Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Something flipped inside Miranna. A rage, a hunger, a power she didn’t understand but grabbed on to with everything inside and embraced.
[ X9a3B7kT2gQ5rL8zV0 is Awoken ]
[ System Analyzing ]
[ … ]
[ … ]
[ … ]
[ X9a3B7kT2gQ5rL8zV0 Thread Detected ]
[ Echo Found ]
[ Pinging ] [ Thread Located ]
[ Processing ]
[ Entity’s Power Limited ]
[ 1% Unlocked ]
Miranna gasped, her lungs feeling like they had never felt so wonderful as the message played out before her eyes and the power that washed within her took over.
She could feel everything. Her friends, the floor her feet stood on, and the dragon that had just shifted back unexpectedly.
“No… not yet!” it roared. “You cannot do that yet!”
Her friends fell to the ground, yet Miranna stood.
She let go of the fear that had always held her back. Miranna lifted a finger, sensing the power that flowed through it. She stored her gloves, seeing the gold light that emanated from her skin.
“You have broken the contract!” Miranna announced. Her voice sounded different. There was a power to it. “You…” A name appeared in her mind. She wasn’t sure where it had come from, but it was there. Almost as if she had written it a million times, made songs about it, and understood the force behind it. “Wekime has injured my allies and friends.”
She saw the large gold eyes flick from her to the four behind her. Miranna could sense the change in the god’s being.
“I…” A single word was all Wekime said. She watched as his eyes dulled, and the dragon took a step backward, lowering himself to the ground. “I have broken the contract. I will make amends.”
Miranna heard his words, yet they seemed like a whisper in a windstorm. All around her, lines of power found Miranna and seeped into her.
“What do you desire to make amends?” Wekime asked quietly.
Millions of things flooded Miranna’s mind as she felt as if everything that could be had was offered. Worlds spun in her eyes, power like she couldn’t imagine. And then a whimper came from the right. She turned, seeing Shale Spark holding her chest, the glow that had been there a moment ago gone. Everything she could bargain for vanished in that moment.
Her breathing felt different as she stood there, eyes fixated upon the friend she loved like a sister.
She turned her gaze back to Wekime, jaw tightening as she clenched her teeth. Something inside her wanted Miranna to scream and ask for any of the things that would grant her more power. She fought against them, focused on the one thing she really wanted. Something she had desired for so long.
“You… will… release… Shale Spark,” Miranna said through clenched teeth. “Let us… bond.”
With the last word spoken, the desires in her vanished. Somehow, she knew there would be no more to bargain for. Yet Miranna didn’t care.
“Done,” Wekime replied immediately.
A gasp came from beside her, and Miranna spun around, seeing Shale Spark starting to shimmer. An aura of red surrounded her friend. Miranna reached out, her fingertips brushing against it.
[ A Bond has been offered with Shale Spark ]
[ Do you wish to accept? ]
[ Y / N ]
Miranna’s selecting of yes was faster than thought.
Her body trembled upon doing so.
Tears began to fall as she felt the change inside her and saw the words that came next.
[ You have become Bonded with Shale Spark ]
[ Bond ]
*****
You are bonded with the young dragon Shale Spark. In time, as the bond grows and he matures, more information will be available. Know that Wekime is watching. ]
*****
[ Bond ]
*****
You are bonded with Shale Spark.
Rank 1 of Bond Unlocked: Shale Spark gains 20% of your stats.
Rank 2 of Bond Unlocked: You may now communicate with your thoughts alone.
Rank 3 of Bond: Pending.
Know that Wekime is watching.
*****
Miranna?
As the voice flowed through her mind, Miranna somehow knew how it all worked.
Shale!
Tears formed in Shale Spark’s eyes, and Miranna rushed toward her, grabbing her friend into an embrace. Both of them sobbed, laughing between them, wiping each other’s tears, before crying and laughing again.
It’s real… It’s really real!
“It is real,” Wekime said, his voice sounding displeased. “Come, take your prize. Claim my boon.”
Blinking and wiping away the tears, Miranna started to speak, but her body felt weak. Even though a moment ago she felt ready to war against an army, just as quickly as the power had come, it departed.
[ Echo Silenced ]
[ Thread Cut ]
“Miranna!” Vraxion shouted.
She felt the spell of her friend go off, knowing that Thergar had cast a heal on her. She knew it wouldn’t work. All she could do was grab Shale Spark’s arm and smile.
Then the darkness overtook her.
***
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Miranna looked around, trying to understand what she saw.
A place of darkness and of light. Threads of energy flowed everywhere, a tapestry of power weaved around everywhere she could see.
What is this place?
Her thought sent pain as she voiced it. As if someone was standing by her ear with a megaphone and shouting those same words back at her.
She wanted to grasp her head, but nothing worked.
Lights appeared in her vision. Different ones. Small ones. Some were bright. Others were not. Like water on a window, they raced downward, yet each came in her direction.
Fear seized her heart.
One light, dimmer than the rest, appeared beside her from nowhere.
A voice. Her voice spoke in her mind.
It is not time. Too soon. Return!
Miranna wanted to ask what the voice meant, but the light touched her, and everything vanished.
Darkness came again.
***
“Mir!” Shale Spark shouted.
Grunting, she tried to sit up, finding a pair of hands against her shoulders.
“Wait,” Thergar said. “Take a second.”
“I’m fine.” Miranna grunted, her eyes finally working as she looked up at her four friends staring down at her. “What happened?”
“You awoke what was not the time for.” A voice she knew as Wekime’s echoed around the room. “It is too early. We are lucky you returned.”
“What did she awaken?” Vaelithrea asked. “How is she—”
“No more,” Wekime said, his voice louder and cutting off their mage. “I cannot speak of it. Even I am bound by rules. So many pieces have changed. The game… it…”
Miranna took the hand Vraxion held out to her and rose, turning around to see the god whose snout lay against the stone floor.
“Tell me, what did I awaken? What were those—” Miranna felt her throat tighten. She tried to speak, growing angry as nothing came. Finally, different words came forth. “You cannot do this to me! That is—”
“It is not me, child. It is the system. Speak with your parents and their friends. They will tell you there is much they cannot speak of. Trying to is impossible. Forcing yourself to push past is suicide.”
A talon tapped the stone once, and a gold orb appeared in a bone stand.
“Touch it and depart. There is much I need to do,” Wekime said.
“Is he okay?” Shale Spark asked. “He seems… broken.”
A snort came from the gold dragon. “No, little one, I am not broken. To explain the game is impossible, and the current boards have all been reset. Ask your parents’ helper. He can show the game in time. For now, take my boon. I must go. Some things demand my presence.”
Miranna started to speak. She wanted to ask a question, and yet she couldn’t find the words she knew were there.
Is this the system’s doing? Stopping me from this?
Swallowing nothing, she set her shoulders. “Is this all because of your actions?”
Wekime stared at her. She could feel the pressure for a single moment before it vanished.
“Some of it is,” the dragon replied. “I had a plan, and it… didn’t work as I expected. Know that even the greatest plans, set for ages, can be undone by a single piece. I thought I had accounted for every piece, yet it appears I was mistaken.”
Marina saw a weird smile on Wekime’s face.
Is he… smirking?
“Touch the orb. Please. And then do as you wish. Enter the next dungeon or don’t. Just know you will be better off if you do.”
A cough came from Thergar, and Miranna turned, seeing him motioning toward the orb with his head.
“Our healer is right. It’s time to go. We got what we came for,” Vraxion stated.
“And more,” Shale Spark added, a hint of joy returning to her voice.
The five of them moved together, and before they touched it, Miranna whistled. Each of them froze a few inches from it.
Wekime sighed and then rose from the ground, plunged his talons into his chest, and pulled out a different orb. Blood dripped from it, burning against the ground. With a puff of wind, the orb was dried clean, and the dragon held it out toward the party.
“He told you everything and you listened,” the gold dragon said with a smile. “This game is going to be better than I imagined.”
“Did he—” Vaelithrea started.
“Don’t, let’s just finish this,” Miranna said, not wanting to get into another conflict with the dragon his father had warned her about.
This time they touched it, and the orb glowed immediately. Power flooded into her arm, and Miranna smiled as she saw the notification.
[ Defense of the Dragon Acquired ]
“Now leave,” Wekime said, placing the orb back in his chest.
“With pleasure,” Vraxion replied, jogging toward the portal a little bit away.
Right before Miranna touched the portal, she heard her name.
“Miranna Hoste…” Wekime said slowly.
She turned, looking at the dragon who was studying her. “Yes?”
“Did your father tell you my name?”
“No, why?”
She watched as Wekime tilted his head up toward the sky, his eyelids narrowing till only golden slits showed through.
“It appears the game has really begun,” the dragon stated. “Thank you and good luck, child. Know that I am watching.”
“Yeah, about that… It’s kind of creepy. Is there any way to not?”
A booming laughter filled the room, and the dragon shook his head. “No, child, there is not. Ask your father. Ask Rakonath. They will tell you that my thread is always there.”
She frowned and turned, leaving the dragon as he laughed again, joining the other four who had already gone through.
Miranna felt arms wrapping around her, shouts of joy echoing off the room.
“You did it!” her mother exclaimed. “I knew you would.”
Her vision returned, and Miranna saw her friends laughing and nodding as the other gods spoke with them. One person smiled different, and she knew it the moment she saw it.
“Well done, Star,” her dad said as he came to hug her. “I’m glad to see you did this on your own and in your own gear.”
She glanced down, having forgotten she had changed and nodded. “I did. Still… it was nice knowing I had it if I needed it.”
Her dad nodded and squeezed her shoulder. “We’re always here. We’ll always be here. Our love goes with you like that armor. It can shield you from a lot, but at some point, you’re going to have to forge your own path and find a way to defend against the things it won’t.”
“What kind of elven philosophy junk was that?” Fowl asked as he came toward her. “ My love is like a dragon’s breastplate I forged with my special gift. ”
Miranna couldn’t help but laugh as her favorite dwarven uncle did the best impersonation of her father’s voice. “You do realize you sound nothing like him?”
“Aye, I do,” Fowl replied, holding out his hand. “But know that you are just like both your parents. And that makes you twice as special to me.”
***
You sensed it, didn’t you?
Max smiled as everyone kept chatting, the five champions all taking turns sharing what had happened.
I did. The connection I felt was so brief, I wasn’t sure it had happened at all.
What was it? I mean… You reacted, and then they started pouring out of the dungeon.
I’m not sure. Whatever happened in there… something is different. You can see it in your daughter’s eyes. And I’m not speaking about the bond she now shares with Shale Spark.
Max saw his daughter look at him. Her eyes flickered for a moment, and he knew she was doing what he was. He gave a different smile and a tiny nod. He watched as she returned it before being pulled back into the conversation by her childhood friend.
Perhaps she’ll share.
Maybe. Why did Wekime do what he did? Surely you don’t think…
Max knew the thought Bob had, and he was torn by the question that never came.
Did he sacrifice another piece? Was everything that happened in there just a play he had planned? Or could he have made an actual mistake?
I’m not sure. For now, we need to do as he told her. Speak with Jazzjak. It’s time to learn this game.