Heavy steps overhead shook sediment from the stone ceiling. The beast’s ear twitched as a cloud of dust settled over it. Wood groaned and creaked as orange light poured into the crypt.

The beast stirred, straightening its body so that I could see its grotesque face, half necrotic with a dead eye and insects feeding in festering wounds.

I shrank back into the shadows, now a distance of roughly thirty feet from the creature—a gap that was far too small for comfort. Seeing that the creature was waking up, I quickened my pace.

A rumbling explosion shook the space above—likely some of the barrels contained alcohol or chemicals that reacted violently when the fire reached them.

With a metallic clang, the spectral knight dropped into the chamber, the impact of his fall toppling several piles of bones.

Fluffy sat up with a yawn.

Without warning, the black creature grasped the knight in his claws.

Inside his armor, the knight was on fire, making him appear like a torch in the beast's grip. The knight flailed his sword wildly as he was brought closer to the dog-like creature’s fangs.

Fluffy flicked the sword away, sending it spinning through the air until it struck something with a sharp ring and fell against the stone floor. The beast, unbothered by the fire, tossed the knight into its mouth.

Soon fluffy finished chewing and laid back down.

“Spectral knight defeated—scenario complete. Do you wish to end the simulation?”

“Yes!” I said aloud after breathing a sigh of relief.

Fluffy didn’t seem to notice the system, but it certainly heard me. Shooting up like a spring, Fluffy charged across the crypt, making shockwaves with each step.

“Acknowledged. Simulation complete.”

The creature dove at me, opening his maw as he slid toward me. His foul breath was enough to burn to my skin and make my eyes water.

Fluffy dissolved into particles of light just as his massive tongue slammed into me. I still felt the pain of the impact, like I’d been slapped across my entire body all at once, but I was at least spared the pain of being eaten.

“HE DID WHAT?” old white beard boomed. The sound of his voice startled me, though I was still in the machine and couldn’t move.

Everything was dark and I felt the machine move back into its original position.

A flood of light blinded me as someone lifted the simulator open, but after a moment Nanae’s face came into focus. She was clearly upset, but also cheerful.

Lumia stood beside Nanae, her face twisted in some mix of anxiety and relief. Immediately she reached out towards me, wrapping her arms around me before I could sit up.

In the aisle between rows of simulators, the bearded man paced excitedly. He was rambling to himself, but he spoke too quickly and quietly for me to understand any of what he said.

“I’m sorry,” Nanae began, “while I was selecting the scenario for your sim, someone…” she looked briefly at the old guy “…pushed past me to watch the display on Lumia’s sim. Instead of our skills exam you just experienced a simulation of the fallen city Zeledoana. The model is based on the heroic legends of Milo The Brave.”

The tension on in her face was clear. Guilt and regret swirled in her deep eyes, while the old dude kept muttering to himself.

“So, what you’re saying is, I have to retake the assessment?”

Nanae shook her head and waved her hands vigorously. “Of course not! I mean… that scenario was far too difficult for you to demonstrate your combat ability, but you still survived and even managed to defeat the knight.”

With a chortle, I said, “I guess you could say that.”

Nanae nodded. “I can’t give you any accolades or a rank boost, but just surviving for more than five minutes in that scenario is already better than most can manage. I’m sure you’ll raise your rank naturally soon.”

Lumia released me and nodded her agreement. “You did really well, Silv.”

It didn’t feel like I did that well. I spent most of the battle just running and trying not to get hit.

Nanae continued. “You’re a standard rank hunter now, you can take on beast hunts and access our information database, but you’ll have to climb the ranks before you can access the hunters weapon shop or put up commissions of your own.”

I nodded along, feeling that was good enough.

Lumia and Nanae moved to allow me out of the simulator.

I joined them in the aisle as Lumia cheered, “Congratulations.” Her bright eyes shimmering with excitement. There was more she wanted to say, but I suspected she was waiting for me to ask.

“You too, Lu. If I made it, then I know you did.”

She nodded, biting her lip. Her eyes practically begged me to ask, so I did.

“What rank did you get?”

“Silver!” She said, the word bursting out as if she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “It’s only one rank higher than yours and doesn’t come with extra privileges.”

“I’m surprised, I really thought you’d reach the top rank straight off.” I replied with a laugh.

“I would have…” She glowered. “…if someone wasn’t screaming panic through our bond.”

I’d almost forgotten she could feel my emotions. If I’d been thinking I might’ve tried to limit or mask my fear, but the moment that knight appeared, all I could think about was trying to escape.

I realized now that I had also forgotten the lessons Vorlin taught me. A well placed burst punch would’ve disabled the horse and given me a better chance of a true victory.

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“We need to test him further—the dragon too. Put them back into the simulator so we can begin,” the old man ordered.

“Absolutely not.” Nanae said. “You might be the guild master, but I refuse to let you shame us any further.”

His expression of shock lasted less than half a second before anger filled his visage. He glared viciously at Nanae, as if he was deciding whether to attack her or not, but after a moment, the tension faded. His lips moved silently behind his beard as he muttered under his breath and went to one of the simulators himself.

With a few presses of a button he turned to Lumia and asked, “Purely for research purposes, would you mind getting into this simulator?”

Nanae stepped between them, but before anyone else spoke, Lumia stepped forward. "I didn’t get to repay your faltering words earlier,” she smiled coyly, “how about I thank you with a personal display of my skills." Her tone made clear that her words were a veiled threat.

"Actually, I have other matters to attend to.” He said as he shrank away from Lumia. “I’ll see you the next time you visit our guild hall.”

With the test complete, Nanae took us to another room where a young man with shaggy hair provided us with hunter badges. Then Nanae brought us to the information booth where a clerk looked up the name Zidg for us.

There were three records returned by the search.

The first one was a report from a hunter who Zidg had approached years earlier. The dwarf asked the hunter for aid in collecting materials from various towers in Selvaris. There wasn’t much detail about what was collected, and there was nothing that seemed likely to help us locate him.

The second record was just a guild issued notice that all further sightings or interactions with the dwarf should be immediately reported to the guild.

The final record was another report from a hunter. She claimed to have seen a dwarven artificer tinkering with abandoned towers in Selvaris. When she approached, the dwarf fled leaving behind a set of tools infused with dark magic.

The report was from a day ago, so it seemed likely that he would still be in the area.

Lumia and I moved as if we were of one mind, rushing out of the guild hall. Lumia transformed and I climbed onto her back.

----------------------------------------

I’d always thought of Selvaris as some huge city with lots of schools and mages roaming around everywhere. The truth though, Selvaris was the name of a region and while there was a school and mages and a city of sorts…it was not at all like what I imagined.

The city was built around the base of one of the many towers within Selvaris. From above, it appeared as a cluster of small buildings surrounding a single tower that rose hundreds of feet into the sky. There were shops selling goods and food, places of entertainment, homes and inns for those too poor to afford housing elsewhere. Each building had its own purpose, although many of them stood close together, some even sharing walls.

We weren’t able to land directly inside the city walls. There was a chain link net from the outer wall to the tower completely covering the city. Instead we landed in the fields beyond.

As soon as Lumia touched down, several armed men rushed to intercept us.

One guard shouted something unintelligible—or perhaps in a different language—before pointing his weapon at Lumia.

While giving each other hand signals, they swiftly encircled us.

Angrily Lumia growled, “I’m tired and hungry, so unless you’re looking to be my dinner, I suggest you get those spears out of my face.”

They must've understood English because several of them backed away until their leader shouted again.

With the group back in formation, the man stepped forward saying, “Dragonkin are not welcome in these lands. Keep flying and don’t come back.”

I slid down from Lumia’s back and stepped between her and the brutish man.

He was larger than I realized, standing a full head taller than me. His shoulders were broad and boxy and he had well defined muscles, the exact opposite of what I expected a scholarly Selvarian to look like. He wore the long black scarf and the baggy pants, all with gold trim, but other than that, he bore closer resemblance to an orc than a human mage. Give him a pair of tusks and no one would know the difference.

“We aren’t here to cause trouble,” I began, “we’re searching for someone—a dwarf named Zidg.”

Several of the guards shuddered at the name, some even shuffling uncomfortably. Their orcish leader remained stalwart. I nearly missed a slight twitch at the end of his brow—the only outward expression he made before speaking.

“Y…you rode that beast?”

Looking back at Lumia fondly, I replied, “She’s my bond, and I’d appreciate it if you could all lower your spears; we aren’t here to hurt you.”

This earned me another round of uncomfortable glances. After a few tense moments, the big fellow signaled his men to stand down, and they did.

“Thank you,” I said. “Does this mean we can enter the city now?”

“A half blond elf that rides a dragon, and with silver eyes, are you…” he hesitated “…prince Silvon?”

Something in the way he asked just didn’t feel right; however I knew there was no point in lying.

“You recognize me?”

"Yes," he responded curtly, "we’ve heard much of your accomplishments." Then under his breath he added, "…and the fall of your kingdom as well."

His tone suggested a small bit of sympathy, though there was no outward indication of concern.

“The capital was taken, but I will reclaim it in time.”

“I’m sure you will.” He said then paused, leaving us stuck in an awkward moment of silence. “Ordinarily I’d run you off—strict no dragons policy and all—but today must be your lucky day.”

Lumia snorted. “I don’t believe in luck and it’s obvious you’d rather us leave. Who wants to see Silv?”

“So it’s true, you beasts are smart. That does make life easier for everyone involved, especially yourself. You can wait here and get comfortable while I take the prince to meet The Blessed Maiden.”

‘Oh great,’ I thought, ‘this sounds like another cult.’

I shook my head and stayed in place when the man began walking back toward the gate. “I won’t be going anywhere without my bond. Besides, I have no reason to go with you. We only came here to ask around about a dwarf who’s been seen in the area.”

I climbed onto Lumia’s back and sat at the base of her neck, just in front of her shoulders. Her muscles flexed beneath me as she unfolded her wings and jumped into the air.

I preferred to try asking about Zidg, but we had enough information to begin our search. If he was messing with the towers before, then maybe he’d still be doing the same now.

Besides, a city full of powerful mages probably wasn’t the best place for me, at least not until I had my curse under control.

We spent the rest of the evening flying from tower to tower, but there was no sign of any dwarf.

The twin suns started to dip below the horizon as the violet moon rose above it. Colorful motes of mana, like snowflakes, danced out from the towers and spread throughout the sky. They weren’t falling, but swirling around the towers as they twinkled in the twilight. Even compared to Avantia, the magical ambiance here was far more intense—almost overwhelming.

There were too many colors, sounds and smells for me to fully absorb everything happening around me.

I adapted quickly, rotating mana throughout my body to strengthen my perception. With mana, my eyesight improved beyond what it should normally reach, allowing me to view each individual sparkling particle.

I realized then that what I considered beautiful, was actually quite dangerous. Each glowing mote was like a tiny spell materialized out of an atmosphere overflowing with mana. Touching one carelessly could be quite painful, in the worst case it might detonate the spell and set off a chain reaction.

The swirls of mana covered most of the plains, making it difficult to find a place to land.

The motes swirled most densely near the towers, but on the edge of the horizon, near the border of Zeledoana, there were three hills, each with a seemingly dormant tower. They weren’t surrounded by mana or lit up by thousands of little spells like the others.

These looked like a promising place to rest, so we landed at the base of one furthest from the cursed lands.

There was no door, or any apparent method to enter the tower.

I was tired. The air was warm and there wasn’t another soul in sight; so I laid against Lumia and we drifted off to sleep.