Chapter 158: Shattered Stillness

At first, there was only darkness.

Stillness.

A weightless quiet pressed down on Riley as though he were floating in an endless void.

Then, faintly, something fractured. A thin line across the black.

Crack!

Another crack.

And another.

The stillness broke apart, light leaking through in sharp, jagged lines. And then, with a deafening sound, one of the cracks split wide open. A shard shattered, and all at once the darkness was swallowed in light so blinding it felt as though the world had been upended.

In his dream, Riley thought it strange. Odd, even, that it felt like something deep inside him was breaking open.

But in the waking world, his body arched suddenly off the bed. His back lifted, his fingers curled tight, his head thrown back.

Kael, who had not moved from his position in two days, was on his feet in an instant. Panic tore across his face, uncharacteristic and raw.

Who was he even supposed to call for something like this?

It had been two days since he had stormed through the Ministry of Balance and Enforcement in a teleportation so violent it exploded the lobby apart. At first, everyone thought it was an attack until they saw him return carrying his aide in his arms. Debris clung to him, while children and adults of all races surrounded them in disheveled lines.

Had it happened in the morning, the news would have erupted like wildfire. But it had been in the dead of night, and so the ministry had been able to contain it. For now.

In those two days, the prisoners Kael had freed—beings of all kinds, some of them half-starved, some near death—had begun to recover. The children’s orphanage teacher, Miss Risa, had even survived, after Kael used elixirs no one believed still existed.

It sounded benevolent to outsiders, but Kael had not done it for them. He had only thought of Riley.

Because in the golden dragon’s mind, all of them owed their lives to Riley now. And the twig in all his puny glory would never forgive him nor quiet down if any of them died under his watch.

So they would live. They had to.

But Riley had not woken up.

Hours had turned into days. Kael had poured every elixir a human body could tolerate into him, even the rarest concoctions his hoard held. Still nothing.

Physicians had been called. Kael had nearly beheaded one already, and so now none dared step closer.

But how could he not rage, when they said something absurd?

“He is stable, my lord,” one had told him, voice shaking. “His vitals are sound. His pulse is strong. There is no indication of injury. He is simply… asleep.”

“Simply asleep?” Kael’s voice had been low, lethal. His claws flexed, digging into the armrest of the chair beside Riley’s bed. “He has not woken for two days. Does that sound like sleep to you?”

The physician stammered, falling to his knees. “There is nothing else we can find—”

“Incompetent,” Kael spat, the word slicing through the room. “Get out.”

The physicians scrambled, nearly tripping over one another in their rush to escape. Kael stood in the silence they left behind, his chest heaving with the weight of fury he could not release.

If Riley were only tired, he would not still be unconscious. Humans were fragile, yes, but two days with no sign of waking when everything else seemed normal? Impossible for someone who would wake from the sound of that annoying phone.

Kael had tried everything. He had even offered bribes aloud, though Riley was too insensate to hear.

“Half a year off,” Kael had muttered at one point, staring at the still form on the bed.

When that yielded nothing, he had scoffed and doubled it. “Fine. A year.”

Still, nothing.

And then it happened.

Riley’s body arched again, violently this time. His back bent, his head thrown back. Kael was at his side in an instant, hands on his shoulders.

The dragon lord’s instincts screamed at him.

He had been right.

See? Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Because Riley wouldn’t be sleeping on the job like that

Out of options, the dragon lord finally did what he rarely allowed himself to do. He called for his parents. If anyone had the breadth of knowledge to make sense of Riley’s condition, it would be them.

He had even considered informing Riley’s parents, but the thought died as quickly as it came. What exactly could they do in such a situation?

But to Kael’s surprise, even the Great Lord Karion and Lady Cirila were left staring at him in silence after hearing his account.

They had no answers.

“There has never been a precedent,” Lord Karion said slowly, “for what happens when someone overdraws abilities from a sigil. That would normally be impossible. While texts would show death, that’s merely what everyone would conclude would happen. But in reality, it’s virtually impossible.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible?”

“First,” Karion explained, “no dragon would ever lend their abilities to such an extent. We are bound by instinct to limit what is given. And second, most beings can only draw as much as their own mana will allow.”

He fell quiet when Kael began to recount fragments of Riley’s battle. The moment he mentioned that the children had seen Riley unleash blue flames, both his parents stiffened in shock.

“Blue flames?” Cirila repeated, eyes wide. “Kael… do you know what you are saying?”

“Other dragons cannot even produce that level of fire,” Karion muttered, astonished. “And your aide, a human…?”

Kael’s expression remained stone, his voice flat. “That is what they told me. They saw it.”

For a long moment, neither parent spoke. Maybe the children were mistaken, or maybe it had been too hazy to tell.

But then Karion’s gaze hardened. “A human has no natural mana pool. So I ask you, Kael. Just how could he draw more than you’ve given?”

There was no answer.

Even more baffling was the fact that Riley’s body had not torn apart under the strain. Any other being would have perished from the sigil alone. Yet Riley had endured. And if they never mentioned it, no one would’ve known he was walking around with a blood sigil!

Kael’s jaw clenched at his father’s words, reading them not as curiosity but as doubt. Doubt that Riley should even be alive. His eyes slitted dangerously, fury bubbling to the surface.

Sensing it, Lady Cirila spoke quickly, her tone soothing. “Kael, son. If nothing else works, you could try asking the guardians. They have been around far longer than even us. They may know what we do not.”

Surprisingly, Kael rose to his feet almost immediately, a decision made in an instant.

“Wait,” Cirila said sharply. “Are you actually leaving now?”

Kael looked back, his face stoic, his eyes still burning with anger. “Of course.”

Lord Karion frowned, arms folding. “And what of the plot you unraveled? Are you planning to abandon it?”

They had been told the broad strokes of what Kael had uncovered below. The conspiracy, the ritual, the blood. To them, it sounded dire. To their son, it seemed irrelevant.

Kael did not bother answering. His lack of care was written plainly across his expression.

The two elders exchanged a glance, then sighed in unison.

“Very well,” Cirila said quietly. “We will remain here. We will account for everyone and see to the situation downstairs. You go. Take him.”

Kael bent down, lifting Riley with a gentleness that was a sharp contrast to the fury radiating from him moments before. He held him as though the fragile body in his arms was worth more than the entire ministry itself.

Lord Karion and Lady Cirila watched him go.

“Do you think we can ever honor that boy’s wish of resigning?” Cirila asked softly.

Karion exhaled, shaking his head. “In this case…” His voice dropped to a mutter. “Kael might actually volunteer it.”

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