The eastern road did not look dangerous.
That, Kael would later learn, was how it fooled people.
Morning light spilled across rolling stone paths and sparse grasslands, the sky stretched wide and pale above them. The road was old older than the capital, older than the magi-tech rails that cut across the land elsewhere. Its stones were worn smooth by centuries of travel: merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, and scholars, all walking toward something they believed would change them.
Kael walked quietly.
His hair was tied back loosely now, though stray strands still brushed his face with every step. The cool air stung his lungs, and his eyes kept drifting up at the sky, back to the road, then to Seris walking a few paces ahead.
She looked different in daylight.
Without the shadows of the undercity, the sharp lines of her face were clearer high cheekbones, a straight nose, lips perpetually set in a half-frown. Her gray eyes never stopped moving. Even relaxed, she looked coiled, ready.
Kael envied that certainty.
"Stop staring," Seris said without turning.
"I wasn't," Kael replied quickly.
She glanced back anyway, one eyebrow lifting. "You were. You look like you're waiting for the world to jump you."
Kael hesitated, then admitted, "It feels like it might."
That earned a quiet nod. "Good instinct. Keep it."
They walked in silence for a while.
Kael's thoughts churned. Every step away from the city felt unreal, like he was abandoning the only life he understood. He replayed the cavern again and again the beast bowing, the eyes watching him, the weight of being seen.
"They will not forget you," the dragon said softly.
"I don't want them to remember me," Kael whispered.
"Too late."
An ambush came without warning.
A sharp crack split the air.
Stone exploded beside Kael's foot.
Seris shouted, already moving. "Down!"
Kael threw himself aside as a bolt of condensed magic slammed into the road where his head had been. His heart hammered violently as he rolled, dirt scraping his cheek.
He looked up.
Five figures stepped onto the road ahead.
They were human. All of them. Clean armor etched with runes, long coats reinforced with magi-tech plating. Their faces were calm, professional men who had done this many times before.
One of them smiled.
He was tall, lean, with neatly trimmed dark hair and cold assessing eyes. His face was handsome in a way that felt practiced, sharpened by arrogance rather than kindness. He adjusted his gloves with precise, economical movements.
"Kael Osborn," the man said, voice smooth as polished glass. "You made quite a mess back there."
Kael's stomach dropped.
Seris crouched beside him, pistol raised, her jaw tight. "How did you..."
"Word travels," the man interrupted lightly. "Especially when dragons stir."
Kael pushed himself up slowly, hands shaking despite his effort to steady them. His face felt hot, fear flashing openly across his youthful features before he forced it down.
"I don't know what you think I did," Kael said, voice strained, "but I'm not going back."
The man chuckled. "Oh, you misunderstand. We don't bring anomalies back."
He raised his hand.
Chains unfolded from his gauntlet, glowing, humming, hungry.
"We harvest them."
The dragon's presence surged, protective and furious.
"These are butchers," it growled. "They drain until nothing remains."
Kael's eyes burned as anger finally broke through his fear. His jaw tightened, his shoulders squarednot because he felt brave, but because running no longer felt possible.
Seris swore under her breath. "Kael… if this goes bad run!"
He looked at her.
The tension in her face. The fear she tried to hide. The fact that she was still standing beside him.
"I won't leave you," Kael said quietly.
Something flickered in her eyes surprise, then something deeper.
The man sighed, almost disappointed. "Shame. I was hoping you'd come quietly."
The hunters advanced.
Kael took a breath.
The world seemed to narrow, sounds dulling, colors sharpening. He felt the dragon coil within him, not forcing, just waiting.
Kael raised his hand.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," he said, voice shaking but clear. "But I won't let you do this anymore."
The air trembled.
For the first time, Kael did not just hear the dragon.
He answered it.
The hunter leader watched them, then opened a communication crystal as they prepared to strike. "Asset confirmed: Dragon-communicator. Recommendation: Academy infiltration. Let Lorri's Arch train what we'll eventually harvest."
And far away, deep beneath stone and steel, chains began to strain.