The book on the country of Naxos – which Adam insisted she bring on the trip – was extraordinary in how dull it was to read. But Laurel persevered. This was further east than she had ever traveled. She had no convenient past memories to pull from and forewarned is forearmed. Naxos was Merista’s eastern neighbor, but the cultural differences were astounding. Where her adopted home had a range of mostly temperate climates and a needlessly complex political structure made up of nobles and powerful guilds, Naxos was the opposite. That the languages were mutually intelligible was a quirk of migration and luck. Which the author had spent about seventy-five frivolous pages explaining.

  Naxos was dominated by desert, interspersed with large oases, fading into steppes in the northeast. The large mountain ranges separating it from the west caused unique social structures to form. Tribes developed around the water sources in the desert, and were still fiercely independent, even though they now had an acknowledged ruling council. Instead of the many factions holding the country back, they had caused a technological revolution. Naxos rivaled the Laskarian empire for advancements in steam engines and new transportation methods. Other scientific breakthroughs had been fueled by engineering needs forced by the climate. The Meristan Scholar’s Guild counted several expatriates from Naxos as key members; friendly and not so friendly academic rivalries were common between the nations. Adam had exhorted her to pick up any texts she could find, or recruit someone from a major university if at all possible.

  She stored the book after suffering through another chapter. Adam had meant well but he had far more tolerance for bad narration and stilted prose than she did. Or perhaps just more practice with non-fiction. Annette had sent some notes along as well, but her expertise lay in Meristan high society rather than foreign affairs. Her advice mostly boiled down to ‘please don’t start an incident’.

  They were flying through known shipping lanes and had been for days. Merista and Naxos were strong enough allies that subterfuge or sticking to less inhabited areas was a waste of time. Of course, with the population concentrated around the relatively small arable regions and water sources, hiding would have been impossible anyway. Occasionally they spotted an overland caravan below, plodding along on odd animals or with some sort of slug shaped vehicle that was able to move over sand. They had passed a few airships in the distance, which she was still itching to explore more in depth. Laurel was still fascinated with the different ways mortals had figured out how to fly. Maybe in a few years she could commission one. Larger, slow-moving ships were the norm here. Kat, the most well traveled of them all, told them each ship was owned and operated by one large extended family of merchants, flying cargo around without suffering the heat of the sand.

  A few more natural treasures had been easy to pick up along their route. Mostly sand, air, or heat aspected, they would be useful for climate control or defense. A small but verdant oasis they spent a night in had a life-attuned treasure at its core. As useful as such a thing would be, it wasn’t mature enough to harvest. If Laurel had taken it, the whole area would wither away. Instead they marked it on the map as a place to return to and continued on.

  Their last stop before returning to Merista was the capital of Naxos at Araxis. Kat and Maria were instructed to check in and deliver certain news and military communications to their counterparts. Laurel was more interested in the mana infrastructure. The population at Araxis would be far smaller than Verilia, or even Lanport or Jaranda. But it was still large enough to need dedicated cultivators. The wild contrasts in the environment and densely packed population were more likely to lead to something unusual and she was dying to explore. If she could tease out some local cultivation secrets, that would be even better. Her enthusiasm was unfortunately tempered by caution. If the plot in Laskar was widespread enough, they could be walking into an enemy stronghold. Laurel was confident against anyone at her level, but if a group of masters had formed then things would be less certain.

  The more she spent thinking on it the last few months, the faster she wanted to return to the sect and make sure they had defenses in place. She had pushed them to travel farther each day and had taken a slightly more active role in harvesting in the last weeks. Martin and the others could handle threats but she wanted to be there as well. It was a strange feeling to have. In the past, when she and her friends had missions they would take as long as they needed, and they rarely felt the need to hurry back. But there were no longer dozens of masters and grandmasters protecting the sect to rely on. Laurel was in charge now, and she needed to see with her own eyes that everything was fine. She had forged her cultivation around the freedom to see the world as she chose. For decades being too tied down was anathema to her own growth. She had changed, expanded. She would still see all this world had to offer and those worlds beyond, but she was in no rush. Freedom would be found in security. Her sect would be safe and prospering before she moved on. And she would always have a home to return to.

  As they approached Araxis, Laurel had to once more re-evaluate her estimation of mortals. The miles around the city were covered in farmland. It was kept fertile by the underground river that ran through the area and surfaced to make the oases flourish. That was expected. Buildings taller than any she had seen crafted without mana were not. Sun glinting off bronze tiled roofs and glass windows forced their pilots to drop lower if they wanted to avoid being blinded. They were still high enough to see the rest of the city, buildings interwoven with lush plant life. With a lack of area to spread out, the people of Naxos had built vertically.

  A sweep of Laurel’s spiritual sense revealed they had also tunneled through the rock beneath the oasis. She could feel chambers of growth around the underground waterways that must act as a secondary source of food for the city. She registered all that but was more curious about the City Core. It was present, and the ambient mana was smooth enough that it felt partially cultivated. But the core itself was odd. It felt denser, and blurry to her senses. She also couldn’t feel an anchor point anywhere. Something to investigate. There were a few cultivators present in the city, at least that she could feel from her cursory inspection. Only one that would be any kind of threat to her party.

  The squadron reached a designated landing area outside of the main city. A large installation that was so ugly it could only be a military base towered above them as they disembarked. Laurel quickly let everyone know what she had found out before the locals arrived. Their uniforms were light-colored but covered their entire bodies, protecting against the insidious damage from the sun reflecting off the sand. She stood back with her students, letting the officers handle the appropriate pleasantries. Instead her spiritual sense stayed locked on the expert-level presence she had found. The stranger had approached the air field but not any closer. Laurel wasn’t sure exactly why but after making a few nods and agreeable sounds she was able to peel away to investigate, holding Leander and Rebecca by the shoulders as she steered them away. She hesitated for a moment, flashing back to her oath not to force them into foolish risks as she had with Borin, but she had to trust her instincts. The presence hadn’t attacked thus far, and had dropped its veil long enough for Laurel to get a better look at their cultivation. That was done as a courtesy so she was reasonably confident she wasn’t leading the children towards a fight. And the mana here was unusual enough that she wanted to keep an eye on them both until things were more settled.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Their route took them away from the open area set aside for military aircraft. Rebecca and Leander both sighed in relief as they entered the shade of the trees. The relatively low humidity made the temperature in the shade just about bearable for the kids. Even their lightest outfits were still made for the more temperate northern Meristan climate. The well-maintained path led them on a winding journey, keeping to the shaded areas rather than a straight line. Flint, who had been hiding under Rebecca’s shirt, decided it was time to explore. He scampered up into the trees and Laurel could feel him keeping pace up above, and frightening the occasional bird. Their path ended at a small grotto. A few well-worn benches around a small pool of water marked it as a well-loved spot for the locals. Today it was mostly empty.

  One man sat on the farthest bench, his profile exposed to them as they approached. He made no acknowledgement, though Laurel knew this was the most powerful cultivator in the city. He was dressed in the local fashion, light clothes covering most of his body. Even this close, Laurel couldn’t quite get a full read on his core without forcing her way in with her stronger cultivation. She was reluctantly impressed. Rebecca and Leander had picked up on the odd situation and stayed quiet as Laurel directed them towards the other benches. As she went to speak, she noticed faint markings at the corners of his eyes and she paused again. The silence stretched into awkwardness as she stared, realizing what they indicated. Laurel kept staring anyway. Dragons, merpeople, and a few other groups required zones of high mana density to be born and grow up. They could survive outside them as adults but they were weakened. It had been an assumption on her part that those societies had collapsed entirely, being unable to survive in the intervening centuries.

  She was startled out of her reverie when Flint dropped onto her back.

  “Thank you for welcoming me personally into your home. I am Laurel Stormblade, sectmaster of the Eternal Archive.” She spoke in Alrasian. Dragons had their own language that she had never learned, as fiercely guarded as it was.

  “I’m afraid I don’t speak Alrasian, but Meristan is fine. Welcome to Araxis. My name is Oro.”

  Laurel waited a moment to see if any more information would be forthcoming. The dragon sat there. As the shock wore off Laurel noticed what she missed at first. The wringing hands and slight rocking back and forth. Oro had no idea what to do.

  “Oro, I apologize for overstepping, but how are you here? Did other dragons survive? What have you done to the City Core?”

  Before the man could answer, Rebecca jumped off the bench. “Dragons?” she squeaked. “Did you say dragons?”

  “Ahem. Yes, well. I am a dragon and a member of the Tarinoth clan. Well-spotted, Sectmaster.”

  Flint picked up on Rebecca’s excitement and jumped from Laurel’s shoulder to chitter at the girl. Leander was also standing now, leaning in to peer closer at Oro. Perhaps sensing the obvious questions would need to be answered before anything else could get done, the dragon did his best to explain.

  “Dragons can take a humanoid form from a young age, though some visual clues remain.” He gestured at the small scales near his eyes.

  “Dragons, like flying lizard dragons?” The children were stuck on that fact but Laurel had other things on her mind.

  “Now what would Annette say about asking people about their parentage?” The specter of the etiquette lessons both children had been subjected to was enough to have them stammering out apologies. Leander even took his speaking stone out to get the point across. Flint wasn’t sapient yet, but he had a crude enough awareness to copy Rebecca’s apologetic half-bow.

  “Yes, perhaps I can transform for you at some point. To Madam Stormblade’s questions, I don’t know. I believe the elders of my clan fled the world many years ago. My egg was left in a cavern with some memory tablets I eventually figured out how to use. But the information was limited. I hatched two decades ago and have been in Naxos since. My people’s natural ability with mana has undoubtedly saved my life, but beyond those tablets, I do not know what became of my people.” Oro bowed his head at that.

  “I’m sorry.” There was really nothing else to say. His people had been destroyed much like her own. That there were any dragons saved at all was a miracle, the other members of Oro’s clan were either far out in the cosmos or bones worn down to dust. The rage she had kept in check for months boiled back to the surface. All this so some cowards could get power they were too weak to claim in the light.

  “I felt your scan of the city and came to meet you, and ask for your assistance. Something is wrong with the mana. It has been increasing for years. By the end I could barely use external magic within the city without losing control. Then a year or so ago it got easier. The mana kept increasing but I could again use it without fear. There was something different though. I thought maybe another cultivator but haven’t found any that had the skill it would take.”

  That was consistent with a newly cultivated Core, but Oro should have been able to find anyone powerful enough to deal with a City Core for a place as large as Araxis. Dragons were instinctive magic users, unlike humans, and strong ones at that. There was no one else nearby that she could feel that would have the abilities to interact with the Core. Of course they could be away, much like herself. But that didn’t seem quite right either.

  “Let me meditate a few moments and see if I can find anything. You two be polite.” She shot the last at her students as she dropped into a cultivation pose and let her consciousness float out into the surroundings. It was as Oro claimed. The ambient mana was smooth. The local cultivators were bright lights in the flows. She even felt Trip doing something to his plane with mana. Something she was going to let Kat and Maria discover on their own.

  She let herself go further out, trying to find the nexus for the core. Tracing to where the mana flows intersected she dropped deeper. And was promptly slapped back out. Laurel jerked back into her own body abruptly enough to make her flinch. The motion revealed a violent headache for her troubles.

  She groaned. Her education had been top notch, but she would have happily gone forever without having to use this particular lesson. A sprig of mint appeared in front of her. She followed the arm back to see a worried looking Leander holding it out. Her students were at least shaping up quite nicely. She thanked him and chewed some of the leaves. In truth her spirit wasn’t strained so they did little, but the appreciation was still there for the gesture.

  “Good news and bad news.” She climbed up onto one of the benches. Sitting under everyone didn’t quite fit her vision of a sectmaster. “I know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Excellent. What is the good news?” Oro, she reminded herself, was quite young, for all he was a member of an ancient magical race.

  “That is the good news. The bad news is that we have an exceedingly rare and annoying phenomenon on our hands that we’ll need to deal with before it gets worse. Your city’s Core is forming a dungeon.”