with a frightful smile before plunging his sword into a mummy that had risen up from the ground a few feet from him, slicing its upper body in twain and kicking it away with incredible force.  "Your power is noticeable even to my standards, and yet you willingly let others control it!"

Taifuin nodded.  It too seemed to be operating under constraints beyond its control…yet it was fighting tooth and nail to gain that very control for itself.  An enterprising being if he had ever seen one, and certainly a kindred spirit that seemed to understand what its rightful place was in the world.  After slicing a mummy to ribbons and blowing away the pieces with a windy slash, he turned back to the golem with a chuckle.  "Perhaps you will find a way to supercede your petty programming someday.  Do not take this the wrong way, but mages always seem to create their life with flaws in them…perhaps there are some in you you can easily exploit.  But I do not concern myself with the petty affairs of incompetent mortals with no understanding of their limits…I cannot help you there.  Unless…."

He thought for a moment, considering the circumstances.  Obviously he could not rid this golem of its burden without turning it on him likely permanently, if only due to its master's programming.  But they could certainly work together in other avenues.  "Perhaps you are wary of the desires of the gods to claim more than their fair share of power…but if we worked as one…perhaps we could conquer this shambling corpse, and take from it our well-deserved bounty even if some foolish god attempted to stop us.  What say you?"

Though this thing was speaking in computerized tongues, Taifuin eventually understood what he was talking about after a slightly awkward pause broken by the need to slash open the guts of another mummy.  He was calculating precise levels of risk on the fly…how interesting yet mundane at the same time.

As he shoved away a mummy, he gave the golem an uncharacteristically warm, empathetic smile for someone normally much angrier.  There was a kindred spirit in this automaton despite all the adversity against it.  All he had to do was give it one final shove.

"My friend.  Risk means nothing to those with power.  The only things that will self-destruct this day are those who stand before us.  I will allow you to dispense with the…baggage, however you must, but I can hold my ground at the front of the city until your return.  Unless you find some sort of loophole in that mind of yours," he finished with a small chuckle as he began walking the remaining distance to Aysut, melding the wind around him as needed to protect himself from the foolish zombies that attempted to get in his way.