On the next day, Vorzii returned to Ilsorin. Veralla was filled with joy, both for being with Airo again and because nobody died. He finally stayed for the night, and they shared a room aboard the skyship, too. He tried to hide it, but his constant presence on missions was exhausting him, and she left him to rest when she rose early in the morning to prepare for her usual routine of training and meditation.

Now, she sat in the main dining hall, wondering why her meal was late. Several times she asked the hoverbots for something to eat, but each time they replied that she should wait for a few minutes. Lately, there were a great many people coming to the dining hall besides Radiant Knights, and the place was always busy and a lot more noisy. Veralla wondered perhaps this was the reason for the food delay, though she saw that other people, even those who came after her, even dragons, were served at the usual rate. She waited long enough, and began to worry she would be late for training. She considered skipping her meal to head toward the training grounds, and was about to do so when Glawlrhain came, with Stamat in tow. The Highlander Knight greeted Veralla warmly.

"Hey, Veralla. How are you today?"

"I am feeling fine! And what about you?"

"Well, I'm great, thanks for asking. Commander Airo actually gave me a few days of shore leave, so I can be together with Glal here," Stamat smiled at the training master, who returned the gesture with equal warmth.

"Oh, I am so happy for the two of you!"

"We're happy for ourselves likewise," Glawlrhain said. "Now, you are probably wondering why you're kept hungry, young one?"

"Yes! I tried asking for food several times, yet I was always told to wait. Is there something wrong with the meat supply?"

"No, I instructed the hover bots to withhold your meal. It is time to learn to hunt, young one."

"T-to hunt?" Veralla asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Glawlrhain replied. "It's part of the natural development of any dragon. Come, follow us."

"O-okay."

She hopped from her variformed seat and went after Glawlrhain and Stamat. "First we'll make a small detour, since you still can't fly," the training master explained on the way. The three of them left the dining hall, and headed to one of the armories on the lower levels. There, Stamat outfitted her with an anti-gravity harness, which looked like a set of thick plates linked together with a mesh. The mesh was fastened to her body so the plates were evenly distributed among each cardinal direction.

With this done, they went outside on the battlements. The weather in the sub-fractal region was bright and sunny, as usual. Glawlrhain pointed a talon at the base of the mountain, far below the stronghold.

"We must go there," he said, unfurling his wings, and leapt off the edge.

Veralla, who was listening to Stamat's instructions on how to use the anti-grav harness, looked at him in alarm. "How are you going to get down there? Should you not ride on Glawlrhain's back?"

Stamat patted his armor. "I have an anti-grav module built-in," he said casually, though his smile had a hint of wistfulness to it. "Take off whenever you're ready. I'll trail behind in case something goes wrong."

She nodded eagerly and – without thinking twice – jumped down toward the steep slopes. She activated the anti-grav harness, turning her plummeting fall into a controlled dive. A small roar of glee escaped her jaws, as she again felt the freedom of being in the air. It was like when she practiced gliding by jumping off Lung's back, only this time she had complete control over her altitude. She made several wide circles, familiarizing herself with the harness' interface, while testing if she could improve her maneuverability with her wings and tail. It definitely helped; she could imagine herself flying in truth, if she just closed her eyes and ignored the HHI her claws manipulated to control the harness.

She could have soared in this manner for hours, but her hunger reminded her about the task at hand, and she quickly descended to the base of the mountain.

Glawlrhain was already there. The training master was looking northward, where the mountainside was sliced into a sheer cliff with a big cleft at its center. Large, lizard-like animals were pouring out from the cleft, rushing into the open tundra. The creatures were six-legged, with a leathery, grey-brownish hide. Their snouts were short and blunt, and their thick heads were crowned with a pair of straight horns. The herd was twelve in total, running more or less in a haphazard manner, as if its members have not been outside for a long time.

"What are they?" Veralla asked enthusiastically as she touched the ground. A second later, Stamat also landed.

"They're called whemoko," Glawlrhain said. "They are the prey you will hunt today."

"Prey? H-hunt?" She was again unsure what the training master meant. "But how I am going to hunt them? And what am I supposed to eat?"

Glawlrhain turned his head to look at her. His amber eyes had a predatory glint which made Veralla flinch. "You will eat them, young one."

She felt as if an icy claw slashed her insides. "W-w-what?" she stammered.

"Use the anti-grav harness to chase a prey of your choice," the training master continued. "Take it down with the skills I taught you. Then eat."

"But I have to kill to do so! This cannot be right!" she shouted, staring at Glawlrhain, yet his expression remained implacable. "It cannot be right!" she repeated, turning to look at Stamat, but the human Knight gazed stoically at the horizon.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She furiously stood upright, her wings unfurled wide. "I will not kill in order to eat! It is wrong to hurt or kill, no matter the reason!"

"To kill without reason is reprehensible, true," Glawlrhain said, his slit-pupiled eyes unblinking. "Even when there is a strong justification for doing so, it's still an ignoble way of resolving a problem. Yet sometimes, no matter how vile an action is, it must be carried out to prevent an even greater tragedy from arising."

"A-are you saying I must kill in order to e-eat?" Veralla asked, her voice shaking in disbelief.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"But why!"

"All young dragons require a period of extremely energy-rich nutrition in order for them to grow to their full potential. Your case is even more dire in this regard than usual, since you still haven't developed your innate draconic capabilities."

"But I must not kill to gather energy! I could consume something else! Fusion fuel, for example!"

Glawlrhain shook his head, his snout-tendrils swirling gently. "Dragon biology isn't concerned with the merely physical when it comes to consumption. We're much more focused on the resonance quality of food, rather than its raw matter-to-energy ratio. And living beings possess one of the most purest resonances in the universe. They resonate with life."

"Surely I can simply compensate the lack of resonance with a greater quantity of lower-level energy!" Veralla declared. "It is just a matter of quantum zero-point equilibrium, like Tehalix taught me!"

"I see you progress well in your education," Glawlrhain hrrr–ed with approval. "However, you can't simply trade quality for quantity. It may permanently stunt your growth. No, you must consume life if you are to mature properly. It may be a crude and cruel method, but it's the most efficient way of getting necessary nutrition."

"If killing and eating others is the best way to obtain required food, then why I was fed with raw meat for so long?" Veralla asked, folding her foreclaws.

Glawlrhain blinked, momentarily confused. "Young one... from where do you think your food has come?"

She started to reply, then suddenly paused. The shock of realization silenced her completely. She examined the chain of logic with mounting horror. All those weeks... surely... no... no, it cannot be... She had eaten others! Living beings had been killed so she could consume them! Her mind flooded with images of all the pots full of reddish flesh, its smell so enticing, its taste so satisfying... She tried to banish the memories, but they remained vividly in place, down to the last detail, to the exact count of all the meals she had eaten... All the hurting she had been responsible for...

It was too much. She let out an anguished roar, and collapsed, overcome by sheer emotion. Glawlrhain moved quickly and caught her before she fell to the snowy ground. She sobbed, leaning in his grasp.

"I w-will not... k-kill... to eat..."

"You must, young one," Glawlrhain said gently. "It's the best for you."

"B-but... k-killing is wrong..."

"Yes, it is. Yet sometimes it is inevitable."

Veralla rawr–ed. "N-no, it is not! T-there is always another way! There must be!"

"Sometimes... there isn't," Glawlrhain said.

"Yeah..." Stamat agreed with a distant voice.

Veralla pulled herself free from the training master. "Rrrr! No, I refuse to believe so! I will always find another way! Even if it means I must die of hunger, or that I will stay small and unable to fly forever! No living being, whether sapient or not, deserves to be hurt or killed, or suffer in any way, no matter who they are or what they have done! Everyone deserves to live!"

Her words echoed across the tundra, the mountain, and the heavens, all silent witnesses to her affirmation.

"Even Ferrtau?" Glawlrhain asked, watching her with his intense amber gaze.

She remembered the thousand horrors Ferrtau had done. She remembered what terrible man he was. She remembered the dark vortex of his soul behind his eyes. She remembered how he tried to kill her and Airo.

And she remembered... that her mother, Kalessia, had loved him.

"Even Ferrtau," Veralla nodded with conviction.

Glawlrhain blinked again, and drew his head back and upward, as if greatly surprised or humbled by her words. Stamat inhaled sharply and turned, his expression one of utter awe. After a long pause, Glawlrhain finally spoke.

"You are truly your mother's daughter," he said. "She would've been proud to see you become a Radiant Knight."

Glawlrhain turned his head, and looked toward the herd of whemokos. Veralla did the same. The whemokos had stopped running, and were basking in the twin sunlight, white vapor coming out in plumes from their blunt, frog-like snouts. The reptilian animals seemed content to be outside despite the frigid weather, probably because they were specifically adapted to survive it.

"You are certain you won't hunt today?"

She ignored the sharp ache in her belly. "Yes, I am. Not today, and not ever."

"What about meat?"

"Never again."

Glawlrhain hrrr–ed. "In that case, I wonder what to do with you. Hmm..."

"I may have the answer to that," Stamat said abruptly, causing Veralla and Glawlrhain to look at him. The human Knight had projected a holohaptic interface from his armor, and his gauntleted hands flew across the golden hard-light controls. Stamat spoke, his attention focused on the HHI display. "We can start her on a crystal diet."

Glawlrhain snorted. "Too dangerous."

"What is a crystal diet?" Veralla asked.

"Crystal diet consists of highly exotic crystals which are infused with Æther," Stamat explained. "It has been developed by our Order a long time ago, when the Radiant Knights still have been able to focus on non-critical technological research. It's... sort of chocolate for dragons."

"Oh, I like chocolate very much!"

"It's too dangerous," Glawlrhain repeated. "There are reasons we don't allow highly vibrant food to juvenile dragons."

"I ran some calculations," Stamat objected. "If we mix the average meal in a three-to-two ratio with normal food, the values stay within–"

"Terlokhi. I said 'no'."

The human Knight dismissed the HHI, and put his hands on his waist. "Then what, Glal? We'll just leave Veralla to starve?"

"But I thought there was nothing else which could have substituted eating meat!" she chimed in. "Why did you not told me I could just eat crystals, Glawlrhain?"

The training master looked away. His wings drooped faintly. "Forgive me for not telling you, Veralla. I didn't lie when I told you life's resonance is one of the purest in the world. There are other highly-vibrant types of energy as well, such as celestial matter, cosmic ley lines, and even the energy contained in warpstorms. Yet such carriers of high resonance are dangerous and very volatile, and their energies can't be easily absorbed even by mature dragons. That is why I didn't tell you about them."

"But are crystals dangerous, too?"

"Ordinary crystals, no. Yet the ones Stamat talks about are a different manner. Their energy potential could overcome your own, poisoning your body – something normally impossible to happen to a dragon. It would feel the same as with exposure to excessive radiation, according to what you have told me."

"But if I feel sick, I could just stop eating them for a while until I feel better, yes?" Veralla asked.

"Yes, you could. Yet doing so could affect your growth. And there's no telling how your... unique physique will react to the crystal diet."

She lowered her head, thinking. She knew she would never eat meat again, even if it meant she would remain as she were until the end of her life. Yet she did not want to stay like this. If there was a chance she could escape the fate of her choice, she was ready to take it. There was always a way.

She lifted her gaze, and saw Glawlrhain and Stamat watching her expectantly.

"I want to be put on a crystal diet," she said simply. "That is my choice."

Glawlrhain sighed. "Let us return to the mountain, then. Stamat, bring the whemokos inside. Afterward, we'll search for some – how did you put it? – dragon chocolate."