2026-07-14 20:49:23Eryx stood in the doorway of his assigned room, his heart sinking as he stared at the crumpled space he was to call home.
It was a narrow space between two stone walls; a single pile of damp straw was to be his bed, the air smelled of cattle poop. There was no lamp in the room as well.
Eryx sighed as he slumped on his bed of straw. He was still grateful to have the luxury to have a place to lay his head; he didn’t have a trunk for his belongings because he had no belongings.
The black veins on his arm were swirling back and forth. He had left his dragon in the pit; at least it seemed to be in a better position than he was.
He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the crawling hunger in his stomach and the words that seemed to be etched into his mind.
‘GROW!’
He turned to the other side, his brows pinched. How was he supposed to grow in a place that was set on burying him?
…
The next morning, the candidates stood on the training grounds with their dragons. The beasts looked magnificent as their scales shone underneath the morning sun, their breaths a puff of hot steam. Most of the dragons gave way as Eryx and his dragon approached.
“Even our dragons are revolted by the sight,” a boy scoffed with disdain as he glared at Eryx.
Eryx ignored the disgusted looks of the nobles as he walked over to the edge, his dragon behind him. Black eyes bags were visible on his face; he didn’t sleep well last night.
“I thought they were dead. Why did the elders allow them to still stay alive?” another girl whispered quite loudly to her friend beside her.
Before anyone could speak, an instructor walked down the line, staring at the candidates with a bored, cold expression. When he reached Eryx and his skeletal dragon, he frowned, but he didn’t stop, walking back to stand in the middle of the ring.
“The first duels of the season begin today,” his eyes sweeping across the group. “But understand this—a rider and a dragon are one. If the dragon is weak, the rider is a failure.”
His gaze stopped on Eryx as his eyes grew colder.
“Dragons in Aetherion are predators. They fend for themselves, and they do not rely on us for that. If your lizard is too weak to hunt, then it is not supposed to exist. We do not need or breed failures here. Perhaps that’s why it looks like a dying bird; it’s waiting for a master who knows how to provide for it, even though I have never seen such a scenario.”
A ripple of laughter went through the noble heirs.
“Maybe it’s waiting for someone to finish it off and put it out of its misery, instructor,” a noble commented, patting the thick, muscular neck of his Fire-Drake.
Eryx’s jaw tightened as he looked down at his dragon, whose skin seemed translucent under the sunlight. It stared back at him with its void black eyes.
And at that moment, Eryx realized with a look of horror that his dragon was starving.
“It’s now time for the first duels of the session!” the instructor announced. “Varyn, we will start with you first. Pick an opponent.”
Silence followed as the others exchanged glances, with smirks forming on their lips. The truth was obvious—no one wanted to take him on because they felt he was a waste of time.
Then, a boy exhaled loudly from the back, a bored expression on his face.
“I will take him.”
His name was Cael Brynn. Eryx had heard it being called during the roll call. He was in the mid-tier, and his dragon was a Stoneback. They were neither fast nor elegant, but they were known to be strong and a powerful opponent for someone in the lower tier.
Cael raised a mocking brow at Eryx and his dragon, his gaze moving back to the instructor.
“It won’t take long.”
His statement earned laughter from the crowd, but Eryx didn’t care. He moved to the center of the field where Cael stood waiting with his dragon.
The rules of the duel were simple. The first rider to be subdued would be declared the loser. No one was to be killed.
Eryx looked across the field at Cael’s Stoneback dragon. Its height was thrice the size of his own dragon, with strong shoulders like boulders. Hot steam came from its nostrils as their eyes met, and Eryx quickly lowered his gaze.
His dragon didn’t look intimidating at all. In reality, it looked like a snack.
‘You’re starving, and I’m asking you to fight, but do not die on me,’ he said, down the bond to his dragon.
Even though the instructor had strictly ordered no killing of opponents, the murderous look in Cael’s eyes screamed otherwise, and he was sure no one would care if he or his dragon died because that was what they wanted—study or not.
The instructor raised his hand and dropped it.
“Begin.”
Cael didn’t rush to tackle Eryx immediately; he simply turned towards his dragon and directed it forward with the raise of his chin.
The beast moved like a landslide. Slow at first, then gaining momentum as it moved, the ground shook with each step.
Eryx held his position.
‘Don’t move yet.’
He didn’t know if that thought was his or something else along the bond, but either way, his legs remained rooted to the ground.
The Stoneback lowered its head and charged towards Eryx’s dragon. Using its horn, it flung the dragon in the air. Eryx’s dragon flew in the air and landed on the floor with a thud as it slid.
Eryx felt the pain in his chest like a fist gripping his ribs as he groaned softly, holding his chest. Cael gave him no time to recover, as with one kick, Eryx landed face down on the ground, pieces of rock piercing his skin.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
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
You may also like
Back From Prison!
KMyay181.0K viewsRejected Billionaire
Drew Archeron135.6K viewsRise Of The Supreme General
Anakin Detour108.4K viewsThe Almighty Landon
Princez78.8K viewsDon't Piss Off the Apothecary
joaworth131 viewsThe Unkillable Warlord
Joey Macallan125 viewsThe Day My Name Bankrupted a City
Misato's Pen376 viewsThe Unrivalled Return Of Lord Valerian
Sacréd Pen47 views