Chapter 131: The Prescription
[Null POV] Year 5, Day 207 (Evening, Borderwatch)
Null watched everyone leave the meeting room after Master, following him out and dispersing to their quarters to rest.
When the door closed so only she and Kira were left in the room, there was a near-total flip in Kira's behavior. Almost funny how fast the mask dropped.
The proud dragon disappeared. The confident head maid vanished. All that remained was a nervous kitten—uncertain, vulnerable, and afraid.
Kira looked at Null with begging eyes. "Mistress."
"Kira."
Kira collected her bravery, voice small and uncertain. "Please train me."
Null almost laughed. "So you decided. I was wondering how it would go. Last few hours, your mind changed its decision almost every minute—back and forth between yes, no, maybe. Terror, courage, then terror again in constant cycling."
Kira answered honestly, voice vulnerable. "If you ask if I'm afraid—then yes. Horribly. I don't want to get hurt or suffer or end up broken by the training."
She paused, then added more truth. "But I need to be able to protect our house — protect Master and everyone else, stand next to you and Twins when the need actually comes. And as I am now, any fight with something like a dragon would probably end badly and fast."
"I have no doubts about your success," Null said with confidence. "Can you control the dragon side of you? The instincts and power?"
"I think so."
Null took Kira's hand for reassurance and support. "Let's go then."
They walked out together, Null holding Kira's hand to encourage and support her as she faced what came next.
If Null had any doubts about Kira's dragon awakening, those disappeared the moment she took Kira's hand. Power was raging inside her—more than ever before, massive and overwhelming, barely contained.
The change was night and day. Old Kira used power through a small hole with eyes blinded. Now the gates were open with vision clear, power fully accessible and integrated. Terrifying, beautiful, and ready.
Soon they arrived at the kitchen.
Twins, Lucifer, and several maids were cooking something together. Various food items all over the place—organized chaos and creative group project.
"Twins," Null called out. "PLAY?"
Both Twins' bodies perked up immediately with ears standing straight and eyes brightening.
Once Null nodded, they literally ran to her, abandoning the cooking entirely. "YES! Let's go! Play with big sis! Fun time! Adventure!"
Pure childish enthusiasm—joy uncontained, perfect distraction from grief.
Lucifer laughed behind them. "I guess our cooking just lost badly. Well. We'll try to at least surprise you all with a nice dinner once you're back."
Null looked more closely at the items spread around. Had no idea what they were making — and deliberately avoided reading minds to find out. Better to be properly surprised at dinner than ruin it by knowing in advance.
Null, Twins, and Kira walked out together. Leaving the kitchen behind.
Null heard laughing from inside as they left. Lucifer had made some joke that got everyone in the kitchen laughing—happy sounds of relief.
[Lucifer really has a golden tongue. He's good with people in every dimension — reading rooms, timing comments, making others feel better when they need it. Would be nice to seed him and keep him here. But sadly, he has a life in Central.]
And there was something else about Lucifer worth considering — a mark in his soul. 22 had identified it as a dragon mark. Carriers of these are said to be under dragon protection or to serve dragons in some useful way. Lucifer was originally from a dragon-ruled continent, which fit the pattern.
Null had also seen two more carriers back in Dragon Sanctuary — two foxkin who'd helped run that big training exercise there alongside the other sanctuary staff. So these marks weren't actually that rare, at least in dragon-adjacent populations. There was also a similar but broken mark on Kira's crazy sister Raja — given it was broken, the dragons had probably given up on her entirely. Which fit Null's read of her. Raja was clearly unstable enough that the dragons had just cut her loose.
According to 22 — and from what Null herself could see of these marks — they had no effects on the carrier themselves. They just served as warnings: don't harm this one, or an angry dragon might arrive. Claiming someone another dragon had seen fit to mark would definitely cause issues. Plus Null wasn't even sure Lucifer would want to be seeded — probably not.
They walked outside, moving through the compound toward the exit.
Until they met a group of maids. And with them, an unbelievably beautiful woman with pink hair—impossible to miss or ignore.
Pink dragon. In human form.
Null actually stopped. Staring. Looking at her properly.
[No wonder the original owner of this body ended up locked in a dragon vault. Walking outside only in darkness is smart. Or maybe we should get Pink some kind of mask? There was a crazy elf trader who sometimes visited Borderwatch and sold masks — perhaps worth looking into.]
With the seed pulling the soul back together, all the beauty had returned. The kind of beauty that would definitely create troubles and unwanted attention going forward.
The pink hair was powerful enough that not even the seed had managed to change its color. Pink hair and black eyes in an elven body was distinctive enough to be memorable everywhere, impossible to hide in any crowd.
Pink and Green bowed as soon as they noticed Null. "Mistress."
Null made a small hand gesture of acknowledgment and acceptance. "How are you feeling, Pink?"
"I'm okay. Thank you for asking, Mistress."
"Ready for a small adventure?"
Pink looked confused. "Yes?"
"Follow me."
They walked to the closest indoor space and gathered close.
Twins activated the teleportation key. Everyone touching and connected.
Reality folded. Space compressed.
They arrived at the desert playground.
"Kira, show your transformation," Null said.
Kira took some distance. Gave herself space. Then transformed.
Black eastern dragon with reddish stripes like a tiger. Kira's dragon form definitely drew from all her sources. Eastern dragon shape from Dirty Dog. Tiger stripes from her tigerkin origin. Black coloring from the seed—all combined and fully integrated.
Kira flew in large circles around the playground. Transforming. Testing forms. Experimenting with sizes.
She could change sizes in quite a wide range. Smaller forms looked more beautiful—sleek, elegant, controlled. Larger forms grew quite monstrous—power overwhelming aesthetics, function dominating form.
Null decided to ask their dragon expert. "Pink. Feedback?"
Pink's eyes went big, impressed and awed. "Lady Kira's dragonic form is magnificent. But a lot of her power is linked with factors that could be called unholy. This is why her larger forms become so monstrous—corruption, eldritch influence, and seed effects all showing."
Null filed that away as useful context. [Interesting knowledge. It explains things. Seed and all the modifications 22 made to Dirty Dog caused all sorts of cascading effects — every modification reshaping the systems around it in ways that kept spreading.]
Kira's non-monstrous forms seemed to max out somewhere around 300 meters in length. Actually more than Dirty Dog's original form had been. Over that size entered monstrous territory, where the eldritch corruption took over and reshaped her into something nightmarish.
Kira landed finally and transformed back to human form.
"It's awesome," she said breathlessly. "I tried transforming before, but the control now? I can actually feel the air around me — the flight, the power, the freedom all together. It's a supreme feeling, more incredible than I expected."
Pink added knowledge. "There's a saying: every dragon remembers their first flight forever. The best feeling. Never forgotten."
"It may be true," Kira agreed. Then turned to face Null. "Master would definitely love it. Controlling so much power and experiencing flight like this."
Null found herself imagining the possibility. [Would be nice. Master flying Kira. Wyvern already made wonders for him. What would something like this do? Twins' dragon form that looked so awesome for so long? After seeing Kira, looks quite pathetic. Ripoff versus real thing. Pale shadow versus the real thing.]
Pink panicked — actually panicked, terror written across her face. "NO! YOU CAN'T! Most important rule among true dragons! NEVER ALLOW ANYONE TO RIDE YOU! If you do it, every true dragon in existence will hunt you down. I've heard some real horror stories about what gets done with them later — both the dragon and the rider."
Null felt surprised. "We heard there was some dislike about it? Some taboo? But so extreme?"
"It's not dislike," Pink said urgently and desperately. "It's existential threat to true dragons. Their instincts crave being ridden—natural desire, deep need. But dragon riding can fast evolve into dragon bonding where riders usually end up dominating, controlling, and owning."
She continued with historical context and ancient law. "True dragons can never allow anyone dominating them. Never submit or surrender. So since time immemorial, they all agreed: anyone who rides true dragons will be killed. And any dragon who allows it will be punished—usually killed or worse, like banishment, torture, or eternal imprisonment. You will not find any exceptions, mercy, or forgiveness from dragons on this."
"Sad," Null said with acceptance. "But we can find Master some other dragon to ride then."
"Yes," Pink confirmed. "Plus I heard rumors there may even be some world-level tracking magic that alerts when it happens. Only rumors. But better not to risk it."
Kira added. "The wyvern I used for the dragon race in Central should be here in a few weeks. Master can ride with him. Evolution makes him better and stronger — a good, safe solution that actually works."
Null felt Kira's emotions leaking through the bond. That wyvern wasn't just a tool to her — she'd genuinely bonded with him, and the dragon side of her had already claimed him as hers to protect.
"Okay," Null said, moving on to the next phase. "Let's try how well you do in combat now, Kira. Play time, Twins."
Before Kira managed anything—before she could prepare or transform—Twins hit her and sent her flying, brutal and overwhelming.
She tried to transform mid-flight. Got hit again before completion. And again. And again—relentless and merciless.
At some point Kira forgot what she needed to do—forgot strategy, technique, and training. Just ran around in human form like a headless chicken while Twins pounded her relentlessly.
After getting some nice laughs out of it, Null finally called stop. "Enough."
Both of Twins' bodies returned immediately, happy and satisfied.
Kira returned also, bruised, beaten, and humiliated—not happy at all.
"It wasn't fair," Kira said, quite pissed and defensive.
"Okay," Null accepted. "Say when you're ready then. Your call entirely — pick the timing yourself."
Kira took some distance and transformed, clearly readying herself and focusing. "Ready."
Twins transformed into their massive fox monster and charged straight into Kira's dragon form. Body slam. Straight and brutal collision.
Kira managed to stay barely flying and used breath attack to shoot back desperately.
Twins just jumped to the side — the casual ease of someone dodging a blow they could see coming from a mile away.
So Kira's attack hit her own tail instead—friendly fire, a catastrophic mistake.
Kira screamed in pain, totally unfocused and panicked by what was happening.
Twins used the chance instantly with coordinated and brutal new attacks.
Kira's wings were bashed and broken in seconds.
Soon after, Kira crash-landed hard.
What happened after was more like a torture session than training. Twins kept pounding Kira while she just wriggled on the ground until she passed out from pain. They didn't actually hit hard enough to make real damage — damage takes effort to fix and lowers the duration of play. So pain was the preferred currency: maximum suffering with minimum injury, optimized for the longest play session.
Null asked Pink. "Feedback?"
No response. Pink was totally frozen and unable to answer. Couldn't believe what she'd just seen—shock and horror preventing words.
So Null asked Twins, who were back in maid form now. "Feedback about Kira's performance?"
"Lady Kira needs more playtime," she said in unison from both bodies.
Null just nodded — couldn't agree more. Much more play needed, extensive training ahead before Kira would be functional in real combat.
Then they waited. Pink recovered from her surprise quite fast and tried to say something, but clearly no words came out—mouth moving with nothing emerging as she was still processing, shocked, and struggling.
While still unable to talk properly, Pink had happiness and safety radiating from her through the bond. She'd come here looking for protection, and she'd already seen Null fight via her oracle eyes — but now watching the raw power Kira and Twins both carried, Pink felt genuinely safe for the first time in centuries. The chance of being captured into some golden cage somewhere had just dropped to near-zero in her mind.
Then Kira returned looking very haggard, beaten and bruised. Eyeing Twins like they were existential threats with visible fear and newfound respect.
Null looked Kira in the eyes directly and seriously. "I will now give you a prescription."
Kira looked confused and afraid. "Prescription?"
"Yes. Like healers give — treatment that fixes what's broken so you can recover and improve."
Kira frowned, slight irritation in her tone — it was clear Null's deadpan explanation had left her unsure whether she was being patronized or this was the eldritch monster's actual reasoning. "I know what a prescription is."
"Good then." Null delivered it clearly and firmly. "One hour of play time each day with Twins. We continue until your pain receptors stop working like a human's, until you can take hits without panicking, until actual combat becomes possible for you."
She continued with harsh and brutal honesty. "Currently, any combat training is useless. First moment you get hit, you panic and it's over. I bet a good adventurer party — like Black Wings — could take you down right now if they knew about this weakness and lived long enough to exploit it."
Kira tried to protect herself, justify, and defend, still a bit resistant. "I never had a chance to actually attack properly. Never got opportunity. Never—"
Null decided to humor it and prove the point. "Sure. Human forms only. One hit each—you and Twins. No avoiding it. You decide the order."
Twins cheered. They knew and loved this game. Lined themselves up in front of Kira so she could select which body to hit.
Kira looked at them. Clearly no longer a fan of this game. Null heard thoughts leaking—rigged game, unfair test, impossible challenge.
Then Kira just decided to hit and swung.
Twins moved their upper body and dodged. Legs never moved from where they stood—just a torso shift and upper body dodge, easy and effortless.
Kira hit again. Now Twins moved body to the other side. Same technique. Same ease. Same result.
Then Kira kept hitting, swings going wilder and more frantic each time she missed.
Twins just moved side to side — dodging and giggling the whole time, making the entire exchange look easy and fun while making Kira look foolish.
Kira went nervous fast, then mad, soon just hitting with no clear plan, strategy, or thought—just rage, frustration, and desperate flailing.
"STOP," Null commanded. Ending it. "Kira, what the hell are you doing? You were an adventurer. Didn't you learn how to fight? How to strategize? How to adapt?"
Kira answered angrily and defensively. "I did learn! But not like that — not getting made fun of and humiliated by people who could clearly take me apart whenever they wanted!"
Pink raised her hands to interrupt and explain. "Mistress. Lady Kira. I think it's dragon pride. It doesn't like being made a fool of or humiliated. Instinctive rejection."
"Oh," Null said with understanding. "Interesting dragon weakness then. Exploitable and useful."
"Not really usable against most dragons," Pink corrected. "Dragons like to humiliate each other constantly — it's how they show dominance and assert hierarchy within their own ranks. So they know how to control their pride and function despite humiliation. Trained from birth and mastered over centuries."
Null had another idea—testing more of Kira's weaknesses and finding her limits.
She spoke while putting a hand on one of the Twins' shoulders. "Freeze. Don't move at all."
The Twin froze obediently with perfect stillness and complete immobility.
Null continued to Kira. "Easy hit now. Just remember there will be a hit in return afterward. Not like the ones before—Twins went easy on you then. They like long play sessions. But this is the last hit in today's session, so no need to hold back. Especially if you really hurt them. Hit with everything you've got — let's see what that dragon body of yours can actually deliver."
Kira's hands were twitching. Like she wanted to hit but also didn't. Afraid of what might come in return—revenge, escalation. Fear and hesitation both visible.
Null just decided to call it. "Kira, you can stop. Training is over for today. But we definitely have a lot of work ahead. It seems human instincts combined with dragon instincts bring out the worst of both sides. Basically making you useless right now."
As she noticed worry building in Kira's face, Null hugged her for encouragement and support. "Don't worry. I'll ask Twins to go super easy on you next time. Nobody succeeds at everything on the first day — this is going to take real time and patience to learn properly."
Then Null decided perhaps one more explanation would help — so Kira would see the path forward instead of feeling hopeless about what just happened.
"When I fought with Dirty Dog in Sweetwater, I got hit hundreds of times and never stopped moving. Same for Dirty Dog—he just cursed a lot while fighting, but never stopped."
"Plus I've noticed the same thing with various other monsters in S-rank haunts. Getting hit sometimes is just normal, expected, and accepted. The environments they live in are dangerous enough that taking damage regularly is part of survival and life."
"And if you use that massive dragon body of yours, you will get hit. It's a large target that's impossible to protect completely — hits are inevitable, and accepting that reality is the first step. Learning to fight through pain is what makes the difference between a usable dragon and a dead one."
Null felt happiness from Kira. Not about the training — she was terrified of that. But getting hugged and encouraged by Mistress? That mattered more than the upcoming pain. Her mind was quite clear: training horror was less important than this physical affection from Mistress. The hug worked as motivational fuel.
Null filed away the discovery for training adjustments. [Well. We can work with that. Positive reinforcement and support might actually be more effective than just beating her repeatedly. Worth trying as a balance.]
Pink spoke up. "Mistress, can I also get training?"
Null felt really surprised. Pink was weak—strong human level at best. Someone from Black Wings would perhaps fit as her sparring partner with matched strength and appropriate difficulty for safe training.
She decided to ask. "Why? What's your reasoning?"
Pink answered. "I was in that cage forever—helpless, useless, trapped. If the time comes when I can help, even just a little, I'd like to be ready and useful."
"Sure," Null agreed. "Let's find you a sparring partner. Someone appropriate and safe who won't accidentally kill you."
Then Null had an idea. Released Kira from the hug and moved directly in front of Pink.
Collected power visibly into her fist while charging and concentrating. Said to Pink, "Don't move. Be brave. Trust me."
Moved fist up into hitting position and punched forward. Stopped 1-2 centimeters before connecting. Air pressure from the strike sent Pink flying backward harmlessly—someone with an S-rank body would never get real harm from air pressure alone.
The result wasn't what Null expected.
Yes, Pink flew backward a bit, tumbled and rolled harmlessly.
But then she started laughing like a crazy person—happy laughing with genuine joy.
She was also now half-naked. Null had expected her clothing to be at least some quality, but those were just regular garments—cheap, standard, and fragile. So the air pressure destroyed them nearly completely.
"What's so funny?" Null asked, confused — crazy people or those high on emotions were sometimes really hard to read.
Pink answered breathlessly, still laughing and happy. "This test! I've seen it with my oracle eyes! Both humans and dragons do it! Test of obedience! If you stand still, you prove your loyalty! If you move or dodge, you're a failure! Often killed for it!"
She continued with joy radiating from her. "And I just had it done to me!" Clear happiness flooded through her. "And I succeeded — stood my ground and passed the test you set for me!"
Null processed Pink's joy with growing understanding. [If you've only seen the world through remote viewing using oracle abilities, something like that probably does seem significant, meaningful, and like real achievement. But the emotions are real, the happiness genuine, and the success truly felt.]
Null took a maid dress kit from her item box and handed it to Pink. "Put this on. You're half-naked—inappropriate and exposed."
She thought more. "I'll give a second set to Green once we're back. Both of you join Alpha's training next week — you'll learn how to carry yourselves while wearing it, plus proper forms and maid behavior overall."
Pink, who just now noticed she was almost naked, went a bit red in the face with embarrassment.
Grabbed the dress and clothed herself hurriedly. "Thank you, Mistress — for the gift, the test, and everything else you've done for me today."
"Okay," Null said. "Let's go back now. Enough testing for today. There should be some nice food waiting. Plus I promised to teach the courtesans how to take care of their dresses properly. You and Green can also come and learn."
After that, they teleported back.
Food waiting, dress washing lessons waiting, normal life waiting — home in every direction.