The Dragon Heir Interlude 3.29 [Alexei]

Alexei stared at the celebration unfolding below from the window and wondered if this was truly the end of it all. Had everything they suffered finally run its course?

The years of grinding hardship, the quiet rot that had begun from within their own ranks before a portion of their supposed allies simply split away and declared that this place, this prison, would now be their ho.

And why wouldn’t they choose that?

Their leader claid guidance from one of their sacred Ancestors. A Dragon.

To many of them, it must have felt like witnessing divinity firsthand.

Dragons, like all Ancestral Beasts, were solitary creatures. They appeared only when their guidance was truly needed, nudging their people through tis of hardship with a light hand rather than open intervention. Their thods were always indirect, yet the thriving dominion of beastkin across lands like Vraal’Kor stood as proof of their effectiveness. After all, what god descended personally to cleanse every problem? True guidance allowed people to solve their own struggles.

Alexei had only seen one of those sacred beings once in his life.

It was the Sun-Maned Lion, the ancestral beast of the Rakaris.

He had been a small child then.

Vraal’Kor faced a great trial every decade or so in the form of a monstrous blizzard that lasted for months. It was no ordinary storm. It twisted space itself and devoured the senses of anyone caught inside it. Once soone lost their way in that storm, they were never found again.

Every sect prepared for it. The sa was true for monsters hardened by the land’s cruelty.

Alexei had belonged to a wandering rchant tribe of Waryns in those days. When the blizzard began its slow crawl across the land, they had rushed toward the nearest sect that was ant to shelter travelers during such storms.

They arrived too late.

What they found instead was a place already ravaged. Waryns lay dead in the streets, and the corpses of monsters, adults, and children alike were scattered among them. The supplies had been stripped clean. Another sect had attacked them, and judging by the aftermath, the defenders had been defeated. The survivors were likely taken away to serve their conquerors.

If Alexei’s people had arrived earlier, the sa fate would have befallen them.

At least then so of them might have survived.

Instead, the blizzard arrived, and they had nowhere left to go. So they stayed. But the sect had no supplies left to sustain them for months.

Those days were the most horrifying Alexei had ever endured. Starvation peeled the humanity away from people he had known his entire life. The bloodthirst that crept into their eyes was sothing he had never imagined seeing in family.

He was young, yet he felt every bit of it.

The looks they gave him, the way their gazes lingered on him as though he were nothing more than at. In those monts he truly believed he had been cast among wolves. His mother shielded him at first.

But hunger eventually devoured her as well. Even then, she sohow managed to bring him food.

The at was foul. So wrong in his mouth it made him gag with every bite.

And yet he ate.

Sotis he rembered eating a ribbon. One he had noticed lying near the gate when they first entered the sect, tied around the hair of a girl who had already been dead by then. Whether that mory held sothing true inside it or was only the delirium of a starving child crawling through his recollection, he had never been able to say.

He only rembered eating.

And the hollow eyes of his mother watching him do it.

Soon people began disappearing.

No one asked questions anymore. Everyone watched everyone else with naked suspicion and a simring hatred that no longer bothered hiding itself. The air felt heavy with it, like the pressure before a volcano erupted and swallowed everything in sight.

And then it happened.

A strange warmth spread through the ruined sect, gentle at first and then impossible to ignore. The starving, hollow-eyed survivors felt it wash over them like sunlight after a lifeti in darkness. Even the blizzard outside, that relentless howling beast that twisted space and senses alike, seed to falter.

A golden radiance flooded the world.

When they stepped outside, they saw it.

A hill sized lion stood upon the snow.

Its mane burned like the sun itself, every strand radiant and alive with flickering light that danced without bowing to the storm around it. The blizzard still existed, its winds still howled across the land, but near that being the storm seed to shrink back, as if it did not dare show its full fury in the presence of sothing so much greater.

Alexei had grown up hearing stories of the divine ancestors. Those tales had always filled him with awe.

But the feeling he experienced then dwarfed anything those stories had ever managed to convey.

The lion looked upon them. Not with pride. Or warmth.

It looked upon them with pity. And sothing close to disgust.

Rakaris were a prideful race of beastkin. They believed that pride ca from the divine blood of the ancestral beasts that flowed through their veins.

And now the embodint of that pride was looking down at them and seeing what they had beco.

Yet the lion did not judge them aloud. It did not punish them.

It simply turned and began to walk through the blizzard.

The divine heat radiating from its body nourished them as they followed, easing the gnawing emptiness in their stomachs and bringing life back to limbs that had grown weak with starvation. The storm parted around it like a curtain before a king.

It led them through the frozen madness until they reached a valley tucked between rolling hills, a sheltered adow that the blizzard had sohow spared. The land there still lived. Grass pushed through the earth, trees still stood tall, and animals road as if winter had never touched the place.

The lion stepped into that valley, paused once, and then vanished as though it had never existed at all.

That was how the Solarmane Sect ca to be.

They nad themselves after their savior and claid the valley as their ho. In ti they grew prosperous, transforming from a wandering rchant tribe into a well-known rchant sect that traded across Vraal’Kor.

Few people knew the full story behind their origins.

For Alexei, the mont itself had been divine.

Everything that ca before it had been anything but.

Even now, the mory still lived inside him like an old wound that never truly healed.

And perhaps being trapped inside this icy prison only made it fester. Or perhaps the real source of his unease was sothing far more recent.

The deal they had made, with what he strongly suspected was a fae.

He had heard of such creatures, of course. Mostly in children’s tales and the sort of rumors people liked to spread when they had nothing better to do. The stories always described them the sa way: radiant, beautiful beings with smooth skin and long ears, almost like beastkin stripped of their bestial features.

So stories gave them iridescent wings that caught light like oil on water, which they used to disorient travelers before walking them sowhere they would not co back from.

And then there were always the pacts.

Soone always signed one.

And those pacts had a way of ending that made the person who signed them wish they had simply died instead.

He hadn’t seen any wings, but she fit the rest of the description well enough.

Whatever absurd bargain he had made for their survival, it had involved sothing far beyond what they understood.

The real problem now was how in the world he was supposed to explain any of this to Markus.

Maksim was already downstairs, drinking like none of it had happened to him personally. He carried himself with that sa boneless ease he always had, as though the entire ordeal had simply passed through him without catching on anything. And yet Maksim had been the primary witness. He had stood there and watched it unfold with his own eyes. As usual, the mont responsibility started to feel like weight, he had set it down and walked away from it, leaving Alexei standing in the wreckage trying to figure out how to build a door out of the rubble.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Below, the square roared with celebration.

They were toasting the expedition's success, cheering victories that had not genuinely belonged to them. Every bit of it had been borrowed from the creature who had decided, for reasons of her own, that they were worth keeping alive. And now Alexei owed her sothing for that decision.

A debt she had calmly said she would collect when the ti was right.

He had half-expected Maksim to sober up and at least perform the motions of taking it seriously, but his brother seed perfectly comfortable trusting that Alexei would absorb the consequences for both of them.

Fine.

He would absorb them.

For now he had been avoiding Markus entirely. Not that Markus had done anything to warrant it, though Alexei knew exactly what he was avoiding all the sa. He had introduced a powerful and thoroughly unpredictable variable into an already dangerous situation without consulting anyone.

As if they were not already drowning in problems.

They still needed to gather the remaining Keys, unlock the doors to the final trial chamber, claim whatever cursed inheritance waited on the other side of it, and get out of this prison before it finished digesting them.

Speaking of Keys.

Alexei summoned the one the fae had given him.

No. Not given. Lent.

A silver miniature leviathan appeared, curling itself lazily around his hand. It stretched its tiny body and yawned widely before lifting its head to peer at his face. Then it floated up and began rubbing against his cheek with affectionate insistence.

Alexei’s mouth twitched.

It was… oddly cute.

The creature reminded him of his wolf familiar when it had been a pup, constantly demanding attention and affection without the slightest sha.

Each of the Keys behaved sowhat like this, though their personalities differed in strange ways. The only trait they truly shared was their power. Each one was a formidable artefact, capable of channeling the Authority of a gold core if the wielder possessed the power to endure the monstrous mana consumption.

And each Key could only be obtained by hunting the leviathans that guarded them.

Gold cores.

Alexei shook his head and stepped away from the window.

He needed to speak with Markus as soon as possible.

Soone had hunted the Fog Leviathan inside its own domain, a creature considered nearly impossible to track, let alone kill without risking one’s life simply gathering information about it.

And that soone was the fae.

Her motives remained unclear, and she was still an unknown variable in every sense of the word. Yet none of that changed the fact that a being capable of such a feat now existed inside a trial that was supposed to accommodate red cores at most.

Markus wasn’t among the celebrations below.

That likely ant he was with the prisoners, settling them in and assigning whatever tasks they would be given next. Managing them alone would take ti, which gave Alexei a mont to gather his thoughts and figure out how to present everything in a manner that didn’t sound completely insane.

It wasn’t Markus who worried him.

It was the ghost at his side.

Veshka.

Very few people even knew her na. Most simply called her Markus’ Ghost. She was the one responsible for eliminating countless spies planted by the so-called Tyrant Dragon. And unless soone possessed an exceptional sensing ability, there was no reliable way to know if she was watching.

Even Alexei’s honed Bio Sense struggled with her. It took deliberate effort and a careful probing of empty spaces, just to catch the faintest hint that she might be nearby.

Right now he couldn’t be bothered with that.

Instead, he raised his hand and summoned the miniature leviathan. The silver creature chirped happily as it appeared, pleased with the attention.

“I was about to report it if you’re watching,” he said, waiting a mont to see if Veshka would respond.

Nothing happened.

He exhaled quietly in relief.

She had no reason to spy on him right now.

“Report? To whom?”

The syrupy sweet voice ca from directly behind him.

Alexei nearly jumped out of his skin.

He turned to find a very familiar face arranged in an expression of idle amusent. Golden hair fell in soft locks around long, elegant ears, and she was dressed differently than before. Shadows clung to her garnts like things that had decided to live there, faintly pulsing in a way they shouldn’t. The attire was still graceful, still composed, but it carried a certain nace underneath the refinent now.

She watched the color drain from his face and then slowly return, and seed to find both stages equally entertaining.

Strangely in that mont Alexei realized he was more frightened of Veshka than of the fae standing directly in front of him. He could not get the logic of that feeling to explain itself.

"Did I scare you?" she asked, playful.

Alexei beca suddenly and acutely aware of all his limbs. "I— err— I didn't expect you to appear this… early."

The mont the words left his mouth he realized how that sounded.

Yes. That had sounded terrible.

She pouted imdiately.

“You make it sound like you didn’t want my company,” she said with exaggerated sadness. “Did I leave such a dreadful first impression?”

“No—no, not at all,” Alexei hurried to correct himself. “You are the great benefactor who saved my life and the lives of my people. I would never think such a thing.”

She giggled at the rushed apology and lightly patted his back.

“Relax. I was teasing you. And stop calling benefactor.” She paused for emphasis. “Call Venam.”

Another pause.

“Venam with an A.”

Then she glanced around the room and lifted a brow.

“Well? Are you going to offer a seat?”

Alexei imdiately sprang into motion. Questions about why she had appeared here could wait. Hospitality ca first.

"Thank you," she said as she settled into the chair Alexei had pulled out for her.

She turned her gaze toward the window, letting it rest on the city below, lingering on the square where celebrations were happening. "My, what a charming vantage point. I daresay this might be the tallest building in this section." Her eyes drifted downward before flicking back to him. "And a workshop directly below, if I'm not mistaken. A tidy little arrangent. Yours, I assu?"

"Well… sothing like that." Alexei rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not only a warrior. Enchantnt is the other half of it. There are a few others here who practice it, but people tend to settle on one person once the work earns their trust." He glanced toward the floor. "So the space downstairs has rather gradually beco mine. Workshop in the day. Resting place when I can't be bothered to go anywhere else."

"A man who sleeps among his tools," she said, with the faint approval of soone who found that sensible. "There are worse habits."

Her fingers drifted across the underside of the table, tracing the etched patterns there without looking at them.

"Even this table," she murmured, "could beco quite the weapon if thrown with sufficient enthusiasm."

Alexei laughed despite himself. "I'm afraid it only carries a basic reinforcent enchantnt. Just enough to keep it from breaking under ordinary use."

"A basic one, perhaps," she replied, tilting her head slightly, "though certainly a well-made one. The distinction matters more than most people bother to acknowledge." A curious gleam settled in her eyes. "Would you care to tell about it?"

Alexei rarely had the opportunity to discuss his enchantnts with anyone who wanted to understand them rather than simply use them. Most people cared about results. Whether it was nervous energy or the quiet pleasure of speaking with soone who was actually listening, he found himself explaining almost before he had decided to.

His voice steadied as he went. Enchantnt was one of the few crafts he took genuine pride in, and describing the rune structure, the way the reinforcent loop was stabilized against fracture points, ca naturally once he started.

Venam listened with the attention of soone who was not rely being polite. Her questions ca at precise monts, the kind that only erged from soone who already understood enough to know exactly where to press. Each one pulled the explanation a layer deeper than Alexei had intended to go.

By the ti he finished, he had talked himself into noticing three structural weaknesses he hadn't caught on his own, places where sustained stress might eventually cause the enchantnt to fold inward on itself.

He stared at the table for a mont, mildly annoyed at himself.

She looked quietly pleased.

"Thank you for indulging , Alexei," she said. "Genuinely. I hope you'll forgive if I pushed further than was comfortable. An enchanter's craft tends to be closely guarded, and the last thing I'd want is to have extracted more than you intended to give."

There was no performance in it.

"You saved my life," Alexei said, with a small shake of his head. "Twice, if we're counting honestly. I think a conversation about enchantnt structure is a fairly modest return." He paused. "And speaking with soone who understands enchantnt at your level was worth sothing to as well. Those weaknesses were mine to find. I simply hadn't."

That answer seed to settle sothing for her.

"Then we'll call it an even exchange," she said, leaning back slightly. "I will confess the conversation gave more than I expected. The way you've taken a foundational reinforcent pattern and pushed it to the edge of what that structure can theoretically hold together— by conventional ans, at least— is genuinely clever. It reminded that resourcefulness in constraints often produces more interesting work than abundance ever does."

Her gaze stayed on him a mont longer before sothing shifted in it.

"However," she said, "that was not why I ca to find you."

She gestured toward the chair across from her.

"Please, sit."

Alexei had already suspected as much. His ears twitched as felt a brief flicker of embarrassnt at how thoroughly he had let himself be absorbed in discussing enchantnt theory with a woman who had hunted the Fog Leviathan in its own domain.

He sat.

"I'll assist however I'm able," he said carefully.

She smiled at that, the smile of soone who had briefly considered testing the full scope of that offer and had, for now, decided against it.

"You see, Alexei," she said, "as you may have already gathered… I am not native to this land."

Alexei had already guessed as much. She didn’t resemble any kind of beastkin he had ever seen, and more importantly, she carried herself with a kind of power that simply should not exist inside this prison. After all, the trial barred anyone above a red core from entering. Even a gold core cultivator would struggle to survive a confrontation with a leviathan in its own territory.

“I had… noticed,” he admitted carefully.

“And that,” she said lightly, “is precisely my predicant.”

She leaned back in her chair, resting one elbow on the armrest. “You see, I know very little about this place. I was transported here by magic I did not understand, and the very next mont I found myself drowning in a rather hostile sea of fog. It took so ti to adjust before a particularly large fish decided I looked edible.”

Her lips curved in mild irritation. “It did manage a bite, I will grant it that. A mountain-sized set of teeth tends to be persuasive. But I made it pay dearly for the attempt.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Moronic creature.”

If anyone else had described the Fog Leviathan in that tone, Alexei would have burst out laughing on the spot.

But this woman had killed it.

So he kept his composure and listened.

“I wandered for a ti after that,” she continued. “Eventually I ca across your group that night. The fog creatures seed quite enthusiastic about turning you all into dinner.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“I did not save you out of charity, mind you. It was entirely selfish. I needed information, and you were the first reasonably civilized creatures I encountered. Of the two parties present, only one was capable of conversation. The other rely wished to chew on my bones. The choice was rather obvious.”

Alexei nodded faintly. When she put it that way, the logic did seem fairly straightforward.

“The following day,” she went on, “I simply followed you for a while. I intended to observe quietly and gather information without interfering. I did manage to learn a few things, but I must admit patience is not my strongest virtue. Nor am I particularly talented at standing on the sidelines while events unfold.”

Her gaze drifted to Alexei's wrist.

The miniature silver leviathan had, at so point during his enchantnt explanation, quietly shaped itself into a bracelet and gone to sleep.

"So I intervened again," she said. "Introduced myself properly. Left you a small gift in the process."

Alexei looked down at the sleeping creature.

"I gathered a fair amount after that," she continued, "but my understanding of this place remains incomplete in ways that matter."

She rested her chin lightly against her hand, studying him with an expression that was thoughtful in the way that a careful person looks thoughtful when they are deciding how much they actually need to ask versus how much they have already worked out.

"So. Let us start sowhere simple. From what I have gathered, your people are cut off from wherever you ca from."

A pause.

"Tell how you all ended up trapped here in the first place."

Alexei drew a slow breath and began gathering his thoughts into sothing presentable.