I don't know how long I sat in this mental plane. My mind was filled with thoughts of everything and nothing.
But that was interrupted when the dragon suddenly appeared. Its body practically disintegrated with each step it took.
Like it was made of sand.
"Boy," it called as it approached me. "Listen closely…"
I sat up.
"Yeah?"
He stopped before me and looked down. "I lost."
I blinked with disbelief.
Had I misheard him?
"What did you say?" I asked.
He smirked. "I lost, and now my existence is coming to its final end."
I frowned. "How?! How the hell did you lose?!"
"The same way anyone does. But that is beside the point, you need to listen. And listen well."
I tightened my fists but stayed silent.
The dragon continued.
"My death will leave you with a stronger vessel. You will have instincts that aren't yours, and as you grow those instincts will sharpen."
His back legs dropped as the feet began to erode. But he didn't flinch. "But to reach that point, you must survive. And I know of only one way to survive your mother."
"What is it?"
The dragon lowered its head until we were eye level. He then turned his head so that he looked directly into my eyes.
"You must be her son. If you continue to fight, you will never reach the point where you are strong enough to beat her. Bid your time and grow your strength. Master yourself and my abilities and when the time comes, fight her as an equal."
The dragon crumbled another inch.
You have to be joking.
I shook my head. "So in the end you took my destiny. You took my death from me and now you're telling me to live?! Why are you okay with dying?! I thought you wanted this body!"
I pointed a finger at him. "That should be me!"
The dragon chuckled as he lost his last leg.
"Death comes only to those who deserve it. For better or worse. If you really want you can still kill yourself after you awaken. But we both know you don't want to do that anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
The dragon was nothing more than a head and neck now. Yet it still smiled. "DRAGON, what is that supposed to mean?! Answer me!"
"The answer? There is no answer, you've proved that to me, boy."
Those were his final whispers.
"Don't leave me with that bullshit!"
I kicked the sand. Then I stomped and threw it around. "Come back! COME BACK!!!!"
"Come…"
— — —
"…BACK!"
There was an echo and the splash of water.
I hurriedly looked around to see that I was in a tub.
A pair of arms wrapped around me and pulled me back. "Shhhh, it's okay, my sweet, sweet boy…"
I looked over my shoulder to see that Lilith was in the tub with me. She smiled and leaned close, "I got rid of him again, just like the first time. Didn't I?"
My eyes widened as I tried to struggle out of her grip. That's when I looked down to see that my wrists were bound with Ouro suppressing weave.
"Let me go!"
Lilith shook her head as she rocked me in the water. "No, no, no. I've had a long day, and so have you. We're going to enjoy this bath, then you and I are going to have a nice, long, talk."
She took a sponge and dipped it into the water. She pulled it out and squeezed before she brought it to my chest.
Then, she began to scrub.
I pushed against her, but she barely moved.
She started to hum the imperial anthem as her hands traveled across my body.
"Stop!" I hissed, "I said stop! Get off me!"
Her humming grew as loud as my shouts, until she eventually drowned them out internally.
I was forced to sit and listen to her hum as her hands exploded freely. Every inch sent a shiver of hatred and disgust down my spine.
"I'll kill you," I said, my voice hoarse. "There won't be any mercy. Not a sliver, you hear me? Lilith?"
Lilith chuckled softly as she kissed my cheek. "That's okay, I want your anger as much as your love. As long as you're focused on me."
My right eye twitched as I tried to pull my wrists apart.
"I hate you." I sobbed, my head reclined back on her shoulder as I choked back a sob.
"I love you," She replied as she began to scrub my inner thigh.
We stayed in that water until it was cold.
— — —
After our bath Lilith and I sat in her office.
There was a massive hole in the floor where I fell through earlier. Below I could see the rubble and the bodies that the survivors were cleaning.
Lilith leaned forward on her desk as she twirled a fountain pen. "So, the dragon, is it really dead?"
I glared at her.
"What do you think?"
She smiled. "You know I would have never guessed that dragon found its way into you. But it explains so much. Early walking, talking, and reading. You had entire centuries' worth of knowledge in that head of yours."
I stayed silent.
She continued. "Do you still have access to his abilities? I remember you using them earlier."
"Take me out of these binds and we'll find out."
Lilith's pupils dilated.
"Maybe some other time, but I'll take that as a yes."
She reclined in her seat.
"This makes your entry into the academy difficult. Plus we don't know how this will affect the next incarnation of the chaos dragon."
I blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Every so often amongst the dragon species a chaos dragon is born. Sometimes it's back-to-back, other times it's centuries apart. We just don't know."
She massaged her chin. "But I wonder does this now mean your future children will be born with chaos-enhanced abilities?"
"I'm not having any kids."
Lilith smirked. "Yet, after you graduate we'll have to get started. Anyway, all of that can be decided at a later date."
She sighed.
"For now, we need you to become a dragoon and that requires you to attend an academy."
"I'm not attending."
Lilith playfully rolled her eyes. "You're just resisting for the love of it, aren't you?"
I fell silent.
"Lafayette, you don't have to resist me. No one will punish you for staying silent. Besides, I just need you to listen, okay?"
"Why would I listen to anything you have to say? There's nothing the academy—"
"Six years." Lilith cut me off.
"Huh?"
"The academy lasts six years, away from me, from this mansion." She steepled her fingers together. "And I'll give you those six years under one condition."
I leaned forward. "What is it?"
"The academy has two halves each lasting three years."
She raised a finger.
"In the first three years, the top 36 students act as pages for the top 36 elite scholars. In the last three years, those 36 pages became elite scholars."
She pointed that finger at me. "If you become both a page and an elite scholar, I will not interfere with your time there in any capacity."
I clenched my jaw.
"What's the catch?"
"Those spots aren't just handed out. Even after you get them the student body can challenge you at any time. As a page, where they can steal your position, and as an elite scholar where they gain extra points for defeating you."
My chest tightened. That sounded less like a school and more like a cage match with uniforms. But I guess that's the point.
The empire wants its dragoons to be ruthless and so they raise them in competitive hell.
And Lilith, in her infinite wisdom, decided the best way to train me was to throw me to the wolves. Now it was time to see if that training paid off.
"Six years and you won't bother me?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I won't even write a letter."
I reclined in my seat and glanced out the window. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I could train myself to be stronger against so much competition.
And in my free time, I can go back to get Jashen. "Yeah, okay I'll do it."
Lilith grinned. "Enrollment is in a month, but before that, I'd like to spend some time together. You know, to strengthen our bond."
She stood from her desk and approached me.
"No." I moved away.
Lilith pulled me up by my arm and took me out of her office.
"Relax, we're just gonna sleep together. And in the morning I'll make breakfast." She laughed as she squeezed my bicep.
I gritted my teeth as I looked up to her.
"Stop using me to fix your problems."
She looked down at me. "I don't have problems, I have solutions."
We entered her room, which was practically untouched from our fight. Lilith led me to her large central bed and pushed me on it.
I landed with a gasp.
She plopped down beside me and took off her gown. "It'll be just like when you were a baby, remember that?"
She looked into my eyes as she sat beside me in nothing but a cloth bra and underwear.
I glared at her. When I was younger I'd have loved this, the idea of having skin contact with her would have made my day. But now it feels like a punishment.
"You're a sick woman."
She pulled me into bed and held me close. "Am I?" She whispered in my ear.
I squirmed in her grasp.
Just a month.
I can hold out for a month.