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He wants to save her, but he’s too weak. He had just used his trump card, Silvern’s Triumph, which allowed him to release all the soul force that he had consumed that day into a massive aura attack. Despite that, he only managed to wound one of the dragons. They are third-evolution beasts—

—the strongest of the strong. As strong as the River Guardian, if not more, and they fly and scorch the earth in devastating attacks.

By contrast, he was worn out from the single attack.

Two of the dragons suddenly swoop down, roaring and flapping and screeching as they follow the cat’s mana signature. One gets close, but he blinks away at the last moment. As the dragons circle and screech, the cat picks up a rock with his mana manifestation. It hovers like telekinesis before him as he head-butts the rock in the air.

One sees the rock and proves they learned from their mistakes. It dives and bites the rock, anticipating him teleporting into it. Yet the cat doesn’t. Instead, he waits for another dragon to fly above the biting dragon and uses its passing shadow to teleport to the dragon’s back.

Now, on the dragon’s back, he runs down the beast’s spine for traction and jumps off, flying toward another dragon’s head—aiming for its eyes.

Suddenly, another dragon shoots from the heavens, swallowing the cat whole—

—but that cat is an illusion.

It disappears, and the real one, masked under active camouflage, still flies toward the target dragon’s eye. He should land the hit—

—but he doesn’t.

The largest dragon, the weakest and wisest that watched him and didn’t attack earlier, suddenly flies at him with prejudice. The cat thinks that he would need to warp away, but the dragon doesn’t bite him. Instead, it turns its body, blocking the cat’s attack on the second dragon.

The cat is confused, but he doesn’t count his blessings. He just lets himself fall into the Diktyo River, crystal clear now that the souls were swirling around Mira, expecting the fall to break every bone in his body—and then heal them. Such are the tactics born from desperation.

2.

Keep chanting, Yakana said to me. It was difficult to do, considering that the river water was boiling with thrashing animals and roaring dragons and flickering with red light. I also couldn’t breathe because I had been underwater for a minute.

Why? I asked panickedly.

Because she approaches.

The River Guardian?

Yes. So prove your worth so that you may gain her protection.

My heart thumped, and I kicked off the ground, emerging and gasping for breath and returning underwater.

Now chant, Yakana said.

I did, and the intensity of the spell increased and my soul core was burning. The cleansing spell was similar to creating a soul core, but it was more precise. I took the souls and cycled them like a cotton candy machine. Then, I used a spell to shred the top layers of impurities that remnants collect from wandering around, collecting soul "dirt" as they move toward a cleansing site.

Once I shredded it, I cleaned it with a purification spell that wasn’t too different from the one that I used religiously. It was intuitive and it was the easiest part. Lastly, I threaded it around my core with Yakana’s aid. He had melded into my soul to aid me due to the time pressure. Within minutes I was doing it, poorly as I was—now I was giving it my all. I had seconds or even a minute to convince the River Guardian to save me. Everything was riding on this.

3.

Stop, you fools! Halten snarled at the other vraxles, shielding Mira’s body with his own. Aiden was panicking but he didn’t back down either.

What are you doing? one roared.

She’s purifying the souls! If you break her concentration again, it will cause mass corruption!

Bit too late for that, isn’t it? Thorvel got up from the forest floor. He looked over and saw the corrupted beasts thrashing and killing one another in a mosh pit. The river’s crystal water was crimson and flowing downriver with hypnotic marbling, moving from maroon to red to pink in seconds as it drifted away.

This is your fault! Halten roared. You broke her concentration. You sent a mass of souls crashing into the beasts.

My fault? My fault? This woman comes to our forest. Attracts intruders. Turns our kind against each other. And now she’s in the forest, creating a stampede from something she’s doing in the river—and you dare to say this is my fault?

A flaming tree cracked in half, hitting two trees before falling to the ground with an explosion of embers and sparks. More groans and a light wind pushed the flames further.

I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt, Halten. I didn’t attack you at full strength when I first saw you. I didn’t attack you today. I even told you that I would allow you to leave if you brought me to this woman. Yet you didn’t. Now, not a moment ago, you chose not to kill my attacker. Did you not?

The vraxles turned to Halten and then scanned the environment. It didn’t take long for them to find the orange creature floating in the river.

This creature is protecting the human Mira, and the human Mira is cleansing the river, Halten said.

Now you’re protecting her?

This is Brindle’s magic.

LIES!

The human aiden shuddered and recoiled from Thorvel’s unrestrained anger. His brother had indeed lost his patience and empathy. War would now be bloody if fought.

I’ve been tolerant. Now I’m not. That woman is bringing outside forces here to this forest. They started weak—but they became strong. They’ll only get stronger. If she dies, things’ll be as they’ve always been. Now… move.

Halten… the human Aiden said pleadingly. Somewhere between the simple shock and guilt and the current situation, he had developed a genuine awareness that something wasn’t right. The human Mira was special. Whether she had been taught by Brindle or Yakana or simply came here with Brindle’s gifts, she was special—and she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Halten knew because Brexton knew, and Brexton knew that no one had made contact with her, let alone made business arrangements. The crates on his back were filled with living supplies. That’s what Brexton said to ease Halten’s mind of foul play—even brought the people who packed the crate in to testify. All of them had shirts and pants and sleeves soaked with blood—fresh wounds on their face and hands.

The human Mira had a tent and farming tools, and cooking supplies. She was going to live here, in Areswood Forest, without any business relationships. Now, she was demonstrating soul-cleansing magic used by Brindle so many millennia ago.

No.

The human Mira was special—and he wouldn’t let her die without knowing her story.

This is Brindle’s magic, Halten said. And I’m not leaving until I know the story behind it.

Thorvel’s blue body reflected orange flames from the crackling inferno beyond him. They were in a thicket of thinner trees, quick to spread and burn. The vraxles flying above seemed to be willing to let it.

Is that your choice? Thorvel asked.

It is, Halten said.

The two paused for a moment—and then charged.

Aiden screamed in his mind as they rocketed forward far faster than they had ever moved. Thorvel rammed into Halten’s barrier, and the specific barrier glowed blue and bounced back. Yet the force wasn’t enough. Thorvel thrust further, and it bounded back again, sending Halten flying backward across the river like a skipping stone, barely missing Mira’s soul cocoon by a matter of feet.

Thorvel didn’t let up. He flapped his wings, releasing two wing blades that cut through the river with vertical strikes, creating four walls of water as they crashed toward the human Mira.

Halten closed his eyes and visualized his strongest barrier. When he opened his eyes, a golden dome formed around Mira. The wind blades crashed into it, cracking the barrier as water splashed around it, turning to steam when droplets hit the fire on shore.

The vraxles let out condemning statements as they flew into the fray, diving at Halten without Thorvel’s slightest admonishment. It was business, not blood—not anymore.

Halten responded in kind, releasing an ultrasonic cry that made two vraxles wobble and another fly away. He faced the other two head-on, blocking wind blasts as he attacked.

Four times he clashed with the vraxles—only once did he strike one. Two evaded attacks and the third circled up, allowing five more to fly in. More clashes followed as Halten bit and clawed and roared, using wind and acceleration magic to fight through the horde—all while Thorvel sent wind blades into his barrier, each releasing booms as they cracked.

The fire raged on.

Five brutal minutes later, two vraxles lay on the shore of the Diktyo River, each suffering grave injuries. Halten’s wings were cut to shreds, and the human Aiden was suffering from mana deprivation after healing Halten so much. In truth, the human Aiden never did more than stitch the outer layer of his hide, but Halten never mentioned that.

He was proud of the human Aiden and was moved by his willingness to fight for the human Mira and to fight and protect instead of begging Halten to flee like he would have done a month before.

The human Aiden and a Chosen—Halten didn’t think that he would die protecting two humans, people he was sworn to keep out of the forest, but he didn’t regret his decision.

Thorvel flew high in the air, scales flickering from the forest fire raging below. It captured the attention of the attacking vraxles, so they stalled their attack to watch.

Are you willing to fight? Halten asked. Till the end?

Aiden’s voice wobbled, even through the telepathic link, as he watched Thorvel look down on the human Mira’s weakened barrier, preparing himself for a charge as the vraxles closed in, but he held his ground.

It’s my fault we’re here… Aiden said. And more than that… I don’t know. It’s stupid, but… I think it’s the right thing to do. And… I want to do the right thing.

Halten could hear the weak heroism in his voice. On any other day, Halten would chastise the boy and lecture him on the thin difference between stupidity and bravery. Yet that day, Halten was also doing what he felt was right—albeit for deeper reasons.

Brindle… Halten thought. Then he nodded. Okay.

Thorvel charged. Halten extended his bloodied wings and shot forward to meet him. The two met right above Mira in a clash that sent river water exploding in all directions as a meteorite hit it.

Halten gave everything he had, and that primal power that animals gain to save their young from danger took him past his limits, allowing him to cancel out Thorvel’s meteoric attack. But that’s all it did. The second the kinetic forces balanced, the barrier around the human Mira broke, releasing the water it had stored inside like a bubble—bringing the souls with it.

4.

You cannot even imagine what it’s like to be suddenly ejected from a river onto hot, dry land, only to narrowly avoid a ten-ton lizard crashing down upon you. The ground shook, sending me flying on the river bed, which was now mostly dry with puddles as if it were a road after a spring rain.

I could see this. Others could not.

All the souls that I was cleansing expanded outward in a great fog, covering the dragon that nearly fell on me and painting the rest of the area a milky white color that flickered with oranges and reds and golds as an unbearable forest fire raged beyond me. The heat was unbearable, and the smoke burnt my lungs.

I felt like I was in hell.

I pressed my hands against the mud and pushed myself up, looking like a swamp-billy version of Carrie after the Black Prom, staring around me. Only then did I realize how dire my situation had become?

Dragons flew around me in circles as one, in particular, stared at me with eyes fifty feet in the air, standing right in the concentrated fog of souls I had just released.

Terrifying couldn’t even begin to describe the situation.

The dragon eyed me and then the other dragon lying in the fog. I can’t believe you’d give your life for… this. He looked at me and spread his wings. With the raging fire to his right, he looked like a beast in Dante’s Inferno or some other freakish story of demons, beasts, and gods.

Tell me, human. Why are you here?

I paused, trembling from the dragon’s pressure.

"I… just…" I paused. The dragon’s tone didn’t imply he was interrogating me—he was looking for a confession. Soon, it would kill me, and I would die for literally no reason at all. I clenched my fists and flexed my jaw, and looked up at the dragon defiantly.

"I asked to be sent to a forest so I didn’t have to deal with all this bullshit! I just want to study plants, but AIs and gods and apparently…" I waved my hand to it, "dragons want to fuck with me. What the fuck did I ever do to you? What did I do to any of you?"

The dragon’s eyes filled with fury. I knew that look. The look of an ego. The look of a college professor who looks at freshmen as if they’re an insignificant worm in the presence of their greatness, only to be told that they were an asshole.

Nothing good would follow.

Nothing but a human, the dragon snorted. I can’t believe you threatened our forest for this.

I trembled with fury. You know what I think? Hmmm? I think—

A sudden force yanked me in the air, and a moment later, I fell into a familiar bed of raw mana. It was Kline—and he was moving fast.

Within a second, he had teleported us a hundred meters and then again. But just as I felt hope, dragons rocketed past us, encircling us on all sides.

Kline paused and hissed and backed up. I understood his frustration. It felt like someone clenched my heart with two hands and twisted in opposite directions. We were done for.

But hope didn’t die there. At that moment, as the large dragon slowly flew toward us, I heard a guttural roar I hadn’t heard since the day I arrived.

It was the River Guardian.