Chapter 422: Directions to the Bathroom
Inside a grand chamber lined wall to wall with towering shelves of ancient books, a familiar voice echoed.
"Say what now?" Riley asked in bewildered outrage as he stared at the gathered beings who, only moments ago, had been indistinguishable from glorified stone statues and were now staring right back at him.
"Could you repeat that? But slower? Like... waaaaay slower so my dysfunctional brain has a chance of catching up?"
He waved a hand through the air, gesturing for what was essentially a complete do-over, caught somewhere between utter disbelief and stubborn denial.
At this, the guardians of the archives actually had the audacity to turn toward Thyrran instead, as though they genuinely couldn’t understand why they were expected to explain anything to someone like Riley. The collective look on their faces practically asked, Is this really your master?
Not that they couldn’t detect he was definitely a black dragon, but because he was rather... eccentric. Even more so than his already known eccentric predecessors.
Thyrran, meanwhile, merely hissed back at them in obvious annoyance.
Just get him to see the materials.
It’s been a long day.
And honestly, Riley couldn’t have agreed more.
__
Anybody who arrived and saw such a gruesome scene could honestly claim more than just a long day. But for the likes of Riley and Kael, they simply couldn’t just stop there, right?
Originally, they were supposed to continue observing the village, hoping to discover exactly how the wyverns left the area and where they intended to go next.
Unfortunately, those plans had fallen apart the moment the young beastkin child they were hoping to rescue began to burn with a fever. There was no way Riley was going to gamble with the little one’s life just to gather more intelligence, not after surviving a massacre only to possibly die because they decided surveillance was somehow more important than immediate treatment.
So they ended up returning.
And thankfully, they had.
Because not long after arriving, the woman had begun showing the exact same symptoms.
Now that...
That was suspicious.
Well, at least until they realized why the three of them remained perfectly unaffected.
They were dragons.
The rescued beastkin, on the other hand, weren’t.
The current hypothesis was that prolonged exposure to whatever mana the wyverns naturally exuded had begun overwhelming their systems, something the dragons’ own constitutions could withstand but ordinary magical beings apparently couldn’t.
Needless to say, that wasn’t exactly the sort of discovery anyone wanted to make.
Because if that hypothesis proved correct, then it meant prolonged exposure during future battles would gradually wear down most magical races even before the fighting truly began. Worse, it immediately added yet another concern to an already impossible list of things Riley now had to worry about.
For one, his parents absolutely couldn’t afford to remain anywhere near prolonged engagements with the wyverns.
Particularly his father.
With his already weakened constitution, exposing him to something like this would be gambling with his life.
To be fair, Riley had explored the possibility of using dragon blood as a temporary solution.
Sadly, Kael had immediately shut the idea down.
"They’re already experiencing mana instability," the dragon lord had explained. "Introducing an even more powerful mana source into an already unstable body might only worsen their condition."
Sad to say...
That made complete sense.
Sure enough, Riley couldn’t help but think that when it rained, it really poured, because just how many more problems were they supposed to uncover before they finally stumbled across even the faintest ray of hope?
Thankfully, he’d kept that particular rhetorical question to himself.
Because knowing his very golden mate, Kael would’ve answered with his usual brutal honesty instead of offering empty reassurance, and right then, Riley wasn’t entirely convinced he could survive another objectively correct answer.
There were simply days when one needed comfort more than facts.
And while being blunt and honest were admirable qualities, and ones he definitely preferred over compulsive lying, sometimes he also wanted to indulge in a few delusions, you know?
Still, Riley figured he could at least become a high-functioning emotionally distressed dragon.
So when Kael, who was understandably less affected by the beastkin’s pained groans and struggling breaths than Riley was, suggested they investigate something before drawing any further conclusions...
The conflicted ex-mortal really considered following.
__
The golden dragon had simply told his mate that they needed to leave for a moment to check on something.
Naturally, Riley’s first instinct was to look back toward the infirmary, his gaze lingering on the two beastkin who were still burning with fever. The child looked especially miserable, and the sight alone made him hesitate. Leaving while they were still in that condition didn’t exactly sit well with him.
Fortunately, Orryn seemed to understand what was going through his head.
"I’ll stay," the red dragon said from the side. "If there are any important changes, I’ll notify you immediately."
That was enough to convince the hesitant aide.
And so, somehow...
They ended up in the dragon archives, of all places.
Surrounded by oddly-sized statues that would’ve been unbelievably creepy had Riley not already known what they really were.
Err—
So he might’ve let out a yelp or two when they all suddenly turned their heads in his direction, but frankly, no one should be allowed to judge him for that when even the bravest person would panic after witnessing an entire hall of extremely random statues rearrange themselves just to stare at their every movement.
Honestly, Riley couldn’t help but wonder what, exactly, his ancestors had been thinking when they designed something like this.
Seriously. Just who thought this was funny?
Thankfully, the rather stressful trip hadn’t been for nothing.
"Anything capable of accurately pinpointing dragon crypts would have to be draconic in nature," Kael explained as they walked deeper into the archives.
It sounded painfully obvious.
Almost insultingly so.
A complete "well, duh" moment.
But the logic itself wasn’t the problem.
The problem was the being who supposedly possessed that ability.
Or perhaps more accurately...
The birthright that made such a thing possible was said to be the literal Queen of the Wyverns.
And unless those guys had somehow mixed up the proper definition of the word "birthright", then they couldn’t really afford to dismiss what they had heard as meaningless. They would have to consider every possible interpretation, no matter how unlikely it initially sounded.
Out of all those possibilities, however, one stood out far more than the others.
"So..." Riley slowly began, glancing sideways at his mate. "You really think she’s pulling a Malrik?"
Kael’s brows furrowed ever so slightly at Riley’s rather concise summary before giving a small nod.
"If that woman truly is the same individual..." the golden dragon said quietly, "then it would explain Lord Rueben’s concerns."
Riley stopped walking.
Kael took a slow breath before listing things he thought made sense.
"Someone who knew how to enter through the secret path. Every piece of evidence conveniently redirecting suspicion toward the white dragons. And above all..." His golden eyes narrowed. "The forbidden flames Lord Rueben reported seeing."
He then fell silent, simply looking at Riley as though expecting him to connect the remaining pieces himself.
Sure enough, Riley replayed every word in his head.
Then everything clicked.
A low whistle escaped him before he found himself repeating something Kael had once told him.
"Dragons cannot wield the forbidden flames... nor would we survive being engulfed by them."
That hadn’t changed.
It was still true.
His thoughts continued racing.
"But..." Riley murmured, his gaze gradually drifting into space as though running through one impossible scenario after another. "What about halflings?"
The words barely left his lips before another realization struck him.
He slowly turned back toward Kael.
"No shit..."
His eyes widened.
"Kael... could she actually be half white dragon?"
The golden dragon didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
The silence between them already acknowledged the horrifying implication.
Truthfully, the current dragon lord didn’t want that possibility to be correct.
But if it was...
And they ignored the lead...
Just how much would they regret it later?
Well, the archives did have another answer waiting for them. There was at least that. But whether it was something they would actually consider favorable news was another matter altogether.
Which simply brought them back to the moment they learned there were records they could at least try to check.
Try being the operative word.
That had everything to do with the fact that the guardians themselves had absolutely no idea what those records contained. Not because they were trying to hide anything from the dragon lord, definitely not.
In fact, they hadn’t even known such a hidden section existed within the very archives they’d inhabited for what was, quite literally, forever.
Their best guess was that there had to be certain conditions for the section to reveal itself, and those conditions likely had everything to do with the existence of this black dragon. Because even after the hidden records appeared, all they saw were blank pages.
It was painfully obvious that none of it had ever been meant for their eyes.
You’d better believe Riley was surprised by that revelation.
Because who exactly would’ve been able to use those records if he’d never gotten his ass into the dragon archives in the first place?
Seriously, just how much blind faith had his ancestors placed in his social abilities?
What if he’d been the sort of person who refused to ask for directions to the bathroom despite desperately needing one?
If he’d been a recluse who would never have had the chance to get to know the current dragon lord, then what?
Game over for Eryndra?
Geez.
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