Kai stared at the unconscious woman on the crystal floor.
The echo of his own thought lingered in the hollow chamber.
What the hell did I just get myself into?
The battlefield beneath the mountain had fallen silent. The last traces of azure dragon flame crackled weakly against the walls—
—tssss… pop—
—before dying out entirely.
The dragon's colossal body was gone.
Where it had once lain, only drifting motes of blue light remained, rising like reverse-falling snow before vanishing into the cavern ceiling. Liberation. Or the final breath of something ancient.
All that was left was her.
White hair spilled across the crystal floor like liquid moonlight. Her black dress was torn, soaked with blood that wasn't entirely hers. Pale skin. Too pale. Almost translucent.
Kai knelt beside her again, slower this time.
Her breathing was steady.
Too steady, he thought, for someone who had been a butterfly made of blood moments ago.
Pain flared at his side.
Kai hissed and pressed a hand against the wound left by the void tendril. The bleeding had slowed, but the flesh around it was stained black, corruption clinging like stubborn rot. The dragon blood in his veins had burned most of it away—
—but not all.
He didn't have time.
This place was a beacon now.
Dragon blood. Butterfly remnants. Fresh mortal flesh.
Void beasts would come.
—Soon—
With a grunt, Kai slid one arm beneath her shoulders and the other under her knees, lifting her carefully.
She weighed almost nothing.
As if part of her hadn't fully decided to exist yet.
Her head rested against his chest, white hair spilling over his coat.
And—
Warmth bloomed.
Not heat.
Sunlight.
The pain in his side dulled instantly.
Kai froze mid-step.
"…What?"
He looked down.
For a heartbeat, a faint shimmer rippled across her back—countless overlapping shapes like wings made of light.
—fwish—
Then it vanished.
Kai exhaled sharply.
"Great," he muttered. "You're already messing with me."
He adjusted his grip and stood.
Void Edge slid back across his shoulder by instinct, the blade humming low and displeased, as if wary of the woman in his arms.
—mmmm—
He carried her toward the cavern exit.
The moment he crossed the threshold—
—WHOOOOOM—
—the storm hit him like a wall.
Wind screamed through the ruins, flinging ice needles into his face. Snow swallowed the world whole. Visibility dropped to nothing.
Good for hiding tracks.
Terrible for surviving.
Kai paused beneath the broken archway, scanning the whiteout.
No movement.
No howls.
Not yet.
He stepped out.
The cold bit hard, but the dragon blood pushed back—heat radiating from his core, turning lethal frost into something tolerable.
Another gift.
Or another chain.
He headed east, toward the treeline he remembered before entering the ruins. Somewhere there was an old hunter's shelter—half collapsed, but stone still held better than open ground.
Halfway across the battlefield—
She stirred.
A soft inhale.
Then a murmur, too faint to catch.
Kai kept walking.
Her fingers twitched against his coat.
Then—
Her eyes opened.
Silver.
Luminous.
Like twin full moons breaking through clouded night.
They fixed on his face—not with fear.
Not with confusion.
With recognition.
"…You drank," she whispered.
Her voice was soft, melodic—
—and impossibly heavy.
Ancient.
Kai didn't slow. "Yeah. Your dragon friend made a convincing argument."
A faint smile curved her lips. "Not my dragon."
He glanced down.
She was watching him far too calmly for someone who had just awakened in a stranger's arms.
"He was my enemy," she continued. "Once."
Kai frowned. "You have a name?"
"Aurelia."
The sound of it resonated strangely in his chest.
"And you?"
"Kai."
She repeated it quietly. "Kai…"
Then her brow furrowed.
"The bond," she murmured. "It's already forming. I can feel your pain. Your rage."
Kai stiffened. "Stay out of my head."
Aurelia's eyes softened. "I'm not in it."
A pause.
"Not yet."
Snow crunched as Kai stopped walking.
The storm roared around them.
"Then explain," he said flatly.
Aurelia drew a slow breath. "The dragon gave you his blood. I emerged from the seal that bound him. In that moment—blood and wing crossed paths."
Her hand rested lightly against his chest.
—thump—
—thump—
"We are tethered now," she said. "Soul to soul."
Kai resumed walking, faster.
"Tethered how?"
"Shared strength."
"Shared wounds."
"Shared dreams, in time."
Her voice dropped.
"…Shared death, if we are careless."
He didn't respond.
They reached the treeline.
Ancient evergreens rose like silent sentinels, branches sagging beneath snow. Kai pushed through, following a half-remembered path until the hunter's shelter emerged—a squat stone structure with three walls and a sagging roof.
He stepped inside and set her down gently on the driest patch of ground.
Old pine needles crunched beneath her.
Aurelia sat up slowly, movements graceful despite her weakness. The faint shimmer of butterfly wings flickered across her shoulders again—
—fwish—
—and faded.
Kai dropped his pack, pulled out a flask, and took a sharp swig. The burn helped clear lingering corruption from his mind as much as his wound.
He tossed her his spare cloak.
"Wrap up. You're freezing."
She caught it, draping the gray fabric over herself. "Thank you."
Kai crouched opposite her, back against the wall, Void Edge resting across his knees.
The shelter was small.
Barely ten feet between them.
"Start talking," he said. "What is the Cycle?"
Aurelia's silver eyes reflected the dim light seeping through the cracked roof.
"Long ago," she began, "the world was balanced between creation and destruction. Dragons embodied raw force—fire, storm, void. We… the Butterfly Sovereigns… embodied renewal. Rebirth. Illusion."
She paused.
"We kept each other in check."
Her gaze drifted.
"But one dragon desired more. He opened a rift to the Devouring Void, believing he could control it."
Her fingers curled.
"He was wrong."
The storm outside moaned.
"The war shattered continents. When it ended, the survivors sealed the rift—at a terrible cost."
Her hand brushed her chest.
"I was one of the sealers. I sacrificed my body, my name, my divinity. Only a fragment remained—hidden within the guardian dragon."
Kai's jaw tightened. "The azure one."
"Yes."
She met his eyes.
"When you drank his blood, the seal broke. My fragment found a new vessel—through you."
Silence stretched.
"We are the Cycle reborn," Aurelia said softly. "Dragon's blood in your veins. Butterfly's wing in mine."
Her gaze sharpened.
"If we grow strong enough together, we can mend the seal forever."
"…Or?"
"…Or tear it wide open."
A distant howl echoed through the storm.
—HRAAAAAWL—
Kai stood, hand on Void Edge.
"How many?"
Aurelia closed her eyes.
"Many," she whispered. "Drawn by the awakening."
"Can you fight?"
"Not yet." A faint smile. "But I can hide us."
Black mist gathered around her fingers, forming delicate butterfly silhouettes that drifted outward and vanished into the walls.
Outside—
Silence.
Kai sat again, closer this time.
"Rest," he said. "When you're stronger, we move."
Aurelia studied him. "And then?"
"I get answers."
Her smile turned knowing. "Some you will not like."
Warmth stirred in his chest.
The bond.
Waking.
Kai ignored it.
Outside, the storm raged.
Inside, two ancient legacies stirred.
And far beneath the ruins—
Something vast opened its eyeless gaze.