The summons came without warning.
Draco was midway through helping reinforce a barricade when the pressure returned — sharp, insistent, curling behind his eyes like a claw tapping against glass.
The world did not freeze this time.
Instead, the system pushed.
[MANDATORY SYSTEM QUEST ISSUED][TRIAL OF THE WYRMLING][OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE THE RIFT-HARBORING ENTITY][TIME LIMIT: 6 HOURS][FAILURE CONDITION: SYSTEM DORMANCY]
Draco staggered, catching himself against a stone pillar.
Dormancy.
The word rang louder than any threat.
Lyra was at his side instantly. "You felt it."
He nodded. "It's not optional."
Erynd approached more slowly, reading Draco's expression with unsettling precision. "A forced quest," he said. "That explains the timing."
"You knew these existed?" Draco asked.
"I suspected," Erynd replied. "Systems don't give gifts without expectations."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "Where?"
Draco focused, letting the system's pull guide him. His awareness stretched outward, drawn like a compass needle toward the northern forests beyond the city walls.
"There," he said. "Something big."
They didn't argue.
Within minutes, the three of them were moving — slipping through broken gates and into the darkened wilds beyond Aurelion, where the air smelled of damp earth and corrupted mana.
The forest resisted them.
Branches snagged at their clothes. Roots twisted unnaturally beneath their feet. The deeper they went, the heavier the pressure became, as though the land itself resented their presence.
Draco felt the dragon stir uneasily.
"This thing has been feeding," Lyra murmured, fingers brushing the ground. "The rift energy is saturating everything."
A roar answered her words.
The trees ahead bent outward as something massive forced its way into the clearing.
The beast was colossal — a fusion of flesh, stone, and pulsing crystal, its body split by glowing seams of rift-light. Too many eyes opened along its torso, tracking them independently. Its presence alone warped the air, making Draco's skin prickle.
[RIFT-HARBORING ENTITY IDENTIFIED][THREAT LEVEL: HIGH]
Draco swallowed. "That's… not subtle."
Erynd smiled faintly. "No. It's honest."
The beast charged.
Draco moved first, heat flooding his limbs as he stepped into its path. He exhaled, fire roaring forth in a concentrated stream that scorched its outer layers — but didn't stop it.
The creature slammed into him.
Stone shattered as Draco was thrown back into a tree, bark exploding outward. Pain flared — then dulled, absorbed by draconic resilience.
[DRAKE'S RESILIENCE ACTIVATED]
Lyra raised her staff, moonlight cascading outward in binding arcs that wrapped around the creature's legs, slowing but not stopping it.
"Draco!" she called. "It's anchored to the rift core — you have to disrupt it!"
"I'm trying!" he shouted back, forcing himself upright.
Erynd hadn't engaged yet.
He stood still, eyes fixed on the creature, golden glyphs forming slowly around his hands — larger, more complex than anything Draco had seen before.
"Erynd?" Draco called.
"Hold it," Erynd said calmly. "Just a moment longer."
Draco didn't like that tone.
He surged forward again, leaping higher than any human should have been able to. His fist came down like a meteor, cracking into the creature's chest. The impact exposed a pulsing crystal core beneath layers of flesh.
The beast screamed.
And then Erynd spoke.
"Yield."
The word hit like a hammer.
Golden sigils slammed into the creature's body, embedding themselves along its spine and core. The monster froze mid-motion, its scream cutting off abruptly.
Draco felt it — the wrongness of it.
This wasn't binding.
It was domination.
The beast's limbs trembled, then turned inward, crushing its own core as invisible force compressed it from every direction.
Lyra stared. "Erynd—"
The rift core shattered.
The explosion of mana rocked the clearing, throwing all three of them backward as light and debris filled the air.
When the dust settled, the beast was gone.
So was the forest clearing — reduced to a scorched, glassed crater.
[QUEST COMPLETE][REWARDS ISSUED]
Draco lay on his back, staring up at the sky, chest heaving.
[LEVEL UP][LEVEL 5 → LEVEL 8]
He should have felt triumphant.
Instead, he felt cold.
Erynd stood at the edge of the crater, unscathed, golden light fading from his hands.
"That was unnecessary," Draco said quietly, sitting up. "I had it."
"You were struggling," Erynd replied. "And time mattered."
"You didn't kill it," Lyra said, voice tight. "You forced it to destroy itself."
Erynd turned to her, expression unreadable. "Is that worse?"
"Yes," she said immediately.
Draco pushed himself to his feet. "You didn't even warn us."
Erynd met his gaze steadily. "Would you have stopped me?"
The question landed like a blade.
Draco didn't answer.
The system chimed again.
[EVOLUTION PATH UNLOCKED][WYRMLING → DRAKE AVAILABLE]
Draco barely looked at it.
As they walked back toward the city, the silence between them was no longer comfortable.
Something had shifted.
Not broken.
But cracked.
And Draco understood, with a clarity that frightened him more than the monster had—
The system wasn't just testing his strength.
It was testing his judgment.
And Erynd had already decided which one mattered more.