XXXII

  Who Else?

  Of the hundred or so drakes exiting the elevator, a quarter had bodies that mimicked that of a human. Mimicked being the key term. Leathery skin covered their face. Their eyes were slanted, their mouths too wide. But, most importantly, every one identified as lvl. 26.

  ‘They evolve after reaching the Adept stage?’

  Nigh invisible essence poured from their pores. It thickened the air and weighed down on my shoulders.

  “They’re serious about the Tomb,” Raven said.

  I raised my brow.

  Kayle twirled her umbrella. “Their evolutions would’ve been more perfect if they’d waited with breaking through.”

  A second scan of the group revealed that their cores were indeed not yet saturated. I frowned. To think their presence was this intense despite their cores not being saturated yet…

  ‘Meeting one of those elites will prove bad.’

  Even the ones not yet at the adept stage were around lvl. 18. My titles would let me keep up with those, but any higher and a regular drake grunt would have a chance at killing me.

  ‘Especially because they have three skills to my one.’

  But, for better or worse, I’d already chosen my path. All there was left to do was walk it.

  An hour went by as more teams filtered into the clearing. The Orthodox Pillars gathered near us while the Unorthodox clans approached the Dragonflight and the Black Fang Cult.

  Nerves on my forehead twitched as I searched the mass of disciples. ‘Where’s Gaje?’

  Most of his clan was wearing beast pelts so his wild hair could blend in, but his stature wasn’t one so easily missed.

  ‘He wasn’t here at the start either.’

  I caught gazes flicking toward me while I studied the crowd. Many lingered on the space above my head. It showed nothing of course. However, my status now being hidden would lend credence to any rumours of a title.

  I’d spoken with Decim before leaving, who’d confirmed what I’d already suspected: the Lord of the Mountain quest had only showed up once before. The Vermilion Dawn hadn’t taken part in it during her time, so there wasn’t much she could tell me about it. However, it was not a stretch to say the rewards for completing such a quest would be unthinkable.

  As of now, no one should know about it unless Gaje told them—and from what I’d heard, he was a boy of few words.

  No. The greed in the eyes of those around me was simply for the title itself. If anyone did know of the specifics...I chuckled. I doubted anything could withhold them from trying to kill me.

  Silently, I sent out a thank you to whoever designed the Tomb to have random spawn locations. I wouldn’t have survived a single second otherwise.

  ‘That doesn’t mean I can sit still though.’

  The most urgent thing was to find my teammates or other members of the Orthodox Pillars. The problem with the latter was that even disciples on our side kept shooting looks my way.

  Though the Dawnflames had shown me favour, they wouldn’t start a war over my death. If someone caught me off-guard or outnumbered…

  Looks turned so open and brazen Duke leaned over and asked if I wanted them to form a circle around me.

  “Timidness is an invitation,” I shook my head.

  So our group remained seated.

  ‘I should make a declaration of some kind.’

  Some crazy statement that would show I wasn’t afraid.

  But the idea of waltzing into the middle of so many people made curl up with embarrassment. It’s why I was almost glad when Erri took the decision out of my hands.

  The drake princess’s tail snaked low over the grass, turning the surreptitious glances of disciples into full-blown stares and smirks.

  Our party’s chatter died down. The rest of the clearing went silent too.

  Then there were only Erri’s steps, the sizzling underneath her feet, the faint whiff of ash.

  Erri reached for her chain and ripped the cord attached to the single fang. I was still sitting, so she knelt to reach eye-to-eye as if she was proposing. Her scaled hands reached for mine and pried my fingers open with the touch of a mother caring for their babe.

  “This tooth is one my mother lost in her infancy. You will hold onto it, Ashbringer. When the time is ready, I will retrieve it from your corpse.”

  I pinched it between my thumb and index. It was as thick as two of my fingers pressed together and a small amount of essence still clung to the tooth. Savage. Ferocious. Had I never known its origin, I’d still be able to tell the beast this belonged to was not to be trifled with…

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  Yet a single question pierced through my mind as the edge gleamed in the lantern-light:

  ‘Can I feed it to the tree?’

  It was organic material, after all.

  Silence stretched while I inspected the fang and considered that question. Erri’s shadow consumed my own as she waited.

  “When the time is right?” I asked finally.

  A hum passed her leathery lips. “I promised you a swift end in the Tomb, but something has come up.”

  “I see.”

  The idea of placing the tooth in my storage ring entered my head, but I fastened the cord around my neck.

  “Anything else I need to hold onto?” I said.

  She shook her head and stood.

  Without looking up, I said: “Best of luck on your hunt.”

  A breeze rolled over the clearing but didn’t carry any hushed whispers. Erri retreated in the quiet.

  Before she reached halfway back to her camp, though, someone spoke up: “Your promise is not needed, Lady Blackscale.”

  The sound of their speech was rough and cumbersome. Like they’d barely learned to speak yesterday. When one of the humanoid drakes stepped away from their brood, her face and body slender like that of a serpent, I wasn’t quite so sure if that detail was just my imagination.

  Erri fixed the other drake with a glare.

  The subordinate lowered their head but still spoke up. “It’s not only you that this human has hurt.”

  And from behind the serpentine woman, one of the lesser drakes stepped past, their size letting them loom over their counterpart despite not having half of their spirit.

  [Bronze Drake Whelp - lvl. 16]

  At the sight of me, its slit eyes heated up like my visage was oil to the fire inside them. Their mouth opened, and their roar sent the tips of my hair fluttering.

  “The drake you took,” the elite said in her brethren’s stead, “was her brother, Rajan. She challenges you to a duel. To the death.”

  I kept my lips from pursing at the bad taste entering my mouth.

  ‘A brother.’

  From behind me, I heard the soft wails of the cindertree.

  “You can refuse,” Duke whispered. “We’re still under the protection of the Castle.”

  “It’s also a higher level than you,” Raven added. “You’ll not lose any face. Though you’ll need to remove your ring to confirm it.”

  Around us, the Clans watched in mock amusement. Me being a lower level wouldn’t matter to them. They’d just see it as weakness.

  But more than their lack of care, this was an opportunity for me to kill two birds with one stone. Letting it slip because of hesitation? The height of foolishness.

  So I rose to my feet with a sigh. “The battle doesn’t have to be to the death.”

  The bellow leaving the drake’s mouth didn’t need to be translated.

  Disciples made room in their centre. Eyeballs, animal wisps, and other vision enhancing arts took to the air. Some cultivators even called on their artefacts and went airborne on small clouds.

  “I recommend a strong showing.” Kayle angled her umbrella to offer the light an angle at her face.

  ‘A strong showing…’ I thought as my steps carried me into the centre.

  Ashwing or two harpies were my best bet here. Saber was strong for his stage but he wouldn’t be able to stand up against a lvl. 16 drake. Their scales were too tough.

  Hands painting over the air, I kept the image of Ashwing at the forefront of my mind—

  A cry from within jerked my fingers to a stop. I frowned. That…was undoubtedly Saber. I eyed the drake. The duel hadn’t started yet so there was still time.

  My vision shifted from the real world towards the garden.

  Only to settle on Saber almost clawing Ashwing out of the air.

  ‘Has this guy turned feral?!’

  He repeatedly lunged for Ashwing and the harpies (who were coming to the aid of their bigger sister) and didn’t let any of them close to the gate.

  I projected myself into the garden and yelled: “Sit your butt down, Saber!”

  He dropped to the floor in the middle of his jump and whined, turning from giving me puppy eyes to glaring at the cinderwings as if this was all their fault.

  “Go to your tree!” I swiped my arm.

  Ashwing let out a derogatory cry as the cat retreated with his tail between his legs.

  I shook my head. ‘When you think you’ve got enough trouble on your hands…’

  My mind shot back into the realm of the living, where the waiting audience had began whispering amongst each other.

  “Why is she just standing with her eyes closed?” one said.

  “Maybe her life’s flashing before her eyes?” another snickered.

  A flourish of fire dispersed their talk and called Ashwing into being. Some disciples exclaimed. A natural reaction, for the flametalon was a head taller than myself. In her latest stage, Ashwing’s red-orange feathers glistened without the need for light, and the flame patterns on her back gave the illusion of movement like a candle in the wind.

  Together, we stood like two silent sentinels, dissecting the movement of the opposing drake, who almost shrunk back.

  “This is your final chance to rescind this duel,” I said.

  But my words only stoked the flames and the beast roared for the fight to proceed.

  Rings chimed as a pudgy boy in monk robes—an impartial judge picked from the Quiet Heart Monastery—raised his hands. “Both participants ready?” When we both agreed, he added: “On three,” and raised his arms.

  Though the boy spoke, his words didn’t register in my mind. Scales glowed. Smoke poured from the sides of the drake’s mouth. So much rage…and was it not righteous? I’d been young when news of father’s death in the war came. Too young to know a proper lust for vengeance. But nowadays, the feeling wasn’t as far away.

  The monk’s arm descended. The drake opened its jaw wide.

  I stroked Ashwing’s feathers. “Calm Mind.”

  Cool energy washed over me and great wings boxed me in.

  The breath of fire broke as if it smashed into a wall. Though her wings shielded me from any damage, stray sparks of ember managed to find their way inside the veritable cocoon. I didn’t step out of the way and only closed my eyes. The searing sensation on my cheeks was the raging storm the memory of my father called up. Killing this drake would make me stronger. But should I absorb her? Was it right to deny any family members even the corpse of their kin?

  ‘Don’t hesitate,’ Mother’s voice came back to me. ‘Whatever choices you make.’

  I started building the energy within Ashwing’s wings before the drake’s technique ended.

  The moment her flames subsided, the wicked edge of the flamecutter forced the beast to dodge. Flames clipped her flank, shaving off a few scales, and the drake cried.

  My art didn’t stop and flew straight for a clump of unprepared disciples. A timely barrier from Aurille stopped them from becoming collateral damage.

  Ashwing took to the sky, leaving me alone on the ground.

  The wailing beast whirled on me, the pride of its race burning within its gaze. It was the apex predator on land. How dare I distance myself from my summon?!

  Crushed grass and earth shuddered underneath her heavy footfalls, her jaw opened to split me in half.

  I inhaled sharply. Red Fang freed its sheathe, and a trail of blood followed in its wake.

  The drake stumbled to the side, her orbs spinning in their sockets as they fell on the blood gushing from the right half of her jaw. She collapsed in a heap to my rear.

  With a speed unnatural for her size, Ashwing descended and dug her golden talons deep into the drake’s skull.

  I flicked the blood off my blade. The spatter of the ichor on the ground and the ripping of flesh were the only sounds in the clearing.

  My gaze went past the wide-eyed spectators to the Dragonflight, who all appeared to be chewing on manure. “Does she, too, have siblings who wish to avenge her?”

  The face of the elite that started this went dark. She stepped forwards—

  Erri’s arm on her shoulder prevented her from advancing.

  “You’ll find out in the Tomb,” the drake princess said.

  Red Fang reentered its sheathe. “I’ll be waiting.”

  A flourish, and the branch of the cindertree crawled out of the portal.

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