I sat in the main room of the Den as Eren stretched her body and flexed the muscle that had slowly started to reappear over the past two weeks, in part due to Callira and I helping her with Magic. I had grown accustomed to having Grandmother in the back of my mind, to some extent at least. She was a knowledgeable guide and if I stumbled with something she almost always had a helpful tip or insightful advice. And beyond that her knowledge of magic was far far greater than Mother’s had been. She was able to teach me how to strengthen Eren’s body without her even realizing it was happening.

  I had been staying in Grandmother’s room and it was well kept and comfortable, I was already thinking of ways I could improve my own back home. But the true envy was the bathroom, and specifically her bath. She was a Water Dragon like I and she had crafted a bath that was almost identical to a hot spring but it was private and could be filled in moments with a wave of my hand. I had spent a not insignificant amount of the time I was meant to be sleeping simply floating in the water, and falling asleep while beneath it.

  I had been the one hunting for us, Eren was fit enough to fly but only just. I had made her stay at the Den to focus on recovery after our first hunt together where she had almost been mauled by a lone Wyvern. Seeing her with one of the creature’s jaw clamped around her claw and threatening to sever it had incensed both Grandmother and I and I had cleaved the creature’s head from its neck with a single swipe of my tail. Since then she had been remaining at the Den while I hunted. Grandmother had coaxed me to hunt the beasts of the ocean and as nervous as I was about a Leviathan appearing, she made the experience pleasant, showing me the wonders beneath the waves that she had once known.

  Beautiful schools of fish and dazzling rocks and something she called coral made the experience pleasant and I had brought a massive fish back to the den that Eren had delighted in cooking. It had been one of the best meals I had ever had, I wasn’t afraid to admit. She was an excellent cook.

  And so had been the cycle of our lives for the past two weeks. Now Eren was getting too anxious to wait and Callira had deemed her well enough to travel, provided she left any fighting to us.

  We had just finished breakfast and Eren already had a map unfurled on the table.

  “So if everything has been wasted away to desert and we can't return to the capital, then I think we should go here.” She said, tracing a path south along the coast to a place marked as Yasan.

  “And what's there?” I asked.

  “Yasan was where I spent a lot of time before I met Mother, I didn't like spending time around Father and it was where Callax, Masai and I spent a lot of our time together.” She said, a sadness creeping into her eyes as she spoke their names before she brushed it away.

  “It will take us a few days to get there. Are you ready for long flights?” I asked.

  She nodded, the sadness giving way to enthusiasm. A smile crept onto her face.

  “Only if you are. I think I have greater endurance than a twig like you, Sister.”

  Brat.

  “Oh? The little girl who can barely hunt thinks she's so much better?” I asked as I reached over and pulled on her cheek.

  She let out a laugh and batted my hand away. I had learned over the past days that she liked to playfully pick on me. It was… nice. Amusing if nothing else. I had worried she would be panicking and stressed but she seemed relatively at ease. She was eager to set out yes but she seemed content to have her “Sister” with her.

  “Alright then. I have the bags loaded. We will be flying until dusk and looking for a place to make camp. Likely an oasis. And do not fly far from me, Wyverns like to hunt in packs and a group of them could overwhelm you.” I explained as Callira chattered in my mind warning of the same dangers.

  I knew Eren was likely to ignore me if I rambled on too long but I had to make plain that there were dangers. She did seem to pay attention to most of my explanation, and that would have to do.

  We both dressed ourselves in our traveling clothes and emerged from Callira’s den. Eren sealed the entrance again and we took to the skies.

  Given her physicality was still recovering I was carrying the bags that Mother had carried on the trip here and I was thankful Odessa had stayed behind, I doubted I could have carried her and those bags. As it was I could already feel a bit of strain with each wingbeat. When I returned to Calanai, I was going to be focusing on rebuilding my body’s muscle. I hated this.

  It was midday before we touched down again amidst a small oasis and I practically collapsed to my knees when I returned to my humanoid form. Eren rushed over and started rambling asking me if I was okay.

  “I feel like my back is tied in knots. We may have to slow our pace a bit.” I groaned.

  She nodded, still with a worried expression on her face. I heard her shift around so she was kneeling over me as I tried to stretch the muscles in my shoulder and then there was a pressure on them. I jerked my head up at the touch to see her bent over my back, hands pressed against my shoulder blade. She pressed down and I felt a brief moment of discomfort before it gave way to a pop of pain and then a wave of relief. I let out a pleased gasp as she continued to massage my shoulder and then moved to the next.

  “Callax used to help me after we sparred and then when I was still learning to fly he would help with my wing joints. I remember most of what he showed me. Is it helping?” She asked.

  “Mhmmm.” I hummed as she reached a particularly sore point.

  “We found that most of our wing muscles can be worked on in our human bodies so I think…” She stopped as she found a point in the space between my shoulder blades and pressed down hard with her thumb.

  I went limp as soreness I hadn't even realized was there vanished and I sighed as the tension vanished.

  “You need to work on relieving some tension, Masai yelled at me for the same thing years ago and she would throttle you for this. One more spot here…” She said as she moved her around across my back.

  I was more than content to just let her work and we spent some time there with her relieving the tension in my back. By the time she removed her hands I was sore but I felt so much better.

  As I sat up she beamed with pride and I couldn't help but smile. I was about to reach for our rations when I saw something move between the trees of the Oasis and I barely had time to think as I watched something cut through one of the trees and lance into Eren’s back. Blood sprayed across my shirt as Eren fell forward onto me.

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  As we emerged into the light of the sun I couldn't help but let out a sigh as my partner was already consulting her devices and her brow furrowed.

  “They are already out and tracking her. We need to hurry.”

  “Point the way.” I growled as I rolled the muscles in my back.

  It felt odd given my situation… which I still didn't fully understand but my partner had told me that it was best to just think of myself as being normal for the time being.

  She gestured in a direction and her feet left the ground as she hovered over the sand and sped off over top of a dune. I followed after, my armor and weapons clinking as I went.

  I lunged forward to shield Eren and my tail was already formed and whipping towards the attacker. I waved my hand to summon my armor and my weapons and I felt the metal drape itself over my form.

  The attacker batted my tail aside and rushed forward. I could see it now, a massive creature made of stone that looked like an insect or spider. A pair of large claws like a crab, each sharpened to a razor edge, hung from it's side and a tail emerged from its backside, ending in a massive bulbous needle.

  ‘A Scorpion Construct?!’ Callira cried in my mind and she sounded scared.

  I rushed forward and swung my blade at its “eyes” that glowed with a sickly green light. It moved that barbed tail faster than I could track and it was only luck that it slid off the shoulder of my armor. It tried to close one of its claws around me but I slid back and raised my shield. I dared not risk a glance back at Eren but I reached out to her with my mind.

  ‘Are you able to fly?’ I asked, watching the stone creature as it crept closer to us.

  ‘Everything… slow…’ She groaned in reply, her words almost sounding like she was drunk.

  I returned my full attention to the creature as it suddenly rushed forward. Its eyes glowed for a moment before something shot towards me. I instinctually brought up my shield and I felt more than saw as the projectile punched through the metal and my arm beyond. Whatever it had shot towards me impacted my chest plate but didn’t go through. I let out a cry of pain and discarded the shield. If it could penetrate metal like that, then it was useless to me.

  ‘Naravie, this is not a foe you can face. This is old magic. Older than I.’ Callira said, her voice icy with fear.

  ‘If I flee it will shoot me with one of those projectiles.’ I growled back.

  ‘Drench it with the water from the Oasis. It will slow it down long enough to get away.’ She replied.

  [I was skeptical but I listened. I held my free hand towards the water and clenched my fist, an action made much more painful by the hole in my forearm. The water responded to my call, churning and rushing towards the creature and I. The water rushed over us and I watched the light in its eyes grow dim and I took that as my chance. I spun on my heel and snarled through the water, already half transformed when I scooped Eren into my arm and grabbed our bags with the other.

  I was airborne by the time I heard an unearthly screech from behind me, like metal tearing itself apart, followed by another projectile that punctured my wing and left a fist sized hole in the thin membrane. I let out a pained cry but kept my heading, eastward, directly towards the coast and the vast ocean that waited there. I could make better use of my power there and more importantly it was further from that monster.

  ‘Not a monster, a creature fashioned from stone and magic. A construct. They haven’t been used for… millennia. They are from an older time. When wars were waged with monsters and magic. Cyan knows more of their origins but I have heard tell of how dangerous they were. But that creature looked newly fashioned. I… I worry for what that may mean.’ Callira said softly as the construct’s screams faded below us.

  I glanced down at Eren and she was slowly glancing about, her eyes unfocused as she stared up at me.

  ‘Sorry.’ She croaked.

  ‘It caught us by surprise.’ I said softly.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘How do you feel?’ I asked.

  ‘Like I’m drunk but without any of the fun.’ She groaned.

  ‘We’ll get you something to help once we get to the shoreline.’ I said, wincing as the pain in my wing became more noticeable.

  I glanced over to the wound and saw that blood was running down the membrane from it. I shook my head and continued on towards the coast.

  It took a short while to reach the coast and I landed a bit rougher than I had hoped to avoid crushing Eren. The breeze rolling in off of the waves helped breathe some clarity into my mind as I set her down and shrank into my humanoid body. I turned Eren over and found a horizontal gash that started on her back and curved and down towards her hip, it was wide enough that I would have had to use two fingers to cover the gash.. It was a nasty wound but not one that should have incapacitated her to such an extent. I focused in on the edges of the wound and sure enough I found a mix of green and strange purple residue. Callira pushed to the forefront of my mind and sniffed the blood before recoiling in disgust.

  ‘Wyrm’s Bane and Southern Night Lily… One is a plant that addles the minds of Dragons if it enters the body and the other is a deadly poison to weaker creatures. Both rare and targeted. Whatever that Construct’s purpose it was not here by any form of accident. And whoever sent it planned on it crossing a dragon.’ She growled.

  ‘How do we help her?” I asked.

  ‘Use the sea water. Use your magic to clean the wound. The salt will help nullify the residue of the Wyrm’s Bane and prevent it from affecting her longer. As for the Night Lily… That she is still breathing is a good sign. If it were going to kill her it would have done so already. She was always hardy and now it works to her benefit. Bind the wound once it has been cleaned and move further south along the coast. That should buy you some time to make camp and rest. I know you are already tired but..,’

  ‘I can handle it. Will you help me with how to clean her wound? My control isn’t that precise.’ I admitted.

  ‘Of course dear.’

  An hour Later we were back up in the air, I was carrying Eren again, now bandaged and sleeping more restfully in my palm. It had taken only a short time to clean and bandage the wound and Eren had seemed a bit better almost immediatley. Once I was sure she was alright, I had taken to the skies , flying over the ocean in order to avoid that creature.

  As the afternoon gave way to sunset I found a thick grove of trees and flew down to nestle within them. It was a good position, one that allowed for few routes of approach and yet it had enough open space for me to take off. I quickly set up my tent and dragged Eren inside, letting her rest upon the pillow as I simply enjoyed the feeling of resting. Dinner was dried rations and I managed to get Eren to nibble on some jerky and bread while she rested. AS I was laying there she rolled over and wrapped her arms around one of mine and pulled herself close to me.

  It was a strange feeling having her be so clingy and warm, She pressed her forehead to my shoulder and I felt content enough to doze off, with Callira saying she would keep an ear out for threats.

  It was well into the night as we approached, or at least My Love said. I was just following her lead for now. We wandered towards the thick grove of trees that she had set up camp within and I smiled as I thought what she must have been doing to need such protectors. My Love stopped as we approached and held up a hand for me to stand close.

  “She has an ally. Someone of great power. Be best prepared to fight. Those with this much power are usually dangerous.” She whispered, her long red hair casting stark contrast with her pale skin.

  I nodded but before I could continue, I felt a blade pressed to my throat.

  “You shouldn't be here..” A voice growled.

  “We are just travelers… I trailed off.

  “Yeah, Travelers from beyond the grave.” A woman growled.

  “Whatver do you mean Miss?” My love asked.

  “I mean that you two are supposed to be Dead, Prince Callax and Archmage Masai..”