At the thought of encountering another dragon, Kaden’s heart leaped. The scales on his right hand burned in response, momentarily looking less like outlines and more like what they were, chunks of the living embodiment of mana. “I have a Quest to obtain dragon scales. Oceanus is going to give me one. Could I get one from the Life Dragon?”


    The Warden stopped for a moment to look at his hand. “You might be able to obtain one, but I’m not sure you’d be able to survive it. The dragon wasn’t always imprisoned here. Once, it lived in the Linusal Mountain range. Thousands of years ago, the Death Dragon disappeared. When that happened, the Blight broke out.”


    “Omnor,” Kaden said.


    “Exists deep beneath the Linusal mountains, which Centurions cooperated to turn into a barren wasteland devoid of life. The Blight cannot spread because nothing can survive crossing the wasteland. Dragons can be killed but not destroyed.” The Warden spoke as they ran, crossing rock bridges and fording shallow rivers.


    “They’re return-al,” Kaden said. “I’m still going to kill the Ice Dragon. It’s going to happen, it’s just a question of when. I was in a bad situation when I ran into it the first time. I wasn’t prepared. Next time, I’ll go in planning to end him.”


    “I don’t recall the Ice Dragon being particularly bright. Proud, yes. Intelligent, somewhat. Cunning? Hardly. When we enter the containment island, remain calm. I want to show you what happens when Nature is pulled out of balance.” The Warden cut west across small islands and stopped as she approached a literal metal gate. A gate without fences on either side, just standing alone.


    The Falcrow swooped to circle and came back, fading away.


    “This door leads to another island. One you can’t enter any other way. Much like your Tidal Key.” The Warden pressed her hand to the door. It warped, shrinking downward so Kaden had to duck, and the door itself fell to sand that blew inward. From the stone doorway, a gasp of air rushed out.


    Kaden hesitated. The sunlight on the other side looked identical, but the feeling was different, dangerous. Wild. Like the gentle tick of Sara’s Herald of Life title, only a hurricane. “Is this safe?”


    “Hardly. It’s furious at being captive here and eager to escape, and not even a Dragon can break free ofthis prison. I have an ulterior motive. I need to see if you’ll be able to speak to it. I can, but it doesn’t want to speak to me.” She stepped inside and gagged. “You’re second tier. This won’t kill you but it’ll be hard. Keep a small weapon handy. You’ll need it, and the reason will become apparent immediately.”


    Kaden followed her.


    One step past the stone, the light grew sickly yellow, filled with spots that blazed brighter and dim areas like spores of the void. The ground lay white, sterile, covered in ash—or bone dust, and every jungle tree as far as the eye could see was twisted and black.


    Kaden’s health surged upward, the counter ticking.


    “Quickly, through the wastes. When we reach the edge, do not enter, or it will be your end.” The Warden strode throughthe ruined forest. “I can feel your emotions. You’re somewhat Beast, due to that Class. This was a necessary sacrifice to contain the Life Dragon.”


    As she walked, she slashed her forearm with a dagger.


    Kaden mimiced the motion more carefully. The Levicon Blade wouldn’t cut deep, but it could ruin the bones in his forearm. With a pattern of slashes healing of their own accord, Kaden followed. Five hundred steps in, simple cuts weren’t enough, he had to slash at the veins, and a thousand paces in, the wounds healed as he drew back the knife blade.


    The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder, and a mist rose up, filling the air with foggy afterimages.


    “Hold.” The Warden held up one hand. “That’s far enough. The water here is a gift of Mortis. To enter it is to be erased. The dragon knows we are here already.”


    The fog blowed a deep and dark green, billowing away from Kaden as a pair of black eyes emerged from the mist, framed in a skull the size of Oceanus’s, with long dagger-teeth protruding from a short, rounded jaw.


    The Life Dragon’s scales boiled, both brilliant green and reflecting a thousand possibilities as they darkened, grew tumerous, crusted and shed, then regrew. The scales twisted, losing their green and becoming white blobs that rose up temorarily.


    Blightlings.


    Kaden almost shrank back, but fear was the gatekeeper of power, and he’d faced the Death Dragon. “You. Why do you unleash blight? You should be the embodiment of growth and health. This is disease. This is cancer.”


    Only when he spoke did Kaden become aware that the dragon’s focus had never been him.


    Until now.


    It raked over him, spiritual weight that pushed against his very soul and reverberated in his flesh, causing his skin to grow warts.


    Kaden activated [Destruction Aura], letting it seep out.


    The growth slowed but didn’t stop, so Kaden drew an [Agony Cloud] potion and smashed it at his feet. “Answer me!”


    *Power.*


    Beside him, the [Agony Cloud] barely affected the Warden. “I don’t understand. Please!”


    *Power*, the dragon answered once more. *Overflowing.*Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    With the words came images. [Beast Soul] was barely capable of absorbing, let alone translating the flood of images and feelings. Kaden dropped two more potions, desperately needing their destructive power to keep the Life Dragon’s power at bay. The dragon scales on his hand resonated with its strength, especially—“I know what it is.” Kaden turned and limped away as growths swelled on his arms. “I know what it needs, I just don’t know if we can get it.”


    Speaking was harder now with his throat closing.


    Kaden gave up waiting and sprinted for the door. He slammed into the stone arches, sheering off warts and tumors that hung from his skin and rolled through the underbrush before Trinity whipped her tail around to catch him.


    “Told you it would be hard,” The Warden said. “Back off, monster. I’m not going to hurt him. We need to cut off these tumors before they try and take over.”


    Kaden shook his head. The [Falcrow] didn’t need him to use actual words. He knew what was truly needed, and what to do about it.


    ###


    The smell of his own flesh turning necrotic and dripping off always left Kaden hungry for chili. Specifically chili that didn’t include him. Another growth turned black as Kaden watched. “Thank you for coming.”


    Sevin, the [Necromancer] prodigy who’d left Omnor, sat across from him. His skin was no longer pale, but the black stones embedded in his skull flashed in the dim firelight. Beside Sevin stood Kaden’s skeletal monster, Skully. “You’re absolutely correct. This isn’t quite blight, but the source of the problem is the same. The Death Dragon is the counterbalance and it’s been gone for thousands of years.”


    Sara had turned her chair around because while she housed the end of the universe, she had limits. Even Trella couldn’t watch as Seven destroyed the tumors. “Of course Necromancers want a Death Dragon back.”


    “Mortis is the god of Death. But he doesn’t demand we seek followers. And none of us escape his court. It’s a cycle. Life flows to Death, but energy isn’t lost. It’s purified and returned to begin the cycle again.” As Sevin spoke the underbrush rustled and skeletal creatures crawled out. “You said you know where the Death Dragon is.”


    “Vichor,” Kaden said. “I have a scale from it, and I think that may be the only reason I lasted as long as I did. The King is a friend but there’s ‘a friend’ and ‘willing to give up his childhood pet’ and I’m not sure we’re there.”


    “And,” Trella added. “Even assuming we brought the Death Dragon back, don’t you think having it loose is going to wreak havoc? It’s been imprisoned in Vichor for thousands of years.”


    “My Sister could approach without fear, as can our Centurions. At least, without fear of the Death Mana. The Dragon itself will still be deadly. That’s all the tumors on your head. Eve, would you be so kind?” Sevin had gained a lot of personality interacting with Verona’s [Necromancers]. He no longer stared empty-eyed.


    “There they are!” a woman shouted. Ydra came sprinting along a path, and behind her, her lover, Marcus, the man with the most magnificent beard ever, came striding. The [Druid] had survived resurrection, and something was different. Almost imperceptible, but the way he moved, the way he stepped and ducked through the underbrush was almost a dance.


    Kaden stood, wincing as tumors on his legs rubbed. “Sorry, I got too close to the Life Dragon.”


    Marcus crushed his hand, then clasp Kaden’s shoulder. “I got too close to a [Reflactory] once with opposite results. I’d take my death any day over that.”


    “It is grotesque, is it not?” Sevin asked. The [Necromancer] rubbed his chin, probably out of envy. “I was just telling my…friends…that the proper use of Death Mana is a cycle. Death should not consume all, life should not overwhelm.”


    Marcus looked him up and down. “We don’t get many [Necromancers] here, but any friend of Kaden’s is welcome. Do you think you can restrain the Life Dragon?”


    “No!” Sevin choked with laughter. “It’s a dragon. The only counter is another dragon. I could probably kill it, but if I do, the only thing that happens is it returns. And then I personally have a problem.”


    “I plan on killing the Ice Dragon,” Kaden said. “I mean it, I have a plan and I’m going to do it. Marcus, forgive me, but you look different.”


    In response the [Druid] bared his chest, showing the dozens of scars. “I’m third tier and this was my first death on land I’ve sworn to tend. The land accepted my blood and replaced it with some of its mana. It would be a very different fight now.”


    At the words, Skully tromped around the fire to put a claiming claw on Kaden. “Fight.”


    “That’s still creepy,” Trella said. “Sevin, could you please kill the rest of the tumors? I love Kaden but sleeping next to him like that isn’t going to happen. Three of them were moving on their own earlier.”


    While Eve and Trinity cooked and Vip helped (or, more honestly, begged for scraps), Kaden layed out his ask. “I have the egg of a Solar Dragon. Eve’s been keeping it for me, but I think this may be the right place to hatch one. Verona is too far north.”


    “Egalion is warm and would welcome it, but also want to keep it,” Eve said, producing the golden egg from Inventory. “Holding it in my soul is like having a warm spring day at all times, but there must come a time to leave it.”


    Ydra cupped her hands. “How in all nine hells did you get a dragon egg? Dragons don’t lay them, they make them. For decades people would beg for one. And you have one and are seriously talking about leaving it here?”


    Kaden accepted the egg. Warm to the touch, it almost burned his hands, and the scale on his right hand, the solar mana scale, brightened as Kaden clutched it closer. Then he handed it back to Eve. “I need to talk to Suridev. He had to know I’d take the egg. It’s his hatchling. Eve, do you mind holding it for now?”


    “Of course.” Eve put it away. “I would like to come when you visit the dragon. I’ve heard stories of clever they are. Should you be bleeding like that? My sense as a Priestess of Nurav that this is the bad kind of bleeding. And I say that knowing that to Nurav, there is no such thing.”


    “The excess life must die,” Sevin said. “He’s the one who challenged a Life Dragon. I would like to see this dragon’s containment myself. Skully is not alive and is not subject to the dragon’s influence. I’ll direct him on any work to be done.”


    “The Warden makes her rounds at night,” Marcus said. “Speaking of which, she’ll be escorting the crew. These are level twenty two druids. They’re passionate about who’s the most dedicated to Nature.”


    Kaden knew what that meant. “I can survive a few low-level [Druids] being upset with me.” Then [Read Emotion] filled in the context. “I’m actually tired. Very tired. Where does someone sleep? Trinity is used to hunting at night.”


    Trinity roared an answer that was *Trinity is the best hunter on the continent.*


    Confidence really was her strong point.


    Ydra held out her hands, and vines descended to grasp her, pulling her to her feet. “Thank you, Rooty. We have homes. They’re not fancy, but they’re comfortable. Rooty kills any night spawns and will point your TriTerror to islands where she can hunt Beasts that are her match or more.”


    A few minutes later, Kaden relaxed on a bed made of woven vines that let air pass underneath. “Found another one,” he said. Then he grasped her hand. *Talk?*


    Trella had barely spoken. *I hate needing to rest. I hate needing sleep. I hate that a stupid plant was able to burst every single Deception, anticipate my [Shadow Step], fling me into the air so [Limber] didn’t help and then drug me.*


    *Ouch.* Kaden sat up as a vine burst from the ground and reached over to tentatively tap on their palms.


    *World Boss. Centuries old. Tomorrow. Practice. Sleep first.*


    “First off, it’s creepy that the vine monster worldboss knows [Rogue] code,” Trella said. “But thank you. If I’m going to get schooled by a plant, at least let it be an epic one.”


    That truly did relax her, and that truly did relax him.


    Somewhere, Trinity was hunting, stalking a monster she knew was aware of her. And so delighted to be doing it. He couldn’t help hoping—or believing—that this could be a good place.