By the time my core had replenished enough for me to regain consciousness, the sun had already begun its descent toward the far horizon.

I blinked hard against the rushing wind that howled in my ears, wanting to shield my eyes but finding that arm gone. Phantom pain lanced through my shoulder, and I winced. The sensation was like freezing water had been poured over me, shocking me from the fog clouding my senses.

I jolted awake with such force I nearly fell from my wyvern, halting my fall by clutching its black scales, which gleamed in the setting sun. My core was still weak, tender to the point that even sensing it felt like fire in my brain. Most of the tendrils which had bruised and scraped my core were gone, or at least I couldn’t feel them anymore. Some still remained, though. I thought one might have connected to the Hydra… but I wasn’t sure.

The flying carriage of the Alistar Duchy was close by, barely thirty seconds away from where my wyvern carried me. Despite my weakened core, I could still feel Nasq’s sensory magic encasing me like a globe. I loosened my grip on the wyvern's scales, comforted by the realization that we were safe— or the moment.

If Nasq was only casting observation magic, the danger had likely passed. I wanted to ask what had happened after I’d lost consciousness, but exhaustion weighed down every part of me and rejected the thought of talking.

I closed my eyes again, allowing the peacefulness of the moment to wash over me. Though a smile never came to my lips, as sharp pains from my missing arm served as a constant reminder of my loss, the wind's caress and the night’s silence were refreshing. The wyvern’s scales felt cool against my face, and I leaned into them, exhaling deeply.

The wyvern chittered softly and moved smoothly through the air with intention, preserving my tranquility. In that moment, I felt an unexpected and strong connection to the beast that pulled at my very essence. I couldn’t help but act on my promise to it.

I ran a finger along its scales, inhaling until my lungs were filled to the brim. The words came to me from the depths of my core, and I spoke in a small whisper. “I bestow upon you a name of power. You shall forever be known as Vespera, the First Star.”

My Soul Weaver energy pulsed within me, latching onto the wyvern’s heart with a ravenous hunger. Pain shot through me, echoed by Vespera’s cry, as our souls entwined. What little energy I’d recovered bled from my core into the wyvern with the force of a surging river.

Shit, I thought as darkness claimed me for the second time that day. This fucking power.

_____________________

“My lady? Lady Lilliana?” A soft but insistent voice accompanied a firm shake of my shoulder, pulling me from the depths of exhaustion. I cracked an eye open, groaning at the sight of Nida’s black-streaked white hair, her face filled with awe. She whispered again, barely audible, “Lady Lilith, wake up!”

“What?” I croaked, my voice hoarse from prolonged exposure to the cold night air. Something tickled my nose—pine and dirt. Grass?

“Your wyvern…” she trailed off, her eyes wide.

I shot to my feet from where I’d been lying on the grass. The world around me snapped into the focus as panicked adrenaline flooded my veins and my senses exploded into awareness. I instantly took in my surroundings, eyes shifting rapidly to scan everything around me.

We were in a field of grass, a dense forest of looming trees behind us. Their leaves ruffled slightly in the wind, but no sense of malice or death came from their depths. No sand, no desert.

Beyond the grasslands, I spotted an enormous city, easily five or six times larger than Sealrite. The city was encircled by a stone wall, likely for protection, but there was no sense of danger, no air of greed or bloodlust. The buildings within gleamed with a white luminescence under the noon sun, far more luxurious than anything made of stone or wood. Guards patrolled the top of the wall, while a little over a dozen of them stood before the gate doors, each armed to the tooth despite the city's obvious peace.

To my left, the flying carriage stood still, the driver feeding the wyverns, oblivious or uncaring of my disorientation.

Where is my wyvern? I turned to face the forest. My jaw dropped at the sight of the massive creature spreading its massive wings and roaring into the sky, flames erupting in a brilliant plume to darken the noon sky.

For a second my heart caught in my throat and I thought the Hydra had found us. My core screamed, too sore from overuse as I reached into it to respond with more than a sputter. But before I could do anything the roaring ceased, and the creature began to emit a soft chitter.

Wait. One head?

Its night-black scales shimmered in the sunlight, golden eyes staring at me with clear affection.

“Vespera?” I whispered, awestruck. The Wyvern was gone, replaced by a dragon, its powerful muscles rippling beneath its sleek scales.

“What did you do to it?” Nasq asked, standing beside Nida.

“I have no idea,” I admitted. Though wyverns and dragons shared blood, they were vastly different creatures. I’d heard of energy users evolving their beasts with energy-imbued names, but nothing on this scale. Dragons were mythical—beings of immense power, as rare as hydras. If Vespera had become a dragon, her potential was boundless. She would now have a dragon core, a source of great power and mystery. A simple name of power should not have evolved her so greatly. "I've met a few dragons before, but they were also so regal and secretive, dismissive of humans as lesser beings. I never would have thought of them as being connected to wyverns."

Vespera ruffled her wings, standing tall with an aura of wild energy and regal authority. Unlike the dragons I had seen, she felt young. Her obsidian scales shimmered like polished onyx, reflecting a subtle iridescence. Her long, serpentine body was muscular and rippled with power as she moved with a predatory grace.

Stolen story; please report.

When she expanded her wings, staring at me with a proud, near smug expression, I couldn’t help but admire their vast and leathery lengths, stretching wide with dark membranes veined in silver. She was like a storm cloud edged by bolts of enraged lightning. Sharp, jagged horns crowned her head, arching backward, while long, spiny ridges ran down her neck and spine, ending in a powerful whip-like tail. Vespera huffed, her heated breath faintly visible even in the daylight as a wisp of dark, smoky vapor that rose gently into the sky.

“Holy Ashwash,” was all I could say before shouts and the clanging of armor filled the air, joined by the shredding sound of scraping metal. I reluctantly turned away from Vespera’s magnificence to watch as the city’s gate opened and a horde of armored soldiers poured out heading directly toward us. “Where are we?” I asked the paragons.

“Elyndor,” Nasq hastily responded, eying the approaching guards carefully. They were still a few miles out, but those on horses and the few on wyverns approached fast. “The capital of the Alistar Duchy.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s good.” I was having trouble believing I’d slept the entire rest of the journey, even with the depletion of my core, but if I was already there then that saved me the effort of waiting. “Let me do the talking. Do not speak a word until I say otherwise.” I glanced at the driver. “The same applies to you. Understood?”

The driver didn’t respond, continuing to feed his wyverns. I frowned, but the first of the wyvern riders was approaching so I chose to let it be. Dralos had mentioned the driver was from the Alistar Duchy, after all. Perhaps he knew the soldiers.

Vespera growled at their approach but I settled her with a glare. She ruffled her new leathery wings, tucking them back to her side and circling a few times before collapsing upon a section of grass with a loud huff.

I just stared at the dragon…wyvern… creature. I’d never seen such an unrefined dragon. It struck me as odd and unnatural that a dragon was acting more pet than an intelligent being. It was... wrong, somehow.

Will she change? I wondered, gaze shifting between the leisurely dragon and the marching soldiers. Since she was now a dragon, or something akin to one, it would follow logic that her intelligence would also increase to match her new existence.

“Hail, travelers,” a man’s voice boomed from atop a dark red wyvern, his words laced with energy. The man was middle-aged and not very tall, wearing scarlet armor that reflected the apex sun with an otherworldly gleam. “Come no closer. We wish no harm to befall anyone, but your beast must remain prone where it lays.”

“Lest you commit an act of violence against me, she shall not move an inch,” I responded bluntly, not bothering with the effort of subtly.

A troop of fifteen armored wyverns and their riders landed in a semi-circle around us, clearly making an effort to stay as far from Vespera as possible without leaving too much room for us to maneuver within. Though I could see fear and terror in many of their eyes, none betrayed that fear with their expressions. They all remained stoic, resolute in their duties despite the literal dragon curled up less than fifty feet away from them.

They are trained, I noted. Very well trained.

My observation of the soldiers was reinforced as only three dismounted, while the others remained on guard, weapons drawn. None pointed their weapons directly at me, but the intensity of their gazes made it clear that could change in an instant.

The three who dismounted from their wyverns took cautious yet confident steps toward us, stopping midway between where they landed and where we stood. One was the man who'd called out first, the other two walked at his side. The first was a massive, balding man. The other was a slim woman with angular features and a grimace that seemed permanently attached.

“Come forward so we might speak,” the same man ordered.

I could feel Nida tense beside me. I placed a hand on her shoulder, both to calm her and to warn her against acting. “Remember my words, Paragon,” I said. She didn’t react at first, but I kept my hand there until her shoulders sagged—if only slightly—and she relaxed.

I didn’t hesitate as I stepped forward, moving with neither caution nor fear. None of these wall guards or knights radiated more than mid-bronze cores. Some had mana cores, but those were of a similar level. The man who had spoken, seemingly the leader, was the strongest. The tendrils of my energy, stretching out around me, sensed a high-stage bronze core from him—still far from a silver core, so he posed little threat. I fought back a wince as my core shuttered, still painfully tender from overuse. I was still injured, so perhaps he could stand a better chance than I anticipated. I needed to remember I wasn’t at full strength and wouldn’t be for a while.

“That’s close enough,” the man said when I was about a dozen steps away. I ignored his warning, stopping only when I was just beyond his arm’s reach. While I didn’t want to provoke conflict, it wouldn’t do for them to misunderstand their position.

“I am Lilliana Silverwater, first in line to Duke Collin Alistar and current lord of Elyndor, per the Patriarch coin granted to me prior to the Duke’s death at the hands of the Cael Kingdom.” I didn’t wait for the guard to respond, summoning the House Alistar Coin from my storage ring. It gleamed with golden brilliance as I turned it in my fingers, giving the man ample time to see it.

“May I?” he asked, doubt thick in his voice as he extended a hand.

I shrugged and placed the coin in his palm. “Do not think of theft,” I warned. “It’s already bonded.”

The guard simply nodded, cradling the House Coin more delicately than I expected from a grown man. His bronze realm energy rippled from his core, washing over the coin. His eyes widened to the point that they nearly bulged from his head.

“It’s real,” he whispered, glancing at his compatriots and then between me and the carriage. “Is His Grace’s body in there?”

I shook my head. “No. We traveled with haste. His Grace’s body and weapons are en route with some of his guards, along with Lady Ballenci’s retinue.”

At the mention of her name, Brianna cracked the carriage door open and waved at us. It lasted only a second before Victor pulled her back inside. Though I couldn’t make out his words, it sounded very much like a scolding.

Perhaps bringing him along had been a good idea after all.

The man bowed, handing the coin back to me. “I apologize for our caution, Lady Lilliana. While matters of the Patriarch and the Council are far above my station, I have been instructed to obey the authority of the House Coin, should you present it, and to lead you to suitable quarters until a council meeting can be arranged.” He straightened, seeming to remember something, and then bowed again, this time with a slight flourish. “I am Sir EleVame Dramas.”

A Knight, I realized. Not a guard.

I nodded, the House name striking a chord of familiarity. “A pleasure, Sir EleVame. I had the honor of meeting your kin in Sealrite—Sir Boyle Dramas, if I recall correctly.”

EleVame stiffened as though struck by lightning. “My lady, if I may ask—does my brother still live?”

“The last I saw of your brother was when the first explosion went off,” I said, layering my words with false sadness. “He was buried under the resulting debris along with my subordinates.” I gestured to Nasq and Nida. “They survived, so I believe he might have as well.” Seeing his sullen expression, I added, “When I establish communication with my people back in Sealrite, I’ll make sure to inquire about your brother.”

He bowed a third time. “You have my deepest gratitude, Lady Lilliana.”

“This is ridiculous, EleVame,” a gruff voice interrupted. Where EleVame was only a few inches taller than me, the second knight towered over me by nearly a foot and a half. His face, weathered with scars of war, radiated an intense fury from his stormy blue eyes. “Are you seriously going to allow this... fraud into the city? You’ve heard the rumors about her.”