B1C18: The Infernal Dragon Girl

Oh my god, my eyes were leaking like faucets.

Nolan and I dashed out the door for fresh air, and then a message from my codex popped up:

Quest 3 Complete

Wisdom has been sought from the Howlwind Forest Witch

Rewards: +10% Necromancy Proficiency

“I should have off’d her when I had the chance!” Nolan grunted.

‘I’m sorry she got away, but I did get much needed insight on necromancy. Understanding the fundamentals is important.’

“Something your codex should have told you how to do in the first place.”

‘A wise vagabond once told me that codices are maps, not handouts,’ I reminded him. ‘I get checkpoints along the way, not cheat codes to beat the entire level.’

After his bouts of coughing, he stood straight and looked down at me from the corner of his eye, then asked, “At any time during that encounter, did she bridge a connection with you telepathically?”

‘As in a private telepathic link?’

“So I wouldn’t listen in.”

‘No, she didn’t. I wasn’t even aware she could do that. Then again, I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised if she could….’

“It’s something you have the ability to do as well.” He stared at me for a few seconds before securing Scarlet to his hip. It was an odd skeptical look, but I made nothing of it as we headed to the forest.

“She was interested in you for a number of reasons.” He began to open up a conversation again after a short while of walking, with the intensity in his eye drawing my attention. “She wouldn’t have entertained your request if she weren’t.”

‘I could tell.’ I paused for a moment.

“Which isn’t a good thing,” he said, making my chest drop. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s hoping you’d excel so that she may exploit that unique power of yours.”

‘Exploit? How?’

He snorted. “Again, I can’t blame you for not knowing. That hag is as crafty as they come.”

‘Hey, I-um, am asking respectfully, of course,’ I began, then cleared my throat. ‘Why does your mom look a little on the older side?’

“Don’t call her that,” he retorted. “A mother is someone who nurtures and cares. She is not that. Not by a long shot.” His voice was sharp and bitter, and after knowing what Wilna did to him, I’d be too. But still, there was much to uncover about the witch that I was itching to know.

‘But she is your biological mother, isn’t she?’ I fumbled to press the issue gently.

“Yeah.” His response was almost a whisper, smothered by the rustling of leaves and the distant animal sounds of the forest.

I shook my head dismissively and said, ‘Nevermind. I apologize for trying to pry into—’

“She’s a soul forger,” Nolan interjected. “She sold her soul more times than I could count. Cheated death and the system. Traded her wealth, her lover, her fertility–shit, she almost sold me for arcane power and prowess. And her youth. She’s actually in her mid 60’s.”

‘Are you her only child?’

“Now, I am.”

Ooohh, I am not going to touch that topic.

With what I knew about her now, as the woman who would do everything and anything to get what she wanted, I’d expect his siblings to have endured worse fates than Nolan being teleported to a tier five dungeon.

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“And now that you’ve talked to her, I know that you’re a soul forger, too,’ he said, looking down at me wearily.

I winced. ‘What do you mean? You knew I was a necromancer.’

“Necromancy is a specialty for a mage. Soul forging is a subspecialty, along with blood magic and necroalchemy.”

‘You’re hating me right now for having the same subspecialty as your mom.’

“She knows all three, but forging is what she is known for.” He turned his head around, looking down our path. “And no, I don’t hate you, and I’m not scared of your potential, either.”

‘Scared?’

“If you found out that I could snatch your soul and use it to puppet the dead, wouldn’t you be terrified?” Nolan asked, his question finally sinking in. “There’s a reason why soul forgers are feared. It’s more dangerous than necroalchemy and blood magic combined.”

I was about to protest but then I stopped before I said something stupid. ‘I wouldn’t do that,’ I finally managed to say. ‘I don’t even know how to.’

Nolan shrugged. “Maybe not now. But power changes people, especially when they discover how much of it they have.”

‘Well, I won’t let it change me,’ I said firmly, then looked up to him. ‘I can’t expect you to know the type of person I am. After all, we just met. But I mean it when I say that I’m nothing like Wilna.’

“I want to believe that.”

‘Nolan, what are you—’

He stopped short, which made me stop pacing as well. When he looked down at me, I knew that we were about to have a serious conversation.

“It’s not easy seeing things from this elevation, from my perspective. So let me break it down for you. You’re a reincarnated dragon, with a codex that assigned not only your class but your specialty and subspecialty. A Soul Forging Necromancer. Let that sink in for a minute.”

I sat down, tucked my tail in, and listened to Nolan carefully. Because I could tell that he was going to drop something heavy on me soon.

“Dragon blood runs through your veins. The race is notorious for being ruthless and domineering. It’s what they are, it’s what they do. They are villainous conquers, born with the tools they need to overthrow nations. When you add that and magic to the mix, the pot is looking more and more dangerous as it boils. Not only that, but you can level up ridiculously fast. You are a walking powerhouse of an entity, and so far, I've helped you collect two evolution stones so you can grow into your potential. So, while keeping all of that in mind, I will quickly become the lesser in this partnership. Even though I don’t hate you, and I’m not scared of what you could become, I do question where your allegiance lies.”

My eyes blew up.

“And it’s because you won’t let me see your codex.”

My mouth went dry.

“It didn’t bother me before, but after you let that witch see it, I figured you might be hiding something dangerous. The way her face changed,” Nolan said. “Wilna saw something she wants to manipulate. Something she wants to expose.”

‘I’m not evil, Nolan,’ I begged. ‘It’s just—’

“Your codex wants you to level up, evolve, become a champion, and defeat a galactic overlord, and then what?”

That question made me angry.

I jumped up on my fours and glared at him. ‘What do you mean?! Are you trying to say that my codex wants me to replace him?!’

“With everything that has unfolded so far, it’s the only path that makes sense.”

‘My codex told me that Earth and Etheryn will fall! And my mission is to stop that from happening!’

“To coax you to agree to its path. I told you that codices don’t assign those, and yet, it had no problem assigning yours. Which leads me to believe there is a greater purpose in all of this, edged on by a greater power that we just aren’t seeing.”

‘So you’re questioning my morals, then? Because how could I agree to an astronomical assignment without thinking about the betterment of people?! Have you ever stopped to question that?!’

“You have a secret. I’m questioning the gravity of this secret. You talk about trust. It works both ways. You can’t expect me to hang out with you and help you if you’re afraid of what I’ll find out about you.”

‘I think it has more to do with not believing in me, that’d I’d go dark!’

“I don’t party up with anyone, and I asked you to party up with me.” He paused for a moment. “If that doesn’t show you the level of trust I’ve placed in you, then I don’t know what will. But I need to know your secret if we’re going to do this together.”

His words deflated me a little bit, but I was even more nervous now than before.

I gulped, my throat suddenly feeling dry like sandpaper. I didn’t want to show anyone my codex, especially after Wilna had been so off about it. But Nolan was right, he’d trusted me and now it was my turn to trust him.

To trust that he won’t see my codex and pull out Scarlet to kill me…..

I had to look out for myself, here. I needed Nolan to help me understand this world. He’d helped me a lot already. But I also needed to consider how he’d take the truth. So I took a few steps back for safety and positioned myself to attack him if I had to.

‘I’m not going to party with you,’ I said. ‘Not before I tell you what I’m afraid you’ll see inside my codex.’

“And what’s that?”

‘I have an infernal bloodline.’