Many things have been lost through tragedy, accident, or chance… yet others were left behind intentionally. Some secrets are best left forgotten.


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    Things were... that easy.


    Nyrala reported success, after showing off her shiny new soulbond to her siblings, they agreed to put off their vengeance. With one caveat.


    "They all want to be soulbound too."


    Jair looked at her without comprehension.


    "They saw how much happier I am now, and they want to join us too."


    "What''s she saying?" Lilin asked.


    Jair shook himself back to awareness. "Hey, Lil, have you ever wanted your own dragon?"


    "You''re joking."


    "Nope. Nyrala''s siblings apparently want in on the deal. So, as long as Maelstrom''s okay with it...?"


    Maelstrom flickered Mercurios-green, then flashed silver.


    "Yep. Hungry little bugger. You wouldn''t say no to anything I found for you, would you?"


    It flashed black.


    "Right, apart from the brobeg. Antimagic and you don''t get along."


    "Are you having a conversation with your sword again?" Raina asked, emerging from the cave she''d claimed as her lair for their stay here. "Tempest is going to get jealous."


    "Do you want a dragon?"


    Raina blinked at him. "Come again?"


    "Dragons. Free for the taking." He chuckled. "See, across six hundred lifetimes, I couldn''t possibly pay enough for a dragon to agree to binding itself to me. Now, they''re throwing themselves at me before I can even ask. How times have changed."


    "I suspect the fact that you can burn them out of the sky en-masse has something to do with it." Raina''s eyes were distant, replaying the scene from the following morning. "I''ve never seen anything so beautiful and so terrible."


    "Stick around. I do that a lot."


    She refocused on him. "And the dragons are still willing to sell their souls to us?"


    "Not just willing, eager. Apparently Nyrala is a good salesdragon."


    Nyrala puffed herself up, preening.


    "Qahri? You want a dragon?"


    "Of course I do! Who wouldn''t?"


    "Eythron?"


    "He''s an idiot. He doesn''t count."


    Jair snorted. "Alright, everyone aboard, let''s go."


    Nyrala was small enough to be comfortable to sit astride, only a little awkward. If she''d gotten much broader, it would have been harder, but she was a relatively slender dragon with long forearms, thick rear legs and massive wings, more long than broad.


    They flew out around the mountains to a low valley between three of the smaller mountains, not the verdant one where Raina had been held captive. Nyrala landed outside a cavern entrance and pointed inside with one wing.


    Jair could feel her excited eagerness, along with a spark of hope warring against dull resignation. He dismounted and considered the dark opening.


    "Will they attack Raina if we go in there?"


    Nyrala pondered this, huffing her breath out in an acrid puff. "Maybe. Our mother''s anger was very strong. It echoes still within them. More so without her here to restrain them."


    "Then I suggest you bring them out to me one at a time."


    The next several hours were spent making ancient contracts with baby dragons. They were only a few years old, not even thirty, and all very weak in comparison to their older cousins. Jair held all their contracts—or, rather, Maelstrom did, since the blade hungrily integrated anything Jair tried to add to his soul—but he subsidized their management to the others as agreed. That left a dragon each for Raina, Lilin, and Qahrvirna, and another three who remained with Jair himself.


    As each one emerged from their cave, they invariably hissed at Raina before conceding to Jair''s control, but afterwards each apologized to her for the uncalled-for aggression.


    "What is going on here?" Qahrvirna demanded, as the seventh and final drakling submitted without hesitation to Jair''s integration and disappeared into Maelstrom. "I''ve never heard of such a thing."


    "Their mother is gone unexpectedly and they fixated on the nearest source of unstoppable power as a replacement?" Jair shrugged. "Am I taking advantage of infants, sure. Does it bother me, no. Not at all. By holding them they''ll be unable to harm anyone, and their legacy won''t be scarred by Ryenzo''s anger." He turned to Nyrala, the only one still physically present. "Do you know why your mother was so angry at the Serin family?"


    Nyrala shook her head. "She only said that they were the enemy and we needed to destroy them by any means. But the curse didn''t work, and then Mother died too..."


    Jair blinked. "Curse. A poison curse? That spreads from person to person?"


    Nyrala nodded. "It was bound to us all, and would grow stronger the more of us died. With Mother gone it would—"


    "Spread faster and more aggressively," Jair finished. "The Veor Plague. That was always you?"


    She nodded, then bowed her head. "We didn''t know. Mother said they were enemies, so they deserved it. But I see now that they don''t."


    "With all of you bound to me, does that mean the curse is tied to me, unbound, or dispelled?"


    She had no idea, and said as much, but he was already drawing Maelstrom.


    ─ Maelstrom


    ─ Type: Integrated Soulsword (4th Form)


    ─ Rank: Legendary


    ─ Abilities: Darkflame, Integration, Temporal Reversion, Blood-Venom Curse


    ─ Unsevered Pacts: Nyrala Mercurios Draconis, Ynzeri Mercurios Draconis (Sub-Pact: Raina Serin), Enryzan Mercurios Draconis (Sub-Pact: Lilin Welburne), Silverscale (Sub-Pact: Qahrvirna Syse), Zyesi Mercurios Draconis, Okrine Mercurios Draconis, Detyar Mercurios Draconis


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Imbued with the pure energy of Mount Sanctum, the lifeblood and soul of its creator, the bound souls of a venom dragon''s clutch, and the fire of the Venix, this blade has transcended its humble origins and become an artifact of limitless potential.


    Do not stand against us.


    ─ Bound to Jair Welburne


    Raina was staring at the sword too. "Blood-Venom Curse. That''s where the plague came from?"


    Jair nodded thoughtfully. "Yo, Maelstrom, I don''t suppose you can use that curse as a link to do the phoenix thing and purge anyone who''s currently being affected by it?"


    Maelstrom flared up bright black-green, so dark and so brilliant that he had to squint and look away. Power flooded out through Jair, his manabody drained in an instant, then forced into overdraw.


    Jair staggered.


    Qahrvirna jumped to catch him and Nyrala moved in the same instant, leaning up against him to keep him upright.


    He wanted to say he was fine, but he was fully consumed in maintaining the overdraw without causing any damage to his fragile new manabody. It was stable, but wouldn''t stay that way if he made any mistakes here.


    Thankfully, though the overdraw was dramatic and lasted several minutes, it wasn''t nearly as extreme as some of the things he''d done over the years. He could bear it, he could balance it, and he could maintain it without damage to himself or others.


    His vision doubled, then split further, until he couldn''t tell the difference between his surroundings and a hundred other locations.


    Jair was there, in all of them, felt his soul reaching out through each of the people in question, weakly to those alone, stronger to those in groups.


    He found the delicate threads of the Blood Venom Curse, twisting like an insidious vine through blood and bone, tangling around the soul and oozing through the manabody, and gently teased them out and drew them back. Not meant for you.


    It felt like hours, but passed in a blink of a moment. Only when he emerged from the strange trance did he collapse under the weight of the spell he''d just performed. But his manabody remained intact, and he''d been using Maelstrom as a conduit so he didn''t even have any strange imprints that would be showing up as a consequence of the overdraw.


    "Why do I get the feeling that becoming an archmage would be almost irrelevant at this point?" Jair mused.


    Maelstrom was limited by distance and physical location—he could only slice things he could either reach, throw to, or otherwise stab into. Summoning four dragons at will, though... that was the kind of thing that even legendary heroes from ancient tales never did. One dragon that they befriended and/or defeated until they surrendered, regularly. Far more regularly than made sense given how violent, aggressive, prideful, territorial, and stubborn the average dragon was.


    Four though? Any of the stories of a hero raising a whole clutch of dragons invariably ended up in tragedy as the draklings fought one another for supremacy until only one was left. Without a clear hierarchy to hold them in line, and without anyone above them to restrain their violent instincts, they would go all out without regard for their shared species.


    Only Ryenzo''s firm presence would have kept these from following that same path. Without her around...


    Was that why they bound themselves to him so readily? Because they knew that without a ruler, they''d destroy each other?


    That was an awfully forward-thinking attitude for draklings. But, who was he to complain?


    He blinked several times, drawing his perception back in to focus on the others in the vicinity and block out the thousands of people who’d become temporary extensions of his perception.


    He’d been returned to the cavern while he was indisposed. Nyrala lay curled up protectively around him while there was no sign of the others.


    "Where’s Raina?"


    "Took Ynzeri to visit her father."


    Jair nodded to himself. Of course, after hearing what happened in the previous timeline, she''d be concerned about her father''s safety. Then he frowned. "She was able to pull a sub-contract out of Maelstrom while I was away?"


    "Is Ynzeri not the one assigned to her?"


    "He is, but..." Jair shook his head. "Never mind. Maelstrom and Tempest have been trading stuff back and forth as it is. Who knows what kind of connection they have now. It''s pretty convenient, actually, if I don''t have to micromanage dragon-summoning for everyone."


    "I do not want to be a burden. You have saved my family from their own destruction, rescued us all from dying alone. I cannot possibly repay this."


    "You don''t have to. Just help me with my goals. Protect Raina and Lilin. That''s about it." Then he considered. "We should probably run some tests. Can you be recalled from a distance, or do you have to be within touch range to get drawn into Maelstrom? If so, you could basically live your own life except when I need you."


    "What life would I live? I have known nothing but pain and anger. Mother never told us how to live. Only to destroy until we died."


    "Eesh. Every time I start to feel a little sorry for Ryenzo, she goes and does something like that. Turning her own children into mindless weapons? How unmotherly can you get?"


    "I know she did it from a desire for our bettering, but it was a cold and empty path to an end I do not agree with."


    "I don''t suppose you know who your father was?"


    Nyrala shook her head. "Mother said he didn''t matter. Only she did."


    Jair sighed. "Of course she did. Well, this has been... enlightening. Ready to go start some chaos?"


    Nyrala leaned her neck down so he could climb aboard, which was answer enough.


    "I see Qahrvirna immediately asserted absolute dominance over her dragon and even changed his name?"


    "It is her right. You may change mine, if you wish."


    "You don''t like Nyrala?"


    She hesitated before answering, flexing her wings as though she wanted to be moving. "Mother gave it to me."


    "So you don''t want to discard it, but you''re not sure you want the constant reminder?" Jair guessed. "What would you like to be called?"


    "Silverscale is a nice name."


    "Well, we won''t be stealing your brother''s name. How about Skyclaw? We can keep Nyrala as your second name, since you won''t need the Mercurios any more."


    She perked up immediately. "Skyclaw!" She posed with one claw raised dramatically. "It''s even better than Silverscale. Thank you."


    Jair chuckled and peeked at Maelstrom''s stats, where Nyrala''s name had indeed changed to Skyclaw Nyrala Draconis. "Let''s get back to Astralla. I''d like to check on Raina, then we''ll fly over to the capital. If Sekir is going to be moving soon, we should be in position."


    <hr>


    Raina was fine.


    Ajriol was fine. Curad Veshin was fine.


    No dragon attacks. No Sekir sightings.


    The plague had mysteriously disappeared overnight.


    All was well.


    Jair didn''t trust it. There was no way this would simply resolve itself without anything going wrong at all in a single reversion. That wasn''t how it worked.


    But... he finished checking in on everyone up to and including the king, and nothing went wrong.


    He finally stopped searching for problems and went to Larenok''s house to pick up his new customer list.


    "You''re still here? I thought you were leaving for months."


    "Yeah, plans changed. Got any more customers I need to deal with?"


    "Well. I do have a waiting list started, but none of them are expecting you."


    "You''ve increased our rates? Now that the king is a repeat customer."


    "Of course! We can''t repay the missing treasury with basic prices. You''re providing an exclusive luxury service."


    "Perfect. Contact your waiting list, give them a chance to pay an additional fee to get special timing pre-Solaria. Everyone else can wait until after."


    Larenok nodded, made notes, and went on with his ramble about prices and details that Jair immediately tuned out.


    He was thinking about what he''d just said. Solaria. The biggest holiday of the year. Unlike the monthly-or-so Terlunia, Solaria only happened at the transition between the years of Xu and Azir or back again.


    A major holiday one week from now.


    A warning to return to Veor.


    The dragon attack was unrelated, the plague a blip. No seer would be paying attention enough to notice the destruction of two minor noble families in Veor. The place wasn''t popular enough to be worth noticing in the first place, short of something dramatic like the entire thing disappearing into the sea.


    But Sekir was that strange combination of charismatic manipulation, overly dramatic, and unbendingly stubborn that very well might get it in his head that, with things changing in Veor, Solaria would be a good time to announce his presence to the world.


    Jair grinned. As much as trying to stay ahead of his sorcerer nemesis was frustrating, it was also interesting. And if there''s one thing he didn''t get enough of when almost everything was a painful repetition of tedium with the occasional impossible wall, it was interesting changes.


    For all that Sekir was an existential threat to Almas as a whole and Veor in specific, Jair had to respect the guy''s adaptability. So many people stuck to their routines and their plans regardless of how he changed the timeline. So much stayed the same whatever else he changed.


    Sekir was almost never the same. He shifted like water, flowing with every minor adjustment of events, always searching for every advantage he could seize, no matter how small.


    And making a dramatic Solaria entrance would be quite the statement.


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