“Can you say she did poorly, though? This is clearly her first time dealing with that type of magic. How was she supposed to know how to protect herself from it?” another voice reckoned.

“And she is quite young for a human, is she not? Of course she was going to fall for it. I don’t understand why you two made a bet with such a predictable outcome,” a third voice mumbled as if they were half asleep.

The moment the first voice spoke, the air within the temple walls grew thick. It didn’t make breathing as difficult as it did back when I first met Harok, but it was still difficult to take in breaths.

“Oh please. I was devouring sand worms and sea serpents when I was her age. She should have been able to resist!” the first voice protested.

“Yes, sand worms and sea serpents were what you ate, I’m quite sure,” a bored voice mocked.

There was a deep growl that responded to the provocation that caused my body to vibrate, but the interaction ended there. Seconds later, I felt something pierce my stomach, causing me to stumble back, unprepared for the sensation. It wasn’t painful, but it was strong enough to bring me to my knees.

Looking up, the sight of enormous figures walking out into the clearings cut my breath short. As I could have guessed, were my mind not preoccupied with the thickness of the air and the painless puncture feeling in my chest, they were all dragons.

There were a number of features shared among all eight of them: a basic facial structure, bodies covered from head to toe in scales, four legs, a tail, wings, and horns. Outside of those things was where the differences started. One had two tails, another had a second set of wings, and three had four eyes instead of two. All of them had different colors of scales, from white to black to red to blue. And while they were all enormous, their sizes varied. The largest of them all struggled to fit within his opening and would have scraped against the ceiling had he not bowed down to fit.

I froze in place for several seconds, forced to stare at their forms until I recalled what Daphne told me. Using that knowledge, I fell to my knees in a rigid bow. The moment I bowed my head was the moment I could feel their eyes focusing on me.

This isn’t so bad, I thought, noticing the absence of the crushing pressure that nearly knocked me out in my first interaction.

“We can change that,” the familiar voice of Harok boomed.

In an instant, the pressure I was dreading hit me in the back like a battering ram, forcing me out of my kneeling position and onto my stomach. The force I hit the ground with knocked out the air I had in my lungs, and I could not replace it.

While everything prior had been painless, I could not say the same about the new sensation bombarding my body. My skin compressed my muscles, tightening everything and constricting my blood flow. My bones suffered a similar fate from the pressure, and my skeleton felt as if it was grating against itself. Although I wanted to fight against it, with everything combined, I found my body unwilling to comply, leaving me where I lay.

“Harok, cease such childish flaunting. You are impressing no one here,” the dragon in the middle with green scales ordered.

It was difficult to tell on the ground, as well as trying to fight off the sensation of being crushed like a tin can, but there was something different about their voice compared to everyone else’s. The way it bounced off the walls drowned out every other noise. Even in my condition, I tried to look at them and saw I was not alone in the act and was not the only one failing to look at them.

In an instant, the crushing pressure threatening to make me pop dissipated as if it were nothing more than a bad dream. Outside influences didn’t leave me alone, however, and my body moved against my will back to my knees. The only thing I still had control over was my tongue, but without control of my mouth, it made little difference.

“You called upon this child to deliver them their duty and had the gall to call us all here to do it. Make it quick, as not all of us laze around all day,” the green dragon continued.

“Are you sure this is worthwhile? She couldn’t even resist the mind control on the way here. Can she truly be of any use to us?” the dragon who spoke first asked.

That’s what that was? I asked myself.

“Indeed, child, and we are not impressed,” they continued.

His words resonated within me as if they originated within my chest, crushing any confidence I once had going in. It did not help that his mind reading stripped me of any sense of privacy I thought I had. I might as well have been naked before them.

“Oh, hush Nurki. Who was the last person who could resist?” the third voice demanded.

In response, Nurki, whose scales were black and who possessed four eyes, snapped their jaws at the dragon who spoke against them.

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“Silence,” the green dragon demanded. “As I said, Harok, we do not have all day. Speak so we can leave.”

Doing the closest thing a dragon could do to clearing his throat, Harok turned his attention back to me.

“Guinevere Medvedev, correct?” he asked.

“Yes Har- yes, Master Harok,” I confirmed.

“Tell me what your family does,” Harok demanded.

“My family is responsible for keeping magic out of human hands.”

“Correct. Do you know what it is that I do?” he asked.

“Nothing,” the largest dragon snickered.

A glare from a number of the dragons silenced them from going on further.

“No, Master Harok, I am not quite aware of what you do. I am aware that you look over our family, but I do not know what you do beyond that,” I replied.

“I am not responsible for just your family. I am responsible for watching over every family in Europe. From those in Spain to yours in Russia. From those in Scotland to those in Sicily. I watch over them all,” he boomed as he started to look over at his companions. “Tell me, child, where are most human families allotted magic located?”

“Europe, isn’t it?” I replied, not understanding the purpose of his question.

“You would be right. With the exception of Yrkiki and Nolthi, everyone here is given a continent to watch over. And, while I would never challenge their authority, that would place me right below them in terms of prestige, wouldn’t it?” he continued.

“I suppose it would Harok. Master Harok,” I corrected.

My answer received snorts from the other dragons and a barrage of piercing sensations all over my body. Like before, none of them were painful, but they were uncomfortable, and I could feel the ire contained within them.

Wrong answer, I thought, waiting to be subjected to whatever punishment the others would have in store for me.

“The next person who derails the topic at hand will be removed from this meeting. This includes you Harok,” the green dragon warned before anything could set in.

“Yes, yes. Of course, Yrkiki. Whatever your highness wants,” Harok said. “As I was saying, and as I said during our first meeting, your family can look after Moscow on their own, despite what some here believe. Because they have it handled, I believe you can be of use here for The Nest.”

“I believe you said-”

“Do not interrupt child,” Harok warned, causing my mouth to snap shut and biting on my tongue.

“Humans make up a tiny portion of those in The Nest. The number has been increasing over the past few centuries, but in total, there are about a thousand of you. This is just the way I, and many here, like it. However, this has left us shorthanded in the human world. We have enough to monitor your population, but that may no longer be enough.

Not only is the human population growing, but it is expanding outside of their borders. This has happened before, and we have dealt with it before, but it is the first time it has happened on such a large scale,” Harok explained.

Like the Mongols, I thought, realizing where he was going with his explanation.

“Precisely. As you know from what happened with them, people are poking around in areas prior populations steered away from. We have so far been able to keep the effects of this to a minimum, but the families in Western Europe have failed to stop the exploration altogether. It will continue to grow and encompass the globe, and the number of humans we have in our service will no longer be enough. More will slip through the cracks, and people like Merthic and Illthic will be there to exploit them,” Harok continued.

“Am I being sent to another family then? One further west?” I inquired, waiting for the dragon to finish his sentence before speaking.

“While some here wanted to do so, Yrkiki and I believe you will be of better use tracking down the individuals trying to leak magic to humans instead.”

I was not sure how to feel about the news. On one hand, he presented me with the possibility of tracking down Merthic once and for all. On the other hand, were memories of how outmatched I was against her. While Illthic was no more, I was not arrogant enough to believe I could take Merthic on my own even after four years. Although I wasn’t sure how Griste compared to her, the fact I couldn’t keep up with the skinwalker did not bode well for me.

“The case with Merthic will be none of your concern, child; you already know this,” Yrkiki reminded as they read my thoughts.

“Then who else, Lord?” I asked.

“You do not believe that Merthic is the only person trying to leak the secrets of magic. There are countless others that you can and will deal with,” they informed.

“With all due respect, I don’t believe I am ready for such a thing. I can’t even keep up with my tutor. What good will I do against people who are trying to teach others magic?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier to wipe them out yourselves? Why must I be the one to do it?”

“I would think someone with your circumstances would understand the reason, but if I must spell it out to you, I will. You are correct in assuming we could deal with this issue ourselves, but like with your first use of magic, there will be those who see us that we will not be able to track down, making the issue far greater than it would be otherwise. There will be far less exposure if a human deals with it in our stead,” Nurki answered.

“To deal with these leaks, we have been enlisting the help of other children in the families, so you will not be alone in your endeavors, but you will work alone once we deploy you. Leading up to this, you will be sent to a training camp to learn how to handle the individuals you will face. Once a year, we shall check in to ensure you are up to the standards needed for your mission. Do you believe you are up to the task?” Yrkiki explained, leaning over the chasm to lean over me.

My mind filled with the order to look up, an instruction I listened to, and I found myself staring the dragon in the eyes. While a headache strong enough to shake me while kneeling, I remained on my feet and maintained eye contact.

"Yes, my lord, I will be up to the task.”