We have tried damming the rivers, deepening waterfalls, erecting shields across the surface. No protection will suffice. This threat cannot be contained, only held back with blood and spell.

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“You’d think for the amount you’re paying him you could get more than a single teacher.”

Ran shrugged. “Professor Firdon did help with the tunnel and upgraded my armor. That’s something.” The stone plating fused to his armor would slow him down while running on his own, but allowed Firdon to give him a boost by shoving it from behind. Unfortunately it had to be too tightly sealed to easily come off. He couldn’t simply drop it once out of range, but it should still save more time than it lost.

“I do wonder why he never offered to be bribed in the past, though.” Jair mused. “If he’s that easily bought - which, let’s be honest, I did know all along - you’d think he could have…” Jair trailed off. “It’s the drawings, isn’t it? In the past, it was always me alone, always helpless. Having a vision of the future of a lone student facing a dragon could be grandeur. Having that much detail about the fighting preferences and exact moves of multiple teachers included… Yeah, I bet that’s it.”

“‘In the past,’ huh?”

Jair nodded absently. “I’ll tell you everything, after.”

“Wait… you’ve been saying that because you think I’ll die and you’ll never have to pay up!”

Jair smiled obligatorily, but his heart wasn’t in it. “You caught me.”

“You’re not still moping about the payoff, are you?”

“You shouldn’t have to pay him anything! It’s his duty to protect the students regardless.”

“You know that’s not how things work. If they had to respond to every story Oliss–”

“I know. I just wish I could find a different way.”

“Jair, this is a real vision, you don’t fool around with those.”

Jair laughed. “You don’t have to tell me that.”

“Then stop worrying about it.”

“I’m not worrying, I’m calculating.”

“Calculating…?”

“If there’s any way to reduce the cost.”

Ran sighed heavily, took Jair’s shoulder, and turned him firmly so they were face to face. He spoke firmly, insistent. “This is not your fault.”

“So? I'm not allowed to try to optimize if it isn't--" Jair cut himself off. "No, I just need to be able to replicate this next time. I'm going to assume this works. It should. Doesn't make any sense if it doesn't. The dragon's fast, but not that fast. Strong, but three of the better mages plus myself..."

"Aelir above, you're doing it again."

"I'm going to keep doing so until the final time. Let's see how things play out this time, but there's a good chance we'll call this locked in. Or do you think I should redo from day 1? I think I may have gone a bit overboard."

"Now you say this? You couldn't possibly stop to think before--" Ran frowned. "Redo. Redo? Jair... are you..." his voice lowered to a complete whisper. "It's not just seeing?"

"Yeah, I can go back in time.” Jair shrugged. “Not any further than the morning of the ceremony. That flash of silver light, that's me returning from the far future. Where you died every time. Not gonna let that happen again."

Ran stared, speechless as he tried to process. It was one thing to come up with a clever theory, another to have it confirmed in the most dramatic way possible.

They'd had variations of this conversation a hundred times. Ran was perceptive, it wasn't hard to convince him of the truth with even the slightest amount of reasonable evidence.

But right now…

"Time to get down to your tunnel.”

Ran gave him a look, but acquiesced and trudged down to his assigned location, while Jair headed upward to join the teachers..

Firdon and Irres stood discussing the maps and charts Jair had drawn up. Unlike Firdon’s dismissive attitude the first time, now he was fully attentive and took it all very seriously. Derall mainly watched, interjecting only occasionally.

Jair initially tried to help them, but after being shooed away he left them to it.

At least this time they had hours to prepare rather than minutes.

Firdon brought more ammunition with him this time. He spent half the week carrying huge chunks of stone in from further afield, lining them up across the walls within easy reach. The three of them atop the tower also wore stone plating across their armor, just enough for Firdon to maneuver them through the air as needed.

Jair gripped Maelstrom tightly, desperately hoping that the additional stone on the walls wasn't enough to change the dragon's behavior. He was so ready for this to be over. To move on. Even if the coming years would be one disaster after another, at least he wouldn't have to face them alone.

Dovak and Aelir, please let this work.

Then the clouds shifted, one particular spot growing clearer instead of fading away, and the time for preparation was over.

"There it is!" Jair shouted, pointing. The teachers immediately took their positions along the wall. Firdon beside the tower, Jair, Derall, and Irres atop it. Derall touched both their swords by the blade, imbuing them with deep frost. The magical component of the cold would dissipate quickly, but once chilled the metal itself would remain cold for at least long enough for a single strike.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The dragon swept in, a little higher than usual, circling. That put it inside the wall this time instead of out, but otherwise the angles looked good.

Firdon raised his arms, six of the stones rising to dart in at the dragon. It hissed and veered between them, swiping out to shatter one into pieces, eyes fixing on the source of the irritation. It dove for Firdon.

Jair jumped. The stone on his armor dragged him upward, shifting his arc, then abruptly changing direction to slam him down straight into the dragon's back. Maelstrom tore into its vitals, the cold stifling its fire before it could give it breath.

Its neck slashed around, ready to crush Jair, but its prey had already rolled away, dropping to the ground. Irres slammed down onto its venom sac a split second after Jair was away, setting off an explosion.

The dragon shrieked in pained fury and tumbled to the ground.

Right above Ran's tunnel. There'd been no time for him to run, and now the dragon was right there.

"Seal him off!" Jair shouted, hoping Firdon got the message. He ran up to the dragon, yelling to draw its attention. They didn't have time, it could go berserk any second, and even Firdon's most solid stone shell wouldn't be enough to save Ran if he was anywhere within reach. "Get him outside the walls!"

Firdon slowly lowered his arms, stone after stone pelting into the dragon, battering it back. It hissed and lunged and clawed at the ground, but Firdon kept up the barrage, cycling from one chunk of stone to another even as they chipped smaller with each impact. Dust flew freely, the protective constructs over the walkways disrupted by the conflict.

Then the wall trembled and collapsed above where Ran hid, and for a heartstopping moment Jair thought the dragon had reached him.

Instead, Ran rose into the air, suspended by his heavy stone armor. The dragon leaped at him, only to receive another boulder to the snout in repayment.

Ran rose higher, well out of reach of the grounded dragon. It went into a fury, smashing the boulders as they came, bounding toward the wall to claw its way up to the tower.

Ran flew further away, out of reach of even the most desperate leap.

The dragon screamed its rage to the sky, rounding on Firdon, closest to its location and source of its failure.

Rocks continued to pelt it as step by step it advanced, snarling in a ceaseless stream as it moved.

Jair looked desperately between the stone mage and the distant flying Ran. If the dragon killed Firdon now, Ran would fall. Probably far enough to kill him, judging by his luck. On the other hand, if Firdon set Ran down, he was still close enough for the dragon to reach on the ground.

If not for there being so many tall buildings, Firdon could probably have simply floated Ran over to the transit platform, but the dragon had already proven more than capable of climbing and jumping to swat things from the air.

Jair yelled and ran at the dragon's back, ducked under its lashing tail, and stabbed Maelstrom into its good wing.

The dragon ignored him, remaining fully focused on reaching Firdon.

Jair went wild, slicing and stabbing everything within reach. The injured dragon normally took minutes to die. The more he made it bleed the higher chance that number could drop. Every second mattered.

Firdon began hurling chunks of the wall at it, but the dragon ducked its head and forged ahead. All the biggest boulders were shattered by now, leaving nothing large enough to slow it properly.

Jair hacked the wing off entirely, ducking away from the deadly poison blood that gushed from the severed limb. Some splattered his armor, but not enough to eat all the way through it. Not for minutes yet.

The chill had long since faded, leaving Maelstrom at only its usual strength. As much as he'd love to try chopping off its legs or tail, those were too heavily armored. He started in on the other wing, anything to bleed it faster.

Then Irres was beside him, holding out a hand. "Sword!"

Jair handed Maelstrom over without question. Irres' whole upper body lit up as his heavy strike imprints drew deeply on his manabody. Then the swordmaster slammed Maelstrom down on the dragon's neck. The blade pierced through a single scale, cracking it in half. Then Irres shoved downward, scoring a long gash that cut right through the scales from within.

The dragon's screams cut off, turning to wet gurgling as bubbles of blood hissed up through the open wound.

Irres tossed Maelstrom back to Jair, leaping free of the dragon just in time as it whipped its head around to bite down. It caught only empty air.

Jair leaped free as it turned its attention back to him, the nearest remaining irritant. It coughed and staggered, off balance because of the missing wing, unable to breathe either poison or fire, but the furious gleam in its eyes and the huge mouth of very sharp teeth proved that it was far from harmless.

Wouldn't it be ironic if he finally saved Ran only to die himself? Jair laughed weakly, raising Maelstrom to point straight into the dragon's descending mouth.

The stone affixed to his armor lurched, dragging Jair away from the attack and up into the air. Firdon’s efficiency with stone manipulation must be unparalleled for someone of his level. He’d been throwing massive boulders around with the speed and control Jair would expect of someone much more advanced, and Firdon’s awareness of the battlefield seemed to be much better than the first time when he’d so unceremoniously been crunched–

Crunch.

Nevermind.

Jair tumbled through the air as the control ended, instinctively pushing his hand out to catch himself. “Lift!”

But his gravity spells weren’t imprinted yet, so nothing happened. He saw Ran flailing as he fell in the distance, then Jair collided at speed with the bare stone of the clifftop.

A lot of things broke. Mainly in his legs, the left arm and shoulder he’d landed on, and something stabbing into his side.

He grit his teeth, let the sudden pain flow through him, then disregarded it. He’d survived worse. He blinked his vision clear, squinting up at the wall.

The dragon swallowed the stone mage’s body, then lurched off the walltop and headed for Ran.

It didn’t make it even a quarter of the way before its accumulated injuries overcame it. The dragon toppled forward, landing face-down in the shallow sand of the clifftop with an undignified flop.

For a moment it twitched, one claw dragging weakly through the sand, trying to pull itself forward even now, then it stilled.

Jair laughed unsteadily, eyes blurring as he ignored his injuries and dragged himself forward with his one functional arm.

He had to know.

Ran was further out in the desert, he might have landed more softly than Jair himself. He could be fine. This could be over.

Irres and Derall jumped down a moment later. Irres pointed toward where Ran had fallen, then hurried over to Jair’s side.

“Is he alive? Will he make it?” Jair couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of him. “You have to save him.”

"We need to get you to Professor Notek. Don't move. Stay calm. Everything will be alright." Irres’ eyes were full of concern as he took in Jair’s condition.

"I don't care about this," Jair violently waved away his own injuries. "Help Ran."

"Professor Derall is going to get him. If he's alive, we'll see to it he stays that way. Everything is fine. You did your best."

"Is that really enough?"

"It’s okay. Breathe slowly.” Irres spoke calmly, as though he hadn’t just been in a life-or-death battle himself a minute ago. “You did more than anyone could expect. You fought very well. Now relax."

Irres leaned over and gently picked him up.

“But, Ran, I have to know.”

“Let us take care of you first, and I promise I'll find out what happened with your friend.”

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