Ayxin, Golos, and Ryxi watched as the interlopers descended into the gorge.

"We should take them now," Golos snapped impatiently, his voice low and vulgar.

"Silence," Ayxin sibilated. "We shall observe their abilities and cantrips."

Golos grumbled, emitting a thrum of louring thunder.

"This is your territory, isn't it?" their eldest declared mockingly. "Your people are in a shocking state. They look half-starved."

"Yes, you have taken too little care of this place." Ayxin furrowed her brow ridges attractively. Her territory was flush with fat Merfolk, building entire theologies surrounding the Dragon of the Mount. "Father will hear of this."

Were it not for the fact that they were about to ambush two intruders, Golos would have taken a chunk out of Ryxi. _Tattletale Snake!_ The Wyvern visibly fumed, sending up two streams of blue smoke from his nostrils.

"Hee hee." Ryxi knew he would pay for it, but not before Father berated Golos. The White Serpent remembered fondly the time Golos was so intimidated by their father's Dragon Fear that he took a dump right there in the middle of the White Jade _Hall! Oh, that was the day!_ The putrid stench was worth it. Golos had been nest-ridden for a month afterwards, denied all healing as his body mended bone by bone.

The two humans, one male and the other female, stopped to study the village.

As their quarry waited patiently, so did they.

"Ryxi," Ayxin urged their eldest. "Hurry it up."

"Subtlety takes time," Ryxi replied with a sibilant whisper, barely audible. "It's almost here."

Possessing both the blood of the White Serpent and the Yinglong, their eldest could persuade the rain, fog and snow to fall where and whenever he wished within their father's territory. The cost of moving elemental Air and Water from their natural formation was no simple feat. It took incredible volumes of mana and unimaginable concentration to coax even a single cloud to move against the course of nature. As Ryxi was a horrendously incompetent combatant, he chose to contribute to the obfuscation of their enemy.

The rain began.

First with the gentleness of soft archery, then growing with strength until Dragon Pines bent from the sudden inundation.

A flash of lightning rolled across the sky.

"I feel strong." Golos cracked the many ligaments in his neck. "This is good."

CRACK!

The fulmination of thunder soon followed a low rumble which matched Golos' chuckling.

The Dragon-kins watched as their quarry skulked into the village.

"Sneaky rats," Golos puffed with growing agitation. The village looked vaguely familiar. He recalled feeding here. The eels here were not as fat as the ones in Ryxi's territory. "I will make them pay."

"Caliban, do it now—"

Under cover of rain and thunder, uncle and niece moved from shadow to darkness without fear of detection. Ariel streaked from hut to hut, cover to cover, with impunity, while Caliban stalked in its Spider form. Until they engaged in combat, both of her Familiars were invisible to the naked eye, courtesy of her new Illusion talent.

As the rain fell, an air of celebration seemed to take over the village.

The males, slick with milky gloop, seemed to take on new vigour. When Jun said it was spawning season, Gwen hadn't imagined they would be stalking past spawning pools swimming with transparent egg sacks.

Some of the eggs were enveloped in creamy gunk.

Gwen shuddered.

The two skirted around the village until they reached a point where it was easier to switch to Flight.

Caliban and Ariel soon followed, skittering and creeping into place.

Two guards stood in front of the Chieftain's hut, ugly humanoids with wet neck slits for breathing gills and fat lips that rolled in and out as the eel-folk breathed, savouring the moisture in the air.

A low rumble began to build.

Gwen waited.

_CRACK—BOOM—_

"—d Bolt!"

"—en Lance!"

Two headless bodies struck the floor. One head turned to ash.

The meagre magical resistance of Merfolk warriors was no match for the duo's notoriously corrosive elements.

Caliban, perched atop the hut, pulled up both carcasses with its foreclaws before packing away its humanoid cargo wholesale.

"Alright, Uncle, as we discussed."

Jun nodded.

The two entered the Chief's abode. Despite the smaller height of the eel-like Merfolk, it was impressively large and served a dual purpose, likely as a place of ceremony.

"Three guards on the right, one on the left. Uncle, can you take the lone one?"

Jun made an _okay_ with his fingers.

The two pushed inward.

Gwen waited at the door, a stick-straw-barrier that would prove no obstacle. The guards appeared to have been drinking. There was a sickening smell of alcohol in the room. From the festive atmosphere outside, she guessed that they were likely having a gala to celebrate the breeding season.

Another thunderbolt began to swell.

On her right, Jun emerged. He was done.

She turned her attention back to her quarry.

_CRACK—_

Caliban pried the door open, surprising the guards inside.

Gwen let loose the incantation she'd been nursing.

"Void Orb!"

Her elementally-shifted Ball Lightning sought out their targets unerringly.

_Thunk!_

_Psuwark!_

_SPLAT—_

One guard lost his face.

The next took a hit in the right shoulder, with the spell expanding to consume his chest and arm. The final guard took it in the abdomen. He looked up at Gwen and opened his mouth to scream.

With a wet, piercing _Schwark_ , Caliban sunk his foreclaw into the wood behind the Merfolk's neck.

The head fell, tethered by a flap of slimy skin.

Gwen suppressed the acrid taste touching the cavern of her mouth. She stalked from the room, her nostrils distending from the scent of gore, half-digested fish, and failing organs. Before Caliban could consume the corpses, a stirring commotion came from inside the hut's main chamber.

“Rbmrgr mrmrll grrbmrgrmrgllbaba?”

“Ml mrllmrmgrlrl glrllrlrbrmrgllbaba!”

_The smell!_ Gwen cursed herself. The stink of these creatures' carcasses was immense and impossible to hide! Unlike her uncle, her spells did not entirely consume the bodies of her enemies.

"Ariel! Like last time!"

"EEEee!"

"Cali! Onslaught the Chieftain."

"Shaaaaa!"

The double thatched doors opened.

Ariel shot into the room, between the Merfolk's legs.

The surprised warrior was one of their desired quarries, with a strong presence of lightning. Inside, Gwen could detect her remaining Affinity-boosters scrambling to act.

_BUNG!_

Ariel escaped right before the Flashbang payload filled the room with the rolling coil of lightning and thunder, mixing well with the sound of the outside pelting rain.

Gwen allowed her mana to flow freely.

"EE-EE!"

Ariel grew into its mongoose form. It re-entered the room, a living streak of lightning. The mongoose barrelled into a large Merfolk, ripping out a chunk of his throat.

“Shaa—SCREEEEEEEE!!!”

Caliban burst into the room, knocking the first ell-man onto his back.

“RBLLR MRRRLRRR! Grmlllgrmrgllbaba!!!”

The Chief was the first to act. It let loose a syllable of warnings before Caliban erupted into a full-fledged Onslaught fed by the collective death of three dozen Draconic deer and a stag. The Eel-priest managed half a spell, raising a wall that barely covered its waist, before Caliban hacked off its limbs, stabbed two rending pincers into its chest, and then shot a tentacle into its gaping mouth.

"Ashen Chains!"

A lightning bolt wreathed in dark ash appeared for a split second, making a sizzling sound akin to fat pressed against a red-hot grill.

Jun's Ash-shifted Chain Lightning scored its first target, then leapt quickly to a second, third, fourth and fifth. The Merfolk warriors slump to the floor placidly, drained of will and fortitude.

_IFF without a Spirit!?_ Gwen wondered how her uncle managed such a thing.

Was it because of his absurdly high Affinity?

"Caliban!"

Her Familiar threw the rag-doll body of the dying Chieftain away from itself, splashing its audience with a slick spray of slimy offal. It then turned to the first Merfolk, effortlessly assuming its toad-form; unlike the spindly spider shape, the bipedal Gila allowed for an expedient Consume.

"Looks like everything's under control." Jun scanned the room. "They should be stunned for at least five minutes. Better hurry. They'll be spent before long."

Gwen followed her uncle's advice.

She ignored the fish-stink assaulting her nostrils, fortifying her mind for the butchery to come.

_These Demi-humans were the enemy of the Human Race_ , she reminded herself.

It's a Fish-eat-Man-eat-Fish world out here.

Like her uncle said, you can't make sushi roll without Mermen roe.

The downpour continued unabated, filling the room with the dull thud of pellets pelting the thatched roof, killing the clamour caused by their atrocity.

"That one first—" Gwen directed her Familiar to the biggest of the bunch.

With a smooth strike from its left, Caliban skewered the humanoid-eel like an unagi-slab at an Izakaya restaurant. It then distended its mouth, enclosing the victim's upper body—

_Creak—_

The double door opened.

A womanly Eel-folk stood at the threshold, its milky eyes wide with horror.

_A female?_ Gwen's stomach lurched sideways.

The Merfolk pointed to the male struck halfway in Caliban's gullet.

“ _BHUERRH?!_ GHMMMRRL LR BHERRH!”

"Get out! Go!" Gwen hissed at the wretched thing. She had promised herself there would be a limit. This matronly aberration was that limit. They would be done soon; they could afford to let one go, surely?

"Gwen, that's a female, AND it'll give us away." Her uncle appeared to have a different idea.

"Uncle... she's... pregnant."

"Gwen! Do you know how much that one female can spawn?! Our combat doctrine prioritises the females!"

Her uncle waited for Gwen to act.

When she did not, he raised his hand to strike the Merfolk.

Gwen caught her uncle's arm.

Jun's unconscious attempt at cleaning up her mess came so naturally that it made her heart sore. A spell uttered from her lips, accompanied by a dreaded sense of guilt far more compelling than her initial remorse.

"Void Bolt!"

Her attack shaved off the female's lower body.

Jun gave her shoulder a reaffirming squeeze.

Gwen felt an immense wave of relief. A muffled cry of inner turmoil chided her hypocrisy, but now was not the time for a performance reevaluation.

Gwen crushed the ambivalent feeling rising in her chest and urged Caliban to hurry. If she were foolish enough to abandon her objective after all that, the wretched female would have died for no reason.

"Wuaah, whuaaah…" The damned thing flailed. It was crying! Milky tears were flowing from its eyes! Her hand reached out again. “Burl… ahrr…Bherrh…”

She attempted to finish it, but her invocation choked as it escaped her lips.

"GUUAARRGK! GBBBLRH! HURR!" the female let loose one last cry, her voice drowned out by the coming of rolling thunder. Gwen thanked the weather, for the thunder should mask the hateful thing's voice, after which there would be blessed silence.

"WWARRRRBL ARRH HURRR?! GOORRRLOOOOTH!"

_CRASH—BOOM—_

The thankful thunder came.

Gwen turned away from the sorry sight of the pitiful thing, her conscience numb with self-loathing. She would have to take up her issues with the woman in the mirror at a later appointment.

"Wha—" A jolt of Divination struck her spine.

"UNCLE!" Gwen cried out. Her voice was drowned by the rolling rumble filling both of their ears.

"ROAR!"

That's no thunder! Gwen's mind barely had time to register the shock before they were struck. In a mocking parallel of how they had stunned their enemies, now they were the ones being _stunned_ , rendering uncle and niece incapacitated and disorientated.

It was only a split-second.

Stolen novel; please report.

But it was enough.

The roof splintered.

Rain poured in.

An enormous draconic shape began to descend, its advance far quicker than Gwen could believe possible for a thing of its size.

A puff of mist and vapour appeared beside them. Jun was about to recover, his hands already in the motions of invoking a spell. There was a burst of colourless mana mixed with air; then her uncle was _gone_.

The Thunder Wyvern landed in front of Gwen. She could smell its stinking breath.

“Imputak munthrek nak!” the Thunder Wyvern spat at her. "Hur-hur-hur!"

Desperately, Gwen circulated a violent jolt of her Almudj's essence through her body, defeating her deafened and stunned state. Her mind was running ten-thousand paces a minute, trying to catch up to reality. _Where was Uncle Jun? Where did he go? Was it an attack that took him?_

"Where is he?" Gwen spat back at the Wyvern. Her chest felt tight. Her face flushed with blood. A strange heat was quickly consuming her rationality. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Shaa… Shaa…” Caliban swallowed its victim. It snarled at the Wyvern and bared its teeth-lined maw. Two tentacles, one red and the other bright-blue, distended from the recess of its bottomless gullet.

"Ee-EE!" Ariel likewise flattened itself in its combative mongoose form, having dispatched its victim.

The Wyvern taunted them.

“Fogah shafaer ir! Si hefoc wer odat!”

Gwen's vivid irises grew bright with encircling lightning. There was a terrible sensation in her bosom, an unspeakable emotion that harkened back to when she saw Sobel standing over her Master at Rosebay when her friends disappeared along with the Grot.

When Gwen next spoke, she too possessed the baritone of rumbling thunder.

"You will give Uncle Jun back, or I will fuck you up from the inside out, you oversized flying maggot!"

"Fiesk! Origato ui|ulph ocuir sjek wux retalk huena si spred dout hoinpic! Huhuhu, si inglata wux geou ergriff scivarn!” The Wyvern had a lascivious glare in his eye that would have usually made her nauseous, but Gwen was beyond such sensitivity.

Gwen felt her mind glowering with white rage. Everything had happened so fast; her comprehension couldn't keep up with the chemicals bombarding her amygdala. All she knew was that she wanted to kill the fucking thing in front of her.

"Sho ve svabol wux tepoha itrewica!"

"YEAH, WELL FUCK YOU TOO! _Elemental Sphere!_ "

The Wyvern tensed.

An unruly smirk took to Gwen's lips.

Her spell emanated not from herself but from Ariel's horns.

The Lightning Sphere caught the Wyvern entirely off guard. It stuck his flank, crawled up its scales and then exploded into a blast of cobalt-energy more potent than anything she had ever manifested in her entire life as a Mage. The power and efficacy of tier 6 Affinity! The second eruption was palpable enough that the Wyvern's body shifted half-a-meter in the mud.

_She could do this!_

And she was far from done.

"Void Bolt!"

"Lightning Sphere!"

"Warding Bolt!"

"Void Bolt!"

"Conjure Storm!"

"Void Bolt!"

"Blast Bolt!"

Before the Wyvern could recover, she let loose as many incantations as her rage-induced mind could weather before a temporary spell-fatigue of set in. By the last spell, her mana reserve dropped to three-quarters, her vitality to a lesser extent.

"Shochraos Shud!!" A sheet of blue-white lightning emanated from within the Wyvern, shrugging off her assault with its absurd constitution.

Her hopes for a quick kill faded as her spells _slid_ from its neck and torso. Her lightning ripped through the Wyvern's scales but failed to penetrate its tissues and ligaments as it had done so for her usual monstrous enemies. The Void-matter was likewise limited. Though it consumed some of the Wyvern's keratin, her opponent's leathery hide was warded by an unseen, supernatural force, weathered by the Wyvern's Draconic vitality, his inherent Affinity for lightning, or both.

Gwen's heart fell.

Now that she had gotten her immediate feelings out of the way, she began to realise the size of the shit-show within which she'd starred herself.

"Durrhop riika!" The Wyvern seemed to grow larger the angrier it became. Suddenly, it launched itself forward.

"SHIELD!"

"SCREEEEEE!"

"Gaurrrowl!"

Ariel and Caliban propelled themselves into melee attacks. Ariel latched onto the Wyvern's flank and dug into its back with tooth and nail. Caliban dropped back into its spider form, Hasted, then leapt into the air.

_THUNK—_

"SHAA—" It was met by a lashing tail which instantly crushed two of its forelimbs, slamming into its thorax. With another sickening crunch, the void-spider tumbled into the mud and the darkness. Some distance away, it connected with a hut, crushed the thatch-wall, and then spiralled into the interior.

The Wyvern entirely ignored Ariel's assault and pushed forward into Gwen's Shield.

"FEEBLE!" it roared in a human-tongue as it brought its massive jaws to bear. Looking up and seeing the splattering rain against Gwen's opaque Shield, Gwen flashed back to the original Jurassic Park. Never in her life did she imagine that the T-Rex scene would be played out for her so intimately.

There was a moment of uncertainty as a toothy maw connected with the Non-Newtonian Shield. Both attacker and defender were caught off-guard. Gwen hadn't expected the Wyvern to be capable of actually biting a semi-dome Shield, while the creature had not expected a Mage's fragile mana barrier to be so impervious.

The Wyvern's head twisted awkwardly as its teeth failed to penetrate her Shield. This miscalculation brought forward the awkward momentum of its body, making it stumble.

With a grace that seemed improbable for a creature of its size, the Wyvern brought its rear to bear, twisting and turning until its wing-tips dug into the muddy earth, allowing him to stomp the Shield with both hind legs.

'CRACK!'

The thunderous noise that followed was not issued from the cloud-strewn heaven; it came from a semi-trailer-impact, from claws the size of Gwen's arms raking against her double-Shield.

Her Shield broke.

There was too much force, much too quickly, exceeding what her N-N Shield could maintain at her current tier of Abjuration. Without more complex barrier-patterns such as those employed by Whetu, her Shield was only so strong against an overwhelming force.

A Shield-Break.

She hadn't experienced such a thing since Wanka had struck a claw through her semi-dome in Australia.

Its remaining momentum sent the Wyvern sledging into the mud and dark, though not before its lashing tail, its most deadly apparatus of bodily harm, struck her across the chest.

All the air was pressed from Gwen's lungs at once.

Her vision faded to black.

Gwen was vaguely aware that she was flying backwards. She observed a sudden shift in her bodily fluids as a sudden G-force accelerated her from zero.

Smothering rain splattered her face as a portion of her cloak disintegrated against the abrasive caress of the barbed tail, her American-made armour thankfully taking the brunt of the appendage's scaly hooks and nooks.

The ground kissed her shoulder, setting her on fire. She rolled in the soft mud, a doll sprawling across the earth, skidding and sliding until she found herself face down in a pool of filth.

Gwen tried to cough, but her chest was aflame.

All she could hear was the sound of Ariel snarling.

That and the thudding rain.

"Aaaaaaaaah—" she screamed.

Not because her body was broken—but because Caliban finally delivered its payload of stolen Essence.

"Ashen Spear!"

Ayxin battered away the eldritch force with one hand, forming a protective barrier preventing necrotic energy from touching her body. It was a nuanced and modified version of the Abjurers' crude Shield Magic.

"You cannot defeat me." Ayxin flared her nostrils, her ivory horn glowing with unidentifiable magic. "This is my Domain. I control the space here."

Her hand felt numb. Not all of the Ashen mana had been parried.

So that was the power of the Drought Goddess that made Ryxi flustered. Ayxin flexed her fingers, flushing them with healing energy to purge the ash. Their eldest was right to avoid the human Mage; if Ryxi had fallen under the blight's influence, he would be a sitting snake awaiting slaughter.

Ayxin readied herself for another attack.

The human Mage appeared flustered when she first forcibly pulled him into her pocket dimension, yet he grew calm and collected very quickly.

Strangely, he didn't attack her immediately.

But just as she was about to speak, he did.

"What do you want? Ayxin?" the man asked. Ayxin felt a sudden unease in her chest. How did the man know her name? "The name's Jun, Jun Song. I am also known as the Ash Bringer."

Ash Bringer?

The name brought no recollections to Ayxin's mind.

Was it a nickname or a title? During Ayxin's time, all Daoshi and Kenshi had officious titles.

"I am a member of the CCP; I hold the rank of Captain in the PLA. I currently serve as a member of the Internal Security Bureau, holding the position of Inspect-Secretary."

Ayxin had spoken to representatives of the CCP before. They were the ones who had succeeded the Dynastic rule of the Clans. It had been almost five decades since she heard of their rebellion. Did the CCP even exist still? Were they still farmers?

The man furrowed his brows.

"Now that we're acquainted. Let's get on with business, then. Where is my niece?"

"My brother, Golos, is entertaining her." Ayxin was relieved that the conversation returned to a familiar setting. "Do not fret. He has been instructed to leave her alive."

She raised both hands to show her peaceful intentions.

"Skryig jillepse!"

The mist cleared, and they were now hovering above the village.

Below, Golos, mongoose, spider-demon and niece engaged in a grand melee of Void and Lightning, tooth and nail.

"She is performing admirably, but Golos will have her soon," Ayxin observed the man. "Do you yield peacefully and place yourselves under our guard?"

"And be at your mercy? I don't think so," 'Jun' replied sardonically. "I suggest you let me out of here. I'll take my niece, and we'll peacefully retreat from your territory. You may lodge an official complaint with the local garrison."

"Absurd!" Ayxin snapped. "Do you think you can waltz into our territory?!"

"You certainly take your liberty with our lands and people," Jun snapped back at the dragon-woman. "Look, how—"

The sound of a Shield shattering interrupted her opponent's speech.

They observed Golos crushing the girl's Shield. Then she was sent flying.

"It's over," Ayxin sneered at the man's arrogance. She would break his will yet. "Do you yield? Golos will make that girl wish she were never alive if you refuse. You know the depraved appetite of the Dragon-kind, do you not? Your niece appears to be a fertile female, no?"

The human warrior grimly watched as his niece skidded across the ground like a rag-doll. The girl landed shoulder first, then sledged onward for several meters before resting in the mud.

Ayxin studied Jun's expression carefully, watching his jaws set, his eyes growing bloodier by the second.

A smile touched Ayxin's lips, flushed raw by the violence.

Now was the time to push the descendent of the Drought Goddess over the edge.

"Vataka!"

With a will and a word, Ayxin brought the power of her blood to bear.

Dragon fear radiated from Ayxin's body, filling the limited space of her pocket dimension like a haze, thick as molasses. If Golos had been here, he would have dropped on all four knees and whimpered.

The human Mage tensed. His face grew white as ash.

_Good,_ Ayxin felt vindicated by the outcome.

Now they could negotiate.

One should always negotiate from a position of power.

But the man did not kneel.

"Avatar of Ash!" What answered her was a burst of necromantic mana.

A prickle of instinctual panic struck the Dragon-kin, bone-deep and likewise born from the blood. It was the dread of desolation, the fear of destruction, an anxiety shared by all living beings.

Her opponent stood no longer as a man—he was now a humanoid fount of death.

No, not death, Ayxin realised. The sooty fire smothering the man's physical form was worse than death. Tenebrous flashes of netherworld-fire the likes of which Ayxin had never seen licked at the edge of her vision.

Her unassuming opponent had become the embodiment of eradication and extinction. In front of the terrifying visage of absolute destruction, all beings and things material could be made immaterial.

"A year from now," Jun's voice came across with searing intensity, sending shivers up her spine. "The Yinglong will mark the passing of his children."

"Insolence!" Ayxin simultaneously activated the latent powers of her draconic bloodline just as Jun delivered his threat; instantly, her dragon soul repressed any feeling of dread and panic.

A single stag-horn sprouted from Ayxin's ivory stump, crackling with incandescent motes of sizzling lightning. Her pearlescent scales took on a delicate shade of ultramarine as her irises became iridescent and cruel. Her garb, complexly stitched sheets of Emperor-Moth silk woven by Ryxi, immolated as she abandoned her orthodoxical draconian form, sprouting feathered wings of scintillating jade shimmering with metallic citrine.

She willed herself to attack.

Incredibly, to Ayxin's disbelief, her opponent proved the faster combatant. A ripple of stark-grey mana erupted from where Jun stood in a concentric ring, flaying every inch of Ayxin's pocket dimension with the destructive embrace of ashen obliteration.

Her mind was suddenly aflame, as though her brain had ballooned twice its size and was now rebelling against her skull. She fought the agony, her Draconic-constitution suppressing the pain.

The man was trying to escape!

She again called upon the bloodline of her progenitor, invoker of thunder and lightning, Lord under the blue heaven, who answered the first Divine-Emperor.

"Kepesk!"

Incandescent sheets of lightning ionised from every direction, converging onto the human warrior. If caught, Jun would become the epicentre of a hundred lightning bolts, each capable of reducing a man to cinders. No matter how powerful the man's Shield was, no matter how well he weathered the elements, Ayxin was confident her opponent would be lashed and whipped into submission.

Her vision blurred.

The Ash Mage disappeared!

But he hadn't made an incantation!

Ayxin spun her head, flaring her wings out with the violence of a gale. She was sure that Jun would try to close in on her, exploiting the one glaring weakness of her Misty Realm —the invoker herself.

Unlike the originators of her magic, she wasn't a human Mage. Her physical abilities, gifted via her father's lineage, made her capable of crushing a man's skull with one hand. Besides, she was near-imperious to most magic. As far as Ayxin was concerned, her talent had no weakness! Only a higher-order existence could suppress her control over the pocket dimension, space she could command to shrink and expand, enveloping her enemies or ejecting them.

Her wings caught something.

She instantly capitalised on her good fortune.

Ayxin's lips curled cruelly.

The Ash Mage, for all his bluster, was only human.

Then her smile faded.

_"Enervation!"_

The ash-smothered Mage wasn't sent flying. He instead held onto her wings, one in each hand. Instead of being buffeted by the force of her blow and falling to his knees, he had caught her. There was a sound of creaking sinew; the Mage had his right hand crushing the metacarpus of her right wing, while his left had snuck between her shoulder-blades and was now placed behind her back, against her heart!

Was it the Transformation?! Did his spell strengthen its user? Or was the man this strong all along? Father above! He could rival Golos when the Wyvern took on his brutish, humanoid form.

But Ayxin did not need words or gestures to control her magic. Dragon-Sages had no such drawback. With her eyes, she directed the sheet of lighting toward her assailant.

She heard a snap. Then she felt something as alien as the Ash Mage itself—pain.

"AAARRRRRGH!"

The pain was unreal because Ayxin had never sustained an injury like this. She was raised with a silken cord, first in the Forbidden City and then by her father. The sensation was fresh and hot and so new that Ayxin wondered if it was possible to escape the torture by blacking out for a second. At the same time, her concentration held. Her Lightning Field converged, licking the Ash Mage, gouging his body with white-hot plasma claws.

The man wasn't finished.

Her whole body suddenly grew rigid.

Necrotic mana poured into her wound, into her back.

With a grunt of supreme effort, Ayxin activated her draconic blood yet again, driving back the negative energy, expelling it from the divine sanctuary of her body.

_No!_ She forced her mind to focus, isolating the pain. This bastard! She would show him the power of the Yinglong's daughter! An Avatar of Ash? How would the Mage's human body fare against the living embodiment of lightning itself?

She would abandon her human form entirely, a prospect she did not cherish, but there was no helping it now.

Her will focused—the lighting converged.

Dragon-kin and Ash Mage, the two became wreathed in lightning, glowing white-hot with explosive discharges of erratic electricity.

Another bout of ash-tainted mana invaded her body, disrupting her concentration.

Ayxin felt the man's mocking breath inches from her neck.

She desired to turn her head and snap at the man's face, though rationality dictated she would lose a mouth full of teeth as opposed to the man losing the tip of his nose.

Another explosion of plasma licked the two as they danced the waltz of death. Ayxin felt the hot lick of electricity ripping at her scales, dancing upon her and Jun's exterior before grounding themselves like hysterical eels.

_How was the Human still alive?!_ Ayxin felt herself growing weaker, her vital reserves draining. The man's mana was becoming more and more invasive, more forceful, pushing its way into her body, his fingers dug into her broken wing, scattering multi-coloured feathers that turned to ash the moment they left her body.

His grip grew stronger.

"Impossible!" Ayxin felt her legs falter. The man pressed in on her. How could it be that she, a Dragon-kin, could be overpowered by a human Mage?!

"Cease your Lightning," a voice rang out beside her ear-hole. Had Ayxin been human, she would have visibly flinched. "I can't stop the Enervation if you don't stop your lightning. At this point, you're just killing yourself."

It suddenly struck Ayxin why the man wasn't taking damage.

_The spell! The spell the man used—it was Necromancy!_

He wasn't trying to invade her body with ashen mana. He was feeding his spell with her life-force, with her vitality!

Suddenly, a boot struck the small of her back.

Ayxin fell forwards, stumbling and slipping, landing on her hands and knees. Her broken wing sent up another bout of searing pain, making her curl into a ball instinctively as she broke her fall with a roll, just as the man's niece had been sent skittering into the mud by Golos.

Ayxin found her balance. She stood, propping herself upward.

"You want to die, be my guest," the Human stoically stated as lightning continued to bath his ashen-form. "Three seconds and I will resume my assault."

"One—"

_Why had he let her go?_

Were they not in an embrace of death, seeking mutual destruction?

Ayxin looked down and found her answer.

The girl stood up from the mud, clothes torn and armour in shreds.

"Two—"

Unharmed! the _Human girl_ was _unharmed_? Who was this duo? When had human Mages become so capable at physical combat?!

"Thr-"

Ayxin willed away the sudden deluge of lightning.

She felt her draconic constitution working to repair her twisted wing, restoring tissue and bone. She placed a hand awkwardly to where it bent.

The bone mended, the feathers regrew; her tissues reconnected.

"No wonder," the Ash Mage chuckled. "A Demi-human incapable of channelling positive energy would have lost their will by now. Look, I'll meet your Master if the Lord of the Mountain insists, but.."

"But what?" Ayxin's words emitted grudgingly. Dragons respected the strong. This man was strong. Ayxin couldn't deny that.

"Well, I was going to say you had to let my niece go, but now we wait—"

The dark fire withdrew into the Ash Mage's body, though Ayxin was confident it could flare up at any time.

"Wait?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "For what?"

The barbaric male tapped his feet, indicating the scene below them.

"We wait for my niece." The Ash Mage folded his arms.

A cruel smirk touched his lips.

"A girl's gotta eat."


The mixture of slow-building agony and orgiastic rapture was exquisite, a serendipitous convergence dulling all sensation.

Gwen took advantage of her pumping adrenaline and circulated Almudj's mana throughout her battered body, mending her beaten flesh and bruised ligaments. There was damage there, she could feel it, but at least there was no pain, and her system wasn't in shock.

She spat out the awful taste of fish and mud in her mouth.

A dozen meters from where she crawled on all fours, the Wyvern tried to snap at Ariel. The mongoose proved too fast for the serpentine creature, but it couldn't penetrate the damned thing's armoured scales.

Her Opti-Cloak was in tatters; it was never built to withstand the abrasion delivered by a Thunder Wyvern's barbed tail. Her sneak suit was torn from the collar down to her left breast, holding together only under cross-sectional straps and slings.

Quickly, she tied the tattered cloak over the left side of her body.

Unlike the Wyvern, she would find fighting semi-disrobed infinitely distracting.

Her opponent's form was barely distinct in the downpour.

The rain hid all the potential damage her spells might have caused, giving Gwen imperfect knowledge of how to proceed.

"Uncle Jun?!" her voice reflexively called out.

Nothing.

No answer but the rain and the low rumbling of swelling thunder overhead.

The rainwater stung her eyes and ran into her suit's torn collar, making it clammy and uncomfortable.

Uncle Jun HAD to be alright.

She had to believe that.

He was the Hero of the Northern Front, right?

He was the fucking _Ashbringer_.

NO WAY he would fall, just like that.

With the fire in her head put out by the Wyvern and doused by the rain, she decided to put faith in Jun. If the Dragon-kin had such means, they would have unconditionally ruled this region, usurping the verdant paradise of Suzhou and Hangzhou with impunity.

If so, there was only one thing left to do.

She had to mangle this Wyvern, then force its owner to confront her.

She could hold it hostage.

Once Jun was back, he would know what to do.

Her lips formed a grim, thin line.

"Caliban!"

Caliban leapt from the rubble, revitalised by Gwen's and its internal stores.

"MAGGOT WITH WINGS!" Gwen howled, utilising the projected voice of her Illusion talent to penetrate the rain. "COME ON! I'll MAKE A VEST OUT OF YOU YET!"

Her cat-calling caught the Wyvern's attention.

"Si siofmea wux loreata!" it snarled. "Nomeno ui gethrisjir ekess qe diwhaf!"

Gwen knew she couldn't tank the bloody thing. It was big, and it was fast, not to mention too strong for her Shield. She would have to kite it around the village and wear it down. If one Void Bolt wasn't enough, how about twenty? How about a hundred? So long as she could keep her vitals up, she was confident she could mill it down to the stumps. She had her Conjured Storm up; she had her Warding Bolt. It was just a matter of time.

As for her _vitality and mana..._

Gwen's eyes grew dark and cold; her irises faded to pitch as the Void inundated her body.

There was a whole DAMNED village here.

How tough could the flying fucker be?

Ayxin pursed her lips.

"A girl's gotta eat," the Ash Mage's nonsensical inference made her heart skip a beat.

"What… is that girl?" Ayxin furrowed her scaly brows. "Is she human?"

"That's not for you to know," Jun answered. "Though if she had died just now, I can guarantee that two of your three peaks would have ceased to exist. One by me and another by her ward in Sydney. Lucky you then, huh?"

Ayxin glared at her quarry.

She regretted underestimating the human Mage. The damned human was at least her equal. He reminded her of the Elders in her long-perished Clan. They, too, had been powerful beyond belief, but unlike her, they grew old, their power waned, and then they died. Their will had seemed insurmountable when they sent Ayxin away to meet her maker. Ayxin vaguely recalled that when her mother died, she had wanted to visit vengeance upon her maternal Clan. But in the end, her zealous ambition was laughable. Before she even matured into her Draconic powers, her enemies had died of old age, consumed by the shift of dynastic power and became dust in the wake of history. How fragile these humans were! How transient their mark on the world! How bright and brief was the candle of man?

"We can continue if you like." The Mage shrugged, utterly relaxed now that his niece was worse for wear but otherwise unharmed.

Ayxin wasn't the combative kind. Unsure of how to proceed, she turned her attention to the battle beneath them. She would dispel the Misty Realm and expel both of them if need be, though the chant would require significant concentration.

Below them, Golos charged the girl again.

Her boisterous brother better not play the fool now of all times, Ayxin pondered grimly. The uncertainty oppressed her, stifling her breath. She was confident she could subdue the Ash Mage, though Ayxin was ashamed to admit the subjugation cost was higher than she was willing to pay.

"Suit yourself." Her opponent scratched his head. For some reason, the man's gaze made her uncomfortable. The cloak he had been wearing had been disintegrated by her lightning, though his body armour remained intact.

The Mage coughed. Curiously, he retrieved a crude linen garb from his ring. It was large enough to cover the upper and lower body.

"Look, Miss Ayxin? Mr Ayxin? I know you're a talking-walking lizard, but how about putting something on?"

Ayxin looked down.

Her destructive melee against the Human Mage had shredded the silken garb which Ryxi had woven for her. It should have been durable enough to resist elemental damage, though not, as it appeared, the Negative Energy fire.

The Draconic side of her couldn't care less.

Her body was a wonder of natural beauty. Who wouldn't be proud to be a descendant of a Dragon with scales to show for it?

Her human side screamed blue murder.

Ayxin rigidly turned halfway away from the Ash Mage, hiding her profile.

She couldn't think of an appropriate curse in Draconic.

Nor was she in possession of another item of clothing.

Below their awkward silence, the duel intensified.

Golos was surprised by his vehemence.

There was something in the air that made him oddly stimulated.

His first attack had been a ground assault, covering the space with his powerful legs, guiding his strike with perfect poise, balanced by a pair of prideful wings and delivered via his thick, muscular neck.

One snap of his jaws and the girl would be bereft of a limb.

Then he could take his time.

He was confident because the Mages he had fought in the past were all glass canons. This female, however, had both powerful Shielding and offensive magic, which confused Golos.

She appeared to possess the same blessing of lightning which he had. More worryingly, the girl wielded a Negative-aligned power potent enough to penetrate his resistance.

It was with this foul element that she tarnished his scales.

The very notion of such an idea of being wounded by a female he could eat or mount at his pleasure was the greatest insult.

He had to call upon his father's constitution to resist the painful permeation of the tenebrous matter into his otherwise impervious Draconic body.

Then there was the matter of the two strange beasts that accompanied the female.

The first was an existentially inconsequent rat twice the size of one of Ryxi's goats. It couldn't touch Golos, but it was absurdly agile. For Golos, the effort he had to expend to catch the thing was more troublesome than just ignoring it.

As for the second creature, Golos had sensed a tingle in his thirty-foot spine when it made a horrendous noise and charged him. He had experienced a strange sensation of falling followed by the urgency one felt when urination was imminent. Alarmed, he dealt with it more seriously than he would have liked to admit. It was just as well that the insectile thing was as fragile as glass Father knows what would have happened if it had latched onto him.

According to Ryxi, that thing has a prehensile penis' with teeth.

The girl was screaming at him now.

"I'll MAKE A VEST OUT OF YOU YET!"

Golos thought the girl had perished.

It wasn't every day he was pleasantly surprised.

"I thought you died!" he roared with glee, speaking in Draconic. He saw no reason to talk to the girl in the tongue of her apish ancestors. "This is going to be fun."

If the girl could survive a strike from his tail, it must mean she was immensely durable in taking abuse. He had been worried earlier, as Ayxin had explicitly stated that Father wanted the girl alive. Now that the human female was proving to be such a good sport, his blood boiled. After the interlopers met with their father, he would ask for her as a reward. If he could populate the place with Demi-Ayxins, he could happily vex his half-sibling.

"WHOMP"

With a single sweep of his wings, Golos lifted into the air. If a ground assault proved too weak to hinder the girl, then an aerial one would have to do. A pinpoint dive was a force multiplier, a talent every Wyvern mastered. Even Ruxin, the purest of Father's blood-spawns, could be brought low by a well-aimed dive bomb.

But first, a greeting for the girl was in order.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Golos opened his jaws and let loose a line of lightning that cut through the rain, vaporising water droplets and carving a channel into the earth.

"Dimension Door!"

The female teleported.

Golos tried to sense the girl's elemental aura; previously, she had blazed like a thunder-struck Dragon-pine. Disappointingly, he found none. The strange dark energy she had emitted must be shielding her presence.

"Void Bolt!"

Another splash of corrosive muck struck his flank, removing yet more scales and soaking into his skin.

_There!_ He caught a glimpse of the sorceress. She was using a spell to hide her presence, taking advantage of the darkness brought by the storm.

The sorceress was covered from head to toe in the same dark substance she used to attack him, hissing as the rain struck. Were it not for Golos' highly developed prey sense, he would have missed the slim silhouette shifting between the Merfolk's buildings.

"ROAR!" A thunderous shockwave, concentrated into a conic blast, flattened the building behind which the Mage took cover.

There was a splash of ink as his breath attack struck.

But the girl was gone.

_Curses!_ Golos flapped his wings. The damned ape sure could hide!

From up on high, the Demi-dragon surveyed his domain.

His Merfolk livestock had been fleeing by droves as soon as their combat began, elevating chaos into full-blown anarchy. The pelting rain did not impact Golos' line of sight. Still, it diminished the efficacy of his kinesthetic vision, which specialised in hunting smaller creatures, especially in hot pursuit.

A commotion caught Golos' eyes.

_The spiderling!_ It was alive, and it was hunting down the Merfolk.

Golos scoffed. What use would the slaughter of useless eel-men accomplish? He could kill them by the dozen any given day, a hundred even. Once, he ate one with golden, shimmering scales, believing she would taste better. While not as good as Ryxi's carp, the eels possessed a fatty but delicate taste; they were one of Golos' go-to snacks.

"SCREE—!"

The spider turned itself inside-out, then consumed one of the Merfolk.

Others fleeing beside it fell to their knees and began convulsing and retching.

"Void Bolt!"

Before Golos could register what the thing was doing, another assault struck his right wing. The sudden pain spreading across his dactylopatagium felt like stinging ice. Golos inspected his limb for damage and noted that several of his most precious feathers, the likeness of which father possessed, were gone.

"DISGRACE!" He felt his head aflame with thunderous rage. The girl was spitting in his face! Her attack was an insult to their sacred Progenitor!

"Ball Lightning!"

Three blasts of enormously destructive lightning cascaded off his breast, chipping a few scales and bruising his flesh.

With another mighty roar, the Wyvern dipped below, the wind pressure of his dive so great that nearby huts were sent rolling, their roofs blasted open by the jet stream of Golo's passing.

A flash of lightning lit up the darkened gorge with a hysterical light.

_Crash!_

There were two sources of crashing cacophony.

The first was the rumbling storm sundering the valley with ear-splitting sound. The second was Golos, smashing into huts and Merfolks, flattening shelters and storehouses as he snapped at the space where the spell emanated, where he could still taste the girl's lingering lightning aura.

Instead, he was greeted by a fleeing mongoose.

"EE-ee!"

_BANG!_

A blast of light and sound disorientated Golos for a mere tenth of a second, but it was enough for the mongoose to escape.

_Where was the female?!_ Golos swung his tail in a wide arc and cleared a whole row of huts, sending a cloud of dust, debris and Merfolk. All around him, his people begged him for mercy in their grotesque fish-speak.

"COME OUT! COWARD!"

Golos had lowered himself to speak the human tongue. His frustration knew no bounds!

"Void Orb!"

The voice came from further than Golos had expected. As he lifted into the air, another three blasts of the dark matter struck his leg, chest, and neck. More precious scales disappeared from his dermis. If Golos could see himself now, he would have revolted, for his once beautifully patterned scales now resembled the fur of an eclectically shaven cat.

"ROAR!"

Another thunder blast, this time catching the culprit.

A half-dome Shield foiled Golos' hopes; then the girl was gone again. He could do nothing else but lift into the air, searching for yet another opportunity.

_There!_

Golos caught the silhouette and began his dive. This time he would not stop until everything within range and beyond was ploughed and annihilated!

"Lightning Sphere!"

The expansion of a lightning-charged explosion intercepted the trajectory of his flight.

_WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!_ The Wyvern felt as though he was going insane. Was the girl an Illusionist? Was he trapped in an Illusion? Ryxi could weave Illusions, but Golos never fell for those. Was this girl more adept than even a scion of their father?

Before he could pivot and turn, he was struck again.

"Void Sphere!"

_WHAT?!_ Golos felt his world go dark as a blast erupted right in front of his face, consuming his head.

Instinctively, his scaly lids protected his eyes. The Wyvern quickly channelled vitality and lightning, protecting his sensory organs, emerging better than he had expected from the exchange.

The darkness ended.

Golos opened his eyes.

Collision with a hut was imminent.

"GARRRGH!"

Golos smashed head-first into the hut, completely demolishing the exterior structure. Something must have been hiding inside because he heard the bone crunch and blood smell. From the stink of crushed roe, he knew it not to be the human female.

_CURSES! CURSES!_ Golos whipped his neck back and forth, clearing the space around him. _WHERE WAS SHE?! WHERE IS SHE NOW?!_

"Your pet's not doing so well," Jun taunted the dragon-Mage.

"Golos is my half-brother," the dragon-woman answered.

Jun regarded the absurd sight of a Draconian wearing a pink t-shirt with an anthropomorphic cat at the front with the words, "Hello Kitty." He had bought it for Gwen after the salesperson promised his _niece_ would love it.

However, when he saw her usual fashion, he realised the design was for far younger girls.

Would Ayxin try to murder him if he took a Lumen Pic?

The boys at the barracks would never believe such a thing.

But then again, few would believe he was face-to-face with a Dragon Mage.

_Dragon Mage_ was the designation the PLA had for Draconic Demi-humans who could use human magic. From her appearance and Spellcraft, the stupendously garbed Draconian must possess human blood within her, or else how she could not possibly manifest this Misty Realm of hers.

Spatial magic was a lost art, or perhaps, some would say—a deliberately 'forgotten' art. These days, Enchanters could recreate its effects with mandalas and glyphs, but the 'School' itself no longer exists, at least not in the sense of a curriculum. He eyed the Draconian as she squirmed, alarmed by the battle below. Gwen was doing very well, using mobility and cover and her Familiars as distractions. The two-legged Wyern might be impervious to her spells, but so long as she could keep her vitality up, it was a matter of time.

As for his Hello Kitty companion, he had heard of Ayxin; she had received an honourable mention in the archives. What he didn't expect was that she did use Human Spellcraft. It meant the Demi-human had been around before Mao's Great Revolution in the 40s, before the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

The dragon-woman caught him staring.

Her castigating expression amused him; it wasn't every day you pissed off the equivalent of a Demi-goddess. From what he could discern, she could use Lightning magic innately with impunity and near-limitless capacity, AND she had access to Spatial Magic. Her body possessed Draconic-constitution, meaning she could live for millennia, AND she was highly intelligent.

If she had been a Mage, the Towers would be grooming her to be a Magi.

But as she was a Demi-human, he should be seriously considering killing her.

But neither of them chose that path because Mutually Assured Destruction was overrated.

Instead, they stood in the space of her Misty Realm and watched the battle below. _Was it curiosity?_ Jun wondered. Or was it that they both lacked the necessary bloodlust for senseless victories? He had known peaceful Demi-humans, but Dragon-kin seldom counted amongst that number. Perhaps this Ayxin was a sentimentalist? One for whom violence was the means and not the end?

If so, he was in luck. Each second he maintained his Ashen Avatar, the spell set his soul ablaze. All these years, he had paid for it with the Essence from his Amulet. Sadly, his reserve wasn't infinite.

Either way, pending the outcome below, he would have to coax her into diplomacy.

With words—or with _dark fire._

Falling rain turned to steam against Golos' obliterated dermis. His once proud armour was wounded, cracked and corroded.

The running streams of water cooled him—a pleasant sensation amid the agony.

He would normally enjoy such a thing, but not so now.

Instinctively, he knew that his pretty plumage, those rare ornaments that had once framed his skull like a lion's mane, like the ones Father wore, was gone.

The exchange had gone on for almost half an hour, with his attacks missing the girl every time. During their last dozen melees, he hadn't even bothered trying to spot her. He merely hovered, demoralised and stunned by the turn of events, tanking her attacks until he was sure of her whereabouts.

But he was wrong.

The girl stayed just ahead of him, again and again.

It was Madness! Did the girl have an infinite mana pool? He was being ground down by monotony and indifference! The ceaseless impediment was making him question his sanity. Frustration, loathing, impotent anger; he couldn't flee, he couldn't lose, and he couldn't win.

The Wyvern preferred to be beaten to the ground. At least then, there was an end to the misery.

As Golos surveyed the desolated village, half strewn with corpses of Merfolk, the female Mageling was still nowhere to be seen.

_FINE!_ Golos congratulated his opponent.

He would give her what she wanted.

With a flap of his leathery wings, Golos took flight until he was above the gorge.

If the girl wanted to play the coward, he would destroy everything. From this day forth, this region will be nought but shattered stone, a memory of what once was. Riding the currents surrounding the storm, Golos found a spot to hover which allowed him the necessary space to manifest one of Father's most destructive abilities.

There was no name for the power he was about to employ. Golos knew it only to be the manifestation of his father's wrath. He would call upon heaven, offering his vitality and spirit to the skies, then call down a sweeping deluge of thunder and lightning.

That in itself would not be enough, of course.

Golos grinned, his cracked and bleeding reptilian lips forming a toothy curl.

The thunder and lighting would destroy the crags, the cliffs, the trees and the granite—the very substance that formed Huangshan. The falling debris would build momentum until a flash flood of logs, rubble, granite, and whitewater consumed the entire valley.

Then the girl would have to emerge.

That or die below.

Once above, Golos unfurled his once magnificent wings, now torn and spattered with blighted scales, bloody membranes, and feather stumps.

The winds changed.

The air began to form a vortex.

The already dark sky became lightless, plunging the gorge into a deep pitch.

As his assault intensified, Golos noticed a little green mote below.

It grew brighter, then brighter again.

It was coming closer.

Golos felt his muscles tense. His vertebrae trembled.

_What was this feeling!?_

It was as though Father was watching!

He glanced about him bewildered, wondering if the Yinglong's all-seeing eye would suddenly appear and scold him.

The green silhouette piercing the darkness became fully visible as it came closer. It had been scaling the cliff face at a terrific speed.

A serpentine form.

Four limbs.

Two long, protruding horns crackled with emerald energy.

_A Kirin?!_ No, Golos' jaws hung open. No divine beast could look as ridiculous as that thing. It appeared almost like that mongoose he had encountered below.

But that creature couldn't fly.

And this creature swam through the air, albeit with its paws waddling like a dog paddling through the water.

Golos wondered if the world had gone daft.

He was exhausted, and the Wyvern had taken at least three dozen bolts of both elements to various parts of his body. The damned sorceress and her cowardice had sapped his patience and sanity.

_Was it a Kirin, then?_

Its aura was palpable. _Old!—w_ as the impression Golos received. Older than anything he had ever seen or felt, perhaps older than Father?! Was it an emissary from the Great Mount?

"Lord Kirin?" Golos couldn't help but ask as the creature finally managed to lift itself to his eye level. "Why do you visit us at this hour?"

The Kirin opened its mouth to deliver its edict—

"EE—EE—EE!"

A Barbanginy Elemental Sphere Exploded in Golos' face. Illuminating the gorge, the heavens, and the cliffs, painting the cumulonimbus formation above in a blinding blast of viridescent light. The explosion expanded violently, engulfing Golos's body, then erupted again as a supernova, scattering the clouds above.

The rolling thunder could be heard as far as the horizon.

From within a shroud of superheated steam, Golos fell.

A Draconic shooting star, fallen from heaven.


_STUPID GOLOS!_

Ayxin hadn't known panic in as long as she could recall, not since she had been a human girl trying to awaken her wyrmling powers.

An Ashen Bolt flew past her face.

"What are you" Ayxin was in the middle of dispelling Misty Realm when the Ash Mage disrupted her incantation. The bolt had been too weak to harm her but enough for her to flinch.

"—don't you want to leave?"

"Not right now." The man grinned. "Give it time."

"I am letting us out of here!" Ayxin's eyes formed two cold slits of repressed anger. "Golos is subdued. Your niece is safe. Father had no desire to maim you; he said he wished to hold an audience."

"That's hardly fair on the girl!" The Ash Mage became once again cloaked in dark fire. "You weren't going to let me out to help my niece, no? Why should I let you out to help your brother?"

" _You!_ " Ayxin wasn't sure how to respond. "You insolent, arrogant ape!"

A blast of lightning struck the Mage, more purposeful than harmful.

The Ash Mage took it unflinchingly.

"I know it's not fair, but I took the opportunity to inject a Greater Resist Elements potion," the man explained, amused by her frustration. "You've paid too much attention to the fight. I could have sneak-attacked you a dozen times and over. Miss Ayxin, you don't get much fighting up on these mountains, do you? Nice and peaceful up here, no? Are you not getting enough action _around_ here?"

"I get enough!" Ayxin's face would have flushed if she had possessed the soft dermis of her human form. As she was, her Draconian scales merely bristled.

"Tell me, how old is that w\Wyvern? Would he leave behind a Core? I need to be down there for the Core to be preserved. The more powerful a creature gets, the more likely the Core shatters on death. Unless he's over a century or two, which is it?"

Ayxin's eyes grew large with rage.

"Do you have a Core? A half-human like you?"

Dragons were warm-blooded creatures.

Even so, Ayxin felt her blood run cold.

Below, the girl was approaching the fallen Wyvern, her eyes glowering with murderous intent.

"Well, I am not going to stop you. As I said, I need to be present for Gwen to retrieve your brother's Core. So if you're happy to let us out, go ahead. I am just as happy to duke it outside."

"If she kills him, I will destroy you and your niece," Ayxin spat.

The man shook his head.

"NO. You will not," the man retorted in an almost friendly manner. Such was his confidence. "You're a powerful being, sure. But your combat experience is laughable. You've never fought a contest of life or death, ever."

Ayxin trembled with frustration.

Her hands wrung the hem of her Hello Kitty t-shirt.

WHERE THE HELL HAD RYXI GONE?

She could guess.

Their eldest was either hiding somewhere, shivering with fright.

Or hiding somewhere, giggling with glee at Golos' abuse.

"So, what will it be?"

_Was the Mage right?_

_Could he be bluffing?_

More importantly, dared she test his hypothesis?

"Take your time." The Ash Mage pointed to the scene below.

"Gwen is about to start."

* * *

Gwen watched the Wyvern fall from the sky.

Her draconic vitality was spent. A dozen tier 5 spells, two dozen tier 4 attacks, and an endless number of Void Bolts and Dimension Doors had drained her reserves.

Her head throbbed, and her brain felt inflamed; the mental drain from spell fatigue was tremendous.

When she tried to breathe, her chest ached. Without the Draconic-vitality, she could not sustain the intensity of the Void-mana ravaging her body. Much less the injury she had sustained. Even walking the distance to engage the Wyvern made her breath rip out in rags; no matter how hard she gasped, she couldn't get enough air.

Additionally, she felt ravenous despite a sumptuous feast of two dozen Merfolk. Given a choice, Gwen would have chosen the warriors - had the males not been the first to flee. Unluckily for both herself and her victims, only the females and the elvers left.

But she couldn't afford the sentimentality now, her body was vitality-poor, and beggars couldn't be choosers.

The final choice of expending her Almudj-Essence had been a significant gamble. Without the Rainbow Serpent's breath of life, she couldn't use the Void variety of Dimension Door without corrupting her constitution.

Then the Wyvern flew out of range to launch a massive attack.

The downpour was easing up, though the rain persisted. Already the water was ankle-deep in the gorge. Even from a diminished vantage point, Gwen could see what the brutish Wyvern was trying to accomplish.

Her plan involved feeding Ariel all of her Essence, allowing it to climb the cliffs until it was within a hundred meters of the Wyvern. From there, Ariel could launch a volley of positive-charge Lightning Orbs that would hopefully disrupt the Wyvern's ultimate attack.

Then Ariel exceeded all of her expectations.

After Almudj's altered Essence infused her Familiar, it lifted into the air, growing to multiple times its standard size. Its Eland's horns, two twisted spirals, grew large and protruding, splitting into stag horns. Her mongoose marten's mammalian face likewise distended, taking on a strange draconic shape.

When Ariel furthermore began to dog-paddle through the air, she became struck with a sudden epiphany; the sort one gained when moments away from extinction.

Her intuition was right; the rest was history, one in which she'd been written the victor.

"Enhance Constitution!"

That was the best Gwen could do for now.

'SPLOSH!'

For all its terror and bluster, the Wyvern landed with a comical splat, cushioned by the soft mud. Gwen had hoped that, like in the movies, it would fall on pailings or spikes, skewering itself. Real life, it seemed, seldom provided such serendipitous clichès.

Elsewhere, Caliban continued the hunt.

When the Wyvern did not move from its muddy crater, Gwen took the liberty of waiting until she was jolted by a surge of meagre vitality from an eel woman before she approached the great beast.

"Caliban! Ariel! On me!"

The three of them converged.

Twenty meters from the Wyvern, it suddenly twisted its head in a last-ditch effort, letting loose a clap of thunderous air.

Gwen's Non-Newtonian Shield manifested instantly with a speed that would have made a Master Abjurer applaud. Her barrier weathered the blast without strain, splitting the palpable force in twain. Around her semi-dome, a 'V' shape formed in the muddy ditch, then sloshed inwards as the breath faded.

"Where's Uncle Jun?" Gwen stated the first thing on her mind, enhanced by her Illusion.

The Wyvern regarded her with fierce eyes; two blue-white orbs split with dark slits. Its maw snapped; just one of its fangs was the size of her forearm.

"You will never see him again; Ayxin has taken care of him," the Wyvern laughed cruelly as its body convulsed. It tried to rise.

"So you do speak my language." Gwen's nostril flared, a block of icy despair engendering in her bosom at the Wyvern's boast. The rain ran from her pallid face in clear streaks, washing away the mud and grime. Her fist clenched.

"Dark Tentacles!"

Gwen's complexion took on an ashen cast as vitality from her final Merfolk drained into her Conjuration staple.

Four writhing tentacles wrapped around the Wyvern's neck and wings, pinning it to the ground. Where the dark matter touched its scales, it scorched the skin and ate into its hide. A tiny trickle of vitality began to feed into Gwen, far from sufficient to keep her standing. The Wyvern's natural resistance was beyond her affinity and her tier of magic.

"GNNNARGN!" the Wyvern howled. "BITCH! I'll mount you! I'll skewer you!"

"I hope you'll generate a sizeable Core." Gwen's voice lost all emotion at the threat of violence, growing hollow and cruel through the cascading rain. "Caliban!"

Caliban skittered toward the Wyvern.

The Wyvern writhed and struggled, dangerously whipping its tail.

Gwen materialised two healing injectors and jammed them into her thigh.

She was well past the limit for alchemical fatigue, but every mote of Positive Energy helped.

"Dark Tentacles!"

"Lightning Tentacles!"

Her cheeks were sallow like a ghost's. Against the dark leather of her armour, she appeared almost like a Wraith.

_Caliban!_ She commanded her pet. _YUM-YUMS!_

Her spiderling skittered beside the Wyvern and struck at its sides with its forelegs. Despite striking sparks, it couldn't penetrate the leather. The difference in tiers was too great.

"You cannot get past my armour! Your monster is worthless!" the Wyvern mocked her. "When I recover, I am going to tear you apart!"

Gwen parted her lips to deliver a riposte. Alarmingly, she realised that her consciousness was waning. Her sneak suit was torn; the water ingress had lowered her body temperature significantly. With her vitality running on fumes, she was likely coming down with hypothermia.

Her tentacles tightened.

The Wyvern chuckled arrogantly.

She had to finish this soon; the Wyvern grew stronger by the minute.

"You probably have no idea what I am talking about, but once, I watched a movie called Stalingrad where these Germans had to fight tanks. They couldn't get through the armour, so they had to hide, stick explosives onto the tank's engine blocks, jamming sticky bombs into exhausts."

Golos glared, its eyes uncomprehending.

The rain was clearing up.

"Anyway—Caliban!"

Gwen commanded her spider to revert to its serpent form, long and sleek, torpedo-headed, translucent and obsidian. Within its carapace, purple muscles and sinews writhed like worms.

"… enter from its anus."

The rain stopped.

The Wyvern remained as still as a Draconic statue, trying to make itself appear as a rock. It was because rocks, for all intents and purposes, lacked an anus.

"Shaa-Shaa—!"

Caliban began to move.

"MMMMM! GHMMM! GGGGGMNNNNNNN!" The Wyvern was in a frenzy now. It managed to open its maw, forcing apart the tentacles in an adrenaline-fuelled rush of desperation.

"YOUUNCLEISALIVEAYXINHASHIM-WERETOLDNOTTOKILLEITHEROFYOU!"

"TOO LATE, FUCKER!" Gwen willed Caliban to hurry the fuck up. Her body was a hot mess; she doubled over in pain and could barely breathe. Once she lost consciousness, there was no telling what this half-dragon-half-maggot would do to her. "YOU WANNA LIVE? GIVE ME UNCLE JUN NOW! CALIBAN! GET THE FUCK IN THERE!"

"NOOOO~ GGNGGNNMMM!"

"I WANT ITS CORE-"

She fell forward.

A pair of arms took her by the waist and picked her half-flailing, half-wrecked body up from the ground.

_Shit,_ Gwen immediately regretted her grandstanding. Her mind was a chaotic mess of shell-shocked noise and sound. Reinforcements for the Wyvern?! She needed another vitality injection ASAP. Caliban, hurry the fuck up!

She spun, her backhand striking a human face.

"Gwen, calm yourself." The familiar face had a five-fingered mark over the right cheek. "It's over. You're safe now."

"Uncle Jun?!" Gwen reflexively blurted out.

The man was smiling, albeit awkwardly. He opened his mouth to explain.

"UNCLE JUN!" a cathartic utterance exploded from her lips. Her knees folded. Before she struck the mud, her uncle's hands caught her, one arm wrapped around her knees, while another first slid around her waist. The next moment, she was lifted from the ground and cradled like a child.

"I am glad you're okay." Jun held onto her tightly. "There's no need to keep fighting. Miss Ayxin and I have arrived at a compromise."

_Over?_ How could it be over just like that?

Gwen's mind was immediately suspicious.

Uncle Jun would never spare the Demi-humans.

They were harvesting CORES, for fuck's sake.

Why would the Dragon-kin negotiate now?

Was she in a delusion?

Is this an Illusion?

"AYXIN!" A screeching voice cried out beside them in the human tongue. "TELL HER TO RETRIEVE HER THING! IT IS INVADING MY G-GUTS!"

Ah— Gwen reminded herself. _Now that isn't an illusion._

"Lady Song," a woman's voice sounded beside her. "Do you mind retracting your creature from my brother's anu… insides? Your Uncle and I have agreed to negotiate with my Father."

"Gwen, do as the Lady says." Her uncle's voice was the same low and assuring tone she'd heard all week, certifying the authenticity of the man who now held her. "Do it now; else we'll seriously be in trouble."

"Okay."

Tension drained from Gwen's body in torrents.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A horrid fire erupted over her right lumbar and solar plexus.

“Caliban… Ariel…”

Gwen's head rolled against her uncle's bicep, free-falling into uncertain darkness.

* * *

Round and round, the corroboree went, circles within circles.

She was there, amidst the ring, moving her body wildly, a migloo ghost swaying to the beat of the thumping cadence. Sweat trickled off her chin, soaking into the body paint. Below, the earth clung to her thighs, covering her feet and warming her sole. Faster and faster they went, following the pace set by the clapstick.

"Kapi! Kapi! Kapi!"

The material world became less defined. The figures blended into one space. The rumbling of distant thunder joined the didjeridu. Above, the snare-drum sibilance of wind-tossed blood gums splattered dewdrops over the frenzied figures below.

She was in the middle, _Singing the Snake,_ inducing the tempest. Its waters came from the oldest place, Uluru, from a hole where all the world's waters originated. That was its home, the cheeky snake, the Old One who comes when called by the singing, pleased by its sound and rhythm.

When the snake spoke, its voice filled every crevice in her head.

"KIN!"

* * *

Gwen opened her eyes, her vivid irises adjusting to the brightness.

The scent of hibiscus was heavy in the air.

There was also the melody of a gentle guzheng, adding to the ambience.

She was floating.

Don't panic, she told herself. A dungeon did not smell like a five-star day spa at the Shangri-la.

Slowly, her pupils focused.

Indeed, she was in a spa.

Everything was white. Alabaster walls, ivory floors, porcelain pillars. Even the mineral-rich bathwater was white and milky. On the ceiling was a carved fresco, a scene of women bathing. The water was warm and buoyant, and pink-lilac hibiscus petals were floating here and there. Amongst the visage of naked women, there was a dragon with wings.

_SHIT._ That can't be good.

Was she imprisoned in a draconic seraglio?

Something was slithering up her thighs and caressing her toes.

Her eyes scanned the tranquil pool.

Was there something in here with her? It had felt like a hand or at least an appendage. Could it be a woman? A man? A fish-man-woman?

Another tactile sensation, indistinct, rubbed her shoulders, kneading her neck. The richly mineralised water lapped between her breasts. As more of her faculty returned, Gwen realised strange _hands_ were in the water, massaging her calves.

The massage felt good.

Very good.

As a long-time patron of her Swiss masseuse, she could differentiate between a hydro-massage and an assault. It was just that the disembodied experience was creepy as anything.

Carefully, she channelled a mote of Almudj's Essence through her body and found that she was in perfect health. Not as hale as her halcyon days of Draconic-constitution, but as hale as can be for a woman who had gone vis-a-vis with a wyvern.

"Don't fret. Those are Water Elementals," a soft voice emitted from behind Gwen.

Gwen slowly turned her head.

A woman was there.

Or a man, she couldn't tell.

She had rarely seen anyone so androgynous.

He or she had a perfectly symmetrical face, Asian, but mixed with something unfathomable. Her face, an aesthetic masterpiece, was angular but not sharp, long but not intimidating, masculine but not oppressive, and feminine but not delicate.

"You are…" Gwen scanned her memories. "Ayxin?"

The being nodded.

"This is my human form." Ayxin caught Gwen staring at her chest. Indeed, there was a gentle swelling there.

Comparatively, the woman's chest was barely noticeable, much less protrusive. Her waist as well was slender but not waspish. Then some features hinted at her inhumanity. She had a small horn jutting from her forehead. Her hair, which fell to her waist, was silvery-platinum.

Her eyes were the most obvious giveaway. They were impossibly blue, speckled with snow, possessing a single slit in place of a round pupil.

"Are you finished with the healing pool?" the woman enquired impatiently.

Gwen had never bathed in public, much less in an open hall with Water Elemental masseuses and a Draconic voyeur. When it was clear that Ayxin had no idea what privacy entailed, she steeled herself and lifted herself from the water, streaming milky minerals over her porcelain skin.

One of the formless water elementals accosted her for the final time.

When it departed, her skin and hair were bone-dry.

"Convenient," Gwen remarked.

The room was a little chilly.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked.

"Do you not have any in your Item Ring?"

Gwen turned away to mask her faux pas. Of course, she had her rings. If the Contingency Ring had been forcibly removed, she would have Teleported to Shanghai by now, perhaps in the nude.

Amazed she was still being watched, Gwen grudgingly materialised intimates and slipped on her bra and panties.

"May I see one of those?"

The Dragon woman appeared interested in her briefs.

Gwen wordlessly handed over a spare, a mundane pair constructed of fine cotton, wondering if the Chinese wore briefs a century ago.

While Ayxin hefted the garb, meditating on its purpose, Gwen slipped on a porcelain-pattern Mandarin dress, seeing that whoever ruled this place had a craving for white and blue. She then produced her sift sandals, hoping the cork would soften her footfalls and make walking on the granite less conspicuous.

"Is there a mirror here?" Gwen asked Ayxin.

The dragon-kin stared at Gwen's shoes intently as she muttered a word Gwen couldn't even begin to pronounce. In the next moment, one of the water elements formed into what could only be described as a reflective pool suspended in mid-air.

"Thanks, Love."

"I am not your friend, nor your love."

"Okay."

Gwen tipped her eyes with wings and applied a pink-petal gloss to her lips. She had a pretty good idea what their next meeting would entail, and showing up to meet the mountain's owner looking like a pale, colourless undead certainly wouldn't do.

"Can I see those?"

Gwen passed over the makeup kit.

"Those shoes, they look uncomfortable, and yet."

She passed over a spare pair of platform pumps.

"Why does that dress cover so much of your body? Is it a religious garb?"

Gwen gave the woman a new dress she hadn't yet worn. A white and floral number that reached the knees. If anything, Gwen had never worn it because she felt it was a little immodest. When she regarded Ayxin, however, she realised the dragon-lady was wearing a single layer of silk, like a kimono, and nothing underneath. She wasn't leaving much to the imagination.

The Dragon woman held her treasures thoughtfully.

"Thank you for the gifts. Come, your uncle awaits."

_Thank you for what now?_ Gwen blinked. _Those are my clothes. I bought them with my money._

But the woman was already walking away.

Gwen felt a strong dislike for this Ayxin.

* * *

"Uncle Jun!"

Gwen stifled the desire to run to her uncle as they entered a grand hall with an impossibly tall ceiling. The carved architecture was seamless, polished with a blinding gleam that made orientating one's eyes a chore. A sort of sanctified music played as they walked, but after a pillar or two, Gwen realised it was the wind playing through the vaulted roof, creating a gentle echo that resembled voices in prayer.

Her uncle was still garbed in his sneak suit. His equipment appeared relatively unharmed, unlike her own, though his optic cloak was missing.

What was surprising, however, was that they weren't convened in a throne room. Instead, the white palaces' corridors led to an outdoor garden overlooking the breathtaking view of Huangshan.

Even more incredibly, Gwen acknowledged from the dozen or so gates in view that this was the exit.

_That's it?_ What happened to the Yinglong kicking their ass? Where was her grand meeting? She had a whole speech in her head!

"Uncle?"

Her uncle assured her that, _indeed_ , they were leaving.

Gwen turned to Ayxin, whose demeanour was as unwelcoming as ever.

"Your Uncle will explain, child." The Dragon-kin pointed toward the descending stairs. "You must leave now. The Sacred Mount is not for the likes of Humankind, Vessel or otherwise. Your presence here has already taxed my father's generosity and sullied the White Jade Hall."

"Gwen, let's go." Jun reached out to Gwen, taking her fingers in his palm. "I'll explain later."

* * *

The trio flew through the mountain range, taking in its majesty.

Below them, above them, beside them, Huangshan's magnificence revealed itself as fog and mist parted, revealing thousand-year-old life-size bonsais contorting from cliff-sides and crags. An occasional waterfall added to the breathtaking scenery, cascading until the stream turned to vapour, fuelling the mystic realm below.

With Ayxin leading the two, the conversation was kept strictly to business.

Gwen still couldn't believe they were leaving just like that.

What about all the animals they hunted? That talking pangolin? The Wyvern that she defeated?

"Miss Ayxin," Gwen ventured an inquiry. "The Lord of the Mount has forgiven our transgression?"

Ayxin scoffed.

"Father's interest in worldly matters has significantly diminished as he grows ever wiser with age," the Dragon-kin replied cryptically. "You will do well not to venture into our realm again. Father has decreed that you are a force of Calamity, and I applaud your expulsion."

"A _Calamity_ for whom, though?" Jun interjected. "Lord Yinglong was not specific in his prophecy."

"What Calamity?" Gwen recalled that her grandfather had said something similar as well. A peevish annoyance crept into her chest. “I am the 'Calamity'? That's hardly fair. You make it sound like I have no freedom or will, that I'll harm those around me simply because I exist. What am I? A Tsunami?"

Ayxin slowed until she flew beside them. With her diaphanous shawl and silken garb, she did look like one of those mystical women from ancient legends. Gwen was reminded of the mythos where a mortal kept a Heavenly Maid who had lost her shawl as an unwitting bride until she stole back her clothes and could flee her husband.

Gwen doubted Ayxin would have that problem.

She'd probably nuke the whole village from orbit.

"Of course, dismissing the ageless wisdom of infinitely greater beings is also a very human thing to do," Ayxin riposted smugly. "Father does not wish to consult with you because to do so would disrespect an elder. Our race is very particular about seniority."

"Do you mean _Almudj_?" Gwen did a double-take.

"You dare speak the Old One's name?!" Ayxin snapped at her. The woman's eyes were suddenly ablaze with fury. "Your audacity knows no bounds, human girl! One wonders how you have lived so long! Or what the Old One sees in you!"

The winds picked up. The moisture crackled with static.

Dragon fear washed over the landscape below.

The sound of lesser creatures fleeing filled the valley. Birds rose from the treetops in splendiferous colours, scattering in all directions.

Gwen bit her tongue.

His uncle shivered, his fists balling unconsciously.

Without their magic active, they had to endure the brunt of Ayxin's draconic presence with will alone.

Surprising even herself, Gwen relaxed.

Once the shock passed, she seemed entirely unfazed by it all, looking more like a girl scolded than a lower being whose existence had been threatened with extinction.

"Never say the Old One's name without the proper respect," Ayxin warned her, annoyed that the girl didn't panic and fall. "Do not enunciate that name, especially not to your fellow Humans. An Old One is a special existence."

Gwen nodded. There was no point contending on how much respect she felt for Almudj. It would appear that the relationship shared by the Indigenous people of the wide-brown land with their deity was far more intimate than that of the Yinglong, who had marketed himself as a deity to be worshipped and feared rather than loved and admired.

The flight continued in silence until Gwen could no longer withhold her curiosity.

"What's happened to the Wyvern?"

"Ah—about that," her uncle pipped up. "I tried my best, Gwen. But no dice. I am afraid there is no Dragon Core."

"Imprudent!" Ayxin jeered her uncle. From the look on her face, she had recalled an unpleasant memory.

Jun smiled broadly at the Dragon-Mage, then turned to Gwen.

"Conversely, I have spoken with the Lord of the Huangshan, and he has informed me that there will be reparation for losing your victory spoils."

Ayxin lowered her eyes, glanced at Jun, and then turned her chin away.

Gwen regarded the atmosphere between the two. She was very good at reading people, and what she read now made no sense to her. In her human form, Ayxin was extraordinarily beautiful, albeit aesthetic and abstract. There was tension between the two, but it wasn't sexual. If there were, she would know. Gwen was confident she could read sexual tension like a violinist tuning the tautness of her strings. No, what the two shared was a kind of cross-species admiration, which made it worse.

"And what may that be?" She asked.

"Golos owes you his life, though no doubt my brother would prefer death to indentured servitude, so your Uncle here negotiated your terms with Father in your stead."

"Oh?"

Gwen reminded herself that there were still a dozen or more cores held captive within Caliban, which she had not examined. Whatever spoils she could receive now would be in addition to the surety of her secret stash.

"Yes, Golos shall save your life—THRICE—in the coming years, even if it means he would expend his own in the process. Should he survive the endeavour, he will be allowed to return to his former position."

"That's…" Gwen mulled Ayxin's words in her head twice over, only to find that she couldn't comprehend a single word.

"Gwen," her uncle came to Ayxin's defence. "The Yinglong is well known for its prophecies. I believe it's a good offer. Think about why we're here. Despite everything, we're leaving unscathed. As for saving your life, if Ayxin says her father is to be trusted, then that's three times you will cheat death!"

_H-her uncle was playing the devil's advocate for the dragon lady?!_ The nerve! Gwen fought down a sudden soreness in her chest.

Suddenly and unbidden, she felt Almudj's Essence come alive.

Ayxin regarded Gwen with wonderment, then matched Gwen's unconscious projection with one of her own.

Caught between two opposing waves of Dracon Fear, her uncle appeared hen-picked.

"Ayxin..."

He had spoken the woman's name with such familiarity!

"Gwen…"

"I am not doing anything," Gwen snapped.

"Ayxin," her uncle again turned to the Dragon-kin. "Can you teach Gwen how to… control that? I am afraid we'll have incidents back home if she keeps leaking."

"Control what?" Gwen confirmed she was safely provisioned underneath her skirt. Her maxi dress was bone-dry. Her face took on a darker shade. "What's leaking?"

"Your aura, your presence, or rather, I should say—the presence of the Old One."

"Almu-"

Gwen stopped herself.

"As a _Vessel_ —" the Dragon Woman began.

"What's a vessel?"

"You presume to be too familiar with me!" Ayxin chided her, cutting her off. "I am older than your ancestors! Learn some manners, girl!"

Gwen chose diplomatic silence.

"Please continue," her uncle urged his new favourite.

"Your niece is a Vessel, meaning she has been chosen to contain a portion of the Old One's being. As for what it means, Father would not say."

"Surely you know something?" Jun coaxed the Dragon-kin.

"Maybe I do."

"Well?"

Ayxin shrugged; her lips were pressed.

Jun sighed.

"Why am I leaking? What am I leaking?" Gwen grew disconcerted with the idea that she may be leaking anything.

Jun looked exhausted already.

Gwen turned to her least favourite Dragon-kin.

"Can you answer the question, Ma'am?" Gwen added sweetly; her voice tinged with tartness. The sound of her tone surprised her. Why was she so peevish? Gwen touched her chest uncertainly. It wasn't like her to be like this.

"Miss Ayxin. Allow me to apologise." She controlled herself.

"Hmm—" Ayxin slowed their progress. "Come here, girl."

Gwen drifted closer.

Ayxin placed a finger to her forehead, then withdrew a mote of light from it. The rarified substance condensed until it formed a small trinket, not unlike an Ioun Stone. Upon closer inspection, she noted that it was a dragon scale.

"Father foresaw and instructed me to give you this." She turned to Jun with a knowing look before returning her judgemental eyes to Gwen. "Wear it like one of your magical items. It will help you temper the Draconic Essence within your body. Eventually, it will teach you to perform the meditation unconsciously."

"Thank you."

"Good, take this—" the woman placed the scale in her hand, then smirked at Gwen. "Now go over there. Your Uncle and I need to speak in private before I leave you both."

Gwen surveyed their whereabouts.

Indeed, they were at the border. Gwen could see the line of Dragon-pine standing at the base of the mountain.

"A moment please, Gwen," her uncle requested. "I'll be with you soon."

Gwen took the scale ungratefully and drifted far enough to be out of earshot.

She would have a 'talk' with her uncle at her earliest convenience!

* * *

"Sorry, she's young."

Ayxin shook her head.

"She is not young." The Dragon-Mage's expression softened. "You know this. Father told you so."

Jun breathed out, sighing deeply.

"She will be a Calamity. Father is never wrong."

"I don't believe in predeterminism." Jun shook his head. "I only believe in choice and consequence."

"Father's offer…"

"No. I am sorry."

"But the girl isn't who she says she is," Ayxin protested. "Your niece is no longer; what inhabits her body now is an aberration. A being that should not exist."

"Doesn't matter." Jun met the concerned woman's single-slit eyes, like pale water amidst the soft light of the mid-morning. "Did you know that I had previously not known she existed? I never knew this 'original'. It makes no difference to me. Gwen—is Gwen."

"You're wasting—"

"Enough! Lady Ayxin."

The Dragon woman lowered her eyes.

Jun took a quiet moment to wipe the expression of vexation and conflict from his face.

"I am sorry." He felt sorry for the woman.

The two listened to the lilting melody of Dragon pine swaying below their feet.

"I will remember you," Ayxin said at last.

Her candidness surprised Jun; such a promise was not easy for a near-immortal to declare. He thought of the Yinglong's offer, the conversation he had shared with the Demi-Deity about the Drought Goddess, family secrets, and the Amulet. The Yinglong had also bestowed upon him a prophesy, just as it had given his niece.

A lock of Ayxin's silvery-flaxen hair blew across her face.

Now was the right moment to touch her hand and speak softly, but he was neither Hai; nor happy with the Yinglong's meddling.

Humans took fate into their own hands.

"Thank you."

Jun drifted away from her. He liked the Dragon woman, but she was a Dragon, and he was merely a man.

"And Goodbye."