The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

The golem's head was a relatively small area, but it was densely packed with magic formations. It took around three and a half hours from the time they started working on it until they finally reached a good place to stop, at the base of the neck.

They took another long break when it was over, to give everyone a chance to eat dinner and to allow all the exhausted mental magic users to rest and recover a little.

Thenio had been able to keep transcribing the entire time, as it turned out, but he apparently had quite a bad headache by the time it was over and needed to lie down for a while. Amisi also said she needed another nap before she could continue. Even Mideis, who had the best stamina of the three of them, excused himself after eating to go relax and meditate in one of the recovery rooms the medical team had prepared for them.

Ariom was planning to rest a little as well, but before that, he went to go check on Iggy. According to the telepathic reports they'd gotten from Uncle Bero and Amisi, the little dragon had been behaving himself very well so far today. But he was only a baby, after all, and being away from Ariom for too long at a time made him anxious.

It made Ariom a bit anxious as well, if he was being honest....

He could sense that Iggy wasn't in the transcription room, and after asking a couple of research team members that he met in the observation area, Ariom finally located his familiar, along with Uncle Bero and Kino the storm hound, in a courtyard that separated the building dedicated to their project from the Royal Guard's main research building.

It was early evening now, and the sun was hanging low over the western mountains. But there was still an hour or so of daytime left, and the walls of the courtyard were glowing with golden evening sunlight.

"Ariom!"

As expected, Iggy came hurtling through the air toward Ariom as soon as he stepped outside. He quickly held up his arm. Iggy landed on it, folded his wings, and then jumped onto Ariom's chest, clinging to the front of his shirt. Smiling wryly, Ariom held the little dragon up with one hand and stroked his back with the other.

"Hi there, little guy. Have you been good for Uncle Bero?"

"Mmm," Iggy replied in a muffled voice, his face buried in Ariom's shirt. "I have! I've been super good! But I missed Ariom...."

"I know. I missed you, too." Ariom gently scratched the dragon's ears. "I can't stay out here for too long, but I wanted to make sure you were doing all right." He glanced over at Kino, who was watching them with Obby hovering next to him, held up by the dog's wind magic. "Were you playing with Kino and Obby?"

"Mmm! We were playing bird! The wind-dog is really good at playing bird!"

"Good. I'm glad you're having fun." Ariom patted Iggy, then looked back at the storm hound. "Thanks for playing with him, Kino. It's hard for him to be cooped up all day like this."

Kino simply nodded silently. He never talked much.

"How are you feeling?" Uncle Bero asked, coming over and looking Ariom up and down with concern. "Having to concentrate on enchantment inscriptions for so many hours at a time must be hard on you. Your eyes are red from using magesight for too long."

"I'm...yeah...I'm a bit tired. But it's not like I've never had a long workday before. And I have some healing drops for my eyes. I'm going to use some and then rest in one of the recovery rooms for a little while. I just wanted to check on Iggy first."

Uncle Bero looked at him silently for a moment, wearing a complicated expression. Finally he sighed and patted Ariom's shoulder. "I see.... Take your time, Ariom. There's no need to rush. Namyis is strong enough to hold out for a few extra hours if you need her to."

"I know that," Ariom snapped, his tone a little more aggressive than he'd intended. He looked away, avoiding his uncle's gaze. "She's a lot stronger than I am. I know that. And...it's annoying."

Uncle Bero chuckled. "Well, there are different kinds of strength.... But it's true that it's hard to get around a difference in sorcerer rank. Power always comes with a price, though. Remember that before you start feeling envious."

"Yeah...I know...."

Ariom was quiet for a bit, still stroking Iggy's back.

The thing that was really bothering him wasn't his tired eyes or Namyis' strength, of course. His uncle probably knew that. He'd been the one organizing the magic formations that Thenio was transcribing, so he should have noticed the real problem.

But Ariom didn't want to talk about it in front of Iggy and Kino, and Uncle Bero seemed to be following his lead by not mentioning it directly.

Ariom sighed. "I guess I should go back inside." He looked down at his dragon. "Can you be good and stay with Uncle Bero for a few more hours? Our break won't end for a while, so it's okay to stay out here and play with Kino a little longer."

"Mmm...okay..." Iggy agreed reluctantly.

Ariom scratched the little dragon's drooping ears. "Just a few more hours. Then we can go home. You can sleep in my room tonight if you want to. And I'm going to take tomorrow off, so we can stay together the whole day. Okay?"

Iggy's ears perked back up a little. "Mmm! Okay."

"Good boy." Ariom patted his head. Then he walked over to where Kino was standing and patted his head as well. "You too, Kino. I know you and Garem are doing your best to keep us all safe. Thanks for that. And for being friends with Iggy."

He set the little dragon down on Kino's shaggy red back, patted them both one more time, and then turned to go back into the building.

"Ariom."

Ariom stopped and looked back at his uncle.

"Don't try to take on everything all by yourself." Uncle Bero gave him a gentle smile. "You're intelligent and talented and dedicated. But you're still young. And you're only one person. Nobody expects you to handle everything alone. Just do your best, and ask for help when you need it. All right?"

Ariom hesitated for a moment before nodding silently. Then he turned and went inside.

When he returned to the analysis room, Ariom found Namyis sitting in Mideis' chair with Humerus on her lap.

He paused just inside the door, watching the two of them.

Namyis had taken her helmet off and was sitting in a relaxed pose, chatting with the revenant and stroking his back. Her long, pale violet hair had originally been pulled up into a tidy, braided chignon, but a few shorter strands had come loose during the day and were now hanging down on the sides of her face. It gave her a delicate, feminine look, which contrasted oddly with the severity of the dark grey combat suit she was wearing.

As Ariom hesitated, Humerus noticed he was there and turned to look at him. Namyis, following the revenant's gaze, also turned her head.

"Welcome back!" She gave Ariom a brilliant smile and a little wave. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah...a little." Ariom walked slowly over to them. "Sorry to make you stay here and take care of things while we went to rest."

"Don't worry about it. Humerus and I have been entertaining each other. And this is my part of the job, right? You analyze the enchantment and disarm the traps. I keep the fake corpse frozen."

"...right." Ariom leaned against the low wall and looked over at the golem, which had been covered with the white sheet again.

There was a long moment of silence.

"I messed up," Ariom said quietly, still staring at the golem. "Towards the end of that last session. I made a mistake. I would have set off a trap if you hadn't noticed and kept holding the stasis on that formation."

"I know. But that's what teammates do, right? We cover for each other." Namyis' voice was calm, and when Ariom finally turned away from the golem and looked back at her, she was still wearing a pleasant smile. "It's not like anyone's upset about it, you know? You told us in the beginning that it was going to be difficult and that we probably wouldn't be able to make it through the entire enchantment."

"I know...I know that, but...." Ariom broke off, scowling.

Why was he trying to talk to her about this, anyway? He hadn't even felt comfortable bringing it up with Uncle Bero.

And someone like her, one of the most powerful wizards in the country, couldn't possibly understand how he was feeling right now....

Namyis tilted her head, looking at him curiously. "Is it really that scary?"

"What?" Ariom stared at her, startled by the question.

"The enchantment on that golem. You seem kind of scared of it. Especially since we did the head. Is it really that amazing?"

Ariom's expression darkened. "What makes you think I'm scared?"

Namyis blinked innocently. "You really want to know?"

"Yes, I do!" he said, annoyed.

She pointed at his face. "Because the look on your face when we got about half an hour into the analysis on the head was just like the one Riomel had when we fought an armored behemoth together."

He glowered at her for a moment and then turned away angrily.

There was another long silence.

"...yeah...it really is that amazing..." Ariom finally said, very reluctantly. He looked over at the covered body on the table and let out a long sigh. "That golem...is one of the most brilliant pieces of necromancy I've ever seen. If you told me Yohlom Idarin made it, I'd believe you. No...if you told me someone better than him made it, I'd believe you."

Namyis also looked at the golem. "Really? It's that good?"

"It's that good. I knew it was pretty high-level when I saw the limbs, but that sensory matrix...." Ariom shook his head and then let out a bitter laugh. "It's better than anything I could make. Maybe better than anything I'll ever be able to make."

"Well, it's hard to say about that last part.... But I understand what you're getting at. If they would put an enchantment that amazing on what's essentially a disposable tool...."

"Right. Then what kinds of things can this guy make when he's really trying? And someone like that is working with the Order of the Ravener? Why wouldn't I be scared? This is even worse than finding out there's a mythic beast watching how well I take care of Thenio."

"I don't suppose there's any possibility that a mythic beast made the golem?"

Ariom shook his head. "I doubt it. Not if the rumors are true that all the mythics hate demons and are trying to close the rifts. There's no way they'd be working with the Order if that's the case."

"It is true, based on what Essu told me." Namyis looked thoughtful. "But what about the Order getting hold of a design that a mythic made and repurposing it?"

"I guess that's not impossible. But it's not just the design that's amazing. It's also the scribing work. It's not easy putting an enchantment on a living body—even an artificial one. Even if the design was already done, you'd need a life mage at least on Focilo's level to do a scribing job as beautiful as this one. Plus...based on the complexity of the sensory functions...I'm fairly sure that Focilo was right about this thing. It's actually a flesh puppet, not a true golem. And it takes a pretty skilled necromancer to control one of those properly."

"So you're saying the Order of the Ravener has a necromancer who's as strong as Yohlom?"

"Well, someone who's as good at making flesh puppets as he is, at least. Probably not as strong as he is in other areas, though. If they had someone like that, why would the Order be hiding in the shadows? They could just straight-up conquer one or more of the eastern countries."

"Hmm...true. Yohlom could probably do something like that if he wanted to."

"You've met him, haven't you?"

Namyis nodded. "Yes. I've worked with him during Rift duty. He's pretty aloof, but he does cooperate with the other combat wizards there. Usually."

"What's he like?" Ariom was a bit curious in spite of himself.

"Scary." Namyis' face became unusually sober. "Really scary. He's a lot stronger than I am. A lot stronger than Hurricane and Bubbles, even. I think all our demon hunters would have to team up if they wanted to defeat him."

Ariom raised his eyebrows. "That is scary."

Maybe she could understand a little of how he felt about the Order's unknown necromancer after all....

"Yohlom definitely isn't working with the Order, though," Namyis went on. "He hates demons. Absolutely hates them. Probably even more than the mythic beasts do."

"Ah...yes. I've heard some of the stories about him."

Yohlom Idarin was an odd character. He was unaffiliated with any country and rarely left the Northern Wastelands where the First Rift was located. And he seemed to be completely obsessed with fighting demons. There were even rumors that he would kill any allies who hindered his efforts and add their bones to his White Army.

The story went that a joint group of combat wizards from Kafron and the Wizard Association were scouting out the area north of the Odrin mountains in year 143 of the Rift Era, when they'd come across Yohlom, alone with his skeletons, fighting a neverending battle against the demons in the frozen wilderness.

No one was sure how long he'd been there or what his background was. There were rumors that the city he lived in had been destroyed by demons and he had devoted the rest of his life to revenge against them. Rumors that he was actually a mythic beast in disguise. Rumors that he was a lich who had been alive since long before the Great War. Rumors that he was a spectral beast who had taken control of a human body. Even rumors that he was the one who had caused the Rift Crisis and that he was trying to rid the world of demons as penance.

But all anyone really knew was that he was a necromancer with tremendous power, a large army of enchanted skeletons, and a serious grudge against demons.

The thought that there might be another person in the world like him was worrying enough by itself. But if such a person was working for the Order of the Ravener?

That was a terrifying prospect.

"Have you talked to Mideis about this already?" Namyis asked, distracting Ariom from his grim thoughts.

He shook his head. "No. He seemed really tired when we were having dinner, so I thought it was better to just let him finish eating and go rest. We can talk about it when we're going over the transcriptions in a couple of days. But Mideis has been seeing the enchantment through me this whole time, so he's probably realized it by now. He is a master enchanter, after all, even if he hasn't studied necromancy as much as I have."

"So...you want to keep going with the analysis?"

"We have to, don't we?" Ariom said, feeling frustrated by the seemingly pointless question. "How can we quit when there's a monster like that running around? Shouldn't we try to get all the information we can?"

Namyis shrugged. "Just finding out the Order might have a really skilled necromancer is already valuable information, isn't it? If you pass that on to the Royal Guard, they can investigate further. That's their job. Your job was just to deal with one enchantment, and it's not even the one you're currently working on. Nobody will blame you if you want to quit here." She paused and then added matter-of-factly, "Especially since you're just going to slip up and set off a trap right away if you go into the next part of the analysis upset like this."

Ariom glared at her but didn't say anything.

He hated to admit it, but she was probably right. He was getting much too worked up. He wouldn't be able to concentrate at all if he stayed like this.

"Why does it bother you so much, anyway?" Namyis asked. "Just because he's more skilled than you are? He's probably a lot older and has a lot more experience than you do. Maybe he was lucky enough to find a stash of Pre-War necromancy books or something else that gave him an unfair advantage. It's not like you have to take the difference in skill as a personal attack."

"I know that. There are lots of enchanters and necromancers in the world that are more skilled than I am. That's not the part that bothers me. It's just that...."

Ariom fell silent for a moment. He stared at the frozen puppet under the sheet, frowning and trying to put his thoughts into words.

"I feel like he's laughing at us," he said finally. "I feel like he dangled this puppet in front of us just to taunt us and show off how good he is." He looked down at Humerus. "Sorry to say this, Humerus, but it feels a bit like the sort of thing you would do. A prank just to see how we react."

The revenant flattened his ears, and his tail flicked angrily. "I don't put explosive traps in my pranks. I don't try to hurt people."

"We know that," Namyis told him, rubbing his head soothingly. "You're a very nice revenant. Ariom just meant it was the same general idea."

Humerus sniffed irritably but didn't argue any further.

Namyis patted his back and then looked at Ariom again. "So, you feel like this guy is playing with us and testing our reaction...and that scares you. You're intimidated by his superior skills. But at the same time, you don't want to give up because that would feel like letting him win? Is that what you're saying?"

Ariom scowled at her. "Have you been taking lessons from Mideis or something? Stay out of my head."

Namyis laughed. "Well, I'm in the Magic Corps, remember? I see this sort of thing a lot. Combat wizards are a competitive bunch. There are always lots of rivalries going on. It's not a bad thing as long as you don't get carried away." She gave him a playful grin. "You can use this as motivation to advance your necromancy rank. Maybe you'll be a dual grandmaster someday!"

"I'm not a combat wizard. Don't lump me in with brutes like that," Ariom scoffed.

Naturally, he would never admit to her that he'd already been thinking it was time to start taking his necromancy studies more seriously....

By the time Mideis returned to the analysis room a few minutes later, Ariom had calmed down again. Voicing his concerns to someone had helped...even if that someone was an annoying ice mage.

It was hard to keep feeling intimidated by some unknown necromancer when he was busy feeling irritated by Namyis' teasing instead.

Mideis seemed to be feeling much better after his rest, and they soon got word that Amisi and Thenio had woken up and were ready to start again as well. Everyone got back into their positions, and Ariom pulled the sheet down to reveal the golem's torso.

"We're going to pick up where we left off, at the base of the neck." Ariom looked around at the others. "Everyone's held out really well, but this is probably the last session we can manage today. So we're going to go straight into the main control matrix. Hopefully we can get a few useful pieces of information from it before it blows up on us."

The other three nodded. They all knew it was likely that a trap would go off soon, and they were prepared.

Ariom took a deep breath to steady himself. Then he reformed his magic blade, bent over the puppet on the table, and got back to work.

Carefully...carefully.... Don't rush. Don't worry about what's ahead. Just focus on this single formation. Then the next. Then the next. One formation at a time.

Half an hour passed. Then an hour. An hour and a half.

They made it through the junction at the sternum, where the sensory matrix in the head connected to the artificial nerves that ran in from the arms. The control formation was below that, in the heart area, and Ariom spent a while working around the outside of it, trying to figure out its basic structure and find a safe route to go further in.

Two hours.

At a little past the two hour mark, Ariom's hand slipped a little, cutting a bit deeper into the inscription than he'd intended. And Namyis didn't catch it this time.

But they were lucky. The two formations he disturbed were part of a motor control relay, not a trap.

Not yet.

"You okay?" Namyis asked quietly, glancing up at him. It wasn't really a safe spot for a break, but she was able to hold the stasis for a short time while Ariom collected himself.

"My hand's tired. It's getting harder to hold the blade steady.... Just give me a minute."

Ariom took a small jar of healing salve out of his space pocket and massaged a generous amount of it into the skin of his hand and forearm. It wouldn't completely fix the problem, but it would help some.

"All right." He put the salve jar away and took a few deep breaths before forming his blade again. "Let's keep going."

Two and a half hours.

The central motor control matrix seemed to be a pretty standard design. Nothing that interesting. There were only so many ways to make a golem move with magic, after all. After a cursory analysis, Ariom skipped the rest of it and moved on.

The part he most wanted to take a look at was the communication interface. This was the matrix that was used to connect to a flesh puppet and control it remotely. There was likely to be information there about how and from where the necromancer had been controlling the puppet, which might give them some hints about the identity of the man himself.

Ariom continued moving very slowly and cautiously, investigating the channels that linked the communication matrix to the rest of the enchantment. Then he carefully probed around the matrix to determine its overall structure. He found what seemed to be a safe point to enter, through a thin layer of—

Ariom suddenly froze.

What had appeared to be a layer of insulating formations put there to protect the communication matrix from interference had started rapidly charging with magic power when he'd cut into it.

It wasn't insulation.

He'd just hit a very cleverly disguised trap formation.

Ariom spent a split second assessing whether he could control the flow of magic before decisively abandoning the idea.

"Trap!" he shouted, letting go of his magic blade and pushing himself away from the puppet.

Before the word had even left his mouth, he saw green fire flaring up in front of him, obscuring the golem from view.

Ariom hastily stood up and started moving away from the table. But perhaps because he'd been sitting for so long, his legs didn't quite move the way he told them to. He stumbled and started to fall.

Before he hit the floor, something grabbed hold of him and jerked him to the side.

A second later, a thunderous explosion shook the room.