“That’s amazing! But…” I was overjoyed at the development, but I found it strange that the Vraxles would allow it.
“The Vraxle refused to have a dragon join forces with humans,” Aiden said. “As a compromise, and with deliberation and agreement of the other guardians, they chose to allow Halten to remain a grand guardian who could work with us. That said, if we successfully break Halten free from the First Domain, he is never to return.”
“That’s implicit,” I said, nodding in satisfaction. I turned to Halten. “I prefer this way. Aside from your legal obligations, you will remain an independent guardian.”
Halten smiled, regal yet overjoyed. He glided his massive eyes on Dad, and the poor man jumped. “Who is this man?” He looked at Kai, Malo, and Tyler, and these three?”
“Halten, meet Doug Hill, my father, Tyler, my brother, and Kai, my partner. Father, brother, and partner, this is Halten, ex-king of the Vraxles, Billy Badass, and the entity that saved my life. I owe this glorious entity a lot, so you shall feed him snacks and speak to him with utmost respect.”
Halten rolled his eyes. “As I recall, you returned the fa—”
I interrupted him with a smile. “Forgive us, but we’re short on time for pleasantries. If you would kindly join us in terrifying my people, it would make my week.”
“You’re cruel,” Tyler said.
“I think she just wants people to know what she went through,” Aiden said.
“Damn straight,” I mumbled, petting Halten’s snout. “Any chance we could ride you as a group?”
Halten looked at me lifelessly, then smiled. “As you wish.”
To my father’s great dismay, he found himself airborne as I flew him onto Halten’s back.
“Are you sure about this?” Dad asked nervously.
“Absolutely not, but I can fly you guys away if you fall,” I said. “Probably.”
Halten rolled his eyes, and I could feel it. “You’re in a good mood.” I giggled and patted him.
“He’s free,” Aiden said. “You’d expect that. The surprising thing is that you’re in a good mood.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m about to ride a dragon! You don’t even know how mystical this is.”
I hugged Halten, and I could feel his emotions. I was very in tune with the souls and minds of entities. Halten could feel that energy and smiled.
“Hold on,” said the mighty Vraxle, and we took off in the air. My father screamed, my brother let out a woo, and I grinned, thinking about the terror-filled spectacle that was about to play out in Wraithwood.
Heath Kern came to Wraithwood this year with grand visions of gaining power, but what he found was far beyond his expectations. Despite the grand progress in the town, the place was still a glorified campsite, and over half of the people didn’t get a Poison Sense skill, and thus couldn’t leave the forest.
Just wait till next year, someone had said upon his arrival. The people who didn’t cause trouble got the Poison Sense skill. As a veteran harvester, Heath disagreed, but someone said, You don’t understand, friend. The forest’s far more dangerous this far out. A dozen died from trap plants and blighted snow. Thirty more needed medicine. It’s not a joke.
The inhabitants unanimously agreed, most bitterly. The power differential here was also staggering, with the pioneer’s cores shining like stars, but last year’s crop was remarkably weak. Things weren’t equal.
That said, Heath saw someone he knew previously, and their power had tripled. There was a chance to get stronger—but from what everyone kept saying, it was a shot in the dark. If he wanted to get noticed, he needed to do it in the first week or he’d fade away. Problem was—no one paid attention to him. Worse, they treated him like a bug—and that was infuriating. Everyone just thought they were hot shit, especially the third evs. Stupid idiots came here because they sucked balls in the Second Domain, and now they were acting like gods amongst true talent. It bothered him.
This sucks, he thought, picking up a rock and throwing it into the cookfire.
“Just chill, brother,” a burly man said. “Everyone went through this last year. It’ll get better.”
“Yeah, but things’ve changed,” Heath said. “Some asshole apparently screwed everything up, and now you gotta ‘prove yourself,’ but no one gets to prove themselves. People won’t even look at me.”
The man smiled grimly. “Trust me, brother—if you were here last year, you’d feel the same.”
Heath laughed sarcastically. “Everyone keeps saying that, but no one says why. But if you ask them how many beasts they’ve fought, they say zero. Then they laugh. It’s aggravating.”
“Well… they’re not wrong.” The man grinned again.
Heath snapped and stood up. “Whatever, clown. I’m going to find someone who takes things seriously.”
“I’d be careful, brother.”
Heath looked back and saw the man’s face grim. “What?” he said with dripping emphasis.
“Everyone here last year was a hand-chosen elite, and you don’t see any of them actin’ like hot shit. You know why?”
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“Just tell me.”
“It’s because they got humbled.”
“By what?”
“Mira.”
“Why? No one’s ever seen her fight. And from what I hear, she didn’t lift a finger to that third ev.”
The burly man’s eyes shone strangely. “She didn’t have to.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Heath demanded. He was getting so sick of the constant paradoxes—and he didn’t even care. He just hated being sidelined. He just wished that he would get an opportunity to prove himself.
Then he got it.
A siren went off, and someone yelled, “Aerial beast approaching! A big one!”
Finally! Heath thought, unsheathing his sword.
“Put that shit away!” the burly man said. He said something else, like, “That’s not your enemy!” but Heath ignored him, rushing north to join the people rushing through.
As long as it’s near camp, he thought. I can do this.
The danger was poison, but if it was a beast, that was fine. There would be dozens of elites fighting. He just needed to seize this opportunity and prove himself. If Malo or Tyler or whoever saw him, it could be a boon.
Yet as he ran, the entire sun was blotted out, casting shade on the entire city. He tried to see, but there was just a bird that perfectly blocked out the sun like an eclipse. He couldn’t stare too long, so he rushed past the town, moving north down a road to a massive human-made clearing. He found it strange to see something so large, but it was perfect. There was a road to it, and Aiden’s famous three-tailed foxes had rushed to the opening. Whatever was there would attack the lurvine, and Aiden would be right there to see.
It was perfect.
Or so he thought. That bird turned out to be colossal. Its wings were the size of fishing boat sails, and its body was like the hull. It let out a terrorizing roar that forced him to cover an ear, and it released pressure that filled the entire town with dread as it swooped down.
Heath was terrified, but he was professional. He grabbed his sword and jumped back, preparing to attack as the creature crashed into the ground like a meteorite.
Heath opened his eyes and saw that the creature was one of the Vraxles, creatures he saw during the Trial of Survival—creatures that ate all of the mounted fliers. He suddenly regretted his arrogance, understanding why the man had said that he’d be humbled. Nothing could touch this creature! The power was just too overwhelming, and the third evs were weaker than the seconds. That meant that the lurvine were the only options, but they were waging their three tails.
What the hell? Heath thought in confusion. He then heard a whistle, and Trigan appeared, taking a knee.
“Hey Trigan!” a friendly female voice yelled from somewhere above the dragon. Heath looked up and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It sounded cliche, but this woman appeared to be a goddess, so perfect and radiant with her red hair glimmering in the sunlight. And the way that she stood on the wyvern’s head fearlessly only added to her mystique.
That’s when reality caught up. He suddenly realized why people were so certain Mira was strong despite having never seen her fought—
She was friends with third evolution entities and fucking wyverns!
“Yes, My Lady?” Trigan asked with a smile. “Gather up everyone. I wanna make sure people don’t attack Halten. Also, it’s best that people meet a guardian and learn what true despair is. A lot of people learned far too late.” She glanced at Heath. He thought it was a coincidence, but she said, “Can you put that sword away? Putting aside that you’re not supposed to be here, you just look… silly.”
Heath realized that none of the other people were holding swords. In fact, he wasn’t standing around soldiers at all, just the dignitaries who had welcomed them yesterday. Everyone who mattered at Wraithwood was now staring at him. He realized that he still didn’t sheath his sword, so someone grabbed it.
He looked up and saw Malo—the Lieutenant General of the Wraithwood army. He looked at the sword and back with his lifeless eyes. “Follow me.”
Heath looked up, and he would’ve sworn he saw a sadistic smile on Mira’s face. She tried to mask it as she turned away. She set me up! he thought. She did that on purpose!
3.
I felt bad watching that guy get dragged away. It was my fault for making such a terrifying entrance, but come on—he wasn’t supposed to be there! I clearly told my commanders to warn their soldiers to hold back in the event of a dragon sighting, and I refused to believe that they didn’t. That meant the guy disregarded orders and showed up like an idiot. He didn’t have the slightest sense of self-awareness if he saw a creature of Halten’s size and rushed forward instead of waiting for people with a chance.
Right?
I wasn’t sure. In truth, I was still in a prime mood after womping Malo with half my power. It was through brute force, sure, but it was a badge of pride considering how terrifyingly skilled he was. I looked forward to fighting him once he reached the third evolution so that he couldn’t freeze out my attacks. I looked forward to it greatly.
Then Halten showed up, I got to ride a dragon, and most importantly—I got to show people the extent of my power.
I didn’t think it was necessary to show off my strength the first time, but Ikala’s coup probably wouldn’t have come to pass if my people realized the terror of the guardians. I wasn’t taking that chance this time. We had another batch of people, and I wanted to make some things very clear.
So I pushed him aside and addressed my people, saying, “This is Halten—he’s a guardian. You will treat him with respect. He’s one of the Vraxles—if you see any of them, you’ll give them respect, too. That’s all.”
I grabbed my dad and flew him down to the ground.
“That’s all?” Trigan mused.
“Some things are best kept implicit,” I said with a wicked grin, patting his shoulder and walking past. I meant that, too. If I showed people a demonstration of my personal power, it would inspire them to become that strong and start acting recklessly, or cripple their ego when they realized they had no chance of catching up this century. If I told people how strong Halten was, they’d be curious about fighting him. But just to show up riding a dragon? Yeah, that slapped. It was as Elana had said, appearance was everything—it made people think twice about fighting someone in the forest. I wasn’t one for makeup, but I was A-okay with showing up on a dragon. It had the same implications—and my newfound beauty only bolstered it.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had turned into a petty little shit. But it was relieving because if that proved anything—it showed that I was human.
I was glad for that.
Once I returned home, the fun didn’t stop. Felio and Jaylin were in my parents’ new abode, and Felio was giving our mom a hand massage with mystical lotion.
“You look like you’re having fun,” I said.
“Oh, Mira,” Mom said. “You really have to try this. It makes your skin…” She looked up and saw my father’s pale face, and then saw me forcing a straight expression. “Mira?”
I looked away.
“Mira?” she repeated.
I glanced even further away.
“Mira Isabella Hill. You will look at me at once.”
I looked at her sheepishly.
“Will you care to explain why your father looks like he helped you bury a dead body?”