Arthur followed Vira down the winding castle staircase. They'd been going on for a while now, and he was sure they were a mile below ground at this point. Vira would normally just teleport here, but Arthur wasn't keyed in to the necessary wards, and it wasn't something she knew how to bypass, even with her centuries of experience.

  "Where exactly do these stairs go?"

  Vira didn't answer immediately, and he wondered if she would just brush it off like she had everything else on this journey.

  "These stairs will take us to the Lupis Consortium, the only place on Haadran where you'll be able to get any runework done on your bones, or Ikiros, as it's known in the old tongue. It's also one of the three places where you can meet the wisdom of our ancestors."

  "When you say meet, are you being metaphorical or talking about a person?"

  "You'll see," Vira replied cryptically.

  What was it with old people and a penchant for shitty answers? For once, Arthur controlled his curiosity and didn't give Vira the reaction she was looking for. That and Arthur was getting a feel for what this Consortium would be the closer he got to it. Courtesy of his magical affinities, Arthur was able to sense souls. Nine times out of ten, that didn't extend to anything beyond his own, but very, very rarely, something strong enough to shake his equilibrium would come along, beings so powerful, they were impossible to ignore.

  Whoever lay at the end of these stairs was one such being, only their soul was unlike anything else Arthur had felt before. It was like every soul he'd interacted with thus far was made from liquid, and the one they were approaching was made from a solid. There was probably a very complex explanation for why that was the case, but the only soul mage he'd heard from to date was himself and he was running empty on magical theory.

  "Your thoughts go in very strange directions, child," a voice suddenly spoke in his head. Arthur almost tripped on his feet, missing the fact that Vira had stopped walking three steps ago.

  "I would kindly ask that you not surprise our guest like this going forward, Father," Vira called out loudly, seemingly into thin air.

  The voice in Arthur's head chuckled before coming from all around him.

  "Manipulating the air to create sound is always so tedious, though, child."

  Arthur turned and stared at the ancient healer. "Father? I thought you were the eldest around."

  "She is not my daughter, visitor. It would be surprising if any of my offspring still lived, considering I was already ancient when this city was nought but a dream in a young fool's head."

  "Honoured Father, I would appreciate it if you didn't try to mislead my guest." Vira turned to address Arthur. "For the last century or so, he's been trying to sell us the story that he was once an ancient, venerable ancestor of the Haadran people."

  "And that's... not the case?"

  "No, Viktor, who we're about to meet, is the remnant spirit of an ancient dragon who died around 20,000 years ago. Well, you'll be meeting one-third of him since he was split. The other two shards of him have sadly succumbed to corruption and serve Shylo."

  Arthur's head was reeling. Ancient dragon. Remnant spirit. This was all so left-field.

  "And you complain that I am the confusing one," Viktor rumbled.

  The ancient healer smiled. "Long story short, thirty-odd thousand years ago, Viktor descended from the heavens and crash-landed on our planet. The humans and elves of the time took to worshipping him as some kind of deity, and Viktor, too comfortable with the luxuries he was lavished with, decided to stay here, even though the low ether density would slowly kill him."

  "When you put it like that, you make me sound incredibly lazy," Viktor grumbled, "you're missing the three sagas worth of details that explain my decision."

  Vira ignored him and continued unabated. "Viktor helped our people learn magic in exchange for our services. He also went on to do some incredibly dangerous True magic that almost destroyed the world to tie his existence with our species; the humans, that is. He's never told us why he left out the elves, but I suspect it's because his magic wasn't as successful as he planned it to be. Bone carving just happens to be one of the magics he helped us develop, and the key ingredient for it is—"

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  "Dragon's blood." Arthur finished.

  "Yes, exactly that. Lucky guess, which is exactly what lies within the Lupis Consortium. The last of Viktor's blood. Enough to conduct just seven more surgeries."

  "You and Maverick must have been living it up when you gave me that book."

  "Well, we did place bets on how many days it would take before you complained to us. I take it you haven't opened the tome then. It mentions the necessity of dragon's blood on the second page."

  Arthur sighed. "Regardless, in light of recent events, and my success with Wovan, I think I got the better end of the deal."

  Vira placed a hand on his shoulder. "Only time will tell. Now that we're in Viktor's presence, I can teleport you the rest of the way."

  One quick teleport later, and they'd entered the Lupis Consortium. It was a massive hall, over a thousand feet long and a quarter high, supported by massive jade pillars that quite literally burned with fire. The heat was strange, similar to what he'd felt from the dragon's egg, which seemed like months ago. While the fire might be in front of him, the heat it provided was applied equally to all parts of his body, including those facing away from the flames.

  "You're a fire dragon, aren't you?"

  Viktor gasped. "How—how did you know? What gave it away? Was it the decor? No, no, no. It was the plum blossom smell, wasn't it? Vira, how many times have I told you we need to get rid of the plums?"

  "Please, Viktor. There is no plum fragrance here. Sarcasm ill becomes you."

  The flames in the hall coalesced to form what Arthur assumed was a dragon's head. It was hard to tell with the comically large horns Viktor had decided to embellish.

  "So then, child named after me."

  Vira's eye twitched.

  "What brings you to my humble abode?" Viktor's voice had become uncharacteristically serious. "I sense the wards above are starting to fail. Have you finally seen reason?"

  "No, honoured Father. I am not here to flee. Not without my people. And besides, the Visitor has already told me what you would not. The entire realm has already fallen. Where could you send me, except that it merely delays the inevitable?"

  Viktor sighed. "You were always too kind for your good. Things have changed, though. With the gates to the Visitor's realm opening, I could use my powers to send you there now. A realm without corruption, one where every breath is pure and free. You have never tasted it, my child, and it is the greatest injustice of these accursed heavens."

  Vira smiled sadly. "My place is with my people, Father. To live and to die by their side. And besides, enough with the morbid talk. It's not like you. Who says we will die? Let me introduce you to our saviour, Visitor Arthur Ward."

  Arthur cringed at the title and then shivered when he felt the full weight of the ancient dragon descend on him.

  "This Originator. A soul mage with an absurdly powerful physical form. I can sense some dragon in him, too. Shylo has subjugated two-thirds of my spirit body, though. Being part dragon will not save you."

  Arthur frowned. "I am no dragon. I ate one of your dead for power, that's all." Arthur wasn't sure why Viktor's words triggered him so much, but he could feel himself getting angry.

  "Not a dragon, you say, but I can feel the flame within you responding to mine. So then, eater of dragons. Pray tell, why does Vira think you can save my people?"

  Taking a deep breath, Arthur centred himself. "I am their best hope. I came to Haadran to grow stronger. What you see before you is an incomplete product. I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what I can be."

  It wasn't even an exaggeration. He hadn't reached level 120 yet. Another thirty levels, and he would be almost twice as strong as he was right now, just purely off of stats alone. The greatest source of experience a man could ask for was being fed to the city right now.

  "I sense you speak the truth," Viktor said solemnly, "or at least, you believe you do. A naive fool, or an ocean whose depths I cannot see. I pray you are the latter."

  The flames creating Viktor's head broke apart before forming into a scrawling mass of runic script. The flames organised themselves, the script forming into orderly lines before curving into a skull-shaped ball, with a long spine running from it.

  "This here is the Ikiros script I've spent the last century theorising. It will use five times the blood a normal surgery would take, but it will be far, far more potent. What's more, it has the potential to be upgraded if you can get your hands on the blood of a dragon with another affinity. A tall ask for most, but I don't think it'll prove to be an issue for our young dragon eater." Viktor laughed at his own terrible joke.

  "What's the catch then, and what exactly will the runes do? From the looks of it, I can guess they'll need to go on my skull and spine, right?"

  "The great observer strikes again. Tell me, how does anyone keep a secret from you?" Viktor chuckled. "The catch. Hmm, only that you will die horribly. No elven or human skeleton can withstand the enchantments of these runes, which is a shame since they're only designed for their use."

  "But I'm not—"

  "Human, yes. Even a blind dragon could tell as much. You're human enough where it counts, though, enough that you have a fairly high chance of surviving the procedure."

  "Your words aren't very reassuring," Vira said, finally speaking.

  "Child, the world is ending. If you want reassurance, find yourselves a prophet."

  "You still haven't answered my second question," Arthur interrupted. "What will the runic script do?"

  The flames reformed into a dragon's skull, one with a wide cheshire grin. "Ah, that would take the fun out of it, though. And besides, you wouldn't believe a word I said. Why don't you go and check with that old teacher you've been thinking of since you stepped in here? If he's as highly regarded as you seem to think, he'll definitely know what it does. Maybe he could even teach me a thing or two."

  The dragon knew about Professor Cyprus. Arthur wasn't even surprised anymore.

  "Chop, chop, Arthur Ward. The world is ending. I eagerly await your decision."

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