The Devourer’s claw came down.
Kai pulled against the roots holding him in place, but they only tightened. One wrapped around his waist. Another pinned his left leg. A third coiled around his wrist and dragged his weapon arm down until the blade scraped uselessly against the stone.
The system flashed red.
[Immediate evasion required.]
“I know!”
[Failure to evade will result in severe injury.]
“Then do something!”
[Suggestion: Evade.]
Kai stared at the screen.
“I hate you.”
The Devourer’s claw filled his vision.
Above him, Ember tore through another wave of burning vine-spiders. Her wings beat hard, scattering embers and broken legs across the chamber. For one second, her eyes found him.
Kai saw the exact moment she realized he couldn’t move.
Everything changed.
The air snapped.
“KAI!”
Her voice hit the chamber like thunder.
The Devourer’s claw dropped.
Then the world turned red-gold.
Something massive slammed into the boss from the side. The impact shook the entire dungeon. Roots tore free from the ceiling. Stone cracked beneath Kai’s back.
The claw missed him by inches.
Kai’s ears rang.
For a second, he could not understand what he was seeing.
A dragon stood over him.
Not a shadow.
Not a flicker.
Not a half-formed memory.
A real dragon.
Ember.
Her body filled the chamber, enormous and burning with power. Dark red scales gleamed like heated metal. Her horns curved back from her head, long and sharp. Her wings stretched wide enough to blot out the orange glow above. Firelight crawled along her jaws as she lowered her head and snarled at the Devourer.
The dungeon went still.
Even the vine-spiders froze.
Kai stared up at her, pinned beneath roots and completely speechless.
The system chimed.
[Dragon-form restoration successful.]
[Trigger: Extreme emotional distress.]
[Dragon-form stability: 100%.]
[Note: Motivation proved effective.]
Kai blinked.
“Are you serious right now?”
Ember’s head snapped toward him.
Her dragon eyes, bright and molten, locked onto him.
“You are alive.”
Kai swallowed.
“Currently.”
Her pupils narrowed.
“That answer is unacceptable.”
The Devourer roared and swung its root-arm at her.
Ember moved faster than something that large should have been able to move. She stepped over Kai, took the blow across one scaled shoulder, then answered by biting into the Devourer’s arm and tearing half of it away.
The boss screamed.
Green flame exploded from its ribs.
Kai flinched as heat washed over him, but Ember’s wing came down like a shield, covering him completely. The fire splashed across her scales and rolled away harmlessly.
Kai stared at the underside of her wing.
“So that’s new.”
[Correction: Restored.]
“Not now.”
Ember ripped the last roots off Kai with one careful claw. Careful, at least, for a dragon. One root snapped so hard it whipped across the floor and shattered a rock.
Kai scrambled free, coughing.
“You did it,” he said. “You transformed.”
Ember lowered her head until her snout nearly touched him.
“You were about to die.”
“I was not about to die.”
The system flashed.
[Host statement inaccurate.]
Kai pointed at it.
“No one asked you.”
Ember’s growl shook dust from the ceiling.
“You were about to die.”
Kai wisely stopped arguing.
Above them, the remaining vine-spiders recovered and rushed toward the glowing relic. Ember’s head turned sharply.
The relic pulsed inside its nest of roots, orange-gold light leaking through the vines.
Kai grabbed his weapon and stood.
“We still need the relic.”
Ember’s tail swept behind him, blocking a spider that tried to leap at his back. It exploded against her scales.
“Then take it,” she said.
Kai looked at the Devourer, which was already pulling roots from the floor to rebuild its ruined arm.
“That thing may have opinions.”
“I will give it new opinions.”
Before Kai could respond, Ember charged.
The dungeon boss met her head-on.
The impact was ridiculous.
Bark, bone, flame, and scale crashed together in the center of the chamber. Kai nearly fell from the shockwave. Ember drove the Devourer backward, claws digging into its shoulders, jaws snapping inches from its skull.
The Devourer’s green fire flared.
Ember answered with red.
She opened her mouth and breathed flame.
Real dragon fire.
The blast struck the Devourer’s chest and burned straight through its ribs. The green moss inside ignited, popping and shrieking like something alive.
Kai stared.
“Okay,” he muttered. “That’s definitely more than twelve percent.”
[Observation unnecessary.]
“You’re unnecessary.”
Ember kept the Devourer pinned, but the boss was not dead. Roots erupted from the floor behind her, wrapping around her legs and wings. Burning vine-spiders swarmed over her back, biting at the seams between her scales.
Ember snarled and thrashed.
“Kai!”
He didn’t need her to explain.
The relic.
While Ember held the boss, Kai ran.
The roots around the relic twisted together into a hanging cage above the chamber. It was too high to reach from the ground, but broken stone pillars rose nearby, cracked and uneven.
Kai climbed.
Badly.
He slipped twice, scraped his palms, and nearly fell when a vine-spider lunged at his face. He cut it apart midair, but its burning legs hit his cloak and started smoking.
“Not now!”
He slapped the embers out and kept climbing.
Behind him, Ember roared.
The sound shook the entire room.
Kai reached the top of the broken pillar and looked across at the suspended root cage. It was only a short jump away.
Unfortunately, “short” was a word used by people who were not standing above a dungeon floor full of monsters.
The system appeared.
[Jump success probability: 62%.]
Kai stared.
“That is not comforting.”
[With hesitation: 48%.]
“Oh, shut up.”
Kai jumped.
For one glorious second, he was sure he had made a terrible decision.
Then his hands caught the roots.
Pain shot through his arms.
He swung hard into the cage and nearly lost his grip. The relic pulsed inches from his face, wrapped in thick black vines.
Up close, the light was warmer.
Not like magic.
Not like fire.
Like a heartbeat.
Kai frowned.
“What are you?”
The system remained silent.
Of course it did.
Kai hacked at the vines with his knife. The first layer split. Then the second. Orange-gold light spilled over his hands.
The object inside was not a jewel.
Not a weapon.
Not a core.
It was an egg.
Kai froze.
The shell was smooth and warm, colored deep crimson beneath veins of gold light. It pulsed softly in his hands, alive with heat.
“The Forgotten Relic is an egg?”
The system flashed instantly.
[Object acquired.]
[Forgotten Relic identified.]
[Species: Phoenix.]
Kai’s eyes widened.
“A phoenix egg?”
[Correct.]
The moment Kai’s fingers fully closed around it, the egg flared.
Heat rushed up his arms and into his chest. Golden light wrapped around his body in thin threads, sinking beneath his skin before he could even drop it.
Kai gasped.
[Bond initiated.]
[Bond completed.]
[Phoenix Egg bound to Host: Kai.]
Kai stared at the screen.
“What do you mean completed?”
[The process is complete.]
“I didn’t agree to that!”
[Agreement unnecessary. Contact-based imprinting successful.]
“That sounds extremely illegal!”
[Congratulations.]
Kai’s mouth fell open.
The system added one more line.
[You touched the mysterious glowing egg in a dungeon. Outcome was predictable.]
Kai stared.
“Did you just sass me?”
[Yes.]
The egg pulsed warmly in his hands, then settled against his chest like it had already decided he was where it belonged.
Another system window opened.
[Phoenix Egg nourishment source established.]
[Required condition: Proximity to Host.]
[Estimated nutrient sufficiency: Complete.]
Kai blinked.
“Wait. It gets nutrients from being near me?”
[Correct.]
“Like… food?”
[Incorrect.]
“Then what kind of nutrients?”
[Host proximity provides sufficient developmental energy.]
Kai looked down at the egg.
“That is somehow worse than food.”
[Clarification: Host is now an incubator.]
Kai’s expression went blank.
“I am sorry?”
[Incubator.]
“I heard you. I hated it.”
A roar tore through the chamber.
Kai looked down.
The Devourer had broken one of Ember’s holds and slammed its root-arm into her side. Ember staggered, crushing stone under one claw. More roots wrapped around her wings, pulling them tight.
Her eyes snapped to Kai.
“You have it?”
Kai clutched the egg against his chest.
“Yes!”
“Then come down!”
“I am very open to suggestions!”
The root cage began to collapse.
Kai looked at the floor.
Too far.
The system chimed.
[Recommended action: Trust companion.]
Kai blinked.
“What does that—”
Ember tore one wing free and stretched it toward him.
“Kai!”
The cage snapped.
Kai fell.
For a brief moment, the world became wind, firelight, and extremely poor choices.
Then Ember caught him.
Her wing curved beneath him, slowing his fall before her tail wrapped around his waist and pulled him safely against her side.
Kai clung to the phoenix egg with both arms.
“I have decided I hate dungeons.”
Ember’s massive head lowered near him.
“You are unharmed?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly is not enough.”
“We can discuss my definition of mostly after we leave.”
The Devourer rose behind her, its chest still burning from her fire. Green flame spilled from its cracked ribs. Its body was collapsing, but not fast enough.
The system flashed red.
[Floor Guardian core exposed.]
[Destroy core to unlock exit.]
Kai looked at the glowing green mass in the Devourer’s chest.
“Core exposed!”
Ember turned.
The Devourer charged.
Ember placed herself between it and Kai.
Again.
But this time, she was not desperate.
She was furious.
Her claws dug into the stone.
Her wings spread.
The phoenix egg pulsed against Kai’s chest, warm but quiet, drawing nothing from the dragon beside him. Its light stayed wrapped around Kai alone, as if Ember’s flames, power, and presence meant nothing to it.
The system chimed.
[Phoenix Egg dependency confirmed.]
[Primary developmental anchor: Host.]
Kai looked down.
“So it only needs me?”
[Correct.]
“That feels like an important thing to ask permission for.”
[Permission was not required.]
“I really hate that answer.”
Ember inhaled.
The chamber grew hot.
Very hot.
Kai’s hair lifted from the pressure alone.
“Ember?”
Her eyes burned brighter.
The Devourer lunged.
Ember breathed fire.
Not a burst this time.
A torrent.
Red-gold flame filled the chamber, crashing into the Devourer like a living storm. The exposed core cracked. Green fire fought back for half a second, then vanished beneath Ember’s flames.
The Devourer collapsed.
Its body shattered into burning bark and black ash.
The roots across the chamber went limp.
The system chimed.
[Floor Guardian defeated.]
[First floor cleared.]
[Exit unlocked.]
Kai let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.
Ember stayed still for a moment, watching the ashes.
Then her enormous head slowly turned toward him.
Kai hugged the egg tighter.
“So,” he said carefully, “the relic is a phoenix egg.”
Ember stared.
“And it bonded to me.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“The egg bonded to you.”
“Instantly.”
The system appeared.
[Correction: Efficiently.]
Kai glared.
“You are not helping.”
Ember leaned closer, smoke curling faintly from her jaws.
“Kai.”
“Yes?”
“Why did you bond with an egg?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“You touched it.”
“I had to retrieve it!”
“You bond with many strange things.”
Kai paused.
“Many?”
Ember’s eyes narrowed further.
“The system. The egg.”
“You?”
Her gaze sharpened.
Kai immediately regretted speaking.
“That,” Ember said slowly, “is different.”
The phoenix egg pulsed warmly in Kai’s arms.
The system chimed.
[New dependent entity acquired.]
Kai stared.
“No.”
[Yes.]
“It only needs to be near me?”
[Correct.]
“For everything?”
[For now.]
Kai looked between the giant dragon holding him, the glowing phoenix egg in his arms, and the system window floating smugly in front of his face.
Then he sighed.
“This is going to be a problem, isn’t it?”
[Yes.]
For once, the system answered honestly.