Zax led the way out of the ascension chambers and deeper into the interior of the oversized cliffwall, though this ti heading upward instead of down.
Bun Bun trailed at Zax’s heel, like he was waiting to be noticed, but the dragon continued to ignore the familiar. Finally, the dragon-bunny huffed in irritation and started sniffing at the walls instead.
The tunnels and caverns grew more natural and less crafted the further they went, until they squeezed through a narrow crevice and erged into a room so vast and purposeful it had to be created. But it was about as unlike the ascension chambers as it could be. ‘Room’ wasn’t even close to an accurate description.
The best way he could think to describe it was a canal, built on an unimaginable scale, and filled with bones instead of water. They’d erged onto a flat walkway that lined this side of the ravine, while it stretched beyond sight in both directions. Below, massive bones filled in every available space, gleaming dull ivory in his senses. He could easily envision an entire town being built on or around the pile. There was plenty of space between the two sheer walls. Though the fact that it was a pile of bones in a trench built under a mountain-sized ridge would give any settlent here a rather unappealing atmosphere.
“What is this place?” Aurelia asked, voice hushed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
"We’ve entered the underhalls of the Starbound Arena,” Zax replied. “From here on, everything will be built to this scale. The Pathkeepers didn't believe in half-asures. The venue could seat a hundred thousand spectators, and this was where they dropped the refuse.”
“How long did it take to fill this so far?” Noah had seen death since arriving in Erandir and caused plenty of it, too, but there was sothing different about this. Even with the most advanced of his perception, he couldn’t see the end of the remnants. The far side of the ravine was barely visible, a matching ledge to the one they were on, but he couldn’t even guess how far down the bones went.
“I couldn’t guess. This channel rings the entire southern half of the arena, and this isn’t the fullest section by far. To assu millions of dead would not be an understatent.”
For a mont Noah only stared out at the ancient evidence of mass slaughter and tried not to imagine how many of those skulls were from a person rather than a beast. Given the variety on display, he expected a lot of both.
“This way.” Zax turned to the left and they walked along for several minutes.
“If monster parts around here are so valuable, how co these haven’t been taken out yet? I can’t be the only person with an astral space vault, even if they’re too big to fit through any of those passages.”
“Three reasons, but mainly ignorance. If the location of this were known to any but us, I’m sure the other difficulties would be bypassed given enough ti.”
“What other difficulties?”
Zax pointed ahead to where a spine had been dragged up out of the ravine and draped across both sides to form a knobby bridge. “Try storing that.”
Noah reached down and touched it, ntally commanding it to transfer into his vault. Nothing happened. It didn’t even register as an option, like he’d tried to transfer air.
“Huh.” He squatted down to look at it more closely. “You mind if I break this a bit?”
Zax snorted but made no objection, only walked past him and started across.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Noah withdrew his spear and sliced down at the edge of one of the jutting bone protrusions. It didn’t penetrate, only bounced off with a ringing clang. “I see.”
“The sa reasons that the parts are valuable are what prevent them from being collected. This interior has been sealed, so it’s much more ti and energy efficient to simply hunt the living from within and carry them out through standard passages.” Zax hopped off the spine and landed soundlessly on the other side of the ravine.
Aurelia followed, arms out for balance as each step made the collection of linked bone sections sway and flex.
Noah tested his footing on the spine, then changed his mind about trying to balance across the smooth surface. His human body felt oddly unfamiliar. The B-rank evolution had changed how he moved and what he perceived in minute ways. While in dragon form, his new draconic senses took over, but as a human everything was just slightly off. His muscles responded faster than his brain expected. His senses picked up information he didn't consciously ask for.
Case in point: he could feel Aurelia's heartbeat from half a chasm away. The steady thrum of it, slightly elevated from exertion, the blood pumping through her veins with a rhythm that was becoming comfortably familiar background noise he found himself listening to more often than he’d care to admit.
“You coming?” she asked, as she hopped off the end of the spine-bridge herself. Her challenging smile was enough he desperately wanted to show her up.
“Just watch.” The transformation ca easily, draconic wings spreading from his back, a ridged tail for adjusting his flight, and he launched himself into the air. Unlike the smaller passages up until now, this oversized chamber was big enough for him to stretch his wings and then so.
It felt good to relax into his draconic instincts and stop overthinking how to move.
Noah soared across the ravine, reveling in the feeling of wind against his face, the steady beat of his wings, and the look of betrayal on Aurelia’s face as he landed beside her with a grin. His transformation folded itself back in and he held out both arms as though for applause.
“Cheater.”
“If you’d like to impose limitations on the competition, you should do it in advance next ti,” Noah said unapologetically.
Bun Bun chose that mont to hop onto Noah's shoulder, having apparently finished whatever investigation had occupied him for the last ten minutes.
Stronger, Bun Bun communicated through their bond. The prey here is stronger. Good.
"Bloodthirsty rabbit," Noah muttered, but he scratched behind Bun Bun's ears anyway. The familiar vibrated with sothing that wasn't quite a purr, one leg thumping excitedly.They walked along the side of the bone ravine for almost an hour before anything changed. Zax ca and went, checking in on them every ten minutes or so while disappearing for minutes at a ti in between. The only explanation he gave was ‘verifying a few things’.
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Noah spent the ti testing his abilities in small ways, or trying to. The problem was calibration. His abilities had scaled with his rank, but his instincts hadn't caught up. When he reached for Space Step with his old ntal shorthand, he got more than he expected. The distance multiplied, effort and expended energy exponentially increased, and when he thought he’d be moving a few steps to the side he crashed into the wall instead. Even if his abilities hadn’t specifically evolved, being at B-Rank made everything faster, easier, quicker.
He tried it again, aiming very carefully for ten feet forward, and put the bare minimum of energy into the ability. Then reappeared fifty feet ahead, nearly toppling into the ravine.
"Damn it," he swore, stumbling to catch his balance.
Aurelia caught up to him a mont later, her expression caught between amusent and concern. "Watching you trip over your own feet is oddly amusing and kinda reassuring."
"My feet are fine. It's the space between them and where I want them to be that's the problem."
"Spoken with the true eloquence of a B-ranker."
Noah laughed, but his usual quick retort was nowhere to be found, his attention distracted by just observing. There was sothing different about her, the way she looked at him now. Had been for a while, actually, ever since they'd left Drakonias. Since Vion's farewell.
Don't be a coward. The words echoed in his head. Vion's parting advice, delivered with a smile that had hidden her heartbreak. She'd been right, of course. He and Aurelia had been dancing around sothing for months now, neither willing to take the step that would change everything.
"Aurelia," he started.
Sothing in his tone made Aurelia's eyes widen slightly as she turned to him. "Yes?"
“I…”
“Yes?”
The words gathered in his throat. He could feel them there, ready to spill out. Three simple sentences.
He couldn’t do it.
Silence hung between them as she looked at him, waiting.
When the pressure grew too much, he changed course and grinned playfully instead. “I’m glad you noticed demonstrating my eloquence, since I do it so infrequently.”
Aurelia's shoulders slumped the slightest bit. Disappointnt? Relief? He wasn’t sure. “Ah, yes, of course.” Then she smiled back, and for a mont everything felt right again.
The knot in his stomach loosened the slightest bit. He didn’t need to do anything, nothing had to change. Certainly not right now. He could find another chance, a better one, when they weren't standing in a cavern of giant bones about to enter an ancient arena full of mutated monsters.
"Turn right up here," Zax said, reappearing from a side passage. "We're about to have our first view of your training ground."
They entered another chamber, then another, all built on the sa incredible scale. Then they crossed the final threshold and erged onto a narrow ledge overlooking the interior.
Noah forgot everything else as the view opened up before them in a glorious, twisted paradise. Vines and oversized leaves and alien flowers carpeted the place, all tangled over itself in a profusion of colors, a vast expanse as different from the outside as could be.
So of the leaves were a bit too blue, others were veined in yellow or glowing red patterns. It reminded him of the mana-veined stone underneath Marrowhold, actually, the sa kind of patterns. Mana corruption? Or just what happens to things when there’s this much power around?
It was beautiful. And it wanted to kill him. He felt the hunger in the air, testing itself against his aura, nibbling off pieces of it mont by mont. This place may be less dangerous than Death Valley itself, but it was still above his pay grade.
Just the way I like it. The chance to grow, a place to stress-test his new abilities, was practically intoxicating. It was all he could do to pause and take it in before rushing forward.
The arena floor stretched for miles in every direction and he didn’t see a single sign of bare stone apart from what rose up steeply to either side in sheer cliffs. No, not cliffs, but tiered seating ant for the size of people who’d use houses as building blocks.
The steps rose in concentric rings up the canyon walls, separated into sections by black stone archways at regular intervals. Though just like the front gate, they were now filled in with the more common red stone of the region. Earth magic, sealing the gates. Was that standard practice, or their attempt to hide from whatever disaster ca for them?
And at the center, barely visible through the haze, a single massive gate stood closed. The Champion's Gate. Even from this distance, Noah could feel the mana radiating from it—old power, dark power, concentrated over centuries of bloodshed and death.
"That is where the strongest gather," Zax told them. "Where the apex predators of every generation have claid their territory. The creatures here have been evolving for longer than most civilizations have existed. It is the perfect place to test yourself.” Then he turned to Aurelia. “If you cannot reach B-Rank here, it is because you’re dead."
Aurelia laughed. “Good thing I have you two along to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
“Do not expect to rely on others. If you are to truly grow, the danger must be real.”
“You sure know how to make a girl feel loved.”
The dragon snorted. “You thrive in battle or you fall. There is no other path forward. Your path is here. Be wary, be fearless.”
“Sounds like a paradox.”
“Life is a series of paradoxes, growth and death, life and change.” He gestured out into the arena. “You have your challenge. Go face it. You’re not alone here, but we do not expect any of it to be insurmountable.” Then he turned and started walking back the way they’d co.
Noah turned away from the view with a frown. "You're leaving?"
Zax glanced back at them, and his eyes glinted with quiet pride. “You don't need us hovering. Not anymore.” Then his voice grew more commanding. "When you enter Death Valley, nothing but your best will be enough. You need to rember what it's like to fight without a safety net. We'll be scouting ahead, testing the deeper territories. We will return in ten days. Try not to die."
Noah wanted to protest the ‘safety net’ comnt, but before he could retort, the dragon had already disappeared.
"Well," Aurelia said, her voice carefully light. "Just the two of us, then."
"And our familiars."
"Of course." She glanced at Bun Bun, still perched on Noah's shoulder. "Can't forget the murder bunny."
Bun Bun chittered indignantly. I am a proud Dragonspawn. Murder bunny is disrespectful.
"He's offended," Noah translated.
"He'll get over it."
Noah looked down over the ledge. “It’s quite a drop.” There were so vines starting to grow up the side of the sheer drop, but they barely reached halfway. Treetops were similarly far below. He turned back to Aurelia with a smirk. “Want to carry you?” His wings appeared in a crackle of static electricity, flaring behind him in dramatic fashion.
“Mmm, as tempting as that offer is, I’ll have to take a rain check.” Aurelia hopped off the edge.
Noah threw himself after her without thinking, wings streamlining as he dove.
She plumted toward the distant ground, then just before Noah could catch up to her, she burst into fla and her descent slowed. He had just enough ti to see her sticking her tongue out before he had to pull up before crashing into the ground.
“Cheater!” he shouted over the rushing wind.
“You should have given your restrictions first,” she shouted back, alighting on the ground with a graceful step.
Noah circled around her with a tight arc of his wings, then landed in a tangle of vines. He didn’t bother shifting back to human form, because in the sa mont he sensed a dozen other creatures nearby, all of whom turned sharply toward the two newcors.
“Get ready,” he said, low. “We’re about to have company.”
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