Scarlett’s consciousness dragged itself upward through a suffocating haze, as though she were clawing her way out of deep water. Exhaustion hit first, followed by a wave of soreness that radiated through every limb and every channel of mana, like her body had been hollowed out and hastily stitched back together.

For a moment, she wasn’t entirely certain which parts of her still belonged to her.

As her thoughts slowly aligned, she recognised the sensation for what it was: the backlash of pushing herself beyond her limits with the Stillwork. Her body was protesting, and her remaining mana—which was somehow more than it should have been—was knotted into a chaotic snarl that wasn’t correcting itself.

This time, she really might have pushed things just slightly too far.

Before anything else, she needed to stabilise the mess.

Distantly, like muffled sounds through heavy cloth, voices threaded through the dark behind her eyelids. She ignored them and turned inward, focusing on carrying out her Stillwork. Her mana veins were damaged, but it wasn’t too unlike the strain she’d grown used to inducing on purpose through the technique. That familiarity made her confident that she could fix things.

Time blurred. A steady draught of cold air passed over her at regular intervals, and at some point a quiet melody joined it—patient and even—accompanying her rhythm as she pieced herself back together. She did only the bare minimum for now, just enough that her body stopped feeling like a shattered vessel threatening to split at the seams.

For some reason she couldn’t quite discern, the process was strangely easy.

The worst of the pain ebbed, and some of the exhaustion lifted too, even though she’d only addressed the most immediate structural damage. The rest could wait.

The voices sharpened as she allowed her awareness to shift outward. At first, she remained still, simply listening to the chatter and the music. She already knew the voices belonged to her party, and none of them sounded panicked or injured. That was the only reason she’d allowed herself to prioritise her own condition.

“No, no, you can’t do that,” Allyssa protested. “It’s against the rules. Gnublul and Kethra can only be used after I’ve played first. And you won’t know whether I put down a worm or an imp on my last turn.”

“Will you not tell us?” came a layered whisper in response.

“No, of course not.”

“Then we would prefer different rules.”

“That’s not—” There was a groan. “Slate, tell her, please.”

“She played a worm,” came Slate’s impassive voice. “You should refrain from placing an imp.”

“No! Don’t tell her that!”

“We understand,” Nol’viz said. “Then we will not place Gnublul.”

A frustrated huff followed.

Scarlett heard Kat laugh. “You’re the one who decided to teach them how to play, Allyssa. Don’t start whining now.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Allyssa cried. “Nol’viz keeps rewriting the rules, and Slate is even more of a cheat than Fynn!”

“Only a graceless loser blames her opponents,” Rosa mused. “A true artist blames her instrument. Or her fingers, in this case. You should cultivate better hands.”

“Screw you, Rosa.”

“Oh, my. Someone’s foul-mouthed today.”

“More than half my potions are completely useless. That’s literally weeks of work gone. I think I’m allowed to be cranky.”

“Fair, fair. Just mind yourself so you don’t wake the dragon. Who knows what’ll happen to us then.”

There was a brief, pointed silence.

“I’m talking about Scarlett, to be clear. She’s the proverbial dragon.”

“We got it,” Shin’s dry voice drifted from a little farther away.

“No, no, I don’t think you did. You see, Scarlett’s like a—”

“Rosalina,” Scarlett interrupted. “You are already aware that I am awake, are you not?”

She didn’t bother opening her eyes or sitting up. She was lying on what felt like a plush bed of furs, and frankly, she was still tired enough that she wouldn’t have minded staying exactly like this for a few hours longer.

“Scarlett.”

“Scarlett—!”

Both Kat and Allyssa called her name at the same time. The steady melody of a klert stopped, followed by a soft, knowing chuckle.

“Am I that predictable nowadays?” Rosa asked.

“Yes. Yes, you are.”

“I’ll have to work on that, then. Can’t have things getting stale.”

“Naturally.”

Scarlett breathed out, appreciating the feeling of doing absolutely nothing for one moment longer.

“By the by,” Rosa’s voice came again. “You probably shouldn’t open your eyes just yet. For your own sake.”

Scarlett paused. “…Why?”

“Well, just to be safe. I don’t think any of us can be held liable for what you might do once you do. You might suffer another fainting spell.”

A thin thread of concern slipped through Scarlett at that, and she opened her eyes.

“Oh, okay. Let’s entirely ignore the warning of the helpful, multi-talented bard,” Rosa grumbled.

Scarlett didn’t respond.

Her gaze locked onto the massive dragon only a few dozen metres away. One molten iris the size of a carriage watched her coolly, while the other was a dark, empty socket scarred by old violence. Its nostrils flared faintly, and a chill draught rolled over her.

“Now, try not to panic,” Rosa said.

Scarlett continued watching Olgolzkreh for a moment before turning her head slightly to look at the bard. “You know that this would not unsettle me.”

Rosa huffed a quiet laugh, a crooked grin appearing on her face. She sat on a flat outcropping of stone with a thick fur cloak thrown around her shoulders, her klert resting on the ground beside her. Leaning forward, elbows on her knees and chin propped in her palms, she studied Scarlett with open amusement. “It’s going to be hard not to be predictable, huh?”

Scarlett gave a faint shake of her head and turned back to Olgolzkreh.

Most would probably have panicked if they woke up to this kind of sight. Especially if they’d pushed their body to its absolute limits fighting this exact dragon and knew how powerful he was.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

But Scarlett had been expecting this.

She let her gaze sweep their surroundings. They were inside a vast cavern, its ceiling lost somewhere in darkness far above, faint veins of crystal catching stray light like distant stars. Around them was a broad rock overhang that jutted out over a shadowed drop, the rest of Olgolzkreh’s colossal body disappearing into the gloom below.

Everyone was present, and from what she could tell, no one was injured.

They’d set up a rough camp of sorts. Shin sat against a pack with a book open in his hands. Kat crouched near a small cooking pot balanced over a modest flame. Allyssa, Slate, and Nol’viz were gathered around a blanket with a spread of cards between them. Carnwedain sat a short distance away, his massive sword laid across his lap as he methodically drew a whetstone along its edge.

Fynn was the only one apart from the group. He sat nearer the edge of the overhang, in front of Olgolzkreh.

“How much time has passed?” Scarlett asked.

“I don’t think anyone’s been counting—” Kat began.

“Seventeen hours and twenty-three minutes,” Slate said.

Kat glanced at her, then shrugged at Scarlett. “There you have it.”

Scarlett frowned. That long?

“I didn’t wake up until about four or five hours ago,” Kat added. “Same goes for Rosa.”

She gestured vaguely towards the bard.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at Rosa. “You woke before I did?”

Rosa stretched her arms overhead with a theatrical flourish. “‘Course I did. I am, as ever, a wellspring of youthful charm and boundless vigour.”

“That should not matter here.”

Scarlett had seen Rosa exhaust herself to the point of collapse several times before. Once, the woman had been unconscious for days because of it. But now she looked…fine. Maybe not in peak condition, but far from depleted. There were no deep shadows under her eyes, no tiredness hiding behind her smile.

“There’s something odd about the air here,” Kat said, raising a hand as if grasping at something. “Ambient mana everywhere. We think that’s what helped us recover faster.”

“It also completely ruined my potions.” Allyssa sulked. She pointed at her bandolier lying open beside her. The vials within were dull and cloudy. “The mana soaked into them and rendered more than half inert.”

Scarlett studied the vials, then let her attention drift back to the dragon.

“I see.” She pushed herself up, swaying slightly before steadying, then raised her voice. “I presume that is your doing, Olgolzkreh.”

“I don’t think there’s much point talking to that thing,” Kat said. “It’s clearly alive, but I’m not convinced it’s actually conscious. It hasn’t moved since I woke up, and it doesn’t speak.”

Shin lowered his book. “According to Slate, though, it doesn’t pose a threat.”

Scarlett’s gaze remained fixed on the dragon. Its single eye rested on her with an almost unsettling stillness.

The world trembled.

Stone grated as a deep, cavernous rumble rolled from the dragon’s chest.

“Human,” a vast, resonant voice echoed through the space. “What are you?”

Several of the others stiffened. Slate and Nol’viz both turned their heads towards the dragon, their attention sharpening.

“I am Baroness Scarlett Hartford, Lady of Stagmond Keep.”

“Titles,” Olgolzkreh said. “Those are not what you are.”

“No,” Scarlett replied. “But they are as much as I will give you.”

The dragon’s lone eye narrowed. “You sundered your mana. You reforged your flesh. These are not the workings of common mortals.”

“It is a technique taught to me by a master of a distant land, yet it is still very much the craft of a mortal.”

Olgolzkreh regarded her closely. Then something like a low, weary exhale passed through the beast.

“Very well. I will not press. You have freed me of my phrenzy. For this, you have my acknowledgement, disciple of the Witch.”

Scarlett stilled. “Witch? Are you referring to Arlene Hartford?”

Arlene had once been known throughout the empire as the Red Witch of Destruction. It had never been a title meant to honour her, yet it was probably the name by which she was most remembered after her death.

Olgolzkreh’s head lowered a fraction. “Yes.”

“…How well did you know her?”

Scarlett had suspected that there was some connection between them. In the Hall of Echoes, where Arlene helped Scarlett and the others fight back the Anomalous One’s fragment, the woman had interacted with Olgolzkreh’s Memory before it left. But Scarlett had never learned what bond they had shared.

“The Witch was among the rare mortals who found this dwelling of mine,” Olgolzkreh spoke. “She once rendered me a small service. That is all.”

“Then how did you know I am her disciple? Have we met before?”

Did he remember their encounter within the Memory? Even if that hadn’t been the real Olgolzkreh?

The great eye remained fixed on her.

“…I am tired. I know what I know, and I know not what I do not. I cannot say whether we have met.”

There was a hint of despondency in his voice. A bone-deep weariness. But beneath it was something quieter, like a thin thread of solace.

“I was curious what you were,” he continued. “If you cannot answer, then you cannot. As I cannot answer what you might ask of me.”

His gaze shifted to Fynn, sitting motionlessly near the overhang’s edge. “The brood of Grehalyr still lives. Once, I would have welcomed such a challenge. A wolf should bare its fangs, and it is no shame to fall at a dragon’s might.”

Olgolzkreh shifted, and the cavern seemed to draw inward around the sound.

A sudden rush of wind whistled over the overhang, tugging at Fynn’s hair. The youth stirred, a long moment of silence passing before he finally stood.

“…It is fitting that my end would come at his hand.”

Olgolzkreh’s voice rattled the stone.

Fynn looked up at the dragon. “You won’t fight back?”

“No.”

“Why?”

The dragon’s nostrils flared as another cool exhale rolled out. The world shook once more as he moved, and from the dark depths concealing his massive frame, the tip of a wing rose into the light.

Or what remained of one.

A couple of gasps broke the silence behind Scarlett.

The wing was emaciated and skeletal, mottled with dark, colourless patches that seemed to eat the very light around them. It looked like the limb of a month-old corpse. The corruption continued down the membrane, disappearing into the shadows again.

Scarlett’s eyes narrowed.

On the surface, Olgolzkreh appeared ravaged. Weakened and hollowed out. Except it didn’t feel like that at all. He wasn’t actively exhibiting his power right now, but Scarlett could still sense the sheer, crushing weight of an ancient dragon emanating from him.

It hadn’t lessened even slightly. It was simply that his might had been poisoned. Poisoned by another force Scarlett knew intimately.

Anomalous power.

“I will not disparage myself any further,” Olgolzkreh spoke slowly. “If you intend to end me, then do so here today. I will welcome it, while I still can.”

Scarlett focused on the wing and the distorted energy radiating from it. It hadn’t been like this in the game. There, the dragon’s wounds had been physical. But it did make a grim kind of sense in this world. Olgolzkreh had been wounded ages ago during the very fight against the Anomalous One Scarlett had borne witness to. He had technically won when they relived it, but in reality, he had lost. Survived, sure, but not without suffering a wound that had slowly festered, consuming the dragon from within for centuries.

The only surprise was the sheer volume of Anomalous power present. It was staggering.

A part of her reached at the thought of claiming all that power for herself, but she forced the impulse down.

This was too much.

She was certain of it.

Scarlett could control the fragments she had stolen, but compared to the ocean in front of her, she was holding a mere lake. Just seeing it made the power within Thainnith’s legacy thrash, wanting to break free.

Her lips pressed flat as she debated whether she could siphon just a fraction of it. Or maybe store it for later. But she didn’t have any vessel that could sustain it other than the legacy itself.

“I have a question,” Fynn said. Scarlett pulled herself away from her thoughts to focus on him.

“Ask,” came Olgolzkreh’s response.

“Why did you betray Grehalyr? I was told you were peers. You respected each other.”

The dragon went quiet, a flicker of something like mourning passing through his eye. “…My betrayal was simply my weakness. The weakness you see before you.” He withdrew his wing back into the darkness. “Grehalyr burned her essence to stall this corruption and my phrenzy. Without her sacrifice, I would have razed the lands of mortals centuries ago.”

“Like you did in the empire eight years ago.” Fynn’s voice dropped. “Like when you killed my tribe.”

Olgolzkreh’s head lowered, stopping just in front of him. “No. Much worse. That incident was merely a lapse in my Will, forced by that abominable Cabal. But I do not cast aside responsibility for the deaths of Grehalyr’s brood. Had I the strength, I would not have slain them.”

Fynn didn’t speak for several long moments. He gazed into the depths below. Finally, he turned and looked squarely at Scarlett.

“Can you save him?”

Scarlett froze.

Her eyes widened.

“What?”

Fynn pointed into the shadows. “You’ve removed that power before. Can you do it for Olgolzkreh?”

Scarlett kept staring at him. “Do you understand what you are asking?”

He nodded.

“And what of your revenge? What of your ancestors?”

Fynn shook his head. “I don’t know yet.”

“It is precisely that arrogance that felled Grehalyr in the past,” Olgolzkreh rumbled. “You will not save me. It is impossible.”

Fynn turned back to the dragon. “You don’t know what she can do.”

“Even were it possible, I will not allow it.”

“Why not?”

“I will die before I allow my dignity to be stripped away by a mortal’s whim.” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“That’s stupid. You can live.”

A sudden, deafening roar erupted from Olgolzkreh, slamming straight into Fynn. Scarlett lost her footing, stumbling back only to be caught by Kat.

“DO NOT DARE TO PRESUME TO MEASURE THE PRIDE OF THIS LORD.”

Even as the words thundered through the cavern, vibrating in Scarlett’s marrow, Fynn stayed exactly where he was, watching the dragon silently.

“…Fine,” he finally said. He pointed a finger back at Scarlett. “But then I want her to kill you instead of me.”