2026-07-14 20:49:58The impact sent Eryx sliding across the training grounds before crashing into a stone pillar at the edge of the arena. Pain instantly surged in his body, his body squeezing in discomfort as he struggled to take in breaths.
Across the arena, laughter erupted instantly.
“Sill of me to have thought that he would last longer than one hit.”
“I have seen children put up better fights than him and his ridiculous excuse of a dragon, Ha-ha!”
Cael rolled his shoulders lazily, feeling a deep sense of pride and accomplishment.
“I was expecting at least a little… entertainment.”
His Stoneback Dragon stomped forward with slow, crushing steps. It’s heavy steps shooked the earth beneath it. Every breath it released came out a rings of hot steam.
The instructor nodded approvingly.
“Excellent balance,” he commented. “Your dragon’s physical foundation is solid.”
Cael smirked at the comment and gave a respectful nod. Everyone thought the battle was over and the instructor was just about to announce him the winner when Eryx suddenly pushed himself up with a knee.
His vision was blurry as he tried to regain his balance, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth onto the ground.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t only feeling his pain but the pain of his dragon. It burned through his chest sending another agony spiraling through his body.
He slowly turned and his dragon lay where it had landed, unmoving.
For a beat, Eryx thought it had died but those soulless black eyes opened making him exhaled a relieved sigh.
Grow!
The word echoed down the bond again. Eryx raised a confused brow at his dragon.
“Eryx Varyn, do you yield?!” The instructor asked with a scowl on his face.
Before Eryx could respond, Cael’s dragon charged once more at the skeletal dragon as it struggled to stand. The impact sent the creature rolling across the area.
Dust exploded upwards covering it for a moment. A sharp pain instantly struck Eryx’s ribs.
“Arghh!” He cried before collapsing to the floor again, holding his side.
Every injury the dragon suffered was intensifying inside him.
“You won’t survive another exchange!” The instructor announced, irritated with Eryx’s lack of compliance to yielding.
Eryx forced himself up, staggering as he did. His breathing had become haggard as he slowly looked towards where his dragon led, the Stoneback standing beside it.
A thought struck him instantly. His dragon was starving! He remembered the mocking words of one of the instructors.
“If your dragon was too weak to hunt then, it is not supposed to exist.”
The word returned again and this time, it was louder that Eryx had to cover his ears.
GROW!
The Stoneback charged forward again, it’s jaws were wide open enough to swallow half the smaller dragon or instead to incinerate it.
“No!” Eryx shouted, his eyes widening with fear.
At that instant, the skeletal dragon didn’t dodge, it leaped forward, attaching itself to the neck of the Stoneback.
The crowd laughed.
“What the hell is it trying to do?”
“Perhaps it’s trying to hide or give up by coaxing Cael’s dragon since it’s master is being stupid,” another said, bringing out another round of laughter.
Then—
CRUNCH!
The laughter stopped instantly as everyone looked at the dragons. The skeletal dragon had buried its teeth into the Stoneback’s shoulder!
The Stoneback roared violently, twisting, bucking and slamming itself against the ground and rocks trying to shake the creature off its body.
But the skeletal dragon didn’t let loose, instead, it held on tighter. Its black eyes began to glow, dark veins spreading beneath its paper-thin skin.
A pindrop silence spread across the arena as some turned to look at Cael, whose face had gone pale instantly.
“What’s going on?!”
The movements of the Stoneback gradually slowed. Its furious roars became weaker by the minute, its powerful limbs began trembling. Meanwhile, the skeletal dragon’s ribs were no longer visible as before. It’s dull scales darkened from faded gray into polished Obisidan.
Eryx froze. He could feel a sense of warmth, strength and energy pouring through the bond like a rushing river. His wounds were slowly healing like a refreshing breeze, his aching relaxed and his breathing steadied.
Whatever it’s dragon was doing was refreshing both not itself but also him.
Across the arena, panic erupted immediately the Stoneback fell to the floor.
“Separate them!”
The instructor rushed forward instantly but before he could reach them, the skeletal dragon released its bite and walked gracefully towards Eryx.
It still looked small but no longer weak as before. The Stoneback however, wasn’t in a good shape. Its once muscular body looked unbelievably thinner, its breathing became labored, it tried to stand but ended up falling back to the ground.
The arena fell into complete silence.
Cael stared at his dragon.
“No!” He ran towards it. “Get up!”
The Stoneback blinked at its master. A low steam cloud came out of its nose. It no longer possessed the strength it had before. The instructor immediately examined it, his expression changing by the second.
“There are no fatal wounds, no internal injuries and no broken bones,” he slowly looked toward Eryx’s dragon clearly confused. “Then where did its strength go?”
No one could answer that, they all looked at the skeletal dragon standing obediently by Eryx’s side. It’s eyes staring back at the crowd.
The instructor cleared a voice, staring at his students. “The winner of this round is…”
He inhaled a breath, trailing off as if the words itself sounded bitter.
“Eryx Varyn.”
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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
48
Third Person POVEryx didn't hesitate for a single second. The gnawing hunger in his chest had taken over, and looking down at that mountain of wild meat, he was completely sure of what was about to happen.He didn't need to bark orders. Drogo lunged from the edge of the ditch like a streak of black smoke, going straight for the creature's face. At the exact same time, Eryx leapt down the muddy bank, his shortsword drawn, aiming to split the beast's thick hide from the side.The boar slammed its front hooves into the mud. For an ancient, extinct creature, it moved fast—unnatural fast.With a brutal grunt, it swung its massive head sideways. Its curved tusk ripped through the air, narrowly missing Drogo as the little dragon twisted mid-air to dodge. The sheer air pressure from the swing blew Eryx back two steps, the boar using that split-second space to pivot its heavy frame and take off into the dark trees."It's running!" Drogo's voice hissed in Eryx's mind, dark black mist boiling o
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