The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

A behemoth crystal.

Ariom didn't need any further explanation. He was far from being an expert on demons, but even children knew that behemoths were the largest and most dangerous of the officially recognized demon types.

And his recent research into demon magic was enough for him to have a pretty good idea of what would happen if Ebihan opened that stasis box. Even just sitting there, the crystal would let out a large amount of poison. And if Ebihan was insane enough to actually shatter the thing...it would be almost like a small rift opening up right here in the corridor.

The entire floor would be infected. Maybe even the entire building.

And there wasn't much they could do to stop it. Containing demon magic required special equipment and tailored stasis enchantments. Even Namyis probably couldn't hold it back for long.

The battlemages should survive if they got out fast enough. Even Focilo might make it, as a high-powered life mage. But none of the captives in the holding cells would be able to withstand it. The guards and researchers would all be reborn as even more troublesome foes than they'd been before. And who knew what kind of monster Ebihan might turn into after being exposed to that much demon magic.

And Thenio....

Ariom had no idea whether Ki'shiu's seal could protect against demon poison. But even if it could, the Magic Corps would never be able to get to him fast enough if they had to take the time to defeat all the newborn demons and clean out the miasma.

So one way or another, Thenio would almost definitely die if the magic in that crystal was released.

"Ariom! Drink that extra bottle of tree blood. Now." Red's urgent voice pulled Ariom out of his terrible speculations.

That's right. Ariom had recovered a little magic from that sip of moondust, but his power reserves were still quite low. Which meant that, out of everyone in this place, the first one to succumb to demon poison...would probably be him.

He grimaced and looked around for the wooden potion rack he'd taken out of his space pocket earlier. He'd put the bottle of tree blood in there.

Ironfish bent down and picked up the rack from near the base of one of the many arrow boxes lined up behind Silverwater's shield. Then he stepped over to Ariom and knelt beside him.

"This is probably going to make you feel terrible," he said in a low voice, handing Ariom the little bottle of amber liquid. "Just focus on trying to keep it down. Don't worry—we can carry you if we need to retreat."

Retreat....

Ariom's brow furrowed at the word, but he silently took the lid off the bottle and swallowed the medicine inside. Then he stared at the floor, concentrating on the flow of magic in his body and trying to manage the sudden rush of foreign power running through him once again, further stressing his already aggravated magic circuit.

A fresh wave of dizziness and nausea hit him immediately after the influx of magic. He put a hand over his mouth and forced himself to take slow, deep breaths, resisting the impulse to cough up the potion he'd just drunk. The dull ache in his head turned into a sharp, stabbing pain.

Ironfish put one hand on Ariom's shoulder to help him stay upright. Then with the other, he touched Ariom's brow just under the edge of his helmet.

Ariom could feel something cold spreading across his forehead. It was probably liquid metal, like Silverwater's. It might not be Ironfish's specialty, but it was something that most advanced metal mages could use.

It felt nice. The cool sensation eased the throbbing in Ariom's head a little. Namyis probably could have done even better, but—

Wait. Why was he thinking about her all of a sudden?

It must be because of how many times she'd poured ice water on him tonight....

As Ariom tried to straighten out his disordered thoughts, he heard Aunt Kat say in a serious voice, "Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing you're holding is? Or what will happen if you take it out of that stasis box?"

"Of course I do." Ebihan gave a small laugh. "Didn't I say I was the Director of Special Research Projects? One of our current projects involves analyzing the effects of demon magic on human magic circuits. That's why I have this crystal. So yes. I know exactly what will happen if I take it out of the box. I'm sure I understand it much better than any of you."

He seemed to have calmed down again. Seeing their reaction to the behemoth crystal must have restored some of his confidence.

"Then surely you realize that you'll be just as affected by the poison as we will, if not more. Are you willing to be turned into a demon, just to hold us back?" Aunt Kat asked.

"Naturally. I would be happy to sacrifice my human body for my lord's sake."

Crazy fanatic. There was a chance he was just bluffing, of course. But if so, he was an excellent actor. Ariom didn't dare look up at the necromancer's expression due to his dizziness, but Ebihan sounded sincere, at least. He actually sounded quite proud of himself.

"But it would only be a temporary victory, you know?" Aunt Kat pointed out, still attempting to reason with him. "You might be able to force us to retreat for a short time. But we'll be back with reinforcements before long. This is the Magic Corps you're dealing with, remember? Handling demons is our specialty. Is it worth giving up your life just to slow us down a little?"

"Oh, I'm well aware of who I'm dealing with." Ebihan sounded amused. "I'm also aware that the Kafron Magic Corps is largely made up of soft-hearted weaklings. Weren't you fussing over the state of our research subjects earlier? Are you really all right with running away by yourselves and leaving them to be demonized? You'll have to kill them all off when you come back, you know...."

He was crazy, but he obviously wasn't stupid.

"And as I see it, it's less of a temporary victory than it is a temporary loss," Ebihan went on when Aunt Kat didn't reply. "Lord Vehnkir isn't here now, but he'll be back soon. If breaking open this crystal will keep you away long enough for him to return, then it's our win in the end, isn't it?"

"Is it? It certainly won't be your win. Unless you think he'll be able to reverse the demonization process?"

"Unfortunately, no. Even the Old Ones aren't yet able to do that, as far as I'm aware. That's one of the things we're conducting research on, you see. But it's fine. Once I'm dead, Lord Vehnkir can simply create a new body for me and call my spirit back. Didn't I tell you he could do amazing things? He's a true necromancer. Not like the poor imitations that we modern necromancers are. No. He's the real thing."

"What? You're actually claiming he can raise the dead?" Aunt Kat asked skeptically.

Ariom finally looked up at that, even though it made his head spin and his nausea worsen. Once his vision stopped swimming quite so much, he was able to see that Ebihan had set the large stasis box down on the floor in front of him and was giving Aunt Kat a smug smile over the top of it.

His face was still smeared with blood.

"Of course he can raise the dead," he told her proudly. "He's a real necromancer, like I said. He can do the most incredible things. I told you before. You can't even imagine the kinds of things he's able to do."

All right, that settled it. This guy was delusional.

There were stories about necromancers who were able to bring people back from the dead, of course. But even in Pre-War times, these had been regarded as mere fairy tales, at least according to all the sources Ariom had ever read. Most researchers believed the stories originated from the use of corpse puppets, which could obviously be used to make people believe that a dead person was alive again.

There weren't even any verified records of mythic beasts raising the dead. And if they couldn't do it, surely humans wouldn't be able to, either.

Still, for the moment, it didn't matter whether it was true or not. It mattered that Ebihan believed it was true, and that he apparently had no problem with turning himself into a demon as a result of that belief.

Which put them in a very difficult situation.

"But it's true that it would be quite an inconvenience. It would be a pity to waste Lord Vehnkir's valuable time like that. Time that could be much better spent on his important research," Ebihan went on. "So I'm willing to compromise. I'll leave this crystal in its box, and you'll leave this part of the research center. I won't stop you from taking any of the subjects in the outer holding cells if you want them. But I'm afraid I can't let you have the ones further in. Lord Vehnkir personally selected them for his research, and he'll be very disappointed with me if I let anything happen to them."

Ariom saw Aunt Kat and Red exchange looks. Aunt Kat was obviously considering taking Ebihan's offer. It would mean temporarily abandoning their mission, but retreating for now and coming back with reinforcements was definitely the safer option.

And if that's what the team leader decided, Ariom knew he'd have to accept it. In his current state, he couldn't even walk by himself, let alone fight. He couldn't do anything about the situation even if he wanted to.

And the people in those holding cells didn't deserve to die here any more than Thenio did. How was it fair to sacrifice their lives for his? Especially since...reluctant as Ariom was to admit it...Thenio wasn't likely to live much longer anyway....

Surely even Ki'shiu and Eteon would understand that.

And they had already found this hidden area and knew more or less how to get inside. If they left and called for support right away.... If the Magic Corps rallied and made another attack as soon as possible.... Then maybe...maybe...there was still a small chance....

"Oh. And I almost forgot," Ebihan said suddenly. "Leave the enchanter here, as well."

"What?" Aunt Kat stared at him.

"The enchanter. Lord Vehnkir wanted him. So I'll take him with me. The rest of you can go."

Aunt Kat's expression darkened. And Ariom could hear a low growl coming from Sala.

Red gave Ebihan a grim look. Silverwater was scowling. And Ironfish's grip tightened on Ariom's shoulder.

Namyis had her back to him, so Ariom couldn't see her reaction, but he could have sworn the temperature in the corridor had just gone down a few degrees....

Ebihan apparently didn't understand the Magic Corps all that well after all. It was one thing to force them into making a temporary retreat in order to save more innocent lives. But trying to make them hand over one of their teammates to the enemy while the rest ran away?

They clearly didn't like that idea at all.

"Don't talk nonsense," Aunt Kat said with a growl that was nearly as fierce as Sala's. "Why should we let you take Ariom?"

Ebihan smiled and silently pointed at the enormous demon crystal in front of him.

Ariom glanced around at the angry battlemages, even though the action made his head spin again. The tension in the corridor was increasing. What were they going to do? Even if they were unhappy with the situation, it was true that the behemoth crystal gave Ebihan the upper hand. How were they supposed to keep fighting against him?

And what exactly was Ariom supposed to do at this point? Should he volunteer to go with Ebihan and trust that they'd come to rescue him later? Or should he just stay quiet and let them protect him?

He didn't really like either option, to be honest....

He tentatively removed his hand from his mouth. He still felt sick, but his stomach had settled a little since he'd first drunk the bottle of tree blood. It might be enough to allow him to speak again.

So what should he say?

While he was frantically trying to decide whether telling them that he was willing to go with Ebihan seemed more like a heroic idea or a stupid one, he suddenly felt a surge of magic that forced him to lower his head and cover his mouth again.

What was that? Why was his magic...?

No. It wasn't his magic. It was Ket'shiu's. The magic power that Ariom had ingested along with the anti-demon medicine was stirring inside of him, all on its own.

How? Why? What was it doing?

He felt a moment of panic. Then a warm, comforting sensation started spreading through him. The dizziness and nausea faded. The pain in his head eased. And the strength returned to his arms and legs.

A moment later, Ariom was staring blankly in front of him, blinking in confusion.

His recovery sickness was...gone? Again?

It was a different feeling than when Eteon had healed him earlier. And the effect didn't seem quite as good, since it hadn't completely restored his physical energy or magic power. But he could at least move normally again.

Ket'shiu's magic hadn't finished yet, though. Ariom felt it continue moving through his body on its own. Now it was gathering into his right arm, where the pendant-turned-tree branch was still wrapped around his wrist. The magic channeled into it, and it began glowing faintly.

Then its shape started to change. It unwrapped itself and straightened out, growing longer and smoother. The small leaves all moved to one end and gathered into three bunches. The other end sharpened to a point.

A moment later, Ariom was holding a single wooden arrow with green fletching in his hand.

He stared at it. The twins also stared at it. Then they gave Ariom identical questioning looks.

But before he could say anything, he felt the small amount of Ket'shiu's magic that was still left inside him moving up and concentrating on his eyes. It was similar to when he'd used it to enhance his magesight.

Did it want to show him something?

Ariom raised his head. Sure enough, he could see a single point glowing brightly ahead of him, like a marked target.

Right on the behemoth crystal....

He gave the arrow an incredulous look. "You seriously want me to shoot this arrow at it?" he said in a low voice, ignoring the confused looks the twins gave him as he suddenly started talking to a piece of wood. "Don't you know what will happen if that box breaks?"

As he finished speaking, he heard that sound again. The sound that was like a mix of leaves rustling in the wind and a large and ancient creature sighing.

Stubborn child.... Just shoot the arrow. I'll take care of the rest.

Ariom stiffened.

Thenio had told him that Ki'shiu spoke with a strange kind of telepathy—one that seemed to emanate from the surrounding space, rather than simply sounding in his head like Mideis' or Amisi's telepathy did. Ariom hadn't really understood what he meant at the time.

Now he understood. And he understood exactly who had just spoken to him.

He also understood why the telepathic message from Ki'shiu had traumatized Mideis like it did. A mythic beast's telepathy was much more unpleasant than the regular kind....

Funny that Thenio had never seemed bothered by it. Was that because of his high compatibility with mental magic? Or had Ki'shiu spoken to him in an especially gentle way?

Well. That was a question for another time.

"Ariom? Are you all right?" Ironfish asked, looking him up and down with an uncertain expression.

"Yes..." Ariom said slowly. He closed his eyes for a moment, sighed, and then opened them again. "Yes. I'm fine now."

He gripped the arrow a little more tightly and then took out his bow. He'd put it away while he was working on the enchanted arrows earlier.

"I need the others to help distract that guy long enough for me to get a shot in. Can you tell them?" he asked Ironfish, keeping his voice low.

"Huh? Sure.... But can you even shoot right now?"

"I can. Like I said, I'm fine now." Ariom stood up and raised his voice. "Aunt Kat! It's all right. I'll go with him. The rest of you should get out of here."

"Ariom, I'm not—" She turned toward him angrily but broke off when she saw him standing and holding his bow.

Ironfish made a few rapid gestures. The others had also turned when Ariom had spoken, so most of them saw it.

"I'm not going to just hand you over to this lunatic!" Aunt Kat continued, smoothly resuming her angry retort. "I promised Amara I'd help look after you, and that does not involve letting demon fanatics turn you into their latest research project!"

"What choice do we have? Isn't it better than letting all those captives get turned into demons?" Ariom argued back while carefully moving into a shooting position.

"While I admire your selflessness, I'm afraid I have to object too," Red said loudly. "We're in the same squad as your father, you know? Do you think he'll be willing to keep working with us if we hand you over to the Order? What's General Obarin going to say when he learns we abandoned our mission and his trainees' son? And I can tell you that your uncle's going to straight-up murder me. He'll probably let the chupacabras suck out all my blood and then turn my bones into a toy for the revenants."

Ariom made a face at his relatives all being brought into the conversation. Though he had to admit the argument had some merit. His father's reaction was questionable, but it was true that Kalion wouldn't be happy.

And though Uncle Bero probably wouldn't go as far as murder, it was hard to be sure about Humerus....

"Right!" Namyis chimed in. "I promised Bero I'd bring you back in one piece! He'll be really mad at me if I don't follow through. So will Seyli! And Iggy is going to be so sad.... I don't want to see such a cute dragon crying!"

Ariom felt his face growing a little warm. Were they seriously going to keep going through his entire family one by one like this...?

"It's not like they're going to kill me right away," he snapped back as he nocked the arrow and raised his bow. "Didn't he say the Old One wanted me for something? Then they'll have to keep me alive until he gets back, at least. And maybe they'll let me see Focilo and Thenio."

"No! We're not leaving you behind!" Sala jumped into the air and let out a long, loud roar. Everyone turned to look at her, including Ebihan.

Perfect.

The roar covered the twang of Ariom's bowstring. And even though Ebihan was sensitive enough to notice the arrow flying toward him, he wasn't fast enough to stop it.

There was a blinding flash of light. And as Ariom blinked to clear his vision, he thought he could smell something like cedar.

"What—? No! This again?!" he heard Ebihan howl.

Looking at the place where he'd shot Ket'shiu's arrow, Ariom saw a large cluster of branches and leaves covering the stasis box. His magic power was still a bit low, but he managed to activate his magesight well enough to see that they were forming a powerful magic barrier.

Wasn't that what the pendant was supposed to do in the first place? It looked like Ket'shiu had morphed the protective charm into a containment barrier, with the behemoth crystal and its poison trapped safely inside.

"You! Dirty, devious enchanter! Are you one of that tree's people, too?" Ebihan snarled, sending a chilling glare in Ariom's direction, even though he shouldn't be able to see him through Silverwater's shield. "This whole thing was a setup with that filthy mythic beast to get Lord Vehnkir in trouble, wasn't it? You military brutes are working with him, aren't you? Well, just you wait.... As soon as I get this barrier off, I'm going to.... What?"

He'd reached out to take hold of the branches forming the barrier, but he'd suddenly stopped and raised his arms up to look at them. There seemed to be several thin brown strands wrapped around them.

"Why...? What are...?" Ebihan stared at them, looking completely baffled.

Then he looked down at the ground.

There was a rumbling noise, and Ariom felt the floor tremble beneath his feet. With a loud cracking sound, dozens more of the brown strands burst out of the ground and twisted around Ebihan, wrapping him up like a spider securing a fly.

"No! I can't—! Lord Vehnkir! Lord Vehnkir! My lord.... Please.... Help...me...." Ebihan's screams trailed into whispers and then ended completely as he slumped in place, held up by what looked like a mass of tree roots, growing out of the floor.

Behind him, the two golems went limp and collapsed like marionettes whose strings had just snapped.

The hallway went quiet.

No one spoke for a full minute. The rescue team simply stood there and stared at the bizarre sight in front of them.

"Hey...Ariom?" Aunt Kat said finally, looking over at him. "What just happened...?"

Ariom let out a tired sigh. "I honestly don't know. Just...mythic beasts doing crazy things again...probably...."

Focilo finished tying up the last guard with his tree roots and then turned back to Thenio with a sigh.

That should do it. The rescue team was a little the worse for wear after their fight against Ebihan, but there didn't seem to be any life-threatening injuries.

Things had been quite serious for a few minutes there. Focilo had expected something like the flesh golems, but even he couldn't have predicted that the lunatic was carrying around a behemoth crystal, of all things....

Thankfully, the dense network of tree roots had done their job, allowing the Forest Lord to step in and deal with the threat. That alone made it worth all the time and effort Focilo had spent growing them.

But still...it had been a lot of work.... He felt a bit envious as he watched the peacefully sleeping boy. He was seriously looking forward to getting out of this place and going home to rest.

Just a little longer....

He felt an unnatural current of air brushing against his tree roots. That was probably the Bloodwind, looking for their scent. A little of it should have spread outside the cell already, since the barrier wasn't airtight. But just in case, Focilo used his magic to push some air around himself and Thenio and then out into the hallway.

No need to be subtle about his magic use now. There was no one left to notice it.

He glanced over at the cluster of unconscious guards wrapped up in tree roots. The floor underneath them was completely broken apart. Focilo surveyed the mess with an awkward expression.

How exactly was he going to explain this...?

After pondering for a moment, he shrugged. Whatever. He'd just tell them that the Forest Lord had done it. It was half true, anyway. And since they already knew he was involved, they wouldn't ask too many questions.

People expected mythic beasts to do crazy things, after all.