Leaving the humid, mana-heavy atmosphere of the menagerie was like stepping back into a world of sharp glass. The cold of the winter rushed back to meet us, but the presence of the soul reaper coiled around my arm, provided a strange but comfortable warmth.
We began our ascent toward a high hill that rested just outside the citadel's main gates. It was a place Damon had promised would offer the perspective I lacked. A way to see Stygia not as a fortress for Lamians, but as the land of life.
As we reached the summit, the wind howled with a fresh ferocity, tugging at the fur trim of my traveler cloak. I stood at the precipice, and for a moment, my breath was stolen not by the cold, but by the sheer, terrifying nature of the land below.
From this high vantage point, the true design of the Stygia became clear. Far to the north, beyond the tundra and the jagged peaks that rimmed the horizon, two massive rivers converged. The formed river ran with a red glow, as if the water itself were a thick vein of blood that refused to mirror the sky.
"T- this" I stuttered.
"Under the clear blue sky, the river appears red, not because its water has changed, but because it had anchored ambient blood mana into its depths." Damon explained.
It flowed south toward the Citadel. As it approached the city, it did not stay a single stream. It began to break away. It carved the landscape into numerous tributaries that fanned out.
From where I stood, the Citadel no longer looked like a fortress. It looked like a stamen in the heart of a blooming flower. The tributaries of the river looked like petals, swirling around the citadel.
The sight was mesmCitadel.
'In Stygia, this river is the lifeblood, and the city, a heart that pumps it through the veins of our world.'
"Look down there," Damon said, pointing toward one of the nearest tributaries where the red liquid slowed into a wide pool.
I followed his gaze and felt a sudden disbelief. At the edge of the blood-rich stream, a variety of beasts had gathered to drink. I saw a pack of wargs standing mere feet away from a massive, tusked herbivore.
A group of frost bears lounged on the snow, their predatory eyes half-closed, while smaller, winged creatures dipped their beaks into the flow.
There was no snarling. There was no blood-letting. There was no scent of fear in the air.
"A truce," I whispered, the word barely audible over the wind.
It was a surprising display of diplomacy among what should be as mere beast. These mana-beasts, despite their different species and predatory tiers, possessed an intelligence that transcended their hunger. They knew that the blood-water was rich with a life-essence they all required to survive the biting winter cold. To fight here would be to risk the source itself. It seem like they had reached a collective understanding and acknowledged the river as a sanctuary.
I thought back to my findings in the Hall of Knowledge. If the world truly functioned like a body, then these beasts were the different cells coming together to replenish their energy.
'How much of this is instinct, and how much is the influence of the Citadel's mana-funnels?'
I looked down at the wyrm on my arm. He was watching the scene as well.
"At this point, I've got nothing in your defense, Kalon," Ariadne remarked. I turned to see her watching me, genuine admiration softening the usual ice in her hazel eyes.
She was observing the way the soul reaper interacted with her own mount, Frigid. The little wyrm was being effortlessly tossed around by the much larger frost bear, yet he didn't snap or hiss in terror. Instead, he moved silently, repositioning himself with a confidence as though it viewed itself as the most dangerous thing on this hill, regardless of size.
It was a feeling. One I... liked.
Ariadne's expression then became unreadable. I knew she saw something in me, before her whole heresy belief. Still both had made her concerned. One that couldn't be hidden behind her admiration.
"He needs a name," Ariadne said, her voice snapping me out of my thoughts. "Seriously, you haven't even considered one? You're so buried in your head you're forgetting the basics of a bond."
She reached out to touch the wyrm's mane, her fingers hovering near its scales. The soul reaper didn't just hiss this time, he bared his fangs. A drop of dark, corrosive ichor on the tip of one tooth. Ariadne jumped back, her hand flying to her chest in a rare moment of fright.
"Fine! He's a monster, just like you," she huffed.
I looked at the beast. He was a survivor, just as I was.
"Bane," I declared, the name sounding nice in my ears.
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Bane? A bit grim, don't you think?"
"It's a reminder," I replied, my voice hardening as I looked back toward the river.
"It's a reminder that I came from the ruins. I am the shadow of what was lost, and he is the weapon that will ensure it doesn't happen again."
The wyrm, Bane, looked up at me. He didn't understand my words, but he felt the resonance of the name through our bond. It would take time for him to fully grasp the weight of his name, but for now, he simply nestled comfortably over my belly, his scales warming my traveler cloak.
My friends nodded in a rare moment of agreement.
"Alright, Bane," Damon said, clapping his hands together. "Now that we've finished the christening, it's time for the real fun. Getting the beast is the easy part. Staying in the air is where most young Lamians find their humility."
He walked over to me, and as he placed a hand against my back, I felt a sudden, sharp pulse of energy. "Focus your energy right here, Kalon. Channel the blood mana into your back."
I closed my eyes, trying to reach for the loom I had seen in the astral realm. I felt the mana gather, hot and frantic. A soft pulse resonated against my back, and I jerked forward unexpectedly, a sensation like a thousand needles prickling my skin.
The fabric of my tunic didn't tear, it dissolved, replaced by a sudden, agonizing growth of living matter. From my shoulder blades, a thin layer of skin began to morph and stretch, turning into the majestic form of a black wing.
It was tipped with a sharp claw that glinted in the winter sun.
Before I could even scream in shock at the transformation, Ariadne seized the opportunity. She gripped me tightly from behind, her frost mana providing a chilling anchor.
"Let's see if you can fly, scholar!" she laughed.
With a violent heave of her own power, we launched into the sky. The sudden rush of ascent stole the breath from my lungs, and the ground plummeted away. I caught a glimpse of Damon's expression. A fleeting mix of surprise and genuine concern, before the wind swallowed everything.
"Damn you! You both wish to see me dead! Put me down!" I roared, my words laced with a feigned outrage that was rapidly being replaced by a thrill of pure terror.
"As you wish," Ariadne whispered into my ear.
And then, she let go.
I plummeted. The ground rushed up to meet me like a closing fist. My heart hammered against my ribs, a desperate instinct kicking in. I lunged toward the empty air, attempting to bind blood mana around me for support, but Ariadne was faster. She flicked her wrist, and a blast of ice magic quickly froze my efforts in place, shattering any mana platforms before they could form.
"Use your wings, Kalon!" she screamed from above.
Instinctively, I flapped. The new wings felt heavy and different from my body, but as they caught the air, I felt a sudden, jolting lift. For a fleeting, miraculous moment, I found my balance. I was soaring. The exhilaration was unlike anything I had found in the hall of knowledge. This was freedom.
But the victory was short-lived. A sudden rush of wind pressure, a focused gale created by Ariadne's own frost cycle, swept over me. It challenged my newfound control, flipping me upside down.
I screamed, spiraling downwards through the open air, the white plains of Stygia rushing up to meet me. Just as the panic began to settle into the cold certainty of death, Ariadne swooped in with great speed, catching me mid-fall and hauling me back into the heights.
The cycle continued. A dizzying, brutal game of exhilaration and fear. I was a scholar of the blood, but as I grappled with my own limitations in the vast, unforgiving sky, I realized that some knowledge can only be found in the fall.