Fire changed everything.
Draco learned that within the first minute after he exhaled it.
The creature disintegrated mid-air, its body unraveling into ash and shards of crystallized bone before it ever hit the ground. Heat washed over the street below, scorching stone and blistering paint, but the civilians scrambling beneath the awnings were untouched.
Draco hadn't aimed.
The fire had known where to go.
He lowered his head slowly, breath steaming in the rain, heart hammering so hard it drowned out the screams around him.
"I—" His voice cracked. "I didn't mean to—"
Erynd grabbed his arm.
"Did you see that?" he demanded, eyes alight. "You didn't just burn it. You erased it."
Draco pulled free, staring at his hands as if they belonged to someone else. His fingers glowed faintly, ember-light pulsing beneath the skin before fading.
"I could've killed them," Draco said. "If I'd lost control—"
"But you didn't," Erynd interrupted. "That's the point."
Another scream echoed down the street — closer this time.
Draco looked up.
A group of civilians had been cornered at the mouth of an alley, a rift-spawned hound stalking toward them on too many legs, its crystalline hide refracting the lantern light into jagged rainbows.
Draco didn't wait.
He ran.
The creature lunged.
Draco felt the heat rise again, instinctive and immediate — but he forced it down, channeling it inward instead of outward. Something shifted inside his chest, a subtle click like a lock finding its key.
He slammed his fist into the creature's skull.
The impact shattered stone.
The beast crumpled as if its bones had turned to dust, collapsing into fragments that dissolved before hitting the ground.
Draco staggered back, stunned.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: DRAKE'S STRIKE (PASSIVE)][PROFICIENCY: 3%]
The civilians stared at him in silent shock.
Draco raised his hands slowly. "It's gone. You're safe."
A woman clutched her child tighter. A man fell to his knees, sobbing in relief.
Draco turned away before they could thank him.
He didn't know how to accept gratitude for violence — even necessary violence.
They moved through the city together after that.
Not as heroes.
As firefighters in a city already burning.
Rifts tore open in plazas and courtyards, spilling creatures that twisted reality around them. Draco fought instinctively, his movements growing surer with every encounter. Fire when it was needed. Strength when it wasn't. Each kill fed the system, subtle pulses of warmth flowing through his body like a living current.
[LEVEL UP][LEVEL 1 → LEVEL 3]
Erynd fought differently.
Where Draco reacted, Erynd dictated.
Golden sigils flared around his hands in precise geometric patterns. When he spoke, monsters hesitated — not from fear, but from obedience forced upon unwilling minds. Their movements stuttered, turned inward, collapsed under invisible pressure.
Draco noticed.
He tried not to.
At one point, a creature broke through a defensive line and charged a cluster of guards. Draco was already moving — but Erynd raised his hand first.
"Stay."
The word echoed unnaturally.
The creature froze, limbs locking in place. Its body began to tremble, then fold in on itself as if crushed by its own weight.
Draco skidded to a halt.
"That thing was alive," he said quietly.
Erynd didn't look at him. "So are we."
The guards stared at Erynd with open unease.
Draco felt something twist in his chest.
By the time dawn broke, the rifts had sealed.
Not permanently — the system made that clear — but enough to give the city breathing room.
Draco stood atop a collapsed fountain, rain-soaked and shaking with exhaustion, watching the sunrise burn pale gold through thinning clouds.
[LEVEL UP][LEVEL 3 → LEVEL 5][TRAIT UNLOCKED: DRAKE'S RESILIENCE]
The system's presence lingered at the edge of his awareness now — quieter than before, but constant. A watchful pressure. Measuring.
Erynd joined him, brushing ash from his sleeve.
"Well," he said lightly, "if that was a test, I'd say we passed."
Draco didn't answer right away.
"Did you feel it?" Draco asked finally. "Every time I used the power… it wanted more. Not blood — commitment."
Erynd smiled. "That's what power always wants."
Draco met his gaze. "And what do you want?"
Erynd's smile faltered — just for a moment.
"Change," he said. "Enough power to make sure nights like this never happen again."
Draco looked back at the wounded city.
"I want to make sure people survive them."
The difference hung between them, unspoken but unmistakable.
They found Lyra Moonfall near the eastern district.
She knelt in the rubble beside a fallen wall, silver light spilling from her hands as she healed a guard whose leg had been crushed beneath stone. The magic was cool and precise, shaped like moonlight reflected on still water.
Draco felt it immediately.
Not attraction.
Alignment.
The system stirred.
[BLOODLINE RESONANCE DETECTED][LUNAR AFFINITY — COMPATIBLE]
Lyra looked up as he approached, unafraid despite the faint heat still radiating from his skin.
"You're hurt," she said simply.
"I'm fine," Draco replied automatically.
She raised an eyebrow. "You're bleeding through your shirt."
He glanced down. Only then did he notice the dark stain along his ribs.
"Oh."
She stood and stepped closer, her presence calming in a way he hadn't felt since the night began.
"Sit," she said gently.
He did.
Her fingers brushed his side, moonlight knitting torn flesh together with practiced ease. The pain faded, replaced by warmth that settled deep in his chest.
"I'm Lyra," she said. "And you're carrying something very old."
Draco swallowed. "I'm trying not to let it carry me."
That earned a small, genuine smile.
"Good," she said. "Dragons need anchors."
Erynd watched from a distance, expression unreadable.
As the sun fully crested the horizon, Draco felt it — not hope, exactly, but grounding. A sense that despite the power awakening within him, he didn't have to face it alone.
But even as Lyra's light soothed the wounds of the city…
Something else was already taking shape.
Power that didn't want anchors.
Power that wanted direction.
And a friend who believed he should be the one to provide it.