Chapter 107
Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to turn around, run, hide, and reconsider every decision that had somehow led me to voluntarily sprint toward an ancient dragon.
Instead... I kept running.
Ahead of me, the dragon struggled against the chains binding it to the chamber.
It roared.
The sound no longer frightened me. Because beneath the fury, I heard its agony. Each violent movement forced the ancient iron deeper into its scales, and fresh cracks of black corruption spread beneath the metal before fading again. It wasn't trying to escape; it was trying to survive.
"Easy..." I whispered, as I reached closer to it, unsure whether I was speaking to the dragon... or to myself.
Behind me, the chamber erupted once more as a pillar shattered beneath the dragon's tail.
Rhaevan had abandoned every offensive spell.
He moved with remarkable precision, never allowing the dragon to focus on me for more than a heartbeat.
Whenever its head turned in my direction, another burst of silver light drew its attention back to him, fiercely protecting the opening he'd created.
I reached the dragon's foreleg. Up close, its size stole the breath from my lungs-one claw was taller than I was. The scales weren't black at all; beneath the corruption, I could just make out a deep, burnished gold. Ancient. Magnificent.
My gaze settled on the chain wrapped tightly around its neck. The metal had become part of the dragon itself, scales growing around it as the curse held it for so long that flesh and iron no longer seemed to know where one ended and the other began.
My chest tightened. "...How long have you been here?"
The dragon answered with another pained roar. Its head jerked violently, trying to follow Rhaevan, and the movement pulled the chain deeper into its neck. I flinched.
Something inside me broke.
Compassion - something deeper. An overwhelming certainty settled over me: This isn't your enemy. This is your responsibility.
I didn't know where the thought had come from. It wasn't a voice or a memory; it simply felt true.
The magic stirred from beneath my chest, and I could feel it flowing through my body. It was as if the magic within the me had recognised it.
The dragon froze, its breathing slowing as the enormous head turned toward me. It knew where I stood. The fury in its movements faltered.
I took one cautious step closer. Then another. The chains rattled softly, and the dragon lowered its head by the smallest fraction, as though listening.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears. "I'm going to try something," I whispered. "I really hope you understand me..."
Taking a deep breath, I reached out. My fingertips brushed the ancient iron. The metal was ice-cold.
I closed my eyes and gathered what little control I possessed. Help him. Free him from this curse.
My magic simply gathered, warm and steady, then flowed down my arms and through my fingertips, into the chains.
Silver light seeped into the ancient chains. The runes carved into the metal awakened one by one-not with force, but with recognition. The entire chamber fell silent, and even the dragon stopped struggling.
The silver light travelled along every link, weaving through the ancient enchantments like water finding a riverbed it had once known. The black corruption coating the runes began to recede. The chains trembled.
Click. A single link unlocked. Then another. And another.
One by one, the restraints released themselves. Heavy iron crashed against the stone floor, each impact echoing through the chamber. The darkness staining the dragon's scales began dissolving like smoke caught in sunlight.
The crystal sealing its eyes cracked, tiny fractures spreading across its surface until-with a sharp snap-it shattered. Fragments of darkness drifted harmlessly to the ground before vanishing altogether.
The dragon opened its eyes.
They were a deep, luminous gold. Ancient. Wise. And unbearably weary.
The great creature looked at me, and something changed in those golden eyes-recognition, of something deeper. As though, after years of darkness, it recognised the magic that had reached it.
The dragon slowly lowered its enormous body, its mighty head descending until it rested before me. In reverence.
I stood completely still, not sure I remembered how to breathe. The last of the chains slipped free from its neck and fell to the stone with a final, resonant clang.
Silence settled over the chamber once more. The dragon was free.
The dragon remained still, its enormous head lowered before me. Its golden scales, hidden beneath centuries of corruption, gleamed softly in the silver light. Its breathing had changed; the ragged, pained breaths were gone, replaced by slow, steady inhalations.
I stood frozen, one hand still resting against the broken chain. "...Did..." My voice came out far quieter than I intended. "...Did it work?"
Before I could say anything else, footsteps echoed behind me, measured and unhurried.
I turned just as Rhaevan reached my side.
A thin cut ran along his forearm where shattered stone had caught him, dust clung to his robes, and several fresh tears marked his sleeves, but his eyes remained fixed on the dragon with cautious attention.
He had lowered neither his guard nor the sphere of light hovering above us.
The dragon slowly lifted its head, and I instinctively held my breath.
Those ancient golden eyes settled upon Rhaevan. Neither moved. For one long heartbeat, man and dragon simply regarded one another.
Then, to my surprise, the dragon inclined its head. Only slightly-a gesture so small I almost missed it.
Rhaevan answered with a respectful bow of his own. Not as a victor or an enemy, but as one guardian acknowledging another. Only then did I notice his shoulders finally relax, if only a little.
The dragon's gaze drifted slowly around the vast chamber, across the shattered pillars, the broken chains, and the dust still hanging lazily in the air. Its expression-if dragons could be said to have expressions-shifted from confusion to sorrow.
Then its gaze returned to me. Its eyes lingered on the glow of compass emitting from the satchel, then on the faint traces of silver light shimmering around my fingertips. For a few seconds, it simply stared.
I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do.
Bow? Run? Say something profound?
Given my track record, I'd probably choose the worst possible option.
"You're welcome?"
The dragon narrowed its eyes and came closer until we were almost at eye level. "What made you think I was thanking you?"
Oh...great. I had just saved a talking dragon, maybe an arrogant one.