2026-07-14 20:47:52The laughter that had once echoed in the courtyard soon vanished as the ground rumbled and shook for a second time, making the crowd scramble for safety. A few of the candidates who had mocked Eryx stumbled over their feet in panic.
Eryx turned around, staring at the scene before him, his confusion mirroring others.
At the center of the courtyard, the Rite platform split open. An uneven rift ripped through the marble, spreading to the Elder’s altar with a lightning speed.
From the dark, dusty earth, something rose.
It was an egg.
But it resembled a tombstone. Black, wrapped in heavy, rusted chains. Ancient inscriptions were written all over it, glowing blue as it shone brightly under the sunlight.
“The seal!” one of the elders shrieked, his face a look of pure terror. “It wasn’t supposed to wake! Not for another century!”
“Call the guardians!” another yelled, his voice cracking. “Seal it back! Push it down before the seal breaks!”
The elders scrambled towards the egg, surrounding it as their white robes flowed with the terrifying current. They raised their hands, golden light erupting from their palms as they tried to force the earth to close.
But the outcome wasn’t what they expected.
The golden lights struck the egg but were completely swallowed by it. Their eyes widened.
CLANG!
The first chain snapped on its own, falling to the floor. Above, in the skies, the dragons shrieked with an alarm as they broke formation, flying higher and higher, putting distance between themselves and the courtyard.
The nobles who witnessed this were terrified.
“What’s going on?!” one cried.
“Are we going to die?”
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
One by one, the heavy metal chains snapped. Then, no movement.
Until the egg moved. Cracks forming on the shell.
BOOM!
A black gaseous explosion from the egg sent the elders flying a few metres away; some of them landed on their feet, staring at the egg with fear in their eyes.
No one had ever witnessed something like this before.
As the black smoke disseminated, a lizard-looking figure crawled out. It was thin, its ribs visible beneath the charcoal grey skin that looked more like stretched flesh rather than scales.
Its wings were tattered at the edges and full of holes. It looked half-dead, a skeletal thing that seemed to find it difficult to breathe.
The panicked atmosphere in the crowd shifted into that of amusement and curiosity at the little thing.
“What the heck is that? It looks like a deformed lizard!” a boy whispered to his companion.
The skeletal dragon’s gaze swept slowly over the crowd; the guards were slowly approaching it with outdrawn spears. Until it locked eyes with Eryx.
They weren’t as gold or blue as the other dragons. They are a void of endless black, swirling with traces of purple in them as they seemed to stare right inside Eryx’s soul.
“Look, it’s staring at him,” a girl muttered. “Is it trying to bond with him?!”
“Of course, look at them both, they are perfect for each other,” the boy who had stepped on Eryx’s foot sneered. “A trash dragon for a trash rider. The gods really do have a sense of humor after all.”
Eryx didn’t hear them because at that moment, the world around him blurred away to complete emptiness. He felt a deep rush of energy like an iron spear was being driven into his chest.
“ARGHHHHH!”
Eryx yelled out, clutching his chest as he collapsed, his knees hitting the ground with a thud.
The bond invaded his body. It felt like cold and oily shadows were sliding into his veins, attaching themselves to his muscles. Something sharp and ancient locked into his core with a feeling that made his lungs seize as his eyes went bloodshot.
He gasped for air, tears rolling down his eyes, and through his moment of agony, he saw the elders. They weren’t as cold as they were before; they stood frozen to the spot.
Their faces as white as sheets as they watched the binding take place.
“Kill it!” one of the elders yelled, snapping out of it as his hand trembled, reaching for a blade in his robe. “Before the convergence completes, kill the boy!”
Eryx’s lips parted as he tried to speak, to scream, but his voice was gone. The energy was too great for his frail and weak body to endure; he slumped forward, falling headfirst to the ground.
His eyes slowly closed, fluttering open in tiny bits as the image of the dragon’s legs began to blur out. As he drifted into unconsciousness, he felt a chilling deep voice that wasn’t his in his mind.
It was a statement that vibrated and shook his entire core and soul.
YOU’RE MINE!
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54
A sudden, violent gust of wind whipped over the ridge, striking Eryx full in the chest like a thrown log. He staggered back, his vision swimming for a fraction of a second as the unrefined core energy sloshing near his sternum flared hot and uneven.The cold mountain air did nothing to soothe the heat crawling beneath his skin. Every breath seemed to drag the unstable energy around his chest into another violent spiral, forcing him to clench his teeth as he fought to keep it contained. He had already pushed his body far beyond what it could comfortably handle, and the last thing he needed was for his core to become unstable now.Crack.The stone shelf right beneath his boots buckled. A massive chunk of granite broke free, plummeting down into the foggy void below without making a sound.For one terrifying second, Eryx felt the empty space beneath him before his instincts took over. There was no time to think about how deep the ravine was or whether anything waited below. The mountain
53
The shockwave hit him like a wall and threw Eryx straight out of the tunnel mouth. He hit the muddy bank hard and rolled. Once. Twice. Three times through wet grass and cold dirt before he finally slammed onto his back and stayed there. His lungs were burning. His ears were ringing.Behind him, the entrance to the tunnel caved in with a heavy, dull thud. Tons of rock and bedrock came crashing down and sealed the burning nest forever.For a long time Eryx just lay there. The sky above was gray and heavy with clouds. He could feel his chest rising and falling too fast, like he had been running for hours. His shirt was ripped to pieces. His skin was covered in soot, mud, and that sticky yellow fluid from the nest.He closed his eyes and pulled his focus inward. He needed to check his conduits. He needed to feel if the egg Drogo swallowed had done anything. He traced the lines around his heart, down his sternum, through his arms. He waited for that big surge. That sudden jump in power
52
Eryx spun on his heel, his shortsword clearing its sheath with a dry rasp just as the first worm snapped its jaws inches from his face.His eyes locked on the thing, and a cold spike of shock hit him. During all those late nights buried in the academy library, reading through index after index of classified beast logs, he'd never seen anything like this.The creature didn't have the simple, blind brain of a mud parasite. Its segmented body rippled with dozens of jointed, hook-like legs—resembling a massive, mutated caterpillar—while its head flared out into the pale, slimy face of a blind tapeworm."Fresh meat..." a raspy, wet gurgle echoed through the damp cavern.The sound wasn't coming from inside Eryx's head like Drogo’s link. It was coming straight from the creature's split maw. It spoke human tongue.“Human intelligence?” Eryx thought, dropping his weight low in the thick slush as three more worms burst from the mud around him. “No natural beast evolves like this. These things a
51
Eryx stopped showing up to classes altogether. The training grounds had given him real progress, making the daily lectures on basic conduit flow feel like a complete waste of time.Down in the main courtyards, his sudden absence didn't go unnoticed. The high-ranking elder council spent their mornings huddled together in hushed whispers, throwing sharp, suspicious looks toward the lower dorms. Under their backing, the top noble recruits had formed an exclusive student committee, effectively marking Eryx as an outcast.They couldn't wrap their heads around him. He didn't ask for guidance, he didn't fight for resources, and he certainly wasn't crawling on his knees begging the instructors for extra pointers like the other low-tier stragglers. By all rights, a cripple with broken conduits should have been weeded out weeks ago. Yet there he was, moving around with an unnerving, steady calmness that irritated them to their cores.Back in the room, his dorm mates weren't any better."Look at
50
The dark horned beast closed the distance in a fraction of a second. Before Eryx could lift his blade to guard, a horn slammed straight into his chest.The force of the strike shattered two of his ribs, crushing a vital core point right below his sternum. Eryx went flying through the air, his body smashing hard into the trunk of an ancient oak tree before sliding down into the dirt like a broken doll.A choked gasp ripped from his throat, blood spurting over his lips. Pain roared through his nervous system—a sickening, white-hot fire that spread from his chest down to his hands and feet."Drogo..." Eryx coughed, clutching his chest as he forced the mental link open. "Get out here..."Silence. The connection felt heavy, sluggish, like trying to pull a rope through thick mud."The... the warding in this yard..." Drogo's voice rasped in his mind, muffled and weak. "The ancient stone arrays... they are choking my core... I can't break free..."Eryx spat a mouthful of dark crimson onto the
49
Eryx stayed under the stream, letting the freezing water turn his skin numb until the light metallic rust on the floor tiles completely washed away. The person outside stood there for another long minute, sniffing the damp air once more before turning around. The wooden door creaked open, then shut tight.Eryx let out a low breath through his teeth. He waited another ten minutes in the quiet stalls, just listening to the drip of the iron pipes before pulling on a clean tunic and trousers.Slipping his blood-stained gear into a tight canvas sack, he stepped out into the empty corridor and made his way back to his room without making a sound. The four boys were still out cold, snoring softly in their cots. Eryx slid under his thin blanket and let his eyes close.×××"All students, assemble at the central square immediately!"The harsh, magic-amplified voice echoed through the dorm walls early the next morning, cutting right through Eryx’s rest.He threw on his boots and walked out into
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