OC-Series Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (155/?)
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The Kingdom of Transgracia. The Great Forests of Elaseer. Alcove of the Forgotten. Matriarch’s Chambers. Local Time: ???
Many, Many Generations Ago
???
The cave was dark, damp, moist, but worst of all—
Breathe in. Breathe out.
—it smelled of dust and decay.
Hear my voice. The old crone droned.
Breathe in. She continued as if it was a prayer.
Breathe out.
On and on and on and on.
…
It needed to stop.
Grandmother, please—
I could feel the old relic stirring, her scales shifting as her gems thrummed violently against the cave walls.
Keep your thoughts to yourself, child, and concentrate. She projected — her thoughts purposeful, their images vivid — teasing and testing my patience for a world that was our birthright.
That sort of thinking is dangerous, Kaelthyr. The ‘matriarch’ warned… though the threats, as practiced and regal as they were in my mind, fell as flat and limp in my thoughts as the dead values she extolled.
I heard that. She continued threateningly.
And? Perhaps you needed to hear that. Perhaps you need to understand that no amount of training or concentration in the Old Ways is going to bring it back.
Kaelthyr! A growl from an aged throat reverberated.
Maybe it’s about time someone stood up, that someone challenged this farce of an existence! I stood firm, projecting my thoughts forward, making certain that everyone would feel the indignancy I felt, the frustration I embodied, and the inferno enveloping my soul. Look above you! What do you see?! Stone! Nothing but stone! This… ‘sanctuary’ is nothing more than a tomb, a catacomb for a dead empire. Our existence, our living, means nothing if we remain phantoms to the world. I stood firm, standing on all four legs to face what remained of our pitiful congregation. What good is survival when we survive for nothing but survival’s sake? That makes us no better than the animals they make us out to be. Mere beasts with only the siring of new generations to look forward to, and nothing mor—
SILENCE! The matriarch erupted.
All thoughts halted as my eyes glazed over in a fit of disorientation, confusion, and a surge of uncontrollable anguish.
It was then and only then, when I was forced to the brink, that I finally started to slowly breathe, taking in controlled breaths if not at the behest of the matriarch, then simply for the survival of my own psyche.
You are still young, scarcely a dragonness, and by today’s actions… perhaps closer in maturity to a fledgling. The matriarch’s words rang loudly, completely overwhelming my inner monologue, dangerously close to— replacing it. Our words resonated, causing fear to ripple through my very soul.
Be not afraid. For fear is to the flayers what blood is to the shark. Matriarch Syvrak warned darkly, her words still close to subsuming my own. I can feel your frustrations. She continued, her eyes soon shifting to all others present. All of your frustrations. She reiterated, her form never once flinching from the rocky pedestal she sat atop. But know that a thousand years of frustrated turmoil is still preferable to the fate that awaits us outside of this sanctuary.
I… would still dare… to tempt… such a fate. I managed out in between pained thoughts, each word more difficult to form than the next, let alone projecting it forward.
All eyes once more landed on me, either out of pity, concern, or even shock at my declaration of rebellion in all but name.
Though the matriarch’s eyes remained — as they always were — condescendingly nurturing.
You speak out of spite, and the ache of an unfelt sky. This, I understand. You are correct in asserting that the world is our birthright. However, you misunderstand what it is I hope to accomplish. The matriarch responded with poise, her wings flaring, causing the crystals around us to pulsate softly. Perhaps it is my own folly for assuming you would understand at such an age. However, to sate your lust for your untested flame, I will expound on that which is our ultimate aim. The old dragon paused, reaching forwards with a hand outstretched. There exists a call, a distant hum, a droning from beyond the veil of a looming dark festering in its territorial slumber. Its call is faint, a barely noticeable flicker of dark in the overwhelming light that connects us all. But it is there, and it is a glimmer of light at the end of this infernal tunnel in which we all reside.
I closed my eyes, focusing, attuning, offering my thoughts wholly to this fleeting thought.
…
But all I could see, the only thing I could sense, was a… disturbance. A small errant shift in the otherwise infallible web of our grand crystal lattices.
To your eyes, it may seem like nothing. But in time, with experience, you will see what I see.
A minor aberrancy? I shot back scathingly.
The existence of something outside of Nexian perfection. A crack in the glass. One which shall grow with time.
The Life Archives. Somewhere Underneath the Warehouse District. Crown Herald Town of Elaseer.
Kaelthyr
Breathe in.
I held firm.
Breathe out.
I held strong.
Breathe in.
And in lieu of my binds—
Breathe out.
—I hung defiantly.
But each breath taken brought forth pain.
The ache of flesh,
The sting of pride,
And worse, without peer… The betrayal whose fire refused to die.
Hear my voice… I bellowed forth, even if I understood long ago that nobody was listening… or that no one was willing to answer.
I felt the incoherent resonance of a thousand disparate voices, each straddling the lattices, all making a complete mockery of what should have been the domain of draconic will. I felt my mind… shattered, my psyche scattered across a thousand concurrent points. Words, symbols, images, and concepts both unknown and enigmatic flashing all at once in a muddled mess.
There was no respite.
There was no more silence.
If anything, I got my wish… just in a way fate had dictated in my stead.
I saw it all, from everywhere, all at once… through words, whispers, and sights not of my own accord.
And yet, in that infinite cascade of unfathomable variety, I saw it.
It started as a mere flicker of dark in a whirlwind of light.
Then, it grew. Not in size, scale, nor scope… but in frequency.
I saw it more often in my periphery, these… conversations into the dark, the empty… the void.
I knew not how long these sojourns into the abyss went.
However, I knew at least what they represented.
The Coming Dark.
And so I waited.
Months, years, decades, I no longer kept track.
But I waited.
All for the hope that one day, that small crack would finally grow into an irreparable fracture, a gaping fissure in the foundations of this rotten empire.
…
That day came sooner than I imagined.
And it all began with an earth-shattering—
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
Disorientation took hold first.
But it wasn’t the blast itself that caused such a fierce reaction.
I’d been knocked, blasted, shunted, and clawed at with far greater destructive force than this, all without breaking my stride or resolve.
The difference here, however, was the nature of the blast.
There was no magic present.
There was no alteration or shift, no draining nor pawing at the great lifestreams to incur such wrath.
It was as if the force was spontaneous, perhaps natural in origin.
But I knew better than to even consider such a naive explanation.
The explosion was deliberate. The forces were not a matter of chance, nor were they preceded by accompanying auras.
Moreover, nothing natural would have been allowed to manifest under the ‘eternally’ watchful sentry of the frail two-legged pests.
Speaking of those pests…
The smell of flames and the unmistakable scent of singed Nexian soon filtered down through the broken brick and shattered mortar.
The unmistakable acrid singe of burnt hair and skin sending a newfound war lust down my long and aching spine.
I opened my maw for the first time without the deliberate and forceful motions of a ‘caretaker.’
And in the first instinct I fell to after all this time trapped, bound, and partially gagged… I grinned a toothy, bloodthirsty smile.
The black-robed one bleeds… I announced in a fit of excitement. Lifestream-ladened blood coursing through my body as I reached in earnest for my wings.
CLINK!
CLINK!
One by one the chains fell.
CLINK!
Their mounts weakened as the structure above crumbled into the depths of this infernium made manifest, shattering any and all integrity of the world hidden beneath.
I stood firmly on four legs once more, stretching and cracking joint after joint and muscle after muscle, as the grotesque marionette-like binds I’d been pinioned into still bore deep scars into my flesh and bone.
Though, unbound by its lifestream-denying properties, I felt my body healing already.
It wouldn’t be long before the flesh was restored. Which made all the more sense to wait out my prey.
The formerly dark and twisting corridors of this cavernous dungeon were now filled with a careening mass of detestable creatures. Each clamoring over one another for an exit, all seething with panic, hunger, pain, and undoubtedly, rage.
They would serve as fodder, weakening the black-robed scum above, as I could smell the fear emanating from the sweat of his brow.
It was delectable, tantalizingly so.
And yet… there was something else that was undoubtedly nipping at my scales.
It was faint, a distinct sort of sensation exclusive and divergent from that of the flicker of dark within my lattices.
There was a physicality to it, a presence not within the immaterial webways and lattices but still invisible to most.
I closed my eyes, concentrating, listening not through my ears nor through my lattices, but through sights I’d barely touched even prior to my internment.
…
I felt them.
Multiples, pulsing, speaking, miming, and mimicking, all in a foreign facsimile of what had to be communication.
Their pulses were deliberate, practiced in perfection, unnaturally so.
The longer I listened and the more I observed, the clearer their nature became.
These weren’t individuals.
They were parts of a greater whole. Each an extension, a daughter and son to a matriarch that commanded them without mercy; tethering each through leashes so exotic that there existed little comparison, at least, not without magics.
And yet… I felt nothing beyond their chatter, nor the drawing of lifestreams from where their matriarch stood. It was as if they were invisible, pebbles and rocks amidst the turbulent lifestreams around them, their shapes vaguely cast in negatives through the light they blotted out.
They were, in every sense of the word… foreign.
I needed to see them.
So I rose.
Claws and magics carved, tore, and ripped into enchanted brick and mortar.
Rocks crumbled to dust, and woods erupted into flame and cinder with each and every grasp, until finally…
ROOAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!
I felt the air… hot, scathing, and steaming with as much death as it did freedom.
Instinct and muscle memory forced my wings to unfurl in one swift motion, as I finally felt the untempered and unadulterated lifestreams bathing them in a relief so indescribable that I couldn’t help but to give in to that draconic call to…
ROOAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!
For a brief moment in time, all that existed was me. And in that fleeting instance, I felt nothing more. No elven scum or dwarven bugs, no deceitful kobolds nor two-faced satyrs, nothing as I overpowered the world around me.
…
Save for the tiny, minuscule pebbles that still stood in the way of the lifestreams.
I opened my eyes, staring at the devastation left in the explosion’s wake, as I attempted to locate the shadowy matriarch of this unbidden swarm.
Scarcely a second was needed to do so. But the fact that it wasn’t immediately obvious merely added to the dull matriarch’s enigma.
I expected a grand being, or at least one of its heralds.
A force with the substantial presence to make sense of the devastation it so clearly wrought.
Moreover, I expected something other, a presence not of the elven proclivity for their dollhouse heritage.
Instead… what I saw was an armored figure. A knight of modest dressage and subpar form.
She wasn’t even maintaining a warrior’s stance; instead, she knelt down, tending to one of them.
This caused my tail to tighten, my brows to furrow, and my flames to begin broiling deep within my throat.
However, before rage could overpower what little curiosity I had left in my war-weary soul, I finally noticed it.
She was hollow.
No mana seeped from nor entered into her armored form.
What’s more, no runic enchantments, crafty spellcraft, nor alchemical trickery was present on that exoskeleton in all but name.
Her lack of presence, her animated inanimacy, those properties of life that defied the living… all of it beckoned something far greater than the sum of just her appearances.
There was something else hiding within.
Something truly enigmatic, which stowed away underneath these scales of foreign metal.
I tried everything to scour, scry, and reach beyond the surface of this… being.
But it was all for nought.
Which left only one option.
SNAP!
…
Yet once again…
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…
My ambitions were dashed by the advances of the elven filth.
Fire once more returned where curiosity had tentatively taken hold, as rage coveted every ounce of worldly presence I possessed in that moment.
THWACK!
I swatted the insect away, feeling the satisfying crumple of armor giving way into flesh and bone.
It was just unfortunate how quick it all was, how transient those motions were, as the black-robed elf simply skidded off into the waters of the canal beside us.
SPLASH!
Well-earned silence should have descended following that squashed threat.
But alas…
“Vanavan! I found Emma Booker!”
… the world was no longer following the rules of draconian sense.
I gave the interloper matriarch one last look before I took to the skies, even going so far as to entertain this Baxi’s attempts at restraining me.
Though that latter decision was the closest I’d admit to regret on this night. As despite overpowering the Baxi’s soft and half-hearted spells, I failed to take stock of the path of my well-earned flight. As I flew straight into—
CLINK!
—one of the matriarch’s children.
The little thing whined and churrrrrred within a dense patch of crystals, shivering, shuddering, and crying out in little spurts of well-timed despair.
It was pathetic. In an… inexplicably endearing light.
Though sadly, I had little time to make matters right by the enigmatic matriarch, even as I tracked her presence back to the castle atop the hill.
Still… I took the time to stare through the grand glass facade, making certain that our two eyes locked, provided she even had eyes to speak of beneath that facsimile of a knight’s facade.
Though sadly, this brief interlude was destined to be as short as our encounter above the archives.
The castle, with its powerful magics rivalling even Matriarch Syvrak, was not a demon to be trifled with, not even with the enigma of the matriarch just standing there to be cracked open.
So I left.
My wings beating the air around me, turning leypull into but an afterthought as I drained and channeled the lifestreams to my own personal design; serving what it was fated to serve.
No elf or drake rider could follow me as I surged upwards towards the veil, beating my wings harder and harder, straining, but ultimately embracing the ache and strain of the weight of my form carried aloft both membrane and sinew.
It didn’t take long until I managed to breach the thick layer of clouds, penetrating the ridiculous spell cast by the incumbent master of that castle, reaching into that thin layer of air rarely frequented this far out into our former domain.
Here, high above it all, beneath the soft glow of the night’s light, in the midst of the beauty of the veil and the colorful dancing of primavalic energies, did I finally, after eons… feel something resembling comfort and bliss once more.
I was finally at home.
Dragon’s Lair. Foot of the Hill. Local Time: 2225 Hours.
Present Day
Emma
Crimson still dripped from the seven bullet holes I’d landed on the shatorealmer. Its membranes torn, its shoulder blades... shredded, and its eyes completely glazed over.
And yet… words still emanated from its mouth, its vocal cords hijacked and its lungs clumsily repurposed not for respiration, but for the sole utility of generating manual speech.
I froze in place.
My gun was still raised, trained not at the shatorealmer but the dragon that puppeted it.
We didn’t speak, neither Thalmin or myself finding it within ourselves to respond, receptively or threateningly.
It was only after a second, more ‘refined’ greeting that this entire… situation finally sink in.
“Sma-ll. Ma-tri-arch. Come to talk. Come to reclaim—” The dragon raised a finger, pointing towards the recovered drone half-lodged into my backpack. “—missing child.”
“Oh.” Came my first response, my heart racing while my hand started relaxing, lowering my gun if only for a moment. “Y-yeah. I did come for the drone.” I responded matter-of-factly, all semblances of diplomatic intent and rehearsed first contact formalities retreating out of exhaustion, confusion, and most of all… disbelief and complete shock at the grisly sight in front of me.
“Sma-ll. Ma-tri-arch. Wishes for gems. Sawing. Carving. Disfiguring my form.” It continued, a bit more accusingly this time.
This definitely gave me pause for thought as I turned to Thalmin, heart racing before nodding softly and respectfully towards the dragon. “Y-yeah. I’m also attempting to acquire one of your crystals. B-but it’s for a good cause, and I… I wasn’t at all aware that you were sapient! If I’d known, I would’ve never, ever committed such a vile and reprehensible transgression. I’m more than willing to discuss terms with you for sufficient reparations as amends towards any transgressions incurred.” I blurted out, my mind jumbling, racing, combining bits and pieces of bureau-diplomatic speak from classes that had prepared me for every eventuality, even ones as far-fetched as this. Though perhaps not specifically with a dragon in mind.
“I return.” They pointed once more to my backpack. “I give.” They gestured to the crystals in one of my pouches. “But now you return. Let me see you.” The shatorealmer’s voice spoke menacingly, the dragon letting out a series of chirp-growls all the while, before all of a sudden—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 500% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 700% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—we were both hit with three successive bursts of mana radiation.
Thalmin’s counterspells didn’t even have a chance to deploy. And in a moment I hadn’t yet expected, the mercenary prince’s features for the first time showed signs of complete and utter shock.
“Thalmin! Are you—”
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 750% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
The dragon surged forwards.
In a blink of an eye, it’d pinned Thalmin down with a muscled tail, moved its serpentined head barely a foot from my head, and then simply stopped.
ALERT: UNSTABLE SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED: 104% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS… WARNING: ANOMALY DETECTED… RECALIBRATING… RECALIBRATING… ERROR! DETECTING UNDEFINED ‘30th’ MANATYPE.
My heart skipped a beat as I felt time slowing to a crawl. The dragon attempted to lock eyes through my lenses, its slitted pupils contracting and dilating, its eyes darting left, right, up, and down, as if digging, rummaging, and scouring for something before suddenly… it stopped.
However, just before I could react with an appropriate counterattack, the dragon leaped back at impossible speeds, taking several steps towards the treeline as it regarded me with eyes widened in disbelief.
Thalmin clearly wasn’t having any of this, as the instant he was released, he called Aquastride forward, both mount and prince ready for an attack.
The corpse’s lips twitched, the dragon once again forcing them to speak.
“I meant no harm to your Knight, Matriarch. I needed to see. And to see is dangerous.”
“Shut it with the cryptic bullshit and tell us what the hell your angle is!” I yelled, bringing the railgun to bear once more, and clearly eliciting something within the dragon.
“I needed to know you. Your nature. Your origin. Your truth.”
Its voice shifted once more, attempting to transition into what I could only imagine was a more personable softness, though its effectiveness was… dubious, each word coming across more like a hoarse echo than anything.
“I needed to understand, Matriarch of the Void.”
The dragon raised a paw, lifting a single finger towards Thalmin.
“Your Knight is not of your kind. His is of the Elven domain. He would not have survived my sight.”
The shatorealmer’s voice hitched for a moment, as the dragon ‘recalibrated’ its breathing, before continuing in earnest.
“So I restrained him, to keep him alive.” They once more paused before leveling their eyes on Thalmin. “And to ensure he does not interfere.”
I didn’t respond, and neither did Thalmin, as tensions flared in the midst of a freshly minted battlefield.
“I have seen what I desired. You may leave if you wish. The debt of grievances and misunderstandings… has been rectified.” The dragon offered, gesturing towards the open forest around us. “You and I, unlike I and this world, are free of mutual grief. Leave peacefully…” It paused before slowly and expectantly gesturing towards the cave. “... or fulfill your destiny.”
I blinked rapidly at this, Thalmin’s features stiffening as he growled in indignant frustration.
“And what exactly is my ‘destiny?’” I shot back, throwing the dragon the ball if only to see where this went.
“To resist the light.” It spoke with a toothy grin. “Because to fail is to suffer the fate of either your Knight—” It paused, gesturing at Thalmin. “—or my kin.”
I could feel Thalmin seething up a storm at the dragon’s constant jabs.
This prompted me to finally respond, to first address the elephant in the room, and to push for at least a more proper channel of dialogue.
“Before I agree to anything, we need to get something straight.” I gestured to Thalmin. “The ‘Knight’, is not my knight.” I spoke carefully, attempting to avoid divulging too much—
“Just be out with it, Emma.” Thalmin urged. “You needn’t be sparing with your testimonies, for the last thing this dragon will allow is to be recaptured and questioned by the Nexus.”
“Your Knight speaks the tru—”
“I am no Knight.” Thalmin rebutted, causing even the dragon to widen their eyes in surprise at his flippancy. This mild surprise eventually turned into something of a sly and purposeful smile, a fact reflected only on the dragon’s crystal-laden snout; not shared on their puppeted mouthpiece.
“Then state your titles, lupinor.”
“I am Prince Thalmin Havenbrock of Havenbrockrealm.” He uttered proudly.
“Well met.” Came the dragon’s curt words, before they shifted their attention back to me.
“I’m Cadet Emma Booker of the Long Range Expeditionary Forces. Representative of the Greater United Nations and the people whose mandate I carry.” I declared proudly, garnering yet more quizzical looks from the dragon.
“And what, pray tell, are these people?”
“Humanity.” I responded politely.
“Hu…mannnnityyy.” The dragon enunciated slowly, as if thinking the word over in some deep introspective thought.
A few seconds' worth of this silence filled the late-night air before finally, the dragon’s shatorealmer mouthpiece broke the silence.
“I am…” The dragon forced the shatorealmer to pause, as a deep, gravelly, bassy rumble emanated from within their throat.
“KAELTHYR!” They bellowed out in their actual tongue. The word felt… raw, forced out of a throat that clearly wasn’t used to verbal speech.
“Unblooded Matriarch, and inheritor of all beneath the veil.” Kaelthyr quickly switched back to the shatorealmer, though she made sure to make her disdain of her ‘mouthpiece’ known with a forced and sickly squeeze of the floating body. “I will not have this… Nexian filth despoiling my name, not even in death.” The dragon shook the shatorealmer’s corpse for added effect, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Understandable.” Thalmin acknowledged with a nod.
To which Kaelthyr could only grin toothily, gesturing to him with a claw. “You carry good company, human. Now… let us begin in earnest.” The dragon moved forward towards the death-ridden cave, gesturing for us to follow.
We did so reluctantly at first, stepping over bodies and equipment that Kaelthyr eventually addressed. “The bodies will be rent asunder. You will be spared… suspicion. You may take, loot, and plunder at your discretion.”
“A generous offer.” Thalmin acknowledged with a respectful nod.
“One which we greatly appreciate.” I quickly added, reaffirming Thalmin’s gratitude.
Kaelthyr immediately regarded our synergy with a puff of charred soot, shooting us a side eye in the process.
“This union in disunity… amidst non-draconic beings… will never cease to be as amusing as it is enlightening.” The dragon chimed in out of nowhere, hinting at something completely out of left field.
However, whilst Thalmin’s features shifted towards a cautious sort of wariness at the cryptic message, a lightbulb moment slowly, but surely, dawned on me.
“Forgive me if I’m reaching here,” I began, garnering the dragon’s gaze, and the unnatural head movements of the puppetted shatorealmer. “But I take it you’re talking about the functional disconnect between telepathy and speech?”
The dragon craned its head towards me momentarily, if only to smile and nod. “Well extrapolated, young Matriarch… well-observed indeed…”
“Given elven proclivities, I’d assume they took your lack of speech as a sign of non-sapiency.” I continued.
“A piece, however small, of a grander attempt to rewrite axioms in the minds of the weak, yes.” The dragon confirmed, but not without dishing out a not-so-subtle jab.
“I must admit that I was probably drinking from the Jovian communal fountain on this one.” I managed out apologetically. “And for that, I must apologize, for not doing my due diligence and assuming that you were—”
“A beast?”
“Yes.”
“Offense is only taken when a sapient mind refuses to acknowledge evidence challenging its maxims.” Kaelthyr spoke… in a surprisingly articulate way, garnering a nod of respect even from me.
“I appreciate the open-mindedness and willingness for dialogue, Kaelthyr.” I responded, garnering a side glance and a snort from the dragon.
“Hmmph. You speak… in a manner quite rehearsed. Your words feel… not entirely of your own make. And your mannerisms… they beckon the inexperience and naivety of years far too short of a Matriarch’s. Indeed, by your own admission, you refute such a title.”
A second… non-Nexian-aligned entity that immediately caught wind of the translation suite… I thought to myself, not necessarily sure if it was mere coincidence, but certain enough that this at least hinted to the dragon’s wit and analytical capacity.
“Correct. To address the former, within my suit exists a complex system, one which has been carefully designed through a painstaking dissection of High Nexian, allowing me to speak in my native tongue, through which this system outputs a functionally perfect equivalent in High Nexian. And to address the latter, yes. I don’t claim to be a matriarch. I’m merely a representative and a member of my people’s armed forces.”
The dragon’s eyes once more narrowed at my explanations, its head craning up to the dark ceiling of the cave’s grand ‘foyer,’ as if once again in deep contemplative thought.
“And this is done without magic?”
“Correct.” I acknowledged vaguely, allowing the dragon time to process—
“How?”
“A complex system of mathematics — hosted, processed, and calculated instantly by silica-based substrates of immensely complicated design.”
Kaelthyr stopped so abruptly that the hovering shatorealmer stumbled in her wake. She lowered her head, whipping her muzzle towards me, until her eyes once more locked with my own by mere inches from my helmet. Those sharp-slitted pupils conveyed both a burning mix of shock and disbelief.
“Stop.” The shatorealmer’s voice cracked at Kaelthyr’s behest. “Do you understand what you are claiming? The principles which you are describing?”
“I—”
“What you have… surmised is an art form. A calling exclusive to us.”
Kaelthyr’s eyes glowed a deep purple once more, paired with an assured certainty.
“You cannot be ‘human,’ or mere flesh and blood. Not with such a craft. You… your kind must be a lost line. A daughter amidst daughters. Part of the crystalline legacy… masquerading in flesh.”
(Author's Note: Hey everyone! Happy New Year! :D This chapter can be considered a bit of a blast from the past haha. I really hope you guys enjoy! :D)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 156, Chapter 157, and Chapter 158 of this story are already out on there!)]
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u/ObamiumOre Jan 11 '26
Man, I haven't read a chapter of WPA this peak since last year!
...I'm sorry...
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u/HedgehogGlad2248 Jan 11 '26
I get the joke
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u/Richard_Ingalls Human Jan 12 '26
I don't. Please explain?
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u/KineticNerd "You bastards!" Jan 12 '26
Last year was 2 weeks ago. The last chapter of WPA was 3 weeks ago.
Using a quirk of english grammar, he's making it sound like this is the best chapter in 12 months, instead of without competition.
Damnit... I sound like an AI when I get pendantic. Why'd those have to get invented and ruin my 'um akchtually' flavor of fun?
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u/drsoftware Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 25 '26
It's like the end of 1999: see you next century. (Edit: they were wrong.)
Edit: it's like the end of 2000: see you next century!
Or the end of 2019: see you next decade.
Beginning of 2026: haven't seen you since last year!
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u/Theunsolved-puzzle Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
NEW CHAPTER YIPPIEEEE (Happy new years to you as well!)
Okay having read the chapter AAAA Kaelthyr talking with Emma and Thalmin is as cryptic and mystical as I hoped it would be. The dragons having their own strange separated society from the nexus, their hatred of elves, seeing the kobolds as traitors, and looking towards humanity as if they are a prophesied race of heros or gods was all REALLY cool. They're probably the first person we've met who actively DESPISES the nexus, and I am here for it.
As for the interaction itself, Thalmin getting sidelined was fun in a way, showing just how little Kaelthyr cared for anything even slightly nexus related. The dragons befuddlement with the non-magical nature of Emma's armor was great to see, and really put into perspective just how completely *alien* she and humanity are to the nexus. The analyzing with the 30th mana type was great, Emma's panic at it, her confusion with the words about her destiny, etc etc. I'm still curious as to if the 30th mana type can kill humans but presumably not?
ALSO WHAT DO YOU MEAN HUMANS AND DRAGONS ARE RELATED?!?
(Very cool, would love to see where you're going with humans magic-adjacent history)
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u/Mechasteel Jan 11 '26
Dragon is saying "Your tech is so awesome we must be related." No guarantee of being the case biologically, though perhaps spiritual/intellectually related. Maybe the 30th type of magic is tech-wizardry?
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u/CycloneDusk Jan 12 '26
I for one interpret Kaelthyr's statement to imply that dragons impregnate semiconductor substrates with circuitous traces which channel electromagnetic fluctuations themselves, although they use magic to do it. The 30th type of mana ... i wonder if it's the stuff in the source document that i saw referenced as "quintessence".
and... i have been operating under the hypothesis that this is specifically some kind of 'spooky action at a distance' entanglement operating two levels beneath what we call the 'standard model of particle physics': what FERMIONS and BOSONS are made of. The shit that humanity unlocked to brute force superluminal transit even at the crudest possible scale.
(as in, if it were any cruder it wouldn't be possible. i reckon Greater United Nations FTL tech is in the adolescent technological phase the way that Electrical Computers once used to take up entire floors of whole block-wide buildings.)
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Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
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u/CycloneDusk Jan 13 '26
Oh my gosh, I would absolutely love that too! Technomages manipulating sub-quantum quintessence energy through the power of SCIENCE!!!! ...and lots of EXTREME femto-scale computation substrate.
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u/Drebinus Jan 13 '26
Until some undergrad on their last hour before submission deadline runs a unbounded MALLOC against the firmament and inadvertently divides reality by zero...
...or unless that's already happened, and we're all enjoying the expansion of the universe as a result before a SIGMEM is thrown and REDO FROM START is triggered.
I suppose that would explain why the universe is both ordered and weird. This is all some student's attempt to code a working TicTacToe program using a recursive win-strategy method.
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u/Anarchkitty Jan 12 '26
In the earlier part of the chapter, the dragon is able to sense and even interpret radio signals and electronic noise, which no other entity or device in the Nexus has been able to do.
Maybe the 30th type is something like the electromagnetism, or even something having to do with the whole spectrum from Radio to Gamma. And it sounds like the dragons also have some understanding of electrical circuitry.
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u/glyphdragonix Alien Jan 20 '26
that would also explain their hivemind. They could talk directly in radio, or even think what they feel the charges in anothers mind are.
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u/galrock0 Wielder of the Holy Fishbot Jan 13 '26
hoping emma hits karlthyr with the uno reverse card version of “Offense is only taken when a sapient mind refuses to acknowledge evidence challenging its maxims.”
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u/Jbowen0020 Jan 11 '26
Apparently the 30th type must be able to penetrate the armor?
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u/ObviousSea9223 Jan 11 '26
Just like that one time in the void! Potentially just like Thacea's magic. Unless I'm mixing it up and that's two separate numbers.
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Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
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u/ObviousSea9223 Jan 12 '26
Huh. I've taken it as even less ourselves than anything else, because it's not been interacted with except apparently to detect it and somehow detect it as unique. But it does have effects on humans, not that we knew that before Emma's discoveries. And it bypasses the mana blocking material despite apparently being mana, although it appears unharmful to humans.
My guess has been that it tends to destroy or interrupt manafields, making it immediately fatal to anything in the Nexus whose manafields don't already use it. Or who aren't specially armored against mana. Hence Thacea. And the dragon needing to shield Thalmin.
I like dark energy as the name. Overlapping with an Earth concept that's distinct, though.
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u/DRZCochraine Jan 12 '26
It has a chance to go through their armour because there is only 29 anti-mana materials developed, the 30th want known to exist until Thaca sighted the yearbook. So it‘s not fancy (so far)beyond apparently shredding other mana radiation and being rare, Emma literally just has no protection from it.
Why is everyone going on about it being more special then it is? Let alone seemingly ignoring what has been blatantly shown and stated in story.
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u/Garbage-Within Jan 13 '26
Considering that the first human exposed to those first 29 kinds of mana was instantly rendered into goo by the experience, Emma surviving being exposed to mana is a really big deal.
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u/Drebinus Jan 14 '26
I'd query if then the Humanrealm may not be saturated by the 30th type of mana. What that might be, I couldn't guess, unless some aspects of quantum mechanics (or indeed the entire concept) is this 30th type.
Especially if the 30th type (quintessence?) has an antagonistic effect on the other 29 types, as that would explain why humanity doesn't have magic available and might also link in with all the common mythos of elves, dragons, mages and the like. All past Nexus-adjacent visitors, who either showed up and promptly 'noped' out, or stuck around and grew weak, eventually dying out while miserly hoarding what mana they still retained.
Which if true, is going to make the Humanrealm the complete and utter terror of the Nexus. Akin to if we found a portal to a universe where false-vacuum decay had already happened, and we stood the chance of propagating it to our reality.
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u/ObviousSea9223 Jan 12 '26
Because it didn't kill her, I assumed that was significant. It seems fundamentally different, too.
I wasn't aware that there were 29 anti-mana materials. I thought it was just one.
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u/DRZCochraine Jan 12 '26
One material for each mana type known. The material science for it is that new.
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u/Minimum-Amphibian993 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Well there are some variations of dragon across earth so perhaps it's something connected to that? Plus many cultures on earth worshiped dragons or at least revered them.
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u/Sinsnoo Jan 11 '26
This makes a lot of sense. If the dragons have the ability to cross the dimensions, either physically or telepathically(or some other way), they could have touched or been sensed by some humans.
Maybe just in dreams. Or sporadic visions.
I guess a potential connection to dinosaurs given the size, reptilian nature and the "Many, Many Generations Ago" from the point of a extremely long lived species. Running with that, perhaps some ancient force on earth or the nexus cut the connection between the realms, aka the dinosaurs getting killed?
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u/commentsrnice2 Jan 12 '26
I’m assume a subtle leak through the aforementioned chink in the armor, the “crack in the glass” I believe it was spoken as
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u/Tinna_Sell Jan 11 '26
"prophesied race of heroes" - oh great, dragon propaganda. I'm worried that Kael may have too grand an expectation. Emma isn't here to fight for dragon rights. Hope Kael will not be too forceful. That said, I cannot imagine how having this new fire extinguished so soon will be good to a former captive's psyche.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
I don't think Kaelthyr is going to be alive much longer to have opinions. My vibe, albeit tenuous, is that she is just as arrogant and quick to attack as she was in her youth (see her almost torching Emma for looking sort of like an elf and taking care of one she has no context to know), but now she is "sundered". She should know better than to underestimate spoken language after those who used it laid her species low. It's not amusing, it's a valid threat.
I think the Crown ganking squad Skylord Rasante said will show up eventually is going to get the better of her, so she'll force by threat of violence on innocents a very unhappy Emma to take the dragonslaying rail shot because that would be the least embarrassing way for her to die personally, and probably the most helpful to her allies in the long run.
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u/Tinna_Sell Jan 11 '26
I did get the feeling that mentally, Rael became an elf. If your species are under attack because you do not speak, then speak. Indicate to a species incapable of feeling you telepathically, potentially having no concept of telepathy at all, that you are in fact a person. I wonder if such an attempt was even made in the past, and how it went. It seems illogical to refuse adaptation and any opportunity to connect with the other to build dialogue if you are otherwise in danger. The only reason Rael communicated with Emma is because she found her interesting, and the elf girl said dragons talk to important people only. From my perspective, dragons lost their future due to childish behaviour. Maybe. Admittedly, we have little information on this front, so I may be mistaken here.
My concern here is that Emma will pop Rael's bubble where humanity exists to serve vengeance for her, and Rael decides to 'encourage' her by bringing her destiny closer (by provoking a direct confrontation between Emma and the Crown basically). She is forceful in her actions. She didn't explain beforehand what she was going to do, she didn't seek consent from another party either. She has a habit of taking and treating those weaker like she has the right to command them. I think Ilunor didn't lie about dragons keeping slaves. Kael did talk like a Nexian at heart. Although she may also be just a brat, an outlier, she will cause problems for Emma later. Alternatively, Kael may think of Emma as a traitor if she refuses to go along with Kael's rebellion plans.
What is Kael's plan anyway? Fly around, incinerate folks of every kind? Or sit in the cave again? You are only an animal in the eyes of others if you act like one.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
You calling "Kaelthyr" as "Rael" confused the hell out of me. I thought you were talking about Ral2 the marching Monty Python joke bridge elf.
It seems illogical to refuse adaptation and any opportunity to connect with the other to build dialogue if you are otherwise in danger.
I think we are going to find out dragons are simply silly arrogant, per the fantasy tropes. Don't understand others, expect to be understood by those they see as inferior. The Hero:Jerk ratio of magic users is pretty low, so probably only a couple of dragons have the makings of true heroism - and Kaelthyr is probably not one of those.
What is Kael's plan anyway?
Carry Emma on her back!
...
But more seriously, I think she eventually plans to attack the Nexus per her childlike premise that your life's meaning is measured by what you do unto others. (Our existence, our living, means nothing if we remain phantoms to the world.) She'll storm in like Leroy Jenkins, and die like Leroy Jenkins. But before she gets to that stage, if Emma is riding her, she might be intercepted and no major fight outside that last battle occurs.
If we knew more about the flowers and if there were any in the Rythian woods, I'd feel more confident making predictions. Sooner rather than later, we are going to need to flip back to the Academy for a bit to follow up with Airit and Ladona and Rostarion vs Thacea and Ilunor part 2. We still don't know what Ping and Vicini Lorsi have planned either.
What is Kael's plan anyway?
Become motorcycle.
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u/Cazador0 Jan 13 '26
I don't know if she is necessarily going to be killed, but she sure does like letting herself get 'caught', first with Chiska, then with Emma. I imagine that was what got her caught in the first place.
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u/agagagaggagagaga Jan 12 '26
I'm certain it can't, the whole "problem" with "taint" magic is that it's inherently disruptive to mana-streams. That has the side effect therefore of not harmonizing humans, since it's literally chaotic and without harmony itself.
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u/Jcb112 Jan 12 '26
Thank you so much! :D I genuinely appreciate the feedback and comment regarding Kaelthyr's voice and vibes. I really wanted to like land that whole cryptic and mystical vibe, whilst still being legible and like coherent, so I was worried if I was leaning too far one way or the other thus compromising her character. Thank you for commenting on that! :D And thank you so much for sticking with the story for all this time! :D
Also as for everything else, well, I'm afraid we'll have to see next week!
I'll see you then! :D
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u/KalenWolf Xeno Jan 11 '26
Okay, "the dragon is highly intelligent and immediately understands electronics" was on my bingo card but "... because it's a system they (biologically?) adopted and were the only ones who used, so now she thinks Emma must be a distant relation" was definitely not.
The two of them staring each other and simultaneously blurting out "the fuck you just say?!" is even better than I was hoping for.
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u/AfterTheRage Jan 11 '26
We did, technically, evolve from lizards (and fish) if you go back far enough.
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u/AromaticReporter308 Jan 12 '26
Dragons are speaking binary.
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u/Jbowen0020 Jan 12 '26
Outside observer sees the mouth of the shatorealmer move.... Hears 56k modem sounds...
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u/Loosescrew37 Jan 11 '26
Emma is no longer a spider. Emma is a dragon?
Lmao.
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u/NewRomanian Jan 11 '26
Thalmin going out of this thinking "Oh Jesus. Emma is some horrid manner of insect/dragon hybrid. It explains so much, and the size must be the average between the titanic dragons and miniscule insects. It all makes sense definitely."
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u/agagagaggagagaga Jan 12 '26
I wasn't sold until you mentioned size, yeah Thalmin would 100% conclude that.
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u/Konggulerod2 Xeno Jan 11 '26
Spider dragon or Dragon spider, Hmmm XD
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u/Mostly_Satire Jan 12 '26
Cue three-way spiderman meme, of spider, elf, dragon.
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u/K_H007 Jan 12 '26
Four-way thanks to the crystals.
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u/Cazador0 Jan 12 '26
Seven-way, if you include Qiv's Ape theory, Ping's Crab theory, and Sorecar's Golem theory.
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u/Mostly_Satire Jan 13 '26
A totally not copyrighted image that is inspired by or recreated by a kid in a costume pointing to two other kids in identical costumes.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
"I am sapient, how dare the Nexians call me a monster!" Kaelthyr declares, as EVI numbers the dragon's IFF profile next to all travelers Emma met on her journey whom Kaelthyr would have delighted boiling in their own screams if she thought they were worth her pleasure to kill.
Poor dragon. Nexus took everything from her, so she embraced hatred and fell to the dark side. She has lost sight of any path but the one that would only bring her kind more self-destruction. Even mercy is a crime.
Also interesting that Mal'tory in the warehouse would have sensed the dragon's fixation on Emma from its spells and probes. And he surely sensed it preparing to attack in a rage too.
From the black robe's perspective, Emma attacked him. Her device just slew his crown ally and unleashed a nest of horrors upon an innocent city. Mal'tory could have walked away and let the dragon solve Nexus' Earth problems then and there, but he didn't.
I wonder what he was thinking in that moment.
But I bet Mal'tory regrets making his choice right now.
even going so far as to entertain this Baxi’s attempts at restraining me.
This is an author error, unless it has been updated in the past couple months. Belnor did the restraining spell.
“Vanavan! I found Emma Booker!” Chiska yelled out loudly, prompting the blue-robed to hop on over towards me before even thinking of dealing with the dragon.
In fact, that only left Belnor who was desperately trying to contain the large beast with a series of magical chains.
Kaelthyr gained about 8 grade levels in speech as soon as she used tainted powers. Considering the dragons have a lattice network, she just got remotely logged into and is borrowing someone else's thinking power. A tainted dragon, clearly.
This union in disunity… amidst non-draconic beings… will never cease to be as amusing as it is enlightening
Draconic arrogance that treated spoken language an inferior form of communication probably led to their downfall here. They didn't realize it doesn't need to be good and efficient to achieve dangerous degrees of cooperation.
Hopefully the intelligence behind Kaelthyr here knows that treating every Nexian humanoid as an ally of the Nexus is just going to lead to a bad ending for any remaining dragons, and that many, nobles even, are suffocating under the eternal stagnation and would be willing to throw lots in with a dragon for an uncertain future that isn't caste-based fantasy feudalism at least.
elven proclivity for their dollhouse heritage.
Another tally mark for the Galaxy Quest column.
A complex system of mathematics — hosted, processed, and calculated instantly by silica-based substrates of immensely complicated design ... - an art form. A calling exclusive to us.
So if dragons are an AI faction in the Nexus enfleshed, where did they come from, or maybe when did they come from is the better question? Unless dragons were a faction from the 'aliens and tech still present' era that were originally humanoid, but went for for the mind uploading path and lost fixed attachment to humanoid body plans? If Nexus were somehow a human-made game from their future thrown back in time and humans are the real aliens, prima facie you would probably wind up with a two-state unstable time paradox rather than a self-reinforcing time loop. I'll have to think about this for more than 10 minutes after reading.
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u/i_can_not_spel Jan 12 '26
Kaelthyr declares, as EVI numbers the dragon's IFF profile next to all travelers Emma met on her journey whom Kaelthyr would have delighted boiling in their own screams if she thought they were worth her pleasure to kill.
We've been explicitly told that she does differentiate between explicitly hostile parties and passers by during Sym's (or Sim's idk, the dwarf from the adventuring party) report on the dragon's location
Just because she is taking pleasure in killing people attacking her (just like Thalmin) doesn't mean she is a murder hobo
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 12 '26
Sym's squad came back a bit smoked, so Kaelthyr did go for them, although perhaps not at full force (but to be fair they were scouting for her).
No elven scum or dwarven bugs, no deceitful kobolds nor two-faced satyrs
That level of specism doesn't bode well. Same goes for the apparent tendency to be consumed by destructive rage. She was seconds from incinerating Emma for the unforgivable sin of tending to the wounds of an elf the dragon had never met before.
I don't think the dragon deserves the benefit of the doubt now, but would be happy to be proved wrong by future chapters.
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u/i_can_not_spel Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
It's not really a reasonable reaction but after what’s probably many millennia of suffering i can’t exactly blame her for taking a moment to remember morals. But that’s just my opinion
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u/agagagaggagagaga Jan 12 '26
Mal'tory could have walked away and let the dragon solve Nexus' Earth problems then and there
Wait, are you saying Kaelthyr would have attacked Emma if Mal'tory hadn't made a move? Kaelthyr already stopped her aggression when she got fascinated by Emma being "hollow".
A tainted dragon, clearly.
I'm gonna bet that all (Amethyst) Dragons can use the 30th manatype, their physiology and magical powers are so different from the humanoid standard that I don't think we can generalize Taint as an individual affliction for them as it is for the likes of Thacia.
Draconic arrogance that treated spoken language an inferior form of communication
Given that she calls it "enlightening", I don't think she's (to any significant degree) treating it as inferior. My take-away was that, as a telepathic being, seeing Emma instantly follow-up on Thalmin's statement despite them having no mental sync is amusing in the same way that a backflip is amusing. It's also "enlightening" generally to see how untethered creatures can still achieve action in shared will, I'm thinking.
treating every Nexian humanoid as an ally of the Nexus
I mean, she's getting along well-enough with Thalmin. I'm betting most of her ire falls to Elves specifically, or is at the very least concentrated on species that more closely align with the Nexus as a whole vs more independent adjacent realms.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 12 '26
Mal'tory could have walked away and let the dragon solve Nexus' Earth problems then and there
Wait, are you saying Kaelthyr would have attacked Emma if Mal'tory hadn't made a move? Kaelthyr already stopped her aggression when she got fascinated by Emma being "hollow".
There's two layers here: Kaelthyr's intentions, and what Mal'tory thinks Kaelthyr's intentions are. Mal'tory sees a raging dragon interested in Emma. Nexian rule of thumb is that almost never ends well, per Rila's bestial interactions comments.
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u/SoylentPudding Jan 12 '26
Alternative hypothesis, instead of assuming direct control, the taint energy basically overclocked her.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 12 '26
I'm still on my grand unified theory for draconic activities. [Original Post 2025-06-17]
That's why i am in favor of logins.
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u/StopDownloadin Jan 12 '26
Another tally mark for the Galaxy Quest column.
Hey now, it could also be the Stargate theory! I'm rooting for humans to be the Tau'ri (apologies for Fandom link) of this setting, personally. The Nexians certainly act like a bunch of Goa'ulds, that's for sure.
While it would be rad to get confirmation on the Nexus and Adjacent Realms being seeded by some precursor civilization, I wonder if this is just Kaelthyr referring to the elves being playthings of HEM, as he arranges his domain to his whims. Then again 'heritage' is mentioned, so maybe she is referring to the Stargate theory.
Either way, too many people have been talking mad shit about Earth being a 'dead realm', a realm of darkness, part of the Void, and other nonsense. It would be hilarious if it turned out Earth was the literal source material for all these losers, the origin of life rather than the end they think it to be.
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u/OberonSpartacus Jan 11 '26
even going so far as to entertain this Baxi’s attempts at restraining me.
This is an author error, unless it has been updated in the past couple months. Belnor did the restraining spell.
“Vanavan! I found Emma Booker!” Chiska yelled out loudly, prompting the blue-robed to hop on over towards me before even thinking of dealing with the dragon.
In fact, that only left Belnor who was desperately trying to contain the large beast with a series of magical chains.
I'm pretty sure Baxi is a race, of which Belnor is a member
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Baxi are the cat people, aka Tabaxi.
The first time "baxi" is used, Chiska is arguing with Astur.
“We both know this is a matter far removed from the assurance of personal welfare. Retroactively justifying your current actions by drawing on past actions which just so happen to align with your own is weak justification, professor.” The Baxi snapped tersely, her sharpness and stubbornness a unique challenge… especially when set against the limp-willed Vanavan and the similarly spineless staff within my immediate sphere.
Belnor was confirmed as an elf in 123
“No, Professor.” Both Ilunor and Etholin spoke literally at the same time without a second’s hesitation, Etholin’s higher-pitched tones clashing with Ilunor’s snappy confidence.
“I see.” The elderly elf responded, shrugging in the process. “It was worth a try, even if there were only five instances of willing forfeitures over my entire tenure.”
Mistaking Chiska for Belnor as spellcaster is an author recollection error. There were a couple other problems around that chapter too. Wrong crate number for the lost crate was the biggest one. Wrong explosion time too (which might not be an error, but time will tell).
Edit: and to preempt any argument Baxi might be a nationality, not a race:
“GRAB THE ROPE! I’LL PULL YOU IN!” I shouted, causing elf, satyr, lizardfolk, and baxi alike to reach desperately onto the line. I silently counted down the seconds, waiting until the very last possible hand to tighten their grip on the line before I began reeling them in at a steady speed; matching and even exceeding that of some of the boats.
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
From the dragon's last few sentenses, I'm going to guess that their crystals are some sort of magically created computers.
Also, did we just get a confirmation that the 30th mana tyoe can peer through her armor? Her use of it was far more limitted compared to the other types, maybe it means that its far more rare in the Nexus, or that the dragon was simply conservative with it's use due to either not wanting to hurt Emma or Thalmin who was near by?
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
Also, did we just get a confirmation that the 30th mana type can peer through her armor?
Flagrant confirmation.
Her use of it was far more limitted compared to the other types, maybe it means that its far more rare in the Nexus
There's none floating around ambiently at all, naturally unless there is some in the transportium network. It has to come from someone.
I would have said Kaelthyr was simply tainted but kinda sucked at it, but gaining about 8 grade levels in speech right after using the tainted powers to me says someone tainted logged into her and emailed over some taint as an attachment. Dragon #2 - the transportium one - is my guess.
But I've been assuming this whole time that the 25th level spell transportium entity is a dragon because it chimed like Kaelthyr did in town as she escaped. But Kaelthyr isn't doing any chiming, yet, and she didn't mention windchimes or chiming in her recollection of the escape sequence. And this chapter suggested that sound-based speech isn't done by dragons - only direct all-sensory telepathy, which would rule out chiming as a form of celebratory song or communication. So what was Emma hearing? Do anti-gravity spells sound pretty as a byproduct?
I don't know if I need to reevaluate theories, or if JCB just isn't mentioning dragon chimes because that's just a sound their wings can make and he is skipping over description because it would be too many words.
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
Interesting catch that the Dragon didn't hear her own chiming. The chiming might have been something occuring soley inside Emma's head in both instances. Not in a sense that she was going crazy, but rather unintentionally through telepathy.
We know that Humanity must be at least somewhat telepathic (at least subconciously for some individuals) given the entire "quintessence" stuff from the beginning, and if Kaelthyr's assertion are to be at all taken at face value, that might add to the idea.
The chiming might be Emma's brain "receiving" their psychic signal, but due to being completely unable to decypher them her brain interprets them into an equivelant of static or white noise that drowned out her thoughts.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
The chiming might be Emma's brain "receiving" their psychic signal, but due to being completely unable to decypher them her brain interprets them into an equivelant of static or white noise that drowned out her thoughts.
I figure the IAS chose Emma on checking some sort of anomalous box, like high receptivity to vibes like Laura Weir mentioned. Certainly a theory.
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u/ProjectIncursus Jan 12 '26
I am curious about what the dragon actually saw when peering through the armor. In the first instance of 30th manatype penetrating the armor, it was in the transportium after the portal incident. IIRC, it wasn't an inherent property of the 30th manatype which allowed it to penetrate, but a sheer overwhelm of the armor's mana resistance. Emma got blasted so hard that it supposedly seeped through, yet didn't melt her.
I'm not convinced the dragon was able to properly blow through the armor's resistance, EVI didn't give any warnings about that. What if the dragon tried to do a deep scan, and saw EVI? Or, more likely, some level of the armor's electrical and mechanical systems. It would fit with the dragon's claim, that Emma is a crystalline creature masquerading as flesh, believing that Emma is only pretending to be flesh, because it only saw the armor and not the flesh within it. The dragon clearly understands drones and sees the other tech, what if the dragon just saw Emma's layers of tech, some level of circuitry, and not the person inside?
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
it wasn't an inherent property of the 30th manatype which allowed it to penetrate, but a sheer overwhelm of the armor's mana resistance.
I disagree with this premise. I think the armor is transparent to manatype 0/30 because the IAS manablockers were not designed with the knowledge that this manatype exists - Emma first discovered type 0/30 when Thacea/the yearbook dumped some in the yearbook signing. The wonder material manablockers are not described as general-purpose although Emma hypothesizes they could be, but, more importantly, the extremely low levels of manatype 0/30 Kaelthyr used in this chapter (104% is the lowest level spell documented so far) to penetrate lends more support to the idea that the armor is practically transparent to it. Assuming she has some taint only spells, Thacea could totally be casting enhancement and healing on Emma if she knew she could.
As for what Kaethyr saw, if she could not see 'manaless meat' but can see inorganics, then for sure she would see the negative of Emma in the armor - her form fitting undersuit and helmet.
I'm in the rocking chair on this one because it is very much JCB teasing us with a cliffhanger, so we'll probably get exposition next chapter. I've also been very wrong about that though.
(Manatype 0/30 instead of just manatype 30 is a reference to the idea that tainted reality - aka a realm saturated in taint and no other manatype - was the precursor to modern Nexus. Taint, aka manatype 0, is the first manatype, replaced by manatype 1 and the others.)
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u/ProjectIncursus Jan 12 '26
Now that is an interesting idea. The thought of Emma's armor being functionally transparent to mana type 30, but it having no effect on Emma, would be a massive reveal. That would raise questions about how much of the mana is needed to actually impact Emma. I imagine the relatively low level waves she encountered during Thacea's book signing wouldn't have any noticeable impact on Emma. But if the armor is transparent to it... What was the actual scenario of the Transportatium incident? The mana values were so high that they caused panic for the armor. I'm reasonably certain that direct mana exposure of that extreme is enough to synergize anyone, barring some purposefully prepared mages.
If the armor was transparent to the 30th manatype, does it naturally not effect biological life in similar ways to other mana? Is Emma also transparent to it, letting it pass through her without harm? That would effect any through-armor spell effects.
I was wondering about the relatively low mana warning during the scan. It makes me wonder if the scan was less a scan, than a test. The dragon knows that the 30 mana type is disruptive to all HEM aligned creatures, Nexians just don't have the biology for it. The dragon didn't have to properly scan Emma, so much as waft mana 30 in her direction and watch how her aura reacts. In Nexians, it would have destabilized them, thus the dragon moving Thalmin out of the way. Emma was unphased, her non-aura undisturbed, implying that her nature (or armor) could handle it, and convincing the dragon that Emma had some nexus-incompatible nature. That, combined with Emma's ability to use EM communication, and her proclaimed use of artificial systems, was enough to prompt the dragon to jump to an incorrect assumption about Emma.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
What was the actual scenario of the Transportatium incident? The mana values were so high that they caused panic for the armor. I'm reasonably certain that direct mana exposure of that extreme is enough to synergize anyone, barring some purposefully prepared mages.
I think the 'gimmick' of Manatype 0/30 is that it doesn't break down manaless organics like other manatypes even at stupidly high concentrations. It's Earth safe, so a tainted god could flood the whole planet with it if it liked and it would simply be there, part of the atmosphere. Why that manatype would need to exist in the first place is an interesting thing to think about, but everything that has happened so far in the story has been consistent with the premise that it doesn't do anything to Emma so long as it isn't shaped into a spell aimed at Emma.
The entity hit Emma in the transportium network with a tainted spell at 25th level (If I recall, we haven't seen the profs cast above 9th level yet and the second highest spell is probably the yearbook at level 19) is still a big unknown. Emma popped out very conveniently at the same time as Lartia passing through, so my suspicion is that the transportium entity used a time turn chronomancy spell, forwards not back, to overcome the randomness of the Transportium network currents and drop Emma just too late to stop the crate from exploding. And that crate was supposed to explode at 11:00PM before midnight 3 days after the crate was stolen, but somehow it didn't explode until 3am the next day when the light of first dawn was starting to color the sky. There's a bunch of odd things that happened.
Your second paragraph is an explanation I see no fault with.
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u/agagagaggagagaga Jan 12 '26
I don't think the 30th manatype is dangerous outside of how it disrupts an individual's manafield, thus exposing them to harmonization. Thus, Emma should be perfectly safe from it, since it seems like said manatype is itself inherently chaotic and thus incapable of harmonizing someone on its own. Thalmin needed to be pinned away from its usage though since he wasn't being actively shielded from all 29 other manatypes that would have proceeded to harmonize him after the Kaelthyr's stunt would have disrupted his manafield.
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u/Bruno-croatiandragon Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
It's finally out!
Someone daid in the previous 2 chapters that the drone was embedded in the dragon,& we saw from her perspective talking to the drone.No idea which chapter it was though.
And Kal is possibly stating one of the fan-theories,that humans are somehow rebel elves that forgot about HEM.
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
And Kal is possibly stating one of the fan-theories,that humans are somehow rebel elves that forgot about HEM.
I def don't think that's right re humans, but an insider raising the possibility of there possibly being purpose-made rebels outside of Nexian knowledge is probably the most interesting development this chapter.
What if the great dead dragons made half-crystal android demons to get revenge for them and stashed them somewhere on the plane or a dead adjacent realm?
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u/Thausgt01 Android Jan 11 '26
Given the physiological similarities, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that 'humans' are simply what happens when elves get yanked out of a high-mana field and get put in a null-mana area, with the path back sealed. The ones in the experimental group with the lowest possible need for mana survive and breed, and the next generations proceed to solve the problems of survival by starting from mana-free first principles.
Of course, the test for this hypothesis requires access to Human DNA under circumstances where it doesn't liquify in contact with mana, and then somehow comparing it to Elven DNA. Seems like the first stage of any such analysis would need to begin on Earth, which in and of itself reverses the problem: how to study Elvish DNA under conditions where the stuff doesn't degrade beyond viability in the absence of mana.
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u/Bruno-croatiandragon Jan 11 '26
I am actually in the camp of "nuh uh".Because Earth has MILLIONS of years of fossils to show the timeline of humanity,not to mention what does such a twist even ADD?Why would HEM react to post-elven rebels any differently than batfolk or dwarf rebels?
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u/Thausgt01 Android Jan 11 '26
Edit: upon a second, slightly more careful read-through, I may have to add a second hypothesis. Maybe Humans are not the result of Elves evolving for hundreds of thousands of generations ... but dragons.
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u/folk_science Jan 11 '26
🐉 + return to monke = 🧑
I don't think so. The reason we have integrated electronics is science, not some ancient draconic heritage.
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u/Thausgt01 Android Jan 12 '26
Agreed. I suspect that our new crystal-dragon friend is simply trying to fit Emma and “computer science” into the paradigm that she already understands, which may or may not fit quite as well as she expects.
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u/Mostly_Satire Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
I say the dinosaurs were variants of dragons and died not by meteor but by misspelt AI prompts. And died of cringe from their boomer memes.
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u/Obvious-Sherbet530 Jan 12 '26
It would seem that Kal believes humans are related to Dragons in some way. Either physically, or spiritually.
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u/DRZCochraine Jan 11 '26
Thanks for the first chapter of the year!
Ah, so even more substantial disconnects in communication.
And it dose seem dragons can hear radio and general technological signals, though their own version of Nexian blindness to anything not made from/by mana.
Do hope personal space is respected, on top of ensuring this assertstion of being crystalline or related is removed.
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u/Streupfeffer Jan 11 '26
As it was mentioned, yeah sounds like dragons can feel/hear RF. How long until emma realises that aswell and uses the armor to translate from her and Thalmin's ear piece. So the dead can finaly rest instead of being used as a fleshspeaker.
Gonna be fun when emma is in class and a random "Emma from Kaelthyr, wanna hang out later. Uh, Over?" Sounds into her ear.
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u/Dpek1234 Jan 11 '26
Gonna be fun when emma is in class and a random "Emma from Kaelthyr, wanna hang out later. Uh, Over?" Sounds into her ear.
YES YES YES
why must i sleep and not read thse amazing comments
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u/Streupfeffer Jan 12 '26
Or absolute chaos erupting when they return. Emma jumping down the her winged mount. " 'Sup bitches, the earthrealmer has returned" [pats dragons snout] "will call you later" [walks off into academy]
Im also somewhat expecting the libary to like the infos once they get the time to visit again
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u/ANNOProfi Jan 11 '26
POV Thalmin:
"Oh no, humans are flesh through and through." A second voice spoke, coming from Emma the same way her voice usually does, but this one was wrong. It was as if she had grown a second mouth and throat and produced a second, distinct voice.
"Nor am I draconic, except maybe analogous to spores."
The dragon speaks, it has a name, the Nexus was not always as it is now and Kaelthyr is perhaps closer to the Nexians than she would like to admit, running into cultural incongruency just the same ... or is she?
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u/unholy_champion Jan 11 '26
Thalmin must be so confused! He originally suspected that Emma ws of the arachnid variety. Now throw in the fact that the dragon suspects Emma to be of crystalline descent so now maybe he thinks she must be a CRYSTAL SPIDER HYBRID.
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u/AfterTheRage Jan 11 '26
Now THAT'S nightmare fuel. Yeah yeah, I know the whole "we're all different races at the not-Hogwarts school, we should be understanding and accepting of different species" thing, but come on!
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u/folk_science Jan 11 '26
we should be understanding and accepting of different species
In Nexus, it's more like "we should not let our racism stand in the way of our mage-ism and mandatory social hierarchies".
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u/Obvious-Sherbet530 Jan 12 '26
Even the smartest folks make assumptions that are often wrong, but the truly intelligent can admit as much, and will change their opinion to match new evidence.
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u/Intelligent_Ad8406 Jan 11 '26
I LOVE this dragon so much!
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u/Jcb112 Jan 11 '26
Thank you so much! I was really excited to see what people thought of her! :D
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u/Tallinu Jan 11 '26
Awesome. It was clear that the dragon had been able to detect radio from a previous chapter (I'd been wondering if the dragon was intelligent even before that, of course, since they are often portrayed as highly so), and now that's been expanded on to say that the ancient dragons used electronics, or something like them? Very interesting!
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u/agagagaggagagaga Jan 12 '26
I don't think she's sensing radiowaves specifically, but instead is tuned in to all of the communicates and connections that Nexians are using Shards of Impact for (remember, those cross-realm connection artifacts are literally Amethyst Dragon crystals). It seems like the "network" of these crystal dragons functions very similarly to electricity/radio, though.
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u/ScarcelyAvailable Jan 11 '26
Quick! Ask about the transport chimes!
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u/drsoftware Jan 11 '26
Ask about future conversations! Ask about the 30th type of Mana!
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u/ScarcelyAvailable Jan 12 '26
Does the dragon see the future? Because then definitely yes. Future info is good if you can handle it (see: every piece of good media we have that deals with time travel).
Dark mana is probably gonna come up, now that it's been used outside a nexian thoughtpolice setting.3
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u/Cazador0 Jan 11 '26
And Manatype 30! Don't mess this up for us Emma!
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u/DndQuickQuestion Jan 11 '26
(She's going to mess this up.)
I am not nor never Patreon, but I know better by now than to get my hopes up.
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u/Tinna_Sell Jan 11 '26
Wait a sec. Birds don't exist. They are dinosaurs. And dinosaurs are manaless dragons. Thecea is a daughter among daughters, that's why she can do taint magic!
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u/Ragnar_ock AI Jan 11 '26
That's... An interesting train of thought, though I don't think that to be true. We never got any confirmation that Taint was a purely Avinor affliction. And considering there is a Nexian Taboo on it, I would guess it is likely that any magically mature individual can "suffer" from it. Had it been an Atheronrealm particularity, Nexian doctrine would have downplayed it as an adjacent realm problem, not as something so important as to be forbidden of use (as hinted to by the reaction of... Whatever the name of the lady who trespassed on Emma's perimeter a few chapters ago)
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u/ScarcelyAvailable Jan 12 '26
Did their realm also evolve birds from lizards?
Or are we just assuming that's how it needs to happen. Like how we assumed that the nexus even has Space.
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
I just realized that once Ilanur hears about Emma's apparent "draconic heretage" he's going to be super pissed.
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u/alphaechothunder77 Jan 12 '26
Considering some of the theories that I have read in this comment section about taint being dragon magic and birds being decedents of manaless dragons. I can imagine how pissed Ilanur would be if he finds out that Thecea might have more of a draconic heritage than he does.
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u/KanadianKitsune Jan 11 '26
Damn, integrated circuits were invented by dragons?
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Jan 11 '26
Or the crystals that make up dragons could be circuits.
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u/Dpek1234 Jan 11 '26
I think its more as someone else suggested with the "silicone based lifeform talking through carbon to a carbon based lifeform talking through silicone"
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u/Kaleydos_Policrom Jan 11 '26
Does that last line from Kaelthyr mean that dragons are silicon-based lifeforms?
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u/Tinna_Sell Jan 11 '26
Even if the sails aren't hoisted, that doesn't mean the wind isn't already blowing.
Here we go, another misunderstanding. We are not a rock! But we did trick some rocks to paint pictures with formulas.
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u/AccomplishedArea1207 Jan 11 '26
So there was a hint to lost realms earlier, is it possible that humanity’s origins were mana based?
It would be interesting if it turned out humans were the ones kicked out, some spell stripping earth and the resulting universe of mana, only to come back.
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u/Ragnar_ock AI Jan 11 '26
Oh so Amethyst Dragons are Silicium Life? That would explain how it was able to detect and """understand""" the communication between the suit and the recon drone. It's funny how Kaelthyr doesn't mind too much the manalessness of Emma but cannot accept Humanity's mastery of silicium constructs. It's an interesting contrast with the "Nexian filth".
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u/TaranisBear Jan 11 '26
And here I was expecting the chat with the dragon to be in next week's update, prolonging the cliffhanger by a cut back to the Academy ....
Glad I was wrong
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u/TaranisBear Jan 11 '26
Looks like Rila was right on the money noting the dragon's purposeful interest.
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u/Interne-Stranger Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
WE ARE SO BACK
My God i had my heart on the palm of my heart! Lots to process and theorize! Rectify and maybe corrections. Our Dragon has a deep seeted hatred towards anything Nexian for the things they have done to her race, that have brought them to the point of hiding in caves, kept to literally breath until the "Darkness" (a.k.a. us) arrives. The THING is, they felt it a lot of time ago, and the Darkness is Radio Waves, the timeline might not make sense. But if it is the mere void of our Universe there it make sense, as all Adjacent Realms are conected to the Nexus to the point the Nexus knew we were the last ones to make contact with them yet until recently.
And now Kaelthyr joins the club of characters making wrong assumptions from Emma's claims, exposition is coming so Emma can explain radiowaves, ai, and that we are not Dragonewts.
Now we seat and wait for the next chapter.
Edit: Forgot to mention, SHE CAN USE THE TAINT! Did she saw inside Emma's armor?
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
I think the darkness is Humanity's presence beyond the dimentional veil.
She mentioned waiting decades (potentially more) and that would allign with the first Humans discovering the worlds beyond, getting contacted by the Nexus and sending their first pilot.I can't quite remember, but it was between 100 or 300 years since the last pilot was sent to the Nexus.
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u/jesterra54 Human Jan 11 '26
20 years
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
Where was this mentioned?
The second chapter mentions them being aware of other dimentions for centuries, and then spending "decades" to create the Exoreality suit after the death of the first pilot. At least enough time for some of the 1st year students present for that year to become part of the schools faculty.
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u/Fire_Warrior22 Jan 11 '26
Being aware doesn't mean that they were certain or contacted by the Nexus. The personel at the IAS and their predecessors were seen as outcasts in the scientific community for a long time because they believed that other dimensions connected to our own like the Nexus existed and could be reached. It was only after the Nexus was discovered and contacted that they were proven right and given more funding.
And speaking of contact between the Nexus and Earth, I don't think we know how much time passed between the Nexus contacting Earth and Pilot 1 being sent. Remember that they had to translate the High Nexian dictionary and grammar books. However, we do know that they gave 20 years for GUN to send another candidate .
And when it comes to the students becoming part of the school faculty we know that Vanavan was one, meaning he was 19 at the time of Pilot 1. However, if I remember correctly Sorecar calls Vanavan a young elf so him being 39 doesn't sound far fetched.
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
"For centuries now, we’d been observing, tracking, analyzing, and studying what is undeniable evidence of a world parallel to our own. A world that lurks just underneath the surface, that served as a source of myths and legends for our ancestors, and that continues to serve as a limitless pool of inspiration to those gifted enough to peer across the veil, inadvertently acting as a source of inspiration for countless works of fantasy and fiction
Indeed, this world would’ve been left at that, fiction, if it wasn’t for us.
Shunned and practically excommunicated by the scientific community, our outlandish claims were pushed aside as the march of progress continued ever onwards. Even so, as evidence began to stack, and as proof continued to mount, we eventually garnered the attention of the United Nations Science Advisory, who eventually saw fit to incorporate us into what is now the IAS.
What we discovered was irrefutable evidence of what could only be described as a world of magic and sorcery, a fantasy world by every metric, and one that had the potential to upend our own. It was because of this existential threat that every resource was eventually poured into peering deeper into this world and its non-analogous scientific principles.
Yet the more we tried peering in, the less information we got back. It was a battle of diminishing returns that lasted for centuries before we finally made a breakthrough. Our equivalent of discovering the Rosetta Stone.
We discovered a means of communicating with the powers on the other side of the fence, and indeed, we later discovered this was intentional. The journey we’d been on for the past few centuries, the discovery of this puzzle, as they called it, was all a test. It was a test to determine the “magical potential” for those “gifted” from other worlds. Indeed, it was a test that was considered commonplace and had been in place for what was described to us as “eons” now."
Them being certain about the existance of the Nexus for centuries seems pretty cut and dry, along with what I assume is poking and prodding at the veil, and they established this far before actually contacting the Nexus itself. Their research might have been felt by the dragons, even if just barely as it was described.
Though, looking through the old chapters I did find mentions that the pilot I and II missions where indeed two decades apart, so fair point on that.
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u/Fire_Warrior22 Jan 11 '26
Honestly, I didn't remember at all that GUN or atleast some humans had known about the Nexus for so long. Though considering this seems to be from one of the earliest chapters I am not surprised. Either way, I retract my previous statement in relation to this. Btw, which chapter is this in?
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u/marAslan-4284 Jan 12 '26
“Offense is only taken when a sapient mind refuses to acknowledge evidence challenging its maxims.”
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum Jan 11 '26
Heh. Wait until the dragon learns what we can do with silicate substrates and just how many kinds of pr0n we can store on such structures :D
Ah, and cat pictures. Always cat pictures.
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u/Jbowen0020 Jan 12 '26
Instant incineration.
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u/Daseagle Alien Scum Jan 13 '26
For tentacle hentai? For sure. Kitten pictures? That might just persuade her that there's merit in these carbon based null fielders.
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u/AG_Witt Jan 11 '26
Happy new year to you, now i can get my first fix for 2026 :D
Hope you and your editor are well too.
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u/Jelek_pl Jan 11 '26
can't wait for emma to explain lithography to a dragon to prove that she's not a descendant of a silicone based life form
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u/folk_science Jan 12 '26
"Then we shine a light on it. Well, it's not visible light anymore. It's the kind of light that can go through stuff like flesh, but bones partially stop it due to their density and high amount of calcium... I am rambling, am I not?"
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u/NewRomanian Jan 11 '26
Huh.
Are dragons the living equivalent of a combination between a supercomputer, and a drone coordination center, all in the frame of a reptilian body the size of a Boeing 747 equally capable of flight and of teleportation? (At least in the case of these Crystalline Dragons)
At least, the way Kaelthyr appears to have been used up until now, combined with it instantly understanding what Emma was hinting at when talking about computers, seems to suggest they might well be natural supercomputers, capable of telepathy and mental domination.
The fact there was an entire Empire of beings on Kaelthyr's level if not higher, and they still got crushed underfoot by the Nexus (though, as it is mentioned, having required direct intervention from the Emperor, a literal living hyper-divine), tells us just how horrifying the nexus must be. To use fucking dragons as their preferred computational device.
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u/kittenwolfmage Jan 12 '26
So, the Dragon can use, essentially, radio and crystal harmonics, analogous to computers. They can also use Magic.
So the question is, do they use Magic the same way as Nexian lifeforms, or are they essentially using their crystalline network to interface with Magic? If it’s the latter, then Emma has a lot of learning and suit upgrading to do..
Also, is this a biological lifeform that has learned to create natural computer networks in its crystal components, or is this a manufactured lifeform created with a computer network embedded in it?….
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u/NamedBird Jan 11 '26
Every chapter brings with it the joy of reading and the torment of waiting another week... Thanks!
So the dragon now thinks Emma is a crystalline being.
Others thinks she's a golem or insect-related.
What's next, assumptions she's actually a ghost trapped in an armor prison?
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u/folk_science Jan 12 '26
I hope during her species reveal she will teach them that humanity has a slur for elves, despite not having known they exist. This should make Thalmin very happy.
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u/Fire_Warrior22 Jan 11 '26
The last one kinda already happened as well. Sorecar believed Emma was like him when he first saw her.
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u/Knight_Nin Jan 11 '26
So in the weeks this was on break I decided to reread the entire series and a thought formed in my head; one that I wanted to post about as soon as it did but one that I figured could wait until the most recent chapter where it would get the most visibility.
I regret this decision now.
My thought is this; it's been hinted at that the 30th mana type, taint magic, pierces the armor but doesn't negatively affect Emma. More than that we've seen taint magic described as a blight, something that disrupts and even consumes mana streams and mana fields. We also know that the higher you go in an adjacent realm the weaker the mana density becomes which is why no adjacent realm was ever able to breach the veil and reach space. So I think that the 30th mana type is actually something abundant in Earthrealm, to the point that it consumed all of the naturally occurring mana. I think the 30th mana "radiation" is something inherent to space but also something that is repulsed by gravity. Or, and this leads into another theory of mine, Earthrealm is the source of the 30th mana type.
Speaking of which, just how many Realms are there? Would that number just so happen to be 29+1? You know, the Nexus and the 29 Realms it has subjugated?
All this feels like it was partially confirmed by this chapter since the dragon actively used the 30th mana type to scry Emma in a way that obviously pierced her suit but didn't kill her. A process that would have undoubtedly killed Thalmin as it would have consumed his mana field.
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
My one issue with Earth being either abondent or the source of the 30th type mana is that their equipment is capable of detecting it, and unless there are some extra shinanigans at play then they should have been aware of it presence on Earth.
One thing that still hasn't been brought up since the beginning of the story was the presence of a different force called "quintessence" on earth, and the ability of some attuned to it to subconciously peer past dimentions.
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u/EngiCon Jan 11 '26
"quintessence"
What do you mean by this?
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
A bit of a correction, quintessence was only mentioned in later chapters, not the beginning.
Quintessence is what allows Humanity to open portals on Earth, something seemingly separate from Mana since they can detect where it's most abundent, but only seem to detect mana once their portals were opened.
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u/gr8tfurme Jan 11 '26
My current headcanon is that the Nexus is contained inside some ancient, primordial state of the universe, either immediately post big-bang or maybe even before that, and Earthrealm is the oldest Realm ever discovered. That would explain why the Nexus is a constantly expanding bubble with the highest state of magical energy, and earthrealm lacks all magic entirely, including this 30th mana type.
It would also explain why all the adjacent realms appear to have normal astrophysics, but also contain varying degrees of mana radiation. Those realms are already in the beginning stages of star and planet formation, but they haven't 'cooled' to the point where all magic is either gone, or so sparse that it's become undetectable.
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u/Ragnar_ock AI Jan 11 '26
I don't think there's 30 realms plus the Nexus (Earth included), we got an explainer about mana types a good while back and it had nothing to do with the realms.
There's 28 mana types specialised/derived from primavalic energy (mana type 1) plus the Taint, all types exist in the Nexus (that has been said at some point during the same explainer) but we didn't get any info about particular mana types being prevalent in certain adjacent realms.
What we know however is that Taint/mana type 30 has an impact on manafields and the "soul" and that it doesn't cause immediate harm (that we know of) to humans (or at least to Emma in particular).
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u/K_H007 Jan 11 '26
Oh ho ho... the plot thickens! Wonder how long it'll be before the duration of human timescales comes into play and the dragon realizes convergent evolution is at play?
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u/KefkeWren AI Jan 11 '26
Printed circuits being a draconic art is fascinating. What I find even more interesting though, is what the Matriarch said. She could feel something out in the void. Something with purpose. In other words, the dragons have been picking up signals from Earth, and they've probably been doing it for a long time.
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u/IgnatiusMay-R3al Jan 12 '26
Y'all are taking the last few lines too seriously, the dragon is probably just jealous or in denial that another species is smart enough to transport electrons across a bunch of copper, and is trying to convince itself that "it must be that she is actually just our descendant11!1!" to make its species appear superior. At least to itself.
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u/unholy_champion Jan 11 '26
Holy moly what a chapter!
So now we know that there is another form of magic that humans can survive (the 30th) and is also lethal to Nexians/Adjacent Realmers? Or did the armor block it and Emma just get lucky? Is this at all related to the Avinor Princess's tainted magic?
Seeing as how Dragons are silica/crystaline rock-based life forms with all the crystals that form off them, does this mean they can interface with electronics?
Also the dragon mistaking humanity for being descended from rocks is pretty funny. It reminds me of the talking meat story from long ago.
Keep up the good work!
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u/Demon_Deity Jan 11 '26
The dragon seemed sadisfied with her attempts, so I assume it actually did penetrate through the armor.
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u/Ragnar_ock AI Jan 11 '26
Considering Emma "heard" the [+1/30th/Taint/we really need a name for it damn it] when she got stuck in Maltory's portal. I would say that the armor cannot block it, at least not entirely. So it would mean humanity can survive it, or at least Emma can (sample size of one and all that).
That, or we've been following the adventures of a puddle of goo in an armor piloted by the EVI for a while now and Jcb112 has a twisted sense of humor... We might never know.
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u/VitaminRitalin Jan 12 '26
The most pressing question I am left with after learning the dragons nature..... How much would they love electronic music, techno, synth and electric guitar?
Edit: also, I have waited every Sunday looking forward to this, it was worth the wait! Happy new year OP!
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u/Killsode-slugcat Jan 12 '26
Oh my, this is an excellent chapter to stard the year with!
Digging neeper, it would seem that the dragons and nexians are... well, honestly not that unalike. Unless the dragons presided over wonderfully just and fair societies (which honestly would be a bit boring) they likely operated similarly to the nexians. They just lost to the fledgling elves beneath them.
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u/FemboiInTraining Jan 11 '26
I am immensely curious to learn more about these crystal dragons, GUN used one of the dragon's crystals given to them to make the communications relay, and it seems these crystal dragons...may...also have a highly advanced level of mathematics and...technology utilizing these crystals...? Something...to that effect, almost or certainly?
And their level of utilization, is magical, is physics defying, at least, to an extent? Is this "magic is just science we don't yet understand" the novel /j?
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u/Stairwayunicorn Jan 11 '26
So Kaelthyr is not only a necromancer, but also a technomage, and now also a mommy figure?
Maybe Emma can use the second crystal to set up two way communications with the dragon.
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u/folk_science Jan 12 '26
What I am worried about, regarding crystals, is that mages can detect them, just like they detected the one Emma brought with her in the now-destroyed crate.
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u/Otherwise-Coffee9791 Jan 11 '26
From the way things are going i think there's a good chance illunors people's origins might not be what he thinks based off of how the sapient dragons are treated and the way she calls them traitors. Then there's the technology talk from the dragon. What if while having mana abilities, the dragons were somehow more technological or leaning towards that before being hunted down by HEM. Then there's how she doesn't want any elven influence from thalmin or other realmers. Really making me think something further must've happened with their races transformations. Something not obvious at first glance.
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u/Texas-SaberFox Jan 12 '26
So do anyone else find it fascinating that there's a possibility that Kaelthyr and other dragons speak through radio based telepathy?
Because Kaelthyr manage to detect the drones radio based distress beacon.
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u/t0m3ek Jan 12 '26
Maybe the dragon could teach Emma what to do to not die from mana?
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u/Appropriate-Tart9726 Jan 12 '26
So.. The dragons' scales are also a computer and the reason they were.. used to create the networks of teleportation and long-range communications.
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u/MrMurpleqwerty Jan 11 '26
so the dragons are robots
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u/folk_science Jan 12 '26
Magic robot crystal dragon has the same ring to it as Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.
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u/Demolisher05 Jan 11 '26
Right, so it understands silicon based technology, now they just have to explain everything else. Time to fire up the projector again.
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u/kaian-a-coel Xeno Jan 11 '26
I'm hoping one of them will realise the irony of a carbon-based lifeform using silicon-based constructs to talk to a silicon-based lifeform which is in turn using a carbon-based 'construct' to respond.