Aurelian emerged into a world torn asunder by hatred.

The mid-morning sky glared down upon him with oppressive heat, and he felt his pores immediately open with sweat at the intensity of the scorched and desiccated air. The landscape before him stretched outward like a gigantic scab, its dry and cracked surface beaten in ugliness only by the twisted and corrupted growths dotting its barren, blackened soil.

He could feel his Poison Resistance igniting within his body from the exposure to the air, and the passive magical corrosion that attempted even then to twist itself into his flesh. Behind him Karsys, Zylara, and finally Bahamut all emerged from the colossal gates to the palace that the human and elf had led them to. The gates, each half large enough to make Aurelian feel like a toddler, had been sundered by the same siege weapon that lay forgotten and discarded nearby, its broken form big enough to rival a whale.

“So this is the Desolation…” he said in a voice that was equal parts interest and disturbed realisation. He had asked Karsys and Zylara at length what to expect, but neither he nor—based on what he could feel through the bond—Bahamut had fully understood the true gravity of the infection the gods of Death and Nature had sewn across the breadth and width of the land once known as Elysea.

The city of Albion, which had once stood proudly around the immense imperial citadel, was now little more than a sweeping vista of ruins and broken masonry; creating an immense swell of streets and roadways cut through by massive swathes of ancient catastrophe which pockmarked entire sections of the city with immense craters.

The scale of the construction was enough to boggle the mind, and Aurelian would not have been surprised if both London and New York City had been able to fit comfortably into Albion’s boundaries on a comparative scale. The Elysean capitol had likely once been the greatest city in the Realms, and now was little more than a testament to the final rage of the Nine.

It was just another justification for the removal of Solarius and his ilk.

Aurelian’s eyes rose from the city’s destroyed skyline to the palace behind him, and he regarded it quietly. The citadel towered in a way he’d never have conceived of, built with enough size to be a metropolitan district all on its own. He had known, logically, that the building was massive thanks to the maps he’d used to update his HUD… but knowing it and seeing it were two very, very different things.

“The air feels… different.” Zylara said from his right side while squinting at nothing. “Less toxic.”

“This is less toxic?” Aurelian asked with mild alarm while instinctively activating Dragon’s Gaze.

The air erupted with mana the moment he did, and he cursed loudly at the sudden pain in his eyes while they adjusted to the sheer deluge of new arcane information—not unlike someone igniting a high lumen flashlight right into the cornea.

“Are you alright, Aurelian?” Karsys asked with concern.

“I’m fine, Karsys.” Aurelian answered with a grunt. “I just activated my Dragon’s Gaze skill, and the mana is a little overwhelming.” he blinked while he spoke, and squinted against the strain on his adapting eyes. “I’ll get used to it.”

Dragon’s Gaze is now Level 19!

It is a truly disgusting sight. Bahamut said while moving forward to sniff at the air. It smells rancid, too. Like the Skarnids or Vasiri writ monumentally larger. Decay is omnipresent.

“I had hoped the Animus Engine would have made things more bearable…” Aurelian admitted while examining the air through his Dragon’s Gaze. Motes of every type of mana filled the space around them, but of those motes the most prevalent were strangely linked particles of death and nature mana. Twisted combinations like bulbous sores that floated through the air in passive blobs of corruption which, despite not having a direct impact on the material world, were easily felt.

It was a simple matter to associate the virulent groupings with the Blight’s affliction.

“Bahamut’s right. It’s gross.” Aurelian confirmed. “I can see the Blight mana, and it’s… wrong. It looks twisted, and rotted. They look like sores, almost, floating through the air. The sight of them makes me nauseous.”

“I cannot help but be relieved I don’t have to see it as well as feel it,” Karsys admitted. “‘Tis bad enough having it suffusing me like a foetid blanket.”

“I agree with Karsys. I have no desire to see the horror the gods have inflicted on Elysea.”

Aurelian let the conversation drift away from his attention while examining the world around them with Dragon’s Gaze. Even ignoring the mutant mana motes drifting around like cancerous sores, the world outside of the palace just seemed… wilder somehow. There was an order or at least a subtle calm to the mana within the citadel that was not present in the world outside.

Part of him suspected that was to do with Bael’tharax, stasis or not, and the ancient leviathan’s passive effect on mana within his expansive proximity. The nature of dragons and especially the Kings was still largely a mystery to Aurelian, for all that he was bonded to one. He had his suspicions however, and one of them was that dragons passively changed the world around them to possess a more stable and saturated field of mana.

He was primarily going off of what he’d heard about the Empire and a time when dragons had been everywhere—at least when compared to the present—and the memories of two biased sources, but it was a theory he’d developed and couldn’t shake. The difference in mana ‘stability’ between the outside and inside, especially near and around Bael’tharax, only worked to more fully cement his opinion — though it was difficult to call it empirical without further evidence.

Dragon’s Gaze is now Level 20!

He’d need to wait until Bahamut was in one place, such as Sanctuary, for long enough for an effect to be had before he could properly observe the phenomenon and see if the much smaller dragon would passively recreate it.

“Aurelian?”

Zylara’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned to find the blue-eyed elf peering at him carefully. “Are you alright? You weren’t responding to us for a moment there.”

“Oh.” he said sheepishly. “Yes. Sorry. I was just focusing a little too intently on the mana and my theories around it. It’s all quite fascinating. I gained two levels in Dragon’s Gaze just from theorising and staring.”

“Perhaps you should leave it running, then.” Zylara suggested. “I know you’ve said it can be a bit disorienting or overwhelming, but if you’re accruing levels quickly out here…”

“Then it’ll help me Infuse it faster.” Aurelian finished with an agreeable nod. “Good plan, Zyl.”

The elf stared at him for a moment, and then nodded jerkily and turned away with a flush to her cheeks and sudden grimace that made him wonder if he’d accidentally offended her.

“We should move.” Karsys suggested with a slight laugh from his left. “We have a lot of ground to cover, and very little time to cover it. We still need to find foes for you to test your powers on, as well.”

“True enough.” Aurelian agreed. “Let’s move.”

The four of them set out immediately while descending along the slanted thoroughfare—sized to fit one hundred people across quite easily—and down toward the destroyed city proper. Bahamut did not join them on foot, and instead launched himself into the sky with a roar of glee and upward spiral of magic-assisted flight to survey from above.

Enjoying yourself? Aurelian sent with a glance up at the soaring dragon.

Immensely. Bahamut returned gleefully. And I have a perfect vantage point, as well. I already see a good first choice for your Anima test.

Oh? Aurelian sent back enthusiastically.

Indeed. I will draw it to you. Remind the others of the plan.

Wilco. Aurelian replied cheerfully.

Wilco?

Will comply. It’s a shorthand way of giving agreement among the militaries of my world.

Hmm… Bahamut considered. I like these ‘shorthand’ sayings of yours, Aurelian. ASAP and Wilco… I wish to know more.

In good time. Aurelian promised while turning to Zylara and Karsys.

“Bahamut’s already found our first customer. He’s going to draw it to us. I need you two to be careful not to do too much damage to the thing. I just need enough time to syphon its life essence. I’m guessing it’s contact based, so I’ll have to cut my way past its chitin and to its internals if it’s a Skarnid.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Seems like a likely assumption.” Zylara said with a cautious look out at the ruins. “Are you going to try to level your skills at the same time?”

“Not for the first few.” Aurelian said with a shake of his head. “Anima skills are more important, I think. I’ll focus on those first.”

“In that case I will draw its attention.” Karsys said with a grim smile. “It is my specialty, and I am uniquely equipped for it now.”

“Ooh. Okay.” Aurelian said with a nod. “So you’re the Tank and we’re the DPS?”

Both of his companions stared at him blankly, and Aurelian took a moment to weigh explaining it to them. It would be easier for his ability to explain other concepts later down the line, and it would ameliorate some measure of disconnect in their shared but contextually separate views on the Realms at large.

He decided it was worth it after only a brief consideration.

“Bahamut’s already working, so I’ll explain it in detail later, but for now Karsys you’re a Tank—which is sort of like a construct that can handle a shitload of punishment—for our party, and Zylara you’re Ranged DPS, which stands for Damage-per-Second because of how rapidly you attack our enemies. Karsys, drawing its attention is called drawing aggro. It’s a shortened term for aggression, basically.”

“Why are you—?” Zylara began in bewilderment, though Aurelian cut her off.

“It’s so that if I shout something along those lines in the middle of a fight, due to my ingrained way of thinking, you’ll both understand me.” he explained while looking between them with a smile. “If you start drawing aggro, Zylara, just back off. Let Karsys keep it focused on him, and work on crippling it rather than outright killing or damaging it. The less it can move, the better.”

“Hm…” Zylara said thoughtfully. “I suppose that works.”

“Very well.” Karsys said with a nod after Zylara. “I am the ‘Tank’, Aurelian. Leave the ‘aggro’ to me.”

“Great!” Aurelian said with a grin. “Let’s get it done.”

In the skies above, Bahamut roared his challenge and dove with a folding of his wings, while the runes along his body burned with platinum light. A withering column of fire tore from his jaws moments later, and washed over an obscured area of the city in a blaze of power and haze of furnace-like heat.

With Dragon’s Gaze active, Aurelian saw it like a beam of prismatic light.

Something that sounded large shriek-bellowed an enraged response.

Aurelian was already running just behind Karsys when the sound washed over them, and Zylara had taken positioning far to the right from where she could properly flank; though she was still keeping pace with Aurelian while also allowing Karsys to take the lead.

Bahamut roared again and unleashed another volley of blazing dragonfire, which resulted in a building some two hundred metres ahead of them exploding outward towards their running group.

A massive and lumbering Skarnid appeared out of the rubble with another shriek of outrage, its chitinous carapace scorched and blackened by dragonfire, and several of its multitudinous spider-like eyes bubbled and melted by the force of the flames.

Its massive stinger swayed while it stared up at Bahamut, and acid fired from its mouth in enraged globules of corrosive assault. Each attack missed the swooping dragon by mere inches thanks to his evasions, and Bahamut circled for another strike.

Make haste, Aurelian, before it retreats to a burrow!

Aurelian didn’t pause to ask how Bahamut knew that it would do that, and instead turned to nod to Karsys with a shouted “Go get it, Tank!” and thumbs up.

The burly human glanced back with an enthusiastic nod and hefted his runeshield and flanged warmace while closing the distance between him and the Skarnid. When he was within fifty metres, Karsys’ body lit up red and brown to Aurelian’s Dragon Gaze-enhanced eyes, and a surge of mana erupted out from his body.

In a sudden burst of velocity and kinetic force, the towering human smashed into the chitinous legs of the spider-scorpion hybrid with a resounding crunch of cracking chitin and inhuman wail of arachnoid pain.

“FACE ME, YOU BILIOUS CURR!” the magma warrior snarled in contempt.

Somehow, the Taunt Skill—Aurelian could only call it that, given the reactive indicative of Soulforce that snapped taut between Karsys and the Skarnid—made perfect purchase and the monster turned away from Bahamut to focus the full force of its ire on Karsys.

Corruption and blight clung to the creature’s venomous green-black chitin body like a gangrenous infection to a festering wound. It was saturated, to Aurelian’s gaze, by the malignant blight motes and corrupted manawood essence that filled its body.

Aurelian swallowed back bile at the sight of the foul energy bloating its limbs, and engorging its head and carapace massively. Random and lethally barbed spikes not unlike the disorganised carnage of a great white shark’s teeth lined the top of its body, and Aurelian immediately ruled out trying to jump on top of it.

That would be suicide-by-shish-kebab.

Dragon’s Gaze is now Level 21!

Aurelian changed his direction into a wider arc while the creature engaged with Karsys, and used Revelate while he ran.

Name: Corrupted Skarnid Behemoth

Race: Blight Arachnid

Level: 68

Tier: Adept

Health: 3,820 / 5,200

Description: Among the Skarnid monsters that haunt the Desolation, the greatest of them are the Behemoths. These are the Skarnids that hold dominion over the others, and the strongest of them have been known to rise as far as Master tier. This Behemoth’s already vile form has been further corrupted by insidious uses of twisted Life and Nature mana, creating a foetid abomination.

Aurelian’s eyes widened upon seeing the information, and even the ding of his Revelate ability leveling up wasn’t able to shake the sudden surge of worry that nestled within his core. Not only was the creature rated at Adept, but it was close to Expert! Bahamut hadn’t simply chosen an enemy, he’d chosen probably the single strongest one he could find in the entire nearby city district.

Revelate is now Level 20!

Bahamut! What the fuck? This thing is way too powerful!

You are mistaken. The dragon sent back fiercely. It is absolutely perfect as a foe.

You’re going to need to explain that logic! Aurelian sent back furiously while drawing his sword from its new place on his left hip, and gripping it firmly in his right hand. His sprinting arc, which was pushed hard enough to drain his stamina almost faster than his regeneration could restore it, would take him in a moderately large loop around to the creature’s flank.

There, he hoped to find his way beneath it in order to use his Anima Syphon ability after creating an opening.

At least that had been his plan before Revelate, and he was now seriously reconsidering it, even as Karsys fended off probing strikes from the enraged arachnid.

We cannot waste time building ourselves toward steadily stronger foes as if we are in a controlled training environment like the cave. Bahamut continued across the bond with ironclad resolve. We must throw ourselves at beasts like this and risk everything in order to grow in leaps and bounds. Steady progress will avail us not. We must be pushing into your second Temper by the time we make it to Sanctuary!

That won’t mean a bloody thing if we’re dead, Bahamut!

Prey or Predator, Aurelian! The dragon sent back with a telepathic snarl. You cannot afford to dither between the concepts! There is no safe middle ground! Kill! Be killed! That is the way of the Realms, brother of my soul. Know it now, and accept it, lest we both perish under the weight of your hesitation!

Aurelian bit off his response with a distinctly not-human growl and gnashed his teeth together in frustration. The worst part was that the dragon wasn’t even wrong, he was just reckless. Aurelian understood what Bahamut was saying. What he’d been saying. He didn’t disagree or want to countermand the dragon’s point, but the issue was that he still didn’t even have a proper grasp of using his Anima skills!

For dragons, as Bael’tharax had elucidated; magic was as easy as breathing. Very likely Bahamut used multiple different spellforces without even thinking about it, especially as a Dragon King. Aurelian was not so gifted, no matter their bond, and on top of that had access to a spell talent that apparently even the god of Death hadn’t been able to master!

Another curse of frustration spilled from his lips, and then his attention was momentarily stolen.

An echoing crack of localised thunder sounded from behind, and Aurelian glanced quickly over his shoulder in time to see a flash of silver-blue light erupt from Zylara’s suddenly shining bow.

Aurelian’s Dragon’s Gaze gave him enough information to passively catalogue it as ‘air mana with a lightning manifestation’ a split second before the arrow of pure energy shot past him with a lingering smell of burnt ozone, and smashed into the Skarnid Behemoth’s tail.

The creature shrieked in pain as chitin and black, corrupted blood shot out from the impact point and its tail and rear legs spasmed in agony at the sudden volts of power surging out from the impact point.

Zylara shouted something encouraging from behind him, and he watched while Bahamut came down with another thunderous roar and another gout of flame. This time the dragon seared the top of the creature’s tail, and distracted it enough for Zylara to put another thunderclap-producing arrow into the base of the creature’s tail.

The dragonfire, Aurelian noted, did not cause the Behemoth to explode.

Why was it different from the Skarnids in the Palace? He’d need to investigate.

Aurelian grimaced when he realized their situation. Between the elf and dragon, the ferocity with which the Skarnid was smashing its forelegs and mandibles against Karsys’ desperately moving tower shield increased frantically as it started to believe it might have need to escape, and Aurelian realised with growing acceptance that there truly was no more room for excess caution.

There never had been. The bloody dragon was right.

Not that Aurelian would satisfy his partner’s ego by admitting it.

“Fuck it.” he growled under his breath while his runesword started to vibrate with anticipation in his grip. Adrenaline and a new deeply seated bloodlust rose with prominence within his mind. His concerns seemed to fade somewhat, subsumed by a sudden roaring in his ears, in his mind, and by the blazing spin of his incandescent Calamity Core.

With nothing left but to throw himself forward, he bellowed the first thing that entered his mind, and did so with a gusto and abandon to make its originator proud.

“LEEEEEROOOOOY!”

Aurelian charged despite his lingering worries, and with Dragon’s Resolve roaring inside his mind.