“Don’t you just love that curse? I hate that I had to use it since it’s of legendary power, but you didn’t leave me much else, truthfully. Bringing the entire roof down on me? I have to admit that I didn’t see that coming. Most of the dragons I’ve hunted for my Master have all been far too vain to risk damaging their lair.”

  I tried to speak, but couldn’t move my jaw.

  He waved his hand and suddenly the pressure eased up. “There, I’ve relaxed the hold the curse has on your jaw. Don’t get any ideas about breathing on me. I’m well aware of just how bad dragon breath is.” He started cackling as if this was the funniest thing in the world.

  “What? No sense of humor. Fine, then, let’s just skip straight to the begging.”

  “Why would I beg you for anything?” I snarled. “You are vermin which didn’t have the decency to die when its time was up. You are an affront to everything natural in Ileria.”

  He screamed back at me. “Me, an affront? That’s rich. Death is the affront. Mortals scurry about, afraid of dragons, bowing and scraping before the gods, and for what? A hope at another life or perhaps some time spent in a realm where they can continually praise the deity? No! I took my destiny into my own hands and followed after the Master. Because of him, I’ve existed for more than three hundred years. How many humans can say that?”

  “A dragon’s minions could.”

  “Bah! I’d rather serve one who knows life and death. And I do… not one of you nearly immortal brutes with your exceeding arrogance. But by now, I bet you can feel how the curse has crept into your bones. I’ve only ever had to resort to this curse with two of your kind. It takes a great deal of trouble for the master to create it, or I would use it all the time.”

  I strained to no effect, unable to move anything more than my jaw.

  “The way you struggle and refuse to believe what’s happening is precious. Although that’s not the best part. My favorite moment is when the light in your eyes dims and your will breaks as you realize you can’t defeat me. We’ll take however long it takes, until you know your place, lizard.”

  I strained but couldn’t make any of my limbs move no matter how hard my muscles contracted. In fact, it felt like they were going to tear away from my bones.

  “What have you done to me?” I ground out.

  “Oh? That was fast. Usually, your kind spend a few days struggling against the inevitable. Maybe the Master knew you were a little smarter than your kind… or is it more fearful? Are you the cowardly dragon?”

  His words angered me, but I was determined to master my emotions rather than be mastered by them. I wanted to understand what it was he was doing. If I understood it, I could activate my Anti-Magic Domain. But I was worried that it might only suppress the curse and not remove it. I needed to keep him talking.

  “Cowardly? No. Call me curious, instead.”

  The lich stared at me in silence. If I’d been human, I likely would have started panicking. But a few minutes of silence didn’t mean a thing to me. I simply waited and watched while I used my heightened perception to understand what had been done to my body.

  Finally, the system rewarded me with the information I needed.

  You have been cursed.

  Bone Control Curse - Level 36 legendary curse. This curse will animate your skeletal system and give control of it to the wielder of the curse. This curse was cast from a spell reservoir.

  Duration of the curse: 1 year.

  If deactivated, the curse will remain dormant.

  Only active periods count against the duration.

  The curse has achieved 41% integration into your skeletal system.

  Once 100% integration has been achieved, it will be irreversible.

  That didn’t sound good.

  “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll be long dead before the curse expires. Not one of your kind has ever broken this curse. Really, the only question is how painful and slow your death will be. Pain tends to help break the bonds on your soul, making it easier for the master to claim that power for his own.”

  The lich shook his head, tutting softly. “To think that dragons were such amazing sources of life force.”

  I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response, but poured myself inside my body. Magic was mine to control. It was the birthright of every dragon.

  As I looked at the twisted weave inside my bones which made up the curse, I found it complex beyond anything I’d ever encountered. Level 36? That was astounding. Tolston hadn’t been anywhere near that high of a level, and his magic was quite potent. This shouldn’t be possible.

  Worse, there was life force or soul energy worked into the patterns of the curse itself. It was dark and twisted, an almost sickly life force. But it was there.”

  “Do you even know how this curse works?”

  The lich laughed. “As if I’d tell you if I knew… but no, I know my limits. That spell is beyond me. The master is really something, isn’t he? I can’t wait until he gains enough power to become the sole god of this world. Then we’ll truly be free.”

  42% integration

  Ugh, it was still climbing. I kept working on it, but a certain level of desperation threatened to drown me.

  No! I pushed it back. I’d only use Anti-Magic if I was forced to. If I did this right, it could undo the magic which animated the lich’s body. That might buy me more time while his soul fled his body, but if I understood the curse, it wouldn’t free me from it.

  This didn’t make any sense. It was a twisting of the natural way of things. Magic should answer me, not hold me captive. I leaned into my Mind Evolution. It had enhanced my connection to magic but, more importantly, it had enhanced my mental processing. I simply needed to leverage that ability.

  Then I heard a voice in my mind. “I can only do this once. The Pact forbids it. But if you were to become my follower, the rules would relax. You’d lose your Balance Warden title, but you could become another of my chosen—not a paragon, though, not yet. That would have to wait until Galbrecht dies, as I won’t turn my back on those who follow me. But becoming one of my chosen would give you the ability to throw off that curse.”

  She didn’t identify herself, but I recognized Miseria’s voice. And even if I hadn’t, her words would have given her away. I would have groaned but it would give away too much, and I didn’t want to give the lich the satisfaction.

  “Hurry, I can’t maintain this connection for long. I need you to make a decision. I know that serving another isn’t what you want. But is pride really worth dying for?”

  The very fact that she would ask that question was beyond me. She knew nothing about me—nothing about dragons—if she could ask a question like that.

  “Is it worth the death of your bond?”

  That question struck a bit closer to home. I was about to answer her when I felt myself start to move.

  “Uh-oh. What’s about to happen?” the lich cackled. “You have to be wondering that very thing. I bet you're asking yourself, ‘what indignity am I about to suffer?’ But, truthfully, I think the best way to get through to you will be to have you clean up the trash. Besides, I can’t give you too much time. You’re entirely too calm about this.”

  I slowly walked across the room. It seemed like the lich was taking his time. Then I realized what was happening.

  I could still feel Miseria in the back of my mind, but that connection was growing fainter. Inside me, a hunger began to rise. I felt the emptiness of the void, the desire to feast upon everything around me.

  There was a dark surge without words, but I felt the meaning all the same as though the words had echoed within me. “Eat the curse. Feed it to us. We will make you strong. We will make you free.”

  I came to a stop while standing over Cami’s slumped form.

  The lich laughed maniacally. “Hmm… where shall we begin? Should we wake her first? Or would it be better to let her come wake while you’re gnawing on her leg? Hmm… perhaps I should take my time and build up to it. Let you think that maybe, you can resist a bit?”

  Great, I was surrounded by madness—an insane lich outside, a dire connection to the horrors within me, and a godling speaking in my head from another realm.

  “Time is short. You only need bend the knee once,” Miseria whispered in my mind, “and I promise to ask very little of you. For that very little, I will give you so much. I can save Cami. I can save all your world, but only if you’ll follow me. I can make you King of this world. You can have all the world’s gold and all its jewels. You can have Cami as your lover. I don’t care about any of those things. Only let me in.”

  There was true desperation in her voice, but something else as well. She needed this too badly.

  I felt my arm straighten out and then watched as my claw ran over Cami’s armor. Slowly and deliberately, the lich forced me to cut deeper into the armor, slicing both leather and metal apart. But for whatever reason, he was careful not to make me cut into her flesh.

  “Ah… opening her like a package. Isn’t it fun?” He giggled. “Will you cry when she starts to scream? Will you beg me to make it stop? Will you offer your service? Oh, I can’t wait to find out! Shall we start playing now?”

  Inside me, that dire need was there. It didn’t care about Cami. It only wanted to consume. It promised to free me, if only I would eat the curse. Outside, I felt Miseria’s touch fading, but her offer contained had an equal level of desperation.

  And then Cami’s eyes opened. Her face was painted with pain, but fear spread across her features and rushed into me through the bond as one of my claws drew a thin line down her cheek.

  Chapter 13 - Never Submit

  The lich laughed again. “Oh, come now. I’ve given you control of your jaw. Say something. I’ll even wait a bit. Perhaps if you beg nicely enough, I’ll end this part quickly. Call it a small mercy for the little human caught up in your destiny.”

  I didn’t answer. My time to accept help was quickly going to pass, and then I’d be left on my own.

  46% integration

  Even with the system counting down my doom, I couldn’t bring myself to consider bending the knee to the gods. As for the hunger within me… the fact that it felt more natural only made me trust it less. A dragon only ate out when hungry. A dragon didn’t randomly destroy.

  Why would we? This entire world was our domain. It was our birthright. We would kill with no reason no more than we would soil the place where we slept. For a moment, I shivered as I thought once again about how humans built devices to actually collect their waste.

  And they thought we were the monsters…

  No, I would no more bend to oblivion. There could be no compromise. I might find a way to work with humans, but the gods did not want what was best for me, nor for dragonkind. They might ally with us against the horrors, but that was only to serve their own purposes.

  I heard Miseria screech in my mind, then she faded away.

  The hunger within me vibrated and rose up. It seemed to sense a weakness that it could exploit.

  Oblivion beckons.

  Do you wish to expand your link with the void?

  Gains will be a doubling of your stats, curse immunity, 50% resistance to divine power, and the title Bearer of Oblivion.

  Perhaps the system was truly neutral, but when it sent out messages like that, I couldn’t help but be suspicious. Was it a tool of the gods? Or a tool of something else? Was it perhaps the remains of a god beyond those godlings?

  I didn’t have time to dig into these questions. But I refused to bow to a goddess and I wouldn’t give up a portion of myself to serve oblivion. The dream was clear about one thing; the gods were pests, but the horrors ultimate goal was the complete elimination of life on Ileria.

  This was my world and I wouldn’t give it up to anyone.

  52% integration.

  I felt my claw reaching out again. My body shook as my muscle fought perversely animated bone.

  “Uh, Nico, what are you doing?” Cami’s voice trembled. “I can barely feel you through the bond. Why are you so angry?”

  “It’s not me…” I began to say, but then my jaw froze up.

  “No, telling would spoil the surprise,” the lich snapped. “I didn’t release you jaw to let you blab, I did it so you could beg me for mercy. Perhaps you need more motivation.”

  Cami pulled herself up the wall with just the strength of her arms. Her legs seemed like nothing but deadweight. “What have you done to him?” she called out to the lich with a demanding tone in her voice.

  It was good to see her mastering her fear.

  “What have I done? Why, don’t you know this is the true nature of dragons? They kill and destroy and take what they want from the rest of us, poor mortals.”

  I panicked as I wondered just how badly she’d been hurt. Then it hit me. Fear was clouding my faculties—I didn’t need control of my jaw to talk to her.

  I pushed my mental voice to her. “He activated a legendary level curse. It has animated the bones in my body and lets him control them. I’m not the one doing this.”

  I felt something ease inside of her, yet the burden on my soul remained. I had hurt her… badly.

  “I forgive you. Now fight your way free and go kick this guy’s ass. That’s what you do, Nico.”

  Her words seemed to split the rock which laid across my mind. She had forgiven me and I hadn’t even needed to tell her how sorry I was. There was something to that, being so close to someone that I didn’t even need to apologize. But I could think on that later, for now I had to fight.

  Someone’s bony ass needed kicking.

  I rejected Miseria. I rejected oblivion. Instead, I dove deep into my own mind. As I did, my connection with the magic around me strengthened. I was a dragon. Ileria was mine. Pain ripped through me as I resisted, but I could see the unnatural spots within me.

  Both the nascent connection to oblivion and the curse trying to burrow into my bones were outsiders… intruders. They were not part of me. They were not part of the natural order.

  My will clashed first with the link to oblivion. Hunger was natural, but only eating what was needed. That’s what cows were for after all—well, cows… and bacon. Satiating hunger was never about pointless destruction.

  The link resisted.

  I felt a bitter cold, as though heat were only a fictional concept. It seemed it was trying to draw on me somehow. But I denied it.

  My will clamped down, and I began ripping the link out of me. I would have no part with those who would destroy what was mine. The pain bit down hard, but ultimately couldn’t resist my pull. Little by little, the link came apart, until I ripped it out of me. But rather than fling it away, I used it for my own ends—on my own terms.

  Anti-Magic Domain

  I pulsed my domain for just a second. The lich screamed, but I paid him no heed. I was free to move, but stayed perfectly still. I looked about, but not with my eyes. Rather, I looked with my ability to see magic.

  Focusing in on that twisted curse, I pulled on the weave. It was like trying to dig into a mountain with my claws. At first the work seemed impossible, but I realized it was just slow and tedious.

  The lich managed to move outside of the range of my anti-magic domain, but when he launched another ice spear at me, it simply disappeared as soon as it entered the domain.

  After what felt like an eternity but was probably only seconds, I managed to unravel the edge of the curse. Then, I forced the link to oblivion and the ragged end of the curse together. It was as I’d expected. There was a thread of the power of the horrors in the curse.

  Whoever this lich called master had been dealt with the horrors. He was truly the enemy of all Ileria.

  My mind felt tugged and pulled in terrible directions as I tried to force the curse and the link together. They both resisted, but I was stronger. The majority of the curse was composed of magic and was inert thanks to my anti-magic domain—for the moment. As I held my will firm, I visualized the two consuming one another.

  It seemed to take forever, but eventually they began to swirl around one another until they blended together.

  The power of the curse threatened to open a more complete connection to oblivion, but I held firm. I forced my will, my image of what would be upon reality itself. And then, like it had never been, the curse was pulled from my bones. The link to oblivion consumed it.

  I kept focus sharp and exercised my will, envisioning the link collapsing in on itself. The wave of hunger in me surged, clawing its way to the back of my throat. Oh, how easy it would be simply to consume! I could go out and hunt till all the world fed my hunger, grew my power.